Paisley

A little assortment of paisley designs. Frilly and teardrop shaped. Apparently some Americans call it a "Persian Pickle".

Pegasus Toy

This guy was so much fun to sew! I really need to invest in some small black child safety eyes for toys though... It's not great gluing felt eyes on these critters. Not only is it fiddly, it's not safe for kids. His furry mane and tail is pretty but fly-away too. When I cut the trim there were feathers flying all over the flat.

Dinosaur Toy

Another plush creature, this one a dinosaur of the diplodocus variety. I've sewn some blue beads on his back. He has a slender neck and tail. He is 6 inches tall and 5.5 inches long.

ORIGIN modern Latin, from diplo- [double] + Greek dokos ‘wooden beam.’

Polar Bear Cub Toy

This is a little polar bear cub that I've just finished today. I got some pattern ideas for 3D soft toys from a craft book I found in a charity shop. "The Splendid Soft Toy Book" was printed in 1978 and gives loads of tips on how to take profile illustrations of animals and convert them into toys that can stand on their own 4 feet. So I decided on a polar bear cub as I am drawing lots of these in my day job at the moment. I can't wait to try making all sorts of animals using this method!

Embroidery Mermaids

The mermaid designs at Bunnycup are now ready! There are 11 in the range and they're looking pretty and sweet! I love the aqua colours Ashlea chose when she stitched out the illustrations. I think my niece would love one stitched on a bathrobe once she gets a little bit older.

Red In the Rain ACEOs

I'm still finding fun painting ACEOs, small paintings measuring 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. These, like Red In the Woods, were painted at the same time using gouache, watercolour and pens.

Candy Coloured Boggers

These two odd little boggers are bizzare egg shaped pixie people with funny large noses and a chirpy manner. They are pink and sweet-looking as if they are made of rock candy. They're pretty weird creatures.

ACEOTOGO

Ricki Mountain, the artist behind ACEOTOGO has rather kindly made me her artist of the day over at her blog. She creates beautiful art cards... elegant collages of vintage and classical images. Her cards can be seen here at ACEOTOGO's shop

Front Page on Etsy

Look in the top right hand square of the grid and you can see my felt cupcakes on the home page of Etsy. They were part of a felt creations treasury that made the FRONT PAGE over the weekend. Not bad huh? Etsy gets about 60,000 unique visitors a day and there are around 25,000 users, so it's excellent exposure for my craftiness. The front page changes from day to day. Many thanks to Kezzaroo and Charlotte Narunsky who told me the good news!

Art Cards, Editions and Originals

Over on the Etsy site I discovered "ACEOs" (Art Cards, Editions and Originals). They are meant to be fun and affordable tiny pieces of art that are all 2.5" by 3.5"in size as standard. People collect them and keep them in albums sometimes, like old cigarette trading cards. They are designed for framing individually or hanging in groups, or they can be traded with other collectors. Anyway, I had a go at painting my own.

A Trio of Cheeky Boggers

Three mischievous little sprites called "Little Boggers" are now on Etsy. These little monsters are made of up-cycled old socks! I finally got some photos spruced up so they are presented at their best.

Photographs

I have been messing about in photoshop, trying to work out how to effectively present some items in Etsy. I am pleased with how these look, and it'll be fun to see how some of my other craft items will look once I've given it the "studio" treatment!

It's Another Little Bear

Now there are two little bears on the same sized bit of cardboard! This one is holding a cute bird.

Navy Bear

This little fella is painted in acrylics on a square piece of corrugated brown cardboard. It's small, about 11cm x 11cm. I like these bears!

Pink Bear

This one was painted in acrylics on the same cardboard as the other bear. The colours didn't scan well so I had to do some tweaking in Photoshop. This is as accurate as I can get it! The greens looked very grey on the original scan.
Acrylics are great to paint with too, but I wanted the colours to be more aqua. I think I was expecting them to dry brighter like gouache paint. Once dry, the ink from the pens sat on top without any scratching so that was good.
Woodland animals are ultra cliched in design and illustration at the moment, as are cute girls I suppose! For now I'll just paint what I enjoy and not worry about stuff like that. I try not to follow trends if I can help it, but I suppose if you see it all the time on other sites then it accidently creeps into your subconsciousness...

Yellow Bear

I draw bears all day at work, but not like this! I thought I'd try using pens on gouache, but the nibs scratch into the paint and get clogged up. I suppose a real artist would have told me that and I wouldn't have wasted my time! Anyway, the colours look great, gouache is so flat and bright. I've left paint off in some parts so you can see the cardboard underneath,,, On his mussel and tummy. I enjoy embellishing these latest paintings with swirls and patterns with my pens, so the next bear will be in acrylics I think.

Also, there's new embroidery designs over at Bunnycup. 10 Cute ponies!!!

Another Painting

Today I really must go and but some more paint because at the moment I quite obviously have a very limited palette! I've enjoyed painting all the swirls, curls and dots and dashes on this one. Very therapeutic. And making splodges with a paintbrush is very satisfying too, much more so than trying to do the same thing with a wacom tablet.
Also, Sarah from Real Illustrators showed me a link to an article featuring a panda plushie I made recently. Which you can read here:
http://softiescentral.typepad.com/blog/2007/06/whats_so_cool_a.html

Princess Painting

Still struggling with paint here! I used acrylics, but I think I wasn't liberal enough with the paint and I think it looks a bit thin in places. It was fun to do though which is why I do it. I like trying new things. I really enjoyed adding pattern to her dress and painting the green background.

Russian dolls

Aw! The weather is so cloudy. These photos do no justice to these little dolls. The biggest doll is 2.5 inches tall, so quite tiny! I decided on two girls and two birds as the smallest doll had to be really simple. I could have done with smaller brushes too!

New Bogg Girl Plushie

This is a new bogg girl plushie. Compared to my first attempt I have played around with the face details, made her legs longer so she sits more upright (rather than a bit slumped like the previous one) and extended her neck. The neck extension was a big mistake! Her head was really floppy so I knitted a little scarf to give her a bit of support. Her hair is still nice and big and I'm pleased with her. She is totally hand sewn and I did get a bit bored!

In the bathroom I have just gloss sprayed some Russian dolls. I bought the plain wooden dolls from ebay and painted them myself in a sort of Kokeshi style. They are so tiny! I'll post pictures when the gloss dries.

Jack's Birthday Card

This is the birthday card I drew for Jack. He loves Star Wars. We went to Lynton & Lynmouth this weekend in Devon for the Llama festival as his band was performing there. It was a beautiful town by the sea with very friendly people. We camped for 2 nights and it was so perfect. Now I feel a bit down, why do we have to come back to a dull little town?

Giant Machine Exhibition

Giant Machine, a collective of rather talented artists from Bedford, have an exhibition on at the very pretty and picturesque Bromham Mill. So those who are in and around Bedfordshire should come along and check it out. Its free and the mill is a great place for a picnic!

Cafe Kino Exhibition

I had some hand sewn cupcakes being exhibited at Cafe Kino in Bristol. There were folk from all over the world in this exhibition who craft very cool foodstuff like knitted donuts and crocheted fruit for example. Cool huh? It was curated by Amy Spencer who has written a book about modern craft culture. Trouble is, the exhibition is finished now (wah!) but if anyone stumbles upon this post and has photos of the cafe in full swing I would love to see 'em. Cheers!

Panda Plushie

This bank holiday it's been raining all bloomin' day and Jack is rehearsing so I've been in the flat all by myself listening to the Beirut album. Swirly accordions and ukuleles and sunny brass section. Makes my head swim its so gorgeous! Anyway, I decided to try something slightly different with the egg shaped things that I've been messing around with. A cute panda. I'm in the middle of another doll too. I hope she comes out as well as the last one. I'm planning on making her face bit bit more detailed this time. It takes so long! I wish I had a sewing machine sometimes, but I don't have the brains nor the space in the flat to use one!

Mermaids

After a roller-coaster of a week at the greeting cards studio, I think I can finally relax a bit. The studio is to be shut down in late June as they can't afford to keep it open, but my job as a cute illustrator is safe at least and I won't have to relocate, it is possible for me to do my regular day job from home. Phew! I am so relieved. It just would have been a real struggle if I was made redundant, but I feel such unhappiness because the designers at Poppy Hill Studio are just awesome folk and we are going to miss each other so much.

On a good note though, these black & white mermaid illustrations are new embroidery designs. I think these are great. I liked them so much I have added colour to my favourite one.

Little boggers Again!

I found an article that features my Little Boggers. Its true they are dead easy to make, but its the idea that counts right? I mean, surely we're tired of cuddly bears and kittens now. Don't the kids want something different these days? (maybe not huh?). the article is here at Design-Your-Life.

ballet

New ballet designs for Bunnycup Embroidery.

Waitress

I haven't painted digitally for a while and I've got a few sketches of characters that I've been wanting to develop, so here is the first. She's a waitress. I've been fishing around for a lot of different textures... Woods, marble and felt to use in this. It has no purpose. It's just personal development work.

The Merry Crone

The Merry Crone is my first listing on Etsy . I finally stuck my neck out. I'll try and add a new listing every day. If anyone is out there who also has an Etsy shop and would like me to heart them, then just leave a comment and I'll come and check out your store! ;)

Old Lady & Her Cat

I'm so excited because I have just set up a new shop to sell my handmade goods on Etsy. I haven't listed anything yet, but just getting an account has opened up a new world of discussion forums with DIY crafters from all over the world. It's huge! A bit daunting maybe, but a new challenge that I'm looking forward to.
I have been sketching characters in my sketchbook that I'm also very pleased about. I'm undecided if I want to paint them traditionally or digitally yet, but I'm happy that I'm happy with my work for a change! I've been having many periods of doubt about my illustrations, but I must be going through a positive stage now. I hope it lasts a long time.
There is also a new blog from the "Real Illustrators" discussion forum. Its still in it's fledgling stages with few posts, but hopefully it will grow and grow.
R.I Blog

Mazestock 2007

Ah, it's Mazestock time again. Its a huge private party we throw for all our friends every summer. This is the party invitation. As we have bands playing this year I've tried to combine a folky festival theme with the maze theme. Info is sketchy, but as the flyer is public we don't want a herd of unruly drunks crashing it and doing a "Racheal Bell" on us all. It's all done on photoshop. I scanned in a load of felt and used it as a texture on a design that was created in Illustrator.

Painting on cardboard

Just thought I'd post those gouache paintings I mentioned from the previous post. They turned out pretty well, I 'm quite pleased. Usually I make irreparable mistakes when I paint. At least when it's digital I can press "undo" over and over if I make massive blunders.
This weekend I'm really praying my felt cupcakes reach their destination for the foodstuff exhibition before the deadline on Tuesday. I posted the pesky things LAST THURSDAY and I got an email from the curator saying she still hasn't received them. I feel pretty frustrated, all that effort and nothing to show for it, but there isn't much I can do now is there? I just have to hope that those lazy-arsed postmen get their act together on time.

Girly Little Bogger

I've been posting the odd photo on Flickr recently and I got a comment saying that the Little Boggers are cute but scary too. So to balance that out I made a little girly one from a pink daisy sock. Its been cloudy today so the photo isn't great. I can retake it after I've created a friend for her.
I've been painting with real gouache paint too, but only on scrappy bits of cardboard. I remember at art college being really scared of paint. I think I'm over my fear now, I don't care I people tell me I'm doing it "wrong". Once I've had a few successful goes that I'm pleased with I'll post my efforts up here.

Cute Pixies

It has been a super summery day today. Its great that the time of picnics by the river with cold beer and frisbees has reached Bedford again, but where are the April showers? If we don't get some rain soon it'll all be dead and brown by the time we get to June.
Anyway, i felt the urge to draw something, so I decided on some pixies. I am very tempted to put paint to canvas some time soon, but until then i need to make an eflyer for a summer party we're organising for the summer.

Crafty Cakes

These 6 cupcakes are very small, only 2 inches tall and wide. They were made from felt, lace and bead details. Although their bottoms are flat, I wish I stuffed them with something more weighty to keep them stable. They are all hand stitched and I've submitted them to the Food Stuffs exhibition, but I don't fancy my chances as I'm just a beginner really. But I like them anyway. I think they are cute.

Little Boggers

I've been sewing again! I enjoy sitting around the flat on my own on Sundays when Jack is away rehearsing. Well, I thought I might call them Little Boggers. I think I can get away with that. Some chums of mine popped over for tea this afternoon and they really like the Bogger with the arms, so the next few in a set will have some limbs I think. They're so egg-shaped. It must be Easter time.