mrs eliot books

A red day

2012-01-23T09:41:00.000Z

Pinned some red tights this morning....

...and decided to do the same.

and now I'm singing show tunes when clearly I should be working.

Print Giveaway

2012-01-20T17:34:00.001Z

If you'd like to win one of our Offshoot prints, hop over to the Shutter Sisters and tell Xanthe which camera girl you are.

You have until tomorrow Sat 21st Jan, midnight PST (which I believe is 8am Sunday UK time!) Good luck. And have a lovely weekend. x

New in - Offshoot, a new project

2012-01-19T11:01:00.000Z

I've been working on a little side project with my old pal and talented photographer Xanthe Berkeley.

Xanthe is a Shutter Sister and she takes the most beautiful photographs and fantastic videos. About a month ago she came to me with an idea, she wanted to do something for camera lovers - people totally enchanted by cameras and devoted to their favourite kind. And from there an idea was born.

So we are starting with 3 prints, for a Nikon Girl, a Canon Girl and a Polaroid Girl.

And we have badges...

...in a set of two or the whole set of six.

You can find all the Offshoot products in my etsy shop here. And stay tuned for a giveaway tomorrow. x

p.s. I'm so in love with that typeface!

Recently

2012-01-17T21:28:00.001Z

Hope you're well bloggies. Been keeping my head down with work but I'm missing your worlds so I'm going to do the rounds! Back in a couple of days with a new project. x

New in - Shade 1412

2012-01-13T11:38:00.001Z

Happy Friday lovelies! Hope this week has treated you well. It's been a long one. One of those weeks when it felt like Friday on a Tuesday, if you know what I mean. I've got tons done though and am now breathing a sigh of relief.

Here's my last new entry of the week, Shade 1412, an A3 print.

It's one of those prints I started months ago and other work came and went while I was working on it. It took a while, all those different reels, different wood, labels and text. But worth it in the end. In the shop here.

Have a marvellous weekend. xxx

New in - Valentine's. Yes. I said it.

2012-01-10T08:31:00.000Z

Thank you all so much for your comments on the trays below, it really is greatly appreciated. I will probably go for the most popular (although all of them had a few votes) which looks it might be my favourite too. I will keep you posted.

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You'll see I have a little Valentine button somewhere over here >>>

If you click it, it will take you to my shop and everything I've labelled Valentine. Yes, yes I know we've only just taken down the Christmas decos but those across the pond and down under need advance warning!

I have 3 new cards that I had mucho fun making.

Mr Valentine, a minimalist modern design for the Mr. in your life.

Numero Uno - Isi got some medals and rosettes from Father Christmas and I fell in love with the colours and shape. This is good for Valentine's or any old time.


And Heart Sprinkles, it says it all, with some blurry hearts confetti giving it some colour.

Next time, I will actually have my cotton reels print in the shop. It's been a long time comin'.

See you soon poppets. x

Please be my focus group!

2012-01-08T07:26:00.001Z

Good morning lovelies! Hope you are all having a fun weekend.

I need your help with something. I'm going to get a tray made, only one for now, so I want to choose the right one. I've put together a little selection here and I'd love it if you'd help me choose, I trust your opinions! These are just mock-ups, not sure of the size yet, but you get the idea.

Which do you like the best? Please let me know here or over on facebook.

Thanks peeps!

No resolutions

2012-01-05T05:58:00.000Z

We took our tree down yesterday, a bit sad but then I always think it looks a bit odd after the new year. Just sitting there all proud and expectant. As we say in our house "What is point?" The Cable & Cotton lights look gorgeous in their new spot in the fireplace though. And I'm hoping Gus won't try to juggle with them every day.

Been loving all the lists around in the new year. I don't really do resolutions but Ben and I did have a 'chat' involving ours and the boys' wants and needs. Ben's good at focusing on achievable things so it was a very good 'chat'. I used to do a thing with my friends called the Theory of Achievement, when we were young in the 90s and into Hal Hartley films. It mainly included:

1. buy more bras

2. have a new hairstyle

3. do a pottery course

Apart from having a new hairstyle I can proudly announce that over the last 15 years I have achieved the other two. Medal please!

Catching up

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000Z

Hello All! Nice to see you again. I had a lovely long break with no blogging at all so I will be slowly catching up over the next couple of weeks. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/holiday season and a fantastic New Year. Did you go out and party...or go to bed at 10 with a podcast? (Who...me?).

While I've been gone - Isi lost his first tooth, which made me very over-emotional (who...me?), our wonderful friends from NYC came for a visit, and I almost finished a print I started half a year ago (who...me?).

Yes, me. Nothing changes.

Happy New Year lovely bloggies. I'll be back with a new print or two soon. x

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-24T07:19:00.000Z

Happy Christmas everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by over the last year and for your comments and support. Wishing you all a lovely break and a brilliant New Year. xxx

New in - Blocks & Boxes Postcards

2011-12-15T09:41:00.002Z

I don't believe I've shown you these postcards that I've had in the shop for a couple of weeks. A set of 6 selected from my Blocks & Boxes series. Available in the shop here.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend. x

Noticing and Collecting

2011-12-13T11:17:00.000Z

So here's my geeky collection. I've been noticing the myriad of different patterns on manhole covers as I've been walking Gus around for his nap. So I started collecting. Aren't they lovely? No it's not just me (how dare you!), as I suspected there are plenty of flickr groups already!

Tree up / Xanthe's videos

2011-12-12T09:12:00.003Z

Good morning! How is it going this fine Monday, nearly ready for Crimbles? We got our tree up on Saturday and found it was the perfect place for our lovely Cable & Cotton lights, which had been lying around without a home for a while.

I love getting the box of decorations down, it reminds me of my childhood - the excitement! We did our usual festive thing, Nat King Cole on the turntable, letting the children start the decorating, then rearranging when they're not looking (come on, you do it too), trying not to drop the vintage glass baubles...Whoops! there goes another one...etc etc.

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Have you seen Xanthe's beautiful videos she shot during 11.11.11? This is my favourite, except I can't watch it because it makes me cry! I found it so personal, such a moment in time, beautifully captured. Makes me what to hold onto my little ones so tight.

Have a lovely week. I'll be back soon with a geeky collection. x

Happy deliveries

2011-12-05T12:44:00.002Z

Two gorgeous things arrived in the post this weekend...

1. One of Flora's adorable Friendly Acorn cards from her etsy shop. I'd been meaning to order one for ages and I'm so glad I did. Thanks Flo!

2. Lovely Kylie sent me one of her beautiful brooches as a thank you for something, even though she really did not need to (you listening kylie!) but I'm ever so glad she did. Thank you Kylie!

Hope you all had a good weekend and the Christmas shopping is going well! x

Heat Press (see what I did there?)

2011-12-01T06:55:00.007Z

I'd like to tell you that Victoria Beckham commissioned this print with her daughter's name 'Harper' on it, but no, twas the style director of Heat Magazine. My Toy Shelf customised print in the Heat Christmas Gift Guide. Thanks Ellie!

And lovely to be right next to me old mucker Mandy too.

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p.s. Two days left of sale!

Semi Circle Love

2011-11-30T06:03:00.010Z

I've been working on some semi circles recently, they are definitely my favourite shape right now. I sound like a five year old - 'What's your favourite shape mummy?'

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If you're feeling festive and crafty (who isn't?) my patterned bauble how-to from last year is over on the Dawanda blog.

And don't forget the sale - 15% off etsy till Friday eve.

Some recent activities

2011-11-29T09:00:00.001Z

Waiting for Isi to finish his swimming lesson, book hunting at Spitalfields, pancake-plate-licking, playground action and getting muddy with Bertie.

Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

2011-11-28T08:50:00.000Z

Black Monday lasts all week at mrs eliot books. Starting today and continuing till the end of Friday (2nd December) I have a pre-Christmas sale in my etsy shop. Just enter the code blackmonday15 at checkout and etsy will calculate the new price for you.

Happy Monday!

New in - In the Autumn & Boats

2011-11-22T17:19:00.006Z

You may remember fairly recently I was playing around with a couple of new prints. They were just works in progress for a while, but I have come to realise that if I'm finding it hard to finish something, then it's probably already finished. So here they are.

In the Autumn

Boats

In the etsy shop now.

Coldpondwater - Ben blogs

2011-11-22T08:00:00.001Z

Ben (the mr) has a passion for wild swimming. One of the (many) cool things about him is that on the way to work he cycles to Hampstead Heath and swims in the men's pond. Every day, all weathers. Even in the snow. Yes he's one of those crazy men people point at from the bridge. And he takes the most beautiful photographs, like this one.

He's just started a blog to record his time there and his flickr is here.

By the way, he sometimes signs in on my laptop and doesn't sign out so if you see a comment from coldpondwater, it's probably me!

Folksy relaunch. Looking goooood!

2011-11-21T09:31:00.002Z

Folksy has had a fantastic relaunch which has been a very long time coming. There's no point trying to sell beautifully designed things from a website that isn't beautifully designed itself, and in all honesty looked a bit tired and dated. (I feel I can say that now coz now it looks great ;-)) The front page needs to draw you in and great modern graphics will give buyers confidence that the shops are worth looking at.

They also have a posh new online magazine, with a Meet the Makers section (hello!) and a New Designers section, which is a great way to get noticed when you first join. And from a seller's point of view it looks like their listing procedure has got more user friendly too.

Looks great Folksy!

At the weekend...

2011-11-14T08:22:00.003Z

Crazy nonno came to play

Isi turned 6

Ben baked

And I applied decals

We went to the Heath

Gus scooted so fast

I stood in the sunshine

They stood in the mud

And we all had a grand weekend.

How was yours?

Christmas / Holiday cards in the shop

2011-11-11T07:00:00.001Z

Here are my 2011 Christmas cards.

I hope you like them. They are probably my least 'Christmassy' card set so far but I kind of like their wintery simplicity.

I designed them like a vintage postcard, using a cold, winter landscape theme so that even if you're not in a cold country you can pretend you are. Not that you'd want to...hmmm...blimmin' hard to please everyone!

And there's a surprise inside, a vintage postcard layout for you to write your message on.

As always, you can mix and match my Christmas cards and there is free shipping if you order two or more sets of any of the designs.

Here are the other sets available in the shop.

Oooh. It's 11.11.11 Spooky!

Instagram - collecting (almost) every day.

2011-11-10T09:30:00.001Z

There's been a bit of instagram chat recently. Heather wishes she had it. Xanthe made a movie about it, Marlous celebrated her 30th Birthday with it. I use it to collect moments and keep up with friends. It's made my friend Bee feel a lot closer. As I mentioned before, I didn't take that many 'real' photos in NYC, but I loved instagramming. It was perfect for capturing moments in time, for noticing little things. It also makes you look at things through grammy eyes. I might not have taken a picture of this for example, but looking at the pink I knew the colour would turn bright neon pink if I put it through x-process. And I knew the swimming pool would be dreamy. Personally I like Brannan the best. I use it most often and it makes me go ahhhhhh.

i love instagram from xanthe berkeley on Vimeo.

I'm still a bit guarded, I don't know why. I think that's why I didn't like twitter, I felt too exposed (but it's not like I don't put pictures of my kids up here. I think I forget anyone can see!), so my photos are switched to private but if you follow my blog and you're on instagram you can come and find me, I'm effieclicks. Or I post most of them in a flickr set here. Oh and if you haven't got an iphone or ipod touch, a little birdie told me it's coming to android soon. Plus there's article over here about it and this shows how to get some of the effects on your regular digi photos without it. (Both via skinnylaminx blog comments.)

p.s! Ordered some fridge magnets of our NYC trip for our friends from stickygram.com. How gorgeous is this - My baby's life in magnets.

Ok. Bye. No really.

Accidental shopping

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000Z

Managed to get practically to the exit door of the Tate Modern shop without buying anything, then suddenly they reeled me in with their handily placed 'Beautifully designed things that Franny needs immediately and can't to without' stand. Hmph.

Mobile Art - Papers, designs and instructions for 20 stunning mobiles. By Ayako Akazawa & Michelle Clair.

Christmas Home Stickers for Windows. From Nouvelles Images.

100 Postcards by Pantone

Hyperventilated when I saw those postcards. 100 POSTCARDS! in EVERY COLOUR! YES PLEASE!

This book - Ed Emberley

2011-11-03T12:00:00.005Z

My almost 6 year old has never been into drawing. Then recently, I think feeling a little left out at school and not having great control with writing, he asked me to help him draw. I was so pleased and I thought the best way was to go back to basics, drawing shapes, because if you can draw shapes, you can draw just about anything. In a few minutes he went from not being able to draw a square to drawing 4 straight sides. He was so excited and pleased with himself. And then I remembered where I got this whole shape thing from. This book.

When I was a little girl I had this book. I don't know what happened to my copy but I had always remembered how fun it was, and how I would sit there for hours using shapes to draw different faces. And now it is the perfect thing for my boy.
Turns out I only had to type the word 'drawing' into Amazon's children's books section to find it.

And the marvellous Ed Emberley has a website here.

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Thanks for your sweet comments on my little NYC postcard stream. Didn't take nearly as many photos as I thought but got lost in the world of instagram, which was just perfect if you're running around after kids. Highlights were tea at the Brooklyn Farmacy where Velma and the Green Lantern tried to solve a mystery on a vintage typewriter. And Isi's Wow face when we went to the Empire State. There's pretty much nothing better than seeing Isi go 'Wow!'

It was so great to hang out in Brooklyn with our friends and live their lives for a few days. Makes us feel even closer. The world is tiny!

Halloween Brooklyn style

2011-11-01T10:47:00.000Z

We're home. Had the best time ever. Be catching up with you all soon. x

Around Brooklyn

2011-10-30T22:45:00.002Z

Recently

2011-10-29T15:38:00.002+01:00

Today

2011-10-26T19:01:00.001+01:00

Yesterday

2011-10-25T08:44:00.000+01:00

The story so far

2011-10-24T22:19:00.001+01:00

Back soon...

2011-10-21T12:56:00.001+01:00

Big Apple Sale

2011-10-11T07:58:00.005+01:00

I'm closing my shops in a few days while we travel across the pond to New York City for 11 days. Woooooo-HOOOOO! Ahem. We're off to visit my friend Bee who moved back to Brooklyn in the summer, so I'm having a little pre-holiday sale in the etsy shop.

Shop between now and 19th October and you can get 15% off your order. Just enter the code NYSALE in the coupon box at checkout and it's done.

Anything ordered by Sunday 16th should be posted before we go (made-to-order pieces may take longer), otherwise the order will go out as soon as we get back on 31st.

Catch up

2011-10-10T12:52:00.009+01:00

Hello all. I've been a bit absent blog-wise the last week or so. Trying to do more making and less looking. I am still pinning occasionally but it was starting to make me feel a bit drained. And all that 'wanting things you haven't got' is not very good for the soul. But I have been taking lots of pictures with my trusty ipod touch. It's making me look at things in a different way and I'm really collecting images and moments like never before. Here are a few of those from the past couple of weeks.

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Thanks for your encouragement on the boats. I had been steering clear of triangles but while playing around with shapes I couldn't really avoid them anymore. Then straight away they looked like sails, so I added a little wavy line envelope liner to complete it. It will hopefully be a print soon.

Boats

2011-10-05T06:33:00.002+01:00

Own a Colour

2011-10-04T11:30:00.000+01:00

This was fun. And for a good cause. You go to the Own a Colour website, choose a colour, name it anything you like and make a donation from £1 up. Your donation goes to Unicef. Plus...triangles! (in case you hadn't seen any for a while.) Meet Eliot.

Summer in Autumn

2011-09-30T13:46:00.003+01:00

Summer is back in London. I have to dig out my nail polish again. I was not prepared!

Thanks for your feedback on the wip below. I might make it into a print. I'll show you another wip next week. Have a gorgeous weekend. xxx

More autumn wip

2011-09-28T17:16:00.003+01:00

Still playing with the envelope 'innards' and basic shapes to create a new autumn print. Lots of inspiration today - we are having a mini heat-wave over here, yet orange leaves carpet the ground. Kind of perfect. The bright orange trees against the bright blue sky is such a gorgeous colour combination.

I'm not sure about the sun yet. A bit to literal maybe, if you know what I mean.

New in - Grey and yellow

2011-09-26T12:55:00.001+01:00

Regular followers will know I'm a big fan of grey and yellow. So when I was trying to make a print with just black, white and shades of grey I couldn't help popping a bit of yellow in. One day I would still like to make a black and white print. But it won't be this one.

Grey & Yellow Chevron A3 print in the shop.

Grey and yellow on the tube.

Grey and yellow pinterest board.

Pinterest jetpack

2011-09-26T07:00:00.002+01:00

Never let it be said that pinterest is just a self-indulgent waste of time. Isi spotted this while I was pinning the other day and asked to make it. Voila! 5 mins craftiness and hours of fun, running up and down the road while I tried to keep Gus from getting run over on the scooter.

I've noticed in the actual how-to (which I didn't actually follow) she uses bottles and silver paper but it is just as good and super-quick with kitchen roll and silver foil.

Wow. That was such a 'mum' post. Next week - cupcakes!

(Not)

Wip - autumn

2011-09-24T12:31:00.004+01:00

I'm working on a new Autumn print. I used to have one in the shop, it was popular but it was mainly collage and I wanted to reinvent it. I still love breaking things down into simple shapes though and this has something of the Winter Trees about it. I've been revisiting my Playground pattern to make hedges and my old security envelope liners I haven't used for ages. Here are a couple of thumbs.

I already feel like there could be a whole new project here. But what happened to my Month of Finishing?

Hope you're having nice Saturdays. We have been running round the streets in home-made jet packs, but more of that next week :-)

New in - Thank you cards

2011-09-22T07:20:00.002+01:00

Good morning Bloggies! I've got a couple of new designs in the etsy shop.

Teacup

Vintage Skates

Both available as a single card or as a set of 5 notecards.

School reunion

2011-09-20T06:40:00.000+01:00

We did it. And it wasn't so bad :-) Echoes of conversations and seeing ghosts in every room. The time this happened or that happened. Like it was yesterday, yet another life. Odd and magical. Have you ever been back to your school?

Summing up the night beautifully - Xanthe's photo.

Travels with a tree and a shed

2011-09-18T17:00:00.002+01:00

Some images from my bloggy day with Kerry and Lou.

None of us took many photos (have a look at their blogs for more inspired pics) but there was a moment in one shop where we all had our cameras out pointing in different directions and I wished someone had taken a photo of us!

We talked about everything from birth stories to blogging. How we sit with our laptops on our knees for too long and don't care that we're getting burnt legs. How we'd quite like to stop looking at nice pretty things sometimes but just can't seem to stop. How, while we're on pinterest, our other halves look at bike catalogues and try to talk to us about bike gear.

So lovely to talk to people who are in the same boat. 3 cheers for invisible friends becoming real!

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OMG Gus hasn't napped today, he's going kerrrazy! I'd better go...

Newly acquired

2011-09-15T11:28:00.000+01:00

>>>Every time I carry Gus up the stairs he likes to go through the numbers 1 - 10, which was my hope when I bought these lovely wooden number puzzles from Winter's Moon. He always misses out number 7. But apart from that he's a genius ;-)

>>>My friend gave me the Wooden Owl by Matt Pugh (from Smug.) What a pal!

>>>I couldn't resist this little amber apple dish from Delia's great vintage shop AmeeliaBedelia.etsy.com. She's got some sweet things and makes the most gorgeous treasuries.

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Not feeling tippety-top this week. A bit run down and the back-to-school blues. Looking forward to my bloggy meet-up this weekend though with the shed and the tree.

See you after the weekend, hoping for a sunny one. x

Tif's book

2011-09-13T17:15:00.003+01:00

Tif's book arrived on my doormat yesterday afternoon with a friendly thud.

It is the second publication in The Suitcase Series, created by Uppercase and it's a beautiful collaboration, a gorgeous looking and feeling book in all it's round-cornered gloriousness. And what is especially sweet is that me, Isi and Gus have our own little corner of it, right here...

I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to her Nice Folks section in the form of a Q&A, especially because she made me answer questions like: "Have you ever cooked a fish in a dishwasher?" Yes there is more to an interview than 'what inspires you' 'where do you get your inspiration from' or any other way you want to phrase that question!

So huge congratulations to Tif, your book is amazing. x

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p.s. If you want to know what my answer was re fish + dishwasher, you can buy the book here.

New in - Blocks

2011-09-06T08:00:00.003+01:00

Finally, after...oh just five months, I have a series of Blocks prints, which have changed a little bit since I started work on them.

I started off with one print covered in lots of stacked blocks, but it wasn't really working for me, it was too crowded, and even when I took some out and shuffled them around, it felt too claustrophobic. So I decided to break them up, taking smaller sections that I thought worked together and I made five new prints.

There are two A4 prints, which you'll be able to buy separately or as a set of two, and three larger A3 prints.

Here they are in full.

Twenty-one Blocks, A3 print

Nine blocks, A3 print

Four Blocks 1 and 2, A4 prints. Available separately or as a set.

Seven Blocks A3 landscape print

All in the etsy shop. Hope you like them. x

Month of Finishing

2011-09-05T12:30:00.000+01:00

I've taken some inspiration from Kylie, and Alisa, trying to do a 'month of finishing'. Although, with everything I have to finish, this will take more than a month. Some of my things are a few years old. There's a BIG backlog. In my wip folder I now have a sub-folder entitled SERIOUS WIP! (yes, in caps) and it's highlighted in blue. See?

So anyway, here's a little peek at some things that will be in my shop soon I hope. I am trying to tie up the blocks and boxes series (although there is still one more in the set that needs working on. Don't worry, it's in my SERIOUS WIP folder), so I've just finished a few Blocks prints.

There will be a few to choose from, in different sizes, and they'll be in the shop as soon as poss. (Talking of Kylie, while I was working on them, they were reminding me of her new Pixels cushion.)

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In other news (not really news), I have NOT been following my 'hell yeah' new approach to life. What's wrong with me? I need it tattooed on my forehead.

At the theatre

2011-09-04T13:44:00.003+01:00

Loving Instagram. Makes you feel like a good photographer! These are from the Vaudeville Theatre in London where I just went to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea with Isi. Such a sweet show and a beautiful little theatre. I'd love to take some more photos there.

Hope you're all having a good Sunday. I'll be back with some new prints in a couple of days.

September

2011-09-01T13:49:00.003+01:00

I didn't even realise it was September until my etsy bill came into my inbox, but there was something so Autumnal about Gus's naptime walk today.

Etsy score!

2011-08-31T08:52:00.003+01:00

Just received these beauties from sushipotparts at etsy. Was going to put them up in Gus's room but now I'm not sure he deserves them enough ;) It was one of those items I was looking at for ages and kept clicking and hoping they hadn't been sold. I never regret buying one of those!

Devon weekend

2011-08-30T06:49:00.003+01:00

We went to Devon for the long weekend to visit friends. Great company and good to be back by the sea, even if it was a bit blustery at times! Hope you all had a great weekend. Only one week left of the school hols here, then back to the old routine...ho hum.

Spoonflower

2011-08-25T20:24:00.009+01:00

I am finally getting some patterns up on Spoonflower thanks to inspiration from Belinda over at Gretchenmist. There's nothing too new, in fact some of them are a few years old, but apart from making the odd cushion over at Envelop, I haven't really known what to do with them. I could sell fat quarters in the shop, or I could have some cushion covers or purses made up. Any ideas?

The week so far

2011-08-24T13:57:00.004+01:00

I know in the normal world it's way too early (nay absurd*) to be talking about Christmas but I always start my cards in August and once I had the idea I was on a roll. Here's a sketch and a little thumbnail and then I won't mention it again till November.

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Been doing some reorganising. A little while ago we inherited a beautiful chest of drawers with dividers - perfect for keeping stock neat and tidy.

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Hope you're all having a good week so far. I wanted to give a little shout-out to Kellie at the gorgeous blog Dear Olive. She uses her blog to write letters to her daughter Olive, keeping a record of their everyday lives. She writes so candidly about the ups and downs of motherhood. I think it's such a gorgeous idea, wish I'd thought of it.

*I've always wanted to use 'nay'. And not in a horsey way either.

Etsy featured / New in / Giveaway

2011-08-17T18:00:00.001+01:00

I said: What do you think of this picture for etsy featured?
Ben said: Yeah, it's nice.
I said: It's very 'etsy'.
He said: Put a bird on it!

I've trained him well.

I'm so honoured and thrilled to be the featured etsian over on the etsy homepage today. Etsy has changed my life so to have the folks there notice me and appreciate my work is really lovely. I'm also a little terrified because I write this blog as if I'm just trying to make my sister laugh, so to think a few more people may tune in over the next few days is a little bit 'Whoa!'. If you're visiting for the first time, hello! Lovely to see you here.

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In other news, I've finally got round to making some A4 prints of my popular Modernist cards.

They are in the shop now. £13.75 for one print or £40 for the set of 4. That’s a pretty good saving right there! Printed on my lovely Hahnemuhle paper, they look really gorgeous. And now you can get to see the little details that are a bit too small on the cards, like the book spines.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<oooh more chevron dividers>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Finally, to celebrate my etsy feature I'm giving away one of my 'Things I like' tote bags, as sold over here on envelop.eu.

So hop over to my facebook page, 'like' the giveaway and I'll put your name in the hat. Ta-ta for now. x

Holiday snaps 3

2011-08-16T06:50:00.001+01:00

On to Bilbao for the last couple of days and back to the amazing Guggenheim. Never mind the actual exhibitions, the building is so incredible you hardly need to go inside. But when you do you can't help marvelling at how on earth Gehry designed it. There are so many layers to it, so many different forms. I am obsessed with the point where texture meets texture, and there's lots of that here.

I also loved the Metro here. It's completely utilitarian, every station looks exactly the same - dark grey concrete, red sign, lift at one end. And so clean. Coming home to the London Underground felt so grimy and worn. But I guess it is about 100 years older. Then juxtapose that modernity with gorgeous old shop signage. I wish we kept our old shop signs here.

These chalkboard photos are from Camper. We have Camper here but whenever we're in Spain we like to visit. As soon as I saw the boys drawing on the board they reminded me of something French and late fifties. A bit Red Balloon but I can't put my finger on it. I took loads of pictures. It's also lovely as Isi has just started drawing, pretty much always superheroes but it is so lovely to see him gaining confidence in something he had no interest in before.

We shared a hotel room here which was ok (the boys had bunks) but not much room to swing a cat, and Gus was always opening the door and running down the corridor. Will he EVER grow out of this crazy stage? Honestly, we didn't have one meal where he sat down and ate, I chased him EVERYWHERE.

I'm glad you've enjoyed my holiday snaps. Coming home to London after the awful riots was a bit daunting. My father-in-law saved some newspapers for us and I got so emotional looking at the photos. But then at the end there were more positive images; hundreds of people volunteering with the big clean up, turning up with their own brooms. And a little girl sticking her note on the Why We Love Peckham board. Made me feel a bit better.

Holiday Snaps 2

2011-08-15T09:00:00.001+01:00

So next we drove across France, dropped the car on the border and got a local train into San Sebastian, northern Spain. A long day but worth it. We had been to San Sebastian once before pre-children and loved it. It's got everything - beautiful architecture, fantastic food, plenty of squares for the children to run around, beaches, shopping, and the piece de resistance (for the boys anyway) - a funicular that goes up to the top of a hill where there is a little fairground (that's where I'm looking over excited on the little boat ride). We all had a ball, and our apartment was pretty nice too.

By the way, the second photo down is an ice cream parlour. I was so drawn to the graphics before I even knew what it was, I took a photo straight away. I think it's a brilliant simple design.

Holiday snaps 1

2011-08-14T07:37:00.008+01:00

Hello all! We're back from our summer hols in France and Spain so I have some photos to share with you. I'll start with Southern France where we spent a week with Ben's family in a huge, ornately decorated house. Then I'll fill you in on San Sebastian and Bilbao. We had a fantastic time but by the end of it, we were ready to return. We'd had enough of trying to eat while chasing Gus round a plaza, enough whining about being too tired to walk 3 minutes after leaving the hotel, and enough pintxos to last a lifetime. Coming home was like walking into our house for the very first time. Wonderful.

So here's a bit of France, where we swam in pool and river, visited markets and beautiful villages, and Gus and Isi were transfixed by their cool cousin Alberta, her friend Louisa and a yellow Uke.

2011-08-01T21:22:00.006+01:00

Soap stall at the local Market.

Hols. Yay!

2011-07-28T20:12:00.001+01:00

I'm off on my hols for a couple of weeks. I may try and post the odd picture via some kind of 'i' gadget but from my experience, it won't be easy. So I may just spend my time beating Ben at gin rummy instead.

My shop is now on 'vacation mode' and will re-open on August 14th. Have a lovely couple of weeks. I'm sure one of our igadgets will let me have the odd browse at all your rambles and photos and I won't be able to help myself so I will see you around. xxx

Mostly family Stuff

2011-07-25T06:04:00.005+01:00

Ben and Isi went camping on Saturday. First sunny day for ages, so that was a relief. Gussy and I built endless Duplo towers, I loaded the dishwasher haphazardly (put the forks and spoons where I damn well pleased)* and played Blondie. Gus spilt a bag of frozen peas and ate them off the floor. Then my friend Bee came over with beers, I forgot to have supper and went to bed with toast and Jerry Maguire on a channel I never knew I had. That's what I get up to when Ben's away. This is what he gets up to when I'm asleep.

*This makes Ben sound like the psychotic husband in that bad Julia Roberts film. He's not that bad. He doesn't measure the distance between each towel on the towel rail for example.

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Overheard conversation that made me feel old:
Ben showing Isi his Lomo: "It's an old fashioned camera Is. It's got something called film in it."

Ho Hum.

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This nonsense serving to distract me from all the horrendous news over the weekend. It got into my head. Unfathomable. Instantly made me want to reach out to my lovely blog friends in Oslo. x

Type-geek joke of the day

2011-07-20T17:43:00.011+01:00

Poor old Comic Sans. Did you know you can get a safari extention that changes any website containing comic sans into helvetica? More Comic Sans booing here: Bancomicsans.com

Nobody likes comic sans.

Have a lovely weekend. x

Cardboard Weather

2011-07-19T11:05:00.008+01:00

Everyone's talking about the weather. Which is nothing new for the English but I have noticed that in the last 4 years we have had less a 'Summer', more a 'Rainy season'. Why? It's not Mexico for gawd's sake! I'm wearing out my little BBC Weather tab, where the forecast changes almost hourly. Seems not even they know what the hell is going on. Stuffed in the bottom of Gus's buggy you will find an anorak and brolly, but also my birkies for when we have a half hour spell of 25 degrees. Truly 4 seasons in 1 day. Anyway, this a much prettier way to view the forecast.

Steffi Gloor/Kurt Riedi

Select your city here. And view all the images here.

Camden Passage pottering

2011-07-18T05:45:00.000+01:00

I had one of those perfect afternoons last weekend with my friend Bee, who is moving to New York very soon. Sshhh, don't say anything. I'll cry...No really.

We spent the afternoon on Camden Passage in Islington, a great little stretch of vintage shops, antiques stalls and cool cafes behind the sprawl of Upper Street. We mooched around lovely knitting shop Loop and found Smug which I'd read about but forgotten where it was. Smug has some gorgeous stock including these wonderful wooden owls by Matt Pugh...

mattpugh.co.uk

and these triangle necklaces (***TRIANGLE ALERT***) by Lucie Beeston, who I have since found on etsy.

lucie0ellen.etsy.com

Then to the antique stalls where Bee searched fruitlessly for plastic woodland animal brooches that she swore had been there in abundance two weeks before, and we had some tea and apfelkuchen (yeah, I speak the lingo) at this great Viennese cafe, before catching Bridesmaids. (Wow, that's a brash website, it isn't quite that crass, promise. Ok it has one big gross-out moment but it's also poignant and I haven't laughed so much in ages. Literally tears rolling down our cheeks, unable to breath laughing. It was just what we needed.) We finished up with a cocktail, then dinner at Elk in the Woods.

So if you're planning a trip to London or live here and haven't noticed Camden Passage, it's definitely worth an afternoon of pottering. x

Pinterest spree

2011-07-16T05:20:00.008+01:00

Man. I went on such a crazy pinterest spree last night. I've been in some really lovely treasuries recently so I thought I would pin everything I loved in those. And of course that sent me off on many, many tangents, looking at the curators' other treasuries and veering off again. (By the way, I love using the word 'curate' in everyday language. I wonder if actual curators will start to feel a little devalued!) This was one of my favourites, by Ameelia Bedelia.

Ameelia Bedelia has a lovely etsy vintage shop and her other treasury lists are here. She's good at this stuff.

I also noticed some great product photography while I was on my pin travels. I love the use of chalkboards.

robertagrove.etsy.com

notTuesday.etsy.com

By the way I have not finished my pinning spree. I had to stop, my eyes were sore and I felt a little sick from over-pindulgence. x

p.s. I just made that up. I'm quite pleased with myself.

Wip - cotton reels

2011-07-12T10:38:00.003+01:00

Hello sweets. Not too much to report this week. I'm busy getting stock in before my summer hols in a couple of weeks, so that when I come back I'll be ready to open up again. I don't like having to close my shop but it's so good just to switch off and know that I don't have to check email every day. Although...I possibly still will...probably. Might even post some pics up here now again. Above is a WIP thumbnail of my cotton reels print. Cotton reels? Spools?

I shall spare you any more babble. Have a lovely week. x

Elle Deco perusal

2011-07-07T09:30:00.000+01:00

Ben likes to read out loud to me from my Elle Decos sometimes to amuse himself. I love Elle Deco but sometimes it is quite funny. Take this for example. Worth the price?

Nope.

However I did like this lovely yellow & grey feature, new mix & match crockery by Mini Moderns, taken from their gorgeous Festival wallpaper. And triangle fans won't be disappointed either. Pinning!

I hate you iPad! / nice print though.

2011-07-04T10:23:00.010+01:00

Grrrr. I hate ben's iPad. They look nice but bloody infuriating. Wanting to change my spelling all the time. Not liking the word Grrrr. trying to change it to Greer. Like that's a word. Mind your own bidniss iPad! (seems happy enough with bidniss.)
Anyhoo...my laptop has gone doolally again, it doesn't like being charged, or even having a battery for that matter so it's off to the genius bar at the Regent Street apple store again. It's going to have a cosmopolitan and some wasabi peas while it's waiting.

Above, my lovely new print from lovesugar.etsy.com.

You have no idea how long that just took me.

You can forget about any links or nice teal font.

Hmph.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Hopefully be back later in the week. X

Are we nearly there yet?

2011-06-30T21:46:00.008+01:00

There was a teacher's strike today, so we took it upon ourselves to head to the seaside. So happy we did, it was the perfect day for it and not too much moaning in the car of the "Are we nearly there yet?" variety.

Beach Huts of Southwold little paper book

2011-06-27T08:06:00.001+01:00

Good Morning/Evening! Hope you all had a lovely weekend. It was scorching here. I don't function very well in weather like that, my brain and body switch off a little bit. Sorry family.

Anyway, Beach Huts of Southwold is now in etsy. I want to do more of these little paper books. They are like a card and pressie all in one, and fun to make. I like sewing them into their little covers.

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There is a little pre-pop-up-shop interview with me over here on the We Make London blog, if you want to know what inspires me for the millionth time ;)

(a bit of morning sarcasm for you there.)

New-ish stockist - Minor Mail. (OK, not new at all)

2011-06-24T16:19:00.005+01:00

Yes not new exactly, I've had my cards stocked at Minor Mail for a while but I've just sent them some new stock and I wanted to draw your attention to what a sweet little card shop it is. My things are in great company, their stock also includes Darling Clementine and newly discovered Dicky Bird, who have the most gorgeous children's collection - 'cute' without being 'cutesy'.
And we had a sweet mention over at the lovely printpattern yesterday, which was a nice surprise.

I'll have my Beach Huts little paper book to show you next week, which I'll be launching at the Pop Up Shop. Wishing you all a great weekend. x

Details - Zoo & Little Green Shed

2011-06-23T06:26:00.001+01:00

The gorillas and the giraffes always blow me away. I can't believe we inhabit the same planet.

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My lovely friend Lou over at little green shed has opened up an etsy shop featuring her gorgeous photographs. She only opened it a week ago and she's already packing orders! That's pretty good going. I've been really inspired by all the outdoorsy stuff she does with her children, she always has great pictures of her allotment. And my favourite radishes photograph is in a set of cards here. Yes she likes details too.

Mornings

2011-06-21T21:25:00.004+01:00

Just before he goes to bed, Ben likes to make some elaborate scene or other to make the boys laugh in the morning. This was a goody. (Although now I look at it, also somewhat disturbing.)

Easy tiger

2011-06-20T06:45:00.000+01:00

Morning! Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We spent Saturday at the Museum of Childhood. So many shapes, patterns, lights, and of course toy nostalgia. They also have a gorgeous Judith Kerr retrospective on at the moment. We had tea with the tiger and Gus tried to feed him bananas. They had a mock-up of Sophie's kitchen with the yellow kitchen tops, and those cups I adore with the blue stars. And when I turned the corner to see Sophie's daddy's chair, I actually welled up. There are also lots of original sketches and illustrations. I would recommend it to anyone in London with or without children. Here are some pics.

Hell Yeah!

2011-06-16T00:00:00.000+01:00

I sometimes find it difficult to say no to things. I do say no, but it takes me a while and I ponder things that I don't really need to. It takes up space in my brain that I don't want it to take up. And it gets me stressed. Holly from Decor8 tweeted this the other day and it really struck a chord.

"No more yes. It's either hell yeah! Or no."

I'm going to try to live my life according to this. While being very English and apologising a lot. More here.

Two scenes

2011-06-14T21:06:00.003+01:00

My ink arrived, so I can do some trial prints of my Beach Huts little paper book. Kitchen window sill with blossom from my neighbours garden. Lovely to have sweet neighbours.

Mucky

2011-06-13T05:53:00.000+01:00

Ben is reading The Last Child in the Woods so last weekend we did a bit of this. We don't have any real concerns with our two, they love the outdoors and exploring nature. But it's definitely good to get out of the concrete of the playground sometimes, and you have to make an effort when you live in London. After this they all got naked and muddy and loved it.

Hope you all had a lovely mucky weekend (of one type or another). I'm out of yellow ink, which means I can't do any printing - hooray! A whole morning of working on new stuff. I think I'm going to work on some cards or a little paper book of my beach hut photos. I know beach huts have been done to death but maybe as a little book they would be nice. I'm just thinking aloud now. Probably shouldn't do that on my blog. La-di-da.

Love the doodles

2011-06-09T12:57:00.003+01:00

I love the graphics on the sole of my son's Doodles. I didn't know they were called doodles until people kept saying 'Great doodles!' And now every toddler seems to have them. Are the soles the same on all of them I wonder?

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Still no new work. Can you tell? I have two wholesale orders plus getting ready for the Pop Up shop, so there's a lot of printing going on. Why do all the orders come at once? Hmmm? Answer me that!

No skateboard? Who cares. / Etsy currency

2011-06-07T05:53:00.008+01:00

Not much work to report as it was half term last week, so we did this instead. Or they did anyway, I didn't have the umph to get up that ramp.

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I've changed the currency in my etsy shop to British pound. It just means that's the main currency, but if you view etsy in Dollars or anything else, you get the approximate price underneath. So you still get to see the price in Dollars. It means more reasonable paypal fees for me and much easier accounting. Feel slightly anxious about it for some reason, I'd be interested to hear if it has made any difference sales-wise - positive or negative - from any other sellers who have done it.

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments recently. You have really made me laugh. x

Hmmm...notsomuch.

2011-06-03T12:11:00.006+01:00

I'm in the Dawanda Lovebook this summer. It's a little lookbook they put together for press and they asked me to feature this time. Often when people ask me for interviews and such (yah, I'm reeeeally famous), they want a photo, which always fills me with dread as I'm not very comfortable in front of the camera (unless I've had a cocktail). So Ben said 'What about this one?' A comedy photo from a trip to the beach a few years ago. I said 'Why not, no-one will take it seriously.'

Now, looking at it, I'm not so sure...

Oh dear. (Yes that is grass between my teeth).

While I'm here I would really like to recommend Dawanda. They have it sorted over there seller-wise, and did vouchers and all sorts of user-friendly stuff long before etsy. Have a lovely weekend. I'm going to hide under a pillow and wait for the dawanda lovebook to go out of circulation. x

Gussy is 2!

2011-06-01T13:20:00.000+01:00

My little fella is 2 today. He hasn't put his ukulele down since 7am. I think he likes it. Time has flown since he was this small.

Etsy Love - hownowdesign / Hoop Art

2011-05-31T16:00:00.000+01:00

Love this etsy shop hownowdesign. Such an eclectic mix of loveliness. It was only when I contacted her to check I could use her images that I put two and two together - It's run by Abbey from the fantastic blog Aesthetic Outburst where she gets up to all manner of crafty things and also collaborated with Pistachio Press on these lovely cross stitch notebooks.

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Hoop art seems to be a thing at the moment. I keep popping up in treasuries with hoop embroiderers merriweather council and moxiedoll. And the wonderful fric de mentol also does embroidery now. This is gorgeous.

We Make London Pop Up Shop!

2011-05-29T20:00:00.000+01:00

I am starting to get things together for We Make London's pop-up shop in Hampstead from 2nd-9th July, where I'll be selling some prints, cards, wooden and paper books. If you don't know Oak Studio they provide gallery space and some fantastic workshops. During the week, We Make will also be hosting several workshops including Papercutting for Beginners and 'Festival of Britain' inspired Textile Printing. Sounds great! This is exactly the kind of thing I will be doing when my little one starts school in 2 1/2 years...Or I'll just clean the house.

You can see the full workshop list here.

One cocktail

2011-05-27T12:08:00.005+01:00

Can't take me anywhere.

Have a lovely weekend my lovelies. x

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Photos by the marvellous Xanthe Berkeley.

This moment / Thanks Sue / Emma lamb

2011-05-26T12:23:00.002+01:00

Lou does these 'this moment' posts, just a photo, no words. I'd like to join in but I'm not very good at continuing a series or at no words. But here's a photo from the other day. I love it when we all pile into bed in the morning, even though we do all end up sustaining some injury or other. I'm usually a 'happy' person but don't you sometimes get those moments when you are suddenly hit with pure joy, and you're all feeling exactly the same thing? This is one such moment.

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And a big thank you to Sue for featuring my work yesterday.

oh p.s. Emma Lamb is blowing me away ith her stunning photos of her £1 thrift shop bowls! So inspiring.

Elastic bands

2011-05-24T13:26:00.000+01:00

Keep trying to work on (or at least finish) some new things but getting bogged down in admin. Can't quite stretch to an assistant yet though. Maybe when the boys are older they can do my packing for me, they certainly enjoy the qualities of bubble wrap.

Anyhoo, 3 years ago I began work on this.

It almost became a pattern, then got left by the wayside, but I keep going back to it. I love that it started from me dropping one of those massive bags of elastic bands on the floor. I instantly loved all the irregular circles and the different sizes. Since then I've altered the colours and I think these work well together, need a few more though. Will see how it goes but it could be another A3 print.

Patricia Urquiola

2011-05-23T10:00:00.000+01:00

So often when flicking through Elle Deco I see something I love and find it's designed by Patricia Urquiola. I'm a big fan.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. A little thank you to Lou and Claire for mentioning my work over the weekend. I love seeing my work in other people's houses - how they've framed or displayed it. Makes me happy.

Kitchen truths

2011-05-20T12:27:00.007+01:00

I had such lovely comments over on seventytree about our house, especially the kitchen, but to be honest, this is more like it after Gus has been in there for 5 minutes.

And that's the usual look on my face.

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Thanks to Lisa for posting about my cards. Have a lovely weekend all. x

(Image from The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr.)

In the detail

2011-05-18T09:55:00.007+01:00

Most of you may know that Mrs Eliot Books comes from the book I used to cut pages from when I first started illustration at art college. The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot by Angus Wilson. It was by chance that I happened upon it at the second-hand bookshop, I was just looking for any old book. But I was struck by it's Englishness and every page seemed to have lovely words on it that I knew I could re-work into something different and funny. And I have used just this one page in many projects.

Here's a detail of Airmail Letters, for example where it turns up as a bowl

and here it is on a branch in Birdwatching.

I also used it for my book spines in my Modernist card set.

The cards are small so by the time I scaled the illustrations down, this detail was lost. So I wanted to show you here. I am thinking of making a set of A5 prints, so a bit bigger than the cards but still affordable as a set.

I was tempted to call one book 'guilt' and one 'self-recrimination' but decided to stay upbeat!

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Kerry has a little blog post over here today about my place. And thanks to Pomona who also mentioned my cards this week. Plus Karen over here had such lovely words to say about her mrs eliot purchases. Means to world to get such lovely feedback. x

p.s. and Gail! Thank you so much, I'm spoilt this week!

Midcentury Modern Show / Facebook Giveaway / Blog well-wishes

2011-05-16T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hello there. Just a little update from the weekend. Had a lovely mooch with my sister at the Midcentury Modern Show. Luckily it was mostly furniture, and we are not in the market for furniture so we managed to save our pennies! We did like a couple of stands though, especially R upert Blanchard's cabinets and Kiki Werth's poster collection. And we got a free copy of newly launched Midcentury Magazine.

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If you're not a facebook fan you're missing a giveaway for a Modernist card set. Hop over there, like the page (if you haven't already), sing me part of an Abba song and I'll enter you. So far it's only about 3 people and one of those is my sister who can have a free set anyway, so you've got a good chance!

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Hope everyone's blog is getting back to normal, I know there have been huge upheavals with people losing posts and comments. I feel like my blog is such a part of me and my work now, I'd hate to lose any of it, especially all your sweet comments, so I've been lucky so far. I do hope everything is being restored. x

New in - Modernist card set

2011-05-11T06:00:00.000+01:00

New card set in the shop - Modernist.

Inspired by all my favourite bits and bobs from my home plus some things I still have my eye on. Like John Clappison's Anvil and Aphrodite and the Kaj Franck Sunflower bowl.

Talking of MCM, on Sunday I'm off to the Midcentury Modern Show at Lords Cricket Ground with my sister Polly. I warned her not to bring ANY money under any circumstances and she said she's bringing her chequebook but it'll be locked in a safe that only her husband has the combination to. Seems like a good idea to me. Very excited. I will report back next week with absolutely no purchases whatsoever.

South Bank Seaside weekend

2011-05-09T12:32:00.006+01:00

When Helen posted her snaps from the South Bank last weekend, I put it in the calendar for Saturday. It's the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain and there's lots going on down there, including the British seaside! We all had a ball. Hope you all had a lovely weekend. The sun is STILL shining here! Woo-hoo!

Regretsy / wip

2011-05-07T06:46:00.009+01:00

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE etsy. And when I first heard about Regretsy I was a bit miffed. But I have to say, it is bloody funny. Now I'm just chanting 'please don't feature me' every morning. Lego Sculpture (filed under bullshit) and 5 Primmy Cottage Pink Vintage Wooden Clothes Pins Shabby Glitter Chic Distressed (filed under annoying descriptions). It's quite addictive. These are real listings by the way. And the lego one is actually $420.

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Haven't been around much this week. Probably because I've been doing too much of that^! But here's a snippet of a new card set I'm working on.

Have a lovely weekend all. x
p.s

Lys-vintage

2011-05-03T09:34:00.005+01:00

Wow, what a long and lovely weekend. More sun, crazy wedding fever, and general mucking about in the garden. This is Gus's first day back with the childminder since Easter so I am actually here in the house on my own, working, without a toddler trying to climb up and bash the keyboard or a 5 year old wanting to practice his typing in all the different typefaces and all the different sizes. It's a revelation.

I'm sending off some prints today to this fabulous looking shop in Hamburg - LYS.

They've got an amazing array of furniture and homewares, mixing classic Scandinavian design from the 50s and 60s with modern work. And of course they have a great blog too. Very pleased to be part of their shop.

Garden sun

2011-04-30T12:30:00.001+01:00

It's been the most beautiful April. No showers, just sun.

Study Views / Paper Pops

2011-04-26T06:45:00.000+01:00

We finally moved Gus out of the study where he's been for the past 7 months (a little longer than the estimated 2 weeks which I stipulated to Ben at the beginning of his stay). Now that he's sleeping a little (ahem) better, he is now in his own room at the top, next to Isi. So I have my study back. It's good to be able to spread out and not have to put things away at the end of the day!

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I am taking part in the Poppytalk Paper Pops Market. My table is over here. There are some beautiful papaer goods, this has caught my eye.

New in - Let's Go For A Walk, Boxes, Green Circles

2011-04-25T09:30:00.001+01:00

Morning! Hope you are all having a great long Easter weekend. I've got some more prints to show you and then I will be all up to date!

This is Let's Go for a Walk. The illustration was originally for the cushion, it was a popular design so I thought why not make it into a large format print too. You can find it here.

This is Boxes. You might remember it started off my whole blocks and boxes obsession and I have now finally got it into the shop. It took the A3 paper for me to finally turn it into a print as it wasn't really working on the smaller format.

And the same goes for Green Circles. As a smaller illustration I thought A4 would do, but it needed plenty of space around it to really pop so it's another large one. Now I'm thinking my coloured bowls would really benefit from more space.

Anyway, I hope you like them. Thanks for all your comments so far and your thumbs ups on facebook. Good to know you like where I'm heading. Enjoy the last day of the hols - well until the Royal Wedding. Will you be watching or shunning? x

New in - Abacus

2011-04-23T12:59:00.004+01:00

There are a few new prints in my shop. I'll start with this one and post the rest up over the next few days. You are probably all out enjoying the sunshine and the long weekend anyway (UK visitors), I imagine it's just me sitting here still blogging away like a doofus!

So this is Abacus, you can find it in etsy (and in folksy and dawanda soon. Promise!) And if you liked the thumbnail from this print in my last post I have made a print of it too, so I'll let you know when it's in the shop. Thank you my lovelies. You may go. x

Abacus thumbnail

2011-04-20T19:49:00.001+01:00

Can't seem to stick to one thing at the moment, no sooner had I started the Blocks, than I had the idea for the Abacus, and that is what I'm working on. I'm like this, 12 different projects on the go so takes me a while to round one up and tie up the loose ends. I get too excited to hold off. This is a little thumbnail, my favourite part so far. It's not strictly 'blocks and boxes' as it's spherical, but it does belong to the series. I got sidetracked into thinking about children's wooden toys and the abacus sprang to mind.

I am spending naptimes and evenings replying to emails, dealing with orders and relisting things. Then schlepping the poor boys to the post office between playground fun. I am actually now enjoying the school holidays but they are blimmin' hard when you have a job like this. I'm sure you'll agree.