Craft fair this weekend

I'll be selling some of my paper goods this weekend at the Shipley Alternative - pop on down if you're near by and pick up some treats! More info here.

Today! Saltaire Makers Fair

Saltaire Makers Fair - not long now!

The prep for the fair is well underway for me now - I'm packing, printing and labeling things up today! Just enough time however to showcase another seller from the fair, today is the turn of the fabulous Jessica Hogarth! Jess is one of my ex-students from Leeds College of Art and since graduating she's been busy establishing her own brand of products.

Jess's quirky hand drawn illustrations are one of the things that make her work so fab and a strong sense of colour and composition makes for a beautiful collection of interior products from prints to tea towels to mugs. See more on her website and of course if you're coming to the Saltaire Fair on Saturday! 

Saltaire Makers Fair - 4 days to go!

The countdown continues! Today I'd like to share with you Clare Caulfield's prints and paintings. I just adore Clare's work, her quirky use of line and delicate colour has a real vibrancy to it and I love looking at all the delicate yet energetic marks close up-which of course I'll be able to indulge in on Saturday-hurrah!

Saltaire Makers Fair - 5 days to go!

I'm going to be exhibiting at the Saltaire Makers Fair this Saturday (as Bubble & Tweet) and I'm really looking forward to it-despite having lots of packaging and last minute printing to do! 

To get myself in the mood I thought I'd do a daily post in the few days leading up to it, featuring some of my favourite makers who'll be there - whether they be friends, acquaintances or just someone who's work I can't wait to see in the flesh. 

First up is Hugh Leishman, a lovely man who sold his wares alongside me in a great little gift shop (sadly now closed) in Ilkley, West Yorks. Hugh makes the most exquisite wooden objects, beautifully crafted out of fabulous English woods. I bought one of his 'spurtles' to stir my porridge and it's almost too nice to use-which is always a good sign in my book! See more at on Hugh's website or come and see it in the flesh on Saturday of course-where he's also doing some live demos! 

Screen-print your own fabric

I've been doing some work for Making Magazine of late and the most recent issue sees my article on how to screen-print your own repeat pattern fabric! Get yourself a copy from your news-agent if you fancy having a go. More projects to follow in the coming months, exciting times.

Inspiration!

Despite being on holiday from work, I'm finding it really hard to stop drawing. I've come back to see my folks in the beautiful Shropshire hills and all this wildlife is just too much inspiration. Been sketching and photographing none stop. Note to self: must remember to take actual break!

See more of the collection on my facebook page.

Making my own sunshine!

Brightened up my day with some scribbly florals this afternoon...makes up for the lack of summer sun!

Retro vases

Today I've been rummaging around in my cupboards stumbling across all sorts of forgotten treasures. And inspiration has struck, as now on I'm a mission to create some new screen-prints. Can't wait to develop some more drawings tomorrow!

Old woodland friends

Been looking back through some portfolio pieces today - for my new facebook page! - and re-discovered this little guy. Think I might dabble a bit more with extra texture - what do you think?

Floral Repeats

Today has seen some serious drawing going on...it's been great fun doing some complicated technical repeats! Lots more to get out of my head yet though...

Card designs!

This weekend has been glorious here in the UK! So, with an iced tea in hand I've been busying away at some freelance work for Tigerprint. It's been a while since I've shared any commercial card designs with you guys but I've been having a blast and thought you might like to see them. Here are some of the fruits of my labour so far!

More budgies

I've been having such fun today putting together a collection of budgie prints - here's a section of one, I love their little faces!

Budgies!

This afternoon I've been playing about with budgies! Not there quite yet but here's a peek.

Papercuts for new projects

The last few days have seen me developing some sketchbook drawings into stylised motifs and today the fun part has begun; paper-cutting shapes to play with. I love paper-cutting, creating pieces to arrange and scan into the computer is a great way to develop some new ideas both for digital freelance work and screen-prints. Wish it didn't make my finger hurt so much though!

British Craft Trade Fair 2012!

Wow, what a week! Apologies for the lack of posting, again!, but I have been a busy bee. As some of you may well know, apart from producing and designing prints under my own name I also collaborate and produce work with a friend of mine, Jayne, under the guise of Bubble & Tweet. We produce and design all sorts of lovely goodies including prints, cushions and tea-towels and this week saw the launch of our new collection of products at the BCTF in Harrogate. 

We had a brilliant time and met some great fellow designers and buyers. Thanks to all who stopped by to say hello - above is a little piccie of our stand. Although we are currently updating the site, you can find out more about Bubble & Tweet by having a look at their site here. 

Liebster Blog Award!

The very lovely Louise over at Love Print Studio has awarded my little blog the Liebster Award! I've long admired her work and her blog so this is a real treat, thank you!

For those of you who aren't aware the Liebster Award is given to blogs (with less than 200 followers) that you love and that inspire you, if you receive an award you must then choose your top 5 and pass it on!

So today, I'm sharing with you 5 lovely blogs (although narrowing it down to just 5 was pretty hard!) that I think you should all read - fabulous for colour, tips, characters and repeats (my faves) - enjoy!

I really hope you take the time to check them out on your coffee break today! 

xx

Happy Sunday

Beautiful day today, far too nice for working!

Drawing drawing and more drawing...

Trying to get some ideas down for my agent today and my sketchbook has been filling up nicely. Lots of drawings to work with, including these jars of flowers I drew this afternoon!

Today!

I'll be here as part of my collective We Have Beaks - find out more here. 

Artist Book Fair Prep...

Hope I manage to screen-print the book containing this little fella tomorrow night - need to get him printed and the book bound and made for the Leeds Book Fair on Friday-eek! Fingers crossed, tightly.

Amazing paper sculpting

Now, I have always enjoyed paper-cutting and the art of fiddling about with pieces of paper but this video shows it taken to a whole other level - so beautiful!

Mono-printing Friday

It's the Leeds Artists Book Fair next weekend (9th-10th) and so far I've only got bits and bobs made - whoops! So, this next week is going to see some new little books coming into being. Tonight has been mostly spent drawing out some new imagery to work with - hope I don't run out of time!

Yay, window vinyl up!

Excited about the opening tonight now!

New Exhibition at The Bowery, Leeds

This opens Friday - also featuring work by the lovely Moira Fuller and Cathy Brooke - hope you can make it! Preview 6-8pm.

Mug designs

It's freezing today here in Leeds so I'm staying firmly wrapped up inside drawing mug pattern designs for my agent. These cheerful florals are keeping me entertained though! 

Printastic...

It's the Leeds Print Festival this weekend with lots of exciting stuff happening including exhibitions, talks and stalls. Showcasing some great work by graphic designers, illustrators and typographers all working with print processes. I've got a stall as part of the event on Saturday and it would be great to see some of you. Find oodles of information about goings on here on their website.

Find me in M&S

Today I stumbled across one of my designs I'd sold for sale in M&S - very exciting. Definitely buying this for my Mom come Mother's Day!

Woodland trees

Keep getting a little bit obsessed with mirroring things at the minute - great fun!

Yes-colours sorted

I'm off screen-printing tonight and this, along with my new mother's and valentine's day cards, will be making its way onto my sexy new screens! Can not wait - I've not printed anything since before Christmas and my golly do I miss it.

Not On The High Street

Yay! We made the front page, now that was an unexpected treat!

The beginning of new ideas

Been beavering away at a new print design this morning...going ok so far - here's a work in progress but my eyes have had just about enough of this computer!!

It's been a while!

Happy New Year to you all!

It's been absolutely ages since I've posted or tweeted anything-whoops-but fear not I've been busy! Today sees some new spring season cards being prepped for screen-printing and some doodles for 2 new projects I'm working on - more on that front soon!

In my absence I've joined forces with a fellow screen-printer to create some collaborative work and secret projects (secret for now at least) and we now have our very own Not On The High Street shop-very exciting! Please go and take a look! It's currently only got bits and bobs you've probably already seen but should start to include some of our new joint projects in the coming weeks. I hope you like it. More info on secret ventures to follow - soon I hope - just don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet!

Also, remember this little fella?

Well, over the festive period I sold him to a home-ware company in the States and he'll be appearing on cereal bowls and mugs from May! I've never had designs on ceramics before so that's pretty cool-more of this please 2012!