Friday?? Already!!

Well I can't believe it's Friday already! This week has flown by and I'm in need of a nice, relaxing weekend. So I thought I would show you a sweet, soothing design that I was asked to do last year for Mothercare. I hope you like it!

Have a great weekend

Look what I finished!

So I managed to finally finish my first painting! It's Chloe in a (rather abstract) flower meadow :)

I decided to let go and be spontaneous with this painting, so I just painted the first image that popped into my head. I found it quite freeing letting go and not having to make everything have straight, neat edges (a habit of mine)!

After I had finished the painting I decided to scan it into my computer and add some hand drawn flowers to see what it would look like. Which version do you prefer? I think I like them both the same for different reasons.

If you've taken a liking to little Chloe, the print and painting are available to buy here. Original is now sold.

Happy painting everyone!

Best Friends!

Today I thought I would show you some more of my work. This is another piece that I created for the agency I work for. It was great fun to design and I love the colour combination on this. 

It's been a long day again today and I'm on supper making duty tonight- so I best be off- I'm starving!

Bye Bye

Top Drawer Spring

I've had such a busy week that I've only managed to find time to write a blog post today! I've been manic with work, revising for a web programming exam and on Monday I had a busy but lovely day in London which included a visit to Top Drawer. Top Drawer is a trade fair that happens twice yearly and I LOVE going as I can catch up on the latest trends. It's full of small successful creative businesses which is so encouraging to see and I always leave inspired :)

I thought I would show you a few of my favourite stands:

These designs were created by Sarah Nelson of Goose Chase Design. Sarah lives in Falmouth in England and is inspired by English homes, gardens, past times and traditions. I thought her work was so lovely and charming- I know I will be ordering a few things myself very soon!

These delightful little items are from a small company called Naive who specialize in textile art. Mother and daughter Becks and Susan Jennings have created a textile art collection of jewellery boxes and jewellery pincushions. I thought these were simply gorgeous! It looked as if they were having a very successful show as their stand was really busy.

I loved the handmade bags and purses made by Hope & Benson. Angela Hope and Daniel Benson make unique bags, purses and brooches using the finest British and Irish wools- I wanted to buy them all! :) 

Last (but not least!) were these gorgeous cards by Atelier which were being sold through Art Angels a Norfolk based publisher of Greetings Cards, Gift Wrap and Gift Stationery. Image two and four were painted by the artist Debbie George who lives in West Yorkshire. Image one and three are by Elaine Pamphilon who lives in Cornwall. I am so drawn to both these artists work- I don't know whether it's the colours, the styles or the perspectives that I love (probably all three put together!) but aren't they just the most delightful, beautiful, paintings! 

Patterrific!

I was checking out Print & Pattern a few days ago (one of my favourite blogs) and a website was mentioned called Patterrific, which was created by Sabine- a graphic designer from Germany. Naturally I went and had a peek and in a nut shell it's full of truly wonderful patterns- I was ooing and arrring the whole time I was on the website! And the great news is, the patterns are available for us creatives to download! They are not for commercial use though- click here to see the terms of use. I highly recommend you having a look if you like the images I've posted above (some of my favourites).

Oooops!

Just a quick note to say that I am very happy to ship abroad! I thought I had ticked the international shipping box in my DaWanda shop, but I hadn't :( so it's all amended now and shows the shipping costs too :)

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Forever Love

In keeping with my valentines day or love theme, I have added a new print to my shop. I designed it a while ago and thought seeing as it's just a few weeks before valentines day, now would be the perfect time to show it to you. I think this would make a lovely valentine, anniversary, wedding or engagement gift.

There are three options to this design (which you can see above):

1. With the hearts and title.

2. With just the title.

3. With just the hearts.

I just couldn't decide which version I preferred so I thought why not let you decide!

Have a lovely weekend!

Valentine Bunny

Over the last few days I managed to find some time to create this little card in time for valentines day! Each card has been entirely handmade by me which means that I did indeed have to cut out (very carefully) the heart shapes! And to add a little bit of sparkle, each card is decorated with three tiny Swarovski flatback rhinestones. My card is now for sale in my DaWanda shop and there are only 20 available. I really hope you like it!

And in true Creative Thursday fashion, Phil and I have decided that this evening we are going to paint some pictures! Now I'm a little bit concerned about this because I haven't painted for a few years and like most creatives (or maybe it's just me!) I want to immediately be able to paint something I will be proud of! And I've realised that this worry or fear has actually been stopping me from doing something I used to love to do! Recently however, I discovered the perfect mantra for myself (and the perfect book) in Steven Pressfield's  The War of Art . Every time I start to procrastinate this is what I say to myself...................

"Nothing else matters except sitting down everyday and trying."

Happy Bunnies!

Today I thought I would show you this design. Lots of little happy bunnies playing in the fresh air!

Yesterday I spent the day working in an studio- with real people and everything! :) I feel like I've forgotten what it's like working in a studio environment as it's been over half a year now since I left my job! I was interested in seeing how I felt- whether or not I missed working in a studio and although it made a lovely change to my normal routine, I am quite relieved to say that I didn't go home thinking I can't work on my own anymore or that I feel lonely working from home. If you are thinking about taking the leap and working for yourself this is something you may want to think about. Are you a people person? Or do you like your own company? Are you an extravert or an introvert? Do you need people around you to do your best work? Or do you prefer a quite space with no interruptions in order to do your best work? Sometimes you just won't know until you do it and sometimes renting a space in a studio just won't be an option to begin with because of the expense. If this is something you are contemplating, I've just finished reading a great book called How To be an Illustrator which you can buy here. I highly recommend it if you want some very useful tips on being an illustrator and working for yourself. Chapter 7 discusses the pros and cons of working from home or in a studio.

For the time being anyhow I seem to like working from my quite little space at home. I am also easily distracted so I think I would probably get less work done in a studio environment! However mixing it up every now and again is great and good for me, so hopefully I'll get to do it again.

Grrrrrr!

Hello! Hope you had a lovely weekend?

I spent most of it working on an assignment for a course I'm doing in web programming! So I'm a little bit tired today, I only have two more lessons left so I'm just trying to work as hard as I can to get all the work done. I'm really enjoying it though and soon I hope to be able to design and program my own website! 

Above are a couple more of my designs for you to see. I had such fun designing these pieces, I hope you like them too!

Bye for now

A Cold & Frosty Morning

This morning I woke up, looked out the window and everything was under a blanket of frost- a magical, winter wonderland! After being inspired yesterday by these amazing images from Smosch I knew I had to get outside with the camera- granted the surroundings of my garden aren't quite so spectacular, but I had fun!

Happy Friday everyone!

Bambi

Over the next few days I thought it would be nice to post some designs that basically sum up my style and how I like to work. I love designing naive, happy, colourful, childlike pieces. This design was created for the agency I work with- Cinnamon Joe Studio. I normally design a repeat pattern for them which could be used in textiles or for gift wrap and then a more simple placement which could be used on clothing or for a greetings card. Hope you like it!

Have a good day!

Where's Oliver Rabbit?

Here is my first print of 2009 and it's now available in my DaWanda shop. This print was inspired by a little brown rabbit called Oliver, a rather cheeky little fellow who loved playing hide and seek with me! I think this print would look lovely in a nursery or child's bedroom.

Happy New Year!!

Hello! I know I'm a bit late in saying it but Happy New Year to you all!!

I feel really excited about 2009- I have so many things I want to do with my little business- I'm practically bursting with ideas and anticipation! I desperately want this to be a fantastic first year for Little Brown Rabbit but all I can do is my very best. When I left my job last July I honestly thought I would feel really scared and insecure about the future but that never happened- I just felt happy, content and positive about the future so I'm taking that as a very big sign that I made the right decision :)

If you are wondering who this currently faceless blog belongs to I'm the one in the middle of the photo! Phil's to the left of me. We took this on New Years Eve which we celebrated at our house this year with some close friends. We had a fab evening and I'd like to say a BIG thank you to Phil (the cook) who made us a mouth watering meal and to Sarah who made us a scrumptious dessert!

I took the other photos this morning because when we woke up it was snowing!!! I desperately want Phil to come home from work early and make a snowman with me!

I'm hopefully going to list a new print in my DaWanda shop later so I'll keep you posted!

Bye for now.