French France

As I'm catching up with my creative self and working on some new designs now that the smaller members of the family have gone back to school, I thought I'd share a few pictures from our trip to France this summer. Some fantastic views of Dinan and mussels on the beach. Brittany is positively over flowing with moules - yum!

Guernsey stamps

Guernsey Stamps have released this set of stamps to celebrate the novel 'Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society'. Beautiful illustrations but unfortunately I don't know who the artist is. My fave is top right, the lady in a red cloak looking towards St Peter Port.

little green island

Took some cards and prints down to this great little shop today on the west coast of Guernsey - Little Green Island. It's such a gorgeous place bursting with wonderful stuff made by local makers and artists from painted furniture to hand made soap.

prints available in the folksy shop!

Jut listed this Hedgerow print in my Folksy shop and a couple of naughty seagulls too.

stitched paper

I've been wanting to have a go at stitching paper for a long time so finally got out some old scraps and used envelopes (which are usually printed in gorgeous shades of blue - always a bonus) and had a go. After a bit of trial and error I was pretty pleased with the results. I actually loved the wibbly lines which gave the finished pieces much more character. I might have another go at this!

font-tastic

I love typography and different lettering styles, so here's a little round up of some font-tabulous styles that are currently floating my boat.

From top to bottom: Amarelinha, Transitore,  Polygraph and Transmogrifier. All from MyFonts

50s Pattern

I bought this  book a little while ago and have been meaning to blog about it's gorgeousness, so on this beautiful sunny (where we are anyway) morning I've selected a few lovelies for you. Hopefully a bit of inspiration too...

Lovin' the texture in the one above.

Cute birdies. Every self-respecting pattern ought to have a bird in it!

a good week

Well, I've been a little absent from blog-land lately due to other distractions but it's been a good week as Little Paper Gallery was a Featured Seller on the Folksy home page and I also took part in an interview on the Folksy blog. This resulted in a small flurry of sales, new interest and being featured on various other blogs. So all in all, Hurrah!

the frame tutorial

I have been trying to pin down my friend Lenny for ages to give me a tutorial on making picture frames and finally managed to on Saturday. Lenny is one the most creative and enthusiastic people I know so you should really pop over to his blog and check out his prolific making of 'things'. They are too diverse to mention here but here's a sneak peek...

But onto frames..

I have wanted to make my own frames for a long time and especially since Lenny made me some last year for my birthday out of reclaimed wood and greenhouse glass.

And so, on Saturday we both had a window of time, he cut and fiddled about while and I watched and learnt. First we chose a straight piece of wood...

Measure twice and cut once. And then a few more times.

Put in a 'thingy' to hold it together while the glue dries. Cut some glass to fit, add some contrasting beading, et voila!

Some refreshments from the children. Very nicely presented I thought - Lenny has a girl.

We loved this bit - a keyhole to hang it up by. Awesome!

Many thanks Lenny, much obliged. Now, can I come round and borrow your shed? (And I'm secretly hoping I can have that frame too : ))

Ahoy!

Look out! Especially if you want to use this telescope..

I've been FOFFED!

 

Well hey diddly do, I've been Found on Folksy!

return of the seagulls

This little chap was inspired by a trip to a secret location on the Essex coast during last week's holiday. The location has to remain secret as it's my brother's favourite unspoilt spot and he would be none too pleased if I blabbed the name!

hedgerow 2

Finished the second of my hedgerow illustrations after a week's break in London. We had much fun but it's nice to be back. This illustration works with the other one so they can hang side by side.

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