Instagram snaps...December 2014

Well, here it is, my last post of 2014...

December saw a lot of wrapping, a lot of decorating, and generally a lot of making of pretty things.

Here's my month wrapped up from instagram...

Enjoy seeing in 2015, and I'll catch you on the other side.

Happy New Year to you all!

x x x

Happy Christmas!!

Well, it's Christmas Eve, and I'm most definitely signing off to enjoy the festivities.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and enjoy time spent with family and friends, with lots of eating, drinking and general merriment.
I'll leave you with this little number....

Gold stars

Cheers

Snowman

Happy New Year garland

Glitter ice cubes

Winter wonderland scene

Its the most wonderful time of the year

Cake

x x x

Top posts of 2014!

As we head towards the end of 2014, I've been taking a look back at this years posts, and thought I'd share some of the most popular ones, incase you missed them first time round.

As always, the etsy interviews have been really popular and you always love a good colour crush, yum!

So, here are some of your 2014 faves and links to the original posts...

Colour crush 1...

Colour crush 2...

Colour crush 3...

Etsy shop chat with...Jill McDonald

Etsy shop chat with...Faye Bradley

Etsy shop chat with...Steph Baxter aka Steph says hello

Best granola ever...

Vegan banana loaf...

Raw raisin and ginger bars...

Mood board yumminess...

Mood board Monday...

Mood board Monday...

x x x

Three lovely things...

Three lovely things for a fabulous Friday...
Happy weekend everyone!

1. Playful

2. If you want to be happy, be. 

3. Baby donuts

x x x

Colour crush...

There are so many Christmassy posts I want to squeeze in before the big day, and this colour crush post's just one of them. 

We had some kiddy craftiness yesterday, and wrapping ideas and there'll be a few more to come next week too before I sign off to enjoy a bit of a break over the festive period.

I absolutely adore these soft, muted, greyed off tones, so gorgeous!

And I had to get a bit of gold glitter in there too, obsessing over anything glittery at the moment.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

(clockwise from top left)

x x x

Crafts for the little ones...

How cute are these??

Some lovely craft ideas to make with the little people in your lives over the Christmas break.

To be honest, never mind the little kids, I think those big kids would enjoy these too... I'm in!

Pom pom coasters...oh my..

1. Christmas cookies

2. Paper garland

3. Birch Christmas ornaments

4. Pom pom garland

5. Royal iced sugar cookies

6. DIY painted ornaments

7. Pom pom coasters

8. Dangling Christmas ornaments 

9. No-sew felt garland

10. Hanging paper lantern

Have fun!

x x x

Christmas wrapping...

Like everyone else, I've been grabbing minutes here and there, on evenings and weekends to get through the pile of gifts to wrap sitting in the corner of the living room.

I must admit, this year, I've really enjoyed scouring pinterest for new and fun ideas; homemade tags, doodled wrap, little paper crafted additions, pom poms, glitter letters, stamps, etc...

I was using the very beautiful wrap designed by Becca for our Paper & Cloth collection recently, so thought I'd share a few pics...
This wrap is the metallic gold all over print version but it's also available in blues too and a lovely scenic sheet.

I was having way too much fun with glitter and glue!
Let's hope the recipient likes it.

If your quick, you can get Becs Metallic Enchanted wrap here...

(images above copyright of louise/ loveprintstudio blog)

x x x

Free Christmas printables...

I thought I'd share a few Christmas freebies with you today.

There's something really lovely about that homemade, handcrafted feel to your pressies, and I must admit, I do like to have little personal touches to gifts I'm giving, but if you don't have the time or inclination to make your own, 

(lets face it, when its creeping ever so closer to the 25th, who does?) 

there are some fab freebies around and about in blog land. 

Just save, print and go!

Here are my faves...

creative index

tomfo

kelli murray

moodkids

oh so pretty

giochi di carta

x x x

Take Four...

As we'll all be busying away wrap wrap wrapping, 

here are four beautiful and understated gift wrap ideas...

I love the kraft paper with white and silver and bits of black, and the gorgeous little geo prints and stripes. 

(I'm currently continuing the obsession I acquired last year with bakers twine)

And that calligraphy tag, yum!

Top left

Top right

Bottom left

Bottom right

x x x

Mini colour crush...

Todays mini colour crush post features the work of Jeremy Rabus.

Gorgeous bold abstract marks and shapes with fab colours.

(image above copyright of Jeremy Rabus)

x x x

Christmas crafting...

I've seen so many fab crafting ideas for the festive season, I thought I'd do a little round up of my favourites.

Glitter, twine and poms poms at the ready....go!

Merry & Bright wall art found on papernstitch blog

Matchbox advent calendar found on torie jayne blog

Glitter letter ornaments found on your home based mom blog

Free printable bauble tags found on fellow fellow blog

Bunting with tassels found on villa appelzee blog

Watch this space for more crafty bits and bobs leading up to Christmas. 

There are soooo many yummy things I've spotted on my internet travels and far too nice not to share.

x x x

Colour crush...

Oooh, I have got one totally yummy colour crush post for you today, 

with a nice Christmassy theme.

Nothing against the traditional reds and greens (our house is full of it), 

but lets go for blues and greens with a hint of peach instead, gorgeous!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 

(clockwise from top left)

x x x

Happy December!

Hellooooo there December...you snazzy little month you!

(image above copyright of louise/loveprintstudio)

x x x

Instagram snaps...November 2014

Well, November came and went in the blink of an eye.

Here's a little Instagram roundup...

There were fun and games at The Shard in London for a very lovely ladies hen do, 

and the discovery of a 

'is it a strawberry, is it a raspberry... no its a strasberry' 

at Borough Market, which went down very well with a few glasses of prosecco.

Paper & Cloth made their first little debut with own products at the Designer Christmas market held at the V&A Museum of Childhood, and the Christmas wrap went on sale on www.notonthehighstreet.com

I was part of a very lovely selection of people selected for 'Pinners of the Week' by Grazia, yay!

Found a few P&C designs on Zutanos website, looking cute!

Lots of indulging in the new Christmas issue of Jamie magazine, yum.

And then there was Christmas tree decorating, 

and the fluffy one requesting he wore his santa suit for the festivities, 

which also involved Quality Street munching, 

and the watching of many a Christmas movie...

my favourite being good old Miracle on 34th Street.

Hope you all had a good month!

x x x

Etsy shop find...a chat with Tuesday Schmidt!

I've got a corker of an etsy interview for you today; the amazing work of  Tuesday Schmidt 

Tuesday is a super talented illustrator and I adore her work.
She has a lovely style and the storytelling within her artwork is great.
I particularly like her 'very important ballet moves' print and 'lets make pancakes', sooo yummy!
Pop on over to her etsy shop and take a look at her website too!

They'd make great Christmas pressies for your little folk.

So, lets get to know Tuesday...

1. Can you tell us a bit about you and your background…

I currently live and work in Kansas City, Missouri. 
I am a designer and illustrator for Hallmark Cards Inc. 
When I'm not working, I love, love, love making fun stuff for little people. 
I particularly love making patterns for decor and textiles and quirky artwork for their rooms.
My career path is a little unconventional. Especially for the field I'm employed in. 
I went to a few different colleges and graduated with a degree in Intaglio Printmaking. Which translates to : cool old way to make prints from metal plates-but not a cool way to get a job or make money. 
I ended up where I am because I was constantly working, making things, networking and putting myself out there. I was lucky enough to have people who liked my work steer me in the directions I needed to go. 
My first real job was for K&Company designing all those cool scrapbooking papers and journals. Years later I left to go to Hallmark. I get to work in one of the largest creative communities and draw all darn day. 
The irony is, I have never even taken an illustration class once in my life and it's basically what I do for a living. 
So, if ya love something and do it non-stop, the planets are bound to align. 

2. Do you have any design heroes, and what keeps you inspired?

As I mentioned, I work in a very large creative community. 
I am inspired daily by artists I work with. 
But outside of that community, my favorite artist is Oliver Jeffers. 
I love everything he does. I'm incredibly inspired by storytelling-especially children's books. 
I have a daughter and I may have more children's books than she does. But I'm nice and share them with her.

3. Can you give us an insight into your creative process?

I usually get ideas before I fall asleep at night. I joke that it's the curse of a creative mind. Never stops! 
But then I'm usually excited the next day and feverishly sketch out the idea. 
This happens all the time and sadly, since there are a lot of ideas that come-not all of them get to make it into the world. 
I seriously have like 10 projects, unfinished, tucked away in my office. Which makes me sad but I'd need to employee a factory to make all those abandoned ideas come to life. Lately my creative process has entailed me cranking away at my computer listening to hours and hours of podcasts and audio books. And coffee. Lots of coffee.

4. What books/ magazines are currently on your coffee table?

I have a toddler. There's nothing on my coffee table. 
Oh, how I miss art books and magazines. 
We have children's books around here these days. And my very favorite is Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown. I love it so much. I also love Jon Klaussen books. 
And the Baby Lit books. So good.

5. What makes you laugh?

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I've joked that Tina Fey is my spirit animal. Only I'm not joking. That woman is a hilarious genius.

6. Describe yourself in 10 words or less…

Look at that hot mess making stuff--but mainly messes. 
That sums it up. 
And it's exactly ten words. 
Yes!!!

7. What are your ‘big loves’ and what’s the first thing you think about when you wake up?

My big loves are my little girl, my super cute husband, my monster mutt dogs, horrible spring storms, snowy winters, Christmas night, the mountains ( but not driving on mountain roads--death traps), French food and making things that make people happy. Oh, and dark chocolate. That's a no-brainer.

8. Tell us about a typical day for you…

I wake up to a baby bouncing happily in her bed. I work part time, so if I'm going to work it's a mad-dash to get this whole family out the door. I hit the cafe at work, grab my coffee, get to my desk and plug in. 
I typically browse Pinterest and blogs to start off. Then I get to work. I draw and design all day and have lunch with my funny girlfriends pretty much every day. At the end of the day I head home, get my baby, have dinner with my family. Then I play with my daughter and read her stories. When she's asleep I run a few miles, then snuggle on my couch and watch a show while drawing. Then I try to go to bed and get bombarded with 1000 new ideas. 
On the days I don't work I'm home playing with my daughter pretty much all day. I'm very lucky that I get the best of both worlds.

9. Whats the best thing about being an illustrator?

I love making up people or characters. That is fun stuff. And I get to drink coffee and listen to creative stories on podcasts while I do it. It's an entertaining gig.

 10. What is your favourite piece for sale in your shop?

I love "Let's Go Canoeing." The little buffalo in the canoe with canoeing supplies. I love buffaloes. And canoeing. So he makes me happy. I just recently added a few Fancy Girl wall hangings. Those were so fun to make. And they're super girly, which I surprisingly love. 

11. Do you regularly read any blogs? If so, what are your top three?

 I do. I love Pinterest but I think that has kinda stolen thunder from the blogs. I love Pikaland, 100 Layer Cakelet, Lay Baby Lay, The Boo And The Boy, Designlovefest.

(All above images are copyright of Tuesday Schmidt)

Thanks to Tuesday for taking some time out to share a bit of her world with us!
You can follow her here:

pinterest | facebook | website | etsy | blog

x x x