Perfect decorations for little girls and boys bedrooms and stylish nurserys, these contemporary art prints make great presents for birthdays, christenings and new babies. Alphabet Art Prints from Paper Paper, Taylors Typographic, Hello Monkey and Letterfest.
Yep, Valentines Day is just around the corner – a perfect excuse for a little heartfelt moodboard.
“Love truly” my valentine card from Lottie Frank, Intricate heart cut out from Mr Yen, Persnalsied Heart card from Quite Contraty Crafts, Framed heart by Sarah and Bendrix.
Cute bunny icons, cut outs and illustrations. The clever Lucy Player has even designed an entire alphabet around rabbits – buy now, don’t wait til Easter!
Pocket Studio Cut Out Rabbit card, Silver Rabbut card by Made by them, Belle and Boo postcard, Bunny Alphabet Art print by Lucy Player
Another fabulous grey palette. Soft dove grey hues with a whisper of January skies. Wrap up warm out there…
“Keep Calm and Carry On” from Paper Paper, Framed Angel Heart from Sarah and Bendrix, Postcard and Wrapping Paper from Belle and Boo, Camera Art print from Taylors Typographic, “I like your shoes” art print from Askey Illustration.
With the new year, comes new exciting opportunities and the promise of new products. So lately I’ve had my creative cap on, and heres a sneak peak of some new products that are on the way. They will be launched in March through Letterfest.
Each month I’ll be turning the spotlight on one of the Uk designers who’s work I’ve featured in this blog. And the best place to start – me! So Letterfest is my other company where I design and make personalied gifts inspired by my love of letterforms and design. I take my inspiration from signage and letter designs from different eras – from clean and classic; to intricate, hand-painted signs; to cool, contemporary fonts. I love unique gifts, and gorgeous bits and bobs for the home and use different environmentally-friendly materials, including recycled paper, organic cotton, wood and stone. I was a graphic designer in London for 15 years working for brands such as Rimmel and Topshop. After working and commuting ourselves into the ground, my husband and I left it all behind and moved to a little house by the sea in Devon. We finally had the life we wanted – walking on the beach, knowing everyone from the village, both working from home. But I soon wanted to design again and do something creative, so I started a little shop on Etsy with art prints and personalised keepsakes.
One of the most popular gifts are these personalised stones, with your chosen date or name engraved in a natural stone pebble, in either grey or white. Each pebble is unique – a special keep sake for loved ones, christenings and dates you want to remember. I especially like the pebbles because I love the contrast between the rough natural pebble and the delicate lines of the type. From Etsy I found new reatilers to sell my work including online marketplace Not on the High Street. With the increase in sales I now had to source the pebbles from a local quarry and store 4 tonnes in our garden! This coming year I’m introducing new art prints using letterpress and vintage wooden letters, an alphabet series for kids and new personalised wooden keepsakes. Of course, you’ll be the first to know about anything new!
Fancy a bit of UK style? There’s nothing that says it more than the traditional Union Jack. But these clever designers have put a twist on the iconic image, bringing it bang up to date. “Keep Calm and Carry On” postcard from Paper Paper, Union Jack Paper Bird from Cotton Bird designs, custom made union jack cards with ribbon in your choice of colour by Made with Love cards, and retro union jack flags perfect as cupcake toppers for summer parties from Darling Dilly Dilly. Rule Brittania!
We can’t get enough of this stuff at the moment in Paperstastic. Old fashioned Bakers Twine (the string they tie around cake boxes in France) is a great way to tie up presents. Wrap your parcel in brown craft paper, then add a strip of thick ribbonin a contrasting colour. Finish it off by tying the bakers twine on top. Its also great for scrapbooking, stringing gift tags, or using as a line to peg favourite postcards to.
Bakers twine from Paper Paper
A trend thats super popular in the art and craft world is using old maps in craft projects. Bombus is a uk designer in Kent who takes old maps and covers everything from large pieces of furniture to custom made stationery and gifts. I love these gorgeous old maps with their muted colours and graphic lines. Its so easy to create something yourself too – just search antique shops or even ebay for listings of old maps and frame some to make vintage wall art rather than the ususal photos and pictures.
Map card and bespoke map heart of your choice of location by Bombus
Handmade map envelopes by Kaye Turner
Map heart confetti by Girl Industries
If you’re starting the new year in a new home, you could let your friends and family know your new address with these stylish moving cards. Or just buy one and send it to friends that have just moved – they’ll make anyone’s day much brighter, especially with unpacking all those boxes!
Moving cards from Bombus, Quite Contrary Crafts, Pocket Studio and Dig the Earth.
Vintage has been a trend for some years now, with designers using everything from 1950’s retro images to Victorian engravings for their inspiration. Wrap up your presents and finish them off with these lovely gift tags for a touch of stylish nostalgia.
Gift tags from What Katy Did, Darling Dilly Dilly and Made by Them
Yep, its a grey day… but wierdly enough, grey is one of my favourite colours (as my husband will testify by the amount of grey clothes in my wardrobe). I’m thinking this colour is storm grey – winter seas, thunder storms, and twilight tones.
Art Prints by Zara Picken, Taylors Typographic, Askey Illustration, and Darling Dilly Dilly
I’ve been taking some time out recently over the holidays so with the new year its time to knuckle down and get some work done! I love surfing and finding new sites to inspire me, and heres a list of some of my favourites which I regularly check for new, inspiring work and cutting edge design.
Etsy – a worldwide craft portal putting you in touch with millions of sellers, making handmade items including art, furniture, jewellery, homeware and clothing. A creative hub of craftyness.
Ffffound - a fanatstically addictive site that posts up photography and images found and loved by people all over the world. Updates constantly and you can even have it as your screen saver so its shows new images every few seconds. Beware – you can lose hours looking at this site.
Print & Pattern – a blog with everything new in the world of print and pattern. Who knew there were so many lovely patterns out there.
Design Work Life – designworklife is a part of Seamless Creative, a New York City-based design studio. Updated daily, dwl was established to catalog and share design-centric inspiration.
Creativadoration – a blog and links to hundreds of designery types. Great for finding companies you never knew
Belle and Boo - ok, so Mandy’s a friend of mine but I love her blog as a sneaky snapshot into her life. Great inspirational photos and all the goings on behind the scenes of Belle and Boo.
Design Sponge - I think everyone knows about design sponge, but its still a great place for finding new talent, craft ideas, and seeing whats new in the design world.
I keep coming across lots of designers who are a incredibly clever at cutting out paper and card to make their illustrations.They create delicate and intricate paper cuts that are cut by hand and scalpel and can sometimes be personalised to your requirements. The silouhette illustrations and 3-d designs make these unique pieces a stylish alternative to the usual print on paper.
Work by Pocket studio, Mr Yen, Quite Contray Crafts amd Ruby Recycled.
Letterfest produces these great personlaised gift tags in an assortment of colours with your chosen name cut out in a stencil style. Great for really personal presents or use them as place settings at weddings and parties.
Oh, grey rainy January… summer days feel so long away. But its no time to be glum, and lots of clever people have been inspired by rainy days and produced these lovely artworks. Map rain cloud by Bombus, Umbrella cotton shopping bag by Belle and Boo, Storm Cloud illustration and “I like people who smile when its raining” by Heidi Burton, and art prints by Askey Illustration and Wall Envy.
Well, its time to turn over a new leaf and start the new year with a positive attitude. I will work hard and be nice to be people, I will eat cake if I want to, I will keep calm and carry on! And theres plenty of lovely posters and art prints available with more inspiring messages to help you be a better person. So buy one and stick it on your wall for your daily fix of good feeling.
Art Prints from Letterfest, Pocket Studio, Heidi Burton and Taylors Typographic
Starting a new detox regime, recycling our bottles from New Years Eve, filling out our 2010 diary, and visiting family in Derbyshire. Heres some pics from last New Year when we stayed with friends in the Peak District. It was so cold and frosty, we even had to break the ice for their chickens. It was great cuddling up next to the fire though as we pondered our new years resolutions (which we always break by February). This year’ resolution – to bring Papertastic to the masses!
What better way to start the new year than with these great calendars. Perfect for organising your life, whilst looking stylish and supporting home grown designers, illustrators and photographers. Fill out your year planners now!
Work from Asking for trouble and Southampton photographer Angie Muldowney.
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