Sew much fun!

I started making some felt flower brooches last year as little stocking fillers for my family and friends and I think I may have caught the sewing bug!

It's a great way to use up my large collection of old buttons and the recipients were happy which was nice.  I also made a rather strange brooch at the request of my husband which you can see here.  He was rather pleased with it, but has yet to be seen wearing it around town!

I received this rather lovely shiny red sewing machine for Christmas and I am looking forward to having a go on some slightly bigger projects this year... Many years ago I did a dress-making class but found it all a bit too technical and I have various half finished garments in the loft!
I think I'll probably start with making things for the house as you can never have enough cushions in my opinion!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone, although it's probably a bit late to be still saying that!  I always think that January is a good time to have a good ol' sort out and start afresh with a tidy desk and therefore an organized mind - I'm still working on mine!

Here's a little illustration I did for the January issue of Today's Parent magazine which fits in with that as it's about giving your handbag a good clearout. Apparently us women carry far too much about with us and the client wanted me to include some 'over the top' items to emphasise the point.

Well I'd better get back to the decluttering so I can start putting all my exciting work plans into action....

Merry Christmas!

Here's my Christmas card design for friends and family.  I thought it would be fun to draw myself, my husband and our cat as baubles on the tree.  I used a bit of artistic license as I'm not big on wearing hats and Lee's chin isn't quite that big!  Apparently I've made him look like he's in the band Devo with his red hat but that wasn't intentional!
Wishing everyone fabulous festive fun over the holidays and I'll look forward to some more blogging in 2011...

Matchbox Labels No 8

 I haven't posted any of my vintage matchbox labels for a while, so here's a cute little Dutch set featuring alcoholic drinks for your delectation - enjoy!

Illustration Friday - Sneaky

Temptation proved too much for Tim and he couldn't resist a sneaky peek!
I've not had time to submit anything to I.F for a few weeks but here's a quick one for this week's topic.
I can't believe it's only a month now until Christmas, I suppose I'd better get on with making my cards and buying presents etc!

Open All Hours

I have just opened another little shop for my gocco prints on folksy, the U.K version of etsy.
This birdie and some of my other prints are looking for new homes.  You can check it out here.
There are lots of lovely handmade shops to discover there, just in time for Christmas shopping!

Wedding Music

I recently illustrated an article on choosing wedding music in the latest issue of Destination Weddings and Honeymoons Magazine.

The issue is just published, although I haven't seen a copy so I thought I'd post my 2 favourites.  Ipod dj or live band?  We had a band play at our wedding and they definitely added something special to the day for us so I would choose live music every time.