Colour Palette Inspiration #28 - Cherry Blossom Flower

My last colour palette was inspired by pink apple blossom and here is another one inspired by blossom - this time it is a flower from my cherry tree.  The flowers are very pretty, but as you can see there weren't many on my little tree...

Colour Inspiration #21: Bright Birthday Flowers

I had this beautiful bunch of flowers for my birthday this week and thought they would be great for using as the inspiration for a bright, bold colour palette!

New Spoonflower Fabric designs!

Last week I received swatches for my new designs, which means there are now 15 new fabric designs available to buy from my Spoonflower shop!!  That almost doubles the number of designs I had on offer before.

A whole new collection I have added has a Steampunk theme and includes patterns made from my Hexley illustrations.  There is a Clockwork Bird pattern (with a robin, kingfisher, nuthatch and barn owl), an Aeronautical design, Nautical pattern, cogs, and a coordinating spots pattern.  My favourite design in this range probably has to be the keys, clock hands and cogs.

I created this collection after being approached by a customer who had liked the illustrations in my Etsy shop.  It’s really nice to be able to create designs based on customers suggestions and it often leads me to me creating designs I wouldn't have made otherwise.  So if there’s something you would like me to design for you please let me know!

As I needed to order swatches of the Steampunk designs before I could add them to my shop I thought I would create some other new designs and order all the swatches together.  So I have also added 2 new designs to coordinate with the Budgie range. I really like how the chevron pattern turned out as it’s quite different to any other patterns I have made…

This fish pattern started as the fish line drawing I made for the Steampunk Nautical set and I played around with colour to make something a bit bolder than a lot of my other designs…There are also 4 new floral patterns, inspired by vintage fabrics and sketches of flowers from my garden.  I tried out a few different colour schemes for these and will probably add some different versions to my shop in the future.

Finally, I created two patterns from my illustrations of rabbits.  These are so cute – I think they would be perfect for stitching things for nurseries!  Often I finish a project and spot all the things I would change, having spent too long looking at a piece of work.  So it's nice to be satisfied with these designs!

For those of you not familiar with Spoonflower, it’s really simple to order fabric – choose from an 8” square swatch, fat quarter or by the yard.  If you visit my shop you will find that you can buy these designs printed on 12 different fabrics, from basic combed cotton to heavy cotton twill.  You can also buy these designs as rolls of wallpaper.  Spoonflower is based in the USA, so if you order from any other country don't forget you might have to pay customs fees.  (In the UK you have to pay import VAT on goods over £15, if you're ordering small quantities you probably won't have to pay anything.)  So far I've been lucky and haven't had to pay any customs fees!

Colour Inspiration #19 – Peony

We have two types of peonies in our garden; some deep red ones which are now over and these beautiful pink flowers which are in full bloom and inspired this pretty pastel colour palette.

Colour Inspiration #15 - Purple Crocus

It is officially Spring now but it’s still freezing outside – more snow is expected by the weekend! :(  I can’t wait until Spring is really here – the bulbs are starting to flower so hopefully it won’t be long now.  I took this bright photo of one of the purple crocuses in my garden.

Colour Inspiration #11 - A Hint of Spring

As the snow was melting in my garden and the sun was shining I thought I would take the time to practise my photography.  This viburnum produces pretty pink flowers in my garden throughout the winter and has a lovely scent – a hint that spring is not too far away.

Colour Inspiration #8 – Schizostylis

It’s been very wet here for the last few days, although we have been much luckier than some people in other areas of the UK with floods.  This flower photograph is from a week or two ago - when we had lots of sun!
These beautiful flowers are growing in our pond and flower through the autumn – it’s lovely to have something so pretty on flower when so much of the rest of the garden is fading.  I didn't know much about the plant so looked it up – it is a Schizostylis (also known as a kaffir lily) and comes from South Africa.  Most places seem to say that it should be grown in moist but well draining soil and it grows beside streams - I've not seen many places recommending them grown in water but ours seem to do well there!

Clematis Note Cards

The first set of my new note cards is finished!  This pretty set has a Clematis theme and contains 4 square cards, each with a different design.  I have designed this set so that you can use them for a range of occasions, two cards have ‘Thank you’ messages on the front, one says ‘Just to say…’ and the last has no message.  The size of these cards (10cm x 10cm) makes them great for writing little notes.

The cards are printed on lovely white linen textured card and come with white envelopes.  As I am printing these cards myself I am able to offer personalised cards too – so if you like the designs but would prefer different messages on them I am happy to do custom orders!
 

At the moment these cards will only be available to buy from my Folksy shop.

More card sets will be released soon!  As well as other sets of small square cards I will also be making cards to sell individually and in other sizes.

Colour Inspiration #7 - Hydrangea

A colour palette inspired by the hydrangea bush in my garden...

This is the most colourful time of year in my garden - I don't want the summer to end!

Clematis Pattern Designs

The drawings of flowers which I did in my sketchbook the other day have proved useful already - I've just finished this new paper set based on clematis flowers...

I've been working on how to make my repeat patterns better - so that it's easier to use one motif in different scales and colours.  I'm pleased with how the repeat clematis pattern came out (the pink one above is my favourite).  This one was designed on paper first (using tracing paper to help make sure it would all line up) before making the finished pattern on my computer.

The set of 8 papers has just been listed in my shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/101139199/clematis-printable-scrapbooking-papers

Colour Inspiration - Allium

I like taking photographs and I like playing around with colour so thought I'd try this as a new regular feature on the blog - colour palettes picked from my photographs. 

I used the colour picker tool in Photoplus on this photo I took in my garden last year of an allium.  I've tried it with a few photos and it's interesting seeing the colours you can pick out - it's making me think more about colours which could go together in my paper designs too.