Children's accessories

These are the finished accessory cards. I sealed them in plastic bags which does ruin them a bit but as the card was not all that strong i decided it was best to protect them. Ideally id like really thick card or even board but then it would cost too much to print them up for it to be worthwhile right now. Im pretty pleased with them, i think they look super cute and much more inspiring for kids than a loose accessory. I will be putting some of these in my daughters party bags, i hope the kids like them as much as i do!

The stuffed statement bow clips match the ones on these 'nyny' t-shirts available at www.thenynystore.com

Party invitations year 3....

Time is running out faster this year. Though i started out with the usual amount of time, Ive been much more tired (lazy) and a little pre-occupied. So despite careful planning and designing I'm cutting corners, economising and simplifying things to meet my deadline. I did these in my 2 child-free nursery hours and got my daughter to colour them when she got home. The harlequin print diamonds in the background will echo the print I'm planning for the party bags. Addressed, posted Job done!

(the cards have been hand cut and the corners clipped with a corner punch. The envelopes are a photocopy of a fabric collage. Easy as pie!)

Cat face accessory cards

My daughter has a little toy cat that she adores who is white, sweet and feminine looking but also loves Kwazii, the mischievous Pirate cat from Octonauts. I decided to use the image of a cat to hold my little accessories, bows and eye patches. After a bit of a journey, starting with the most complex method, i got them printed and finally made up. 

I started with a screen print but despite spray mounting my stencil really well it kept lifting and smudging the print. I gave up as i wanted quick and pretty crisp results.

These were the techniques i tried. Silk screen print, spray paint through stencil and a hand drawn copy. I went with the computer printed option. Quick, with predictable results each time. why do i try to make things so complex all the time?!

Almost there....the eye patches i made using a combed cotton, so its nice and soft. There are stuffed bows on the girls version. Yes, they are a little bit gender generic but pretty fun i think.

Lightening bolt t-shirts

I dyed these grey as they were looking a bit too Eastern European for my tastes. What a pain though, I ended up having to re-foil them all over again. Note to self: a 30 degree wash MEANS a 30 degree wash, not a degree higher.

They are much better now and a bit more macho. I was intending the lightening bolt to be 'superhero-esque' which I'm not sure Ive achieved but its a lot better than the white background and looks a bit more rugged. Hopefully, if people stick to the 30 degrees rule, they will age nicely rather than being totally washed out in the first clean. 

A little bit of printing for a rainy day.....

I really wanted to see if my new living room layout, would be easy or stressful to continue making things. I wanted to see if the table was suitable for printing and how easy it was to access all the things i had so neatly put away, whereas before everything just lay out- waiting for use, Studio style.

My tie on print bed fits perfectly, even with the table packed up. (But its best to extend at least one side to perch the inks and tools).

I wanted to test out some screen printing with foil, that i learnt how to use the other day. One of the many advantages of having a textile genius as a friend- you get to learn about all sorts of techniques with insider tips! I decided to print some kids t-shirts as its coming up to that party time of year again.....and while i don't want to bust my balls or my bank balance with efforts making party bags, i also don't want to drop it. It will only be a month before baby brother arrives and i think my little girl needs all the spoiling she can get before the mayhem hits our house.

These were printed up pretty quickly. I didn't really plan them or think about it much- i should have. I'm pretty impatient sometimes and just rush straight into things. Anyway, once id finished around midnight i freaked out a little in my sleepy haze and felt like my red, orange and pink colour way could be perceived a bit gory- a bit like blood! Eek- not what i want to be presenting to toddlers at a party!

The boys lightening strike comes from my super hero cape project of last year but on the white it looks rather 80's trash, so i may dye these later on. 

I took stock, decided to make some new screens. Perfectly sturdy made with a glue and a staple gun. £4.40 for wood at the local hardware store and i have two A4's and an A3 screen. Much cheaper than buying them. Professionals may scoff at my method of making but for small scale home printing, you'd be surprised how easy and simple it can be to get decent enough results with basic methods.

I decided to add another colour raindrop to move away from the possible blood look.

Blue raindrops, as well as one more gold one near the top. (Here you can possibly only see the glue which is screened first, then when its dry you apply the foil with an iron).

The final image. Pah, it will do! Not the best of well thought out design but for an afternoon to evening project, not bad. Though i now realise i have to make a few more as my daughter has more friends than id estimated. Bother, a trip back to John Lewis for their super soft t-shirt tops.

Meredew drawers

These drawers were found on e-bay. Id been looking for about two weeks for any wooden drawers that were not too far out of London, that i could bare to have in the centre of my living room. I was not being too fussy but they did need to be wooden and in good condition. Possibly long and low and possibly with legs but this was just the ideal find. Then one day these popped up for £25 and they happened to be two roads away from me, so i snapped them up. My super friend helped me carry them home although i was slow and huffing and puffing a bit, being six months pregnant. Then i rather too quickly got to work to give them a bit of a spruce up. Sanded the top and sides where there were marks and deep scratches, then rushed out for some bright yellow gloss! In hindsight i think i should have re-stained and varnished the top and sides and then painted the drawer fronts but about 4 coats of various paint later, well, its too late! They are by Meredew furniture from the 1960s and I've only found two pictures on the Internet, so i hope I've not ruined them for ever- eek! Lets see how long this glossy finish will last.......

Wooden stacking stools

This is possibly the start of a few DIY home improvement posts I'm afraid. While the normal creative flow has been put on hold i am busy trying to sort my house out before baby number two arrives. My living room has been a very uninviting, studio storage space for almost three years now. The biggest room in our small flat was just a mess of wires, sewing machines and paint! It was not visitor or particularly child friendly, let alone anywhere id hang out in my down time. So I'm guessing it is this 'nesting' urge brought on by pregnancy, that has motivated me to change a few things. And change it has indeed! Not a single piece of original furniture remains, which is extreme and sounds a bit flamboyant. But its all on a very tight budget, which is only possible for someone like me, who has had the time to put in enough hours to trawl e-bay and charity shops and hunt out bargains ( also meaning i can spend money on pieces i desperately want, that i cant find cheap). I shall put a break down later on but so far here are a few things i have done so far.........

Ikea Frosta stools, maybe not as fancy as the Alvar Aalto classic but as far as I've put them into practice, are just as good and pennies in comparison. I really liked the coloured seats on some of the original 60E's and decided to get out my beloved enamel paints again. A friend pointed out that painted tops will become scratched and dented quite quickly with use, so i decided to paint just a stripe around the outside. It took a fair bit of time to put two coats on neatly but I'm pretty happy with the result. They look a little less 'Ikea' now and a little more cheery and colourful.

Ironing board covers

Just thought id re-mention my dislike of pretty much all manufactured ironing board covers. Why do manufacturing companies always choose such hideous fabrics for their ironing boards? Now i know there are a few design brands that make slightly more tasteful ones but on the whole, much like bed mattress fabric, the choice available is entirely hideous and very much set in the 70's/ early 80's when cheap and tatty had a whole new market. Anyway, rant over! I cover my own boards myself with fabrics i don't mind looking at (they are durable too) and when they eventually burn.......yes my ironing is a little hap-hazard, i make a new one.

On seeing a friends very sorry looking ironing board (with a cover so thin it left wire grid marks on the clothes), i decided to make her a new one. The original fabric was actually not nearly as offensive as any I've seen before and i happened to have a similar coloured off cut from a previous project, so i used it. This is not really a post about something amazing I've made but to show people how easy it is to make your own. All you need to do is trace round the original cover, adding an extra cm or two for shrinkage. add a layer of wadding if it needs padding replaced on the board and then sew a bias tape all around the outside edge. Folding it with a strong but thin piece of string inside. Easy, new pretty ironing board with better padding, makes ironing a happier task!

Egg rolling 2012

This year we organised another game of Egg rolling. Same place, same rules but this time we had lots more children involved, which was really fun yet totally chaotic (for someone with control issues like me!) I painted six eggs (left in the box), so did my daughter (hers on the right), with one of hers being the most minute 'mini egg'- (100% real hard boiled egg, as per my apparently 'strict' rules), which came from one of my mothers young Dartmoor free range chickens. None of ours stood the test of time or the heat of the competition. (well hers- she became protective of and had to take 4 home to display). The winners this year were the men! And not the eggs you might think either. No, not the ones with padding or layers of elastic bands but plain boiled eggs with painted shells. Winning adult egg was the red one at the bottom right and the winning child egg was the powder blue one in the centre. It was great fun in all and hopefully we will do it next year too.

Currently struggling with this new Blogger editing layout....as i had to change to dreaded Google Chrome to be able to continue blogging. Sigh. Bare with me, hopefully i will understand it all soon.

Absent again.........oops

I fear there may be a decline in my blog posting, in the future. Its clear that ive been less productive in the last few months. Lots of things really......getting pregnant, living out of boxes and some extreme nesting which has led to replacing everything i own (in the living room) for something different. Ive been wheeling and dealing- i like to call it and its become quite the full scale mission. Ive still got over three months before another troublesome little creature appears in the house but it feels like ive barely got any time to sort out the house and get some lingering creative projects wrapped up. Bags with Rosie, curtains for all the rooms in the flat, re-upholster the sofa and of course finish the obsessive interior makeover i started. So while i have nothing new to show for my existence right now, i may have some pics in a few days, of our annual egg roll which will take place tomorrow. That should brighten these empty pages temporarily. I am still here and this blog is still active, though very irregular. Apologies! x

Christmas shop

A very late blog.... i finally got hold of some photos as id never taken any in all the excitement. You can see our tiny shop from December 2011. And a happy but exhausted Rosie and I in one of our best sellers, hats by 'Beaut of the world'.

Tons of lovely things made by many talented people, too many to mention.......... but a few favourites, food by Divine and delicious, knitwear by beaut of the world, Wrapping paper and canvas bags and gift tags by Rosie MacCurrach, aprons and sleep masks by nyny, elephant stools by Will Shannon, Gicle prints by Rosie MacCurrach, assorted cards and notebooks by Liberty Belle London, Cristina Guitan and nyny.

Fox Jumpers, collaboration with Rosie MacCurrach

Here are some kids jumpers that i printed and embroidered, using an illustration by Rosie MacCurrach. I love her work, though in style it differs quite a lot from my own it captures the beauty of childhood, the essence of a magical world and transports me to an inspiring dream world. It transfers perfectly to textiles and looks beautiful on childrenswear. Im hoping to get her in on a lot more projects in the future. We are currently contemplating some ideas in Knitwear which could be really exciting. Rosie has also made some lovely canvas shoppers using this fox print. Pictures to follow.

Baby T-shirts

A few little baby T-shirts i printed in sizes 0-1 and 1-2. Not my best design work but then not bad for an afternoon. Of course i like the cloud best.