bonbah » illustration

Dino-mite! Starting to come together

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:37:12 +0000

There are so many things I’d like to develop and offer in my Etsy/Folksy shop that I often have difficulty focusing and have ended up feeling like it’s all spread a bit thin. It’s normally through customer requests that I start developing things a bit more logically. I’ve recently had some requests for printed decorations that I don’t currently carry. It’s given me the push to move away from just offering pdf versions of things to keeping part of the fun (cutting and pasting, yeay!) for me. So first up is the Dinosaur suite of stationery and decorations:

There are cupcake toppers too, but they still need to be photographed. Next up pinwheels, bunting banners and party blowers. Then on to all the other party suites and hopefully still time to get Christmas going.

UK Inspiration: Thereza Rowe & Crayonfire

admin — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 20:49:08 +0000

This week, here’s some strong, bold colourful and characterful graphic illustration:

1. Thereza Rowe – London

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2. Crayonfire (Neil Stevens) – St. Albans

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UK Inspiration: Lil3Birdy & Naughty Dog

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:09:43 +0000

A couple of talented UK based surface designers to get me back into the swing of things.

1. Lil3Birdy (London) beautiful, intricate designs with birds & geometric patterns.

Bird Gift Tags, Illustrated Art Designs, Turquoise Blue Grey

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Cute Bird & Flower Gift Tags, Illustrated Art Designs, Blue Green Pink

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Owl Gift Tags, Ink Drawing Designs, Brown Black White

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2. Naughty Dog (Hartlepool) really lovely cushions with line drawings of dogs, shoes, butterflies…

Appliqued Dog Cushion

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Shoe Cushion

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Dog Cushion

wow, where have I been!

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:02:38 +0000

Hmmm the last time I wrote anything here seems to pretty much correspond with my son’s first steps. Coincidence or just a new kind of tired? Not sure, but it’s time I got back on track. I’m going to pick up where I left off with UK Inspiration and Mini Inspiration and see where that takes me. It’s been far too long to go without seeing all the beautiful things people are making.

As well as running around after a (very fast) toddler, I’ve also been busy with graphic design projects, bit of traveling (love San Diego), and adding designs to my stationery range. I’m still focusing on personalised invitations and working on matching thank you cards and decorations. Here are few of the latest. All summer, garden inspired funnily enough:

new birthday invitations

admin — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 17:55:25 +0000

I’ve finally listed a couple of new children’s birthday party invitations: a spooky theme and a teddy bear tea party. The spooky one was designed for my son’s first birthday party and the other for his friend’s but they’re both now on Folksy.

spooky birthday invitation

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teddy bear tea party

Folksy Friday on a Saturday – rain rain rain

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:35:14 +0000

We’ve been getting ready to go away so although I picked out my Folksy picks on Friday I didn’t get a chance to post. Luckily or unluckily Mother Nature has kept up my theme for me. Rain rain rain. Not my fondest thing when I’m trying to get loads of clothes dried. But luckily some crafty folksters have used the theme brilliantly:

Teeny Rainy Day Studs from Joanna Rutter

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Rainy Day Child’s T-shirt from Rocky the Zombie

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Raining Cats and Dogs from Emma Lee Cheng

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Rainy Day Brooch from Nelli D

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Breadcrumbs Screenprint from Fancy and Fondant

UK Inspiration – Summersville & Ruth Robinson Ceramics

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:05:31 +0000

I’ve been doing Folksy Friday for a while now and I really like Folksy and what it is growing into. I’ve also started getting involved with UK Handmade which is very exciting and very inspiring. There’s nothing more motivating that meeting and building relationships with people with like interests. Especially when you’re a work-from-home mum like me. Sometimes it can feel a bit like I inhabit my own little universe. Etsy UK seems to be stepping up a bit of late which is great as although I love Etsy and have for ages, recently I’ve been feeling like it’s a bit too US based. There are alot of very talented artists, designers and craftspeople in the UK, but the public opinion of ‘craft’ definitely needs changing. There are still a lot of old-fashioned WI style things around (and I probably have an outdated vision of the WI!) if you’re looking but there are also many hand-crafted products that could match and outdo any commercially made product for ingenuity, craftsmanship and uniqueness. Looking back, for the most part I have been focusing on UK makers, but going forward I’m going to make a stronger effort to find inspiration from the UK.

So here are a couple of wonderful designers I had never heard of but found by doing a couple of random searches on Etsy:

1: Summersville (from Suffolk): Beautiful screenprinted prints, notebooks & fabric

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scandi hand screenprinted fabric

twist hand screenprinted fabric

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2: Ruth Robinson Ceramics (from Cheshire): Gorgeous ceramic buttons and hairclips

Handmade blue porcelain owl hairclips

Handmade green porcelain buttons

Handmade grey porcelain buttons

Folksy Friday – Gocco

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:22:18 +0000

I wanted a gocco machine for ages and I got one two years ago. I think I’ve used it once. Mainly, in all fairness, because I don’t have access to an old-school carbon copier. But it’s still one of my favourite things and finding a way to use it more often is definitely up there on my todo list. One day I’ll be able to gocco as well as this (click on the images or shop names for more info):

Vintage Button Gocco Badges from Asking For Trouble

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Hoot Owl A6 Notebook from Nell

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Blue Hare from deebeale

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Matryoshka Gocco Print by Kipi Ka Popo Shop

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Brown Owl Gocco Printed Lavender Bag from Inkmeup

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Have a Terrierific Birthday – Boston Terrier Card from Forever Foxed

(please click on the images or shop names for more information)

new photos

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:36:27 +0000

I’ve finally got my new product photos up on Folksy just need to do shots for the new wedding and children’s party invitations once the samples are finished.

mini inspiration: Lucienne Day

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:31:55 +0000

I’m starting a new weekly post: mini inspiration. Just a very quick visual look at someone or something I find inspiring. Who better to start with than my favourite textile designer Lucienne Day: