Sorry for being a little m.i.a. for a while… its not you, its me.

I’ve been a tad busy doing various activities like searching for a first home and sometimes having fun gets in the way of a little work too. I’ve begun my ‘sorry, I’ll try and be better’ return to my blog by posting a new card I’ve done to say ‘Ta’.

Get one here if you’d like to.

Speak soon.

I’ve recently added a couple of little offers to my Etsy shop where you can buy a combination of cards for a discount on both item price and delivery.

The Pick & Mix offers are (for the moment) any three cards for £6 & five cards for £10. So if you’ve got a few events coming up, pop on over to the shop and you can get a combination of lovingly made cards for high street prices. I do mean to blow my own horn when I say you won’t be disappointed!

I was looking for some wintery images to share with you all and cam across the work of Kate Sutton. The images above which she created for the Renegade Craft Fairs (in San Francisco, Chicago & Los Angeles) have a great knitted and patterny look to them making a stunning set of posters. She has quite an impressive client base (the bandages below she did for Urban Outfitters) and a fab appreciation for colour and pattern.

Check her out if you like her style, there’s plenty more where these came from…

I’ve finally got some of my prints up on Etsy, and its about time even if I do say so myself. I’ve done a version of the same print ‘Facets’ in a few gorgeous colours and you can buy one if you’d like.

Or you can just look at them below…. take your pick, I don’t mind.

I bloomin’ love this print. Isn’t it just magical?

You can buy this and others from Anonymous Ink & Idea if you like.

Its the brain child of Rich Knepprath a tres talented designer from Austin, Texas. He is a little illusive though as from his site I can’t get much on him for you.

However, his fan page on Facebook spills the beans.

So if you’re interested, log in and have a browse, its well worth it.

I found myself a gem of a bargain a couple of weeks ago which I’d like to share with you all.

I’d been looking for a decent working SLR for a long time with a view to eventually getting a little dark room area at home. I found this gorgeous specimen of a camera sitting in the shop window of Oxfam in Harrogate for a bargain £20. There was an extra lens still attached which was a great added extra and a quick visit to a well known auction site provided me with a dirt cheap lens cap. The strap was pretty brown when I bought it but a quick visit to the washing machine returned it to its former glory.

I bought myself some Ilford HP5 400 film to feed it and am currently waiting for the first prints back. Living where I do its a huge mission to find somewhere with the equipment to develop this film but trusty old Jessops in Shrewsbury are giving it a go so fingers crossed.

Either way a dark room at home will always be my preferred choice, so watch this space.

Brother Fire aka Christopher Harrell is a designer whose work I’ve recently been really inspired by.

I think I fall into the same category of illustrator as him due to a lack of strict visual style to our work. Many illustrators and designers whose work I admire have a constant style of drawing etc. For ages I was really frustrated by this lack of coherency to the aesthetic of my work but a very wise lecturer once pointed out to me that my continuing style is within meaning, accuracy and message rather then colour line and shape.

Christopher has a wonderful body of work and I like not knowing what his next project is going to look like before he does it.

Variety my friends, is indeed the spice of life.

I say silence is golden as I’ve been a little neglectful of ye olde blog in recent times.

BUT have no fear, I am just having a little trouble squeezing it all in. I spent last weekend making an insane amount of cards very quickly for a project and have generally had a serious lack of time.

However this week I’ve managed to get stuck into a little glamorous garage screen printing which I tend to do in my few hours after work. Here’s a little sneak preview of some test prints I’ve been playing with. Hopefully I’ll have some finished prints to show you soon and if  get myself together I’ll take a few photographs of the setup I’m using in case anyone’s interested.