Rose and Thistle Buttonhole

Another thing that I needed to get done was this- it's a rose and thistle buttonhole illustration; I'm getting married in a week and a bit, and these are going to go on my wedding favour bags. I feel that I may have gone a little crazy with the ink, but I am rather happy with how it's turned out.

Clip Art Sets

I have been very busy lately, trying to make some clip art sets to add to my Etsy shop (after noticing that there wasn't actually that much quality Scottish clipart available on the site). I am also in the process of creating a Japanese monster set. More to follow soon!

So I got some more teatowels printed

One using the thistle design that I have on a few other items, and one with a brand new pattern that I made (I started doodling it during an unsuccessful evening at Granny Would Be Proud), a 'cattern'. I'm still trying to find somewhere to license my designs as I could really do with the money, but for now, if you want to support me a little bit, my shop is here :-)

Wedding Invites

So I'm working on some wedding invitation designs in an attempt to find more work! I will be adding various styles to my collection, but this is the first. I find that simplicity is key- there are SO MANY  terrible examples of wedding stationary online that are obviously cheap cheap cheap! Why is it that someone can spend £30,000 on a wedding, and yet think it's ok to spend £10 on design?

I also recieved a sample of my fox and squirrel wildlife scarf

Excitement! But I have to see whether people want to buy them before ordering, which is tricky, as I'm ordering a few here and there, the retail price has to be expensive to make up for the wholesale, but I hope that people like them enough to pay a little more. I really love the free sample that was sent to me, and a bonus is that it's printed in Yorkshire, whereas a lot of the cheaper scarves out there aren't even printed in the UK. If anyone's interested, they can order one here, or if they find me at a stall, there's a chance I might have one for sale there.

So I finally got some more stock for my shop

 It's here https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KitchenCrawlies :-)
I was a little worried that it wouldn't arrive in time, and then I'd have jury duty... but I didn't have to do that afterall...
And now (HOPEFULLY) I will have my first ever fair in Stirling on Saturday, where I hope to sell this stuff :-)

So my cards arrived

I got them all cellophane wrapped and ready to go! I'm just waiting on my other stock at the moment, which I am super excited for! In the mean time, you can purchase my greetings card from either my Etsy or my Folksy stores. 

When life rains

So it's been raining a lot lately... although I guess that's what you should come to expect when you live in the northern region of a tiny island notorious for it's weather. I'd been wanting to do this for a while, really, but I finally got around to it when I realised that I needed another postcard for my stall in Stirling in August. It's just a little thought that I've been doodling for a while.

 Growing up in various regions of this little island, I came to  find it a sensible idea to always take an umbrella with me, just in case. Because even if it looks sunny, and the skies seem clear, you never can tell what lies ahead. I felt like it was an appropriate metaphor for life too- if you always have it in your mind that (although you hope for the best) things could go horribly wrong, I don't think you'll be as upset when they do, and pleasantly surprised when they don't. I guess that I just have an optimistic pessimistic view on life, but I feel like it serves me well, I'll just have to keep all my fingers and toes crossed that my stall experiences are mostly pleasant ones!

Wee Scottish Thistle

Postcard/ greetings card that I have created for my catalogue. At the moment I'm more tempted to use it as a post card. We'll just see
This postcard is now available at here for £1.50

Notepad

I've sent my product designs off to the printers today. I am excited and nervous at the same time, I'm still waiting to hear back from the events organiser, but if all goes to plan, I should have my stall in Stirling last month. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that none of the various cogs in my plan fail on me.

Scottea time!

Another little greetings card done! I'm going to need help selecting which ones to get  printed for the trade/ craft fair.

More patterns ^_^

I designed this pattern for a friend's birthday, as she wants to make a nightie out of it and said that she couldn't find any fabric with (red) squirrels  on it anywhere. She also wanted foxes, but personally, I like my woodland animals (unless they're the same size in real life) split up, so I made one design with just the squirrels, which I am CONSIDERING turning into cushions, if I can feel convinced that they will sell. I might might might also create a separate design with just the foxes too, but that's when I've got everything else that I need done and dusted.

Eventually they will be available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KitchenCrawlies?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Scotland tote

So I've been chipping away these past few weeks. Even though I'm sure that I've been working hard, I never seem to get as much done as I'd like to do, and I'm running a little low on money. Being the stubbon little girl that I am, I know that I want to work for myself, (and I've always preferred cats to people anyway...) so I'm going to start doing craft fairs and try to get some more business for my Etsy.

 A lovely craft fair organiser has offered me a free table, so, come next month (I'm still waiting on funding to order stock) I will be (assuming my stock arrives in time) doing one, either in Buchanan Galleries, or the Thistle shopping centre in Stirling. Watch this space! You can purchase the tote here

Thistle, Berry and Heather Pattern

So these past couple of days I've been working on some new pattern ideas- this being one of them. I hope to get at least one more done by the time I have my Cultural Enterprise meeting this week, but everything takes so much time! I am hoping to secure funding so that I can get my patterns and designs printed in bulk and start trying to distribute them.

 I am quite happy with how this one turned out, I think it'll make a nice little mug :-) and I'm hoping the little shops that I'm targeting agree! If that fails, I always have Etsy... Wish me luck!

Highland Cow

Finished highland cow portrait; I think that this one was Lady Alma. If memory serves, they named her after a character from Downtown Abby. If you need a fun (and FREE) day out, take a trip to Pollock park and watch them wash a cow.

Party Dogs!

A self directed promotional project stemming off my scottie with a balloon. I imagined cute little pooches having a party, each with something to represent it. I have a few more doodles and ideas, but these are the dogs that I chose to fully render. Tomorrow I will make them into a little A5 booklet to send off to some magazines in the hopes that I get lucky and they like them! Wish me luck!

I have the scottie design in greetings cards here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KitchenCrawlies

I've been a busy person

I've sent my illustrated dummy off to publishers in the vague hope that they'll accept it, in the mean time I'm strapped for money and dreading council tax. Here are some mini Scottish cards that I made, HOPING to sell them in a local sweet shop.

Scandinavian Scotty

Ok, I know it's a Westie, but I thought I'd give into the punch-line- eeeeehh... ehhhhhh... ehhhhh? No. Ok. Let's move on. This illustration was a response to an article that the Guardian did on how Scotland relates to its Scandinavian neighbours. A bit literal, I know, but I am really really tired.

おやすみなさい