Happy Valentine's Day!

New owl bag design.

Another new addition to my range of bags at Pocket Wren.

This is my second design to feature the phrase 'owl you need is love'. I must be an old romantic at heart, or is it just that I have a love for all things birdy? 

The design was created by me digitally and heat transferred onto the tote. It is available in three soft and subtle colour options, grey (as shown above), green and pink.

Garden bird bags order.

Here's the latest order, I've been working on this afternoon for Pocket Wren.

Four of my garden bird series of bags, a Great Tit, a Robin, a Blue Tit and a Bullfinch one. They are all packaged up and ready to go all the way to Japan via the USA first. 

It is so exciting knowing that my little creations are heading out there all over the world! I can't wait to see where I'll be sending packages to next!

Illustration Friday 'Children'

My entry for this week's Illustration Friday topic 'Children'. Two mischievous little guys doing what kids do best, causing trouble and making a mess!

Illustration Friday 'Sweet'

I've not had time to post an entry to Illustration Friday for a while. So I thought I'd cheat a little this week and enter an image I created a while ago for a party themed children's book.

It is an image from the end of the book where all the characters at Tiger's birthday party gather round the table to enjoy all the 'sweet' birthday treats. 

Yummy!

Second craft fair.

I've just completed my second Pocket Wren craft fair. Sales were up on the last one but I won't be ready to retire just yet! 

I feel like I'm currently on quite a steep learning curve and I'm picking up tips and skills and changing/adapting my approach all the time. I've also been trying out a few new products such as hand painted mugs and coasters to see how things go.

My goal for my next fair is to try and overcome my shyness a bit and get out there and talk to more of the other stall holders. The advice I have had from the few stall holders/crafters I've actually managed to talk to has been very helpful, they are a friendly bunch.

Here's a photo of my stall from this weekend's fair at the Last Drop Village, Bolton.

Now I've just got to decide what my next move will be...decisions, decisions!

Draw a bird day.

I've just found out it's Draw a bird day. So here's my contribution, a cheery Robin!

My First Craft Fair!

I am currently feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement (more nervous than excited if I'm honest) as I have just signed up to do my first ever Pocket Wren craft fair. 

It's all been pretty last minute so now I am running around trying to organise myself. So far I have got lots of very long to do lists with not much crossed off yet! I'm just hoping that I will have everything ready in time!

The details of the fair are on the poster above. It's on Saturday 6th April at The Gallery at St Georges House which is in Bolton town centre. So if you are in the area do stop by and have a look!

Wish me luck!!

Illustration Friday: Eye Glasses.

Here's my entry for this week's Illustration Friday topic of 'Eye Glasses'. 

I wish I was having half as much fun as these guys are!

Owl you need is love illustration.

I've been working away on some more illustrations for Pocket Wren. This whimsical owl pair are my latest offerings. They are available in several colours have a look here. The heart at the bottom can also be personalised with the initials of your choice.

I wanted to try and create a woodblock printed feel to this illustration which I hope I have achieved, at least to some extent. 

I am now working on producing an accompanying bag using this image which will hopefully be available at Pocket Wren soon.

Spring rabbit illustration for Easter.

I am still working along an Easter/spring time theme at the moment. This jumping rabbit illustration is my latest creation and is available to purchase at Pocket Wren.

Happy Mother's Day!

Illustration Friday: Yesterday

Here's my image for this week's Illustration Friday topic of 'Yesterday'. Thought I'd go for a bit of a retro take on it with this illustration of Jimi Hendrix.

It may be more yesteryear than yesterday but I'm hoping that's close enough!

Free download: Easter desktop wallpaper!

I know I'm a little bit early but I've started thinking Easter thoughts already. 

So with this in mind I have created this lovely Easter rabbit and egg desktop wallpaper design for you to download! Consider this my Easter gift to you! 

I have created a few different sizes. Just click on the one you want and save the background to your computer.

1024 x 768

1366 x 768

1600 x 900

Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Talent.

Here is this week's entry for Illustration Friday. This week's theme is 'Talent' so I present to you my collection of very talented circus performers doing what they do best...entertaining!

This is a new illustration but I have stolen the characters from various circus themed book commissions that I have created over the years. I've done my best to squeeze all the fun and variety of the circus into one image!

New bags available:British Garden Birds Collection.

My new range of bags is now available in my Etsy shop!

Follow the links below to pick up your very own cotton tote from my British Garden Birds themed collection at Pocket Wren.

Robin bag

Great Tit Bag

Bullfinch Bag

Blue Tit Bag

Illustration Friday topic - Wool.

This cute little guy is an character that I have created for a children's board book. He's a mischievous and fun loving little kitten who loves climbing trees, chasing butterflies and most of all playing with his ball of wool. He does NOT, however, like knots! 

Thought he would make a great entry for this week's Illustration Friday topic of 'wool'.

Born to Shop Eco friendly cotton bag.

Another bag complete! Both this tote bag and my 'Shop till you drop' design are now available to purchase at Pocket Wren, my online Etsy store. They are both available in a choice of three colours, purple, green or blue.

The perfect gift for the environmentally minded shopper!

'Born to shop' cotton bag

'Shop till you drop' cotton bag.

 I hope to add more designs to the range soon. If you have any slogans or phrases that you would like to see on a bag let me know and I'll see what I can do!

Illustration Friday - Storm

'Rain, rain go away' is my entry for this week's Illustration Friday topic 'Storm'.

This was an illustration that I originally produced as a student years ago. I liked the idea behind it, but was never quite satisfied with the outcome. So when I saw that this week's word was storm I thought it was the perfect opportunity to give it a make over. The aim was to make an image just using tones of blue. I may have cheated a bit though and added in a touch of purple!

Below is the original image, to me, it has never quite looked finished. I'm much happier with my reworking of it, so much so I think I might try turning it into a bag for my Etsy shop!

So that's my bit of recycling done for today! 

Let me know what you think!

Illustration Friday 'Wheel'

Here is my entry for Illustration Friday's word of the week which is 'Wheel'.

It's a new image created with the theme wheel in mind. I went for a Ferris wheel as you can see. The line art was drawn by hand using Pigma pens and the colour was added later using watercolour washes and a bit of digital tweaking.

Do let me know what you think!