Gorgeous ‘Cavapoo Caddy’ Molly – my latest commission for her golf mad Dad. My commissioned pieces make a luxurious gift for special occasions and loved ones. Printed onto heavyweight 100% cotton with archival pigments inks – the artwork has exquisite depth of colour and it so tactile and luxurious. This piece includes a little birthday poem that I wrote for my customer. I love adding little touches that makes the artwork extra special.
Golf gift for him – Cavapoo dog portrait
I work with customers to add any extra special touches to make the artwork a memory that can be treasured forever, all artwork is museum archive quality.
Get in touch if you would like to discuss commissioning a piece.
It’s new year – I would say happy new year – but I’m not feeling very happy about it. The election result, the behaviour of our PM, Brexit and the Country leaving Europe – it’s happening and I’m continuing to struggle to come to terms with it, I love Europe and consider my self European. There’s Trump launching a drone attack that might potentially lead to World War three and the devastating fires across large swathes of Australia, causing a wake of death and destruction and something that looks like the end of days… and it’s only the 5th January!
There are currently estimated to be 500 million animals killed in Australia and many, many more injured and in need of help. I have followed the fires on Twitter closely, sobbed at some of the stories and pictures of kolas and kangaroos – seen images of things so horrific, I wish I could un-see them. All while the Australian PM remains in climate change denial and continues to push coal as his energy supply of choice. So yeah – for someone who suffers from bouts of anxiety and depression not a great start for me. Hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here on in!
To try and lift my spirits I’m having another self-imposed Twitter ban as it isn’t good to be so deeply immersed in such awful and traumatic news 24/7. I have to be more positive and remove myself from news for a while. Instead, I’m putting my worries into action, dusting off my sewing machine and helping with a campaign run out of Australia to help create items for wild animals that have been injured by the fires.
For any animal lovers / crafters, like me, who are feeling helpless and devastated by what is happening in Australia and who want to get involved in helping injured animals… this group is for you! There are detailed and clear patterns and instructions on how to sew joey pouches etc. including the best fabrics to use, how to knit/crochet nests etc. For more information about this campaign visit the Animal Rescue Craft Guild: https://www.facebook.com/arfsncrafts/
If you’re in the UK this Animal Rescue Craft Guild Facebook Group shows all UK collection hubs and has discussion around how you can help: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1783148795102420
If you are local to where I live in Whickham I can print & drop off patters to elderly relatives neighbours who aren’t able to access them – just let me know. I am also acting as a collection hub in Whickham and can pick up any makes from around the Newcastle and Gateshead area.
Catching up with my blog post for another Folksy Friday Film. ‘Rainbows and Unicorns’ involves a gorgeous selection of lovely makes from talented Folksy sellers. You can watch it here:
One of the makers in the film created something especially designed for the animation, this beautiful unicorn was created by Abbey Wright of Seen and Known – here we find out a little bit more about Abbey and her small handmade business:
Hi, my name is Abbey! I’m the creator of Seen and Known. I live in Carlisle, in the beautiful county of Cumbria. For my business I make little keepsake soft sculpture animals. I love creating animals that have character, making each one with their own personality. I enjoy watching a flat design evolve into something that can stand on its own two or four feet! I started working with textiles 6 years ago during my A Levels and I started my business Seen and Known 3 years ago.
How long do your makes take to create?
Depending on the animal and the size, it can take a day or two. Getting everything just right with all the details and of course taking tea and cake breaks!
Your inspiration / how do you come up with your designs?
I’m inspired by other peoples work. Looking at what they’re making, their skills and being in awe of them. And obviously animals.
The designs I draw are straightforward, nothing too technical. The fun is in the face and accessories.
What is your personal favourite design or item to make?
It’s hard to pick one but I always enjoy the sheep and how they turn out. I also really like a panda I made a while back wearing a hat.
What’s your most popular item?
The sheep are popular I think. And the two lions I made found homes quite quickly.
Best feedback from a customer?
A customer bought a sheep for a gift and asked for a birthday card to go with it which I painted and hand lettered. I remember she was “delighted” with both the wooly sheep and card. That was a very nice commission to make.
What does mean to you when someone buys one of your handmade items?
I’m always thrilled and surprised! For someone who doesn’t know me but trusts me and what I create is such a lovely feeling. For a person to want what I make is encouraging. I always hope that my little animals bring joy to whoever gives them a home.
Fun fact(s)?
If I could wear slippers all the time, I would!
Making a unicorn for this film was a new, unique and magical experience.
What’s next?
Next, I just hope I can carry on creating these little creatures and continue to grow Seen and Known. You can always find me on Instagram, Facebook and Folksy!
A very special thanks to Yas Bowley who animated the most beautiful leaping unicorn, turning Abbey’s textile creation into a magical animation, it is perfect and Abbey was thrilled to see her unicorn brought to life.
Also again a huge thank you to my lovely hubbie, Steven Warren who created some original ukulele especially for the film *I’m a lucky lady*.
Now we meet Shelly Honey from by Shelly Lee maker of the magic jug that turns dancing flowers into unicorns!
Hello I’m Shelly Honey I have a little pottery business called by shelly lee, I live in a little village on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, my business started as my full time job 8 years ago, I used to dabble in all sorts of crafts until I started pottery which took off and I haven’t looked back since, I used to work as a part time chef before hand and gave that up to do pottery full time, I love what I do and wouldn’t want to change it for the world, I have a little garden workshop that I share with Daddy Rabbit, he’s one of my two bunny’s, he’s a super fluffy lion head and is 8 years old this year, he’s a proper grumpy old man but we love him hugely.
How long do your makes take to create?
I make a huge variety of pottery, I only use porcelain, I chose porcelain as I love its creamy white colour and the way the colour glazes look on its body. Each item I make is made from hand, no wheels or slip moulds, each item is made using the slab building method, I am a very quick worker, once I get in the zone I can easily make up to 50 jugs in a day, plaques can take slightly longer as each letter is stamped by hand. I’m much more productive when making, but glazing takes double the time if not more.
Your inspiration / how do you come up with your designs?
Sketch, sketch, sketch. I have books of random drawings which very rarely resemble a finished product. I also like to be hands on, sometimes just playing until I come up with something new.
What is your personal favourite design or item to make?
That’s a difficult one, I think If I had to pick just one it would be the button jugs, even after making hundreds I still love them and still have the same joy in opening the kiln to them as I did when I first started to make them.
What is your most popular item?
Equally button jugs and HaPea keyring, these are the biggest sellers with the shops who supply my items.
Best feedback from a customer?
The best one off the top of my head wasn’t something someone wrote to me but it was the face of someone when I delivered them their item, seeing the pure joy on that persons face made me realise I was doing something right
What does it mean to you when someone buys one of your handmade items?
Pure happiness, every time I get a sale or order I feel the same bubbling joy inside, I feel so blessed that someone has chosen to buy an item I’ve made with my own two hands, even after all these years I still can’t quite believe I’ve got my own little business and it’s all down to each and every wonderful customer, for that I’ll be forever grateful.
Strike a pose.
Fluffster!
Climbing bunny
Fun fact(s)?
Few facts about me, I am double jointed and my arms bend back at the elbow.
I have an addiction to dungarees, it’s all I ever wear.
I have two rabbits, ones called daddy rabbit who’s old, grumpy and rules over the garden, the other is called Nelly who’s lives in the house (garden by day) she very loving and I’m pretty sure she thinks she’s half goat as she’s recently taking a liking to climbing walls and fences.
You can find Shelly online, her gorgeous wares are available to buy from her Folksy Shop or on Facebook.
A massive thank you to all of the other Folksy makers who contributed to the animation, it has been a total pleasure working with you all and I hope to interview more of you for this blog in the future. All of the additional gorgeous makes that are included in the film are listed below and shop links included, please do pay them a visit and say hello on their social media accounts to see more of their wonderful designs:
By shopping small, buying from self employed artists, designers, and makers, as well as independent retailers and shopping on Folksy: you’re supporting British artisans, directly putting money in their pockets – supporting David not Goliath. To find out more about supporting Indie Retailers and British artisans visit: Just a Card to see how you can join the campaign.
Have you seen the latest ‘Folksy Friday Fun’ animation creation about a Zombie Sloth decorating his pad in the rain forest? The short animation was inspired by the beautiful work created by two talented sisters, Fiona Thomson of FionaT on Folksy and Sal Thomson of Little Black Heart. Fiona creates the most cool freehand embroidered zombie makes, and Sal creates the most intricate zombie art pieces, often miniatures and on pebbles. Their work inspired the latest animation film which if you haven’t seen already, you can watch here…
ZOMBIE SLOTH FILM
I personally had a very difficult week last week, losing my beautiful Cav, Oscar, which I do plan to write about in another blog post. What was amazing was how much working with the lovely makers involved with this film has helped to lift me up and keep me going during a difficult time. It was a total pleasure and privilege to get to know these talented makers and work with their gorgeous products, please do go and have a look at their shops and support their handmade businesses if you can.
Zombie sloth hanging out int he rain forest – by Fiona T
While working on the animation the one man band music team a.k.a, my husband – Steve Warren, came across some fab music online, ‘The Sloth song’ by AndyBlarg’s Music on YouTube. This led me to contact Andy directly and see if he would be willing to work in collaboration and contribute his original lyrics and arrange them to Steve’s ukulele. He kindly obliged, and as you will hear the results are totally awesome!!! I’m so grateful for Andy’s involvement as the song sounds fabulous and I can’t believe how easily and quickly we managed to pull everything together. It’s amazing and it still blows my mind when I hear it! I plan to put it on my music playlist so I can hum along while I work. Please head on over and give Andy’s YouTube channel some support.
A little bit more about Andy, the man behind the genius that is ‘the Sloth song’.
I am Andy Black (but my online username is andyblarg), I’m a single a 28 year old nearly graduated college student at BYU Idaho currently at home for the summer volunteering at the Sacramento Zoo for intern credit. I want to be a zookeeper for Disney World. I love writing parody songs for YouTube as a hobby that I hope goes somewhere, but also like playing Nintendo games, being around animals, and dancing.
I created the Sloth Song because I was volunteering at an aquarium/zoo that was going to announce Sloths being added to the park and thought “I should make a song about sloths since people love them”. I wrote the song using a free tune from the YouTube Audio Library and adding lyrics talking about facts about sloths in a funny and witty way. I also make other songs based on random inspiration that hits me when listening to a song or thinking of a good subject to write about.
Tooled up Zombie Sloth by FionaT
Now let me introduce you to the fabulous and charismatic Fiona T, maker of non other than Zombie Sloth:
Hello! I’m Fiona, an obsessive maker of things – from miniature embroideries, to fireside knittings, to too-big renovation projects. I live in a teeny mill workers cottage in Belper, Derbyshire, with Husband and our crazy collie Cassie. My sister (Little Black Heart) & I have always been creative and have enjoyed drawing & making since childhood, but she’s clearly the best at drawing.
She can immediately put on paper what gets stuck somewhere between my brain and fingers. I’d been tinkering with free motion embroidery at university, but afterwards, i didn’t want to sew my own drawings anymore – I wanted to sew hers! I started making fabric doodles with her sketches, and these eventually evolved into her beautiful illustrations and my textural “colouring-in” raw edge applique.
Things escalated.
Nine years ago, when we opened our shops on Folksy, I don’t think either of us imagined there’d be a market for our quirky zombie wares!
How long do your makes take to create?
Free machine embroidery can be a pretty labour intensive process, the trick to getting a nice line & machine tension is to go slowly… which is slow.It depends on the finished item – at least a couple of hours for something straight forward… but I can’t help adding more intricate & ever tinier details.
On larger pieces, the cutting and layering of fabrics can take hours, but the embroidering will be disappointingly short in comparison (I really love the embroidery bit. Like, REALLY), and there’s still process of making the finished item, whether that’s bookmarks, covers, pencil cases (I hate zips the same amount that I love embroidering).
Your inspiration / how do you come up with your designs?
Well it’s mostly zombies. Obviously. But I basically pinch Sal’s drawings when I’m visiting, and then tweak or simplify her drawings into designs for sewing.
I love colour & texture so that’s where our work diverges a bit – she’s less is more, I’m more & more & brighter & bolder is more.
What is your personal favourite design or item to make?
The sloths are always a favourite – I love their expressions, and how they can change depending on a slight snipping or stitching variation.
I also love sewing Sal’s birds – if i’m in “the zone” and my hands aren’t wobbling all over the place, getting their elegant swooshing curved just right freehand is extreeeemely satisfying!
Fanciest Zombie by Fiona T
What is your most popular item?
Probably the zombie girls – there’s so much scope for playing dress-up with their gorgeous hair and outfits, and luckily there’s always a potential customer going “this is SO me!”
Best feedback from a customer?
The best feedback for me is that people come back again & again. I have some customers who’ve been buying from me for years so I know their addresses off by heart. Seeing a familiar postcode in a sales notification is my best feedback 🙂
What does it mean to you when someone buys one of your handmade items?
I love buying handmade, so I know how it feels to receive something really special and completely unique, to have chatted to the maker or have seen the process happening. When someone buys from me, I hope they’re getting some of the same good feels that I get buying from other makers.
A *SQUEEEEEEE* can really make your week when you’re having a rubbish day or doing admin.
Relating back to question about feedback, people have taken the time to send me actual handwritten thank you cards in the mail – I can’t even articulate how much that means to me – that relationship between maker, item & buyer, you don’t get that at supermarkets 🙂
*tenuous* Fun fact 😉
This is one of my favourites – a secret commission that I couldn’t possibly say no to -the best friend of a customer contacted me about making a surprise birthday pressie… we agreed the birthday girl would love a sentimental “home sweet home” style embroidery.
Purple Sloth Zombie by Fiona T
Zombie Sloth comes to life
Fiona T designign toucans and playing with colour
The birth of Zombie Sloth
It has been a total pleasure working with Fiona who adapted her Zombie Sloth design with wiring especially for the film and and all hail the awesomeness of her gorgeous toucan that she designed for us, which is now available in her shop. Thanks Fiona for your support and kind words this week. Don’t forget to pop in and take a look at Fiona T’s shop to buy her gorgeous handmade work.
And now we meet the other half of the talented duo, Fiona’s talented sister, Sal from Little Black Heart:
I’m Sal, a.k.a. Little Black Heart. I live in Lincolnshire, and spend most of my days happily scribbling, drawing and painting. I absolutely love what i do, and (mostly) find it very therapeutic. I love to be busy and am always making something! I started my business about 10 years ago – making greetings cards at first, but it soon evolved into making the original artworks that I now love to create.
How long do your makes take to create?
I work tiny, and some of my illustrations are only 2 inches ‘big’, so they can be relatively quick to make, just a few hours. When I work on larger pieces, they can take a couple of days. Sometimes I go crazy and work on whopping great A4 sized pieces – I once spent nearly a year working (on and off) on a swirly floral skull!
Blue Tit & Flowers by Little Black Heart
Your inspiration / how do you come up with your designs?
It’s a bit of a cliche, but I’m constantly inspired by nature and the changing of the seasons – my desk overlooks my back garden, which is full of birds, and I love to sit and watch them. (I’m a total bird nerd.) So I’m forever staring out of the window, enjoying whatever is going on out there. Oh, also zombies. I love anything zombie based. I haven’t spotted any in my garden yet, but you never know when the apocalypse is coming 🙂
Zombie Sloth by Little Black Heart
What is your personal favourite design or item to make?
I really enjoy working on my flowery zombie ladies. I can get lost for hours in the tangled linework of their straggly hair, and I really enjoy adding all of the little details, floaty dresses, and delicate grottiness.
Sloth by Little Black Heart
What is your most popular item?
Anything sloth-based seems to go down well. Probably because we can all identify 😉
Best feedback from a customer?
I can’t pick any one piece of feedback, I am so lucky to have such amazing customers. They’re all thoroughly lovely and it’s always great to hear from them – I love to hear where my artworks end up, or how happy they made someone.
Sometimes the comments are so kind, it really helps me to keep going (when i’m wading through a bit of self doubt and lack of confidence!)
What does it mean to you when someone buys one of your handmade items?
It really does mean the world to me, knowing that something I’ve made
has made people smile, cheered them up, meant something special, or just
gave them a laugh.
I still can’t believe people enjoy my little scribbles enough to hang them on their walls (or have them tattooed) but I’m super chuffed my work is enjoyed – it makes me happy to know it makes others happy.
Fun fact?
I split my time between drawing pictures, and renovating our house and
garden. It’s been an ongoing work in progress for more years than I like
to admit, and I dream of the day it is finally all finished – so that I
can concentrate on drawing all the time, without any distractions!
What’s next?
I’m a bit of a hermit so I don’t go out and do scary things like meeting people at craft fairs! I mostly just hang out on line, where I sell all of my work through my Folksy shop.
‘Little Red’ by Daisylions and ‘Monstera Leaf print’ by Lydia Meiying
Thanks so much for Sal’s fabulous contribution to the film, those tiny winy pieces of art with their intricate beautiful details just blow my mind. My hand eye coordination might be closer to a zombie sloth, so I only have total admiration and adoration of those skills.
You might have noticed the film also features a cute little textile and wire handmade chicken called ‘Little Red’ made by Sharon Greaves at Daisylions, and a gorgeous Monstera leaf backdrop by Lydia Meiying Designs. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the film, please share like and comment to help get these beautiful products seen and support British handmade designers and makers!
All of the items in the video are available to buy at Folksy.com.
My next animation will be released on the 17th May by Folksy and features unicorns and rainbows… and a penguin. Random but true!
If you haven’t seen it already, last Friday was the first in a series of ‘Folksy Friday Fun’ animations. ‘Hatching chicks’ is the first of nine animations that I’m creating in collaboration with Folksy makers in May and June. The first one featuring six brightly coloured handmade felted chicks by the fabulous Folksy seller Melanie Green at ‘Felt me up designs’ is available to watch on the Folksy Instagram and Folksy Facebook page.
Mel makes gorgeous felted rainbow chicks and other beautiful bird designs. She creates an eye catching variety of chicks, including some that are embroidered with contrasting coloured love hearts, they are adorable. Due to time constraints we went with plain chicks for the animation. Three were made with sturdy wire legs and three without legs, so that I could have a play around with them and easily fit them inside the hatching eggs. They worked really well and as you’ll see in the video a little play with some string and those chickadees had some flying fun. Now if I’m perfectly honest I had so many more plans for them but time constraints and doing this around my job meant I was limited for time but if I get time in the future I’d love to bring these chickadees out of their egg box to have some more fun.
One of Mel’s felted creations (a gorgeous little penguin) will also be featuring in the Folksy ‘Unicorns and rainbows’ animation scheduled to be shown on the 17th May, so look out for that.
Yas Bowley, another Folksy maker selling as Indabayi on Folksy also helped by creating the lovely hatching chick logo design at the end of the animation and I re-used some existing ukulele music created by my talented hubbie, Steven Warren, to add a fun chickadee vibe.
As I had the chance to work with Mel aka ‘Felt me up designs,’ I thought I would find out a little bit more from the lady behind the rainbow chickadees…
Hi, my name is Melanie Ann Green and I am a needle felter living and working on the beautiful North Yorkshire Coast in Scarborough.
I’ve been working as a felt maker for the last 12 years and I’ve been doing it full time for the the last 7. I live with my wonderful partner, Mr Felt, and three gorgeous dwarf hamsters called Houdini (master escape artist), Bucky (adorable but so dumb) and Dinky (or Danger Mouse as we like to call her).
Why felting?
Needle felting is a magical process of making stuff from fluff, it involves stabbing fluffy wool with barbed needles until you form a solid mass. I love the idea of making something from virtually nothing, the process is truly magical and really addictive
How long do they take to create?
It depends on the bird, they can take anything from 45 minutes up to 4 or 5 hours depending on complexity. The ones in this video take 45 mins to an hour to make each.
Your inspiration? How do you come up with your designs?
I’m a huge bird nerd so inspiration is never far away, I collect vintage bird books and watch a lot of nature documentaries but sometimes it’s just a matter of scrolling through Instagram and seeing a bird that sparks my imagination.
What is your personal favourite design or item to make?
My favourite has always been the barn owl, he was one of my very first designs and has evolved a lot over the years.
They are gorgeous. So what is your most popular item?
Penguins. If you follow my Instagram you will see that they have lots of adventures and get into all sorts of trouble.
Wow, they do have fun and loved the little penguin animation you made – so cute! Best feedback from a customer?
The best feedback is when people send pictures of their wedding days, I had one lovely couple who ordered a special Galah Cockatoo wedding cake topper and they sent me the most amazing pictures of them cutting the cake and playing with the birds. That’s the biggest compliment, when the birds become a special part of someone’s big day.
Wow, that does sound like the biggest compliment and incredible to know your creations are such an important part of their special day. So, what does it mean to you when someone buys one of your handmade items?
It’s still a huge thrill, even after all this time I still do a happy dance, it means I can keep on creating silly things and making people happy.
Fun fact? Maybe tell us something about your Dodo project?
I just made 100 dodos (and then some) for a Kickstarter project and exhibition for Coastival, a big arts festival in Scarborough. I’m still making them to finish up the project, what was meant to be 100 has turned into 179 dodos. I did the project to raise awareness of our impact upon nature and also because it was a lot of fun.
What’s next for Felt me up designs?
I’m launching some new birds very soon and working on building a brand new website. I’ve also got another big secret Kickstarter project that I am planning. It’s a busy time for me right now, I’ve had a bit of a break and I’m kind of coming out of hibernation!
Can’t wait to see Mel’s new projects now that (like me) she’s just coming out of hibernation. You can find Mel’s beautiful work here:
Please look out for the next animation featuring a zombie Sloth in the rain forest (yes you heard me correctly): all shares, comments and likes are greatly appreciated to help get these gorgeous Folksy makes seen.
Many thanks Mel for contributing to this project and really looking forward to introducing you to next weeks makers.
Following on from the antics of animating the Folksy Mr Mouse Christmas film, I’m once again teaming up with Folksy and lots of talented British artists, designers and makers to create some new short animation films. The aim is to help you (and hopefully me) feel the joy and spread some handmade Folksy vibes. Tomorrow is the first in the series of Folksy Friday film and fun days, the first animation short will be released and you’ll find more about the talented maker at Feltmeupdesigns who created the gorgeous handmade chicks for the first film.
Hopefully you can visit Folksy (their website or social media) and have a look, have a browse and see what gorgeous handmade goodness is on offer? This blog post explains more about Folksy Friday Fun… https://blog.folksy.com/2019/04/29/folksy-friday-fun-films
Look out for the first of the Folksy Friday films tomorrow to find out what’s in the box, and please, please, please, like, comment and share when you see it! As British self employed makers all the comments, likes and shares we can get to help spread the handmade & Folksy message means the world to us!
I’m really looking forward to this challenge of creating nine animations (one a week in May and June) and hope you can offer your support. The animations will all be very basic and rough around the edges but I hope they make you smile, that’s the aim anyway! It means a lot to me as I’m just pulling myself out of a very deep winter ‘rut’ and and it feels exciting and exhilarating to get the camera out and get the creative juices flowing again – phew! My head has literally been exploding with ides over the last month, it’s a really great feeling.
Image: Taken by Leanne Warren features the beautiful handmade goodies: needle felted chick from Feltmeupdesigns; and crochet love heart flower pot from Fancy Knittles – both on Folksy.com.
I’m also very excited to be working with the extraordinarily talented designer and animator, Yas Bowley who created the most beautiful Folksy animation earlier this year. Please head over and take a look at her animation, she spent months creating this gorgeous film, in support of Folksy and British designers and makers. Yas will be creating a little 2D animated ‘Folksy’ logo for the end of each film so please look out for those and (eeeek, exciting) we are planning more animation collaboration in the future – so watch this space!
Anyway I hope you enjoy the animation. I can’t wait to get started on week 2 – animating zombies, in the jungle? Intrigued? I just need to get the ideas out of my head and into reality – which should be a lot easier thanks to all of the talented Folksy makers who are helping me with this project. Thank you so much you talented bunch.
PS for all the lovers of the fabulous (and on occasion diva-ish) Mr Mouse, created by the ridiculously talented Amanda Barnes … you might be glad to hear he will be making a reappearance and he has a new friend, eeeek, more to be revealed 🙂
It’s the last day of an amazing Folksy weekend extravaganza… here are just a couple of cute doggie items from Folksy makers. All these handmade goodies can be found on Folksy www.folksy.com
Support David, not Goliath
If you want to bag any of these items before they go then and here are the Insta accounts for each maker 👉
🐶 Hand sewn terrier keyring by Ellie’s Treasures @elliestreasures
🐶 Schnauzer bag charm by Stitchdoodles @stitchdoodlesdesign
🐶 Whippet ipad bag by McKinley and Moth @mckinleyandmoth
🐶 Jack Russell oil cloth shoulder bag by Susie Faulks @susiefaulks
🐶 Rainbow dachshund pin by EllyMental Jewellery @ellymental
🐶 Print by Samantha Groom printmaker @samanthagroom.printmaker
🐶 Wooden Frenchie brooch by Ginger Pickle @gingerpickleshop
🐶 Frenchie makeup bag by Rela Designs bags @reladesigns
🐶 Cute rainbow bow dog brooch by Life is Better in Colour @lifeisbetterincolour
Also if there are any fellow creatives out there today is your last chance to get the 20 free listings that Folksy are giving away if you set up your shop and start selling with them, it’s a small & supportive online community of British artists & makers so check them out. Also don’t forget to take a look if you’re after some Christmas goodness 🙂 Remember if you can – shop small, buy from the self employed and the people you know; support David, not Goliath.
Excited to share the latest addition to my #etsy shop: Border Collie ‘pawesome’ pop art print…
This new print is available in five colours and can be personalised with your own words. Ships free to the UK 🐶 #housewarming #bordercolliegift #bordercollie https://etsy.me/2N50YYX
I LOVED illustrating Otto the Labrador striking his ‘Gimme some knucks’ pose with his Dad, it’s getting printed onto a canvas as a birthday gift. I’m feeling really happy after receiving this awesome customer review from a customer in Texas yesterday, for a piece of my custom pet pop art. After a month of feeling a bit ‘meh’ I’m really happy to have received such lovely feedback, yay… a real pick me up and exactly what I needed!!!
Following on from those positive vibes… I’ve also uploaded a NEW print to my Etsy shop today, something I started working on last summer as part of my ‘Pooch Paradise’ collection… just a few finishing touches completed and it’s now available in my Etsy shop to buy in A4 or A3. It has me thinking of summer holidays and basking in the sunshine… oooh if only!
You can contact me here or across any of my online shops and social media with enquiries to purchase my pop art prints and custom pet portraits.
Today my shops have reopened after a fabulous Christmas break. I’m having a fab day too, with three five star reviews posted on my Etsy shop in the last 24 hours – a wonderful surprise and start to the new year – hurray!
I’m now starting work on an art piece for competition winner Stanley Baxter and the remaining competition winners, including the new designs for my Spring 2018 collection. I’ll give you a little work in progress update with how things are coming along next week 🙂
A huge thank you to everyone who has shared pics of your dogs with their competition prizes… I plan on posting them all in a little gallery on my blog so watch this space!
I’ve also just done a post office run so any competition winners still waiting for postcards should receive them tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. The Kasper cushion (one of the competition prizes) is now winging its way to Kasper 🙂
Finally for anyone who still has dog model aspirations for their pooch you can join my Dog Model Club where I will be periodically posting competition details and tips to improve your chances of being chosen, as well as special offers. My next search will be held late February/early March.
Thanks so much Leanne @ LEAPUP
(and of course woof and kisses from Oscar the Cav and Sophia the lab)
I just thought I would write a little happy New Year message to anyone who visits the blog.
I’ve had a wonderful Christmas at home, recharging batteries, over indulging and even playing with the pooches in pristine crunchy snow – hurray!
I hope you and your fur babies have had a lovely Christmas too.
Today though I’m starting to feel like it’s almost back to reality, so I have spent the day trying to get back into the idea that it’s almost time to start work again… I’ve spent a couple of hours completing the Design Trust’s mini questionnaire of how to review your your business year. As a creative and highly self critical person it’s always easy to think I haven’t done enough, or to feel frustrated that I haven’t brought many of my ideas to fruition… but today was about taking an honest and measured approach, looking at what I have achieved and where I need to focus my efforts in 2018. The questionnaire left me feeling positive about my achievements in 2017 and well prepared for the year ahead.
I plan to celebrate how far my small business has come and want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me… stockists, customers, pooches, teachers, followers, peers/fellow creatives, family and friends. I’ve feel very lucky to have so much support – thank you so much, I couldn’t have done it without you 🙂
I’ll be back to work on the 2nd January with some gorgeous photos to share from winners of the Spring 2018 Model search and some exciting new stock to share with you.
All the very best and wishing you a pawesome, happy and healthy 2018 full of dog hair, wet noses and furry hugs!
Best wishes
Leanne @ LEAPUP (Sophia the lab and Oscar the Cav send woof and kisses too).
Here is the last winner of the Spring 2018 collection LEAPUP dog model search… beautiful Georgia (#310)… congratulations Georgia!
Anyone who is interested in continuing to put your name forward can join my ‘Model Dog Club‘ Facebook group where I’ll be periodically looking for models for new collections and running special offers.
Group members can occasionally post their fave photo of their dogs, I might be looking for particular poses, or themes I might be looking for rescue dogs or puppies, particular breeds etc… I’ll always let you know what I’m looking for. [PS I expect my next search to be early February and every two or three months after that]
There are some tips on how to increase your chances of success in on the Club Facebook page.
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