New Nature Notecards For Handmade Monday

I took the chance to photograph some of my new notecards in the lovely sunshine we had earlier in the week and since then i've been getting them edited and listed online. Its not my favourite job but as long as i do it a bit at a time i don't go too crazy... Anyone else find that the amount of computer work required to run an online crafty is a bit of a drag when you'd rather be merrily creating with sewing needle/paintbrush in hand?!

New Nature Notecards

The fun bit of creating my cards is taking the photographs, i love the way the camera gives me the opportunity to share the beauty of the natural world.

I have four new cards to show you today, they are all printed on top quality 350GSM paper from a renewable source and are available to buy now from my website and Etsy shop priced £1.99 each (or £1.75 if you buy more than one).

As always, i look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments!

Wheat Field Poppies

Maple Seed Heads

Purple Flower Head

Wheat Field Pathway

That's all from me for another week, don't they fly by! I'm off for a crafty catch-up over at Handmade Harbour, see you there :) x

Seed Head Fabrics For Handmade Monday

Today i want to share with you an idea i've had for a new range of fabrics with a simple style, and rustic feel. I'm really excited about this collection although its still very much a work in progress... As always i look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Seed Head Fabrics

Regular readers may remember a while back i took a collection of photographs of nature finds on a white background... some of them are featured on this set of five post cards available from my Print and Paper shop on Etsy.

I have lots more that i haven't used for anything yet but i've kept them in the back of my mind, waiting for inspiration to strike. I especially love the structural elegance of the dried teasel stems and other seed heads... i have some in a vase in the house and i was thinking how beautiful the shapes were when i had the idea of turning my photos into silhouettes to use for fabric designs!

The idea of using the true form of the stems as they are in life, rather than drawing the shapes myself really appealed - i hoped it would lend a more natural, rustic quality. Happily the inspiration to create these designs coincided with the arrival of a much more comprehensive colour code chart from Spoonflower (printed onto a yard of fabric rather than the 8x8inch swatch chart i have been using), so i've been able to pick some gorgeous muted shades which i think suit the natural style really well.

Without further ado then, here are the designs i've come up with so far... to give you a clearer idea of how they look i'll show a single stem and then the print as it would be on a 21x18 inch piece of fabric.

Seed Heads

Teasel 

That's as far as i've got although i have lots more designs in mind. I'm excited to see how they look when they're printed though so i might just get some samples of these before i do anything else!

What have you been up to this week? I look forward to finding out on my weekly stroll around Handmade Harbour :) x

Crafters Hearts And New Nature Notecards For Handmade Monday

Another busy week at Free Spirit Designs HQ... Mostly doing the nitty gritty of updating my website - a long and tedious job, involving re-loading descriptions and images for all my products! I'm getting there, slowly... and in between i've been rewarding myself with some fun stuff too like working on the beginnings of some new designs.

I've also got a few lovely new things listed for sale, and they're coming right up!

Crafter's Ceramic Hearts

If you've visited my blog over the last couple of weeks you'll know that i have been working on a new range of ceramic decorations and these are the latest... two heart designs with crafters, upcyclers and anyone who likes a bit of modern/retro fun in mind!

As with all my hearts and stars they are priced £7.00 and are available now from my Etsy shop. I know i'm talking to a pretty crafty audience here on my blog so i'm hoping you'll like these :)

(p.s. how many of you have ignored 'measure twice, cut once' and lived to regret it...? I know i have...!)

Life Is Better In Flip-Flops

Speaking as someone who lives in flip-flops, slippers or Ugg boots at all times (yay for working from home! :)) i whole heartedly agree with this saying.

Anyone else find they're never happier than when they have comfy feet?!

This star joins my other new hand painted ceramic stars on Etsy.

They are all priced £7 and can be personalised with a name/message on the reverse side.

New Nature Notecards

Also new in my shops this week are three nature photograph notecards. I can remember the exact moments of taking each of these shots - you know that feeling when you see something really beautiful and your heart lifts... i love how with a camera you can capture a moment like that to share with others.

The first shows a beautiful green fern caught in a ray of sunlight piercing the woodland canopy. I love the sea of wild garlic flowers in the background, its such a magical time of year in the woods when they are out.

Next is a pink cosmos flower bathing in warm afternoon sun. I think this could make a nice Mother's Day card for those who prefer to write their own message.

And finally, a Red Admiral butterfly which i found happily feeding on the ivy that grows up the side of our house... i had to risk life and limb leaning out of the bedroom window to get the shot!

As with all of my notecards these are £1.99 if bought singly and £1.75 if bought with another card. You will find them over at my Print And Paper shop on Etsy.

And that's it from me or this week! I'm looking forward to my weekly stroll around the other Handmade Harbour blogs :)

Thanks for stopping by! x

Valentines's Roses and More New Nature Cards For Handmade Monday

This week my focus has been on my FSD Print and Paper shop. I've been listing some new cards (which i'll show you in a moment!)

I've also thinking about my next step in stationary... i'd like to create a range of lined envelopes - remember i had a go at making some with my craft papers last year?

I'd love it if i could sell all of my cards, both the ones featuring my photographs and also the ones featuring my hand drawn designs, with a lined envelope that reflects the image in the card. I think it would be really pretty and perhaps give them a more distinctive artisan feel - which is important to handmade goods to stand out from mass produced alternatives i think. I might make the lining black and white so it doesn't really affect the price and maybe do some coloured ones to go with paper as writing sets....

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Hopefully i'll have some pics of my progress to show you soon. For now though, here's what's new this week...

Red Rose Valentines Cards

As we all know, the next date in the retailers diary after Christmas and New Year is Valentine's Day so with romance in mind, i have listed these two cards featuring photographs i took of some beautiful red English country roses.

One focusses on a central bloom...

The other shows more buds and deeper green foliage.

Both come with a 100% recycled buff envelope, 

and are priced £1.99 (or £1.75 if bought with another card from my shop). Looking at these again has made me want to get more roses for my garden! They really are such beautiful flowers.

Nature Arts Cards

Also new in my shop this week are these two nature art cards - i did give you a peek at them a while back but seeing as they haven't made it into my shop until now here's a little reminder of what they look like :)

Both the feather, and the poppy seed heads were photographed on a plain white background - i love the simplicity of this kind of image and have plans to create more soon.

These two are available now priced £1.99 (or £1.75 if bought with another card)

Tree Photograph Nature Cards

The final cards i have to show you today are these three tree cards. I'm so in love with trees and i love to photograph them! 

The first shows a leaf bare woodland slope in winter - all is still, yet the half fallen tree indicates the power of nature to move these great giants!

The second shows the glowing green canopy of a tree bathing in warm sunshine, creating dapples light on the woodland floor.

The third is a favourite of mine - a close up on some knarled tree trunks where the sunlight on one casts shadows on another. Not a typical image for a card i know but i find the image so captivating and characteristic of the magic and mystery of woodland that i had to get it printed!

These cards are not listed for sale yet but will be appearing in my shops very soon - as with the others they will be priced £1.99 (£1.75 if bought with another card from my shop).

That's it from  me for this week, i look forward, as always, to reading your comments :) (a big thank you to all those who left kind words and New Year's wishes last week!)

I'm excited too to find out what my fellow Handmade Monday crafters have been up to in 2014 so far... time to visit Handmade Harbour and find out!

Thanks for stopping by! x

Patchwork Holly Christmas Decorations For Handmade Monday

Its getting to that time of year when people are starting Christmas shopping in earnest and a lot of my making time is spent recreating versions of things already available in my shops to fulfil customer orders - this week i have been mostly painting Union Jack baubles, several of which are now on there way to various corners of the globe!

However, i have also found time for designing some new things and i've got a few, in various stages of completion, to share with you today.

Patchwork Holly Leaf Decorations With Pom-Pom Berries

I've got lots of scraps of Christmassy fabrics left over from various festive makes and i've been looking forward to getting them together to make some patchwork for decorations - patchwork being one of my my favourite things!

So far i have made these holly leaves...

I used super soft, fine mohair/cashmere blend yarn to make mini pom-poms as the berries and i think they look really cute, i hope you do too :)

I've also made up some more patchwork ready for cutting out more holly leaves and possibley some other shapes too...

... i have loads of ideas i'd like to try out but progress will depend on how much time i have outside of fulfilling customer orders!

Autumn Pumpkin For Halloween

We've grown some fantastic pumpkins on our allotment this year but i almost didn't get round to carving one for Halloween this week - there just seemed to be so many more 'important' things on my to do list! In the end though i thought life is too short not to do the fun stuff so i spent a happy hour hollowing out one of the pumpkins and carving out this Autumn themed design.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and its still adding a cheery glow to our living room in these longer darker evenings. I made a yummy roast pumpkin soup out of the insides too - one of my fav tastes of Autumn :)

I also made some Halloween themed shortbread biscuits earlier in the week - ghosts, witches hats and grave stones, they were a bit camera shy though and got eaten up before i could get a pic!

What did you do to celebrate Halloween? 

Nature Finds Christmas Tree Cards

Finally for today, i'd love to get your thoughts on these potential Christmas card designs. They are photos of Christmas tree shapes i made from my collection of nature finds... they appeal to my tastes but i'm wondering if they would fit with most people's idea of what a Christmas card should be... does it matter that they're not 'sparkly'? I'm on the verge of getting some printed up so it would be fantastic to get your thoughts. Here they are...

And that's all from me for another week! Do join me over at Handmade Harbour for lots more crafting fun though :)

Have a great week! x