Work in Progress - April, a Very Mixed Bag!

Until this week, our weather in April has been more like early summer than springtime!

Just as well, as I've had to be out and about a lot more than usual, mostly walking into town to meet friends or going to various medical appointments. All this walking is much better for my back than sitting at a computer. But on the other hand, it's time I'd otherwise be using for designing and 'creating' products and greeting cards for sale in Print-on-demand stores!

All that taken into consideration, I haven't done too badly!

I've made three of my new 'Friendship' quotation illustrations into Flexible Fridge Magnets.

You can see them, and a couple of older ones

HERE.

And I've finally finished creating products with my collage fishes, ending with a set of Persian New Year (Norooz) greeting cards. This custom-front card is just one of the fifteen cards addressed to various family relations and friends -

Zazzle have introduced so many new products since I first started stocking my Posh and Painterly store in August, 2013, that one of my weekly tasks is to go back over my collections, adding new products wherever there are gaps. 

This month, I finished some of the 'Daisy Chains' patterns. And then moved on to my 'Islamic Collection'. 

Here, for instance, is a Cube Pouf -

Bright Traditional Islamic Pattern Cube Pouf by poshandpainterly
Check out these Cube Poufs at Zazzle

Red Bubble have also added scarves to the products we can put our patterns/designs on so that has kept me busy as well -

If the quality is anything like as good as the
Tote Bags, they'll be excellent value and just right
for gifts for friends that I have to send by post!

It's been quite a challenge to fit in working on a new pattern with so many other things going on. 

So I cheated slightly and chose a pattern that I'd begun a while back. It still needed a lot of work, though, and I'm quite pleased with how many products I've been able to create with it, in spite of a lack of time!

Here it is - my "Granny Print" collection,

another hand-painted paper collage,

digitally manipulated to make a repeating pattern.

Retro Floral Prints on Teal Custom Throw Pillow by poshandpainterly
.

I've barely started creating coordinating patterns for my 'Granny Print' so I expect that to take me right through most of May.

One of the new products that Zazzle have introduced this year really caught my imagination - Ceramic Drawer Knobs and Pulls!

They seem the ideal product to feature my somewhat 'Shabby Chic' patterns. So, whenever I've had a few moments to spare, I've begun to 'create' some of them - lots more to come! 

(If only Zazzle would slow down with the introduction of new products, just for a while, it might give us time to catch up!)

Pretty Spring Primroses Ceramic Knob by poshandpainterly

And finally -

My Fairy House is finished and varnished!

 

Can you see the lacy pink Fairy Wings hanging on the washing line at the back?

So I've turned my attention to my paper bead-making. 

I'm not finding the roller I bought is all that helpful in getting the paper to roll nice and straight. I seem to have more control over it when I use a cocktail stick - hopefully I'll be able to post some finished necklaces next time!

I wish, as always, that I'd had more time to be creative.

But I think the various appointments have been worthwhile. It seems that, having been prescribed asthma inhalers for nearly three years, I almost certainly don't actually have asthma! (The symptoms may be caused by the acid reflux/possible hiatus hernia that took me to hospital just before Christmas.)

And the physiotherapist I've just started seeing seems to know what she's about, even if that does involve leaning heavily on my back, causing a lot of 'treatment soreness' for the rest of the week! I've had an increasingly nagging, burning pain down my 'wrong' leg for more than four years and it didn't feel like sciatica. But apparently it is nerve pain coming from my back - though not the sciatic nerve. Now that we know that, I can be treated and do exercises in the hope that it will gradually improve. I've already begun to feel that my back is less stiff than it was a week ago.

Who knows, I might even be able to go out with the local walking group again one day! 

With a bit of detective work and a lot of determination on my part the pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to fit together. (I'd rather be designing, though!)

Work in Progress - March

My top-floor studio is like an ice-box in winter and an oven in the summer, even when it's not particularly hot outside. 

But at this time of year it's just the right temperature so I try to make the most of it, working my way through my list of ideas for designs. For some reason, I seem to have created more patterns and cards with furry or four-legged friends than usual recently.

First there were lots more elephant patterns -

Row of Paisley Elephants on Kids Black T-shirt by poshandpainterly

Fun Paisley Elephants, Jungle Green Leaves Pillow by poshandpainterly
.

Rows of Paisley Elephants on Beige iPad Mini Case by poshandpainterly

Then the fishes, Finnegan and Friends, still ongoing:

Colorful Fun Fish in the Sea Custom Notebook by poshandpainterly

Fun Goldfishes Pisces 100th Birthday Card Greeting Card by poshandpainterly

Orange Fishes on Sea Green, Blue iPhone 5c Case by poshandpainterly

And then there are the hedgehogs I've been working on. 

But I'm not yet at all satisfied that I've found the best way to use them for a birthday card - and this is the ninth attempt!

(I have the feeling I need to leave them alone for a while and then,
 maybe, when I come back to them, I might see them differently.)

But I have been working on other things as well as animals.

A birthday card for a friend -

 - and a faux patchwork tote bag from Red Bubble for the same friend's birthday gift.

Here are some more tote bags I've created for my Red Bubble store -

I'm adding a few each week because I'm so impressed with the one I ordered. 

The colour is great, the fabric strong and the price is very reasonable, even including shipping to the UK. (The only downside was the length of time it took to arrive so I'll order even further in advance the next time!)

Just for a change, inspired by Pinterest, of course, I've been making a 'Fairy House' from a plastic juice bottle, a cardboard toilet roll tube and papier mache! 

 

     

Not quite finished yet but nearly there!

And last but not least, I've been working on another 'Friendship' Quotation with the illustration in hand-painted paper collage. 

Here's how I made the collage and here's the finished Illustrated Quote:

This image is A4 size, 300 dpi so please feel free to save and print it you wish

It's a quote that I have on a fridge magnet.

And my fence did once actually break during a gale - but I was still able to enjoy the flowers in my garden! I just think it's a pity that some people seem to have such highly developed 'flaw-detectors' that the first thing they notice is the 'broken fence'. 

So I plan to put this quote on some Zazzle fridge magnets, hoping it might help some friendships along!