May (not that you'd know it from the weather!) Work in Progress

So much for thinking that May is the start of summer!

We've had lower temperatures than April, persistent rain, heavy 'April Showers' and wind that felt just like March. 

Oh yes, and a few little glimpses of sunshine in between!

In fact the storms earlier this month resulted in my lovely Ceanothus falling over with the weight of the rain just as it was beginning to bloom, bringing with it the trellis and honeysuckle behind it!

Nevertheless, my Dreaming Spires climbing roses came out on May 4th, just the same as last year, to the day! But, strangely, they have again decided to grow away from the sun and towards my neighbours' house, where they have a lovely view of them from their kitchen window. Whereas I can only really enjoy them from my bedroom:

A lot of my time is still taken up with appointments. 

I've given up the counselling as it was expensive and not all that helpful. But there's still the physio for my back at the hospital and exercises to do in between appointments. And we're still experimenting with inhalers and nasal sprays to see which helps my breathing most while there's all the pollen around, under the supervision of my doctor and the Practice Nurse. 

And then, of course, I've had builders to make coffee for. 

But it's good to know that my roof is all sound and various annoying little repairs to windows and woodwork are now all up to date - apart from needing me to find some time to touch up the paintwork! And replacing the small area of blown tiles in my shower turned out to be a much bigger job than expected and involved disconnecting the toilet to 'do a proper job'! Just as well I get on well with the builders and know from experience that I can trust them to do whatever's in my best interest. (I don't know many builders I'd say that of!) 

This Tote Bag arrived from Red Bubble one day, just as they were leaving - a birthday gift for a friend who loves primroses - and they were so curious that they stayed while I opened it and were duly impressed!

The Red Bubble quality is, as ever, excellent, the price abd the cost of shipping very reasonable!

Red Bubble have now introduced skirts so I've spent some time putting my patterns on those too. 

And I've been re-sizing greeting cards such as this one to upload to CardGnome - 

The result of all these diversions and distractions is that I still haven't quite finished creating products and cards for my Granny Print collection. So no new pattern collection to write about this month. 

However, I was surprised to see just how many products I've made with this one basic pattern and its growing number of coordinates, just by doing a bit of uploading in between other things!

Granny Print Medley
by helikettle

This mix of patterns with a Broderie Anglaise trim is one of my favourites - the decorative white edging came from a local craft shop, scanned and brightened up in Photoshop.

Granny Print Cases to Personalize
by helikettle

I like the idea of 'faux lace' to go with my 'faux patchworks' to give a real 'vintage vibe'. So I scanned some genuine antique underwear for this 'Friendship' quote:

It's always fun to experiment!

And these paper beads were a bit of an experiment too! 

I rolled them in the usual way but instead of relying on the colours of the paper to make the patterns, I painted them all by hand. I used some cheap acrylic paints that I had lying around but I don't think that was the best choice as it was almost impossible to paint the detail, no matter which paintbrush I used. Even with a fine-tipped brush there was a 'blobbi-ness' that frustrated me.

Zazzle continue to keep us designers busy! 
Apart from adding new products to the inventory on a weekly basis, they've now enabled us to create 'collections' at the click of a button. So that's kept me busy too, as it's such a useful promotional tool, especially if you design with collections in mind as I do. So here are a couple of the collections I've created so far -

Save-the Date Magnets
by helikettle

Welsh Gifts for Him
by helikettle

Gifts for Men - Elephants
by helikettle

And what have I got planned for June?

Well, with my son coming down for a few days for my birthday, I don't expect to accomplish quite as much as usual. 

But here's a doodle that's been itching to get out of my doodles folder and onto a greeting card for ages:

I did base my first advert for the local Work-at-homers group on this Jolly Gentleman but it was done in such a rush that I had to resort to colouring him digitally. 

I think he deserves a spot of proper watercolour treatment and I hope he'll appear suitably coloured in next month's Work in Progress blog post.

The Cherry Blossom on the path to my front door  - just before the rain arrived!

I was planning to work on an Apple Blossom pattern next.
But the fruit trees in my garden lost the last of their beautiful blossoms in the recent storms so the moment has passed and I'll move on to something else when the Granny Print runs out of steam.

Maybe I'll keep it really simple and just develop a pattern I made a while back -

- though I'm sure to be unable to resist creating a few coordinating patterns to go with it!

I noticed today that my beautifully fragrant Mock Orange Blossom has started to flower. It's too wet to go out and photograph it. 

But maybe next month . . .

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!)

February's Work in Progress -

The time-consuming health distractions that beset me in January have continued into February with a very bad back and then concerns about my blood pressure meaning that I've spent more time in my doctor's waiting room than I would have liked. Thankfully I've now been told that my blood pressure isn't actually anything to worry about and my ECG was also fine. That's a relief but it's all been time-consuming!

So I'm quite surprised at how much 'work' I've managed to complete since I my last 'Work in Progress' blogpost, a month ago!

First there were the birthday cards for two of my teenage grandsons . .

 

 . . . and one for their mother, my eldest daughter, somehow completed and sent off in time - 

I've also finally finished a hand-painted paper collage to illustrate a quote that's been sitting in my ToDo file for at least a couple of years!

It's probably my favourite definition of a really good friend -
but I've found they are hard to come by
so I focus on trying to BE that friend to others!

And while all the messy collage stuff was out of its box, I made a couple of little friends for Finnegan the Fish - Freddie and Fiona. 

I hope I'll have completed some Greeting Cards for the Persian New Year with Finnegan and a pattern with all three fishes by the time I'm writing next month's Work in Progress blog post.

Shortly after Christmas, Zazzle added fabrics to their wide range of products - excellent news! But at about the same time, they put in a new algorithm for searching the Market Place and that has meant a lot of extremely tedious work for us shopkeepers! (Oh for a team of minions - or at least a willing Creative Assistant!)

So I'm still working with the 'Heffalumps' that featured on my grandson's birthday card, making a pattern collection for products on Zazzle, encouraged by having won a category prize in the Zazzle Fabrics competition. *see foot of post.

This will probably become a Pillow/Cushion

I can imagine this pattern on a little boy's pyjamas,

with a different coloured background, maybe.

I had planned to spend most of my 'zazzling' time putting my existing designs and patterns on the hundreds of new products that have been introduced since I opened my Posh & Painterly store in August 2013. I've managed to do quite a lot of that, most recently working on the 'Spring Sunshine' collection - but not as much as I'd hoped!

Daffodils Pillow or Cushion: Faux-patchwork by poshandpainterly

I never thought I'd do this, but in a 'mad moment' one afternoon, I actually put a design on some chocolate brownies and shortbreads! The thing I've learned about selling online is that you never know what people are actually going to buy!

Welsh Costume and Emblems St David's Day Brownies Rectangular Brownie by poshnpainterlycymru
 

 

And I've also made a start on creating gifts for St Patrick's Day, featuring my 'Shamrocks' collection!

Dark Green Shamrocks Pattern Small Gift Bag by poshandpainterly
 

So I've been pretty busy - and even when I'm relaxing in the evenings, watching my favourite WhoDunnits, I haven't been entirely idle. I don't know whether it's a result of spending so much time on the laptop, creating products and greeting cards that don't actually exist until somebody actually orders them.

But I've had a real yearning to make things, using my hands, real things, things you can actually handle!

A friend sent me a paper bead necklace for my birthday last year and it fascinated me. Apart from anything else, it appealed to me because I already have everything needed - scrap paper, glue and cocktail sticks. 

So I made a start, rolling strips of magazine paper around cocktail sticks, moving on to newspaper, junk mail and my favourite so far, wallpaper. I'm not very good at rolling them evenly yet but I am improving and I find it actually quite therapeutic!

I just KNEW I'd find a use for that plastic insert from a box
of biscuits - NEVER throw anything away!!!

Strictly speaking, paper bead making doesn't require expensive materials or tools and that's always a plus for me, especially when it also uses up junk mail that would otherwise have to go in my recycling bag. But as you can see from the assorted shapes of the bigger 'beads' above, I'm not very happy with the evenness of my rolling so I've sent away for a paper bead roller which I'm hoping will improve my technique sufficiently to make something really wearable. What I shall do with them if I succeed, I have no idea. I already have more necklaces than I know what to do with. 

Maybe it'll be making for making's sake?

I made the mistake of searching for Craft Ideas on Pinterest - now there's an occupation to while away those long winter evenings! I'm just dying to get back to some papier mache and some salt dough craft. I'm also attracted to the idea of Shrink Plastic, mosaic and decoupage on bottles - though I'll have to make some Coq au Vin and a Boeuf Bourgignon to liberate some wine bottles first!

I've made hand-sewn patchwork quilts in the past. Here's a nice bright cot-quilt I made a while back - the design is an Islamic one:

But now I'd like to try my hand at applique . . . 

So many ideas, so little time!

Watch this space . . .

*My winning pattern in the Zazzle competition 

Rangoli Flowers, Polka Dots on Turquoiose Fabric by poshandpainterly