Wednesday 16 July 2014

Forest Friends fabric finaly gets a home!


This has been a very long time in coming but I have finally started to make things with the fabric that features my Forest Friends design.
I made a cushion cover as it was a quick and easy project to sew. I used a 50cm square piece of the forest friends fabric and some blue piping and bias binding around the edges and on the opening at the back to finish it off.
The fabric is available to order from Spoonflower - prices depend on the choice of fabric and the amount.
I have to say that I have been extremely impressed with the service I have received from Spoonflower. They are an American based company, so this does mean that it takes longer for products to arrive but they are by far the most competitively priced fabric printing company I have been able to find. Several new companies that use the same business model have sprung up recently; one of which is Woven Monkey in Derbyshire, UK. I got excited when I found out about Woven Monkey as I thought that the cost of postage plus fees I get charged by the bank for paying a non-sterling currency amount might make it cheaper to use them. Unfortunately this isn't the case and I don't think they have as big an audience or as savvy a marketing strategy as Spoonflower, which if you are looking to sell your designs to the public is pretty important.





The other thing that I really love about Spoonflower is the online community of fellow designers, sewers, makers and crafters who frequent the site, they are all very supportive and there is a genuine enthusiasm from people for each others work. It is very rewarding to log on to the site and see the comments that people have left for you on a design you have been working on in isolation. When people started buying my fabric I got a real buzz from it and I will admit that I have become a little bit addicted to checking my 'Design Analytics' to see how many 'likes' I have. Slightly narcissistic behaviour I know but it's great when people appreciate what you do!


Saturday 29 June 2013

More inspiration from Mother Nature

I hadn't seen any caterpillars this year until I went to check on my blueberry bush...quite a few little wiggly friends have taken up residence amongst the leaves!





Inspiration

I found this beautiful Buddleja bush in full flower in the lane next to my house. I love the way the spherical orange flowers look next to the long, pointy dark green leaves. The bush was like a haven for bees too!








Thursday 11 April 2013

A pleasing result

Whilst creating some resources for my students I sort of accidentally created something that I quite liked the look of! It is a relatively simple image that was created in Photoshop to help demonstrate how the layers and selection tools work but I think it's cute.

Saturday 8 December 2012

Work in progress...

I haven't posted anything for a while as I have been very busy teaching and creating work for my new website: www.beckylongillustration.com
Here is a little taster of some of that work.






Sunday 11 November 2012

Crafty ideas

I have decided to join the online crafting community with this post!

I drew a reindeer to use as a Christmas card design but then I thought of all the other things I could make with it; I created gift tags by folding two images printed back to back, punching a hole in the top corner and adding a ribbon. My favorite use though, was as cup cake decorations or 'toppers'. Not only did I get to eat cake, but they looked cute and Christmassy too. 













As you can see I had fun making the gift tags and cup cake toppers, so I thought I would share this with all the crafters and see what became of it...you can print out and use the JPEGs I have uploaded.

 Click here to DOWNLOAD FREE PRINTABLE FILES

There are two different sizes, the larger size is perfect for cards and the smaller size is intended for gift tags (I used the smaller size for the cup cake toppers, just folded them and secured a cocktail stick inside with double sided sticky tape). Both sizes have cut and fold lines on for square cards but you don't have to stick to the cut lines (I prefer the cards that I cut into reindeer shapes). Just remember that you need to leave a bit of the fold at the top so both sides are attached!

The cards should look like this when printed on a sheet of A4.



If you are worried about putting card through your printer you could print them on regular stock A4 and then glue them (use spray mount for neatness) onto heavier card.


You could try printing the design onto decal paper to create a transfer that can be applied to glass or ceramic. I think you could make some great table decorations with some old jam jars, a bit of ribbon and some tea lights.

You could also print onto heat-transfer paper and apply the design to fabric for use on a Christmas stocking or similar project.

Both decal paper and fabric transfer paper are available online and in craft stores. Make sure you follow the instructions on the pack you buy as they do vary.

Friday 26 October 2012

Flights of Fancy



These images are from another fabric design. I scanned in lots of textures and drawings before editing it all in Photoshop. The final design was assembled in Illustrator.