It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Morning!

I am really embracing Christmas at the moment. Well, I do every year! I love the build up to it, (probably more than the actual day!) with the Christmas shopping, watching Christmas films, the exciting possibility of snow, singing at the top of my lungs to Band Aid and the Pogues on the radio, the festive adverts (John Lewis have done a particularly amazing one this year) and of course - sending Christmas cards!

(I think the packaging can be just as important as the actual item, hence the lovely bow!)

I hope you have all sent your Christmas cards, but if not, you are in luck - I have set up a shop on Folksy! I think there are still a few days left before the last posting day before Christmas, so why not buy one for someone special? Or your wonderful family?

(This one has been selling particularly well, which is great!)

Remember I also have my Etsy Shop up and running, so you can still order on there.

In other news, my work has been featured on a lovely site, Cuteable! Great website with a lovely collection of inspirational and crafty bits. Its wonderful to be a part of it!

Anyway, I have a busy week this week! Finish of the Christmas shopping, wrapping pressies, braving the supermarket for the Christmas shop - we are hosting it this year which I am very, very excited about! Its going to be a day of indulging, from the Bucks Fizz in the morning, to the cheese and crackers in the evening! I'm just really looking forward to having Christmas in our own home rather than spending two days rushing around, trying to fit in a visit to every family member in a 10 mile radius.

I'm sure I will do another post before the big day, so for now, I hope your Christmas plans are going well!

Gem x

The Etsy shop is here!

Hello...

I have been very busy lately!

I have finally got some of my designs printed onto Christmas cards, which is brilliant! They look great, I am really pleased.

And now that they have been printed, I can finally sell them! So if you would like any, feel free to visit my facebook page, or my etsy shop to order.

I have had really positive feedback so far, which is great, and I have managed to get a stall at a few Christmas fairs which is a brilliant way to get my work seen! I have also managed to sell a few to a local shop, so fingers crossed that goes well - could be a very promising sign!

I have a few more Christmassy projects up my sleeve that I would like to get on with, one of them is a bit of a surprise though, so I think I will keep it a secret for now! Unfortunately I haven't got any new designs to show you at the moment; I have been concentrating on getting the cards ready and printed! But as soon as I have something I shall post it.

Hope everyone is getting in the festive spirit! I'm trying to, but I have so much going on I haven't had time! I know so many people who have already bought and wrapped Christmas presents, sent out cards, and have their trees and decorations up - I haven't even thought about that yet! It's slightly worrying that everyone is so organised!

Oh well. Still 22 days to go. Plenty of time!

Gem x

On the first day of Christmas...

So I have been hard at work making some illustrations to go on some Christmas cards that I am planning to sell, all based on 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' song!

I have made them all into cards and am in the process of getting them printed so I can sell them, possibly on Etsy or Folksy, or maybe just from my Facebook page. As soon as I set it all up I will post a link!

Getting excited now; not long till Christmas! :-)

Gem x

Happy Firework Night!

Better late than never! Just a little something I made for Guy Fawkes Night - keeping warm on a chilly evening!

Hope you had fun! ;-)

Gem x

Christmas is coming! And some exciting news...

So over the past few weeks I have mostly been busy making Christmas related things... mainly Christmas cards this week, but also some other bits and pieces. The idea is to get as many things as possible made, and then start selling them, maybe even set up a shop on Etsy or something like that.

Now that I have designed and made some things, I need to concentrate on making loads more! Which is what I have been doing this week, starting with the elf boot...

It's hard work making them, very time consuming and tough on my hands! But that is the nature of what I do I guess, and I think they will look brilliant once I'm done.

In other news, this week my work was featured on a fantastic blog, Discover Paper. They showed some great images of my work and put an interview on there too, which is really exciting! You can read it here. I'm so pleased and it's really exciting that my work is finally starting to get out there :-)

Hope you like what I have been working on and enjoy the interview!

Gem x

Birthday Cupcake

So this was a little something I made for a friend for her birthday! A lovely little cupcake with a cherry on top.

I just wanted to make something cute and fun, and to be honest I am really enjoying making cakes out of paper; all the enjoyment without the calories! So maybe more to come, I will keep you posted!

Let me know what you think!

Gem x

Not Enough Hours in the Day...

So this is another of my past projects that I thought you might like to see; one of my favourites, although creating it was a very long process!

Not Enough Hours in the Day

This was a project I created to convey the pressures women in the 21st Century feel; it was quite a personal project, at a time in my life when I felt very overwhelmed! To look perfect, to do well at work and at college, to be the perfect 'housewife' to my boyfriend in our new flat, and to keep up with my friends who all had blossoming careers and way more money that I did (and still do, unfortunately!).

So this was one of 5 compositions I created, using 5 different women with completely different lives, to show a typical day, using numbers, to convey how much is expected of us, and how impossible, and unnecessary, it is to maintain these standards.

I created the numbers and illustrations out of paper, which took a very long time - out of 5 compositions I have currently only finished one! - but I will definitely get around to finishing the others at some point.

 Would love to hear your thoughts and comments on any of my work.


Gem x