Strawberrykitten

Well yesterday began with a sale, fantastic! Sales seemed to have slowed over the past week, other than one I sold to a friend and a special one I’m working on for a friend at work, it was good to know they are still selling to the outside world.

So work was brilliant yesterday as we did a ‘stop the track’ day where we did nice little activities all day. I chose to do floristry and life drawing. Floristry was harder than I thought it would be, but really enjoyable, here’s my bouquet

Life drawiing in the afternoon was fantastic, with me trying to draw a lot more at the moment it was one I was really looking forward to. Plus it was with all my old art tutors who made me feel really good and welcome I forgot how hard and exhausting it was, but I’d love to keep it up with an evening course maybe. Here’s my favourite drawing I did

On an annoying note the Market stall has run out of (and might not get more for months) the brown fur I use. So I’m going to have to source it from somewhere else, otherwise I might have to take Frank the bear out of the shop which would be a shame as he’s my favourite.

I think i’m behind with this post – i’ve had a few issues with my back due to being 7 months pregnant and it’s getting quite difficult to sit at a desk for a prolonged length of time.  So crafting and blogging is being done a bit at a time!

Here’s this weeks etsy favourites…

[left] how pretty is this necklace? And the color is stunning! It’s by bbel [middle] what an awesome idea, I love it! And it actually works as a phone too! It’s by freelandstudios [right] this is such a sweet little ladybug keychain by leatherprince.

[left] I love the pink blossom blowing off this tree wall decal, it’s by nouwall [middle] I have a real thing for animal themed jewellery at the moment and just love this simple fox pendant, it’s by joannarutter [right] I am in need of an iphone case at the moment and how stunning is this one!?! I love the leather work and pattern – check out the ipad cases in the shop too, just need a ipad! Hehe it’s by tovicorrie

Wow today i made the etsy front page! which ment i sold 2 bears instantly! fantastic

Just a quick post tonight – I wanted to share my racoon sketch – every spare minute I get, after resting my extremely painful back and ribs (struggling with pregnancy at the min :/ ) I’m really trying to get some drawing done. today I’ve worked on a bit of character development, it needs a lot of work but it’s enjoyable work

This week i’ve favourited so many amazing products i couldn’t decide on one theme, so this is just a general one – enjoy

[left] Everyone who’s seen me in my fave t-shirt will know i’m a huge ‘where the wild things are’ fan – hacked a book up to make some super nice prints for the babies room – I love love love this carol pendant, i really am gonna have to save a bit of pennies and buy him it’s by roadkill [middle] OMG how cute is this!?! i adore pugs and hope to have one one day, think i may have to buy this too hehe, he’s by cuore [right] I’ve been playing around with painting my bears recently – i love the style and paint technique of this little beasty, very nice work by heatherfuture

[left] Simon will be getting an IPad soon so i was looking around for nice cases, i love this one, so smart looking, it’s by Byrdandbelle [middle] When i first saw this i thought it was a painting…but no, its a bean bag – how amazing! he’s by chicsindesigndotcom [right] How beautiful is this bead work, extremely talented! they’re by bat chen designs

That’s it for this week – i hope you liked!

Shop update – I’ve finally sold some bears! After being open about 4 weeks I got my first order over the weekend, a custom order for a giant frank bear…

[here he is before he got shipped]

The next night I got another order for the vampire bear! and today i got an order from the UK! So 3 bears in as many days! Very exciting, I hope I can keep the sales coming in

So other than the shop starting to gain momentum I have been consciously trying to do something either shop related or creative everyday – I find I get quite down when I can’t be creative.

I’m really trying to get my picture book plans rolling and because it’s using my bears as characters i’ve been doing some little drawings and paintings to make into business cards/ I.D/ thank you cards to be included with any bear sales. Here’s some work in progress…

[i love every stage of watercolour painting, it's got such a nice quality to it and its really enjoyable to use - i wanted to use my inks tonight but they have glued themselves shut, so i'll have to see how i want to finish them off when the watercolour stage is done] <- click image to see larger version

I’m going to get these cards printed at moo cards I think, maybe have some of them with actual photos of the bears too, not sure yet – oh and stickers too, that’s something I want in the future, maybe when more sales come in to pay for it!

In an effort to get into a creative routine I have started arranging the spare/computer room. I’ve dug out all my paints, inks, pencils etc and put them in my little ikea draws (which need painting to make them a bit prettier!) and I’ve put all bear construction tools and materials on the window sill for easy reach whilst constructing. There’s still a hell of a lot of stuff to sort out in that room – definitely a work in progress!

That’s me signing off for now – off to do a bit of shop promoting and more painting.

I don’t know what made me do the first little bear painting, but I enjoyed and liked him so much I decided to start something I’ve always wanted to do – make a picture book. Now I have a serious picture fetish! Love love love the illustrations – here’s some of my absolute faves…

So because I’m trying to get my bears selling I decided to make Frank the brown bear one of the charactors. The other charactors are taken from this photo of my mum and her cat.

[I adore this photo!!]

here’s my illustrated version of her that i’ve been working on, bear in mind it’s a work in progress so far, have lots of experiments to do before i find the right medium for my style, although i do love watercolours…

I really hate showing this kind of work, i find it embarrassing, this post is the first time my husbands even seen this image too as i prefer to have a final finished product to show off, but everyone at work (while using works reprographics department) were very complimentary so i decided to share

I’m hoping this will transpire into paper goods I can sell in my shop, along with stickers and prints etc all centred around these few characters.

I’ll keep you posted on the books progress – i’m sure it will be a lengthy one!

It’s taken a while as I’ve had a few things on my mind and lots of jobs to do, getting my etsy shop up and running but here’s my first etsy faves post. I’ve done these before when I ran strawberrykitten and really enjoyed having somewhere to put all those items I heart on etsy.com. This time I’m going to do it a bit differently, I’ll be separating them into subjects – for example todays is for kids! Appropriate as I’m about 7 months pregnant and love looking at kiddies things

[left] While looking for artwork for the nursery I came across this colourful print by sugarfresh. [middle] I adore this tepee tent!! Might have to purchase one! It’s by Moozlehome. [right] If I was having a girl I’d be buying this gorgeous knitted top pattern, its so cute and its by Rasmilla.

[left] everyone loves dinosaurs, especially little boys, its cute and so simple. Its by Wildernest. [middle] this little plush hamster is so adorable! Its by Plushplex. [right] what an imaginative idea for a crayon, I love them and think I’ll definatly be getting some for our little one. There by Kitty baby love.

There you go there’s this weeks etsy faves – hopefully I can stay in the swing of it and post one every week so stay tuned!

i’ve just updated all my bear photos in my shop and added the new bears with scarfs. I’ll do a longer blog post tomorrow…promise!

click me!

So i have my bears on sale on etsy.com now but i’m not 100% happy with the photos, the background is lumpy looking. So me, simon and the bears went for a walk in the near by woods to take some test shots of the bears in a woodland scene. I think they turned out a bit busy looking, i prefer a more sleek, plainer background…but look who frank the bear ran into on our travels!