inside my shop

A little look inside the shop...



Cards by dots and spots available at www.purplegreetingscards.co.uk with free delivery on all orders too!

Louise
Purple Greetings Cards

exciting times - ivy

The ivy that needs stripping from my new wall... (I'll tell you more about what the wall is attached too soon!) sadly it has to come down as it's making the wall bulge. I had to take a quick picture of it though as it does add a little colour... and for some reason reminds me of fairies!!!


I'm thinking maybe Wisteria to replace it once the wall has been repointed...

Louise
Purple Greetings Cards

Exciting times!

Here's a quick update on what has been keeping me busy over the past couple of months...




Louise

Purple Greetings Cards

Stephs Favourite Illustrators: Clare Owen

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good weekend. I hope you don't mind me posting so much about MY favourite illustrators.. But I can't help it! I keep remembering beautiful artists who are so worth blogging about. Todays post is about the lovely Clare Owen. I've been following Clare on Flickr for a while now and I can safely say that her work is well worth a look. Absolutely gorgeous! I love the delicate, feminine lines and colours she uses. Clare also recently won the Tigerprint Love Typography competition with the card design at the bottom of the page, "J'Adore". I think you'll agree it's a worthy winner. I love it! If it ever gets printed (it better do!) then I'm buying it.

Clares website can be found, here. Her Flickr can be found here.

Stephs Favourite Designers: Claire Nicholson

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a good ol' week. Mines been pretty jam packed, so I've very sorry that this post is pretty late! Hopefully I can make up for it though. Right... I'm on it.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a love / hate relationship with graphic design. I did a degree in it, so I must love it on some level.. But I'm an illustrator at heart. My heart belongs to the pencil. But.. this doesn't mean that I can't love some damn good design right? Right! Well Claire Nicholson is a pretty ace designer. And an illustrative one at that. How could I go wrong? Plus she's also from Yorkshire like me, yay :) Claire is a very talented artist (I really want to say drawer.. Can I?) She also has a lot of technical talent. I notice a bit of a blue theme going on here as well. Her website is well worth a peek!

Onto the goods!

This is a design Claire created for the Don't Panic brief, "Resistance".
It went down a storm on Society6, you know!

Alice in Wonderland Silkscreen prints.

I love Claires Christmas range! Oh. I also like polar bears. Winner.

Claires website can be found here!

Stephs Favourite Illustrators: Katie Hanratty

Hello Again!

Did you all have a nice weekend? Spring is here, finally. Sorry I keep going on about Spring, but I really love it. Spring colours, teeny little animals, easter eggs! As soon as I've typed this of course, it's started raining! Anyway, I've got quite a few exciting posts lined up this week.. I really hope you like them! First up this week is the illustrator Katie Hanratty. I've been following Katie's work on Flickr for a long time time now. I love her style, sort of retro, sort of contemporary. Katie also makes lots of yummy things to sell, such as Lino-printed mini cards and teatime badges as well as lovely prints of her work. Sort of pretty ace, if I'm honest. I really have a soft spot for illustration that has a vintage feel to it, as well as being unique. How can you not fall in love with a postie dog? You must have the cold hard heart of a robot if you don't love Katie's work!

Katies website can be found here, her blog here, and her Flickr, here!

So, who are your favourite crafty illustrators?

the best blogs...

One of my favourite things about the internet is the wealth of really great blogs. When done right blogs can be a great way to inspire people and showcase the work of emerging artists / crafters / designers / writers etc. I thought I would write my own post on a few of my absolute favourite blogs!

First up is Paper N Stitch.

Papernstitch is run by Brittni and Jeff, who describe the blog in their own words, "papernstitch is an online exhibition space that was created to promote talented artists, designers, and makers selling handmade goods. the exhibition space is curated monthly and showcases the best of the best on an international level. hence our tagline: hand-picked. handmade ..." I love that the idea behind this blog is a bit different, acting more as an exhibition space that the typical "blog" You can search for blogs and online shops using the drop down menu on the site, searching for things such as craft, or books and zines. I'ts very easy to use and full of delicious gems like the above image. Work from The English Pea.

Next up is that rather lovely, Decor8

Decor8 is run by Holly Becker, a freelance journalist and design consultant. Decor8 has been one of my favourite blogs for a long while! It's full of lovely artwork, design idea's, interior design tips and loads more. Hollys styling is so good - The blog is perfect for just staring at in wonderment. Mm. I like pretty things!

Another firm favourite is Creature Comforts.

I seem to love blog with damn good stylin'. I can't help it. Anything that looks good - I'm there. Creature Comforts is no exception. Creature Comforts is run by the very sweet, Ez. The blog is full to the brim with deliciousness that doesn't fail to inspire you. I even follow Creature Comforts on Flickr. Her pictures are just beautiful. It's like having a little glimpse into someones amazing, bright happy world. I love blogs! I love Creature Comforts. I've been known to spend an hour or two gazing. Yum.

Last but by no means least is Art & Ghosts.

The blog Art & Ghosts is run by Lou, and it is beautiful! I've admired Lou's artwork for a long time now, but only recently discovered her blog. I need to catch up on lost time! Her blog is packed with her gorgeous artwork and photographs. Her style is kind of naive and just generally full of LOVELY. Her use of subdued colours are really attractive. Check out her portfolio, here. Now!

So what are your favourite blogs?

Shameless Self Promotion!

Hello everyone :) I hope you all had a great weekend. Today I'm posting with a bit of a motive - I hope you don't mind. I'm very flattered and excited to be part of the rather ace exhibition, Lyrics & Type 2! Lyrics & Type is brought to you by Wooden Toy and VNA magazine. 16 creatives (including Allan Sanders, Nick Deakin, Eine and I Love Dust to name a few) have illustrated their favourite song lyrics to create beautiful 3 colour screenprints to be showcased and sold on the opening night and throughout the duration of the exhibition. Interested in having a look? I hope so! It's going to be awesome! The exibition is running from 8th April - 21st April at the EAST gallery on Brick Lane, London. I'll be there on the opening night, so if you're around.. Feel free to drop in and say hello!

The poster was designed by the rather awesome Timba Smits.

Stephs Favourite Illustrators: Tad Carpenter

Hello, Steph again! It feels like ages since I last posted.. Sorry! I hope you've all had a lovely week. If not, then it's the weekend! Yay. Todays post is about the rather great illustrator and designer, Tad Carpenter. I've been following Tad's lovely work on Flickr for a while now, it never fails to make me happy. Cute Characters and ace typography make Tad's work well worth checking out. I love his band posters.. have a look at them all here. Although my favourite work of his is just his characters. He makes some pretty sweet greetings cards too!

All images are taken from Tad's website.

Stephs favourite illustrators: Kris Atomic

Hello. I hope you all had a lovely weekend? It was so nice to finally get some sunshine... Spring's on its way! (Hopefully!)

If you're struggling to get in a Spring time mood then check out the super lovely work of freelance illustrator Kris Atomic. Kris' work is a beautiful mixture of elegance and pure playfulness. Her unique way of drawing people is irresistible! Kris runs a rather ace blog filled with her equally lovely photography and fashion posts. Her illustrations of the Miu Miu Spring / Summer collection are well worth a peek, check them out here!

All images are taken from Kris' website.

Postcards for Fred Flare

Nutcracker characters!

Stephs favourite illustrators: Gemma Correll

I love illustration. It's pretty ace. It's also a fact that a high percentage of illustrators are very nice people. One of these people in particular is Gemma Correll. A personal favourite illustrator for sure! I had to restrain myself when picking images for this post. I could well have crashed many many computers by posting everything Gemma has drawn ever. If you love pugs, kittens and anything cute and playful... you'll pretty much love Gemma's work. And it's well worth having a peek at her website. Anyway, onto the illustrations!

A print for Society6's Portland series.

A postcard design for The Renmen Project.

Gemma also illustrates her daily life in her daily diaries... it's like getting to snoop in the cutest diary ever! Check them all out here.

All images are taken from Gemma's Flickr.
Her website can be found here, and her shop, here!

P.S. She's currently having a sale - so go grab yourself something lovely :)

guest post - The Renmen Project

Hello! It's Steph again. I hope you're all well. I'd like to spend a few minutes today blogging about the fantastic Renmen Project. For those who don't know The Renmen Project is a website and shop set up by creatives Ben The Illustrator & Thunder Chunky to raise money for UNICEF's Haiti appeal. Artists are invited to contribute work, prints, postcards... all are sold via The Renmen Project shop and all proceeds go towards the appeal. A very worthwile cause! So if you feel like buying a bit of art - and helping Haiti... then check out the Renmen Project! Below are a few examples of the lovely work you can buy:

Hand-drawn “Love” postcards by Ben The Illustrator

Gocco Printed prints by a personal favourite, Peskimo

The Renmen Project also has an open submission group on Flickr. Anyone can submit work to this (the main Renmen Project is invite only) And work submitted could be used in future prints / postcards / fun stuff for the project. Fun, huh? Below are a selection of favourites from the Flickr pool (mines in there, yay!)

Support The Renmen Project. It’s good!

All images are from the Renmen Project website and blog.

Hello!

Hello there! I'm Steph, the (very excited) guest author for *pur-ple for March. A big thank you to Louise for letting me run loose with her blog, I hope I can keep you all entertained with my posts.. I have some lovely artists to blog about! Right, now to introduce myself without sounding too silly.. My name's Steph Baxter (AKA. Steph Says Hello) and I'm a freelance illustrator from Leeds. When I'm not drawing cats, flowers or pigeons. I can usually be found drinking tea and hanging out with my cat. I love playful, happy art. Anything thats got an element of fun, or craftiness to it is my favourite. Right now I'm loving the character work of Gemma Correll and Anke Weckmann. Who are your favourites at the moment?

Oh, and I thought I'd post a few pictures of my work below, I hope you like them!

Love,

Steph

© Steph Says Hello