Lorena Barrezueta + Millamella + Ninon + My Owl Barn

Hi!

I'm back in the swing of things... : )

I have found some time to put together the letters for this week. Thank you so much for your patience...This time of year is proving difficult to keep under control (and to schedule!) as our calendar fills to the brim... anyway, we'll try to take it one day at a time....

Are you ready?

Lorena Barrezueta

I definitely have a 'thing' for colourful crockery at the moment. Maybe it is my longing for warm summer days that has me drawn to these fresh watermelon hues...

Lorena Barrezueta's Gourmet Collection "reintroduces the ubiquitous disposable tin food container in fine porcelain as a was of addressing our perceptions of quality, value, and high-end design."

(images and quote from Lorena Barrezueta)

NOTES:
visit Lorena's website
visit Lorena's store

Millamella

There isn't much info around about the clever lass that produces these fab melamine plates from etsy store Millamella...there are so many great plates to choose from.. you should jump over and check them out...

Can you imagine a picnic set full of these lovelies?? - divine!

(images from Millamella)

NOTES:
visit the Millamella store

Ninon

I couldn't resist these softies from Ninon - so adorable and so full of personality! Tania Patritti has been making things with fabric for seven years... her little monster sketches eventually partnered up with her sewing and in 2004 her project of "les monstrìs" was born.

I'm sure you'll find one you love...cute! cute! cute!

(images from Ninon)

NOTES:
visit Tania's store
read Tania's blog

Oh Owl, I love you..

If you are partial to a bit of Owly goodness, then you are going to adore My Owl Barn...

You name it... if it has an owl on it, in it, or somewhere close to it, the lovely Shivani from My Owl Barn will know all about it... you've got to check out the Anthropologie purses she wrote about recently - just gorgeous!

(image from My Owl Barn)

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one small voice...

I was so excited to read on the Small Acorns blog this week that one small voice can bring about big change...

Last week, Amanda from Small Acorns, wrote about a large format store here in NZ carrying a copy of an Orla Keily duvet set...low and behold... the post got twittered and the tweet was noticed by one of Amanda's followers, who just happened to be both a journalist and an Orla Kiely fan...and guess what?? To cut a long story short, the said Duvet Sets have been pulled from the shelves - nationwide!!!

I think this wee story is so amazing. It is a fabulous example of the power of the internet, and the power of one person's voice - yay for small voices! and boo for designers who blatantly rip off other people's work! - well done Amanda!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

See you Monday! xxoo

crazy busy

hi : )

Things have been crazy busy here this week - you may have noticed that these letters arent jumping forth as they should!

I promise to have the rest of this weeks letters up tonight and tomorrow... in the meantime, I wanted to share this fabulous 'Around the World' poster from Julie Mercier that arrived in my inbox this week...

"French artist Julie Mercier has already illustrated many children's books and magazines. Here's now for L’Affiche Moderne her exclusive and monumental atlas. This artwork is just the ideal medium for your kid to discover all the richness and diversity of our great planet Earth, teeming with funny details and creatures. It will definitely be a source of numerous questions and discoveries and will catch your child’s imagination for hours. Available in English or French versions. "

(image and quote from Julie Mercier and L'Affiche Moderne)

NOTES:

visit L'Affiche Moderne to see and buy

see you soon!

xxoo

Kocorococo + Jane Kathryn Kolles + Kickcan and Conkers

Hello!

I hope your weekend was wonderful - and your Monday is going great : )

We had another lovely weekend, we spent time with friends, ate good food and celebrated a victory - all good!

I am a bit behind this week, so, let's go!

Kocorococo

I love this first print by dynamic duo Kocorococo...in fact, I was pretty amazed to find out that Kocorococo is actually a duo as their work is so similar in style - Corcoise and PoorSailor aka Veronica Navarro and L Filipe dos Santos are freelance illustrators and graphic designers living in Madrid.

"Our little factory is located in our living-room, so we assure you that all our pieces are 100% home-made.We paint, draw, sew, model, customize, dance, etc. and sometimes we sleep.We wish the day had 30 hours so we could do more painting, drawing, sewing, modelling, customizing and dancing...And, of course, more sleeping. "

(images and quote from Kocorococo)

NOTES:
visit the Kocorococo store

Jane Kathryn Kolles

Jane Kathryn Kolles (also known as Right Brain Jane) is a freelance textile and fabric designer that I discovered over at Spoonflower. Her unique mid century inspired prints are rich in texture and hand drawn elements, and the colour palette of this first print below - divine!

Not only can you purchase Jane's patterns as fabric, you can also jump over to her cultureshop where she sells journals and notebooks in a whole swag of different patterns... enjoy!

(images from Jane Kathryn Kolles)

NOTES:
read Jane's blog
read Jane's profile
see Jane's fabric on Spoonflower
see Jane's notebooks and journals in her cultureshop

Oohlala!

Deborah from Kickcan and Conkers has AMAZING taste and I so enjoy visiting her online - I think you will too : )

"Hi, I’m Deborah, a Yorkshire lass now living in a beautiful village in the South of France with my husband Dominique and our three great kids, Dylan, Savannah and Miles.

I’m passionate about the arts, home decor and thrifting. I especially love collecting vintage books, toys and paper goods. Besides enjoying family life, renovating our house, tending to the veggie patch and scouring French flea markets, I'll soon be opening a new online shop called Kickcan and Conkers selling a handpicked collection of vintage and modern treasures for children.

Bienvenue chez moi!"

(image and quote from Kickcan and Conkers)

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Thanks so much for joining me today... I hope your day is full of sunshine - if not out your window, at least in your heart : )

see you soon, xxoo.

Julene Harrison + Jen Maestre + Studio Jessi

Happy Friday!

It's a beautiful day here today, I hope you are finding a warm spot where ever you are : )
Let's jump in...

Julene Harrison

You know how much I love paper cutting right? I have posted a few of my faves in the past. I now (yay!) have a new one to add to my favourites list - Julene Harrison.

Julene's store holds a beautiful collection of laser cut artworks each intricately cut with a sentimental or thought provoking quote. If you delve into Julene's website you will find a series of custom artworks, painstakingly cut by hand... each one is so, so beautiful - Look!

(images from Julene Harrison)

NOTES:
visit Julene's website
visit Julene's store

Jen Maestre

I thought it would be fun to end the week with some pencil love. - Have you seen the work of Jen Maestre before?

Not only does Jen create an incredible collection of sculpture made out of pencils or nails (see her portfolio here), she has scaled down her work to create these individually crafted jewellery pieces.

"I am a sculptor with a particular fascination for pencils. I find them extremely inspiring, probably because I have a million of them in my studio. The big joke in my studio- I can never find anything to write with. "

(image and quote from Jen Maestre)

NOTES:
visit Jen's website
visit Jen's store

I heart Studio Jessi...

You may remember me including the work of Jessi Halliday here in alphabet*four. Jessi is a super clever gal who makes the most exquisite range of softies...

I wanted to finish the week with something that you could meander through, something that you could and find some inspiration in.. and Jessi's blog is just that, it's a wee snippet of her day to day life, with a nice dose of music, cooking and craft..."A little look into my hand made world.." enjoy!

(image and quote from Jessi Halliday)

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I do hope you have a wonderful weekend and find some time to relax and reflect, enjoy and indulge. I thought I'd leave you with this piece that I wrote for the post that included Jessi Halliday's softies.. it is still so relevant today, as I am sure it will be tomorrow and for may days and weeks and months to come...

"I am constantly blown away by the seemingly infinite assortment of super talented creative folk out there, and I love the fact that fabulous sites like Etsy, Flickr - and google(!) have brought the work of so many of them in front of admirers all over the world.

I love the fact that I have a job that lets me oohh and ahhh all day long and then share all my best finds with all you lovely readers... and I love the fact that all you lovely readers join me daily on this alphabetical journey : ) "

Thanks so much for joining me,

see you Monday xxoo

Hillery Rebecca Sproatt + I'm Wednesday's Child + Happy Lady Eats

Hi!

Do you mind if we double up today? I am wanting to pop H and I together, mainly because my schedule has been so busy this week I feel like I am lagging behind...it is a pretty chocka day tomorrow too... I wanted to get both done at once so I didn't have to worry too much.

So, today we feature 2 super talented creatives, plus one fabulous find from the 'wonderland'.. shall we get started?

Hillery Rebecca Sproatt

As part of my printmaking course, I am doing a wee study on my Grandmother. She passed away about 17 years ago and was an amazing and strong woman.

Of all things, I still have a very vivid memory of her china cabinet. I was so intrigued by all the treasure that was in there. Memento's from travel, little bits of porcelain and a variety of different ornaments. I never ventured in to it, but I do remember spending long moments gazing through the glass. I don't know why I never dared to open the doors, maybe the pleasure I got from the wonderment of it all was enough to satisfy me.

When I saw these images in Hillery Rebecca Sproatt's portfolio I fell in love! I had originally planned to feature some of Hillery's illustrations, but I couldn't go past this first image below. I would be intrigued for hours in front of these display cases - so many stories, so much history - so much treasure!

(images from Hillery Rebecca Sproatt)

NOTES:
visit Hillery's website
visit Hillery's store


I'm Wednesday's Child

I had a oohhhh! moment when I saw the illustrations of Wa-tinee Paleebatt. Wa-tinee is one talented gal!

Wa-tinee's store 'I'm Wednesday's Child', is full of gorgeous pieces of work. Each piece is a print of an original painting that is then digitally coloured. So beautiful!

(images from I'm Wednesday's Child)

NOTES:
visit Wa-tinee's store

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Do you remember back in O of alphabet*six I wrote about the amazing blog of super talented Nantaka Joy? Well, Nantaka from Oh Joy also writes this fab foodie blog Happy Lady Eats - it's a goodie!!

"the adventures of this designer & foodie as i dream of cupcakes, explore bánh mì shops, search for the best of the best, and then scheme what i'll eat next. there won't be much cooking here, but there sure will be a lot of eating.

by way of new york to philly, and now, to san diego, i'll share my favorite local finds as well as tips on how to find or make the featured food wherever you are. you'll also see plenty of stylish & tasty foodie things i love in general. this is where my inner fat kid speaks.

yours truly,

happy lady"

(image and quote from Happy Lady Eats)

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I hope you enjoyed the double dose today... see you Friday for J!

Have a great day!

xxoo

Little Glowing Lights + Jessica Rae Gordon + Gathering Spriggs

Hi there,

How are you? I hope you are well.

It has been a pretty big day today, in fact it has been a milestone...my youngest son had his first school visit. - He loved it! which I knew he would. He was a bit tentative at first, but then settled in and managed to stay an hour and a half over his allotted visiting time!

My wee boy is growing up.

Because he was only visiting, a parent (me) had to be at school too, which meant that I had four and a half hours of hanging around in the staffroom - not that that was a bad thing, but it did mean absolutely no work got done today...

So, here is G. A little late, but here all the same : )

Little Glowing Lights

It was the sweet tote collection by Catherine from Little Glowing Lights that first caught my eye, and when I delved a little deeper I found that this clever lass creates paper goods, garlands, postcards and pins for her collection too!

(images from Little Glowing Lights)

NOTES:
visit Catherine's store
read Catherine's blog

Jessica Rae Gordon

These mixed media illustrations and collages by Jessica Rae Gordon are divine! Born in Nelson, British Columbia, Jessica graduated and went on to study Television Animation. After a stint making animated television programmes and a commercial, Jessica continued her studies and gained a bachelors degree with honors for Illustration.

All this study and experience has Jessica producing pieces of work that are intricate and full of detail. I really like this first one below : )

(images from Jessica Rae Gordon)

NOTES:
visit Jessica's website
visit Jessica's store
read Jessica's blog

I think you'll like it....

"My name is Heather Spriggs Thompson, an artist and designer based out of Nashville, TN. Gathering Spriggs is my vintage inspired design blog featuring articles on green living, up and coming artists/designers, color trends and boutiques around the globe."

A beautiful blog - well worth the visit : )

(image from Gathering Spriggs)

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I hope your day is wonderful!

See you tomorrow for H! xxoo

Stephanie Fizer + Fréya Ete + Heart Felt

Welcome to Monday!

I hope you had a great weekend.

I had such a nice Friday night with my boys - Steve was at a work function so the boys and I lit a little fire in the back yard. We toasted marshmallows, ate s'mores and baked apples. We had sleeping bags on the trampoline, got out some sparklers, good friends came over - and then to top it all off - the excitement of the neighbourhood fireworks - all good!

(For those of you not in NZ we celebrated Guy Fawkes on Thursday, and Friday night was a continuation of that : )

The rest of the weekend was lovely too - gorgeous weather, a bit of gardening, lazing in the sun, and of course some time spent at the skateboard park! My boys are growing up!

Enough rambling from me!

I have some illustrative goodness and a rather lovely blog for you today...Are you keen to get started?

Let's go!

Stephanie Fizer

I love this first print below by Stephanie Fizer, isn't it so cute, colourful and heartwarming?

Self taught, Stephanie works digitally from original sketches. She has developed and mastered a process of adding subtle textures to her work, giving each piece depth and detail.

With a large collection of prints, paper goods and printables in Stephanie's store, there is plenty to choose from, and refreshingly there's goodness to be had for both boys and girls - yay!

(images from Stepahnie Fizer)

NOTES:
visit Stephanie's website
visit Stephanie's store


Fréya Ete

Some more warm-hearted illustration to share - this time by Fréya Ete.

Fréya produces a collection of works that are thought provoking and quirky, each one carrying a message that stirs emotion.

"She began her working life as an Art Director for Republic Advertising, but left to start her exploration of the world and along the way began to think about a different career. Illustration seemed a lovely logical option and she was delighted to discover that people enjoyed her creations as much as she enjoyed doing them."

(images and quote from Fréya Ete)

NOTES:
visit Fréya's website
visit Fréya's store

New Zealand LOVE...

Today I wanted to introduce you to Heart Felt -Adventures Growing up in New Zealand.

"Heart Felt is our story of growing up in New Zealand. We love to encourage the children in our passion for art, music, literature, nature, imagination and adventure! We hope our story will inspire you."

It's a great read! I think you'll like it : )

(image and quote from Heart Felt)

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I hope you week has started the way you had hoped. I'll see you tomorrow for G!

until next time, xxoo

Lee Meszaros + Erin Tyner + Grain Edit

Hi there!

Thanks so much for joining me, it is so lovely having you drop by : )

I've got my printmaking class today, so we are going to jump right in...

Lee Meszaros

These "Be Proud" Merit Badges by Lee Meszaros are fantastic - have you seen them? There are so many great ones to choose from. Lee hand makes each badge - "lovingly silk-screened in dark brown, hand painted with colour, and hand embroidered. All done on cotton and cotton blends, reinforced with interfacing and cotton padding for strength."

Each badge has a pin sewn in the back so they can be worn with pride... : )

above: merit badge for - going out on a limb

above: merit badge for - quitting cold turkey

above: merit badge for - barking up the wrong tree

above: merit badge for - rolling with the punches

above: merit badge for - making a house a home

above: merit badge for - being busy as a beaver

(images and quote from Lee Meszaros)

NOTES:
visit Lee's store

Erin Tyner

Do you love miniatures? I do! For some reason I find them really intriguing. I remember taking my oldest son to a model railway expo - I don't know who was more fascinated, him or me!

These photographs from Erin Tyner's 'Half Awake' series capture my fascination perfectly...take a peek:

(images from Erin Tyner)

NOTES:
visit Erin's website
visit Erin's store

I heart....

"Grain edit is focused on classic design work from the 1950s-1970s and contemporary designers that draw inspiration from that time period.

Site content includes interviews, articles, designers’ libraries as well as examples of rare design annuals, type specimens, Ephemera, posters and vintage kids books from our bookshelves."

I love it!

(image and quote from Grain Edit)

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We are doing wood cuts in class today - I'm really looking forward to it... maybe one day I will be able to include my own work in this wee alphabet of ours : )

Have a wonderful day!

See you tomorrow for F (and Friday)! xxoo