4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

Hey everyone! I've got another 4 Etsy shops to share with you today. I keep stumbling across so many great ones its hard to choose which ones to share! Here are today's 4 choices...

By Loumi

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I discovered this lovely jewellery shop a little while ago when it was one of the featured shops on the Etsy blog, and I spent quite a while looking at all of her products and the behind the scenes photos of her studio. Everything that Kahina Loumi sells is beautifully elegant and simple, with all of her products featuring a limited colour palette of just off-white and gold. 

La Petite Jungle

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This colourful little shop features a great range of products made from screen printed textiles, all of which are designed and hand made by the owner, Laura Kientzler. The name of this shop is definitely reflected in all of the designs, with the imagery and patterns all reminding me very much of a jungle. The colours used in these items are all really fun and vibrant and really stand out.

Arminho

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The various notebooks and list pads in this great little shop are all inspired by vintage paper ephemera. I love the feel of this work and the great range of designs they have available, from organic seaweed patterns, to graphic text based designs. My favourite items in this shop are the "Cooking Secrets" notebooks which come in a lovely range of pastel colours.

Studio Meez

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I found Studio Meez on Etsy a little while ago and instantly loved the pretty pastel coloured designs they had to offer, and I went back to have another look recently and found there were lots more lovely items to look at! These products have a really sweet and girly feel to them and I think they're great for both children and adults. That goodnight cushions is particularly adorable and they also sell a selection of cloud and apple cushions too.

In my sketchbook: 27/03/14

Its been yet another week of working on the fairy tale project. I've now actually started to produce some of the illustrations that will be in the final outcome. Drawing the final images of the characters and houses etc. has seemed a little daunting to begin with so I've started small, working on the trees, flowers, birds etc. 

Here's a little bit of what I've been doing:

The trees in the last couple of images are just a small example of what I've been drawing: I've been illustrating each tree with no leaves, full leaves, half leaves, falling leaves, blossom and snow to fit all the seasons. There's an example of one of them over on my uni blog.

Next up, making a start on the houses and the castle!

4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

Today I'm back with another 4 lovely Etsy shops to share with you, all selling a selection of gorgeous handmade items...

Up in the air somewhere

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I love the texture and the handmade feel in these ceramics from Up in the air somewhere, and the little touches of gold leaf make them even prettier! My favourite item here is definitely the polka dot dish, the colour is just lovely.

Leah Reena Goren

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Everything is Leah Goren's shop is brilliantly girly and beautifully illustrated. She sells a huge variety of products including these fridge magnets, scarves, posters and clothing. She works with a great range of subject matter as well, from cats to flowers and girls doing yoga. I definitely struggled to pick out only 4 items from this shop as there's just so much to offer!

Sketch Inc

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Becky Kemp uses a lot of geometric shapes and bold graphics in her work, with contrast brilliantly with the pretty pastel colours. There's also a bit of a witty element to some of these products, with the pie chart of daily activities (eat, sleep, daydream etc.) and the Mine, Yours & Ours stickers. Becky also sells a range of nesting dolls, prints and notebooks which are just as lovely as these products!

Vice & Velvet

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These pretty soaps from Vice & Velvet come in lovely range of scents such as coconut cream, mango butter and jasmine flower. And on top of that they come in some really pretty packaging! This shop also offers gift wrapping with labels for "Best Mum ever" etc. which is a lovely added touch. They also sell little gift sets of sample size items, as well as custom stamped soaps as wedding favours.

Snap snap: 21/03/14

I haven't taken very many photos this week as I've spent a lot of time doing the boring planning part of my project (breaking the stories down into 12 plot points, planning layouts etc.), so this is quite a small instalment of my week in photos:

-  A couple of new fairytale illustrations.

- Putting work on the walls above my desk.

- A sunny afternoon of drawing at my desk.

- Storyboarding all six of the fairytales (this definitely wasn't the most exciting part of my project!)

How has your week been?

Art: Fairytale Illustrations

Here are a few of the illustrations I've been doing lately for my fairytale project:

I'm really enjoying this project so far, and there's lots more to come!

To keep up to date with the project and see more of these illustrations you can follow my Uni blog here.

In my sketchbook: 15/03/14

This week I've been focusing on designing some scenery for the fairytale project. I've been drawing all sorts of things from gingerbread houses and wishing wells, to tree houses and princess palaces:

4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

Its been quite a while since I shared any of my favourite Etsy stores on here, and I wanted to do something a little different to the old "Colour Inspiration & Etsy Love" posts as they often tied me down to sharing only shops selling illustrations, when there are so many other amazing shops out there too! So from now on, every now and then I will be sharing a small selection of my current favourite Etsy shops, selling all sorts of lovely items!

Today I'm sharing with you 3 new finds and 1 shop that I've liked for quite a while now...

Marina Marinski Ceramics

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I love these bowls by Marina Marinksi. The faces are really cute and of course I love the pattern detailing. If you fill them up then then the faces will be hidden until the food has all gone at which point the face will be revealed! They come in a great range of colours too and are all handmade to order so each one is truly unique.

Kari Herer Photography

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I've spotted some of Kari Herer's work on Pinterest before but have only recently discovered her Etsy shop and the full range of images that she sells. These images are so unique and beautiful and nothing like anything i've seen anywhere else. There's some great detail in the drawings and the flowers really make them stand out. I can't decide which piece is my favourite as they're all so pretty, but I'm always a fan of giraffes so that one is definitely high up on my list!

Native Bear

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Native Bear was one of the first Etsy shops I discovered and I've loved Leela Robinson's work ever since. There's a great variety of items in this shop, with everything from colourful art prints, to custom rubber stamps and hand-printed tea towels, all drawn in Leela's lovely illustrative style.

Skipping Fox paper co.

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I love the characters on these cards by Victoria Scobbie, and the pretty pastel colours are lovely too. There are cards for every occasion in this fun shop, including Christmas, Valentines and Birthdays. My favourite item here has got to be that fox on a bicycle! 

Snap Snap: 14/03/14

- I finished off my self promotion work for uni, and sent it off to some art directors at various children's book agencies.

- Whilst I sorted all of that out and found the addresses, Beabea laid next to me with her paw around my leg and didn't move for hours. That was a pretty good afternoon.

- I spent most of Sunday drawing trees for my project.

- We also took a little trip down to the Garden Centre and the Farmer's Market.

- In her all time favourite place: sat on the sofa staring out the window.

-  Work in progress.

- Designing fairy tale tree houses. You can see lots more of these over at my uni blog.

- Speaking of which, I gave it a little makeover with a new header and font. 

Me and Beabea also entered a little competition this week over at Miss Magpie Designs. The idea was to take a "pet selfie", and the one that gets the most likes on Facebook will win a lovely pet portrait by Emily (she is very talented, you should definitely check out her work).

I'd love it if you could vote for our photo right here and maybe we might just win that portrait!

It did take me quite a while to get Beabea to co-operate in taking a selfie with me, as she's not too keen on cameras (DSLRs are a definite no-no, she runs away form them!) but we managed to get a few good ones over the weekend:

Snap snap: 07/03/14

My week in photos:

- Planning my work schedule

- Lazy sunday playing board games with Jamie

- Multi-coloured nails

- Pancake day. Lemon & Sugar, of course.

- Sketching in the New Forest with Selina

- New Forest donkeys. These guys spent a lot of time rolling around on the floor

- The pretty view from my desk on wednesday evening

- Spending a long weekend cuddling this gorgeous thing (and making up for missing her birthday last week by bringing her lots of homemade dog biscuits!)

In my Sketchbook: 06/03/14

The last 2 weeks have been spent doing lots of character designs for my Fairytale project. I've been combining animal heads (that symbolise something to do with the character) with costumes to draw all sorts of characters such as the Evil Sisters, Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and the Evil Queen...

I've started to add a bit of colour to these images, which you can see right here.

I also mentioned in my post earlier this morning that I went to the New Forest yesterday and did a bit of quick sketching. Here's a few pages from the day:

What do you think? How many of the characters do you recognise?