Feature Friday - Emma Frances

Today our featured designer is..

Emma Frances

Emma tells us about herself:

'I've loved to draw and create since I was very young and always knew I wanted to be in a creative job.  I came on surface pattern by chance through university and absolutely love it! I’m not entirely sure how to describe my style, I like to experiment and try different drawing techniques out. I was fairly controlled in my designing throughout uni and it was only in my last project I began to loosen my style and try out something a bit different.'

'I take inspiration from everything around me, I seem to see patterns in everything! If I'm coming up with new motifs then I find it helps a lot to put some good music on (Coldplay!) and just enjoy myself. I was also very lucky to have grown up in the most beautiful North Yorkshire countryside so a massive amount of inspiration comes from memories of my childhood.'

'I’m very passionate about what I do and I love it when a design comes together, I’m hoping to freelance more in the future, and eventually would love to own my own brand and sell my designs.' 

And here are a few links :

Blog - http://emmafrancesdesign.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/emmafrancesdesigns

Twitter - @Emmafrances22

Images copyright Emma Frances 2012

Off for some adventures

Tomorrow I am off to Germany for a long weekend of family, friends, exploring, Christmas markets and yummy food. On my return I am then heading off to New York City (squeal!) so my blog posts may not be as frequent as normal for a few weeks. I have scheduled a few posts but also hope to bring you design and inspiration posts live from the Big Apple!

Below is a photo of the lovely Hamburg Christmas Markets and a fantastic illustration of Hamburg by Anna Härlin

Source: sharingtravelexperiences.com

Hamburg Illustration by Anna Härlin

Giveaway winner and a little Christmas treat!

Wow! Thank you everyone who entered the giveaway and for the lovely comments!

I am pleased to announce, the winner is.. Carrie!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As you all left such wonderful comments I have decided to return the favour and offer you 10% off everything in my Etsy store using coupon code 'CHRISTMASCHEER10'!

Feel free to share with your friends and family and spread the Christmas cheer!

This offer is only valid for 48 hours so get in there quick! Deal ends 12pm (midday) GMT Thursday Nov 29th 2012.

Images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Muskoka Colour Inspiration

While I was in Canada in the summer I noticed that everyone had a particular type of chair, called Muskoka chairs after the region. They all had them in different colours and this particular set really caught my eye as a nice colour palette so thought I would share it with you all today for some colour inspiration!

Image copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Spoonflower Matisse/Nasher

This weeks Spoonflower contest was run in conjunction with The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and the brief was to create a design that would look at home in a Matisse painting. The colour palette was specified, with some really lovely colours so I couldn't help but take part!

Below is my entry, you can vote on the Spoonflower website here!

Images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate gaining 200 followers on Twitter I am hosting a little giveaway! You can win a pack of 8 of my Christmas Cards, 2 of each of the 4 designs below, just in time for Christmas!

Use the widget below to enter the giveaway which runs until midnight Monday evening (GMT).
There are 4 ways to enter:
1. Leave a comment telling us why you'd love to win these wonderful Christmas Cards
2. Like Rosie Simons Graphic & Surface Design on Facebook
3. Follow @rosie_simons on Twitter
4. Tweet about the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you just can't wait to get your hands on these lovely cards or want to purchase a greater quantity, they are available to buy from my Etsy store!

Share some festive feeling and share this giveaway with your friends! Thanks for stopping by!

Feature Friday - Kate Marsden

Today I bring you the fourth 'Feature Friday'

Today our featured designer is..

Kate Marsden

Kate talks us through her story, passions and plans for the future..

"I studied fashion and textiles at Lincoln College of Art & Design in the mid 1990s, then followed my now husband to London and ended up working for a law firm!  I'm still there 14 years later, but I realised a few years ago that I needed an outlet for my creativity.  I kickstarted this with a short course at Chelsea College of Art, and I've now taken a number of short courses there in textiles, painting and ceramics." 

"My real passion is surface pattern design, but I also like to knit and took up crochet earlier this year.  I use my paintings and sketches to create pattern designs and translate these into designs for ceramics, cross stitch and all sorts of different things.  I've recently opened a shop on Folksy."  

"At the moment I'm working on some new fabric designs which I hope to launch in the new year, and I'm also preparing to launch my website." 

"I'm constantly inspired by things I see around me.  I particularly like the styles of the 1950s in fashion, textile and print design as well as architecture.  Sometimes I'll spot something on the street, or it'll be an exhibition or something in a magazine that gets me started on something new."

"With regard to my creative process, I generally start with my photographs and make sketches based on them before creating paintings (usually acrylics, occasionally watercolour).  I will then turn my painting into a repeat pattern on the computer.  My 50s City design was just drawn, photocopied and pieced together (although I still worked from my earlier paintings initially). 50s City was screen printed, whereas Park Hill was digitally printed."

Twitter: @kdmarsden
Blog: http://www.kate-7ws.blogspot.co.uk
Folksy: http://www.folksy.com/shops/MadeByMrsM

Images copyright Kate Marsden

Society6 introduce throw pillows

Society6 have just introduced throw pillows! So you can now buy my designs as cushion covers from my store! Society6 are also doing free shipping from now until Monday so why not pick up some Christmas presents? 

Images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Koko & Beau

A friend of mine runs the wonderful Koko & Beau, selling beautiful handmade jewellery!

My favourite pieces are all the braided faux suede bracelets, they have such lovely texture and come in gorgeous colours! Available with charms, like seen below 'Fairy Charm Bracelets' and simple 'Braided Faux Suede Bracelet'

 

Koko & Beau currently have a 50% off everything sale so use the code: SALE50 on the site to get some beautiful pieces at bargin prices!

I have had my eye on these beautiful bracelets and decided to buy some as Christmas presents during the sale, and a few sneaky ones for myself and I ADORE them! So go check out the site!

Images copyright Koko & Beau 2012

Spoonflower & Mollie Makes

This week the Spoonflower weekly contest 'Flights of Fancy' is sponsored by the brilliant UK craft magazine Mollie Makes. The task was to create a bird of flight-related fabric design (repeating) that used a restricted colour palette (grey, light teal, apple green and pale yellow).

Mollie Makes are planning to use the winning fabric in a photo for the cover of Issue 26 of Mollie Makes on sale April 2013, how cool is that? You can vote here!

So without further ado here is my design, Hummingbird Heaven. There are some amazing entries this week so it will be a very tough contest and I would love it if you like my design if you could take a moment to vote for it!

Images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Do What You Love

If you've been following the blog for a while you'll probably know that I took 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' e-course from Do What You Love and Rachael Taylor back in September..

I've been meaning to do a follow up piece about the course since it ended in October, but the opportunities and briefs the course gave me were so incredible that it doesn't really feel like it has ended!

The course was fantastic, 6 weeks jam-packed full of behind the scenes information, all the business and technical sides to design world that they don't teach you at uni, amazing live briefs and much much more!

My favourite thing (besides all the amazing information we were given) is the community created by the course. I have met some really fantastic people, and it's great to be able to share ideas, get feedback and bounce ideas off other likeminded people, who all have different experiences in and around the design industry.

Another thing that I loved about the course was that it really encouraged you to be yourself, to do what feels right to you, whatever that may be and people will love you for who you really are.

The course encourages you that if you believe in yourself you can free yourself and live the life you have always dreamed of. It also encouraged me to get back to my creative roots and that was how the inspirational illustrative prints in this post came about. They show my passion for design and determination to live the life I have always dreamed, which without ABSPD I thought could never happen, and I want to share this inspirational feeling with others. So a MASSIVE thank you to Rachael and Beth, for giving me this opportunity and for creating such an amazing ongoing community of designers and creatives.

If you are thinking about taking the course, do not hesitate, it really will change your life!

The prints featured in this post are now available to purchase from my Etsy store! A great print for your wall to keep you inspired or a great gift for inspiring others!

All images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Featured on Tigerprint

Yesterday I was featured on the wonderful Tigerprint blog! It was such an honour to have my work up on such a fantastic companies blog, with such lovely comments and hopefully seen by many!

If you haven't seen the feature you can see it here!

P.S If you like the look of my wonderful brightly coloured floral Chrome, it's the Caroline Gardner Chrome Theme which you can download here!

Images copyright Rosie Simons, Blog content copyright Tigerprint

Feature Friday - Chloe Wood

Today I bring you the third 'Feature Friday'

I hope you're getting into a routine now knowing you can visit the blog on Friday's for wonderful showcases of very talented designers work!

Today our featured designer is..

Chloe Wood

Chloe talks us through her passions, inspirations and plans for the future..

"I  love to draw Flora and Fauna. The majority of my designs are inspired by this subject, however I have a whole range of designs I am yet to create all based on my travels around the world (so many ideas never enough time!)."

"I usually start off by just doodling and scan my drawings into Photoshop I then like to play around with scale and formats until I am happy with the design and then recolour them. I have recently started the ABSPD course as I want to develop my skills and design brand further"

"My style is a little naive but I love using my own handwriting it is what makes my designs unique to me."

"I am currently open for commissioned work so if anyone is interested please feel free to contact me via my website."

You can get in touch or view more of Chloe's work via:

Website: www.chloe-wood.co.uk

Blog: www.chloewooddesigns.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @ChloeWoodDesign

Facebook: Chloe Wood Designs

All images copyright Chloe Wood 2012

Pattern Inspiration - John Lewis Girl

I spotted this cute little dress whilst browsing the John Lewis website.. I was instantly drawn to the wonderful colour palette and the brushstroke style floral pattern.

It's just full of inspiration and really gets my creative juices flowing so I thought I would share it with you all!

You can view the dress online on the John Lewis website here

Images source: John Lewis

Spoonflower

This week I entered Spoonflower's Holiday Napkin Contest..

I wanted to create something fun and festive, so I chose bright versions of classic 'holiday' colours and combined them with contemporary Illustrations of classic holiday icons and 'happy holidays' caption in a playful typeface. 

You can vote HERE!

The only instructions for the competition were 'Using a fat quarter (21" x 18") of fabric as your canvas, create a set of holiday-themed cocktail napkins. We suggest setting them up sized at 4.5" x 4.5" inches, with an additional quarter inch on each side to be used as a seam allowance (making each square 5" x 5")' so you were free to play with different ideas and layouts of the design.. I chose to go patterned!

All images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Tigerprint Hand Drawn Typography Competition

I recently submitted some designs into the Tigerprint Hand Drawn Typography Competition

I hand drew the type and illustrations and then scanned them in and developed them in Illustrator.

Below are my 5 entries each using a different phrase, colour palette and style. I had so much fun working on this project, I don't often hand draw pieces with a pen on paper and this particular style of typography and illustrations is something I used to do a lot when I was at college.

It felt like getting back to my roots and I have now drawn even more pieces which I hope to develop and share soon! I may even sell the designs as prints if people would like to buy them!

You can see the designs on the Tigerprint website here.. 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

All images copyright Rosie Simons 2012