Decisions!

Just completed this illustration for Leo's room. I'll let you know how I did it in another post in a few days. But for now I just can't decide which colourway to get printed.

Blue...

... or pink?

(OK, OK, I know technically pink is for girls, but I do kind of like it :) What do you think?
In the meantime, Happy New Year to you all!!

Seasons Greetings!!

Here's wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a damn fine 2011!!! Thanks all for keeping up with me... I very much hope to see you again in the new year!

Seb Lester

Hello... it's been a while I know! I'm hoping to make a full on effort come the new year to get back into the swing of things. For now, here's a little something to tickle your fancy. Stunning and amazing work from ultra-talented type artist Seb Lester.




The 'Home Sweet Home' image is negative screenprinted on Mirri board which has a stunning array of colours when viewed from different angles. Watch this sweet little video and gasp in wonder! All prints are available to buy here.

Little Model

One of the joys of being a bit crafty and being a mum is that you can make stuff for your baby. Here's a couple of things I made, modelled beautifully by Leo!


I created the onesie by uploading some of my artwork via Cafe Press, who will then print it for you.


The cardigan is the Rosebud cardigan from Erika Knight's book 'Simple Knit's for Cherished Babies'.

It's Been a While

On Tuesday Leo turned 3 months old. I can hardly believe how quickly time has passed. Of course I'm still too busy to really focus on my blogs, but I wanted to say a quick hi and post these lovely pics from our recent holiday in the west of Greece.



Motherhood is really wonderful and although we still have our 'difficult' days I really do have one beautifully easy baby. He is a true joy. I'm only really finding time to post pictures on my Facebook page (you can find me under 'Leanda Xavian') at the moment so please do 'friend' me over there if you want to keep up with his progress.

the prettiest star

Here he is folks...my precious little boy. Two and a half weeks old. We are all doing fine. Exhausted and no time to write any more, but will be back soon :)

Happy Summer!

As you can see I've been rather quiet here on blogland since the wedding as we're just concentrating on getting ready for the big arrival in a couple of weeks time!! But I want to say a huge thank you for all your lovely comments on our wedding... I genuinely am so touched by all your kind thoughts and wishes. Until my next post, I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

We did it!!

Yesterday I married the most wonderful man in the world! George has been my rock for 6 years now.


Finally, with me at 7 1/2 months pregnant we got married. We've been through a lot in the past three years, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.


We are in love and money doesn't buy happiness. (Dress, shoes, ring and flowers (arranged by me) = 100 euros ;)

Karen Barbé

Well the good news is... we got our wedding permit... finally!! Huge relief. Now we just have to set the date. I don't seem to be very productive lately and am rather neglecting my online shops. However, I never stop searching for inspiration and am always in awe of the talent I find out there on blogland. Today's eye catching work is from Chilean textile designer Karen Barbé.


I love her delicate colour palette and bold prints inspired by traditional folk art.


Her blog is just beautiful too...

Donna Wilson

Well, I'm happy to report that my documents have arrived safe and sound from Australia. Now it just remains to get through the final hurdle here in Greece! Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I'm just loving these beautiful textiles and household items from Donna Wilson.

Forever Flowers

Well... I am supposed to be getting married in a couple of weeks time believe it or not, IF the greek wheels of bureaucracy ever start moving and my paperwork turns up safe and sound from Australia! I just want to get the deed done and am not a particularly enthusiastic bride, planning everything to the nth degree... but I do think these brooch bouquets from Fantasy Floral Designs are pretty unique and fantastic.

Junkaholic

Saw this beautiful garden shed featured on the Kickcan & Conkers blog this morning. It belongs to Artemis (great name) of Junkaholic.

Before
After

A really amazing transformation and ingenious use of of a small space!



Pop over to Artemis' blog for more inspiring images.

Home From Home

I initially thought to keep this blog free of 'personal' stuff, but now I feel I want to share a little glimpse of my life with you. George and I have had a wonderful relaxing Easter weekend in our 'home from home' town of Nafpaktos, a beautiful little place in western Greece. One day I would like us to live there permenantly. The town itself is built around a beautifully preserved Venetian castle and port, and the location is perfect.

Photo: Wikipedia

Situated on the Corinth Gulf with views of the Peloponnesian mountains beyond, Nafpaktos is half an hour from Patras (Greece's 3rd largest city) from where you can sail up to Corfu and Italy, an hour by boat from the islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos, and has a multitude of outdoor activities in the surrounding countryside from rock climbing to white-water rafting to kite surfing and more. We have some wonderful friends there too and I can't think of a more perfect place to raise a family.
So, as mentioned, we have just spent Easter there, which is a big occasion in Greece. Here are just a few moments from the weekend.


The port staged a spectacular (if not slightly tacky) light and fireworks show on Good Friday night.


The view from our hotel balcony - the tiny port of Hiliadou (about 10 mins from Nafpaktos)



Lunch on Saturday next to Evinos River.


George and I... relaxed and happy!

I hope you all had as good an Easter break as we did! I'm looking forward to hearing about it!

Paper Roses

I am just in awe of some people's abilities to create beautiful things... amazing paper-cutting is just one of the things multi-talented artist Carol Gearing does. Pop on over to her Flickr stream to see more...





Have a Happy Easter everyone!

In a whirl!

Phew... I'm exhausted after the antics of the past two weeks so tonight George and I are treating ourselves. We're off to see the whirling dervishes from Turkey. I've always wanted to see them and they come to Greece at least once a year. Our seats are about 100 miles from the stage, but I still think it will be worth it!


These amazing images are from talented Turkish photographer Umut Kebabci.


Hope you're all off to do something nice this evening and again have a great weekend!

Fabrics on sale now!

Firstly, sorry for my blog absence over the past couple of weeks. I am trying to get married in Greece and have fallen into a bureaucratic quagmire of gigantic proportions! The past couple of weeks have seen me running around all over Athens between various embassies, translation services and government offices whilst making calls to Australia (I am dual nationality British-Australian) in the wee hours. Add into the mix a number of medical appointments and it's all been a lot of fun and games to say the least!

Anyway, on to the exciting news! My Spoonflower swatches finally arrived and generally I'm pretty happy with them.



This means the following fabrics are now available in my Spoonflower shop:
Beach Hut
Bognor Spot in sand
Bognor Stripe in lemon pie
Spooner in watermelon
Spooner in sugar ice
Spooner in mustard
and
Spooner in artichoke

I will be making other colourways available very soon, and I will hopefully have a bit more time now to work on some new designs for you too, so watch this space...

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing!

Creative Outlets

If like me you are always on the lookout for new design-led ways to promote your work, then you might want to check out these 3 great websites that I discovered this morning.

First is 20x200, an online gallery for talented artists founded by Jen Bekman.


Jen opened her pocket-sized gallery on the Lower East Side nearly 5 years ago with the mission of supporting emerging artists and collectors, and she's made a name for herself doing just that. 20x200 takes the mission one step further, making art available for everyone.

Next up is Society 6, a platform for the world's artists and creatives to promote their work and connect with unique opportunities. Anyone can join.


Last but not least, is Envelop, a great website for graphic designers wanting to see their work printed on cotton items such as aprons, potholders, napkins and totes.


I will add a new links section at the side of my blog entitled 'Design & Sell' and will add more design-led promotion websites as I find them. And please do let me know of any you like too!

Prints to die for!!

These incredible prints were produced by Stukenborg. They are infact letterpress impressions of dice printed on a Vandercook 317!




The dice are arranged on the bed of the press, and the ink is rolled directly onto the face of the die for each impression. Amazing huh!