My daughter turned 2 yesterday. We had lots of fun at the weekend and a lovely party.

We now have tea towels in the same theme/pattern as the footstool.

Last year, I bought a footstool. I thought it would be fun to buy something old and give it a new lease of life. I never got round to doing anything with it. It just sat on the floor in the corner of my studio. When I started printing, I decided I'd get round to giving my poor footstool a new look and I FINALLY got it sorted yesterday!


Footstool : Before

Footstool : After
I printed the design on to the fabric, added new stuffing, nailed the fabric to the base and then added the trimming.

About 2 weeks ago, I applied to sell my stuff at this event. The Handm@de Cambridge one is the one I'll be going to. I got a reply from them confirming me a spot today. You'll also see a little badge on the right hand corner of my blog. I'm really excited - my first time!!! It'll be on the 5th of December at Cambridge Guildhall. I just hope I'll be able to make some nice prints on nice objects and that people will like my work and buy a thing or two. It's all very exciting!! I've also got a new project on the go. I'm just waiting for the print to dry. Photos to follow soon!

Linen cushion covers with green and turqoise motif.

I spent yesterday carving out these two designs and today I printed them. I'm pleased with the way they look and now I'm wondering if I should carve out another design to go with these two, so they become a series. Should I? Or do these two look fine together and perhaps I should move on and carve out a different flower in a different style? Thoughts/suggestions anyone?

New stuff on the way.
I've got:

• Napkins
• Placemats
• Table runners
• Bags (all sorts of bags - long handle, short handle, wooden handle, linen, cotton, drawstring, laundry)
• Pillowcases (square, rectangle)
• Coin tidy

I'm not sure if I'll be able to print on all of these items, but, I'm excited anyway. I'm thinking of getting more toddler/baby tees to print on. I was considering getting ladies tees/tops to print on, but I think it'll get really complicated what with sizes and all. I'm still working on producing more prints and items and also on taking better shots of my products. What do you think of the photos I've taken so far? Ben being a photographer seems to think they aren't good enough for a website. The thing is, I don't want the blog to look like a website. It's my personal space where I share things with You, the one reading it and looking at it. In a sense, I want my photographs to give you a little insight into my home, my prints. If all this is making sense, good. If not, tell me what you'd like to see on here, what you'd like me to do better/change.

I like reading other people's blog. Lots of artists, printers,crafters etc have blogs not just showing you what they've done, but what people who inspire them have done, things that inspire them etc - like an art blogazine. There are lots of these blogs out there, but I'm not going to head down that road. I don't know many people. Not many people inspire me. Ben's mum is one person who does (just to name one) - she's the person I turn to for opinions - she gives them to me straight and I need that. I take some, and leave some behind and she's fine with that. Looking at trees and flowers and pictures of nature inspires me. Looking at children's books with Jill inspires me. Going to nice places, looking at nice things especially nice old houses inspires me. Even better if I get to look in. Old things inspire me. I LOVE buying vintage/antique things. I like being influenced.



Today I made a wreath out of the hops growing on our rose arch. Inspiration for my next print? ;)

Cotton bag with red flowers and green dots.

Cotton shopping bag with blue motif design.

Leafy tea towel. Green leaves with small green dots. Hot from the oven! I only just printed it yesterday. I also printed a kids apron in the same design, but the model is asleep!

Ben kindly bought me a domain name. I now own inklingprints.co.uk. The blog's url is now blog.inklingprints.co.uk

I'm going to start planning a design for the website which will be where you can buy things.
Today, I was looking around for more products. At the moment, I've made:

• Tea towels
• Toddler tees
  
• Aprons
• Bags

I've seen a few things I found interesting and can't wait to buy them and get printing.

I'm also really happy that so many of you have joined the Facebook group. The positive comments, the suggestions, the ideas... Wow! Thank you! :) ~ kiran

Dotty apron with red flower design print.

I've just printed these luggage tags. I'm not pleased with the way the've turned out. The ink seems to have smuged and someof the prints don't look sharp enough. I am wondering if it's to do with the ink or ME! What's wrong? I'm going to try again, off to the shops tomorrow to buy another type of ink to see if it makes any difference.

Just created a new logo for the blog. Had to play around in Photoshop (it's been awhile since I've touched Photoshop!). What do you think? Tell me! I'm interested to know - good or bad!
It's just reaching 10pm and Jill is being put to sleep by my mum (She should be in bed by 7! Rises at 7am and sleeps at 10pm - that's just not right somehow!). Is she a robot?! Anyway, now that danger mouse is out of sight, I'm going to have a quick go at printing the cards I was suppose to print on Monday!