the best blogs...

One of my favourite things about the internet is the wealth of really great blogs. When done right blogs can be a great way to inspire people and showcase the work of emerging artists / crafters / designers / writers etc. I thought I would write my own post on a few of my absolute favourite blogs!

First up is Paper N Stitch.

Papernstitch is run by Brittni and Jeff, who describe the blog in their own words, "papernstitch is an online exhibition space that was created to promote talented artists, designers, and makers selling handmade goods. the exhibition space is curated monthly and showcases the best of the best on an international level. hence our tagline: hand-picked. handmade ..." I love that the idea behind this blog is a bit different, acting more as an exhibition space that the typical "blog" You can search for blogs and online shops using the drop down menu on the site, searching for things such as craft, or books and zines. I'ts very easy to use and full of delicious gems like the above image. Work from The English Pea.

Next up is that rather lovely, Decor8

Decor8 is run by Holly Becker, a freelance journalist and design consultant. Decor8 has been one of my favourite blogs for a long while! It's full of lovely artwork, design idea's, interior design tips and loads more. Hollys styling is so good - The blog is perfect for just staring at in wonderment. Mm. I like pretty things!

Another firm favourite is Creature Comforts.

I seem to love blog with damn good stylin'. I can't help it. Anything that looks good - I'm there. Creature Comforts is no exception. Creature Comforts is run by the very sweet, Ez. The blog is full to the brim with deliciousness that doesn't fail to inspire you. I even follow Creature Comforts on Flickr. Her pictures are just beautiful. It's like having a little glimpse into someones amazing, bright happy world. I love blogs! I love Creature Comforts. I've been known to spend an hour or two gazing. Yum.

Last but by no means least is Art & Ghosts.

The blog Art & Ghosts is run by Lou, and it is beautiful! I've admired Lou's artwork for a long time now, but only recently discovered her blog. I need to catch up on lost time! Her blog is packed with her gorgeous artwork and photographs. Her style is kind of naive and just generally full of LOVELY. Her use of subdued colours are really attractive. Check out her portfolio, here. Now!

So what are your favourite blogs?

Shameless Self Promotion!

Hello everyone :) I hope you all had a great weekend. Today I'm posting with a bit of a motive - I hope you don't mind. I'm very flattered and excited to be part of the rather ace exhibition, Lyrics & Type 2! Lyrics & Type is brought to you by Wooden Toy and VNA magazine. 16 creatives (including Allan Sanders, Nick Deakin, Eine and I Love Dust to name a few) have illustrated their favourite song lyrics to create beautiful 3 colour screenprints to be showcased and sold on the opening night and throughout the duration of the exhibition. Interested in having a look? I hope so! It's going to be awesome! The exibition is running from 8th April - 21st April at the EAST gallery on Brick Lane, London. I'll be there on the opening night, so if you're around.. Feel free to drop in and say hello!

The poster was designed by the rather awesome Timba Smits.

Stephs Favourite Illustrators: Tad Carpenter

Hello, Steph again! It feels like ages since I last posted.. Sorry! I hope you've all had a lovely week. If not, then it's the weekend! Yay. Todays post is about the rather great illustrator and designer, Tad Carpenter. I've been following Tad's lovely work on Flickr for a while now, it never fails to make me happy. Cute Characters and ace typography make Tad's work well worth checking out. I love his band posters.. have a look at them all here. Although my favourite work of his is just his characters. He makes some pretty sweet greetings cards too!

All images are taken from Tad's website.

Stephs favourite illustrators: Kris Atomic

Hello. I hope you all had a lovely weekend? It was so nice to finally get some sunshine... Spring's on its way! (Hopefully!)

If you're struggling to get in a Spring time mood then check out the super lovely work of freelance illustrator Kris Atomic. Kris' work is a beautiful mixture of elegance and pure playfulness. Her unique way of drawing people is irresistible! Kris runs a rather ace blog filled with her equally lovely photography and fashion posts. Her illustrations of the Miu Miu Spring / Summer collection are well worth a peek, check them out here!

All images are taken from Kris' website.

Postcards for Fred Flare

Nutcracker characters!

Stephs favourite illustrators: Gemma Correll

I love illustration. It's pretty ace. It's also a fact that a high percentage of illustrators are very nice people. One of these people in particular is Gemma Correll. A personal favourite illustrator for sure! I had to restrain myself when picking images for this post. I could well have crashed many many computers by posting everything Gemma has drawn ever. If you love pugs, kittens and anything cute and playful... you'll pretty much love Gemma's work. And it's well worth having a peek at her website. Anyway, onto the illustrations!

A print for Society6's Portland series.

A postcard design for The Renmen Project.

Gemma also illustrates her daily life in her daily diaries... it's like getting to snoop in the cutest diary ever! Check them all out here.

All images are taken from Gemma's Flickr.
Her website can be found here, and her shop, here!

P.S. She's currently having a sale - so go grab yourself something lovely :)

guest post - The Renmen Project

Hello! It's Steph again. I hope you're all well. I'd like to spend a few minutes today blogging about the fantastic Renmen Project. For those who don't know The Renmen Project is a website and shop set up by creatives Ben The Illustrator & Thunder Chunky to raise money for UNICEF's Haiti appeal. Artists are invited to contribute work, prints, postcards... all are sold via The Renmen Project shop and all proceeds go towards the appeal. A very worthwile cause! So if you feel like buying a bit of art - and helping Haiti... then check out the Renmen Project! Below are a few examples of the lovely work you can buy:

Hand-drawn “Love” postcards by Ben The Illustrator

Gocco Printed prints by a personal favourite, Peskimo

The Renmen Project also has an open submission group on Flickr. Anyone can submit work to this (the main Renmen Project is invite only) And work submitted could be used in future prints / postcards / fun stuff for the project. Fun, huh? Below are a selection of favourites from the Flickr pool (mines in there, yay!)

Support The Renmen Project. It’s good!

All images are from the Renmen Project website and blog.

Hello!

Hello there! I'm Steph, the (very excited) guest author for *pur-ple for March. A big thank you to Louise for letting me run loose with her blog, I hope I can keep you all entertained with my posts.. I have some lovely artists to blog about! Right, now to introduce myself without sounding too silly.. My name's Steph Baxter (AKA. Steph Says Hello) and I'm a freelance illustrator from Leeds. When I'm not drawing cats, flowers or pigeons. I can usually be found drinking tea and hanging out with my cat. I love playful, happy art. Anything thats got an element of fun, or craftiness to it is my favourite. Right now I'm loving the character work of Gemma Correll and Anke Weckmann. Who are your favourites at the moment?

Oh, and I thought I'd post a few pictures of my work below, I hope you like them!

Love,

Steph

© Steph Says Hello

screenshot advert - winner is...

I'd firstly like to thank everyone who entered :)

Now for randomness I listed all of you who entered in order of your comments made, then I was going to use one of those random number generator thingys... but they seemed a bit boring so I went on twitter and asked "Can someone please pick a number from 1 to 4 for me" and the first person to tweet a number is the number I used!

(I did make sure that it was none of you who entered that tweeted!)

... and the number that was tweeted was:

Number 1

(thank you Mr Yen for picking my winner for me! :) who by the way is a fab paper cutter! You can see my tweet on twitter on the right of *pur-ple on my twitter gadget or on twitter of course!)

Which means that the winner is....

Arty Plum of www.koodles.co.uk

So congratulations Arty Plum... your free three month screenshot advert is now live! (on the left here on *pur-ple... I just had to catch that bumblebee in the screenshot!)

Dosen't it look good :)

mothers day cards - dots and spots

Gorgeous Mothers Day cards in at www.purplegreetingscards.co.uk ... including this delightful personalised washing line one from dots and spots.

guest author - march

© Steph Says Hello

Yippeee... I'm really excited as *pur-ple has it's first guest author :)

Steph Baxter is going to be our guest author for March. (Hi Steph... big wave!) Steph's a freelance illustrator and graphic designer who's into typography, paper cutting, surface pattern, character & card design. You can find out more about Steph and her great work at her website www.stephsayshello.co.uk

Iv'e left it entirely up to Steph to decide what she posts about & I'm really, really looking forward to reading her posts!

... if you would like to be *pur-ple's guest author for April... then please do contact me :)

free - screenshot advert

I am currently offering one FREE screenshot advert of your website with a direct link straight to your website when you click on your advert... just like the ones on the left here on *pur-ple.co.uk (the advert will run for three FREE months)

All you have to do is:

1. Become a follower of www.pur-ple.co.uk (by clicking Follow at the top of this page)

and

2. Leave a comment below with your website that you would like a screenshot of.

and I'll randomly pick a "winner" at the end of this month!

... only condition is that the websites do have to be greetings cards related ie. that you are either a greetings cards designer or publisher, have fun... Louise :)

new cards - Kathryn Ferrier

We are sooo excited as due in at Purple Greetings Cards very soon are some delightful cards from Kathryn Ferrier, which I have been admiring for a while now!

I'll let you know when they arrive!

Hidden Eloise

I was going to say "this is my 100th post" :) but...

whilst on Twitter this morning I came across this problem that HiddenEloise is currently experiencing...

It is a very interesting read and I am glad that she has made her problems aware to others.

Now, I am a very "principles" person, and I have found from past experience that when you are extremely passionate about something and you know yourself that you are in the right it can be very hard to make that known.

At, times you almost have to "do it alone" instead of "following the crowd"

But, in the end it is often worth it, perhaps just to get things corrected or even to hear an apology, so that you can start to get back to normal again.

If what you think you are doing could be wrong, is an easy option, is what "everyone else does" or may offend someone's feelings please think twice about doing it and the repercussions it could cause later on.

If it is already done... it really is best to back down and admit that maybe you were wrong.

just added - Ingela Peterson for lagom

Ingela: happy birthday 066IL - £2.00

I have just added this delightful "happy birthday" card by Ingela Peterson for lagom to our birthday cards page.