Now that Halloween has passed, it's time to unleash all the festive pretties and shamelessly drop the 'C' word...Christmas has landed and I have lots of lovely things to tempt you all this year...

Over at my Etsy, it feels like Christmas began very early.  Throughout October I have been steadily added new stock to my Christmas section, including a new set of Christmas cards and some new wrapping paper, with a fresh, rustic woodland feel...

​But it's not just cards and gift wraps over at my Etsy and Folksy shops.  I have also been adding some new patterns and designs to my Society 6 and Spoonflower shops - for lots more gift options and festive DIY craft projects...

And of course, there is my annual 2021 wall calendar, which features 12 full page illustrations of flora and fauna...

I hope my seasonal collection of Christmas goodies has got you feeling merry and bright on cold November day.

I hope that you all have a great month,
​Stay safe and take care!
&
Best wishes

Happy June!

The start of summer...
A summer like no other!

To put something bright and cheery into the world
and to try and keep us all uplifted in spite of everything,
my June desktop wallpaper features a very bright and beautiful
​kingfisher perched near the wildflowers.

If you would like to get this FREE desktop wallpaper,
​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE
​

How have you all been this past month?

Let's talk a bit about May, if only to document it a little for future reference.
This is my experience of the May lockdown...

Like most home based freelancers, daily life has a weird sense of normal for me.  
My husband has been working throughout this whole lockdown. It has been business as usual with homeschooling the only change to our daily routine.  I'm used to working with our two girls home, the annual six week summer holiday has taught me how to do it, so even to some extent that feels normal too.  However, I have found it much harder than before to focus on things, my mind wanders with all the things going on in the world and all the worry, especially with a household member going out to work in this pandemic.  Like so many others, we try to carry on as best we can, but we are very 'alert' to the risks and we all have to carry that worry daily.

Now it is June 1st and the schools are taking in many more children.  I refuse to say they are re-opening as many of my close friends are teachers and work in schools, I know they have been working all the way through, including the Easter and May half term holidays.  
This also makes me very 'alert' to the risks my friends and their families are facing.

I am sure I am not alone, but I have to be honest and say I have 'staying alert' fatigue right now, I can see why people are wanting everything to relax and be over.  However, that won't stop me from being careful as the risks are very real, the virus has not gone away.  Here in the South West of England, the rate of infection has gone up recently and at the end of May we've had a nearby general hospital (Weston General) close to new patients to cope with the COVID-19 cases.  So as we try ease out of our national lockdown, it's important that we carry on being very careful, alert and mindful of others while remembering that we are not all in the same boat.

So, to stay positive and keep going from the safety of home, I have been dipping in and out of lots of creative projects.  Things are slowly getting done or edging forward, but I am aware it's not as productively as before.  That's OK though, things are making progress and that feels good.  By focusing on small chunks of time and working on the project that feels right at that moment is helping me get through.  An hour here and an hour and half there, it all tots up and helps me escape from my worries for a bit....
​

​Some of those projects have been inspired by garden flowers and garden life.
If in doubt, I find it helps to seek inspiration from your surroundings, especially nature.

I also found a warm, fresh colour palette I wanted to try out that had neutral ivory, ochre, burn orange, coral pink and sage green hues in it.  Sometimes just playing with a new set of colours can take you to different places creatively and feel great .  These are great ways to start a new creative project when your mind feels a bit fuzzy and lost for inspiration -
pick an easy to access theme and/or colour scheme and simply begin.

The result has been some new patterns to add to my Society 6 and Redbubble shops...
​

​I also added lots of new illustration wall art prints to my Etsy shop, including this 
'Go Get 'Em Tiger' print.  There's a lot of tiger love going around at the moment, so I thought this would be a bright and sunny image to sign off this month's blog post with...

​ I hope that you all have a great June - we are half way through 2020 already!
​
Stay creative, take inspiration from the beauty of the nature that surrounds us,
but most of all stay safe and take care!

Best wishes