Happy September!

It's a new month, new season and time to reveal this month's desktop wallpaper for my email subscribers.  
​
To celebrate the start of a new term it's all gone pretty in pink this month with tall, elegant hollyhocks and flamingos, inspired by visits to botanical zoo gardens.
​
If you would like to get the FREE desktop wallpaper, then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE

​August seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye.  It was great to take some time to rest, recharge and get out and about with my  family,  This year I have appreciated this break more than ever.   It has been a busy time creatively and it was good to take things slowly and have time to think, reflect and catch up with good friends.  
I feel very ready for September, it always feels like the beginning of new things and I look forward to getting stuck into the new ideas I have brewing for the months ahead. 

This month also sees the launch of lots of new greeting card packs over at my Etsy shop.
​I have created some useful multipacks to help make the most of the free UK shipping I offer on my products.  It is possible to order the cards individually, or in different mixed packs as I am always happy to set up custom listings over on my Etsy, simply send me a message with a request...

The new packs include four wildlife square cards with foiled lettering and details as pictured above...

A four pack of floral and foiled detailed cards, 2 of 2 designs as shown above...

Four 5x7 wildlife cards with 2 witty and simple birthday messages on the front...

There are also handy 2 packs of thank you and good luck cards, and
boy and girl birthday cards.

For the full greeting card collection, here's a link to that section of my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ArtworkByAngie?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&section_id=10558937

​I hope you have a fantastic September!
Best wishes,

Hello and Happy November!
​
A brand new month means a brand new desktop wallpaper for all the lovely people on my mailing list.  

​This month, as the nights become longer, we have a late autumn night sky with owls swooping under a shimmering, bright crescent moon.

​If you would like this free wallpaper, here is a link to subscribe to my mailing list:
JOIN MY MAILING LIST

Now that Halloween has passed, I think it's about time to reveal my brand new collection for this Christmas!

The new collection has been inspired in part by some of the imagery I created when I took part in last year's advent countdown over on Instagram.  

For the first few weeks of October I took part in Inktober over on Instagram.  It's always a struggle to do these daily challenges, and I often find it tricky to keep them going, but I always have a go.  I learnt early on, how great these sorts of online creative community art challenges are, for helping to stay inspired and to help build a collection of work that can then be used to build your portfolio for art licensing, or to create a brand new range of products - like this new one for Christmas...

On the subject of gift wrapping. A couple of days ago, I posted some useful information on my social media in response to something I saw doing the rounds on Facebook about wrapping paper.  It was giving inaccurate information that's potentially damaging to the livelihoods of the thousands of people working in the gifts and greetings sector.  It could also encourage people to not bother recycling things that can easily be recycled, which would be totally shameful. So at the risk of repeating myself if you follow me on Facebook...

 It was all about a post I saw, urging people to use brown paper instead of wrapping paper this Christmas claiming that ALL wrapping paper was non recyclable.

"That's NOT entirely true!" I yelled at my screen.

It's an admirable thought, as we all want to be kinder to our planet, but it's a HALF TRUTH. As a designer of gift wrap who has been working with eco friendly producers of paper goods for a few years now, please allow me to clear this one up for you all....

Wrapping paper with shiny finishes, foil, glitter, laminated, coated finishes are generally the ones that CAN NOT be recycled....

However, ones that are not given this treatment, simply printed with a pattern or design (such as the ones I sell, pictured here) CAN BE recycled.

If in any doubt, you can scrunch the paper up into a ball in your hand and if it stays scrunched up then it's good to recycle.

I found out about the 'scrunch test' on the WRAP UK website (Waste Recycling Action Programme). Here is a link to the relevant details on that site for more useful information. It's a great source of facts on all things to do with waste management and recycling:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/tis-season-be-aware-recycling

So if a brown paper festive season is not your thing,
​you can have a colourful Christmas after all!....

​Along with the new Christmas wraps, I have also created a set of 6, A6 sized  
Christmas cards, to complement both the new gift wrap designs...

I hope you enjoyed the first look at my new collection for this Christmas.
​I also hope that you find the information about the 'scrunch test' to find out whether gift wrap is recyclable very helpful too.

Have a great November!
Best wishes

Angie