NOVEMBER - REVEALING NEW DESIGNS FOR CHRISTMAS 2018

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...

This year I have created two new Christmas wrapping paper designs.
'Nutcracker' and 'Poinsettia'.  
​Both designs are now available from both my Etsy and Folksy shops....

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