what katie did next...

A personalised Wedding Gift inspired by the Wedding theme

I've been really looking forward to sharing this!

My cousin and her Fiance were married this weekend, an occassion my family have been looking forward to very much. I knew I would make a gift, knew I would include green (it being my cousin's favourite colour), but they were the only two absolutes! So, when the invitation arrived in the post I was really pleased to see the lovely design on the front, as it had a row of ornate birdcages in a lovely pink on a green background. 

Bingo! my idea was sorted. I love birdcages, I have a small collection of them, one of which is in our bedroom, so I was particularly excited about this. I made some sketches, basing them somewhat on the invitation design and after deciding on one, and spending some time creating, I came up with this...

I'm very pleased with the detail, I used the trick of different bobbin and top thread colours to create more texture in the stitching, and kept to a limited palette (few colours).

   

I was so pleased, when entering the Wedding Venue, to see a lovely birdcage, as I knew my hunch about the theme was right! It was a beautiful wedding, they are a lovely couple who make each other very happy, and I hope they like their gift!

Have a great day!

A sentimental and very personal wedding commission...

I had a telephone call last week from a lady who had seen my work at The Chalet, in Tadworth, she asked to buy one of my pieces; as we chatted she told me she couldn't decide between two of the pieces,"To have and to hold from this day forward" or "Cherish each other forever". She is buying the gift for her cousin as a token, sentimental gift, as she has already bought something from the wedding list. She then told me a story about buying a piece of art whilst on her honeymoon in Hawaii with her husband, it said "Two souls connecting, Love never ending".  I suggested she have this, as it would mean more to her cousin because it has been so special to her...

She wanted neutral colours, and the date of the wedding (ssshhh, don't tell anyone if you know they're getting married on that date "wink"!)

I used two lovely raw silk pieces to make the hearts, and a mixture of vintage mother of pearl and bone buttons in neutral colours to offset the design.
 

A Wedding Gift commission - So they are no longer two but one...

Have I already said how much I love making personalised gifts? I love the fact that when someone commissions me it's because they want to give a gift that is so personal to the recipient/s, something they can treasure forever.

A recent commission was for a Wedding gift, based on part of the reading from the Wedding ceremony, an extract from the bible, Mark 10:8.

 "So they are no longer two but one"

I was given two pieces of fabric to incorporate, a warm, cream silk taffeta that was used to make the Groom's accessories, and a beautiful fluid turquoise fabric with a golden sheen, used to make the bridesmaid dresses.  I was asked to include the names of the Bride and Groom, and the date of their Wedding.

So this is what I came up with...

 

There was a gorgeous sheen in the blue fabric that had a golden tint, so I included some gold thread in the writing and to sew on the buttons to tie it all together...

and I made sure the buttons were a delicate Ivory to match the gorgeous silk fabric. 

 
 
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue... well it's hit three out of four!

And, I managed to make a couple of little extra's for the Bride and each of the mothers with the extra fabric, so they have a little something to remind them of the special day...

Have a great day! 

 

 

A family gift for the arrival of a new baby - with a little suprise!

I have been working on another lovely commission that I wanted to share;

The brief was to make a picture for a couple who have just had their second baby, a lovely little girl called Emily Rose (beautiful name isn't it?).

I was asked to use 'spicy pinks', use a quote about families and... include a picture of a gecko!! All is revealed below.

Once the quote was found and agreed on, I was able to start. I love making the felted backgrounds, it's at this point that the colour scheme is really decided upon.

The recipient family have a gecko that disappeared for a year (I think the eldest child may have had something to do with this), but they have just found him again! he was spotted when his head was seen poking out from below the fridge! So their family really is complete.

The gecko was actually very fiddly to embroider; when researching them I found that the front paws only have four 'fingers', whereas the back have five. Very difficult to do on a sewing machine when it's so small!

I thought it was a lovely quote, hhmmmm I think I may well be using it again in the future! It's so true isn't it?

 And, it's so nice to make something a little bit different!

Have a great day!

A parting gift for a special friend who is going travelling...

A lovely friend is going travelling very soon, so I wanted to make her something to take, although I was very conscious that it would have to be small and light.

In the end, I decided to make her a mirror; and because I've got a bit of a 'thing' about paper at the moment I decided on that medium.  I had a couple of trials that I wasn't happy with, but then a group of us went out for a meal in the week, and another friend had wrapped her gifts with a gorgeous animal skin wrapping paper. Suddenly, I had my inspiration.

Green is her favourite colour, and she likes birds in an art context; I used a map in the background, but of course I couldn't use a traditional green because the bird would be lost. So I looked through an old world atlas that I use for art projects and found a temperature map - perfect!

All I needed to do was to personalise it a bit more, so I cut out words I felt summed up why she was going travelling, and what I am absolutely sure she is going to get out of it!

I wish her well on her way, but I will miss her!

Have a great day!

Who can resist a Jellybean? Another lovely commission...

I am now officially allowed to 'blog' about my latest commission, as it is safely in the hands of the recipient!

I was recently asked to make a picture to be given as a gift at a baby shower, for a special mummy-to-be (and baby-to-be).  The order came all the way from South Africa, from a very caring sister, and soon to be Auntie!! I was given the brief "something bright and fun, and it needs to include the name "Jellybean", as this is the given name  at the moment for the baby-to-be.

So, here it is...
I wanted to make something that would 'grow' with the baby, and thought it would be a nice touch to have a bit of 'Englishness' in to it by including the toadstalls. I purposefully kept it light and fresh, so it will go with any colour scheme, picking out little elements of colour throughout.

By now, if you read this blog regularly, you'll know I have a bit of an obsession with bugs, and I know most children do too. So, I included a bumble bee, and used him (or her) to help me spell out the name 'Jellybean' - I think he did well, don't you?

I would like to send Mummy & Daddy-to-be and Jellybean my very best wishes, I hope you have many, many years of love and laughter together!

 

This is how it looked when it was carefully packaged up into a bubblewrap envelope (it has another layer of bubblewrap underneath the tissue paper).

Have a great day!

 
 

All wrapped up... attention to details to make a lovely first impression

I have been working on another commission, it's been a fabulous one to do, but I can't post about it just yet as it may be seen!

As I was wrapping it up, I thought you might like to see how the pictures look when they are ready to leave me, afterall, I think we all know what a great impression wrapping can make! I always use bubble wrap directly packaging the picture, then two layers of white tissue paper and the best gross-grain ribbon I can find!

I start off by making sure I have a little branding on the back...

Then I wrap the ribbon around, making sure it's both symmetrical yet not too contrived. I also make sure there's a little branding on the front too, just in case it's missed elsewhere!

You'll notice that the ribbon is a very similar colour to the font colour used on my business card and other areas of branding.

My intention is for it to be an 'experience' to receive one of these in the post...I can't be the only person who loves to unwrap a beautifully presented gift I'm sure! 

I'll be able to show you what's inside in a few days!

Have a great day!

What Katie did next... is Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous!

I have been holding off posting about this exciting new venture until I had something to 'show' you, and I think now it's time... please click on the link below:

http://www.giftwrappedandgorgeous.co.uk/index.htm 

I'm so pleased to have had my Textile Art on the front page!!

What Katie did next... has joined forces to become a Partner Company with Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous , a wonderful and very aptly named site, selling a whole host of fabulous products from a select group of Designers, and the lovely thing is all gifts are hand-made! It is run by Amanda and Alison, who have passion and energy, alongside creativity and professionalism, and I am extremely pleased to be working with them! I am going to be loading more products, and this will be ongoing, so please be sure to check in regularly!

*I am also deeply indebted to GWAG for being very patient with me when I have had teething problems uploading images and info onto the site - Thank you ladies!

Check out their beautifully designed site with an amazing range of goodies for all the people you buy gifts for, I've already planned my first order!

Have a great day!

 

The Element of Freedom - a personalised Christening gift commission

I have been working on a lovely Christening commission; the brief was to produce a picture to go with a specific fabric, and should include the little one's name and date of birth.

This was the piece of fabric I was given, which I love because of the simplicity of the illustrations and the vibrancy of the colours. She has this fabric in her room, and this was the only remnant left.

 
So, I needed to come up with a design that would complement the fabric, but I didn't feel that a direct copy would be right or indeed wanted.  There will be a time when the fabric etc is changed, but hopefully the picture will remain. 

So here's what I came up with...

 
Her name is Saoirse (a beautiful Irish name, pronounced Seersha) which means 'freedom'. Her aunt (who commissioned the piece) wanted this to be included as this was an important part of the choice  when they were choosing her name.

I loved the putting the little detailed elements into the picture, such as this...

and this...

 I hope Saoirse enjoys this as she grows!

Have a great day!
 

It's that Ole Devil called Love again! The Wedding present ...

So, Wedding season is upon us again. I do love a wedding! And so many times I have been stuck for what to buy the couple as I like to give gifts that are personal. Perhaps that's why these have proven so popular...

I am trying to vary the colour palettes to suit different tastes, and all can be personalised with names and dates.

Have a great day!

 

Stuck on you...magnet packaging

So, I've made the magnets, and I love them, but how will I package them? They look ok on their own, even better in a group on the fridge, but if I were to receive one in the post I think it would look a little bit lost.

So, here's my answer...

I think this makes it much more of a 'gift' item, and I would be happy to receive one!

In fact, I'm so pleased with it that I've done the same for the badges, except I've substituted 'Stuck on you' for 'Pin me down'.

Have a great day!
 

Wild woods - the start of a new colourful series inspired by nature

I've been working on lots of commissions lately, but in my 'spare time' I've been sketching out ideas for a new series of pictures based on Trees, Flowers and nature.

I feel so excited about these, as they are exactly how I pictured them in my imagination.

I'm desperate to make some more in this series, I'm going to introduce butterflies and birds too... watch this space.

Have a great day!

Poetry in motion - a poetic and personal gift for a best friend

It was one of my best friends birthday yesterday, her (ssshhh) 40th! So I have been secretly making this piece for her birthday.

It's a poem she has always loved, and she had no idea I was making it. I used colours that remind me of her, and picked buttons that resemble her too. It was a very personal piece for me to make, and she was very choked when she opened it!

I put a spell on you - Alphabet Letter Fridge Magnets

A couple of days ago I downloaded an Alphabet specifically for embroidery from the excellent site backstitch.co.uk - here's the link if you'd like a copy: http://backstitchblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/alphabet-embroidery-transfer.html

When I was making magnets yesterday I thought it would be great to have individual letters, a bit like the plastic ones my son has from ELC, but obviously more stylish! I then remembered the alphabet, and worked out how I would l

Quite difficult to work out the best way of making these, but I I got there in the end, even if I was sewing them upside down and backwards!!

 
What would you say?

Have a great day!

How to send Mirrors in the post? good question

I received an order from Twitter yesterday; it was for one of the mirrors I posted about a few weeks ago, someone wanted to buy one for her friend.  Due to the fact I hadn't taken the mirrors anywhere to sell, I hadn't really thought about how I would send them. So, last night I was pondering how to send them out so that a) they are safe in transit and b) they look well packaged and have 'branding' on.

I came up with this idea...

A little felt 'envelope', with one of my labels stitched on to it.

The mirror fits nice and snuggly in the case, and I think it makes it a bit more of a gift!

And of course, I polished it up!

Hope you all have a great day - despite the weather! I'm off for a night out in London with my lovely husband!

New Baby Boy Twins gift - another finished commission

I have finished a lovely commission for brand new baby twin boys, who arrived recently.  They were long awaited, and very much wanted, and I was asked to reflect this in the piece.

I've been trying some new ideas out on canvases, and I think this one has worked rather well. I like the clean lines and space around the piece.  I also think it works well because the pieces are so tactile.

I was asked to use neutral tones, but I wanted to use little elements of blue, so when I embroidered their names I used one layer of blue on top of the taupe.  
  And of course, who could forget the buttons... chosen very carefully to complement the colours and textures, and little hearts to tell them how much they are cherished.

To have and to hold - customer feedback

I received an email last night that made me feel extremely good!

Remember the 'To have and to hold' piece? It was the first piece I sold online as 'What Katie did next...'   Here's a little reminder

Well, I had this email Sunday (bearing in mind they were married on Saturday!)

"Dear Katie,

This weekend myself and my partner got married. Our dear friend Victoria gave us one of your amazing and wonderful frames "to have and to hold from this day forward"! and we wanted to express how much we LOVE your work. We liked it so much that on entering the house and unpacking the hire van, I got my tool box out and hammered a nail into the wall to hang it up....It takes pride of place in the main hallway for all to see.

 

We wanted to ask you if you would consider a commission? "

 

The email then specified the requirements for the commission, which all sound lovely and right up my street! As it is to be a first Anniversary gift I wrote back to suggest the use of paper, as this is the traditional gift for a first Anniversary.

 

"Thanks a million and thanks for your beautiful work..."

 

Wow!

 

I promise I won't do a post like this everytime I get some feedback, but as it was the first, and it was so lovely, I just wanted to share it.

 

Wishing you all a very happy day

 

Katie

 

Mirror Mirror on the wall (well in the handbag actually)

I can make mirrors with my new badge making machine; they are about 6cm in diameter, quite difficult to make at first, but now it's a quicker process and I'm loving it!!
I made some last week, but they looked quite flat, so I thought I'd experiment a bit more.  At the moment, I'm not sure which ones I prefer, so I'll keep experimenting, but I like the overall idea! Perhaps it doesn't matter  if they're different, when they're grouped like this they look striking, and people can pick the one they prefer.

One thing I've learned, it's very difficult to sew buttons onto mirrors and badges that have already been assembled!!