30 Jun 2014

I moved! :)

Hello lovely people,

I've been very bad at updating my blog but this will change.
However I did move to a new place! Please check it out HERE 

Have a lovely day!




6 Apr 2014

holiday doodles ;)






This year I went back home in February for a little holiday, catching up with the family and enjoying winter time in Latvia. Took my little sketchbook with me and those doodles what happened. I got slightly obsessed by my Mums HUGE collection of Soviet china (cups, creamers, anything you can imagine). Also my family is full of obsessive tea drinkers. Cup of tea in the morning, before and after lunch and many many many cups of tea in the kitchen late in the evening, lots of talking and tea, more talking and tea, always way over the midnight. The best times ever! So no surprise the cups and tea theme ended up in my sketchbook.  And flowers of course, flowers. Because there is nothing I want more in the end of february than flowers and first signs of spring. :)

My Mum collected vintage cups, creamers, vases and other things for years until now, when she realised she has a little bit too much for a little flat where my parents live. So she is sharing her collection and passion here:

Where or when do you feel most creative?






30 Dec 2013

HAPPY 2014!

iPhone Wallpaper




Happy New Year!
May it be full of happy days and exciting adventures.

:)

Here is a little present, very foxy and so 2014 illustration, please feel free to use it as a wallpaper or an phone wallpaper. :)

YAAAAAY!!!
See you all next year!

Lots of love, hugs and champagne! ;)


17 Nov 2013

Christmas trees, stars and dancing bears!

I know, I know. Many people will say it's too early!
And I used to think it's too early for festive items but those days I am so excited about Christmas that even mid November feels like too late!

Lots of festive goodies in my shop. Brooches, earrings, cufflinks and christmas cards of course!
I'm an early bird when it comes to stocking up on presents and greeting cards. I already have christmas cards ready to be signed and sent and some stocking fillers too. :D

What about you? Early bird, just right or last minute? :D



24 Oct 2013

Acrylic paint, big boards ;)

Hello,

Last week I painted some circus inspired boards which were used for a photo shoot this Sunday. I'm very curious and excited to see the end result but for now here are some snapshots of what I've been up to.

Had a reason to buy some gorgeous acrylic paint, was a joy to use!


Tiny sketches

Circus backdrop, around 2.2m high, thank you Max for holding it up! :)



What you've been up to lately?

18 Oct 2013

Panda Overload

 Do you like pandas?


Panda with flags?


Or pandas with the balloons?


How about panda in the Tea pot?

I love pandas and I'm feeling like drawing some christmas pandas for the festive season ;)

17 Oct 2013

RENEGADE!!!

Renegade is coming to London!
And I will be selling my handmade goods along with hundreds of talented and fantastic designer/makers!
Make sure you come and have some pennies to spend, it's going to be amazing!





2 Oct 2013

Quick Stamping and Thank you cards ;)

 Hello,

I recently ran out of thank you notes for on line orders and decided to make something new.
Luckily I bought lovely ceramic Thank You stamp the other week and already had some colourful ink pads.


It turned out that I had some adhesive squares (from uni times maybe, really long time ago ;)), made them into circles, 






27 Sept 2013

Printable Shrink Plastic




Please meet my (could be yours ;) wearable friends!
I usually use shrink plastic and sharpie marker pens and hand draw each brooch. Then cut it out, bake it and varnish. 
So this bunny is hand drawn with markers.
Bunny Brooch

Recently I decided to try printable shrink plastic and please meet panda with the balloons and Monsieur Squirrel. 

Panda with Balloons


Squirrel

Being able to print drawings and not being limited by colours of markers excites me! 
These brooches have an amazing matt texture and watercolour effect (as original illustrations were drawn with watercolours).
They are varnished for protection with matt varnish.


After reading reviews and numerous blogs/threads/forums about shrink plastic I went for SHRINKJET INKJET PRINTER SHRINKLES by Wizard. 
It works really well, the texture is fantastic and even my rather cheap all round printer does a great job on it. Really easy to use and great outcome. 
I've tried to use the varnish I use for my hand drawn brooches but all colours leaked and I had to find another one. 
Many lovely people were kind enough to share their experience. Some people use ceramic sealers, some spray varnished. I bought Winsor and Newton professional satin varnish (for oil and acrylic paintings) and it works really well (I bought it from CASS art , they now have a promotion on large spray cans, so grab it while you can!)
Printable shrink plastic has a lovely velvety matt texture which I wanted to preserve so I used satin varnish which looks pretty much matt and keeps the texture but protects the inks from getting smudged.


What do you think? Yay or nay? :)
I can't wait to start designing new brooches/earrings and necklaces for printable shrinkies!

all photos by fantastic photographer Maksim




20 Sept 2013

Nina and Bob Wedding ❤️

Some time ago lovely Nina and Bob were kind enough to trust me with the responsobility of working on their wedding invitation! It was the first step of a long and exciting adventure! ;)

London themed, unicornical and fairy tale inspired invitation was printed on sparkly creamy paper.
I really enjoyed working on it and couldn't wait to see the wedding as everything was supposed to be unicornical and magical.

And it was indeed! Berries, trees, greens and fairy lights were everywhere. 



This is the second step of my work. Table plan.
As part of the wedding theme were Bob & Ninas favourite books, it wad decided that the table plan must be a book shelf!
A1 size with little tea cups and other objects to symbolise some of the books. 

And here is the magical table! ^_^ 

And the third part of my work. Name cards on the tables were bookmarks and wedding favours at the same time. Each table was associated with a book and a symbol. We were seated at the Secret Garden table and our symbol was a key. All together there were 9 symbols (owls, treasure chest, red shoes and more).
It was such a pleasure to work with Nina & Bob! They knew what they wanted and had lots of fantastic ideas! Very happy that I had a chance to help them to materialize some of the great ideas ;) 




Meet Nina and Bob!!! 
Massive congratulations!
The wedding was wonderfull and full of love. Lots or warm wishes and good vibes to this fabulous couple Bobina & Nob :D 





2 Sept 2013

Inspirational Women


Three new necklaces are available in my shop. YAY!
Each one is a wearable portrait of a very strong and inspirational woman who left her mark in the history (and proved that this is not only a man's world). 
This collection could grow very soon I think.




25 Aug 2013

Update!

Hello lovelies,

So many things happened since my last blogpost. It seems I abandoned my little blog but I am planning to be better at blogging so now re designing the blog and hopefully it will be more interesting place to visit (very soon!).
For now here are some snapshots from this week!




Forest animal christmas ornaments (sorry for C word!), wall decorations or oversized pendants are in stock in my little shop! Would you like to adopt one (or more)? :)

This morning I was making some brooches, earrings, necklaces and CUFFLINKS! ;) Soon will be up for sale in my shop and now I am taking custom orders for cufflinks too! :)

Flash sale at andsmile.etsy.com enter coupon code HAPPYAUGUST13 and receive 15% off anything. Ends Monday evening! 

Have a fantastic week!

15 Jul 2013

Bowie, Frida and Matryoshkas. :)

Hello,
This is my first week of a freelance adventure, so excited! Bye-bye day job hello the creative unknown!
I am very excited about this change and made lots of new goodies. Necklaces, earrings and totes.
I apologise in advance for an overload of my face but me and Maksim wanted to do something different in terms of product photography and that's what we came up with. Hope you will like the idea and the goodies!

Serious Bowie overload! Earrings (super bright and I love how the work with my favourite summer dress), necklace and there is a matching brooch. AND A NOTEBOOK, just in case ;) 


Bowie Earrings


Bowie Necklace
Tea Party anyone? :) I must admit that I've been wearing tea pot necklace all days since I made it. :D



Tea Pot and Tea Cup Earrings
Tea Pot Necklace

 Little Panda Sailor is always up for a boat related adventure.

Panda Tote

Panda Necklace



Matryoshka Tote

Matryoshka Earrings

Frida Necklace
First batch of Frida necklaces sold out already (SUPER happy!) So if you want one - no worries, I am about to make a lot more! :)

Coffee and Croissant Earrings
Oh ho hoooo! Those earrings really make me happy. As I love coffee and croissants!

And here is another important bit. To celebrate summer, sunny days, new goodies and leaving my day job here is a 15% off coupon code SUMMER15 for my etsy shop.
Apart from new goodies there are a lot of prints, postcards and original artwork, coupon code works for sale items too!
Coupon code valid till the end of the week.



Thank you so much for reading this very long post. Have a fantastic week!

All photos by talanted Maksim

***All drop earrings are silver (not post earrings) and silver plaited chains are 18cm long.

Bosch + Handmade




Some time ago lovely Charlotte invited me to a birdhouse decorating workshop.

Workshop was held at amazing space called Homemade (they host a number of fantastic workshops, check their website for more info!) and by talented Cherry Healey. 
Sponsored by BOSCH we were lucky enough to get our hands on their wireless glue pen. Super tiny and very handy glue gun, so easy to use too. 
It is so handy and tiny that I even take it with me to market stalls in case if anything needs urgent glue*ing! 
Fantastic evening, thank you to BOSCH, Homemade and Cherry for the great experience! 
Now I need to find a nice place for my decorated bird house.

All photographs were provided by BOSCH.