a long'un...(well, longer than normal, anyway)

so, naughty blogger that i am...no post for ages, but i am about to make up for that for i have quite alot of news...

firstly, i got a parcel from the states the other day, although before i realised what it was, i nearly sent it away again because i had to pay £30 import tax and duties on it...grrr...but, well worth it, for inside was all the gorgeous stationery i designed for galison. i a) nearly cried it's so perfect and b) kept stroking it for hours...my only problem is that although i received 5 of everything (social notes, coasters, writers notebooks, writers notes and writers pads) i can't part with any of it...so if you feel you can't live without any of the lushness (and believe me the quality is fabulous) you can order directly from the galison website. which of course is fine if you're from the states but if you're from ol' blighty or anywhere else it's a bit more complicated, see the galison shipping page for details by clicking here, and the friendly galison team will help you place your order!...and in the meantime if any of you fine people (from anywhere in the world) ever see my stuff in a shop or store, i'd love to know :) you can see lots more photographs in my flickr stream.

so that's that excitement. other news is that i have a new design...called 'sweetheart', it's the first design i've done for a particular 'theme' (ie valentines day) but in fairness, hearts sell whatever time of year, so hopefully it will do well. it obviously has a 'scandi' feel to it in format...anyway, it's available in 5 colourways, which you can see in both shops, etsy, and folksy. there's also a rather delicious larger A5 sketch/notebook available in two colours - i printed up a storm yesterday using different colour and design combos, so keep yer eyes peeled for them soon...have a happy weekend, y'all :)

galison stationery

ages and ages ago, when we first moved into the farmhouse (back in december) i was finishing 4 mixed media collages that were commissioned by galison new york. some of the work was to be used in their eco-line and some in their regular line, and now the 'green' products are out! you can see them all here! there are journals in a set of 3, a writers pad, notelets and a jotter pad. it's SO exciting to see them all professionally done, but sadly, i won't see the real thing until january, when the regular line comes out. the products are also on the front cover of the galison catalogue too! this was probably my most favourite professional job ever (ok, i know i haven't had that many) but the folks at galison are lovely, so easy to deal with. i loved every single second of creating the pieces - i wish i had jobs like that every week. it's also inspired me to get back into creating some new collage work - something i've neglected of late because of screenprinting - but there's no reason why i can't combine the two to take my work in a new direction. tomorrow is a kid-free day (thanks mum!) so i'm going to do some experimenting...watch this space.

stuff

lots of stuff going on 'round here these days...i'm out of the habit of blogging which is awful, i feel out of the loop with everything. i've been a busy bunny though, i've finished my galison commission and i can't wait to see what they do with the work i've produced for them. it's a bit naughty i know, but i'm sneaking a peak just for you...i was messing around with my scans and love the effect of putting them into negative - so what you see here is not how it will look on the products, but you get the idea...

i've also put into practice something i've been thinking about for ruddy ages - my cotton fabric screenprints on hardback books. it isn't often that something ends up exactly how you imagined it would in your head, but that's what happened here, these are lovely to make and i love the end product, really clean and fresh looking. they'll be available in a little shop update this evening, done! and of course if you have any requests for colours and designs, sling me an email (luciesummers{at}yahoo{dot}co{dot}uk) and i'll see what sort of sketchbooky delight i can rustle up for you ;)

what else? i'm sure there's something else i need to tell you...but i can't think right now what it is...oh well, if i remember i might even post twice in two days, now wouldn't that be a shock?

pinboard

i received an email a while back from a lovely lady called julie who has bought a lot of my work over the last little while. she was wondering whether i'd be interested in making a pin board for her kitchen. she thought perhaps i could print the background in the same colours as the pink print i did for my moo cards. of course i can, i told her, and eagerly printed the fabric for the background and went out and bought the right sized notice board...but despite the fact i painted the frame, it still looked like a cheap and nasty cork notice board. so i contacted my lovely friend anna who happens to be a frame maker. she made a beautiful frame for me (in budget, yay!) and after painting it to match julie's kitchen, it's looking pretty damn funky, if i do say so myself. and no, you're not going mad, the above pic is before painting the frame, i sent it to julie to show her what it looked like unpainted. i love it when a plan comes together. i also hate it when a plan doesn't come together, but that story is for another time...

i love a happy customer

i can now officially post the above pic, the cloak and dagger stuff is no more because my customer, the lovely dom, couldn't wait to give this to his partner, the equally lovely julie, for christmas which was the original plan. i received a really happy email from julie yesterday, so thank goodness, she loves it. it's all about their little girl luella and includes all sorts of things that she loves, like elephants and ducks, a swing and a lot of pink! it was such a joy to make. inspiration struck me, of all places, in our local 'pizza express'. they have some gorgeous paintings on the wall there and one had a lollypop tree in it...i scribbled down some ideas on the back of a napkin with those little packs of kid's pencils they give out, bloomin' useful that! it got my little brain whirring with possibilities and the piece went together like a dream. so tell me folks, where is the weirdest place that inspiration has struck you?

com-mission complete

i've been working on this commission on and off the past week or so and it's now complete. i'm really pleased with it. i'm showing just a corner because it's got personalised info on it and it's for a gift. you never know who might be looking and my customer would not be best pleased if i blew the surprise! you may remember the piece in it's really early stages. it's now stitched and stretched over a frame so it's looking good! blimey, have i just posted about something other than etsy or the kids? yep!

although you don't get away that easily as it's arthur's second birthday today, so they'll probably be pictures of the family party aftermath. not pretty. ok, i'm off to scrub the downstairs loo ready for my guests. have a great sunday!

tree

apart from a few other things (i'd like to say tidying the house, tackling the ironing pile or cleaning the loo but i'd be lying) i've been laying down the foundations for a piece roughly entitled 'tree' for now. i'm quite excited about it, it's to be a 12"x12" mixed media piece for a commission. it's in the very early stages right now, i just thought you might like to see what i get up to when my mum has the boys. aside from drinking tea and watching murder she wrote repeats and neighbours, that is.