Things in life don’t always go according to plan for any of us. Sometimes, life, fate, karma or other people throw a proverbial spanner in the works and we simply have to decide how we are going to respond and deal with life’s crises. When numerous things go wrong in quick succession, it’s easy to begin to feel that we’re sinking; but in most instances, we somehow manage to find the strength, resilience or dogged determination to get through it. I created this nautical themed inspirational poster with exactly those situations in mind. To the top of the poster is a ship’s anchor in blue and white, to which I added a chain in blue and red. Feeling inspired I created my own saying for the poster rather than to directly use someone’s else’s quote: Every time that I feel myself about to sink, I swim just a little bit harder. The wording is in a decorative typography style and is punctuated by ropes and knots.

Inspirational Sink or Swim with Nautical Theme Print

Prices for this poster begin at $9.95 for a good sized 11″ x 16.5″ print on Value Cardstock Paper, rising to $129.90 for a colossal 32″ x 48″ print on Premium Canvas. Simply click on the image or text links above to select your size and purchase this uplifting poster today.

I managed to fall so totally and completely in love with my last batch of whimsical young girl designs that I have been creating even more of them. They are such great fun to create and they look really scrummy on a whole range of products!

I’m really pleased with how this little Fairy Princess came out with her pink and purple petal hem dress and the jaunty angle of her crown which means she has to hold it in place to prevent it from falling off of her head! I thought that instead of creating a scene for her background that she would stand out more and have a greater visual impact if I used this faux card topper style setting and the dark blue denim fabric pattern background makes it even more arts and craftsy.  As gorgeous as this design is (at least I like to think so), it looks even more amazing on products, just check out this Kindle Folio case if you don’t believe me:

This yummy, scrummy, adorable little design can be found on around 100 different products in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store and even more in my ArtformTheHeart cafepress store.

The next illustration which I created was this little Angel drawing. With her long white dress and black hair I decided to stick to a black and white theme and create this arts and crafts inspired black and white stripes background, again in the faux toppers style. Below is the design on a customizable Avery brand 3 ring binder:

Once again, there are almost 100 products featuring this design in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store, and more in my cafepress store.

Stay tuned in to the blog for more whimsical designs coming up really soon!

Between orders for handmade invitations and custom request for zazzle invitations, I have been working on some whimsical inspired illustrations recently. It’s been a lot of fun and I really adore some of the designs which I have created.

This cute little girl has a bit of a dreamy quality. She is being carried through the dark blue, star filled night sky upon  a bunch of three balloons in muted colors. Close by is the moon, the girl’s destination, and the inspiration/message of this piece is that anything is possible with dreams. This design can be found on a wide range of products in my ArtformTheHeart stores on zazzle, and on cafepress.

In this second illustration, a black haired girl is standing in the rain on a stormy, grey day in her pretty frilled blue dress with her wellington boots and a stripey umbrella. Large raindrops are scattered all around her. This design can be found in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store at present.

For this illustration, I went back to a night-time, dream-like theme with cute, whimsical young girl who has dark hair and a pretty purple dress, sitting upon a swing which is suspended from a crescent moon. This design is already available in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store.

From the more dreamy scenes, I moved on (temporarily) to a Halloween theme for this drawing. A dark, atmospheric background sets the scene for a charming little witch girl with green hair and a glowing potion in her cauldron. Beside the little wiccan are her cat and a rat, which is most likely the unfortunate victim of one of her spells. You can find this design on a selection of gifts at zazzle.

This time I went to the fantasy fairy-tales theme for an illustration of Little Red Riding Hood in the woods close to Grandma’s house. Beside the whimsical young girl is a goofy looking wolf, salivating at the thought of his next meal as he looks up at Red. Available in my ArtformTheHeart store on zazzle.

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These next two designs have a similar musical theme with young girls wearing music headphones. The first has an emo or goth feel with the young girl having purple tinged hair and wearing a skull and crossbones belt and biker boots. The second image is back to a more whimsical feel with the young blonde haired girl in a pretty pink dress, with her teddy bear on the floor beside her. Both of these designs can be found in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store and the second can also be found in my cafepress store.

This next illustration is an aquatic scene. I have wanted to do a dolphin design for quite some time, without just plopping a lone dolphin graphic onto products. It seemed to fit quite well with this whimsical set of illustrations and so I drew the dolphin with the young girl riding on his back. You can find a whole range of gifts with the little dolphin girl in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store.

I have little ponies and unicorns in my Animatastic store and they are quite popular designs, so in keeping with the whimsical fantasy theme I decided to add one of the little girl characters to another cute unicorn. This design can be found in my ArtformTheHeart zazzle store.

At this point I have diverted a little from my original plan of creating a series of goth influenced whimsy designs and so I’m planning to redirect back to that theme for my next illustration.

Space themed gifts are perfect for children who love outer space and who dream of becoming an astronaut or a rocket scientist. Anything related to astronomy or space travel is a great way to spark your child’s imagination and interest in science. I have put together a fun range of cute cartoon style space travel themed gifts, cards and invitations that are bright and colorful for younger kids. All of the products are completely customizable and I’m always more than happy to assist if you need any help.

This poster is both fun and inspirational for kids. A little rocket ship is seen flying towards the moon, set against a dark blue sky with lots of twinkling stars. The inspirational message on the poster reads: Dreams can take you anywhere.

Cute Cartoon Space Rocket Ship Kids Poster

Another version of the design with a lighter blue background and several planets scattered around it has been used for this customizable Birthday greetings card. You can easily add your child’s name in the text box and even personalize the message inside this cute card.

Cool Space Rocketship in Orbit Cartoon Birthday Card

This cute wall clock has the same rocket ship, this time it has landed on the moon and the little boy astronaut is standing on the moon’s surface beside it. This clock is a super fun gift for children’s bedrooms!

Cute Cartoon Spaceman and Rocket Ship Wall Clocks

Another fun gift for your child’s room is this jumbo 20 inch throw pillow. This time the spaceship is in orbit and the adorable little astronaut is in the middle of a space walk. Filling your child’s bedroom with these super fun designs is a sure way to fire up their imaginations and inspire them to take an interest in science.

Cute Space Walk Astronaut and Rocketship Pillows

For a space themed children’s birthday party, what could could be better than this little astronaut invitation? How about being able to add the birthday boy or girl’s own face to the design and have them become the astronaut? This invitation is set up so that you can upload a photo of your child and it will appear through a cut-out area in the design so that it will appear as if they are wearing a spacesuit.

FRONT

Astronaut and Rocketship Kids Photo Birthday Party Invitations

BACK

These cute designs are all available on a huge range of gifts, home-wares and stationery and can be seen in my

Artform the Heart store on Zazzle.

Following on from my previous post and the Scottish themed Thistle Collection, I thought that I would follow up with a post about The Shamrock Collection. The Shamrock Collection is a tasteful Irish themed range of co-ordinating wedding invitations and stationery. All of these designs incorporate the bold St Patrick’s tartan plaid in vivid green, yellow and white with a photograph of a shamrock leaf, the national emblem of Ireland.

St Patrick’s Tartan with Shamrock Wedding Invites (Front)

St Patrick’s Tartan with Shamrock Wedding Invites (Back)

The design has a band of the Saint Patrick tartan to the top and bottom with a shaded green border. A similarly shaded frame then incorporates a bold photographic image of a shamrock leaf against a digitally altered black and white background. The invitation is 5 x 7 inches (127 x 178mm) however I can alter the design to suit many other sizes should you wish.  There is a choice of six different paper types including; basic, recycled, felt, linen, speckled and metallic. All invitations come with plain white envelopes as standard.

The collection includes Save the Date Announcements, RSVP Enclosure Cards, Wedding Programs, Table Numbers and Menus. Additional items can be prepared at your request.

The full range can be viewed by clicking on the international flag links below:

This beautiful wedding collection combines two profoundly Scottish design elements; the thistle flower and tartan plaid, to create a wonderful celebration of Scots heritage.

The prickly purple thistle has been the national emblem of Scotland for several centuries, with it’s use being allegedly the result of a typically Scottish Story: It is said that whilst vikings were invading Scotland, a battalion of Scottish soldiers slept in a field overnight, unaware of the impending ambush. It was the misfotune of one or more of the Norse soldiers to accidentally step barefoot upon a thistle, crying out in pain, which alerted the Scots to their presence.

The type of thistles utilised in The Thistle Collection are a trio of digitally painted spear thistles with delicate brush strokes, tied together with a bow of tartan ribbon. The same, original tartan plaid pattern in shades of navy blue and plum purple with green and white accent stripes is also used to edge the wedding invitations.

Wedding Invitations

Purple Scottish Tartan Plaid and Thistle Wedding Invitation (Front)

Purple Scottish Tartan Plaid and Thistle Wedding Invitation (Back)

You may choose from a selection of six different paper types for your invitations. All items default to the basic white 110lb cover-weight (275gsm) paper which has a very slight, subtle sheen. The default size for this invitation is 5 x 7 inches (127 x 178mm) however I can prepare other sizes at your request. All invitations come with plain white envelopes as standard.

Save the Date Announcements

There are a number of options already set up for your Save the Date Announcements. Both paper announcements are set to a size of 3.5 x 5 inches (89 x 127mm). The first style is a two-sided format in the same manner as the wedding invitation. The second is a single sided format in landscape orientation.

Purple Tartan Plaid and Thistle Save the Date Announcement

Another popular option for your Save the Date announcements is refridgerator magnets as illustrated below.

Purple Tartan Plaid and Thistle Save the Date Magnet

More from the collection

Purple Scottish Tartan Plaid and Thistle RSVP Enclosures

Purple Tartan Plaid and Thistle Table Number Postcard

Coordinating Scottish Thistles with Tartan Bow Round Stickers

Purple Tartan Plaid and Thistle Wedding Skinny Menu

The full range can be viewed by clicking on the international flag links below:

Additional coordinating thistle products may be viewed HERE.

I’ve been suffering from a lack of inspiration to design for almost a week but thankfully my motivation returned yesterday with a resounding boom. Rather than just wait for inspiration to hit, I decided to concentrate specifically on birthday cards for boys and the creative juices began flowing. I have come up with some cool designs that you can customize with the recipient’s age, and there are a lot more new designs in the works.

Cute Emo Boy Video Game Player Birthday Card

This fun card has a little cartoon boy sitting upon the floor playing his video games; controller in hand and a bunch of snacks beside him. This example has his age as 13 years but that can easily be changed using the template field on the product page.

Cute Emo Boy Musician with Guitar Birthday Card

Next up is this little rock star emo teenager with his electric guitar. The backdrop of his stage set is dark blue with bright yellow stars and the number 16 (again this is customizable to any age). A great birthday card for any teen boy who loves music!

Fun Video Game Controller Cute Teen Birthday Card

I went back to the video gaming theme for this birthday card which features a black and white checkerboard backgrouns (a cammo version id also available). This simple graphic design has a cartoon gaming controller in grey, perfect for game addicts!

Cool Customizable Handheld Games Console Card

Finally, for now, is this handheld games console birthday card. The front of the card is made to look like a handheld game with built in screen and D-pads. The text to the front of this gamers card can be customized to suit many occasions in addition to birthdays.

I can’t say that I have been a “dog person” my whole life; as a child I had cats and I always thought that I’d be a cat person to the end of my days. Add to that the fact that when I was younger a dalmatian clamped it’s teeth around one of my kneecaps and wouldn’t let go and it’s safe to say that I was pretty much terrified of dogs. That was until, while on vacation, I stayed with someone who owned a Shih Tzu….oh boy did I fall in love! Besides being adorably cute, with a face that looks as though it is permanently smiling, they have such a friendly and playful nature. Cats? Forget cats! I adored that little Shih Tzu so much that I wanted to bring him straight home with me, lol.

So recently when I decided that it was way past time for me to add some new animals to my Animatastic store I thought that I would give designing some dog cartoons a try. I prefer the small, toy dog breeds and decided to stick with puppies for the theme since all puppy dogs are cute. All of the dogs have the same basic body shape but it was so much fun (and a challenge) to create all of their faces. So far I have two little Shih Tzus, two Yorkshire Terriers, a Labrador, a Pomeranian, a Westie, a Scottie Dog, a Samoyed and a Pug. All of them are available on a wide range of products in the Animatastic store.

Although I just love, love, love Shih Tzus, I think that my favourite design so far from the puppy dogs range is my little black Scottie Dog (Scottish Terrier). I’m certainly going to have a lot more fun working my way through even more dog breeds in the very near future!

News of hurricane Sandy was scary and shocking to say the least. So many lives lost, destroyed or distrupted. Once again zazzle has stepped up and offered it’s community a way to show it’s support. They are allowing all of us designers to donate products to charities helping with relief efforts. The way it works is that we can add a keyword to our products and both our royalty for the design and zazzle’s profit for the product will be given to charity. I applaud zazzle for doing this because  for one thing I live in the UK and can’t offer physical support to the effort and secondly I am on a tight budget financially so find it difficult to keep donating to charities in a meaningful way. What’s great about HOW zazzle are doing this is that they are allowing us to donate ANY of our products so it’s not restricted to designs that relate directly to Hurricane Sandy. I believe that that will ultimately generate more sales and a larger chunk of change going to a good cause. So far I have tagged a Thanksgiving postcard, Christmas mailing labels and a Rock Chick keychain from ArtformTheHeart, I still have to pick products from all of my other stores to add to the effort.

It will take time for our tags to filter through, but there are already a lot of donated products appearing and the number will continue to increase over the next week or two.

The official zazzle blog post on the subject can be found here.

If you would like to add your support, and maybe pick up a christmas gift or two in the process, then you can find the products here.

Normally when I place any link to zazzle I’ll put my associate ID on there to grab a referral fee, however since this is for charity I think it would be pretty tasteless to do so. I really don’t think that a disaster that has affected so many people is something to profit from!

Taking a break from talking about teddy bears, I wanted to take a few moments to mention my newest store on zazzle that is dedicated to patterns. Over the past year or so zazzle has introduced a huge selection of great new custom products. I considered that a lot of my designs weren’t all that suited to kitchen towels, napkins, clocks etc so I hadn’t spent a lot of time or effort creating these new products for any of my stores. But one day it occurred to me that I create so many background images and patterns to work with my other designs and that these patterns were being radically underused. Patterns are perfect for so many of the new homewares products that zazzle have introduced, as well as many of their existing gift products.

The patterns that I have in the Artform The Heart store sell rather well and it made perfect sense to utilize all of these pattern images that I have on my hard drive. With that decided it was then a question of whether to add these designs to the already cluttered Artform The Heart store, or to dedicate an entire new store to them. To make it easier for customers to navigate, I chose to create the all new Artform Patterns store.

This is one of my floral pattern binders which I simply adore. I do like dark and gothic style prints so of the three color options in this design, this dark grey is my favorite. Acoordinating decorative frame means that customers can personalize the design by adding their own name, or title for the binder. Having had to submit binders with coursework so many times when I was in college, and then struggle to find my particular plain blue binder in a pile of plain blue binders after the work had been marked, I just wish that zazzle had been around back in my day; these binders would NEVER become lost in a crowd!

If you are just dippy about polka dot, there are several really delightful versions of this pattern and the go amazingly well on a number of accessories such as the mini messenger bag, iPhone cases and even keychains and belt buckles. All of the products in Artform Patterns are customizable so you can personalize these designs to your heart’s content.

Of course the patterns store isn’t just for girls, there are a selection of more masculine patterns that are designed speciffically for men too: