Hillarys Blinds Country Crafts Competition - Adventure through the Giant Poppies

Thanks to 'Craft Blog UK' I saw this competition run by 'Hillarys', who make beautiful blinds and shutters to name a few things, and thought I would give it a go!

I had to choose one of their beautiful fabric designs and 'cut, stitch and blog' my way into their competition. As soon as I saw their selection of fabrics to choose from, and spotted the poppies, I knew straight away what I wanted to create.

I have used the poppies as a backdrop to add some familiar characters (if you've seen my paintings) to. Have a look at the series of pictures below to join my little story. Big thanks to 'Hillarys' for the fabric, and fingers crossed!

The beginning

I start to cut out and place the poppies onto my material

More poppies and some extra flowers using a selection from my stash!

My little family of felt creatures, ready for their adventure.

Putting them all in place

The sewing begins

A little further along and all the animals are in place.

The white horse leading the adventure.

Adding hand stitched detail for the eyes and noses.

And here is the finished piece! 

It measures apx 1metre long by 50 cm wide.

Hope you like it, would love to hear what you think, if you want to leave your comments below, thank you xx

Visit my Website

Visit Hillarys Website

BRAND NEW! African Wildlife Colouring Book

As I write, my first box of my brand new, bright yellow, gradually depleting 'African Wildlife Colouring Book' is upstairs- so exciting! I now have 2 colouring books.

Following the success of my first Uk Wildlife colouring book, I made number 2. It took me a while to decide what to go for, but following a visit from our lovely friends and their beautiful daughter, who announced she wanted to colour in a lion, it was decided, Africa it was!

The book features 20 animals from the wilds of Africa, including the likes of a crocodile, dik dik, meerkat and black mamba snake to name a few. Each hand drawn picture is accompanied by 3 fun facts about each animal, each letter is also loving hand stamped. Did you know that gorillas laugh when they are tickled and cry when they're sad?

When I got the sample , I was so pleased with how it turned out, so was my daughter who simply loves colouring. Have a look at the pictures below and see what you think.....

Front Cover

Back Cover

One of the pages featuring a Gorilla and her baby

My number 1 critic getting straight to work on the sample copy as soon as it arrived!

Love this one she coloured, a golden ninja meerkat!

If you would like to read more about this book and my Uk wildlife one too, just click on this link to see them on my website here .

This book would make an ideal gift for little ones or grown ups alike, anyone who likes to colour, and let's face it, who doesn't?!

I'd LOVE to hear what you think if you'd like to comment below, thanks for reading x 

It Must Be Love!

Happy new year, welcome to 2014. Christmas and new year over, it's onwards and upwards to Valentine's day. I love a bit of romance, but not the really soppy stuff, it's the simple things that always get me, little things that make a big difference.

With this in mind, I have created a few new Valentine's card designs, simple, yet beautiful and something to make that some one special smile.....take a look....

Foxes, I have a thing about foxes, I love to draw them, and they have this beautiful quality about them, so had to include them in one of my new designs, 'Fox Love', as I said, simple and beautiful!

'I am so in LOVE with you' something a little bit different, but this little phrase was dancing about in my head for a while before the design took shape. I have to say it was inspired by my wonderful husband, and this card has inspired some more ideas, so watch this space.

Head over to my Valentine's cards page to see and buy these, plus some more designs too. May you have a very LOVEly Valentine's day xxx

A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Sarah Lovell Art

Hi everyone,

Well it's been a busy year, and I have loved the start of Sarah Lovell Art. I never thought I would have my own little business, and be making things (my favourite thing to do) and then people want to buy them and stock them in their shops! It's all very exciting, and it never gets less exciting when I get a new order.

I thought I would sign off for this year with a little round up of my favourite bits from 2013, I have learned so many new things and met some wonderful other designers and makers along the way. Here goes...

My first card order from the lovely Gullivers book shop was wonderful, I remember going in there , and tentatively showing them my small collection of 9 card designs and them saying they would take 4 of each!

Tis Tac in the flowers, one of my first designs inspired by my daughter's favourite toy!

Feb this year, I won tickets to the amazing 'Design Your Career' which was held at the Dance Pavillion in Bournemouth. This was a real turning point for me, and got me soooo inspired and fired up to really get going with my business, the speakers there were just fantastic, if you are starting up your own business, I couldn't recommend it enough!

I have loved taking part in the various fairs and markets this year. I now have my own gazebo! Going to these and selling things I have made to people and receiving lots of lovely feedback, well, when your an artist and people want your art work in their homes...you can't beat it! My favourite fair that I have done has been the amazing 'Anonymous Travelling Market' , if you haven't been, then go, you will not regret it! 

I have entered a few competitions, one of which was run by the very inspiring Lilla Rogers Studio, I found out about it on Facebook, and thought I'd give it a go. There were over 1500 entries, and unfortunately I didn't get through to the 2nd round, but it did result in me having this print (below) to sell, which has been one of my most popular prints I have done! I'm sure Lilla Rogers will be giving me a call some day!!! In the mean time, I find her very inspiring, and I read her book 'I just like to Make things' which is excellent! 

A Midsummer Night Fairground Limited Edition A3 Print

Lilla Rogers book, definitely recommend it!

Next I think it was my first feature in a magazine 'Arkadia' who found me on Twitter (I have become a big fan of twitter and learned lots about the power of social networking) They featured 2 of my prints including the above 'Midsummer Night Fairground' and , below, 'I Believe in Unicorns' A3 print! It was sooo exciting to see my art work in a real magazine!

Arkadia Magazine.

There have been so many highlights this year, and these are just a few, if you would like to see more of what I do , you can look at my website here . I also do commissions, and would love to hear from you if you would like one. 

There are lots more new products in the pipeline and coming soon in 2014. Watch this space!

A Perfect Stocking Filler, Ideal for the Little Scooter or Biker in your Family this Christmas!

If some one special in your family is hoping for a new bike or scooter this Christmas, then why not make it even more special with a set of fabulous bicycle and scooter ribbons?

They will give your bike or scooter an individual, fun twist, your little one will love! What's more, their set of wheels will surely stand out from the crowd, in the park and playground.

'Pinky' Ribbons

Tropical Ribbons

'Summertime' Ribbons

'Classic' Ribbons

Limited Edition 'Fairground' Ribbons

All the ribbons are handmade and attach to handlebars with a soft colourful elastic, so they are super easy to interchange between bikes and scooters. They really do make riding more beautiful!

Available exclusively from Sarah Lovell Art CLICK HERE! 

Brand New LIMITED EDITION A3 Prints by Sarah Lovell Art

I have been working on a couple of new designs and had them printed as limited edition (run of 50) A3 prints. They are a bit different from my other prints, but think you will still be able to see they are by Sarah Lovell Art!

The first is 'Midsummer Night Fairground' an illustration of a magical carousel that appears in the woods one magical summer night. take your pick of a ride on a beautiful pink unicorn, a leaping brown hare or proud mint green deer, all set amongst the trees lit by fire fly fairy lights. Who knows where they will take you....

I always like to think of stories to go with my drawings, and this one conjures up a million adventures in my head. 

It would be great in a child's bedroom, imagine lying back together at bedtime and thinking up stories together about the magical Midsummer Night Fairground!

The second new one is 'The Girl and The White Horse' a magical meeting of a young girl and a mystical white horse who meet in a flower meadow on top of a hill surrounded by yellow butterflies on a beautiful summer's day. Anyone who shares my love of horses and what wonderful creatures they are and what good friends they can become will identify with this drawing. I loved drawing it, and hope it will bring you happiness if you purchase a copy.

All the prints are signed and you can get yourself one right here for £12.95 (excl p & p) , a perfect gift for Christmas or birthday, and remember, if you do get one, you will be one of only 50 people in the whole wide world to own one!

I would love to hear what you think if you leave a comment below, thanks for reading! xx

What I learnt on my trip to the Autumn Fair at the NEC

Sounds like a title for a piece of school home work, but my trip to the Autumn Fair at the NEC was really useful, and gave lots of new ideas about how to go forwards with my designs for future cards. The fair was huge, and really exciting to see so many new and inspiring designs and meet some people who have been in the industry for a while, all of whom were lovely and gave me some great tips.

I took along one of each of my cards and was armed with smaller sample packs to give to people if they wished. I felt prepared, but what I love to do is draw, and am not necessarily so good at selling, it doesn't come very naturally to me, so I was quite nervous to begin with. The show is a trade show, so people go there to sell to shops, one day I would love my own stand,but this time I just went along to see what I could find out about the card industry.

One of the main things that I learnt is that it's good to have collections of card designs that all link, I do have collections (see a couple of examples below) but I think I need to do some with more designs, more like 10 in a collection rather than 3 or 4.

Spring and Summer Flowers collection

Bike card collection

So I think I will be working on adding to these ones to make bigger collections, then I guess shops have more choice which is always a good thing!

I have also started working on a new collection of cards featuring a girl and a white horse and their adventures together, these are the first 2 (first one complete, 2nd one work in progress) so watch this space for when they are printed as cards.

  

I also learnt about licensing and getting an agent. 

Licensing is when you license your designs and get a royalty on any cards sold or a flat fee for the license for the design. 

Getting an agent would mean some one who sells your designs to shops for you, I met some lovely people who were there with their beautiful cards on display, and then agents would come and speak to them about taking on their designs. 

So I got lots of contacts and am making my way through emailing them all. 

Ideally I think I would love to have a pitch at one of these fairs some day, and see what comes of it. I know that my cards sell as they are going well in the shops they are in, I just need to keep on going with it all. I do love it, and it all fits in well with looking after my children, and hopefully it inspires them, they both seem to love drawing too .

Another good thing that came of it all, was that once I got over the nerves of chatting to the first few people about my designs, it wasn't so scary after all. I even was really enjoying by the end of the day!

If you would like to see my designs, you can do so here and if you would like any more information please leave a comment below, or email me at sarah@sarahlovellart.co.uk .

Thanks for having a read xx