New Designer

I've been a bit quiet on the old blogging front again, but with good reason. I have spent most of January glued to the laptop trying to source some new products and new designers for RLR and I have been successful - hurrah. So I will hopefully have lots of new goodies to show you shortly.

Kimberley Shaw has a BA Hons in Printed Textiles. She enjoys creating unique and charming prints for the home by taking her sketches and transforming them into colourful, characterful designs on the computer. I fell in love with Kimberley's work as soon as I came across it, she uses such delicate colours and patterns and the scale of her prints (roughly A3 in size and already mounted), makes them the perfect focal piece for any room in the house.

Let me know what you think of them.

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Wish List

It's January, nearly the end of January which means skint, skint, skint for me and most people out there. Does that stop me looking at all the lovely shops out there on the Web, it certainly does not. Tonight I have been looking at all the loveliness on Illustrated Living, a fantastic website I discovered through Twitter (they have a bricks and mortar store too but it's just too far away from me to visit, unless I ever take a holiday to Truro that is, in which case I will be going armed with an empty suitcase to fill up with goodies and bring back home to Dundee!). So here is my wish list from Illustrated Living with links to each product in case you fancy treating yourself (or if you are my husband and fancy getting me something lovely for my up and coming birthday - nicely done eh!).

1. 2.

3. 4.

1. Orla Kiely Poppy Meadow Teapot £50.00

2. Rob Ryan Plate £19.95

3. Orla Kiely Double Duvet Set £79.95

4. Ferm Wall Sticker - Love Birds £50.95

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Extra Holiday

if you haven't been hiding in a hole for the last few months then you will probably know that this year there is going to be an extra bank holiday because of the Royal Wedding on April 29th. I couldn't figure out why my work had suddenly become more generous than usual and given us an extra day off this year then the penny dropped! To be honest i am not particularly fussed about the wedding but an extra day off work is always welcomed. There have been a few commemorative gifts cropping up in the craft world for a while now and I am sure we will be seeing more and more as the weeks go on. This one is from Gemma Correll's blog, one very happy looking corgi!

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New Rings

New one of a kind silver plated rings by Sam Sheard aka "I Can't Remember My Grandma's Name" will be added to the shop any day now! After being featured on The Guardian Gift guide alongside Ruby Loves Red just before Xmas we completely sold out of all Sam's wonderful rings and necklaces but fret not they are back and in limited quantities. Each ring made from a vintage plate so no two will ever be the same, keep your eyes peeled to the "I Can't Remember My Grandma's Name page on RLR to get the first pick of these beauties.

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Gocco - First Try

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be having a trawl through Twitter when I noticed that Gemma Correll was selling her old Gocco Printer. I had been wanting to get one for a while but they are now discontinued and are few and far between. So I was straight on the case and a couple of weeks later it arrived. I hadn't quite plucked up the courage to give it a shot and with only 2 screens and 4 bulbs on the go to be honest I wanted to look into the whole process a bit more before wasting my only two attempts at making a print from it. I ordered some more screens a couple of days ago as I have now realised that it may be a little bit of a learning curve for me, my first attempt not being a complete disaster but already learning some lessons.

I'm not too sure if I flashed my screen for long enough so printing the background image was very patchy and perhaps some of my lines are too fine for this printing method? If you are experienced in the ways of Gocco or have any hints or tips for me please leave a comment because I really want to keep going with it - SO much fun.

The black and white image is the original drawing in ink probably just under A6 in size and I printed the centre image in a lovely gold colour which has a lovely sparkle to it as the light hits (the photo doesn't really do the colour any justice). I am going to leave this one as it is now, the background being way too patchy looking to add. I think as first attempts go I am quite happy and will probably just sign and date these as a limited edition of sixteen. So here's to the next attempt, Gocco-a-go-go!

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The Pretend Bear Doll

I have spent the last two days just lounging about with my trusty laptop as my pal trying to recover from a rather hectic Xmas here at RLR and also at the day job too. It was good to catch up on a lot of blog reading I had fallen behind in, and discovering a few more along the way is always fun too. There are too many talented people out there and I inevitably find myself being inspired to draw when I read Illustrators blogs, inspired to sew when I read sewing blogs, take photographs, write, print etc etc you get the idea but it is nice just to have the spare time to sit and take in the amazing work of others out there.

I am loving this amazing doll by The Black Apple "The Pretend Bear Doll", wish I had thought of this myself, or at least had the outfit to dress up in myself! Not surprising that Emily's shop is the best selling shop on Etsy is it. The Black Apple is full of prints, badge sets and occassionally if you are quick you can snap up some dolls like the ones above - cuteness, and in Emily's own words "I've always loved it when dolls come with lots of doodads!"

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