Forest & Sea is 6!

Six years ago today I started this blog! I've learnt so much along the way by joining in with online contests, making my designs available for sale and finally last year opening a shop. Thanks so much if you've been reading about it and commenting here, it's really made a huge difference to me. I'm so glad Forest & Sea is going strong six years on and that I'm still learning and enjoying it every day!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

block printed nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Hand-dyed Cotton

If you look at my account over at Instagram every now and again you will have seen that I've been looking into hand painting and dyeing fabric. It's much more fun than having designs digitally printed and it quite often happens that you get some wonderful but totally unintended results! These are my dye experiments from last month, made by stitching, rolling, dipping and tying cotton swatches before putting them in the dye pot:

My favourite is that one on the top right. Don't you think it looks a bit like waves at the beach?

PS For those who're interested, Benny's already put on 400g since he came to live with us - 30% of his body weight! I think he's going to be big :)

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Pines & Cranes Night - Large Scale

I've had a request through Spoonflower for this design on a larger scale so if you'd also like to make a throw or a bedspread with this pattern then Pines & Cranes - Night (large scale) is available here!

Update 30th March: This design made the Spoonflower Hot Sellers list this week - many, many thanks to those of you who've ordered some!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Silver Pool

I had a birthday recently and I was very lucky and got what I asked for: a sterling silver pool necklace by Elizabeth Scott. I really love it! You can find her nature inspired handmade jewelry both on Etsy and on her own website and she also has a blog.

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Pines & Cranes - Night

I made a new pouch with some of the Pines & Cranes Night linen. Of course the Piepster wanted to know what exactly was going on on her mantelpiece :)

Have a brilliant weekend and a lovely Christmas, whatever you're up to!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

✶☽ Night and Day ☼☁

Pines & Cranes - Night

Pines & Cranes - Day

Details of Pines & Cranes Night...

...and Pines and Cranes Day. Click for a better view!

New in the shop: Pines & Cranes in the new nighttime version and a daytime version to match. They're based on a previous design which I had printed in a new colour with added texture for some pouches.

I can't decide which I like best; do you have a favourite?

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Nighttime

Pines & Cranes Desktop

A nighttime version of the Pines & Cranes design. Hopefully I can sort this out for the shop next week but for now I've set it as my wallpaper for the holiday season. As you can see, I'm not the tidiest desktop keeper (and this is the sorted out version)!

I hope you had a great thanksgiving if you celebrate it and have a great rest-of-weekend :)

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Summer Doves

Summer Doves; a summery counterpart to the Snow Doves. You can find them over here!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Linen Washi Tape

A new phone case I made this week out of linen scraps and a new washi tape design; it's great for borders or to add just a bit of decorative pattern:

Phone case using the blue strip.

The multicolour version is available here if you'd like some on fabric, paper or peel and stick decals in all these colours:

It's been a while since I posted - I hope everyone's having a great summer!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

The Moon

It feels like such a long time since I've written here but I've been busy all the same with future projects! I'll have to wait a while before I can post about those but here's something I've been working on last week:

Love, Luck & Happiness Decal Mural

I had a brilliant request from a lovely person through Spoonflower to adapt the Love, Luck & Happiness calendar for a mural. It was pretty tricky working out all the elements into this format but I love how it's turned out! The measurements left a space at the top of the three 30 inch decals which I filled with another design (of her choice) to cut off and use in another project:

Woodland Mural

This was also originally a calendar and I really enjoyed playing around with the elements to fit the space.

Patrice A. is hosting a drawing challenge over on her blog this week; subject: the moon, so I'm submitting the mural image above. I first came across her work on V's brilliant advent calendar and absolutely love her owl cushion - click through for the links to all contributed moon pictures!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Illustration Friday: Wings

Misty mountains for this week's Illustration Friday. To see all the other 'wings' illustrations, have a look over here :)

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Antidote for wintery symptoms.

Icy drizzle, low clouds and grey skies - all the symptoms of an oncoming winter! Here's an antidote I've been working on this week for this contest:

Lagoon details: threadfin butterflyfish, flame angelfish and sergeant major fish.

Lagoon details: anthias, clownfish and flame angelfish.

See other t-shirt designs and vote here or read about how I made the water texture here!

Lagoon on a Riviera Tee

Lagoon on a Riviera Tee - the pattern is from One-Yard Wonders.

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Sumerian Triangles

I liked the look of the stamped triangles in my last design and thought they deserved one all on their own:

Sumerian Triangles

They remind me a lot of the marks made in cuneiform so the pattern's named after the people who invented it.

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Snow Doves in Cranberry

Snow Doves in Cranberry

No, not a recipe! A new and festive design for this contest over here. It's also available for order on 10 different fabrics, wallpaper and it must be that time of year again peeps because spoonflower have introduced seasonal gift wrap!

Forest & Sea wrapping paper, to be found here! 

By the way, there will be free shipping on everything at spoonflower on November the 15th! Hope you have a happy weekend :)

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Twit-twoo!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Woodland

The doves and sparrows from a few posts ago were going to be for this new calendar. In the end it took an entirely different direction than I first intended and this is the result:

Woodland Calendar

Woodland Calendar Details

I'd love it if you'd take a minute to vote for me over here. Or if you fancy one for yourself, you can find it here!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Linen Journal Cover

I've also renewed the linen journal cover that goes with the Love, Luck & Happiness calendar for 2013:

New for 2013: dragonflies!

A calendar inside the front cover and a note leaf at the back.

It comes, complete with instructions, on a fat quarter of linen-cotton here!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Moon Gazer

Love, Luck & Happiness Calendar 2013

Hello! The Love, Luck & Happiness calendar has been updated for 2013 if any of you lovely people would like one. Added to the auspicious eastern symbols of last year are a pair of dragonflies (on the left over there) for extra good luck.

(Update Sep '14: you can find the new version for 2015 here!)

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Forest Garden

I ordered some proof swatches from spoonflower a while ago - for some reason it takes weeks and weeks for the post to get to Europe from North Carolina but they're finally here. First up in the shop, as requested, Forest Garden!

Forest Garden

This one's based loosely on the deciduous forests of Asia and I've decided to donate 10% of all commission earned on this design to BirdLife International. They work with local charities all over the world preserving bird habitats and thereby improving global biodiversity. Forest Garden is available on 10 different fabrics here!

I hope everyone's enjoying their last little bit of summer in the northern hemisphere. Wouldn't it be great to have a house in both hemispheres so you could have summer all year round?

Forest Garden sample on cotton.

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Starburst

I had a lot of fun designing the pattern for this week's Spoonflower contest. The brief was to design a mid-century print for the Carey Players' upcoming production of 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying', set in the early 50s.

Starburst

There are some subtle textures on this one - click to view larger details.

In one of the scenes, Rosemary is hoping to impress with her new 'Paris Original' cocktail dress, only to find that she's not the only one...

These mock-ups show the dress that will be used (a Butterick) with the Starburst pattern. I really enjoyed doing these; it was great seeing it come to life like that! I've already seen there are some amazing designs over there so vote for me if you have a minute. Whichever pattern you choose Carey Players, I hope you have a great production - wish I could be there!

................................................................................

Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware