Wall Art

Hello Everyone! my name is Monica and I'll be your guest blogger on Thursdays at rachaeltaylordesigns!
You can also follow me on twitter as @MeAndaCupofTea and the rest of the week join me at my own Blog ...And a Cup of Tea. Enjoy!

Over the past few years, after a couple of decades of decorative minimalism, wallpapers have had a huge re surge in the world of interior design.  All of a sudden we have started seeing entire patterned walls fill rooms with characters in shops, on TV and in people's homes.  With this wallpaper craze has come a new generation of brilliant designers who have revolutionised the blandness of our walls.
A great example of this is designer Ximena Escobar.  She's super talented Colombian designer who creates bespoke and personalised pieces of art to stick on your walls.

Here are a few pics of her work in making homes lovely. Find some more of her work on her blog or you can visit her website.

Team @rachaeltaylordesigns!

I wanted to share my wonderful team on the blog today & introduce you to them. I've been lucky enough to hire some (much needed!) freelance help lately.

I now have Moni my super talented designer/maker (and soon to be guest blogger) Fiona my amazing PR consultant along with Chris the very clever web designer!

I would love to have them all on a full time basis (I'll keep dreaming) but for now I'm very happy to receive their part time help:) I will introducing you to them over the next few days on the blog!

Introducing Moni...

I first met Moni last year when she approached me about a work placement, she was the first placement I ever took on & was super organized, super talented & very hands on, so just what I needed! She helped me at shows, looked after trend research for me, help develop my handmade products, she does the fantastic sewing, she also introduced me into the wonderful world of blogging.

I decided to employ Moni in the last few months on freelance basis. She now looks after the handmade side of things for me (as lately I hardly get to sew nowadays :( on top of the designing that I do) I design the prints & products & Moni develops them into the handmade line.

 

About Moni:

"My name is Monica Escobar and I'm in charge of the production of Rachel Taylor's handmade line; Together we come up with new ideas and I work with Rachael's fabric & make them happen.

I come from beautiful Colombia (South America), I am 29 years old and a year and a half ago I moved to Leeds for love!  I have a BA in Advertising and Marketing and a Masters Degree in Fashion Styling. 

Like a good Latin American I love the sun and the beach.  I love colourful things, flowers, dancing, fashion and Mangos! My favourite colour is purple, I love Mexican food, writing little poems and doing art projects around my house. The album playing on my ipod at the moment is "The Dreamers" Soundtrack from the Bertolucci film.  I don't like negative thinking or rude people.  I hate airports but I love travelling to all sorts of places but often find myself wishing I was in a Caribbean Island.  

I am very inspired by fashion and art,  I love John Galliano's amazing collections, Impressionism and vintage flower drawings".

Moni is our new guest blogger you can read her post every Thursday!

Fun Card Designs

Here are are few more designs available from my design portfolio these are available to buy online now at: www.marksandspencerpersonalised.com

 

Reetsweet Event!

I was recently contacted by Rebecca from reetsweet about a new upcoming event. Unfortunately I can't get involved in this one as I've booked a bit of time off:) but I'm hoping to take part in future events.

If you are interested in the event which will be held at the Corn Exchange, Leeds or you want to take part yourself you can email reetsweetevents@gmail.com or visit their blog at: http://reetsweet.blogspot.com/

Looks like there is already lots of fab designer/makers lined up!

Card Designs

I thought I'd share on the blog today a couple of designs of mine that I created for Tigerprint (UK) that you can now buy on the fab marksandspencerpersonalised website!

Hope you like them:)

FREE TWITTER GIVEAWAY!

Twitter competition!  'RT' this competition & follow!:)

So, what do you need to do to enter?

Just simply tweet about this competition & follow us! Your must include my twitter name @rachtdesign  (so that I can find your tweet) and the words 'pls RT' to spread the word.

Then leave a comment here on the blog with your twitter ID or email (disguised) so that I can get in contact you if you are the lucky winner!!!!

Competition starts NOW and is open to anyone with a twitter account.

END TIME 1pm GMT Monday the 27th of September!

This is what you will win! An orange Etched Floral Apron (with button decoration) RRP £18.00 & matching oven mitt RRP £12.00

Music!

I just love music, I just can't work or design without it. I really do love all sorts of music from all genres...

I downloaded The Script's new album at the weekend, it's just fab! a really easy listen & it got me through the mountain of paperwork I had to do. I'd definitely recommend it:)

Quirky bag!

Here are some pics I took of one of the bags I displayed in my recent 'Stitched' exhibition.

Hope you like it!:) For more information on the exhibition you can click here

Pretty Illustration!

On the blog today I'd like to introduce you all to the talented freelance illustrator Julie clay. I use to work which Julie a few years back at Hallmark, where she worked as part of the super talented illustration team. Julie recently got in touch via email, it was lovely to hear from her & to find out about all the fab things she has been doing.

A bit of info about Julie:

"I worked as an Illustrator in the Greeting Card Industry for 25 years and so have lots of experience and really love what I do with a passion. I have been freelance for 18months now, prior to that working in-house at Hallmark Cards for 10 years.

I like to experiment with techniques, styles and ideas and constantly look to creating new work. My sketchbooks are in constant use with lots of inspiration from nature, although I do like to create cute characters that spring form my head into my sketchbooks. I mainly work 'hands on' most recently in a loose watercolour style".

You can contact Julie via email at julieclay7@googlemail.com  if you are interested in her work, or would like to get in touch.

Below are a selection of beautifully illustrated images, the pretty water colour flowers are my fave!

 

 

  

 

New Studio!

I'm super excited to announce that I'm getting a brand new bigger studio! yippee!!!!!!

I'm actually extending my home & building a separate studio space to the side of my house, which is great as I'll be able to work at home but have the separate work space. I've outgrown my little space & the storage space I hire is jam packed too!

So it's time for a little expansion! (more on that later)

Here are a few fab finds that I have ordered for the new studio! found myself some bargains in the sale!

 

I've ordered the cream one, a fab little seat for the studio!

at a bargain price! from made.com

 Display board from rockettstgeorge

 

I'm thinking of getting some goldfish too!? :)

Fab Resources!

I'm always reading blogs, I just love them! You can find out about so many great things via blogs & posts from other designers not to mention some fab inspiration.

My talented friend Amy who recently started her own blog pointed me in the direction of this fab site called sharesomecandy.com. It's fab & jam packed with lots of yummy finds, gorgeous illustration & great inspiration.

It has lots of great sections too, one of which is 'workspaces' there's a mini portfolio of images showcasing designers' studios giving you an insight to how they work.

This site is well worth checking out!

 

  

 

LOVE the design or die poster!

 

 

More Quirky Cushions!

Following on from the last blogpost...Here are the last few snapshots of the last two cushions I have that are from the 'one of a kind' collection.

 

 

'Stitched' Cushions

Here are some detailed cushion snapshots that I took at my 'Stitched' exhibition in August. The cushions were displayed as part of the exhibit but they are now up for SALE! They really are one offs! & truly one of a kind.

The cushions show my more quirky, textural & experimental way of working (that I don't get to do as often as I like) They are handmade & screen printed & really are unique. I only have one of each so I don't really want to list them in my online stores. If you are interested in buying my screen printed goodies please drop me an email at: mail@rachaeltaylordesigns.co.uk. I'm running out of space & storage, so you can bag yourself these at a bargain price of £40.00 each!

If you didn't manage to see my 'Stitched' exhibition you can view the images here! Hope you like them:)

You can also listen to a podcast about the exhibition here (I say 'erm' & 'yeah' a lot!) I sound young!

Marks & Spencer Personalised

Here are a couple of my designs that you can find on the fab marksandspencerpersonalised.com site. I work with the talented bunch at Tigerprint, UK & have designed a large number of cards on their online website.


You can really find some gorgeous cards on there so it's well worth checking out!

Printed Cushions

I'm still busy trying to update lots of things on the web, it's hard finding the time to do it all around my designing & managing my little ever expanding product label... getting there! Listening to the two Twilight soundtracks is helping!:) I just posted these two pics on my website

Hope you like the cushions! these are available to buy online here