USA Work Trip / / Boston Marina

Today I wanted to share with you some more photographs from recent USA work trip. After visiting the New England Aquarium, I walked along the waterfront & stumbled across some truly amazing colours & textures at the boating marina. I must have spent at least an hour documenting all the imperfections & beauty.

Enjoy! Love Rachael x

Inspiring Quotations / / ASBPD Alumni & Student Competition!

Happy Monday! Today I am sharing with you lovely testimonials from some of the students & Alumni of 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design (the e-course)' as well as some of my own motivational quotes. We are also giving the ABSPD community an exciting design challenge (read below for more information).

The Challenge

We are thrilled to announce we are running a mini competition for all e-course students & Alumni! We would love for you to create your very own beautiful typography design! The winning designer will be given a free place on the e-course Module of their choice! (This includes 1, 2, 3 & the brand new Module 4). Below you can find the competition requirements:

• Create an inspirational typographic design in your own style & media (this can be hand-drawn or created with different fonts)
• The quote should include your own testimonial on how you have found a Module or the e-course as a whole, for example: “Maybe this course should come with a health warning as it is so addictive!”
• Please supply a 550 pixels, 'save for web' jpg & send to kelly@rachaeltaylordesigns.co.uk with your full name, website & social media links
• Deadline: Midnight (GMT) Thursday 7th November
• You will also need to share your design on social media. This can be on our Facebook page or tweet to @MakeitinDesign or @SurfacePatternD. Use hashtags #makeitindesign, #surfacepatternecourse or #ABSPD
• The winner will be announced on Friday along with a supporting showcase on the Make It In Design blog & on this blog

Love Rachael x

The above two images are an example of testimonials from past & current students

The above are examples for styling inspiration!

If you have ever dreamt of having your own designs on homewares, stationery, fabric or other products then HURRY & sign up for Module 2: Creating Your Professional Identity or Module 3: Monestising Your Designs, running November 11th! Register now as these modules will not be running again until Spring 2014!

DENY Designs / / Fun Trays & Coasters!

Happy Friday! We are so excited about some very fun new products with our licensing partners DENY Designs! They have created new trays & coasters that are not only practical but gorgeous & are perfect for showing off some of our Autumn designs like our '50's Inspired', 'Abstract Border' & 'Organic Retro Leaves'. These beauties are so versatile & DENY Designs have even come up with 7 unique ways to use them! On October 18th they are giving you 20% off all trays so you can grab a colourful bargain! You can choose between to 2 classic shapes; rectangle or square for the trays & the coasters can come with a lovely bamboo holder.

Shop the trays & coasters or to browse our full collection including summer brights or autumn shades visit the website!

'Abstract Border' rectangle tray

'50's Inspired' rectangle tray

'Organic Retro Leaves' square tray

'Abstract Border' coaster set

'50's Inspired' coaster set

'Organic Retro Leaves' rectangle tray & coaster set

DENY Designs / / Cozy discount!

Today DENY Designs are offering a lovely 25% off all throw blankets! To get the discount you need to use the code: cozyup25 This offer is only for one day so hurry & grab one of our super cozy & colourful throws! We have a selection of gorgeous autumn coloured patterns, perfect for the cold nights!

You can find our collection of throw blankets here or you can shop the entire collection including bedding, throw pillows, clocks & even shower curtains!

50's Inspired throw blanket

Abstract Border throw blanket

Contemporary throw blanket

Organic Retro Leaves throw blanket

Textured Honesty throw blanket

Giveaway / / Wedding decoration bundle!

It's giveaway time & we are offering you a chance to win a selection of the wedding decorations that we recently launched! We have shown you a sneak preview & you may have seen our 'A Bespoke Wedding' article in MOYO Magazine, & now you could get your hands on some of our colourful, fun & wedding perfect decorations!

Our giveaway bundle includes:

A selection of 4 heart clusters which are made up of A4 & A5 size hearts in a mixture of colours & designs (each cluster includes 3 - 5 hearts)

One orange, circle 'Wedding' sign

One manilla, circle 'Cards & Gifts' sign

One yellow, circle 'Hip hip hooray!' sign

To win our bundle of wedding goodies all you need to do is go to our Facebook post of this giveaway, write 3 words which you think describes a wedding & share the link! As easy as that! The most original & relevant 3 words (& link sharer) will win the bundle.

The winner will be announced Monday 23rd Septemeber at 5pm, so get sharing & get creative with those words!

You can shop our entire wedding & party collection on our shop which has loads more fun signs, cards, hearts, name tags & favour tags!