Do what you love!

Happy Friday:)

Today I'd like to introduce to a fab, amazing creative retreat that's coming up this May! (11-15 2011) It's called 'Do what you love' & has been organized by the super talented & inspirational Beth Nicholls.

Beth herself has had a pretty amazing career & exciting life "Chosen as one of the UK's 16 most exciting young female entrepreneurs" so I was very honoured when she invited me to the event as a guest speaker! So I'm super excited & hope to see some of you all there! I feel very blessed :)

For further information about the retreat or booking a place simply visit the wonderful website 

"Imagine a magical place in an area of outstanding natural beauty, deep in the ancient English countryside.  A place where you can escape from everyday life, reconnect with the real you, and nurture your creative spirit.

Imagine a time when you are free to indulge your creativity. When you can step out of your creative comfort zone and take risks, supported by a warm community of like-minded souls.  And all this under the guidance of an outstanding teacher.

Imagine a space where you can explore the ideas you have been quietly sheltering for so long.  Where they will be motivated by inspiring entrepreneurs and where, nurtured by your new community, your self-belief will soar.  Where you can grow your creative business ideas, or simply plant the seed of belief that you really can find a way to do what you love, for life.

All this exists.

You can find it at the Do What You Love retreat (May 11-15, 2011).
It will be an intimate gathering of creative souls, sharing a special journey of change.
Everything will be taken care of.  You just have to take care of yourself".

What you waiting for? get booking!

*photo credit: natural retreats

Spring!

Good Morning! It's Moni here with my weekly Thursday's post.

I'm really REALLY looking forward to the Spring. The wild daffodils are making me excited and I can't wait to have leaves back in the trees. 

It seems to be taking ages though, so I thought I'd give nature a little hint and inspire it to bloom us into the loveliness of Spring.  Here are some beautiful examples of some handmade flowers.  I love how delicate and detailed they are and how the colours and prints make them fun and new.

This upcoming Spring brings a lot of flower prints with it, so get inspired and bring your garden into your home with something as lovely as this.

I hope you enjoy it!  Love Moni!

Love of Colour!

For those of you who follow my work you will know how much I just love colour! So I've been collecting some lovely reference to inspire me. Colour can really effect your mood & the way you approach your day. I try & surround myself with lots of colour when I'm working too.

My favourite colour is orange, most of my dresses & accessories are Orange along with lots of my home accessories. Orange is a key colour in a lot of my own signature prints & textiles too. I'm trying to spread the love for Orange!:) 

"Orange is vibrant, fun and flamboyant colour. The meaning of orange is that of vitality, joy, happiness and energy. Orange is seen as an exciting, extroverted and sociable colour". 

What's your favourite colour? 

(All images courtesy  of #pintrest)

BAFFIE!

Hello everyone:) I'd like to introduce you all to one my lovely new stockists 'Baffie' a gorgeous online store crammed with lots of lovely home accessories & gifts.  I'm super excited to be working with them & to be a part of their gorgeous website! I'd also like to thank Julia for the lovely blog features she written about me recently too (you can read them here & here)

I promise you will fall in love with their website!

Florals!

Happy Monday! I design so many patterns & I love the variety of commisions I get from male fashion right through to kids stationery. However floral designs are my all time faves though! Here are a couple of designs I created a while back for a client which are now on my online portfolio

Hope you like them!:)

Inspirational Words!

So I'm addicted to pinterest I joined a good few weeks ago but spent most of this afternoon on there happily pinning! Wow what a fab amazing site... jam packed with lots of yummy gorgeousness to inspire you. So I started my own personal boards just collecting a few things I love... I found lots of fab, inspirational & moving quotes on there too which I thought I'd post on the blog today :)

I never normally post on a weekend, but thought some of these words were very special & wanted to share them. Happy Saturday! x

 

If you would like to see the rest of the quotes I collated you can click here

ABC3D

Good Thursday everybody!

I love Disney Films, I love children's book and I love love love pop up books!

I am so glad because today I found a pop up book for adults! (although I'm sure kids will also enjoy it).

Considered one of the best pop up designers in the world, Marion Bataille brings us ABC3D.  A wonderful minimalist concept with a wonderful 3D idea for every letter.

I love how turning every page brings a new surprise ahead.

So next time you're at a bookshop, look it up and get playing! See you next week, Love Moni

Skydive Pics!

Happy Tuesday! I'm back to normal in the next few weeks, so I'll be updating the blog with regular posts along side Moni's regular Thursday posts too.

So the last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind... very hectic but very fun at the same time! On top of my freelance commissions I've been lecturing & running the second stage of the Design Stars competition (surface pattern) I've loved every minute of it! I'm back in my Leeds based studio catching up on things & starting to make preparations for the BCTF in early April.

At the weekend I completed my charity sky dive! landed safely & injury free. It was AMAZING! but very scary at the same time as I jumped out solo! (my jump went a bit wrong too! but I stayed calm somehow & it was all fine) Here are a few pics, thank you so much for all your kind words & support. I raised a great amount of money for SCKIN the Karen Clifford skin cancer charity too (my page is still open so if you would like to make a donation you can click here)

 

A big thank you to my lovely friend Jenny for keeping me calm!

(pic, second from bottom) We haven't seen each other since high school!

A fab reunion in the skies!

Black Baroque

Hello!  This will be my last post of the week! Thanks for reading and I hope I have given you all some fun ideas.  I would like to finish with a little bit of inspiration from the skies so you can have a lovely weekend of dreaming and to wish Rachael all the best in her Charity Skydiving!

Have a look at these beautiful prints by BlackBaroque.  His Etsy shop is filled with antique inspired images over a printed page.  I love the contrast and how the print still shows up over the images. Have a look at this shop and have a fab weekend.  Love Moni!