Stylish Illustration! Souvenir & Art Gifts from Helen Lang ...

A note recently appeared in my email inbox announcing the arrival of a special new tea towel illustrated by the lovely Helen Lang. An A-Z of all things London, the tea towel is a reproduction of Helen's popular alphabetical print, and makes a cute souvenir for this year's London-based events and celebrations. An experienced Designer & Illustrator Helen's work has graced numerous products for high profile clients including John Lewis, Boden, Te Neues and the Tate (to name just a few). Alongside images of the tea towel gift, I also wanted to show you a few more items from Helen's collection. The limited edition screen prints and giclee prints are gorgeous examples of Helen's illustrative style, which uses clean lines and beautiful colour to create delicate and elaborate designs.

Featured gifts: London A-Z Alphabet Tea Towel, £10 (also available as a print for £60); Music A-Z Alphabet Print, £60; Love Art Print, £40; In the Woods Stag Art Print, £40 and last but not least 30cm x 40cm Personalised Painting £85 (unframed). To see or purchase any of these items please visit Helen's Etsy shop.

Sweet Treats! Summery Greeting Cards from Fay's Studio ...

As the lovely sunshine continues I'm inclined to conservatively think that Summer may have arrived here in the UK. To celebrate such a momentous occasion it's only right that we find the perfect summer greeting card. A few ideal contenders can be found in the 'Sweet Treats' collection from Fay's Studio. Bold graphics and summery, sweet colours highlight all those lovely summer treats. The collection is already proving to be a huge hit with two of the designs recently chosen to grace a special window display at Harrods in London. There are 11 designs in the range; enchanting illustration, finished with sparkly silver foil and paired with a bright fuchsia envelope. Grab an ice-cream or a cool cocktail and take a look ...

Sweet Treats greeting cards have a recommended retail price of £2.95; to find out more about the collection please visit the Fay's Studio website.

Gifts: New Typographic Tea Towels from Urban Graphic ...

New this year, Urban Graphic has created a wonderful selection of quirky tea towels featuring quotations and musings in vintage typographic styles. Each tea towel is screen-printed in the UK on a 100% heavy duty, half panama cotton (like the kind used to make thick butcher's aprons). As affordable works of art, with funny text, bright colours and sharp graphics these tea towels are the perfect gift to help brighten any home and decorate any kitchen.   

The full collection of tea towels can be seen by clicking here. Retailing at £10 each, they can be purchased direct from the Urban Graphic website.

Great Greeting Cards! More Inspiration for Father's Day ...

Following on from my first Father's Day themed post last week, here's a little bit more inspiration from a few publisher's doing their bit for dad's everywhere. First up is Door 77, home of sisters Caroline & Samantha, who have a passion for designing, creating and sourcing the very best gifts and homewares. Their range of sweet, handmade Father's Day cards have cute, quirky phrases for all ages. Retailing at £3.50, you can find the whole range at the Door 77 website.

This cute Little Brown Rabbit Father's Day card is a special way for kids to show their Dad they care, as the design can be personalised on the reverse to include the name of the sender. Each card is lovingly printed and embossed by hand, before being painted with a touch of sparkly glitter. Available to purchase exclusively from Little Brown Rabbit's NOTHS shop, the card retails at £4.50. Click here to go straight to the shop; alternatively you can see more from Little Brown Rabbit at their website.

These next few greeting card designs are from Roisin Cafferty's Good Times collection. I've included designs from the range before on previous occasion-themed posts, and I couldn't resist showing you a few more examples; I think the cool, sharp, graphic design is perfect for Father's Day. The cards manipulate the greeting into various themes but my favourites are these barbecue and award themes. Designs are £2.50 each, and the whole collection can be seen on the Roisin Caferty website.

Finishing today's dose of Father's Day inspiration are three cool designs from Five Dollar Shake's 2012 collection. The charming designs are created in a gold foil print on glassine paper, which is overlaid onto a subtle, patterned background. The cards retail at £3.99 and will be gracing the shelves of boutiques and stores across the UK ... keep your eyes peeled for them! If you like what you see, you can find out more about Five Dollar Shake at their website. 

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Guest Blog Post: Helen Rochfort - Handbag Designer ...

To end the week we have something a little bit different ... a guest blog post from Handbag Designer, Helen Rochfort; a lovely insight into the inspiration behind her unique range of handbags, and her recent collaboration with Author Carole Matthews, which has resulted in a book - 'Summer Dreams' - inspired by Helen's real-life journey to becoming a Handbag Designer. 

Helen Rochfort ...

Inspiration for my designs comes from nostalgia: 1940's to 1980's art, film, design, fashion and food, but I add in modern new and fresh elements. Films including Mary Poppins, the 1970's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, and Alice in Wonderland are a great inspiration for my designs. Anything from a vintage piece of fabric, sweet shops, a delicious scent, ice-cream vans, Pop Art or old music footage of the 1960's can inspire a handbag. I love the mix of old and new, and fresh and bright designs with a twist of  vintage. Graffiti designs from artist Fafi are amazing! I have a great love for fairy tales especially the darker side of them, including Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel. Humour and twists are added to many of my designs - as fashion should be fun and not taken too seriously.

Carole and I had become friends after initially meeting over Facebook. My status picture was a picture of Barbara Cartland and Carole thought I was a romance writer - but it was just my sense of humour. She fell in love with my handbags and, over the months we kept in touch through the internet. Carole then asked me to create a limited edition handbag for one of her novels, The Chocolate Lovers’ Club. When we got chatting about life in general over a few glasses of wine, Carole picked up on the fact that I’d had quite a lot of colourful experiences - perfect for a novel. Sometimes, life really is a lot stranger and more crazy than fiction!

The last ten years have been incredibly tough - we’ve had a lot of ups and downs along the way and the book is a fantastic mirror of our experiences but on a much shorter timescale. It’s great that something so wonderful and positive has come out of it. Thank you, Summer Daydreams!

Summer Daydreams by Carole Matthews (Sphere, £6.99) is available from all good bookshops, and to see more or purchase one of Helen's handbags please visit the Helen Rochfort website. 


If you have an idea for a guest post for Card & Gift Blog, email me: mail@cardandgiftblog.com

Delicate & Beautiful: New Art Prints & Greeting Cards from Laura Felicity ...

Known for her beautiful hand screen printed wallpapers and homewares, Designer Laura Felicity has recently added a few brand new products, which will officially launch at this year's Pulse trade show. First images are the 'Dotty Bird' greeting cards; screen printed by hand from one of Laura's most popular images. A delicate, versatile print that is perfect for any occasion, the design is available in three soft colour ways. Alternatively you could treat yourself, or a loved one, to Laura's latest art prints. Beautiful butterflies and hearts are hand cut from Laura's original wallpaper prints, and carefully placed in 3D arrangements. You can even opt for a personalised print, where Laura will arrange hand cut birds to form a personal monogram .

Featured cards and gifts: Dotty Bird greeting cards, £3.50; Hand Cut and Personalised Art Print, £55; Hand Cut Butterfly Art Print, £45 and Hand Cut Heart Art Print, £45. For more information on any of these new products please visit the Laura Felicity website, and if you have a few minutes to spare why not take a look at Laura's blog for some behind-the-scenes goodness.

Pulse trade show runs from the 10th -12th June, and Laura can be found on stand LP59.

Eclectic & Elegant: Accessories from We Dream in Colour ...

Launched in Brooklyn, New York, in 2002, We Dream in Colour is a collection of beautiful, handmade jewellery and accessories designed by Jade Gedeon. Jade showed early promise as a Designer; developing a talent for drawing and fine art at a young age, before winning a major art award. Since then Jade has gone onto display her work in prominent galleries, illustrate several publications, and study at America's prestigious Pratt Institute and Denmark's Design School in Copenhagen. Inspired by world cultures and a nomadic lifestyle, Jade is putting her artistic skills to good use designing We Dream in Colour's eclectic accessories. Today the company is based in Boston, and employs a team of talented women to create the unique designs in a socially conscious, environmentally responsible manner  From the elegant to the quirky, there are plenty of gift ideas for all; I've picked a few of my favourite pieces to share with you - see what you think ...

Featured gifts: Fine Feathered Necklace, $58; Horse Bead Necklace, $98; Octopus Necklace, $78; Begonia Mini Necklace, $40; Demeter Single Necklace, $40; Gael Necklace, $78; Valencia Cuff, $52 and Vessigny Cuff, $54. To see more, or purchase any of the jewellery pieces shown today please visit the We Dream In Colour website.