Exhibition news!

So, I've been very busy creating a unique piece of Artwork for the 'Inspired' 2011 Exhibition at the Stewards' Gallery within Clitheroe Castle...and as it is the preview tonight, I'd like to share my creation with you all!



'Home Time at the Bar' is centered around the North; a nice comparative piece to my earlier 'Time at the Bar' 1&2 which were London-based. Featuring solely UK-sourced beer mats, it focuses on all things Northern, specifically in the Ribble Valley where I grew up (and still live!)


Containing 12 handpainted/customised beer mats based on places memorable to me and my childhood, here are a few of my favourite.



After securing the beermats on to the canvas frame (involving some bending, lots of bottles of wine - for leverage only!, and lots of glue) I finished the piece by painting a single black line silhouette of the infamous Clitheroe Castle. I think, as with the London skyline used in my previous pieces, this creates a focus for the piece and really brings it together.

A special big thank you has to go to Dan who cleverly created the 'Ribble Valley' pint glass made of all the places in the RV, and took these stunning photographs!

'Inspired 2011' features work from 70 artists based in the Ribble Valley and East Lancashire and, if last years was anything to go buy, has a brilliant variety of work on show. It runs from October 22nd to January 15th 2012 - more details can be found here.

I'ts the Preview Night this evening and I'm really looking forward to it - I'll let you know how it goes!

New Cards!

Wowsers, it's been a while since I showed my face on here hasn't it! Sorry everyone. It's been a few mad months at QC HQ - including work on a very special project of which all will be revealed later this week!

In the meantime, there's some fab new designs for you to browse over...and Christmas will be coming shortly too (after trying to delay it, I've finally got to admit it's definitely time to get some of the festive spirt in gear!)

Now available to order are these super-cute personalised 'New Baby' cards.


You can either have little hearts or stars holding up the Baby's name, and their Birthday is cut out on a little banner along the bottom of the heart. They make lovely gifts for the parents as I've been told these are both now framed in the Baby's bedrooms, aw!


In a bit of 'something different' for one of my most popoular cards, my favourite custom order this summer was this Vintage-tastic Wedding card for a very happy couple.

The script-like writing lent itself naturally to a vintage look, and with the deep creams and blush pinks and the two little love birds at the top, I think it worked really well!

Bon Voyage! (in a few days...)

Just to let you know that from next Monday 1st August, I will be picking up my scalpel and cutting board and tootling off for a couple of weeks...in the first ever QC holiday!


Do not fear, I'll still be online and contactable via my Folksy and Etsy shops, so please do wing over any ideas for custom creations or general queries. Just for a couple of weeks I've got an actual holiday (hurrah!) and a very big and exciting project to be doing which requires all my concentration! I'll be back from the 19th August - and am still here for a few days yet!

New Cards!

Crikey it's been a while since I said hello! We've had a very busy few months with lots of orders and some new adventures to be had. More coming soon about those - first though, some new card designs (hurrah!).

In spirit of Weddings and all things romantic, there's a new Wedding/Anniversary card about town. It's shown in a lovely sea blue but is, as always, available in whichever colour you fancy :)


And now for a spot of cake - Birthday cake! This cheery little card is quite loud and proud, so if there's any Birthdays you want to shout about...


Right, back to the cutting board for now; hope everyone's well and enjoying the spots of summer sun that we keep getting!

Happy Birthday Mum!

It was my Mum's Birthday on Sunday, so this was her little treat :)

Custom creations!

I've been so busy this year I haven't yet had chance to post pictures of some of my custom orders - so now that Valentine's Day madness is over (and I've got weekends and a few evenings back, yey!), here you go...

My first order of 2011 was this very special vintage Typewriter - very different to my normal style, I even got to do a bit of drawing!






Hope you've enjoyed a peek at my recent creations - back to the cutting board for me now! (well, once my poor burnt hand - exactly where my Scaplel rests - has healed :( )

Love is in the air...

Wow, it's been a while since I've treaded the blog pages this year! Sorry for the absence - it's been quite busy at Quite Contrary HQ with lots of lovely Valentine's orders, too busy to stop!

I'm grabbing a minute though to just let you know that if any of you are still on the hunt for cards (or sneakily trying to hint to the OH where he should buy his) my last orders for personalised and regular Valentine's cards are tomorrow (Wednesday) - they'll be going off in the post on Thursday morning. Click here to buy one from my Folksy shop

Here's some of my favourite custom orders I've had this year, enjoy! :)

My first French card

And, as a HUGE Toy Story fan, this is my most favourite of all!

A special Anniversary Notebook

I've been busily working on a very special custom order for the last month, and it finally came together this week and is now with its very happy owner! (sorry for the bad light in the photos - that's what not being in my office during the daylight hours does to photos!)

I'm really happy with how this turned out - a custom Notebook cover which was spray-glued onto the front of a lovely red moleskin notebook, and a matching card.

Think I'd definitely love to do another order like this if anyone out there likes the idea!

Busy, busy, busy

Quite Contrary HQ is a mine of cutting action at the minute, with lots of lovely orders coming in and getting ready for a flurry of Christmas Fairs in December! (which is why things have been a wee bit quiet on the blogging front - sorry!)

Thought I'd share some of my recent creations with you - remember there's still plenty of time to order a special Christmas card, or a custom designed coaster/mug if you'd like :)

Amid the Christmas orders, there's still been lots of 'regular' orders which is nice - including this special little new home card

And, for a Bride-to-be to give to her Parents...

Fab Giveaway with From Britain With Love & From The Wilde!

Have you seen this amazing giveaway? In From Britain With Love's November competition, you could win over £500 worth of goodies stocked by the fabulous online store From The Wilde - including some of my I♥tea goodies!

This is a fantastic competition, and I'm chuffed to be involved in it. So, get in there and grab yourself a chance to bag the goodies!

Happy Halloween

BOO!

Hehe, sorry - this was us all dressed up as Zombies last night. Which included driving home via a petrol station to top-up, still in our dead faces which evoked quite a lot of funny stares! I hope everyone's been busily creating Pumpkin carvings and getting dressed up in the most absurd costumes!

We've carved the pumpkin and I'm using half of it as a very *experimental* (ie. never before done and no idea what on earth it's going to taste like) creating of Pumpkin soup. I'll let you know how it turns out - all I did was route around on the t'internet for a simple recipe. Here's the one I'm using if you're looking for one - BBC Good Food.

In true halloween fashion (and yes, we're well over 12 but who cares!) we've made our own Spiders for pud later, yum yum! Concocted from a mini roll, chocolate teacake, butter icing and Matchsticks, I'm quite proud of our freakish creations!

Enjoy your spooky evening everyone!

Quite Contrary meets Widget!

Yes, that's right - at the Ilkley Arts Market last Saturday, we were lucky enough to have a celebrity amongst us! Widget had popped over to Yorkshire to stay with Quernus Crafts for a bit, so of course wanted to come and have a nose and meet some new people at the fair!

We all wanted a picture with him of course - and donated money to the Rabbit Welfare Associtation, making £20 alltogether!

So, here are Quite Contrary's first 'famous' pictures, and some of Widget's other antics on the day - he sure can move fast for a little 'un!

Meet the lovely Kirsten from Quernus Crafts - I was very excited to finally see her wee-uns in the flesh, and am currently babysitting a wee horse until I have to give it away as a pressie.

Widget and I got on quite well I think, aw...

He even had a quick nap in one of my I♥Tea mugs!

Tracey from RubySpiritDesigns got quite close and personal to him

Widget (along with the rest of us) found it very hard to stop himself gobbling all the yummy cakes available from the cafe!

He finally fell asleep in the pocket of Dan, web designer and developer extraordinaire of Sawley Studios

So there you go - a very famous day! The next Ilkley market is a special Christmas one on Saturday 11th December, so please pop along and say hello - and sample some of the yummy food too!

Quite Contrary stocked in the Pop-Up Design Shop

Quite Contrary has been lucky enough to be selected to feature our goodies in the Pop-Up Design Shop, in Newcastle upon Tyne. Hurray!

It's being hosted by the lovely people of MushroomWorks and supported by Hunkydory Home - they've chosen a selection of some of the best niche design-led, handmade home accessories and gifts, and it's on from now until 13th November, so please go and have a nosey if you're in the area!

More info can be found on their website here - let me know if you're popping along, I wish I could go for a peek but it's just a bit too far for a day out from Lancashire, boo. So if anyone has any piccies, please share them! :)

Some recent custom card creations

Sorry for being so quiet on the blog front recently - we've had a mad busy few weeks at Quite Contrary HQ! We're going to be in a local Gallery for Christmas, along with displaying our stock at a lovely Paper themed exhibition for 2 months, and taking part in the Pop Up Design Shop up in Northumberland - phew! So lots and lots of cutting and many late nights have been had and still to be had...it's all very exciting though!

I thought I'd share a few of the custom orders I've had recently - even though some of the backgrounds are a little odd I'm afraid (that's what having so much cutting and so little time for anything else does to you!) I'll start with my favourite one - it's just so romantic!

Romance has been in the air this month, with one of my best friends celebrating her 2nd Anniversary, and our lovely Neighbours celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary, aw! I created this special little card for them, with their initials in either heart.

New babies have been popping up everywhere apparently, as orders have been coming in for lots of special Baby cards. Here's a few of my favourite, including an adaptation for a Christening.

Hope you liked that little selection :) Time to get back to Gallery stock now, yey!

the Official Folksy Friday!

Today it was my lucky turn to be Curator for the official Folksy 'Folksy Friday', yippee!

I decide to choose my favourite subject - paper! I chose some items I've loved for a while, and others I came across in my search - including the most colourful and funky paper animal creations I've ever seen. I really really want either the Frog or the spotted Monkey!

Have a look at my selection here and show it some Folksy love please :)

Some Folksy Folk Revealed!

Admittedly a tinsy bit late, when I was at Ilkley Arts Market the other weekend, I met some lovely other Folksiers who were there too. It was a lovely Market, and very good considering it's the odd September in-between time of people saving their pennies for Christmas and the mad Christmas present buy!

So, have a peek below to put some faces to some Folksy names you may recognise!

First up is the lovely Lynsey from Swirly Arts. You may also know her as the amazing lady behind Cuteable, a great website throwing the spotlight on handmade and the talent to be found!

We were both doing our very best to spread the word about Folksy and Cuteable to anyone and everyone who was interested, so hopefully sent some newbies over to both of them!

Dig The Earth aka. Kev is also one of the regulars at Ilkley Arts - I love his prints SO much! (I'm secretly hoping Dan might buy me one of the gorgeous button heart prints one day...I'll have to try and hint a bit harder! ;0) )

I also met a new seller on Folksy whose creations I love - meet Kate Bowles who makes the most intricate little books, they're so cute! She recycles unloved paper and materials into something to be cherished - gorgeous.

And, of course, here's a peek at Quite Contrary's little table for the day - featuring my new Cake and Tea Papercuts! :) They'll be listed on-line in the next few days. I'm so glad I've finally managed to find frames to suit them!