Three design trends I’m loving

Love or hate them, trends are hard to ignore. One minute you see a stray pineapple in the back of your favourite gift store, the next there is tropical foliage bursting out of towels, posters and T-shirts everywhere you look.

Here are three of my favourite current trends – with links to many more images I’ve pinned on Pinterest.

Tropical

Let’s start with pineapples, banana leaves and parrots. The tropical trend seems to cycle around every few years, and I love it every time. What can I say – give me a toucan, a piña colada and some sun and I’m happy.

What I’m loving

Big and bold patterns, lots of greenery, bright colours set against pastels, jungle exotica, and of course lots of avian friends popping up. I love the artist Henri Rousseau, and his work is referenced a lot.

Henri Rousseau, Exotic Landscape 1908

What’s a bit different

Using black as a backdrop. Black isn’t your usual first thought when talking tropical, but when paired with over-the-top patterns and colours it adds a sophistication and (I think) a bit of a mysterious edge.

Here’s our Pinterest board for tropical inspiration

Geometrics and Gemstones

I think it’s fair to say geometrics are always ‘in’, it’s navigating the subtleties of how they’re used. It will be no surprise that I love the gemstone-geometric trend; we’ve done a few projects in this vein.

What I’m loving

It’s so easy to do your own take on this trend – we made a gemstone-inspired mousepad, painted some book art and tried a bit of collage.

What’s a bit different

Illustrated gemstones; collaged, painted, drawn – there’s a beautiful organic feel to this trend that sets it apart from other geometric patterns. Have a look at artists like Liesl Pfeffer, Karina Eibatova and Russell Leng.

Russell Leng, Future Findings (left), Liesl Pfeffer, Hearts and Arrows (right)

Here’s our Pinterest board for geometric and gemstone inspiration

Crazy typography

Hand-drawn type has been trendy for a while now – but the trend for outlandish typography goes one step further – type that is itself an illustration. As with everything, it has been recycled from another time, but with some gorgeous results.

What I’m loving

Go wild. Go crazy. This isn’t display type to be used cautiously – throw it out into the world. My absolute favourite examples are the letters made from landscapes (I’ve pinned a heap of them on our Pinterest board here); there are also lots of versions with botanicals which I love.

What’s a bit different

Your own take. A theme across an alphabet works well, but that theme is only limited by your imagination.

Here’s our Pinterest board for crazy typography inspiration

Love this? Check out our post on great book cover design or how to evaluate a piece of design.

 

How to… Make a vintage-style photo in Photoshop

There are a million ways you can use Photoshop, and while I’ve used it for work for many years I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of what it can do. There are also a million different ways to do the same thing- so this post is about one simple way I create vintage-style illustrations, I’m sure there are many other ways!

I’m using Photoshop CS5, and the images are a combination of stock photos (from iStock) and my own images.

1. You will need a photo or scan of paper texture (preferably brown, but not too dark), and a picture you want to make ‘vintage-y’.

2. Create a new document to the size you need and copy and paste the two images into it.

3. Make sure the ‘paper’ layer is below the ‘picture’ layer. Select the blending mode ‘Colour Burn’ from the Layers palette on the ‘picture’ layer

TIP: The ‘Colour Burn’ blending mode can make bright colours very bright, especially if you are blending reds/yellows over brown; if your picture is looking too lurid you may need to tweak the colour in the ‘Hue/Saturation’ adjustments or by using the ‘Curves’ option.

4. Create a new layer above the ‘picture’ layer. Using the paint bucket tool, fill this new layer with a brown colour.

5. Using the circular selection marquee, draw a circle (holding the ‘shift’ key down if you want a perfect circle). Make sure your circle is centred. From the ‘Select’ menu, click through the ‘Modify’ option to ‘Feather…’. A pop-up box will prompt you to enter a value. I feathered my selection by 100 px, my document was 1000 x 1000 px. Once you press ‘Ok’, hit the delete key. You have now created a vignette.

TIP: You may want to experiment with different shades of brown depending on the dark/lights in the picture below. You could even try using a colour instead.

6. On the layer with the vignette, choose the ‘Colour Burn’ blending mode from the layers palette. Voila! You now have a vintage-styled photo to use how you please.

Now go for it- vintage-up all your favourite pics!

Check out some of our other how to’s… How to install and use google webmaster tools, how to write a book, how to survive the apocalypse… plus plenty more

 

Victorian typography at its crazy best

There’s no doubt the Victorian era has had a huge influence on typography trends of today- think hand-crafted script fonts, scrolls, condensed type and curved headings. Great typographers like Luca Ionescu and Ged Palmer owe a lot to their Victorian predecessors.

So here are some images to gaze at and admire- all of these examples have been sourced from The British Library’s photostream on Flickr, a fantastic image resource.

Want some more type? Check out these pics of signage in Clunes or this post on typography in packaging. And here’s my top ten favourite fonts.

The art of floriography – how to really say it with flowers

Those Victorians really knew how to say it with flowers. Though flower symbolism has been around forever, the Victorians revived the ‘Language of Flowers’, using arrangements as a cryptic code in love and friendship. There has been lots written about this art form – as well as several ‘dictionaries’ that spell out the message for a particular flower or posy. Many of them are contradictory, so you would had to have hoped that your lover was using the same version as you, otherwise there would be much room for miscommunication!

Some of my favourites come from Hans Biedermann’s Dictionary of Symbolism; he in turn has referenced G. W. Gessmann’s Blumensprache as the origin of most of these meanings – many of which are peculiar and poetic. Read on at your peril – you may question your choice of peonies for your significant other, or whether it is appropriate to buy your mother carnations!

Here’s some examples of the ‘Language of Flowers’

White Aster: ‘Your true friendship lessens the torment of my misfortune’

Dahlia: ‘My heart is eternally with you; my heart is a thing of the homeland, not of the body.’

White Hyacinth: ‘My heart draws me to you, pale dreamer.’

Blue Iris: ‘Your feigned emotions scatter, and no trace of them remain.’

Nasturtium: ‘How I shall suffer, when the prospect of seeing you no longer fills my spirit with joyful hope!’

Peony: ‘Your pride is unbearable.’

Snapdragon: ‘Your wanton mischief will be avenged upon you bitterly.’

Cherry Blossom: ‘My blush at your arrival may reveal to you the quiet fondness that I have for you.’

Agave: ‘I remain favorably disposed to you, despite your knavery.’

Lavender: ‘Your speech is puzzling.’

Carnation: ‘My bosom thrills in the rapture of longing!’

Thistles: ‘The poetry of life sweeps over you, leaving no trace.’

Tulip: ‘You silent thing of splendor! Where is your inner value?’

Rosebud with thorns: ‘Love, hopeful, with the doubts of uncertainty.’

Field Clover: ‘Let me know when I can see you again…’

 

Vanessa Diffenbaugh took this concept of flower symbolism and turned it into a novel – The Language of Flowers (her debut novel), uses the Victorian code as a jumping-off point for her story ‘…creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.‘ (from goodreads.com). Just goes to show – a rose isn’t always a rose!

What to know more? Here are some links:

• Santa Monica Flowers.com has a good list of meanings
• Here’s Hans Biedermann’s Dictionary of Symbolism on Amazon
• And Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s novel The Language of Flowers
• Another list here on Victorian Bazaar.com

So go pick a posy for your lover or friend, but beware of what you’re really saying!

 

How to- DIY Emily Green inspired coasters (great easy and inexpensive gift idea)

I adore Emily Green’s work– bright, bold and beautifully crafted. I got a bit crafty this weekend and decided to use Emily as my inspiration for some DIY coasters. Here’s my take on easy and unique coasters that would make great gifts (they’re also cheap!).

Prints from Emily Green that were my inspiration- you can buy them from her website here

What you will need:

• Wooden coasters (I bought mine from Bunnings, about 70c each)
• Washi or masking tape
• Small round stickers
• Paint- I used both gouache and acrylic, both worked well
• Water
• Paintbrush (not too small)
• Permanent marker (optional)
• Craft or wood varnish

1. Create a pattern using the Washi/masking tape and the round stickers on your coasters. I went with stripes and polka dots.

2. Using your paint, and a fair amount of water, dot, splodge and splatter your coasters in your desired colours. I used a fluoro-pink acrylic and a indigo gouache that created a great contrast (and some lovely purple).

3. Once they dry, peel off the stickers and tape. The paint on mine bled under the tape and stickers in parts- I quite liked that effect, but if you want to keep your pattern crisp, use less water.

4. Tape off an edge of each coaster. Paint with a white acrylic (or black would also look great). To get a really solid colour, I had to give it about three coats.

5. Once they are dry, remove the tape and touch up the edges. I used a black permanent marker around the edge as a feature- you could use paint or just leave them if your paintwork is neat (mine never is!). If you are giving these as gift, you could add a message to the bottom. Varnish them and you’re done!

Happy making!

For other DIY projects, check out this handy shoulder bag, or this granny-square baby blanket.

Weekend creative project- some styling pics

We have a beautiful old fireplace in our dining room/kids room (it’s a kids room at the moment but it WILL become a dining room once we regain control of our home from the tiny dictators holding us hostage).

What I love the most about it is the yellow tiling- I haven’t seen anything quite like it before. A couple of months ago a friend gave me a yellow pineapple that I knew just had to sit a top our mantle. Hence my weekend styling project. Here are some pics to get you inspired for your own weekend pottering.

Before

After

This is the pendant hanging in the room- I had to include it because I think it’s stunning- Marcel Wanders Skygarden Luminaire (replica)

Looking for more styling ideas? Have a look at creating meaningful collections or this post on teacups.

Weekend creative project- Washi tape frames

New year, new wall. Pinterest is alive with Washi tape ideas, so I thought I’d try this one- creating Washi tape frames for the bits and pieces on my wall. My Washi technique could use some work, but it’s a nice way to link a collection together.

I love the little bird and bear cards in the green frames, both from Sukie. The other bird card is from Ikea.

Love my weekly planner? Get yours here as a free printable download.

You can see I’ve gone for a feathery theme- there’s something about bird images; charming and pretty in their tiny static way. I have had a long love affair with these bird cards which is half nostalia- see some more here.

Happy framing!

For those looking for more Washi magic these are for you- DIY teacup succulents (with Washi tape) and Washi tape baubles