Sunday 30 December 2012

I just thought I'd like to share a little bit of my Christmas with you. I made this garland with holly, ivy, bay and rosemary to go up my banisters. I'm very pleased to say its still there!


Mum bought me some gorgeous tags, too lovely to send. They went perfectly with the blue and purple baubles I had to hang on my garland! We got them from the shop at the warners textile archive. 


See you again in 2013!! Happy New Year!!!



Friday 23 November 2012

I went to visit the Warners Textile Archive last saturday. What a fascinating experience. We began with a talk given by Charlotte into the history of Warners and how the company evolved. Then we were given a small glimpse into the textile archive. Jan, a volunteer, talked about some of the amazing fabrics that were woven at Warners, velvets, damasks etc, some a hundred years old, some slightly newer ones and we were shown a few samples. There was one very opulent velvet with a silver background and a raised 3 dimensional design. The skill and time involved in creating these fabrics is phenomenal. The design archive is incredible. There are designs dating back hundreds of years, some designed by Warners own in-house designers, some are collaborations with well know designers and others that were acquired by Warners when they took over other companies, check out this link warnertextilearchive.co.uk/products/wallpaper to view a few examples.


Jan had actually worked at Warners and gave us an amazing insight into what it was like and how well thought of Warners was for its dedication to good quality designs and techniques. Fabric for Queen Elizabeth II coronation was woven here. My mum remembers going around Warners on a school trip to see the fabric being woven. Amazing.

To see the archive and have a talk you need to book onto a tour organised by Invitation to View, or you can visit the Archive's Gallery every Wednesday 10am - 4pm see their website for more information www.warnertextilearchive.co.uk/

Now as its coming up to the wonderful festive season I'll be taking a break from my blog. I may however have time to post a few pictures on facebook.com/chez.beccy if I do have time to create anything interesting!

Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year.

Sunday 11 November 2012

This week I've found some nice card to print my herb labels on. So I'm pleased with that. I have now got some slightly larger jars which I think will be great for storing garlic, sea salt and peppercorns. So I've now designed these labels. 


I've also found some lovely glass bottles for oil and vinegar as well.


I think these would look great with some herbs and spices infused in them as well, such as Olive oil and Rosemary.  So I'll be selling the bottles and jars with labels but and then you can add your own oils and vinegars.


Now I want to designs some cards. I have loads of ideas, just need time to design them! Next weekend I'm going to Warners in Braintree to look at their textile archive. I can't wait, I think there are going to be some amazing fabrics there. I hope I can take pictures. I'll keep you posted!

Saturday 27 October 2012

I now have all of my 4 designs made up into tea towels.
Now I want to do the same with napkins.



I've also been working on my logo, as you can see!


I went to visit a craft fair a couple of weeks ago. It was great there were all sorts of stalls 
there. My goal now is to make enough things so I can do a craft fair. I think it will take me awhile, but its very exciting!

I found these lovely herb jars and have been designing my own labels to put on them. Just what I need for my kitchen.








I also want to see if I can fins some slightly bigger jars that I can store things like garlic and pepper corns. And maybe some nice glass bottles for olive oil and vinegar. 

Friday 12 October 2012

I always get so excited when I see my new designs printed on fabric. My ditsy floral prints arrived this week. Very pleased with the colours.



 So far I've made up one of each design into tea towel. Just 6 more to make. Now I've ordered some orgainc cotton to make up some napkins.



Once I've made up the tea towels, I then take photos for my shop on Folksy. 


Now I just need to print out the packaging labels!



Sunday 30 September 2012

Well, I've now made up some napkins from the striped pattern I created. I'm really pleased that these are printed in 100% Organic Cotton Sateen. I would like to print my tea towels on Organic Linen/Cotton but it just isn't available, which is a shame. So anyway I'm very pleased to finally have some napkins in my shop. What I want to do is napkins and tablecloths in all of my blue and white designs so they will all go together in any combination. This is my goal anyway.
I've just finished making up the Daisy print napkins. Another item to add into my shop

While I was designing the labels for the napkins I had another play around with the design. I've made it much simpler and I think it looks so much better now. I hope you agree!
So now I just want to make the Tea Towel labels look the same.

This past week I've also created a Chez Beccy facebook page. I was inspired to do it by my friend Annette who makes beautiful handcrafted cards and gifts, Annette Mackie Handmade.

Saturday 15 September 2012

Well its been awhile. I've just been so inspired by the Olympics. Work hard so you too can achieve your goals!!

 So fully refreshed from my lovely holiday I'm raring to go. I've finally got my colours sorted I think. On my ditsy floral design I decided to have pink stamens. I wanted the stamens to stand out more and while I was looking through Vogue at all the gorgeous opulent colours for Autumn/Winter I found like fabulous raspberry pink.



Unfortunately the painted blue background has not some out. I guess the colour variation is too slight to be recognised in the printing process. I'll just have to do the blue backgrounds as flat colour. Shame but there we go.

Anyway lets talk polka dots!! I've seen so many around at the moment. They are everywhere,  Cath Kidston has a whole new range of spotty bags, I saw someone wearing spotty jeans the other day, I just love it. So here are mine.



I think they will sit very well with the ditsy floral designs. So now I'm ordering some fabric so I can make up some more tea towels. I wish I could get the linen cotton canvas as organic. 


Sunday 5 August 2012

Go Team GB Go!!!!




Have really got into the Olympics, its so exciting to watch all these amazing British athletes in so many sports. 3rd in the medals table! Its awe inspiring, all the hard work and commitment put in, amazing.


...so have been very side tracked and unlike the athletes have not done a huge amount of work!!! I did go for a walk the other day to get some fresh air. I love the wild flowers, I saw some amazing teaseles, as well as grasses and cow parsley that had gone to seed.




I like these photographs where the subject is against the sky as it creates a good contrast making the shape of the plant really stand out. This is the way I like to paint my patterns, using clear bold images.



So next step is to do some drawing after seeing these lovely hedgerows.









Sunday 22 July 2012

I was very excited this week to get the sample of my ditsy blue and white floral design. I think I might just make the stamens a bit darker so they stand out more.

I've also finished the reversed out design as well. I had to paint the background separately so I could get that to repeat, then I put the florals into repeat. I guess I could have tried to paint it all, once I had figured out the pattern, but I get to impatient and know that the quickest way for me to finish my pattern is on the computer!! I'm pretty pleased with the end result.



I now want to re-do my white daisy pattern on blue as I originally did all this on the computer. It became very flat and I lost all the painted textured look, which is what I really like. So I'm going to do it properly and paint it on a blue background. I know it will look so much better.

So my True Blue collection is slowly taking shape, just a few colour tweaks to be done now. 


Now I need to get inspired for my next design. Florals too I think but larger, possibly. I'll see where my inspiration take me. Although I have seen some lovely bird patterns recently!


Sunday 8 July 2012

I had a fabulous time this weekend looking round antique shops. I found a couple that were real treasure troves. I felt any moment I could find something amazing! I always wonder about who owned this before and the silent tales each item holds. Anyway I found a gorgeous jug that I just had to have. I've put some of my lovely pink roses in in. Fab!! 


Felt very inspired after my rummaging through the antique shops so I started to paint my next design using the same little flowers but in reverse. I tried a couple of different colours for the centre of the flowers and decided yellow worked best.

Tuesday 26 June 2012



Have been for some fabulous walks recently, up and down lots of hills!!! Good for the mind and the soul. Found all the wild flowers really inspiring. Nature is so beautiful.

Saturday 23 June 2012

At last I've finished my new design. Have just sent off for a sample so fingers crossed it will look good!

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Very excited, my new swatch arrived today. Colour is pretty good, just needs to be a bit darker. So next lots of tea towels here we come!

Sunday 20 May 2012

Starting to work on ideas for a new pattern for my True Blue collection. I think I might try some more flower designs. We'll see how it goes!

Sunday 13 May 2012

Wanted to create some impact with my next design so I decided to reverse out the daisy pattern. Have set off for a sample just waiting for it to come back!

Saturday 12 May 2012



Well, very excited. Just opened my shop on Folksy!! I am creating a blue and white collection called True Blue and so far have two working designs.