Finally getting back into the swing of things again!!!

The last month has been fully of all sorts of unexpected events, but it looks like things are back on track again with all good news.... I am feeling so much better (and thank you to all of you who sent your kind thoughts for getting well) AND Botanical Bebe has a new home.... Yahoo!  My new studio is very spacious, light and airy and a real joy to work in... so stay tuned for a lot of new products hitting the webs sites very soon.

Here is a peek at our new digs (no more studio at home... an end of an era!)

A Little Re-purposing going on.....

From time to time perfectly lovely items will have an OOPS! happen... could be a smudged print or a rolling brush leaving an "interesting" trail or a tipping accident, where the dye tray inexplicably leaps out of a hand... boo on that one!! And so the lovely item is not going to make it to the saleable category... so re-purposing seems to be a very good solution.  These little face cloths are made from 2 separate receiving blanket wannabes... with all the Whoops! removed.  They will be going on sale as a set of 8... 4 from each pattern.

From this....

to this......

Paying it forward a bit: a cute but semi-long story

http://www.cowichanvalleyartscouncil.ca/mail.php

Last Wed. I was doing a library run and noticed something new in our wonderful Island Savings Cultural Center.. PORTALS.  this is a wonderful showcase space for local artists and artisans and right now they are showing work by the people who do the volunteer work at Portals.

My guide that day was just lovely and she mentioned that the showing was from very experienced artists and the just getting started ones, who all volunteer there.  And then she showed me hers- an acrylic and a watercolor.  She is one of the "just getting" started artists and her landscape was beautiful and as she mentioned, she wasn't sure of the watercolor, would like to do more with the medium, but wasn't too sure about it.

Digressing for a moment... I had taken 2 full watercolor courses a number of years ago by a wonderful artist Jim Wispinski  http://www.artstore.islandblue.com/artclasses/

and the initial reason was that dye and watercolours act and react in similar ways... well instead by the time I was finished, I was hooked on watercolours for watercolours sake (hence the 2 full courses!) and I had a great binder of examples to refer back to---- that I have indeed carted and stored for many years.  Finally deciding that the binder needed to go, it was sitting on the re-cycle waiting it's turn to be taken downstairs... I went to the Library and forgot the binder on the way out.

So flash back up to my Portals discovery- and I thought to myself, maybe those examples would be helpful to this lately blooming artist... I offered, she accepted and today I delivered!  And from the look on her face that I remembered and her practically devouring the binder pages and not looking up as she said "oh thank you!"  I walked away a VERY happy camper.... it felt so good to see that same look on someone else's face over the JOY OF WATERCOLOURS and feel that intense desire to LEARN through someone else intensity.  It was a VERY good moment and I just wanted to share it with you all.

NEW FABRIC ARRIVED!!

One of my most favorite fabrics to work with has been unavailable for quite some time... but Finally! I found a source for a different organic sheer fabric that I think is going to be lovely for the Ultra Lightweight Swaddling Blankets... it has been whitened, at the mill with hydrogen peroxide and NOT Bleach, and has this wonderful soft but distinctive texture to it....

I will be starting to print this new fabric on the weekend and will keep you posted on the progress!

Botanical Bebe is supporting this cause....

In Chemainus (where my folks were from) they are having a Silent Auction in support of purchasing a NEW x-ray machine for the Urgent Care Facility there.  This was a cause Mom was particularly interested in and we, the family, had asked that donations be made to them in lieu of flowers.... and I am so pleased to say that many, many people did just that!  I am very pleased to be able to donate a gift certificate to their Silent Auction and it was a lot of fun putting the package together.  I went with a gift certificate rather than product, as it gives the successful bidder the option of choosing what kind of items they would like to have... for a little girl, boy or "we don't know yet!" and to use it themselves or to give it to someone special to use.  I will have product there so people can see and touch!  And this is what is going on display:

Kimono Sleepsac and Infant Hat

Lightweight (doublesided) Baby Blanket

Flannelette Receiving Blanket

I really wish them all the best and that the Auction is a very successful one!

Serious Re-organizing of the Studio!

For most of the weekend I cleared away the piles of "I will get to this later", by finally getting to them!! and in the process I have completely re-organized the studio so much more efficiently.... I can't believe I didn't think to make these changes sooner.  Everything I need has a place and when really working here today, I couldn't believe how wonderful it was to want something and it was THERE! Right where I wanted it to be..

Today I posted 2 new Flannelette Receiving Blankets, with a third all ready to go but just waiting for the Kimono Style Sleepsac!  and here they are.....

and.....

and this one is just waiting in the wings.....

this little pattern is the third one in the newest core patterns for Spring/Summer

Little Girl Babies:  Butterflies

Little Boy Babies: Snails, Dragonflies and Grasses (wait till you see the Kimono!)

"We don't know yet" Gender Neutral : Sparrows

So what is happening in the studio these days?

As you can see from my postings here and on both the Botanicalbebe site and my Etsy store, I am spending more time on my studio work this week, which has been very helpful and soothing to my soul ! Add to that an order coming in from one of my most favourite customers, Jennifer at  http://www.bellavitahome.com/ and it is starting to feel a little bit normal around here... which is just lovely.

The weather is starting to improve on the Island (that would be Vanouver Island on the westcoast of BC, Canada :) so even when I am working indoors, printing, printing, printing, it is just so energizing all this wonderful sunshine!

Another one of my customers, who was so understanding and kind, suggested that I create a design to honour my Mom, and once I quit crying... it was such a beautiful suggestion... I started to give this a lot of thought.  Where this thinking has brought me to is a combination of hummingbirds (for both my customer and Mom, as she really loved them too) and Cherry Blossom Branches... she was always amazed that I could create the branch motifs or Columbines which are so wonderfully diverse and a particular favourite of both hers and hummingbirds! This is a wonderfully calming design exercise and I will always be extremely grateful to my dear customer's kindnesses to a complete stranger and this heartfelt suggestion.

I will let you know when it is more on the drawing board than in my head, and will post the progress as the ideas unfold.

Another New Design..... Beautiful Butterflies

These little bits of fantasy in flight are way too much fun to print ! Watch for other colorways in this motif because I just can't seem to get enough of them.....

See what I mean ? !

Little Birds Ready to Go!!

This is what they look like now! Both are available on my website http://www.botanicalbebe.com/ or at my Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/ecotextures

Little Birds, little birds!

These are 3 new designs I've been working on featuring little birds... and although I have printed them on specific items, these motifs can be printed on kimono nightie/sleep sacs, sleepers or rompers.

The colors are 2 shades of greens for the birds, orange beaks, black eyes and a gray brown for the branches with a bricky color for the buds. The bands for all three will be in the darker green on the little birds.

I will post photos of the finished items, so this is just a sneak preview of what is coming!!

Kimono Nightie/Sleep Sac and Hat with Little Birds in Flight and on the Branches:

Close up of Front:

Close up of Back:

Next up is a little Sleeper or Romper featuring just little birds sitting in the branches:

A closer look at the motif on the fronts, back and hat:

Close up of fronts and bird on hat:

Kimono Nightie featuring only the little birds in flight, sweet and simple!

Close up of the little birds!

January / February Family Medical Difficulties

Just wanted to take this bit of space to let you know why I haven't been blogging since the beginning of the year and why Botanical Bebe is running a bit behind.


My mother has been diagnosed with a rather rare form of stomach cancer, linitis plastica, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linitis_plastica

We have been overwhelmed with Medical tests, appointments for tests results, re-testings, daily health challenges for someone who can no longer eat solids, and a mountain of details that all need sorting.....


But now that we have answers and a leveling off of finding nutrition balances and the details are managed, I will be able to blog on a more regular basis and showcase what is going on in the Studio, as I am able to give time to it.


Thank you for your patience and all the kind and heartfelt words of encouragement and support that have been shared with both me and the rest of the family


All the very, very best to you all
Leslie

Saturday in the Studio

Stroller Pants!!!

These sweet little pants, complete the set!  And are great for just pulling over whatever Baby is wearing for a quick escape to the great outdoors!

Complete Set, 3mo-6mo :

You can see these on my Etsy store... I've listed them as a 2 piece set, a 3 piece set and the Stroller Pants separately. http://www.etsy.com/shop/ecotextures

The orange set is still coming, but only the hat and Sweater jacket for that one.... not enough fabric for Stoller Pants!!! boooo

Thursday....What's happening in the Studio today?

A new design.... Branches and Berries!

This organic heavier flannel is warm, fuzzy (no pilling) and cozy on the inside with a denser weave on the outside that is perfect for printing on!

The Sweater Jacket is perfect for when Bebe needs more than a sweater but less than a jacket.... a mild Winter Westcoast stroll perhaps.... and Spring just about anywhere else... small Westcoast dig that :) but seriously these have so many "just right" times to be used, it really doesn't matter which part of the Continent you come from!

And I must admit that every time I make one of these little hats, I smile:

This little Sweater jacket and Hat Set is now posted on my Etsy store:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/65359161/organic-flannel-baby-sweater-jacket-and

And this other set, will be done soon..... featuring Orange Berries this time!
The little hat is already done....

With the little Sweater jacket not far behind.... it looks like it jumped in front of the sewing machine in these photos...so anxious to be finished!

How I print my designs... just in case you would like to know!

Thought you might like to see what the process is, when I hand print my Botanical Bebe clothing and accessories as well as my Ecotexture home decor items......

It all starts with a Sketch-

And the "one" happens after 10 or 15 preliminary doodles, scribbles, almost sketches and just abouts......

Then the sketch is enlarged and I transfer it to a sheet of Mylar.  Then the fun begins with cutting and cutting and cutting out the stencil, detail by detail.

Colours chosen and mixed-

This is a fun photo of the thickened non-toxic! dyes I use.  But generally I don't tend to let them spill all over my design table.... but even dye pots apparently love a photo op!

Fabric and Stencil Meet-

Here is a flower stencil, ready to be printed.  The centers I did with a small brush, but the rest of the large stencil is printed using a very dense sponge roller.  This means that I have to really think about layout and colour sequences, as these rollers are quite expensive and it is a bit excessive to have one for each colour! So I have 1.

Stencil and Thickened Dye Meet-

Stencil Printed... and the red marks are on the stencil... not the fabric!

Flower Finished!!!

 And that's how it is done :)

Online shopping up and running!

I've finished the Botanical Bebe online store using Big Cartel. So. Excited.

Photo update

My daughter has been busy updating my photo catalogue! I think the results are just fantastic.