LeCarpentier

Merry Christmas everyone!

2014-12-13T10:00:00.000+00:00

My goodness I can't believe its this time of year again!!!

Although I am off on my hols I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas! Thank you for reading my blog and although I have set up my new brand I will still be keeping this blog, but I have some new plans of where this blog is heading. So please stay tuned.

Enjoy your Christmas holidays and Happy New Year!
x

Travels

2014-12-04T10:00:00.000+00:00

Hey guys!
Not to brag or anything but I'm so excited to go on my jolly hols this year, that's because the boyfriend and myself are going on a massive adventure to New Zealand and Australia! I know I can hardly believe it myself, but its true and what's more is we're going for a whole month!!

We booked this back in January this year and I cannot believe how fast these last few months have flown by. It's crazy. We decided that we wanted to visit the South Island of New Zealand for 2 weeks and we are going to be exploring it in a camper van. Yes, we are backpacking it...sort of. It's been so stressful trying to plan this as there is so much we want to do and see and I know that we just aren't going to get to do everything we want to but we sure are going to try and cram it all it. All I can think about is that I'm going to be exhausted by the time I actually get to Sydney!
Yep that's right, we are off to Sydney for the remaining 2 weeks. This part of our holiday is going to be pretty special as we are spending Christmas, New year and my Birthday here. My boyfriends sister is currently living out in Sydney and has been for the last year, so the family are all going out and we are all meeting up for Christmas eve. This is going to be so lovely as I will also get to meet extended family of the Boyfriends.

Anyways I shall sign off there for a while as like I said earlier, I don't want to brag! (haha!) Enjoy your Christmas shopping and make sure you check out all the essentials like wrapping paper, Gift Bags and Crackers in the high street shops. Some of those designs could be mine! ;)

Have fun!

Exciting News

2014-11-23T17:00:00.000+00:00

Well this is exciting! I have set up my own Brand. It's still very much in its early days, but everyone has to start somewhere. My new venture is called 'The Blue Martin Studio'. It is a design portfolio for textiles and stationery and hopefully I will be adding new collections each season.

I needed to do this for myself, I wanted to build a portfolio of my own and have a web presence, although I am still in my full time job as a creative designer for a design company, I wanted to branch out and start something up for myself. It's going very slow at the moment as it is early days. I am trying to put as much spare time as I have into it which means evenings and weekends!!! (no social life for me anymore!...but it will be worth it!)

If you would like to support and see what my new, exciting and very scary next step is all about, then please check out my website here.

I'd be really interested to know your thoughts so please feel free to leave comments either below or on my website. Thanks guys!!

Christmas is coming - BHS

2014-11-19T10:00:00.000+00:00

One thing that I love about BHS this year is the styling of their photographs on their website for the festive season. They're lovely. Below are a few things that I spotted in BHS.

Of course the essentials first...

1.6 Platinum Luxury Christmas Crackers* 2.12 Kids Family Christmas Crackers 3.Floral Christmas Wrapping paper 4.Scottie Dog Cut Out Christmas Cards 5.Festive Tag Christmas Cards 6.Large Standing Penguin 7.Small Natural Penguin 8.Lit Ceramic Toy Shop

9.Winter Warmer Gift set 10.Mickey Mouse Ears Money Box 11.Lion Pixel Bricks 12.Floral Design A5 Notebook 13.Make Your Own Gloves

14.Novelty Reindeer Beanie 15.SuperMan Mug 16.Wind up Grannies

Items marked with a '*' were designed by myself for Swantex and are copyrighted to Swan Mill Paper co. and BHS.

Please note that this post is not endorsed or sponsored by BHS, It is purely my own suggestions and thoughts.

Christmas Is Coming - HobbyCraft

2014-11-16T14:39:00.000+00:00

I popped into Hobbycraft this week too and found some lovely little things to make for christmas! Have a look on their website or pop in store if you are looking for something a little different or a nice little crafty project for someone as they have a lot to offer.

1.Chalkboard Tags 2.Fun Kraft Gift Wrap* 3.Wooden Christmas Stamps 4.Kids Gift Wrap* 5.Happy Christmas Tissue Paper* 6.Large Felt Penguin Bag 7.Giant Santa Sack 8.Nordic Deer Fabric Reel 9.Traditional Kraft Gift Wrap*

10.Kirstie Allsopp Fabric Notebook Kit 11.Santa/Reindeer Cracker Kits* 12.Dempsey Designs Japanese Dolls 13.Wheres Wally Jigsaw 14.Get Crafty MYO fabric bunting 15.Kirstie Allsopp Needle Felting Kit

Items marked with a '*' were designed by myself for Swantex and are copyrighted to Swan Mill Paper co. and HobbyCraft.

Please note that this post is not endorsed or sponsored by HobbyCraft, It is purely my own suggestions and thoughts.

Christmas Is Coming - Matalan

2014-11-13T10:00:00.000+00:00

Christmas time is approaching fast, so I wanted to post a few things that I've been finding in the stores. We've had a great new Matalan store built for us here in Cardiff and it's lovely! So this is where I'm going to start...

1. Tartan and Stag Christmas Cards 2. No Peeking Rosettes Tags 3. Characters Gift Bag 4. Heart and Star cards 5. Chalkboard Gift Bag 6. Teddy Bear Gift Bag 7. Chalkboard Style Gift Wrap 8. Luxury Gift Tags* 9. North Pole Gift Bag*

10. Kids Novelty Christmas Crackers 11. Craft Tins 12. Alphabet Letter Mug 13. Santa Hand Painted Cookie Jar 14. Lilybell Bakery Jam Jar Kit 15. Wooden Stamps Tin 16. Lilybell Bakery Kitchen Timer 17. Kids Novelty LED Church Candle 18. Christmas Pudding Hand Painted Tea Pot

Items marked with a '*' were designed by myself for Swantex and are copyrighted to Swan Mill Paper co. and Matalan.

Please note that this post is not endorsed or sponsored by Matalan, It is purely my own suggestions and thoughts.

Sandy's 60th

2014-06-29T15:20:00.001+01:00

Last weekend it was my Boyfriends Dad's 60th Birthday. They wanted to get him something special and decided that a European Football Match game and night away was just the thing. He loves his football, and doesn't get much of a chance to go to an actual game. So I was asked to design a 'Golden Ticket' for this match, giving him the option of the top teams he's always wanted to see. I thought it was a very nice idea letting him choose which one he most wanted to see, with no expense spared. It's not everyday you get a present like that is it? Then again, It's not everyday you turn 60!!

Happy 60th Birthday Sandy!!

much love xxx

Happy Easter

2014-04-20T16:45:00.001+01:00

Leading up to Easter I was having a look for some nice Easter Cards, I've compiled a few of my favourite discoveries below..

I love the floral Bunny Ears, and the Tree card is brilliant. This would look nice as a centre piece for the dinner table.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Baby Shower Games - Free Downloads

2014-04-19T17:46:00.002+01:00

I have included one of the Baby Shower Games I designed. These are free to Download if you wish to use them, just right click on the image and 'save image as' to your desktop. Please do not claim them to be your own and please do not edit them. Enjoy!

And if your wanting Pink for a girl, please see below.

Baby Showers

2014-04-12T13:46:00.002+01:00

At the start of March a valued friend of mine gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Riley. About 3 weeks before the birth, Myself and another good friend met up with mum to be, Stacey and decided that we would host a baby shower 2 weeks later. This seemed like a very short time frame to organise a baby shower, and stressed me out a little but we managed it and in all honesty I actually quite enjoyed sorting it out.

I decided that I would surprise Stacey and design a few games for the party so that it was unique to her. So I came up with some ideas such as Guess the Celebrity Baby, Pin the dummy on the baby and a Nursery rhyme guessing game and they seemed to go down really well.
We ended up buying a lot of the decorations as we just didn't have time to create those as well but in the future I would like to do this providing I have the time to do so.

This is what the room looked like...

The spread, We were only catering for a small party, so this was just enough.

We also scattered Handmade Tissue Pom Poms and Balloons around the flat.

I really enjoyed organising a party, I think I should do this more often. Good Luck to Stacey, Andrew and baby Riley! xox

Im Back!

2014-04-12T12:28:00.000+01:00

I must admit, that I have been pretty poor with my blog over the past few months. I have had a lot going on and now I feel that I'm back on track with things and can pick up where I left off.

Everybody has these times where life just takes over and there really isn't anything you can do about it apart from just get on with it. I'm pleased to say that my nan has made a good recovery from her accident in late October last year, and since then she has had another birthday and mother's day thrown in too. So she knows just how special she is to us. xx

Sometimes Life is unfair...But you just got to get on with it!

2013-12-30T18:08:00.001+00:00

I feel embarrassed that I have left my blog without posts for so long! Since October a lot has happened and I've found it a struggle to get any time to do anything for myself and to be honest my blog didn't even come into my mind until a couple of days ago! I forgot about it!!!

I have had a rocky few months which I could not do anything to help, I had some personal things to deal with on top of my nan being taken into hospital, then my post got stolen which were valuable items, then on top of sorting that out I was supposed to visit family in Scotland, so off I trot and then when I come back my uncle is admitted to hospital. So 2 members of my very small family of 5 weren't with us, and we weren't even sure if they would be home for Christmas. I was sat by nans bedside every evening until they kicked me out. You see my nan is probably the closest person to me! She's not just my nan, shes a best friend of mine. She has lived with me since 1994, until I moved out in 2012. She had a nasty fall, which scared us all a LOT!! and being 93 years old I wasn't sure how well she'd cope with it. It turns out that she is doing well now and will hopefully be home soon but this year my priorities have changed and family is my main one, which is why I'm not on my blog that much right now. I hope you can bare with me for a while until I can get myself back on track. I'm not entirely sure why I have written this but sometimes I think others views can put your own into perspective. It's not that bad after all!

I do hope that you are having a lovely Christmas, hopefully spent with the ones you love most in life! Have a very happy new year, and speak to you soon! :)

xx

Something I did a little earlier on in the year! Copyrighted to Leanne Carpentier. Please not copy!

Roller Blind Commission

2013-10-25T20:23:00.000+01:00

About a Month or two ago, I finally finished the design for the roller blind fabric. It took a little longer than I expected but that's because I used an American company to print it and had to wait for printing/delivery times. The fabric is now with the client and they are very happy with the result.

Before I printed the final piece, I needed to make a few amendments since the last blog post about it, as the sample that I got back in the post wasn't how I wanted it to look. The scale needed changing as it was way too small to been seen when sat down. So this was scaled up by 50%. I also needed to change a few colours as the blue and yellow didn't show very well. I'm definitely glad I ordered a sample piece. I always get samples before I print, I don't think it's worth the risk if it does happen to go wrong, and as I hadn't used this printing company before it was a must!! So here are some photos...

This was the first sample that came back to me, As you can see the colours are a little too light and the scale is pretty small.

And these photos were of the final print. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. The colours are more vibrant and the scale is much better! You can't really tell the scale from the photographs but trust me on this, it's a massive difference.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my little journey with this project and hopefully it has inspired you to create something from scratch too. If you want any advice or information about this project, then please get in touch and I will get back to you.

Hopefully I will get some photos of the blind up in the window soon, and when I do I'll post them up on this blog.

Autumn Accessory Finds

2013-10-20T14:46:00.002+01:00

When I was doing some research for my last blog post I came across some great Accessories for the Home, All from Marks & Spencer. Most of these were prints or wall art, here are a few that I thought I would share...

'4 Owls', £15

'Bird postcard', £9.50

'Home Sweet Home', £17.50

'Linen Stag Canvas', £9.50

'Owl Print and Frame', £35

'Peacock Wall Art', £17.50

'Fox Frame', £25

'Stag Framed', £35

What do you think about these? Have you found any other interesting Autumnal Prints lately, please feel free to share below if you want!

Or if you would like to purchase any here's the link.

Autumn Wallpaper Finds

2013-10-07T09:00:00.000+01:00

When I was over my mums on the weekend I picked up her Ideal Home magazine and found some really interesting wallpaper designs. I thought I would share this with you...

Lets start with Next

Bricks wallpaper £15pr. Wooden Plank £15pr.

Limestone Tiles £15pr. Grey Slate £15pr.

Black & Silver Trees £18pr. Ava Gold £25pr.

French Script £15pr. Postcards £18pr.

Victorian Bottles £18pr. Ornate Frames £15pr.

Chocolate London £18pr.

B&Q

Colours, Travel £14.98pr

Holden Calligraphy £12.98pr

Muriva, Brick £19.98pr

Statement, Bookcase £19.98pr

Muriva, Big Apple £12.98pr

Muriva, Britannia £12.98pr

Muriva, Camper Van £12.98pr

The natural looking wallpapers (from Next) are my favourite right now. I'm loving this style especially for the Autumn leading up to a rustic Christmas. What do you think?

If you would like to purchase any items from Next then click here, and for B&Q items click here.

Thank You Cards

2013-09-15T15:43:00.001+01:00

My boyfriend has an event called 'Appreciation week' in his workplace and this event basically puts on team building exercises and likes to Thank people for their efforts in work. They take part in fun activities and get to eat cake all day!!
I really like this idea, I think it's pretty cool to be rewarded and acknowledged for your hard work, It's a very good moral boost! So he came to me with some ideas of what to do and I offered to design and make some Thank you cards for his staff, he agreed this would be a nice idea and something a little more personal. So this is what I came up with...

In the end my boyfriend chose option 2. He wanted something suitable for all ages and this seemed a little more fun looking.

This is what the final outcome looked like...

Please note that all design work is copyrighted to Leanne Carpentier. Please do not copy!

MINI - Not Normal

2013-09-07T09:00:00.000+01:00

Ok so most of my close friends know that I am completely obsessed with MINI. I love MINI's. They are just the best!!! I think my obsession started when I was in high school (about 14years old) and I used to plaster my bedroom wall with brochures and images of my dream mini. Back then it was a Yellow Mini Cooper Sport with fog lamps and a checkered roof - I always thought it would be so cool to have a game of backgammon on the roof if ever you got stuck in a traffic jam - anyways, I grew up a little and then fancied a Burnt Orange Mini Cooper Sport. Little did I realise that One day I will get my Mini. That day was a Year ago today. And I have a gorgeous little blue Mini Cooper Convertible. I am in love!! Well and truly! So enough about my fascination, I wanted to feature some of the new mini campaign images on here as this campaign really is cool!

My little beauty!

Here are a few of my favourite images, enjoy!

Haha! Looks a bit like the one I wanted when I was 14!

I should definitely try this sometime!

Love this! Genius.

I will one day own a house like this! and I've always said if I win the lottery I am going to have my own little MINI museum!

Stunning!

Please note that I do not own these images and all images belong to MINI.

Ooh la la! Sweet Paris!

2013-08-17T18:25:00.001+01:00

I really should have posted this earlier but I haven't really had time to catch up with everything since I got back, so now I'm finally sorting it out.
I loved my trip to Paris! I took my boyfriend for his birthday present and we celebrated his Birthday over there, which was really nice. We had a jam packed itinerary and made most of everyday (Although I was pretty exhausted after day 1!).

We decided to start the holiday by going to Disneyland, neither of us had been before so we were really excited to see what it was like. I honestly felt like the biggest kid! I loved every second although a word of advice for anyone deciding to go there - wear comfortable shoes!!! I had blisters on my feet just from walking around all day. Also take a bottle of water with you, it was boiling the day we went and I'm just glad that they had taps around the park to fill my bottle up, to stop me from passing out!

Obviously myself and my boyfriend were attracted to the big rides first, so this is what we did. We found out when we were there that you can 'fastpass' rides, which I found to be worth it. Basically this means you can scan your park ticket at the ride and get a token/ticket to use at a specific time. This then allows you to go and wander the park, get food etc. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but make sure you don't double book times as you will still have to queue but it wont be as long (it's basically like a queue jump).

These are a few photos of Disneyland Paris.

Our second day in Paris, we decided to go to the Sacre Coeur, which was lovely but beware of the men trying to sell you things at the entrance gates. We also went to the Moulin Rouge, Notre Dame, and to Jardin du Luxembourg. My favourite part about that day was most definitely going to Jardin du Luxembourg and eating some tarts from an amazing Patisserie called Dalloyau. Oh my Gosh! They were Divine, the best strawberry Tart I have ever tasted (and I've had a few! - Slightly obsessed with Strawberry Tarts) and the Boyfriend tried a cherry one. It was such a lovely afternoon, the sun was shining bright, it was lovely and warm and you could see the Eiffel Tower in the Distance from where we were sat, It was a really nice chill spot.

Day 3, was the Boyfriends Birthday. So we went to the Eiffel Tower in the morning and spent the day walking around the Saint Germain area. We did quite a bit that day, we wandered around the Military museum, went to Place de la Concorde, walked the Champs Elysee (which is where we were staying) and then did the Arc de Triomphe in the night after food. I really enjoyed this day as I felt a little less like a tourist and actually absorbed the culture in more. When we were looking for a nice restaurant to eat in, it was so strangely quiet, quite eerie in fact, not that many people were around in the back streets, this was because it was that time of year when the Parisians take a month off for their holidays. It was quite difficult to find a french restaurant open, but we managed to find one eventually, and to be honest it was a lovely meal.

Our last full day in Paris was a bit of a let down as we had planned to do all the museums this day, but when we got there the queues were out of this world. I mean seriously a 3/4 hour wait for the Lourve! I thought that there was more I wanted to see and worth spending my time on. So unfortunately we didn't end up going into the Lourve, but that's something we can do next time, Same goes for the Musee D'Orsay and Les Catacombes. So instead we went for a drink and thought up our next plan, which was to walk around and enjoy the City! We went back to the Eiffel Tower and found the Liberty Statue, We also saw the Joan of Ark statue, and went to see what their financial district was like - Massive!

The Boyfriend now has it in his mind that he would like to move here and live a happy life, I'm not so sure at the moment but it maybe a possibility in the future! We'll just have to wait and see.

Please note that all photos in this post are copyrighted to Leanne Carpentier. Please do not copy.

Holiday Time - Paris Here I come!

2013-07-31T09:30:00.000+01:00

It's that time of Year again, Holidays!! Yay!!!!
I am very excited to be going to Paris on my hols this year. I have been aching to go back to France for quite some time now, although my French is becoming non existent. This trip should be interesting! I wanted to do something special for my boyfriend as it is a big birthday this year and he really does deserve an extra special treat. So we've planned to do all the touristy things like the Eiffel tower, Champs-Elysées, the Louvre etc. but we also decided that Disneyland was a must!! We've both never been to Disneyland before so this is going to be a first for us both. I'm so excited! I honestly feel like a child again.

So on that note, I'm off!! See you soon. :D

P.s I have been looking at some Paris/France Inspired designs, Here's a few of my favourites, hope you like them...

Copyrighted to Eloisa Docton. 'Paris Pandas' How cute is this design!!

Copyrighted to and Designed by Emily Dumas, who works under the name of Flowers in May. This Print is called 'Paris, I Love You'. I really like this print, its really fun!

This Print is Awesome!! How wonderful! I love that its a virtual map. (Need to bare this print in mind whilst on my travels!) Copyrighted and designed by Vianina 'Paris Print'

Designed and Copyrighted to Rifle Paper co. Love this Paris print too.

This dude is pretty cool! This print was designed and copyrighted to Blanca Gómez, It is 1 of 3 prints called 'Cities' and can be found in her Etsy shop.

Photograph copyrighted to AirPano.com

Roller Blind Design Update

2013-07-20T20:56:00.001+01:00

Ok, It's been a while since I last updated my blog with any progress. The design is done, but unfortunately I cannot show you yet until the fabric is safely back in my hands and given to my client. Sorry. I finally got my fabric colour map through the post yesterday, and I have updated the design to the right colours and laid it all out properly. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm pretty excited to see it all finished. It's looking pretty good so far if I do say so myself. (Which is quite hard for me to admit usually, I'm such a Modest person!)

As you can see I'm using Spoonflower for this particular brief, as it worked out the cheapest and better value for what I wanted to do. Also they have a pretty good selection of fabrics to use. We'll soon see what the quality of print is like.

Heres a little sneak peak of colours and design...

Please note all design work is copyrighted to Leanne Carpentier. Please do not copy.

Sneak Preview - Roller Blind Design

2013-06-16T16:25:00.002+01:00

I have been pretty busy lately with working a 9-5 and trying to squeeze in a commission in my spare time. So I apologise for the length of time between posts. I thought I would show you a sneak preview of some drawings I've done for the Fabric/Roller Blind commission...

What do you think so far?

I will post more of my progress soon hopefully, so stay tuned!

Please note, all drawings/designs in this post are copyright of Leanne Carpentier. Please do not copy!

Featured Designer: Sara Berrenson

2013-05-26T22:54:00.000+01:00

When I was doing my research for my 'Modern Floral' Theme Board found here, I came across an artist that I found really inspiring. Sara Berrenson, is a Graphic designer by day, and a textile designer by night. She specialises in surface pattern for Textiles, Paper Products, home decor and Gifts.

I love the technique Sara uses on her textile designs, I got in touch with Sara to ask how the process of making these textiles was done...

"I work primarily in watercolor and gouache, then add both hand and digital illustration. I enjoy the loose quality of watercolor and gouache and the blending and overlaying of colors." - Sara Berrenson

I really like the layering effect although sometimes I think using many materials can be a bit over powering and doesn't turn out as good as you had imagined it to (from past experience), but Sara has hit it spot on, and the results speak for themselves.

Sara, Hard at work on a new design

These Designs initially caught my eye. I just love them! The colours are beautiful and the style is so intricate yet bold.

"My inspiration comes from everywhere, including nature, interior design, and fashion. I love going to the flower mart in LA and the rose bowl flea market to gather inspiration. My favorite subject to paint and draw would have to be flowers. I can't resist a great floral! I like to work with bright colors to capture nature in a vibrant and vivid way." - Sara Berrenson

In many respects I think I like her work so much because of the fact that I love flowers being my main inspiration too. A lot of my personal work is floral. There is so much to be inspired by and its such a natural occurrence that you don't have to go too far to get that inspiration.

Sara doesn't just design florals although it is a beautiful part of her portfolio, her work consists of other themes too which also have her unique styling.

Please Note that all images in this post are copyrighted to Sara Berrenson. Please Do not copy, If you wish to use an image then please contact Sara through her website. If you would like to view more of Sara's work then please visit her website or blog.

Research Boards

2013-05-19T14:19:00.001+01:00

In the last post I said I was working on some mood Boards from my Initial research, well I thought I would share them with you. Here are the spin offs...

My 'Typography' Theme Board

My 'Sketchy Botanics' Theme Board

My 'Modern Floral' Theme Board

My 'City Chic Romance' Theme Board

I'm now trying to find the right style of drawing, colours and design style that my client wants. So Keep checking back to hear how the project continues.

Also let me know what you think, I'd love to here your feedback too.

Please note that these Images are for my own research purpose and I do not own them. Please do not copy with out the owners permission. Thanks!

Initial Research

2013-05-17T08:52:00.000+01:00

Initial research is essential to a good start when designing anything! This is why I am doing some mood boards which I will post up once completed. I have been asked to design some bespoke fabric for use on Roller Blinds. I decided that it would be more beneficial for myself, if the client sent me some initial images of the type of thing they are after, so I made a mood board of the images that were sent through to me.

I was quite surprised when I saw them trickling in as they are very different in almost every way possible! I have a hard task ahead of me, but it hasn't put me off at all. A challenge is always good!

So I thought about how to deal with this in a more direct approach. I have decided to narrow down the thought process of the initial interests and I have made some mood boards inspired by the above images which I will post soon. Stay tuned to see the outcomes.

Please note that the images in this post are not my own, they are for research purpose only. Please do not use any imagery.

Painterly Florals

2013-05-03T13:00:00.000+01:00

Not so long ago I posted a photo of a quick painting I did of some florals from my sketchbook and I just thought I'd show you what I did with it. Here is one of the final designs.

Please do not copy any artworks! Copyrighted by Leanne Carpentier.