Keka Cases... from me to you!

I am pleased to announce the launch of 10 designs licensed with KEKA of San Francisco, USA. It is a project I have been working on for months and now it is all official and up and running it is quite exciting for me to finally see my designs on-line. This collaboration is my very first licensing experience it has been quite a steep learning curve. 
To celebrate this new collaboration with KEKA I want to share this 'special launch' offer below of free shipping which you can use to order one of my cases for your phone or ipad.  

Enjoy free shipping on snap-ons and a 25% discount coupon code: SNAP25. This expires 10/31! that is tomorrow!  From 11/1 the promotion is Buy any 2 products and get 1 Keka Classic Snap-on Phone Case free - a $34.95 value!  
Use FREESNAP at checkout.

Happy to share this news with you all after months of keeping 'Mum's' about it :)

My profile piccie for KEKA

Please take a closer look at my designs for KEKA HERE

Spoonflower Tea Towel 2014 Calendar design

I had a busy weekend but managed to set some time aside to do some designing. 
As with tradition I cannot miss out on the Spoonflower Tea Towel Calendar contest. This year I moved on from Owls (my 2013 and 2012 both had Owl designs as themes) and I was inspired by a 1950's cook book which I treasure. So I hope this Tea Towel might inspire you on a day when you can't think what to put on the menu. There are some lovely illustrations of Fish, Meats, Pasta and Cakes to give you ideas. Buon appetito!

See below the complete tea towel design and some details of the Illustrations. Of course, if you are able, vote for my design directly on the Spoonflower site here.

70's inspired 'pedal bins' for Brabantia

My 70's inspired designs came in handy for the latest Brabantia competition. I designed 6 coverings for pedal bins in their 'Pimp our Print' competition. The brief was to design a successor to their iconic Patrice print, which is still their most popular retro pattern and has been selling for 40 years! 
I managed to upload my favourite design in the wrong resolution so it came out badly, the competition is now closed so I can't do anything about it. More importantly I can't ask you all to take part in the 'peoples vote' which is also now closed! However you can still see the other five 'pedal bins' in the design gallery. Or you can admire 4 of my designs here on my blog and wish me good luck in front of the judges choice!
Let me know what you think?

70's inspired designs

Today (for what seems like the first time in ages) I have managed to set by a little time to myself to design patterns. Experimenting with 1970's icons and colour palettes I am pleased with the results of such a productive afternoon. I don't want to bore with too many words but will just give you some goodies for your eyes! :)

A sad and melancholy post

Yesterday I received an e-mail saying that my most fave blog ever True Up (even more than Print and Pattern!) will be closing down for a while. Kim Kight, the founder and curator of this fab blog says that it's time for her to move on, you can read the whole post here. The blog will probably be taken on by someone else so it won't disappear, it is such a valuable tool and years of hard work and devotion have gone in to making it the success it is today. This blog was the very first blog I took an interest in and is the thing that made me start off on the surface pattern road. I have always read all Kim's posts eagerly and enjoyed and learnt so much from them.

So this news has made me a bit sad and melancholy for more than one reason. Secretly I have been thinking about closing my Nice and Fancy blog at the end of the year because I can't keep up with things at the moment and I hate to see my blog with old posts which have been hanging around for 15 or 20 days... for me that is just not a blog. It's quite pathetic for me to compare my little blog to one like True Up but it made me realise that maybe someone out there might be sad if I closed down Nice and Fancy. Well I know my Mum would be and perhaps my friend Flowerlady so thats at least two of you :)

I have so much going on at the moment and it is frustrating not to be able to post exactly what I like here. I have to be careful and keep certain things to myself which is not really my personality. So I feel that I must find more inspiration to carry on and find new things to post. When I finally have the go ahead with some of my projects I will share the good news with you all. 

Ok, so the news is not that bad, there are worse things you say, but probably the mood I was in has made me think and weigh things up a bit. October has started off on the wrong foot, with illness in the family and a bit of bad news lurking about. Luckily I have just spent some time with my parents and they have put me back on the right track again. It was also my Birthday last week and being such the spoilt little girl that I am I received not one but FOUR surface pattern related books! So that put a great smile on my face and gives me the new inspiration I mentioned above. 
See you soon x

October - 2013 Designer Calendar Project

It is quite easy for a month to creep up on you, all of a sudden you realise that yes it really is October, and, what the hell have you been doing for the last 10 days!

So this time I really forgot to post about the Designer Calendar project put together by the lovely Maria Jose Bautista V.
I have'nt been blogging much (as you may have noticed) so it was sooooo easy for me to forget about this great project curated and put together by MaJo.  

The idea - 12 surface pattern designers each to create a month using their unique style, the only guidelines being the format and the colour palette! The result is a very different calendar full of fun designs and patterns. You can check out all the details about the each designer and the month they have designed over on MaJo's blog. 

This month features a super design by Julianne Hall who lives in Australia and works under the name of Jookiku. Her design incorporates cute monsters and it shows off her original and fun loving style to the full. Don't forget to check out MaJo's blog where you can read all about Julienne and download your copy of October NOW!!!! before it's to late...