Thursday, April 9, 2015

Design a butterfly for World Lupus Day 2015

Well it's that time of year again, time to get out your butterfly designs or maybe create a new one just for the occasion. World Lupus Day is held on May 10th and for the last two years I have organised a Butterfly Showcase here on my blog and Pinterest to commemorate this occasion and build awareness of the disease. My aim is to create a gallery of butterfly designs to mark the day so it will be colourful and joyful even if we are celebrating a life threatening disease like Lupus.
niceandfancy.blogspot.com
© Josef Frank
Why the butterfly? Lupus, or SLE is a chronic condition where the immune system attacks the body and can cause a multitude of complaints. One of the many symptoms of Lupus can be a malar rash on the cheeks which has the form of a butterfly.
You can easily show your support and help increase Lupus awareness by joining in on my Butterflies for Lupus Showcase 2015.

© Jennifer Orkin Lewis
What you need to do
You can participate by sending me a sketch, illustration, painting, pattern, collage or basically anything that you have personally created using butterflies as a theme. There will be two different showcases, one for children up to 16 years old, and one for all the rest. The final artwork should be square if not it may need to be cropped.
Send me a 600 x 600 pixel jpg, 72dpi and rgb, of your final design. 
Name your file, BFL_yourname.jpg (for example, BFL_dawnclarkson.jpg).  Children's drawings, BFL_child'sname_age.jpg (for example, BFL_dawnclarkson_10.jpg). Please do not give a title to your piece.
You will be allowed ONE link to a blog or website.

The order of the showcase will be as I receive the files. 


There will be a series of blog posts featuring the designs received in batches. On May 10th I will launch a board on Pinterest which will include all the designs.
The deadline is Wednesday 6th May
so I can prepare the images and promote the event.

Please send your designs to niceandfancy@libero.it
©Ellen Giggenbach
niceandfancy.blogspot.com
© Richard Faust
I will be making a small donation to Lupus UK for every design published. Although it is not compulsory if you feel you want to make a small donation along with your design please send the funds through my PayPal account, dawnclarkson@libero.it. I will sum all the donations to my own and publish the receipt from Lupus UK here on my blog.
niceandfancy.blogspot.com
© Sunshine Bakes
The butterfly designs you see above are taken from my Butterflies - Farfalle -  Papillon board on Pinterest, you may want to take a look and use the board for inspiration. Also it is possible to see all the designs from last year on two boards here or here.
Please feel free to promote the event on Facebook, Twitter etc... use the hashtag #butterfliesforlupus and a link to this post. Help me make the day a great success, lets have fun, create some beautiful designs, and above all create awareness for Lupus sufferers worldwide.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Sneaky Peek - Birch wood veneer trays

Last week I spent some time photographing these beautiful trays which have my patterns on them. The trays will launch at the Hong Kong Houseware Fair on 20th - 23rd April 2015. 

niceandfancy@blogspot.com
niceandfancy@blogspot.com
Made using single sheets of Birch wood veneer (renewable forest and eco friendly!), they are also dishwasher safe, heat resistant and food contact safe. So as you can see they are an extremely high quality product and it gives me great satisfaction to have my designs on them. Please enjoy the preview I hope to be able to show you more soon.