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Let’s get creative…

April 16, 2013February 16, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

I would love to say I do lots of creative activities with my kids in the school holidays but…. well, I don’t know about anyone else, I just find it hard to be creative when there is any kind of chaos around. I did have a go at portrait drawing with my youngest over Easter which was fun, but put it this way, I won’t be showing anyone my efforts any time soon!

So today, when the not-so-little loves are back at school, I thought I would have a go at putting pencil to paper again, it’s been too long! I really like drawing, but I have always struggled with finding things that I want to draw (hence all the teapots!)

But hey, this one’s a Poole chocolate pot I bought from an antique shop a while ago, another one to add to my collection of retro teapots and teacups!

Anyone for hot chocolate?

I also thought I’d add some drawings I did a couple of months ago, for a company called Simply Sewing. Louise wanted to update her website and Facebook page and asked me to come up with some drawings that might work.

My first idea was an embroidery hoop, but as Louise is very talented and makes gorgeous curtains, blinds and soft furnishings it wasn’t really suitable (although I liked the end result!)

One of my first attempts

So we decided a curtain heading would be more appropriate:

Simply Sewing curtain heading

I also helped Louise with her new logo and now her Simply Sewing website has a fresh new feel. It was great fun to be involved; although it made me realise how difficult it can be to come up with something that’s so personal to someone and I really need to work on my PhotoShop skills a bit more!

Logo to match

So it is brilliant to be creative again, maybe I’ll do some more tomorrow… what to draw though?….

Artwork

gilhoolie house pictures gallery…

January 9, 2013February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

A lot of these drawings were completed before Christmas, and were bought as presents so I couldn’t publish them on here until now. There’s a few older ones thrown in too, can you spot my house?!

Artwork

I don’t just make lampshades you know…

October 3, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner3 Comments

I have a handful of orders for house portraits to complete at the moment, so not so much lampshade making going on at gilhoolie (still a few though, don’t worry). It’s a good job I love drawing. Yesterday I was listening to the radio (it has to be BBC Radio 6 Music during the day; I love the live music, interviews and friendly banter) while drawing a picture of a lovely Victorian house with beautiful sash windows.

I thought it would be good to write about the house portraits on here; including the process, the options available and what to do if you’d like to order one yourself.

Well, it all starts off with a good quality photo of the front of a house, taken square-on. I also need lots of close-ups of any details such as:

brickwork, chimneys etc, the more the better.

I live in Maidenhead so if it’s of a house not far away I usually take the photos myself – which is great but can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if I’m doing it as a surprise present for someone and the house owner appears at a window which is what happened this week! I don’t think they saw me sitting in my car taking photos, well I hope not anyway…

Once I’ve drawn the house from the photos (usually omitting foliage but sometimes included if I think it adds to the picture), I start on the sky background. There are two options for this:

gilhoolie pattern sky in duck egg blue printed on paper

Both options can be made in different colours if you prefer, just let me know when you order. The collage sky is made from magazine cuttings; I knew those magazine subscriptions would come in handy one day! The gilhoolie pattern is a retro design I came up with a while ago, when I first started gilhoolie. They both go well with any style of house, it’s up to you.

I also add a message at the bottom of the picture; usually along the lines of “The Gardner Family, 1 gilhoolie Road, Maidenhead) 🙂 but it can be whatever you choose.

Some of the house pictures are Christmas orders so I don’t feel comfortable posting them on here, just in case – you’ll have to wait a few months to see the finished artwork I’m afraid!

If you’d like to order a house portrait for yourself or for a friend, just get in touch or visit my etsy or folksy shops. They come unframed but in a 12″ by 10″ mount and backing board. Oh, and don’t forget, they make lovely wedding presents too, just send me photos of the happy couple’s wedding venue instead…

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Dib dib dib!…

June 12, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

It was so nice to have a break from it all in half term last week, shame about the weather but at least I had a chance to lie-in and spend some time with the boys and friends.

The only thing I had to do was draw this picture of our local scout hut as a present to Akela from some cubs (do they still say dib dib dib?!)

Back to lampshades this week though, not a bad thing at all…

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Very British…

May 3, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Okay, so the sun isn’t shining but I had in my head that I wanted to draw something very British this week, seeing as we have the Queen’s diamond jubilee and the Olympics coming up (when, hopefully the sun will be shining!)

I was inspired by some artwork by Naomi Avsec that I saw displayed at Liberty in London last weekend.

What could be more British than Pimm’s on a beautiful summers day? With fresh fruit and mint of course, hurry up summer! I was thinking I could make this into a machine embroidered picture, as I’m in need of a bit of a challenge and it would be good to produce some artwork rather than tea-towels for once. I’m not too sure about the colours, (looks more like HP sauce than Pimm’s!) so I’ll have to have a play with those, let’s see what I come up with!

Hopefully post some pictures on here soon, as long as I’m happy with it that is. I wasn’t trained at the Chelsea School of Art you know!…

Artwork

Looking for the perfect wedding gift?…

March 2, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

Court Gardens, Marlow — Court Gardens House, Marlow

I’ve been meaning to draw a wedding venue for ages and finally got round to it this afternoon. These will be personalised with a message, like my house pictures, and would make a lovely wedding present.

The house is actually where we had our wedding reception nearly thirteen years ago – Court Gardens House, by the river in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. We don’t have any photos of us outside this impressive Georgian mansion so I thought it would be a good one to practice on!

I’ll put them on my folksy and etsy shops next week, along with my machine embroidered tea-towels if I don’t sell them all at the craft fair in Stokenchurch tomorrow (Longburrow Hall, 1 ’til 4pm)…

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Working through my ‘To Do’ list…

February 22, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Yesterday was a bit of an admin day for me as it was the first day back at school and a chance to get my head round things again. Now I can start to work through my gilhoolie to do list (there’s lots on it after a week off!) Today I have been busy getting ready for my first lampshade workshop on Saturday – instructions – check, equipment – check, lampshade kits – check. Looking forward to it, I might even make some cakes to take along; it was so nice when our tutor brought homemade cookies to the lampshade workshop at Homemade London, nothing like the personal touch!

I have also been finishing off some drawings for an art gallery in Romford, Essex. These are all now on my Folksy and Etsy shops and I’m going to stock some for future events. Sorry about the light reflecting on the cellophane but I just neatly packaged them all and didn’t want to get them out again to take the photos.

Oh yes, and while I’m here I thought I’d put this personalised house portrait on my blog. It was commissioned by a lady called Gemma in Birmingham, as a present to her fiancee for their ten year anniversary – ahhh, this was really special to do. It’s the first one I’ve drawn from someone else’ photos and came out really well.

If the weather cheers up this week I’m going to take some photos of wedding venues near here and do some drawings, oh and there’s a building down my road I MUST draw… So lots to do, I really should get ready for the events I’ve got coming up though. I think tomorrow I will be mostly machine embroidering a pile of tea-towels!

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Seventies vibe…

February 10, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

My drawings definitely have a seventies feel at the moment, like this one of some kitchen scales and a tea caddy I drew this afternoon. The tea caddy is actually drawn from my Orla Kiely one so I guess I’m drawn to that style, no surprises really. The fabric on the pot is another Cloud 9 design called The Banks – Pumpkin by Michelle Engel Bencsko. I’m not usually keen on orange but this fabric is great for small areas and for giving it that seventies vibe.

I’m going to try and machine embroider all my kitchen drawings onto tea-towels when I get time, but for now I’m happy working on ideas, makes a change from screen-printing and making lampshades!

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Fresh on Folksy…

February 9, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I’m working on some pictures at the moment but still really like my retro teapot and cup and now it’s been featured on a blog called ‘Fresh on Folksy’! You can also find it in my Folksy shop of course, along with some other pieces.

My latest drawing is seventies inspired; I still remember our brown and orange floral sofa and matching curtains in our living room when I was growing up. The fabric is from Cloud 9’s Across The Pond collection designed by Michelle Engel Bencsko and is called Variegated Butterflies. Cloud 9 Fabrics say the collection is ‘a fab mix of art nouveau and 70’s mod all revolving around a gentle aquatic locale theme’. I think it goes well with the seventies coffee pot, it’s very me!

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gilhoolie greeting cards?…

January 12, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I don’t know about you but I’m forever buying cards – there’s always a birthday, birth, new house, new job, so… I thought I’d have a go at making my own. This week, a friend of mine had her first baby and it was another friend’s birthday yesterday. So, there I was making cards rather than looking round the shops for the ‘right’ one. It’s got to mean more if it’s hand-made, well that’s what I think anyway. I hope they think so too. It’s a shame the photos don’t do them justice; I thought photographing stationery would be a doddle compared to lampshades and beanbags!

The birthday card is made using remnants from my screen-printing this week plus some Lotta Jansdotter fabric for the vase. I LOVE her designs so you may see more of them cropping up on here. It’s a shame her shop is in Brooklyn or I’d be right there! LOTS.

The baby card is for a close friend who had a beautiful baby girl this week, what a cute name! I used some vintage-style floral fabric I found in my local sewing shop. I thought it went with the old fashioned pram.

Update – I actually wrote this post two days ago and couldn’t publish it until I’d delivered the cards yesterday and I now have 2 more friends with babies – better make some more!! (What is it they say about waiting for a bus and then 3 come along, what a special week, congratulations all!)