What inspired me to start my shop.
When I was a little girl my favourite thing to do was draw. Every birthday and Christmas i’d ask for art supplies, paints, pens, paper and craft kits galore. I would spend endless hours making things, I loved the paper dolls my nanny made me, the fun blo pens (that now I think are a little gross) me and my sister played with, the glass paints I got one year in a fancy carry case and all those pencils. Even now (at 30!) I ask for paints, pens, sketchpads and craft kits and I know i’ll never change. A serial hoarder of art supplies, whether it’s pencils, fabric or wool … I will have it, name anything! I can’t help it, it’s my biggest joy in life except my family.
As a young child what inspired me most were books, Disney films and a bit later The Simpsons. I loved drawing all the cute animals in disney movies, drawing Marge and Homer and all the funny characters of Springfield and characters from my favourite stories like the BFG, the people of the Faraway Tree, or strange Creatures from Harry Potter.
An illustrator in the making…
Barcodes, a shop name and a price!
A card i made for my Great Nanny’s 80th Birthday… Deepest Sympathy, what a funny child. Inside it reads ‘I love you because you are so cool’.
As I got a little older I was inspired by nature and fairy tales. I love animals and they have always been my favourite thing to draw, especially woodland creatures. I liked to draw and paint bears, wolves, foxes, mountains and toadstools. I enjoyed designing characters and painting them in all sorts of scenarios and making up back stories for them.
Now I am inspired by my own children and nostalgia. Zelda, almost three years old, inspires me to create more than anything. I think of all those things I loved growing up and I want to give them to her. Art with a sense of nostalgia, a little old fashioned craft passed down from my grandparents to me and now to her. I want to make things that spark curious little minds and that is what inspired me to start my holly house and this blog.
My Daughter Zelda, a real nature lover and the inspiration behind my drawstring bags.
My goal is to create watercolour artwork with a sense of whimsy and wonder. I then wish to turn those designs into a variety of items, whether its nursery art for little ones, notebooks for drawing, craft sets for rainy days or party supplies for tiny adventurers. I want it to inspire the next lot of little ones to enjoy fantasy, adventure, the wild and art, so that they continue to create well into their adult years.
Fabric wall hangings are the latest addition to my shop and the start of fabric offerings…
I’m hoping to provide lots of craft and seasonal inspiration on this blog. So follow along!
Do you enjoy a craft? If so what is it? I’d love to know what interests have stayed with you from your own childhood.
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