A truly beautiful Minxy mix of charm, inspiration, practical advice, and pretty projects to simplify and beautify your life and home. - Jane Brocket, The Gentle Art of Domesticity
Kristy Allen & The Pencil Sessions
When I pitched the book proposal for The Crafty Minx at Home, I knew it had to include illustrations to convey many of the ideas in the text and balance out all the real imagery we’d be using. I’m so thrilled with the result, which I think offers more than the previous books in terms of sheer design and all the information we’ve tried to pack in to make it a home crafting & upcycling bible of sorts.
But this is still an intensely personal book - it’s about the way I live, and I think so many of us are heading towards a similar lifestyle nowadays. I feel so passionately that all of us need to consider and appreciate the objects in our lives, and avoid mass-consumerism; both for the environment’s sake and our pwn sense of personal fulfilment. Crafting’s one of the best ways I know to feel zen and connected, and I love sharing it with like-minded people. Upcycling also means we can keep our homes fresh by updating their style more often, without making overly costly mistakes. It’s win-win, and a therapeutic, amusing form of domestic curating.
Kristy Allen of The Pencil Sessions was our illustrator for the book, and here’s some of my favourite drawings which she created especially for The Crafty Minx at Home.
The brief? A gilded frame you’d find in Edinburgh Castle
Kristy is one talented lady - she works as a designer for Australian Women’s Weekly by day, and moonlights in drawing by night. I first fell for her quirky scribblings when I heard about the +365 Project, where she vowed to draw a new picture every day for a year to track her progress as an illustrator and dabble in all sorts of styles just for the hell of it. And she’s about to launch her new range of greeting cards and illustration plates for framing soon through her online shop.
Follow her blog for more, and I hope you enjoy perusing her drawings as much as I do. And for all her Crafty Home illustrations, you can grab a copy of the book when it hits stores in a couple of weeks.
Do: Magical Hat Days
Take one vintage hat, and one four-year-old
This is the game in which we pretend to be Clara Button, going in for a bit of freestyle fixery on old hats and headpieces I’ve found at Rozelle Markets, otherwise beyond repair. Olive paints over the silk petals with watercolours, while I help sew on buttons and feathers and other bits and pieces for her amusement. We haven’t had a picture-worthy success yet, but it’s fun and I have to say, I do love a good piece of headgear (if you missed my Spring Carnival adventures with pompoms, click here for a tutorial).
Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day was a gift from our lovely friend, Sonia. It’s one of our favourites. Clara floats my boat – she’s a can-do gal, plus she loves the V&A, which makes her A-okay in my book.
Plucky Clara Button
And a headband we made, from scratch, modelled by Olive
Emma Kidd illustrations
Howling Wolf by Emma Kidd
You might remember I’m working on a new project needing illustration; I just found this wonderful shop on Etsy owned by Emma Kidd. The recurring images of monsters and the sea are transporting – she’s tapped into my daydreams. Yes, somehow this is a bit like the inside of my head. Scary, huh?
Sonia Hensler illustrations
Sonia Hensler private commission
I’ve been researching illustrators recently for a new project I’m working on, and happened to come across the work of Sonia Hensler. Sonia’s work incorporates traditional drawing, mixed media and photography which is so modern and very now, with commissions including magazines and fashion brands such as The Wall Street Journal, Coco de Mer and TopShop, amongst others.
These are some of my favourites which I thought I’d share - loving the carnival atmosphere and opulence of her dreamy concoctions.
Wall Street Journal coverT-shirt design for Topshop Bus campaign, Warsaw
T-shirt design for Topshop
Self-portrait, Sonia Hensler
Clever Emma Magenta
I can’t quite believe I’ve failed to mention Emma Magenta here before. I interviewed her for a Vogue article several years ago, and have been in awe of her beautiful books and artwork ever since.
The clever lady’s just released a new iPhone game about, of all things, the trials of love:
‘Creative types finally have an excuse to play with teacups and hearts in a quirky new iPhone game made especially for design-inspired women. Based on the work of acclaimed Australian artist Emma Magenta, The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch: A journey through the trials of love to happiness and freedom follows the adventures of adorable but hapless Phillipa Finch.’
Fabulous!
The Blouse by Emma Magenta
They Found in Each Other by Emma Magenta
Illustrations by Zoë Sadokierski
Logo designed by Zoë for Curious Works
Zoe and I used to work together a few years ago, back when I was a book publicist and she was an in-house graphic designer. Since then, Zoe’s completed a PhD on graphic novels (clever gel) and been getting her art out and about, as well as continuing to design books as a freelancer. I’ve always admired her work and get such a kick out of her illustrations, which are so often whimsical and surprising.
Check out Zoe’s beautiful, quirky art on her blog, or purchase prints, cards and tees at RedBubble, and support this up-and-coming local artist. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more from her in future.
Circus illustration by Zoë
Our Young Prince fights the Hideous Beast
Bunny Girl
Underwood typewriter