Flashback: Helen Musselwhite

I first found Helen Musselwhite's work back in 2010, and wrote about her intricate paper cut creations on this blog.  I have recently seen her creations cropping up on Pinterest a lot lately and wanted to show her current work to you all again, in case you missed it first time round.

Helen lives just south of Manchester and takes a lot of her inspiration from the countryside round there which is obvious from her work which feature lots of British flora and fauna.  Helen has been busy since I last featured her and her work has been used on many magazine covers and advertising campaigns, including Audi, Cadbury and Nokia and also window designs for Stella McCartney and Smythson.  

I love to read about people making a living from something they LOVE doing, which is sadly a bit of a rarity in this day and age.  You can see how much care and attention goes into her work and its lovely to read on her website that ..'I think it’s simply that I love doing this so much I can get totally lost in what I’m doing and the time passes by without me noticing. I’m at my happiest when I’ve nearly finished a piece that I’ve been really caught up in – sometimes I feel quite bereft when I’ve finished them!..'

Bettyjo Designs

Some lovely little brooches from my almost namesake, Bettyjo made from lovely retro lino and other recycled materials from down under! - I love these - and Bettyjo is having a price-slashin' sale too - go check it out and spend the last of your xmas dollaroos!

Bag and Belly

I first came across Bag and Belly last year via her flickr site.  Bag and Belly is the business of Nina Janssen from the Netherlands, who also works as a freelance costume designer and you can see from these wonderful bags that she has a wonderful eye for detail and creative needlework.