10 Handmade Holiday Postcards

My family hasn't had a proper big holiday with all of us together in years!  Life I guess has got in the way with each of us doing things with our partners or friends.   This year, we felt the need to change this and booked a big house in Turuc, Turkey for all of us to bring our partners as well.  Never done before, to have all of us for so long under one roof but it was a success and I can see it happening again soon!

Being the illustrator I am, it's always strange for me to not be drawing, painting or printing in my spare time so the idea of a two week holiday away from what I love doing was a bit daunting.  To balance it out, and not put any pressure on myself to work on certain projects or ideas I simply packed up my watercolour travel kit with the idea that I'd paint a few postcards.

It's great because you don't have to bring anything extra back with you - simply pop them in the post to send to friends and family!

I take my watercolour travel kit pretty much everywhere with me.  It's fab, and I add to it or keep it minimal depending on the journey.  I love it so much that I've put together a kit that you can purchase through my online shops - hurrah!  It includes a book of blank watercolour postcards, watercolour travel paints + mini brush, mechanical pencil, jar for your water and all comes in a lovely case sewed by myself and my Mum.  Fab.

You can find this in my Etsy shop : www.charlottevallance.etsy.com


Do you love to send postcards too?  Do you paint your own or seek out lovely ones from local shops?

Do it Yourself Presents

So along with shopping independent for 2014 Christmas, I also made a few bits myself.  As you can't always find what you're after within your budget!  And the homemade touch is always appreciated.

Homemade tags :)

For my sister, I created her own illustrated range.  I chose a tartan, which I painted out in watercolours before scanning in and applying to a phone case for her iPhone 5.  I then used the original illustration to back a clock, and make tags for the rest of my presents.

My Sister's 'Tartan' range

For my Dad, I also made him a phone case for his iPhone 5.  He's a big fan of my Amsterdam print, so I created a bespoke pattern of the buildings in rows of streets.  I had originally tested out these cases in the summer when I created a custom one for myself.  Top tip - white picks up colour from clothes!  So I made sure there wasn't too much white around the edges here.  I also got him a discount card with Time  Out, and was looking at just giving a piece of paper on Christmas Day - not my idea of a present!  So I painted him a watercolour stand-in card and put the piece of paper in a box - much nicer.

For the bike mad boyfriend, I illustrated his motorbike on to a clock - it's always time for a bike ride then!

Bike Clock for the Boy!

For some Secret Santa presents, I made the cocktails and kittys bunting from Mollie Makes, and made the most of my own Christmas present making some madeline cakes.  I also made some cute photo frames for polaroid photos by following Claireabellemakes' tutorial here.

It turned out great!

Phone cases were printed with Awesome Merchandise for an average of £13.

Label cutter I've had for a few years, but picked it up in Hobby Craft originally.

Clocks I picked up from IKEA, a bargain at about £3 each I think.