Thank You

Thank You ecard-Click or tap here to download
(Image v. much sized only for ecard/screen use)

Hello there

As you can probably guess, the subject of this is a huge "Thank you"...To everyone and everything who reminded me (since my previous post-(in all its now mostly-struck-out glory...)...

♥ That the reason most people come here is to look at happy and joyful things, (yay!)...

♥ That if I really need a "niche", that's a fine one in itself, and...
♥ That it's perfect OK if I don't physically have time to post examples of every single design from and to  absolutely everywhere. I have a stockist/Linktree page which covers that.

Then, literally to cap it all... My right knee weighed in with mega-twinging. Which, for me is always a not-so-polite nudge that, "Clare, love...You've been walking in the wrong direction on this one..." 

As soon as I changed back to the central focus of whimsy and joy-those twinges were gone. (Which settled the matter once and for all, as I quite like at least being able to get from A to B :-).

Sooo

Enough from me, and huuuuge apologies for the confusion and waffle last week.

 I'm keeping some of the re-design, and still likely to change the main post sending day to earlier in the week (as with this one).

But otherwise-it's back just to a focus on whimsy and joy. Because who doesn't need a bit more of that right now, anyway?

Thank you so much for your patience, and for being here, and enjoy your week.

More soon.

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More Winter/Festive Florals

Free Christmas Anemones Background
Tap or click here to download and use

Hello there

Hope your week has been going well. 

And yes, if you were also here last week, your eyes do not deceive you. Those winter/Christmas anemones have now officially escaped their vase as well, to become this free download.

As ever, if you have any questions about how to use this, the answers should be in my "angel policy"

And though I uploaded it at a printable size, I can't vouch for download quality here on Blogger. As ever, if you need to print this at high quality, consider buying the file at full-resolution, over at Craftsuprint.

The ongoing and huge loyalty of so many crafters, cardmakers, and other people making lovely creative things (thanks *so much* especially if you're one of them and reading this) Update on Nov 17th  deletes previous text with the strikethrough symbol.  has also helped me make a rather big decision. Read on for details...

Site News

Long story short, for the last several months, I've been feeling too much like the proverbial mouse on a wheel, instead of a happy artist. I've been guilty of spreading myself too thinly, uploading to too many places...and not having nearly enough time left to create joyful art.

Don't get me wrong. I still love art, and everyone who has been kind enough to follow and buy all my items in so many different places over the years. Thank you so much.

But the time has come, for the sake of sanity, keeping my art high-quality and fun, and therefore making sure my products continue to be of that same quality...to focus my efforts much more carefully, on...

Designing original art downloads and supplies for people who use them to create their own crafts and projects.

 I've chosen this route, (initially as an experiment), for several reasons.

♥ Firstly, I specially love to design items knowing that someone else will be able to build upon them even further, and make them their own.

♥ This could well be because of the love and support (and yes, purchases...thank you so much) I've already received from crafters from all sorts of places. A nicer bunch of people would be hard to find anywhere.

♥ It could also be because my whimsical style seems naturally to fit in this area. It wasn't something I planned at all...It just happened...

As you may already be able to tell from the change in logo, tagline and some other site details, I've already altered BoundingSquirrel.Com to help support this change.

Calling all cardmakers, crafters, journallers and other people who create things...

All of this is despite the fact that I personally am much less good at crafting than I am at art and design. That was a major factor in my taking so long to go down the craft supplies path...If I had fabulous fine-motor skills myself, I'd have gone down this path some time ago.

 So, if you're the opposite (ie you love to craft, but not so much to draw, paint and design) and would like free printable craft supplies in exchange for providing pictures of your makes, please get in touch).

 If you have any thoughts about these downloads, or any ideas about future printables (or any other kind of art you'd like to see, there is now a contact form at the bottom of every blog page, and also and updated contact page here.

And if you're not a crafter...

But if you're not a crafter, you're still so very welcome to keep reading BoundingSquirrel and enjoying the images. Most links to previous products will also remain in place, and I really appreciate your support too. It's just that my focus is changing/emerging for the first time. Thank you for your understanding.

Phew...

That was a long one. Apologies for all the text. I'll leave you to your week, with huge thanks for you being you, (and a pic of the "Robins and Berries" collection, that's also available to buy now as printable papers ;-).

Click or tap here
to see and buy the collection
at Craftsuprint.com

Have a great week.

More soon.
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New Painting: Festive Wishes-Christmas Floral Art

My"Festive Wishes" Christmas floral
painting

Hello there

Just popping in to show you "Festive Wishes", a gently Christmas/seasonal/winter/holiday/ whatever-you-call-it-in your part of the world, painting that celebrates Winter Anemones (the flowers are also known as "Christmas Roses").

Seasonal but natural, I have to confess that I'm a bit in love with this one, and hope you will be too.

Update on Nov 12th: If this grabs you too, it's now available as part of a download here.

In any event, hope this brings some floral joy to your day, and there'll be more about it (with extra downloads) in my next post.

In any event, thanks so much for being here.

More soon.

___________________________

Just in time for Halloween...

Free Halloween Images

Hello there

In haste, but just in time for this Friday (if you're reading this near to my typing it, anyway), here's a selection of my Halloween images for this year, all on one sheet. I did promise the crafters reading this that there would be more soon for you, and with apologies for the delay, here it is.

They are all classic "black on deep orange watercolour," Halloween motifs  (cat, haunted house, bats,  etc), with a gentle twist. All the black images have been stencilled, to give a slightly grainy "old-fashioned printing," effect for extra spookiness.

And they're all ready to download, print and use.

To use them, you have a couple of options:

1. If you tap or right-click on the image above, you're welcome to download and use this one for free (credit always appreciated, but never required).

As ever though, I can't vouch that they'll come out the A4 size they went in (Google does a really strange re-sizing thing  that I can't always control), or

2) They are also available to buy and download now at a very-definitely-fully-printable-A4 size at Craftsuprint.Com.

Wishing you a fun week, with as much or as little spookiness as works for you.

More soon.

___________________________

Announcing...The Festive Christmas Holiday Robins and Berries Collection

My "Festive Christmas Holiday Robins and Berries
 Collection" available now on Spoonflower

Hello there

It's that time of year again. When I make a post that will delight some (who may be wondering what took me so long to get around to it) and annoy others (who may not wish to see this kind of thing until December 1st at the earliest).

There are good reasons for this

For those in the latter camp, please bear with me. But as this is, above all,  a collection of co-ordinating designs for on-demand printing onto fabric and wallpaper, I really do need to post this now, so that people who want to make things (or plan special festive decor) have a chance to do so before the actual main event.

"Festive Red Berries and Silver Grey Branches
 on Dark Green," Table Runner

Plus, as I type, Spoonflower says there's a discount of up to 30% on purchases made at the moment (discounts being applied at checkout, as far as I can see). If it's gone by the time you click this, it's not false urgency-obviously, I just have no control at all over Spoonflower's  sale schedule.

Festive grey on pink red botanical napkins,
available on Spoonflower.

Either way, I can say, hand on heart, that I put a *lot* of work into making this the best it could be. So whilst there are main showstopper type patterns, there are also less busy ones, very simple blender designs, and even solid colours like this pinky-red, so that if you're seeking a plain, exact match with other colours in the designs (eg for quilting) you should be able to find it.

There's fun, too...

If you're wondering how I designed the main picture for this post, no, I haven't suddenly become a quilt designer. It's just that Spoonflower's own tools for seeing how designs might look as a set of festive dinner napkins,

Napkin collection mock-up, created
using Spoonflower's "Fill a Yard Tool"

 or an infinity scarf,

Infinity Scarf Fabric Lengths mock-up, created
using Spoonflower's "Fill a Yard Tool"

 for example, are *really* easy to use, and massive fun.

Finally

If all this isn't your thing, thank you so much for bearing with me. And you never know, as Spoonflower does make items on demand as well as sell fabrics, you might yet know someone, later in the year, who'd love a robin tea towel, for example ;-).

Red Robins and Berries Tea Towel,
available on Spoonflower

Thank you

In any event, thank you so much for reading down this far, and I really appreciate your being here.

More soon, and on a totally different topic, I promise.

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