Feeling super dooper inspired...

I've been feeling REALLY inspired the last couple of days. I've found some new blogs to drool over, and to push me forward with what I'm doing. I was starting to feel like I must be the most boring person ever, that I make bugs and talk about bugs, and write about bugs, and am always thinking about my silly bugs... and people must be like "what's with her, what's with the freaking bugs all the time?". But so what, that's what I do. I have a bunch of other half finished projects which are awaiting my attention, and which are not bugs, but for now, bugs are what are occupying me, and I'll go where the creative process takes me.

Anyway, I'll share these awesome finds with you incase you haven't yet stumbled upon them yourself. They are:

Jane Foster, which I found through her Etsy Shop. This is her blog, but she also has a really fantastic website, with the sweetest graphics. Oh, and this is her Big Cartel Shop!

This is what she does, screen prints and fabric things, I love these cats.

They are adorable.

A Little Hut is another blog which I'm loving. It's full of simple and beautiful paper products. She has just written a book and I'm busting to have a look at her projects.

This is some wrapping paper she made with her children using markers and crayons on butcher's paper.

I've also been reading the new Lotta Jansdotter book Simple Sewing for Baby, which might sound strange since I have no baby, but the designs are really inspiring and seriously simple, and the printing and fabric are amazing. I'm loving the way that she has used attractive, simple patterns that aren't too gender specific, and I'm rethinking me designs based on this. I'm thinking about the way most of my toys are girls, and how that goes against what I believe in in many ways, I think it's wrong to be getting into serious gender stereotypes with little kids and their objects, and although I love my little creations, I'm going to try and be a little less girly with them if I can.

And Lena Corwin's Printing By Hand has become like my bible. I'm reading it before bed and making little doodles in my notebook in the middle of the night when I wake up with an idea in my head. I'm learning about screen printing, and it's working well with my addiction to Illustrator... I'm not if I'm mentioned it, but I have the capacity to sit and draw new designs and illustrations for hours on end if left unchecked, and now that Joe and I figuring out how to use photo emulsion, well it's all coming along quite well.

Hope these sites/books inspire you too!

B.