nelly's friend

Yay I received these samples in the post last week! A greeting card I designed for Papyrus a while ago... I love how they've put the glittery flitter on the yellow bits! And it's been printed on very lovely matte cardstock. I don't think it's available for purchase online yet but I'll let you know when :) Have an awesome Friday xo

harvesting garlic

Whoo it's hot and humid today! I've just pulled all my garlic out of the ground, ready to be hung and cured so it stores nicely all year. I had to pull it up a little early this year, as you can see, the bulbs aren't quite as big as they should be. All the torrential rain we've had recently has bent the garlic foliage right over, and they've started dying off already... so unfortunately we have small-medium bulbs this year, but it's still enough garlic to last us the whole year through, and some left over for xmas presents yay! Hope your Monday is going ace :)

FREE printable xmas tags

Hey there friends! Just a quick stop today to let you know about some FREE printable holiday gift tags you can download over at our group blog, We Love To Illustrate. Pictured above are mine, but please swing by We Love To Illustrate and check out the other GORGEOUS designs by Nina, Julissa, Jennifer, Cally and Shirley... these girls create the most unreal illustrations, and I can guarantee you'll find some free gift tags that you'll fall in love with! Happy Friday, and happy downloading! xoxo

happy woodland fabric

My Happy Woodland fabric is now available for sale at Spoonflower - hooray! Perfect for children's clothing or soft furnishings. You can click here to check it out. I'm currently working on some new designs and will hopefully have a stack more for sale after Christmas. Hope you're having a lovely Tuesday :)

weekends and weddings

Happy Friday, lovely people! What's on for your weekend? I'm taking a trip up to Daylesford to see the lovely Allison of Lark. I have some stock to drop off and I'm also looking forward to browsing her Lark Garage Sale. Oooooh I can't wait! I think I'll have to go to the Daylesford Makers Market while I'm there too... hmm I'd better set myself a strict budget or I'll be in trouble before I know it with so many lovely handcrafted things on offer!
Here's a wedding invite I designed recently for some super lovely friends of my brother's. I didn't realise when I designed it that Sumah actually has a phobia of birds... Stefan told me to keep the bird on her head in the design as he found it hilarious... blokes! :D

feature on Bondville

Hello all! I was super excited to receive an email from the very lovely Stephanie Bond, the talent behind the wonderful Bondville blog. Stephanie has featured my Christmas cards on her awesome blog - what a thrill! Thanks Stephanie for the fab write-up. Do pop by and check out Bondville, it's full of super fabulous Australian design for mums, kids and home. Have a top Wednesday :D

The 'C' word...

All images and designs copyright Belinda Strong 2010

... CHRISTMAS! 'Tis nearly the season to be jolly, and I thought I'd let you all know about my range of Christmas cards for this year. There are four designs and you can buy them through the wonderful Lark shop, or my Etsy shop. You can buy the cards individually, or get big discounts when you buy a pack of 8 or 12!

EXTRA! EXTRA! SUPER DISCOUNTS FOR MY BLOG READERS!

From now until November 22nd (that's ONE week only) ALL you lovely people who read my blog can receive 25% off ANYTHING you order from my Etsy shop! For example, that means that cards go from $5.95 down to $4.45 YIPPEE!
Here's how it will work:

1) In the 'message to seller' window as you checkout please type HONEYJUMBLE so I know to apply the discount... if you don't type it, you won't receive the discount :)
2) **IMPORTANT NOTE** Please pay via PAYPAL - You will be charged the regular price as Etsy can't create discounts. I will then be able to refund you the 25% after you've checked out.
NOTE: Discount will not apply to shipping.
NOTE: I usually have plenty of stock so if you'd like more than what is listed please convo me via Etsy and I'll create a custom listing for you.

Happy shopping! :D 

birthday cards

Hellloooo! My goodness, has it really been a week and a half since I last blogged? Where has the time gone? How have you all been? THANK YOU ALL so much for all your congrats on our wedding anniversary and for all your Spoonflower votes! You guys rock! I didn't win the comp, but the winning design was AWESOME. I do plan to get a Spoonflower shop running soon though so my designs will be available to purchase as fabrics... hopefully before xmas but will more likely be in the new year.
Anyway... here are some cards I did recently for Greetings Factory in the UK. I had heaps of fun with these :) Hope you are all doing ace! xxoo

spoonflower

Happy Frrriiidddaaayyy!! Wheeee it's the end of the week and I'm REALLY looking forward to a weekend away with Marty - it's our first wedding anniversary so we are spoiling ourselves for two lovely nights! What have you got planned for your weekend? I hope you get some time to do some fun stuff :)
I've just entered a design in this week's Spoonflower fabric design contest. The theme is 'woodland creatures' and there are lots of lovely entries! Why not take a look and vote for your faves here. Voting closes Nov 3rd. Have a top weekend everyone... see you on the other side! xxoo

shivers

Ello everyone! How have you all been? Wow - it's been a busy time for me, so I'm just going to leave you with this AWESOME little piece of Janis Joplin today. She's gotta be my fave female vocalist EVER. Hope this leaves you feeling goooood :) Don't you just get shivers when you hear that voice belting it out?! WOW.

For some REAL shivers, listen to the first 15 seconds of this one:

greetings for little ones

Friday woohooo! How has your week been? Are you looking forward to anything special on the weekend? I'm looking forward to a yummy Thai dinner with some ace friends tonight mmmmm can't wait! Just stopping by today to show you some brand new pieces for my portfolio, which will be available for license through my agent. Wishing you all a happy Friday and a super fun weekend :)

lovely things

Romper by Twiglet

Echidna by Mookah

Helllloooo everyone, happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I hope so! Melbourne FINALLY turned on some proper sunny Spring weather this weekend, and our day at the Finders Keepers market was sensational. We stopped on the way to the market for some morning tea at the lovely home of our dear friends Liz and Jason - (thanks for the yummy danishes guys!). Then we had a good wander around the Finders Keepers market, in fact we went around twice because there was just SO MUCH beautiful stuff to look at. Well done to all the stall-holders, the standard and variety of handmade goods was just so impressive. I could have spent a fortune, but I stuck to my budget (pat on the back for me - it took a lot of will power!). I bought the two lovely items above.... the CUTEST little retro-print baby romper from the awesomely talented Dana of Twiglet. And this Echidna softie, which I've named Crazy Ed, from the equally talented Mookah. We finished off our ace day out with lunch in the sunshine by the water at Docklands - felt like a holiday!
Hope your week is off to a great start :) xoxo

finders keepers

What are you up to this weekend? If you are around Melbourne, why not take yourself down to the Finders Keepers market? It's going to be rad!! Lark will be there, with some gorgeous products from Belle & Boo, and their new Daisy Lane products (which I just adore) and some of my Little Beehive products too... including my brand new 'Field Trip Kids' prints which I recently exhibited. I'm going to check it out on Saturday, and I can't wait!
P.S - How cool is the poster artwork by Brisbane artist Lauren Carney ?!

FREE printable treat box!

Download my treat box HERE!

Oh my goodness - October! Where has the year gone already?!
I hope you all had fab weekends, and are ready for another week :)
Over at out group blog, We Love To Illustrate, we've all created some FREE printable Halloween treat boxes for you to download, print, assemble and fill with treats on Halloween! Please head on over to
We Love To Illustrate and check out the other fun treat boxes from Cally, Shirley, Nina, Julissa and Jennifer. I had a ball creating my little treat box, I hope you enjoy. Have an awesome Monday :)