Buy my indie pillows at UK-based Ohh Deer’s online shop

I have great news to share with you today…

My pillows are being sold at Ohh Deer up until October 29. So grab your Paypals and come shop for some botanical pillow love!

Check these two links to take you directly to the pillows:

• Karboojeh Pillow No. 1

•  Karboojeh Pillow No. 2

The image on the pillows is originally hand-painted. I used water-colour, acrylic, and ink over old book pages to create the look.

The pillows are Vegan and made with a super soft faux suede and come complete with the fibre insert. They’re completely machine washable at 30°c and hand made In UK. The cushion has a stone coloured back cover – and zip fastening. They measure 43 x 43cm a smashing size! They cost £25 each.

This is my first online sale ever. I have been active in craft shows, but kept on postponing taking the online plunge. So, I’m really excited about this! The pillows are a limited edition and are being sold for a limited time: 3 weeks starting yesterday. So, don’t miss out on this special sale!

Happy shopping, all :)

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Related articles:

• My 2 cushions at Ohh Deer’s ‘Pillow Fight’ competition

My 2 cushions at Ohh Deer’s ‘Pillow Fight’ competition

I have two cushions taking part in a cool competition called Pillow Fight. The authors of this idea are none other than Ohh Deer, an absolutely inspiring & intelligent British online/offline shop that sells quirky illustrated gifts, from pillows to T-shirts, and, in between, gift cards and stationary.

First, I’ll talk about my cushions, then a little bit about Ohh Deer.

A personal cushion story

• This cushion is called: Nature v.s. Psycho-analysis. You can click here to see the pillow and to read the brief I wrote about it.

Technique-wise, this pillow “carries a photographed image of one of my hand illustrations using watercolor and acrylic,” and I forgot to mention, ink. So… a bit of recycling went into this pillow’s original illustration.

I’m not going to copy-paste the full brief, but I will quote myself  with: “This year, I started making botanical illustrations over yellowed book pages from my large library of New Age books. This is to celebrate the triumph of simplicity, and the return to nature, over complexity…  In other words, this pillow carries an intentional twist, where the botanicals signify the triumph of nature over 21st century melancholy.”

• This cushion, below, is called: Triumph of Nature over Psycho-analysis. You can click here to see the pillow on Ohh Deer, and to read the brief.

This pillow is basically about: “Return to nature and you’ll find happiness.” Love the way the paper grain is showing around the psychoanalysis type and the watercolor/acrylic/ink illustration.

About Ohh Deer

Ohh Deer is about “Quirky Illustrated Gifts,” illustration and photography that can be so cute at times and outright vulgar, at others. This is basically what stuck in my head from the brief I read on their About Us page.

Here’s a quirky example from their online store, a card dubbed Emotional Baggage by Gemma Correll, followed by 2 Pillow Fight competition entries; the first one is called: Audio Cassette – By Simon Pilkington… and… The pillow called: Huntress – by Sandra Dieckmann:

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

To view some of my favorite designs and pillows from Pillow Fight & Ohh Deer’s collection, visit my Pinterest boards:

1. Artisan’s Scrapb◎◎k

2. Pillows.Cushions

Ohh Deer Blog…  & Pillow Fight

If you visit Ohh Deer’s blog, you will find delightful surprises. My most favorite post, so far, is called “Something a Little Different.” It comes with images from a recent Ohh Deer booklet design that carries their concept, a concept of growing together and being a role model for others once we have matured ourselves. So beautiful!

Source: ohhdeer.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

This is exactly how Ohh Deer runs their endeavor, it takes care of you as an artist, and you take care of them, in the spirit of love. They offer you 25% of purchases from your artwork –  once you have won the competition and became part of their contributing team. But before that they do promote you on their website just by entering their competition.

As for Pillow Fight, the deadline is September 25, so if you are interested, please click here to read the specifications and to enter! Good luck!

I learnt about this competition through fellow WordPress blogger, “London Drawings.” Please visit this lovely illustrator’s post where you can find 4 pillow designs by merchesico. Here’s a lovely example:

Source: merchesico.wordpress.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

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Related articles:

 

• New-look Karboojeh

• DIY Table-setting Placemat | Pompom | Handpainted Floral & Botanical Design

DIY | Mini Canvas & Chalkboard Stand {From Popsicle Sticks}

Popsicle sticks are made from trees; it’s such a huge waste to throw them away! What to do with them? They’re fragile and you can’t do something serious with them… unless it’s a miniature, like a mini stand for your cute little drawings, or handmade chalkboard signs to be used at craft shows.

Materials needed:

• 4 Popsicle sticks
• 2 Tooth picks
• White glue – I used Bic White Glue
• Craft knife or X-acto knife
• Cutting mat or cardboard to protect your work surface
• Some book pages to cover the cracks on the Popsicle sticks

How-to:

• I initially wanted to create little holes in 3 popsicle sticks to insert a toothpick – to bind the three “feet” and to keep them free to fold and move. The Popsicle sticks cracked but did not break, so I inserted the top toothpick where the wood cracked… and quickly added a generous amount of wood glue to fix it in place and to prevent the three feet from breaking. It took some patience to engineer the tripod and balance the “feet.” The rear “foot” can swing back and forth if you want it to, and it’s safe to do so since the model is well glued and the paper strips kind of toughen up the miniature stand.
• I glued the “shelf” on by adding a huge amount of wood glue. I decoupaged some strips of paper that came from an old book using a lot of white glue. This worked perfectly as extra support and as a decorative touch to hide the cracked wood.
• I then added an extra tooth pick at the base of the mini “shelf” for extra support, again by applying a lot of glue.
• One thing to remember though, you need to let the glue dry a bit before you move into the next step or the whole thing will fall apart. Patience is a virtue :  – )

This mini stand actually has a function other than being utterly cute and adorable:

You can use it in craft shows to place your brand name on it… or, if you make a few more stands, you can place cute little chalkboard signs on them to identify your craft work, homemade cookies, or handmade jewelry (bracelets, rings, earrings, etc). You can also display your miniature canvas (or cardboard) drawings and paintings with this stand. In your kitchen or dining room, if you have a corner for homemade olives and oils, sandwiches, cookies… you can place this stand with a sign that tells your dear ones “yummy things are served here.”

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Related Recycling/Packaging/Display Articles:

• A glimpse into my atelier
• Packaging Jewelry 101: Upcycling Matchboxes
• Craft show: Table Display & Handpainted Pencils
• Inspiration: Ideas for recycling vintage book pages
• Inspiration Board: Cork bulletin boards & display ideas
• Inspiration Board: Chalkboard trends & DIY
  ♥

Earth Day Resolutions

My Earth Day resolutions start by believing my contribution to the wellness of earth is never insignificant. People often believe if they’re not rich and famous then they are no-bodies, therefore their actions are unaccounted for. Well… That’s not true.

If you’re not in the media, and if you live in a small town, your actions and the way you treat the earth & nature are always very significant. Because you can never know whose life you’re touching, or whether a little child is learning from you and secretly making you their idol! What’s more important is, the quality of our lives, the quality of who we are is always an important matter, it doesn’t have to attract attention or make us lots of money: Our character, what we do, and how we live life is a daily gift. Our happiness depends on our choices!

So my first resolution is…

I am responsible for my actions, no matter where I live, or what kind of life I lead, and whether or not I have “fans” or not.

My second resolution is…

I am conscious of my consumerist trends and try my best to change them. I don’t have to follow the fashion or buy the latest technology, but rather buy what I “need,” not what I “want.”

Here’s a video (up above) to help understand these two concepts: Need & Want:

• “Overcoming the WANT of Christmas” – Works for Earth Day Resolutions, too

The earth is polluted because most of us “want” things and we don’t care about the price we’re paying. We create heaps of plastic and don’t care if they’re bio-degradable or not.

We are responsible because big companies carry out research that study people’s general trends & attitudes and serve these attitudes by making more new things. They make more and more and more of what we “want.” But if we go back to the basics, we will discover we only need a few things to make us happy, and these can all be handmade.

My third resolution for that matter is:

I try my best to buy handmade. Even when it comes to clothes, I try to find a local tailor instead of buying ready-made attire.

And…

I try my best to recycle, upcycle, and DIY. And if I “want” something badly, I try to make it, instead of buy it.

Happy Earth Day,

Karboojeh

Inspiration: Ideas for recycling vintage book pages

See this Anthropologie painting? It’s to blame for my vintage-paper-crafts-craze lately. I pinned it on Pinterest some time ago, hoping that with time I will build up the creative force to go in this direction.

I’m the kind of gal who likes to sleep on things. I started to arbitrarily collect photos and tutorials from around the net with ideas of how to recycle vintage/old paper. I noticed you can do a lot of things with pages from old books: Decoupage, handmade tags, envelopes, scrap-booking, garlands, and so many other ideas.

In a previous post, I spoke about “Recycling, upcycling vintage books”. It was about sketching illustrations while using vintage paper as your canvas.

Here are a few ways to re-use an old book in so many other different ways…

Source: etsy.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Envelopes look so chic when they are obviously from some old book.

Source: sherlonkahkai.tumblr.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Tags: Who would have thought? They look so romantic.

Source: 1bellehistoire.canalblog.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Butterflies: Can be used as mobiles and garlands, and in scrapbooking.

Source: elfenpulver.blogspot.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

The idea (above) is so cool. Cardboard boxes can look much prettier when decoupaged with old pages from an old book. Add a little bit of lace and you got yourself a romantic storage unit that can really add a touch of beauty to your craft room.

Source: recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

More romance… with this recycled vintage-looking envelope, using old pages from a book.

P.S.  If you have a recycling idea that you’d like to share, please post the link to your project in the comments box :)

Take care,

Karboojeh

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The Source of the first pic in this post is: anthropologie.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

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Related Articles

• Inspiration Board: Recycling, upcycling vintage books
• DIY Illustrations: My Botanical Garden | Recycling Old Book Pages