Have a Mariposa Cuppa

Hi guys!

Just in!  A selection of my prints have been created into cool modern coffee cups perfect for having your friends over for tea, use in a restaurant, amazing!   My friend, Gala, first turned me onto this process, she makes amazing crockery with her lovely drawings which are super cute using a heat transfer press.  http://galatomasso.wordpress.com/author/galatomasso/She offered ages ago to make me a mug and she gave me my first one which has a logo on it for my leaving pressie. I love it and its in constant use as its a big size perfect for a lovely cup of tea in the morning!

Gala offered to teach me how to do it myself so I chose a selection of random prints of mine and we printed them the other night. Anyone who knows me from college will know i love transfer printing its amazing the results that a heatpress can create. All together we made 21 cups and they look amazing! I am so delighted and cant wait to put them on display in the stall and at the Local Food &Craft Gift Fair in the Blackbox galway on November 16th and 17th

Perfect pressie for design lovers, dad, secret santa perfect!!

I'm not bragging but o.m.g

The most exciting news was in my phone inbox this morning, Mariposatextiles.com was plugged in the Sunday Times! I could not believe it, thought it was a joke or a mistake. But it was no joke, it was fact!
I think I am in shock, I have been an avid Sunday Times fan and there was one stage where I had a running joke that one of our friends was 'The Mole' a sort of secret undercover style stealing reporter psychic vampire. Everything I liked ended up in the times from bed jackets to my crockery obsession. I felt that as a paper it had a haunting grasp on the style and aesthetic I relish.

I have secretly desired aspired to have my work in the Times but I kept my goal to myself inspired by my deep seeded fear that voicing an objective to the universe often seems to result in said dreams crumbling apart as if fate was laughing at me.
So what next on the list? The Millions of course! oh no I said it have most likely jinxed it now urgghh! I cant believe it I am so happy and have to send out a big Thanks! to all of you who have put up with my blogging and tweeting and facebook etc. its has obviously worked! Thanks guys!! ow send me your millions! xTara

The truth is I have tried and tried to take decent shots of my products outside inside with a lightbox all over the place!  I am not able for it thats it clear and simple I am fine taking random pics, 'the filler' say but nice clear shots where you can see my prints its been a epic saga really. 

I was ranting about this with my friend Sinead and she suggested a Galway based photographer, Mark Conlon, he has been great and has helped me to completely overhaul my website and etsy shop.

Last Friday we took pictures of my cushions, (small plug here guys sorry) which are so gorgeous and full of color, Irish Linen, and made here in Galway. Plus they are only €25 and limited edition perfect pressies for people who are into color, interiors, modernism maximalism everything anything!!

Anyways, I tried for the life of me to take decent pics of them it was a disaster and I gave up. Due to my friend google analytics I have discovered that my home interiors page on my site has been the page where most browsers seem to jump ship offsite and go look somewhere else. Oh why oh why are you guys so fickle? Just buy something for fecks sake!! So now my plan for world domination has focused on this inept area of my image. 


My conclusion (sorry about the rambling) go to the professionals and save yourself a whole lot of time, heartache and have lovely clear images. I want people to stay on my site and possibly spend some money. This week we will be shooting my scarves I cant wait to show you them!

Reindeer Reindeer Reindeer

Yes I know! Its sick, its wrong, and so commercial to be spouting about the dreaded C-word (Christmas not the other one!!). But I am now self employed and how else am I going to spread the word about the deadly Christmas products I have then to start spouting on about them!!

So now that I have attempted to absolve myself from promoting Christmas in September here we go!!

My fabrics which feature reindeer wandering about are perfect for any Christmas crafts you may be working on.

Or how about this amazing op art green and red light bulb window print so Christmas-tastic

I have available my own design Christmas cards which are available in packs of 6, 8, 10 whatever suits!

So now that I have shared I can go and hand my head in shame, as I have always abhorred seeing holiday decor before thanksgiving! its not even Halloween the shame!

Original Designer Scarves Here At Last!

Mariposa Textiles Designer Scarves!

Finally! At last some of my scarves are finished! They are beautiful! I have 5 more prints that need to be sewn but they are on the way!
  In the meantime these will do for a sneak peek. All are for sale in my etsy shop or you can message me through the facebook (give us a like will ya?) https://www.facebook.com/MariposaTextiles

 My new prints have arrived as well and I now stock cotton velvet! The most amazing fabric ever! its soft and luxe like velvet but strong and sturdy like cotton omg!

Using Facebook as Mariposa Textiles

When you watch the news or a hip program or even like loose women they are always on about facebook. I made a facebook group last year and hassled everyone I know (all 106) to join it. That was grand and loads of people joined it but it wasn't that great. I didn't put a lot of effort in and there was something quite unappealing about the groups appearance. I was then advised that a page was more accessible, so I created a page, but found I could not transfer over the people from my group to the page! Which is well, just really annoying. Anyways, I formed a page and I have been waiting to promote it till I had really flash pictures and good content to show people. Since Christmas I have been working and working trying to get this business started and had basically nothing happen so I thought maybe I would give the facebook a try. I mean why not use it to promote your brand there is almost a billion people using it now!

So I have been promoting and putting up new pics and talking to people about it and tweeting and blah blah blah and i only have 83 likes its quite depressing! I am not going to get down about it because I think with the introduction of the timeline design the page looks great. Plus I finally had professional product pictures taken. Next step is to do a fashion photo shoot which is in the works but in limbo while I wait for my silk scarves to arrive. So things are looking up! I also made a payvment shop which looks great and its free!
So, so far so good but will I manage to get more likes my god something has to give right? If your reading this you better give me a like or else! http://www.facebook.com/MariposaTextiles  http://www.facebook.com/MariposaTextiles

the payvment shop looks amazing I think its nicer then etsy and its free! so hopefully some of these billion users of facebook will start to come my way I think they have dramatically improved how it looks visually and made it easier to display work so I am optimistic!

Today I made Ribbon French Message Board

Today I made...................


My little sister suggested I should make ribbon message boards to sell and I have been toying with the idea for ages. When I got in this fantastic fabric, "Irish Ghost Estates midi print" I knew I finally had to tackle the project.

Materials I used

Massive wooden frame
Staple Gun, Staples
Yard of Cotton
Scissors
Polyester wadding 2 yards

I took the frame and stretched the wadding over it stapling it and pulling it taut. Next I stretched the fabric over the frame.  Then I gathered up ribbons. I think to have uniform ribbons on it you would need like 6 7 meters of ribbon. I didnt have that much to hand so I opted for going with loads of differnt ribbons in the tones which are in the print, Black, Brown, Green, White. I included a few sparkley fancy ribbons, lacy ribbons, and polka dots. I then pinned the ribbon on making sure to space the ribbons properly. (make sure you do this before you staple!) I then stapled all the ribbons into place. It looks amazing and will solve a messy problem in my house all the silly flyers, bills, drawings, cards which have had no where to go Perfect!

These can be made to order in the print of your choice for 90 euro

Silk Scarf Paradise

 I have been messing about trying to make silk scarfs for ages trying to hand sew them trying to source the right fabrics, printers. Now I have 6 scarfs made as samples its so exciting! They look great but are just a trial run for the proper line which will be having its debut in May. Entitled "Family Portraits", the line will include 5 complimentary printed silk scarves 3 long ones and 2 square ones its nervous times here! I have no sales, no shop and I just keep plugging away hoping that something will come together at last! Its a big gamble but I'm feeling positive!  In the meantime check these out! They are all available to buy I am having a photographer do my pictures from now on so these dodge pictures I take will soon be a thing of the past!

Mariposa Textiles Website up up and away

So I have madeover the website from the hot mess the first draft was into a much more streamlined, clean, easy to use site. I'm delighted with it so far considering that it took a week its not too amateur I think it looks pretty good actually. Check it out at MariposaTextiles.com    mariposatextiles.com

I'm not going to rant on and on for once just have a look! Just need to take a million decent product photos so the gloss pattern and print is consistant! I will be working away changing it all the time so watch this space

Easy Breezy Web Design

My first attempt at Web Design

So.. I have been asked so many times, 'Do you have a web page?'. When I say no, people kind of zone out the explanation about waiting on money, time, a web designer to offer up his services for free(email me)
Unfortunalty now the world is obsessed with the internet and its essential as a small(miniscule) business to have an online presence. I have had an etsy shop for 3 years and it has broken my heart again and again. I have no sales nothing its like I don't exist! This could be cause my work is horrific, my price is too high to compete with the pages of mass produced generic fabrics, or the site is just too vast and huge that people get stuck browsing for hours and never return to actually shop. Its been frying my head and I am seriously considering packing it in cause its a waste of money .20 cent per listing every three months I am actually loosing money by being on there! As an attempt to connect with sales I have joined etsy teams, used search ads, created a facebook page urghhhhhh!!

I was on Facebook doing the whole chain 'like' thingy on Etsy (if you like your fellow etsians they give you a like back) when I stumbled on the facebook of Studio Woolwork:
 http://www.facebook.com/StudioWoolwork?sk=app_129982580378550
Which  is a brilliant etsy shop for buying felt, merino wool lovely crafty supplies. But what caught my surprise was their 'wix' facebook page which was like a little mini web page within the facebook page. I was intrigued and immediately forgot about 'liking' my fellow etsians and began designing a new facebook page. Wix is an amazing web service! Its so simple and easy to use you can just drag drop and click pictures text boxes etc. and then boom you have a website. Plus its free! yes free! Here is the first go:

Now I must admit that at the moment its a big hot mess but I'm just delighted to have something that people might actually be drawn to and fingers crossed I might actually get some likes!

Which by the way is harder then you think I only have 51 likes I feel like a facebook loser!  I mean I have like 120 friends but they don't even like it eek!  If your on facebook and your one of the 6 people who read my blog check out my facebook page and please please please give me a like! http://www.facebook.com/MariposaTextiles

Only one complaint at the moment, Once someone 'likes' the page they wont see the Wix site when they land on the page but just the usual facebook scroll. 

Once I started with the Wix site I thought I would finally tackle making my actual website using Wix. I bought the mariposatextiles.com domain ages ago but have just had it redirecting to my etsy site. This has not been good as once people land on the etsy site there is nothing to stop them from getting lost wandering around etsy looking at everyone but yours shop!  I know from google analytics that I have had etsy traffic from that address, so where are the sales?

Using wix I have finally made a website! Yes! I'm delighted that I can say yes I do have a site. Granted its a bit all over the shop at the moment. But design wise its a first draft, we all know the first draft is not up to scratch. I have been working on it now for 3 days and I think it will be brilliant once I have it looking how I want.





















I want it to be full of pattern and color and make it so that hopefully it will stand out.  Honestly I am aware that some people may find the insane clashing colors and prints a bit of a headache but I cant help it! Plus I think its good to throw it all on and then pull back rather then have it not be enough.

I am going to take a break for a day now and let it settle and then tackle the problems and let me tell ya there are loads of problems, lack of links, consistency, buttons etc. But at least now etsy will not be stealing my customers before I even have a chance!

My fabric page is as you can see so messy and crazy and hard to understand but I will work on it again and try to make it more user friendly.  If you need to make a website yourself check out wix.com  its brilliant!

Fabrics inspired by the Sprog

My older son is obsessed with Dinosaurs, so when Spoonflower held a competition to design kids fabrics last year I was inspired to create a dinosaur fabric especially for him. I also designed prints with hedgehogs which was due to the fact that they are just so damn cute! When I say cute, you wouldn't believe it, I saw a hedgehog in real life! It was eating out of the cat bowl at my back door when I came home one night.  So tiny and beautiful I got down to have a peek and we made eye contact! I know this sounds crazy, but that hedgehog and I, we had a moment. Then he scampered away before I could take a picture little fecker.

The Hedgehog that is featured in the print is actually the work of an anonymous graffiti artist in Berlin. So funny to think about some bad ass hipster graffiti artist doing hedgehogs. I actually went out when I was like 19 with this dodge guy who does graffiti. It was a highly volatile fling, and he was a bit of a dick, but he took me out and gave me a can of spray paint. I must say it was highly entertaining. This was in the 90's so pre artworld explosion of cooler then thou graffiti people. I promise you my crazy scrawl would never have caused a wall to be taken down brick by brick to be saved for ever. It was vandalism really cause it was just really bad writing and messy. I have a feeling I probably wrote like my initials or a mushroom or something dodge (I was 19 come on!).  Now please don't think I was out spraypainting your grannies fence! We went out on the train tracks. It was so exciting sneaking around, this was in a very busy trainyard in California. So even in the middle of the night there were trains moving about. I get goose bumps thinking about it eek!

Anyways enough of my reminiscing about my wayward youth. Nowadays its considered a threat to national security to go anywhere near the trains in the states. I'd probably be suspected of subversive activities eek!

Now back to the kids.  So, my prints are the start of something I am going to explore more. I was thinking of writing a book for kids. As a mother I have read some amazing kids books (most of which have been purchased by my friend Jill as pressies for Iggy thank you Jill!).  The latest one, a lovely Christmas present, is called "Iggy Peck Architect".  Now as a child with a very unique name, Ignatius, Iggy is constantly disappointed when we see displays of tacky ornaments keyrings etc. which have names on them. Iggy is never ever there. He is so excited by this book which features a boy with his name! To make it even more exciting, it is a brilliant book. The illustrations are so lovely, there is a background of graph paper which is so cool I love graph paper!  The story is great, about a little boy named Iggy who is obsessed with building incredibly complicated structures out of say chalk or whatever is at hand.  It has a beautiful illustration of the Golden Gate Bridge at the end (ah home.......).  Now that Iggy can read to himself, this is a firm favourite. Only worry I have is that in the book they spell Ignatius, "Ignacious", as a clever play on words. Lets all hope that he doesn't start spelling his name wrong!

Hopefully I will come up with something inspiring for my children's book that's the key. It must have amazing illustration, style, and a catchy funny story. Another book Iggy loves is 'Wolves' by Emily Gravett. Now to explain how brilliant this is would be difficult, its unlike any other book I've seen, its the story of a rabbit which checks out a book about wolves from the library. Its so incredibly well drawn and put together. She also made another favorite book of his, 'Dogs', which he has loved since he was small. She is a talented illustrator the sketches of dogs are just wonderful, I'm pretty sure pictures of animals is the equivalent of kid-crack. You wouldn't believe how much the baby loves last years kitten calendar.

When Iggy says "Emily Gravett" he has a sort of awe-struck tone. He truly is amazed by the book 'Wolves' its really clever. She has a website http://www.emilygravett.com/  check her out. The 'Dogs' book would be good for 3 year old as a nighttime read and it still continues to entertain at 6. The 'Wolves' book is for 5-6 year olds. Check them out if you have any kids to buy presents for. I think books are great presents and they will be read over and over again. Plus if you dont start them reading now they could end up one of the millions of brainless drones who think that Twilight is a good book. I shudder to think eek.................