A New Look

A 'New Look' for Fanantique

If you've been following along for a while, you'll know that the past year has brought about some massive changes and both my business, 'Fanantique' and my career as an illustrator have been somewhat neglected.

Now that things are slowly starting to get back on track, I have put some time into re-branding everything and am trying to consolidate everything I do into one cohesive identity . It is not easy!

To gather inspiration, I looked over both the current Fanantique and Lizzie Lamb branding; logo design, fonts, colours along with some of my favorite images and promotional graphics created.

 

 Above: The Current Fanantique logo & colours

Below: An advertising image created for a sale

(photography by Rob Luxford of Vivid )

My very favorite Fanantique image is this one below, of the gorgeous Anna Boulic in this fabulous 1950's dress. I am sure you have seen this image around the place on the Fanantique website and facebook page.

While having a think about all this, I spotted an image I had hanging above my desk and drew a quick interpretive sketch of it.

I then scanned the image and had a play with it in Adobe illustrator, adding some color and tweaking the design. (I'm thinking about trying to upload a tutorial soon)

below: The iconic image that inspired me, Dior's 1947 New Look

This rough sketch was scanned and then colour shading and pattern added to create the below drawing.

I was pretty happy with the image, so used it as my starting point to create my new business card (I love polka dots!) I just got the cards back from the printer and they turned out well. I actually went with rounded corners and they turned out great.

Spring Fashion Workshops and illustration

Once again, I have neglected this blog, the reason is I have been busily preparing for Spring and getting back into some illustration work, which I love.
It seems like winter has lasted forever this year and I can't wait for Spring! At the shop I am eagerly awaiting a beautiful range of hats and headpieces designed by my lovely friend Chitra from Chitra's Closet. All the designs reflect a strong vintage influence and fun colour combinations which are Chitra's signature.
I have also been working with Candice DeVille, aka Superkawaii Mama (check out her blog here)
and milliner, Peter Jago to put together a Spring Fashion Workshop.
I have just finished the imagery for this event and working on the illustrations made me realize how much I enjoy fashion drawing.
I have just finished a book featuring children's illustration, (I will post some pictures soon) this project was an educational book so while it was fun, parts of it were quite technical, so it was refreshing to work with the loose, fluid style of fashion again. I hope you like them!

Behind the Scenes at Fanantique

As you may have noticed, my posts on the blog have became more and more sporadic, I'm sorry about this- I haven't even kept up with my 'Champagne Friday" entries! There has been quite a lot of things going on behind the scenes here at Fanantique, all of which deserve their own post and in time will get one!
Here is a run down of some recent goings on, events and also some work in progress:

DesignEx- Interior Design show
At the moment DesignEx is on in Melbourne. DesignEx is a trade only exhibition open to anyone in a field such as interior design, architecture, furniture, furnishing fabrics and textiles etc. It is always good to go along to these events to keep an eye on what's new, current and emerging trends in interior decorating. (Not to mention there is usually a glass or two of Champagne involved!) I will be going along to this tomorrow and hope to report back to let you know what beautiful things I see....
In the meantime to find out more about 'DesignEx' click here



The Royal Wedding
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will know that it is not long now until the Royal Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton. I thought it was as good an excuse as any, for a celebration. The day of the big event, April 29, does happen to be a Friday so we will be celebrating with an extra special Champagne Friday. We will be featuring an extra special window display in store, co-curated  by renowned Melbourne milliner, Peter Jago (aka the self proclaimed 'Queen of Everything') we have started putting together some special pieces including some limited edition Peter Jago hatpins.

Melbourne Fine Art- French Fashion Illustration 
There is currently a very special exhibition on in town at the Melbourne Fine Art Gallery:
Vintage French Fashion Illustration. The images I've seen from the show all look divine and I can't wait to check out the show on Monday. I look forward to reporting back on the visual delights that await me! For more details about the show click here

Bay St One Off Event - Vintage Fashion Sale
As you may or may not know, we have some rather interesting neighbors here on Bay St. One of which is a fabulous Antique shop - 'A Joy Forever'. The owner, Francesca is currently having a clean out of her warehouse and amongst her treasures she has a great collection of vintage clothing and accessories. We are teaming up and are in the midst of planning a one off vintage fashion sale along with some other purveyors of fine vintage fashion. Stay tuned for more about this soon......

The Deck Bar
Speaking of neighbors,  another one of our neighbors is the lovely Brad, who has 'The Deck Bar' further down the street. He is currently in the midst of a renovation on the function room of the bar. I was lucky enough to be asked in to have a look and offer my opinion. His interior decorator, has come up with the inspired theme of 'Midnight at the Oasis' , a luxurious Middle Eastern flavor. I am currently loving being part of the creative process and have come across some gorgeous points of inspiration for the project. To give you an idea of the feel, here are a few images. (Again pictures and more details coming soon)

New Products- Besame Cosmetics
Of course I am always on the look out for beautiful things for the store. After chatting recently with the lovely Candice DeVille (aka Super Kawaii Mama- to see her amazing vintage style blog click here) I decided that Besame cosmetics would be a fabulous addition to our range. I am still in discussion with the company, but things are looking good and I am hoping to introduce their gorgeous range of vintage inspired lipsticks soon. To get a sneak peek at the beautiful collection click here

Vintage Fashion
Of course there are some more beautiful vintage pieces arriving soon, amongst other things,we have some beautiful coats and handbags for winter coming soon. My mum is currently in Seattle and she will be bringing back lots of goodies for the store at the end of the month!


Illustration
Outside of Fanantique, things have been busy also. I have been working on illustrations for a book for an educational company, Take Note Music. I hope to share pictures soon, after the book is published. It has been a fun project with some gorgeous characters. The concept of the book is all about teaching children how to read music. It has been fun to step away from fashion illustration and explore other styles, and I must say illustrating for kids is a lot of fun.

The Wedding
Of course another thing that is occupying my thoughts is of course my wedding! I have been slowly putting together a collection of ideas (creating a mood board) but have yet to really do any tangible planning. The current plan is still to go to Hungary for the event, but Gabor is not a big fan of being the center of attention so is getting a little nervous about this idea. He is gently trying to talk me into opting for a small wedding on a remote Western Australian beach or a shot gun style wedding in Las Vegas! I must admit Las Vegas is very tempting.....but I am sticking to my guns and still planning a European Wedding. Once I finish the book I am working on, I will get to work on designing my dress.

There are also more things in the works for further down the track, including a Spring Racing Event, a special excursion to the Grace Kelly exhibition next year and more, stay tuned!

Love at First Sight

I was out shopping in the leafy suburb of Montrose on the weekend, when I spotted something gorgeous. How beautiful is this illustrated chocolate packaging from Pink Lady!!! I don't usually need an excuse to buy chocolate, but this beautiful vintage style drawing compels me to purchase it!
I am not sure who the illustrator is , (will need to research this)  but the style looks very much like a French born, Australian illustrator called Michel Canetti . His work is definitely worth a look here anyway. A quick look at the Pink Lady website and I can see that there is a whole range of products packaged with these beautiful illustrations.....I might need to collect them all!

Greetings!

Over the last few days, I have been busily sending out my new greeting card catalogue. This is a small sideline that I do as a hobby, but thanks to some encouragement from a helpful friend of mine, I have finally got my act together and produced a proper range! Here are a few samples of the current collection, it has an obvious vintage inspiration of course.
Within the collection there are a few small ranges/themes, there is a soft watercolor collection featuring subtle hues and overlapping semi abstract shapes, subject matters such as bathing boxes, cupcakes, balloons and my favourite: cocktails.

There is also my signature or couture collection that features fashion illustration. Usually these images are created with a combination of watercolor paint and ink. 99% of the time I work freehand, but sometimes will finish off the image in photoshop by adding a block of color of pattern, as is done in the images below.

Another medium that I love to work in is collage (Although it is very messy- I usually end up with tiny bits of torn paper everywhere) Sometimes a piece is constructed purely by using collage, other times I will combine illustration with collage. The first image below is created with torn paper and then detail has been added with prismacolor (coloured pencil).

The image above was originally created for a friends wedding. This is created by a variety of wrapping papers, photographic images and coloured paper. I will be posting more, but in the meantime, you can download the entire catalogue at my 'lizzie lamb' website (just look under the 'greeting card' heading)

Weddings, Parties, Anything

As you may have known, I recently became engaged and since then have just been loving looking at and discovering some amazing wedding blogs, magazines and other sources of inspiration. Admittedly, I had always looked at this sort of thing anyway, not because I am a tragic 'Muriel' type longing to get married, but because there are so many great ideas for decorating and design, not just suitable for a wedding but wonderful for any occasion or even for no occasion all.
Firstly, I must say that there are also many awful wedding mags and sites out there too .... I even came across a site that was selling replica dresses modeled off the one worn in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (seriously)

As my partner and I are opting for a small, simple wedding in a small village in Hungary (yes really),
I will not be able to use very many of my grand ideas , (which is fine I just enjoy the creative process).
Another 'problem' of the small wedding abroad is that not many family friends and relatives will be able to attend. Instead of the big wedding, we have decided to have an engagement party so that the family and friends that can not travel to the wedding can celebrate with us. To keep it casual we are planning a garden party (held in my parent's garden).
The event is coming up soon, and hopefully I will get some nice photos to post. In the meantime, here are some lovely images that inspired the theme of our event and a mention of some great sites, worth a look not just for Wedding stuff...but all sorts of inspiration for any kind of party and everyday life too.

These beautiful images below are from thesweetestoccasion.com. I love the combination of soft pastel colored flowers and vintage bottles. I like the idea of the look being simple with a random feel to it.
(I don't usually like anything to neat or ordered when it comes to flowers)

Pictured below: paper lanterns suspended in trees. I love this idea for an elegant alternative to balloons.
Lanterns are more 'grown up' than balloons and suspended from trees create a fun, whimsical mood. I found these polka dot paper lanterns at pinkfrosting.com.au. I ordered some of these in various colors and used them as a starting point for the theme that will tie the event together. I created invitations to match and there will also be other decorations to compliment along with some color coordinated food!

If you are planning an event, you can't go past Martha Stewart. The magazines are usually brilliant. (I highly recommend the 'Martha Stewart Living' Halloween and Christmas editions ) but most of what  appears in the mags end up on her website anyway, marthastewart.com. Her creative team are amazing
and there are some fantastic ideas on this site. Of course she has a "Martha Stewart Weddings" section too. These invitations shown below are from the site and caught my eye because they match my theme.

This amazing piece below is a gorgeous 'save the date' card that I found on a cute blog called 'Little Winter Bride' there are some gorgeous ideas here. The author has a penchant for vintage style and again many of the ideas shown here do not necessarily have to be employed for a wedding.

Not that I am ready to start thinking about the dress and all that yet, but how gorgeous is this 1950's style wedding shown below??!!!! The bride and all the bridesmaids are wearing original vintage dresses (modified a little to fit). These gorgeous pictures are from a lovely site , called Polka Dot bride. (www.polkadotbride.com)
It is lovely because the weddings featured all have a unique twist, but still hold onto some tradition (ie they still look like weddings)

The image below is from a site that I admit I am now addicted to. "Offbeatbride.com' has some incredible photos of real weddings on it (no white pouffy dresses here!). As the name suggests this is a site for alternative weddings, there are many that are really out there, but there are some that are classic with a unique twist. There are heaps of great ideas here, from decorating to graphic design and food, so many of these ideas would be great for all sorts of occasions.

 

Below is a rough illustration that I did while working on the invitation for our party. I featured the croquet mallet as we are planning on having yard games for our guests. We just need to keep our fingers crossed for some nice weather! Below that is the design that I ended up going with. I ended up going with a simple watercolor printed onto one side of a postcard with the event details on the reverse. Sent in a sunshine yellow envelope, it created a light happy feel.

Christmas Cards & Wrap

It's that time of year again! Time to prepare for Christmas. For the past few weeks we have been busily unpacking Christmas decorations at Fanantique and preparing for the busy weeks ahead. I always love the Festive Season and enjoy coming up with a different theme each Christmas.
Before I opened the store, I would always illustrate a new collection of Christmas cards each year, which would then tie in to the style and color of my gift wrapping and decorating. Sometimes I would even make my own hand painted wrapping paper!
As we are already into November, I am not so sure that this will happen this year!
I do have some gorgeous, vintage style cards and wraps from Zetta Florence as well as a collection of reprints from some of my previous collections.

Above: Vintage style Christmas postcards and wrap from Zetta Florence, available at Fanantique.
Below: Some illustrated cards from my collection. "Christmas Shopping" and "Holly Martini"  themes are both watercolor and ink. The black and gold images are created with collage. (Wrapping paper, photographs, colored paper and glitter).

Christmas Cocktail

To get into the Christmas spirit why not celebrate with this Nutty Martini?

Martini Glass

Ice Cubes

Amaretto to wash

60ml Vodka

20ml walnut liqueur

10ml frangelico liqueur

walnut half to garnish

Wash ice cubes with amaretto. Stir remaining ingredients in with ice then strain into Martini glass. Garnish with walnut half. Yum!