2015 Holiday Cards Round-Up Part II

Papyrus

Quince

Boygirlparty

Black Bird Letterpress

Kate Endle

Wheatley Design Prints

Thicket and Thin

TripleCShoppe

World Market

Little Gold Fox 

Happy Friday, all! Last week I did the round-up on beautifully designed holiday cards from all over the internet. (Here's the link to the Holiday cards part 1 in case you missed it.) I found more cards inspired by the woodland creatures that are perfect to send the holiday greetings your family and friends this year. I hope you enjoy the collection and find something for your loved ones.

Have a lovely weekend. I'll see you back on Monday!

Shivani

Amazing Wood Carving by Lona Hymas Smith

While I was browsing through Pinterest I came across the amazing work by an Idaho based artist known as Lona Hymas Smith. Lona carved amazing sculptures inspired by wildlife and called her work an "illusionary realism". It's hard for anyone to not notice the creativity, skill, dedication and love of her craft displayed in her carvings. Her work was the most sought after for its the incredible attention to detail and mind boggling realism. Check out the video above that takes you closer to her work so you can see every tiny detail in her piece. Her woodcarvings were displayed all across the country, including at the Bronx Zoo in New York. She sold her pieces at Kneeland Gallery in Sun Valley, Idaho, and the Horizon Gallery in Jackson, Wyo, and to private collectors. 

"People ask me how long it took to carve a specific piece and I tell them, 19 years. A lifetime," - via. "That’s because every piece I do started with research, collecting photographs and reading piles of ornithology books in order to learn everything I could. That’s how I capture the life of what I’m portraying." You can learn about her and view more of her wonderful work here.

Owls: Our Most Charming Bird

[images via]

Owls: Our Most Charming Bird by Matt Sewell is a beautifully illustrated guide to different species of owls. This hardback book has 128 pages filled from cover to cover with information on fifty species from all over the world with lovely drawings. Every owl has a two page spread, one page gives you a short description and the other page is adorned with Matt's watercolor illustration of that owl. The adorable Eurasian Pygmy Owl, described as one who "bumbles around the woods hunting birds twice his size, like a pocket-sized politician after a liquid lunch." The Great Gray Owl is introduced as a creature "with a head like a geodesic dome inhabited by a bunch of strung out hippies, the Great Gray Owl looks like he's been hanging out with these guys for some time." 

This book will make a quirky gift to an owl lover or someone who appreciates art. If you like, you can see more pages from the book and order it online from here.

Gorgeous Paper Quilled Art

Marlene Subhashini is a freelance paper artist who makes these beautiful quilled artwork. Ever since she was a little girl, she was fascinated by three dimensional art and made all the artwork for her home by herself. When she stumbled across quilled art she was blown away by the depth and the magical effect of light and shadow it brought to the work. This gave birth to "Kaagaz" which means paper in Hindi. Kaagaz offers unique handcrafted quill designs made entirely out of simple strips of paper. The artist spends hours manipulating each strip to form breath-taking pieces.

You can view more of her work on Behance and find her artwork available for purchase on her online store here.

"All the Trimmings" Fabric Collection by Michael Miller

"All the Trimmings" by Michael Miller is a fun and whimsical holiday fabric collection to sew with this Christmas. The collection has adorable designs such as lovebirds, trees, candy cane stripes, stockings, lights, ornaments in shades of red, blue, green, white, pink and red. The prints are perfect for quilting, home accessories, apparel or any other holiday project that you may have in mind. You can find the fabric shown above and more here.