Monday 29 August 2011

Greeting Cards and Gifts for Diwali

Diwali (or Deepavali) is a 5-day festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains in the dark days of late Autumn and the name means 'row of lights'. 

So many of the greeting cards for Diwali have images of oil lanterns or candles but, after watching a video about the festival on the BBC Schools website, I decided to do something slightly different. In the video, a schoolgirl and her brother were shown painting a traditional 'Rangoli' pattern on the doorstep of their house to encourage the goddess to visit them and bring them prosperity in the coming year. And that was the inspiration for this design, which I created digitally, with my graphics tablet:

First, some Diwali Greeting Cards









This last Diwali card is available in my Zazzle store, addressed to a variety of different people and if you don't see the one you need, you can always contact me through my store and I will customise the front greeting for you.

These Rangoli Stickers would be ideal for the envelopes of your Diwali Greeting Cards.


Stickers with Rangoli Pattern sticker
Stickers with Rangoli Pattern by helikettle

Bookplates with Rangoli Pattern






You could also make a button from the Rangoli design on the Keychain!





And this mousepad would make a perfect gift for Diwali
 
 


It is customary to buy a large quantity of sweets for Diwali and to give sweets as gifts. 
So these reasonably priced tote bags would be a great, filled with sweets!









And here are three ornaments with Rangoli Patterns for Diwali











And finally, for a highly prized Diwali gift, how about an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad case?

 








All of these greeting cards and gifts for Diwali are available from my Zazzle Store.

Friday 26 August 2011

Celebrating Kwanzaa


Before I created these greeting cards and gifts, I had to search Google for 'Kwanzaa' as I don't think it is known outside the United States; at least, I had never heard of it. I discovered that in 1966-67, Dr Maulenga Karenga founded this week-long celebration of African-American heritage and culture, details of which you can find on the official Kwanzaa website here.

An important part of the celebrations is the lighting of seven candles, three of them green, three red and one black. So these strikingly coloured candles form the basis of my Kwanzaa greeting card designs.

   

   



And here's a sheet of stickers for sealing those Kwanzaa greeting card envelopes:




At the end of the holiday, which runs from Dec 26th - Jan 1st, gifts are exchanged so here are some I've created for sale in my Zazzle store:
















 




If you don't see what you want here, maybe you'd like to use my Kwanzaa design to create your very own Kwanzaa gift or Greeting Card - the possibilities are endless at Zazzle!
 




Monday 22 August 2011

Abstract Design Range - 'Waves'

Not for the faint-hearted - the vibrant blues and greens of this handpainted 'Waves' design will make sure you stand out in a crowd, whether you're wearing it or using it!




























And don't forget you can use your own creativity and play around with this design to make your own products! Just go to my Zazzle store and click on the 'Abstract' button.