Sometimes it’s nice to play around with a few older illustrations. You may have spotted this ‘There’s No Place Like Home’ swatch before being used on my first wrapping paper design. I took the opportunity this month to try the same little houses and cafes on a greeting card. Hoping that it might be picked up for general use art card, a good luck in your new home card or perhaps sending to friends and family as a new address card.

I’ve been commissioned to create a few sets of personalised stationery along those lines. I’ve also been able to offer a printed message inside my cards for a while now; utilising my very nice Canon printer here in the studio! One-off cards also go down well over on my Etsy shop; where I think there’s more of a personalisation clientele. For this card I was keen to try something a tiny bit more ambitious inside. Here’s the hand drawn bits that I came up with… a few sketched artefacts that rift on the front door/home theme.

This extra pattern can be printed inside the cover, leaving the main message untouched. Or there’s the addition of a set message or custom text. I like the flexibility of printing these on demand and if the inside surprise isn’t wanted, the whole thing can be left blank. Here’s a couple of pictures of the interior with the extras added. I’m pleased with how it turned out and it’s given me more ideas for some special edition cards I want to create around Christmas time.

I like to think that it’s a strength of my artwork; that it copes well used across a variety of media and products. Is there a previous illustration or artwork you’ve spotted… that you think I should use again? Cards, prints, puzzles, or perhaps a new line I haven’t explored before? I have to pick and choose what I get printed, otherwise it gets rather costly, but I always make a note of requests and will try to bump things up the queue if there’s more interest!