This is how it goes

Remember this card?

This is how it came together.....

A pencil sketch in my notebook of an image that had been in my mind for quite a while. Two great aussie birds.

Scan the drawing then add a bit of colour in Photoshop. I used an image of some parchment paper and added a bit of colour to it then used it as a background to the girl.


Added some shading (all in photoshop) to the Kookaburra and a bit more to the girl's face and increased the saturation of the colour to the skin.

Added an illustration done in Illustrator of some trees and put the same parchment scan behind them just this time I made it blue.
Just a final bit of tweaking by adding the trees into the body. There you go :)
I know I promised free giveaway today but you might just have to hang on till tomorrow I have to pick the winner of the Madeit blog comp to see who thought of the best idea for new Rubbergob products. They will win a fab pack of our stuff..............

Be good to your world

Here at Rubbergob we try really hard to be as good to our world as possible, we know we can always be better and as we go along we learn new things and find new suppliers that help us to be better.

As you may know we print all our products onto 100% post consumer recycled paper, it is processed chloring free and the energy used in its waste management is 100% Green-e Certified renewable energy, how about that hey!.

One of our printers is a company called Westcare. They are a not for profit organistation, providing employment, training and accommodation for people with a disability. We feel it is important to be good not only to the world you live in but the people you share it with.

There are some great companies out there who do an amazing job at being good to the world. Take a look at Earth Greetings and read the story of Heide Hackworth and how she started, admirable stuff. You just have to love a kookaburra.


More tomorrow on the lifecycle of our designs and illustrations so you can see how we do what we do. Oooh and I do think we are due another free dowload.

to market to market....................

Isn't it great to see so many fantastic markets coming up in Perth. I intend to be at the Made On The Left Market on Saturday morning. If you are in Perth be sure to catch the 33 designers and makers they have.

I fell upon Julie Knoblock an amzing illustrator from Victoria Australia. I remember seeing it quite a while ago and am so glad I found i again so I can share who and what inspires me. You can find Julie's brilliant work here and read all about her here.

Notebook heaven

I know I've spoken about these notebooks before but here they all are, they are all being printed as we speak which is a jolly good thing as we sold a lot from the samples we had made.




The notebooks come bound in a paper strap instead of cellophane bag. We are trying to be a lot better to our world by using 100% post consumer recycled paper and will continue to keep finding better ways to do what we do.



The notebooks also come in matching pairs and you will be able to order them on our website (as soon as I get time to put them up there).



They have 50 blank pages and cost $AU12.95 each or $AU19.95 for a pair. You will be able to purchase them in Calico&Ivy and Morisson (who have stores in Sydney and Melbourne) for starters.



..............how exciting.

Sassy pin up board

I spent a very wet and wild Saturday afternoon making this. Using an old, nasty gold frame that I'd had for years. I painted the frame white and had some foam core board cut to fit. You can get this from any picture framer and it comes in a variety of thicknesses.





I then covered the foam core board in batting that quilters use. I just taped this on the reverse.



Having chosen this fantabulous fabric from Calico and Ivy I then stapled it on the reverse side to the board.



Doesn't it look super snappy, it's going to hold all my inspiration for my design work, only problem there is that it will be full in about 5 minutes.

Bison, Dibbern, Distracted

Mmmmm I've been painting for a few days so way too busy to post. Battling with a portrait.......I'm almost winning however. Once you start on the oil paints again after a wee break you soon become too hooked on that wonderful smell and buttery texture to stop to do anything else........I'm afraid painting is a bit of an addiction as it is where I started straight after high school quite some time ago now.

Anyway.....I went to the also addictive Distracted Merchants of Fancy in Leederville (again) today and bought some beautiful vessels by Bison and Dibbern. Are they not the most beautiful things? If you haven't popped into the Distracted shop, which houses a tea shop, art shop and hair shop and waxing shop all in one you really must. They are purveyors of the most eclectic and beautiful objects.

Natural Inspiration

I have done a couple of posts about my garden, well not really about my garden but just to show where some of the inspiration for our designs comes from. Bird and I were sat having a brainstorm on the deck this afternoon and we watched a honeyeater sat in one of our trees pecking away, which was sweet as he features on these cards.




I was out in the rain on the weekend taking photos in the garden and this is what I snapped, a beautiful contrast of muted tones and that amazing camellia (at least I think it is).


It seems I'm not the only one that gains huge inspiration from the nature around them. Every now and then I have a sneak peak to see what the amazingly talented girls over at Poppies For Grace are up to. I think they live on a farm and a fruit farm at that (how idyllic) and are committed to sustainability in their design and packaging. If you haven't seen their gorgeous stationery then where have you been.