I’ve spent quite a while looking for a decent drawing app to test its usefulness as a drawing tool. It wasn’t something I’d originally planned to use it for. I always carry sketch books around, but sometimes it’s handy to be able to put doodles and drawings straight into digital form, or it’s a ore productive way of spending time on a long journey than endlessly playing Bejewelled or watching back-to-back episodes of Supernatural. I tried a couple of freebies first to see how they shaped up, including Freeform and Mini Draw. I found they were both a bit limited in functionality, and, at the risk of sounding like a bad workman blaming their tools, neither of them felt quite right to me. Freeform was by far the better of the two, with many Adobe Illustrator-like tools, but lacking a few essentials including easy access flip and rotate. I struggled with the multi-finger gestures required to rotate items, which didn’t allow for much accuracy.

Eventually I discovered InkPad. Costing a mere £5.49 and with a bunch of 5 star reviews, I decided to give it a whirl, and I was glad I did. InkPad is a fully featured app, with the immediate feel of Adobe Illustrator created for the iPad and a host of useful options, including the ability to add text and import your own fonts via Dropbox. It’s a professional vector illustration app that’s fast and easy to use and it supports paths, compound paths, text, text on a path, images, groups, masks, gradient fills, and an unlimited number of layers with adjustable transparency. I’ve already become more attached to my iPad than ever before!

Here are some of my early doodles. I was able to import patterns directly into InkPad from my photo library and place them inside clipping paths to add texture. InkPad also supports a full collection of overlay modes including multiply, screen, difference, hue etc. It can even handle pretty complex patterns like those shown below, and with the entire range of flip, duplicate, align, distribute and pathfinder commands, making patterns like these is a breeze.

Of course, you’ll also need to invest in a stylus for your ipad if you’re going to seriously use it for drawing. I use the Wacom Bamboo Stylus, but there are also many other models available. If you’re looking for a value-for-money drawing app I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.

© Sarah Paris 2012

© Sarah Paris 2012

© Sarah Paris 2012

© Sarah Paris 2012

The Stroud Valleys Artspace John St studios will be open on the weekends of 12th-13th May and the 19th-20th May. There are 26 painters, sculptors and textile artists in the building with lots of beautiful and varied artwork to enjoy. I think Mel’s new work is fabulous, I’m hoping she’s going to do prints of the budgie image below, I love it! Here’s a taster of Mel’s gloriously colourful designs …

The Site Festival is an artist led contemporary arts festival, now in its 16th year, which brings a full and dynamic programme of visual arts, performance, music, screenings, open studios, artist talks and workshops to the Stroud Valleys for the whole month of May. To view the Site Festival programme click here. The online version of the Open Studios brochure is here

I’ve just started the first module of 3 in The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design featuring the incredibly popular and talented designer Rachael Taylor. I’m reallyexcited about diving right in and re-discovering my creativity and designing my way. So far I’ve been inspired to fill loads of pages in my sketchbook with new ideas and doodles and I’m looking forward to converting these into finished designs.

First things first, I tidied up the small corner of my room that is my workspace, and here it is:

I was a bit reluctant to share pictures of my workspace at first – a very cramped little corner in my bedroom, but I feel so positive about this course that I figured I should share everything – and it isn’t so bad once it’s tidied a bit. I’m also very lucky to have the space to work – although I’m often joined by Hettie, my darling moggie and number one fan, who doesn’t like it when the computer gets all of my attention. I don’t have a separate desk for crafting, but the pull-out keyboard shelf is really helpful, and quite big so I generally use that. I connect my Macbook up to a larger screen and wireless keyboard, so I only need 1 computer which I can take everywhere. Also a diecuttting machine on there which I use for craft projects.

I have loads of inspiration images- mainly from greetings cards, stationery and photos I take when I’m out and about, so I’m going to get some of those up on the wall. Right now my pinboard is full of old comedy fliers and gig tickets so I don’t lose them!

It’s generally time for a tea break when my number one fan loves to join me and sits right on my Wacom, or in front of the screen instead of on the left hand side where I usually try and leave a space for her!

I’ll be updating my blog with more details on the course as it progresses. It runs though April/May, June and September, so there will be lots to do and look forward to.

I opted for their mini cards, because they offer a multitude of possibilities; a talking point, due to their unique size and shape, ideal for networking when you simply want to pass on your Twitter/Facebook details, plus I could also use them as small swing tags to attach to giveaways and promotional items. I was looking for something to make my items stand out from the rest when considering sending them out for goodie bags at the Hobbycraft show this year. The fact that you can choose to include an unlimited amount of your own designs on the front in glorious full colour, thanks to MOO’s Printfinity technology, rather than just the usual one also gives them another appealing feature. I could showcase many different designs, suitable for different clients, and only pay for one set of cards. Perfect.

The design and ordering process is easy, you can upload your own images online, or choose from a multitude of pre-designed template images to suit you particular needs. Once you’ve chosen or uploaded your design, input your details for the back of the cards and checked it all on-screen, you can submit your order to MOO and they do the rest, and they do it delightfully, and pretty speedily too. Your cards will be delivered in 6 -8 days (or less, if you’re in a rush) in a fun little box with dividers to file your favourites, ready for you to show off to your friends.

Here are my cards. I punched holes in she of them and added matching ribbons, so i could use them as swing tags. I’m definitely going to set up another set with autumnal and Christmas designs for later in the season. I’ll let you knw how that goes.

MOO mini business cards start from £10.19. Half the size of regular business cards, but twice the fun. Design your own or choose from their multitude of ready made designs, some of which are shown below. Maybe the ones below will inspire you to create your own.

Regular sized business cards are also available from MOO

Look out for it in newsagents NOW. Featuring a massive 1,022 printable elements on 2 craft CDs, tutorials, discounts and step-by-step guides, it also includes a range of Sarah Paris items on the CD, ideal for mothers’ day, including digi  papers, clipart and digi stamps PLUS a feature with step-by-step guides from myself and the wonderful Lisa Sumpter on how to make a whole host of soft and feminine cards using the items on the CD.

I can’t wait to see it!