the green gal

Happy International Day of Happiness!

My usual Wednesday Palette Picking post has been suspended for this week because today I want to celebrate the first International Day of Happiness! Before you roll your eyes and think this is an invention of someone trying to flog something, I can tell you that the United Nations are the ones who decided last year that 20 March 2013 would be declared International Day of Happiness. The UN believe part of their mission is to build a vision "that will promote sustainability, eradicate poverty and enhance well-being and happiness" [source].

And I'm all for it!

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Life throws difficulties at all of us, different amounts in different ways, but this is why it's so important to look for happiness where we can, find it in the tiniest things and make the most of happy moments wherever possible. I think happiness is most easily found in the minutiae – the warmth of the sun on your face, the first cup of tea of the day, a smile from a loved one, the smell of fresh flowers – easy to spot and cost very little, if anything. 

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Happiness is so easy to share too, with very little effort you can spread joy just by being kind, considerate, thoughtful, generous, treating others how you want to be treated will do the trick most of the time. As I declared my word for this year to be 'positive' I've trying to be a more positive force in the world and in the process spreading a little happiness.

So, in the name of all things happy I've made a couple of little free printables for you! This cheerful hand lettered phrase in a pretty pastel palette is available as an A4-size poster and as a set of four A6-size postcards. All you need to do is click on the links to download the pdfs, print out and pin up or share!

Download Day of Happiness printable poster

Download Day of Happiness printable postcards

Inspired by this fascinating article on the Guardian website, and a post by the dynamo that is Jessika Hepburn of Oh My! Handmade Goodness, I am going to write a wee message on the back of the postcards and leave them in random local spots to be found and enjoyed by strangers! I'd love for you to do the same, wouldn't it be fab if all over the planet little postcards of happiness are being found by strangers and bringing a smile to their faces? That thought alone makes me quite happy.

And if you'd like to share what makes you happy and what you're doing to spread the joy I would love to know.

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I've come across a few websites who are striving to spread happiness, if you want to find out more just click the links below

The Happiness Project

Delivering Happiness

Action for Happiness

The Random Acts of Kindess Foundation

Have a very happy International Happiness Day, everyone! xx

Everything August

August was quite a busy blogging month for me, mainly because of the need to post a drawing every day. But I wrote about a few other things in the last few weeks too…

I won Theo Paphitis' Small Business Sunday

One of my favourite foodie websites got a look in

I went a little bit Olympics-mad and was inspired by Mo Farah to make a free printable poster

SmartCreativeWomen.com became a favourite listen-to site

And gift certificates arrived at the green gables!

Not all those who wander are lost – printable poster

You know those days when you have a long to do list but somehow you sidetrack yourself into doing something completely different? Yep, I had one of those recently. It wasn't entirely off track as I've been meaning to play around with hand drawn typography for a while but I didn't plan to create a new printable poster for you all. And yet I did…

I have Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkein to thank for these words and I think this quotation is rather apt, considering how the poster came about. I took a meandering path the day I made this but by no means an aimless one. What do you think of the hand drawn lettering?

In case you don't fancy using up lots of ink printing out the first version I've made a second version which isn't quite so striking but a lot lighter on your ink cartridge. 

The posters are A4 size and you can download the pdfs here:

Download not all who wander black poster

Download not all who wander white poster

As always with my free printables, feel free to tell other people about them but please do link to the post, not just the download, and all my free downloads are for personal, not commercial, use.

PS I sent out the green gables newsletter today – it's packed full of new product news, an exclusive offer on stationery and a recipe! That bit's just for fun. If you'd like a copy in your inbox just tell me your email, or sign up in the box on the green gables website. You'll receive an email once or twice a month (which includes a special offer just for subscribers) and if you change your mind you can unsubscribe at any time.

Inspirational poster, Mo Farah-style

So the Olympics are over. But the Paralympics are yet to come! Following an awesome fortnight where the world saw the greatest athletes excel and inspire I'm feeling a little bit inspired myself. One of my highlights (there were a lot) was seeing Mo Farah win the 5,000km and listening to him interviewed afterwards. A recurring theme of the Olympics was how many athletes put their success down to sheer hard work and a determination to do their absolute best. So when Mo Farah uttered the words "Anything is possible, it's just hard work and grafting" it struck a chord with me and a new printable poster was created! 

These words are just so true. Money, status and connections can play a part but what will really get you where you want to be in life is a belief in yourself and working tirelessly to achieve your goals. You can do whatever you want with your life, you just have to want it enough to work and strive and never, ever give up until you get there. No-one says it will be easy but anything is possible.

You can have your own copy of this poster by clicking on the link below and saving the pdf. Print it out on recycled paper, pin it up and go after your goals! 

Download anything is possible poster

As always with my free printables, feel free to tell other people about them but please do link to the post, not just the download, and all my free downloads are for personal, not commercial, use.

If you'd like more inspirational words take a look at the list of my free printables posts in the column on the right.

PS Did you catch yesterday's blog post? Gift certificates are now available at thegreengables.co.uk!

Take the guesswork out of gift buying

Sometimes you just can't decide on a present for a friend or loved one. Or you're in a hurry and need to send a gift asap. So, that's where a gift certificate comes in handy! And now they're available at thegreengables.co.uk.

The lucky recipient can spend their gift certificate on absolutely anything they like at the green gables website and it's valid for a whole year. You can choose between £10 and £20 values, or multiples of, or ask me for a different figure if you prefer. The gift certificate will include their name, your message and the unique certificate code, and to make life super quick and easy I will email it to you. Then, all you need to do is print it out, fold it up and give it as it is, or popped into a card, to the lucky duck you're treating! Or, if time is tight and you want the recipient to receive their gift certificate really quickly I can send the email directly to them.

As well as the different values there are four designs to choose from too. Of course, if you know exactly what you want from thegreengables.co.uk to give as a gift I can wrap it (at no extra charge) in my heart or star wrapping paper and post it directly to the recipient too.

And there's more! I have decided to sell my seconds rolls of decorative sticky tape at a reduced price. There is nothing wrong with the actual tape, and you still get 30m on a roll, it's just that the tape isn't wound neatly enough on to the card roll for me to be happy to sell it at full price. So, if you'd like my blue star or red heart decorative sticky tape at a cheaper price (£2.75 instead of £3.50) and you don't mind the roll looking a bit untidy, check out my seconds rolls on the website.

Everything July

I've managed to forget to do a recap for the last couple months but at least I've remembered this time! So, here are a handful of my favourite posts from last month…

I launched a few new products

A spot of movie-watching inspired this free printable poster

The super talented Jessica Swift caught my eye

I got excited about new magazine The Simple Things

and I exhibited at a gorgeous vintage country fair! Now, what's in store for August…

Everything will be alright

Yep, I've been at it again, creating another printable poster for you lovely lot. The moment I heard these words said by a character in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (I don't think he's the only one to have said them) a printable poster idea popped into my head. Maybe that's not the usual response to watching a film but apparently it is for me! 

I've been playing around with hand drawn typography and thought this would be a good chance to try it out, what do you think?

You can download this free printable by clicking on the pdf link:

Download everything alright poster

The poster is A4 size so should be easy to print out on recycled paper on your home printer. As always with my free printables, feel free to tell other people about them but please do link to the post, not just the download, and all my free downloads are for personal, not commercial, use.

Enjoy the poster and if you'd like another positive printable take a look at my marvellous poster here.

Marvellous printable poster

While joining in the brilliant weekly twitter discussion led by Jessika Hepburn of the oh my! handmade goodness blog, I was reminded of a poster I made myself a while ago:

I had posted about it on this blog but I hadn't made it into a printable poster for you, for some unknown reason. But I have now!

Simply click on the link to download the pdf and print the poster on A4/US letter size recycled paper. 

Download marvellous poster

As always with my free printables, feel free to tell other people about them but please do link to the post, not just the download, and all my free downloads are for personal, not commercial, use.

I pinned the poster on the wall in front of my desk in my studio to remind me whenever I need a little spark of energy.

This is my wall looking relatively bare, I've got a lot more stuff stuck to it now! The other poster you can see is another printable poster using an Anne of Green Gables quote: "One can dream so much better in a room where there are pretty things". You can find the free poster here.

And if you want to check out Jessika's twitter chat, just follow the hashtag #OMHG on twitter between 6pm and 7pm GMT on Thursdays.

Palette pingpong no45 + printable poster

It's been such a grey and gloomy couple of weeks so I was very pleased to see the image Kirsty has challenged me with for today's palette pingpong. You can see the cheerful image over on Kirsty's blog, ginger and george, and here is the colour palette I took from it:

Pretty bright, eh? It put me in such an upbeat mood that I decided to create a free printable poster using these colours and a fantastic quote I recently stumbled upon: 

I would have taken a photo of the poster hung up in my studio but the light is so dire with the non-stop rain that there was no hope of getting a decent image. But anyway, isn't this a great quote?! I love the idea of deciding, and stating to the world, that you're not going to bumble through life with faded colours and muted sounds, not making the most of the time you have and failing to pursue your dreams. Instead, you're going to spend your time on this planet living life in full technicolour, chasing those dreams, never giving up, finding joy in the little stuff and living out LOUD! 

To download the poster just click on the link below and print on a sheet of (recycled if possible) paper or card. The poster is a little shorter than A4 or US legal letter so trim the excess off and you're good to go!

Download the poster

As always with my free printables, feel free to tell other people about them but please do link to the post, not just the download, and all my free downloads are for personal, not commercial, use.

Enjoy and go live out loud!

The gift of palette pingpong

So, if you're wondering what's happened to the regular palette pingpong posts I can tell you that they're having a little holiday! But they will be back. In the meantime I thought I'd give you a round up of all the free gifts Kirsty and I have given you in our palette pingpong posts. Within 41 PPP posts lie 21 different freebies – printables, tutorials, desktop wallpapers – so there's a good chance you may have missed the odd one!

Here is a list of all the PPP posts that hold little gems of pretty palette-inspired downloads, in order, so you can be sure you've made the most of our offerings. Some of them are tied into seasonal events but you can always download the file to use at the appropriate time. As with all our free downloads, please remember they are only for personal use and if you'd like to share them be sure to link back to the original post.

Right, on with the list!

oh, hello card

cheery desktop wallpapers

handmade is heartmade print

bunting postcards

congratulations card

Hallowe'en ghost garland

you're a star card

Christmas tags

master plan sheets

twitter desktop

love you card

you are lovely card

life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful desktop wallpaper

you are the bestest cards

be kind prints

I heart you card

thank you cards

pears desktop wallpapers

mini flag garland tutorial

teardrops & rainbows print

patterned paper & Christmas tags