An apology made up for with a new product!

Wow i've been quiet haven't I? I really must apologise. My full time job has kept me unbelievably busy and rendered me entirely inept when I come home from work.

I'm a lecturer you see and the first half term from early September til October is so manic with getting to know new students, writing new projects and lessons, ordering materials, pastoral care etc and on top of that I am in charge of our in class support team which involves a lot of admin work and people management which i've never done before so I have not had chance to think of other things.

Luckily half term arrived, finally and i've been busy planning for our I Make Fun Stuff Festive Market on Sunday 20th November and have made a few new things.

I haven't named this line yet, there are currently necklaces featuring a combination of items including skirts, shirts, blazers, satchels, brogues and blouses and there are matching badges. I might make earrings of the more simple items in time. They will be exclusively released at the St Peter's Street Festive Market in Ipswich on Sunday 20th November and on the shops after that.

Clutter City Autumnal Affair

Come say hi! I'll be selling my wares at the Clutter City Autumnal Affair in Norwich on Saturday 3rd September.

As well as stalls they have food, live music and drop in crochet lessons so what more could you want?

I'm jolly excited i'll tell you that!

New Stockist! The Made in The Shade Maisonette

I am very excited to have been asked by the lovely Clare and Carrie of The Maisonette if I would like to have my work sold in their beautiful shop. I didn't have to think twice considering I had admired their shop for a while but hadn't found the courage to approach them myself.

I was absolutely delighted to receive their email and cannot wait to find out how things go there in a few months time. So people of Glasgow, you can now purchase selected items from the Cuppa Tea and Cake range at The Maisonette.

Check out their website too it is so beautiful.

Images from The Maisonette Facebook Page

Freelance Commission for After Noon Cakes

For a while now I have been working on a project for a company called After Noon who make and deliver delicious cakes and baked goods. Chris and Meg asked me to design a logo, labels for boxes and business cards in an illustrative style that would fit with their homely, creative ethos and really communicate the feeling and message they wanted to convey. That kind of warm, sunny, dewey, golden light feeling of childhood memories and comforting food.

And so with that in mind, a colour palette, sketches and lots of Adobe Illustrator I came up with the results below and with a few tweeks they became just what Chris and Meg were looking for, PHEW! This being creative on demand malarky is really rather hard. However I must say how proud I am of the work and happy I am that they feel like a bit of me and a bit of After Noon combined, I guess that's why they asked me! *warm glowy proud feeling*

We did three colourways. A light blue with yellow text, a duck egg green with teal text and a mustard with dusky blue text. I've only posted one as I don't want to go mad with pictures, so I picked my personal favourite, the mustard colourway.

Business Card Front (top) and Back (bottom)

Circular Label Design

Logo Design

Chris and Meg chose a doily style design which they wanted to update so it didn't feel a bit "overly traditional" and maybe smacked too much of old ladies but still held onto that feeling of homeliness and comfort. We decided on colours which moved away from that more "lace doily, old lady" feeling to keep the design contemporary but remain illustrative and obviously hand drawn.

You can find out about After Noon on their facebook page and they will soon be opening their website. There are lots of photos of their scrumptious treats on the facebook page and Meg regularly posts what she's baking that day, making a particular effort on "Pudding Fridays", my poor thunder thighs can't take it! I've got to stop talking about cake!

20% OFF! Cuppa Tea and Cake Etsy Shop

BICYCLE! BICYCLE! I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike!....

I'm having a Summer (haha!) sale to celebrate my new Bicycle screen printed range. 20% off everything in my Etsy shop using the coupon code BICYCLE at the checkout.

Go on! Knock yourself out!

Vintage Bicycle Greetings Card

NEW! In the shops. Screenprinted vintage bicycle greetings cards on Hairy Manilla card (isn't that the best name!) They match the new tote bags don't you know, this range is expanding!

Etsy and Folksy

Ever Increasing Circles

For a couple of days last week I hung out with my friend, and talented surface pattern designer and illustrator Sarah Wade. She does a lot of work from home and as i'm off from work for the summer holidays we decided to stop acting like loners and work together.

It was great, annoyingly for me I didn't have any work I could do at hers on the agenda, all my current plans were for screen printing. So i packed a bag with my favourite materials (blog post about those beauties coming soon) thinking I would pass the time some how and off I went.

Well luck has it that i did do some work i'm really really pleased with. The colourful and patterned circles you see above and below.

I plan for them to be mounted in large white frames, rows and rows of them! Until then, there will be more and more and more! And hopefully some screen printed designs based on them too. Exciting!