Who Ate My CrayonsThis year I have designed some cards featuring my best selling floral (doodle) design as well as some quirky (and I hope) funny valentine’s cards.
You don’t have to be sloppy and all loved up to show your affection for someone. Sometimes, it’s fun and good to be brutal.
Most designs can be personalised with a name or phrase to make that little bit unique.
I have designed an A2 wall planner for 2015 incorporating ABRSM entry deadlines and exam dates. Dates taken from the ABRSM website and correct as at 19 September 2014. Perfect for any music teacher, lecturer or student.
The planners are printed on 100gsm matt uncoated paper and can be personalised with a name. Normally priced at £12.95, they are currently on offer for £9.95 with FREE P&P if you order during September 2014.
Click on the image to order your planner and be ready for 2015!
I have designed an A2 wall planner for 2015 incorporating State and Community school holiday and terms dates within Lincolnshire. Dates taken from Lincolnshire County Council website and correct as at 19 September 2014.
The planners are printed on 100gsm matt uncoated paper and can be personalised with a name. Normally priced at £12.95, they are currently on offer for £9.95 with FREE P&P if you order during September 2014.
Click on the image to order your planner and be ready for 2015!
We both liked elements of previous logo, but the design did not lend itself well to being printed on stickers and marketing material. It was also a wide design which made it cumbersome when trying to incorporate it onto circular web badges, stickers and marketing design.
Following on with the new logo, I was asked to work on a brand new design for the website. Justine wanted to move her shop over to the create.net e-commerce platform and wanted a custom template for the new look business.
We went for a very clean modern feel using some bold contemporary fonts and implemented the pastel colours from the branding. I think it works really well and I hope that the website continues to grow and evolve with the business as it goes from strength to strength. It’s been a pleasure working with Justine on this project and I hope we get to work together again soon!
So, can you guess what this website sells? You’ll never guess and that’s one of the best things about small independent businesses. This fabulous website is the brainchild of the very lovely and very talented Emily Fox. Emily sells hand carved stamps and designs, but not just any ordinary designs, some really fun animals, words, bunting and seasonal stamps. All lovingly hand carved by her fair hands!
I was asked by Emily to come up with a design for a website that matched her unique and quirky style. We had a great palette of pinks and greys to work with. Emily was keen to have a neutral website which allowed the products to shine through, but was also fun and not too serious.
I used a combination of washi tape patterns in the pale pink and we introduced a new fancy font to add some interest to the design along with a lovely duck blue colour to add some zing!
The website was designed using the fabulous create.net platform and I think the simplicity of the layout and the design really works and I am thrilled with the results. The new site has had such lovely feedback on the official Skull and Cross Buns facebook page. Go over ‘like’ immediately (please) and be sure to visit the website and get yourself some proper fabulous stamps.
I was asked the order day if I could produced some ‘new baby’ themed cards based around the same theme as the popular floral heart cards.
I thought about some possible shapes that I could use and when I found out that the babies were twins I immediately thought ‘socks!’. So here are some ‘socks’ doodle illustrated floral design cards (try saying that with a mouthful of cake!).
Available in the Shop soon.
A while back I recieved an email from Charlie of Cherry Pie Lane (imagine my excitement people), alas, my dream of being paid in the form of cake was quickly dashed, but very quickly replaced by wanting to own lots of beautiful ceramic designs.
Cherry Pie Lane already had an online presence but it was time to upgrade to something that was easier to manage and give the business a new face-lift. Charlie wanted to start using the create.net system for her e-commerce solution. I believe that we found each other through the mighty twitter-sphere, although I am lucky to be in create’s little ‘black book’ of WDK designers and often get referals via that route.
So, Charlie gave me a detailed design brief which was along the lines of ‘I like clean lines, pink gingham and linen’. Simple really.
After a few rounds of revisions, me insisting on ‘less is more’ when it comes to gingham and some whipping sessions (don’t ask) we arrived at the final result. Although I jest about the loose brief, I knew that Charlie had a clear vision of what she wanted and it was up to me to translate that into a website that not only looked delicious but worked for Cherry Pie Lane.
It has been a pleasure to work on this project with such a fun and clever lady and I am thrilled that the website really does let the designs shine and take centre stage. Check out the new website and tell me which designs you love. My personal favourite has got to be the circus inspired designs, but I may just be channelling my inner clown.
Late last year I was asked by the very talented papercutting Goddess Kyleigh to help her set up and develop her own website. Kyleigh is a best seller on Not on The High Street, but she had never had time to set up her own website.
So the idea was that Kyleigh would provide me with a design concept and I would ‘plumb’ it into an e-commerce platform. We discussed various options and in the end we settled for a system that offered flexibilty to grow and be 100% client manageable.
It was a great pleasure working with a designer who knew what she wanted, but who was also open to suggestion when it came to adapting her ideas into something that would work online.
We actually completed the website last year, but because Kyleigh was totally swamped with orders over the holiday period she wasn’t able to finish uploading products to the site. I only nagged her a few times over that period. Honest.
I am thrilled to announce that it is finally launched and it is totally magnificant. Please go and admire the unique designs and wonder at the skill (there’s a clip you can watch) at what it takes to complete a custom papercut.
Thank you to Kyleigh for allowing me to be a small part of her papercutting empire. It was a pleasure working with such a talent.
I received the most amazing package of goodies the other day. I had asked the very lovely sewing and hand stitching goddess that is Marna of Little A Designs for some special rosettes.
I knew they were going to be gorgeous, but I was blown away at all the attention to detail, from the washi tape ribbons to the hand made ‘little a’ ceramic buttons to the authenticity certificates. Beautifully presented and all made with love. When you commission something from Marna, expect something very special indeed.
My only dilemma is that I want to hang my HQ rosette in the middle of my monitor so I get to look at it all day long, however, this makes is a tad difficult to do any actual work.
I look forward to wearing my ‘nobber’ and ‘cakeface’ rosettes with utter pride.
I love sketching and illustrating especially with simple black pen. I like the crispness of a black and white design. Sometimes I toy with the idea of introducing colours into my designs but invariably I always return to the black pen.
The other day I received an order for a ‘Love u’ code card and from someone in Canada (I love the idea of being international). I subsequently found out that the buyer found my card via a google search using keywords ‘Science Valentine Card’. How awesome is that? Just goes to prove that it’s worth updating your website content and blog.
So, today I am mostly wrapping up A2 periodic table of elements posters and illustrating geeky, nerdy and IT related valentines cards and the sun is shining AND it’s Friday.
If you would like a card, please go to the online shop where there are a few geeky designs to choose from. Have a great weekend 🙂
