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Folksy Friday – George

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:24:41 +0000

Nine months ago today, the very best moment of my life happened at 2.47 in the afternoon. So this week for Folksy Friday it’s all about George:

George and the Dragons from Hole in My Pocket

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King George by Alice Gabb

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George from The Snail Emporium

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George, Hand Embroidered Brooch from Bird & Bridge

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George Bear Plushie from Dotty Daisies

little steps

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:32:55 +0000

I’m not the most patient person so it’s been quite hard telling myself that building up a business from scratch is not going to happen overnight. The biggest problem being that when I set up as a freelance graphic designer, it did literally happen overnight. There were a few dry spots, but for the most part since the day I left my permanent job I was pretty much set for work. I never really had to do any marketing or self-promotion, pretty much all my clients came through word of mouth, ex-colleagues etc.

But this is something new, something more creative, something more flexible, something that not many people know I can do. Most importantly something that will exist with and around my family. There will still be late nights and short deadlines but these will have to happen around playground visits and the (actually quite loud) pitter patter of little feet. I’ve been doing a few stationery designs here and there when I have time, but everything has been feeling a bit all over the place. So over the past couple of days I’ve been having a good think about what I will create, who would be interested and what it will hopefully mean to them. I’ve had a few good chats with a very good friend who is in pretty much the same place as me and that has left me feeling very inspired. Yesterday my head was buzzing with all the things I want to do, but I was feeling pretty tired. I told myself if it was earlier than 9.30pm then I’d start creating something. It was 9.24pm so two hours later and I’d finished my first little steps:

I dragged out my favourite thing, my sewing machine. As much as I love my Mac and all my pencils and paper, there’s something much more satisfying about my sewing machine. I know I don’t use it how you’re really supposed to. I probably sew more paper than cloth, my lines are never straight, my tension is all over the place, I’m more of a sketch sewer than a fine artist, but the results end up feeling really ‘me’. So the little steps I started last night are the beginning of a new ‘little bulldog’ shop banner. A couple need redoing, in fact I’ll probably redo all of them, but it’s a start and it’s a huge step away from the client-led retail designer I’ve been for the past few years. It feels right, so we’ll see.

Folksy Friday – Festival

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:32:39 +0000

So the theme of this week’s Folksy Friday is ‘Festival’ in honour of Ben & Jerry’s Sundae on the Common which is happening this weekend on Clapham Common. We’re going tomorrow for the first time with child. This is more of a family-friendly festival, or used to be, so the theme is more bunting (I love bunting) and less wellies and throwing bottles. Oh and the bandstand is because the first Ben & Jerry’s Sundae on the Common was thrown to raise money to rebuild the bandstand:

Slide 8 x 8″ Print by Cassia Beck

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Scrap Bag Festival Bunting by Flaming Nora

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The Circus Is In Town – Mini Print by Blackoutwell

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Carousel Rose by Maria Allen

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Bandstand by Lynsey Hunter

co•her•ence

joanne — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:22:05 +0000

n. – The quality or state of cohering, especially a logical, orderly, and aesthetically consistent relationship of parts.

Yes I need some of this. This is what’s missing, it’s so obvious when I look at the collections of designers who have it. Here’s who’s inspiring me to be more coherent:

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Charlotte Macey Textiles:

Beautiful linen homewares with line drawing embroidery. A simple but strong and recognisable style.

oatmeal ‘coffeeee’ cosy

navy beach huts tea towel

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Isak:

I love everything from Isak. I’d deck out the whole house in all their things if I could. Instantly recognisable, bit retro, very Scandinavian. They make me want to move to Sweden.

blue penguin wallpaper

lovebirds tray and mug

123 wall decoration

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The Linen Cat:

Beautifully made, simple, timeless. All created by one of those incredible full-time mums who still manage to create wonderful things and run successful businesses.

Linen Cat in Pink Russian Doll Print Dress

Ellie Floral Bunny Lavendar Bag

Folksy Friday – Hungry

joanne — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:14:39 +0000

I’m hoping to keep up with this every week. This is my second one so that’s a roll for me. This week’s theme is ‘hungry’ because I’m hungry:g

Hungry Bear Plate from James Ward

Chocolate Cake Coin Purse from Dinky Daisy

Alice in Wonderland ‘Eat Me’ Cake Toppers by Crafty Pagan Designs

Apple and Pear Card from Little Bird Too

Cream Egg Cosy from Charlotte Macey Textiles

Now I’m even more hungry.

finally made the baby’s curtains

joanne — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:27:53 +0000

Only 8+ months late, but I finally made curtains for the baby’s room. Yes they are a bit too short and there are quite a few mistakes, but at least they’re made and up. He still woke up at 5.30am (we had curtains before but not black-out ones) but he went more quickly back to sleep and he settled alot faster last night so hopefully they’re helping a bit. The fabric is called Alphabet from Prestigious Fabrics. There are a few different colourways, but I went for the primary one as everything else I made for his room was in bright colours. I’m hoping he’ll continue to like it so I can make a matching duvet cover when he starts using one.

The fabric in the embroidery hoops is called Red Letter Day by Lizzy House.

little bulldog design

joanne — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:04:12 +0000

I officially back from maternity leave to my freelance business, little bulldog design, a couple of months ago, but you wouldn’t really know it as not much in the way of work has come in. I blamed it on the recession for a little while, but it quickly became apparent that my clients had either understandably found replacement designers while I was off or there’s just not alot of room for a freelancer who is at the beck and call of a little boy during most working hours. So although I will hopefully still get the odd design job, it’s time to finally take the initiative to create on my own and see where that takes me. As it’s the world I’m now becoming apart of I’ve started with a few baby designs so we’ll see where that takes me.

birthday invitation

My website is soon to be revamped but in the meantime I’m starting to post new personalised invitations on Folksy and Etsy, if you haven’t already visited either they’re very addictive and full of amazing stuff you won’t find in any high street shop. I’m also thinking of offering a sort of invitation service for busy yummy mummies – sending out the invites and managing reminders etc. Also on the cards are packs of personalised children’s birthday cards so you can buy them all in one swoop rather than stressing at the last minute.

lace dress wedding invitation

Folksy Friday – Sunshine

joanne — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:52:53 +0000

This is my first go at Folksy Friday and in honour of the beautiful day we had today I’ve chosen a few sunshine-themed handmade items:

sunshine corsage from Mud Puppy

complete van-atic greeting card from hello sunshine

vivid green paisley flowered sun dress from Kryshees

happiness earrings- sunshine yellow from Chain of Daisies

'The Summer Sun' print from bubble or squeak

Click on the photos to view their other lovely items. Here’s to more sunshine.

yeay! he likes them!

joanne — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:07:16 +0000

So my mice skittles and kitty ball seem to have been a big success. Here’s my nephew Jude playing with his kitty ball

Apparently the ball was a hit because he really likes balls right now. I seem to remember one of our other nephews Toby going through a ball phase. Too bad I hadn’t discovered the joys of little felt critters back then.

I also made a set of skittles for my friend’s little girl Rosie and funnily she loves the mice and isn’t so in to the ball. She apparently likes putting them in different places around the house. So I think Rosie and Jude would probably play really well together – no squabbling over who gets the ball.

Hmmm I’m thinking I’m going to have to start on Christmas a bit sooner this year. What to make?

she kinda grew on me

joanne — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:33:56 +0000

I was attempting to make a stripey elephant for my friend’s new baby girl. Halfway in I realised I was attempting a bit more than I could handle in the time that I had and I had obviously picked the wrong kind of fabric. So the elephant went into the pile of half finished projects and I ended up with a couple of hours to figure out something else. So I fell back on the trusty felt animal book and decided to make a bear with some really nice thick handmade felt from Paperchase. I’m not very good at actually using the patterns in the book and tend to freewheel a bit. Well with this one I freewheeled quite a lot and she ended up with a funny little head and a really long body. As I was finishing up I started thinking that I couldn’t possibly give this thing to anyone. Jeff thought she was cute. Me, not so much, but I decided to sleep on it (not literally).

So the next morning I looked at her and you know she had kind of grown on me. So she wasn’t perfect and she was a bit mis-shapen and strange but you certainly couldn’t say she didn’t have personality or that she wasn’t unique. So I decided to give her to Tilly after all. And as we were taking the tube to meet them, the little bear grew on me more and more because perfect things can actually be pretty boring. It’s like our little garden which I love more and more. It’s definitely not landscaped and definitely not manicured but it’s full of colour and things that are probably classified as weeds and the birds and bees and neighbourhood cats and foxes love it.

When I gave Tilly’s mum the bear she loved it. And she even asked me a little later with a bit of concern if I would be able to make another one if it turned out to be Tilly’s favourite toy and something happened to it. Sure I can and hopefully that one will be just as strange.