Moo, Woof, Meow!

Hi. Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

I wanted to show you a new set of prints I'm adding to my shop. I'm loving bright warm colours at the moment- I think it's because I'm in desperate need of some sunshine! My aim was to design some artwork that would be bright and cheerful. I'm selling them singly but I think they work so well as a set I may offer all three at a discounted rate. I was also thinking of selling them as a note card set and would love to know whether you thought that would be a good idea?

Bye for now!

I chose this design to show you today because it fitted in nicely with today's post- Wishing On A Star. I read two very moving posts yesterday, both different but both reminded me of one very clear message- go and follow you dreams! Most of us have certain wishes and dreams which we would love to see come true but somehow aspects of our lives always seem to get in the way. Most of the time I would say money, time and confidence are our biggest enemies- I had these exact issues myself. I felt like I never had the time to be creative outside of work and thought that leaving my job was never going to happen because I needed to pay bills.....................and eat!  But these two posts reminded me that life is just too short- don't put off following your dreams until next week because "next week" turns into two weeks, which turns into three weeks and so on. Why not start an action plan today? Right now! Write down a list of all the things you need to do to achieve your goal- if you need to save money in order to get there start saving now- even if it's just a few pounds a month- it doesn't matter how small the steps are that your taking it's the fact that you are now taking steps (even if they are baby ones!). Just move at a pace you feel comfortable with. The closer you get to your goal the more momentum you will pick up and the closer you get the better it will feel! As soon as I started working for myself I realised unequivocally that I was on the right path for me. Sure there are always going to be lows with the highs but it makes me feel so incredibly happy that I am now, finally, living the life I intended. All I can say is I wish I had followed my gut instincts years ago- you know the voice in your head that doesn't care how much money you earn or how much spare time you have! Truth is, there's never going to be a perfect time for you to start following your dreams. The perfect time- is right now.

Bakery

Hello!

I found a great new website and blog last week which I've been meaning to share with you called Bakery. Its written by Erin Loechner who you may already know from Design For Mankind and Jaime Derringer from Design Milk. For anyone already running a business or for someone just starting up like me or even if you are thinking about starting a business I think it's going to be a great blog to follow- I've already found the first few articles really helpful and interesting. Plus how amazing is that? That two people are willing to give their time and business advice out for free! Thank you Erin and Jaime!

Amongst The Flowers

This is a project I've been trying to finish for a while now and hurrah it's done! For those of you who have been following my blog you'll know that I recently started painting again and was (still am a bit) lacking in confidence! Well I am thrilled to say that my first painting sold- honestly I cannot quite put into words how that felt (what you are about to read will sound cheesy) but it was like a dream come true- that an ambition had been realised, as secretly I've always wanted to be a painter and sell my art. So in celebration of this I've decided to put another painting up for sale in my shop, along with a print I created from it called "Amongst the Flowers". You can find them both here. The inspiration for these designs came from a big white rabbit I know called Sweetheart (who loves cuddles and eating crisps!). I've also designed a range of cards inspired by Sweetheart which I hope to have for sale in my shop soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Wonderful Day

I had such a lovely Birthday, I didn't want it to end! :) I got some amazing presents- one of which I've been dreaming about for months and months- my Orla Kiely bag. You know, the type of bag or shoe that you would press your nose against the window of the shop and look lovingly at- no joke- I loved this bag the second I saw it! Thank you Phil for spoiling me! :) And as I mentioned in my previous post, my Birthday surprise from Phil (as if the bag wasn't enough!!) was a meal out at one of our favourite local restaurants called Eat Fish.

I also had to show you this sweet little lavender bunny I was given which you can find here. Isn't she lovely? And because this was Ericka's first sale she sent me a gorgeous little bird brooch too- thank you Ericka!

So I'm another year older and it's been a great year. I have a feeling this year may well be even better................................

Birthday Girls

Today I chose this design to show you because I wanted to say a very "Happy Birthday" to my two friends Anna and Haylea! Hope you both had a great day guys (and ate cake for breakfast, lunch and tea!). 

Anna and I both agree that your Birthday = a well earned day off! I think it should be a rule that no one should have to work on their Birthday! (unless of course they want too) :) Don't you agree? Everyone should have a "Me" day every year shouldn't they? And as much as I enjoy my work, tomorrow that's exactly what I'm planning to do. Here's my plan:

a) Have a long lie in

b) Enjoy a really relaxing morning

c) Meet some friends for lunch and good conversation and.....

d) A Birthday surprise! Phil's taking me out somewhere and I don't know where yet- will let you know!)

So have a great Wednesday everyone and I should be back blogging again on Thursday! :)

It's A Boy!!

Happy Friday everyone!

There's a reason I am showing you another one of my New Baby designs today and that's because I received some great news that my friend (and hairdresser!) and his wife are now the proud parents of their third baby boy! Ahhhhhhhhh

Wishing you all a lovely Valentine's weekend. I wonder if I have any secret admirers.......... ;-) 

Birthday Celebrations!

I've got quite a few Birthdays to celebrate this month- including my Mums and my own! So I thought I would show you a Birthday card I designed a while ago and yes I am intending on eating lots of mouth watering cake- just like the card suggests :)

Just Wanted To Say........

Just wanted to write a quick post today to say that my little Millie is much better and back to being the feisty little madam we all know and love her to be! :) 

I'm in a great mood for that reason and that I managed to get some time to work on my own designs today- YAY!

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

Let It Snow!

My word did it snow last night- so much so that we couldn't even drive our cars out of our street today- we were literally snowed in! Hence why I'm showing you some of my wintery designs. Very luckily for me a group of local lads (armed with shovels- inc. my Phil) went out and cleared the road so we could get our cars out. This turned out to be a godsend because one of my little rabbits, Millie, fell ill so I had to take her to the vets. We think she's got GI Stasis- a common tummy problem in rabbits- especially when they are moulting- which she is. She's had her medicine now and already seems much more perky and she's also eating again so fingers crossed she'll be back to her normal self in no time. I'm off now to give her a cuddle.

Three Little Pigs!

So today I thought I would show you a design that I had so much fun creating. I think I enjoyed it so much because I decided to experiment and design something a bit different from my normal style. 

And on a completely different subject I was reading a favourite blog of mine written by Marisa of Creative Thursday and she has painted a gorgeous collection of work in time for Valentine's Day- go see- you'll love them!

Mr. Snowman

It's been snowing on and off all day today and according to the news this is the most snow we've had in the UK for 18 years! Poor Phil got up extra early and trudged into London for meetings only to find out when he got there that the meetings had been cancelled due to the weather conditions. So on his return home it was decided that we would go and make a snowman in the garden and....................ta daaaaaaa! Here he is! A bit rushed and not exactly a work of art (hee hee) but it was great fun messing around and acting like 5 year olds again :)