Things To Share

Hello everyone :)

Once again I have been swept away with life! I had really good intentions to blog on Monday.........& then Tuesday.......and then finally managed to today! I have lots of things to share with you- some of which are very overdue- so here goes! 

Firstly I wanted to say a big thank you to Laura from Garrendenny Lane Living Interiors, who gave me this great award. 

I highly recommend taking a look at Laura's website and blog if you like looking at all things lovely! :)

I also wanted to say a big thank you to Alicia from The Red Deer who included my "One Bunny and An Ice Cream Sundae" print in her blog recently. Alicia's blog is gorgeous- full of pretty things to feast your eyes on!

Another thing I wanted to share with you is that I went to see one of my favourite bands at the weekend- the very talented The Low Anthem. These guys are amazing- so much so that Phil and I have been to see them twice in only a few months. If you click here you can listen to some of their music if you'd like to.

Lastly I've been given some very exciting samples of some of my recently published work. I really loved creating this design so was super pleased to see it being used across notebooks, exercise books and folders. Hope you like it too!

We went to a wedding!

Hello all! We went to a wedding up north last weekend and it was such a lovely day (if not a little nerve racking as Phil had to do a speech!). It was at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park an amazing venue so I thought I would share some photos with you today- sorry there aren't very many! If you're ever taking a trip up to the area I highly recommend a visit.

Phil's speech went really well, everyone laughed at the right places- phew! We ate way, way to much and then danced the night away! A fab time was had by all :)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! See you all next week.

Good News & Bad News

Hello all. Sorry I've neglected my blog this week- I've just been swept away by lots & lots of jobs. Luckily I have one of my loveliest friends coming over tomorrow and next week to help me with my never ending to-do-list :) 

I had some great news this week- my little business has been picking up some speed and I now have another 8 card orders to make! I'm absolutely thrilled! :D

On a rather sad note though, you may have noticed that recently I've started to watermark my designs here at my blog. This is because recently I found out that one of my past colleagues had sent out her CV to a design agency with samples of my work attached. I am absolutely gutted about this, I've worked so hard on my designs and they have come from the heart so to think that someone downloaded them off my blog and then passed it off as their own is heartbreaking. Because of this I feel I have no option but to start watermarking my designs in the hope that it will prevent this from happening again. It really saddens me to have to do this as I love that my blog is like my online portfolio and visual diary. Anyway I really don't like dwelling on depressing happenings so it's time to move on- but I view everyone that visits me here as my friend so I felt that it was important for me to share with you all why I have started to do it.

Right, time for me to catch up on my own blog reading now as I've not been able to visit anyone all week. Have a good evening and I'm hoping to be back blogging again tomorrow.

Em x

Top Drawer Finds

On Monday I went to Top Drawer Autumn- a trade fair bursting full of small creative businesses. It's great to visit for inspiration and trend spotting and I'm hoping to exhibit there next year. I saw lots of wonderful products so I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you today. Have a great weekend everyone! Soon I will be on a train heading to Wembley Stadium to see Cold Play! I can't tell you how excited I am :D

1. Nkuku

2. Lucky Bird

3. The Black Rabbit

4. Laura Walker 

5. Katy & June Company 

6. Buttongirl designs 

7. Alice Palace

At The Zoo

It's been all work, work, work this week, which is why I've been unable to get to my blog or visit any of you at yours :( Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my previous post.

I've managed to squeeze in some blogging fun today to share with you a great day out Phil & I had last weekend. We had Phil's niece staying with us so we thought we would go to Whipsnade Zoo. Normally I'm not a fan of zoos as I don't feel comfortable with seeing wild animals enclosed. Whipsnade however is an exception as the zoo focuses heavily on conservation and education and VERY importantly the animals are given lots of space and seem very content. I hope you enjoy my photos, I'm quite proud of them!

a very curious Ostridge!

a sleepy Hippo

on guard!

"This is fun!"

"Think I need to cool off now!"

an amazing view over The Chilterns

one peculiar looking chap

nap time

I ♥ Giraffes!

what a handsome fella!

Cheerio for now. I'm hoping to be back tomorrow to share my Top Drawer finds with you!

I AM.

I'm being abstract and deep today!

Here is my design for a project titled "Self Portrait" that I am participating in. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

And the winner is.........

It's been a glorious day today weather wise, my bunnies and I are really going to miss the summer sunshine. I just had to get out into the garden today armed with a cup of tea and a biscuit and just bask in the sunshine- bliss!

So without further ado who's the winner of this months Giveaway then? I'm opening the Random Number Generator now (back in a mo.)....................I'm back and this months winner is number 2 which is Shanny! Congratulations Shanny :)

Once again I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who entered :) and also I wanted to say "hello" to everyone who may be new to the blog this month. Thanks so much for visiting me here and leaving such lovely comments, it truly makes my day :D

Right I better be off now and get my little bunnies in from the garden. Millie will be wanting her tea! Bye bye for now x

Simply Beautiful

Nina Invorm

Sally Elford

Last chance to enter my Giveaway :)

Winner to be announced tomorrow!

Being "A Maker"

I just this second read a post courtesy of a Nut & Bee (whose work I also adore) about what it means to be a maker from Sarah the lady behind  The Small Object. It is written so brilliantly and sums up so well how it feels to me every time I sell one of my designs I thought I would share it with you today.

“When you buy handmade directly from an individual, you are investing in me. And not just in me, but in my products, in my ideas and in my own well-being. When you buy something from me, you just gave me a double high five. We just connected and shook hands like mad.” 

P.S You've still got time to enter my Giveaway :) 

One Bunny & a Hot Air Balloon!

Where has this week gone? (I think I say that every week) but I could have of sworn it was still Tuesday! And it's getting colder here in the UK- it feels autumnal already, the bunnies were being blown around the garden today!

I thought I would leave you this Friday with a commissioned piece I designed for a baby boy called Elliott. I had such fun doing this piece until the end when I realised the Mod Podge I was using had glitter bits in it- I read and re read the label but the words Mod Podge Matte were definitely staring back at me. After emailing the company they said I must have bought a faulty pot! Initially I was gutted, however the sparkly bits were few and far between and I realised that actually it looked quite sweet (Elliott's not even one yet so I'm sure he would quite like the sparkly bits!) So I checked with the buyer but she was happy for me to continue and voila it was finished- complete with a bit of sparkle! :)

I hope you like it. I've just list it as a customised art print in my shop, you can have any wording you would like on there or none at all- it's up to you :)

Have a great weekend everyone!  Oh and there's still time if you want to enter my Giveaway!

Septembers Giveaway :)

Hello all. I've been having trouble today trying to give myself a crash course in picture mount cutting. You have to use a 45 degree angled blade and after a day I've just about managed to cut two mounts! :(  It's no easy job! 

I hope everyone had a great weekend? I listed two paintings on ebay this weekend, you can see them here and here. I've never used ebay before to sell my work so this is an experiment! 

Today is also Giveaway Day! :) This month I thought I would give away this print- hope you like it. All you need to do to enter is say hello in the comments section and I'll announce the winner next Thursday evening. Good luck everybody!