Brrrrrrrrrr!

This isn't my usual attire for printing but just look at the snow outside my studio! The path was deep in snow and wellies were the only way today.

I had the heater on but still very cold and hot tea was needed.

Thanks to Print and Pattern and Kerry at The Seventy Tree for the lovely blog features today.

Nice things

Hello. I'm feeling very Christmasy and after a little look around the internet with a cup of tea - seeing as it's way too cold to venture out into real shops today - I thought I'd post a few lovely finds. These things are all on my wish list (the one I keep in my head and don't get around to telling anyone).

At the top are wrist worms by Sandra Juto perfect for the weather right now! The ahoy and hello necklaces by Joanna Rutter are fantastic - if you know my work you know how fascinated I am by anything word/phrase/saying-based. So these are perfect.

I've been a fan of Abigail Percy's subtle and beautiful jewellery for a while now and follow her blog avidly so I've coveted (again in secret as it's a bit beyond budget) these for a while now.

These Orla Kiely homewares are akin to something lovely and 70's you'd find from a second-hand shop but with a modern twist. Find other Orla Kiely ceramics on sale at the fantastic York-based shop that is Snowhome.

The two prints are by Emily Hogarth and Eak Design. I love the unusual scale of the Emily Hogarth one and the Eak Design owl is going to be a present for our little girl some day soon. She loves her owls and this one looks so friendly.

Last but not least I'm a sucker for stamps so these A-Z Alice Melvin ones (available from the Red Door Gallery) are ideal as a gift from myself to myself!

It's the most wonderful time of the year........

My Christmas cards are now in my shop. I've listed them individually as well as as packs so if you're looking for an extra special card for someone there's 15 lovely hand-printed designs to choose from. There are packs of 4 assorted cards and also a pack of 4 of the same card. To purchase 4 of the same click on the rather long-winded title of '4 cards of the same design'. Then simply send me an email (my email address is on the contact page of my website) stating which of all my designs you would like 4 of. Hope that makes sense.

I've also added a couple of prints for some festive present buying.

I'll be posting orders out up to and including Tuesday 21st December.

In the press

The Garden Notes kits I produced for The Balcony Gardener seem to have been getting a bit of press lately. Here they are in December issues of Marie Claire and Country Living. They make a perfect original gift for a gardener so visit The Balcony Gardener for a bit of early Christmas shopping.

Hip Hip Hurray!! Website excitement!

Yippeeee!!

I'm so so pleased with my new website! It's taken a lot of work, planning, worrying and thinking but I'm extremely happy with the end result.

It's great to have everything on my website at last and be able to confidently direct people to it to find any of my work!

Thank you so much to Evie at Eskymo for all your hard work. You've done a great job. Thank you also to Greg for all your help and contribution.

Now here's hoping I can master the content management so I can keep it all up-to-date and ship-shape!

Have a good look around and let me know what you think.

Burning the candle at both ends

Phew. I'm incredibly busy at the moment with card orders for Christmas and a couple of juicy orders from some high street names for general and valentines cards (yes - valentines - and that's why I've been designing mother & father's day cards also - which I'll post on here very soon.)

So not much time for blogging (or much else in fact) of late. I seem to spend all my spare time (i.e not with my little girl) working. Having an 18 month old obviously means early starts and as soon as bed time comes I'm in my studio working again until late. Daytime sees me fitting in printing and folding and cutting and packing orders on nursery days. As a result I'm pretty tired at the moment but I love it so I shouldn't complain.

Anyway in the meantime I thought I'd just share a couple more blog favourites and a lovely little shop who contacted me lately.

Skinny Laminx is an illustrator and designer based in Cape Town creating fantastic printed fabric.

I've just discovered The Seventy Tree and I'm enjoying the mix of beautiful creative finds, images of Kerry's work and lovely photos of inspiring (and mostly very Scandinavian-looking) homes. She seems to have a very similar taste in interiors to me - and she too has a love of triangles and patterns!

Roddy and Ginger has been a favourite of mine for a while now and I always check what she's busy with. Her hand screen printed cushions and prints are permanently on my wish-list and I've just entered her online give-away to try and win myself one. Pop over there and enter for your chance to win a lovely cushion.

Your Shop contacted me a couple of weeks ago and stock a great collection fun and different stationery, homeware and gifts. I think I'll be heading over to their website to find a bit of Christmas inspiration.