Witney in Pink - All set up

Last weekend I went back to lovely Oxfordshire to set up my window display full of all my homemade products! Sue from St Andrew's Bookshop in Witney was very kind and offered me her window for two weeks whilst 'Witney in Pink' is running. Every year all the shops in Witney put on a pink window display in aid of breast cancer awareness. 10% of everything I sell will go to Cancer Research UK.

I had a great time arranging all my goods with my sister's help. I think it looks great, and I am super excited to know that I have already sold some things.

Products I am selling include: Greeting Cards, Framed prints of Witney, Sketchpads, Notepads, Jewellery, Candles, Gift Tags, Bookmarks, Trinket boxes, Recipe cards, Activity Packs, Owl Magazines, Picture Frames, Memo Boards, Pink Sugar, Colouring posters and Coloured Pencils.

Witney in Pink

In a couple of weeks I am putting on a window display at St. Andrews Bookshop in Witney for 'Witney in Pink'. Every year all the shops in Witney put on a pink window display to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. This year, Sue from St. Andrew's Bookshop has kindly offered me her window for two weeks to sell my homemade wares :) And 10% of everything I sell will go to charity. I am super excited about this so I have spent the last few weeks busily crafting away. Some of the goods I will be selling include bookmarks, gift tags, candles, recipe cards, greetings cards, activity sheets, my Owl Magazines and trinket boxes as well as a few other bits. 

These are some illustrations of Witney I have recently done which I am going to put on Greeting Cards and also sell as prints.

On The Rocks

Check out my work in On The Rocks, a new bar that has opened in Bournemouth. I think it looks great on the walls of the bar, and I am even more pleased that I sold one last night :) Thanks On The Rocks!

Cake Days

These are my latest cake creations that I have had had great fun baking and decorating! I recently posted flyers through all the local flats offering my baking services and then I was commissioned to make the Arsenal cake for someone's birthday. I had so much fun doing it I decided to make a chocolate cake for us at the same time! 

In August we went to the Bournemouth air festival for my boyfriend's birthday so I thought it was only fitting to make an aeroplane cake, hence the Spitfire. The sponge was red velvet and the clouds were lemon meringue cupcakes. Unfortunately it was too windy to light the candles! But the cake went down well :) 

Book commission

I am very excited as I have been commissioned to put together a book documenting my Grandfathers work. He was a very talented cabinet maker, and currently all his work is kept in photo albums. There are hundreds of photos so I have been asked to document and arrange them into a coffee table book. It is great project as it I get to learn all about my grandfathers work as well get my teeth stuck into a fab project. Below are a couple of pieces of his work. I will update my blog with progress as I go . . .

Fire and Iron

I spent a lovely day yesterday cycling around Surrey in the sunshine, and on my travels I came across the Fire and Iron gallery in Leatherhead. Everything in the gallery is metalwork, from jewellery to fish riding bikes! Here are some of the pictures I took while I was there, I was intrigued by some of the animal sculptures, especially some that were made of old bike parts like the frog made of an old chain. I also loved the copper chickens with their long spindly legs.

One of the artists displaying their work at the gallery is Joanne Tinker who makes things out of old sweet wrappers. I absolutely love all the little goblets and wine glasses; it looks so fiddly and time consuming but is amazing to look at. 

Brink Show July 2011

These are some pictures from Brink, our degree show held at the Old Truman Brewery in Brink lane, London. We had a huge space which we also shared with the Fine Art and Architecture courses, also from AUCB. We spent two days building a huge structure in the space, followed by painting the walls, constructing plinths and then hanging the work. As you can see, I had a rather nice display cabinet for my work which was right by the entrance. I also had my lovely handmade plinth which I put a magazine and some colouring pencils on. The private view was fantastic, the show was buzzing, and much of my family turned up as a surprise! The show lasted 4 days so it was great to have that time in London, exhibiting in such a fab space.

Bournemouth Exhibition and Brink

Here are pictures from the private view of our Illustration exhibition in Bournemouth. The exhibition was a big success, tying in very nicely with a lovely 2:1 and graduation day! 

We will be having a much larger show in London from the 7th-11th July at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London, so if you can make it, it will be amazing!

As well as Illustration, we will also be showing with Fine Art and Architecture, also from AUCB. Our show is called Brink and I am very excited to be part of it! Get down there if you can!

Check out the Brink website http://www.brinkshow.com/ to see examples of our work and more details of opening times etc. 

Blog feature

I am super pleased to see someone has seen my magazine at the Bournemouth illustration exhibition and posted it on her blog. Check out her blog Jilly P Graphics by clicking here . . 

Three Magazine Features: Marzetti, Fuss and Slapdash

I am so excited to part of three magazines! Two are by fellow students, and one is by the university student union. It is so good to see my work in print and all three look fab.

Marzetti

Marzetti is a publication devoted to all things shoes, produced by Averil Treeby, a student on the fashion course at AUCB. This is her final major project, and comes with a gorgeous handmade bow tie and hankie. She asked me to do a few illustrations of male brogues, and I love the double page spread she has given me, it looks great.

Fuss

Fuss magazine, produced by Abby Wiltshire, is dedicated to promoting new artists, whether they are illustrators, photographers, writers, fine artists or painters. The aim is to provide exposure to all these artists. She has done a fabulous job and the finished magazine looks very professional.

Slapdash

Slapdash is the university's student union magazine. Every few months they ask students to contribute artwork for the next issue. It was a lovely surprise to see that they had chosen my work to be featured.

Alfie

This is a painting I have recently been commissioned to do. I did this for the same client I painted Violet for. He liked the painting of Violet (his grandaughter) so asked me to paint his grandson Alfie too. It is painted in acrylic. 

Digital version of Owl magazine

Here is the final digital version of Owl magazine!

Open publication - Free publishing - More activity

Whats inside for £6

So, I have decided to sell my mags for £6 each. Ideally I would like to sell them for less than this but due to printing costs and only printing in small quantities, I am unable to do that.  Anyway, here is what you get if you buy one of my magazines!

Owl magazine

Two fold out colouring posters

A colouring pencil made of recycled wood

A double sided panda postcard

A gift label

A pack of sequins 

A packet of sunflower seeds

And this is the complete package .....

It comes in a clear cellophane bag with a gift label tied on with a piece of rafia

Hot off the press

I have been busy binding my magazines as I have had a few orders already! I am very excited to be selling some, makes me feel like the work is starting to pay off :) 

Owl magazine is printed!!

I am so pleased to say that my magazine has been printed! I was a bit nervous to see how it would come out, but the recycled paper I used has worked really well, and gives a nice overall feel to the publication.

I had to paginate all the pages so they would print in the right order, which was a very confusing task. But it has paid off, as they have all printed in the right place! I have bound them myself by sewing up the spine with threads that match the colours in the mag. My notepads and pencils are ready too, so the overall package is nearly complete :) I will also upload the completed digital file so you can see all the pages. 

Business Cards

These are my business cards I have designed, I thought it would be good to come up with a few rather than just one.

Two options for front cover

I also have two front cover designs and really don't know which one to use. A few people said the bottom one is too similar to Anorak.

Owl magazine Final edit

So here is the latest version of my magazine I have uploaded to Issuu.com. This will probably be the last time a draft gets posted on here as I will be taking it to get printed next week! So the next one up will be the final version. Any comments on how to improve it would be fab!

Open publication - Free publishing - More kids

Magazine in progress

I have uploaded my magazine to Issuu.com so you can see how it might look when it is finished.