Spring cleaning.

Wowza Friday again??!! Been a great week, went to the cinema with Olive, we watched Black Swan, the psychological thriller (v appropriate for a 1 month old!!) with tons of other brighton mums and their babies, hilarious, at some points I could just make out what was being said above the screaming!
I really enjoyed the film, it was different to anything I had ever seen and I kept thinking about it afterwards, always a good sign. I would recommend a look.
So a pretty quiet weekend ahead, my first organic veggie box is being delivered today so am hoping to be inspired when I see what goodies will arrive, lots of relaxing, bit of work, bit of cleaning and lots of Olive time, hurrah.
I have done a bit of computer spring cleaning this morning and found this design I did last year for a scarf for Lush, being a fan of multi colours I sometimes find it hard to work with a limited colour palette so really enjoyed the 5 colour challenge.
Happy Friday all have a great one :)

Pop-i-cok interview.

I LOVE hearing how fellow designers make their way and was thrilled when Dawn Machell over at 'Pop-i-cok' agreed to a mini interview about her background and advice to fledgling freelancers.
Dawns fantastic eye for colour combined with her ability to find endless ways to illustrate characters produces effortlessly charming design.
Every double page of Dawns recently illustrated sketchbook the 2011 Sketchbook Project 'It's raining cats and dogs' theme has been co-ordinated beautifully and is brimming with adorable and playful illustration, it was hard but I managed to choose my faves above, check them out...if you haven't already.

Enjoy the interview. :)

1. Please tell us a bit about your design background?

I left college with the idea that I didn’t really want to work for someone else and set up my own company – pop-i-cok - making “designer” childrenswear ...I soon found out that it wasn’t that easy and people only wanted to pay designer prices when they’d actually heard of the designer!

After 3 years slogging it out it just so happened that the company my sister worked for needed a childrenswear designer ... I fitted the bill and off I went. I stayed there for 9 years and learnt how to do it properly. I left when my daughter was a year old and the frequent foreign travel got in the way of a harmonious family life.

I went to work for Mamas and Papas, designing the graphics for their clothing and nursery interior ranges. After a year I took the plunge and went freelance (...and I still freelance for both companies now :-))

(My blog is pop-i-cok ‘cos I already had the name and thought I might as well carry it on)

2. How long have you been freelance and why does it work for you?

9 years. It gives me the freedom to work when I want around the kids (usually till midnight!)

I get to do the school run and go to assembly and all the school plays and I don’t feel quite as guilty as I would if I had to work for someone else full time.

3. Can you describe a typical 'pop-i-cok' day.

Haul myself out of bed, sort the kids out, sort the hair out, get the kids to school, come home, clear up the mess, check emails, blogs and facebook... do whatever work I have on that day... pick the kids up, feed them, referee the arguments, get them to bed, work for a couple more hours, do my blog, go to bed...

On Wednesday it’s girls night and on Friday I don’t feel guilty for not working.

4. What advice would you give to new freelancers to advance their career and sell work?

Get a job first to get an idea of how things work... and meet lots of lovely people who will like you enough to commission work once you’re freelance!

Once you get the work you need to be a joy to work with and you need to bend over backwards to get the work done...that way you’ll always be busy :-)

Oh and you’ve got to have the guts to do it in the first place...but believe in yourself, you can do it!

5. Where does inspiration come from for you?

All over... kids books, toys, clothes, websites, blogs, cards, my kids...

6. What are your aspirations for the future?

One day I will have a book... I can’t decide if this will be children’s fiction or if I should produce a trend/graphics type book for the childrenswear market... but I’ve been saying this for years now so don’t hold your breath!

xx

A Big thank you to Dawn for taking the time to answer my questions.

Boo!

Olive was a month old yesterday and she has changed so much already.
This is a face that I am seeing a bit more, not so sleepy dreamy anymore!!!
I am still happy to be squeezing in some design time so will be posting some new work soon :)
Yesterday Olive wore her dinosaur babygrow from Pumpkin Patch, love it!

Runner up.

So close but not quite...came runner up again this month over at the Tigerprint contemporary floral competition. Again lovely things said about my entry.

A really lovely use of colour is demonstrated with this design by Miss Pixie. Also clever detail is introduced with texture and pattern and the applique centre.

Well done.

Richard Scarry.

One of the great things about Olives arrival is that we are going to explore the huge world of childrens books together.
Oh to have my work in a published book would be a dream come true!
I really enjoyed Richard Scarry and was thrilled to find lots of them available on Amazon.
This inspired me to begin a favourites section here on my blog so you can join me and Olive on our journey through bookland! :)

Something to make you melt...

I am just warming up to getting back into work...this is just a small piece of what I have been spending my time looking at, our beautiful Olive.

Competition entry.

Just before I went into labour I filled some time by entering the last Tigerprint competition, design a contemporary floral design fitting into one of three suggested colour palettes.
I chose to use some potato prints I had created in the summer and played with them in both photoshop and illustrator and so here are my entries!
Happy Friday all :)

I made something...

...and her name is Olive.
Olive was born on the 22nd December and so my Christmas has been the most amazing blur of joy and happiness, she is growing every day and I well up every time I think that I have made her, I am the proudest mom.
So I begin the new year with a new addition to fit my work around and I cant wait!
Happy New Year everyone and see you in 2011!! :)

Runner up.

I came runner up in the Tigerprint competition, they said nice things about my design.
"A beautiful design, demonstrating a great placement along with the brilliant stitched detail. Great design".

This weekend...

...I have mostly been making marmalade, I now class marmalade as a 'professional' thing to make as although I am pleased with the way my jars look and taste now, getting to this point was not easy.
My first batch boiled over and poured into the oven, all over the work surfaces and floor declaring these things forever sticky and the second batch caught on the bottom but still tastes rather nice mainly due to the generous spoonfuls of good ol Jack Daniels!!
Respect to the jam makers and back to the childrenswear designs, Happy Monday x

...and the winner is...

Thank you everyone who took part in my little giveaway and congratulations to Lara Ede over at laraedeillustration.blogspot.com/ whose name was pulled out of my woolly hat!!
I cannot believe it is another Friday already, I am however certainly NOT complaining, am planning on putting up the tree and generally getting in the mood for Christmas so here is wishing all of my followers a very happy weekend, see you on the other side ;)

My first GIVEAWAY.

Happy Monday all! Having been brought so much joy from all the fab giveaways of delightful designtastic pieces I thought it was about jolly time I did one of my own.
I have chosen to giveaway 8 of my Christmas cards, 2 of each design.
In order to take part please just leave a lovely comment and I will be pulling a name out of a magical hat on Friday 10th!! XXX

Lucky ol me!

My luck was in then yesterday when my name got pulled out of the hat for a great giveaway over at the Farnell blog http://farnelldoodles.blogspot.com.
Its going to look brill on my mantlepiece and brings me joy on a slightly overcast design moment so a thank you to you farnell.

Happy Friday.

4 days inside now due to the snow and although going slightly stir crazy I have been motoring with work inspired by the snow, HAVE to go out tomorrow so it better have started to thaw!!
In contrast to the snow I did fancy a bit of the lastest Tigerprint comp so here are my 2 springy mothers day entries, have great weekends everyone x x x

Let it snow.

Well down here the snow doesnt always tend to stick around so I was pretty suprised this morning to see that it has and Brighton is white, exciting.
This is a design I have just sent over to my agent inspired by the snow, although I am all snuggly and warm at the mo it is tempting to get togged up and go and take some photos...maybe later! x

A chocolate stag!

This really IS a blog following my journeys through designland even though I KNOW it is beginning to look like a blog dedicated to my current addiction cake and chocolate but just had to show you the current window of Choccywoccydoodaa in Brighton, they have one very talented gentleman I believe who sculpts and creates these amazing creations from yes...chocolate!!
How long would it take to eat this chocolate stag I wonder...
Happy weekends to everyone with or without SNOW !! :)

Too much cake...?!?

So I invited friends over yesterday afternoon to induldge in a bit of cake and tea and goss, at one point there was about 10 cakes and that was before the AMAZING cupcakes arrived!!
The other cake was my banana and chocolate chip which soon got demolished along with my good friend Hanne's version of a Nigella creation with delicious rum cream which hit the spot I can tell you! I also wanted to show off my fab 'Big love' Emma Bridgewater cake tin, brill!
So on this drab monday I can answer pretty confidently NO you can you never have too much cake!!!

Cute.

Hallo! I am spending this week working on lots of new Christmas designs and whilst doing a bit of research I came across these gorgeous characters over at the Bella Dia blog, a very talented lady http://belladia.typepad.com They made me smile a lot x

Donna Wilson and necessary design purchases!

Oh its such a Monday for me today, slow starting, struggling with getting motivated, however was inspired at the end of last week after having a mini design blow out and simply HAVING to puchase the Habitat peacock cushion first seen over on the PrintPattern blog, swiftly followed by a toadstool candle from Heals, too cute!! To have a look online for some of Donna Wilsons pieces, soooo talented and I just LOVE the ginge cat, bearing a slight resemblance to my own stig. You can check out more of Donna's quirky work at her blog http://donnawilsonsblog.blogspot.com/, if you haven't already that is!! Right now, I am cracking the whip and will be here into the night, its Christmas time!!!!

London baby!!

Hi bloggers well today has been a proper Monday me thinks, grey and grim boo and to top if off I feel a bit like a cold is heading my way so currently got fingers and toes crossed its just a bit of monday blues.
Had a lovely weekend around London with my best friend, luckily was nice and bright as you can see from the photos, St James Park was just beautiful, full of autumn colours and many fat squirrels and Liberty's window display was highly inspirational as was the christmas store inside.
Its all about the toadstools for me :)