swap shop

I have been doing a bit of trading lately, so amongst the tax bills and other January gloom the postman has been bringing me some lovely parcels which have cheered me up no end.
Stunning origami lamp shade from dutch designers snowpuppe and typo poster from one must dash
who were one of my fellow stand holders at Top Drawer. The colourful box on my trolly of treasures is from Ikea - rather nice I think.

aquarius

Here are a couple of my illustrations for this months Red Magazine. I rather liked the gardening girl with her high heeled wellies, but in the end the water carrying girl got the job. Today I will be drawing sheep, I am up to Aries in the calender. Happy birthday all you Aquarians.

show time

clementine&bloom, lampshades and cushions. spann&willis, cards and prints

one must dash, posters

Claire Gaudion, silk scarves

I was a little bleary eyed after three days of Spotted at Top Drawer and very thankful to see daylight again. My sun-topped towering stand worked really well, and was quick to install thanks to the full dress rehearsal at home. It was a long three days but well worth doing. I met so many people and made new friends. Fellow Spotted stand mates kept each other going - hooray for us all! clementine&bloom, spann&willis, stormy knight, one must dash, mes leather, Claire Gaudion, Amy Allwright, Jessica Hayes-Gill, Stephanie Davis.

In a moment of collective enthusiasm a group of us signed up for Launchpad at Pulse in May this year. I woke up the next morning thinking why why why?! but in the words of my lovely daughter  'do it mum!'

building up

I have been building a replica of my Top Drawer stand in my studio. As I have just one square metre I am building up! It is becoming a tower block, cushions leaning out of windows, cutting boards balancing on ledges, notebooks hanging off balconies, all topped by a smiling sun. I can't do minimal. Today is paperwork day - price lists, order form, press release, 2500 new postcards arriving any time now (designed and sent off yesterday, hooray for digital print). Tomorrow is set up day, I am surprisingly relaxed, what can possibly go wrong.

in print

I have finally got my hands on January's edition of The Simple Things magazine. And here's a full page of my Logpile wallpaper, photography by Heather Hobhouse and still looking good. The new shopping editor for The Simple Things is Will Taylor aka the delightful Mr Bazaar of the exuberent and colourful UK blog Bright Bazaar, thank-you Will!

Now I need to find a copy Frankie magazine from Australia. They requested an image of my mermaid cushion a while ago and judging by the amount of mermaids flying off down under (yes flying mermaids!) it must have been published in the last edition. Thank-you Frankie!

This image of the mermaid cushion was also by Heather from our first photo shoot together three years ago.

getting organised

Only 5 days to go till Top Drawer at Earls Court where I will be joining a group of small design companies selected by Charlotte Abrahams to showcase on her stand, Spotted at Top Drawer. I have one cubic metre of space which is perfect because I think if I had a full size stand I would have gone into hiding by now.

I have left it till this week to prepare, nothing like a deadline for quick decisions although I am rather wasting my time, putting together my perfect stationery kit for the show. Clipboard and stickers from Staples (I love Staples!) smiley stapler from Smug, hole punch from Muji, logbook from here!)

If anyone is coming to Top Drawer I will be on stand SP9, please come and say hello!

new leaf

the house is full of the scent of spring bulbs, and I am ready with my new broom and new notebook. 2013 is full of promise, happy new year everyone!