Sunday 18 December 2011

Cool things

Just uploading the rest of my NYC pics and remembered I took these. The first two are part of an art installation featured in the awesome Flatiron building. The exhibition features loads of decorated cups hanging from string. The artist, Gwyneth Leech, rescues the cups from her social meets and greets with friends and other artists, which would otherwise end up in the bin, and transforms them into art. 






Secondly, I snapped these pretty birds in the changing room at H&M on 5th Ave. Would like to find out who the artist was...




Santa doodles




A little doodle of Santa from my sketchbook, and then coloured up in Illustrator.

Super Festive screen printing


Printed some Christmas cards in my kitchen a few weeks ago to give to friends and family. I love to print on brown cards, so hope I made the right decision using it here! Looking to take this screen printing malarky a bit more seriously in the new year and get myself an Etsy shop to start selling the things I make.

Christmas in NYC

Just got back from a lovely trip to the Big Apple. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is my most favourite place on earth! I'm lucky enough to have visited many times - but never at Christmas, so we decided to squeeze in a few nights during the festive season. Think I walked a million miles and eat my body weight in things that are bad for me but it's what I love about New York. We took time to visit our favourite foody places, book shops, comic book stores and galleries etc. Also made time to go visit Brooklyn which was ace and reminded me very much of East London. 

Anyways - thought I would post a few pictures to show you how festive the city was. Our hotel was opposite the Rockefeller tree and I did a little *squee* everytime I saw it out of the window, or passed it on the streets! No snow this time, but still magical!



Ooh, ooh, ooh! Also - *SPOTTED* - a few of my books that I have illustrated for Usborne. In Barnes and Noble at Union Square I found Sticker Dolly Dressing Sports Girls which I did last year, and in a very cool children's boutique in Brooklyn called Mini Jake, I saw my First Stencil Cards: Christmas! The very same stencil cards I blogged about last time! 


Wednesday 9 November 2011

Christmas is coming!

Seeing as there are only 45 days until Christmas (eeps!) I thought I would share with a you a project I was working on in February! Christmas comes very early in the design department at Usborne Publishing. As the masses are still full from mince pie overload, we begin working on our titles for next Christmas.
So here is the first in a series we are doing - First Stencil Cards Christmas. A box of 12 festive stencils cards specially designed for little children to use. These are great as stocking fillers, or maybe a pre-Christmas gift so they can get crafty and make their own Christmas cards and wrapping paper. A fun way to improve younger children's co-ordination and motor skills. These have been designed and illustrated by yours truly, each card has a little doodle of mine as an example to copy.

To buy, or find more information on these cards, you will find them here on the Usborne website.
Here is a very sweet review of the cards by First4Dads
We have two more titles in this series to pre-order. Will post more details and pictures when they are available. © 2011 Usborne Publishing Ltd





Sunday 6 November 2011

Remember Remember to support Movember!


How are your 'taches coming along then? Hope you are all embracing your facial fuzz and supporting this chartiy.  The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that effect men. 

Visit http://uk.movember.com to find out how you can get involved.
Happy Movember!

Super Screenprint Sunday 6th November

Elisabetta and I got creative in the kitchen again today. I did a little painting and we both did some screen printing. Elisabetta worked on a Christmas card design and I did a little of this and a little of that! I painted some Christmas decorations that I may give as Christmas cards, and also finished off an autumnal screen print I started last week. Not sure how I feel about it but it's another one to add to the collection and sell I guess.




Elisabetta's sweet Christmas card design. Hope she gives me one!


Bits of my stencil



Friday 4 November 2011

Pumpkins

We swapped #superscreenprintingsunday for #superpumpkincarvingsunday last weekend. I went for a Day of the Dead theme and Gaz got creative with a Sainsbury's bag!! Check out his spooky owl below.

                                               





Wednesday 12 October 2011

R2 nice to meet you...


Doodle I did after the London Comic Convention a few months ago. This moment was just so cute - the shock on the little boys face was brilliant. Think he had just come face to face with an ultimate hero.

Friday 23 September 2011

Feeling autumnal (or as I like to call it autumny)


It was dark on my home from work tonight. First time I've noticed it. Always surprises me how much I like this time of year. Hat and scarf weather - what's not to like! Thought I'd share this sweet little poem that I was introduced to last year. It was part of another wedding book I did some doodles for.

Sunday 18 September 2011

Sock family



Little doodle I did as a present to my friend Louise, and her husband Josh, to say farewell as she goes on maternity leave. Baby Ansell is due in a few weeks and Lou has been busying herself with the nursery, which is jungle themed. I know sock monkeys don't live in the jungle, but they are still pretty cool. Lots of love and luck guys for the exciting times ahead!

Monday 18 July 2011

So long Harry...


We may have just watched the final Harry Potter film - but I'll be Gryffindor forever! 

Thursday 14 July 2011

Other cake ideas

After the last post, I thought I'd share a few others I've made over the years. Not amazing but I do love making them! They seem to taste ok and everyone is still alive so I guess it's worth it...


Caroline's birthday 2009


Hannah's birthday 2009



Louise's birthday 2010


Sam's birthday 2010




Caroline's birthday 2010 (Farm theme begins...)



A rotting head cake I made with my sister in law, Heather in LA 2009


My wedding cake 2011 - 120 red velvet cupcakes made with love by me and my team of super duper cake makers. Top tier made by Heather

Happy Birthday Caroline

My friend Caroline celebrated her birthday on Monday. In true Usborne tradition we decorated her desk and chipped in for a present. I should let you know that Caroline dreams of running a little farm when she grows up (she turned 28 on Monday but we are informed she still has a lot of growing up to do but we hope to see the farm one day). One of the things she would like to keep on her farm is bees so we bought her a taster course in beekeeping! How awesome are we!? Because we are a bit slow in ordering presents, the voucher for the course didn't turn up in time. But funnily enough we are super fab designers and creative people so we pulled it out of our arse -*cough*- I mean we got together and created something a little bit more special anyway! Sam and I made our own voucher that hung inside of a special jar of honey. And to go with the present - and quite frankly because everyone loves cake - I made some bumble bee cakes to tie in with the theme. Take a look!







Sunday 3 July 2011

New Usborne title with my doodles in

Thought I'd share a new title that I worked on earlier this year. It's called The Usborne Big Colouring Book. 96 pages of stylish illustrations to colour. Available to buy in most big bookshops, 
These are some of my spreads...