Here is one I made yesterday for my boyfriend's Mum and I've also just sent one to my friend's new baby (obviously can't show that one yet!). What do you think?
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Mischief Makes: Ellie Poo Cards
Here is one I made yesterday for my boyfriend's Mum and I've also just sent one to my friend's new baby (obviously can't show that one yet!). What do you think?
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Mischief Meets: Bonnie Blackbird
Time for another Mischief Meets interview... This week I am featuring Bonnie Blackbirds Penny and Sara. I first met Penny as a result of my 'Sew Over It' post, she'd also been to the shop and had seen my post and 'About Me' page on my blog. She too had lost her Mum around the same time as me and she she sent me a lovely message. I'm so glad she did as it seems we have quite a lot in common, we both have an obsession with stationery and pretty things and have since been back to Sew Over It together to do a class.
Penny started Bonnie Blackbird with her University friend Sara in 2009 when they began designing wedding stationery for Sara's wedding. The team now work together to produce wonderful stationery and print designs for all occasions. Here is their story:
• What is the essence of your business? What do you do?
We are a small business run by myself (Penny) and Sara, creating luxury stationery which can be personalised by the customer. Many people would like something a bit more personal than buying packs from big high street chains, so we take the hard work out of it for them and create bright and cheery designs to choose from. They send us the text – we do the rest, the next best thing to having your very own graphic designer, but much cheaper! We have also expanded our range by creating mounted ‘Positive Prints’ for daily motivation and a quaint tea towel collection.
• Where do you work? Describe
your studio space.
• Which materials couldn’t you live without?
Penny started Bonnie Blackbird with her University friend Sara in 2009 when they began designing wedding stationery for Sara's wedding. The team now work together to produce wonderful stationery and print designs for all occasions. Here is their story:
We are a small business run by myself (Penny) and Sara, creating luxury stationery which can be personalised by the customer. Many people would like something a bit more personal than buying packs from big high street chains, so we take the hard work out of it for them and create bright and cheery designs to choose from. They send us the text – we do the rest, the next best thing to having your very own graphic designer, but much cheaper! We have also expanded our range by creating mounted ‘Positive Prints’ for daily motivation and a quaint tea towel collection.
• How did you start doing what you do? Have you always been
creative? What made you decide to start up on your own?
I studied Graphic Design at university and lived with Sara
throughout (she studied law). Although I knew I wanted to work in Graphic
Design, I just hadn’t found a discipline that got me jumping out of bed in the
mornings. I always thought I should work in a big award-winning studio
somewhere in the city designing vinyl covers and logo’s for funky cutting-edge
brands. I worked at Interbrand for a placement in my second year, which is the
world’s largest brand consultancy, and whilst it was a great experience, I knew
deep down it wasn’t for me.
I currently work in a corporate company in Central London at
the moment as a Graphic Designer but it is very limited creatively. I used to
talk with my mum on the phone every lunchtime about how I wish I could do
something more creative, but just didn’t know what. In 2008, a couple of friends (including Sara) asked me to
create their wedding stationery. It all just began to click – I’ve always loved
stationery, why on earth wasn’t I working with it?! However, even then I was
almost too scared to just go for it.
In February 2010, my mum passed away completely
unexpectedly. The week before, we sat and had breakfast in bed together and
spoke about the wedding stationery idea.I very vividly remember her saying ‘Oh
Pen, I wish you would just GO FOR IT!’ – and so I did.
Sara was completely amazing over that whole time, she set me
briefs and deadlines to complete and visited me often to see what I’d done.
This was a massive distraction that I needed to move forward, some people find
alcohol or drugs – I found stationery! We worked together so well and genuinely
enjoyed it so much that it made sense to join forces. Sara works in a law firm
full time, so is most definitely the right brain of the team (or is that left?
The clever academic one anyway who does all the figures!) That said, we work
together to brainstorm product ideas and concepts as well and really bounce off
each other. She is also the notebook police – I’m banned from buying anymore!
We take it in turns to go to each other’s houses, though we
have a studio in my house in Richmond where all the physical designing and
making takes place. It’s a spare room in my flat that I share with my
boyfriend. He has his golf club, I have my studio!
• Do you work with a team?
We do everything – printing, scoring, the lot. If we have a
large order for wedding stationery, sometimes it’s necessary to outsource the
printing. My sister is a window dresser and stylist so is never short of a prop
or two, which helps with the photography luckily.
• What is a
typical day for you?
As we are both in full time jobs, I get up early at 6.30am
to do any orders that came in late the night before so I can try and get them
posted that day. Then I head to the city for my day job (I won’t bore you with
that!). Lunchtime is spent either blog reading or with my notebook, sketching
or writing lists of things to do when I get home. During my commute back to
Richmond I write blog posts on my iphone, or read any business books that I
have recently bought (my current one being ‘Build A Business From Your Kitchen Table’ by Sophie Cornish and Holly Tucker - Highly recommended). As soon as I
get home, the laptop is out and I either complete orders we got that day, or
work on the new ideas that Sara and I have created over the weekend. I love
Sundays because its more time I can spend on BB, doing what I really want to be
doing and Sara and I are usually able get together and discuss what each other
have done over the week.
• What do you find most satisfying about the work you do?
I love the fact that I get to finally work on designs that
excite me. Finding such great companies to connect with is amazing too - there
really are some lovely, lovely people out there in the industry.
My trusty macbook, I love her a lot. My printer. And good, thick,
gorgeous cardstock.
• What is your design process?
We brainstorm the main theme of the brief, that usually
gives us some concepts to work with. We compose a quick moodboard to help give
us an idea of colours and style that we want to go with and after initial
sketches in the layout pad, I then go on to expand the idea in illustrator. We
often change the design or add to it after running a few versions through the
printer and seeing how it turns out. I always email it to Sara and she sends
feedback to refine it before we both agree on the final product.
• Where do you find your inspiration? Do you have any
favourite books, magazines etc?
I actually really like flicking through home magazines to
get ideas of how patterns and styles go together. I initially wanted to be an
interior designer, so homes and interiors still inspire me. I don’t go a day
without checking out stationery blogs, my favourite being ‘Oh So Beautiful Paper’ and I find ‘How About Orange’ a good way to get me all pumped to be
creative! I find a walk around Richmond Park or along the river helps to clear
the head aswell.
• Are there any designers/artists you particularly admire?
Oh gosh yes! The one that stands out particularly for me is
Caroline Gardner. I love the brightness and simplicity of her designs and how
they work on a variety of products, such as her recent launch of scented
candles and even dog collars (which I’d love to do one day!). The other for
being an incredibly hard worker and seems to be a lovely person is Anna Bond of
Rifle Paper Co. Her botanical illustration range is just beautiful.
• Which are
your favourite blogs?
Paper Crave (and their
sister company Invitation Crush)
• What advice
would you give to someone wanting to start their own creative business
Just Go For It! Don’t just talk about it, start, and see
where it takes you. You can’t develop your style until you try things out and
see what works for you. But be prepared for it to take over your life!
You can see more of Penny & Sara's designs on the Bonnie Blackbird website. They also have a Not On The High Street shop and write a blog here.
Thanks girls and good luck with your stationery journey!
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Magazine Love: 91 Magazine
Issue 4 of the fabulous 91 Magazine launched this morning and I was so excited to see the beautiful stationery spreads and an inspiring article from Catherine Sprunt on the effects of the digital age on the stationery market. Well worth a read and a swoon over the gorgeous pics! Well done 91, another delicious issue to brighten my day.
Monday, 10 September 2012
Mischief Meets: What Katie Does
I'm a freelance web and graphic designer. I run the gamut of user interface design for major brands and agencies, to logos and blogs for freelance journalists, to illustrated wedding stationery. I also run an occasional Etsy shop to sell prints and posters of my own designs.
• How did you start doing what you do? Have you always been creative? What made you decide to start up on your own?
I've also been kind of artsy but also liked science and maths, so web design is the ideal middle ground. I started building (awful) web pages as soon as we got the internet at home circa 1997 and did a degree in Interactive Media, then started working in London agencies when I graduated. I decided to go alone after 5 years because I wanted to expand my skills in illustration and graphic design and have the power to organise my own time.
• Where do you work? Home, studio, rent space etc. Describe your studio space.
I work in agencies about 30% of the time and at home the rest. I have a small home office which doubles as our guest room at the back of the house. It's comfy, practical and pretty, which makes it quite easy to stay focused when working at home.
• Do you do everything yourself or do you have a team?
Some of my projects are just me but I usually collaborate with other freelancers or agencies on bigger projects.
• What is a typical day for you?
On a working at home day, I usually wake up at 9 and check my emails in bed. I try to be at my desk by 10am (not an early riser) then work pretty solidly until about 3 when I stop for lunch.
• What do you love about what you do?
An interesting, challenging array of projects and the flexibility that working for myself affords me.
• Which materials couldn’t you live without?
Photoshop, notebook, and tea!
• What is your design process?
Depends on the project but I nearly always start with sketching ideas in a notebook, whether it's a website or an illustration. It's then usually an evolutionary process of drafts in Photoshop or Illustrator with client feedback in between.
• Where do you find your inspiration? Do you have any favourite books, magazines etc?
Blogs mostly, I'm a bit obsessed with reading them and saving all the things I find inspiring to Tumblr.
• Are there any designers/artists you particularly admire?
Frank Chimero, Jon Contino, Lotta Nieminen, Tim Smits, Marian Bantjes, the agencies Fuzzco and Ptarmak.. lots more too..!
• Which are your favourite blogs?
• What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own creative business.
Get some solid years of experience first: it helps build up your portfolio and a network of contacts which are vital for getting new work. Be prepared to work more hours than you expected and have most of your time taken up by admin, emails and accounting. Keep good records of your time, earnings and expenses for the tax man. But remember to take some time off some time too!
Thank you so much Katie! You can follow Katie via her fabulous blog where she writes about food, travel, interiors, design and her own home plus she offers useful craft tutorials. You can view more of her lovely work here. Sunday, 9 September 2012
She's back and with One Lovely Blog Award!
Summer is nearly over and EEK! It's been well over a month since I last had anything to do with my blog, let alone write a post on here. I've had a crazy workload over the last few months and all the fun things have been put very much on a back burner. Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely ladies from the London Bloggers Group (we had tea and cake at the lovely Lowry & Baker on Portobello Road ) and they gave me a ticking off for not posting regularly or replying to my comments, so feeling a little bit guilty and mostly INSPIRED by them, I am back to tackle this blogging lark with a vengeance! I've even signed up for another round with Holly on BYW Boot Camp in October and looking forward to taking Pugly Pixel's CSS Workshop next week.
While I've been away I have been collecting lots of interviews from some very talented creative ladies for 'Mischief Meets' which I will post shortly. I've also been working on some great little projects, bought some gorgeous new books, and not forgetting, received my first copy of the beautiful The Simple Things magazine, plenty to share with you over the coming weeks.....that's if I still have any readers!
I am also extremely chuffed that back in August, Amy from Simple Style Notebook nominated me for a One Lovely Blog Award. This makes me even more ashamed that I have deserted my blog when I clearly have some very loyal followers, who I add, I am extremely grateful for and thankful for your support.
To accept the nomination I have to (and the rules seem to vary slightly here):
• Link back to the person who nominated me
• Show the award logo on my blog
• Share 7 facts about myself
• Nominate some other blogs I feel worthy of the award
So, here goes....
• The person who nominated me Amy, who writes a fabulous style blog Simple Style Notebook. Amy is one of my fellow students from BYW as well as a fellow '30 something'. Her sophisticated blog is full of style inspirations. With a background in the fashion industry she runs her own personal styling business Simple Style Solutions. She would also be one of my nominations had she not been already!
• 7 facts about myself:
- To my family I am only known by my nickname 'Tiggy' not Anna.
- I drive a Mini Cooper called Myrtle and I never want to part with her.
- I have unhealthy obsession with paper products and notebooks
- I once trained to be an olympic gymnast
- I long to get a labrador puppy and totally in love with my Dad's, Lola.
- I like to always have fresh flowers in my house.
- I love magazines and still have some in their cellophane wrappers which I have never read....SHOCKING I know!
• My lovely little blog nominations are :
(I read so many blogs and could list quite a lot who are award worthy, however here are a select few)
- Jarfly
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