back to work!

Hello!

I'm back home from my holiday now....

here's a shot of a drainpipe with character spotted during my stay in Krakow.

There'll be more photos to follow once I get myself sorted!

I've had a fantastic couple of weeks, a chilled time in Poland

followed by a fun but hectic bank holiday weekend!

Now on with work!

Holiday time!

Hooray!! Hooray!! I'm off on holiday! I've decorated my feet with some more henna after the success of last time!

I'm really looking forward to having a break as its been a while!

We're off to Krakow, then catching a sleeper train to the coast where we'll be staying in Sopot for some relaxing beach time after our krakow sight seeing!

Then a flying visit back to Nottingham before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe for a couple of nights with my super friend Charlene!

I've got some new work starting the first day I'm back from holiday so its going to be nice to have a new start to look forward to on my return! :D

Have a good couple of weeks everyone!

Zara spot!

I hope you can see these well enough...

the fabric is meant to be creased, just doesn't help when trying to photograph!

These are some snapshots of some t-shirts I spotted in Zara this weekend.

I love these characters and the old fashioned feel of the images....AND I love shopping at Zara!

but I don't love it that they sell bras for 7 year olds and perfume for babies!

Other than that their kidswear is super!

birthday pop up

Again along the birthday theme....

here's a super card I received from my sister-in-law and her family.

Great enough to stay up all year round I'm sure!!

Alice Gabb

My lovely little bird lover friend Abbie

bought me these very attractive envelopes for my birthday!

You can see more of Alice's work in her Etsy shop or on her blog

They're by Alice Gabb

Anorak arrival

I've had some good post this week, including more birthday presents, new glasses

(thank you glasses direct...they made the process of having to choose glasses for the first time so much easier by getting a free frame trial

through the post! I will now be able to drive and read road signs at the same time!)

and the Anorak Happy Activity books for Kids arrived!

Its very lovely to look at with a variety of illustrators taking part....

I've taken some snaps with my phone of my favourite pages.

Now I need to wait for my nephews to grow a little more and then they can help me fill it in!

My huge cake!

On friday night me and the family went to a charity auction to raise money for health packs which will be handed out by workers from the Lighthouse Care Centres

to people who are in great need in Swaziland.

(Swaziland has the highest AIDS and HIV rate in the world of over 40%.....

this has resulted in over 100,000 orphaned children. 60% of the population live on less than a dollar a day.)

Buying this cake meant that I helped to buy 20 health kits which is small in the grand

scheme of things but as a combined effort the auction provided

more money than the hoped target which is fantastic!

Buying this cake also meant that I got to eat a lot of it!

It was wonderful....fresh cream and strawberries on top with an amazing chocolate base!

You can see more about the talented cake maker Tessa here

birthday pie!

Pie with my name on it! What more can a birthday girl ask for!!

I've had a very lovely weekend relaxing in Birmingham with my family

and catching up with a few friends....it really was great!

And topped off with a lovely meal cooked for me by Ed....4 courses!

Perfect! Now time for work!

Birthday time

...well it would be nice to get a birthday treat or two this Sunday when I hit 2......9!

but more than anything I'm looking forward to having a laptop free

weekend and seeing my super duper family and catching up with some lovely friends!

All I need now is a bit of sunshine! :D

Hooray for Fridays! And Birthdays! Have fun everyone!

hello Mr!

I realised I haven't shared much new work with you lately....

I'm really busy working on a variety of projects

including a new book, magazine and a brochure....

all things thatI've never done before which is fantastic...I love a new challenge.

But it means I can't show you any of this new work til its been released! I must be patient!

Here's something new for you today though....

a little lion hot off the wacom tablet....here to say hello!

vintage seaside

I love old posters....I came across these lovely seaside posters

on the BBC news website yesterday.

These posters are generally to encourage people to go on holiday by train...which sounds exciting to me! Not long til our holiday...we'll be going on a sleeper train one night!

I think this Blackpool poster below is my favourite!

good news for Birmingham

Thanks to Creative Open Workshops from the end of the month there will be a weekly craft market in Birminghams Bullring Market. See here for more info.

Birmingham has been short of this kind of thing for a long long time so it's super to see artists and makers getting chance to sell their goods in the city centre.