The Dorset Bookshop.

As you may already be aware from my over-excited tweets this evening, my children's picture book I'm A Little Bit Scared Of... is now available to buy in an actual proper brick-and-mortar bookshop! It was such an amazing feeling to walk past The Dorset Bookshop in my hometown of Blandford Forum earlier, and see my book displayed in the window! It's such a cute little old-fashioned bookshop too, packed full of new and secondhand books. The owners of the shop compared my illustrative style to the work of Lauren Child in her Charlie and Lola books, which is such a massive compliment, as she is one of my favourite illustrators. The photos below are a little unclear as they were taken on my phone, but if you look closely, you can definitely spot my book displayed right in the middle of the window! Excitement!

Tees and Totes.

For a while now, I have been meaning to post about my new t-shirt designs, which are available from my Society6 shop; you may have already read about them in this little post on Indie Minded. I have recently uploaded a range of new designs, and they are now all available to be printed on your choice of a wide variety of different coloured t-shirts, including dark and bright coloured tees, in addition to the paler coloured ones which were already available. All of my designs are taken from original collage and mixed-media illustrations I have created, so the images are full of texture and colour. These are just a few examples of the designs available; check out the full range here.

Believe in Magic Tee

Lazy Frog Tee

Flamingo Love Tee

Ginger Cat Tee

Northern Spotted Owl Tee

All my designs are also available to buy printed onto snuggly hoodies - perfect for those winter months that are quickly creeping up on us!

There is currently free worldwide shipping in my store, so it's the ideal time to treat yourself! My shop still stocks all the usual products such as illustrated iphone cases - including cases for the snazzy new iphone 5 -and laptop skins, in addition to new tote bags; all designs are available to be printed on either natural or black coloured totes.

Typewriter Tote

Update.

Massive apologies for the lack of posts on my blog over the past few months. I realise it has been somewhat neglected recently, so I felt I should post a little update. 

After months of searching for a part-time job, I very recently secured one in a little bookshop in the town where I live; the highlight of my first day involved sorting through all their children's picture books. Imagine me, sitting on the floor, totally surrounded by beautifully illustrated picture books; it was a dream! I think I will really enjoy working there. In addition to this, all their picture books are crazily cheap, so I imagine my first months wages may be spent on a new bookcase!

In terms of illustration work, things have been a little quiet of late; I have been caught up in the process of first selling, and now buying, a house! Very exciting, but ridiculously time-consuming. Once we are all moved in, and I have taken over the spare bedroom as my new studio, I will be back to work! However, a few months ago I began creating some work for the lovely Caroline, who asked if I could design the branding - logo, headers, banners - for a new website she is creating. The name of the website has been changed since I created these initial designs, so I thought I'd post them for you all to see. As you can tell, they were a great excuse for me to play around with creating hand-drawn typography, which is pretty much one of my favourite activities in the whole world.

I will leave the final designs for you to see for yourself once the website goes live. If anyone is interested in commissioning me to create any banners or logos or hand-drawn typography for any purpose, please feel free to contact me - my email address is listed over on the right.

On a final note, although I imagine this is the last thing you want to read about in the first few weeks of September, I noticed that my local post office has begun to sell Christmas cards already. This prompted me to list my illustrated Christmas cards, including my Bah Humbug anti-Christmas card perfect for any scrooges amongst you, in my shop; they're all ready for those of you who don't like to leave things to the last minute December rush. Check them out here.

Lionheart Magazine | Issue 2.

Earlier today, I received my copy of issue two of the beautiful Lionheart Magazine. I have been super excited for this issue to be published as it includes one of my illustrations - a collage illustration of a ginger cat, which accompanies an article all about editor Hels Martin's beautiful cat Francois. 

This is my first illustration to be properly published in a real life magazine that real people can actually buy, so I am mega excited and happy, eeee! It is SUCH a beautiful magazine to have an illustration published in too; it includes articles by Cherry Healey (my absolute hero) and Fritha Strickland, along with illustrations by some super talented girlies including Abby Wright, Emma Block, Daria Hlazatova, and a totally gorgeous cover illustration by Natasha Thompson.

I'm so looking forward to having a proper read of the magazine; it's packed full of amazing writing, beautiful illustrations and gorgeous photography, all printed on wonderfully thick paper - it's a real beauty. ♥

Go buy yourself a copy now - you won't regret it! ROAR.

Impossible things...

- Alice, Alice in Wonderland.

Crafty Little Herberts.

I just wanted to write a little post to let you all know about a fairly new online shop called Crafty Little Herberts. They stock all kinds of illustrated and handmade goodies for children, from colouring books and t-shirts, to colourful prints which are perfect to decorate bedroom walls! A selection of my prints, my children's book and also Pencil Paper Scissors' circus colouring book are all available to buy through their website, including my Monster Hug print, which is currently exclusive to Crafty Little Herberts!

Want to see more? Pop over to Crafty Little Herberts and have a peek at all the illustrated goodies available. It's the ideal place to find a perfect present for your little one - treat them to something a little bit different and a little bit special. :]

You can also keep up to date with Crafty Little Herberts by reading their blog, or following them on Twitter. 

May Draw A Day | Day Thirty-One.

A little collage illustration for today's theme, which is an acorn. Acorns are cute, they look like they're wearing little hats.

Today is the last day of May, which means the end of the May Draw A Day challenge. A massive thank you to the lovely Astrid for organising it; I will miss creating a little illustration each day. I decided to join in with the challenge in the hope that it would help ease me back into my illustration work after a break away from it, and also to push myself to show doodles and unpolished illustrations. The challenge has definitely kept me motivated - although some days it has been more of a struggle to get started, I have really enjoyed setting aside time every day to be creative. It has inspired me to spend more time on my illustration work again, whilst also allowing me to be more experimental in my work, using materials I hadn't used for years instead of always sticking to the same style. The reaction to my May Draw A Day illustrations has been pretty positive, which has made me feel more confident in showing less than perfect work, without the fear of being judged or criticised; this means I will be posting a lot more work in the future. Yay!

A little reminder that all the original illustrations I've created for May Draw A Day are currently for sale; it is very rare that I sell original work, so if you'd like to own a little signed illustration then this is your chance!

 Astrid, Jade and I are already planning to organise a collaborative Draw A Day challenge in August, so keep your eye out - I hope you'll all want to get involved!