The Sewing Directory Giveaway

The lovely people over at The Sewing Directory are having a giveaway in which myself and 4 other designer-makers are offering a lovely handmade prize to 5 lucky winners. I'm giving away this one off 'Robot Love' vinyl ring-handled shopper bag, made with recycled vintage fabric (pictured above).

This is a fab giveaway with some really nice bits up for grabs. The only annoying thing is that i can't enter myself!

Ah well if you're feeling lucky get yourself over there and find out how you can win:
http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/handmade-competition/

Fashionistas read on

I've not managed to write in a while as my time has been filled with lots of little jobs.

One of the best little jobs was to produce a banner (above) for the fashion blog of Carla Benstead aka Messy Carla.
Carla emailed me a couple of weeks ago to ask if i could design a new banner for her wonderful blog and i was honoured. 'Messy Carla: A Fashion Blog in a Size 16', is a fashion blog with a difference as it caters to the luscious curvy lady (real women), moving away from the fading trend of emaciated models and the frightening size 0 phenomenon.

Its a great little read with tips on how to look great and reviews on the latest trends and products. Anyway don't rely on my word for it follow Messy Carla's fashion adventures here: http://messycarla.blogspot.com/

I'm really pleased with the banner as is Carla. Its going to look fab when its up and i've also made her some funky new wallpaper for her blog. Here's one version of it as a sneak preview:

Packed to the rafters

The Made in Newcastle pop up shop launch party last Sat (10th July) was a resounding success.
It was packed with shoppers, creative types, media types and supporters. Here's the evidence:

The fashion show was fab and the cafe area wall which we used for the doodle jam is looking suitably doodled on.
All i can say is awesome! I'm very much looking forward to going in next Saturday.
To read more on the launch and other MIN news check out the blog:
VISIT THE MADE IN NEWCASTLE BLOG

The secret world of Ravenswood school garden

So heres the story about how i spent two days with a class of fantastic kids creating a fantasy map of their garden (above).

Back in late April I had a email from Paul Hood the teacher of a year six class at Ravenswood Primary School, asking if I would be interested in working with his class to produce a mural for their garden wall. I had been suggested to him by a lovely lady who is a fan of my work on Facebook (thanks Hannah). I was very pleased to be asked although i hadn't done anything like this before.
I went to visit the school in June and was inspired. Its a large school and they have so much going on including loads of funky clubs the children can get involved in. One of them is the Ukulele Club - so cool!

They also have the Gardening Club who tend to the huge school garden that was developed from a piece of overgrown waste land by Mr Hood a few years ago. The garden is around an acre and is almost split into different sections - a wild area, a herb garden, a story telling area and a pond to name a few. The wall is East facing, approx 3 by 4 metres and i was charged with coming up with something original and something that the kids could get involved with to put on it.
The idea of creating a fantasy/treasure map of the garden popped into my head, whilst i was reading the novel Wicked, as there is a map of Oz at the front of the book. It got me thinking - wouldn't it be great if the kids could come up with a fantastical imaginative name for each area of their garden and it could forever more be known by that moniker.

Paul loved the idea & the kids came up with the following aliases for their garden sections:

• the pond - The Black Sea
• the hedge running along the east side of the garden - Wild Rabbit Hedge
• the wild bit - Hunter's Cove
  
• the yurt/den - Samuel's Cabin
• the herb garden - Horrible Herbs (initially horrendous herbs but was too long to fit)
  
• the veg patch - Potato Paradise
• the bridge - Banshees Boardwalk
• the stepping stones which snake round - Serpent Stones
• the greenhouse - The Hut of No Return
• the palm tree area - Treasure Island

I went in to work with them all on a very hot Tuesday & Thursday in late June.
The kids worked in 2 or 3s on a particular section and each group came up with an illustration to define their area. A problem that we encountered was as the wall surface was incredibly rough it was v difficult to get a lot of detail into the images.
We managed though and the finished article looks wonderful i think.
The School now have a mural that they can say is completely original and I hope that kids can be heard out in the garden saying things like 'I'll water the tomatoes in the Hut of No Return, while you feed the fish in the Black Sea'.

Thanks Paul Hood and your fantastic year six class for a great 2 days :)

New User Friendly Website Shop

Just a quickie to let you know i've been making some changes to my online shop.
Quite a lot of of the feedback from my giveaway survey a couple of months ago pointed towards the shop being a bit confusing due to excessive imagery and it being slow to load.

Therefore i have given it a bit of an overhaul. I've made it more simple visually so you don't go cross eyed. +
There are now thumbnails of each item on the shop sections which you can click on individually to take you to the full size pic of item. This means that its a lot quicker for the shop pages to load. +
I've added a secondary navigation system so rather than going back to the shop menu you can go direct to a different category.

Hope you like the changes.
Please take a quick look and let me know what you think: Go directly there to take a sneaky peek

Made in Newcastle Pop-Up Shop, Gallery & Cafe

A month ago I was asked if I wanted to take part in a collaboration between artists and makers in Newcastle to set up a 6 month pop-up shop, gallery and café in an empty shop space. Of course I said 'YES!' Now the project is well under way and soon to be open to the public.

Here's how it works - we were granted funding from Newcastle City Council to help set up a shop which showcases the work of local makers and designers and offers them a platform to sell from. Designers get the chance to have their work on sale in the shop for no commission in return for contributing time or skills to the project.
There are now around 10-15 people involved so far and its growing.
Take a look at some photos of the shop space here. Its pretty bare at the moment, but the furniture is arriving and believe me there has been some serious charity shopping taking place and some of the display pieces are retrotastically awesome!

The shop will be launched on Sat 10th July and there will be a fashion show, an art jam and a swap as part of the launch, so its going to be 'mint' (as they say in Newcastle). Please visit the blog for more info on the project and check out the flyer (and logo above) which I produced for Made in Newcastle here: www.madeinnewcastle.blogspot.com

Oh yeah and don't forget to join us if you're on Facebook.

Its All Go

This month i’ve have been up to all sorts of things illustrations wise

In early June i completed an illustration commission to produce 4 images of Newcastle Upon Tyne landmarks for the Albatross Backpackers Inn website.

I was asked to do 4 funky modern illustrations of the Angel of the North, the Tyne Bridge, the Sage Gateshead and the Millenium Eye Bridge.
The images are now being used as a skyline for the background of the hostel’s site check them out here: http://www.albatrossnewcastle.co.uk/ Last week i was working with a class of school kids and their teacher Mr Hood at Ravenswood Primary School, to help produce a mural for their garden wall. I was very excited to be offered the opportunity to do this. It’s not something I have done before and I jumped at the chance.

The kids are 10-11 years old and they were all great and so polite. The brief was pretty open and the only requirements for the mural was that it be original and something that the kids could take part in.

I'd been reading the novel 'Wicked' and it was this that inspired me to come up with idea of producing a treasure style map of the garden area, as there is a simple map of 'Oz' at the front of the book. The school have a BIG garden which is kind of split up into different sections, so I asked the kids to come up with fantastical names for each bit. I loved the idea of areas of the garden forever more being referred to by its alternative name. Such as 'Hut of No Return', 'Hunters Cove' and 'The Black Sea' to name a few.

The mural is nearly finished and the photos will be up put on here once its complete.

Now the other thing i've been working on is sooo exciting that i'm going to put it in a separate post so read on...