Happy September!

As a new term begins and it's back to school and back to work.  Little hedgehog knows it is a term like no other before and is here to support you all the way!

If you would like to get this FREE desktop wallpaper,
​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE​

August has been another odd month in a strange year.  
For me, it has been lots of preparing for back to school and adjustment to our collective 'new normal'.  We managed to fit in a short little trip away to visit family and be by the sea -all very pleasant given the circumstances.  Most of all, there was an enormous sense of gratitude at just being able to visit family again.

I kept creating new designs throughout August, whenever I could get a chance .  
​This year it has been more important than ever, because it is my escape and sense of peace and calm in these turbulent times...

I had been longing to add some more British Nature Guides to my collection for a while,
so this month I did just that.

Introducing my new 'British Cottage Garden Flowers' (inspired by getting out and about this summer and seeing some stunning gardens in the villages on the Quantock Hills).

Also, there is a new British Beekeeping Guide - to go with the gift wrap pattern I created recently and to team with the British Bees Guide from last year.
​Both these prints are now listed over at my Etsy shop...
​

Another new item to arrive in my Etsy shop is this new, night sky/ hibernation themed woodland gift wrap...

And finally, the last new illustration to make it into my online shops this past month is a
re-working of an old wall art print.  Back in 2011, not long after I had opened both my Folksy and Etsy shops, I used to sell a little line drawn print of a family of owls featuring the saying:

"We will thank our lucky stars that we are sitting here together'

It was a popular print back then - mainly due to a HUGE trend for owls.  
​This year, however, that saying seems to resonate with me much more as a gentle reminder that simply being able to be together as a family is the luckiest thing of all and should be treasured and never taken for granted....

Happy New Month!

The Beekeeper's honey has the sweet taste of summer...and so does my free desktop wallpaper for August!

If you would like to get this FREE desktop wallpaper,
​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE​

This summer marks the 10th anniversary of when I began my ‘Artwork By Angie’ journey.
 
It was during the school summer holidays 10 years ago, just before my eldest daughter was about to begin school and my youngest daughter start nursery, that I began building my first ever website and had ordered my first batch of greetings cards.  With a newly created, small collection of my designs - I’d found a printing company that did short print runs and offered multiple designs within that run, making my small investment of just under £100 feel like great value. So I placed my first ever order for printed greeting cards.  My plan back then was to finish the website then list those cards on the website and open a Folksy shop and list them there too.  Then I wanted to start a Facebook page to hopefully find people and direct them to my website and Folksy shop. 

I had no idea what I was doing really, I had seen some other artists were selling things on sites like Folksy and Facebook and thought it was worth a try.  I was simply learning as I went along!

I read all the help guides and advice I could find and it became an all consuming project. However, I was determined to stick with it because it felt so right and I was enjoying every minute of it.  Even though it was a struggle and seemed to take a long time to get going, each day spurred me on to the next without question that this was what I wanted to do. 

It has been a rollercoaster ride, but when I look back at the past 10 years, I can’t quite believe I am still sitting here with this little business I created from those tentative, brave steps from that summer of 2010.  Most of all, I am amazed by the body of work it has enabled me to create over that time and the fact that it has done nothing but grow my love of drawing and creating while connecting me with a whole community of wonderful, creative people.

To celebrate this milestone of hanging on in there for 10 years, here are my:

​10 Tips for Surviving as a Creative Business…

​I hope some of my tips above are useful, perhaps to someone who may be reading it with similar aspirations to the ones I had 10 years ago.  At that time, i remember discovering other established designers, illustrators and artists who had shared their tips and experience based advice on their blogs.  Their generosity for sharing advice helped me learn how to make it through the last 10 years as a creative business -  it’s feels very good to be able to pay that advice forward in some way.

I hope that you all have a great August
​Stay safe and take care!
&
Best wishes