Hello & Happy September!
​
Not just a new month, but a whole new season.
This month's FREE desktop wallpaper is on it's way to everyone on my email list today.

​To say goodbye to summer, this month's design is a trip to the botanical gardens for a last look at the roses, cosmos and hydrangea.  Through the flowers a proud peacock can be spotted, to add to this splendid sight in calming hues of violet and blue.

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August has been an intense juggling act, as I am sure it has been for most working parents.

This summer has been particularly lovely here in the UK with plenty of sunshine.  
​This past month, I've been squeezing in family days out and a very hot and sunny week in Cornwall - which has been great for inspiration and memory making.  

All that combined with fitting in ongoing work and projects with the children home.  It has to be said, freelancing from home during the school holidays really does test skills and patience.  I am sending big love to all fellow freelancers and parents, whatever your field of expertise happens to be.  Rest assured that we have nearly made it - September is here at last!  

​I think the key is to accept it and make the best of the situation, because they don't stay little for long and nests are soon emptied...

Of the ongoing projects I've been working on, one of those has been (and still is) developing some new occasions cards for wholesale.  The aim is to fill some of the gaps in my occasion card offering.  A couple of weeks ago my first samples of these cards arrived and have now been listed over at my Etsy shop....

Another new product to arrive from the printers in August are my Nature Guide A5 Notepads.  These have my Wildflowers and Butterflies Guides on the front.  Printed on the inside front and back covers are the matching wildflower and butterfly patterns.  The colours are bright and as we say here in Somerset, they're definitely lush!
The inner pages are smooth, plain white recycled paper -  the idea being they can be used for sketchbooks, notebooks, planners or bullet journals.  

These are sold in packs of two for £9 over at my Etsy.  I have also added them to a gift set bundle where you can get the two notebooks plus the two signed prints of these nature guides all together for £20...

It's around this time of year when people are out visiting places, that my cards get spotted.  I really must say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who spotted my cards in shops
throughout the summer and took the time and trouble to let me know.

Over the past few years, some of my designs have found their way into shops at resorts, gift and book shops across the UK.   It always blows me away at how kind people are to take a store snap and send it to me and let me know where they saw my designs.  It's always exciting to see my work in shops, especially as I don't really know exactly where they are (because the distribution of the cards is handled by the publisher I work with).  
It means a huge deal to me to be shown them in situ, so thanks again!...

In the pics above - spotted in Waterstones, Staines (left).  Spotted in National Trust, St Michael's Mount, Cornwall (right).

​As thoughts turn to the start of a new season and back to school, I am definitely feeling like it's the beginning of a new term. My recent doodles have began to reflect the change in seasons and I am looking forward to getting back to a more settled routine.

I wish you all a lovely September!
Best wishes

Angie

Hello & Happy August!
I hope you enjoyed the sunshine throughout July.

A new month means a new FREE desktop wallpaper and to try and keep the sun shining. This month features warm sunflowers, agapanthus and dahlias all buzzing with bees.
 
This one will be sent to everyone on my email list today.
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With all the soaring temperatures here in the UK, July was a bit of a struggle for me as I'm not great at all when it's too hot, so work routines needed to be adjusted to cope.  However, the main struggle came from the theme of the stuff I was working on whilst the was sun blazing away.  What I'm not showing you here is I have been doing lots of creative development on Christmas themed work (all to be revealed in the coming weeks).

Yep, there it is, the 'C' word in August again.  Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

Actually, it crops up all year round in this line of work as most illustrators and designers will tell you. July saw lots of festive work on my desk whilst I gently melted away in the heat.  Which is why I have felt the need to also draw stuff like sunflowers, agapanthus and dahlias to remind me that summer is here and to be savoured...

​As part of the new designs I've been developing to release in autumn, I've been getting on with designing my 2019 Calendar.  I am hoping to do two calendars again this year, but if I can get the first one done I will be more than happy as it's become quite a labour of love, with lots going on in each image.

A couple of months ago I was dabbling with the '100 day project' over on Instagram, around the theme of wildlife around the world.  These drawings along with others are now forming the basis on my 2019 calendar which will be called 'Wild World'.

Here is a little peep at what I plan to use for one of the months, possibly September...

Talking of September, that's when I hope to have these calendars done and printed so that they can be photographed professionally along with the new Christmas cards and wrap I now have finished and printed (a big satisfying tick off my to do list).  

​I hope to be able to share more calendar development next month and a behind the scenes on how the photoshoot goes for the October blog post....

Before I sign off, I will leave you with another new design I developed in July (another reaction to working on Christmas whilst trying to relish summertime).  

This 'But First Tea' design can be found as print over at my Etsy shop in a choice of coloured backgrounds : pink, as shown above, yellow or dark inky blue.

With the school holidays here and a trip to Cornwall on the cards, I am looking forward to plenty of cream teas by the sea in the coming weeks.

Have a lovely month
Best wishes

​Angie