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

Happy July!

New month means a new desktop wallpaper!

With all the gardens in full summer bloom, 
my little guinea pig loves watching all the jugs
get filled with the pretty colours of the Sweet Williams and Fuchsias.

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​

​Looking back at June,
it has been a month tinged with sadness for our family.

At the beginning of the month my Father-In-Law peacefully passed away.
It was expected, however saying goodbyes to loved ones at this time of lockdown brings with it extra challenges - my heart goes out to everyone who has also had to experience this at this time.
 
I've always wanted to keep this space to be about celebrating the lovely things in life.
With that in mind, I would like to share a little poem in remembrance
of my Father-In-Law, Fred.  
Fred loved literature and enjoyed writing poetry.
In his younger years, he had some of his poetry published.  
This poem of his, written sometime in the late 1960s/early 70s,  
​is my favourite...

The Sparrow

I am a little sparrow,
Been a'sparrowing all day long;
But I'm beginning to worry about nature,
'Cos it seems to me something's gone wrong.

Whatever that old farmer's a'spraying down onto his ground,
May be all right for his bean crop,
-but experienced sparrows have found
That there aren't quite so many small midges,
-nor creepedy crawlingy things'
That make up the diet of sparrows;
-and other small folk - that have wings.

So us sparrows have had a discussion,
And decided that what all this means - is
If you really want to have sparrows;
Perhaps you must eat - smaller beans.

​That poem always made me smile and now it will more than ever.

That's the gift of creativity - when you create something you leave a little piece of your heart behind for loved ones to treasure and pass on.  

Funnily enough, that little poem gave me the confidence to create this month, in spite of everything.  I want to make my ideas real and leave footprints behind, as I now know that they have value at least as a legacy to be treasured by those close to me,
and that makes it more than worthwhile - thank you for teaching me that Fred!...

So here's what I created in June - new gift wraps.
The budgie pattern was the new pattern I created and the other patterns I adapted to be printed on gift wraps, although I had created them earlier for fabrics...
​

There are four new wraps:
- Budgies
- Toucans and Parrots
- Strawberry Patch
- Beekeeping

All of which are now listed in my Etsy and Folksy shops...