Happy August!

The summer holidays are here and it's time to reveal this month's desktop wallpaper for my email subscribers.  
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August is all about days out with plenty of ice cream. It's also the month when fruits ripen, harvest arrives and there's plenty of action in those hedgerows around the village fete for those who choose to look.  Like these cheeky blackbirds feasting on the cherries and sloes.
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Talking of birds, berries and 'Summer In Bloom'.  Last month saw the launch of my first collection of paper craft products with Create & Craft called 'Summer In Bloom'.  The launch meant a big trip away from my desk to the studios of Create & Craft TV to appear on the launch show.

I have never, ever done anything like that before so it was very nerve wracking and exciting all rolled into one.  I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to do it as it was a wonderful experience and I couldn't have been better looked after by the Create and Craft team, they are so welcoming, kind and helpful. The thing I was most excited about and a little overwhelmed to see, was what the team of crafters had made with the products with my designs on.  Seeing the collection all laid out as made up decoupage cards and pictures in lots of different ways, for the first time ever was a moment I will always remember and treasure.

When I started out creating my own illustration collections, I would never have imagined I would see my designs on kits and paper craft products for Create and Craft just a few years later, I really did have to pinch myself to check it was real....

Turns out it was real and the products are very real too and they are available from the Create & Craft website here:

SUMMER IN BLOOM PAPER CRAFT COLLECTION

The other thing I was up to last month was gathering stock to add to a wonderful pop up shop in my home town.  The Crafty Collective in Angel Place, Bridgwater are a team of like minded creative businesses, who collectively have taken on a short term lease of what has often been an empty unit in a prime retail location in the town.  They have filled it with lots of lovely gifts by local artists and crafts people and now they have let me have a shelf in their shop.  At the end of July I dropped off lots of prints, planners, posters and notebooks which will now be available from their shop.

I love what they have done and hope that this pop up becomes a long term feature of our high street.  I've certainly been supporting it and love that more and more towns are having pop ups like this spring up thanks to communities of creative businesses.  This is a movement I am very happy to get behind and whole heartedly support as it makes our town centres a much more exciting and vibrant place to be....

I hope you have a wonderful August!

​Best wishes

 'How you started'

For me it all began when my children were babies, I knew that was my window of opportunity to go for it.  I had planned and saved to be able to spend the first couple of years at home with my children.  Back in 2010, I set up a blog and began taking part in weekly illustration challenges.  On the back of that I set up a Folksy shop and ordered my first collection of greetings cards to sell from my Folksy shop.  It all grew from there. 
A few years ago, the story of how I started my little business was used as a case study in a book by Emma Jones from Enterprise Nation ' Start A Business for £99'. It was from those very small steps and a small investment at the beginning that things grew. 

​Obviously, the £99 headline on this very helpful book, is just to get the first things started (initial set up costs). You will need cash to live on and to invest and grow the business. It takes a few years of consistent, dedicated, hard work before things start tipping into feeling like a viable job with growth potential. Often that means building multiple income streams to help make the business stable and sustainable.  This all takes time. Which is why, if you are starting out and don't have savings in place, you may need to work a second job to give you the cash you need to keep going in those early years. 
Everything has to start somewhere, often it just needs a few small actions to get things moving and then bit-by-bit, day-by-day it grows if you keep at it. If you love what you do, it makes it all worth everything!

'Full or Part-time'

'I swapped 9 to 5 for 24/7'
I think most self employed people will resonate with this statement!
This is more than my job, I think about it all the time. I've always had ideas for images, designs and can't remember not ever thinking about drawings, art, things to make and create.  I daydream in full technicolour and felt most 'myself' at art college - it was a very natural habitat for me!  After Uni I lost a bit of that, trying to make my way in the world, but found a little bit of that creative environment working in advertising and spent a good decade working with lots of bright and imaginative people.  However, it was never quite right for me. Looking back, it felt like a piece of me was missing and not true to myself.  It was always my aim to get back to that full creative life I had at uni. To be able to do that working around my children was my dream. Now I feel very lucky to be able to work the hours my children are in school doing creative work.  Sometimes I work at the weekend or in the evening, but only because I want to... and it's not really work, it's portfolio building which I LOVE doing!

'You' 
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This is me, lovely to meet you! 
I am a mother of two girls and designer of stuff who loves drawing most of all. I'm also a Generation X, music lover, novice gardener and cake fanatic. I love escaping to the coast to sit by the sea with a good book, or explore a city or town on foot... but don't get as much chance to do that as I used to, bringing up girls and running a creative business, so now I relish those opportunities even more!

'Workspace'

This is my corner empire!
A comfy space to bring drawings to life with colour and to carefully pack orders. It's very cosy on dark winter days and light and bright on sunny days.

.I hope you enjoyed a brief round up from my Instagram #MarchMeetTheMaker.

I'll sign off today with an image of my Easter card selection, available from my Etsy shop.

Have a wonder April and Easter!
Best wishes