Happy February!

As the mist lifts on a crisp morning,
the pretty primroses raise their faces towards the canal
to greet the early birds and houseboat dwellers
with their bright promise of spring...

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Looking back at January, it has not been an ideal start to the year,
but it has taught me some valuable lessons in business about adaptability
and the power of community over competition...

In case you are not aware of what's been happening in the UK for many small businesses:
Following the delays and disruption of the Royal Mail strikes in November and December, during the second week of January, Royal Mail suffered a cyber attack which caused them to pause their International Shipping services.  This in turn has caused an absolute nightmare for businesses and customers all over the world, where orders and goods were just stuck in sorting offices for days.
 
Instead of getting back into the swing of new designs and planning for 2023,
I've spent most of January, like many other small business owners, juggling helping customers with their delayed orders and trying to find alternative ways to get their orders to them.

Thankfully, with the help of online creative communities, I have managed to find an alternative way to ship my Etsy orders to US customers - however, that's not the case for other countries but I will keep looking.  

Royal Mail seem to be slowly but surely getting their international services back up and running.  However, I am still determined to get all my back up plans firmly in place and this has taught me a big lesson in not being too over dependent on one supplier.

Had it not been for other creative business owners willingly sharing their experiences and knowledge, I would still be struggling to find any viable alternatives - as cost and reliability are huge factors.  Thank goodness for the support the creative community gives each other and I am certainly paying forward my experiences with this, to help the businesses I've watched grow over the years - we've all gone through this together.

My hope now is that we can all move forward and start the year properly this February!

So with that hopeful thought,
let's put the 'snail mail' January blues firmly behind us where it belongs,
and step into the sweet colours of Spring for some joy and inspiration...
​

​The cards above are a selection from this year's Valentine's Day collection.

​The cards, wraps and prints featured here
are all available from my Etsy shop..,
​

​I hope my colourful creations have boosted your mood
and left you feeling refreshed and ready for brighter days!

Have a very lovely February
Best wishes

Happy New Year!
Happy January!..

After the festivities have ended and the decorations have been put away,
it's time to get our little houses in order and look forward with hope, to spring.
Just like this family of long tailed tits and their friend, Jenny Wren.
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This month I am taking a look back at the past year in designs, to look forward with hope and inspiration for a new year with fresh opportunities to be creative.

There were a few things I wanted to focus on in 2022.
​Those were - getting my designs available in a few more places, creating a couple of new collections and exploring different ways I can get my designs into the world.  I also wanted to work more with others, because emerging from the pandemic years, I appreciate how important collaboration is for me, to get me away from the isolation of my desk and be with other creatives more often...

The first collection which ticked a big goal off my list, was a sunny, colourful gardening humour collection to start a profile on Thortful...

The big collection for 2022 I had been wanting to create for a while, was a full set of the signs of the Zodiac, but a collection to complement the birth flowers range from 2021.
My vision was a sweetly coloured, floral collection which is informative about each Zodiac sign...

With the birth flower collection, I have gently been adding more flowers to it throughout the year.  I have also had the pleasure of creating many personalised family birth flower arrangements - it never ceases to amaze me how different each of these bunches end up, all equally beautiful.  As my collection of flowers grows, it's a goal for 2023 to add more options to the personalised family birth flowers, in terms of choice of flowers and jugs to hold the flowers.  I have loved creating these for customers, so this is a product that I want to, pardon the pun - grow to bloom!..

In the spring I had a wonderful surprise.  It's the sort of thing you dream about when you first start out with a creative business...

I was having an evening off, catching up on my favourite show on Netflix - 'Better Call Saul'.  It's a firm favourite in our house, having followed the series from the start and 'Breaking Bad' which is where the character Saul Goodman originated from, to create this spin off series.  It's fair to say I have been heavily invested in the storyline of these two shows for nearly as long as I have been running my little creative business.  The two things have co-existed in my life for years, in very separate ways.

Imagine my surprise when sitting watching Episode 2 of the final series, when the character Betsy Kettleman walks on screen in a dress with my 'Hibernating Fox' pattern on it!
It was a pattern I licensed to Unique Vintage for that dress as part of their winter 2020 collection.  I thought nothing more of it as the collection came, did well, sold out and then went again once the season ended (as is the way with women's fashion).
It had not occurred to me that it could show up in such a way.  It absolutely blew me away and made my day, to have my designs meet my favourite Netflix series in such a way felt pure magic! ...

This summer was all about the Queen's Jubilee.  

Creating a collection for the Jubilee helped achieve another goal for the year - to work collaboratively with other creatives.  In this case it's a local gift shop in the town.  

I came up with some designs that helped provide the shop with truly unique and local products.  The success of this project has opened up many more possibilities of products I can offer through my Etsy shop and locally in the bricks and mortar shop.  From this Jubilee project, I have plans lined up for more similar, collaborative projects this coming year and I can't wait to get designing on these!... 

2022 was the year I signed up as a Fy! artist.

Landing a licensing partnership with a Wall Art company has been on my wish list for a while.  My product range has been slowly but surely leaning towards creating collections that work as sets of wall art to sit alongside each other.  This was certainly a goal achieved this past year and I look forward to creating some new sets of wall art in the new year...

Here's to 2023!
I'm hoping to fill it with more designs, at least another new collection and
more exploring new products and collaborations.  

With the way of the world currently,
I am simply grateful to still be here, making my art
and finding inspiration in nature to do so.  

There are no big New Year resolutions for me, I don't believe in them.  
My attitude is, if you want to make a change or start something new, just do it. 
Even if it's one small thing.  Do it where you are now,
with what you have - one step in front of the other and keep going.  
That's how I started this creative business over ten years ago 
and that is how I hope to keep it going for many more years.

Thank you so much for your continued support and custom,
that has enabled me to make these steps to keep going over the years.
I hope you enjoy sharing my creative journey with me and that
​my illustrations and designs bring colour, warmth and joy to your days!

Wishing you a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year!
​Best wishes