Happy December!

This month's wallpaper has all the festive feels...
'After a long, frosty drive home with a Christmas tree on board, the warmest welcome comes from a very good boy with a happy, waggy tail.'
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​​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

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November saw the welcome return of a long held tradition in our town.
The Bridgwater Carnival was back in full procession after 2 Covid years of restrictions.

 This year was even more special because many of the local Carnival clubs had teamed up to create a very special cart, showcased to the world at the Queens Platinum Jubilee Pageant.  

When I was asked by The Crafty Collective Gift Shop to help them create some gifts to help mark this historical occasion for our town, I fully embraced the opportunity.  

The Carnival Clubs that had created the 'Jubilation' cart and the walking procession had done our town proud and deserved the chance to have a lovely choice of celebratory souvenirs to mark the occasion and remember an amazing day....
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​I got to work and created an image of the Jubilation Cart along with some icons of the people in costume, royal symbols to represent our late Queen, and symbols of our town -which includes 'The Spirit of Carnival' statue holding a sparkling squib overhead from the era of Guy Fawkes - where the story of our town's Carnival began...
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The idea was to create something that summed up the atmosphere of that day - afternoon tea, partying and a right Royal celebration.

The team at The Crafty Collective  were able to take my imagery and apply them to mugs, coasters and banners & I supplied some wall art prints. This Carnival season was all about 'Jubilation' and I'm told plenty of mugs were used to help stay warm on Carnival night, which is what it was all about!...

Best of all was getting to see the Jubilation Cart up close myself, to give them all the warmest welcome home after parading down the Mall in the summer.

The end of the November also saw 'Colour Friday' the alternative to 'Black Friday' - where we encourage support of small businesses that bring colour, variety and independence to our High Streets. By supporting small and local businesses you help invest in people and communities that enhance our towns and cities.

A project like this 'Jubilation' one is a great example of this - small businesses working collaboratively to offer something special, unique and relevant to their communities...
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With few days left for Christmas shopping, please remember that when you shop with small businesses you are investing in so much more than just the item you purchase!

The 'Jubilation' mugs and coasters are still available to order online from The Crafty Collective Bridgwater using the link below - if you are local to Bridgwater, as these items can be ordered online and collected in store:

https://thecraftycollective.square.site/product/jubilation-mug/409?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=52 

  
Before I sign off, I do need to make you aware of my last posting dates for Christmas.
My Etsy shop will remain open over the festive period, but will be on holiday shipping timescales (2-3 weeks) as I will be taking a break from Friday 16th until 4th January.  Business will return to usual timings on the 4th Jan and all orders placed between the 16th Dec and 4th Jan will be shipped from the 4th Jan.

Please also be aware that there are continued Royal Mail strikes planned throughout December.  My shops rely on Royal Mail for delivery and are already experiencing some delays in getting items delivered.  

​UPDATE 5/12/22 :As of 5th Dec, Royal Mail announced that they are bringing their last post dates for Christmas forward by a few days, please see the revised image above as many deadlines have passed or are about to pass.

​Please be patient, orders are getting through - there are extraordinary volumes of post at this time of year, being handled by humans all the way along the chain. What's needed  is patience and kindness - the true spirit of Christmas!

All that's left to say is I wish you all
a very lovely, happy, healthy, peaceful
Christmas and Holidays!
Best Wishes

Happy February!

Love is all around this month and these little Blue Tits know it. 
What better way to warm any heart than with a lovingly home baked cake!
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​​then here's a link to where to join my mailing list:

JOIN MY MAILING LIST HERE

January felt like a slow and steady way to ease into the year.  
It's been a funny one because the same time last year we were all in lockdown.
Yet this year, it has felt far more typical to the years before the pandemic...
but also not the same if that makes any sense?  
After the past 2 exhausting years, slow and steady is just what's needed.

It has been a great month to reflect, take stock
and work out what lessons have been learned in the past two years.
Also work out what I want to take forward and
​what things can be left well and truly behind...

​My main lesson has been to always ensure you have the logistics for a plan B in place.
 I've always called it building my ark..
because it's always good to have an ark ready.
Moving forward, my business plans now need to always factor in a 'just in case'.

This year, my focus will be finding more ways I can spend less time on logistics and fulfilment and more time on creating.  This is a big deal for me right now as I feel like the balance isn't quite right, so that needs to be addressed head on.

It was always all about creating for me, but as things have grown, time always gets diverted elsewhere especially when you are a soloprenuer wearing all the hats in your business.  However, after making a start on some research, I'm learning there are LOTS of things available to help with that -more so than ever.  

Perhaps that is one little silver lining to the past two years for small businesses like mine - that bigger businesses have found new ways to adapt.  Consequently, they have identified the true value of all the little creative businesses as a potentially huge market to tap into, therefore serving our needs much better -
​meaning we can offer better to our customers too! ...
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It's certainly something I shall be exploring lots this year, as I want to be able to offer more choice to my customers, without taking away precious creative time to develop new designs and collections.  It's a tricky balancing act because my shop orders equal creative time, and creative time feeds the shop - one thing supports the other.

That's why it is really exciting to see the possibilities I'm discovering are available.  
There are so many tools to help businesses manage sales, stock and product production - many of which are focussed on cutting carbon footprints and finding sustainable, planet friendly ways to do things.
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It gives me lots of hope and I can't wait to move towards
​adding some new things this year...

The good news is, I made a start in January with clear focus and a renewed sense of hope.

​Sometimes that's all it takes, the first few steps to put you back on the right track.

It feels good to be creating new illustrations and patterns again,
​I look forward to sharing these with you soon.

So here's to a new month with a new season emerging,
bringing with it green shoots - hopefully for us all!
Wishing you a wonderful month
Best wishes,