Wrap it up

Hey, this here wrapping paper has my designs on it.  I'm now selling it by the sheet through my etsy store.  It's a satin finish, printed in the USA and is made from responsibly sourced fibers.  Don't let me hear you say I didn't give you the most stylish paper ever to wrap your gifts with.

Bridesmaid dress shopping doesn't have to be painful

As today is our quarter-year anniversary I thought I'd entertain you with a wedding - based blog update!

We got engaged in April of last year and by June we had our registrar booked, our venue and date sorted and I had bribed five of my dearest ladyfriends to be bridesmaids. 

To be honest I did lay awake in bed many nights going through colour combos for bridesmaid dresses. I was trying to figure out how I could convince them that stripes would look good. I even contemplated denim at one point and was met with a 'what, like B'witched?' reply from a friend who I have since thanked from saving me from a potential fail.  

So when these off-white dresses caught my eye at TK Maxx in late June I had a lightbulb moment and took the proverbial bull by the horns.  I bought six in various styles and the total cost of the dresses was less than £90.  Thank goodness the hardest part of the whole process was deciding which ones looked worst on each girl. I had them all try all of the dresses on and by process of elimination over the course of the summer the dresses chose their owners. Job done! Here's some pics of the frocks and my bestie's trying-on session in my bedroom.  

New new new

New year, new products.  This here is the first of lots of new stuff. 'Best of Friends' plush sets. You get a boy and a girl in your set. First characters available are Julia and Marcus.  They're a cool couple, no? More cool dudes available in the future. Collect all of them.

Update

Been working on some new patterns and getting incredibly all up in my own head and making myself mighty stir crazy and missing running and being annoyed at wearing a cast and stuff like that. You?

Refuel

Going to have to take this dang foot out to go put coffee in the tank.

A quilt for life

I made a quilt. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while.  Turns out if you break your foot you find a lot of extra time to do things.

Here is my buddy Lorna testing the quilt out for me. She says it's ace.

150cm x 100cm quilt made from cotton squares all designed by Nicola Rowlands.  Backed with a very soft t shirt cotton and filled with a premium cotton batting.

Love life 2014

IT'S A NEW YEAR right? A chance to start over. We can pickup new hobbies and make plans and fill our planners and kick some bad habits and create some good habits.

I thought I'd pickout a few things that might inspire you while you're in a seizing-the-day kind of mood.

Send some thank you cards for all those nice gifts you got over the holidays.

▲ Wolf moon card ▲Stay Golden card ▲ Lazy Dog card ▲ Fox card ▲ Cat card ▲ Thank you postcards ▲ You're neat card ▲ well done card ▲  80s sweater card ▲

Throw out some of your old coffee mugs and replace them with some new ones:

Gold polka dot mug ▲Copenhagen coffee mug

Call a few people you've not called in a long time and tell them they mean a lot to you.

Heart brooch

Read! With a broken foot there is a distinct lack of running in my life and reading is totally filling that gap.  I'm currently tearing through The Fault in our Stars by John Green.  Have you got a good book recommendation? I'm on Goodreads - join!!  Here are some books I have lined up to read next.

Hopefully you're feeling inspired and excited about the year ahead in a non-going to the gym and doing a crazy detox-sort of way. Cuz staying home with your leg in a cast is wayyy cooler than doing exercise. 

Dogs drawn

Some dogs I drew in the run up to the holidays.

You can order pet portraits through my etsy shop or contact me directly if you want to discuss!

What a year!

A lot of things happened in 2013! I didn't realise how many things happened until I wrote it all down. 

Ok so we'll start with the bearded fellas. 

I made and sold over 500 pocket manfriends.

Over 1,000 people placed orders from my etsy shop.

I sold over 30 yards of fabric and 102 feet of wallpaper through Spoonflower to customers around the world.

Worked with some cool customers and clients on some amazing projects including:
Lots of custom pillows (Grumpy cat Cindy above)
Lots of custom portraits (Sara and her dawgs, below)

I was one of a team of three illustrators for a children's television programme called Let's Play.  I created backgrounds for characters to walk around in.

Other things that happened:
My boyfriend proposed to me and I cried and said yes and wore the ring on my middle finger because it was a bit too big

Ran my first marathon and smiled pretty much the whole way around:

Visited and booked the place we wanted to get married in the space of ten days

Spent a week at mom and dad's in France. So much blue sky. 

 Met my running internet pals in real life and turns out they are not internet paedos.

Wedding stress got the better of me and I cut my hair short in a moment of insanity/clarity.  Actually stress generally got the better of me and things got a bit bad.

Went away to France with five of my very best friends for a pre-wedding weekend (This is called a hen do by most normal people) of food and laughing and running and relaxing.  Got an extra surprise when my sister appeared, who I thought was still on the other side of the world in Asia.  I cried.  I always cry.

Turned 30 and celebrated by going to eat Nandos and ice cream.

Ran my second marathon and achieved my goal of doing it under 4 hours.

My mom came to visit and helped me and I went back to the doctors and things started getting better.

I acquired not one but two amazing interns this year who have helped me so much, packing orders folding tote bags and stuffing pillows not to mention keeping me company and making me smile.

Suzie and Caroline!

Survived planning a wedding and everything came together.

Was rewarded for all the wedding stress and anxiety with a weekend of family and friends which was absolutely perfect.  Found strength and support from friends and felt so much love towards my new husband.

I'm reluctant to put too many photos of our wedding on the internet but here is one! 

Went to Copenhagen for some time together and a chance to sleep, eat, and enjoy being married.

Spent Christmas in Harrogate and celebrated the New Year with a trip to A&E for an xray of my foot (which I hurt three weeks prior) only to find out I've been walking/running around on a fractured metatarsal.  A cast and crutches - perfect start to 2014!

Anyways.  Thank you if you've bought from me in 2013, if we've worked together, if our paths have crossed.  It's been pretty full-on! Here's to happiness and laughter and helping each other out and being there for each other when we most need someone.  Here's to success and achievement and family and love.

Cheers!!