Wednesday 28 May 2014

This Week So Far...

 This week so far I've mainly been working hard to get all orders done for the week as we're going away today. It'll be nice with a mini holiday in West Wales for sure. I really really need it now that my belly seems to have reached a massive proportion. It is heaaaaavyyyy!
 As usual it is a mix of things in on the order list, but it keeps me entertained and it's nice not to do the same thing over and over again (which I guess I do anyway...).
 Been trying out some different packaging ideas for MobiLOVE as well. And I think this one is the winner so far. It will obviously be in colour, but my printer toner has run out so I need to sort that out. I want to make a backing sheet as well, but I haven't figured that part out yet. Maybe next week :)
 There is a few new patterns in the making. I was drawing like mad the other day and came up with quite a few ideas. We'll see how they come out when they're finished.
 The Lotus flower study is coming along well too. I enjoyed drawing the lotus leaves and think they will look very pretty once coloured in and put into a pattern. This will probably be the most elaborate pattern I've made so far. It will be a challenge but I am looking forward to it. Just hope I won't mess it up along the way with my zero experience in making patterns hehe.
 This has been a long time coming. I have finally started building a website for myself as an artist and designer. I've wanted it for many years but it is so expensive to hire web-designers these days and personally I know nothing about web. But I found this page called Squarespace.com which is absolutely brilliant for someone like me. It costs about $8.00 /month which is a great price. And they let you build your website and customize it for FREE!
So you can try it all out before you pay and design your whole website to see what it would look like. If you like it, you pay and VOILA! You got your own website. And it is absolutely user friendly, anyone can use it. It gets five gold starts from me!!! I am not finished with it yet and it's not live but I hope to be within the next few weeks and would love your opinion on it once it is finished. It is so hard to write about yourself and try to promote what you do. But I think I'm getting there!

Anyway! I will see you on Monday when I get back from Wales. Hope all of you have a great week and weekend! xxx

Monday 26 May 2014

Drawings, drawings, drawings...

Happy Monday peoples! Here it is bank holiday today, so another day of rest.... For some anyway. I treat it as a normal working day and I have been working more or less all weekend. I started this pattern that you can see above about a week ago and yesterday I finished it. It was meant for a phone case but I think it is to detailed to come out nice on the actual case. I might make a test print at some point but for now I will keep it as it is. I think it would look cool on tiles funny enough.
I tried it with a black background and a white and I think I like the black the most. Reminds me of an old coffee tin jar.
Tiles for the kitchen maybe?
 I've been drawing quite allot over the weekend. Just trying to get things off my mind and on to paper instead. They're a bit easier to handle once they're on paper. I don't have to think about them anymore then. I've been doing a lotus flower study and I want to create a real nice and floaty pattern out of them. I am thinking in the colours of maroon, mint green, yellow and pink. Need to do a study of the leaves tonight and get some more variations of the flowers in there too.
 This little cutie I drew last night as well. It's been a long long time since I used markers, but I decided that just because one is in to graphic design must not everything be made on the computer. I thought it would make a nice addition to the MobiLOVE phone cases, and it look brilliant on the actual case.
Meow?!
 You can get it for both iPhone 4/4S/5/5S and....
Samsung Galaxy S3/S4...
 I am working hard on giving MobiLOVE an identity at the moment. Right now the shop is in one big mess as I am trying to make the change gradually. It is to much work to be done in one day, and I am still trying to find the right feel for it. I never thought it could be so hard to give something so simple an identity. But maaan I am struggling.
 I am getting a bit closer everyday though and am trying to give it that hand-made feel. And with some rope, a glue gun and a bit of cardboard and a little help from my true companion the computer I think the new Logo looks mint!
What do you think? Does it give you that hand-made feel?
That is that for today. I've got a few orders to finish off today, and on Wednesday we're heading up to west Wales for a few days of rest and rehabilitation. I really need it... Just to get away from the madness of a busy Bournemouth. I can't wait for the silence and the bird song, fields as far as the eye can see and the sea. We're going out on the sea. It will be the first time for me on the actual sea here in the UK. I can't wait and I'll make sure to bring you some juicy pictures from my mini holiday.

Wednesday 21 May 2014

What Nature Can Bring...

 Good morning everyone out there! My first week of freedom have started and this is what I've done so far. I started the week with having a smaller meltdown due to the stress of getting everything ready for the babys arrival I guess. We've got everything ready so I really don't know where this stress comes from. I think it's just the hormones. So Monday was a complete write off besides the fact that it got me out. I needed air and I also needed to sort out some props for my new mobile phone cover photos.
 So we took a stroll down to the beach, which has become one amazing effort. It took a good while to walk back I can tell you that much. It is all down hills to the beach, which means it is all up hills coming back. It is no walk in the park when you're pregnant.
 I did find loads of free props on the beach and in the woods though. Pine-cones, seashell, oyster shells, white stones, branches and sticks. The feathers I bought of Ebay UK and they are stunning too. I have always loved feathers, but I don't like picking them up in the nature anymore, unless it is an Amazing one. I collected feather when I was a child and I can remember that sometimes they had little mites and stuff on them. Ueeeeak! I don't want that in my home so I rather buy them. But as a kid you just don't care about those things I guess.
 I kept some of the pine-cones natural. But found two that hadn't opened up yet. I think they look almost like armadillos and for some reason I thought painting them in black and while would look cool...
 And so I did... And they came out pretty cool don't you think? They work great as props! I wanted to keep the props quite simple, with neutral colours, so that they don't take away too much from the actual case I'm selling.
 More pine-cones and stones. I ended up giving the stones a lick of paint as well. I wanted them to be proper white and not a sandy white. It is impossible to find proper white stones unless you buy them. But I'm not ready to spend £10 on something I can get for free in the nature.
 I also ended up painting the twigs and sticks I found in black an white. They came out great too. I started the actual photo shoot yesterday but didn't finish everything. It is so much more work then you think but so far I am very happy with how the photos are coming out and my new photo library already have 40 different variations of promotional photos for my phone cases. Here are a few sneak peaks on what I achieved yesterday:
I would love to hear what you think. Do you think it will give my MobiLOVE shop a good face lift?

Wednesday 14 May 2014

More Zodiacs Finished...

I am 1/4 through the cute Zodiacs so far. 3 down, 9 to go. It is a long process but I have noticed how it is quicker and quicker for each one I complete. Since Illustrator still is quite new to me, I am learning as I go along. And every time I use it I find quicker ways of doing things and I am finally starting to feel quite confident in the software. I can't believe I have worked for so long without it. Using Illustrator and Photoshop together is absolutely amazing.
These are the three finished Zodiacs anyway, and I am super happy with all of them. I can't wait to print them on my phone cases and also make art prints out of them. They're just so colourful and full och life.

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Preggy Presents and an overworked mind...

A new week and with new tasks to complete. First of all I have to show you my new collectible: BUBBLES!
My Brother in law and uncle to be Ryan gave me this Dolly Oblong resin toy as a pregnancy present! I've wanted Bubble ever since I saw the preview and it is very limited to only 15 pieces. I couldn't afford him when he was released and I sat there starring at him for a good while hovering over the "Add to Basket" button. However I decided not to as I have more important things to spent my money on at the moment. So yeah was I happy to open my preggy present.... Omg! So HAPPY! I love Bubbles and he fits so well in to the rest of my Dolly Oblong collection! Thank you Ryan!
 Other than me being super excited about Bubbles I haven't been very creative lately. Well I have, in my head, but not physically. And being creative in my head, not finding the time to do anything about it, has drained allot of my energy. I haven't slept much due to a fizzy head. So the other night I decided to just get up in the middle of the night and start drawing.
 I got up around half past two and drew till about 6.00 in the morning. My head was still fizzy though and I only managed to get a few hours sleep. When I got up Ceri told me to sit down and write it all out and I did. Man, did that help. I've researched all the materials I need for this new idea, got prices and stockists sorted, written an action and marketing plan and now all I have to do is wait and save up so that this idea of mine can come true. It will cost allot more to finalize than any of my earlier products and therefore it will take allot longer. But it is a challenge I am well up for and I think it will help me bloom as an artist and business woman. You can see a blurry sketch of my idea in the background of the little fawn creature but that is all I can show you for now.
 I've also been hunting for new better or even luxury quality furs. And I have finally found what I was looking for. THESE FUUUUURS! OMG! They are still fake as I would NEVER work with real fur. But my god do they feel real. I have to put them away, out of sight, or I just can't stop stroking them. They are really something. So there will be new products made out of these furs in the future. They do cost about double the price from what I use at the moment though, so prices will go up. I will however keep the furs I use at the moment to give you guys a good price range and affordable products.
I also had a delivery yesterday. My new Phone Cases! Yes! I can finally offer you the choice of white or black. I've been going mental trying to find black phone cases with white plastic inserts. As most people use sublimation these days it is very hard to find products that are suitable for printing. But now I've got them, and I got them for Samsung Galaxy S4 and S3 as well. Which means I will be able to offer you lot a wider range of phone cases too.

And that is that... Not much fun this week for you to look at, but many things that will mean more fun things to look at in a near future. And I only got three days left in work.... then I am FREE! Oh I can't wait! Prepare yourself for an avalanche of projects and just crazy creativity in general! Starting next week! Until then, have a great week!

Saturday 3 May 2014

A mix of things...

So I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. The past couple of weeks have been a bit slow for me. I don't really know why, but my mood has been horrendously bad. I guess it is all down to pregnancy hormones and the fact that there just isn't enough hours of the day to do everything I want to do. I am also waiting for my Holiday to start which I have been looking forward to for a long time now. It will give me the chance to finish so many unfinished projects and give me time to just enjoy being pregnant. I am looking forward to having this time to myself, Ceri and the baby.
Something has come up as well that has given me such a creative boost and I can't wait to tell you more about it. But until everything is set in stone I rather not tell as I hate getting disappointed. And I don't want to disappoint you lot either hehe. Anyway, I only got two weeks left in work now and then I am free for about a year. Free to create and to be a mommy and I can't wait. Until then life will continue being slow though I think. Work is not a blast at the moment as I am very hindered by my pregnancy and end up sitting on a chair for most of the day. Not having a challenge really puts me off work and it is no fun. I need stimulation both mentally and physically in a job. And I used to get this out of my job, but I'm not anymore. So right now it fells like I'm just sitting there, waiting to leave.
I think I will be making another batch of Buggles when my holiday starts as well. Would you like to see some new Buggles in the shop? They normally go pretty quick, but there is two left from my last batch and they are unique and one of a kind.
These two! Click the picture of the one you fancy.... They can't wait to go to a new home! <3
Hope all of you are having a great weekend. Me, I'm off to work :'(