Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas!

Well I honestly can't believe it's that time of year again... doesn't seem like two minutes since I was saying this last year!

2013 has been a wonderful year, both in my work and personal life... it started off unbelievably hard with the heartache of thinking we were going to lose our much loved pooch, but he came back fighting and now looking at him you would never believe what he went through, thank goodness! :) This year I also swam with sharks (without a cage!) and managed to fulfill my dream of visiting China.

It has been the most exciting year for me work-wise - I finally got to dip my toes into the world of childrens books, and I must say it's lovely and warm! ;) I've worked with some wonderful new clients and made some friends along the way - and I really couldn't have done any of this without the help of my amazing agent Plum Pudding!

Looking back, this year has been about grabbing opportunities with both hands, taking chances and just going for it, what will be will be. I've been able to do this thanks to the amazing support I get from my nearest and dearest, they are my biggest fans cheering me along and keeping me going through the good times and the bad. When times get crazy you get to see people for who they are and this quote has never been more relevant... "Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

So all that's left for me to say is I wish you all a very Merry Christmas - may all your wishes come true. Thank you SO much for your love and support in 2013, it means the world, and let's see what 2014 has in store... I'm very excited to find out, let's grab it!!

x


Monday 2 December 2013

Books, books books!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been SO quiet - I've been busy with lots of fun book projects as well as juggling lots of greetings card work too, so it's been pretty hectic in 'Gingerbred Towers' recently. Some of the books I was working on earlier this year are starting to creep into the limelight and I'm pleased to say you can now buy them in the shops... so the first one to hit the shelves is 'Sleepy Puppy'!

I had the pleasure of working with the lovely people at Parragon on their Little Learners range and the first title I got to illustrate was this 'Sleepy Puppy'. The book is part of a wonderful gift set which includes an extremely cute snuggle blanket for little people... or if your house is like mine then the pooch will have his eye on it too! You can buy it online from Amazon but you will also find it on the high street too (I spotted it in WH Smith last week). It makes a perfect Christmas gift for a little one! Here's a few quick snapshots...







I was also extremely excited to hear I was selected to be part of the new 'Holiday' books from They Draw and Cook. You will find my recipe in the 'Holiday Sweet' book... both the Sweet and Savoury books are beautiful and again make great Christmas gifts, or even a treat for yourself for tonnes of ideas of Christmas yummies to make!




Can't wait to share more of the books I've been working on too! Most of them will be in the New Year so watch this space :)

Monday 16 September 2013

The Paperwatch project!

The lovely people at Templar Publishing are eagerly raising money for Breast Cancer care and have come up with this fab idea... the paperwatch project! As soon as I heard of this idea for a great cause I volunteered my services to get involved. A number of illustrators have all been provided with a paperwatch to 'scribble' on, Templar are then going to auction them off and hopefully get tonnes of money for Breast Cancer care - yippeee!

So here's my watch I finished last week - complete with 'sparkles'! The watch is now in the safe hands of Templar so watch this space for the auction to take place.

You can read more about the project here, and follow the progress and see the amazing collection of watches that are coming in on Templar's facebook and twitter pages.




Sunday 10 March 2013

Happy Mother's Day!

Just a quick post to say Happy Mother's Day - hope all you mum's out there are having a lovely day and are being spoilt! But a big special Mother's Day wish goes to my lovely mum - she is the best mum a girl could wish for and I can't thank her enough for everything she does, even though I know she doesn't believe it I think she's pretty amazing! Love you Mum xxx

"I got to grow up with a mother who taught me to believe in me" Antonio Villaraigosa


Monday 4 March 2013

Venice Faces

I'm crazy busy with various projects at the minute and I'm afraid there's nothing I can show... so in the meantime I thought I would share with you some of the faces I spotted during my trip to Venice last year! I did get a few strange looks from people wondering why I was taking photo's of letterboxes, but I'm guessing I'm not the only person that has done this around Venice?


Tuesday 22 January 2013

Little Snippets

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and happy new year! (It seems strange saying that on 22nd January but I've just realised this is my first blog post of 2013!) Well January is full steam ahead with lots of exciting new projects so I'm afraid I might be a little quiet on the 'social network' side of things... but in the meantime I've taken some quick snaps of some greetings card samples I've received of my designs.





Monday 24 December 2012

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to stop by to wish you all a Merry Christmas... can you believe Christmas Eve is here already!? Thanks to all of you who have stopped by with kind words, support and encouragement throughout 2012 (I really do appreciate every single one of them!), it's been a great year and I'm very much looking forward to what 2013 has in store!

Now let's get to sleep before Santa arrives and then enjoy the rest of the festivities!
(and just in case you were wondering... yep this is me and Alfie, and yep I do have this hat!)




Also before I go, here's some quick pics of some of my Christmas designs that have been around the shops this Christmas...







Monday 10 December 2012

Exciting News!

Just a quick stop by to share my exciting news... I'm extremely happy and excited to announce that I am now represented by the very lovely Plum Pudding Illustration Agency! I can't wait to get starting on some fun projects with them... so watch this space! :) For the time being you can take a peek at their website and see more of my work that you might not have seen before...


Wednesday 7 November 2012

John Lewis Christmas 2012

I was excited to see my designs for sale in John Lewis this Christmas! I worked on these last year so it's great to see the finished products and to share them with you... a cute box of cards and a small gift bag. You can buy the cards from their online store here. The designs haven't changed from my original concept and the colours have printed out lovely (my quick photo's don't really do them justice!)

(click on the images to enlarge)




Wednesday 31 October 2012

Happy Halloween!



Hope your Halloween is filled with spooks, fun and lots of sweeties! :)

Monday 24 September 2012

And the winner is...

So I scribbled down everyone's name from my facebook and blog posts and here is the winner...






Congratulations Steven! If you email me your address details then I can get a print out in the post to you.

Thanks so much to you all for taking part, it was fun!! If you like these prints then don't despair... I just need to take some photo's of them and then they will be for sale in my etsy shop. I also have another new one to share with you all too! :)

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Tigerprint Competition 'Tell A Tale'

Thought I would share with you my submission for the Tigerprint 'Tell A Tale' competition. The idea is to create a pattern aimed at children that also tells a story...


Meet Bobo, the little elephant who loves to explore - and is always on the lookout for the next big adventure! Being an elephant he is very good at remembering his journeys so he can tell all his friends how to find these great places too.
His favourite trip was a journey over the snow-capped mountains in a hot air balloon, where he landed next to a busy-bee flower garden. After following a trail into the forest he came across a fish-filled lake – here he spent all afternoon sailing in a boat and having fun in the sunshine.

Monday 10 September 2012

FREEBIE giveaway!

Hi Everyone!

So there has been a lot going on in the world of gingerbred and I seem to be seeing lots of lovely new followers on here, twitter and my facebook page! So to celebrate all my followers and the arrival of some new prints I thought I should do a giveaway to say thank you for all your support!

If you leave a comment here or on my facebook page before 22nd September I will put all the names into a hat and select a winner at random... then you can choose a signed print from my new 'Bedtime Stories' collection. You have 'Goldilocks', 'Little Red' and 'Jack and the Beanstalk' to choose from. (click on the image to enlarge)

Good luck!! :)




Thursday 23 August 2012

Meet Maliki, Ahu and Paola

Hey everyone! If you follow me on facebook you will know that last week I spent some time working on a couple of commissions for someone special - a brand new little person who will be arriving in the world any day now! So I was asked to create something for Baby B's nursery that tied in with the colour theme and was personal to his/her mummy and daddy. So here's a few new friends that I'd like you to meet...


Firstly say hello to 'Maliki' the lovely little chameleon. His name means 'king' - he may be small but he sure is king around his local hangouts. He's a friendly little chap who loves to spend his spare time sitting on his favourite branch and watching the world go by. You may be concerned that he has his beady eye on the little bug... but don't worry that's his best friend Sid! Maliki is a vegetarian so isn't tempted by the 'bug' delicacy... instead his favourite food is cheese and chocolate chip cookies.


Now say a big hello to 'Ahu' and 'Paola' our pretty pair of penguins. These two cuties live on a small island near New Zealand hence their Maori names... Ahu meaning 'to look after' and Paola meaning 'small, humble' - I think you will know who is who! They both enjoy ice skating, fishing, playing hide and seek amongst the tree's and building snowmen.

I hope you like them! :)


Friday 13 July 2012

IF - Lost

My submission for this weeks 'Illustration Friday'...

William thinks he will never get lost because he spends so much time looking through maps!

Monday 18 June 2012

Published work




I've recently been receiving some samples of my published work so thought I would take some very quick snaps to show you... so here's a peek of some of the things I've been working on!

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Meet the Three Bears...

I've finally managed to open my shop on 'Envelop' and I would like to share with you the first items I have designed... My 'Three Bears' collection of pillows. So say hello to Papa bear, Mama bear and little baby bear! Do you have a favourite? You can click here to see more information and maybe even purchase a pillow (or three!), and they come in three great sizes too... all good things come in three's right?? :D

Wednesday 2 May 2012

NYC Fun Times!




So... you guessed it, work is still keeping me very busy! Until I can show you some of the work I've been creating I thought I would share with you some snaps from my trip to NYC back in December. It's the first time I've visited New York and I must say I fell in love with the place... it's always been on my 'to do' list so I was majorly excited that we finally had the opportunity to go. So now... when can I go back?? My feet have never ached so much in all my life but it was worth every second, and I think we spent the whole 6 days wandering around in awe and disbelief that we were actually there (here's a very quick sketch to show you!) :)

Thursday 23 February 2012

Catch - Up!





Wow... can't believe how long it's been since my last update!! (time flies when you're having fun right?). Thought I would share with you some sneak peeks of what has been keeping me so busy lately - so here's a few tiny snippets of work for a variety of clients - I can't show you the full finished designs as some of them are waiting to be published etc.

You can also find my work in two books... 'They Draw and Cook' and '100 Illustrations Annual' - click on the names to direct you to Amazon. Both are yummy books and feature a bunch of really talented peeps.

So huge apologies for being so quiet!! I will try and pick up the habit of updating my blog on a more regular basis!

Monday 5 December 2011

TDAC - submissions



Yesterday I submitted two recipes for the latest 'They Draw and Cook' competition 'Eat Pretty' - here they are! You can check them out on the TDAC website here... fingers crossed now! :)

Friday 18 November 2011

Sainsbury's Christmas 2011






This time last year I was approached by Sainsbury's to work on some characters for Christmas 2011... it was a great brief and so much fun to work on. Today I popped into our local Sainsbury's and what a lovely surprise to see my characters on their products!! I've taken some quick snaps to share them with you - I spotted two rolls of wrap designs, a pack of money wallets, a box of cards, a pack of die cut cards, children's crackers and a couple of baubles! How exciting!! Let me know if anyone spots any other products in Sainsbury's with these characters on... :)