16 - The Holly and the... Mistletoe.

Finally I've managed to get a photo or two of the Holly and Mistletoe additions to my Christmas collection. They'll be added over at the shop tomorrow.

I created the botanical inspired set (the 8 card set as well as these seasonal beauties) with my Nanna in mind.  She had beautiful writing and kept in touch with her family the good old fashioned way. I remember one of the last things that she said to me was how sad she was that her hands had fully given over to the arthritis and she could no longer write to her sister. She always loved her garden and so I guess I made these with her in mind. I get a little choked up sometimes (and full on burst in to tears the other day) that I can't pop round to visit with whatever I'm working on and set it down on the pine table (my Granddad varnished it while she was on a long stay in hospital once and he never heard the end of it and neither did we) for her to "ooooooh" over and give me her straight out opinion (she was always pretty good at that). I'm pretty sure had she been alive still she'd have wanted a few of these to send, so Nan, these are for you. You are missed.

N x

read more

15 - Botanical cards coming a little later than I said...

I said in my post yesterday that today I would be posting the new Christmas botanical themed cards...

I got caught up making these little beauties for Halloween instead...

Ghouls and eyeballs, yum...

You can see more on instagram at alfies_studio.

read more

14 - Coming soon...

Stay tuned. Today (and the past few days) have been a little crazy with starting to secure stockists and deal with a 3 year old that clearly doesn't get the whole daylight savings thing (if it's light, he's up). I'll be posting botanical Christmas card images (Holly and Mistletoe, I love them!) tomorrow with news of a special promotion I'll be running over at the shop until Christmas.

read more

13 - Typographic Christmas cards...

A sneaky look at the typographic Christmas cards I've been working on...

Typographic Christmas cards...

I'm pretty excited about these as quite often I just want to send something un-fussy that will stand out on a mantel-piece. I think these are it.

I had a lot of fun photographing them too and would quite like to put the tree up already now I've had the decorations out. I think the whole decorations thing is going to be more hassle than its worth this year with Eve though, she has her eyes on anything shiny, I think she's going to be worse than a cat for having it all in pieces. 

Decorations. Oh so pretty...

It's been pretty strange having Christmas songs in my head in October while I've worked on these but its put me in the mood for some crisp cold weather. Please snow soon....

read more

12 - Work in progress

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks.

I've completed a new talent package for a sweet cake company ("cakes" made of sweets rather than an overly sweet cake) and I am feeling a lot of love for it. For a while I've wanted to do a project like this one, something a little bit girly but still with an edge to it. I like the strength of the type but the randomness of the polka dots. I like the colour pops on the page. Theres not actually much I don't like about it to be honest and I rarely say that about my own work (a designer is always their biggest critic).

Yours Sweetly new talent package

I'd like to work more on projects like this. Working with emerging talent to recognise their product or service and put a face and an ethos on it. I find that a business tends to function a lot better when they themselves know who they are and what they do. Having a positioning and an image helps them to carve a path in to their chosen field and feel confident about the whole thing. I get a lot from helping people in that way because in a 1-5 person company, business is always personal. I like designing for people when it matters to them which is why I guess I'm drawn like a moth to wedding stationery and birth announcements in particular.

I've also been putting the finishing touches to Christmas card designs and printing them up, a sneaky peek of which you can see below.

Photography studio in progress...

As you can see my photography studio is not much (a self painted chalk board on a work bench in front of a large window and a set of steps for me to get above the shot), but it will do for now...

Christmas cards are available over at the shop (here) and I'll be adding more throughout the week (and a post showing them off soon). Theres currently 10% off for existing and previous clients and because I'm so excited about the new range I'll pass that code on to you too (HELLOAGAIN10) -it runs out at the end of November so head on over soon. 

read more