all hallow's eve

i am awaiting the cover of darkness before i begin prowling the streets this evening for a spot of trick or treating ...  hope you all have a spooky evening

here's a treat for you all : get 10% off in my shop today and tomorrow with coupon code : SCARY

lucky dip ...

instead of doing a big prize for one winner, i thought i'd spread the love and do a lucky dip of little prizes!  i have packaged up postcards and greetings cards with stickers ready to send out ... i've sealed them all up so no one knows who will get what! *mysteriousssss*

everyone's a winner! ... well 25 people will be winners as that's how many envelopes i've done !

* to enter *
just leave a comment on this post - first 25 will win
oh, and this is open to the whole wide world, i'll post anywhere

hope everyone has a spooky halloween weekend :)

********************************update********************************
massive big fat thank you with a cherry on top to everyone who entered my little giveaway! some lovely comments there!
last night i realised i'd miss-counted the envelopes and there were actually 26 prizes to giveaway!

i think i've managed to either email or tweet all of you to request your postal address - if not please could you send it over to me through my website contact page

remember, remember

the darker days and frosty mornings can only mean one thing ... christmas is just round the corner! i can't believe how quickly it's come round, i'll be spending this week getting all my bits and pieces ready for my first (and probably last, as i forgot to apply in time!) christmas market of the year!
at 'the place' theatre in oakengates on november 5th from 10am - 2pm
i wasn't brave enough to apply for an outdoor stall, so i'll be all toasty inside selling items from my shop, prints, cards and cushions by luke waller (he may even be making a guest appearance) and a selection of crochet items by my lovely sister, liz :) do pop over for some festive merriment

totes special tote

i've been working on a fun little project recently, some of you may have seen some of work in progress snaps i posted on twitter ...

the lovely ladies from ballad of... have been busy bees getting together goody bags for guests attending the next issue's launch party in november, only to find they were short by 10 bags! so they called for help from ten illustrators
the task : to create a super special one off horror-esque tote bag for the next ballad of... party, to be given away (yes GIVEN away!) to the first 10 lucky so and so's through the door! ...is it too early to que up now?!!

so here's my offering. i've got to admit i wasn't thrilled about the idea of having to draw in pen. but actually, i was pleasantly surprised with the results! i used an ultra fine black uni posca pen, and the effect it's given on the tote is really lovely. the resistance of the cotton allowed me to do more shading than i thought i would, which was a nice surprise.
i also tried my hand at a bit of embroidery (not sure if i'll be doing this again!) but it was a nice excuse to use my metallic thread to make the gemstone.

looking forward to seeing the next issue of ballad of... (i submitted an illustration for it *sneak peek here* so am keeping my fingers crossed for that) really hoping i can make it to the party too!
i am quite surprised how much i enjoyed this little project, i'm thinking of making a few more one off totes  like this to sell in my shop ... what do you think?
hope you're having an ace weekend so far :*

SMUG exclusive

very nice news to share with you today : a selection of my prints will be available from a beautiful shop called SMUG this winter. from 26th october, through to january SMUG will transform the upstairs area of it's camden passage store into a pop up print shop. if you take a peek at smug's website you'll see that it's a bit special, sooo many handsome items i'd love to fill my home with

even nicer news : lizzie (creator of smug) invited me to produce an exclusive illustration for an exhibition of prints unique to smug, which will run alongside the pop up ... so this is one of the drawings i've been busying myself with recently, my brief was to produce an illo based on the old definition of the word smug 'to smarten up a room' with a lovely 50s style lady, feather duster in-toe 

so make sure you get yourself down to smug  - 13 camden passage, islington, london n1 8ea - to have a good rifle through some lovely work ... and maybe buy one or two 

ps. this is my 100th blog post! huzzah!