Valentine's Day

Tinkerbell and The Shed Gnomes waiting for love

Well it's that time of year again, yes Valentines Day and as you can see everyone is eagerly waiting for the postman to drop a little envelope through the door.  Do you remember the days when you were at school and you actually received a card through a mate of a mate and you weren't really sure who it was from and oh the endless speculation, it kept a class of fourteen year old's  fueled  for weeks . These days it's a quick kiss here's your card, and three bags of licorice and i'll see you later!!!! Mmmm the romance never dies. Anyway fingers crossed guys!!!

Going a bit Andy Goldsworthy

A jolly snowman illustrated by me quite a few years ago, think it was for a Christmas card.

Mention snow and you think of Snowmen, large jolly people with hats and scarves, great to build and a bit sad when they melt away in front of your eyes. The problem was we couldn't build one, much to the disappointment of my children, as the snow just wasn't for sticking.

Thinking out of the box and remembering the image of an  Andy Goldsworthy, natural sculpture.http://www.ysp.co.uk/exhibitions/andy-goldsworthy-exhibition we went for the snowball in a tree!!!

Taa daa I think it looked ok?

The Snow!!

One morning the snow began to fall and fall and fall, i love snow as it makes everything clean and magical.


 The "Shed" took on a Swiss chalet like appearance, I could have been in the Alps!!! (that would have been nice)

Our trip out of "The Shires" to Top Drawer London

I was quite proud of my bag until the "Shed fairy" turned up
 with an enlarged purse!

Last week the "Shed Fairy" and I took ourselves off to London to visit http://www.topdrawer.co.uk/ to have a look at all the movers and shakers of the greeting card world.  So we packed our very small bags and of we went for an overnight stay.

On arriving in London we thought we would do something cultural, so firstly went to visit the National portrait gallery http://www.npg.org.uk/collections.php which i always find really inspiring. Inside we found  a large crowd jostling around their newest portrait which is of The Duchess of Cambridge by the artist Paul Emsley      

Well we thought !!!!! it's made her look ten years older and she has bigger bags than the both of us put together and that's saying something!!!!! . It may have seemed a little harsh but honestly it's not the best (maybe the next one will be better)  On the brighter side though there are some great official photographs of the Royals and a video of David Beckham asleep or he seemed to be anyway!!

look no hands!!!

Outside the National Gallery http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ we saw a silver man who seemed to be sitting in mid air, brilliant!! we couldn't see how he achieved this as there was nothing under him magic!!!!.

The next day it was off to The Top Drawer London, design- led gifts, lifestyle and fashion accessories at Earls court, home of some really very lovely things 

We had  a great day browsing the aisles, gathering information and looking at how everyone had displayed their wares.  The Shed Fairy was a greetings and gift show virgin and i think pleasantly surprised of  how relaxed it all seemed to be.  We had a chat with a few people   http://www.afarmersdaughter.co.uk    http://www.wrendaledesigns.co.uk/  http://www.birdsbranch.com/  http://www.charlottemacey.co.uk/ 
great little creative businesses.  Showcasing also was http://www.dimblebyceramics.co.uk/ from my home county of Staffordshire , they were on the http://www.makeitstokestaffs.co.uk 'Make it Staffordshire' stand  an initiative run by the City -of Stoke-on -Trent Council, which fosters the development of up-and-coming ceramicists and designers from the area.

 After having spent quite a long time in the top  drawer section of the show we ventured into the Home section, which was full of beautiful homewares, cushions, throws, lighting and things to make your house look like something out of the pages of Country living.   Quite by chance I stumbled across  http://www.lushlampshades.co.uk/  the company that two years ago i had bought my special piggy lampshade from, love it! they had some new quirky designs,my Birthday is on it's way hint hint.!!

 I noticed that there was a real trend in animal imagery all through the show, which i great because i like to draw animals in my card designs.

All in all we thought it was a great show and so went home with loads of things to think about and get sorted (i can hear" website" screaming in my head) yes i know!!!! before we could poke our toes in any forthcoming trade shows.

New year in Devon

 I started the New year in Devon with it's rugged coastline and beautiful beaches.  As it was one of those seasonal rainy days we decided to visit Ilfracombe with it's Victorian baths, "power station" theatre!! and aquarium http://www.ilfracombeaquarium.co.uk/ which i must say was great. We spent quite along time in there, one because it was raining and two, the guy in there more or less  showed us around and made it all very interesting . All the fish and sea life in there are indigenous and you wouldn't believe what is lurking when you are paddling in the sea, not just fish and crabs!!!.  Anyway the rain stopped and we headed out to look at the new Damien Hurst statue that has been erected in Ilfracombe Harbour. The Veritie stands at 66ft and is a  pregnant woman holding a sword, symbolising truth and justice, hence she is standing on a pile of books. On one side of her the skin is peeled back and exposes her insides, so that the baby and all of her muscles are on show. On seeing this my daughter exclaimed uuuuuurrrrr !!!  mmm yep this could put the average day tripper off their 99 cone  impressive though it is.

Little Shed Designs would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Uttoxeter Victorian Christmas Fair

On Friday night in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire it was the annual christmas light switch on.  There was also a Victorian themed Christmas fair , so along with Emily from Simply Staffordshire we donned our mop caps, well Emily had a a Welsh hat on (not that she's Welsh) and got in the spirit of it all. 

Its cold being a Victorian

My little helper

It was a great success and Little Shed Designs cards were well received , especially my christmas card designs. I have been attending a few  christmas fairs in and around "my patch" and last week even did one where Santa was in a teepee!!!!.  This week though will be hanging up my thermals as i have the last one for this year on Friday.  

East Midlands Dog Rescue Charity

We also did a design for the East Midlands Dog rescue which they have been selling as part of their fund raising, by all accounts they have been going really well. 

What Little Sheds has been doing

Over the past few months i have been designing my Christmas cards as the festive season will soon be upon us. Animals have dominated my designs and i now have ten designs all printed up and just waiting to be sent.

Hitting the media

Article in Progressive greetings

Me and my rural friend

In September Little Shed Designs featured with five other companies featured  in "progressive greetings" the trade magazine for the greeting card industry.  We all had to write a short piece on being rural and its connection with greeting cards. 

II got a friend to help with the photo shots, not too sure he knew what he was doing!!!!I had to get in my friend to help me with the photo shots, wasn't sure he knew what he was doing!!!