belle and boo

Packing Up

2012-01-18T02:04:00.000-08:00

Booooooo so today is the last time I get to work in my lovely studio :(
Russ and I had it built 4 years ago (wow thats gone quickly) and it has been wonderful. Before that we were both working in our 1 bed flat and as from Monday we will both be working in our new little rented house in Bristol. Me in the attic room and Russ in the room that will eventually become the twins nursery, I know we are going to miss this place tremendously, it's where Belle & Boo really got going.
This is how it looks today, don't even ask what our flat looks like!

On a yummier note Belle & Boo have made friends with the team at Little Dish (Who make delicious, fresh food for toddlers) we are hoping to work together this year to bring you some exciting events…watch this space.

They have asked us to mention that Little Dish are searching for 3 mums to become their new WOMS (wonderfully outstanding mothers). This involves getting paid to taste test new recipes, holding tea parties and spending time with little ones at nurseries. To find out more go click here........... Sounds like alot of fun to me :)

Our Belle & Boo Party Range

2012-01-14T02:40:00.000-08:00

One exciting blog post followed by another, I am on a roll!

Firstly thank you for all your lovely messages, it was wonderful reading them all with my morning cup of 'decaf' coffee!

OK more exciting news, this time last year we approached the amazing Talkin Tables and asked them if they would consider developing with us a Belle & Boo party range, luckily they said yes. I drew a parade of Belle & Boo characters on their way to a party and Clare our very patient designer spent many, many months getting them to fit existing tableware templates and designing a few new ones along the way.

So now a whole year later it is in our shops here and here and we are very proud, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do and it inspires you to throw a Belle & Boo party.

Here is the range

Invites & Thank you cards £10
"Brush up your whiskers, Boo." said Belle. "We're going to a party!"
A beautiful Belle & Boo stationery set. Includes 10 party invitations, 10 thank you cards, 20 envelopes and 20 address stickers.

Belle & Boo Bunting £7.00
Boo was so excited he jumped as high as the banner!
3 mtr in length

Party Cups £3
"Achoo!" sneezed Boo as the bubbles tickled his nose.
8 x 210ml paper party cups with Belle & Boo

Paper Plates £3.85
"Please Belle, can I have some more?" asked Boo
8 x 23cm paper plates in 2 designs

Table Cloth £3.85
Size: 180 x 120cm

Cake Frill and Toppers £6.50
1 adjustable cake frill and 16 card cake toppers in 4 designs.

Party Bags £4
Belle and Boo couldn't wait to see what was in their party bag. Boo hoped for carrot cake!
8 paper Belle & Boo party bags with name stickers.

Party Napkins £3
"Now wipe your sticky paws, Boo!" said Belle.
30 x 3 ply party napkins

24 Cup Cake Wrappers £4.50
"If i am really good, please may I have two cakes?" asked Boo.
24 x printed cupcake wraps with 3 designs, 8 of each design.

Party Platters £4.50
Boo jumped onto the table to catch a glimpse of the yummy platters of food.
4 food platters in 2 designs

Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game £6
"If I win, can I have an extra slice of cake?" asked Boo.
A traditional game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. The game pack includes a beautifully illustrated, A2 poster with a choice of boy or girl rider for the donkey, 2 sheets of tail and name stickers.

Treat Time Donkey and Cart £10
"Oh please let the cart be full of carrots," Boo gasped "Oh please!"
A cute and quirky, card donkey and cart with waterproof lining.

It goes with out saying PLEASE, please please send us any photos of your parties.

A Very Happy New Year

2012-01-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and a belated Happy New year, I promise I do have LOTS of very good excuses for my absence from the blog, the question is which one should I share first?!

The best of course.... tonight I get to write a blog post that I have hoped to be able to write for, well for a very long time, before I even had a blog and before Belle & Boo. Tonight I get to share with you that I am 27 weeks pregnant with not 1 but 2 little babies, all being well and no nasty surprises along the way they should be with me and Russ the beginning of April. We cannot wait to meet them and thank them for picking us to be their parents and for anyone reading this that thinks 'great another soppy blog post about some one else lucky enough to be pregnant' I just want to say I understand, I get it I really do and sometimes just sometimes mini miracles do happen.

I have bought precisely 4 things for the babies.

Can anyone guess what we are having?!!!!!!
I have had my eye on these gorgeous cushions for ages and they were the first things I bought when we found out the amazing news.

So that is excuse or maybe I should say reason no.1 :)

Reason no.2 is with twins on the way our 1 bed flat in London just isn't going to be big enough anymore, so we are moving. We have sold up and are moving this Friday eek! To a sweet 3 bedroom terraced house in Bishopston, Bristol that we have rented for the next year. It has been a HUGE and hard decision to leave London as we both still love it here, but economically and business wise Bristol makes sense and not forgetting I have lots of lovely friends there to help me with all my baby questions!

Reason no.3 I have had precisely 12 days to sketch out all the compositions for a new book!!!!!!!!!!! Final art work has to be completed by mid Feb so it can go to the Bologna book fair, to say the deadline is a little tight is putting it mildly.

So as you can see what with working, house hunting, packing and trying really, really hard to relax and rest I think we can all agree writing this post just 13 days late is actually quite an achievement.

2011-12-21T03:19:00.000-08:00

A Very Merry Belle & Boo Christmas from belle & boo on Vimeo.

I am still here promise just busy, busy, busy finishing up work before the Christmas break, only 2 more days to go before Russ and I head back north to visit our family Yipppeeee!

1st Day of Christmas Offer

2011-12-01T10:54:00.001-08:00

I am a little late with this blog considering it is the 3rd December today! In case you don't receive our mailchimp emails we have a festive Ist day of Christmas offer..... 30% off our Winter clothing collection.

At long, long last we have postcard packs back in the shops at a fabulous price, just £4.99 for 10 beautifully printed cards. There are 2 packs and each pack contains 2 of 5 different designs.

We have a Festive Postcard Pack

and a Mixed Postcard Pack

Available now here and here.

A little catch up

2011-11-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

I am So sorry for everyone that missed out on the Christmas fabric again, it went within a few days and annoyingly and some what typically our emails went a bit wonky over the weekend meaning some people that thought they had managed to grab some had to be refunded. We really are sorry we do try our hardest, next year we will order 10 times as much I promise.
I know it is a bit of a wait but next spring we are going to be launching 4 new fabrics in a light and heavy weight material, here is a sneaky peek of my favourite (and the other 3 are pretty cute also!)

I have had 2 lovely weekends away, 1st to Birmingham for a girly day out with my mum and godmother, most excitingly we saw where The Archers is recorded

& we met 2 tiny actors, the little girl that plays Abbie Tucker and her brother that plays baby Henry, I don't think they could understand what all the fuss was about!
Then the weekend just gone we spent a glorious weekend in Norfolk, we stayed in a stunning cottage.

and couldn't have been asked for more beautiful weather.
We went on a seal watching trip

oohhhhhhh they were so cute.

A couple of cute Belle & Boo photos

& some Christmas press

and a mention on the gorgeous Bloesem blog

Christmas Fabric is Back.... SORRY ALL GONE

2011-11-17T01:20:00.000-08:00

.... but don't delay we only have 34 mtrs

More new goodies

2011-11-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

It feels like we have new products arriving at the studio all the time at the moment, it's very exciting. Today I have added 3 new goodies to the shops.

My firm favourite is this sweet Belle & Boo apron, it fills me with feelings of nostalgia for my childhood, thoughts of Holly Hobbie, flat sally cakes and licking the bowl. Thanks to Lucy Woodruff for her beautiful photos, I think she captures to mood perfectly.

The apron is £18.50 and has a pretty pocket on the front big enough to pop a Boo cookie cutter in!

Next we have a LARGE dress up Belle and Boo, the same size as the display ones we have been using for our shows. They really are fab, standing 37cm tall made from sturdy card, with a fold out flap on the back so they can stand. Belle comes with 4 outfits and there is a cosy scarf for Boo and here on the blog if you scroll down you will find 4 more free outfits. At just £10 I think it makes a lovely present.

Lastly more wooden Boo's but this time he is a decoration hang him from your Christmas tree or mantle piece or like me all year round as a light pull!

We have approx 34 mtrs of the Christmas fabric arriving in a couple of weeks, that is all we could get printed before January, so keep your eyes peeled and I will let you know on the blog as soon as it has arrived. Bye for now.

At Last a Sneaky Peek!

2011-11-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have been under strict instructions not to show any of the picture book I have been working on since May, which is sssssoooooooooooooooooooo frustrating. However the cover is now on Amazon (you have been able to pre-order it for a while now, but there was no picture until a few days ago!)

Now I am allowed to show you something I feel a mixture of excitment and fear, working on a picture book is all consuming. I swear you think about it ALL the time, sketching on the tube, discussing compositions during romantic meals out with Russ, I even started dreaming about it at one point....well now I am just stalling!

So here it is................eek!

This is the dummy cover that went to the Book fair.

and this...... why this is the rest of the book, but I am afraid you will have to wait until May to see any of that.........drat!

Our Christmas press is starting to come out, look at this in Tatler how posh are we :)

and yesterday my copy of Mollie Makes arrived, oohh its a lovely magazine and came with a free linen kit, I highly recommend.

One last thing If you are in the Bristol area at the end of the month, Kate and I have a stall here

so please pop by and say 'hi' and enjoy a mince pie and glass of mulled wine.

New Prints

2011-11-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today we added 4 new prints to the shops, 2 for boys and 2 for girls. I illustrated the first 2 'The Reading Group' and 'The Club House' to compliment 2 existing prints that we wanted to wrap around our lunch boxes. We weren't actually going to release them as prints, but we have had lots of lovely requests to add them to the print collection, so here they are.

The 3rd new print is a firm favourite of mine, it was suggested by Suzie, if you don't know Suzie she is a crucial member of the Belle & Boo team. If you have ever received a parcel from us, it will have been lovingly packed by Suzie, she is more of a perfectionist than I am and I am pretty bad! The illustration is taken from our book 'Bubbles Before Bed' and is called 'Up The Stairs We Go'. I love doing this type of illustration, note to self 'must do more'.

The 4th new print is 'Bronto Boy' or 'Jude-o-saurus' as we refer to it in the studio. The idea for the illustration was suggested to me by Tracy's son Jude, who has a mop of blonde hair just like the illo.

We also have 2 new packs of gift tags

Baby Boo Tags

& Belle Hugs Boo Tags I really like the colour of these (Wow I really do like sepia!)

We have been sent the most amount of lovely customer photos recently, here are some Belle & Boo goodies being enjoyed around the world.

Oooohh and all our Christmas fabric has sold out, we are going to try our hardest to get some more before Christmas, but meanwhile please do send us photos of what you have done with yours.

Bye for now & for those of us in the UK have a wonderful Bonfire night.

Have a Happy Halloween

2011-10-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

A little bit more of Christmas

2011-10-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

I really love these Christmas wrap packs, anything that comes with stickers is a winner for me.

At last we have some more Belle & Boo fabric (more designs to follow next Spring) Our last fabric sold out within weeks, so don't be disappointed don't delay buy your Belle & Boo fabric today :) Below are a few examples (made by the very talented Sarah) of what you can make with it, but as always we would love to see what you make with yours.

Finally we are bringing back these 4 popular festive prints this year in a smaller size 7" by 9" as they make such lovely gifts in their bespoke boxes complete with festive stamps.

Christmas Goodies

2011-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

It's my favourite kind of day today, bright blue sky and chilly scarf and hat wearing weather, the perfect autumnal day to start getting excited about Christmas.

I am very excited to show you some of our new festive products, that we are adding to our web shops right now.
My favourite first.... Belle & Boo retro paper chains, they remind me so much of my childhood, I can't wait to decorate EVERYWHERE in them this Christmas! it took a really, really long time to work out how to fasten them, we didn't want to lick or glue or staple, so Clare's very clever husband came up with a cunning paper slotting system, it makes my brain hurt just thinking about it but it works!

We have a charity Christmas card pack 4 each of 3 snowy designs, so that's 12 in total with traditional kraft envelopes.
25% of all profits from each pack will be donated to Bristol Children's Help Society helping underprivileged children take a break.

New tags that look very cute with our new gift wrap

and what about this gorgeous Christmas tape, we wanted our kraft envelopes and boxes to look like they had been screen printed with this snow scene, it was a little bit tricky working out the logistics but I am thrilled with the end result, expect to see it on any Belle & Boo parcels that come your way.

Then we have sweet, sweet tins, literally!
We are selling them filled or unfilled; with sweets on our website and unfilled on Etsy, so check out both. They are such a great price and beautifully printed, the perfect stocking filler and the sweets are yummy, I should know I have eaten far too many!

Talking of yummy and a stocking filler we also have a Boo cookie cutter, which I used for the first time yesterday. It comes with a recipe for 'Grandbunnies Special Spicy Biscuits' which are delicious and Christmasy. Adding boo's eye is optional, I used a kebab skewer, ouch!

In the next few days we will be adding a fun gift wrap pack, so thats wrap, tags and stickers and some really lovely fabric for all those Christmas craft projects, so check back here soon.

On another note, sorry for disappearing for so long, Russ and I took a much needed break too Devon, we slept, ate, he surfed and I walked it was perfect.

heeellooooo......

2011-09-29T07:28:00.001-07:00

.... I'm still here, I have been busy working on the final touches of the book, it's very, very nearly finished a few tweaks here and there and then it's off to the Frankfurt Book fair eek! I have just been on their site and it says.....

"The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important marketplace for books, media, rights and licences worldwide. More than 7,300 exhibitors from 100 countries, 299,000 visitors and over 10,000 journalists"

& my little book, I hope Belle & Boo will be OK and not too over whelmed by the enormity of it all, as I wont be there to hold their hands!

Meanwhile a very talented friend of mine has recently launched her new website One of a kind Boutique I would love you to take a look and stop by her blog and say "hi".
If you mention Belle & Boo in the comments section once you have completed your order you will receive a free badge

and if you spend over £20 you will get a mirror worth £8.

I think that sounds like a very good excuse to start some early Christmas shopping! I think my favourites are these tree triplets.

Also a little bit of the great press we have received this autumn.

Top Drawer Autumn 11

2011-09-14T03:34:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, Top Drawer time!
The difference being this year I emailed Kate a scrappy sketch a few months ago of how I thought the stand could look and she and the rest of the clever Belle & Boo team created this sweet, beautiful stand.

I have been buried in the book for the past few months (I have a severe case of cabin fever!) so yesterday I took some time out to go and visit the show and I was blown away with how pretty everything looked. I think when you are involved in all the nitty gritty bits of putting the show together & your personality is like mine... to focus on the things that went a bit wrong, it's hard to see the finished result clearly. So simply turning up yesterday and seeing it all together for the first time was such a fun, proud, exciting experience and hopefully a little glimpse of how our visitors view the stand also, which is what counts in the end.

Kate found some fantastic props including this post box, where we asked people to post their business cards and this very cool little tree trunk cupboard!

Here is a sneaky peek of our new Christmas goodies, which will be available beginning of October.

We will also have this pretty little apron available around November.

I am sure those of you with keen eyes will also be able to spot some other lovely goodies that will be available early next year, but I don't want to spoil all the surprises in one go.

Also a polite little reminder from Suzie to not forget our Clothes collection is very limited, so don't risk being disappointed and leave it too late, the Boo coats are flying out....OK back to the book.

Fenwicks of Bond Street

2011-09-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

Exciting new opportunities for Belle & Boo are happening all the time and it is SSSSssssoooooooooo difficult to not share straight away here on the blog. One such opportunity came into being this weekend......Belle & Boo have their very own, very lovely corner in Fenwicks of Bond street, Mayfair!
Clare supervised the installation on Thursday

and then I popped by with my camera on Saturday once all the hard was done! I think you will agree they did a wonderful job. There is hand painted trunk missing which will stand to the right of the cupboard but apart from that I couldn't be happier and prouder. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it's really true. So if you are in the area please pop by and take a look and let me know what you think, non of this would have happened without the wonderful support and encouragement from all you Belle & Boo friends out there, a HUGE THANK YOU.

Autumn/Winter Collection

2011-08-31T04:57:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk last night and had to admit Autumn has definitely arrived, which made me a little bit sad as I was still waiting for summer!
However that does mean we can launch our new Autumn/Winter clothing collection which is very exciting. We were Very, very lucky to have a photo shoot with amazing photographer Lucy Woodrow, I think she has captured the Belle & Boo feel exactly. These pictures remind me of my childhood when I was lucky enough to play out all day in the fields, woods & sandy river banks surrounding my friends house. Thank you so much Lucy and a big THANK YOU to your beautiful model.

We have 5 pieces in the collection.

First meet Day Dress

Winter Spot Blouse & Shorts

Boo Crimson Coat

Release Party Dress

We also have some very fun illustrative shots of the collection which I will share shortly but for now we hope you love what you see.

Inbetween.....

2011-08-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

....working on the book I have managed to fit in a few lovely weekends.
Last weekend we visited the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and played the game 'what would you buy if money was no object?'

My choice were 4 beautiful etchings by artist Norman Ackroyd....maybe one day :)

This weekend just gone we visited our 2 new nephews Henry and Noah born just 9 days apart, they really are a couple of cuties.

Also a BIG thank you to Daisy Bridgewater for featuring our lunchbox in her column in The Telegraph, we love you Daisy.

weird!

2011-08-11T00:12:00.000-07:00

I was just using 'browse' on my laptop to find an old sketch and came across this drawing. I have NO idea why I drew this? I am wondering if there was an overlap of tracing paper when I scanned it in? or maybe just maybe Boo has a little life of his own and is a very brave bunny indeed!

New Photos

2011-08-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today I finished a mammoth illustration for the book, I so wish I could show you, but I am under strict instructions not to, it's very frustrating. The good news is I am now officially half way through, only another 6 weeks to go.

I decided to take a break this afternoon and dust off my camera and take some photos of our lovely tinware. I realised when we received the following email from a friend in Australia....

"It arrived and super quick and it is beautiful. Really well made and love the fact that it is totally covered by images.
ps - not a dent on it so thank you to whoever packaged it up. Ava and I decided we would fill it with pom poms".

....that we didn't explain that the lunch boxes and money boxes are wrapped in illustrations, no 2 sides are the same, that is why it took me so long to get every edge to line up correctly.

We have had a great response to the new tinware, thank you so much for all the lovely messages, our Ava lunch boxes sold out within a week, but a new batch have arrived and are equally as sweet.

Have a lovely weekend every one x

Too cute for words

2011-08-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Too much candy from Capucha on Vimeo.

& thank you to Sabine for these photos of Belle & Boo in her gorgeous cafe and shop Rosabraun in Stuttgart.

They are here

2011-07-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

The lunch boxes and money tins arrived at the studio yesterday and are now available in the shop. I have put my name down for 10, I love them that much!

Meanwhile sorry to go so quiet on you, I wish I could say I have been on some long relaxing holiday but no such luck, I have been working away on Christmas products yikes! and 'The Book'. We tend to refer to it as 'The Book' around here as it feels quite huge and daunting, but so far so good only another 7 weeks or so before it goes to print ready for the Frankfurt book fair in October. Unfortunately it is tip top secret and not out until Feb 12, but hopefully once it has been shown at the fair, I can show you a few sneaky peeks. Meanwhile here are some tasters of whats to come for Christmas, can you guess what they are?

We have another exciting range coming out after Christmas it is a Belle & Boo party range, Clare our designer has been working on it relentlessly for months, so she has all sorts of samples at her flat, a few of which she put to good use at the weekend. how cute is this cake.

Lots of great press about our summer clothes, which have nearly all gone now. Our production runs are very small on our clothes so if you do buy a piece rest assured hardly anyone else will have it, I haven't even got a parade dress myself they went that quickly.

& there is a lovely interview with me here, hopefully if you click on the image you can read it.

There is also a fab mention of our melamine sets on Retro to go, thanks Olivia.

Finally you have to take a look at this INCREDIBLE dolls house decorated by Megan for her little girl, I feel very proud that one of my illustrations has ended up in such a sweet, sweet home, if only I was mouse size.

I am so in love with these.....

2011-07-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

I got these photos yesterday and breathed a BIG sigh of relief, I can't tell you just how hard it was getting the art work to wrap around all 4 sides and the top and bottom. It literally it took months of tweaks and head scratching, but I think they look beautiful if I do say so myself. They will be arriving in the studio at the end of July and at just £9 for the lunch box and £3.50 for the money box I think they will fly out soon after. I hope you like them.

2011-07-05T07:51:00.001-07:00

Last week on one day we were sent 2 images, this one above by amazing photographer Lucy Woodrow Yyaayyyyyy and this one below found on Ebay & sent to us by a concerned subscriber, GGggrrrrrrrrrr

It was my birthday at the weekend and I had a lovely time. My parents came to stay for a few days and I am embarrassed to say that after living in London for over 10 years I visited The Tower of London for the first time. It was really fun, I will definitely be going back, we were there over 4 hours and saw just about half of it. the Crown jewels were stunning who knew there were diamonds that big in the world!

Then after much Italian food and wine we went to see One Man 2 Guvnors staring James Cordern, it was very funny and such a great theatre, the sets were beautiful colours.

2 of my favourite b-day presents are this vintage coffee pot and pretty milk jug,

but I think the best present born just the day after was my new nephew, Henry Humphrey, I can't wait to meet him and have a cuddle.

Cool Camping

2011-06-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

My sister Aly and her husband Jolly recently set up their own business called 'Jolly Campervans'. Their logo says 'go nice place do nice things' which I love and sums it up nicely. They own 2 new VW camper vans, which came from brazil looking like this

and then get retro-nised here in the UK, so they end up looking like this

Which is very clever as you have the look and the feel of the classic campers but with brand new reliable engines. I personally love all the details they have thought of, they can offer personalised itineraries pre-programmed into the sat nav, cosy crisp duvets and pillows so you can snuggle up and watch the stars, bike racks, expresso coffee makers. They can pick you up from an airport, train station (within reason) or drop the van off with you for free within a certain radius and can provide a drive away awning if you need that bit more space on your trip. I think they have though of everything!

Also what is great about it is they are based in the North of England, so it's a chance to visit some such STUNNING parts of the country, I think Russ and I are going to take one on a tour of the Lake district as soon as I finish the book.

Anyway to celebrate the opening of their site they have a very lovely offer for Belle & Boo followers, the first 5 bookings that are made before the end of July get a whopping 20% off the price and all other booking made after that before the end of July get 10% off.
What I mean by that is you need to make a booking before the end of July but that booking can be for any time of the year, does that make sense? I hope so ! Just quote "Belle & Boo love camping too" when you contact them.

Even if you can't take a trip my sister would love to hear from you, she is about to have a baby any day now and would like to keep her mind busy so visit her blog here and see photos of me and her as little kids camping, see if you can spot me in the group shot!

Also to get you in the mood check out Allison's brand new section of her website On the road all about cool camping, these are just a couple of things I will be taking with me on my trip.

Bubble 11

2011-06-21T00:55:00.000-07:00

Who wants a sneaky peek at our Autumn/Winter 11 collection?
You do?
Really?
Well OK then......

Here is Belle wearing hers.
We are all a little bit in love with this collection, especially Tracy who wants them in her size!

The Boo coat this year is in a crimson colour, it went down a storm at the show, everyone agreed it is very little red riding hood. Here it is with my friend Helen Gordon's, Hansel and Gretel dress, what a beautiful outfit, straight out of a fairy tale.

This year we have dropped the smallest size of ours clothes we are now starting at 18-24th months and going up to size 5-6yrs as we get asked a lot for this size, which I suppose makes sense as Belle is a young 5 herself. The fashion industry is such a learning curve, this year we will be making a lot more 2-3yrs and 3-4yrs as these are the sizes that go first, anyway I will talk more about the collection at a later date, all being well it will be available end of August.

It was lovely to see Belle & Boo included in the trend section 'Golden Days'

I was very excited to meet 2 of my favourite designers at the moment, Lale who was so gorgeous and french and actually said "oh la la" at one point in the conversation! Also Olive's Friend Pop, who's clothes are even more adorable in real life, even though I have no one to put in it, I couldn't resist buying one of her dresses, I may just have to frame it.

We also met Old Rectory, who's collection is as lovely as their lifestyle, I bought a little something for my friends new baby, but I can't show you as that would spoil the surprise.

OK have to work on some Christmas designs now......it's a funny life!

New Small Boo Swing Tags

2011-06-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

A while ago we had a little Boo stamp made and Suzie suggested we started selling little Boo swing tags, I think you'll agree they are very sweet, available now here and here.

This months Junior magazine is all about the winners....did I mention we won BEST INTERIORS?! eek I am still so proud. You can read an interview with little ol' me here, it's called 'The Belle behind Belle & Boo' which I love.

& lastely some great press in the Mini Resident, how beautiful are the little girl's eyes on the front cover & on that note I just noticed they are holding a cover girl competition here.

New Goodies

2011-06-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

A few very exciting new goodies arrived in the studio this week. The first is this beautiful Boo cot bed quilt, kate's little girl Robyn has had our prototype on her bed for the past few months and just loves it. to celebrate we have a special offer running for the month of June....

Also hot off the press today are 2 gorgeous melamine sets, Ava's Teaparty for girls and yes a boys one featuring Pirate Party. I started working on these and some other equally yummy stuff ( more to be revealed next month) this time last year when we were lucky enough to be contacted by Elite Gift Boxes. Elite asked us if they could license some of our designs & once we saw that they produced tin and melamine featuring the Flower Fairies and Peter Rabbit we jumped at the chance. It was a long old process with many tweaks and twiddles along the way, Clare our designer was very patient and worked wonders with these melamine sets and now a year on we are all thrilled with the product and are very proud to start selling them in the shop. At just £18 a set I think they make a lovely affordable gift.

I had to design 2 new art works for these sets and for another tin product (my favourite) coming soon, can you guess what it will be?!

The Reading Group

The Club House

Do you think we should sell these as prints? we are in 2 minds, I would love to know your thoughts.

On a completely non Belle & Boo note I saw Take That at the weekend, it was their first night back in their home town of Manchester, or as Robbie said the the place they pretended they were from because it was trendy at the time! All 5 of them back together, it was ALOT of fun, thank you Aly and Jolly :)

hhmmmmm

2011-05-31T02:39:00.000-07:00

I LOVE, LOVE, love it when creative, thoughtful people use Belle & Boo for their own personal use, like these yummy Boo themed cup cakes made by Georgie :)

However I do NOT love it when uncreative, unthoughtful people use Belle & Boo for their own commercial use :(

Update: The power of facebook......The shop in Jakarta that were selling the t-shirt have apologised and removed it from their site, however they were only reselling it, the t-shirts were originally made in Thailand, so if anyone is going on holiday there and goes shopping, I would love a Belle & Boo Donut t-shirt........NOT!!!

A big THANK YOU to all your comments, I do get annoyed by things like this but I try to always remember 'Imitation is the greatest form of flattery'

New mini prints and postcards

2011-05-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

Shop update day today, yippppeeee. One new print called 'Sofia' which we are all a little bit in love with!

4 new postcards, which is your favourite?

& we are bringing back some old favourites as mini prints, 7" by 9". It is such a great gift size, especially now with our fab boxes.

Joy Aqua

Patience Brown

Ava

On a personal note just got back from a lovely long weekend in Devon. We stayed with friends that run a hugely successful business called Letterfest, it is always reassuring to know I am not the only one that has to work weekends to get things out on time!

I am loving their new family tree poster.

I spent Saturday lying on the sofa eating chocolate and watching Dirty Dancing after eating a delicious fry up!

and was a little more active on Sunday when we went for a walk followed by a huge Sunday nut roast yum, yum, yum.

Our 2nd Front Cover

2011-05-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

What a lovely surprise, our Boo white top was just featured on our 2nd front cover. Families North is a magazine that is local to me and I think the photos were taken in my local woods, I wish I had bumped into the photo shoot, that would have been fun

Here is the adorable Tabitha from Devon in her Boo top.

Peggy's very cool daughter in Amsterdam, modelling our Boo bag and brooch

Allison's little friend in our Boo coat

& this time peasant tops made by the very clever Alicia from our Belle & boo fabric.

Our first Front Cover

2011-05-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

What wonderful news our Boo coat is featured on the front cover of the gorgeous Australian Little One Baby magazine. Our printed copies are in the post, but I couldn't wait to share. If you are interested in the coat we only have a few of the larger sizes left but our Australian customers can buy all sizes at Lark

Big Belle & Boo's

2011-05-10T10:57:00.001-07:00

We have added 3 large format Belle & Boo images to our shops, 2 limited edition screen prints......

& this large 'Belle Boo & the 1" horseman' A2 poster. We had these printed a while ago for an exhibition and have just 14 left, so hop over to Etsy now to claim yours, at just £15 I don't think they will hang around for long!

Thank you to the very talented Nova, who sent us these photos of the beautiful Belle & Boo dress she made for her daughters 4th birthday.

Boo's r back

2011-05-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Our Boo brooches are back in the shops, Yippppeeee.
We have 50 but be warned the last herd (did you know that was what a collection of rabbits is called?) sold out in under a week and although we will make more in the future, frustratingly we will have to put the price up as they cost quite a lot to make :(
So hop over here or here to adopt yours for £5

The sun is still shining...

2011-05-06T03:35:00.000-07:00

.....our website homepage has a new animation

& the book is once again under way.

Happy Friday everyone.

Winners Everywhere

2011-04-30T04:11:00.001-07:00

A few of you may have already seen on our face book page but we recently found out that Belle & Boo has won a prestigious Junior Design Award. We have been awarded 'Best Interiors Collection/Decor' which blows my mind as I am well aware of the amazing competition out there. So thank you Junior and thank you to everyone that has supported us along the way. I feel a little like I am making an Oscar speech! Seriously though I remember when Junior magazine first came out, I would buy a copy every month and visualise my illustrations being featured, it's funny and amazing how these things work out.

A little bit about the award:

The Junior Design Awards are ‘the only awards that recognise excellence in style and design – and everything beautiful in a child’s life’. Showcasing the best in children’s fashion; lifestyle and interiors; travel; food & dining; toys & children’s books; and green parenting. A special 164 – page Collectors Edition of Junior Magazine (July issue – on sale June 3rd) will showcase all the award winners and shortlisted products.

Well done to our friends at Hucklebones who have won ‘Emerging Talent / Best New Fashion Brand’ a very well deserved award indeed.

Now about our winners. Thank you for all your wonderful ideas, Clare and I were hugely inspired and It was difficult picking just 3 winning ideas. So we picked the 3 best ideas that related directly to the current Talking Tables range and then another 3 ideas which we hope to develope at some point in the future. When I say best ideas I guess that's is a bit misleading, I think what I mean is fresh ideas as you cleverly predicted an awful lot of products that are in development already....oooohhhhhh it's exciting (I am afraid the range will not be out until January, so pre-plan those parties for next year)

In no particular order:

3 Party Parade Ideas

Down that little Lane: 'wrapping paper for pass the parcel'

Kat: 'Wide satin wired ribbon with the design all along'

Glynis: Jigsaws - 'for those children that like to sit and do something a little quieter than the normal noisy games (would also be a fab pressie)'

3 extra ideas

Renee: 'Hide and seek with boo. Little boo cutouts on sticks to plant into the ground in the garden and the children to go on a 'boo' hunt. How many bunnies can they find. Perhaps with a special coloured boo for a prize'

bybibo: 'how about a "birthday album/book" where you could keep track of friends/families birthdays'

katelynn elizabeth: 'I also think that stand-up cutouts of a boy and girl would be a fun wedding cake topper'

I am going to try and contact you all, but if you don't hear from me please just shout. Renee, I am not sure how to contact you?

hhmmm not many pretty pictures with this post, so let me attach this that I found on decor8 this morning, taken for StyleCookie an inspiring space online in the form of an e-zine and a blog about decoration and inspiring products for the home, featuring our 'Release' postcard.

New York Round Up

2011-04-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well like all holidays it feels an age ago since I was in New York, so these photos are as much for me as you! I was lucky enough whilst there to be joined by a very good friend from my art college days, who is a fabulous photographer, so the following pictures are a mixture of our photos but they are mainly hers (mine are the more touristy ones & the ones of food!)

I LOVE american breakfasts, every morning it was a hard decision, eggs, pancakes, bagels or all 3!

& one slightly different breakfast at the famous Katz deli, a knish, pastrami on rye with pickles and a chocolate New York egg cream.

We stayed right next to Central Park

which is next to the MET, the Met, the Met, the Met I still can't quite believe just how many of my favourite art works are housed there.

I walked and walked and walked and just soaked up the atmosphere (I did keep feel like I was in a movie most of the time)

when we couldn't walk any more we tackled the subway (I just about got the hang of it)

& a quick trip on the Staten Island ferry, very early one morning.

We ate such good food and drank a few too many cocktails.

We hung out in Brooklyn.

& we shopped & shopped & shopped (I will have to photograph a few of my best finds, pity we couldn't fit these chairs in our suitcase at just $10 each)

& last but definitely not least I visited Christopher Robins original toys, that A.A. Milne showed to E.H. Shepherd before he illustrated Winnie The Pooh. Isn't little piglet cute. you can read about them here I especially like this bit....

Sadly Roo is one of the original toys that has not been preserved. His disappearance was described by A.A. Milne in the birth certificate; "Roo is believed to be somewhere in Sussex, but no details are available. A subsequent dog who became part of the establishment, took him for a walk once and left him in a hollow tree, from which he was extracted a year later. But the spirit of adventure was now strong upon him and soon afterwards he was off again, whether or not with the co-operation of the dog this time is not known".

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a lovely day, I watched the wedding munching on bacon butties and drinking bubbly from a paper cup, it was wonderful. Tomorrow I will announce the winners of our Royal Wedding poster competition, thank you for your patience, I know it is long over due.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you have had, are having a lovely day. I arrived back in the UK a few days ago and went straight up North to see family and of course eat some good old fashioned British cream cakes!

I had an AMAZING time in New York and I will post some pics soon (which will involve many more pictures of food I am sure!)
Meanwhile sit back, put your feet up, break into that huge chocolate egg and have a look at this beautiful Belle & Boo Easter table that Leoni created for her daughters, it's so very, very pretty.

Look where I am!

2011-04-11T07:48:00.001-07:00

Thats right New York City!
It was bit of a spontaneous decision, I can't quite believe I am here, although the blisters on my feet from all the street stomping I have done over the past few days are real enough!
Russ and I are going to be here another 10 days, so please, please if you have any must dos/sees please let me know as I feel slightly over whelmed by the vastness of everything at the moment. Also if there are any shops you think might like Belle & Boo (my friends introduced me to Pomme at the weekend AMAZING!) please let me know.

Or just any shops you think I might like, like Fishs Eddy, how good is that shop, what a shame I can't take an entire dinner set back in my suitcase!

Also we are looking for an American based agent, so any suggestions regards that would also be very, very welcome.

Anyway whilst I am having a lovely time over here, Kate and the rest of the team are busy working away in the UK. We were lucky enough to be featured in the Sunday Times at the weekend (I am getting really excited about the Royal Wedding now, maybe because it involves a long weekend and a party in Devon!)

Take a look at these beautiful customer photos, how clever you are......

and how cute is this cake & Kaitlin!

Please keep them coming.

Just before I sign off, I wanted to say how over whelmed we have been with your ideas for the Talking Tables range, it is going to be a hard decision picking the best 3 ideas (we my have to give away a few more posters than we originally said) I am going to announce the winners once I am back in the UK, so I can organise addresses and posting the winners prizes, so please bare with me, as it will be a little longer than the promised 2 weeks.

Speaking of winners we found out today that Belle & Boo have won a very exciting and prestigious award, but I can not share the good news with you just yet eeekkkkkkkkkk (I really, really want to!)

and last but not lease at few of Russ's shots of Brooklyn (he always manages to make things look a lot cooler than me!)

Talking Tables

2011-04-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the clothes love, we are very proud of them and love the thought of little girls all over the world wearing them, please send us any photos.

One of our next exciting projects is with a company who's products I love, Talking Tables. They first came to my attention when I bought their cardboard plate stand and scalloped plates, I wasn't having a party I just couldn't resist the beautiful innovative designs.

We were lucky enough to get chatting with them at a trade show where Kate presented Belle & Boo to them and excitingly they asked us to work with them on a Belle & Boo range. We started with a few basic products, the cups & napkins.....

.....and slowly the range is growing. I mentioned to the owner Clare, about the brilliant ideas we get sent by our customers all the time for new products and she was very keen I ask you here on the blog,
"What would you like to see at your Belle & Boo party?"
Bearing in mind this art work here (click to enlarge)

What would you like to see it applied to?
They are a very clever company and are keen to come up with quirky products so the more unusual the better! They are big on fun packaging, games and hidden extras. Think pin the tail on the donkey and craft crowns to colour. So get those thinking caps on as we have 3 Royal Party Parade prints as prizes for the best 3 ideas. I have to say that as we can't share all the ideas currently in the design stage, I apologise in advance if you have a lovely idea and you don't win, its just we may be doing it already. I will announce the winners in 2 weeks time.

Top tip: I have mentioned our friends over at Sisters Guild before, they just sent me a mail out to say they are having an Easter sale, so I recommend you hop over there and see what bargins they have to offer.

Spring/Summer 2011

2011-03-29T03:54:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year........NEW clothes whhoooooo hooooooo.

This is our concertina brochure for our wholesale customers.

I wont say too much else just show you lots of pretty pictures.

My favourite is the Reversible Parade Dress a parade of Belle & Boo children on one side and lots of Boo's on the other.

Our Blue Princess Dress perfect for spinning, lined with our repeat Belle & Boo fabric.

A pretty Boo White Top lined with Belle & Boo's (the denim shorts are to follow shortly)

& by popular demand we are bringing back our Boo Pinny.

All items come carefully wrapped in tissue with a special dress up Belle postcard. We only have a small amount of each item and once they have gone they have gone, so don't delay get yours today!

We have been lucky enough to have had some press about them already.

& don't forget it is Mothers Day this Sunday (in the UK)

A little bit of Autumn in Spring

2011-03-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

At last we have the full set of season cushions back in stock, yiiippeee I have missed seeing them all together. To celebrate this and the arrival of spring we are offering our autumn cushion for a limited time only for £34 (just over 20% OFF)
If you miss the offer don't worry we have a permanent offer which allows you to go mad and buy all 4 and save a whooping £37.

I have been sent the most amount of lovely emails and photos lately, here are just a few pictures of Belle & Boo in autumnal Australia.

I have had a super couple of days, my mum came to stay and I took her to the Museum of Childhood, as we have a very interesting dolls house, that we wanted to talk to them about (more about that later) I always take LOADS of photos when I go there, but these were my favourite 2 toys this trip, especially Christopher Robin and friends.

Then yesterday we went to the London Coliseum for a Good House Keeping 'Swan Lake' offer.

First we had a talk from the orchestra, the make up and costumn artists, followed by a fascinating half hour where we were allowed to watch the ballerinas rehearsing. Next a delicious lunch and then great seats for the matinee performance. It was so magical, at one point I swear in turned into a moving Degas painting. We ended the day with warm scones in Bill's yum.

Pick Me Up

2011-03-21T03:09:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely weekend, first to 'Pick Me Up' at Somerset House, where the open studio was Anthony Burrill

and then to the Primrose Bakery for cupcakes and pink lemonade.

I highly recommend both!

Boo Bags

2011-03-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

At last we have some tote bags back in the shops. We love these bags they are screen printed and sewn here in the UK. They are strong, wash well and are just really good quality. All the new bags feature Boo, I think they would be perfect for that egg hunt on Easter morning.
We have a big Boo bag.

& a small boo bag.

Also my favourite, this repeat pattern Boo bag.

All the bags are beautifully packaged and come with a free surprise badge.

HOWEVER how about buying one of these gorgeous wooden Boo brooches to go with a bag?

These arrived cut and etched from good quality plywood and then I was let loose on them, attaching brooch backs and varnashing and lots of fun with the packaging, I love packaging!

I think they are a brilliant price at just £5 the perfect Easter present.

Shown here on our new spring blouse (available at the end of this week)

I have had a couple of fun days out lately, first a quick trip to sunny Brighton.

& then my yearly trip to the AAF it is such a great day out. We took my friends little girl and had thought she might be bored but there was so much for her to look at and do and did anyone else notice there were the most amount of dogs there this year?!

The best bit was when Greta aged 2 and a half pointed at an abstract painting and said 'look Jackson pollock' !!! afterwards we went next door to the childrens Zoo, I have never been before it's great, really well maintained and thought out, I highly recommend it.

Lastly a BIG thank you to Cathy for featuring a review of 'Bubbles Before Bed' in the fabulous Anorak magazine.

oohhhh lastly, lastly I just noticed our Etsy sales are at 9999.

I wonder who will be the lucky 10,000 customer?

Royal Party Parade

2011-03-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

"Join Belle & Boo as they sing dance and play to celebrate the Royal Wedding Day"

We have added a gorgeous new poster in the shops today to celebrate the Royal Wedding on the 29th April. I remember when Charles and Diana got married so vividly, family friends threw a party, the sun was shining (I am sure it was sunnier in the olden days!) and my sister and I wore our mix and match ra-ra skirts.

I wonder if families will be celebrating like that for Wills and Kate's wedding? Do you have anything planned?

I couldn't resist getting some Royal Parade tape made also, I think I might just have to send a roll to Buckingham palace. Available now here and here.

Some lovely press over the past few weeks, this Junior spread shows a sneaky peak of our new Boo duvet, which will be available in time for Easter. More Easter goodies to follow in the next few days.

Mother's Day Art Work

2011-03-04T05:01:00.000-08:00

We have just added 4 new prints to the shops in time for Mothers Day here in the UK, 3rd April. Although I think they will make lovely gifts all year round.
We have kept them small 7" by 9" as this is one of our most popular sizes, they look so lovely in our new packaging boxes that we now send all our small and medium size prints out in.

Which is your favourite? We have a favourite here at Belle & Boo, but I am not going to tell you just yet which one it is.

1973 have also produced 4 beautiful cards featuring the art works, which are also available in our shops.

Devon

2011-02-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Russ and I are very lucky to have extremely generous friends that trust us with their beautiful home and cute, cute dog when they go on holiday, allowing Russ and I to have many comfortable & free holidays in Devon. We have just returned form a week of windy surf beaches, delicious home cooked food and good company with some other dear friends that joined us. These 2 below are pretty much my favourite folk to hang out with at the moment,

& this little chap we met at The Big Sheep is pretty cute also.

I love Devon, the fresh air, the sea, the calmness, Russ and I are forever talking about moving there, however I love what London has to offer also. Russ and I spent Sunday out and about, a walk across Hampstead Heath followed by flat whites and sausage with home made brown sauce baps at my new favourite cafe in Hampstead. Then a mooch around the South bank, we saw the British Art Show, I really enjoyed The Clock by Christian Marclay and then a quick dash into the Tate Modern to see the sunflower seeds followed by dim sum, yum, a perfect London day.

Spring is in the Air

2011-02-14T02:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines day everyone, it's a lovely day for it here in london, the sky is bright blue & my little garden is showing the first signs of spring.

We have added a new product to the shops today 'First Meet' invites, perfect for those spring parties.

I don't enter many blog give aways, so I was amazed and very excited when I won this illustration by Sarah Fritzler.

Isn't it sweet. It was a really fun giveaway, which you can read about here
& thanks also to Closer Magazine that featured our Valentines Cards

This Weekend

2011-02-05T02:06:00.000-08:00

Oooohhh just had a lovely weekend. First a trip to the the kinetic Art Fair where my friend Madi Boyd was a guest exhibitor. Then a quick night away at the stunning Rushton Hall. It was so good to get away for the night, London has felt very grey this past month, Northamptonshire was a blend of my favouite hues.

Our shops have had a spring clean, Christmas stock has been safely put a way till next year. Our 'Love' prints have a romantic 25% off and I EVENTUALLY had time to wrestle with the last roll of silky material! It has been sat in my studio for yonks. I have cut it into approx 90 x 1 meter lengths.

It is made for lining, so it is very, very silky and difficult to keep still, however look at what these incredibly talented folk did with theirs. Get yours now, only £3 a length, this really is the last of it (no more of Esa's lovely Lets Hug pockets left, so sorry)

Almost forgot the mistake with that sketch that made me giggle was, as Sarah spotted...

"Is the mistake that Bella is about four feet high while Boo is one foot high, yet their heads are level and Boo must be floating? (or sitting on Bella's shoulder)"

I originally drew Belle sitting down, then changed her quickly to standing (and yes her feet are a little odd!) anyway this meant that Boo most be an amazing hovering rabbit, although Russ also thought Boo must be sat on Belle's shoulder!

The Book - Week 2

2011-02-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hhmmmmm
So what was that I saying about it being a smooth and successful journey!

Week 2 and I guess 3 on the book went like this. I was sent the layouts, they were lovely, beautiful font, lovely pacing of the text. I worked hard getting sketches and ideas together for each spread, some were better than others. The outdoor scenes come a lot easier to me, than the indoor. It was a challenge suddenly having to imagine where Belle and Boo live. I have always known there would be no grown ups featured in the books but I have to consider if there are grown ups in the house or if it is a Belle & Boo size house, so everything is child size and do they actually live in a house at all!?
Anyway I sent the spreads off and crossed everything whilst I joined Kate and Tracy at Bubble. Then the news came..........da da da!

Everyone is loving everything, so much so they have decided the story needs a little more attention before I am let loose on the illustrations. Which means it is all on hold whilst a few writers are approached and they each submit a section of story (originally it was written in house) I know that is all great in the long run and it means the book will be more wonderful than ever, but I was really getting into just drawing again. Kate had informed the rest of the team on strict instruction "don't bother Mandy" and although I love them all dearly it was incredibly creative just drawing. Running a small business like Belle & Boo means you have to do a little of a lot of everything! Don't get me wrong I love what I do, but I did enjoy the calmness of just working on the book.

So unfortunately there will be no more updates about the book for a little while, but rest assured there will be plenty of other exciting stuff going on, meanwhile can anyone spot the mistake in this sketch?

Bubble was lots of fun, it is such a friendly atmosphere, as well as selling it's great to talk to like minded people, share the highs and lows, get contacts, advice & feedback.

We were lucky enough to be featured along side our favourites Hucklebones on Juniors round up and took orders from 2 of our favourite shops Their Nibs and Avavore. Our family tree flew out and we had lots of orders of our new spring 2011 clothing range, which will be available in the shop in a few months. Also can you spot our new packaging? We LOVE our new packaging, the idea is that shops wont necessarily have to display our prints hung on the wall they can simple prop them on the shelves in front of the box, making it a complete gift, no more bubble wrap needed. We will also be sending our prints out like this to our customers, which will make life lots easer and they look so cute. I will take some better pictures of them next week.

I have blurred a few new things as I don't want to completely ruin the surprise of new pieces that will be added to the shops over the next few months.

Thanks to Chopsy Baby who wrote this beautiful review of our Bubbles Before bed book.

"There is a dreamy, innocent 1950s feel to the book without it feeling old fashioned or nostalgic. It perfectly captures that time of childhood where everything is a magical adventure, a time a parent desperately wants their own child to experience and relish in. It is untainted by the crash bang of computer games, witty 3D animation but manages to steer well clear of baby blue and pink insipidness"

Thanks to Belinda for emailing us photos of her Found tattoo, how cute is that.

The Book - Week 1

2011-01-25T01:06:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all your lovely comments and emails about 'The Book' As I mentioned before it has been a long and considered process taking it on, but now I have committed I am very excited and I am not afraid to admit a little bit nervous.

I had lots of emails in the last week asking for advice about the children's book publishing industry, so I thought I would try and share my experience here with you as it unfolds, lets hope it is a smooth & successful journey!

Week 1

I have the rough text at the moment, it will be edited down ALOT as I do the illustrations. At the moment it says things like 'their arms swing out in front of them' Once that is shown in the picture, it doesn't need to be in the copy etc. I currently do not have the page layouts they are being done by a designer at Orchard. These will give me an idea of where the text will fit within the illustrations, what font will be used and the general flow of the book. So I have taken this week to look for inspiration: in my childhood story books, the local libary but mainly on the internet. I have such specific words searched like 'hands lowering a bucket' which provide me with great photos like this!

When I illustrated books before I hardly used a computer, so would sit for hours in the library and set up photos shoots. One involved 2 friends of mine sat in a car park in the middle of the day, with my friends daughter in her pj's and slippers, we got a lot of funny looks that day! I still do use my own photographs, but I must admit a google search comes first.

I have also been getting to know the characters, I know that may sound silly as I have been drawing Belle & Boo for a good while now, but now they are appearing in a picture books there are some important decisions that need to be made. One of the biggest is "what is Boo?"

Yes I know he is a rabbit! but is he a pet rabbit, a wild rabbit a toy rabbit? and how human can he be? For example in the story he wears a pair of wellington boots, well at first I really wasn't sure about that, so I decided to draw how Boo would feel about it and see his reactions, I hope that makes sense?!

I am still not 100% sure how human he will become, dinner conversation btw Russ and I last night went something like this,

Me: "I am not sure Boo can hold a bottle of apple juice?"

Russ: " why not he can wear wellies"

Anyway thats a little insight into the first week, tomorrow I hope to have the spreads, so will start sketching out compositions gulp!

Thought I would share these adorable photos of Children out there around the world rocking Belle & Boo clothing, keep the photos coming we LOVE them here at Belle & Boo.

Our Lets Hug dress in Australia

Boo Coat in front of Buckingham palace

Elsa in Spring Blouse x (sold out)

Simply Stunning

2011-01-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

How utterly stunning is this photo. It was taken by Addie of her daughter, this is the email she sent us.

"Hi, my name is Addie... Im a photographer in the US... anyway... shortly after I had my daughter, a friend in England sent me a Belle & Boo card, and it was right then that I fell in love with Belle & Boo...And I knew I wanted to recreate that card with my daughter... its been hanging on her wall framed ever since... well, she recently turned 4 and I decided it was time... and I thought the end result turned out so cute, so I thought I would pass them along to you to see!"

This is the card she is talking about.

& another lovely photo from the shoot. See more of Addie's photographs here
Thank you so much Addie I am really touched x

Yet again Top Drawer came and went, it is such a lot of work for just 3 days, luckily Kate put up the show, so I am not quite as exhausted as I usually am. It was such fun, we made lots of lovely new friends, lots of business ideas and contacts and most importantly lots of sales. The stand was very similar to the show in September, yet this time we had a main Belle & Boo wall and then a separate girls and boys wall, which I think worked well. These are a few work in progress shots.

Spring in my Step

2011-01-15T01:37:00.000-08:00

Today for the fist time this year (granted there have only been 14 days!) I woke up with a literal spring in my step, I skipped into the kitchen and the reason..........
I feel a lot better, 2011 has so far been a blur of colds, sickness and backache. I knew I felt better when I asked myself if I wanted a coffee and croissant for breakfast and the answer was a resounding YES!
The 2nd reason.......today is the day I start story boarding the first ever Belle & Boo picture book!
Now I know we have self published 'Bubbles Before Bed' and it has done tremendously well, but this next book is a full blown 38 page, full colour, hard back picture book to be published by Orchard books if all goes to plan this Autumn.
I say if all goes to plan, because an autumn publishing date requires finished art work by the end of April, if not sooner
GULP!
I have been in the very, very fortunate position of being approached by publishers for a while now, mainly at first from the States that have found Belle & Boo via Etsy. Etsy is an amazing showcase for your work, its not just Belle & Boo by any stretch of the imagination, a good number of my Etsy artist friends have been contacted by all sorts of interesting people and companies. Now just because you are approached does not mean anything happens and there have been numerous reasons along the way why we are only just now entering into a publishing deal. The main reason if I am honest is I haven't felt ready. Before starting Belle & Boo and before I went traveling I illustrated picture books, which I loved and felt very privileged to do, but like all jobs there were draw backs and I wasn't ready to rush back, that is until now. Now feels right, now I see Belle & Boo as animated little characters, I see them running, chatting and heading off on big adventures (well big for a little child and a small bunny!) Orchard is a wonderful company I have been lucky enough to work with them in the past and Kate and I couldn't resist the gorgeous goodie box they sent, with musical presentations and homemade bunny biscuit (no photo of those I am afraid as Kate and I and her children polished them off immediately!

OK so thats enough chat now I need to get sketching, I promise to keep you updated along the way, even it's only to vent my stress about deadlines!

Before I go 2 pretty pictures, thank you to (Ana)belle's mum for sharing this cute picture of a Boo coat far from home in Australia.

Belle & Boo Out in the World

2011-01-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

There is nothing we like to see more than pictures of Belle & Boo out in the world. Look at these brilliant pictures by Bella enjoying her To Do Book.

I found these beautiful shots of our clothes on Facebook, by the way I watched The Social Network the other night I didn't realise something so nerdy could be so exciting.

Our show at The Haberdashery comes down on Sunday, I am going to miss having a 'work' reason to pop in for a coffee and cake!

As one exhibition comes down another goes up Top Drawer Spring, we have not done this show before but have heard it's great as all the shops stock up after Christmas. As always if you are visiting please come and say 'hi'

2011-01-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful cosy Christmas and a fabulous New Year. Russ and I spent New Year in Hastings, we went out for a very posh lunch followed by an evening of silly games, white Russians and hot dogs!

First day back has been manic to say the least, not helped by the VAT increase here in the UK. We had had to put our prices up slightly to reflect this, so we now have some very strangely priced items indeed. Framed prints that were £55 are now £56.30 etc, it's all a bit annoying.

The good news is we have 4 Christmas prints on sale; mounted they are now £25 (were £32) and framed £40 (were £55) There are only a few of each left so don't delay. Available in our shop and on Etsy now.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

Presents are wrapped, my bag is packed and the snow (for the moment) has ceased, so Russ and I are heading back up North for a few days of family, food and fun.

Merry Christmas to everyone that stops by to read my blog, have a wonderful cosy holiday and see you next year for LOTS of exciting news!

Merry Christmas from Belle & Boo! from belle & boo on Vimeo.

Christmas has begun

2010-12-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

What a super start to Christmas.
Thursday night I went with my mum to a Good Housekeeping carol concert at Grosvenor Chapel, followed by drinks at Thomas Goode store which sells 'the highest-quality china by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen' Dinner plates start at around £200! We had lots of fun imagining which crackers the queen would be pulling on Christmas day!
Friday night Russ took me to see War Horse, it was INCREDIBLE the best live performance I have ever seen, I can not recommend it enough. This clip doesn't do it justice, but it is a tiny taste of what we saw.

Then last night was Kate's wedding reception, she had a small family wedding in the day, followed by champagne and dancing and lots & lots of fun last night (my camera is still broken, so when I get my hands of a picture I will show you, she looked beautiful and very, very happy)
Today I have sat on the sofa, watching Christmas movies and eating far too many chocolates, I feel very festive & full indeed.
I did do a little bit of work.....I have added a new Christmasy postcard to the shop, find it here and here.

Family Tree's

2010-12-08T01:37:00.000-08:00

I have had a sketch for a Belle & Boo family tree sat in my 'New Art' folder for the past couple of years ever since I bought a Famille Summerbelle tree print for Russ's niece. At last I had some time to finish it and I am really pleased with how it looks. I chose a very autumnal palette, which those of you who have been to my flat will know is my colour palette of choice. I am not sure if I will feel the need to create a spring one as the weather changes, but for now I think this is perfect for a cosy home, with mugs of hot chocolate and long woollen socks.
It comes in 2 sizes medium A3 and Large A2, but at the moment there are only 4 of the larger size available, so if you want one in a hurry don't wait around. Available in our Belle & Boo shop or on Etsy

You can be as creative as you want with the pictures you add, no need to keep within the oval shapes, although that does look lovely too. As always I would love to see photos of what you do with yours.

Here are a couple of photos we have been sent recently, of Belle & Boo out in the world.

Clare who takes photos for Belle & Boo has created this very cool and practical wall calander, it is BIG which is brilliant, mine is up and looking alarmingly busy already, they are very reasonably priced and are available to buy here.

On the 12th Day of Christmas

2010-12-04T11:13:00.001-08:00

So that's it the last of our 12 days of Christmas offer, it's gone so quickly and been very, very busy, I hope everyone found an offer that suited them.
Just to explain the offer above in a little more detail, if you order £50/$75 of goodies or above in the respective shop, we will send you a beautifully printed Belle & Boo gift voucher, in a hand stamped kraft envelope. You can use this for your own future shopping or give it as a gift.

I laughed a lot last night when I watched a Christmas Boots commercial, a woman shows her husband 3 gifts she has bought for family members and tells him
"it was buy 2 get one free".
He seems pleased and says "so one of those was free?"
"oh no" replies the woman as she lifts up 2 more full shopping bags
"I bought these 6 for myself and those 3 were all free"!
I noticed Russ laughing a lot also!

Anyway to help you spend! today I am adding 3 new limited edition prints to the shops. They are all new print processes to Belle & Boo.
The first are 2 stunningly printed letter press pieces, pressed for me by Monika all the way over in the US. They arrived a few days before the show beautifully packaged, I was blown away by the crisp line on the softly textured paper, I will definitely be keeping one of each for myself.

Letter Press Boo: Limited edition of 50

Letter Press Belle and Boo: Limited edition of 50

I am not sure my photos do them justice, the paper is embossed, so the dark ink is pressed deep into the paper.

The 3rd print is the image I designed for our exhibition at The Haberdashery, based on my favourite vintage signs of the 1920's. It has been screen printed in Dorset by George from Barnhaus (doesn't his set up sound romantic, screen printing in a barn in Dorset) They are 4 colour screen prints on Fabriano Tiepolo 100% cotton stock 290gsm the edition is limited to just 60, so gets yours before they all get slurped up!

Tea Makes Everything better: Limited edition of 60

All new limited editions are available here and here

On the 11th Day of Christmas

2010-12-04T00:44:00.000-08:00

Only 2 more offers to go. This offer will be available for 24 hours from (10am -10am GMT)

On the 10th Day of Christmas

2010-12-03T00:46:00.000-08:00

I will be adding 5 new products to the shop today, so check back around lunch time to see what they are.........SORRY I will now be adding them on Monday. I was trying to rush so our overseas customers could order in time for Christmas, but due to the snow, the packaging for the new items hasn't arrived in time. We do try to be perfectionists when it comes to packaging, as we understand how disappointing it is if your item doesn't arrive it pristine condition, really sorry for the delay everyone :(

Check back everyday, to see what is on offer. The offers will vary in degrees of greatness! & will only be available for 24 hours from (10am -10am GMT) how exciting :)

On the 9th Day of Christmas

2010-12-02T01:31:00.000-08:00

Check back everyday, to see what is on offer. The offers will vary in degrees of greatness! & will only be available for 24 hours from (10am -10am GMT) how exciting :)

On the 8th Day of Christmas

2010-12-01T01:47:00.000-08:00

Check back everyday, to see what is on offer. The offers will vary in degrees of greatness! & will only be available for 24 hours from (10am -10am GMT) how exciting :)

On the 7th day of Christmas

2010-11-30T00:32:00.000-08:00

On the 6th day of Christmas

2010-11-29T01:40:00.001-08:00

By the way, yes it is a Family Tree poster some of you spotted further down the blog. It will be available shortly in the web shops, we just need to finalise the packaging, so they arrive at their new homes in pristine condition.

On the 5th day of Christmas

2010-11-28T01:38:00.001-08:00

A little while ago I mentioned I took part in a photo shoot for You magazine about woman and their little black dresses. Well today is the day that it came out eek! I think I look OK.....a little serious, but considering I am NOT & have never been photogenic and much prefer being behind the camera, I am relieved. It was an amazing experience, I met some lovely people, but I have to say I could not walk in those shoes, not one step!!!

On the 4th Day of Christmas

2010-11-27T01:25:00.000-08:00

Last night was such a wonderful evening, thank you to everyone that made the journey in the bitter weather, Lauren and Tim from Australia get the prize for the furthest! It was cosy & warm and delicious inside, the perfect start to Christmas.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas

2010-11-26T01:33:00.001-08:00

It's all gone a little crazy in the Bristol studio. We were lucky enough to have 'Bubbles Before Bed' featured in the Guardian Christmas Gift Guide, gorgeous presents under £10, Suzie is working her socks off, getting all the orders out.

On the 2nd day of Christmas....

2010-11-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

.....Belle & Boo gave to me.

12 Days of christmas

2010-11-22T13:46:00.001-08:00

It's a very exciting day (well in my little world anyway!) we have a new winter animation on our website homepage. How cute do Belle & Boo look, I love it when she kicks the snow. Now you may notice on the tree there are really not that many days left for our overseas customers to place their Christmas orders, not even 2 weeks. To celebrate the new look website (and because we are all a little over excited) we are running a fun festive offer called the '12 days of Christmas'
You need to sing this next bit "On the 1st day of Christmas Belle and Boo gave to me........" well that bit will change daily, check back everyday from today, to see what is on offer. The offers will vary in degrees of greatness! & will only be available for 24 hours from (10am -10am GMT) how exciting :)

Todays Offer is 25% of all Dinosaur and Donut wall stickers.
The prices have been changed already and are available here and here.

"ggRRRRRrrrrrrrr Yum !"