belle and boo

Melbourne here I come

2009-11-27T17:46:00.001-08:00

So my tickets are booked, I am hugely excited, russ and I fly to Melbourne this Friday. We arrive just before lunch so I think an afternoon of visiting all the amazing shops I read about on blogs is in order. Then I am joining Allison from Lark at the Sister's Market on Saturday 10am-4pm, please come by and say 'hi', I have a bunch of Christmas postcards to give away. Then I think on Sunday we are heading off to The Great Ocean Road and a few days later ending up at Daylesford to stay in such a pretty cottage (photos to follow) If anyone reading this has any tips, favourite places, must do's, must see's please drop me a line. I visited Melbourne a few years ago and feel I only just touched the surface of what the city has to offer.
Also I thought I would show you a sneaky peek of one of the projects I have been working on lately, it is a backdrop for a children's play area. if it goes ahead my illustrations will be life size & everywhere (gulp!) This first image for example will be applied to a pillar.

There will be 19 children featured all together, these are 2 of my favouites

This Weekend.....

2009-11-22T17:46:00.001-08:00

..... Russ & I house & dog sat this little fella, Rupert. Our friends have just painted their house yellow, I thinks its so pretty, as are the agapanthus (one of my favourite flowers) that seem to grow wild everywhere in Sydney.

Their house is in Surry Hills; its full of yummy places to eat & cute boutique shops, I was thrilled to discover this paper shop and even more thrilled to see they stocked Belle & Boo (excuse the blurry photos I think my cameras was covered in suntan lotion!)

On the Saturday I had such fun at Magnolia Square 'hello' to everyone I met, you all made me feel so welcome. Carla's stall looked beautiful and our prints complimented her range of bedding perfectly.

It is such a lovely event, the location is stunning, there are even pony rides for the children & a very high standard of stalls throughout.

A special thank you to Lisa from The Red Thread for her inspiring words and of course to Carla for inviting me along.

I am very excited to announce I will now be attending the Sister's Market SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER from 10am-2pm at Brunswick Town Hall, with Allison from Lark. If you can make it please come along and say 'hi' I have a HUGE bunch of free postcards that will be exclusive to the market.

Magnolia Square

2009-11-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

I must admit I hadn't heard of Magnolia Square until I arrived in Australia, but now I have, I am SO excited to be visiting the Sydney event twice. It starts this Thursday at 2pm at the Oaks Lawn Marquee at Randwick Racecourse

& is on for 3 days. I am meeting a friend there for some serious Christmas shopping on Thursday & then I will be there again this Saturday to sign prints and generally just say "hello". You will find me at Habitat Baby with the lovely Carla, from 11am.

If you are attending (& I think you should !) please come by and say 'hi' I will have a large stack of free postcards with me & I love making new Belle & Boo friends.

Oohhh & I just thought I would share this pic I took on the way to the pool, as it contains 2 of my favorite things, blue skies and 'where the wild things are' I am counting down the days :)

Also thank you to Tania for sending me this gorgeous picture & message

"My 6 year old daughter takes ballet lessons and will be performing in a recital in May. Apparently the music comes from "The 4 seasons". The ballet teacher asked the children to draw up a picture inspired by one of the 4 seasons. Caitlin was complaining that she didn't know what to draw, so I told her I knew a lady who did these wonderful drawings and that I would show her on the computer. So, when I showed her your "My favourite spot" drawings she fell in love with "winter". She used your picture as an example and I thought she did pretty well for a 6 year old, so I scanned it and attached it for you. Sending you a little snow for your christmas down under"

New Christmasey products

2009-11-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last 2 days uploading our Christmas goodies here and here. It's felt a little strange when nipping outside for a computer break requires sunglasses and factor 30+ but I couldn't leave it any longer. There are approximately only 4 weeks left for guaranteed International Christmas post !
Where ever you are in the world I hope the following images make you feel festive.

3 New 10" by 10" Fine Art Prints

12 New Beautifully printed Christmas Cards

The Other Side of the World

2009-11-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

So here I am sat at my new temporary desk, on my new lap top, in a whole new country. We have been in Sydney for 5 days & today is the first day I feel vaguely normal. I think Russ & I masked any jet lag we had in Singapore with all our socialising & the time difference only really hit us when we arrived in Australia.
It was so good being back in Singapore, the smell, the heat, the ease, the friendliness and of course the food. I had forgotten just how good the food is and how cheap. We treated ourselves to a plush hotel, we were on the 31st floor and felt very high up indeed until we popped over to the NAB for a cocktail on the 71st floor !

We had a wonderful time at our friends wedding,

The invite said wedding attire; Colonial chic followed by beach ware for the reception at Sentosa beach (& bring your bathers) Even knowing this I had to do a double take when I realised my friend was doing her first dance in a frilly white bikini & looking just beautiful.
Thank you to Gemma for letting me share her gorgeous photos with you.

Russ & I met up with old friends and new, this is the lovely Mylene and Jonathon, who I hand delivered a Belle & Boo order to.

and who inspired me to hunt out this cute polaroid effect download, that looks like this on your screen.

Our first few days in Sydney have been equally fun, thank you so much for all the wonderful welcome messages, but more about here in my next post, because as I 'may' have mentioned I am here for another 11 weeks, yyippeeeee !

Just before I sign off my friend has relaunched her pretty online shop & if you mention my blog when you place an order (in the comments section in Paypal) she will refund you 20%

& last but most importantly a BIG Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary to my lovely mum & dad.

Sydney Here We Come

2009-10-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh I am SO excited, the taxi is arriving in half an hour to take us to the airport, first stop Singapore for a friends wedding & then onto Sydney for a 3 month house exchange.
What about Belle & Boo I hear you ask?
Well I am leaving it in the very safe & capable hands of Kate & the girls in Bristol.
Whilst they are dealing with the day to day running of the business, I am taking a bit of time out for me & I am going to be working on the first Belle & Boo book.
Did I mention I am VERY excited !

PS Also very excited to have had our Lovely Day bag chosen to feature in this years Red Direct Christmas Catalogue.

See you on the other side of the world x

Trick or Treat

2009-10-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

I can't quite believe it's October, where did this year go. I have always loved October, the colours, the weather, the holidays, Halloween & Bonfire Night (Ok that's in November, but only just!) This year I love it even more as October this year is the month Russ & I leave for our 3 month jaunt to Australia, in just over 3 weeks time we fly to Singapore for a wedding and then on too Sydney where we are house swapping until the end of January. I am SO excited BUT there is plenty to do before then. I have just finished this new Belle & Boo illustration.

Trick Or Treat

It is available both here & here as a mounted or framed print, it is also available as a postcard & look 2 extra little characters snuck on the end !

Also the doll project I have been involved in for the past year ended this month

& here is my Belle,

isn't she divine, I squealed when I unwrapped her, her glasses, stripy scarf, leather gloves and exquisite cloak, what fun.

Lots, lots, lots more exciting things happening, but that's all for now, have a lovely weekend everyone x

Lark

2009-10-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny how sometimes you think, talk, wish something & then out of no where it just happens. About a month ago Kate & I were saying how lovely it would be to have a section of a shop dedicated to our products & yesterday these photos arrived from the lovely Allison of Lark. She has just opened a shop in her home town of Daylesford, Victoria, Australia & it looks GORGEOUS, just the place I would love to shop & hopefully soon I will be able to, but more about that later.
Here is some info about the shop

It is open 10.30 to 4.00 each day

the address is

Lark
4a Duke Street
Daylesford

(if you can't find it, it is tucked away in the lane behind the MS op shop, look for the big Lark sign on an old warehouse building!).

The shop has cute homewares, yummy stationery, cool kid's stuff and all the fresh goodness you would expect from Lark - and some of our lovely friends including Victoria Mason, Betty Jo, Beci Orpin, Arthur's Circus, Genki, Able & Game, Twiglet, Little Shop of... and Rice! It's also a great place to discover local makers, we have some great crafters here in spa country! Oh and zines and mags including Thaw, Peppermint, Mixtapezine, MadeIt. Japanese things too. Lots of ace stuff, really, and very friendly service.

& here is what it looks like

The magazine style picture rack is such a clever idea, I will have to show it to some stores here in London as inspiration for displaying all the lovely art you can buy these days.
I really hope some of you reading this will be able to stop by and see it for real and say "Hi" to Allison from me.

Whilst blog hopping the other day I spotted this sweet illustration by Catherine from Bumpkin Bears, I asked her if I could show it on my blog and she has kindly offered 10% off to any one that buys it during the next 2 weeks from her Etsy shop (offer ends 15th Oct 09) just put a message in the 'note to seller' section about seeing it on Belle & Boo's blog & she will send you a revised invoice.

I also came across this extraordinary cushion / dolls house/ bed on a blog and I feel dreadful as I can't remember where, but I had to show it, it makes me smile. aaarhhhhh........ it was made by Rubyellen from the delightful blog cakies, thanks everyone.

Book Plates

2009-09-19T02:19:00.000-07:00

We have wanted to sell book plates for ages now but couldn't find a supplier here in the UK (that was affordable) So thanks to the VERY lovely Sarah Jane, who gave me her contact, let me use her address for delivery (as they wouldn't ship abroad) & then organised posting 2 very heavy boxes, we can now offer book plates yipeeeee ! They are gorgeous quality prints & very easy to use with self adhesive backs, I couldn't be happier. They are now available to buy here and here.

Other news Sarah Fox has written about yours truly on her blog, you can read it here.

Belinda has had this incredibly Belle & a puppy tattoo done, she sent me a very sweet email explaining the reason behind it.

"I work with children in a kindergarten, and I think thats one reason I knew that I would never "outgrow" this tattoo, because I love my job and the kids so much. I think that's why I like your drawings as well. They really capture the innocence and beauty of Early Childhood - it is such a precious time. Plus, I liked that you named her Belle, and since my name is Belinda I quite often get called Bel.

I hope you don't mind that I changed the rabbit to a puppy - it was not because I didn't like your little Boo! It was because I wanted it all to mean something, and since we are not allowed to have rabbits here in QLD, Australia (they are illegal) I went for the puppy"

I can't imagin rabbits being illegal anyway in the world, no more Boo's, boo hoo!

& Amanda sent me photos of these 4 canvases she embroidered from my images 'My Favourite Spot' She is one clever lady. The detail is incredible.

TOP DRAWER 09

2009-09-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

I remember thinking "phew, Thank goodness it's a whole year till I have to do that again" after finishing Top Drawer 08..... I blinked & what do you know, it's a year later & Top Drawer 09 !
It's been a mental few weeks of designing, planning, ordering, printing, cutting, gluing, lots of late nights and early mornings, lots of nervous energy & bitten finger nails (no blogging what so ever, so Thank you, thank you for all your lovely, yummy soap comments) but it was worth it, 110%, we had such a fabulous show.

Inspiration, the scale model & design layout

Display boxes

Prop House

Packed van

Unpacking at Olympia (Kate & I felt like Thelma & Louise driving into the exhibition centre, we wanted to drive round at high speed, doing handbrake turns!)

Patrick, Kate's VERY patient partner putting up our Belle & Boo logo (we were there till 9.30 the evening before the show started)

The result

What a fun few days, Kate, Tracy & I met so many lovely people & the feedback was amazing. We showed lots of samples of new products, cushions,

Little madam angels (Ok not exactly new, but missing for a while !)

a toiletries range, shampoo, bubble bath and hand wash for children.

& book plates (which will be available in the shop in next few days)

We are hoping to have the fabric products ready for early Nov, the bubble bath early next year, so watch this space.

This year when the show finished I felt slightly sad, especially leaving this little fella behind :(

'hello' to all our new friends & thanks for reading.

Yummy Soaps

2009-09-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

A delivery man arrived last week with a very heavy parcel. A sweet smelling & well traveled box, filled with Belle & Boo soaps all the way from Australia by sea. I think my favourite is 'Found' whats yours?

Found

Giddy Up

Belle Hugs Boo

Boo

I Like Your Bow

The soaps are gentle enough for young children or adults with sensitive skin. They are made from all organic ingredients: coconut, olive, palm and sunflower oils, and delicately scented with organic oils of lavender and mandarin. The soaps are wrapped in cellophane with a pretty label, making them a perfect gift or a treat for your bathroom. They are really yummy and are now available here and here

Bristol

2009-08-23T02:14:00.000-07:00

Russ and I spent last week at the Bristol studio, whilst Tracy & Helena took their kids camping. It was a VERY busy week, posting & packaging, but loads of fun. Russ & I have talked about possibly moving there after Christmas, it could be perfect, half way between London and Devon, we'll see.
I had a temporary packing table outside whilst Russ made the girls this fab new work station, luckily the sun shone all week !

Best Press Yet

2009-08-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

You will know by now I have an on going love affair with Junior magazine so you can imagin the size of my smile when I opened this months edition.

'La Belle Vie' is a 2 page spread about Kate, motherhood & Belle & Boo. The photo shoot was lots of fun, Robyn was a perfect model, whilst Kate & I got all embarrassed & giggly! We have had amazing sales ever since, so Thank you, Thank you to Catherine and the team.

My sister phoned from a music festival to say she was lying in the sun flicking through Red Direct & had spotted our Joy Aqua postcard on this beautiful notice board I might have to buy one.

Russ & I made the most of the sun in Devon this weekend, Kayaking, cycling, surfing and the best bit.... fresh fish & chips on the beach with a bottle of bubbly, it doesn't get much better than that.

Geneva

2009-08-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

A week ago today Russ and I were sharing a HUGE family breakfast in Geneva, followed by a gorgeously lazy afternoon at Ban des Paquis swimming, sunbathing and sipping Rose wine with my cousin & her family. Oh how the other half live, it all seems so much more glamorous than my live in London !

My parents house sit every year for a friend of my aunties & every year they invite us & tell us how much we'd lluurrvvveeeee the house. They weren't wrong, it is stunning everywhere you look is picture perfect.

I don't know about you, but I have this weird little game I play when I visit a new home "where would I have my studio?" It wasn't a hard choice in this house (it is currently used for ironing, I think even I might enjoy ironing in there!)

Lets Hug Dress

2009-07-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

At Last all new products are in their rightful website homes, we have had lots of lovely sales and feedback already, which makes the square eyes totally worth it.

This is the new 'Lets Hug' pinafore dress designed by Esa from Tea Pony, it is so cute & sshhhhh btw you & me if you pop over to Esa's blog she is giving away one, to one lucky winner in the size of your choice. You can also buy it here & here.

Lots of fantastic press courtesy of Junior magazine I know I have raved on about this mag in the past, but just in case you didn't know I LOVE THIS MAGAZINE !

Getting There

2009-07-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's slowly all coming together. I spent the day looking after the gorgeous baby Robyn, whilst Kate worked on the business plan (doesn't that sound grand!) we lunched in front of Tower Bridge, ham sandwich for me, milk for Robyn! but anyway I am getting side tracked what I really popped on here to say before I go and eat the delicious dinner Russ has made for me is......
... I have just uploaded the new invites, notebooks & blank cards on to Etsy all made from recycled card & paper & all very sweet.
Invites are flat cards, printed on both sides, there are 8 in a pack, with white recycled envelopes.

Ava's Tea Party

& for the boys Pirate Party

There are 4 different Note Books, I am not sure which my favourite is just yet

oohh I don't really have time to list all the new cards (Russ is hovering!) but quickly I will just upload my favourite

& one last thing a BIG thanks for all the feedback left on my last post, it really helps to know what you are thinking.

sOOOOoooo many NEW products

2009-07-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have spent the entire weekend, photographing, resizing, colour adjusting NEW products. WWhhoooooo HHoooooo I would like to say, it's all done, but oh no, no, no, no, I am actually going a little crazy ! I am only about half way through, but I thought I would give you a sneaky peek, before they are available in the shops.

Large Prints
We are constantly asked for larger prints, so have decided to start with these 2,
Ava's Tea Party : To fit a 16" by 20" frame

Pirate Party : To fit a 40cm by 40cm frame.

Note Books
Which if I do say so myself are so yummy and well made, they are produced by 1973 & are printed with vegetable inks on board made from 100% recycled pulp.
There are 4 styles all together, here is a peek at 2

Check back soon, to see a new dress, part invitations and 8 new blank greeting cards.
Actually whilst I think about it I wanted to ask your opinion about other possible new products. We might have an opportunity to produce a range of bath time products for young children 3-7 year olds. It is a delicious, natural, nostalgic range of products, but it would involve a sizable investment, I guess Kate & I are just weighing up the pros and cons & any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

OK my eyes are square, gotta go and stare at the sky for a while x

Granada

2009-07-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

'Ola' Russ & I just got back from our first home exchange. We swapped our flat in London for a house in the Albaicin district of Granada, Spain.

The house is situated on a square that the guide books boast has the best view of the Alhambra & they are not kidding.

It was a flying visit just 3 days, but long enough to be boosted by that Spanish passion for life, the food, music & the Alhambra, what can I say? We visited 2 days on the run and I woke up on the last morning wishing I could go back again. 'Gracias' Christine & Stik for trusting us with your beautiful home.

2009-06-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

Firstly, sorry I am a day later announcing the winner of the Fern Bunny give away, it was comment number 27, Mrs Deane ( & in my rush I forgot to screen grab the number from the random number generator to share with you, so this time I will have to ask you to trust me ) There will be more giveaways soon, so watch this space.
Here are the 4 drawings I did for the Draw 4 exhibition at Art Star it was so lovely working on these, no computers involved, just good old fashioned pen & ink, my hand actually ached after working on them !

The series is called 'Dress Up' & I intend on doing lots more. If you are interested in buying them you can look online here

We've Moved

2009-06-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

It's official Belle & Boo have now moved. Our new home is in Bristol & it's fabulous, the girls (Tracy & Helena) did such a good job finding the space. I am super jealous I won't be able to work from there all of the time. My studio space in London is looking very bare, when I have some time I need to lavish it with some serious love and attention.
It's such an exciting & slightly scary time. I have always loved packaging up orders, but lately it has taken up ALL my time & I haven't been able to create. Even though I can't wait to start drawing again, I know I am going to miss all the boxes and bubble wrap...but one thing I know I WON'T miss is queuing at the post office ! Tracy & Helena both have young children at primary school, so working for Belle & Boo a few days a week is such a great set up for them, it seems my dream of having a cottage industry run by friends, that accommodates family and lifestyle is slowly but surely coming true. Kate & I will both mainly still work from our homes in London, but will be visiting Bristol ALOT especially when there is coffee & croissants involved !

This is the entrance, it doesn't look much now, but with a lick of paint & some plants we can imagin, Belle & Boo private views, out here.

This is the space, very much a work in progress at the moment, we need LOTS of storage units & of course some pretty pictures on the wall.

Desks & stock.......

Tracy's daughter Rose, very kindly let me stay in her bedroom for a couple of nights, whilst we organised the studio.

I have always had a thing about dolls houses & when I looked in the window of Rose's I wasn't disappointed there were two fairies reading and drinking tea !

Ehibition

2009-06-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

I completely forgot to mention in my post yesterday that I have 4 original pen and ink drawings in an exhibition at Art Star in Philidelphia. The opening is tonite, I am SUPER jealous of anyone that can go. I will pop some photos of the work on next time I post, OK back to the packing !

The BIG Move

2009-06-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

My goodness, it is mayhem here at the moment, as i get ready for the BIG move.
About 6 months ago it became clear that my lovely studio ( which is palatal compared to my humble beginnings of a small desk in the lounge ) was sadly getting too small for the growing business. Kate & I started looking at premises in London (which are SSOOOOO expensive & tiny) then Tracy suggested she took over the posting and packaging side of Belle & Boo where she lives in Bristol. Freeing me up to create, something I have been struggling to do amidst the day to day running of an online business. So on Monday, Russ & I will pack everything up and drive the 2 hours to Bristol where Tracy has rented an ex-photographers studio for a quarter of the price.
My hall way looks like this.....

and I am still having to negotiate my way to the post office with orders like this......

I admit I am SO darned excited by the prospect of just drawing again.

In between the packaging I have been doing some lovely things
The Kuniyoshi exhibition at The Royal Academy followed by afternoon tea at Fortnum and Masons,

A VERY fancy weekend at Hoarcross Hall with my mum and sister, where we pampered ourselves rotten & I had a golf lesson, which was hilarious & exhausting !

& Russ and treated ourselves after 10 years to a new bed, it is SOooooo pretty, I feel like a princess when I go to sleep.

Belle & Boo were featured in our first news paper last weekend the Daily Mail and we have had some fantastic sales since

& big THANK YOU for all your lovely comments about Ava's Tea party, it was such a pleasure to work with Sheye again.

Lastly we are going to be discontinuing some of our prints, so watch this blog for some lovely give aways over the next few months. Today's give away is a Fern bunny mounted print to fit in a 10" by 10" frame. Just leave a comment and I will randomly select a winner, a week today (Fri 19th June)

Right, back to the bubble wrapping !!!

Ava's Tea Party

2009-05-25T05:09:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I received an email from a mother who told me how one of my illustrations 'Ava'

reminded her so much of her daughter Ava who had sadly passed away.

We started emailing, on an emotional & creative level & a little while later I launched a series of illustrations called 'Super Princess'. At the time we raised $880 for the hospital that cared for Ava & the illustrations are now in the rooms of little (& big) girls all around the world.
We talked at the time of a 6th illustration, a tea party that Ava was to have with her best friend Aria & their brothers & sisters. It's been a long time in the making (thank you for your trust & patience Sheye) At last it's finally here.

"To have turned my sadness and my missing and my regret into such beauty, to have shown me what this day might have looked like. I can hear the chatter, I can smell the forest. I have sat and stared and breathed in this moment. It leaves me without words" - Sheye

To read more about the story behind the illustration & to buy an A4 print, a percentage of which is going to Paradise kids who strive to help children & families through loss, please visit Sheye's stunning blog
In the not too distant future Belle & Boo will be selling party invitations featuring the illustration, something Sheye thinks Ava would greatly approve of & possibly larger A3 prints, When we do I will of course let you know.

I'm still here...

2009-05-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

....working away & listening to this....

My Paper....

2009-05-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

It's Friday evening, it's beautiful weather & it's a bank holiday weekend but before I down tools for a few days, I thought I would share with you 2 new BOY illustrations. Yes that's 'BOY' illustrations ! I think they are very cute, I hope you do too. Available here & here now.

Oooh & a friend called to say she had seen Belle & Boo cards in our local bookshop, so I popped in & there they were !
Have a lovely weekend everyone.