Happy Easter!

Hello, just a quick post to wish you all..

A Very Happy Easter!

Best wishes

Angie x

Country Living Fair 2013

At the Country Living Fair in Islington with - Left: Artist, Marna Lunt, Middle: Photographer and Stylist, Lyndsey James, Right: Yours Truly, Angie Spurgeon

Hello!

What a fantastic weekend I've just had. I feel all refreshed and full of ideas having spent a few short but very precious hours in very good company at the Country Living Fair in London. 

On Saturday I did something I've not done in many years.  I caught the coach to London for the day and went to the Business Design Centre in Islington where I met up with for the very first time, two very lovely and talented ladies who I've chatted to through emails before and have had the pleasure of working with...

 Please allow me to introduce you to Marna Lunt and Lyndsey James....  

Beautifully Embroidered Hoops by Marna Lunt available from www.littleadesigns.co.uk

My friend Marna is the immense talent behind Little A Designs and Little P Frames.  We found each other very early on in our social media travels and we have worked together lots in the past couple of years.  She initially commissioned me to create the logo for Little A Designs and I have since created lots of graphics for her which has evolved into a more collaborative way of working as we tend to spark ideas off each other. Saturday was no exception to this buzz of creative thinking we whip up together.  On my journey home I was manically scribbling ideas for new designs and ways of developing my little business all thanks to spending a few short hours with Marna looking at lovely things....

'Life is Sweet' Gift Wrap Photographed by Lyndsey James

We also met up premier product photographer and stylist Lyndsey James for some cake and a good old chinwag!  The three of us would have happily sat chatting for hours and not seen any of the Fair as it was very easy to lose track of time with such an opportunity to meet up with like-minded creative souls....but I'm happy to report we did manage to get around the fair and had an excellent and very inspiring day.

Lyndsey is the face behind the lens of many artists and crafters product images including my very own Life is Sweet greetings cards and gift wrap range.  Here are some of the photos she took for me that were used in the Somerset Life Magazine interview I did at the end of last year.  For me it was an investment extremely well made.  I've been hearing fantastic feedback about her current 'photograph your craft' workshops from those who have been lucky enough to attend one.  It looks like the next workshops are heading north to Scotland for the summer, so here's the link for more info about those: http://www.lyndsey-james.co.uk/workshops/

'Life is Sweet' Gift Wrap Photographed by Lyndsey James


This was my first Country Living Fair and I thoroughly enjoyed it - I could have easily spent a fortune there but was extremely well restrained.  I did manage to stock up on some pretties for my desk to remind me of our little day out - something lovely to store my growing collection of drawing pens in and even more washi tapes as you can never have too many! I also bagged some very tasty cheese and chutneys from The Truckle Cheese Co and have my eye on some new dresses for my girls over at Bread and Jam.

The other exciting thing that happened last Friday was a very large box arrived containing the stock of greetings cards I'd ordered for my website of all the new Living the Dream and Love and Best Wishes ranges I'd designed for Spring Fair International last month.  So that's 32 new card designs and a new gift wrap design to get photographed and listed soon.  Busy times ahead for me then!

So I'll leave you with a little snap shot of some of those cards as a taste of things to come from me 
and simply say...

Have a great rest of the week!

Best wishes

Angie :)

London Calling!...

Hello!

Tomorrow I head off to London for the first time in a few years and I am getting very excited about it!

I lived and worked there for almost 10 years, but that was before children and even though I charged around that city fearlessly in my heels, I don't mind telling you I feel a little nervous about my trip tomorrow as it's been too long between visits.  

Like most parents, since having my children my view of the world changed immediately - suddenly I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility, protectiveness and am ultimately a bit more fearful of anything that could threaten our safe and comfortable little world.   And that is just it!...that is what is making me feel nervous, I have to step out of my safe little world tomorrow to a world I know is fast, frantic and requires all my wits to get around it. Funny how things change!

Having said that, tomorrow I am sure I will have the best time as it will all feel very familiar once I set foot in London again.  The most exciting part about tomorrow is I'm planning to finally meet my friend Marna from Little A Designs at the Country Living Fair :) ...

So much too see, so much to say! and so little time to cram it all in, but I can't wait!

What I will do is take my camera and a notebook so I can give a little bit of a write up on here when I get back from the Fair.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope you have a great one!

Best wishes

Angie x

Easter is Served Sunny Side Up!...

Hello!

The weekend is almost here again so let's get bright and cheery with the thought that Easter is only a couple of weeks away.  

For me the Easter holidays mean family time, 2 birthdays (my eldest daughter's and mine) and a wedding anniversary in our house.  It also means jugs filled with daffodils in most of the rooms at home and plenty of chocolate in the cupboards! ;)

To celebrate what has to be one of my favourite times of year I've put together a little offer.

I am offering a pack of 4 Happy Easter cards for £6 including P&P.  The cards are also available individually but work out at £2.50 inc. P&P (so the 4 pack will make a saving of £4 on the total).  

You can now find this offer listed on my website here: http://www.artworkbyangie.com/4-pack-of-easter-cards.html#cid=90144

These cards are also listed in both my Folksy and Etsy shops too...

   I noticed that my Folksy shop is currently just one sale away from 200 sales!! 

Woo Hoo!- THANK YOU to all who have ordered from my Folksy shop.

Whoever places that 200th order on my Folksy shop will find a couple of extra goodies added to their parcel for free :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best wishes

Angie x

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 1 : The Beginning of Spring

March has arrived which to me means spring is here at last!

With all the doom and gloom in the news about the economy and the general state of the world, I thought it would be nice to start a little series here on my blog to rebel against this tide of negativity by celebrating some good reasons to be cheerful such as the beginning of Spring.

There has to be a time and place for bright and happy thoughts - so why not create a bit of space for it here. 

From time to time I will try to post a picture or two of something I think is a reason to be cheerful.  This idea of mine has clearly been inspired by one of my favourite songs by Ian Dury and The Blockheads (click link to see the video).

So here goes, my first reason to be cheerful is:  The Beginning of Spring... 

Look at those lovely daffodils from last year.  Every year without fail their golden trumpets greet me each morning from my kitchen window.  Yesterday a huge smile spread across my face when I turned my over the page on my 2013 Katie Daisy  calendar - just look at those pretty, vibrant painted blooms below shouting 'Spring Has Arrived!' at me... they can't fail to brighten the day no matter how grey the sky is.

Happy weekend, I hope you have a cheerful week!

Angie :)