New Work, New Cards, New Stockists....

Hello!

This week looks set to be a lovely week of sunshine here in Somerset.  Such a bright outlook seems very fitting as I have lots of different types of work on the go at the moment which is making me feel very productive and energized.  I really love spring and summer, those are definitely 'my' seasons.  For me it is also always the best time to develop new designs as the colours in my garden spill over into the colours in my work .

Talking of new work, I have lots of new things to share with you today.

Firstly, I've just sent off the last artwork for a new mini range of greetings cards called 'Happily Ever After' which will hopefully be available for both wholesale and retail soon.

The illustrations here are the last two designs I did from that range (facebook and instagram followers will have seen little peeps of these in development)....

If you'd like a first look at this range all together - I've uploaded the designs in my online portfolio here: http://www.artworkbyangie.com/happily-ever-after-collection.html

As usual, trade customers will be able to order these through my publisher, Art Eco Designs as soon as they are ready (which should be within the next few weeks)...

A couple of weeks ago I received a large stock of my new occasions cards - mainly milestone age cards.  These are gradually finding their way as listings on my website, Folksy and Etsy shops.  So in between designing cards, I've been listing lots of them to my sites.  It's all because I am on a mission to try and offer a design for most occasions and have plans to add more designs to this occasions range later in the year...

Meanwhile, I am about to start on another new range of cards - which I am very excited about and look forward to sharing progress on it very soon.

Finally, before I get back to my drawing, I want to share a couple of new stockists I am delighted to introduce to you.

Hatty Boots are a lovely online card boutique based near me in Somerset. They have a very extensive range of high quality greeting cards all sourced from UK designers and publishers.

www.hattyboots.com/

The second stockist to share with you today is one a very good friend of mine stumbled upon recently.  Leckford Estate Farm Shop is a wonderful, Waitrose owned shop on the Leckford Estate  & Longstock  Park Nursery in Stockbridge, Hampshire.  They stock all manner of gorgeous local and regional produce in their shop and it was my 'Bloomin' Lovely' range of cards that were spotted in there.  Needless to say, this morning I've had a very long look on their website and really fancy a day out there soon - it's looks fantastic!:

http://www.longstockpark.co.uk/

http://www.longstocknursery.co.uk/leckford-fruit-and-produce-sales-c76.html

Have a lovely day!

Best wishes

Introducing Fabrics...

Hello,

Something I've wanted to do for ever such a long time now is to try out sites like Spoonflower, to transfer some of my gift wrap patterns onto fabric and dip my toes in the world of designing for fabrics....

I am so happy to say that that day has come.  A couple of weeks ago I got brave and jumped in at the deep end by uploading some designs and placing my first order for print proofs...

Here are those proofs and I am overjoyed with them.  I was concerned the colours wouldn't translate onto fabric.  I needn't have worried, they've exceeded my expectations and have a new vibrancy printed onto 100% cotton (as these samples are)....

Just looking through these first designs I can immediately see learnings and things I'd like to approach differently in future designs, the things that worked better than I could hope and areas for improvement...

Most of all, it feels very satisfying to see them all laid out on my desk.  It feels like a new beginning - just like starting this blog did when I started this creative journey nearly five years ago...

I'm really looking forward to adding to my fabric collections and factoring fabric in to new products for my Folksy and Etsy offerings too (oh, believe me, I am all ideas now!).  Most of all, I'm looking forward to using these print on demand fabric sites to make a few new additions to our home and help feather the nest!...

To shop for my fabric collections, I've chosen two sites to work with.

The first and most widely known is Spoonflower - it's a US site which ships internationally... 

Knowing that many of my regular customers and followers are based in the UK, I have also added my collection to a British site offering a similar service to Spoonflower called Print Me Pretty - where items are printed to demand in Britain  ...

  As with all the print on demand sites I work with (such as these two and Society 6, Bespo and Swag My Case) -  you can now find links to these sites throughout my website and notice that I try to ensure those links are clearly labelled with icons of the main currency and country of origin so that you can make informed choices when making purchases.

http://www.artworkbyangie.com/fabric.html

I look forward to sharing more from these sites soon as I gradually add new work as carry on developing my new designs.

Have a lovely day

Best wishes

What I've been up to so far this year - a peep at work in progress...

Hello,

The weeks seem to be flying by again and I've been struggling to slot in a regular blog update on what I've been up to.  Since the end of last year, I have been steadily working my way through a long list to fill the gaps in my occasions card range.  It's something I've been wanting to do for a while to have a more complete greetings portfolio. It's certainly something the publishing company I license my work to have been keen for me to do too.  So, with that kind of encouragement it was time to get to work, and that is what's filling my time at the moment, aside from my children, usual commission work and managing my online shops...

The additions to the range aren't quite ready to reveal altogether yet, but I'm letting you have a cheeky peep at these work in progress crops because I've shared many of these snippets on facebook and instagram as I've been working on them.... 

There has been lots of progress and I can see the collection gradually coming together nicely now.  Most importantly, I'm having great fun working on them because some of the occasions I'm designing for are taking me out of my comfort zone in terms of stretching my style, use of colours and understanding the target market...

 In particular, creating age cards for men has made me think hard and dig deep.  I always struggle to find decent occasion cards for the men in my life, so wanted to create designs that I'd want to give myself.  In the end, I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed creating these and how I was still able to make them colourful and lively without relying on my usual explosion of flowers and prettiness ...

I particularly enjoyed the rock music themed father's day card - it involved a morning listening to some great music and maybe just a little bit of air guitar with the pen of my graphics tablet! ;)...  

The other thing I've been up to is setting up a collection of phone cases with Swag My Case..

For the past 18 months I've been selling my designs on phone cases via my Society 6 shop.  Which is great, BUT as they are based in California and most of my customers are based in Britain, it's never been ideal.  

So, I am very happy to announce that I've teamed up with the London based phone case company: SwagMyCase.com They produce my designs to order onto cases for a wide variety of phone models, to very high standards in Britain. Here's a link to my collection on their site:http://swagmycase.com/collections/angela-spurgeon

As I type this, I'm a just a couple of weeks away from completing my occasions card list and then I start on some more new ranges which I'm looking forward to working on.  I've been feeling very productive lately with ideas and new designs and am embracing that feeling to make the most of it whilst I'm blessed with it, because as all creative people know, that feeling should never be taken for granted - it can go as soon as it comes.  Here's keeping everything crossed that it sticks around for a while so that I can continue enjoying creating new work.

Have a lovely weekend!

Best wishes

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Hello,

It's official! 

I have seen the John Lewis Christmas ad (ahhh, penguins!)...the pumpkins are in the composter and fireworks are now just a memory...

  

May the Christmas shopping commence!

I've been quiet here on the blog because listing products online takes longer each year as my product range and number of online shops continue to grow...

It's done now and I'm proud to be able to offer such a colourful choice of cards, wrap and prints to help make Christmas a very Merry and Bright one this year...

My newsletter subscribers will have already seen from the email that went out this week, that there are a few offers currently running to help ease the cost....

First up, my newsletter subscribers will be sent a discount code for 20% off at my website and Etsy shops which is running right up until 19th December.  To subscribe to my emails, please fill in the form here...

Over on my Bespo shop there is 25% off everything throughout November using the code above...

And, this weekend over on my Society 6 shop there is free worldwide shipping until 9th November.

Have a lovely weekend!

Best wishes

Stocking up and preparing my online shops...

Hello,

The days are flying by and so is this year and the past couple of weeks has had me knuckling down and getting my 2015 calendar and wallplanner designs finished.  It's also been a time where in between commissioned work I've been adding and updating all my online shops in preparation for the run up to Christmas...

My Society 6 shop in particular needed a bit of updating and my newly set up Bespo shop was looking bare so that needed to be addressed to...

This year I wanted to be able to offer a broader range of items with my designs on, but without a limitless budget for stock - or a vast amount of storage space to hold the stock, I decided the best way to go was to add my designs to sites such as Society 6 and Bespo, where the items are made to order and I earn a commission for sales of my design.  That suits me fine, I'm happy with that arrangement, it also means that I can offer my designs on a wide variety of items shipped worldwide from both here in the UK (thanks to Bespo) and also from the US (thanks to Society 6)...

So now you'll find more of my designs on all sorts of items from placemats and coasters to cushions, mugs, tote bags and phone covers...

It's not ideal having my designs scattered here and there all over the internet, so to make things simple and easy to find, I've created a brand new section on my website called 'gift ideas'.  There will always be a link button on the home page to this section.  This section has links to all the places you can find gift items (like cushions, mugs etc) and is clearly labelled so you know whether you are linking through to a UK or US based site, or just another page within my own website.

I really want to make it as easy as possible for my customers to find what they are looking for, so I highly value any feedback about how my website is set up and how you find the experience of using the site....

I've still lots to do - my Etsy shop needs some attention next, but I am gradually getting there.

I hope you are all having a productive week too.

Best wishes

Angie :)

A New Cornish Stockist & A Feature on Print & Pattern...

Rush Hour in Polperro!

Hello!

School's out for summer here today and we've been looking at places to go and visit in the holidays.  Cornwall is high on the list - especially since my lovely new stockist, Seahorse in Polperro sent me these pics of their shiny new shop.  I love the image above which I have named 'Rush Hour in Polperro!'...I especially love the outfits the gents are wearing!...

Seahorse is stocking lots of my gift wraps and cards at the moment.  They also stock lots of other lovely gifts and crafts.  Best of all, at the back of the shop is a great gallery space and I know from good authority that the owners of Seahorse are always keen to hear from artists and crafters who would like to be considered to exhibit their work in the gallery section of the shop...just saying ;)...

Seeing those lovely photos of the little gallery shop by the sea has made me even more excited at the prospect of having some fun family camping trips and days out over the next few weeks - these are precious times ripe for making happy memories, bring it on!...

 In other news - a little dream I've had for a while came true last week.

My designs were featured on Bowie Style's Print & Pattern blog.  I've been following the blog for a very long time now (it's one of my faves).  I also have the books which are a feast for the eyes and handy for a quick blast of colour on a dreary grey day!

To say I was a little bit excited to see my designs posted on Print & Pattern is a massive understatement.  I feel like I have come a very long way since my first steps with my business and it's given me a real boost to press on with everything...

I'm not sure how much blogging and social media stuff I'll manage to keep on top of in the coming few weeks.  I'll try and keep my hand in, but don't be surprised if things go a little bit quiet as I want to get as much out of the family time we have together before school starts up again.

However you're planning to spend the next few weeks, I hope you all have a very lovely summer!

Best wishes