Stickers!

Hello! I know I said I'd blog more this year and I'm well aware that so far I've not really stuck to it, but I'm here now so let's get on with the post shall we.

If you follow me online then you know how much I LOVE stickers!

I mean, first of all who doesn't love stickers?! Stickers are the BEST! I have 2 desks in my workspace that are mostly covered with stickers that I've bought or been sent over the years.



I started keeping my stickers on my desks as a nice way to actually use and display them, because if you're anything like me then you often end up with stacks of stickers that you just can't 'commit' to sticking anywhere. I had a tin full of the things and it seemed like such a waste to just leave them there. So that's when the sticker desk project began.

I decided to go ahead and give my sticker collection a home, and it brightens up my day every time I sit down at my desk. Plus it makes a pretty fun background for product or pin trade photos. I use it literally ALL the time!

Since I'm an artist and illustrator I also sell my own stickers and people ask me ALL the time, "hey Jade where do you get your stickers made?".

Well... I don't usually like to share manufacturers but I'm more than happy to share this one since I've always had such a great experience ordering custom stickers from them.

The company is called Sticker App, and they're really good! I get all of my mini vinyl girl gang and 90's themed stickers made with them and I'm always impressed and pleased with the quality and quick turnaround times.

They offer lots of different options but I've only tried their contour-cut custom stickers, so I can't personally vouch for the other styles or coating options, but I'm sure they're just as great as the custom vinyl ones with glossy coating, which is what I always get.

I've been getting my stickers made with Sticker App since last July and I see no reason to stop now! 

Their website is super easy to use and I like the way you get an instant preview of that the finished sticker will look like + how thick or thin the outer border will be on contour-cut custom shaped stickers as soon as you've uploaded your design. You also get an instant price and it automatically changes if you select a higher or lower number of stickers. It's totally zero fuss, no waiting around for price quotes or design proofs. Easy Peasy.

I also like the way that on Sticker App you don't have to order thousands of stickers, you can just order one design, or dozens, totally up to you. You also don't even have to get 100 of a design, if I'm restocking a sticker I'll often only re-order 50 of a design, which is great if you can't afford massive quantities of stickers, or if you maybe just want to trial a design in your shop, or even if you're ordering stickers for a kid's party or something. The bigger your sticker design is (in measurements, like 2 or 5") the lower the minimum amount you have to order. So if you want a big 6x6" sticker for your laptop case or desk, you could just get 5 stickers and share them with your friends. Brilliant!

It also helps that the prices on Sticker App are very reasonable and the turnaround times are quite fast considering that they're based in Sweden. All I know is that the quality of their custom vinyl stickers is amazing, the colours are always so vibrant and sharp. The sizes are also very customizable and you really aren't at all limited to what size you want your stickers to be. This is particularly useful since most custom sticker sites only offer pre-set sizes (usually going up in increments of single inches) but on Sticker App you can pick any random specific size you want and then change your mind and play around with sizes without having to wait for a design proof or price quote. It's great.

And I've started to ramble haven't I. So in summary, Sticker App is marvellous and if you're ever looking to get some cute custom stickers of your own made, you should definitely give them a go!

 just click this link to their website - Sticker App

and if you want to treat yourself to any of my stickers, you can Shop all available designs HERE

I'll be back soon with a new post about my latest pin designs, so until then, thanks for stopping by...

Super Snaps ❤

Gather round dear readers because I have something super fun and colourful to share with you all today!

If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don't, then you really ought to) then you might have seen the cute giveaway I'm running with UK based Super Snaps

We've teamed up to give one lucky winner a pair of Candy Doll Club pins and some Girl Gang stickers (designed by yours truly of course) along with an exclusive set of one of a kind magnets and retro prints from Super Snaps, all featuring some of my colourful designs.

Just look at all those treats! Who wouldn't want to win that lot?!

 The magnets and prints feature 10 of my illustrations (the 10th one isn't shown in any of the photos, so I guess only the winner will get to see what it is). I tried to pick a range of colourful designs that I thought would look good, so here's hoping that whoever wins thinks they look good too.

The lovely folks at Super Snaps were also kind enough to send me a set of the magnets and retro prints as well, which is really BRILLIANT because I've never seen any of my work on magnets before, It's all rather exciting. They arrived super quickly and the packaging was simple but still very cute.

Super Snaps give you an easy peasy way to order your own Instagram shots or digital photos printed on magnets and prints, so if you've ever wanted to see your own face on a magnet, or your pet/child/handbag on prints stuck to your wall, then Super Snaps is definitely the place to get em' made. They can also produce stickers, greetings cards + framed prints of your photos or designs as well as magnets and mini prints.

cute and colourful magnets

The quality of the magnets is really nice, they're quite thin but they went onto the fridge door without any problems and they look great. I was actually going to share them with my friends but I think I'll have to keep them all now because they look really fantastic on the fridge and the colours are very vibrant and sharp.

some of the fun magnets YOU could win!

The retro prints Super Snaps sent me were actually a total surprise so I was delighted to receive them. Once again the colour quality is gorgeous and I love the classic polaroid style and size of the prints. As I work primarily digitally I rarely get to see my work actually printed out but these turned out so well, I really like them.

I also think that the retro prints would make great pocket portfolios for illustrators, designers, photographers and artists since they're small enough to carry around and they're such good quality they'd really help to show off your work.

I didn't send any photos for the magnets/prints since I'm an illustrator and the only photos I really have of my designs are product shots, but I'm definitely curious to see how photos would look on these retro prints. I bet they look great and I'm wondering whose birthday I could order some for this year. I'm already considering a set of fun magnets for my sister, so if you're reading this Nikki don't forget to act surprised on your Birthday.

This is a great prize, I'm sure you'll agree, and if you think you'd like to try and get your hands on these cute goodies, all you have to do is click this link for info on how to enter the Giveaway. You can also enter it over here on the Super Snaps IG page. But don't leave it too long because we'll be picking a winner on Friday 27th January.

Please be aware that it's an Instagram only giveaway so leaving a comment here or on facebook or twitter will not count as an entry.
 
If you can't wait until Friday to see if you've won and you just HAVE to get these pins and stickers, then you'll find them here in my SHOP

And if you fancy getting some magnets, retro prints or other goodies printed up with your own photos or designs, you can get them right HERE

and those superstars at Super Snaps have also set up an exclusive discount code for all you Candy Dolls out there! All you need to do is enter code: CDC15 (in caps because it is case sensitive) at the checkout to get 15% off at Super Snaps until April.

They offer fast and free shipping to UK customers + express International delivery for those of you around the world.

And on that note i'll say goodbye because I'm going off to raid the fridge for dinner and admire my new magnets as well.

bye for now!

The Handbag of Dreams ♥

Welcome to 2017

New Year, New You? or not, whatever.

It's a brand new year filled with brand new possibilities and opportunities. Or in my case, same old, same old...

Except for one little difference that is (so far).

If you missed my last post let me offer a quick recap. It was my annual Xmas wish list post and you can read/re-read it HERE should you so desire. As per usual it was filled with lots of lovely things I'll probably never own but as always, I had a lot of fun coming up with it.

Anyway, the very last item on the 2016 wish list was the handbag of dreams aka an Anya Hindmarch all-over-stickers Bathurst in black.

Well my first illustration of 2017 is a 'handbag portrait' aka an illustration of a handbag flat lay, and it should tell you all you need to know... (disclaimer, unless you love handbags you're proabbly gonna find this post pretty boring so abandon ship now if you want)

That's right friends, all of my handbag dreams have come true because this babe of a handbag is now MIIIIINNNNEEEE!!!!!!!

So naturally I'm now going to blather on about it for a few minutes because honestly how can I not and also because my blog, my rules.

And before you start speculating over who I know that would get me such a magnificent gift, the answer is Me. I would get myself such a magnificent gift, so I did. TREAT YO SELF

Unsurprisingly the bag is perfect. It's everything I hoped for and more, and it smells incredible! And it's soooooooo pretty I LOVE IT! It's so good aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 

First of all it arrived in a snazzy striped bag (I will forever love black and white stripes) tied with a red ribbon and a cute fried egg tag. I won't lie, I did a little happy dance around the room when it arrived and I might have squealed. Once. Maybe. Or a few times, who knows.

The 'stickers' design on the bag is even better in person and the detail is amazing. Check out that stripy bungee handle as well! Too lovely.  It also comes with a full length leather strap and you can customize it lots of different ways. Brilliant.

It also arrived all bundled in a cute cotton dust bag/tote bag along with the cutest stationery featuring a sunny smiley face and one of my favourite Oscar Wilde quotes. Just when I thought it all couldn't get any more perfect my new handbag arrived with a card saying "I can resist everything except temptation." (I thought the quote was 'anything' instead of everything but I could be wrong. Either way, I still love it and it was a nice touch).

So why did I draw it you might ask?! Well on January 1st I was sorting out the cluttered cupboard in my room and I came across some of my old art college logbooks and found this Nathalie Lecroc inspired 'Handbag Portrait' from 2010. It's definitely not my best work but I vaguely remember having a lot of fun drawing it with my trusty felt tip pens. Don't get me wrong, I loved working on stuff like this back then but I'm sure glad I know how to use Photoshop now ^_^

To be honest not an awful lot has changed except now I don't need to carry around a digital camera, an iPod, an iPod touch AND a Nokia mobile phone! Now I just need my iPhone.

I also always carry a little case of my business cards with me, because you never know who you might bump into and I like having cards on hand to offer prospective clients and customers.

Also how fun is my new googly eyes purse from Superdrug?! Red is my favourite colour so I had to get this purse and the matching make-up pouch. My best friend Hayley also got me the purse in blue and it matches my blue Lulu Guinness bag perfectly. She knows me so well because I'd get this purse in EVERY colour if I could :)

I always carry a notebook with me as well, for ideas and doodles. My mum gave me this neat little notebook and my dad gave me the lovely fountain pen last Christmas. I personally don't really like using biros to write with. When I was 7 my teacher encouraged the class to use fountain pens and I've used one ever since. 

And a boring ventolin inhaler because like many people, in the winter the cold air can affect my lungs so I keep this handy in case I suddenly find it difficult to breathe. You know, normal winter stuff.

The matching googly eyes pouch is where I keep my contact lense spray (so exciting, I know!), my paracetamol, lipbalm, compact and my forever disappearing collection of bobbypins. If you know me at all then you'll know that I wear red lipstick almost every time I leave the house. 

At the moment I'm addicted to Mac Cosmetics Ruby Woo. I bought a tube for my youngest niece's 16th Birthday and it looked so good on her that I had to get a tube for myself as well! And Daisy, if you're reading this, the lisptick really does look amazing on you and I can only hope that it looks half as good on me!

So in summary, if you're still here reading and you haven't already slipped into a coma out of sheer boredom from my inane ramblings, I LOVE THIS BAG AND IT IS THE BEST FOREVER AND EVER.

THE END.

and on that note you'll be delighted to know that I'll shut up now and stop talking about my new handbag because there are far more important things in life than material possessions but I never leave my house and I'm too scared to go anywhere and actually do anything so for now, material possessions like this sublime handbag are all I really have in life. 

and while that may be pathetic, I don't care and I still love it.

bye!