Pins and Patches ♥

 hello darlings, if you follow me on ANY of my social media accounts, then you'll probably have already seen my latest products. I've been posting them ALL the time because I'm just SO excited about them!

 first up I'm super thrilled to announce my first ever pin release. I know I designed the Troll pin for Pin Club last month, but this is MY first pin release by myself, so here it is...

Yes OF COURSE it's a Girl Gang themed pin! How could it not be?! The 100% Fresh Boy Tears design is one that I never get tired of, and other people seem to like it too! so I knew it would be perfect for my first proper pin design.

The pins arrived while I was away in Coventry earlier this week, so I've only had them since Tuesday morning. I am so pleased with how they turned out though. I was extremely nervous about getting them, even though I'd signed off on the proof before manufacture, you never know if they'll turn out exactly as you want them to or not. But these are even better than I'd hoped for!

This is how they measure up next to the Rainbow Troll Pins (obviously I wear them both together) and I think they complement each other rather well. I was in 'Lush' in Coventry on Tuesday afternoon and one of the staff said that he liked my pins, so I was VERY chuffed to tell him I'd designed them both myself. 

 

 The detail in the 'Boy Tears' pins is fantastic, the stripes in the straw and the text came out perfectly and I love the shade of blue for the carton. It's lighter than I thought it would be but it's almost a 'Tiffany' blue, it's so pretty. They're just really brilliant okay! I know I shouldn't rave about them too much but they're super lovely quality and the design looks great pinned to a jacket or bag.

the pins are made of soft enamel on black metal, they measure 30mm and come with a metal butterfly clutch fastening on the back. 

Each pin comes on a Candy Doll Club backing card sealed in a little cello bag and each card is numbered on the back + every pin comes with free stickers and candy. You can't ask for much more than that can you?!

This pin design is limited to only 100 pieces (and they're selling fast!) so if you think you'd rather like to own one, they're available to order HERE and HERE


and now onto the OTHER new product I've just released!

remember last month when I launched my brand new Girl Gang patches (see HERE) well I'm happy to announce that I launched another new set of patches last week on Tuesday evening, right before I left for my trip to Coventry.

This time the patches feature my 100% Fresh Boy Tears x Fries Before Guys design because every girl knows that food is waaaay more important that boys! I already have circle stickers with this design but I've wanted to get patches of it made for ages, so I changed up the design a bit and here we are, Girl Gang Patches 2.0.

The colours on these ones turned out a little differently than how I'd expected, or how the first set of patches looked, but I suppose that's my own fault for not double checking the colour proof properly. + you can't really see it in the photos but there are pale pink polka dots all over the 'white space' of the patch.

 the blue on the merrowed edge is super vibrant and bright so I can't really complain about the rest of the colours. They also match quite well with my first set of 'Girl Fighter' patches (which was the idea, obviously). AND they match the new Boy Tears pins as well! You know you want the whole set...

I left for my trip early on the morning of the 2nd, and the patches only arrived the afternoon before. I decided to bring some away with me so that if anyone wanted to order any, I could still post them during my holiday. However... I underestimated how popular they might be so I only brought 20 away with me and unfortunately I had sold out by the 5th!!!

It's due in part to the fact that on Wednesday afternoon, Depop selected the patches for it's 'Explore' feature, where chosen items from all over the world get featured on a page where every Depop user can see them! I left the house for Heysham at 7am on the 2nd, and by the time we reached Coventry around 5:30pm, I'd sold 12 patches. Which was certainly a nice surprise, but I immediately realised that I should have brought more away with me.

If you'd like to treat yourself or someone else to a pair of Girl Gang patches, I have a special offer on over HERE

or you can buy singles right HERE or HERE 


Those of you that keep up with me on social media might be aware that I had a rather more eventful sailing over from the Isle of Man to Heysham than usual! if you're interested in what happened, you can read the full story HERE. and if the link doesn't work for you, then I guess you just won't ever know the tale...

and on that note I think I'll say goodbye!

sorry for all the product pushing but I'm always so excited to share my new products with you all!

bye for now

Christmas Calling ♥

hello dearhearts, I'm currently away in Coventry on a little holiday to visit my family before Christmas. We're a little later across than usual this year and unfortunately the weather has decided to turn particularly vile for the time of year. If you live in the UK then chances are you've already experienced the delightful barrage of wind and rain we've been getting this week, along with a possible side of severe flooding and coastal damage, as Storm Desmond batters the country.

back on the Island, there has been some of the worst flood damage the island has ever seen, I hope that all my friends and family back home stay safe through these storms!

anyway, on with post I suppose...

There are now only 20 days until Xmas 2015, and I stupidly just remembered that I STILL haven't shared this years Christmas card designs with you all!

this is yet further proof that I am a forgetful eejit and I know that I've probably left it too late but I'm going to show you the cards anyway.

2015 Christmas Card Designs

So this year, instead of Christmas candy Sugar Skulls, I went for something a little more kitsch, so we have festive flamingo cards + Christmas cactus cards! Because if you can't be a little wacky and unusual at Christmas time, when can you?!

Christmas Cactus on pink polka dots

each design was created specifically for the cards, they were both ideas that I'd been playing around with for a while. I knew that I wanted to draw a Cactus and a Flamingo, it wasn't until I started adding Christmas stuff that I realised they'd probably make cute cards.

Festive Flamingo on blue stripes

they're very bright and vibrant, the designs are happy and although admittedly not very traditional, still plenty festive and fun. As per usual I've been sending them out as my own personal Xmas cards to family and friends, but they're available to buy via my Etsy and Depop shops, should you take a fancy to them yourselves.

the back of the cards

The cards are A6 sized (105x148mm) 100% professionally printed in the UK on 300gsm trucard, a lovely sturdy card stock with a light satin coating on the outside while the inside is blank and left uncoated, making it easier for you to write your own message in a fancy gold gel pen, felt-tip, fountain pen or a biro, whichever you prefer! + each card comes safely sealed in a cello bag, with a kraft paper envelope.



As if the cards aren't Christmassy enough, I also have some super cute Christmas glitter brooches available! there are 6 festive shades of glitter fabric + 3 cute charms to choose from

Christmas Glitter Brooches

These brooches are super sparkly but the best thing about them is that the glitter fabric DOES NOT SHED GLITTER!!! Which is perfect because if you're anything like me then you're one of those people that somehow ends up with glitter everywhere! Well, that won't happen with one of these. You can show your appreciation for all things festive AND sparkly without finding glitter embedded on your cheeks and eyelids three days later. All brooches are available to buy HERE

sparkly and fun

You're probably wondering why I'm bothering to offer any of these things if I'm away on holiday... BUT although it's true that the brooches won't ship until December 10th, I brought a big stack of the Christmas cards away with me so I will happily post them out to you while I'm in England.

aren't I considerate?!


Also, if you're in the UK then you might know that today is Small Business Saturday, which for those of you unfamiliar with it... "Small Business Saturday UK is a grass-roots campaign which exists to support, promote and inspire small businesses, on the first Saturday in December, and beyond"

 that means that today is the PERFECT day to go out (or stay in) and support a Small British Business. Regardless of where you live, there will be plenty of local or national businesses that you can support in person or online.

If you want a suggestion, then allow me to present my own Etsy Shop as a possible candidate for your generous patronage, in an utterly shameless plug ^_^

I'm also giving away a free Sugar Skull circle sticker with EVERY order placed today in my Etsy and Depop shops

anyway on that note I'll shut up for now.

so until next time, cheerio!

Troll Magic ♥

hello darlings, I'm here to tell you about a very exciting project I worked on recently.

In October - November 2015 I collaborated with Pin Club: a UK based monthly subscription service offering limited edition enamel pins, featuring original artwork by various artists and illustrators.

I exclusively designed a super-dee-duper rainbow haired troll pin for the November subscription, limited to 200 pins and sold to customers all over the world.

and HERE IT IS!!!

Isn't it utterly glorious! This is the first time I've ever designed an enamel pin so I had NO idea how the illustration might work out, but they pins turned out perfect! Seriously the detail is amazing, and the colours are so bright.

The troll pin was the largest one produced by Pin Club to date, measuring 39mm and using 10 individual colours, manufactured using soft enamel and black nickel on an iron base including a rubber clutch back.

I'm also happy to say that almost 90% of the pins were sold out within the first week of availability! Usually each month there are 100 pins available but there were 200 of my design and people LOVED it! It's been so much fun seeing people post photos of their new pins on Instagram and leaving lovely comments about how much they like the cute troll design.

Look, I even made a funky troll pattern using the illustration I drew! I'm so pleased I took the time to message Pin Club and talk about the possibility of a collaboration after spotting their profile on Instagram. They were super enthusiastic about my work and after giving me a week to come up with something I ended up drawing the troll overnight, I was so excited at the thought of seeing one of my illustrations as an actual enamel pin people could wear!

The enamel pin game is something I've wanted to get into for a while, but pins aren't cheap to manufacture and there's always a risk that your design might not turn out the way you'd hoped. This was a great opportunity to get paid for a design while not having to worry about manufacturing or packaging costs. It was sort of like my print-on-demand deals with Society6 and RedBubble, I supply the artwork while they manufacture and ship the goods.

To be honest I think I was most excited about getting my free pins in the post! I was sent 5 of the troll pins including one ultra special and rare one with a tiny red gem on its tummy! These were limited to three pieces only so I feel super honoured to have one, plus red is my favourite colour so it was a double win!

Unfortunately for all of you lovely people, the troll pins have now SOLD OUT completely! But don't despair just yet because I'm giving one away in my Instagram Giveaway!

along with a heap of other neat stuff of course. But if you want to get your hands on this pin then you're going to have to follow me on Instagram + follow the rules of the giveaway to be in with a chance of winning!

the Giveaway closes TOMORROW NIGHT at midnight so you'd better get a move on!


Oh and if enamel pins aren't really your thing but you still want to express your love for trolls another way then behold... the sparkliest, cutest and most magical teeny tiny troll necklaces! 

That's right, i'm not just drawing trolls, i'm also turning them into necklaces and brooches! These tiny trolls come strung on silver plated curb chain, ready to complement your outfit in the kitschiest of ways!

But I also have slightly larger brooches and necklaces in another trio of tantalising colours. 

Why trolls you may ask?

Trolls were a big part of my childhood, I remember having dozens of them in all shapes and sizes littered about my room in little clusters of fluffy haired cuteness. I used to love brushing out their hair and dressing them up in cute outfits, then I would line them all up in a rainbow display. They're all in a box in the attic and i'd love to get some down to add to the collection of stuff (aka junk) on my desk, but I can't bring myself to go back up into the attic after I nearly fell from it last time (that's a story for another day I think!).

It's hard not to like these kitschy little trolls though isn't it, they have a kind of gormless look to them, it's very sweet and they're so friendly, then there's the magical fluffy hair! My point is that there's nothing terrifying about pudgy plastic trolls. At primary school a friend brought me a traditional Norwegian wooden troll back from her trip to Oslo and it was so sinister looking that it's been shoved away in a cupboard ever since!

My first shoplifting experience involved a troll. Now before you start calling the police I'd like to point out that I was only about fifteen-months-old at the time and safely strapped into my buggy. However this did not stop me from grabbing a pink haired troll in a white polka-dot dress off a shelf in a shop and quietly holding onto it for the rest of the day. By the time my mum eventually realised what i'd done, i'd been happily chewing on one of the trolls' feet and had slobbered all over the dress, so suffice it to say, we did not return the troll. The weirdest part of the whole thing was that the troll spoke Danish when you pressed it's tummy.

 

So yeah, I suppose you could say that I like trolls. So i'm super glad I got the opportunity to design a cute rainbow haired one to be made into neat little pins. 

And i'll shut up about it now and say goodbye!

do come back again soon...

Marvellous Mail ❤

hello again! Today I want to talk a bit about that most marvellous and magnificent of doodahs that is... POST! 

I man Post is amazing isn't it! You can send stuff ALL over the world and get nice stuff back no bother, it's like magic. You're probably thinking, 'but Jade, the internet lets us do that instantly' and yes, it does, but it's not quite the same as getting a letter in the post is it. To sum it up better, i'm going to need to use a Terry Pratchett quote from his brilliant book Going Postal. In this particular case let's pretend the 'clacks' is an email and you'll get the point!

"I dare say the clacks is wonderful if you wish to know the prawn market figures from Genua. But can you write S.W.A.L.K. on a clacks? Can you seal it with a loving kiss? Can you cry tears on to a clacks, can you smell it, can you enclose a pressed flower? A letter is more than just a message." 

Now let's be honest, we ALL love getting stuff in the mail don't we! No i'm not talking about bills and boring nonsense like that, i'm talking about birthday cards, letters, invitations, postcards and... PRESENTS!

Not quite as magical as surprise gifts in the post but still WAY up there with general mail excitement is ordering things! You know how it is, it's 2am on a Sunday, you can't sleep, so you inevitably end up on Ebay and buy a bunch of random stuff then forget about it...
no, is that just me then?!

anyway, you order something nice for yourself then forget (like me) or wait excitedly for it to arrive and when it does, doesn't it make a WORLD of difference when what you've ordered turns up in pretty packaging?!

now some of you might be thinking, 'meh, I don't really care how it's packaged as long as it arrives!' but that probably means you've never received something parceled up so beautifully that you couldn't quite bring yourself to open it straightaway until you'd fully appreciated how MAGICAL it looked!

This happens to me occasionally, usually when I've ordered something from another artist or maker, they'll send my order in a pretty box or envelope, peppered with cute stickers, bakers twine or doodles.

One of the best things I have ever received in the post was a parcel sent all the way from Portland, WA in America. It arrived wrapped like a parcel you might see in a period film or show, with thick brown parcel paper and carefully tied twine. Inside was a handmade book bound in vintage silk tied with a length of white lace trim, along with a beautifully handwritten letter artfully folded and sealed with a stamp of dark blue sealing wax...

It was so beautiful that it took me THREE WHOLE DAYS to bring myself to open it!!! Why? because I literally couldn't bear to spoil the wax seal, even though I knew there was a lovely letter waiting inside, I just couldn't do it straightaway.

No photo could do the thing justice because to me, right at that second, the experience was like being pulled back in time, and just for a moment I felt like a girl in a Jane Austen novel being handed a parcel from afar, all that was missing were the pretty regency gowns and handsome guys wandering around in fancy tail coats.

The parcel inspired me to get my hands on my own stamp and sealing wax (in green to match the ink in my fountain pen) so that I could send out some beautifully presented letters of my own to two friends in Maine.

Because even after i'd finally opened the parcel, unwrapped the book and broken the wax seal to read the letter, I kept thinking about how beautifully packaged it had all arrived and it got me thinking that surely ALL post should be as magical and heartwarming an experience.

Because you see, my dears... if there's one thing I love more than receiving pretty envelopes in the post, it's sending them out!

There's nothing more fun that packaging up an order and making it looks as cute and fun as possible! A lot of my customers are quite far away and sometimes have to wait weeks to receive their postcards or stickers, so I try to make it even more worth the wait by packaging up their order as prettily as I can.

This of course means rainbow hued envelopes, cute stickers and candy stripe bags to keep everything safe and sound as it flies across the world! And I don't just mean that I do this for international orders, EVERY order from my shop gets the same treatment, whether you live in Norfolk or New Zealand.



Every time someone orders something from me, I get a fizzy thrill knowing that they liked my stuff enough to want to buy it! I mostly sell stickers and postcards so I don't get many opportunities to crack out the bakers twine and parcel boxes unless someone orders a tote bag or a Mystery Bundle Box.

Extra special handmade treats going into the Mystery Bundle Boxes

I'm constantly working on new ways to update my packaging, making everything as pretty as possible, while still making sure orders arrive in perfect condition regardless of their destination. I spend an inordinate amount of time on Instagram and Pinterest gathering inspiration. One of my packaging idols (as it were) is Laura at I Love Crafty, she puts a lot of time and effort into her packaging and it really pays off so that every order looks completely gorgeous!

gorgeous packaging details for a Valentine's Order

 If you're lucky enough to have ever received something like this in the post then you know what a pleasure it is to open something so pretty! I mean sure it's great if you order a gift for someone and it arrives looking nice but why shouldn't it look as good if it's something you've ordered for yourself! After all, what's online shopping if not a way of gifting yourself glorious things every now and again, you know you gotta treat yo self!

Laura at I Love Crafty - packaging orders

I've followed Laura and her brilliant business online for a few years now and she's always inspired me to put in that extra bit of effort with my work, especially with the packaging. And if it means that one day my designs and products can be even half as lovely as hers, then it will be completely worth it!

pretty iridescent packaging for Unicorn brooches!

You see what at difference it makes to a plain white envelope or bubble mailer, isn't it heaps more FUN when things arrive wrapped in candy colours and cuteness?! You bet it is. And regardless of whether you spend £1 or £100 in my shop, I will wrap up your goodies in the sweetest way I can manage, and I have a whole side of my desk dedicated to cute packaging and sticker application (I take this very seriously).

Mystery Bundle Boxes, packed full of lovely stuff!

I could (and do) spend hours arranging my rainbow envelopes and preparing the mystery bundle boxes. I stick on spotify and crack out the stickers and it's so much fun I don't even notice the time flying. In fact, the only thing better than packaging up and sending out pastel pretty orders, is when a customer sends me a snap of their goodies letting me know that everything turned up safe and sound and that they LOVE it!

a few snaps posted on instagram from some of my lovely customers

if YOU have ever received something in the mail from me, whether it was an order or just some random thing I sent you, chances are it arrived looking like it had been parceled up by a rainbow unicorn! Which was of course my exact intention.

and if you've NEVER gotten anything in the post from me, then isn't it time you did! Treat yourself (or someone else) to something sweet, you'll find various candy coloured bits n' bobs in my Etsy Shop, my Depop Store and now also on Storenvy

go on then, go pick something nice and then I can pop it in a pretty envelope and COVER it with cute stickers before I post it to you!

and on that note, i'll say goodbye for now, thanks for visiting, see you again soon dearhearts...