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

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...