Gingerbread Men

If you bought one of Christmas Countdown colouring books then you might recognise this image from today's page!

Gingerbread men were a must when I was deciding what to include in the colouring book pages, as they've become a firm favourite for me and Jamie at Christmas time (I'll be making some this weekend!)

So I thought I'd use the opportunity today to share the recipe I use!

A couple of years ago I scoured the internet for a simple gingerbread man recipe and ended up altering a few that I'd found in order to make it work with the ingredients I had available at the time.

(I can't remember exactly how many this makes but it was enough for Jamie to take into work and share around the office!)

Ingredients:

12 ounces Plain White Flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda / Baking Soda

1-2tsp Ground Ginger (You can adjust this depending on how strong you want them to be!)

4 ounces butter

6 ounces Soft Brown Sugar

4tbsp Golden Syrup

1 Large Egg

Method:

1. Sift the flour, baking soda and ginger together into a large mixing bowl.

2. Rub the butter into the flour mixture.

3. Stir in the sugar.

4. Whisk together the golden syrup and egg.

5. Stir all the ingredients together.

6. Form the dough into a ball, and roll out on a lightly floured surface.

7. Use biscuit cutters to cut as many biscuits from the dough as you can (you can use any shape, it doesn't have to be a gingerbread man, gingerbread hearts, trees and stars all taste just as good!)

8. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper (You will either need to use a couple of large trays, or cook these in a couple of batches as it makes quite a few!)

9. Bake for 10-12 minutes (possibly a little longer depending on your oven) at 190 degrees celsius.

10. Once they're baked, transfer to a cooling rack until they're ready to decorate.

11. Decorate however you wish! Last time I went for a black writing icing face, and white icing and chocolate chips for the buttons. But this time I think I might use red and white writing icing to draw some festive jumpers on them!

And thats it! Now its time to enjoy them :)

Wise Words: To Do

Since I haven't made many new illustrations lately and haven't had much to share, I thought I'd quickly stop by with a little preview of something from the new colouring books coming this week.

This is a coloured version of one of the illustrations that will be appearing in my Magic and Sparkle colouring book. Its a fantasy, dreamy, magical to do list!

Look out for the new colouring books over on Instagram very soon!

Black Friday

Hello!

Just to let you know between now and midnight on Monday there's 20% off all orders over £5 with the code BLACKFRIDAY15 

etsy.com/uk/shop/emmamillustration

Happy shopping!

Over & Over: Play your cards right

So today I finally found enough time to work on a new illustration. I had the idea for this one a few weeks ago, and the drawings have been sat waiting in my sketchbook ever since. I've been working on a really fun commission lately (which I should be able to share soon!) which involves some illustrations inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Those illustrations inspired some playing card themed doodles in my mini sketchbook, which in turn inspired this new pattern...

I have also been working on two new colouring book designs, and 3 new garland kits! The first of three December craft fairs is coming up in just two weeks, and I'm hoping to have them all ready for then (which explains why I haven't had much time for this sort of work!)

Look out for the new colouring books on Instagram as I'll be doing a special offer on them once they're ready!

Christmas Posting Dates

Oh dear, I've been neglecting the blog again haven't I?

I've got quite a lot of work on at the moment, and after coming up with some ideas for new colouring books I've given myself even more to do in getting them ready in time for my December craft fairs! So I haven't had much time to share anything on here, but I just wanted to stop by with some information on the final postage dates from my Etsy shop in time for Christmas!

3rd Dec - Africa, Middle East

5th Dec - Asia, Cyprus, Far East, Japan, Eastern Europe (Ex. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia)

7th Dec - Caribbean, Central & South America

9th Dec - Greece, Australia, New Zealand

12th Dec - Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland

14th Dec - Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA

15th Dec - Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain

16th Dec - France

17th Dec - Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland

19th Dec - UK

Please note that these dates are not guaranteed. Please place your order as early as possible to be in with the best chance of receiving your items in time for Christmas.

The final posting date before Christmas will be Monday 19th December. Any orders placed after this date will be posted on Monday 4th January as I am going away over Christmas and New Year.

If you're after one of my Christmas Countdown Colouring Books, make sure you order by Thursday 27th November in order to receive it in time for  the start of advent! (UK only, international orders can no longer be guaranteed to arrive in time, but orders placed in the next few days stand a good chance!)

Renegade Prep

So once again my blog has been rather neglected for a couple of weeks whilst I've been preparing for Renegade Craft Fair.

There's only one week to go until I head back to the Old Truman Brewery for my favourite craft fair!

I'll be sharing a booth with Jess from Fawn and Rose, and we'll be right near the Ely's Yard Entrance (And opposite the cake stall which is going to be dangerous!) We've been planning our booth and preparing decorations to make it extra colourful!

I'll have some new products for sale, greetings cards and postcards at a reduced price, and a free gift if you spend over £20! I hope to see some of you there, do come and say Hi if you're around.

In the mean time I thought I'd just stop by with a few pictures of my prep so far.

I've been working hard producing batches of colouring books (I'm still surprised that my printer stuck with me whilst I printed all the pages for these!), notebooks and two new products, as well as packaging cards and prints! I think I'm just about on track to be finished in time, I still need to finish trimming a few things, packaging everything and making my signage (and stall decorations).

You can find the full details of the fair here, and the line up of amazing makers and designers here.

Snap snap: 23/10/15

Its been well over a month since I last shared a Snap Snap post, so I have lots of catching up to do!

- First of all, it wouldn't be a Snap Snap post without featuring Beabea.

- I treated myself to some lovely things from one of my new favourite online shops, Sticker Stack.

- Florals are always a big feature in my sketchbooks.

- I've been making lots of these Positive Thoughts Colouring books as they've been pretty popular in the shop.

- I've also made some new products! These are the A6 notebooks part way through production.

- With Christmas approaching my sketchbook pages have started to look a bit festive.

- Trying to make a habit of drawing something every day, even if its just a quick doodle.

- Organising stock for Crafty Fox Markets.

- I designed this Totally Awesome To Do List with Lisa from Make Me Pretty Shop. You can read more about it here and buy it as a PDF download here (£1 from each sale goes straight to the mental health charity Mind)

- Packaging up lots of stock for craft fairs.

- My stall at Crafty Fox Market in Brixton a few weeks ago.

- I got the exciting news that I'll be selling at Renegade Craft Fair on 7th and 8th November (Just over 2 weeks to go!). Expect to see lots of snaps of my preparations for this over on Instagram.

- Another new product, A4 prints. I also gave my wholesale catalogue an update, let me know if you're interested in stocking my work and I'll send you the link!

- A big deliver from the printers consisted of some new Christmas cards as well as re-stocking some older designs.

- The A6 notebooks that aren't quite good enough to make it in to the shop automatically become my doodle books. I've already finished one and got half way through another! They're the perfect size for quick doodles at lunch time.

- A little section of my stall at Crafty Fox Market in Peckham.

- Packing up an order for my newest stockists, The Fox and Spindle in Margate.

- More festive drawings in the sketchbook, I've been working on some more Christmas products to debut at Renegade Craft Fair.

- A recent doodle obsession: gems.

- My newest product: Christmas Countdown Colouring Book.

As always, you can keep up to date with all of this over on Instagram @EmmaMargaretIllustration (but I'll try not to leave it so long between posts next time!)

Wise Words: Blooms

As always happens when a craft fair is approaching, I haven't been producing as much new work over the last few weeks (which is why you haven't seen an Illustration Friday post for a while!). The time I would usually spend drawing is taken up producing lots of stock and planning my stall layout!

I do want to try and keep making work where I can though, so I thought I'd do a quick Wise Words illustration to share with you. 

I saw this quote on Pinterest and immediately had to use it in a pretty floral design!

I can't promise how often I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks, especially with new work to show you, but you can follow my craft fair prep and sketchbook doodles over on Instagram @EmmaMargaretIllustration

The Lost Lanes

As of this week you can now find lots of my products available for purchase on The Lost Lanes!

The Lost Lanes is a fantastic online ethical marketplace for handmade goodies, and I'm very excited to be working with them!

You can shop my products here.

Christmas Shop

That time of year is fast approaching again!  And as a result I've been adding a new range of Christmas products to my Etsy shop.

There are 6 Christmas card designs to choose from:

And my newest product, a Christmas Countdown Colouring Book!

"Colour your way through the countdown to Christmas, with one illustration for each day of advent. Celebrate the festive season with candy canes, mince pies, ice skating, teddy bears and more!"

The Christmas range is available to purchase here.

I'll be adding a few more Christmas themed products in the next few weeks (and they'll all be on sale at Renegade Craft Fair on November 7th & 8th!)

Illustration Friday: Ink

My submission for Illustration Friday this week was quite a simple one, as I've been busy getting lots of new products up in the shop and preparing for Crafty Fox Markets.

The theme this week was "ink" so I went with a simple scroll and dip pen with the words "Once Upon a Time". This one was again a little bit inspired by the TV show by the same name, and the character of "the author". (If you love fairytales and haven't watched Once Upon a Time yet, you definitely should!) 

My Totally Awesome To Do List

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Lisa from Make Me Pretty Shop after she had bought some of my colouring books. She had a brilliant idea for a product but needed some help designing it. I loved the idea so immediately agreed to be a part of it!

The idea was for a to do list to help you get organised, recognise your achievements and hopefully relieve a bit of anxiety. Its inspired by a lovely quote:

"Start by doing the necessary, then do whats possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible" Francis of Assisi.

We've made it bright and colourful, with positive symbols like four-leaf clovers and shooting stars.

Oh, and to make things even better, £1 from each sale is heading straight to the mental health charity, Mind!

Lisa describes the idea behind the list much better than I can, so here's her words from the product description:

"Do you love lists, get excited about beautiful stationery, or just want to reflect on your achievements and better appreciate just how fabulous you are? Then My Totally Awesome To Do List is for you.

Do you write lengthy lists of things you should do, but rarely get to the bottom of them, feel bad about it or fail to reflect on just how much you've done? Then My Totally Awesome To Do List is for you too!

I designed My Totally Awesome To Do List to help me within my own journey to overcome anxiety, stress and panic. 

This practical (yet awesome) To Do List separates out what's necessary from what's possible to help promote good mental wellbeing. The number of items you can add is limited for good reason - you are not superhuman.

It's easy to rush through life without stopping to notice or appreciate how much you do, which is why I've included room to note down your extra achievements, and a tick box to recognise you've been totally awesome that day!"

The list is available to buy as an A4 or A5 downloadable PDF, which you're then free to print as many times as you like (paper versions will hopefully be available soon!)

Take a look here!

New in the shop!

Yesterday I spent a few hours updating my Etsy shop and adding all of my new products for sale.

There are now 8 new A4 prints designs, and 8 new A6 notebooks (as well as some new offers too!)

View them all here.

There'll be a few more new things added in the next few weeks (Christmas cards are on their way!) and I'll be putting together some new gift packs too.

Illustration Friday: Prize

This week's prompt for Illustration Friday was 'Prize'.

The idea for this one came to me quite quickly. I've been re-watching Once Upon a Time as the new series begun this week. I haven't watched the first episode yet but I knew that it involves the Sword in the Stone, so I used that as my inspiration for my illustration this week.

In my Sketchbook: 30/09/15

Its been another busy few weeks filled with lots of drawing in my sketchbooks.

I've worked on new products for the shop (new notebooks and prints will be added in the next couple of weeks!), Illustration Friday and my Fjord inspired series. (I've also been drawing a few Christmas related things but I'll save those for next time)

You can keep up with my sketchbook work by following me on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) and following the Instagram hashtag #emmamargaretsketch.

Crafty Fox Markets

Just a little heads up that this Sunday (4th October) I'll be selling at Crafty fox Market in the Dogstar, Brixton from 11am til 5pm.

I'll be launching a new range of notebooks and art prints, as well as my existing cards, colouring books, postcards and badge. And some items will be on special offer too!

And I'll be back at Crafty Fox Markets again on October 11th at the Bussey Building in Peckham!