Hello 2017

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful festive season.

2017 is a particularly exciting year for me, as it just so happens to be the year I get married! The countdown now really is on to the 23rd September!

Before I get started on all o my plans and goals for the year ahead, I just wanted to take a quick look over some of the highlights of 2016....

- An exciting, inspiring trip around the Baltics with Mum, Dad and Jamie.

- Working with some lovely new clients on some exciting projects.

- The launch of my new venture, Bea & Bloom.

- Wedding panning with my amazing, friends, family and of course my lovely fiancé, Jamie. Highlights include finding my dress, and an evening with my wonderful bridesmaids (one of which came all the way from Florida, so its now often we're all together!)

- Meeting some lovely new people and making some great new friends.

And here's a few of my goals and plans for 2017:

- Continue to find time to work on my own ideas and illustrations.

- Rebrand my little business and design some new business cards and promo materials.

- Work with more lovely clients.

- Design and launch a range of new products.

- Continue to promote Bea & Bloom and gain some lovely new clients there too.

- Enjoy every moment of the wedding planning process and what I'm sure will be the best day of my life with all the people I love.

Wising you all a wonderful 2017!

Custom House Portraits

I've added another new custom listing to the shop: House Portraits!

House portraits are perfect if you're looking for a lovely illustration of your home. Or I can illustrate your wedding venue, favourite hotel, or anything else you can think of!

Special details such as pets, flowers etc. can be included within the image to make it even more personal, and you'll always receive a sketch of your illustration before I work on the final image, so you can make sure you're completely happy with it!

Find out more in my Etsy shop.

Custom maps and portraits are also available.

Custom Travel Maps

A new product has landed in my Etsy shop:

Custom Travel / Adventure Maps

Pick a selection of your favourite places you've travelled to (or would like to visit in the future) and the landmarks/objects that you associate with them and I'll create you your very own custom travel map! Head to the shop listing for more information on pricing, lead times etc. and get in touch if you have any questions!

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!

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!)

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!)

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!)

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.

Life: Hello 2015!

Happy New Year!

Hope 2015 is treating you all well so far!

So Christmas has flown by yet again! Did you all have a good one? I had a quiet Christmas with Mum, Dad, Jamie and Beabea, and also spent a few days with Jamie's family down in Portsmouth. I was treated to lots of lovely presents this year, including:

-A few additions to my Disney Classics DVD collection

-Some lovely clothes and a pair of boots

-Some Tombow brush pens

-A great selection of books including 'Grow your handmade business' by Keri Chapin, and 'Gone Girl'.

What was your favourite gift this year?

I didn't manage to take many pictures over the last two weeks, but here are a few snippets:

-I made lots of these this Christmas! This batch in particular were for Jamie's office.

-I also did a lot of wrapping as you can see here!

-Beabea got a little snowman rope toy for Christmas which she barely stopped playing with.

-New year was a quiet one with a take-away, chocolate fondue and party poppers.

Today is my first official work day of the year. I'm spending the morning doing a bit of planning and organising, getting my self ready to get on with the rest of the new designs. I'm aiming to have everything finished and ready to put in the shop by next month, so these next few weeks are going to be pretty busy! To help keep me organised, I'm making myself both a weekly planner, and a year planner to map out what I aim to achieve each month in 2015.

The shop is now re-opened, and there's 10% off everything all through January with the code JANUARY23, as well as lots of Sale items up to 50% off.

As always I'll be sharing plenty of updates on Instagram (@EmmaMargaretIllustration), and I'm going to try very hard to keep up with blogging too!

Snap snap: 17/09/14

The last week in photos.

- Preparing everything for the shop update. There are now lot of new items available to buy from my Etsy Shop or Website.

- Pretty flowers from Mum and Dad.

- With Downton Abbey starting up again this Sunday, it seemed liked a good to time to list this Downton themed mini print in my shop!

- Drawing cakes for some new pattern designs.

Now that the shop is up and running again, and I'm settling into my new routine in our new home and new jobs, I'm finally getting the time to get back to drawing again. I'll be sharing some snippets from my sketchbook later this week, and I also have plans for some new illustrated features here on the blog:

- Illustrated Eats: Fun food recipes using my illustrations as diagrams

- Wise Words: Similar to my old "Say it right" feature, but this time I'll be illustrating the quotes rather than using computer fonts.

- Over & Over: A series of pattern designs, I'm hoping to create a new one each week using drawings I create whilst I'm at my day job!

Shop: We are Open!

Hi everyone!

So, I have FINALLY gotten around to sorting out the products and re-opening my shop!

The virtual shelves are now filled with lots of fun and colourful products including paper doll kits and downloadable colouring sheets!

You can purchase all the new item from my Etsy store as always, but thats not all.

I've also just launched my new shop on my website, so you can buy directly from there using Paypal without having to sign up to Etsy!

Go ahead and have a little browse through either of the shops. Orders over £8 receive a little free gift!

I hope you like all of the new products!

4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

I'm back again this week another 4 lovely Etsy shops to share with you!

1Canoe2

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1Canoe2 is a great shop selling letterpress cards, prints and other stationery items. Amongst their huge range of products, they've got some great art prints featuring some lovely inspirational quotes such as "I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship". Inspired by the owners' rural lives, all of their items have a lovely natural feel, and I love the loose lettering that they use in their designs. 

Appa Loosa

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Run by artist Emma Louthan, Appa Loosa sells some lovely fun and bright stationery items such as cards, prints and the odd comic book. There's a strong colour scheme in this shop of corals, turquoise and navy blue, which all work beautifully together with her pretty illustrations.

Emily Taylor

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I discovered Emily Taylor's work through her Instagram account where she shares work in progress shots of her beautiful patterns illustrations. I spent quite a while looking through her feed and getting really inspired by all the close-up shots of the hand-painted line work and patterns details in her illustrations. In her Etsy shop she sells a lovely range of products featuring her artwork, including a great Wallflower Girls colouring book.

Pai & Pear

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I really struggled to pick just 4 items form this shop, as there's such a wide range of beautifully illustrated goods available. Isabel Reyes Feeney has put her colourful illustrations onto all sorts of products such as brooches, stickers, cushions, postcards and zines. I love the pretty pastel colours she uses in her work and the cute animal characters such as that reading fox. Definitely go and have a browse through the pages of Isabel's shop as there's a whole lot more to see.

4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

Hey everyone! I've got another 4 Etsy shops to share with you today. I keep stumbling across so many great ones its hard to choose which ones to share! Here are today's 4 choices...

By Loumi

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I discovered this lovely jewellery shop a little while ago when it was one of the featured shops on the Etsy blog, and I spent quite a while looking at all of her products and the behind the scenes photos of her studio. Everything that Kahina Loumi sells is beautifully elegant and simple, with all of her products featuring a limited colour palette of just off-white and gold. 

La Petite Jungle

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This colourful little shop features a great range of products made from screen printed textiles, all of which are designed and hand made by the owner, Laura Kientzler. The name of this shop is definitely reflected in all of the designs, with the imagery and patterns all reminding me very much of a jungle. The colours used in these items are all really fun and vibrant and really stand out.

Arminho

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The various notebooks and list pads in this great little shop are all inspired by vintage paper ephemera. I love the feel of this work and the great range of designs they have available, from organic seaweed patterns, to graphic text based designs. My favourite items in this shop are the "Cooking Secrets" notebooks which come in a lovely range of pastel colours.

Studio Meez

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I found Studio Meez on Etsy a little while ago and instantly loved the pretty pastel coloured designs they had to offer, and I went back to have another look recently and found there were lots more lovely items to look at! These products have a really sweet and girly feel to them and I think they're great for both children and adults. That goodnight cushions is particularly adorable and they also sell a selection of cloud and apple cushions too.

4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

Today I'm back with another 4 lovely Etsy shops to share with you, all selling a selection of gorgeous handmade items...

Up in the air somewhere

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I love the texture and the handmade feel in these ceramics from Up in the air somewhere, and the little touches of gold leaf make them even prettier! My favourite item here is definitely the polka dot dish, the colour is just lovely.

Leah Reena Goren

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Everything is Leah Goren's shop is brilliantly girly and beautifully illustrated. She sells a huge variety of products including these fridge magnets, scarves, posters and clothing. She works with a great range of subject matter as well, from cats to flowers and girls doing yoga. I definitely struggled to pick out only 4 items from this shop as there's just so much to offer!

Sketch Inc

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Becky Kemp uses a lot of geometric shapes and bold graphics in her work, with contrast brilliantly with the pretty pastel colours. There's also a bit of a witty element to some of these products, with the pie chart of daily activities (eat, sleep, daydream etc.) and the Mine, Yours & Ours stickers. Becky also sells a range of nesting dolls, prints and notebooks which are just as lovely as these products!

Vice & Velvet

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These pretty soaps from Vice & Velvet come in lovely range of scents such as coconut cream, mango butter and jasmine flower. And on top of that they come in some really pretty packaging! This shop also offers gift wrapping with labels for "Best Mum ever" etc. which is a lovely added touch. They also sell little gift sets of sample size items, as well as custom stamped soaps as wedding favours.

4 Etsy shops I'm loving right now...

Its been quite a while since I shared any of my favourite Etsy stores on here, and I wanted to do something a little different to the old "Colour Inspiration & Etsy Love" posts as they often tied me down to sharing only shops selling illustrations, when there are so many other amazing shops out there too! So from now on, every now and then I will be sharing a small selection of my current favourite Etsy shops, selling all sorts of lovely items!

Today I'm sharing with you 3 new finds and 1 shop that I've liked for quite a while now...

Marina Marinski Ceramics

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I love these bowls by Marina Marinksi. The faces are really cute and of course I love the pattern detailing. If you fill them up then then the faces will be hidden until the food has all gone at which point the face will be revealed! They come in a great range of colours too and are all handmade to order so each one is truly unique.

Kari Herer Photography

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I've spotted some of Kari Herer's work on Pinterest before but have only recently discovered her Etsy shop and the full range of images that she sells. These images are so unique and beautiful and nothing like anything i've seen anywhere else. There's some great detail in the drawings and the flowers really make them stand out. I can't decide which piece is my favourite as they're all so pretty, but I'm always a fan of giraffes so that one is definitely high up on my list!

Native Bear

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Native Bear was one of the first Etsy shops I discovered and I've loved Leela Robinson's work ever since. There's a great variety of items in this shop, with everything from colourful art prints, to custom rubber stamps and hand-printed tea towels, all drawn in Leela's lovely illustrative style.

Skipping Fox paper co.

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I love the characters on these cards by Victoria Scobbie, and the pretty pastel colours are lovely too. There are cards for every occasion in this fun shop, including Christmas, Valentines and Birthdays. My favourite item here has got to be that fox on a bicycle!