Shop: Renegade Inspiration

With Renegade fast approaching (less than 3 weeks to go now!) I've been looking for inspiration for my stall set up and fun display ideas.

I've spent lots of time (when I should be working on new products) looking through Renegade's photos of past fairs on Pinterest and Flickr, as well as various blog posts about 2013 and 2014's London fairs, and getting lots of inspiration. So I thought I'd share some of my favourites here, and it'll also give you a taste of the standard of sellers you can expect to see if you visit the fair this year!

This one is from Renegade's "Exceptional Booth Set-ups" board on Pinterest (I'm not sure what fair its from).

Here Paper Generation have used various old boxes and chests to display their paper goods.

I've followed the work of Katie from Oh Squirrel for quite a while now and always love every picture she posts on her Instagram. I particularly love her display from last year, she's used so many clever ways of displaying her beautiful products, and I'd definitely be stopping for a look if I walked past this stall!

Hello Harriet is another brilliant maker who's work I've followed for quite a while (if you like cats you should definitely check out her work!)

For the 2013 fair she made lots of her own displays which all looked great. I especially liked the "Tattoo Parlour" she made for her temporary tattoos!

Hand-making displays is a great idea if (like me) you've already spent quite a lot on stock and want to save a bit of money, plus you can make it to the exact sizes you want to suit your products!

Another one from Renegade's "Exceptional Booth Set-ups" Pinterest board (again not sure what fair its from) of a fantastic display by Stationery Bakery.

I love everything about this display: The bunting, the ladders as shelves, the animals and the cards pegged up onto string! This is a great alternative display to just using a table.

(Photo source)

I love the style of this display by Emma Carlisle, the big chest full of products reminds me of a pick'n'mix or something in a toy shop, this would definitely stand out and make me stop and look!

There's plenty more Craft Fair inspiration over on my Pinterest board!

I definitely need to get working to come up with an interesting set-up! I have quite a lot of new products to display so I need plenty of ideas for adding space an height to my booth.

Wise Words: You can do it

For this week's "Wise Words" piece I was planning on using a quote from a fairytale or Disney movie, but during my search I found this quote from Walt Disney and thought it was perfect:

I'm working on some wedding stationery using typography in this style at the moment and really enjoying it. As I carry on with this project I'll probably use this style again, but experimenting with using different container shapes other than a heart.

Next week I'll stick with my original plan and use a quote from a fairytale! 

Today I Like...

A few of things inspiring me this week:

1. Illustrator Kristin Nohe shares pictures of her "lunchtime doodles" over on Instagram and its been inspiring me to start drawing more when there's nothing to do at work.

2. I've really loved Ez Pudewa's illustrations for a long time, and she's now starting up a new brand called Petit Pippin which looks pretty exciting!

3. I've been using these colours a lot in my work lately.

4. Finally, I loved these animal pillows by the lovely Bonnie from Going Home to Roost.

Life: New Studio Space

I've been absent for the last couple of weeks whilst I moved home and got everything all sorted out. We' been staying with my family for a few weeks whilst we looked for a place nearer to London for Jamie to get to work, we struggled to find somewhere to begin with, but two weeks ago we moved into a lovely little maisonette in Dartford. We worked really hard over the bank holiday weekend and within 4 day everything was unpacked and organised!

Within our new home, I've been lucky enough to have a new little studio space in our living room.

I spent a day organising all my art supplies, creating an inspiration wall and filling shelves with pretty things. My new space is now bright and colourful and full of inspiration, with everything need in easy reach. Here's a few snaps of the finished area:

I decided to create the inspiration wall using wire and pegs rather than blue-tack or pins, so that this way I can change the pictures around whenever I like without causing any more damage to the wall.

The little animals were something I made last year with some plastic animals and a can of white spray paint. In our old place I had them dotted around the various rooms, but this time most of them are in a little row along my desk windowsill. 

A few old favourites are still up on the walls, such as my meerkat painting, the wooden typo postcards my owl illustration, along with some new things such as the bird garland around the window, and some of the pages from the "Today is going to be a great day" calendar.

And here's a few snaps of the other rooms:

Now that I'm all settled in (and finally have the internet installed) I'm hoping to be back to blogging a little more often, and creating lots of new work. My first task however is to get the shop back up and running! I have some new products arriving tomorrow so I'm hoping to have it all done by the end of the week. Look out for new products and huge discounts on old products too!