Submission for Castle Rock Brewery x Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
To celebrate 20 years of friendship, Castle Rock Brewery launched a competition to design the can and keg labels for their collaboration beer with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.
To celebrate 20 years of friendship, Castle Rock Brewery launched a competition to design the can and keg labels for their collaboration beer with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Whilst my design wasn’t selected to win the awesome prize of having their design printed and showcased across the country, it was a really fun brief to work to! Both organisations are personal favourites of mine, and you know I love a good British woodland theme to work to.
The above design was the finished artwork for the keg labels, whilst below the illustration was adapted to fit their beer can labels.
Huge congratulations to Matt Newton for his beautiful winning design!
Spring/Summer Market dates 2022
There’s nothing I love better than getting out and about with my paper goods to meet you lovely lot in person! So far this year these dates have been confirmed, with hopefully a few more to add!
Sunday 15th May - North Notts Artists, Makers & Fine Foods Market, The Manor Room
Sunday 29th May - The Garage Market, The Garage Chilwell
Sunday 17th July - North Notts Artists, Makers & Fine Foods Market, The Manor Room
Sunday 31st July - The Garage Market, The Garage Chilwell
Sunday 7th August - North Notts Artists, Makers & Fine Foods Market, Ravenshead Village Hall
Sunday 21st August - North Notts Artists, Makers & Fine Foods Market, The Manor Room
Hope to see you there!
Deborah x
Hello 2020! A little look back at 2019 (PART II)
Carrying on from Part I, I’m sharing all the things that brought me joy, and made me proud in 2019, from July through to December.
Carrying on from Part I, I’m sharing all the things that brought me joy, and made me proud in 2019, from July through to December.
JULY
Prints arrived of my new ‘Prove them Wrong’ design and I was over the moon with how gorgeous the foiling turned out.
Then I was off to London to sell at the House of Illustration Summer Fair!
Ophelia had her first trip to the Golden Mile in Leicester, and her first taste of the exquisite Bobby’s.
Renovations continued, this time taking the carpet up in our bedroom to reveal these stained floorboards.
More eco swaps - this time for a disposable razor and shaving soap bar which I bought from Shop Zero Nottingham
We then did a little up-cycling project to breathe some life into some old garden furniture my Dad had passed onto us…
… with just some garden furniture paint from Wilkos!
Our old, worn doors came off…
…and were replaced with these beautiful new composite doors.
I was asked to paint Puneet’s beautiful logo on a feature wall of her new Wedding Ring Workshop (and boy, was that a hot week!)
Nottingham’s Pride brought so much colour and positive energy to what was a VERY wet day
And Ophelia had her first proper visit to the Gurdwara for a family member’s birthday.
AUGUST
I started August working on a design for a totally new product
More eco swaps, this time this gorgeous shampoo bar when my bottled shampoo ran out.
The Nottingham Etsy Team leaders came over and we had the incredibly hard task of choosing who we were going to pick to sell for Etsy Made Local! It took us a few hours with many snacks/cups of tea.
Our beautiful friends Dan and Ruby tied the knot in the most amazing wedding venue - and I mean, look at Ruby!
I designed some custom privacy vinyl for the glass in our new front door and it casts the dreamiest shadows on our floor!
I had a wonderful client meeting with Matthew, author of The Alphabet Children, at this amazing cafe called Fika. We hatched some awesome illustrated plans for his book!
I made some edits to an existing pattern I had created for Lola’s Apothecary and these beautiful samples came in the post.
I started work on a new print design….
And in the summer sun we visited more stately homes and festivals celebrating Mother Nature.
SEPTEMBER
I designed the promotional materials for our Nottingham Etsy Made Local - and it was exciting to start shouting about our event at our new venue in the Council House.
That moon illustrated back in August? Got turned into this huge wall hanging!
I finished designing my Christmas cards! These were my best ever selling designs for Christmas, and I can’t tell you how thankful I was for every re-order (there were 5!)
My Grandad (who’s is bossing life at 92 by the way) treated myself and my mum to a day at Ragdale Hall Spa
The Nottingham Etsy Team had another amazing meet up, this time with a talk from the incredibly talented and switched on business coach Debbiedoodah , who talked to us about the importance of email marketing.
Injected with that new enthusiasm from Debbie’s talk I decided to put more effort into my email marketing and started creating illustrated freebies for my email subscribers.
I joined with the Global Climate Strike in the Nottingham Market Square, standing in solidarity with children and adults alike to try and make positive change for our climate crisis.
We had more adventures, this time at Newstead Abbey
OCTOBER
I created my first downloadable product for Etsy, these print at home Halloween Masks in a wolf, black cat and bat design.
The seasons started to change…
and we went pumpkin picking in the biggest mud field you’d ever seen!
NOVEMBER
We had a magical bonfire night
More autumnal walks which are honestly my favourite
Oh yes, more renovations! This time getting rid of the awful dark/grey brown vinyl in our kitchen, and getting this faux Victorian tile vinyl.
For the first time ever I sold at the Craft Fair Contemporary and it was amazing!
And then a family of 3 became a family of 4…
That monkey illustration from a few months ago? Got turned into these awesome patch t-shirts for kids!
Etsy Made Local Nottingham finally arrived and it was our biggest and best event to date! (photo courtesy of the Nottingham Etsy Team)
DECEMBER
We kicked off December, and a little post Etsy Made Local come down, with some festive eating
And fetive activities like this beautiful light show at Belton House gardens
I designed more freebies for my amazing newsletter subscribers
And finally visited the vegetarian restaurant of dreams, No. Twelve.
Keeping our Christmas more eco I stamped a HUGE roll of recycled brown paper to wrap all our gifts in.
We painted our bedroom!
I was then back in London for the House of Illustration Winter Fair!
After wrapping up some commissions and smaller projects it was then time to unwind for Christmas with plenty of family visits, biscuit baking and a huge vegetarian feast for Christmas!
We ended 2019 out in the garden; fire on, hot chocolates in hand, enjoying all of our neighbours fireworks!
Phew! What a year! If you made it to the end of this two part blog post spectacular I applaud you.
I hope this inspires you to go back through photos of your 2019 to see the highlights and celebrate all the wins you achieved. I was so cynical about the whole thing before I started writing this post, but I have to say it has been cathartic, and an incredibly powerful way of owning my own achievements. Just documenting it here has been a process, and I have to say it’s given me a very positive surge of work energy for the year ahead!
We have so much to look forward to this year - welcoming our baby boy into the world being the main thing we’re gearing up towards - but I would love to know what things you’re looking forward to in 2020 and what things you were proud of in 2019?
How to make your own repeat pattern workshop - July 20th
I never thought that I would ever be saying this, but I am hosting my first ever workshop in July!
That old friend of mine, imposter syndrome, has been present most my life. After all there is always someone better, more talented and more qualified than you. But that’s the thing, I wasn’t giving myself enough credit for everything I had achieved. All the clients I’ve worked for. The knowledge I’ve gained over a career that’s now in it’s 9th year (yikes!)
I never thought that I would ever be saying this, but I am hosting my first ever workshop in July!
That old friend of mine, imposter syndrome, has been present most my life. After all there is always someone better, more talented and more qualified than you. But that’s the thing, I wasn’t giving myself enough credit for everything I had achieved. All the clients I’ve worked for. The knowledge I’ve gained over a career that’s now in it’s 9th year (yikes!)
So after some amazing coaching sessions with Amy from Women Who Create (who is just a peach by the way, and such an inspiration) I dug down, found some courage, and created a workshop that I hope you guys will enjoy.
Although I got my degree in Illustration and Graphic Design, I taught myself how to make repeat patterns during my 3rd year of uni. As soon as I made one, I was hooked. I was making patterns out of everything, and I loved trying out so many different styles of repeats and seeing what I could do with the pencil illustrations I was creating.
Although I create all my surface designs digitally nowadays, I did originally start out creating patterns in an analog way. I found this really helped me understand how tiling worked, how you made patterns seamless and how moving the tiles in different ways created different styles of repeat.
And so this was how my ‘How to create your own repeat patterns’ workshop was born!
I wanted to make a workshop that would help inspire any creative, on any level of expertise, to take their practise into another dimension, without needing software like Photoshop to get started.
Trust me, I know how daunting some of these things can feel when you starting thinking you need all singing, all dancing software and computers to just dip your toe into a new practise or medium. But this is the great thing with pattern making; it works just as good by hand as it does digitally. And there is no limit to what medium you create them in, nor do you need to be an excellent draftsman!
Just some Grade A imagination and the intrigue to play.
Mexican Parrot surface design created from images taken on my honeymoon.
I’ll be running the workshop at Handmade Nottingham on July 20th, 10.30-1.30, and i’ll be covering:
Basics of repeat patterns
Different types of repeats and how to create them
Creating seamless designs
Creating designs that capture the imagination
Inspiration for how to apply your own surface designs to textiles, homeware and stationery.
I’ll be bringing along some mark making materials, however please feel free to bring along your own mediums of choice if you have a preference!
If this sounds like something right up your street, then I’m hoping to see you there! Spaces are limited to 10 spots, so be sure to book your place early. You can book your spot HERE, or check out my events page to see where else you can find me this summer.
I hope to see you there!
MediCity Mural
More and more often I'm getting asked to paint murals for many different building for many purposes; signage, decorative display and statement wall pieces. However my latest wall mural piece is by far the biggest to add to my repertoire.
Measuring 6 metres wide by 3 metres high, this mural of a lush green British landscape has found a new home at the Grade 1 listed MediCity building in Nottingham.
More and more often I'm getting asked to paint murals for many different building for many purposes; signage, decorative display and statement wall pieces. However my latest wall mural piece is by far the biggest to add to my repertoire.
Measuring 6 metres wide by 3 metres high, this mural of a lush green British landscape has found a new home at the Grade 1 listed MediCity building in Nottingham.
I won't lie and tell you this piece was a breeze, because as they say, all great things are by far the most challenging! Creating digital files that can scale up beautifully to such a large size was part of the problem, especially when your work isn't vector! However husband-graphic-designer-genius Avnish helped me immensely to navigate around Illustrator in order to vectorise my work, and once we solved that problem the rest fell into place.
The next challenge though was seeing the finished print. Was the design going to come out pixellated? Would it fit the exact measurements of the wall? Poor Avnish was on tenterhooks on fitting day, but amid his hidden anxiety he managed to capture some beautiful time lapses of the piece going up. The finished article? Well, watch for yourself:
It's been such a privilege to work on this mural piece for the BioCity team; not only did they have the faith in me to produce such a large, detailed, and risky piece, but they also have given me the amazing opportunity to have my illustration work permanently in a Grade 1 listed Art Deco building.
I mean, how many people can say that?!
Have a browse through the gallery below to see more shots from the installation day. I would love to know what you think so feel free to drop me a message or leave a comment below!
Nottingham Etsy Made Local
Another year, another successful Etsy Made Local from the Nottingham Etsy Team!
The girls, yet again, put on amazing event, showcasing not only over 40 stalls of local and handmade talent but a whole host of extra features such as a VIP early access event, candy floss machine, free craft workshops and plenty of festive sparkle.
Another year, another successful Etsy Made Local from the Nottingham Etsy Team!
The girls, yet again, put on amazing event, showcasing not only over 40 stalls of local and handmade talent but a whole host of extra features such as a VIP early access event, candy floss machine, free craft workshops and plenty of festive sparkle.
Amy from Super+Super hosting the free drop in craft workshops to make Christmas decorations.
This was my only fair of the year after spending the past 12 months focussing more on my freelance career and client based projects than on the handmade wares side.
It was so lovely to meet my wonderful customers face to face! I forgot how much I missed doing fairs and markets after spending a year just working from home. I definitely missed the interaction and the chance to be out in the world making lovely human connections that markets bring with them.
A good sign of a super busy event is when you don't find enough time to take the photos you want! I really wanted to share with you some snaps from the event of some of my personal favourite items (which, believe me, is hard to do when every single one of the 40 stalls were amazing!) but since I didn't manage to, here are 5 of the 40 stalls that I'm seriously swooning over:
Delphine and Max
mage from Delphine and Max
I was opposite Delphine and Max at the fair and loved not only their stall set up but all of their beautiful porcelain items! These porcelain and gold earrings in particular stole my heart.
Modflowers
Image from Modflowers
Expert crafter, seamstress and blogger Modflowers' adorable dolls and fairies were a beautifully whimsical and vintage touch to the market. I know these beautiful handmade dolls would look so lovely in our little girls room!
Cocoa Tabby
Image from Cocoa Tabby
As well as having a mouthwatering Etsy shop, Cocoa Tabby also has a bricks and mortar shop in Derby that you can go and visit if you have the restraint to wait and buy her chocolate in person! These Christmas tree chocolate slabs are getting added to my Santa wish list.
Petrichoralia
Image from Petrichoralia
I have a jewellery obsession, especially when it's been made with unusual materials! Petrichoralia's jewellery is made from concrete, and finished with gold and silver for a wonderful mix of industrial and elegance. These concrete and gold earrings are just too beautiful not to share.
Fabritzia Design
Image from Fabritzia Design
I've been coveting Fabritzia Design's work for a long time, but trust me when I say it's even more beautiful in real life! Her prints and cards feel almost too good to give away as gifts, I just want to frame them all, especially this pigeon woodcut.
The end of the fair was also a bit of a calling card for some of the team leaders, including myself! Captain extraordinaire Becky [Becky, Queen of Frocks] has now officially stepped down in order to continue with her studies and work, as well as get married in the next few weeks! One of our social media team leaders, Katherine [Dendiko], will also be leaving the team as she embarks on a teaching career in Egypt. I have also stepped down as leader whilst I prepare for our little girl to be born in March, something I didn't appreciate would consume so much of my time!
The Nottingham Etsy team is now in the good hands of Rachel [REW homeware], who will be taking the helm alongside our remaining leaders Michaela [Blue Stiggy] and Amy [Super + Super] until new leaders have been recruited. I'm still excited to take part within our growing and ever evolving Nottingham Etsy community, and can't wait to see what the girls bring in 2017!
Did you manage to make it to our Etsy Made Local event? If so share your photos on Twitter or Instagram by tagging myself @deborahpanesar or @NottinghamEtsyTeam - we would love to see!
Nottingham Etsy Craft Party (Photos + Video)
Last month saw the Nottingham Etsy team's busiest meet up as we hosted a tie-dye event for the annual Etsy Craft Party!
On a rare and beautifully sunny day in Beeston, our team members came to fold, clamp, peg and tie their belongings to make beautiful tie-dye creations! With 4 different tie-dye colours to choose from, we dyed everything from pretty dresses to bed sheets, t-shirts to trainers!
Last month saw the Nottingham Etsy team's busiest meet up as we hosted a tie-dye event for the annual Etsy Craft Party!
On a rare and beautifully sunny day in Beeston, our team members came to fold, clamp, peg and tie their belongings to make beautiful tie-dye creations! With 4 different tie-dye colours to choose from, we dyed everything from pretty dresses to bed sheets, t-shirts to trainers!
It was incredible seeing everyones creations unfold, with so much imagination used in each piece!
A huge thanks goes out to all of our members who came along, as well as the other fellow Nottingham Etsy team leaders Rachel Ward, Becky Kennedy, Michaela Bere, Katherine Jaiteh and Amy Phipps of which the event wouldn't have been possible!
Special thanks as well to Daniel Hughes for photographing the event, and Avnish Panesar for creating an amazing promo video which you can watch below.
Our next team event is next week on the 14th July, and will be a two part seminar on how to create a blog for your craft business! It will be hosted by blogger Mike Aspinall of The Crafty Gentleman and held at Rough Trade on Broad Street, Nottingham.
If you would like to book, tickets are available through our Facebook Event page but are limited so be sure to book in advance.
Deborah x
Nottingham Etsy Craft Party
Really excited to announce this years Craft Party will be tie-dye themed! Myself and the Nottingham Etsy Team have been working hard for the past few months to make this years Craft Party a hands-on summer crafting extravaganza.
Really excited to announce this years Craft Party will be tie-dye themed! Myself and the Nottingham Etsy Team have been working hard for the past few months to make this years Craft Party a hands-on summer crafting extravaganza.
Not heard of the Craft Party?
Every year Etsy invites all local teams from around the world to host their own Craft Party for their team members to get stuck in to fun crafting sessions whilst meeting up with other likeminded and local sellers. It's a perfect chance for Etsy sellers and non-etsy members to get out of the studio, connect and create!
This year we'll be hosting our tie-dye event at Beeston Youth Community Centre On 19th June, our main crafting activity being tie-dye however hosting some smaller DIY tables for make and takes as well. Refreshments and treats will also be on offer!
If you're interested in coming along to our event (open to everyone! Not just Etsy members) you can see more details plus book tickets through our Facebook Event page.
For some tie-dye inspo we also have created a Pinterest board with lots of ways and garments to tie-dye!
If you're an Etsy seller and not yet part of a local team you can join one today by searching the local teams page.
We hope to see you on the 19th!
Deborah x
The Craft Off x Nottingham Etsy Team
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team collaborate with The Craft Off to bring an evening of fast paced and competitive crafting!
Hosted with our friends Rough Trade Nottingham, The Craft Off is like Art Attack meets pub quiz: Our attendees were given an hour to craft under a secret theme with only a select range of materials available. The winners being named Craft Off victors and winning some incredible prizes!
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team collaborate with The Craft Off to bring an evening of fast paced and competitive crafting!
Hosted with our friends Rough Trade Nottingham, The Craft Off is like Art Attack meets pub quiz: Our attendees were given an hour to craft under a secret theme with only a select range of materials available. The winners being named Craft Off victors and winning some incredible prizes!
Our theme for the evening (since we were hosting the event at the legendary Rough Trade) was 'dancing shoes' and the breadth of creativity was absolutely amazing to see!
Our winners were extremely lucky to win a heap of craft prizes: Workshop vouchers from The Bead Shop and Sunflower Design, Rough Trade gift cards, Etsy goodie bags as well as exclusive Craft Off prints designed by myself, printed by Dizzy Ink.
Poster designed for The Craft Off event
Photo by Dan Hodgett
Prints coming soon to The Craft Off shop
Photo by Dan Hodgett
I was also so bowled over by the generosity of Steph and Rhea (The Craft Off organisers) who so kindly got me a gift for my help in organising the event!
We had such a blast working on creating this event not only for our Team members but also for the local Nottingham crafting community - there's no greater sight than watching people come together to find joy in the handmade, even if it's for a slightly competitive reason!
Until our next event, here's a beauty pageant-esque photo of me holding a giant crayon.
Photo by Dan Hodgett
Deborah x
Nottingham Etsy Team Presents: Meet The Maker, 10th March 2016
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team host our second meet up of the year at Rough Trade, showcasing three of our talented who talked about their Etsy shop journeys so far!
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team host our second meet up of the year at Rough Trade, showcasing three of our talented who talked about their Etsy shop journeys so far!
Our Meet the Maker feature, which Team Leader Katherine Jaiteh runs, is such a popular fixture in our social media content that we thought it would be a great opportunity to bring it to a live event. These talks are a lovely way to get behind the story of the Etsy shop, and to see that each shop starts somewhere with it's own goals and motivation.
Speaking at the event were Hilke Kurze of Buchertiger Supplies and Buchertiger Press, Charlie Marshall of C Marshall Arts and Katie Abey of Katie Abey Design.
It was pretty inspirational to hear how these three ladies came to open their shops, what drives them, and most importantly their advice for running their shops. These were some seriously tough ladies, each trying to balance work and personal commitments around building a craft business. And that is no easy feat, believe me!
Their advice for budding or current Etsy Shop Owners?
- "Etsy = Personal" Katie Abey explains how receiving little handwritten notes or extra goodies in your orders is the difference between a one time buyer and a repeat buyer. And let's face it, we all love free stuff.
- "Treat Yourself!" Charlie's belief in the power of giving yourself a pat on the back is really not to be underestimated. If you've finally conquered that photoshoot, or listed those 5 listings which you thought you'd never do, then you deserve to give yourself some recognition and maybe a sweet treat.
- "Give Yourself Goals" Hilke constructed and ran her Etsy shops by setting herself short and long-term goals. Even if she didn't reach them within the time frame she expected, there was a framework to build her shop by.
Before I end this post on yet another successful meet up I wanted to share a quick snap of myself with the other Team Leaders who work hard to make it what it is! We haven't been around for very long (only since July 2015!) but we work hard to make our team the most supportive and creative community that it can be! So big shout out to (from Top left to bottom right): Amy Phipps (Social Media Leader), Rachel Ward (Senior Social Media Leader), Becky Kennedy (Team Captain), Katherine Jaiteh (Social Media Leader), Me! (In-Person Events Leader) and Michaela Bere (Team Navigation Leader).
We have a lot of exciting meet up's planned for the year, but pay particular close attention to April's event which we will be hosting with The Craft Off! Here's a little teaser to get you in the mood...
Have a great week!
Deborah x
Nottingham Etsy Team Seller Seminar Sessions with Daniel Hughes Photography
Tuesday evening saw the Nottingham Etsy Team host their first ever Seller Seminar Session at Rough Trade Nottingham, and it was pretty awesome (if I do say so myself)
One of the things I absolutely love with Etsy is the community it fosters, and as an Etsy seller myself I've been very lucky to be involved with the Nottingham Etsy Team on a very hands on level. Last year I was promoted to In-Person Events leader, and with the help of my other fellow team leaders we put on the first of our Seller Seminar Sessions at the incredible Rough Trade to a sell out audience!
Tuesday evening saw the Nottingham Etsy Team host their first ever Seller Seminar Session at Rough Trade Nottingham, and it was pretty awesome (if I do say so myself)
One of the things I absolutely love with Etsy is the community it fosters, and as an Etsy seller myself I've been very lucky to be involved with the Nottingham Etsy Team on a very hands on level. Last year I was promoted to In-Person Events leader, and with the help of my other fellow team leaders we put on the first of our Seller Seminar Sessions at the incredible Rough Trade to a sell out audience!
Over 100 Etsians and local creatives braved the cold to attend our event, the first of many aimed at helping fellow Etsy sellers start, improve and build their own Etsy stores. Our first event hosted on Tuesday talked about all things product photography, a key element to any online business! My good friend Daniel Hughes - photographer extraordinaire and all round lovely chap - hosted the event, covering topics such as lighting, white balance, shutter speeds and backgrounds.
It's events like this that truly make me realise how lucky I am to not only have a career I love, but a career that fosters an inspirational, supportive and dynamic community. I have overflowing gratitude for my role within the Nottingham Etsy Team, knowing that I get to meet people I would have never met any other way, to visit places I would have never visited and to learn A LOT along the way.
A huge thanks to Rough Trade Nottingham, Daniel Hughes, the Nottingham Etsy Team leaders and everyone who came to Tuesdays event! Without all of you it wouldn't have been the success it was!
If you're a Nottingham creative or Etsy shop owner reading this and thinking "I missed out!" never fear - we have HEAPS of events in the works, and regularly post about them in our Facebook Page.
Until the next event!
Deborah x