Getting back into the swing of it again!

I am finally reunited with the internet! Wow it has been a tough and rather boring two weeks.

I didn't realise how much I rely on the internet for running and building Emma Frances, I've been able to get to my emails and check how things are ticking over through my phone but emailing people takes soooo long and then there is the possibility of auto correct messing up a business proposal!  I spent the first week finishing off designs I'd begun and then the weekend we travelled back home but last week was the longest week ever.  I rely massivly on the internet for gathering inspiration and although I can get that away from the computer screen it is quite difficult to feel inspired when it's raining and windy outside and you've no maps of the new area to find your way around.  So I began by sketching from photos on my compueter, but I'd already used a lot of them for past projects so that didn't last long.  Next I flicked through loads of my magazines and books which gave me some good ideas but again didn't last long.  In the end I gave up and spent the rest of the week cleaning the house and knitting.  Exciting I know.

Monday was supposed to be internet day so I waited around (with my knitting) for the little red light to change to green which meant I could emerse myself in the world of surface pattern once more!

It didn't happen.

Internet day came and went and the next morning the light was still red.  Boooooo.  My fingers were aching from the knitting, how do you prevent that? I end up with a strange claw for a hand after a while.  By this time I was going a little stir crazy from uncreativeness and the miserable weather so did some pilates in the front room to help me feel semi productive and as I was about to begin the little light switched to green. HURRAY!  I still did my pilates then spent the rest of the evening trawling through as much of the internet as I could and filling my head with tons of new ideas.  I've got about a million plans for this year and I can finally get back in gear and get going with it all.  Lots to keep you updated with!

Oh and now I'm back to work the sun is shining gloriously outside....typical.

Sorry I've been away for a while!

Well you'll be happy to hear the move went fairly smoothly!  Well as smoothly as a house move can go, I woke up bright and early to finish off the kitchen and wash the pots before packing them, but honestly there are so many little jobs you don't think about!  Suddenly I had about 20 minutes left to do a list a mile long, and then the doorbell goes and the removal men are here early (I mean of all the days for people to come early!).  So they set to shifting all of the furniture into the van, there were two men to begin with, then there came a third and a fourth so they had it done in no time as I was still frantically sorting the kitchen out and packing the cars.  

By this point my hair looked like Monica's when she went on holiday...

So Matthew set off to the new house and the removal men weren't far behind (if that boy didn't have a sat nav he could have ended up who knows where! So we decided he should have that and I'll use my internal compass) and I was left to clean the old house.

Well.....who knew how much of a work out cleaning and hoovering a whole house could be.  My right arm is now twice the size of my left from pushing the Dyson hoover, which suctioned itself to the floor and felt like I was trying to drag a sack of potatoes across the floor.  By now my hair had far surpassed Monica's and I still had an hour and a half drive to the new house.

The guy came for the keys and I was finally free to set off to the new house, I'd put myself a flask of coffee together so sat in my car and demolished the cereal bars I'd packed and pretty much the whole flask of coffee to keep me going for the long drive.  I was on my way to a new home!

Once on the motorway and I had my music blasting out I noticed a drumming noise in the background...it was an almighty noise from under my bonnet.  Of all the times Doris (my little green Clio) decides to misbehave now!  She's done this before and would be fine the next time I drove her so I figured it may be her just telling me she doesn't appriciate going at 70, she's an old lady after all.  I had to pull off the motorway and check if anything was loose and banging about, the dipstick was loose but I'm fairly sure that little thing wouldn't make that amount of noise.  Clipped it back in and set off following a Tesco van at 50 down the M6.

Doris was happy.  I even made it up to 60, although I'm sure the other drivers were cursing me.  It took me a little longer than it would have but I got to Derby safe and sound and little Doris is happily parked in the drive.  I'm sad to say she may be off to a new family soon, before anything goes wrong! I gave her a good telling off and asked her to get me there safely and she did.  She's been a wonderful first car and I've had barely any problems (besides the exhaust falling off in Leeds city centre, but come on, it could have been worse!).

The removal men had left and Matthew had been setting up the house, I couldn't have arrived at a better time.

I just wanted to let you know what I'd been up to and why I've been so quite this week, which is because we don't have internet in the new house just yet.  I will be back up and running this Friday! However I can get emails and check important things via my phone in the meantime so you can still order products and get hold of me.

I'm thankfully back to internet land this weekend because I'm at my parents for the weekend for little brother's birthday (He was 9 on Valentine's day!), which is how I can magically write this post.  I hope you've all had a lovely Valentine's day and can't wait to be back with more designs/news and other exciting posts next week!

Happy Sunday :)

My Tigerprint Entries

I know it has been quite some time since I last shared some of my work, it's heartbreaking not being able to share my newest designs with you, but I assure you there will be lots happening in the future that I can share with you instead!

I'm so happy to be able to show you my Tigerprint entries for their last competition.  The theme was 'Everyday Surface Pattern' which is right up my street, I seem to live, breathe and sleep patterns at the moment.  Having been designing for children, and particularly for boys for the past month I went straight to the florals for these patterns.  Oh how I've missed drawing florals!

I went for a bright and delicate colour palette aswell as darker opposite to give two different end looks. While playing about with the composition I came across the outlined piece and loved it straight away so that became my third design.  After the first three I started to work on the last two which were patterns I had put together a while ago and just needed to colour. 

What do you think!?

 

February Calender Freebie

I am one of a group of designers who have come together to bring you some digital freebies each month.  One of my surface pattern friends set this up last year, Majo picked 11 designer to work alongside herself to produce a printable calender for each month.  This year she has stepped it up a notch and has not only brought you downloadable calenders for your desktop, tablet and mobile backgrounds but also brought you printable weekly planners to keep you super organised.

February is my month to design, I went for a bold but romantic theme, bringing in some florals in the shape of snowdrops, which are some of my favourite flowers!

You can download all of these from here, each of the files are clearly labeled with the pixel size and the device type.

If you would like to download the printable you can find their links by hopping over to Majo's Blog!