Advent Challenge 2013

It's almost December, can you believe it?! So last year we had Advent Doodle, this year it's opened up to Advent Challenge... For each day on the run up to Christmas I've given you a theme or object to illustrate, paint, photograph, make - whatever you want. You might only do a couple of days or you might decide to do each day and create a wonderful calendar at the end of it - why not get the kids involved too? Last year a teacher got her class to play along. 

If you would like to share your creations use the hashtag #adventchallenge2013 on social media such as twitter and instagram. I'll retweet and possibly feature your mini masterpieces on this blog. 

Have fun everyone!

Christmas Card Swap 2013

I'll be honest, I got my Just My Type card range printed just before Christmas last year which meant all my family and friends got them for Christmas! I added a new addition to the range this year but I thought it was time my loved ones deserved something different... I could get some of my other designs printed but that seemed too easy and too predictable. So I did a shout out on facebook and twitter and asked if any fellow creatives fancied a little card swap this year!! And I was so pleased with the positive responses I received. I was after 3-4 people to swap with but got 5 which is a perfect number I think. So my family and friends will now be receiving some of these little beauties for christmas...

Striking hand finished cards designed by Made by Mrs M otherwise known as Kate Marsden

Beautifully detailed handmade cards by MissyCards. A good friend of mine has just given birth so Baby's First Christmas will be sent to a good home!

A great selection received from Say It Hand Made. I love the Christmas Tree!

I love Lindsay Bucks style, based upon collage cut outs of shapes that were created with hand drawn elements and digitally arranged. You can purchase her cards here.

And finally Emma Frances's exquisite illustrative cards. Check out her Etsy store where you can also purchase matching gift tags. 

Have any of you taken part in a similar swap or skills swap? It was so nice checking the post each morning to see if I had received a new package. I'd really recommend you trying it and letting us know how it goes :)

Word cloud

I've recently been working on the branding for the online running support group Run Mummy Run. It's been a great fun project to work on. When Leanne asked if I could do something like a word cloud for their banners I jumped at the chance. I like word clouds, but only done a christmas tree one before. There's a lot of bad and good examples around on the internet. 

My advice is 'don't try to hard.' Keep it simple, limit your typefaces and colours otherwise it can get messy. 

I used the typeface Rockwell for this to match the logo. Variety can be achieved by changing the weights, light, regular and bold. And picking 2-3 colours or tints. 

And the winners are...!

Thanks to everyone who entered The Big Card Giveaway on here, facebook and twitter. The winners have been chosen at random thanks to a random name picker on the internet(!).
Lisa Rivas wins the Christmas pack
Sarah-Jayne Platt wins the Greetings pack
Rowena Grew wins the Santa pack

I've just got some pocket mirrors and fridge magnets delivered which I'm so happy with... so I'll be running another competition nearer christmas to win a few of them!