With a little heart..

I thought I'd post a couple of other handmade goodies that I'd made but not listed on Etsy as one was made especially for a friend as a birthday present and the other especially for another friend as asked me to!

First up is the heart hanging I made for a friend for her birthday, there are 5 hearts of 2 designs on a piece of cord with a loop at the top to hang it by



Here you can see the hearts hanging down



Close up of 1st design



Close up of 2nd design



To complete the gift I can give a keying in either pattern




Second is similar as another friend saw the first creation and said 'can you make me one too!' So I set out making one for her this time using just one fabric design, again with 5 hearts and this time hanging on a piece of ribbon with a loop at the top to hang it by



Close up of the hearts hanging





Can also be teamed up with either single hanging heart or keyring in the same style




You can check out my Etsy shop at iheartrosie.etsy.com

Buh-bye creative block, hello pretty patterns

I've had rather a creative block when it comes to designing lately, but on Monday I started something and now I have created quite a few patterns in a matter of days!

Below is the repeat tile I made for my teardrop pattern.. which I then repeated, making the pattern.. and then applied the repeated pattern to a notebook.





The colour and the details of the patterns don't come out as well as I would like in these small blogger images but I love the contract between the full filled colour shaped and fine dashed lines in the teardrop pattern!

Below is another pattern I have been working on 'heartflower'.. Again below is the repeat tile I made.. which I then repeated, making the pattern.. and then applied the repeated pattern to a notebook.





I have been working on some other pattern too which I will upload in due course!

iheartrosie

So after Christmas break I suddenly felt inspired to do some sewing, so I started sewing and making things and couldn't stop myself for about a week. I ended up having made lots of keyrings and plush hearts and decided I would start an Etsy shop to sell these.. you can view my shop iheartrosie on Etsy.

Here are a few pictures of the things I've been making and are now for sale:







It's also been really nice creating a brand and identity for the shop, below you can see the logo which I have created for my shop which is used on stickers, postcards, avatars and banners.



Now all I need is some buyers!

artdesignetc.com

So today I completed my first piece of freelance web design. I designed a website for friend and ex-colleague Octavia Winrow who is a great graphic designer but also does some brilliant paintings! You can view the website at www.artdesignetc.com

Trip to the printers

On my last day at Croudace the Graphic Designer was kind enough to arrange a trip with the print management company we used to both their print management office and design studio and then on to a printers.

The owner shows us how the plates are made for litho printing
The metal sheets are fed through this machine to imprint the design

One sheet is used for each colour of CMYK
The plates are then loaded into the printing machine..
Each section of the printer is for a different part of CMYK
The reverse of the plate is printed onto a roller and then onto the paper
Paper is cut to size
And loaded into the machine
Pots of ink
Machine to check accuracy of colours when printed
All pantone colours are made using these inks
And measured using these pantone scales
Machine cutting paper to size

There were stacks of paper and ink everywhere. The machines were so loud it was hard to think straight! There were also machines for folding booklets, creating multipage booklets with staples and digital printers. Amazing to see a real life printing press and helps to understand how to design for print when you see how the process works in real life!

This is where I have been hiding for the past 3 months..

So the reason I've not really been very active for the last 3 months is that I have been very busy working for Croudace Homes Group

Here is a quick look at some of the things I got up to whilst I was there..

When I started the Graphic Designer was just working on rebranding the company.. So i assisted with this and with other everyday tasks such as adverts, leaflets and brochures. Here are a few photos from the rebrand

The girls sporting the new company colours on launch day:
Playing with the new company branded Rubick's cubes:
The newly branded company mug I worked on:
The newly branded company keyring:
With the rebrand of the company came redesigning adverts, brochures, booklets.. Such as the published advert below:
And invitations to open weekends:
And brochures for new developments:

This doesn't show the half of what I got up to in my 3 months at Croudace, but just a little sample of the work I did while I was there. I had a brilliant 3 months, learnt loads and made some good friends a long the way!

I've been a little bit lost in the working world..

I'm currently working full time in a graphic design placement so I have not had much time to work on my own stuff, but over the last week or so i've managed to squeeze out a few bits and bobs..