so that was june...

From top left...

*Thoroughly enjoying these colourful doors just down my street. I walk past them everyday but only noticed them last week.
*A bunch of flowers from our neighbours, handpicked from their back garden brightened up our house for a week. Who said neighbourly spirit didn't exist in London?
*A Birthday trip to London Zoo. My enthusiasm over getting to meet Madagascar's King Julien & Maurice in person (or lemur) seemed to embarrass Nick somewhat.
*Birthday presents! Nick added to my ever expanding collection of Oliver Jeffers books along with 'I want my hat back' by Jon Klassen.
*Summer is here! There was more than enough sticky humidity to go round but the sun was out and I was smiling.
*I've been beavering away on all the styling details left for the wedding I'm helping out with. 3 weeks to go!

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in bloom

Awkward?! I'm no model but I thought all the headless versions of myself DIY after DIY have been getting a bit creepy. Here's a simple make for you. Simple, because I've done most of the hard work for you. Just download this mirror flower print and get cracking.

All you need is a white or light coloured T-shirt. I got mine here as it was cheap as chips but you can use anything. All you'll need is....

• Some inkjet printer transfer paper. Any will do but check it’s suitable for fabric.
• Printer 
• Scissors 
• An iron
• Masking tape

1. Print out the design onto your transfer paper. Make sure the print is on the right side. 
2. Then put your t-shirt on and tape your design where you want it.
3. Then spread your t-shirt and measure the distance from the sides to each point of the triangle to make sure it's central.
4. Then follow the transfer paper instructions. I was told to put my iron on a high heat with no steam and to slowly iron over all of the design for a few mins, applying quite a bit of pressure.
5. Make sure you iron right up to the edge of the design and then pull the paper from the corner, while it's still really hot. Don't pull of completely. First check if any parts don't look like they've stuck. If that's the case lay back down and iron over that area again.
6. Once finished turn inside out and wash on 30 degrees. If the image looses any brightness in the colour, iron with a piece of paper over the design.

Now you can wear your new creation. A cheap and cheerful T-shirt you won't find in the shops....happy days!

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OUT & ABOUT

Here are some little snapshots of inspiration I've found out and about recently. From the top...

Northcote Records juicy typography caught my eye walking down Northcote Road. 

Jewel coloured notebooks in Paperchase. Total simplicity with a 'Look at me' colour and I'm sold.

New card range by Ingela P Arrhenius for Lagom. They could pretty much produce anything and I’d love it .

Paperchase gift wrap is usually lovely but this combination particularly caught me eye.

Fun hand drawn monochrome menu at Bryon. 

Patterned stationery from Nineteen Seventy Three with an awesome colour combination, proving that a limited colour palette is not always best.

Great recipe books with pop art covers. There's something quite comforting about their retro feel. The Leon series can be found in Waterstones.

Cute illustrated Cat from M&S. Now I'm no fan of cats but how sweet is this?

A tribal notebook I found in Paperchase. They probably need to put this print on a dress, a scarf, a tote, a...

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a light in leeds

Last month I was asked to do the artwork for Redeemer Church’s new sermon series in the book of Jonah. Redeemer is an exciting church plant in Leeds, a city I used to call home myself. They are hoping to bring the amazing news of our saviour Jesus to this city that's pretty under churched for its size. If you’d like to find out more about this church then check out their website here and if you live nearby, why not go along and see what’s going on? It was such a pleasure to work on this as I'm really excited about the church's mission. I've seen first hand and been part of the darkness of this city. I've so clearly seen for myself the need for the gospel there so the work they're doing really warms my heart. 

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dad's day printable card

Wow! How on earth are we already well into June! I felt as if May didn’t even really happen...a blink and it was gone. So I’m a little perplexed as to how it’s nearly Father’s Day but never the less I come to this post somewhat prepared with a free printable card for any of you who might share my feelings.

I scanned my sketch only to realise that I’d made the same spelling mistake that’s not only been a recurring theme in the last few weeks but a blind spot throughout my entire life! It seems that no matter how much older I get I still have a serious issue with the word ‘you’re’. It nearly always comes out as ‘your’ or somewhere along the line I decide to ditch the apostrophe. It’s a laughably regular mistake but when you find you’ve made it twice on two print runs worth of cards, totalling 3,500 sheets...well, it ain’t so amusing! Anyway I’ve amended my mistake and it’s available as a free download, along with the envelope right here.

Just print onto card and score down the middle to fold. The envelope will need to be printed onto A3 paper and has instructions on the downloadable sheet. You can then glue or tape the enveloped together. Show your Pa some love this Sunday. My Dad deserves a whole load of thanks for all he’s done over the years. 

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colour me happy

A few weeks ago, I felt particularly compelled to illustrate a flamingo in my lunch break. Pretty random huh?! Perhaps I was getting into the spirit of summer, who knows?! You can download this image as your desktop wallpaper (13" or 15") right here. Brighten up your background with this jolly fellow. 

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