so...it seems cheesily appropriate to write a little round up of all the goings-on during 2012 and what i have planned for 2013...get comfy, this could be long one...!
JANUARY
...i registered for Rachel Taylor and Beth Nicholls e-course - 'the art and business of surface pattern design'. i won't pretend i was a little bit hesitant being that it was the first round of the course - there were no reviews and no-one to get recommendation from but i thought 'what the heck, lets's do it'. and i'm am SO unbelievably glad i did. best money every spent (apart from my macbook of course)!
FEBRUARY
...i hadn't been doing much work for my agent recently due to the course (luckily she is lovely and very understanding that i have other commitments), so when she emailed me about a sale it made my day! unfortunately though i can't share said design with you :(
MARCH
...march was taken up mostly with exercises, competitions and live projects from the e-course...it was all go-go-go!
APRIL
...i was very excited to reach the semi-finals in the fabric8 competition with my 'summer bursts' watercolour print. watercolour isn't my strongest point so i was very pleased to have gotten this far for something so far away from my comfort zone!
MAY
...i graduated from the ABSPD e-course. it was all over...but lots of other exciting things were just about to start happening...yay! i can't say thank you enough to Rachael and Beth for putting together the course and the wealth of knowledge they shared. and also to my classmates - so much support between a fantastic group of people all eager to break into the design world!
...i was one of the final 5 to have their designs selected for the Wallpapered.com Jubilee brief. my design was set up for sale on their website!
...i opened my society6 shop where my designs were applied to art prints, canvases, iPhone cases, laprop skins, and most recently cushions.
JUNE
...i reopened my etsy store full of lots of lovely hand-made goodies! notebooks, button accessories, gift cards, notelets...
...i met up with some of the lovely ladies from the ABSPD course at the new designers show in islington. it was great to finally see them for real!!
liz (ellejane designs), sue (the print tree), helen (helen voice designs), suzy (suzy spellbound), me (mel smith designs), veena (veenartstyle), justine (justine + the joybringer), lauren (lauren britchford illustration)
...i took part in my first blog hop! it was titled passion4pattern and was organised by fellow classmate claire smilie.
JULY
...i was one of the final 6 to have their designs selected for the Wallpapered.com Olympics brief. my designs are now for sale on their website
...3 of my designs were accepted into the upcoming pattern base design book. it's due to be released early 2013 so can't wait to get my hands on a copy and see
...another sale from my agent from one of my older ranges. happy dance!
AUGUST
...i was very pleased to log on to the surface pattern designers bible - print & pattern blog by bowie style - and find my work had been featured! always a happy sight :)
...i completed two ranges for my agent and worked on extending my own 'black border' range
...the month of the london 2012 olympics! an amazing time to be in london and experience the atmosphere that the games brought with them
SEPTEMBER
...3 sales via my agent. woop woop! these were all from my latest range so that always give me a boost. more happy dancing!
...i visited Top Drawer and met Rachael Taylor, Kelly Crosseley and Louise Tiler. great day, great ladies and full of inspiration.
...i was advised by Rachael and her friend to do some stalls...and as i checked my emails whilst waiting for the train i had been asked if i would like to do a stall at spitalfields...spooooooky! so i took this as a sign and put my name name...let the prep begin!
...i also visited the tent show and got to meet liz smith from the e-course again and also saw sian elin at her stand. a great afternoon well spent discussing all things pattern!
...took part in my second passion4pattern blog hop organised again by classmate claire smilie. it included over 45 designers from our course - pattern overload for the brain (in a good way of course)!
...busy month this one - all of this plus a lovely little (well deserved holiday to portugal with the wonderful eleigh (- hey hun!)
OCTOBER
...most of october was spent drawing, photoshopping, printing and making...all to get ready for spitalfields. there's a lot to think about when doing a stall, especially when its your first one and you need to think about not only how much stock to take but also about all the table covers, props, pegs signs etc you need.
NOVEMBER
...i had my first guest post with decorque over on their blog and they also featured on mine and this will become a regular monthly feature:
...november was certainly a good month for blog features - i was splashed about on 5 blogs including decorque above, sarah fleming, rosie simons, jlw illustration and creative sketchbook.
...i hit 100 likes on my facebook page - i was hoping to reach this goal by christmas so i was a month early. a good day.
DECEMBER
...an early december market at camden with pedro of alfamarama was great fun if a little disappointing sales wise...the crowd was far too touristy to be looking for crafty-handmade-british goods.
...a 'last stop christmas shop' stall at old spitalfields market was a lovely end to a great year. i shared the stall with michele conroy and, as before, i met lots of lovely new people, and saw some familiar faces...a fab (and successful sales) day!
and now onto what 2013 holds...
- i have a project in the pipeline designing logos, motifs and packaging for a new business
- i have a monthly guest blog post set up with decorque
- i want to enter more competitions - i see what others are doing and need to make more time for them...you never know where they might lead!
- finally set up my spoonflower shop...it's been on my to-do list for a while now but other projects are keeping me busy and i haven;t gotten round to it yet!
- i plan on creating a brand-spanking-new website, a total refresh!
- but my main i will be having some products manufactured featuring my 'black border', 'bold & beautiful' and 'paisleyscope' ranges. this is all in aid of Top Drawer - i hope to do the show in September (this is all providing the manufacturing goes to plan!)
i am only going to plan up to september...we shall see what happens after the show...!
happy new year everyone...i hope 2013 is even better than 2012! thank you for all your support this past year - it's been amazing and very much appreciated!! :-)
