The Contemporary Craft Fair - Bovey Tracey

From 10th - 12th June 2011 I will be exhibiting at The Contemporary Craft Fair in Bovey Tracey, Devon. I will be on stand A46 if you are visiting the show and will be offering a 10% discount on all pieces bought at the show (excluding greetings cards)
Please see attached flyers below, hope to see you there!

Hello Again!

It seems like forever since my last blog post. It has in fact been many months. Since I last posted I have relocated back to Rutland and set up my studio there too. Very exciting but it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things and my blog fell by the wayside. Oops!

But now I'm trying to be good again and keep up to date with my blog. I also have a new dog called Dylan. He takes up a lot of my time, what with the copious amounts of walking and cuddling that need to be done. But he's a real sweetie. If I am slow with my next post, blame Dylan!

Work wise I have been very busy. I exhibited for the first time at BCTF - The British Craft Trade Fair - this April and whilst there I launched my new range of wall based pieces, images to follow. I am now busy preparing for my next show, The Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey in Devon. I'm hoping to have expanded even more on my range of products, but it's only weeks away so there's still lots to be done.

I've also started working at the Ferrers Gallery in Leicestershire, which is fab. It's great to actually enjoy going to work and I'm learning a lot about the other side of the craft industry. I do however spend more than I earn because of all the lovely things I spend my days surrounded by!

Noah!

Apologies for the big delay between posts recently, I've had a lot going on. All very exciting stuff - moving house, going on holiday, moving studio, re branding and developing the website (not done yet) and most excitingly - I have become an Aunty! I now have a gorgeous little nephew called Noah. He is a real cutie!

As a congratulations on being born present I wanted to get him something special that he could keep, rather than some clothes he would grow out of in a few months. With that in mind, I commissioned an illustration from the fab illustrator Rachael Smith (www.rachaelsmith.org) I decided a long time ago to commission something from Rachael, as I fell in love with her character Danny the Dragon and I decided it would be a perfect present for the baby. Rachael had the outline all sketched and ready to go but we had to wait for the baby to be born to find out if it should be a pink dragon or a blue dragon as that had been kept as a surprise.

This is the finished illustration:



I think it's awesome!!!! It looks lovely and has created a really special present. Not going to put up any photos of Noah the baby (though I wish I could to show him off!) so you'll have to make do with Noah the Dragon (though they don't look very similar thankfully!)

Jen xx

I'm Famous!!

I'm famous! Well nearly anyway, I feel like it at the minute. I have a fantastic 3 page feature in a national craft magazine! 'Craft & Design Magazine' (formerly Craftsman) have done a brilliant feature on my journey into craft. It is out in the current issue (July/August 2010) and if you want to know more you can buy it here: http://www.craftanddesign.net/buyacopy/

Very exciting! It is very surreal to see myself in a magazine I normally read. FYI, Craft & Design Magazine is a really great mag if you're interested in craft, I find it much more accessible than some of the other craft mags, and it has lots of good info on galleries and exhibitions near you - so very informative also!

Here is a sneaky look at the opening page of the article....


.....just to prove I'm telling the truth!!

Hope you like it!

Guess What?

I was invited to showcase my work at the BVC Awards on 9th June. It was a great evening and it was a pleasure to be there and I was delighted when I won an award!! I won the Enterprise Inc Business Development Award 2010. Very exciting! Below are photos of me receiving the award, which was presented by one of my mentors Bill Everard.







I've finally put these photos up today as it's my last day on the Enterprise Inc program and I'm feeling a bit sad :( Now off on holiday to cheer myself up!

Best Comment Ever

I took part in the Art House Exhibition last weekend. Art House is an open house trail of about 8 houses, each house hosting about 5 different artists. I wasn't sure how well my work would go down there as it was a completely new environment for me but it was actually fantastic. Made loads of sales and had a lovely weekend, and reading this comment made my day:



I especially like the spelling - byoutafull!

Meeting the Lord Mayor

In May I was invited to meet the Lord Mayor of Leicester at a "civic reception to recognise the young entrepreneurs of Leicester." I had anticipated that there would be lots of people there and we'd probably just listen to a speech by the Lord Mayor and not even get to meet him but I'm happy to say I couldn't have been more wrong. There were only about 10 of us there plus the Lord Mayor and Mayoress. It was good to meet everyone and find out what they all did. There were some secondary school pupils there who were studying business and were members of the young chamber of commerce. I was really impressed with them - some of them are already planning on setting up their own businesses at 16 when they leave school!

We also discussed as a group some ways businesses could get involved with start ups and with giving work experience to students studying business and marketing. One of the other things we discussed was how we could encourage others to set up their own businesses and getting graduates to stay in the area. It was quite a good discussion actually and it was a great chance to get my voice heard. All in all, a lovely evening.