Sunday

So what have you been up to this week? I've spent most of it working the night shifts (boo) and being woken up during the day by deliveries and builders working nearby. As I work a weird shift pattern at my normal job when ordering things for delivery that I know won't fit through the letterbox I try to arrange for them to arrive when I have a day off or I'm working nights. 9 times out of 10 they arrive when i'm on nights so the postman gets greeted by me in the middle of the day in my PJs with crazy bed hair, I dread to think what they must think of me!
One good thing about this week though was that I told a lady at work about my new business venture and showed her some pictures of things I'd made. I handed her my camera then sat back bracing myself for criticism or at best a "Hmmm that's nice," instead I got "Will you make some for me for my neighbours children for Christmas?" I was so chuffed I was smiling for the rest of my shift! She asked me to make two plaques, one for a little girl and one for a little boy. She left the design up to me but asked that the girls plaque be girly (so pinks and purples) and if possible could I do a Fireman Sam for the little boy. All the things I've made have been from images that have popped into my head or from various doodles so to have a specific character to try to do was a bit of a challenge. After a search of the internet to make sure I got the colours and detail right I came up with this:

She couldn't remember the name of the little girl so I've not been able to finish that plaque just yet.

Also this week as I mentioned in my last post, I got my new logo:

I'd been trying to do it myself on the computer but with a complete lack of computer skills it was never going to happen so I sent a drawing of it to Verve Designs who not only made it a proper logo, they improved it by giving me that lovely swooshy style writing. Not to mention they did it in less than a week! As soon as I received it I got onto Vistaprint to have some business cards made up and they are (hopefully) on their way to me now. I have added it to my website too, which has taken a bit of a back seat this week, I've decided it will now go live in January to give me plenty of time to get it just how I want it.
I like this design as I can use it with or without the writing, I'm going to have some little round stickers made up too so that I can add them to the packaging.

I love money boxes and think they make lovely gifts, especially for babies so today I did a bit of a practice with a rocking horse design,

I'm not that keen on the colours for this one but I do like the shape, I think the next ones I do will be in just one colour like all pink or all blue. I do like the little heart gems though, I've used them on some baby plaques before and they're something I will make sure I've always got in my craft box!
Pop over to Handmade Monday to see how busy Wendy has been with her camper-van clocks and to see what the other crafters have been up to.
Until next time
Jem
x

Babies EVERYWHERE!

Is it just me or does there seem to be a bit of a baby boom at the moment?
At this moment in time I have one cousin pregnant, one cousin has just had a baby girl last month, at work I have one colleague who also had a baby girl last month, three colleagues who are heavily pregnant and two male colleagues have just had babies (well their partners did!)
It seems that everywhere I turn theres either a buggy or a bump. Now i'm not getting broody, i'm far too immature for that, but I am getting creative. All these babies being born deserve beautiful gifts!
I wanted to create a baby plaque that people could buy before they knew the name of the baby, or even before they knew the sex. So I came up with these:
For baby boys:

For baby girls:

And I did one very similar in cream for those who don't yet know if its a little boy or girl, unfortunately I haven't yet photographed it!
I think they're pretty cute but I'm still toying around with the facial expressions and debating whether or not to add some more embellishments, what do you think?
Now going back to my cousin and my colleague who both had baby girls last month, amazingly they were both born on the same day and their mothers share the same name, spooky! I wanted to create a little something special so for my colleague I made this:

and I made a similar one for my cousin

And then a matching money box as my mum wanted a gift to give her too

Here's the two of them together:

Myself and my mum travelled to London on Friday and delivered the gifts to the new baby, I also did a plaque and bag of sweets for her big brother and sister so they didn't feel left out, big sister had this:

And big brother had a similar plaque to the giraffe from the last post, again I stupidly forgot to photograph it (slaps hands)
The cousin who's still pregnant (due next month) had a baby shower today which myself and my mum went to, it was good fun and she had a whole table full of gifts. I haven't made her a gift yet as I'm waiting to see what she names it however my mum wanted a moneybox to give to her so I made her this:

I didn't get to see her reaction as we had to leave before the end to travel back however she did see the other moneybox and she loved it so hopefully she'll like hers too.
Anyway thats enough baby talk from me, its tired me out!
What have you been up to this week? Pop along to Wendy's Handmade Monday to see the other talented crafters and their wonderful creations. This is the second time I've entered as Jam Dalory and as well as picking up new followers i'm hoping to join in every week at least until the end of 2011.
Until next time...