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8:06 AMon Monday, December 9, 2013
Just a little reminder of our final Christmas delivery dates for those of you purchasing gifts online for Xmas :) If you're ordering from Canada, France, Greece or Poland you'll need to make your purchase before 10am GMT on Tuesday 10th December to catch us. That's tomorrow so you'll need to get in their fast!
For America orders will need to be placed by 10am on the 13th, Western Europe by the 14th and finally the UK by the 20th. Orders placed after 10am still have a chance of being dispatched on the same day, but we can't guarantee it!
Final Christmas Delivery Dates: 4th DEC - Asia, Far East (including Japan), New Zealand 5th DEC - Australia 6th DEC - Africa, Caribbean, Central & South America, Middle East 9th DEC - Cyprus, Eastern Europe 10th DEC - Canada, France, Greece, Poland 13th DEC - USA 14th DEC - Western Europe (excluding France, Greece, Poland) 20th DEC - UK
If you require special delivery please drop me a note as soon as possible and I would be happy to create a special listing for you with the extra postage.
As always David and I will do our best to turn around your order as quickly as possible, but please try and make purchases as early as you can.
If you have a special request please let us know and we'll try our best to help you out :D
Today we're hanging out with one of my absolute favourite illustrators, Debby Greenaway aka The Imagination Of The Ladysnail. I first discovered her work in Ginger Pickles online shop (where we're both stocking products), and couldn't resist picking up a couple of her brooches to add to my collection. Recently I was really lucky to have met her at Renegade Craft Fair earlier in the year - as fate had it, we were actually opposite her :D Needless to say, her lions and robots and hedgehogs were great company! I'm really excited because I find her work super inspiring and I can't wait to ask her what inspires her to create such beautiful characters...
Give us the low down! Tell us a little about who you are and what you make:
Helloooo! My name is Debbie – also known as Deb or Debs. I am an illustrator and printmaker, currently living in Coventry. I work part time in a library. I draw, doodle, paint, crayon and screenprint a lot – making illustrations. prints, cards and badges. I can sometimes be found sewing one off makes. I am trying to sort out my to-do lists and get stuck in to creating little illustrated stories – hopefully making zines, books and series of narrative prints.
How do you stay inspired?
I try to stay inspired by picking up a pencil and drawing every day if I can. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. Some days it comes naturally and sometimes i have to force it a little to get going. I find having a the part time day job has helped me stay inspired – it gives me time out and time out from thinking about all things ‘art’. It also lifts the financial stress which is very important. I stay inspired by creating work that keeps me interested – also in the hope that others like my work too.
I have to be honest and say that my blog reading has gone down these last few months from what it used to be. I use my twitter or facebook feed as a link to reading people’s blogs! I read ones that are mainly art, craft or illustration based – some with business tips in and some with cats in! I am currently trying to restart my own blog.
Why do you like being a maker in 10 words or less?
Tough question – I have spent a while rewriting this one and its difficult to put it in to words – especially ten or less! I managed 11 words but it sounded wrong so keeping it simple is the key i reckon - I enjoy the fun you can have with a pencil.
Have fun and enjoy it – keep it simple and work through an idea best you can. Ask for help or advice if you get stuck and don’t be afraid to make mistakes – if you draw something you don’t like – don’t rub it out or rip the page out – leave it there and continue drawing/creating. As one day you will look back and be able to see your progress. Please don’t get too precious over keeping your sketchbook precious.
Thanks so much for hanging out with us today Deb! I'm terrible for erasing drawings I don't like - and worse so, ripping pages out when I'm really unhappy, but I have to admit you have a really good point. I'm going to try going without my eraser for a bit and see how I get on :) I can't wait till I buy your first picture book - it's going to be sublime! Until then I'm going to write up my wish list from your online shop. It's going to be a good Christmas this year!
We hope you all enjoyed our little feature today - we'd love to hear what you think of Debs words of wisdom :)
This Saturday is 'Small Business Saturday' and it's all about encouraging people to support small businesses across the UK, both on the day and beyond. Being a small business ourselves we're strong believers in supporting local companies and other makers and will be doing our bit to spread the love by investing in them throughout the Christmas period rather than choosing big companies.
It might cost a little bit more, but it makes such a big difference. The world would be such a boring place with only Amazon and iTunes, don't you think?
pretty packages all wrapped up to be sent out!
There would be no personal touches, less new ideas... Have you ever seen Wall-E? Who want's a future like that? So, instead of ordering from Buy N Large make someones day and support a small business and your favourite local shops, restaurants and bars on Saturday the 7th December. You'll find the experience is much more enjoyable and personal... plus you might find something extraordinary too!
If you have your own small business you'd like to share a link to, please add it by commenting on this post - it's good to stick together and share the love :D
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10:00 PMon Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Wooohooo! Check out our festive Christmas pug! That's right, he's just made his debut as our first ever window illustration for Sofi's in Edinburgh. Doesn't he look fabulous?
A short film we created on the making of our window... it's the best film you'll see this year!
Our exhibition has been going down exceptionally well and has gone far beyond our expectations for selling our work and getting kudos from lovely visitors. The staff at Sofi's have particularly been enjoying it all - so much so they asked us to come in and illustrate their windows for Christmas!
We only had a few days to get things together - we were initially going to do a sausage dog accross all the windows but as time flew by it seemed just a tad out of reach. We decided to use our Christmas pug instead as he's been so popular this year. Looking this dapper, it's easy to see why ;)
Having never done this before we were a little anxious as to what we got ourselves into! I figured the best way to draw our wee pal so large was to blow him up on a photocopier first. It's really tricky to scale up images this big without a graph and scale to work do, so this was a great way to get him up and perfect in snap. Once we got him to a decent size, we pieced all the paper together and stuck it up on the outside of the window...
And started going round all the outlines inside! Obviously the ink is inside the building as it's wipe clean and it would have come off in the rain otherwise. As we're working on the inside we need to do everything backwards too - hardcore!
As I was outlining all the windows, David was the ultimate colouring in machine. It took us about a couple of hours to do it all and we needed to run in and out a lot to start with to check it was all looking right on before we filled it in. I have a new found respect for the people who do these all the time! It's a lot of work and problem solving, but what's totally amazing about it as you can see how wonderful it all looks as you're working which is nice :)
Supplies needed for creating your own window display: Posca pens, cameras, bananas and diet coke!
How handsome!
I actually started writing the 'Merry Puggin' Christmas' window free-hand but it was just looking a little pathetic because I couldn't get the scale large enough by eye. That may sound silly, but when you're working around 5 times larger than you're used to -- and BACKWARDS -- you'll quickly realise it's a different kettle of fish entirely. After deciding it wasn't good enough I illustrated the replacement text on sheets of A3 paper as before and re did it all. It meant spending longer working, but I'm so much happier with the results!
Sofi's at night... there's homemade mulled wine inside and dogs are allowed in the pub; you can imagine this place is the perfect setting for a festive evening!
I think this is one of the projects I'm most proud of this year. Being dyslexic I have a lot of problems with spelling so writing everything backwards on a window was a big task for me. You have to concentrate really hard on spelling the word backwards (I wrote it on the window first to keep me right), then writing the letters backwards (SUPER HARD! I've been training myself all my life not to do that!), and on top of all that, write it straight, spaced well and legible. It took a little while to write these simple lines, but my god am I proud of them!
Our window will be up till January at Sofi's Bar in Edinburgh, as will our exhibition 'You Want Fries With That' which is conveniently hanging up inside. We're really proud to be donating 10% of every pack of pug cards sold to Teenage Cancer Trust this year too. Visit our Etsy shop to purchase a set and make someone smile :)
A big thank you to everyone at Sofi's for your support and giving us such an awesome opportunity!
We'd love to hear what you lovely readers think :)
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10:00 PMon Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Check out my new tape collection! With so many packages going out (we reached our record at 25 orders in one day on Monday!) we've been going through more rolls of tape than hot dinners. That meant I got to buy in some new colours to replace my dwindling collection - Happy Days!
I spotted this incredible dog cookie jar in Anthropologie and I fell in love. So kitsch! He's not quite as cute as Owly, (my giant owl cookie jar from David), but he's a close second. If only we had the space for him... and the money! These ceramic wonders cost a pretty penny, but they make incredible ornaments :D
Drive by night Krispy Kreme! This little midnight snack was a real treat...
Especially because it's a Mince Pie Donut! That's right, it's Christmas-tastic... and its a taste sensation for those who want to try them!
A little peek at a wholesale order we sent out this week too... told you we've been busy! I'll be blogging about this secret project shortly. We've had so many wonderful secret projects that we've had to keep under wraps recently - keep your eye out for an unveiling of what we were upto over the weekend tomorrow!
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11:00 PMon Monday, December 2, 2013
Check out all our swag! This year we decided to go all out for the sales... Well, online sales that is! With so many of our favourite shops participating this year, it was difficult to keep to a budget. It's not often we get to splurge like this - we had quite a wish list collated for the event and we're really happy that we managed to bag a few things at a fraction of their cost.
I've been looking for a pretty vintage style day dress for some time and my heart skipped a beat when I spotted this on at Mod Cloth! As you know I have an obsession with illustrating buildings - it was like it was meant to be. I also picked up a new pair of earphones in the Kate Spade sale which are a) super practical and b) super cute. I can't wait till they arrive and I can use them - whilst I love my big headphones they can be a little unwieldy when out and about. And no outfit is complete without a pair of birds pinned on somewhere! These swallow earrings by Tatty Devine are a really classic rockabilly accessory which are going to look amazing with my breton (stripe) jumpers! So chique!
Whilst I did particularly well for *ahem* gifts for myself, David got a new set of Copic pens that he's been going on about for an age (I foresee myself using them when he's not looking HA!) and a little gift for Vivid HQ - Fin & Jake illustrations for our studio! David and I are big fans of Adventure Time and when we discovered these beautiful prints on Etsy we had to get them :D We're back to being broke, but we're both very happy!
I can't wait for the post to arrive next week - after spending so much time wrapping stuff up to send to other people it's going to be a delight getting some fun post to open ourselves :) Snail Mail Forever!
We've been chosen as a Featured Brand on Storenvy! Out of hundreds and thousands of sellers on their online market place, we couldn't believe our eyes when we got asked by their team to become one of their featured brands. How incredible is that?
Much like Etsy, Storenvy is a market place where you can set up a shop amongst other makers. There's much more clothing on Storenvy, but there is still a huge amount of incredible designers and inspirational shops to discover.
With so much tough competition on the site, we never expected to make such an impact with their team! The Featured Brand section is brand new to the site, so we're totally thrilled to get the opportunity to participate during the launch. It's part of their first ever exclusive Black Friday - Cyber Monday market place sale where you can get 30% off trendy gifts picked out by the team. Whilst we're running our own sale in our Etsy shop with the same discount, this is the only place you can get goodies like our iPhone cases for a fraction of the price! Woop woop!
What an amazing weekend we've had with them too - it's been such an honour to have our work shared through the site and we've gained so many lovely new fans and followers from it :D Thanks team!
CYBER MONDAY For those of you wanting to snap up some amazing deals, visit the Storenvy Exclusive Sale here. It's also your last chance to get 30% off in our Etsy shop! All you need to do is enter the coupon code SANTA13 at the checkout to redeem your discount.
We hope you've all had an amazing Black Friday - Cyber Monday weekend - we've bought quite a few goodies ourselves this year which has been a total treat! Keep your eye out for a 'swag bag' post coming shortly. . .
Elbows at the ready ladies - lets get those last minute deals!
