Blueberry Park Packaging

I've just completed some new packaging design for fab friend and fellow designer Karen at Blueberry Park.

It's lovely to work on projects together with Karen and this was no exception. I've designed her logo and labels previously, and this next step was to make her products stand out with her brand identity.

It's sometimes strange to hand over a finished project to a client; when the execution is out of my hands it can lead to mixed feelings when I see it. Karen, however, is always meticulous and makes things look fab so after handing over the disk of completed artwork ready for print, to see the boxes fully dressed and stacked made me really happy.

Good luck at the London Gift Fair this weekend Karen!

Live Owl and Me!

I got to hold a live Eagle Owl at the Leeds Owl Trail anniversary party yesterday evening... a little nerve wrecking as close up you realise what powerful animals they can be.

She came (with her handler) from the Royal Armouries in Leeds as our guest of honour!

This fella is less intimidating though, a little Leeds Owl Trail mascot with a t-shirt made-to-measure very kindly and expertly by Karen at Blueberry Park then I added my Leeds Owl Trail logo.Looks quite good I think!

We had a great full-page write up in the Yorkshire Evening Post, a smaller version is online here; which was a great follow up to the one on the BBC website.

The article in the paper followed a week of school and Art Gallery workshops devised and delivered by the Owl Team, culminating in an exhibition of little owls placed on the map in Leeds Museum.

(picture of clay owls by Nick Moss Films)

On top of my busy time with the Leeds Owl Trail I'm also working on Christmas greetings designs for 2011 and bespoke Halloween invitations for October.

Variety makes makes my job such fun!

Now we are nine

Well, the birthday weekend is over and I think it was a success. We had a swimming party (did you guess that already?). I made the cake. Icing is not a medium I'm totally comfortable with and I don't find it at all relaxing, but I get a request each birthday and I can't refuse a creative challenge! The cake sponge for my daughter is always pink!

The notebook I made Sadie has already started being customised, so I guess she liked it! She also recieved one of these beautiful colour in posters by Scandi from her friend Ruby, which will look great framed on her bedroom wall, I just have to try not to be too precious about letting my nine year old colour it in!

The pens she used to colour in the notebook were another gift; Berol Felt Tips. I love them anyway (school/stationery nostalgia!) but they will now for ever be associated in my mind with John Thorpe MBE (Leeds Civic Architect) and my recent visit to his studio in a Leeds Owl Trail capacity. He colours in his amazing maps with his trusty berol pens, mapping and planning places and spaces in Leeds.