Wedding invite

It's roughly a year ago that we were busy sending out invites for our wedding and what with being a graphic designer I was clearly going to have to design our own :0)

Most designers will admit that designing their own portfolio is a massive stress let alone their own wedding invite! That said I did enjoy working on this one as obviously it was a very special project.

Our wedding didn't really have a set theme but for the flowers a particular dahlia called Cafe au lait was a centre feature. My lovely friend is a talented illustrator and so I asked her to create an illustration of this beautiful bloom to become the main feature for the invite. The rest was purely a fun play on words, with quirky illos and a simple black, white, grey and pink theme which didn't really feature anywhere else at the wedding, but that's how we roll in life!

Pom Pom Wall Hanging

Wall hangings are becoming a bit fashionable again and no longer reside in just baby rooms, you can hang them where the hell you like!

If you fancy one for yourself then why not make a pom pom version, it's superbly easy and just involves a bit of time.

All you need is the following; yarn (colour of your choice), cardboard strips (to wrap the yarn around and make your pom poms), scissors, string to thread the pom poms together and a stick to hang them from. As you can see from the photo my dog Mungo was incredibly helpful in collecting sticks for me ;0)

Try different sizes, colours, whatever takes your fancy! I'm thinking of creating a minimal grey and white version next time.

Kiehl's Brand

I absolutely love Kiehl's and if I'm honest was probably initially sucked in my their stylish packaging which is much more sophisticated that a lot of FMCG crap you see around, these guys have got it nailed, plus it's a great product! However I have no idea who designed their logo? Can't find diddly squat on the web and it seems to imply this was created a longtime ago by a mystical Japanese calligrapher. Either way the Kiehl's brand is a brand that I'd have loved to design so well oh mystical one.

Humble potato print

Now I know this is probably a little childish and reminiscent of being at school and aged four, but I think there is nothing wrong with reliving your childhood experiences and getting your print on! Sometimes you just need to grab what you've got available to get crafty and the humble potato is always a good one. Fry it, boil it, bake it, roast it or use it to print with, such a versatile veg :0)

This is pretty self explanatory, so just cut away to your hearts content, shape those potatoes how you want, grab some paint, paper and what do you know, you have yourself a ready made print factory! When you look close up it creates some pretty amazing textures too.

Here's some I did earlier. I think these patterns/colour combo's would look great on fabric... maybe for next time.

Kitenge Textiles

If you head down to Brixton market you will find many fabric shops selling these amazing kitenge style textiles. They are so vivid in colour and graphic in style its hard to resist them when they are all piled up together.

Kitenge is an East African fabric which serves an inexpensive, informal piece of clothing that is often decorated with a huge variety of colour and pattern. Traditionally many of the designs have meanings from traditional tribal patterns to religious and political slogans.

Images found via Pinterest

Horniman Museum

The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, London is one of those museums that if you grew up in London and any surrounding suburb you more than likely visited on a primary school visit. The stuffed walrus in the main hall has been etched on my brain ever since!

Popular for it's anthropology, taxidermy and tribal artefacts it's a very cool free museum that if you're down that neck of the woods is worth a visit. Nestled in beautifully landscaped gardens with views over the city, the museum itself was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Arts and Craft style popular at the time, and is quite unusual and there's even a cedar wood totem pole at the entrance. This museum is a real secret gem of a place.

Yarn Numbers

I created these yarn table numbers for my own wedding back in October last year. What with it being an autumn wedding I liked the idea of using yarn to create the numbers as a nod to the cooler weather and a good excuse to play around with creating fab woolly table numbers.

It is a very simple idea and an easy thing to do if you want to create something a bit different. And I don't think they have to be limited to table decorations!

Materials that you need: card, scissors or scalpel, yarn (colour of your choice), glue (I used a glue gun), tape, pen (if you're hand drawing your number), wooden skewers

Start by setting out your numbers, I roughly sized them to be 10cm high. Either draw freehand on the card or print out a number in a font of your choice. I choose a bolder sans font as you want them to be quite chunky. Cut out a pair, stick the two together leaving a gap at the base for the skewer to slide into place. Then you can start to bind the yarn around the number. Using tape to help stick the yarn in place, slowly wind the yarn around. It can be a bit fiddly and don't worry if it starts to look a bit messy, you can smooth the yarn out as you go. When you get to the very end weave the remaining yarn through the back, pull tight and snip off. Then slide the skewer into the gap at the base of the number and you're done!

DIY Marble Paper

Following on from the image I found the other day I decided that I'd give marbling a go!

I found inspiration from a few other blogs out there with the suggestion of using nail varnishes, weird huh, but it actually works a treat and if you have old varnishes lying around then why not make better use of them. It's actually super simple to do this, a tad messy, but then isn't art suppose to be!

Materials that you'll need: Tray, water, nail varnishes, paper, nail polish remover (it gets messy!) and something to swirl the paint about, I used some cocktail sticks.

Then get ready to work fast as the varnishes can set quite quickly when you drop them into the water. I also found that some varnishes contained a plastic content so it would leave a film on the water, but you can scrap this off in between marbling.

Drizzle the varnishes into the water and using the stick, or just gently shake the tray, create your paint patterns and merge the colours together, then lower your paper into the tray, lightly tap it down and slowly peel it off the water to reveal your marbling!

Marbles!

Found this beaut via Pinterest. I've never tried to make marble paper, hmmm I feel another craft day coming on!

Tidy tiles

Check out this amazing tiled wall. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but the colour combination and patternation is perfection.

It's an image taken outside the Sugarhouse Studios (a collaborative events space in East London, built and managed by Assemble). The building combines affordable studio space alongside wood and metal workshops and project space. I say it's just plain cool!

Wallflower

A potential Easter weekend project, this would be a great graphic for a wedding or spring party or just for the hell of it! Found via 

Pysanka

Pysanka is a Ukrainian tradition of painting eggs for Easter. Check out these amazing patterns via

Twisted weather

Today's weather is definitely feeling like April weather, blustery and windswept. Image found via

La Dolce Vita

Spending my birthday in Rome this year will certainly be the sweet life. Having only been to Italy once (Florence which was bloody awesome!) I can't wait to see what Rome has to offer. Watch this space for photos and my homecoming thoughts.

Photo via

Sunday Suppers

I have a bit of thing for cooking and cookbooks in general, to be honest I'm a sucker for any that use foil or alternative binding methods (thank you Polpo!) so here's another one to add to my growing collection - Sunday Suppers. What caught my eye in particular was the great food styling and photography.

Created by a lady called Karen Mordechai, who is a photographer and food stylist, she started a blog which focused on hosting communal cooking dinners in her apartment with each dinner taught by a guest chef using sourced local and seasonal ingredients. The blog was started for photos and recipes from the dinners and a way of sharing the essence of communal dining. The concept however centres on simplicity, a love of food and stunning imagery.

Luckily for us we can enjoy the simplicity by recreating these beautiful recipes at home, well at least try ;0) Follow Sunday Supper here for more awesomeness!

Photos borrowed from Sunday Suppers

Leaves

Stumbled across this stunning photo via pinterest and from a girl called Lisa Dominguez. Her collection of photos are just delightful check them out via

Flashback - HG Design Files

This is a flashback of some of my work from a couple of years ago.

I designed a information pack for the Crossrail Art Programme, which is a transport development currently going on in London. The stations will feature public art for which a sponsorship programme was set up in order to raise cash. I was asked to develop this sub brand producing a mini pack that would introduce the programme to potential sponsors.

The design focused on using hand painted typography, bright colour balanced with crisp photography.

Below are some of the brochure spreads created.

The Gentlewoman

The editorial design direction of The Gentlewoman is flipping rocking! This is a woman's magazine with great articles about great ladies and not a whiff of the usual rammed-down-your-throat trash that we so often see in other fashion mags. Great writing, great photography and great styling. Love it!