People of Awesomeness: December!

The first week of DECEMBER! (can you handle it?!) so it's my great honour (drum roll etc) to introduce you to this month's fabulous sponsors here on indieBerries!

First up, we have the lovely little lass that I met at The Blogcademy earlier this year - Miss Kylie! Kylie's blog is an excellent example of niche blogging at it's finest.


Kylie is a fabulous green-finger little lady and shares all her outdoor adventures on her blog. If you tuck into her blog archives you will find the most amazing "hippie-ish" things that you never even knew existed - I mean - 2000 Trees Festival... Have you ever?! Totally going next year!


Kylie's signature posts are definitely her Bird of the week - each week she brings you a new bird to learn a little something about! And! She creates all these birdy images herself - such talent! (I think my favourite so far is the little Starbucks Starling! haha) I am WAITING for kylie's birdgeeking card range to explode! AHEM, Kylie :)

(click over to Little Outdoor Kylie for the pic credits)

One of my favourite posts this month has been her "100 habits of a modern hippie" (go tally up your hippie-score! haha) and if you're in London - make sure you check out her Top Five Christmas Markets Post... I had no idea about some of these markets and I'm so excited to visit them!

Kylie is my main sponsor this month - so you can look forward to a "Kylie-inspired" cartoon later this month! For now you  can follow her here:

Blog || Facebook || Twitter 

 

Lulu from Berry Diaries is back again sharing her thoughts and I'm excited to be sharing some of her inspirational posts with y'all today!


Lulu's post on "The four locks and keys" is so interesting! She talks about people who are genuinely comfortable in their own skins and that according to yoga-practice, there are four types of people in this world, and each different "type" requires a different way to engage (def. worth a read!). I am always so fascinated and craving to know more about myself and what makes me tick and a lot of Lulu's posts address those kinds of ideas - like the one on your "gut feelings" and intuition and also... I love the fact that she always writes completely from the heart.


Lulu was jet-setting off to Zurich last weekend for the Christmas markets and her snaps from her travels are SO awesome! i LOVE this picture of this little bird having a bath! so CUTE!

Follow Berry Diaries here:

Blog || Twitter || Facebook

Little Miss Medic - the rambling Doctor, has been up to her antics again! In the past few weeks she has seen a patient who has been pregnant 18 times! She has also been looking after a sick little pup (below - how cute!) and... in true Little Miss Medic style, has been talking about Va-jay-jay-jazzling.

(I am not sure why I put these pictures together - that's very awkward of me).

I love the honest frank-ness of Little Miss Medic's blog and her encouragement for us to all "CARPE SCROTUM!" (grab life by the balls). Her latest post is.. erhm...about some.... "vaginal-knitting" - yeah, you probably wanna check that out.

You can follow Little Miss Medic Here:

Blog || Twitter || Facebook

Jane is the owner and curator of It's a Bling Thing - a boutique shop which sells all sorts of awesome little goodies! She recently did her first market (high five!) and sent me her table "mock up" to have a peek at (below) - and I was super impressed! Those ceramics look so fab on those wrapped boxes! And such a clever and simple idea to create a bit of height variety at your market stand!


There are lots of cool goodies and gift ideas to have a browse at in the online shop - lots of handy stocking fillers if you ask me!

 
There are a variety of different things on offer through this shop - these ceramic animals would look really cool against a grey wall (I have had unbelievable urges to paint walls grey lately - ask Warren, anyway, I digress). Jane also stocks a offbeat mix of accessories - like these cross wooden earrings (above).


When I was browsing through her shop - I came across a sTash of 'tache inspired things. I don't know if it's because I am missing the husband's MO (NO, I AM NOT) or what - but they all seemed to jump out at me because they are so awesome! Have a look at the moustache ring and moustache chain - epic! 

To find out when and where her next market is (which, if I'm not wrong could be this weekend!) Follow It's a Bling Thing here:

Twitter || Website || Facebook 

 
Having recently started setting up my own Etsy Store - I was so excited when Pamela from Wired Boutique Store wanted to sponsor indieBerries. I know what it's like to get a small (craft) business up and running, so I am so happy to be promoting this little Etsy Boutique shop!


Pamela makes beautiful hard resin domino pendants - and I love her new Christmas decor range! (See HERE and HERE). We don't even have a Christmas tree yet and I'm dying to decorate SOMETHING! How cute would these pendants look on your tree! (Also - I think that they would make such awesome additions to a plain craft coloured gift wrap - and they can double up as gift wrap, which the recipient can then use to hang on their tree!


Some of my other favourites from her shop are these two above: the American-flag inspired pendant - imagine that with some denim cut-offs, white vest and killer biker boots! If it's too cold for mini denim shorts and vests (which in London, it is) I can suggest the crimson polka dot pendant with a burlap thread with a big cozy scarf!

 

Otherwise, if you need a little more BLING in your life (who doesn't) then I can recommend this sparkling gem above!

You can check out Pam's blog where she shares some of her previous market galleries and musings. Follow her elsewhere here:

etsy || twitter || facebook

Thanks so much for sponsoring everyone!

Happy Festive Season!

_____________________________________

If you are interested in Sponsoring indieBerries to promote your thangs- 

you can check out the different packages here

(my main sponsor spots are fully booked until April! Woohoo!
But there are loads of other packages you can snap up for the festive season)

_____________________________________

A few projects lately....

Just wanted to share a few little design things that have been keeping me busy lately!

Bespoke Poster Design:


Above: This poster was commissioned By Keri Bainborough, for her and her husband - on their wedding day, the A4 poster is now framed and sits on their living room mantle piece for their friends and family to admire (below).


Above: A poster design commissioned by Lauren Setterberg - of her and her boyfriend - who is a third eye blind fan and avid hiker!


Above: Megan Hartwig contacted me for an A4 poster design of her and her daughter Zoe. She wanted to include words that were special for her and her daughter as well as a fun doodle border.

Above (and below): Lulu Johnson-Becker asked me to create a custom poster of her and her husband for their one year "paper" anniversary. I created a bespoke illustration and a variety of poster layouts for her to choose from - including special moments from their first year together as a married couple (below).


Illustrated Wedding Stationery:



Above: Theuns and Leanie, an afrikaans couple from South Africa, contacted me to create their wedding stationery with an illustrated feel. The Save the Dates (above), featured a bespoke cartoon of the couple including a landmark of their wedding venue. The Save the Dates were sent out electronically to their friends and family, whilst the invitations (below) were sent out via mail to their respective guests.



Above: The wedding invitations included a cartoon frame which highlights the couple's love story. The airplane motif and the bespoke cartoon couple were two elements that were carried throughout the wedding stationery design.

Illustrated Logo Design:


Jen, the founder of Dogs love walks - commissioned a cartoon based logo design for her new dog walking business. The client sent through photographs of her and her dogs which helped to create the perfect logo.

The Click Frenzy: November Editon

Happy Wednesday everyone! Before we get too far into December - I thought I would share my little Click Frenzy post that I have been curating from November - (I didn't managed to post is on the last day of the month because of the "EPIC DAY" so here it is now! Hope you enjoy!

A New York City Subway Experiment
Why Marriage isn't for me.
Change the way you think about ink.
Little Rogue Tap Dancer.
10 things to do with Mason jars - I approve.
Clever marketing/advertising retorts: here and here
I miss Asia. A lot.
Learn to cultivate your response of gratefulness
This is absolutely despicable. I am disgusted.
DINOVEMBER. One of the most awesome things I've ever seen. Coolest parents.
The difference between Men and Women.
The power of genetics.
The Parody Pinterest account: "Quinoa, the well-dressed child"
Man illustrates a joke told by his drunk wife. haha
Epic, cringeworthy puns. Go on - click it.
A few awesome/funny photos - I do wonder how many of them have been photoshopped.
What to do if you ever get buried alive. And other useless pieces of epic knowledge.
The world's first 24 hour music video.
These drawings - beautiful.
A nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people have on their deathbeds.
A kid draws some drawings for her dad and he finishes them on his travels - so cute.
I do love me a bit of human psychology.
I officially have a new list of places to visit.
Challenge yourself to a month of letting go - Zen Habits.

PS - Tomorrow I'll be introducing you to all my sponsors for the month - 

so many good posts to share - I can't wait!

indieBusiness: the "AWESOMENESS" of working from home.

About a month or two ago, I started a new little blog series around the small/indie Business. As I start shaping my own creative business - I thought it would be handy for me to share with you any tips, thoughts, advice and random musings that I come across in my quest to take over the world with pretty things.

So far in this series (which is posted every Tuesday) I have covered

• What makes a good blog?
• Talking about money -with a very basic income/expenditure spreadsheet download.
• Tips and useful advice for your first craft market (including set up and things to remember)
• Things to learn from your first craft market (and what to take away from it, if it doesn't go as you had hoped).

Today's post - is a more light hearted look at the life of a freelancer who works from home - Enjoy!

Working from home is great, in fact it's pretty fabulous because more often than not - it means you are your own boss. But, there is also another sharp edge to that shiny sword...

ie:

This is true.

In fact - way more often than I'd like to admit.

You justify this with the "well - nobody is going to see me and I shan't waste my fancy clothes. Besides, i like to be COMFY when I get mah shizz done."

Sometimes, your humble yoga pant will be in the washing basket.

This is fateful.

You may end up in your PAJAMA PANT.

Which is a whole new level of "freelancer-no-no"

But don't worry, you will find a way to justify it.

(just last weekend in fact, I attempted applying eye-shadow to my face with my thumb.
This is partly due to our overnight bag (CONTAINING ALL MY LOVELY MAC MAKE UP BRUSHES) being kidnapped by a train when we weren't looking - but that's a whole different story. Either way - I looked positively raccoon-ish.)

Freelance boys, you may start to "dabble" in "other" things too.

Don't be afraid - it's natural.

The English Language will begin to evade you - 

as I have just noticed from that incoherent cartoon-sentence above.

You will be GENUINELY surprised that the fridge has not managed to miraculously change contents in the last 3 minutes you have checked it. You will actually be SO surprised that you will have to go back and check it. Again.

Any excursion to leave the house is like a GIANT ADVENTURE. When your husband calls to say "shall I bring something for dinner for us on the way home?", your immediate response is,

"NOOOOO!!! LET ME DOOOO IT. LET ME BRAVE THE SHOPPING AISLES!! OH SWEET GLORIOUS ADVENTURE!!"

Your husband, will generally not argue with crazy lady.

These debates may last hours.

Just think about that for a second.

You guys, I am two conversations away from naming our couch.

You will drink WAY more coffee than is humanly necessary.

You will eat more than you need to.

Laundry and other household chores will become very important and immediately compelling. (Actually - I'm quite good at ignoring those).

You will find it very difficult to "switch off" from work at the end of the day. End of the day? What end? End of what? It's the end? When is the end? It is day? Work day? Home? Home work, day? I'm so confused. Your "work life" and your "home life" begin to get all mashed up like a giant pile of mash.

It becomes EXTREMELY confusing when your work life is your home life is your work life is your home life - 

AND!

If you don't believe me -

just ask my couch.

___________ {the end} ________

Follow along for more Creative Business tips, advice and musings here:

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Cheap and Dirty Christmas: Easy DIY advent calendar

A little while ago I got into a twitter conversation with Michelle from MY creative and Freya from Nishaantishu about some Festive DIY ideas. Following that convo - we decided to challenge ourselves to creating some "cheap n dirty" Christmas decor ideas. Ya know - for people on a budget who still want to make their nests a festive little cocoon.

We had decided to post all our DIY ideas yesterday (yesterday for me happened to be "one of those days" I spent most of the day out and wasn't at my computer longer than 20 seconds to be able to post it all - so am doing it today - sorry ladies for the delay!). Anyway - here is a very easy budget friendly Christmas advent calendar DIY!


What you need:

• Numbers 1 - 25 (I have a download at the bottom of the post if you would like)
• Advent calendar "activity slips" (also included in the download)
• 25 envelopes
• Things to "decorate" your envelopes
• Imagination and fun activity ideas

First print out your advent number and gather whatever you are going to use to decorate your envelopes - we decided to use printed out photos from our wedding (the ones we do actually have - that didn't get attacked by an EVIL DOG) and some paper print outs of "Christmas-scrapbook papers" that I designed a while ago. (Super cost effective)

(And also washi tape - obviously)

You could also use - Christmas wrapping paper, doodles, last years' Christmas cards ribbons or anything else cheap or collected from around your home.


Next get sticking - stick one number onto each envelope and then fill the rest of the space with your photos/washi tape/ ribbons/doodles/words etc.

  
Next print out your Advent activity cards - we made the calendar together on Friday night and it was such fun! We decided to come up with 5 "activities" together and ten each of our own as a surprise that we can do together.

The good thing about creating an activity advent calendar is that you can completely tailor it to suit your budget. The majority of the tasks can be completely cost free and you can also include one or two more "special things" depending on how much you want to spend. I can't tell you too many of our activities - because the ten I created are a surprise for Warren and the ten he made, I have no idea what they are!

(Above: one of our combined tasks)

Once you have all your task lists - turn the envelopes and activities over so that you can't see any of them and then put one activity into an envelope at random. Once you have an activity in each envelope arrange them all on the door in a "Christmas Tree" formation - (as you can see from the first pic). It helps to have a variety of horizontal and vertical envelopes.


As I mentioned - yesterday ended up being a bit CRAY CRAY - so we didn't even get the chance to check out advent 1! Above is our "advent activity" for tonight, number 2 (as made by The Warr). We will have to catch up advent activity 1 at some other stage of the week. But for tonight - we shall be dancing around our lounge to our wedding song.

If you'd like to download the numbers that I created for this calendar as well as the "advent activity" squares - you can grab them HERE.

You can check out Michelle's awesome Star Garlands and Cookie Cutter Mobile and Freya's Christmas garland too!

Also - I didn't even get a gap to post my usual "7 things Sunday" yesterday so I've decided to do it now -


7 AWESOME things from this week

1. The moustache is gone
2. The moustache is gone
3. The moustache is gone
4. The moustache is gone
5. The moustache is gone
6. The moustache is gone
7. The moustache is gone.

REJOICE.

If you'd like to share any cheap and easy Christmas DIYs with us - please do! #cheapdirtyxmas