Being a little creative!

Well, I know it has been a while!  The last year really has been manic.  Juggling work and children (don't actually juggle children, it's very frowned on).

In order to escape a little from all the various pressures I have forced myself to get creative! 

I was finding it so hard to find time to just do.  So in order to try to retain what little sanity I had left (not a lot!) I got making and I thought you, or at least those that are still around to read my musings, would like to see what I have been up to!

So I have been working on a lot of illustrating projects recently and it reminded me that I had a book I had written but I wasn't at all happy with the illustrations.  I have drawn and redrawn this little character so many times and this is the latest version.  she has gone from a baby to a preschooler! Why? Well, apparently , you should use characters the same age as the audience you are targeting.  Makes a lot of sense, I mean no preschooler wants to be outdone by a baby do they!

This little girl is called Pigley. (we used to call my second little one Pigley when she was little).  Pigley is the perfect age to explore the world an in the first book she is learning all about apples and how trees grow. 

Here you can see various different versions I have tried in the past.

Once I had settled on a illustration for her I decided to give modelling a go.  Now this is not something I will be repeating, at least not commercially.  I have never been able to model very well but I have to say I am rather pleased with her.  What do you think?

I have also been working on a colouring book for children.  Once these are released they will actually be personlised to the child so they can in effect colour themselves in lots of different environments!  I will also be doing a generic one which will be cheaper. More about this in the new year but until then I thought you might like a sneaky peek at one of the illustrations.

In other illustration news I have nearly finished a really exciting project for a local poet! This image is for a poem all about the torture of car journeys with siblings!I really love this illustration and the whole book is coming along amazingly!  This book of nonsense poems will be available to buy after Christmas so I will keep you posted!  

Lastly, for now!  (don't want to bore you!) I have been brushing up on my illustrating skill with an online course and this is one of my pieces of homework!  I'm so thrilled with this one!  I wonder if I should make him into a greeting card?

So, for now, I will say byeeeeee.  

I will be stopping by Handmade Monday to say hi as it really is my fav bloggy place to hang out on a Monday!

Hope you have a fantastic week and fingers crossed I will have new and exciting things to sho you next time!  Maybe a tutorial of how I did the model?

Jen xx

Introducing Jendoris

Sometimes I am very surprised at the directions my craftyness takes me.  I have been really getting into planning this year and I currently have 3 different planners, healthy eating, business and everyday.  My everyday has been particularly fun and has led to my latest product!  Jendori!

So what is a Jendori?  Well it's my personal take on the Travelers Notebook system.  I'm not sure that answered the question right?  

A travelers notebook, or in my case the Jendori is basically a cover with elastics inside.  You can then add whatever inserts you wish to fill it up.  

So what's so different about mine?  Well each of my Jendoris are A6, fabric, trifold and quilted in my own swirly pattern.  I also make inserts and can customise them to the colour scheme of the cover!

Each Jendori comes will added elastics and a metal charm. 

There are so many fun fabrics to choose from. Here are just a few that have been made and sent out to their new forever homes recently.

I have created all sorts of inserts so far.  These have included address books, diaries, habit trackers, plain and squared inserts and also bill trackers.  So if you fancy having your own, unique Jendori then pop by my Facebook page or pop me a message.  I will have everything listed on the website soon but it is currently being redone and it's taking me a while to add everything.

I will leave you with a video unveiling on one of my recent orders.  

I will be popping my Handmade Monday to have a browse to do pop by to say hi and meet some wonderful crafters!

Heat Embossing

Wow! look at this, two posts in less than two weeks!  Have I got my blogging mojo back????

I don't know about you, but whenever I have lots to do there is always something else I'd like to try. Recently inspiration has been popping up at odd times! Yesterday, my inspiration led me to my recently made Travelers Notebook.  I say made, it's actually a bit of a work in progress and I am adapting it as I go along.  I will share my notebook with you soon once I have a little more in it. Until then I would love to show you an insert I made.

I created an insert to wrap around one of my books. I wanted extra pockets.  I decided to use a lovely pad of paper from First Editions called 'Isabelle'  ( an old pad now unfortunately) 

The patterns are so beautiful and full of pinks, greens and browns.  This particular paper had lots of white so I thought I would use heat embossing to decorate it.  You can see the difference here between the areas that I have decorated and those I have left.

This experiment led me to have another go and produce a video tutorial for you all.  So I do hope you enjoy it. 

I have also created a video on my Facebook page on how to use the same techniques to enhance your lettering!  To watch it click here.

I am expecting supplies this week and I will have a couple of kits available to buy so you can try this at home.  I can also sell the items individually.

Total kit price is £25 (£30rrp so a fab saving!)  postage is £3

I'm linking up with Handmade Monday so do pop by and link up too if you have a blog or to come and find some wonderful blogs to read.

Jenny xx

6 Whole Months!

6 months! 6 whole  months.... I'm so sorry!
Actually those 6 months since my last post have flown by, lots of news and things to show you all but I don't think I should write an essay for my first post in such a long while!

So what's new I hear you ask..... (that is if you are shouting really loud!)
Well I had some very big decisions to make and I closed down Crafty What Nots before Christmas.  Life had got so stressful and the boxes were adding to the pressure and it started to become a chore rather than pleasure.  I think that's always the point where you should stop, but it is often very hard to know when that time is. You don't want to give up too early but you also can't run at a loss and be miserable. So choices were made and I closed down my page and website.  Oh my! what a difference that made.  I found the pressure instantly lift and I started to find my crafting mojo again!  I will still design boxes on request and I do produce kit boxes but now they are all under the name of Jennysis (so much easier to deal with one page rather than 2)
Here is a box I recently made up for someone.

So what have I been up so since??

Well my portraits and illustrating really started to take off and I became really busy designing logos too.  I never thought I could really make a living from my creative endeavours but the last few months have shown how possible it can be! (It does take a lot of hard work tho.)

I have also been involved with some lovely collaborations and been asked to design custom illustrations for some lovely businesses!  I will share more about this next time.

I will leave you today to get on with another really exciting project but in the meantime I would love to share this collaboration with you. A little while back a friend shared a video about Kung-fu Tea.  this fantastic yet odd practise inspired me to draw some tea ninjas.  These developed into the Afternoon Tea Ninjas, ready to serve you a cream tea before you even know you want it!

Well the Ninjas escalated and I have now drawn various different types on Ninjas.  So far there are Clown Ninjas, cocktail Ninjas and Saturday night out Ninjas. I have loads more ideas though so there will be more very soon!  

Now what to do with these designs!  I hit a bit of a wall until a very good friend of mine asked if she could sew one of my illustration!  Jenny from Gecko Fabric Art created the most wonderful mug rug, perfect to rest your cuppa and a cake.

  I really thought a mug would be great too so I contacted the fab Edens Garden of Gifts and she printed up some mugs for me!

Look at these!  My Ninjas are everywhere!

You can now order a mug and mug rug of your very own!

This has been such a fun collaboration and it's been really sparking my creativity.  Ninjas to come will be 'Introvert Ninjas', 'Builder Ninjas', 'Accountant Ninjas' and  'craft Ninjas'.  What sort of Ninjas would you like to see?  Would you buy other items with Ninjas on? like notebooks, t shirts, placemats etc?

Well I ended up writing more than I intended so I really must go!

Have a lovely sunny day.

I will be linking up with some other lovely crafty pages over at Handmade Monday! Do pop by to check out some fantastic pages.

Jen xx