this is to invite you to....

I mentioned in a previous blog that I've been spending a lot of my spare time planning a wedding and here is a chance to see some of what I've been up to!

Seeing as we've now given out all our invites there doesn't seem to be any need to keep it a secret any more!

I was inspired by browsing other wedding invites on Pinterest but we wanted to have something that was still unique to us.

Jonny (my fiance) and I came up with design ideas together which included a hand-drawn tree, map and swirly branches.

The tree on the invitation section is based on a necklace that Jonny gave me when he proposed and the leaves were painstakingly coloured in by hand to have a more authentic gold look that was tricky to achieve with a printer!

The fabric used to tie up the invites is the same material my mum and aunt are using to make our ushers' waistcoats. And the green colour is a fairly close match to the material of the bridesmaid's dresses.

The ivory and walnut coloured card came from a great company I discovered called Eco Craft who produce high quality recycled card and paper. And we also got our labels and envelopes from them too!

Putting the invites together was definitely a team effort and at one point Jonny, me, my two brothers, my mum and my cousin Sorren were all involved in cutting fabric, tying bows, filling in John Lewis cards, colouring in leaves, writing envelopes etc! 

 

My brother Simon refused to look at any design ideas because he wanted the final result to be a surprise! So he was the first to receive an invite meaning we could then get him to help us make the rest!

Vane Tempest sessions on a boat!

This Monday we're holding our most exclusive Vane tempest Sessions on the Prince Bishop, a boat that sails up and down the River Wear. During the day the boat normally transports tourists to see the sights of the city from the river but at night it is hired out for birthdays, barbecues and this time round for a gig!

As this is the last Vane Tempests Sessions of the year, it required a nice new set of publicity. I decided to embrace fully the predictable nautical theme but put my own stamp onto it by hand drawing rope and a life belt in the same style as previous flyers and posters. I especially like the coiled up rope, it was simple to do yet effective I think.

I originally only had colour on the blue and white stripes (incidentally, they're from a top of mine that I scanned!) but it looked a bit dull. I tried to make the life belt red in sections but it didn't look good so it ended up being font that was highlighted.

This poster was rather hastily put together this evening because we decided it would be good to have something bigger to catch peoples eye. I think it does the job okay.

I'm looking forward to this event on Monday night. The music is promising to be of a really high standard. Sir Paul McCartney is a fan of Thomas J. Speight which is a promising start and Rams' Pocket Radio is currently on tour with Foy Vance. If you've never made it along to Vane Tempest Sessions before and you don't have plans yet for next week than this isn't one to miss! Even if you have been before, this is looking like an evening on a par with Dry the River and Flight Brigade.

See you on Monday!

the June Project report video: a creative collaboration

A couple of months I was asked if I was interested in getting involved in making the June Project report video 2011. (If you don't know what the June Project is then check out the Kings Church Durham website.) Chris, who oversees art and media at the church, had seen the video I made for Durham University a little while back and wanted me on board. So of course I said yes!

Getting behind the camera. A first for me but so much fun!

Early morning filming. Free coffee for commuters.

I worked with another guy (confusingly also named Chris!) on this project and it was really fun to bounce different creative ideas off each other. I came up with the idea of using a map that we'd pan over during the video so that people could see where events were going on and Chris then suggested dropping polaroids onto the map that videos could spring up out of.

Original hand drawn map of Durham

We did the majority of the filming between the two of us although we did rope in some helpers when our timetable got too crammed! And we edited the footage together along with the very talented Andy Dykes who did all the effects on the map. 

As the June Project ran until Saturday and we needed the video to show in church on the Sunday morning, we had to do an all-nighter, working from about 11pm until 8am but it was worth it and we were very happy with the end result.

You can also see it on YouTube which may be a bit better quality.

Hope you like it. I'll keep you posted on the next Kings Church Durham video project: the June Project documentary!

A Very Special Mix CD

Initial drawing for CD cover

Finished front cover in full colour

Back cover with track listing

My boyfriend moved to London this week for a job and I made him a few things to take with him, one of which was a mix CD. I think I had more fun designing and making the cover than putting together the track listing although the whole project was very fun! 

I've designed a CD cover before for a friend who records his own music and I really enjoyed it so it was good to remind myself of that. The previous one was in a similar style with a fairly intricate pen line drawing painted over with watercolour (but unfortunately I never got the original back so I can't post it here).

I loved the look of this artwork when it was just a matt finish but one spilt cup of tea and it would be ruined so I covered it with sticky-back plastic too.

Hopefully this won't be the last CD design to make it onto this blog. They make very good presents so I may well be tempted to design more...

New Term, New Artwork

Term 2 flyer design

We'd been running Vane Tempest Sessions for a term and it seemed like a good idea to produce some fresh artwork in case people were getting bored of the old flyers. I decided to keep the logo and ripped paper on a  brown background for continuity's sake and kept the design hand-drawn but replaced the main tree with a floral design which feels appropriately vintage-y.

Back of flyer

On the back of the flyer, I put the line-up for five consecutive weeks, rather than three (as I did previously), meaning we could print off a bigger batch which have stayed in date for longer.

Poster for February 5th 2011

We also had an extra push when Wolf Gang came to play because they were a slightly bigger band, supported by Emily and the Woods and we were running the night in association with the Grove, a student poetry society. All of this was very exciting so we printed off an extra run of posters, using their own artwork as a background.

Ribbon Willow

Welcome to my blog! I'm planning on posting about the different creative projects I've been up to which could be photography or graphic design or sewing... I've been trying my hand at film making recently as well so that may find it's way onto here. I hope you enjoy looking at it!

Willow Tree, July 2009, Bishops Stortford

Jan 2009, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Sketch for Vane Tempest Sessions

I love trees, they seem to pop up all the time in artwork I've done or photos I've taken so it seemed appropriate to use the name of one for my blog. I also wanted to come up with something memorable and slightly whimsical that I can use for labels on things I make. My friend Jon came up with this idea and it stuck. So after a quick Google search just to make sure it was original, Ribbon Willow was created!