Catch - Up!

Wow... can't believe how long it's been since my last update!! (time flies when you're having fun right?). Thought I would share with you some sneak peeks of what has been keeping me so busy lately - so here's a few tiny snippets of work for a variety of clients - I can't show you the full finished designs as some of them are waiting to be published etc.

You can also find my work in two books... 'They Draw and Cook' and '100 Illustrations Annual' - click on the names to direct you to Amazon. Both are yummy books and feature a bunch of really talented peeps.

So huge apologies for being so quiet!! I will try and pick up the habit of updating my blog on a more regular basis!

TDAC - submissions

Yesterday I submitted two recipes for the latest 'They Draw and Cook' competition 'Eat Pretty' - here they are! You can check them out on the TDAC website here... fingers crossed now! :)

Sainsbury's Christmas 2011

This time last year I was approached by Sainsbury's to work on some characters for Christmas 2011... it was a great brief and so much fun to work on. Today I popped into our local Sainsbury's and what a lovely surprise to see my characters on their products!! I've taken some quick snaps to share them with you - I spotted two rolls of wrap designs, a pack of money wallets, a box of cards, a pack of die cut cards, children's crackers and a couple of baubles! How exciting!! Let me know if anyone spots any other products in Sainsbury's with these characters on... :)

Happy Movember!

So one week of Movember has gone... how's everyone's moustache coming along?? :)
One of my best friends is taking part... if you want to follow his progress and help support this great cause please click here

R.I.P Steve Jobs

Today is a sad day and I just wanted to say R.I.P Steve Jobs. He is a man that truly changed the world, there's not many people you can make that statement about.

Looking at my desk now with my collection of apple items it makes you realise what Steve Jobs was a part of... My iPod; enabling me to listen to my huge music collection 'on the go', without carrying around suitcases full of CD's or cassette tapes. My iPhone; I really do use this for everything, it's so much more than a mobile phone and I don't know how I managed before! But my biggest saviour has to be my iMac; my work buddy, my digital side-kick and my helping hand. I couldn't do what I do without it... Ok, well I could still draw but I would be painstakingly sat painting for weeks on end!!

So thank you Steve, you've changed my world for the better... and you told me what I needed before I even knew myself! :)

Gingerbred on Oprah.com!

I've had an awesome surprise today... my recipe 'Monster Bangers & Mash' has been featured on an article for the oprah.com website!!! Click here to see the full article and the other selected recipes. Today is a very happy day! :)

TDAT - Sheffield

WOW!!! Didn't realise how long it it has been since my last update! Time flies when you're having fun! Sorry for being a bad blogger everyone!!

Here's a map I've illustrated for 'They Draw and Travel'. There's so much to do in my home city of Sheffield that it was hard to decide what to do, so the map just includes a few of my favourite things. You can view a larger version on the TDAT website here...

And the winner is...

I used a random number generator to pick the winner... so the winner is Kelly Medina!! Congratulations Kelly! Email me your postal details and I will get a stash of goodies in the post for you... info@gingerbred.co.uk

Thanks so much for taking part everyone!! It was fun... must do more of these eh!? :)

Freebie Giveaway!

To celebrate that I now have over 200 followers (wow! How did that happen!?) I thought it was about time that I had a freebie giveaway of some Gingerbred goodies! I will leave the contents of the giveaway as a surprise... so you will have to wait and see. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post... on Wednesday 1st June I will pick out a name at random and announce the winner (the lucky winner will then have to email me their postal address).

Good luck lovely peeps and thank you so much for your continued support! :)

A sunny break at the coast

Hi everyone! Sorry I've not posted anything for a while... we went away for a lovely break to the coast with our dog Alfie - and now I'm playing catch up with work loads... so I promise to post some more bits and bobs soon! In the meantime I thought I would share with you some of the holiday snaps! You may feel inspired for some lovely colour combinations from these... I'm liking all the muted beige colours with a hint of blue and orange.

Tigerprint Competition

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great week? Just thought I would share with you my submissions for the Tigerprint hand drawn competition - hope you like them! Fingers crossed now while we wait for the results next week...

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to wish you all a happy Easter!! Hope you have a fun filled extra long weekend and here's a little flower for you all from me and Bailey the bunny (as you'll hopefully get tonnes of chocolate!!)...

Mermaid Invitation

Thought I would show you a new invitation that is for sale in my etsy shop - hope you all like it! I had so much fun illustrating this one!

My alphabet print is also now available to buy in my etsy shop too!

A print for a great cause!

Whilst taking part at one of my craft fairs I met the lovely Strawberry Kitten and her husband Simon. After chatting with them both on twitter I had an email from Simon telling me all about the challenge he is setting for himself... he is planning to run a 100 mile ultra race later this year and trying to raise money for Sight Savers. To me this is a huge challenge in itself but I then learned that Simon is registered as blind due to a degenerative eye disorder (Retinitis Pigmentosa). To me this guy is an inspiration!!

To help raise more money for Sight Savers, Simon is asking artists for artwork to sell as prints - every print sold will raise enough money to restore someone's eyesight! So here is my contribution that Simon will be selling as prints pretty soon (as soon as they are available online I will let you all know). So treat yourself to a print and help save someones eyesight too...

To find out more about Simon's challenge pop by and visit his blog. You can also donate to his fundraising by clicking here and help him reach his £5000 target.

TDAC - Strawberry Fig Jam

This is my recipe for the TDAC Fig competition.
Hope you like it! :)

Sock It To Me Competition

I'm so excited... I submitted 3 designs to the 'Sock It To Me' competition and one of them has been picked for the final 25! The design that was picked was my 'licky lollipops'... and now I need lots of lovely votes to make in into the final 10 - so if you like my design then pleeeeeease send me some love and a little vote. To vote click here... go to my design and then click 'like', this will get me one lovely vote.

If I'm lucky enough to win I get some samples of my socks... so I will definitely be giving away some pairs on here too.

Ooo I have all my fingers and toes crossed now! :) Thanks to all you lovely people who take the time to vote for me, I reeeeeeeally appreciate it!!

A hug for Japan

I am still in shock at the awful news of the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan and have found myself glued to the news channels all weekend, seeing all the shocking images and scenes makes you feel so helpless - I can't begin to imagine how horrific it must have been. My heart and thoughts are with Japan right now and I'm sending them all lots of love and a huge gingerbred sized hug...

Pancake Day!

Happy Pancake Day everyone!

Hope you have all been cooking up a pancake storm in your kitchen today... Bailey the bunny was quite surprised when he came across a juicy pile of leftover pancakes earlier! Yummmmm :)

Animal Alphabet

I wanted to share with you my new limited addition print, the Gingerbred Animal Alphabet!! It's printed onto beautiful matt 230gsm quality paper, and looks delicious in 'real life'. I'm so pleased with the final outcome, the printers have done a fantastic job... the photograph doesn't do it justice really! This print will be launched at the SOUK Fashion & Lifestyle Bazaar this Saturday (visit here for details) - if you're nearby then pop in and say hello!! I will then be releasing it for sale on my etsy shop too.

Here's a close up of some of the favourite characters... which one is yours?

Beaver Fever!

My lovely friend Sarah runs the local beaver group so asked me to design her a poster to advertise their recruitment... here it is! :)

IF - sweater

A sweater can come in all shapes and sizes...

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day... :)

cupcakes!

Hey Everyone! Not long until the craft fair now... I've just about got everything ready, a few more badges to make and then I'm done. In the meantime I thought I'd share one of the card designs I've created for the show...

Craft Fair

I have a stall at another craft fair in Sheffield on Saturday 12th Feb... so I'm busy getting my things ready and adding a few finishing touches to products. If anyone is in the area it would be so great to see you!! It's going to be such a great day with lots of talented crafters, visit the website for further details.

Here's a sneak peak of one of my new designs...

Love you lots... like jelly tots!

Happy February Everyone!!

gingerbred QR code

Ok... so I've got my little 'technical hat' on today and I'm getting to grips with technology! I've now got a QR code for gingerbred - so for all you peeps who have an iphone or other smart phone you may have an app that scans barcodes or QR codes (I've got a free one on my phone called red laser). So... if you scan in this image below then it takes you directly to my gingerbred website! Just a little something that highly amused me today, not sure how useful it will be right now but I'm thinking it might be a nice little thing to print on my business cards and mailers I send out. Oooo isn't technology great!! I know it's not my usual posting (it doesn't have a cute smiley face right!?)... but it still makes quite a nice graphic image I think?

The early bird catches the worm!

Hey Everyone! I know it's a bit late but I would like to wish you all a happy new year!! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all my lovely followers and fellow bloggers for all your support and kind comments over the past year... I can't tell you how much it means to me. It's been a busy but extremely exciting year for me so let's hope 2011 brings more of the good stuff! I sincerely hope 2011 brings you all everything you wish for... and then some!!

And always remember... the early bird catches the worm! (here's a little 'iphone' freebie to remind you too!)

They draw and cook - holiday competition

Ooooo I'm so so excited... my submission for the 'They draw and cook' holiday competition has been listed on the website today, and it has also been picked as today's favourite recipe! (yippeeee!) so it is also featured on the food network blog - the FN Dish

A huge thanks to Nate and Salli again for letting me be a part of this fab project!!!

Christmas Sprout!

So... it's this time of year again when my mum tries to make me eat a sprout at Christmas dinner (sometimes she even attempts to hide one underneath my potatoes!). I really don't like them, but I do appreciate the cuteness of a little sprout... so here's something for all you sprout lovers out there!

Little doggy reindeer

Hey Everyone! We got our little dog a Christmas outfit for his annual photoshoot - so I make Christmas cards for our family and friends! It think he felt a bit silly dressed as a reindeer this year but he sat quietly whilst I took some photos of him... think he knew he would be getting a big treat afterwards! :)

Julefest Success

Hey Everyone! I can't believe it's December already, how did that happen!? Yesterday I had a really fun day at the craft fair 'Julefest', it was so festive! There was yummy treats, mulled wine, dancing around the Christmas tree and a visit from Santa... as well as some lovely stalls with a bunch of talented people. It was great to see so many excited children getting ready for Christmas too! I thought I would share with you some photo's of my stall. Hope you are all having a happy December too!? :)