Stop the Clock Design!

Hi Everyone, Sian here again!


Stop the Clock Design are a design duo, Kathy Slatter and Erin Taylor, established in 2008 specialising in distinctive, quirky and hand made greetings card. Using lots of adorable motifs such as tea cups, biscuits, cake, birds and garden sheds, combined with vintagey floral prints and witty captions and black stitched outlines.

Some of our favourite designs are shown below although it was hard to limit it to just a few! Particular favourites of mine are the 'Meet me behind the watering can' Gnome card and the 'Hope your Birthday is as good as biscuits' card! See their whole range on the Stop the Clock website.

Lone Tree Cards

Hi Everyone! Sian here again!

My final blog about all the wonderful talent showcased at Top Drawer!

Lone Tree Cards produce unique, beautiful cards with a unusual subject matter that makes them stand out. Two ranges that really caught my eye were 'Lead Alive', a range inspired by an old collection of lead animals transformed into humorous, patterned cards and 'Stamp' which uses everyday objects such as fishing flies and keys to create patterns in wonderfully subtle colours.

Below are cards from both these ranges, to browse the rest of Lone Tree's cards see their website here!

Unique Home Accessories

Morning Everyone, Sian here again!

Still blogging about all the amazing designers showcased at Top Drawer.

Helen Minn's is a Designer/ Maker whose love of drawing and mark making show through in all her designs. Many of her designs feature traditional woodland animals such as pheasants, hares and owls, all drawn in her signature style.

Below are some products selected from the range on her site, we especially like the quirky bird illustrations in the 3 cards below!

Witty Typography!

Hi Everyone, Sian here again!

Blogging about another great designer seen at Top Drawer, the brilliant typography-based artist, Coulson Macleod. Not only does his work feature brilliant typography and witty quotes and sayings, it is also printed on natural and reclaimed materials and recycled paper which makes each piece unique and environmentally friendly!

Some of our favourite pieces are shown below,  for all his work check out his site!

Work Placement Opportunity

Do What you Love is opening it's doors for a four-week work placement beginning Monday October 24. 

"Do What You Love is a young, dynamic company at an exciting stage of growth.  This is a rare opportunity to contribute to a number of pioneering projects and see behind-the-scenes of a creative start-up.

Do What You Love offers tools and inspiration to help others do what they love for life.  This includes luxury creative retreats and online education, including flagship e-course Do What You Love which has been described as ‘life-changing’, ‘awe-inspiring’ and ‘transformational’.  I am currently collaborating on a number of groundbreaking projects with British and American artists, including The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design featuring Rachael Taylor, and Hello Soul Hello Business with mixed media artist Kelly Rae Roberts.

You will be encouraged to take the initiative and be creative in the way you work.  New ideas are always welcome at Do What You Love!

Do What You Love is looking for someone who is friendly, motivated, creative, design-savvy  and keen to learn about running and growing a creative business.  Ideally you will have the following skills and experience:

• A solid grasp of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
• A good understanding of WordPress (or experience of blogging which would allow you to pick this up quickly)
• A background or strong interest in art and/or design
• A solid grasp of social media (Facebook, Twitter etc)

If you are interested please contact me for more details at: beth [at] dowhatyouloveforlife [dot] com.  Completed applications are due by Friday October 7 latest.  Please feel free to pass this on to anyone else you think might be interested!

NB: Although some work can be carried out remotely, much of it will be at the Do What You Love office in Leeds, UK".

Reetsweet Leeds

#Happy Friday!

Today I thought I'd share some information about the forthcoming Reetsweet event on the 1st & 2nd of October at the Corn Exchange, Leeds.

For more information you can visit their blog here.

I just LOVE this gorgeus flyer design too! It's designed by the talented Steph Baxter.

Lazy Oaf Graphic Prints

Hello Everyone! Sian here again.

Blogging again about all the fantastic designers from Top Drawer last week!

Lazy Oaf are a pop graphic illustration print based label with tonnes of unusual, unique and quirky designs. They have clothing, accessories, stationary and cards all in their own distinctive style! Our favourite thing on their website was their fab range of bright graphic t-shirts! Check out their new collection on their site!

Katie Heeks Designs

A couple of weeks ago, Rachael and I visited the gorgeous Hebden Bridge.  Its a girly girl town full of lovely shops and yummy cafes.  While we were at the Heart Gallery birthday celebration I spotted the wonderful work of Katie Heeks.
Katie is a designer-maker who creates colourful and magical 3D pictures by using laser cutting.
Inspired by nature, her gardens are full of patterns and shapes that creates a beautiful layered picture.  She sometimes has lights installed to them which gives you the chance of having your own little magical world inside this beautiful frame.  I love the rainforest theme, the mixture of the colours shapes and sizes added to the different layers make it wild and amazing.

Check out Katie's website for pics or info on exhibitions and commissions.  Have a lovely day. Love Moni!

Quirky Kid's Toy Designs

Hello Everyone Sian here, currently doing a work placement with Rachael.

Blogging about all the brilliant designers seen at Top Drawer last week! Dutch Designers Kids on Roof's Beautiful, Creative and Environmentally friendly recycled cardboard designs really stood out. They have ranges of kids toys, pop up cards and a new cotton collection all sustainable and imaginitively designed.

We especially like their 'Totem Birds on Tree Design' featured below. Check out their whole range on their site!

Web Design Published!

#Happy Tuesday everyone!

I'm super excited to announce that my website and it's fun design have been featured & published in a brand new book called 'Websites 3' by Zeixs. I've been very lucky to be featured in numerous publications in the last year, this one really came as a great suprise as I'm a surface designer certainly not a web designer. My site is very personal to me & I really wanted it reflect my personality & design style whilst showcasing my portfolio in a friendly, fun yet professional way. It was quite a challenge getting the balance right. It took a while to come up with the look & styling & I was quite particular about it too! I really enjoyed working on the design, it took a lot of hours & late nights but the hard work really did pay off.

I designed the pages, graphics & the overall styling all of the clever programming & quirky layout was down to my friend (who's a super talented & very patient web designer) He had to work with all my crazy ideas & somehow make the magic happen!

We are very lucky that the design made the back cover too! As one of the tiny snippets showcasing the websites featured in book!:)