right now | 5

Things have been a bit hectic crazy lately, hence the radio silence over here! Sometimes managing a day job with freelance design work is really flippin' difficult and I'm trying to find a bit of a better way to balance everything out at the moment, and to stop my head from exploding. That being said, I've been working on some really exciting projects lately, which I've really been enjoying, and thought I'd share a few sneak peeks with you...

+ Some hand drawn typography that I did for a save the date design recently.
+ A mood board for a branding project I'm working on - can't wait to share this with you!
+ A fun floral pattern I put together, just for fun - i'm starting to realise patterns are my fave. 
+ And a small detail of an order of service, which I'm just wrapping up at the moment.

So I'm trying to remember this. It helps. 

nice pins | 7

1 | This beautiful branding, by June Letters Design Studio. 
2 | It's hot and sunny every day at the moment, and I bloody love it. Happy summer y'all!
3 | The floodline series by Lisa Golightly. These abstract paintings are completely perfect. I'll take them all. 
4 | Little details of Kate's home on her gorgeous tumblr. Still probably my favourite tumblr of all time! 
5 | This web design by HI(NY). And also pretty much all of their gorgeous design work. 
6 | Stunning photos of Cornwall on Mackie Studio's VSCO grid. They're making me want to drive down to Cornwall, right, now. 

Follow me on pinterest here. 

this was whitstable

You guys, have you been to Whitstable?! Well you should go. Claire was back from Syndey (yay!) at the beginning of July so we had a girly reunion long weekend by the seaside. And it was lush. We had scorching hot sunshine, and a bit of drizzle; a perfect English weekend. We hired a cottage and had so much fun, and we all wore flower crowns a lot of the time, because, why not eh?! Whitstable is full of adorable cottages, oysters, lovely pubs, pebbly beaches, vintage shops, fish & chips and general gorgeousness. It was much more trendy than I was expecting, but overall still had a pretty olden times harbour side vibe. And it's only about an hour from London. Go! 

photos - iPhone 5 + vsco cam. 

modern calligraphy class

This Saturday I went to a wonderful calligraphy class at The Blacksmith & Toffee Maker in Angel, organised by Quill London, and taught by Imogen Owen. I'd been looking around for a calligraphy class for a while, but all the ones I'd found seemed too lengthy or expensive. So when I found out about this through Quill's twitter feed I jumped at the chance and signed up. It completely outdid my expectations, and was super fun. The course was structured perfectly and realistically, and Imogen was a great teacher - I seriously cannot believe how much I learnt and achieved in just three hours! I cannot wait to get stuck in and start using this new skill in my design work! 

manhattan

And just like that it's been over a month since I shared my Brooklyn photos! I guess I'm trying to make the most of this lovely lovely Summer. But anyway, back to a very crisp cold March in Manhattan...

I definitely preferred New York second time round, even though I still wanted to scream in people's faces every time I got near Time's Square, ahem... and I'm so glad I got to do a few of the things I didn't do back in 2004! Some of my favourite things in Manhattan this time were...

+ Going to the Top of the Rock. Hands down a much better view than from the Empire State. 
+ Shopping in Soho. Urm. Kinda wish I'd discovered that earlier on in the trip, could have mooched around there for days. 
+ The High Line. I loved the way this elevated walk way interacts with the city, giving some incredible views along the way. And the architecture of the High Line itself is seriously beautiful. 
+ The Chrysler Building. Still my favourite. 
+ MOMA. Wish I'd had more time here too, such a gorgeous museum, and soooo many amazing pieces of art. I hung out in the Kandinsky room for ages. 
+ That wall by Maya Hayuk in the Lower East Side. We took seven million photos. I loved it so much. 

Photos - mixture of lumix DLSR and iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

fromwhereistand 2014 | part 1

If you've followed me on instagram for a while, you'll know I've always been pretty obsessed with taking photos of my feet. Sort of as a way of recording where I am, or what I'm doing. I think it's just a bit of a fun way to document little things! Anyway, my friend Claire challenged me at the start of 2014 to take one of these photos every week, for a year. So far, I've managed to stick to it, and it's been pretty fun! There have been a couple of weeks where I've struggled to find something picturesque enough, but there have also been a few weeks when I've wanted to post three photos! But overall, I like them, and I think they're making me document more things which is nice! As we're half way through the year *wargh* I thought I'd share a few of my faves.

Here's to the the rest of 2014! You can follow along here. 

photographer | yuji hamada

I was slightly blown away by these photos when I stumbled across them the other day, they're crazy beautiful and I just love the concept so much. Yuji is a photographer from Osaka, Japan, and his series Primal Mountain is made using just foil. It's so minimal but so stunning at the same time; the light, colours and textures in these shots are amazing. I think this series is just a little bit magic. 

nice pins | 6

1 | Your favourite photo blown up all big for your wall? Sure, I might just do that. 
2 | Milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre (that's 1984 to you and me) make the prettiest loveliest scarves of all time, non? 
3 | These beautiful wedding stationery designs by color me carla are mindblowingly gorgeous! 
4 | Yep. This skirt please. 
5 | Summer is here and I would like to wear a flower crown every day, okay? 
6 | I'm a little bit obsessed with patterns at the moment. This pomegranate one by Miji Lee is totally fun and totally swoony. 

Follow me on pinterest here. 

brooklyn

I was lucky enough to visit New York for a week in March, and it was sooo fabulous. We had the most brilliant, fantastic and hilarious holiday! I hadn't been for a decade, and loved it so much more this time around, partly I think because we were staying in Brooklyn, which is definitely much more my vibe than hectic Manhattan! We stayed in Greenpoint which was completely perfect for us. The photo above was taken the night we arrived - we fell for the area pretty quickly! I loved how laid back, arty and cool Brooklyn is; we often felt like locals there rather than like tourists which I think is definitely the best way to see a place. For some reason it's taken me an age to share my photos, but better late than never hey? It's nice to look back on them...

I really recommend staying in Brooklyn. I really think the craziness of Manhattan would have gotten to be a bit too much 24/7, and also, there are just some reeeeally cool places over on the Brooklyn side! Some of my favourite things in Brooklyn were...

+ That swoony view across to Manhattan. 
+ Shopping in Williamsburg. I loved the area around Bedford Avenue and Franklin Street running back up to Greenpoint. I could have shopped here for days! 
+ Coffee and design at Budin NYC. 
+ The Box House Hotel. We booked this place after a recommendation and some brilliant reviews which it really lived up to. This hotel is awesome!
+ Drinks and brunch at Coco. We loved this place so much we went back! 
+ All that lovely street art. 

I'll be back soon with some photos of Manhattan! 

Photos - mixture of lumix DLSR and iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

recent work | el & roger's order of service

I wanted to share with you a wedding order of service which I was recently asked to design. El & Roger wanted something modern, minimalist and perfect for Spring! I combined hand drawn typography with a clean and modern font, and added leafy illustrations to give it a bit of personality and ensure it was in-keeping for their beautiful May wedding!   

I'm trying to take on more and more freelance design work now, as I just really love doing it. I feel like I could paint, scribble, draw away and play around on illustrator for hours without getting bored! I've set up a facebook page too (eek!), so if you're on there feel free to follow along where I'll be sharing more of my work. And please get in touch if you're looking for a freelance designer! 

+ first photo courtesy of my lovely big sister!