New design ideas!

Once again it has been too long since I have posted anything on this blog! Obviously life has been too busy for me to sit down with a brew and ramble!!
I have spent the past few months with my head in Christmas designs for 2013 for Rafale Design which has been great and I have had many lovely mood boards and trends to work on. It was lovely that over August the other half took over childcare so I could concentrate a few more days of creating designs for my agent.

It is always a complete pleasure to see the fruits of my labour in the shops at christmas time, this year I have designs in Boots, John Lewis and Next!

Whilst there is a very slight lull in designing over the past few weeks I have been working on a couple of personalised commissions for friends and family and also myself!!
These are in the form of personlised childrens names for nursery's and childrens bedrooms. 

I started my first one for Archie as he needs some new pictures on his wall!

Using some vintage imagery from fabrics and his favourite books! 

Then a friend asked for a picture for a new born little boy and I designed a bunting style personalised picture featuring vintage fabrics, she asked for some football imagery to be part of the picture and so I found some old football pictures on cigarette cards, which was perfect!

And so as these are for the boys I had a chance to design a girly picture for my gorgeous little niece Rosie who has just turned 5 years old!

This was a mixture of sweet vintage fabrics and illustrations from a ballet book! (and must not forget the smattering of buttons!!)

So I am in the process of designing a few more of these and gathering more vintage imagery to develop more swatches. I have 2 orders already so need to crack on as ever!! (puts down coast magazine !)  

Oh no the sleeping Archie awakes from his afternoon snooze!

I am also trying to design a quick and easy...(???) website where I can set up a shop for all these and future products under.

Ruby Campion Design.

Watch this large but pro-active space!!!

If anyone out there is remotely interested in commissioning me for one of these unique pictures please get in touch via Facebook or my email.

ctodgers75@yahoo.co.uk

Well it's been a while since blogging has commenced but here I am ready to ramble on for a bit!!

The past month has offered quite a substantial amount of rain, a lot of work to be produced for the agency portfolios, which are being shown in New York as I ramble. Fingers crossed for some sales. Highlights of this month so far are seeing Michael Kiwanuka on a naughty sunday(school night) out!! But so worth it Please listen to his debut album if you haven't already, sheer listening bliss! Oh and on the same sunday we visited Wimborne St Giles tea rooms for the first time....sheer cake bliss!! Once again I urge you to indulge in this sunday afternoon treat if you are in the area (although a nice trip out is worth it too) 15-20 different homemade cakes and perfectly brewed tea at very reasonable rates!

Archie boy has also been enjoying the local fun, of Wimborne Model village, a magical place (also with a lovely tea room!) He loves looking into the windows of the shops and houses and being amazed as the organ starts up in the minster when he looks through the window! He also looks huge wondering around outside the Kings Head!!

So to brighten up the rainy days filled with christmas designing, I have worked on some new ideas for my own range of cards, which I hope to expand and get out in the shops asap! Hmm could do with some more of that stuff they call time?! They are obviously inspired by the more sunnier days we experience round these parts! So I need to crack on with a few more and start warming the printer up!!

We have had a few cold but lovely outings, around Dorset over the past couple of weeks. Firstly I had an afternoon pottering around Wareham and found a few lovely little shops, The Salt Pig Deli is a great first stop for a large range of local produce ranging from, soap, chocolate meat and fish.

And the food in the cafe looked wonderful with very friendly staff. Then across the road I found a fab vintage shop where I could have spent a few hours rooting through! Due to having Archie with me this got whittled down to 15 minutes! I have put some photos on of Re-loved in Wareham their website is www.reloved.org.uk

Well worth a little trip to Wareham if you like a good furtle through old retro goodies!!

Our second day out was a trip away to Lyme Regis, I absolutely love this place for many reasons, it's full of wonderful independent shops and cafes and it's by the sea!! Magic! So once again I could have spent a full day in the shops, but with little toots on his Daddy's back this was scaled back to 30 min! Most of this was spent in Susie Cole, an amazing little den of all things LOVELY!! Vintage goodies abound, mixed with contemporary jewelry, books and ceramics that fit so well within the shop. And I think the overall pleasure of this gem comes from the beautiful way it is all displayed....I urge lovers of all things pretty and vintage to step inside and enjoy!!

We also had the enjoyment of following Irish comic Sean Hughes around town..who I had a crush on back in the 90's when he was doing Sean's show!! So with a mix of celeb, sunshine, vintage loveliness and watching Archie walk across the beach (3rd day of walking!) It was a successful seaside day away! Oh as we were leaving the beach, I spotted an amazing antique den right on the prom...I think more than 30 minutes was needed for this...oh well next time!

Well here I am trying to figure this little lot out! All a bit of a blur but think I am heading in the right direction! So this is my first posting on my new blog! Ok...erm so I need to talk about something and will try and post a picture too just for a try out.

What a beautiful day today, no white, grey or even black fluffy things in the sky at all just a fresh blue sky. So we needed to get out and breath it in after an hour of trying to organise myself and Archie off we went for a trip to Kingston Lacey, him in the rucksack with my shoulders just about bearing his weight!!

Snowdrops, sunshine, robins and a lush slice of bread pudding...bliss!!