Brrm brrm and PANTS!

Well, I have completed Tour #1 of 'Cinnamon Toast @ Home' and the orders have been great! Should keep me very busy for the next few weeks, then it will be time for Tour #2 (five parties in one week). I have learnt not to have expectations, even in the 3 I have already done. Each one has been so different; audience, sales and response. But it is all very much a learning curve right now - especially acknowledging the areas I love and those I don't love as much! Enjoying this experience though.

Not long til Christmas! I love this time of year, the lead up to Christmas and the shop windows brightly decorated with beautiful decorations, twinkling lights and colours. However, I've taken a break from Christmas and created a few new designs. I have printed the mopeds onto baby grows and the pants onto drawstring bags to make pants bags! But they would also be nice on a card too. Hope you like.

Cinnamon Toast Launch Party!

Well, it has been an incredible 3 months. From designing to sewing and now to yesterday evening which was the official launch party of Cinnamon Toast. And what a great evening it was, more than I could have possibly hoped for. After working on the designs for so long and almost becoming immune to them, after many moments of frustration and 'not seeing', after many late nights of sewing and after the anxiety of what it would become, last night I was able, through other people's eyes, to stand back and appreciate it all again and acknowledge why I have taken this massive leap. The feedback has been amazing.

So, I wanted to say a huge thank you to you for supporting this page, the facebook group and fan page, for the orders that have already come through and for those 7 parties I have booked in the UK and am about to tour with over the next 2 months! This journey has been incredible, and I know that this is only just the beginning! Hope you continue to enjoy what comes from Cinnamon Toast and the journey it will take. Enjoy the pictures.

FABRIC!

I am so excited! My fabric designs from Spoonflower have arrived. I can't tell you how good it is to see your own design on fabric...a dream come true! Thank you Spoonflower! They look amazing. Now all I have to do is get on that sewing machine...ahem. So, it's gunna be a busy couple weeks; next Thursday will be the very first Cinnamon Toast @ Home party (the actual launch party). Can't wait. Live music (from me bro Christopher Ryman & friend Amy Coonagh), plus cinnamon toast and mulled wine shall be served, games & a prize draw. I hope everyone will have fun and enjoy browsing through the designs as much as I enjoyed designing them. The following week I head back to the homeland and host two further parties in Wales & England. It's all go from here on. I have also set up a shop on Etsy too, so I will be uploading the goods very soon. LOVE IT. Have a good day everyone! x

Christmas Cards...6 Collections!

Well, 3 weeks overdue, but hey these things happen. I have finally completed this years Christmas card collections that will be available to order. I am currently discussing production with a printer, so all will hopefully come together very soon. It has taken longer than I thought, but I wanted to get this right. Quality as opposed to quantity - right?! So, I have 6 collections (some contain more designs than others); Berries, Christmas Eve, Doves, Tree Line, Nativity and Typography. They will be sold either individually or as packs of 8. You can choose 8 cards from one of the collections to make up a pack (either 4 X 2 designs, 2 X 4 designs or 8 X 1 design). However, the quantities can be more! I have put together a montage of the designs, with at least 2 from each collection. Hope you like. Have a great day x

Design Montage

I realise I have neglected Cinnamon Toast blogging of late, apologies! But it has been for a very good reason, I have been working on some new designs and planning! At the end of September / beginning of October Cinnamon Toast will officially launch. With a new website showcasing designs and offering handmade items for sale, this has been a rather busy but exciting time. I thought I would put together a montage of some of the designs I have been working on and what you can expect to see...hope you like! Have a good day now x

Just a few more Christmas designs...

And just a few more to add to the mix of Christmas...love heart wreath and some nice cosy cups of cocoa! Would love to hear ya thoughts... x

Merry Christmas...already?!

Well, it does seem a little early to be thinking of Christmas, but it will soon be upon us! So, on a windy & wet day like today I decided to get in the Christmas spirit, with hot chocolate in hand I set to work. Thought I would vary the background too. What do you think?

The great outdoors and festival time!

Inspired by the great British outdoors and summer music festivals (having briefly been a recent participant), I couldn't resist working on some designs that reflected some much needed items at festivals...not to say all music events are in need of wellies and a brolly, the sun does make an appearance on occasion! These aren't quite finished just yet, as they still need some tweaks here and there, but thought you may like to have a peek anyway! The design with the underpants on I thought would work well for a belated birthday..."Oh PANTS!" (the copy inside the card reads) "...I'm sorry I forgot your Birthday!"

An Irish summer...so far...

A drive through the Wicklow Mountains...

On the train heading into Dublino...

Garden filled with lanterns & warm summer nights...

Shopping for flowers...

A little break from designs today and turning the focus on photography...Happy Summer Daze xxx

New Cinnamon Toast logo, but which one?

I've been working on the new 'Cinnamon Toast' logo and have come up with a few ideas. They each have a slight difference. Would love to know what you think works best...

Design A - with spots and no stitching

Design B - with stars and white stitching

Design C - with stars and green stitching

Design D - with spots and white stitching

Design E - with hearts and white stitching

What do you think? (they of course can be mixed up) x

Baby Shower...

Seen more as an American tradition, 'baby showers' are now becoming increasingly popular in the UK & Ireland. A tradition held for the new mum to be 'showered' with gifts for their first born from friends and family. In the US it's not unheard of to have a gift registry (much in the same way as a wedding registry for gifts). It just helps new parents start out, as it can be costly. So with that in mind I thought I would design some invites...

Entries for Tigerprint Competition: Christmas Typography..

Inspired by a vintage country cottage style Christmas, I wanted to work this style into the card design, as I was using a mixture of fonts I thought it would add to the quirkiness of the card and step away from the traditional rich colours used at Christmas time. I have placed emphasis on the 12 days of Christmas and used the words to create the shape of a Christmas tree in two of the entries below. I think these would make lovely cards, and also felt that wrapping paper using the background would be nice too, so I used a mixture of the background with the fonts to fill in the stars (above)...what do you think? I am also currently working on a logo for Cinnamon Toast - the colours used in these designs might just give you a clue to the colours of 'Cinnamon Toast'! Enjoy x

Pretty little bows all in a row...

...and now for some jolly bows. I love bows, I love to see them adorning plain garments as an accessory...they really can make a garment! And I don't mean the BIG bows of the 80's, just petite and pretty bows on cardigans or as brooches, they are ever so feminine. And of course I mustn't forget how a bow lends itself to the excitement to the opening of a gift! So why not as wrapping paper too!! Enjoy X

More floral designs

Well, it's certainly been a while since my last post. Lots going on, moving home and changing life completely in a new direction...! All change again. So here are a couple designs I've been working on. These are from original watercolours I had painted and just reworked them through photoshop. Nice stationery; wedding invites, greeting card, wrapping paper...the list is endless...! Would love to hear your thoughts...x

More wallpaper, wrapping paper...

Just been working and playing with an old design...think it will make lovely wallpaper in a nice big country styled white kitchen...!

Tiered cakes & background colours

Just wanted to add one more tier to the mix of the cupcake...think it's gunna keep growing - soon it will the largest tiered cake stand in the WORLD...well, not quite! Anyway, just wanted to see how the colour background could change too...hmmmmmmmmmm