The wonderful SAROY!

I'm only just getting updated to a bit of a summer round up (nooooooo why did the summer not arrive and is now gone so sooooooon! ARGH! darn and blast English summers!) and a smashing day we got treated to this summer was the marriage of the good friends of ours - Sarah and Roy.

Now I have a lot to thank Sarah and Roy for as it is through these mutual friends and one Glaswegian Halloween party that I have meeting Mr Phil to thank. And it is up to bonnie Scotland that we traveled for the wedding of the year.

The wedding ceremony was set at Sarah's family home near Kinross, in a breathtaking converted barn built by her late father. It was a such a lovely setting that you can see why Scottish law allows you to marry in any place you'd like - England marriage laws mean you have to wed in only specific venues (how rubbish!)
The Barn itself was stunning, filled to the brim with hand carved wooden details (Sarah's father was a wood carver and carpenter) and I loved the informal atmosphere they created - even the close family were in pride of place on the family's sofas.

The ceremony was a humanist service, something I haven't come across before but that really struck a cord with me. The lady conducting the ceremony could have been a member of their family listening to how heartfelt the words were. A real eye opener.

Sarah looked beyond gorgeous in her adapted vintage dress and Roy, ever the dapper gentleman complimented her perfectly. The bridesmaids wore striking turquoise strapless dresses, including a very pregnant (but still tiny) Tie, one of my oldest friends.

Just some of the amazing wooden details in their house - hand carved Walrus and Carpenter banister ends!

On we went after the ceremony, a short bus ride away to Cleish village hall, a surprisingly modern space that still kept it's rural charm. Decorated with a good dose of bunting and a special banner made just for SAROY!

The decor was just beautiful, and my favourite bit was the assorted vintage salt and pepper shakers on each table - ours were these little cuties...

On we jived into the night and even met this little Olympic gymnastic hopeful - just look at the concentration!

 What a truly wonderful day it was! So a big thank you to Sarah and Roy (and families) for making it so special!

So as a present to the happy munchkins I decided to make them their very own little plate, featuring them on one of their most treasured holidays to Sothwold...

You can see the famous beach huts and lighthouse of Southwold in the background and down on the beach Sarah and Roy are enjoying a bottle of fizz along with their vintage styled picnic...

I even decided to put a little decal with a message on the back, something that I am happy to offer in any custom orders!

And here is the sketch that it came from...

 ...I love looking back and seeing how the sketch has turned out and thought you might like to see!

I'm more than happy to design custom plates for wedding presents if you have any friends getting married, just £45.

Hope you have enjoyed this look back as much as we enjoyed being there!

The Little Peach xxx

You've got a lot on your (lovely) plate!

Recently I have been asked (or asked myself) to produce some plates with custom designs and have had a thoroughly enjoyable time bringing these ideas to life. Here is the first one I've made, a custom baby birth plate for a little lovely called Joey.

The plate was ordered and designed even before little Joey arrived on this earth and I was given some specific ideas to include - the parents wonderful menagerie of animals!

First up was Poppy the black lurcher puppy with a whole heap of energy, and here he is carrying the baby's name banner. There's some poppies in the background to reflect him too.

The parents have a mini farm going on at their house, including 3 Aylesbury ducks who are apparently inseparable from each other - always doing the same things together, including bathing themselves in their very own paddling pool!

  

 The final animals to be included are 2 chickens who are called Robin and Percy after the Arsenal footballer Robin van Persie - here they are having a kick about in their red football strips!

 So recently the little one was born and I could finish the design with his details and get it sent off to the unsuspecting parents. The feedback was really humbling, apparently they said they would 'treasure it forever' what a lovely thought!

So thanks so much to (grandma) Liz for deciding to order with me and helping me get the best composition too.

Do get in contact if you can think of a custom design you might like, I can design an original plate for you for £45.

The Little Peach xx

Happy New Peaches!

Well hello there dear reader! Have you had a super relaxing and family filled festive break? Our house has been 2 week rota of eating, wrapping, unwrapping, eating, drinking, traveling, early mornings and late nights, cuddles, eating and eating.

 It was my first nephew's first Christmas, doesn't he look cute in his first cracker hat? The girls got (quite literally) a box full of presents, but still found the bubble wrap more exciting (well, who doesn't?!) and the lunatic cat couldn't handle being left out of the NYE meal.

 I was a very lucky girl, getting to share my Christmas day with both the new and old sides of my family, and Santa even brought me a Wonka Bar! and can you believe it even had a golden ticket inside it?

The cats seem to take to our new Handmade by Mrs Biddle cushions, and there was a theme of purple emerging in the gift giving!

All in all it's been one of the best Christmases yet and we are superduper looking forward to developing our little Wedding Stationery business in 2012!

Happy New Year! :)

Discovering The Little Peach!

 

So, we had an awesome time meeting lots of brides (and the occasional, slightly overwhelmed groom!) at our first wedding Fair this weekend. 

Hosted by Vintage gurus Discover at the impressively classic Chiswick Town Hall it was really well organised and busybusybusy all day.

 

After spending the past couple of weeks getting the display how I wanted it to look it was really good to see everything together looking smart (our house has been stacked with piles of invites and printing samples!)

And after the doors opened it was a good fun 5 hours of talking to people about what The Little Peach is all about! Mr Phil was a super great at helping me get across all my ideas, sometimes it's good to have a fresh pair of eyes! (he was even battling through a cold bless him)

I tried to display everything to be as straight forward as possible and it seemed to draw lots of positive attention. I was unsure about booking in to the wedding fair to begin with to be honest, it's a lot to afford when you're starting a business alongside getting all with all the other costs, but I'm really chuffed I did it - it was great to get out and talk to people about what the passion behind this business is. 

I took lots of samples and examples of the extra customisable options you can add to the invites, as well as a screen and some inks to explain how the process works.

 

 I even got some of the logos and banner printed big to show off The Little Peach!

All in all a really positive day :)

The Little Peach xx

Cut, Stick, Paste, Pack!

 So we are getting pretty excited about scrubbing ourselves up, leaving the print studio and coming to meet all you lovely brides and grooms this Sunday at The Discover Vintage Wedding Fair in London!

The Fair runs from 11am - 4pm at Chiswick Town Hall (you can see it on a map here) and it's only £5 entry (you don't need to book)

We have been getting samples ready of every design so that you can see for yourself just how much love is put into them. Myself (Sally) and Mr Phil will be on hand all day to answer any questions you have or exciting ideas you might want us to interpret, we are really excited to meet you!

Here's a little video about the other Bridal Fairs Discover Vintage have run so far...

We have also decided that as it is our launch event, we will give a whopping 20% off orders that are placed at the fair on Sunday (please note - we will need to take a deposit to secure the discount)

So now there's even more reason for you to come and meet The Little Peach!

xx

WE ARE GOGOGO!

Apologies for the slow post rate on our luverly blog, but I have been going square-eyed designing our very own WEBSITE!

You can see all the designs we have been working on and have a nosy around our process...do let us know what you think!

Now that it is launched, we will be sharing each design in a bit more depth on this here very blog.

Have a smashing bonfire weekend my loves!

A Photographic Introduction to the life of The Little Peach (thus far.....)

I am The Little Peach -  The Little Peach is me, so who is The Little Peach? Well let's have a little see...

The Little Peach began her life on a lovely tree situated in the North of England, in a very rainy and windy place called Darwen - a place crowned with it's very own tower!

  Momma and Poppa Peach gave The Little Peach a name and that name was Sally Leach (what a rhyming convenience!) and away she began her early days, mainly in bunk-beds and dens, alongside another little girl - The Big Peach, Amy.

It didn't take long for The Little Peach to discover her love for all things creative and although she occasionally misunderstood the correct use of poster paint, she was glad of this early encouragement.

Several years later, and a move to the creative big smoke, The Little Peach found herself studying a degree in Fine Art at the university of Kingston. It was here that she discovered her passion for reflecting the world around her, specifically in the form of drawing.

Always liking to keep the art cosy, The Little Peach drew on everything she could - the walls, the floor, the picture frames and the lamps, and she was even lucky enough to install her magically drawn Nan's front room at a super gallery in London (you can read all about that bit HERE)

After that people began asking The Little Peach to come and draw lots of different things for them. Everything from pictures for books, logos for their companies, posters for advertisements and all sorts of wonderful characters - which Little Peach loved the best!

 They even asked her to come and doodle straight onto the walls!

 The Little Peach set up a Website (www.sallyleach.co.uk) and Blog to record all of her doodling adventures.

One Hallows eve, after several exciting years living in London, The Little Peach met a wonderful man known as Mr Phil who lived in a sleepy beautiful nook of the Midlands called Rothwell, and after a whirlwind romance he asked her to move in to his house on wheels...

...he had some of Little Peach's favourite things:

...a madder than a cat in a hat cat - Daisy...

...a trampoline...

...and a mutant vegetable patch.

Mr Phil also had 2 wonderful little peaches of his own, namely a Miss Izzie...

and little miss Elouise...

So in Little Peach moved, another cat called Harvey Milk was adopted and happiness filled up her little heart.

Not long after this, a beautiful and treasured old friend came to ask The Little Peach if she'd help her design some invitations for her forthcoming wedding day, and of course the Little Peach jumped at the chance!

The Little Peach decided to hand screen print the custom-drawn invitations and had so much fun doing it and so many wonderful compliments on the designs, she decided to set herself up with her own screen printing studio in the outhouse at Mr Phil's cottage.

And it's from this happy little studio that she is writing to you today, currently getting sample packs ready to send out to other couples who might want her to draw them into their very own unique invitations.

 There is nothing The Little Peach loves more than capturing the characters and happiness of couples in her drawings and can't wait to help others bring this joy to their guests. There will be the option to have a completely from-scratch design or choose from a series of beautiful backgrounds; fully customisable colours and fonts, as well as a range of extra special bits and bobbins to make your invitations just perfect.

I can't wait to draw your love story :)

The Little Peach xx