Plates of Love

I had a lovely request recently that I thought I'd share with you. I was contacted by a lady all the way from America to make a special version of The Woodland Picnic plate for another lady she had met as part of a support group over facebook.

The group were brought together under tragic circumstances, by all having lost babies to a condition know as pprom. The lady explained to me that they had all become firm friends after sharing their feelings and supporting each other through what must be a truly terrible time. They wanted to send a present to celebrate the arrival of baby Ada, a baby that had survived after this tragic time.
I just found the sentiment of this group so touching, don't you think? The lady asked me to include a small rainbow on the design, which is a symbol of the 'pprom warriors' - it show the rainbow that can happen after a storm. And we simply included a 'love from around the world' message to wish the new mum love from all the group.

I was so thrilled to be asked to help share this group's love and support for each other :)

The Little Peach xx

Happy Custom Plates!

Hello there! Just thought I'd share a couple of custom plate designs I have made for happy little people recently....

The first was for a friend of Mr Phil's Dad, Maria - who was celebrating a big birthday recently. We thought a plate with her family (including her beloved doggie) and also a couple of iconic buildings that suggest her heritage - The Liver Building in Liverpool (where she's from) and The Grammar School Building in Market Harborough (where she lives now) would be perfect, and apparently it went down well!

The second was for a lovely couple who recently got married in the gorgeous resort of Marbella. The setting was an obvious choice for the plate so I went about capturing them.

and here is the finished plate...

Do get in contact if you'd like a custom design, they are £45 including delivery :)

The Little Peach xx

Kiss Kiss Molly's Lips!

 Isn't it just magic when you get to a certain age and your friends all of a sudden start getting married and getting pregnant? It's like there's part of you that doesn't feel old enough (when will we ever!) but then you stop and think 'oh yeah, we aren't 20 anymore!'

This magic seems to be happening to me at the moment, and far from being scary (well most of the time) I'm actually excited about it. It's like one party is over (the party where you stay up till dawn and still have energy for carrying on the fun) and the next party is starting (the one where you all stay in to watch X-factor cos the kids have to be in bed at 8pm and you're too tired from doing kid-stuff all day.) Man how the times have changed.

The other weekend, we proved our age by having such a 'party' at my friend Liam's house in Manchester. My friend of a whole decade ago, Miss Tie came down from Glasgow with her newly formed family in tow, Mister Jeffory and little miss Molly the new baby! Friends living so far away really does suck so we all decided to meet in the middle (thanks Liam!) and even my old housemate Lizzy Bee was there!

We went for a wander in Gatley where Liam lives and he was keen to show this old cafe that has seemingly stayed in a time warp from the 60's.....how cool!? It even had an old meat slicer and vintage radio on top of the rickety fridge. I do hope this place stays true like this forever.

So anyway...onto the baby cuddling! Molly is quite simply the cutest baby I have ever seen - I mean look at that hair! Apparently her hair is so thick that it even showed up on the ultrasound, and you literally cannot make it go down, it is permanently thrust in a funky little quiff! 

She also has the best eyes that get permanently fixed on mysteriously nothing behind you...it's what was cracking me and Mr Phil up in this picture, and just about when I realised who she reminded me of - a Monchichi! Do you remember those?

In honour of Miss Molly's blessed arrival in our lives, I decided it was only proper that she should have her own custom baby plate!

Having known her parents for many a year I knew straight away how I'd like the composition to go - it HAD to be musical themed (I don't think I know anyone more into their music than them) I got sketching, would you like to see how I design these plates? Well I'm going to show you!

I was thinking straight away of having the family dancing around a record player so start to block out where I want the figures to go - it always starts with simple shapes so I can plot/rub out/plot/ rub out to get it just right. I like to work within the size of the plate from the beginning too...it can be a slightly restrictive shape so best to always have it in mind.

The same basic drawing gets added to on top of the sketch and I'm now starting to add more details like outfits, where the text will go and I'm starting to think about the colours I might use too.

Because I want my drawings to have a 'screen printed' feel to them, even when I don't screen print I still work in the same way. I photocopy the original sketch (always good to keep the original safe just in case) and block out where I want the colours to go. I decided for this drawing to keep it to a simple 3 colour plan - grey, mint green and pink.

Next is the good old tracing paper stage - I go over each colour layer with a trusty black fineliner, making each part of the image into a black 'blob'. After this I scan in and reform the image back together using photoshop and illustrator. Illustrator is really handy if you like to make changes later on, like change a colour or add detail.

I added a few subtle shades of the mint and pink and some texture in the background. There are also some personal hints to their life as a couple - like the Mr Brightside record sleeve, a song that was big when they were starting their life together :)

And here it is...the finished plate before it was shipped off up to Glasgow! 

I think I love this design the best of any I've done yet, as they are so special to me and I (hope) think I have captured who they are quite well!

I can't wait to go up to Glasgow this weekend to see it on Miss Molly's wall :)

The Little Peach xx

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