Happy Birthday Dee!

Esther Orridge 2012

Made for You by Me! 2012

Well it was my wonderful placement boss's birthday this week and I wanted to get her a something to celebrate. I've got bored of buying the same presents so I'm trying this year to make them a lot more personal and tailored to the one I'm buying for. I've banned myself from buying ornament type presents from now on (unless absolutely necessary).
So over the past few weeks I've been listening to my boss and trying to figure out what I could get her. The idea I came up with was a cheese board. Simply because I had asked her what she likes to snack on when she wants some "me time" and she said she prefers cheese over chocolate (I gasped at this ha!). However at this time of the year they are near non-existent!
As usual, if I can't find something I'll try make it myself. So deciding to make it a personal cheese selection for 1, I came up with this hamper-style idea. I decided against the cheese "board" because a) they were stupidly priced, b) it would have been too heavy to carry around, and c) I wanted to do it a bit different.
I wanted to go for a funky but slightly vintage look with the wrapping. I used scrunched up brown paper to pad out the inside/bottom of the bucket and wrapped everything individually to give it a little bit of a fun-factor. The ribbons added more colour (this reflects her colourful personality) and  made the card to explain what it was all about.
The top image shows my finished, personal cheese selection/hamper for 1. Complete with crackers and a "Star Bar" which is her favourite chocolate bar (in case she wants a break from cheese).
The bottom image is the card that I made for her too :)

Presents!

I always think it's kool to jazz up your presents with a personal touch. I wasn't sure what the deal is with baby showers regarding gifts and cards so this time I've just made this little bear to write the greeting to the mummy-to-be. It's also a good way if you want to keep the designs neutral. If you can't find anything, make it. I think it's much more personal. Although this isn't the most ground-breaking one I've done, I still hope she likes it :)

Baking Adiction

Well I've had another baking craze for the past 2 weeks. Both my husband and my workplace have benefited from this though ha! However tonight there is another baby shower that I've been invited to so I've freshly baked some treats for everyone. I only bake now when I know they will all be eaten (otherwise I will eat them all - seriously!)
These are a few from the 3 batches I made. Each seems to be better than the other as I'm trying to work out the best way to prevent the choc-chips sinking to the bottom and pealing away with the case. Please let me know if you have the answer :) I'm just experimenting at the moment and seem to have a good consistency at the moment. Let's see how they go down tonight! Yum yum!

Personalised Invitation Design

Esther Orridge 2012

Well here's the finished, printed and sent out invitation that I designed for a very close friend of mine. She is having a baby later this year and I have been given the privilege of co-co-ordinating and co-hosting her baby shower.
I was given the exciting task of making the invitations. This HAD to include a reference to the Mini Babybel Cheeses because the Mummy-to-be has the last name "Bell" (the baby is already nick-named "Baby Bell"). So it had to be this!
They have gone out to about 20 of her friends and family.
I'm so happy with the result of this design. I think it's one of the very few pieces I'm proud to present on here :)
And a bonus was that the Mummy-to-be loved them!! Wooo!

Doodle Pebble

Esther Orridge 2012

I got bored last week (don't normally have time to) and found a few slate pebbles laying around the house from a trip to Whitby last year. So I decided to see how my line drawings would look on it. Here's the first I've ever done. Thought it was interesting - more than just on a piece of paper??
Was hard not to smudge the pen though and also keep the technique as I would when drawing on a flat surface!

Ladies day, oh what a day!

Esther Orridge 2012

Finally I have something graphic design related to show you. Here is one of the projects I'm currently working on (freelance) for an event that my church is putting on.
This is a notice slide I've designed for advertising the event at the church I attend. It's currently being displayed on the projected screens during the notice announcements on a Sunday.
The brief was that it wasn't too pink or over girly. So using the suggested colours I was given, I kept the design clean and simple but without loosing the feminine touch it required. These graphics will also be used further in the project and used throughout the event day.

Esterellas

Well I found these in the Spanish supermarket last week and had to buy them! One of my very few nick-names is Esterella (even though my name has a 'H' in it). I wanted to see what they tasted like and actually they were very tasty! Great snack-type sweet biscuits to keep you going. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to buy more to bring home :( but I'm sure if we go again then I'll definitely get more!! Mmmm!

Tweet Tweet!

Dare I say that I've taken flight to Twitter! It's easier to post things on there whilst you are mobile or away. I'm also trying to generate a bit more interest in the blog through it. Hopefully my work and inspirational posts will be welcomed by any newbies to the blog :)
Tweet me: https://twitter.com/#%21/inaglow