- the fat duck

Well.... I am such a lucky girly and I recently took a little visit to Heston Blumenthal's quite-literally-AMAZING restaurant, The Fat Duck. I'm pretty much out of words (gasp!) as to how to describe it, only that it was utterly fantastic - a total sensory experience, delicious foods and flavours and also a bit of tongue in cheek fun. However, I'm not about to start blogging on about Beetroot gazpacho with horseradish ice cream or Snail Porridge (yes I did!) as I don't think it suits the Studio Seed blog... however, all their interesting bits and peices of paper pretty I experienced there DO suit the blog!

Some may think it wrong that I got just as excited over the thick leather embossing on the menu or crisp hot foil stamping on a little bookmark as the delicious flavours and gastronomy on offer. I don't care! See below for examples of beautifully thick (and waxed!) cardstock, wax seals, delicae foiling and also some foodie bits!

- studio seed is looking for an intern!

Yes, that's right! Studio Seed is looking for a lovely intern!

Since things are getting quite busy in the studio with all the new projects, I need a right hand man/woman to assist with the general running of the studio, putting together stationery orders, designing and general creativity! It would be initially for a two week trial period but I will be looking for someone more long-term in the future. (This will be an unpaid position for the trial period.) You would be working in the studio with myself and the lovely Jess Williams and we're very big believers in not just having interns to make the tea! We would be very keen to give you real life briefs to work on during your time with us. We think you might have quite a lot of fun with us and maybe even learn some new stuff too...

Some brief requirements are:

- you must have or be studying for a creative qualification. Also you must have a creative portfolio for me to see.

- as the studio is in the countryside in Birmingham/Worcestershire, access to a car is pretty much a necessity. (And a license!)

- fully competent using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

- you must smile a lot, enjoy cups of tea and laugh at all my jokes :)

If you think you might fit the bill then please get in touch here to tell me a bit about yourself!

- 'off the peg' wedding collections are launched!

Hetty Collection

I'm very pleased to announce that my brand new 'Off the Peg' Wedding Stationery Collections are now live on the site and available to order!

There are currently six new collections to choose from, all inspired by some very special ladies in my life:

Briony - an elegant botanical floral design with contrast geometric pattern

Esme - a fun, pretty spray floral design printed on luxurious pearlised cardstock

Hetty - a modern vintage design with bold typography on a rustic manilla background

Joyce - a classic silhouette floral design with bold colour

Rosie - a pretty, vintage-inspired collection with soft colour and pretty birds

Suzie - a beautiful collection featuring elegant typography and a pretty birdcage design

You can now view the collections here on my site and they are available to order now. All stationery elements can be personalised with the details of your wedding and colour matched to your theme if required. If they are not to your taste or you have something very specific in mind for your wedding sationery, you might want to consider our Bespoke Design Service (which has also had a little revamp!)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new collections, which is your favourite?

Esme Collection

Briony Collection

Suzie Collection

Joyce Collection

Rosie Collection

- New wedding collections launch tomorrow!

I'm very excited to announce that I will be launching my brand new 'Off the Peg' wedding collections online tomorrow! This comprises of six new wedding stationery ranges which can be personalised with the details of your wedding and also colour matched to your theme if required. These collections are in addition to my Bespoke Design Service. Check back tomorrow to see the full six ranges!

- birdcage papercut

I was recently comissioned by a lovely lady to create a very special papercut for some of my past clients! You may remember the beautiful birdcage Wedding Invitations I created a while ago for Matthew and Sarah (you can see them here) The comission was for a friend of the Bride and Groom's who wanted to give them an extra special wedding gift based on the design of the invitations.

I re-created the birdcage design with a tiny heart in the same eau-de-nil colour from the original design - I really like it and apparently so did the happy couple! Congratulations Matthew and Sarah on your wedding day - wishing you lots of love and happiness from Studio Seed HQ!

- Studio seed promotional tactics

After the launch of my "Bella' Greetings Card Collection, I wanted to do something a bit different in order to drum up some interest from some of my super-top-dream-luxury retail outlets! As well as being stocked in lovely British boutiques, one of my long-term goals for the Studio Seed brand is to at some point be stocked in either/or: Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis and Paperchase. As a relative newbie in the Greetings Card Publishing world, I know it will take a long time to establish my brand and to be recognised as a viable brand but I thought - "I've got to start somewhere!"

The Plan: I decided that to get the buyer's attention, I would need to send them something special that they couldn't just toss into the bin. Even if they just noticed the 'Studio Seed' name then that was good enough for me, and something to build on in the future as I launch further collections. I wasn't expecting a response but just thought it might get me noticed in a tiny way.

The Packages: I got some super cool pink mailing boxes which I filled with beautiful, hand-finished samples of the card range, a pretty printed information sheet about the brand and a letter explaining the new collections and why they should be stocked in their shops! AND the best thing was that each box contained a {YUMMY} bespoke cake pop which were especially made to tie in with my range (By the wonderful Mandie- see her page here )

So any progress? I'm very pleased to say that so far I've had response from Paperchase, John Lewis AND Selfridges! No orders placed as yet but potentially there's things which will happen in the future so I'm very pleased! I will certainly be building on these new relationships so who knows what will happen in time! Watch this space!

- busy bee!

Big apologies for the lack of posts lately - Studio Seed has been overflowing with work and jobs and glitter and paper and sequins and emails and birthday cake to name a few things!

I'm working on such a diverse range of projects at the moment which is fantastic (never gets boring) but also quite hard work! Very much enjoying myself at the moment. Project highlights at the moment are:

-TWO new weddings taken on the past week (!)

-Wedding Collection preparation for my new 'Off the Peg' collections which I will launch at the Vintage Chic Wedding Fair

-Lots of lovely freelance work for the High Street including weddings, babies, Valentine's and Christmas

So I thought I would post a few snippets of little things I've been working on lately which will all be revealed in full in due course.

With love from the (snowy) studio xx

- new products for Marks & Spencer

I've recently had a few product samples back from the lovely Tigerprint who I work with on a regular basis. The products are currently available in Marks & Spencers stores nationwide!

These cards are a Male greetings range I designed entitled 'Statement Piece' - with vintage typography, retro-style icons and contemporary stying. The cards feature a lovely sculptured emboss finish which looks really strong. It's nice to work on something masculine occasionally to take me away from frilly pink glitterness!

Next up some Valentine's 2012 designs, (ok so they aren't currently in store - it's been and gone!)

I've done quite a few Mother's Day designs for the range this year too, and these ARE currently in store! This one is a pretty ditsy print on a fabric ground, with an apothecary style jewelled label.

And last but not least for now, a Bridal Planning range called 'Organised Bride' - this range was really fun to work on! It's fun little sayings and phrases in my own handwriting, and little sketches. With a hot foiled stamp finish in bright magenta onto crisp white kraft. It's a lovely little range!

- kari herer photography

Kari Herer is a photographer with a background in fine arts and graphic design, based in Portland, USA. She photographs weddings and portraits as well as working with some big companies and publications all over the US including Vera Wang Fine Papers and Tiny Prints. I first noticed her work on Etsy where I was very drawn to a botanical illustration which included a real life flower head which was then photographed... simply beautiful. I checked out her site which has a gorgeous selection of lush photography - from portraiture and weddings to animals (yay!) and beautifully styled and coloured floral shots. You can see her site here and buy beautiful prints from here.

- new designs for next

Over the past year I've been doing quite a bit of freelance design for high street favourite, Next. Varying from packaging, bodycare, fragrance and greetings design I've done all sorts of bits and peices for them which are now beginning to hit the shelves! Just wanted to post a few of the Mother's Day card designs I did for them which have now been launched in store.