Peterley Manor Farm Christmas Market

My first time at this lovely market but not my first time at the Farm!  You will recognise it from previous posts on my design work for the Wild Strawberry Cafe that they have in the Yurt there, and my on going work with them (pictures shared via instagram as well!).  The market was such a success last year that they opened up some extra space so that it was bigger and better than last year, and offered more and variations on what shoppers would of experienced last year as well.

I was next to some lovely stall holders and also was lucky enough to meet some online friends - love it when that happens!  We were there till around 4pm both Saturday and Sunday, which, with the light fading fast and early was just perfect to get a nice glow from the fairy lights before packing up.

The Wild Strawberry Cafe strayed from it's home in the Yurt to bring us mulled wine, coffee, tea and baked goods - all the yumminess!  The Christmas cards I designed for the Farm Shop also made their debut which was lovely to see, they looked so cute all tied up with string in their packs.

I had a few enquiries for house portraits (which are my favourite!) so I went home a super happy girl.  Thank you for having us all Peterley Manor Farm!

www.peterleymanorfarm.co.uk

This year the market was on the 28th and 29th of November, so keep an eye out in 2016 for similar dates!  Or check the above link to sign up to the newsletter from Peterley Manor Farm.

Wild Strawberry Cafe events Posters

After having done some lovely postcard flyers for the Wild Strawberry Cafe @ Peterley Manor Farm, I've also been creating some sweet events posters for them too.  More to follow soon but for now, here are the posters I've done so far.

We kicked off this project with a Mother's Day Floristry Workshop, which challenged my flower illustrating skills but ultimately produced something really lovely to help advertise a great event.

The success of this workshop quickly spurred on the second - with an updated poster.  'Teacup' Floristry Workshops are good on any day of the year!

And coming up soon we have Father's Day!  Hopefully we have some nice weather to celebrate our Dads in style, with a hog roast and a nice cold cider.

You can find all the information on the Peterley Manor Farm website - and doesn't it look good?!

www.peterleymanorfarm.co.uk

You can follow them online on Twitter @peterleyfarm and the cafe has it's own Instagram to @wildstrawb_cafe

If you're interested in your own poster for an event, please get in touch in the comments section or email me directly at charlotte_vallance@hotmail.com - the above posters are not available as they are bespoke to Peterley Manor Farm, but I'm able to create something just as lovely for your event.

Great Oaks from Little Acorns grow

If you live in England, you might of seen an Entertainer shop around when you're out and about.  Well, that business started up where I live in Amersham.  Over the years it's been in 3 different locations in the town, the one it's in now being a very recent move.

I was commissioned to illustrate both the oldest and newest shops next to each other, showing the progress of the shop, toys and the Entertainer as a brand.  It's come such a long way!  It was a pleasure to capture these shops in an illustration and it'll make the perfect gift for the recipient at Christmas.

Indie retail shopping experience

At the beginning of the year Coco Marie commissioned me to illustrate the front of their darling little boutique in Old Amersham (see finished illustration here and in practice here) and over the year we've kept in touch and helped to promote each other on the social media side of things.

Coming up to christmas happenings they got in touch again, having seen my print of Old Amersham (you can get yours here) and were asking to use it for an 'Independent Retail Shopping Event' to take place in Old Amersham at the end of November. Amazing!  I love it when customers come back - the best compliment I can get!

Always one for a challenge and to illustrate something new, I volunteered up my services to illustrate Old Amersham and in particular the shops that were getting involved - rather than have them use something illustrated for a different purpose, plus it wasn't Christmassy at all!

I'll be posting the finished map soon!

Give Away

Thats right, you heard me correctly!

I am giving you the chance to win an illustration by me commissioned by yourself.  An A4 illustration of your choice, a complete one of a kind illustration specially for you.  I will use watercolours and add fine line detail, which is the style I tend to opt for when illustrating.  I'll allow a border of paper round the edge to make framing easier.

Some examples of past commissions I've done

In order to enter, I'm asking that you visit my Etsy shop and give me some feedback.  Now.  This doesn't mean that you have to buy something, (although that would be nice if you are tempted).  It means that, I have recently added new products, experimented with the photography and altered my postage costs and therefore would love to hear what you, my lovely customers / fellow illustrators / crafty folk / friends / family, think of it all.

Ideas for you customisable illustration:

• Home / House
• Favourite city
• Garden
• Invitation
• Favourite cafe/shop
• Sweets / Chocolate
• Logo
• Favourite plant
• Pet
• A trinket
• Favourite shoes / bag
• Or you might just like to tell me a few things that you like and see what I come up with!

Please follow this link: www.etsy.com/shop/charlottevallance

And either leave your thoughts in a comment below here, email me, send a message via Etsy (there is a link to 'contact me' on my page) and of course let me know how you would like to be contacted if you won!

I'd love to hear what you think of my photos, the postage costs and the actual items for sale.  If you think something needs improving, let me know!

After all the entries have been placed in a hat I shall select one lucky winner and three runners up.  If you are a runner up, I'll be sending you a little goody bag :-) ppppst I've just had confirmation of a piece of Naida Crystal Jewellery to be in the runner up prizes...you can see her work here: www.etsy.com/shop/naidacrystal

So a total of 4 prizes to be won, you have just under 3 weeks to enter and closing date is the 22nd August at 8pm (UK time).

Most importantly, anyone can enter!

Good luck

X

Private, staff only

Typography for the Artichoke restaurant

Recently I was contacted by a restaurant local to me in Old Amersham called 'Artichoke'.  It is a lovely little restaurant across the street from the cafe where I used to work.  They have a great colour scheme going on both inside and out of soft natural colours, an amazing open kitchen, so if you're close enough you would be able to see them preparing your dinner!  Find them online here and follow them on Twitter for quick updates here.

They were wanting me to do some signage for them for within the restaurant.  The dining areas have a lovely feel to them and standard signs just wouldn't fit in!  'Please mind your head' and 'private, staff only' are self explanatory and save customers the embarrassment of having to ask or going the wrong way.

Along with the guideline of using lower case font for the two signs I tried to compliment their colour scheme with my choice of typography design.  I stuck with a simple, yet elegant font, and added in a few twists and flicks to make it their own.

'private, staff only'

Up these little stairs is another kitchen (not the toilets as you may think) so this little sign will save customers a tricky climb up the higgledy steps.

'please mind your head' Cropped view

This sign is quite self explanatory, the beam is pretty low (I just had to stand on tip toes to draw out my design comfortably!) and they were fearful for their customers heads.  This sign is now on both sides of the beam so you're sure to 'please mind your head' from both directions.

'please mind your head' Full view

'please mind your head' Up close view

I loved doing this commission, something new and a bit different from my 'normal' at the moment.

Do you need a sign painting and quite like this style?  Get in touch via email charlotte_vallance(at)hotmail.com or leave your details in a comment on this post and I'll get back to you.

This post needs a special mention to the lovely ladies Laura Manfre and Anika Starmer.  They helped me to continue posting images on my blog posts.  Please check out their lovely work (click on their respective names for the link to their work).

Thank you!

Coco Marie

Commission for Coco Marie

I've been a massive admirer of Coco Marie in Old Amersham for a good couple of years now.  It was on route from my car to work in the days that I worked at Seasons, and since I don't do that anymore I now enjoy the online aspect of the Boutique.

Last year, for the opening of Seasons Cafe at Rowan I illustrated the Seasons Cafe Deli in Old Amersham, to remind them of the Rowan Cafe's Mother Cafe!  The lovely Jen, happened to spot this particular illustration and got in touch for me to illustrate their little Boutique 'Coco Marie'.  I was obviously more than thrilled to get this commission!  It's so lovely illustrating the buildings in my town, and even nicer to know how much it is appreciated.

Above, you can see the final illustration.  I'm really happy with the finished piece, it shows off the quirky nature of the shop (it being in such a petite building!) and the cuteness of it.  Below, are some photos I took inside the Boutique for inspiration.  It gives you the whole picture - as it were - of what the illustration is showing off!

Thank you for reading.  Have you been into Coco marie, or do you have a local Boutique like it?