Category: Bespoke

Katherine & Peter’s Wedding Invites

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Afternoon all,

Lovely Katherine & Peter spotted that I’d been a finalist at the EDP Wedding Awards and contacted me asking about my stationery for their upcoming wedding. After a good chat over e-mail they invited me to their home to see some examples and discuss ideas further…I even met their cat Watson.

They decided on a portrait for their main illustration and as they’re tying the knot in October, they wanted the designs to have an autumnal vibe with warm and rich jewel tones. Katherine shared a Pinterest link with me which was super helpful; it was full of inspiration and from here I was able to pick out certain tones and flowers to recreate.

To go with their wedding invitation, they wanted to include a details page which outlined all the ‘extra bits’ guests would need to know and a page for their tasty menu. One other key detail P&K asked for was to include Watson, chasing a mouse somewhere on the stationery.

I love the final pieces, there’s such a gorgeous cohesion and flow between them. They’re clean, fresh and I am really enjoying the main invite layout with the text detail. Overall, I’m very happy and I think those colours are just luscious.

I’m delighted to report that Peter & Katherine were pleased too and they left me this lovely review on my Facebook Page; reviews like this make everything worth it.

“Just wanted to thank Claire again for producing such beautiful and unique invitations for our wedding. We have had lots of compliments from friends and family with one friend yesterday saying they were her favourite invite of the year, which reminded me that I must leave this review! We really enjoyed working with Claire and thoroughly recommend! x”

Ok, less of me nattering, how about some visual goodies? Here’s Peter & Katherine’s Wedding Stationery, enjoy!

I had a great time creating these designs and I wish Katherine and Peter all the best with the rest of their wedding plans. Here’s to a fabulous wedding day come October and a very happy future as a married couple.

If these bespoke designs have caught your eye and you’re in the market for some personal wedding stationery, then get in touch via hello@frogandpencil.com, I’d love to hear from you and chat weddings!

Until next time you beauties,

Cx

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The Little Horse Box

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Hey there!

It’s a bit of a stormy one here in Norwich today so while the sky rumbles I thought I’d write a new post and share my recent commission with you beauties.

Lovely Liddy is the proud owner of The Little Horse Box (TLHB), where she has lovingly restored an old horse box and transformed it into a luxury bar you can hire for weddings and special events. It’s such a gorgeous local business and I feel that this bar is ideal for all kinds of weddings, especially those with an alternative, vintage, boho or festival vibe. You can tailor the bar too, with bespoke drinks packages, coloured lighting and by dressing it with your wedding flowers. My personal favourite package is the ‘Pimp Your Prosecco’, I could really get into that!

Look, isn’t it adorable (swoon)!

the-little-horse-box

Liddy got in touch as she was looking to have a bespoke card made which she could then give to her couples and fellow suppliers. I was delighted to be asked and couldn’t wait to get cracking! We chatted about a few ideas but it was clear the focus of the illustration should be on the TLHB itself. The garland was also important and she wanted it to be full of pretty flowers and pastel colours, a little like a country garden. With a few extra tweaks and finished off with welly boots bursting with flowers, a ladybug and juicy strawbs, we created a design which I think is just smashing! What do you guys think?

I loved making this for Liddy and I hope all her fab couples and the suppliers she meets along the way on her TLHB journey enjoy the cards too. If you’re a fellow supplier and are looking for a unique card (or something similar) that echoes your brand, then drop me a message, I’d love to hear from you.

Please do check out The Little Horse Box’s website and if you’re in the market for a bar or know someone who is, give her a shout. Liddy is so friendly and passionate, you’ll be in safe hands when it comes to catering your drinks for a big event (Psst, I’d Pimp your Prosecco if I were you!).

Thanks for commissioning me The Little Horse Box, it was a pleasure!

Until next time y’all,

Cx

Kim & Jody’s Spanish Castle

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Hola you lovely lot!

Wowzers we’re having some amazing weather! Frog & Pencil HQ is certainly hotting up and this heat has reminded me of a wedding invitation commission I finished a few months ago and it’s about time I shared it.

Lovely Kim contacted me at the end of December wanting to buy a few Bridesmaid Cards and I was delighted when she came back to commission me for their personal wedding invitations. Next year, Kim & Jody are jetting off to sunny Spain to say ‘I do’ in a beautiful Spanish Castle. Being a destination wedding there’s plenty of organising to do and tonnes of information that their guests will require. To keep things simple, these guys have chosen to set up a wedding website which will hold all the details that their friends and families are going to need to know. However, they still really liked the idea of having a physical invite to pop in the post and it also makes for a cute little keepsake from their day.

When it came to their main illustration, Kim & Jody opted out of a portrait and instead asked if I could paint their beautiful wedding venue, Castillo de Conesa. I jumped at the chance! We personalised it further by incorporating dusky purple tones within the garland to match their flowers on the day; aside from that we let the Castle take centre stage.

It was an absolute joy creating this invitation and it made a nice change to illustrate a building. Additionally, it was a pleasure getting to know Kim, I really do have the best Brides!

Enjoy Kim & Jody’s mini gallery…with an ice cool tipple in hand and browsing these photos, it’s almost like we could be in Spain!

Wishing Kim & Jody a wonderful wedding next year and I hope the sun’s shining just as brightly as it is here today for your Spanish Castle wedding.

If you love my style and like the idea of capturing your special venue on your wedding stationery, send me an e-mail to hello@frogandpencil.com, I’d love to hear from you!

I think this Froggy is about to melt so I’m hopping off for an ice cream!

Until next time,

Adios!

The Three Mental Swans; A Story Of Friendship

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Hello there!

This commission has been under wraps since March but I’m so excited to finally share the illustration and story with you all…it was really quite a specific and a rather bonkers request. So settle down and get comfy while I tell you a little anecdote about the friendship of The Three Mental Swans.

Almost ten years ago C, M & T met each other on their travels in New Zealand and they instantly made a connection. A few weeks of crazy adventures ensued around the Islands and they knew then that they were friends for life. They affectionately named themselves the Mental Swans and each swan has her inner animal. C is the Nemo Swan, M is the Penguin Swan and T is the White Tiger Swan. Even though C, M & T all live in different countries and their lives have taken new directions, the sisterly bond between them has held fast and strong all these years. 

C commissioned me to create an illustration to reflect this wonderful relationship for M’s 30th birthday and I was delighted to be asked. Along with the distinct swans, she wanted to include a few personal Maori touches into the garland. The main one being the butterfly, a design the girls created based around the friendship symbol Pikorua, which they now all proudly share as a tattoo.

This was such a fun design to work on and the moment I began to add colour it all came to life! I’m so happy with this illustration and I adore the heartwarming meaning it represents. I’m also delighted to report that M loves it too…happy birthday M, I hope it was a blinder!

Here it is in all its beautifully bonkers glory; enjoy!

swans-illustration-final

Mental Swans for life!

Are you looking for a unique gift? Resonate a personal story or a special relationship with a Frog & Pencil illustration; it will certainly be one to treasure! Get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.

Adios,

Cx

A Kula Christening Commission!

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Hello there!

I have a rather adorable commission to share with you all today and it also happens to be quite a personal one too. Our gorgeous friend’s, the Kula’s, have two beautiful girls, Isabel and Abigail and I was delighted to create their Christening Invitation. Even though Claire and Pawel are close friends, I treated the whole process like I would with a client…so it was good practice for me.

I had a Skype chat with Claire about what they were looking for and it was decided that the design should include the girl’s portraits within a floral garland. They wanted to include yellow roses and overall, for it to be colourful, bright and joyous. Isabel also likes butterflies and I wanted to add them to the design for an extra personal touch.

I LOVED illustrating the girls and I had so much fun creating the whole invitation. After a few wording tweaks it was completed in a couple days and I’m delighted with the result, as are the fabulous Kula’s!

Here’s the Kula Christening Invitation gallery from beginning to end; enjoy the little munchkins!

A sneak peek!
Final sketch!
Let the painting begin.
Hello Isabel & Abby.
Finished illustration.
Original to print.
Kula Christening Invitation
Kula Christening Invitation front & back.
Kula Christening Invitation wording.
All ready to be packaged.
Close up of Isabel & Abigail.

Claire has also mentioned that she’s received some lovely feedback from friends and family about the invitations which just makes my heart soar. I’m pretty proud of this commission and delighted to have a happy customer. Lewie and I are also honoured to be Isabel’s God Parents, so I had to do a good job really…didn’t want that title revoked!

Another great example that I don’t just focus on weddings, so if you have a celebration coming up and are looking for personal and bespoke stationery, get in touch and say hello.

I’m off to get ready for A Most Curious Wedding Fair...a last minute cancellation means that Frog & Pencil is now exhibiting this Sunday, eeek! More on that later.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!

Cx

A Froggy First!

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Hello there!

Last week was a wonderful whirlwind while I prepared for Frog & Pencil’s very first Wedding Fair.

Having only launched in February, I couldn’t believe my luck to have found a stand available at a Spring event…I genuinely thought I may have missed the boat and would have to wait for the Autumn fairs. Lovely Norfolk Brides offered me a spot at the Wensum Valley Hotel Wedding Show on Sunday 13th March and I snapped up the opportunity!

My week was spent designing flyers, making sure I had enough samples, thinking of creative ways to arrange my stand and to have everything printed in time. I even invested in a roller banner…this was particularly exciting for me as in my previous marketing jobs I’ve spent many an hour running around beautiful Norwich delivering and setting up roller banners. It felt quite poignant when my very own was delivered and I LOVE it.

Sunday came around in a flash and it was an early, misty start for my hubby and I as set up started from 7am.  We were welcomed by the team and made our way to the Frog & Pencil table and wowzers, we had a great spot (with a beautiful outlook too)! It also turns out that we were fortuitous with our brilliant exhibitor neighbours, Lesley from Short Cakes and Aurora Wedding and Events Hire, both were so friendly, helpful and gave me loads of advice about the Wedding Fair scene, a big heartfelt thank you to you guys.

At 10am the doors opened and I was raring to go! A bride approached my table, looked at my designs, shook her head and said to her friend ‘No!’…a good start hey! It did make us chuckle and thankfully, throughout the day I was given many lovely compliments. There was a steady stream of people and the five hours flew by. It also helped that we were sat by popular stands such as Adnams, Short Cakes and Aurora as they brought welcomed footfall to Frog & Pencil.

I spoke to so many awesome couples about their wedding day plans and it was also a pleasure to be able to give some tips having lived through this adventure last year. It felt amazing to hear that people enjoyed my work and to see their big smiles appear as they clocked my stall. There were a bunch of comments on how ‘different’ my illustrations are and I’m incredibly proud of the fact that Frog & Pencil is unique.

Overall it was an excellent and positive experience. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to other exhibitors and networking, they all gave some great guidance. Even more so, it was interesting to see how my target audience felt about my work; however the proof is in the bookings. As of yet, nothing’s pinged through but it’s still early days and I’m hopeful.

Being by a window on a beautiful sunny day was just perfect albeit a little challenging when taking photos but thankfully they’ve turned out pretty good with a little editing…so here we are, enjoy clicking through my Wensum Valley Wedding Fair Gallery.

MY very own roller banner…feeling accomplished!
Prizes to be hidden in 2 of the 100 goody bags for brides…50% off F&P up for grabs!
A misty start over the Wensum Valley grounds, so beautiful.
My very glamorous assistant.
Set up and ready to rock ‘n’ roll!
My ‘tech guy’ tweaking a few things.
Awesome and delicious neighbours!
Frog & Bear raring to get started!

We were honoured to be amongst some brilliant exhibitors and I hope they all had a successful show. I wanted to take the opportunity to give a handful of those a mention and share their details.

A SPECIAL CROAK OUT TO…

Norfolk Brides: Dalia and Tim were brilliant hosts and I’m very appreciative of all their help and knowledge in the run up to this event. Check out their website to see what’s coming up next!

A Most Curious Wedding Fair: Sat in front of us was the lovely Hannah from A Most Curious Wedding Fair. On Sunday 20th March they will be hosting their unique Wedding Fair in St Andrews Hall in Norwich from 11am – 4pm. I visited last year and it was ace, certainly worth having a look around. You’ll also find a familiar froggy face in their Most Curious Directory as a cool, recommended supplier…which is very exciting for me!

Short Cakes: Our super wonderful neighbour Lesley who creates the most beautiful, delicate wedding cakes. We were lucky enough to have a sample of the chocolate cake and it was delicious, so if you’re in the market for a celebratory sponge then get in touch…be quick though, people were flocking to her stand looking to speak to ‘The Cake Lady’!

Aurora Wedding and Events Hire: Another ace neighbour who were also popular! Providing hire items for your big day, give them a look…their sweetie cart is a must for kiddies and husbands alike!

Adnams Norwich: Dishing out tasty tipples these guys were BUSY!!! I can personally recommend the Adnams Prosecco, we served it at our wedding and it is a moreish fizz with a fabulous price tag to boot!

Joshua Patrick Photography: If you’re looking for a photographer, hop on over to Josh’s website. He’s really friendly, enthusiastic and his images are natural, relaxed and just stunning; you won’t be disappointed!

Oops! a Daisy Florist: The gals at the show were gorgeous and they had such a delightful stand full of romantic, whimsical flowers which I thought were divine. I’d pay them a visit if you’re looking for an excellent and creative florist.

There we have it, my first show done and dusted; I LOVED it. Thanks for having me Norfolk Brides and thanks to all the couples who took the time to check us out. Drop me a line if you have any questions or would like a quote, it would be wonderful to talk some more.

Have a tip top evening all and I’ll be back later in the week with a post all about the details from my Christening commission…I’ll warn you, it’s a cute one!

Cx

Hop Hop Hippo!!!

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Hello there!

It has been BUSY up here at Frog & Pencil HQ, hence the lack of posts of late but in the coming weeks I have quite a few exciting things to write about, so you should see a rise in my blogging.

A few days after we launched the Frog & Pencil website a lovely little gem of an e-mail pinged its way into my inbox. My first, official web enquiry for a commission. Both Lewie and I were ecstatic…I was hopping around the lounge with excitement because a real live human being wanted me to make something for them and Lew was jumping around, proud that the web contact form works and was successful! Needless to say, we were rather happy.

The very wonderful S is pregnant with her first child and wanted to announce their joyous news with a card to send to family and friends. She had seen my work on Facebook and liked my style, so after checking out my website she got in touch. S was looking for an illustration that had a pink mummy hippo, a grey daddy hippo and a baby hippo popping out behind them, with the line ‘We would like to introduce you to someone’ alongside them. And on the back she envisioned ‘Delivery expected August 2016’. I instantly thought this sounded ADORABLE and such a sweet idea; a nice alternative to sharing the news on social media. This commission was just my cup of tea and I was delighted to create a card for S and her Husband.

We chatted a while about any additional embellishment such as a garland, however, it was decided to keep the design pretty simple with a little decoration to compliment the hippos.

I absolutely loved working on this commission, it was a really fun project and it also helped me to figure out what my packaging style would become too. It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted all the goodies to S and her Husband, which thankfully arrived safe and sound. Along with the final cards, I included envelopes, a thank you card, my business card and the original painting which I believe will be perfect hung up in the nursery. I’m proud to say that they’re thrilled with their hippo card and I was very chuffed to receive some brilliant feedback.

Commission Feedback

Here you have it folks, Frog & Pencil’s first commission…enjoy the hippo gallery!

Walking my first parcel to the Post Office, I was overcome with pride and I can’t wait to create more designs to make future clients smile.

As you can see, I don’t just illustrate loveliness for weddings; I’ve actually just finished a Christening Invitation (which will be posted on here next week). If you, like S, enjoy what I do and have a special announcement or want to mark a particular occasion, get in touch, I’d love to chat to you! E-mail me here… hello@frogandpencil.com

Wishing S and her Husband all the best for the future with their mini hippo of joy. A massive thank you for asking me to make your card and also for supporting an independent small business.

I hope you’re all having a marvellous Wednesday and not getting too soggy, I’m off to get ready for my first Wedding Fair…more on that later!

Cx

Portrait Gifts

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Hello there!

I hope that you all had a fantastic new years and are finding a way to combat the January blues.

A super quick post for you lovely bunch today. In the run up to Christmas I made a few gifts for my friends. I shared a handful of sneak peeks on my Instagram and Twitter feeds, but now, since they’ve all been unwrapped, I can finally reveal the illustrations; hurrah!

So here you have it, three custom portraits. Apologies about the lighting in the photographs…I’m working towards improving this. Enjoy!

Jayne & Dan
The Giles Family
The Kula Family

I relished creating these images and I’m happy to report that all the recipients loved their gift!

If you’re interested in commissioning a bespoke portrait for yourself or as a present to a loved one, please do get in touch via: hello@frogandpencil.com

I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Cx