Grazia - The New Rule Britannia Crew!

I love how everything is British mad at the moment, for us designers it's great as we have so much inspiration to choose from. For card publishers especially, there is plenty of food for thought with the up and coming Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. There are so many publications featuring photos of the Queen and there is a real surge of interest for all things British.

Take this week's Grazia magazine for example...

To mark the Diamond Jubilee, Grazia asked the 'Brit's who've shaped the last 60 years to nominate people they reckon will be the next big thing'.


Grazia, contacted my mentor Interior Designer, Kelly Hoppen MBE, to nominate a designer of the future, and I was amazed to find out that Kelly had chosen me!!

Grazia magazine - page 72

So many big names had been asked to contribute to the feature - Richard Curtis, Jo Whiley, Matthew Williamson, Rankin, Anya Hindmarch, Paul Smith, India Knight, Lauren Laverne and Sir Philip Green giving their views on the writers, fashion designers, illustrators, politicians, actresses, singers, models and stylists of tomorrow.

I feature on page 78

My fashion illustration turned greeting card 'Boa'.

I get giddy with excitement at the thought of being in an article like this. I have always read features on the talent of tomorrow, and the one's to watch.

I am so thrilled to be featured in this Great British Issue! It's fantastic to be put forward for the feature and I am really grateful to Kelly.

x Fay

Blog awards.

A lovely member of the blog community has just given me two awards! The Sunshine Award and the Versatile Blogger Award. It feels really good to have my little blog recognised. I always love the feedback I get and comments under each post, so to have two awards in one go is amazing.

Thank you to Pearletta Wilson for kindly nominating me. Pearletta has been a follower on twitter and my blog for a while, and like me enjoys creativity and card design.
Here is Pearletta's blog and her twitter page.

The Sunshine Blog Award is given to ‘bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others’, which is really why I write my blog. Not only is it great to talk about what I am up to, and show new products I launch, but it also allows me to encourage others into business, especially creative businesses, so I hope many have been inspired to take the plunge as I did.

The Versatile Blogger Award does what it says on the tin. I guess I try not to talk too much about my personal life, as that can be a little boring, but when things are happening with my business I like to share.







As part of the Award I have to answer some questions, so here we go...

My favourite color is…. It's hard to single out just one, so here is a link to my Pinterest board 'Yellow and Grey' which is my favourite colour combination. I think the two colours are like clouds with rays of sunshine, a suitable metaphor for starting up and running a business in a recession!


My favourite number is… 13. Unlucky for some, but lots of good things have happened for me with this number, it is also the date I first had an enquiry about my cards from Paperchase.


My favourite drink… Coffee. Probably too much, but it gets me through my to-do lists.


My favourite animal is… It would have to be my pet dog Shadow who we sadly had to say goodbye to last year. He was nearly 17, and so important to our family.


Facebook or Twitter? I have to say twitter. It is such a great source of inspiration, news and connects you with people and companies in an instance like no other social network can. It helps me to share news with hundreds of people and to also keep in touch with followers without having to search for fan pages. 


Getting or Giving... Usually I am out of pocket because I treat others rather than myself. I get a better feeling treating others than going shopping for me.


My favourite day… I like any day which involves receiving cards. I love the individual choices and of course as a greeting card publisher myself I spend more time with the card than the gift. Since starting my own business, I also love Mondays. A day I used to dread.

My favourite flower…  Gerbera. What's not to like, they are so perfect.

My passion… Of course designing, that's obvious, but I also have a fanatical love for Body Combat, a martial arts work out. You can burn over 700 calories in one hour, and I have never found a better form of exercise.


I have to also nominate some other blogs I follow for the awards. I don't follow many but there are a handful that have helped to inspire me over the past few years and some which I just think are beautiful.


dotsandspotsdesign


rosanna-rossi


bellybuttonblog


rosepetaldeer


suzysvintageattic


lucyjoyoldfield


memolikesyou


stitchtales

Prince's Trust - Tomorrow

Monday 14th May saw the launch of the Prince's Trust new national campaign called 'Tomorrow'. Tomorrow embodies the vision at the very heart of The Prince’s Trust, that they believe every young person should have the chance to succeed. The campaign is championing the young talent of Britain and pairing 6 individuals with a mentor.

I am really lucky to have been selected for the campaign, and I have been chosen by Interior Designer Kelly Hoppen MBE to design some products together to help raise funds for the Prince's Trust which we will sell exclusively through the QVC shopping channel.

The Sunday Times Style Magazine first featured the campaign on 13th May.

Sunday Times Style Magazine - Sunday 13th May 2012

Here you can learn more about Kelly and her award-winning design business. Kelly is also an Ambassador for the Prince's Trust.

What caught your eye about Fay? What’s special about her?

KH "She has a great talent and is very creative. I also like the fact that she is humble, which is a great quality to have in creativity."

How do you plan to help her? What are you aiming to produce together?

KH "I plan on passing some of my entrepreneurial knowledge on to Fay, I hope it will help her own business to grow. We are going to work together with QVC to produce a fabric related product. I’m also hoping to be mentoring Fay on the importance of visual merchandising in interiors."

Kelly and I first met at the photo shoot for the campaign, at the Rankin studio in London. Rankin is a renowned photographer, founder of Dazed & Confused magazine, and has photographed the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Queen and Madonna.

Here is my feedback from the day of the photo shoot.

The Tomorrow campaign has highlighted how awful things had become for me a few years ago and how I felt as another young person in the queue at the job centre. The recent youth unemployment figures do make me feel angry and empathetic to those in that place now. Here are my thoughts on what the Tomorrow campaign is aiming to achieve, and by working with Kelly and demonstrating how I can transfer my skills, I hope to inspire other young people into creative businesses.

I am really excited about working with Kelly, as she is someone who also has a really distinct style. Kelly has spent years developing her unique and recognisable brand, something which I am always striving to achieve. I know that I have a lot to learn from Kelly and her business, and I am really looking forward to our design and production meetings and our involvement with QVC.

The campaign has really engaged the media, here is the article featured on the Female First website.
The Prince's Trust have created posters which will be displayed nationally.

Watch this space, as I have so much to reveal as things develop...

Harrods!

So, the exciting day finally arrived, and I am still in a spin from the day. I have lots of photos to share with you from my trip to Harrods.

On Monday evening Mum and I travelled first class down to London where we were then taxied to the Millenium Hotel on Sloane Street for our stay. The view from our room was great as we could spot the lights of Harrods nearby, and this all added to the anticipation.

Our 6am start on the Tuesday morning was beautiful, but the nice weather didn't last long. We were met at 7.30am at the hotel by Honor from Harrods, just as it started to rain. Honor had a huge Harrods umbrella so we all kept reasonably dry. By this point I had had 3 hours sleep due to my nervous excitement.

Down came the rain

There were lots of hints in the windows along the way

We were soon met by Sarah the Head of the Visual Team at Harrods, the lady I had spoken to several times about what I wanted for the window. I had been really involved in the whole process from choosing the dress in the window to the design of the back wall, which I submitted after winning the competition.

My initial sketch of the window.

The four of us walked towards my window, but I was blindfolded so that the Harrods camera crew could capture my response to the window.

I was so overwhelmed by the finished window, it was just how I had envisioned it!

My window just next to Knightsbridge tube station.

My company logo was proudly displayed on the table along with some of my greeting cards.

The finest of details had been included.

I have added all of the photos from the day to a new Pinterest board and my Facebook group as there are lots of them, and there are so many details to see in the display.


Here is the video that Harrods produced of the unveiling and an interview with Sarah and I at the press breakfast later that morning.

Mum and I enjoying a photo booth and props provided at the press breakfast.

Launch of new British products at the Harrods press breakfast.

A private exhibition of bespoke ballgowns part of the Jubilee celebrations.

Mum and I were also treated to lunch at The Georgian restaurant in Harrods. We couldn't have asked for more on the day.

The window will be in place until 15th June, so there is plenty of time to go and see it. We had such a wonderful day, and it was so good to meet all of the visual team behind the making of the window. This really was a dream come true for me, and I will treasure this day forever!

Sneaky peek!

Ok, so it would be a bit mean to keep completely hush hush until the unveiling of the Jubilee window, and so @HarrodsofLondon have tweeted a snippet of my design concept.

A very rough sketch, but the visual team are working really hard to develop the ideas, and bring them to life.

Street Party Window

As you've read in recent posts I am the winner of the Harrods Street Party Window competition, and the launch day is really close now.

I hadn't realised how wide spread the competition had been, with lots of the fashion magazines featuring it online, lots of bloggers writing about it, alongside Harrods themselves tweeting and promoting it on their Facebook page.

Since being announced the winner, I have had lots of contact with Harrods visual team, and I've been able to have even more input into the design by submitting a drawing of how I would like the window to look. The merchandisers have gone to every length to achieve my vision for the window, and I know it is going to look amazing!

Not only will my design inspirations be used to create the display, but I have also been invited to include my greeting cards on the party table, which featured on my Pinboard. My company name and website will also be getting a mention, so this has become an even more exciting event for my young business.

You will be able to visit my window from Tuesday 15th May until 15th June, all of the other windows sounds fantastic too and will be very different to mine. There are also some beautiful ballgowns on display to coincide with the V&A's exhibitions, so there is a lot to see on your visit.

Both myself and my plus one (Mum) will be heading to London on the 14th and then will be attending a press breakfast on the Tuesday morning. This opportunity has overwhelmed me a little and the launch isn't even here yet.
I know Mum will have a lovely day too, and she deserves it after all of the help she has given over the past few years.

I look forward to blogging again soon about the day itself, and sharing all of the photos with you.

And the winner is...

Once again, a big thank you to all of you who voted! I was overwhelmed by the volume of votes I actually received on twitter and facebook. I have written a huge list of your names this morning and cut them into strips, seeing as there were so many votes I am going to do an Olympic giveaway and have three prizes instead.

The winner will receive the whole set of 'Sweet Treats' cards, the second drawn can choose 5 from the range, and the third drawn can choose 3. Good luck!

1st prize goes to....
@SkinBlisterBlog

2nd prize goes to...
@CHceramics

3rd prize goes to...
@LittleMischiefs

Well done to all three! Please let me know your postal addresses and I can send you your prizes.
Email (mail@faysstudio.com) or DM me on twitter @FaysStudio or Fay's Studio on Facebook.

x Fay

A thank you giveaway.

As promised on twitter, I am doing a prize giveaway as a thank you for all of the votes for my winning Pinboard. Today, the fantastic news is really sinking in and I am really excited about the Harrods Jubilee window launch and all the plans ahead for the event.

As a prize, I will be giving away a set of my greeting card range, 'Sweet Treats' as featured on my Pinboard.

A name will be drawn at random from a list compiled of your tweets in the past week or so.

I will be announcing the winner very soon, so keep your eye out for the winning tweet and the next blog post.