In the Studio: An Introduction

Hello! This is a brand new regular feature on the JillyJilly blog which is going to be posted every Monday but the difference is that it will be written by me... David. I'm Jilly's partner and we've been together for nearly 6 years, I've been helping Jilly with her business since the start but only recently has it become more of a joint effort. I've been taking over more jobs such as aspects of social networking including managing the Twitter account on top of making some of the illustrated products. This means Jilly has more time to focus on designing and creating the new products. We've been working together on ideas for the blog and decided that we could add a new regular post each week: In the Studio!

This feature will be a peek behind the scenes showing the ups and downs of our creative business, our weekly goings ons and our business journey. The main aim for this post is to share a helpful insight into running a business, but from my point of view which can be a lot different from Jilly's!

So I should start the first post with a round up of the last week – We started the week doing a lot of planning and this is an issue we have all the time; I prefer to type things up on the computer because you can come back, edit and save whereas Jilly prefers the old fashioned pen and paper method which leads to problems when she loses her notebooks with important lists and mind maps in them... After lots of planning we decided that we should spend a lot more time on social media, getting in touch with other designers and bloggers so I have been online speaking to people and trying to use the social networking sites more efficiently. We also booked an online accounting course so I can learn how to do our taxes for next year in a less stressful fashion than we usually do. Along with new designs and Christmas plans we organised and promoted our stationery sale which took place last weekend and went great (thank you to everyone who placed an order!). Anyway, I should stop now or this will turn into an essay. Hope you enjoyed the first blog of the new regular weekly edition. See you next Monday!

August Catch Up: Our New Home

On the first of August we moved from Aberdeen (the city where I was born and from my family home) to teeny tiny Falkand in Fife. It's been nearly a month and we've been busy decorating, unpacking and generally trying to settle into the cottage; only now do we feel we're properly back to work and getting into a bit of a routine! I have been feeling homesick but have come to realise the space means more quality time will be spent with family and we're not that far anyway - it only feels far because I can't drive! I thought it would be nice to show those of you who don't know the area some photographs of our new home town. It's so pretty! I'm planning some home tour blogs too as a few of you have asked and it'll be a good chance to share some of the things we've bought for our new home from indie businesses. 

Vintage Phone Découpage DIY

I've been meaning to do this blog post for absolutely ages since I did the actual project in February! I only just got around to finishing off the floral one though which is why it's been so delayed. This isn't really a proper 'how to' as my phone is by no means perfect and I'm sure there are better ways of doing this but I'll just explain what I did as I've had so many requests, especially since the phone below is the shop phone in Pebble and customers ask every day where it's from!

You will need: a vintage phone (or a modern phone in a similar style), tissue paper of some sort (I used a pack of 2 sheets of branded Decopatch paper but anything similar should do), a clear drying glue like PVA (again I used a branded Decopatch one but normal glues should work the same), a more hard wearing varnish, scissors and a paint brush

1. Make sure the phone is clean and there are no sticky bits or dust on it or the paper won't stick properly

2. Cut your patterned paper into small pieces, you'll need some thin strips as well as lots of squares to get into the nooks and crannies!

3. Glue them on! Paint glue straight onto the phone surface, pop a bit of paper on then more glue on top to smooth it out. You might need to cut some into funny shapes especially around the dialler. Cover the whole phone (or the bits you want covered).

4. Repeat step 3 to make a 2nd layer. Make sure there aren't any gaps and it's all smoothed out.

5. On my pink floral phone I left some bits uncovered as I wanted to paint them pink. I used an Autentico chalk paint and painted straight on and did two coats.

6. Once you're happy with the overall coverage of the decoupage paper, paint on a coat of varnish. Once that's dry you're done!

I did my pink floral phone first and I do think the one I did for my Mum below turned out a bit neater! This is the first thing I've decoupaged so I'm not great at explaining it, I hope this post has been some help though! 

If you do decide to give this a go I'd love to see how your phone turns out!

July Inspiration: Cottage Ideas

This month we're thinking lots about things to buy for the cottage so I thought it would be nice to share some of these ideas. At the moment the living room is quite neutral and grown up (when we move in I'll take a 'before' picture). There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not very me and I've always wanted an excuse to buy pretty pink shabby chic home wares. It's going to be ridiculously girly... but lots of fun!

Stag Clock - by Jaimie Brown from Pebble, Aberdeen - £30

Wallpaper - Freya from Jane Clayton & Company - £30.40 per roll

Sofa Bed - Friheten (with handy storage) from Ikea - £445

Rug - by Mercedes from Society6 - $79 (approx £65 inc P&P)

Fairy Lights - Nyla Rose - £15

Glass Dish - Mollie & Fred - £19.99

House Lantern - on sale Bombay Duck - £3.75

Cushion Cover - by Heavenly Ideas on eBay - £3

We've already bought most of the small things and a few other bits and pieces which aren't in this image including some gorgeous chairs for the dining corner and our upcycled piano stool, both by The Alabaster Box. You can see more on our Pinterest.

June DIY: A Quirky Kitchen Accessory

With just over a month until we move to our little cottage I've been looking out for unusual bits and pieces that will fit in. When I was staying at my Nanny and Grandad's in Fraserburgh earlier in the month I found this little spoon rack in a charity shop. It was a bit rickety but my Grandad helped sort that out with some nails then I decided to paint it with a pastel pink rose chalk paint. I ended up using it for my collection of cake forks with cute tea party themed tops. The cake topped ones are from Blond Amsterdam (the first time we stayed in Amsterdam our apartment was above one of their adorable shops and I couldn't resist buying some goodies to take home). These have been in a box hidden away for ages so it'll be nice to have them out on the wall even if it's a bit of an odd kitchen accessory! 

June Places: Fraserbugh

So it's been a while but that's because of all the new business launching and things that have been happening the last few months. I needed a chance to rethink and redesign the blog to fit in with the new JillyJilly brand and here it is! I hope you like the new look. Last week I stayed at my Nanny and Grandad's in Fraserbugh for a few days which was the first bit of proper time off I'd had since the website launch and it was the perfect chance to relax and have a little think about what needed to be done next (and note it all down in one of our illustrated notebooks of course!)

We had a lovely few days catching up including a little trip to the lighthouse museum for a quirky tour and cafe stop, I helped my Nanny with some interior design sketching ideas and did a bit of charity shopping where I found a wee upcycling project that my Grandad helped get underway. I'll be doing a separate blog post featuring it later on.

I'll be trying to post more regularly on the blog but have decided a set planned approach doesn't always work for me. That being said, I do plan on scheduling posts when I have more time so there will still be something to read at the very busy times!

Edinburgh: Favourite Foodie Places

This blog is a bit different from the usual - I was sitting on the train home on Friday trying to figure out how to fit all these photos and places into one post! We had a great week in Edinburgh and found so many new favourite places, I mostly photographed the foodie ones so thought it made sense to put these into a nice little run down of which we'll be missing most. I think I might just do a separate one for shopping once the presents I bought have been opened by their recipients though...

Mary's Milk Bar

19 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2HS 

This adorable milk bar serves the best milkshakes in the perfect vintage setting and was just around the corner from where we stayed. The ice cream and chocolates are made by the lovely Mary who went to Carpigiani Gelato University. Mary's Milk Bar also offers gelato tasting evenings and truffle making workshops - yum! Unfortunately we couldn't make either of these but we did manage to squeeze a second visit before catching our train home - yay! 

Hula

103-105 West Bow, Edinburgh, EH1 2JP

The perfect place for a tasty (and healthy) breakfast! I'd imagine lunches would be great too but we got into the habit of grabbing a smoothie on our way past Hula in the mornings. A bright and cheery atmosphere to start the day, art on the walls and friendly staff. David tried a chicken pesto bagel too which looked tasty but I liked the 'Special H' breakfast shake best which was a mix of granola, frozen yogurt and berries. 

Eteaket

41 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1EP

This was a bit of a rushed visit because I'd seen Eteaket online and thought it looked nice and we only just managed to squeeze it in. I really love the branding, from the bold doilies outside and the more subtle ones inside to the tea packaging and gift bags. We chose a pot of tea each; tutti fruitti for me and gunpowder green for David. They are quite big pots of tea! They sell lots of tea related accessories there too so I couldn't resist a polka dot tea infuser pot to add to my collection. 

Miro's Cantina Mexicana 

184 Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BA 

I'm so glad one of you lovely Facebook likers recommended this place - thanks Emma Robb! It is such a cosy and colourful little Mexican restaurant and they honestly do the best nachos. A few years ago I didn't actually like nachos (I'm a fussy eater but getting better) and this was the kind that would have intimidated me with it's abundance of toppings; chunky guacamole, sour cream, cheese, refried beans, salsa, parsley, jalepenos, all layered generously with seasoned tortilla chips. David had a large with added beef chilli and faced a man vs. food moment, I had a small with a sweet potato, honey and chilli soup although I still didn't manage to eat it all as there was so much! 

Mimi's Bakehouse - Picnic Parlour

250 Canongate, Edinburgh, EH8 8AA

We came across this place by accident, after lunch when completely stuffed but still had to go in and see what they had to offer because it was too pretty to resist. This is another place where I love the branding; quirky details with a classy mint, pink and black palette. We managed a sticky toffee cupcake between us, but only because it was so good! The birds in the lamps and sprinlkes jars in the windows were really sweet touches. 

Dragonfly Cocktail Bar

52 West Port, Edinburgh, EH1 2LD

This place was literally across the road from our apartment. It was really busy the when we arrived since it was the weekend so we waited until a quieter evening for a more chilled out drink. As soon as I read the menu and saw the word sprinkles I knew I was having a raspberry ripple cocktail! It tasted like raspberry milkshake and is probably the cutest cocktail I've had. David's drink was really yummy too, it tasted a bit like a spiced apple pie. The bar itself is really dark so it's hard to tell what it actually looked like in there - this statue behind our table gave us a bit of a scare!

So there you go, I hope this might be useful to anyone visiting Edinburgh. There were lots of other places we would have loved to visit but simply not enough time (or money) in one week. There's always next time though!