Fairytale Asylum Photography

Last month we had our first ever lifestyle photo shoot with the wonderful Emma of Fairytale Asylum Photography. The photos are part of our plan for an improved website which we'll be sharing more about next week. Since we've never had a photo shoot before we were more than happy to leave it up to Emma to decide what would work best. We were looking for pics for our bio of us together plus in the studio. Emma suggested we went out for a walk for a relaxed feel so we went through the Falkland Estate which is where all the outdoor photos were taken. Afterwards we set up in the studio for some shots of us "working" in our natural environment.

I'm so pleased with the photographs (we both are) and really excited to be sharing them with you. We can't wait to get some added to the website - just need to choose which fit best! We're both usually super awkward when having a camera pointed at us so Emma has done a fantastic job capturing these shots.

We're really looking forward to share more behind the scenes stuff as the business grows as this is what makes us unique and one of the reasons we hope you choose to shop at JillyJilly rather than a big faceless big company.

Thank you very much to Emma, check out her website and blog to see more of her brilliant work.

April in York

It's been a while since we last visited York, over two years in fact. You can read about our last trip here, it was a lot different since it was icy January then and the city had a sleepy feel to it. This time we had some sunshine and lots of fellow tourists since it's April! I'd like to say a big thank you to my Mum and Dad who let us tag along on their holiday and treated us to yummy food and a night at the Theatre (12 Angry Men was brilliant!).

At the start of the week I went with my Mum to the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate where we were looking for new designers for Pebble. There was such a huge selection of businesses there, really quite overwhelming but a great insight for JillyJilly as we'll be attending our first trade fair in September (more on that later!). We spent most of the rest of the week wandering around, including another walk around the Snickelways, a walk around the walls and we also visited the Castle Museum which had a really interesting World War 1 exhibition on. It was so nice just to get some proper time off for a week! Look out for a post about the super cute ice cream shop we came across in York on the blog in the next few weeks.

Photo a Day Fortnight #3

 a shape: round confetti and polkadots brighten up the studio // beauty: my favourite beauty product is nail polish // breakfast: strawberries for our breakfast smoothies this week, perfect for sunny mornings!

 inspired: pretty books keep me inspired, never enough time to read them properly but great to pick up and flick through // dark: when it's dark look for stars notebook // this smells so good: bath time treats // something green: green signs pointing out the beautiful sights in York

 paper: beautiful paper from Paper Pod in York // up: Looking up at York Minster // dinner: what's for dinner? our free meal planner printable in action

where I work: I love my desk! The studio is a happy place // an ordinary moment: time for tea, in a JillyJilly mug of course // fluffy: our fluffy little friend // together: yummy ice cream we ate together in York

It's been a busy fortnight (well, three weeks... week 14 photos didn't happen!) and this post is late but that's partly due to us catching up with work after spending a week in York. My brother came to stay before that and we had some beautiful weather, did a bit of gardening and caught up with my Grandparents who were lovely enough to Daisy sit while we were away. If you'd like to hear what we got up to in York, then look out for a post about our trip in the next few days!

Photo a Day Fortnight # 2

after: our new product photos are so much more fun than the 'befores'! // hobby: photography is my favourite hobby and one of the reasons why I like to keep a blog and try photo challenges // text: this is the mug I made for my sister's 21st "21 things I love about you" soon to be available to order

private: my sketchbooks are private until I'm happy with the designs then I might share a peek on Instagram // hand-drawn: a preview of some doodles for new collections // sun-flare: captured while I was back in Aberdeen // leaves: this wrapping paper is so cute, a present from Daisy to Amy!

too much: is there such a thing as too much deco tape..? // a treasure: one of our all time best selling Bottled Treasures // half: half of our heart shaped logo on a business card

I love...: these two dafties // something white: we always have lots of blank mugs in the studio waiting to be printed to order // give: yummy chocolate, one to give to David of course // zen: one of my favourite quotes which reminds me to let go and enjoy life

This is my 2nd 'Photo a Day Fortnight' post and I'm actually quite proud of sticking to the Fat Mum Slim photo a day challenge for 4 weeks. It might seem silly but it's the longest I've ever managed! Of course I've ruined it by falling behind and skipping my fifth week but to be fair we had an Easter promotion on so the shop has been extra busy. I'll get back to it this week though! During the fortnight above we spent some time back in Aberdeen for my sister's 21st Birthday, which was really nice, then had a busy week of catching up after the time off. Next week we're off to York so I'm looking forward to having some more photography time and hopefully enjoying lots of sunshine.