Home Sweet Home

Well Europe... As per usual you didn't disappoint. We stuffed ourselves with your camembert, marvelled at your age old buildings, oggled your art exhibitions, danced at your carnival, swam in your channel and generally soaked it all up until we could soak no more (including an all day visit to Peppa Pig world. yep, there is such a thing! It's amazing... according to the cub).

I will be sharing a few finds from London and Sweden over the next little while, aswell as some exciting giveaways in the wings.

I do so hope you haven't forgotten me?! 

Happy Supermum Day

A very happy mothers day to all mums around the world. I feel so blessed to be part of the team. An extra specially HUGE hug for my amazing mum. Such an inspiration to me in so many ways and a more loving one I could not dream up!  thanks mumbo xxx

+ card by my mini genius (with a little help from his dad!)

Long live the bookshelf (& the books)

A world without books would be a very sad place and a house without books is simply not a home. (That isn't a quote from a fancy old famous person. Just my head) The following images are from the fabulous Bookshelf Porn site... aren't these spaces just in-cred-ible!!!



Having an 18 month old bambino who can already operate an ipad on his own (yep, unlock it, swipe to the page with his trucks game on it and select a course. eek!) is really making me think about the future of print and how the world is going to be for him in 20 years time. I can't imagine a world without books (and thoroughly hope I never witness it) but maybe that makes me non-progressive?! I dream that the image below is going to be how my home looks to the outside world... when I'm a grumpy old bookaholic!

Hello and Happy 2013!

I took a little holiday from the internet for the past few weeks. Spent the time hanging out with my boys and splashing in various pools both salty and fresh. Twas divine and hectic in equal parts but always an adventure. Hope you all had a lovely festive time and are as excited about this year as I am! Lots of fun plans for this space and others this year so I hope you'll stick around to be a part of it all.



Images above of the little cub and I cooling off with yoghurt pops and paddling pools on one of Sydney's recent 42 degree furnace days! Oh my, its a task keeping a little person from overheating (and a big one too at that!)

Little Book of Lettering > Book Launch Week & GIVEAWAY!

My new book is now out! Hoooraaayyyy!!

With the art of lettering being something of a creative frenzy right now, this book is dedicated to profiling some of the best in the business. It is divided into 3 chapters: Hand-drawn, Digital and 3D lettering; showcasing not only just the bloomin' brilliant artwork but giving some little secrets into the makers unique processes too (ooo, ahhh!)



It comes under the title Little Book of Lettering in USA (Chronicle Books) and Reinventing Lettering in UK, Europe, Australia and NZ (Bloomsbury). With these lovely covers designed by two of the books hugely talented contributors (L-R) Mary Kate McDevitt and Jason Wong. It's coming to 'all good bookstores near you' and is available on Amazon now - UK here and here and US here



Hand lettering by Chris Ballasiotes and Jeff Rogers



Digital lettering by Sean Freeman and Craig and Karl



3D lettering by Pei-San Ng and James T.Edmondson

I wrote this book when my son was first born so to see it on the shelves (though only virtual shelves for now) is something of an unbelievable / butterflies-in-belly kind of occasion... it really happened... the zombie nights (and days to be fair) were all worth it! HUGE thank all the super talented contributors for letting me use their work and being so polite despite my frequent pestering!

I am giving away a copy of each edition of the book this week (HIP HOORAY GIVE-AWAY!!) aswell as showcasing a few of the contributing artists too. For your chance to win simply leave a comment below before 10pm AEST Sunday December 2nd. You can enter a second time by sharing in another place (instagram/facebook/twitter/blog)... just comment below again to let me know if you have.  Good Luck! 

***UPDATE: The random number generator has spoken... congratulations Arvee from Flutter Happy and Andy Allen - your hungry mailboxes will soon be full. Thanks to everyone for entering and for the gorgeous comments xx

Happy 3rd Birthday Smudge

Poor dear blog... I neglected to acknowledge it's 3rd birthday back in June so a belated sing-song is in order on this July sunny day. Today I purchased it's very own domain name in celebration!! (it's fresh faced new look will be revealed soon too)



So many wonderful things have come from this here blog that have made my world abit shinier than it already was...

+ a couple of a scrumptious book design jobs
+ the commissioning of a real life book (out in November. yeehaa)
+ a wonderfully inspiring creative community to make my home studio feel less lonely
+ endless sources of inspiration from other blogs and generous souls
+ the bubble of joy when hearing from like-minded and inspired readers
(plus some other things but in my sentimental hour I've most likely forgotton)

Thankyou ever so to everyone for reading (even this year when i've been awol rather too often!) and for your lovely comments and emails along the way. xxx

'yay' coasters via here

Dropping the balls

Lately I've been struggling with the juggling act of bambino/work/life and sleeeeep*... and so sadly this dear space has felt the brunt of neglect. I have hope that as soon as our little fella learns to sleep (yep, apparently sleeping is a skill that needs to be taught!!) that things will be easier. In the meantime please forgive my absence and don't give up on me. pretty please.

This photo of the little lion man was taken last week, on a very welcomed mid-week getaway to the south coast with my own dearest mama.

* any tips from folks in the same boat would be very gratefully received 

The Crafters Guide to Taking Great Photos // Book Design

Another book I was lucky enough to work on last year (along with the lovely folks at Rotovision) is now out!! Hooray!! The Crafters Guide to Taking Great Photos, written by the very talented Heidi Adnum, is full of the most beautiful photographs and crafts products you'll see. Not to mention loads of interviews and great photography tips.

The covers left to right: Search Press in UK, Murdoch books in Australia & Interweave in US
NB. I did not design all the above covers - only the internals below and the styling of the Yellow Murdoch cover
















It was such a pleasure to design the internals of this book as the content is so fabulous (I read it cover to cover as I was going through) I highly recommend getting yourself a copy if you like craft or photography or even better, both!

The book is available to buy here in the US, here in the UK and here in Australia

{Graphic Design} Australian Style Manual // Book Design

Last year I was really lucky to have the chance to design the internals for this exciting new book (out now) showcasing the very best of Australian design. It was a book designers dream project really. white space. gorgeous big images. mmmm, yum!



You can read more about the content here on author, Astred Hicks' blog. Astred designed the lovely cover too with the most excellent illustration commission by James Gulliver Hancock

In more exciting news... it has now been shortlisted for best Tertiary Book Design in the Australian Publishers Association Book Design Awards. We're keeping all our digits crossed until May 17th!

** the crossing of fingers worked - WE WON! YAY! **

*Photos care of the lovely Mrs Hicks (thankyou)

It's been a long time. A long long time.

I have greatly missed the sharing of little treasures in this here nook of the web. I'm not going to list excuses for my long absence. All I will say is that I have so much more respect than ever before for bloggers who have babies! how do you keep it up?! I'm going to TRY starting from today. That's all I'm going to promise. So see you tomorrow... then hopefully the next day and the next day and the next ones  too. (& thankyou for being so patient dearest readers)

*our little nugget now has lil teeth (and big chins) ... growing too quickly i can't keep up!

It has been awhile between posts here at the smudge I know. I have been busy finishing up the writing and collating of wonderful things for my first ever book (so very exciting!) while also looking after and adoring my new little friend (both fantastic things, though a combination that I wouldn't recommend doing at the same time!) I can't yet share much about the book until it's release but I will say that it is full of the works of some incredible artists and designers and looks pretty damn fine because of it! I can't wait to see it in the flesh and to be able to share it here. In the meantime... i've got alot of catching up to do for this space!

[image above by Richard Perez of Skinny Ships]

One month ago today

One whole month ago at the bright and early hour of 4am, our little Leo entered the world. It's overwhelming how much love suddenly flows for such a tiny and fresh faced being... can't get enough cuddles and feel the need to smother him in kisses constantly!! I won't deny that the first couple of weeks were somewhat of an emotional roller coaster, but we're getting the hang of this parenting thing now and it's just plain magic. Happy one month birthday little man. We love you ever so already xx

38 weeks of belly

I apologise for my neglect over the last couple of weeks. It's been a busy little while and my 'to do' list has been endless.... working and getting ready for the new arrival has stolen all of my time (along with a power nap every now and then obviously!)



Took a sunset stroll to Balmoral on Saturday to try out our new camera (which is great btw) A sun kissed chill in the air still... but kept cosy with the help of a sizable stack of fish and chips - twere lovely!

The Week Ahead

I've been looking at lots of incredible lettering over the past couple of weeks for a really exciting project I'm working on (more details will be revealed down the line) This quote pretty much sums everything up in my world at the moment. So many new and exciting challenges over in the ocean... time for a swim I say!

Found this lovely piece here

Bump bump

Well I said I'd be back with some news... and this is it:
I have a big bump in my belly and it's not just from excessive chocolate rabbit munching!!!



We are VERY excited but it still feels a little surreal too. I'm 22 weeks pregnant now (which for all normal people, not weekly baby countdowners, is about 5 months) so we still have to wait until September to meet the little bean... which seems like an eternity away (Though all the more time for miniature clothes shopping. he he)

Hi (5)!

Please forgive me for my absence folks!! It has been a hectic few weeks... a 2 week road trip with some wonderful visiting friends and a mountain of work to conquer on our return! Am back now though... & with a backlog of goodies and some news to share!!



High Five by Rachel Castle

Envelope craftiness

My poor trusty computer has been in hospital this week. The hot weather just got too much for it I think and it has drifted into a little coma. Hopefully it'll be back tomorrow and ready to help me with my (rapidly building pile of) work again!



In the meantime it meant some hours to play with just paper and scalpel... JOY! So I got busy making envelopes. Who knew such a thing could be such fun?! I used magazine pages and old posters to create them along with this great template I bought from Upon a Fold awhile back. (as always - please excuse my poor quality of photography - must work on that!)



It's kind of an unplanned adventure seeing what will appear on the front and what will appear inside. I especially liked that inside the phone envelope is a sleeping lady! 



(I'm very sorry but I can't credit all these collected images. Most are from Frankie magazine due to the great paper stock and the lovely illustrators they showcase)

Hello 2011

I do so hope everyone had a most wonderful New Year and Christmas time.

So many festivities, so much food and such alot of sunshine... what a great season twas twas! Now it's back to work and though in theory that sounds sad, I'm in fact immensely excited about what this year will bring. No uprooting countries or job huntings to be daunted by this time round... just a whole pocketful of fun projects and adventures in store. And new things for this here blog?! My brain is a tickin'.

(Lovely foiled notecards above are by Seesaw Designs)

Merry merry everyone

Wishing everyone a most fantastic & festive time for the next few days. See you again soon :)

I woz here

We had a long awaited blu-tack fiesta the other night and stuck up a whole bunch of new and colourful pictures in my very small but sunny studio. I will never be lost for inspiration again! Working is so much more fun today because of it! Now my next project is enticing the Lorikeet parrots to my window ledge (apparently apples and not sunflower seeds are the go)