We like Mondays!

More often than not, we don't like Mondays. But with the help of Pen&Pringle, we hope to change that. So on the 1st Monday of every month we're going to do a giveaway where you can win a Pen&Pringle gem. Although today isn't officially the 1st Monday of the month, we can't wait another week so here's our We Like Mondays giveaway for June!!!

We're big fans of tea and this month we're giving away one of our lovely little trio sets:

All you've got to do is tell us what decade you think this set is from? Correct answers go into a draw. Lucky winner will be announced tomorrow. Good luck and happy bank holiday Monday!

Closes: Tuesday 1st June 2010, 9am. UK residents only.

The best grub in town

My weekends aren't the same without a trip to the Little Larder.

Source: thenormanroad.co.uk

Better luck next time

Being ultra competitive, I was desperate to win another design award but it turns out that this year is not my year. But all is not doom and gloom. I feel remarkably ok about not making it this time. For I know that what I produced, I had produced from the heart with pure blood, sweat and tears so I've no ifs or buts or I wish...

And so, here's the work that sadly didn't make it but I still love it.

To give you a bit of background, the D&AD/Quaker Oats brief was to design packaging for a new product range of chilled creamy oats for young women looking for a healthy yet delicious snack.

I established that there were many great things about this new product, in fact it was truly "Super". Officially a superfood the snack is packed full of supergrain goodness, it's super low in fat compared to its competitors and super tasty with a range of 4 delicious flavours. I therefore thought what better name than "SUPER OATS".

Giving SUPER OATS a feminine, fashionable and friendly feel, I wanted to make eating oats a fun and pleasurable experience and something young women would want to be seen eating. Available in a transparent pot, the creamy oats would be seen before your very eyes enabling the consumer to see the super grain goodness and making the product feel honest. The shape of the pot is unique, available in a lovely tactile rounded pot that oozes femininity and friendliness. The objective was for the friendly oat icon to become synonymous with Quaker Oats. The application of colour, pattern and graphic provides a fresh, vibrant and happy design language that overthrows the perception of oats being boring and bland.

Anyway, enough rambling from me. I hope you like. And who knows, maybe someone else might like to run with this?!

Rainy days will never be the same.

I don't know what's up with the weather at the moment. It's May and I still have to put the heating on. And the sun seems to be playing "now you see me now you don't". My poor wardrobe can't take the pressure of holding both winter and summer wardrobes. But worry not. Here is a new concept that will have us out on the streets embracing our shit weather. The umbrella that makes different drum noises when raindrops touch it! Genius. How cool would it be to have rooftops using this technology!!

Source: PSFK

iNspired

Laser engraved 100% bamboo iPhone cases and get this, with your own artwork. The Grove leads the way.

My 3 Ps

I feel working on so many projects can really zap me of all creativity so I think it's important to pause and play to progress. And so my form of "play" was going along to a workshop by artist and illustrator Catherine Grimaldi run by the University of Brighton's Media Enterprise Centre.

It was great to hear about Catherine's journey and something that I've taken away is to be experimental. Sometimes I forget to be experimental. Catherine had spent many years trying different art forms and they've all influenced her work in one way or another. So experimenting I will do!

In the workshop we were given blank postcards where we had to put down 5 things we wanted to achieve in the next year and Catherine promised to pop the postcards in the post and sure enough, mine arrived today. Stamped 28.04.10, I will stick this on my fridge and look forward to see where I am come 28.04.11!

Another Pringle Print

Now available in the Pen&Pringle shop, the first of a series of signed mini prints of my local area! Starting with the lovely promenade in St Leonard's-on-Sea.

At the pocket friendly price of only £5, these little prints (A6 size) are lovely for adding to an art montage, great framed or sent as snail mail to someone special. Click here to find out more.