Leaff's Shop News

As you all know, we've been working hard on some new card designs for our shop over the past few months - and finally, they have been pressed and just released into our shop. So without further ado, may we introduce our two new additions...

Our two new and very proud additions - Sing From The Rooftops and There's No Place Like Home.

These two new additions complete our letterpressed Garden Bird range, which are each available as singles, in packs of 10, and now also in mixed packs of 10 too. Each card has been left blank inside,
and comes with a beautiful, natural envelope in harvest tones.

Our full Garden Bird range, now available - As Free As A Bird, There's No Place Like Home, Sing From The Rooftops and Magic Little Christmas.

Our very popular Magic Little Christmas card sold out very quickly last year, and we are pleased to announce that we are ahead of schedule with the reprint. Our charming Christmas cards are therefore now stocked up and ready for orders - do bear in mind that they sell out fast!

Now in stock for the festive season - Magic Little Christmas.

In addition to our Garden Bird range now being fully available in our own shop, they are now also available for purchase from our lovely new stockists, in their beautiful and unique high street shops.

Find all of these cards and more at www.shop.leaffdesign.co.uk or visit our stockists...

Worcester Stockists

Mangojuice
9a New Street
Worcester
WR1 2DN
www.mangojuice-jewels.co.uk

Bluebells
47b Upper Tything
Worcester
WR1 1JZ

Ledbury Stockists

Tinsmiths
Tinsmiths Alley
8A High Street
Ledbury
Herefordshire
HR8 1DS
www.tinsmiths.co.uk

Hus & Hem
The Design Quarter
12 High Street
Ledbury
Herefordshire
HR8 1DS
www.husandhem.co.uk

Bromyard Stockist

Dots Gallery
41 Broad Street
Bromyard
Herefordshire
HR7 4BT
www.dotsgallery.co.uk

Leaff - Roots & Shoots

Last week I released our latest news from Leaff HQ, but it wasn't all of our news. There has been one ginormous piece that we have been waiting to release for some time...

On June 1st we found out the most amazing news, that I am pregnant. We are absolutely over the moon - as you can imagine!

Now that we are passed 3 months, we have just released the news to family and friends, and subsequently our lovely loyal clients, to share with and reassure. Although I am positive that you will all be thrilled with the news too, I do want to address any potential concerns regarding Leaff, straight away.

I have been working pretty much as normal so far and I intend to continue to work until our little bundle arrives at the end of January, when I will take some maternity leave and then ease back in.

As you already now know, Jay will be starting at Leaff part time next week, which is not only wonderful because it has been a huge target for us for some time, but even more so precious now that Leaff could do with an extra pair of hands. So, as things get tougher, he will be here to cover the work load - the important thing is that even when I am at my roughest, Jay will be on hand so Leaff will not be suffering or grinding to a halt! That is important for all of you to know.

Lately I have been a little quiet on our social pages, and that has all just been down to my concentration on our projects. It is taking a lot more out of me to work as hard as I do, so it has become a bit more of
a challenge to fit everything that I did before into my schedule, while also looking after myself - obviously I would never let a project get affected, and so the social side has had to give a little.

So as time moves on now, I'm not naive enough to think that things will be able to stay as fast paced as they have been, but I am really hoping that you will stick with us. For clients, it will just mean being a bit more generous with deadlines, and working together while we settle into a new routine, and for our fans like most of you are, we really hope that you will remain loyal to us too.

It feels quite daunting to be moving into a stage where things are going to change so much for us - I
have put all of myself into Leaff the last 2 years, but I am so ready to begin our personal adventure of parenthood, which we have been dreaming about for so long. So how does it really work, being a parent and a business owner? I'm sure there are many of you who have been through this already, and your words of wisdom would be so much appreciated.

On that note, I fully intend to take you all along with us, through our journey from Leaff owners, to parents and Leaff owners - I'm hoping that this will provide invaluable knowledge and support to any of you who come to face a similar situation in the future. It seems a giant mountain to climb, to devote our attention to both the business and our new life, but we are more determined than ever to make it work. Leaff began not only on our passion to build a brilliant moral company, and to free us creatively, but also to get our personal lives in order for the future. We always wanted to work together, and both be around as much as possible to bring up our family together. This is just the beginning of that dream.

A Birthday Speech!

So today marks Leaff's second Birthday, and I am particularly proud of the last year. Things at Leaff have gone from strength to strength, and I have in turn, worked with some truly amazing clients. So first of all, I want to say a specific, huge, and humble thank you, to each and every person and company who I have had the pleasure of working with to date.

As you may have heard though our Facebook and Twitter pages, big changes are due to happen within Leaff, which I have been looking forward to sharing with you for some time now...

A New Director

Last month saw a momentous moment, as a new and fellow Director was added to Leaff. Jay is not only an extremely talented designer, but the only other person that I know of who is as passionate about what he does as I am. He is also my husband, and he is great at that too! He will be joining Leaff in a working capacity for the very first time next month, and I can't wait to introduce you all to him.

For some of you, it may even be news that until now, Leaff has been run single handedly by me, Kate. However, Leaff was always a joint vision and dream between Jay and I since we first met 5 and a half years ago. Therefore, in the background, Jay has always been on hand with bucketfuls of support, throughout the sometimes trying and very exciting last 2 years of Leaff. At some points I think I have even talked of 'our' and 'we' rather than 'my' and 'me', because in my head, Leaff has always been half of Jay. So as you can imagine, this is not only a milestone for Leaff, but a milestone for us personally too.

Shop Developments

Not only will we have a new, extra voice to Leaff, we will also be making some exciting changes and developments within our shop and our brand. Shop-wise, 2 new designs are currently in production
which complete our letterpressed 'Garden Bird' range. These new editions will be added to our shop
next month, when we will also be looking forward to getting our 'Magic Little Christmas' robin cards
back in stock for the festive season. A range of stockists from around the local area will also be beginning to stock our full range too, which we are very excited about, and which we will release full details for soon.

Leaff's Brand

Brand-wise, having developed so much over the last 2 years, since Leaff was launched, we feel that this now warrants a refresh of our brand. This will be something that Jay will be getting his teeth into with me when he begins at Leaff next month. Not only will the changes see a tighter visual to us generally, but it will also work right across our website, which we are looking to overhaul quite drastically. Being the sole engine for Leaff and with such rapid developments happening over the last year, it has been extremely difficult to keep the website up to date. Our portfolio desperately needs reshooting, which has taken a bit of a hit with all of our cameras breaking at once, but we are about to invest in some very exciting equipment to bring things right up to speed. Watch this space!

So lastly - but not leastly - I would like to raise a slice of this delicious cherry cake, to all of you who have supported Leaff - clients, fans and anybody who has spent any of their time reading my posts, whether that has been on here, Facebook or Twitter. I would also like to raise a slice to myself, because we should always recognise our own hard work and achievements - and lastly to Jay, for the amazingly exciting years that we have to come at Leaff!

Illustration Inspiration...

One of my current projects has had me reaching into the imagination of my inner child, and nothing reaches it quite like visual inspiration; this collection of beautiful, quirky illustrations has done just that. Each piece really captures the subject of the illustration, from the way it has been executed to the colour combinations used, they each give a real sense of imagination.

• 'Castle in the Sky', by Charlotte Cooke - charlottecookeillustration.blogspot.co.uk

• 'The Flock', by Natasha Newton - natasha-newton.co.uk

• 'Canapy', by Rilla Alexander - byrilla.com

• 'Clown Girl', by Heidi McDonald - heidimmcdonald.blogspot.co.uk

• February illustration (Studio on Fire 2010 letterpress calendar), by Cecilie Ellefsen - happymeat.com

Leaff's Shop News

Yesterday was a momentous day for Leaff. After months of hard work, we finally sent off the artwork
for our 2 new card designs, for the plates to be made for pressing.

If you remember, back in January, we launched our little online shop. Since then, we have come
leaps and bounds, and have lined up a number of special independent shops around the local area,
who are to stock our Garden Bird range.

Of course, until now, there has only been our little blue tit card, 'As Free As A Bird' and last Autumn,
our robin card, 'Magic Little Christmas' which sold out ahead of the festive period. Our 2 new designs introduce you to 2 further characters who are regulars in our garden, and which complete the
Garden Bird range.

We still have plenty of our 'As Free As A Bird' left in stock, and 'Magic Little Christmas' is currently
being reprinted, to be relaunched in the Autumn.

We will be releasing information of all stockists once the cards are launched, and they will also
be available to buy in packs through our online shop. Watch this space!

The Queen Visits Worcester

How could I not cover this? I have not long returned home from our lunchtime adventure down town, to see the Queen and Duke pass through the little streets of Worcester. The crowds were vast and thick, baking in the heat of the flawless sunny sky. It was a big moment for our little City...

The Wonder of Woodlands

As some of you may have seen on the news recently, England's woodlands have been in danger of destruction, by Government plans for a mass sell-off of the public forest estate. A representative 

of the Woodland Trust was being interviewed regarding the subsequent outcry of the plans, where she explained the benefits of woodlands - not only for the obvious (wildlife), but for us as human beings too. Thankfully, it has since been announced that the plans have been dropped, and our woodlands have been made safe.

This whole situation really struck a chord with us - it is no secret that we are great lovers of nature and wildlife - but we had recently taken a trip to a local woodland, and as if to confirm what the Woodland Trust was saying, we reaped the benefits of the experience.

The peacefulness of the woodland, where we cannot help feeling humbled at walking amongst nature's home. There is so much to see, so much to inspire - don't you think these photos just illustrate this perfectly?

The day that we visited and took these pictures, was a very grim, rainy day - much like today. Despite this, we donned our wellies and got out for some true refreshment in the rain. It looks, from these pictures, that it was a beautiful sunny day, but it just goes to show the beauty of nature when it shines 

in all its vibrancy, no matter what Mother Nature is up to.

The woodland that we visited - pictured here - was Worcester Woods Country Park. In all of this grim weather, fun can still be had outdoors, so why not dig out your raincoats, and explore your own local woodland this weekend?