We're Going Ape! Hello Monkey and Wild Futures Form Partnership

What a thoroughly exciting week it's been. The highlight of it was the forming of a very special partnership with our most favourite animal charity - Wild Futures! What better way to show our appreciation to these tireless champions of monkey welfare than to donate funds from every sale of our products. That's 5p for each card and 50p for each print sold. This money will go towards caring for the 21 monkeys that are currently resident at the Wild Futures’ Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall, as well as the charity’s ongoing work in environmental education, campaigning and supporting overseas conservation and rehabilitation projects

Wild Futures (reg. number 1102532) is an educational and environmental charity; promoting the welfare and conservation of primates, and conserving natural habitats through education and sustainable living. Says Wild Futures spokesperson, Liz Tyson:

“We are very proud to be associated with Hello Monkey; not just because we are sure that their fantastic designs will sell like hotcakes, thus generating support for or work, but because they have a genuine commitment to sustainable practice, which they ensure is reflected in all areas of their work. Our green credentials are extremely important to us and this is a wonderful opportunity to work with a like-minded team. We hope this will be the beginning of a long-lasting and mutually beneficial working relationship”.

LIMITED EDITION GINKGO PRINT AVAILABLE HERE!

Cushioning The B(e)low

Had a hard day? Perhaps it's time to whisk yourself away from the boss from hell or give up with the accounts for today and get cosy on the sofa with some Horlicks and a good book. But imagine if you'd adorned your seat with a beautiful cushion from Showpony, its fabric is hand printed with water-based inks, is organic and has been handmade in a fair-trade co-operative in India. Then neatly pleated at Emma Henderson's studio in Scotland. Need it? probably!

Letters of Interest

Alphabet spaghetti, eye-spy, fridge magnets... they all help encourage our little ones to remember the 26 letters that make up our alphabet. How about this poster for an added help? You can choose any combination of colours and if you prefer other icons that's also fine. You can see plenty more examples of my posters here

live laugh love learn listen

A new addition to my series of greetings cards and prints is this little ditty to remind us all the rules in life! live. laugh. love. learn. listen and this now takes pride of place in our sitting room and everything's rosy. This and other prints can be found on Etsy and Folksy should you feel you just gotta haveit!

Good Tidings

I think I've bored a lot of people I know by griping about the quantity of plumbers' logos I end up doing. Don't get me wrong, plumbers are my mates and I thank them heartily for their work but taps aren't always that pretty! So I did get very excited to be asked to design a pretty logo. With Birds. And flora. Yes!

So if you're about in Cirencester or Monmouth in the next few months you'll see this logo up in lights gracing the prettiest gift shops this side of the UK.

Treasured

By now most of you will have heard of the wonderful Etsy, the site where you can buy the most original one-off items from makers all over the world. There are millions of sellers and many more buyers so imagine my delight when I received a little note in my inbox to say I was picked for someone's Treasury? My little goodbye bicycle card up in lights! So nice to be wanted!

Card Games

At last the other day I was offered one of those beautiful pastel French Macaroons - they cost an arm and a leg so I knew not to scoff it too fast! (and you know it's spring the shops are filled with pastel coloured fancies).
I'm not one to be ungrateful but I thought they looked better than they tasted... but all was not lost as I came back to my desk feeling totally ispired by the colours and started on some new stationery...
I sat remembering sunny afternoons as a child playing in the garden in tents made from sticks and looking at Dad's huge wellies by the back door... Alas, my bottom wouldn't get through the door of that wigwam these days.

Hello Monkey now has an Etsy shop so you can buy these cute cards!

Just My Type

I know there are others out there who, like me, are a wee bit bonkers about fonts. And if you find your pupils shrinking at the sight of Comic Sans or Mistral, I'm talking about you. But there are those who feel it's perfectly fine to use said typefaces..."oh it'll do". NO it won't do, and to prove it there are even organisations out there who want to ban comic sans altogether.

So if there's anyone reading this in need of inspiration do us all a favour and have a play with WORDLE. Ahh, that's better.

Tangible Assets

When it comes to advertising, I seem to spend most of my energy producing graphics that are for web which means I never actually get to touch them. Every so often however, someone comes along who would like to advertise the old fashioned route - on paper. Information printed on to nice glossy paper which you can sit back and read to your leisure (or on the loo if that's your cuppa). And it's quite exciting to collect the printing - there's something about the smell of stationery that's very comforting.

So because I get so excited about it I thought I should add Brochure Design to Hello Monkey's list of services. Oo oo oo.

Very Tasteful

This blog entry comes with a warning: if you're hungry don't read on.

If you happen to be in Southampton you may be wondering where those delicious cooking aromas are coming from. It's quite likely that the master chefs at Add Zing are responsible for getting tummies rumbling with their latest culinary creations.

Hello Monkey were asked to create a colourful, bright and modern website that captured the essence of the menu whilst showing off their wonderful food. Keeping their original logo it made sense to play with the strong pink and yellow which resulted in a surprisingly good colour combination. It was a pretty hard job to keep focused but eventually the website was complete and I only managed to eat one of my fingers in the process.

and here's for something completely different...for Valentine's Day

Apparently I'm unique. That's what my husband tells me. So I'm guessing that 'ers and 'ims indoors all over the land are being told this so naturally this Saturday we'll all being patiently awaiting that 'unique' magic envelope from our unique other half. However I'm aware that it's all a bit of anti-climax when you open said envelope and there's a Hallmark card, pinkly adorned and quite honestly something you'll not be putting in your keepsake box. Imagine all those delighted squeals if we had a beautiful Mr Robert Ryan Valentine masterpiece to treasure. He's a clever monkey that Mr Rob - he painstaking cuts intricate shapes into paper to create wonderful and whimsical works of art. You can read all about him here:

Sadly even the Valentine Screenprint a bit pricey to substitute for a card but we can dream.

Still, it's the thought that counts and I'm crossing my fingers that my husband actually remembers let alone thinks!

It's wonderful, to be Frank

Whilst it's cold outside and I'm still nursing my bruised bottom from slipping on the ice, I am parked firmly indoors where no damage can be done. So naturally with the Parental Control fully set to 'No Dodgy Sites' I can safely cruise the Inter Super Highway in search for some inspiration. And not a remedy for penile malfunction to clog the pop-up blocker.

Today's crusade was to find something individual for two upcoming birthdays. Bored of the usual foodie gift or perfumed wotnots, imagine my delight when I chanced upon Frank! Totally unique handmade items, very quirky indeed. Oh somebody please buy me that croched leaf necklace. To be Frank, I NEED it.

It's the year of the...Monkey!

Here we are, at the start of the Chinese New Year and what better way to start 2009 with a totally revamped image - out with the old, in with the new and all that. However we decided to pay homage to the monkey - we felt the ox would be getting enough limelight for a while.

So, yes, it's Hello Monkey and goodbye Dotty. He had one too many sausages and we felt it was time for a different, more athletic little friend to grace our webpages. So apart from our dear Dotty departing for a life of the couch potato and the new funky monkey settling in, everything else remains the same. Except better.