The Sponsor Me Awards: Stacie Clark.

You'd have seen me mention Stacie a few times now. Not only a best friend, but an incredibly talented designer, Stacie has been nominated for an award! I'm obviously so incredibly proud of her for the hours of work that go into her design process, she deserves this accomplishment so very much. Which brings me to ask you, my friends, to have a little read of her work and click the little link near the bottom, pop in your email address (you won't be spammed, promise!) and vote for my best friend! Also take a chance to look at the other nominees, there are some other inspiring new designers in the mix.

Plymouth College of Art Graduate Nominated for London Fashion Award.

Stacie Clark, a Cornish Fashion Design graduate from Plymouth College of Art has been nominated for the Sponsor Me Awards taking place at Blackheath Halls in London next month, October 7th.

The Sponsor Me Awards supports emerging fashion designers through providing a prestigious annual event, fashion show and platform for them to showcase their work.

The awards consists of 4 categories, with 1 winner per category as decided by a public vote, as well as 1 lucky designer who will also be presented with the Judges Choice Award on the night.

Stacie’s knitwear collection has been selected to participate in the Urban category which is open to public vote. To vote for Stacie Clark before 30th September when voting will close, please visit  h​ttp://sponsor­me­awards.biz/vote­for­designers/

“I’m thrilled to have been nominated for the Sponsor Me Awards and to have my work as a designer recognised! I’ve spent the last year working on some freelance whilst developing my next collection and winning this award would be great in helping me take those all important next steps forward” Said Stacie.

Stacie graduated last year with a First Class Honors degree in Fashion from Plymouth College of Art with her graduate collection which consisted of 19 garments crafted entirely by hand and after receiving a great response at Graduate Fashion Week Stacie has had her work featured in a number of publications.

Tickets for the Sponsor Me Awards event are on sale now and can be purchased at

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sponsor­me­awards­2015­tickets­7351666031

To find out more about Stacie Clark please visit w​ww.stacieclarkknitwear.co.uk​ 

or Stacie’s

Facebook page h​ttps://www.facebook.com/stacieclarkwomenswear 

For more information of images please contact Stacie Clark.

Email: s​tacieclarkdesign@gmail.com​  Mobile: 07805395138

Love Sophie Xx

Shore Projects. Finding The Perfect Watch.

For months I've been searching for the perfect watch. It all started at my interview a few months back, it turns out that when you've been told you can/should talk for 15 minutes, time goes really slowly. And when the sneaky interviewers hide all the clocks in the room, it's hard to know that you actually only spoke for eight minutes because you were too nervous of babbling..(sort of like what's happening right now)...

Anywhooty, this new found, adult realisation, that I actually should wear a watch everyday sparked a mass watch hunt; days of endless pursuing for 'the perfect watch for me' entailed, Pinterest boards created and bargain hunting consumed me. The problem that I have is that I used to work for a well known jewellery retailer and therefore have become a bit of a jewellery/watch snob. I priced my options way out of my budget and kept telling myself I'd find the one. 

Eventually I came across Shore Projects and immediately fell in love with their well crafted, high quality and simple designed timepieces. As someone who likes their jewellery relatively simple, I didn't want anything that I'd loose interest of relatively quickly. An investment piece if you will. With the interchangeable straps I can always adapt the smart, simple, androgynous face with my outfit. The one I ordered came with a lovely light blue strap that I've since changed to a black Italian leather one that I really must say is the softest, highest quality strap I've ever owned. 

As well as being a British company, the strong, durable quality of these watches is shown throughout. The crystal sapphire glass, luxurious straps and being waterproofed up to 100m meant that immediately I knew what I wanted for my birthday. Funny how that happens hey? The cementing fact was that for every watch sold, Shore Projects donates £1 to Marine Conservation Society to help protect our beloved seas and coastlines, the beaches and the animals that surround them.

The delivery was amazing, it arrived the very next day after ordering, at no extra charge and I'm so very happy with it and I'll never under-talk at an interview again!

*By the way, I have no affiliation with Shore Projects, I just really like their watches!

Love Sophie Xx

Festive Planning: Gift Wrap and Cards.

Feeling better, the festivities are setting in. Sitting down to write my christmas cards, I ended up with quite the selection this year after falling madly in love with the Caroline Gardner ones on offer in TKMaxx! How awesome are these Batman themed ones? Batman just wasn't at all impressed. There's something really lovely about christmas card writing, a time to thank someone you love for the year you've spent together, maybe a chance to catch up with family, a tradition that makes people smile. I'm not one of those for writing the same old thing in each card (well, mostly) but I like to sit and take a little time on wishing my friends and family happy holidays.

I also really love wrapping presents. Well, saying that, it's probably more that I love theming my papers and ribbons and tags etc etc. This year I wanted red, white and brown in tying with the theme of my tree. Intentions were good, I planned to hand dot the brown parcel paper with white ink but delays and busy christmas planning, not to mention being ill means that my brown paper is dotty-less.     The spotted wrapping paper that I do have and matching pretty ribbons are from Wilko and I'll definitely be heading back there again before it's all over! 

When it comes to the actual wrapping part, I get really impatient. I just want my odd-shaped gifts to look like the perfect parcels under the tree but every year I forget to save up cardboard and boxes to make it easier on myself. Batman's pretty fond of wrapping presents though and every time he hears me getting the papers out, he comes running over (usually to nibble on the corners) but hey, the thought's there! 

How are you all with writing christmas cards? Are you the sort of person with the same one-liners or do you take a little more time over it? And tell me all about your wrapping themes, I'd love to compare! 

Love Sophie and Batman Xx

People and Gardens: The Charity That Inspired It All.

Bimble just posing with some pumpkins.

Happy Tuesday to you all! This post is possibly the most important and special post I've written for a while. I find that whenever I write a post about Bimble I notice that I take 20,00000 times longer to write it, almost worrying that I could never express his wonderful spirit in the right way however I think that this picture sums it up rather nicely. 

It's time to finally introduce the inspiration for all of my fundraising in full. People and Gardens is the charity that Bimble-(If you're new or don't know who Bimble is, have a quick catch up here!) has been a part of for over a decade! The organisation holds a very special place in my heart; founded by Ken and Lorraine Radford in 1997 People and Gardens was the brainchild to encourage those with learning disabilities or emotional impairments to be able to develop as individuals, encouraging them to learn to work and develop their social skills and giving them the choice of having equality in the workplace.




Watering Lane Nursery is located close to Pentwen near St Austell and if you're in the area, you really should pop down. You'll be greeted by lots of friendly faces, For years I've been going here on and off, supporting Bimble and the brilliant work that the team do. Giving these individuals a sense of accomplishment and the feel good factor of a hard days graft builds confidence and pride, what better way to shape the world don't you think?

The work at People and Gardens is varied; supplying plants and veg to the local Eden Project, deliverable, fresh veg bags for local residents, as well as supplying The Cornish Ketchup Company, to name a few, the entrepreneurial attitude of this charity has always been an inspiration to me. Not only that but it's been a 'life constant' for Bimble. When he left specialist schools and activity centres, there aren't many places that cater for those with special requirements in such a unique way. Bimble's life revolves around his 'work', he has structure and routine, needed most at the loss of both of his parents, People and Gardens was the one constant. On a personal level, I am forever grateful to them. Being able to help provide a new packing shed last year resulted in Ken and I bonding at a swanky London lunch where it brought a tear to my eye celebrating his hard work (it still does!). It was that moment, beaming with pride, introducing him to as many as I could, that I made a resolution to do more in my community, donate my time to such worthwhile charities and organisations in Cornwall and all in all, I've had an amazing year doing it.

Which brings me to the reason for all this unveilment! I'm super proud to be announcing the most special (and final!) charity event that I've had the pleasure of being apart of this year. People and Gardens Fashion Show and Shopping Event 22nd November 2014 in the gallery @Eden Project!

A night of Cornish and Devon fashion designers in all ages and sizes, Cornish craft stalls with a selection of goodies ranging from Christmas goodies to needlecraft goods, a performance from Cornwall's Rock Choir, Pasties and Prosecco and much much more! Seriously it's like my perfect evening all rolled into one, with a distinct theme of local craftsmanship and Cornish heritage, what's not to love? Tickets are available at £10 including a free drink via Santander St Austell or please contact peopleandgardens@hotmail.co.uk   to purchase. Doors open at 7pm.

With my heart smiling at the thought of seeing Bimble strut his stuff down that catwalk and my eyes widening at the thought of myself stumbling down as well, I invite you all to spend a fabulous evening with me and the people that I adore. I hope to see as many of you as I can there.

Love Sophie Xx

Introducing...ATP Illustration & Batman and I Have Gone Technicolour!

I first discovered ATP Illustration on Instagram, I'm not quite sure how, I'm not one of those people that 'browses strangers Instagram pages'. But anyway, I came across Alfie's work and followed him instantly! @atpillustration and Twitter @ATPillustration. His illustration is exactly my sort of art; tattoo based and inspired, attention to detail and original. It's so easy to tell that his work is by him, that I can be scrolling through Instagram first thing in the morning (BEFORE TEA!) and know instantly when I see his work. Which I love. I think so many artists don't spend enough time developing their own style, so I certainly appreciate it.

Don't Batman and I look fabulous?! I love that instead of the original photo of my ironing board in the background, carrots and diamond rings are there. Our favourite things! Haha! 
I was lucky enough that Alfie is a total babe, what with me being totally rubbish recently and he even answered a few questions for me that I wanted to share with you all! 

Your illustration style is quite personal and recognisable; when was it that you discovered what works for you?

Well most of my work is black and white to start, if I want to add colour I usually use photoshop. I can actually pin point when I started to draw in black and white using fine liners and posca pens. It was in the second year of uni, I was doing a project on overfishing, I was using poscas to draw everything and found that black and white really suited me. My tutors at the time told me I was really finding my style and this is when I decided to really develop this way of working. 

Where do you find your most inspiration?

Tattoo culture plays a massive part in the way I draw. I take a lot of inspiration from traditional tattoos, sort of mixing my own style in. Big illustrators that influence me are Rik Lee and Tom Gilmour, their status is where I one day aspire to be! Most of my work is influenced by nautical themed things, or wildlife. You'll always find some reference to tattoos in my work to, I even gave you one.. because thats how I usually draw woman, with a heart tattoo.

What's the big dream?

Haha the big dream? Who knows, Ideally become a world famous illustrator, marry my girlfriend and settle down. But right now, it's find a job in a design firm so I can save money for the future. I'll always be plugging away with my freelance work, trying to build it, so that one day that's my soul job. I'll get there eventually. 

What's coming up this year to keep an eye out for?

Errrm, well recently I did some work that will hopefully be used for orange mobile, fingers crossed! There'll be various t-shirts coming out with my designs on! and there's always my company Co Conspirators Clothing to look out for, hopefully one day competing with the big dogs in the fashion world. 

See, I told you he's awesome. And I'm going to know him when he's rich and famous...so nurrr.

You can check out more of ATP Illustration on the above sources, or pop to the shop on;

coconspiratorsclothing.bigcartel.com 

and

atpillustration.bigcartel.com

Love Sophie & Batman Xx

Creative Inspirations of the Month.: June. Marc Johns, Rachel Atulomah, Emily Soto, Katie Rodgers and Jenny Liz Rome.

Good day or night fellow flowers of the summertime! 

Here's some arty farty types that have been keeping me gawping at their work for one way or another over the last month! Still going through quite the illustration phase, and loving it. All images will take you to the source (nobody likes a thiefy!) 

Marc Johns Serious Drawings.

Because they're awesome, and funny and make me want to pick up a pencil. 

Rachel Atulomah Illustration

The first two images are from a 'Strange Dreams' series, which I just love the idea of! Her pictures are so imaginative! Does anyone keep a dream diary/journal/record? It's something I've been thinking of starting...but I'm not sure what I'd really do with it? Send my strange ones to Rachel I suppose? 

Emily Soto Fashion Photographer.

The composure of her images is just brilliant, wouldn't you agree? I follow Emily on Facebook and Instagram and just love seeing her work as I'm scrolling through.

Katie Rodgers Paper Fashion.

These were created as part of an editorial spread, but I really love the use of illustration and photography! Aren't they beautiful and dreamy and spectacularly amazing?

Jenny Liz Rome Illustrations.

Jenny's attention to detail is fascinating but I especially have loved looking at her work because the illustrations are all quite dark? I love them.

So there you go. That's what's been inspiring me this month. How about you? 

Love Sophie Xx

Plymouth College of Art BA Hons Fashion Show 2014.

So the last three years have totally been worth it. It all came down to that exact moment above when my girl, Stacie strutted down the catwalk at the end of her BA Hons fashion show and my heart just leapt out of my cheast with pride for my best friend. Her final collection was amazing, as was many others. I love a good fashion show. Typically my camera wouldn't charge so I was left with ol phone camera again. Sozages for the quality again. Also sozages that I seem to have misplaced my list of artists and designers, so please if you can help, tag away in the comments and I'll add as I can! 

So my date for the evening was the super snazzy Lois (that isn't his name but it keeps an air of mystery about him) who is Stacie's boyfriend (we're actually lovers, she has no idea.) We arrived a bit early for the main event so spent some time checking out the life drawing work. He found it a bit hard to look anywhere with the amount of painted penises around, but some of it was just spectacular. I'd wrestled this giant pretzel just before we left but bit my tongue the hardest I ever have in my entire life. If Lois hadn't been watching, I surely would've cried. It bled for absolutely ages and meant that for the next four days I could barely eat or drink. Harps just laughed. Prick. Fucking pretzel.

After a complimentary glass of champers, we settled down for the show. Practiced our best reaction faces to the models, just to put them off, and got ready to clap our little hearts out. (FYI- We did and it bloody hurt.)

I took loads more photos but they barely came out. There wasn't one single photo that I took of Stacie's Collection that was usable. Dang nabbit. Isn't there some amazing talent though? Please again, tag anyone below and I'll get them linked in! 

Here are a few snaps of it in all it's glory though. Click on the images for credit.

And the only other photo I got. Proudest. Friend. Ever. Hire her. Now.

Love Sophie Xx