Festive Friday 2018

The studio is all a buzz today as I'm prepping for tomorrow. Festive Friday, 30 November 2018, is the day everyone in the card industry (and all lovers of cards) send their Christmas cards. This is to create a festive wave of lovely cards arriving in early December to get everyone in the Christmas card-sending mood. Following on from last year's lovely copper foiled tree, this year I've created a sparkly new Christmas card featuring iridescent hot foiling on crisp white board with matching hand embossed envelopes. The Illustration is inspired by nordic winter skies and I've hand finished each card with a crystal. Looking forward to writing and sending these lovelies tomorrow.

FESTIVE FRIDAY | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above clockwise from the top left: my new christmas card for 2018, the lovely hand emboss, crystalling the cards, close up of the nordic winter sky design, can just about see the iridescent foil on this pic - hard to pick up in photos on a gloomy november day, a lovely sample pack, fab christmas first class stamps this year, my desk looking packed!

#festivefriday #festivefriday18 #christmas #christmascard #nordicskies #feelingfestive

Christmas Edit

I received our first Christmas card of the year yesterday so I thought I best get on with the seasonal shopping today especially as next week it's festive friday (when the card industry sends their Christmas post). There are some amazing paper goodies out there this year and I have found it tough to choose! Favourites for sending this Christmas are below.

CHRISTMAS EDIT - EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above clockwise from top left: love this bit of illustrator's humour with merry christmoose from cwillbs, inventive die-cut card gin-gle bells from raspberry blossom, the lovely snowy pink house from caroline gardner, a very merry xmas pudding from stormy knight, lily and val christmas tree card, beautiful handmade paper tassel garland from may contain glitter, for a festive rainbow fix there is meri meri's christmas concertina village, mistletoe by jade fisher at papier, possibly a bit late for shipping to uk now but i do love this christmas flowers card from redcap, love the fa la la la caption on this meri meri gift bag, also by jade fisher at papier is the lovely christmas fir card, meri meri santa fan beard,

#festivefriday #christmas #christmasshopping #paperlove #sendacarddeliverasmile

Illustrator Spot - Beatrice Alemagna (do-nothing day)

Our local book festival kicks off tomorrow. I'm getting in the spirit and thought I'd share by favourite book of the past year A Magicial Do - Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna. I have become a big fan of children's picture books in recent years (e.g. Jon Klassen) having spent a lot of time reading them to my two. I happily discovered this title in a lovely little family run bookshop in Wels, Austria whilst on my hols (mine is the German version). The book is set on a gloomy, rainy autumnal day. Mum is busy working and suggests that the child goes outside. Shortly after to their dismay the child loses their beloved computer game. When it looks like everything is going wrong the dark earthy skies start to open and a colourful rainbow appears. There is then a voyage of discovery excitingly retold to Mum at the end of the magical day.
It's a wonderful book about the joy of nature told through some truly beautiful illustration (the title has won the New York Times award for illustration 2017). It's a book to be enjoyed by all ages and would brighten any dull day.

A MAGICAL DO-NOTHING DAY BY B. ALEMAGNA - EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above clockwise from the top left: mum working, lovely illustration of the gloomy wet weather - pic here, the loss of the beloved computer game, a tumble down the hill, pic of friedhuber book shop, some lovely antique books on the shelves of friedhuber, a pic of beatice alemagna , a pic the skies parting for the rainbow, pic of the cover that i have, 

Gen-Z Yellow

Well I'm loving that Generation-Z Yellow turned up as the top colour in the annual John Lewis retail report for 2018 - sales of yellow dresses were up a whopping 401%. It's a lovely trend to be looking at on a gloomy November day.
Interestingly this sunny colour is the opposite of Pantone's choice for the colour of the year, the mysterious Ultra Violet. Thought provoking though Ultra Violet is, perhaps we weren't so much in need of more intrigue just yet and what we want is some happy sunshine + positivity. How lovely that the same JL report highlighted the Rainbow as the emblem of the year - it too is cheery and a welcoming sight after a storm (the world stage has certainly been stormy of late). Wonderful to see that a greetings company, Rachel Ellen Design, had a special mention in the JL retail report for their fab rainbow designs.
Yellow is traditionally a tricky colour in greetings (along with green and brown) and yet publishers and product makers are really embracing this. All the icons are fab, from big cats (leopard print also on trend) to bananas, bees, stars, giraffes, sunshine and lemons. What's not to love!

GENERATION Z YELLOW - EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above clockwise from top left: combining two 2018 trends of gin and yellow is stop the clock's lemon birthday card, golden lion card from red cap cards, smile sunshine birthday card from the positive vibes collection paperchase, thanks a bunch from papier, both trends for yellow and eco here with this water bottle from trouva, abstract paint note book from annie dornan smith, galah yellow notebook from lydia meiying, love the happy use of millennial pink and gen-z yellow in this sadler jones card, bees knees mini card from lagom, bananas for you sticker patch and card from anthropologie, citrus lemons art print from nikki strange,

#gen-zyellow #yellow #generationzyellow #sunshine #lemons #bananas #bees #colouroftheyear