JillyJilly turned 6 in May. I didn't have any business Birthday celebrations as, truth be told, I'd fallen out of love with my business some time ago. I had been wanting to make some big changes but wasn't sure where to start or what I was actually aiming for, so it all seemed incredibly overwhelming and much easier to just ignore it. Despite business mentoring in the past, I'm rubbish when it comes to listening to my own advice! 

I closed my shop at the start of lockdown. I was worried about sending parcels which were non-essential when the postal service was struggling. I was becoming very aware of making 'stuff' and the whole process - from supplies arriving in unnecessary plastic packaging, wasteful seconds etc. I was making more sustainable choices in other aspects of my life so I wanted my business to match up to this too.

After taking some time to reflect I decided to start over - rebuild, refresh, rebrand. So let me introduce you to the new JillyJilly! My new branding was actually inspired by my new workspace, we created this using existing bits and pieces with the help of some leftover paint. My old branding was pink, mint and lilac so it felt like a nice transition to a softer, nature inspired palette. The hand drawn typography feels a bit vintage, and I liked the playfulness of a reversible logo.

Since you're here, you've probably already noticed this is a whole new website. There's no longer a shop, though there will be a shop for the digital download products I'm working on. One of the main focuses now is design and photography services for indie businesses. I've spent time putting together examples of some of my favourite past projects, along with pre-priced packages for these services. 

I'll be using the blog a little more as I've already got a few DIY projects to share - these were always the most popular in the past! I want to be able to share more personal content featuring the things I'm most passionate about. A mix of thrifty finds, upcycling, home interiors, adventures and my favourite small businesses. 

I'm feeling so excited about my wee business for the first time in ages! It's so nice to be back.

It's nearly here! The Fun A Day Dundee 2019 exhibition starts next Friday, the 5th of April. If you saw my previous post, you'll know that my project was to spend more time having fun with bullet journalling. I'll have a copied version of my journal on display along with some free blank pages you can take away to fill in yourself. I've also designed the poster for the exhibition and will be there helping out. You can find out more about the exhibition below and at the Facebook event page here.
"This exhibition will feature around 70 people local and outwith of Dundee, in a wide and wonderful variety of mediums. We have crochet, photography, songwriting, performance, photography, painting, sculpture, mixed media, stitching, collage, knitting, film making and much more! Participants ages range from under 10 years old to over 60 years. 

This year we have live music by Mark Urban on the opening night, including our usual 'sweet shop' stand, and art workshops over the weekend to fix that crafty itch once viewing the exhibition!"

Hope to see you there!

My lovely friend and vegan-blogging-partner-in-crime, Falda, has set up a social media management business! Mafalda Media is the place to go for bespoke digital marketing and social media growth strategy. In other words, an amazing service for busy people who want to dedicate more time to other aspects of business and leave social media to the experts.

Although a little different from my usual branding and photography projects (much more minimal and sophisticated) I've created an identity and images for Mafalda Media which you can see a little of above but you can head over to Mafaldamedia.co.uk for more. This photoshoot was a lot of fun, working with a mix of simple textures and colour palette to soften the stark look of Apple products and create a balanced look of personal and professional. For more of my product and lifestyle photography, you can click here.

Blushberry Botanicals is a luxury vegan cosmetics brand based in Scotland which uses the finest natural ingredients in their delicious product range. I should add that this is my Mum's new business which has just launched this week!

While my Mum has been busy perfecting her recipes I was working on the branding and packaging design. It's certainly been a challenge trying to show off a product that most people prefer to smell and try in person! After lots of development, you'll see we came up with a simple look which makes it flexible across multiple products but easy to keep consistent. The hand-drawn font style gives it a more organic feel to compliment the ethos of the brand.

I had a lot of fun with the product photography for this too! Especially all the edible props. We used Photoboards backdrops and lots of natural textures to bring the scents to life on screen. Check out Blushberry Botanicals here and on Etsy. 

For more of my product photography, you can see past work here.
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Can you believe JillyJilly will be three next month?? We certainly can't but I suppose when you look back over the years it does make sense... more on that in a future post! A rebrand has been on the cards for some while now, it was just a case of finding the time which isn't always easy, especially as a DIY job! To make it even more of a challenge it wasn't just a new logo I had in mind, a new website too! Of course that meant new packaging and some photography too. 

I started this work alongside running the shops, back in January, and to say I underestimated the time it would take would be an understatement and a half. Here we are, 3 months later and ready to share with the world!

Our new logo kept the same colours but has a much simpler finish which I've used across the website and packaging. The scattered dots just felt really fun and fresh for me and I'm so excited about your new polkadot mug boxes!! These will be finished with hand tied bows in our lovely brand colours. As for the earrings they are now backed on square cards with a quirky polkadot reverse.

Our new website was a huge job, the product listings alone took weeks, and I insisted on transferring over our old blog posts much to David's dismay (his job, of course). I hope that it's easier for you all to navigate, especially as we grow our product ranges. We have shop features like refine by price and colour now! Fancy! 

Please do have a wee look around, I'd love to hear what you think.
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