Imaginista

Today Ayurvedic Therapist and Yoga Teacher Nina Panesar-Woods is launching gorgeous new look and website. We've been working with Nina for many months to perfect her brand both visually and spiritually, ready for her to unite her two Sansaar businesses and today we're thrilled that her website has gone live!
And. . . I can thoroughly recommend a treatment from Nina, although I am yet to be brave and venture into a yoga class, but having seen a peek of the mini-class she lead for her yoga photoshoot with @clairelewisphotography it won't be long before I give it a go!
www.ayurvedasansaar.co.uk

Earlier this year I teamed up with the lovely metalsmith Lisa Dakin to create her a brand new website following her graduation from the UCA. Lisa launched it at her open studios at Yorkshire Artspace last weekend along side her gorgeous new brand by moi. Here is the result - would love to hear what you think! www.lisadakin.co.uk

Here's a little bit about a new venture I've started with the lovely Claire Lewis Photography & Professional Makeup Artistry. We'd love you to come and join us! Please share with your friends and help us fulfil our dream of creating nurturing, creative and sharing workshops and retreats. x

Just before Christmas last year I began working on a wonderful branding project with a very talented photographer and writer, Jay Armstrong. This was a dream in the making for Jay and I am so proud and thankful to have played a small part in helping her to realise her dream. Elementum is a journal of nature and story. Its about our connection to the natural world. Today the finished article landed on my doormat as Edition One: Calling. Its something I am going to treasure forever and cannot wait until the next edition. I'm off to immerse myself in a quite place and absorb the tranquillity of the writing, the curiosity of the images and illustrations take time to slow down to consider and reflect on the world around me. You can order your copy or subscribe here: www.elementumjournal.com/ and follow on instagram here: @elementumjournal

There has been lots of speculation about what the announcement from Instagram moving towards using algorithms to rank our feeds actually means for the future, but truly, only Instagram know that! We can speculate all we like, but rather than getting into a tiz, pop on over to my blog and have a read of my thoughts. I'd really love to hear what you think!
http://www.imaginista.co.uk/…/putting-t he-social-back-into-…

Yesterday I was welcomed to Liquorice Press in Basingstoke for a little tour of their facilities. Liquorice are bespoke printers with a specialism in letterpress, foil, laser cutting and litho printing techniques.
Letterpress printing is a beautiful relief printing technique which was developed back in the 15th century. Right up into the 19th century, this was the primary process for printing text and used wooden and metal letters which were then placed in the press bed, i...nked and then printed. The desired result is a ‘kiss’ effect - this is where ink just meets the paper, just enough to leave a clean print and a barely there impression.
As modern machinery came to the fore, letterpress fell by the wayside. But as with all things coming full circle, there is a resurgence in the demand for this printing technique and modern trends extend to indenting the impressions much harder and combining with metallic foils, as well as layering papers and painting the edges of thick card. Liquorice combine these traditional techniques - using their collection of beautiful old Heidelberg machines - with more modern techniques such as foiling and die-cutting, polymer plates and very carefully selected papers to create some truly beautiful and very tactile print pieces.
I can’t wait to commission some of this beautiful print!
Thank you Liquorice.

www.theliquoricepress.co.uk/
See More

I'm super thrilled to share one of my latest projects with you - a new brand for Claire Lewis Photography. Claire has been taking commercial, lifestyle and portraiture photographs both in the UK and overseas for many years and her recent move back to the UK has prompted her to dedicate some time to her photography business, starting with this gorgeous new brand! Watch this space over the coming weeks as we add to her portfolio of marketing goodies. Hope you like!

Hello to my new 'likers' thanks for following me!
I'm working on a couple of really lovely branding projects at the moment and can't wait to give you the big reveal. For now though, here's a vision boards and colour palette from one of the projects.
Have a great weekend!

For those of you who don't know, I coordinate the local (Farnham, Surrey) group of the Rising Tide Society's TuesdaysTogether meet-ups which are exclusively for creative entreprenurs or anyone associated with creative businesses.
We meet up on the second Tuesday of each month and launched the group - the first in the UK - back in October to co-inside with Farnham Craft Month.
This month, our topic is one close to my heart : Finding Your Niche. If you think you might be in...terested in popping along, why not take a look at our group page \\ TuesdaysTogether - Farnham, Surrey, England // to find out more. If you are not local but feel you have something to contribute, please come and join our group.
Hope to see you there! Melanie
See More

Oh. My. Goodness! A legitimate excuse for hoarding nicknacks and treasure : props for styling with! Genius. Why'd it take me so long to figure that out?

My tax return has taken me away from social media this week, but whilst searching for inspiration for advertisements, I came across this and just had to share. . . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/vintage -sexist-ads_n_461211…

Usually between Christmas and New Year, I set aside some time to look back over the past year. In theory, this time is quite quiet and allows me to start dreaming and planning my way ahead. My husband will often find me and my cats buried somewhere under notebooks, reams of paper, tangled up with washi tape and cut outs from magazines and mailers stuck in sorts of random places. I love the time away from the computer scribbling on big bits of paper and the curious looks from ...
Continue Reading

Hello to everyone who's stopped by to visit my page and thanks to those of you who've decided to 'follow' me! Here's a bit of pretty for the new week - a vision board for a project I'm working on. . .

Practice will make perfect. Eventually.

I'm often asked why I don't blog. The truth is I don't really have time and I love reading blogs, but who would read what I have to say? There are already so many blogs out there - why add another? All valid reasons and ones that resonate with many of you out there I am sure.
I've dallied using FB as a test, but then caught myself doing what I tell others not to do - and thats treat those of you on FB as blog readers and vice versa. Yayaya I know!
And to be honest, I'm ac...tually finding myself a little turned off by reading blogs that are becoming littered with ads and sponsored posts where people are trying to make a little (or large) living from blogging. I always question weather they really like the products / wear the clothes / drink the drinks once payment has been made. Could I be honest in doing this? Yes, I like to think I would, and those of you know me, know I would too!
I was especially glad to be sent a link to Holly Becker's post on her Decor8 blog this week where she addresses just this issue. At 10 years old, she considers the future of blogging. . . http://decor8blog.com/2016/01/05/46770/

Yesterday I was welcomed to Liquorice Press in Basingstoke for a little tour of their facilities. Liquorice are bespoke printers with a specialism in letterpress, foil, laser cutting and litho printing techniques.
Letterpress printing is a beautiful relief printing technique which was developed back in the 15th century. Right up into the 19th century, this was the primary process for printing text and used wooden and metal letters which were then placed in the press bed, i...nked and then printed. The desired result is a ‘kiss’ effect - this is where ink just meets the paper, just enough to leave a clean print and a barely there impression.
As modern machinery came to the fore, letterpress fell by the wayside. But as with all things coming full circle, there is a resurgence in the demand for this printing technique and modern trends extend to indenting the impressions much harder and combining with metallic foils, as well as layering papers and painting the edges of thick card. Liquorice combine these traditional techniques - using their collection of beautiful old Heidelberg machines - with more modern techniques such as foiling and die-cutting, polymer plates and very carefully selected papers to create some truly beautiful and very tactile print pieces.
I can’t wait to commission some of this beautiful print!
Thank you Liquorice.

www.theliquoricepress.co.uk/
See More