Ryman Stationery guest post

We were recently very honoured to be asked to make some pencil cases for Ryman. They ran a competition for children to design a perfect pencil case and we judged the finalists and then made the winning 2. They have written a piece about it....

At Ryman we’re always on the lookout for ways to encourage both kids and adults to be as creative as possible (you can find lots of evidence of that on our blog). And with our recent Perfect Pencil Case competition we did just that!

We asked kids up to the age of 16 to design their dream pencil case, then asked your favourite doodle-making Moose to help us create them. All the entries were great, but only two people could win the special prize of having their dream design made into a real life pencil case.

As picked by Lucy Moose herself, we’re pleased to say a massive well done to Megan Hickman (age 11 – 16) and Charlotte Hey (under 10) for their winning, imaginative designs. Their very own one-of-a-kind pencil cases have been brought to life, and they’ve also received a bundle of art and colouring goodies worth £100 to help fuel their creativity. Check out the images below:

Megan’s Design

 Charlotte's Design

Well done to everyone who took the time out to enter. You can see all of the entries on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/rymanstationery, in our Perfect Pencil Case Competition album. And a massive thank you to the head moose at Lucy Moose Studios!

Ryman have been high street leaders in stationery for 120 years – offering everything you need for your writing, drawing, arts and crafts. You can interact with Ryman on Twitter and on Facebook and even upload your stationery inspired pictures to Instagram using the hashtags #Ryman and #stationery. The Ryman blog is also uploaded several times a week with great content on creativity and stationery.

This year (part 1)

Well hasn't it been a long time since we blogged?...again.

This year has been fairly frantic and we haven't really had a lot of time to blog with all that has been going on. So I'm going to do a quick catch up to let you all know about some of the exciting projects we have been working on to date.

We have had a lot more corporate work this year, including many corporate logos and characters, which has been fun, seeing peoples' brand images come to life.

One of the first corporate jobs we had was for the local NHS. We created a few mascots to promote healthy eating that could be taken round to courses, classes, schools and community centres. Touchy feely fruit and veg!

Very popular :D

End of summer

Ok, so summer seems to be at an end...for the school holidays anyway. Having grown up and schooled in England I still find it hard to get my head around the concept of summer holidays finishing in August..but that's the way it is.
We had a long and varied time, visiting places, loving the sun and generally relaxing. We hope you all had a great time too.

Wedding fever

A good friend is getting married in a few days and a group of us suggested that we make some tissue pom poms to decorate the venue. This of course needed an evening of chat, tea, wine, popcorn and much creativity! They are really simple to make, but not, if you know what I mean, as they are so delicate.

I think the world was put to rights with lots of laughter and the whole thing overseen by this gorgeous bundle

The task was achieved and my kitchen ended up full of pompoms, which look amazing en masse. They just need to be transported to the venue and hung now. 

Happy times! 

Boat trip

A week or so ago had to cancel a weekend trip because of a rain....lucky though, as we finally ended up with a gorgeous sunny day to take the Osprey rib to the Isle of May.

The trip takes about half an hour, longer really, as the Skipper stops when you are near the island to tell you about the wildlife and you get to see the puffins, seals & shags up close. 

We were dropped on the island and then spent a few hours exploring and wandering around. It is a beautiful, unspoilt place, that has no inhabitants, just the rangers that are there for 7 months of the year monitoring the birdlife. We had to walk strictly on the paths so as not to disturb nests and burrows. 

We had forgotten to bring binoculars, but we didn't need them as we saw so many birds and animals up close. All of them completely unfazed by the visitors. 

I think that we found the puffins the most entertaining; they are much smaller than we realised and were so funny to watch. They look as though they have only just learnt to fly, as their take off and landing all looks a bit haphazard! They are amazingly efficient at scooting out and returning with bundles of fish in their beaks for their young. I'm not a great one for birdwatching, but these wee characters are so funny and charming. They live for about 40 years too and mate for life. 

We were collected by the Osprey later in the afternoon; the skipper showing us around the side of the island we had not seen when we came in.  We returned to Anstruther harbour tired and hungry, so a well deserved trip to the famous Fish Bar was a must! 

Summer holidays

I can't believe that the summer holidays are nearly over. They have gone by in a flash. The boys have had lots of trips, Italy, England & a beach holiday. I have yet to get away, but with the amazing weather I have managed a few gorgeous trips to the beach and working in the garden when it has been lovely & warm.
We did get over to Kellie Castle and had a quick wander around the beautiful walled garden.

It is so lovely to see such a beautiful space, and I can't help having a bit of garden envy, as we have such a large unruly plot! While we were there, we saw a head that my son had sculpted at school and it was chosen to be cast and displayed in the Kellie Castle grounds-very exciting! 

A lovely sunny afternoon, that ended in a wander around Pittenweem, watching the preparations for the Arts Festival and boats going out for the evening's fishing. 

A token to amazing women

Well, another bonkers week in the Moose studio...full of exciting meetings and new potential collaborations. More on those to come, we can't say much just now. Doodles left the studio to Ireland, the US and UK.

On a more personal note, I have been holding onto some gold jewellery from my late mum and grandma for many years, not knowing what to do with it. I don't really wear gold, but I did not want to throw it away or sell it. I decided to have to have it melted down and made into something I will wear, which I had done by a local jeweller. I now have a simple, beautiful bracelet that reminds me of the amazing women in my life and is a token to them and a keepsake that I will wear and treasure for many years to come.

Easter/Spring

Quick post....have been told I need to blog more, so despite many promises and not quite managing to maintain the momentum we are going to make sure that it is "good to talk". We will be here and on LucyMoose..twice a week..big promises I know, but we have so much to tell you guys....
Hope you enjoy!

Feb-tastic

Hey! We had such fun at Bubble in N.London. So good to be back in my old stomping ground & to see how things have changed, or not.
The trade fair was great and we had a great few days meeting new clients, potential customers and other designers and makers. I felt really privileged as I was next to such talented and fun people. In our wee group we had http://www.lettiebelle.com/ http://www.gigiandcompany.co.uk/ and http://www.isabee.co.uk/. I think by the last day we were making more noise than the rest of the hall put together!

Anyhoo...the New Year has started well and all is great in the Moose World. We have some new & exciting clients onboard and we are very excited about what 2013 has to bring. We will keep you updated.

I'm seeing Bubbles

Oh my, what a long time since the last post! Anyhoo, we are off to London tomorrow (snow permitting) to go to the fabulous Bubble trade fair. We will be creating an exciting display and hopefully meeting lots of lovely new faces and customers. Come and say hi!