Summer sketchbook project?

…and other things!

Hello and happy Monday!

My WORD I’m feeling it after the heat of the weekend here in the North of England. I know other places have had it worse and you have my sympathies. I can’t cope with the heat, I’d much rather be cosied up underneath a blanket on a winter’s eve, a roaring fire crackling away.

Oh God, let’s not talk about fire, I’m sweating again already.

Here is a photo of Hank, lounging on my desk, defiantly ignoring the THREE beds he has access to in my office.

FIRSTLY, I just wanted to briefly talk about some changes I’ve made here on my Substack.

The first is the name. I’ve changed it from ‘The Drawing Room’ to ‘Inside the Drawing Room’. I know, I know, life-changing. Nothing more exciting to add, just that if you’ve noticed it’s a bit different, you’re not crazy.

The second is that I’ve removed paid subscriptions altogether. Thank you SO, so much from the bottom of my heart to everyone who took out a paid sub, I really appreciate it, and I hope you don’t feel messed around too much. It has taken me a while to realise (or accept, I suppose) that I’m just not somebody who is able to be consistent enough with content and updates. I’d love to be, but my brain needs the flexibility to thrive, and whilst I can feel really motivated and bursting with creativity one week, I might be feeling a bit burned out the next, depending what I have going on. A project may be delayed, causing issues with deadlines, or something is taking longer than planned, and I really hate letting people down. I don’t know what my future plans are, but for now at least, Inside the Drawing Room is 100% free.

Oh look, here’s Hank again, NEXT to his bed.

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Summer Sketchbook Project

I talked a bit in my last newsletter about rediscovering the joy of creating, and how I’ve been doing this through sketching. I mentioned the time I spent during a summer at uni, completely immersed in my sketchbook, playing and learning. This got me thinking – what if I set myself my own summer sketchbook project now?

A few people have left comments on my Instagram and via Notes to express their desire to spend more time in their sketchbooks, too. Maybe it’s the tsunami of AI garbo making its way into every facet of our lives? Or perhaps it’s a way to self-soothe during a time of unrest and uncertainty. Of course, plenty of people still work traditionally, it’s not a new concept, but in a digital world, I for one am craving something more tactile and messy.

So, I’ve bought some new pens (any excuse, lets be honest), I’ve got a blank sketchbook, and I’m giving myself til the start of September to fill it as much as I can. After speaking to my partner about my idea, he suggested I could create a new little world, and fill it with characters and their environments, which I love. So that’s what I’m going to do!

I’m going to use the hashtag #2025SummerSketchbook if you’d like to join in.

Feel free to tag me on Instagram so I can share if you do get involved – I’d love love love to see what you’re working on. I’m going to share updates as I go, and will make sure I post some deeper insights here. The goal is to have fun, spend more time in my sketchbook, and appreciate what it is to create and be human.

Are you in?

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Shop

My Etsy shop is now live! There’s barely anything on there at the moment, but I’ll slowly be building it up over time – mostly sticker sheets, die-cut stickers, prints, and I might bring back notepads and bookmarks, we shall see! I’m not expecting it to be a big earner or anything, but I love making stickers and the like so it’s a place for me to share that with anyone who’s in the market for those sorts of things.

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Sorry I haven’t updated you on projects in a while, I’m waiting on a couple of things to start up, and have just finished a couple of others – more on those soon!

Right, I’ll be off then.

Thanks so much for reading, you’re the best!

Bx