Author: Jo Cheung

A rather big hello to you all and a very belated Happy New Year! As you can probably tell, judging by the lack of posts, we’ve been very busy being new parents and looking after Louis. I’ve not had the time to update my website (or do much creative work- as expected) but I have finally opened up my Etsy shop again (a big whoop whoop!). However, I’m not selling prints for the time being as I need to get my printer sorted out first as its been out of action for over a year and the blooming thing needs cleaning, which I’ve been putting off for a long time now! I really want to get into the swing of things again and create more work, however, I’m guessing most people work late at night when their child/children are fast asleep (or lack of lol).

I’m going back to the drawing board and designing cards for the year now, or how much of it I can get done before Louis wakes up!

Wishing you all a lovely Sunday!

Jo

Hola folks!

Hope you’re all doing well. Can’t believe October came and flew by so quickly. Over the past few weeks I have been busy getting my things ready for Made By Tottenham’s Christmas Pop-Up Shop!

On Saturday the 26th at 14:00 I will be giving a brief talk about my work, which will be super exciting as I haven’t done one in a while now!

If you’re looking for Christmas gifts then head to The Trampery in Tottenham for unique and original gifts from local artists and designers. You can follow Made By Tottenham over on Instagram for more details and the latest updates.

Hope to see you there!

Jo

 

Hello all,

As you have probably gathered, what with the radio silence, we now have a plus one in our household- say hello to Louis Kwan Lok born on Tuesday 26th July at 5:52am. I can’t believe two months have already passed (as I am writing this he is currently asleep!). You sort of have to take the opportunity to do things whilst he is sleeping!

Life for us has completely changed in many ways and we had quite a few unexpected turns (my waters broke early, my driving test was due on the day he was born, then stayed in hospital for an extra couple of days). There have been many sleepless nights, mixed emotions, loads of poonamis, washing, more washing and waiting for the poo explosions to come. However, as each day passes we are learning and growing as parents and as a family. As much as I have read about baby stuff online and doing the NCT course, nothing prepares you for parenthood once you’re in it! All the information and advice you read about having a newborn baby goes in and out one ear (for me anyway) as you find your own flow of doing things. Louis has brought immense joy and happiness into our lives; he is growing and changing so quickly as the weeks goes by. I’m enjoying each and every moment with him as it won’t be long until he’s all grown up and running away from us!

Looking back now I would say that my labour was a pretty smooth one, we obviously played the waiting game at the hospital and my birth plan went right out of the window, but I would like to thank the staff at Whittington Hospital who were absolutely amazing right from the start- they made sure we were looked after at all times, extremely professional, caring, friendly, kept us informed at all times and they made our whole birth experience enjoyable. I remember feeling extremely nervous and scared of the unknown, but the staff put me right at ease and I completely put my trust in them when it came to the choices we were making like pain relief for instance. I also had high hopes of using the birth centre but in hindsight the labour ward was absolutely fine.

He is now smiling, babbling, cooing, intense eye contact, loves looking at the mirror before getting annoyed by it, grabbing and pulling dangling objects… I have taken so many photos of him I think my phone storage will run out in no time!

I’ll end my post here, not sure when I’ll be writing again but you can follow me on Instagram for more baby photos!

Thanks for reading as always and take care.

*UPDATE*

17/09/2023

Well, I just wanted to post a super quick update about life so far. And life is going very well and now we are at the stage where Louis is nearly 14 months and in daycare two days a week now.

The time has just flown by over the past few months and it’s really hard to comprehend how fast it has gone. We’re now at a stage of transition in terms of growth, letting things slowly go, new beginnings, lots of learning from each other and getting up at 5am! I am a forever changed person. No one prepares you for the next stage of parenthood, that is, the end of the newborn stage and the start of independence. All the emotions that come with it, yeah, I can’t put it properly into words.

It’s a continuing journey of love, joy, learning, food throwing, catching up with clothing sizes and all the rest of it.

In the meantime though, I’d like to get my shop up and running again but I need to sort out of stock and see if my printer is still alive again. I’d love to make more new artwork too as I’m itching to get back onto Photoshop again (I do miss it!).

Until then, I’ll keep you all posted over on my Instagram account and (sadly no more) Twitter.

 

Hello everyone! How’s your Platty Jubes weekend been going? In no way am I a Royalist, but, it’s been pretty nice having a four day bank holiday weekend. I’ve spent this week catching up with my friends and squeezing in the prenatal yoga when I have the time. I’m trying to have some sort of schedule each day for it, but me being in holiday-mode, I’ve been super lazy! It’ll be nine weeks until the baby is due, so I’ve been washing loads of baby clothes and getting his things sorted out. I want to paint his room at some point (or get Sam/friend/kind person) to do it as I’ve been looking at paint colours online (yes, I’m defo in nesting mode now).

Just to let you all know that my summer sale is now live on my Etsy, Folksy and Urban Makers shops. I will close all my shops at the end of the month as I want to spend July taking it easy, getting all the sleep I’ll need- basically, I want to be chilled out as much as possible and not have to worry about customer’s orders being out on time or swearing at my printer because it’s not doing its thing.

With that being said, it almost feels like it’s an end of an era but in a good way. We are both starting a brand new chapter in our lives; one where we’ll get no sleep for the next five years haha. Seriously though, the thought of closing my shops is like saying goodbye to illustration- do you know what I mean? For the last ten years or so illustration has been a massive part of my life. Even though it’s something that hasn’t turned out to be full-time (didn’t really expect it to be like that until I entered full-time work in something else) it has stayed with me side by side. Now it’s like letting that part of me go and life changing event is stepping into our lives. I’m getting really deep here lol but it’s better to be open here than on Instagram.

I will end it here on a positive note because I am looking forward to being a parent- bring it on! Wishing you all a fab weekend however it may look like.

Well, I’ve been keeping this one very quiet for the past couple of months but I’m so happy to share with you all that we are expecting a baby boy due in August! Honestly, my heart is already filled with so much love and we can’t wait to meet our baby boy.

What does this mean for my shops? I’ll be taking a year out to look after a tiny human being (I don’t think I can run them on 0 sleep!). So I’ll be having a sale next month as I need to make space and raise some funds before I go on maternity leave. I’ll be closing my shop at the end of June as I want to take a well-rested break as much as I can before the baby is due. My Society6 shop will still be running though, so if you’re looking for gifts and homeware things have a look here.

I’m sure I’ll be spamming you all with lots of baby photos here and on Instagram.

Until then, keep your eyes out for my sale in my Etsy, Folksy and Urban Makers shops.

Thanks again for reading as always and enjoy the rest of your weekend!