Lets work, Lets work, Talk to me lets work...

So much going on right now I can't even keep up, not complaining at all my life is pretty dreamy in all aspects at the moment. This week I have been inspired by a lot of things from music, visuals and also todays workshop with Mothers Meetings at Shoreditch house. The other day someone asked me if I was pregnant going to all this stuff but I would like to clarify I am not pregnant just working with Jenny and getting the chance to go to all the events that they put on without actually having a child :) I have also picked up some really fun freelance illustration projects that I will be working on over the next couple of weeks as well as sorting hip hop baking and its own blog. 

As much as some people might disagree there are some positives to the tube strikes... if you have a lovely boss like I do then you can work from home, so yesterday I spent working on some illustrations from the comfort of my desk. It is actually one of my favourite places to be as its a tidy colourful productive but calming area especially with the candles on (I don't care if it was 9am) I like an ambient work space! I also whipped up some hand drawn typography during my the day and obviously went for the G when choosing what letter to go for, certified Gangsta innit! 

I mentioned about the workshop todays with MM, well it was a dream. Any of my pals will know I am quite into the idea of mindfulness/ positive thought patterns and goal setting so learning more about the way we structure our goals and the way you can work to achieve them in a positive manner was really interesting. I fully believe that you should go with your feelings over things, if you believe it then you can do it, if you have a bad feeling about something you gotta work out whats not quite right before proceeding else you'll never get to the final destination. I do love a good notebook writing session too, for the past 4 years I have kept a note of everyday without fail. Sometimes I write down ideas, new things, exciting things but I always make sure I keep track of whats going on, what I am working on/towards and positive/happy points from the day. Generally no negative vibes allowed in my liberty printed diaries. Below is a little snapshot of some of the points raised and also fun photo booth time which I was 100% not ready for hence the amusing half head shots. 

So a really great week in the making and now back to work and cracking on the drawing flex listening to some tunes. Another reason I love hip hop- positive vibes, I always walk along thinking if Jay-Z says I can do it then hell yeah why not. Also I have decided after now 50 patterns I am going to carry on the project for the whole year, I decided when I started it I wanted the patterns to always be posted at a similar time in the morning so it was consistent and also there to see for the whole day so if you ever wonder when its gonna be its always between 7am- 8.30am yo! You can check them all here www.onepatterneveryday.tumblr.com or  follow me on Instagram where you can see the patterns, hip hop baking, inspiration, treats for my feets and other full time playa antics. Its @beckiplaya and I'm sorry but sometimes I take photos of my dinner, only on pizza dates with Lizzie Brown though! 

Have a listen to Jay-Z, honestly it will put a smile on anyones face just think positive vibes! 

Thought patterns displayed on Persian rugs, Equations are drawn up in paisley form...

The title of this post is actually a lyric from the Rakim track at the bottom but looking at it on its own it kind of looks weird but I'm rolling with it. I can't believe how quickly this week has gone but also all the amazing things/people that I have had chance to do and meet. I am super lucky to be working with Mothers Meetings which is an amazing communications agency that connects companies like Nike, Shoreditch House, Armani Junior there are loads more but basically connects them to young influential parents with events and consultancy. This week has gone crazy quick though we haven't actually stopped, I have been spinning with Mothers Meetings- you can imagine how funny this was, thank god for Estee Lauder makeup, been to a wool workshop which was put on by MM and Wool and the gang, lunched and spent time drawing,  designing and idea generating...could things get any better?! I was trying to explain to my boss Jenny about visualisation so you visualise what you want to do and it helps get you there except we just ended up visualising scampi and chips for lunch?! Here are a few photos to sum up my week, Super detox juices after spinning, the start of my very interesting knitting attempt and my lovely boss Jenny today in the office.

I have found loads of inspiration this week, my eyes are switched to inspiration mode and the other day I picked out a load of stuff out of my bag like what the hell is this...''oh you thought the colours were nice silly'', that was in regards to a weird piece of fruit I brought at a market. Sooooo with all this inspiration Pattern a day is still going strong and I have decided to set the goal of the whole year, that way I will end up with a visual diary of the year and 365 patterns to work with, winning combo. 

Now to my full time hustle as I'm jumping off the overground and planning a hip hop bake off this evening to treat everyone tomorrow with because Fridays aren't Fridays without cake. I am gonna start a separate tumblr for Hip Hop Baking aswell as I need to rebake all the cakes, perfect the recipes and photograph them all again so will have to leave the originals on here but the new and improved will be on their own tumblr. Enjoy this song because I have been listening to it 24/7, its helps with the visualisation vibes...

I'll bring you flowers in the pouring rain...

I have a mad busy but amazing week and found a lot of inspiration along my travels. I am working on a floral typography project at the moment which is being sent to print Thursday so I was sure to get some research in this week before a big working weekend. I absolutely love flowers, they are probably one of my favourite things and anyone who knows me will know I have a ridiculous amount of floral clothing, Liberty floral trainers and notepads, its just everything about them makes me haps so I am really excited to be working on this and its combining two of the best things about life.. Florals and Hand drawn typography!

What I also find inspiring about flowers is the colour and the way that it changes over time, some flowers actually look more beautiful when they have been dried out or when they are in the process of dying. The general structures and the shapes of each of the petals can make really interesting drawings and when you think about it its actually pretty crazy that they are a living thing!? Heres one of the photos from outside Liberty...amazing colours right?!

Liberty London

Yesterday on lunch I popped into Liberty to have a look at their flowers as I was in Central, well I could've spent all day there but unfortunately after 30 minutes of observing, photographs and a few sketches I decided I probably looked pretty weird and should go in at browse the fabric collection. I have been longing for one of the Liberty Scarfs lately to wrap round my barnett during the sun but then I saw the Kenzo ones and sorry Libs but I am all over that cloud print Kenzo treat! Unfortunately I can't afford to be spending that kinda dolla bill on a scarf right now but one day you will see me will a cloudy candy flossed barnett! Its actually the one on the right in this photo but you cant see how exquisite the print but I wouldn't lie, its dreamy.

Kenzo Scarves at Liberty

I also found some great Typography cards by Lucy Loves This, have a look at them here all of the letters are inspired by London and she also does some amazing prints!

Lucy Loves This Typography Cards

My painted pattern of the day for Floral Fridays

And of course today is Floral Friday on onepatterneveryday so it ties in quite nicely with the weekend work schedule. However I will be getting to see my lovely pals as well as Lizzie and I are heading back to the new forest for some much needed forest walks, Earl Greys, hunting down exquisite florals, Ciders with Mrs Bega and a few wines with the OG Size? playas on saturday evening.

Happy Easter weekend playas! Enjoy this, I'm sorry its not hip hop but it will put a smile on yo face

Jadaswiss Chocolate Cupcakes

Yoyo!! What up playas its Easter weekend and the sun in shining, could life get any better?! Last night I whipped up some Jadakiss inspired cupcakes for my housemates Petes birthday today! Big up and Happy Birthday Mr Nicklen! So I actually used a recipe straight off the Lindt website as I didnt wanna mess them up and Pete has a high standard when it comes to chocolate and icing!

Jadaswiss Chocolate Cupcakes 

We have had no reviews yet as I made Pete promise he wouldn't eat any until either midnight when he got in or this morning! However the sponge looks pretty light and fluffy and the icing full of delicious chocolate, I won't write out the whole recipe as its not about the copying flex but you can find it here and I think next week I will perfect my own Lindt recipe!

I was just thinking of the perfect Jadakiss tune to whack on here but all I can think about is the track with Usher, Throwback is such a vibe, maybe not one of his best hip hop tracks but a massive banger for the car singalongs with the girls, I don't know if I am the only playa who does this but when you have songs loud in the car and you pretend you're in the music video and think about certain playa haters. I have been known to film this kind of thing and send it to people when I have had a few too many wines, oh the shame...

Who run the world? GIRLS!!

Today has been a lovely day filled with lots of inspiration, colour, moodboards and then of course an evening run. I was really lucky as I got to meet Rebecca from Bon Bon Balloons, an amazing balloon company thats definitely better than your average balloons. Just think of all the best colours, textures, shapes, patterns and materials mixed with balloons, seriously dreamy! Everyone should take 5 to check them out, www.bonbonballoons.com/ I took a cheeky snap in the studio as I couldn't stop looking at all the lovely materials, papers and colours! Talk about some inspiration right there...

Digital Arts Online also published an article about Design Courses which I was lucky enough to have my work (below) featured in and also a bit about what I learnt during my time at Shillington, this made me super haps when I saw it today as that piece of work was probably one of my favourite from my portfolio as it combined hand drawn type and graphics together. 

You can check out the whole feature here also where I mention about the Hip Hop Baking book, its happening this year playas! 

I am also really excited as my 3 playa status gurls (Jen, Soph and Sarah) and I are gonna be running Race for Life 10k in July, I seemed to have scheduled in a 10k for every month this summer but this one will be super special as we will be running together and also for a charity thats very close to all our hearts after the support that they provided for Jen through her time battling with Lymphoma. I can already tell it might an emotional one for us especially our number 1 survivor babe Jen but its also gonna be great to do something as a team and raise money for a great cause. Plus its going to be hilarious, when I think of us 4 together I conjure up visions of vino and dancing however we shall now swap that for water and kilometres!

 I was actually meant to be having a rest day according to my training plan today but you know a playas gotta play and I ended up whacking out a 5k, I have to say I probably annoyed or maybe inspired anyone running behind me with my choice of outfit. A Carhartt T-shirt that says ''The Journey Is The Reward'' on the back probably isn't what you wanna see in front of you but personally I would quite enjoy seeing a motivational message in front of me! 

So todays soundtrack goes out to the Queen B cos she knows whats up and I rinsed this running today!

Also this weekend is a big Hip Hop Bake off, I have got some treats ready to whip up! 

From your fitted to your Nike's sole music

Sparkly socks definitely make you run faster, FACT! Popped to the gym early this morning to squeeze in some training before doing some work, I found a training plan online which I am using loosely to help train for the 10k next month. Today was a 25 minute high intensity run, my previous 5k times have been around 25-28 minutes so I was hoping to relive some of my finer running moments though in the end I ended on 4.36k in 25 minutes which wasn't too disappointing. I am a big believer in that a lot of things in life are mind over matter because in all seriousness I am pretty unfit at the moment but there was no way that was going to stop me this morning.

Back on the design hustle I have been reading and researching/mood boarding a lot recently, mainly reading my book from Craig and Lis.. Marian Bantjes "I wonder" which is a treat both with content and design. The only problem with books is once I start I wont stop until I finish with proves a problem when I have stuff to do in the day, just have to sneak a couple pages in on the tube. The book is broken up nicely with quotes, pattern and type hype which surrounds the general content! Check out this lovely quote from Oscar Wilde.. I hear ya playa! 

Heres a couple of updates on recent patterns but all of them are on my tumblr www.onepatterneveryday.tumblr.com if you wanna have a peep.

 I named this one Lola, I think I was getting the L vibe from the amount of lines!! 

And below '' Ice CREAM, get the money, dollar dollar bill y'all''...had to get Wu in a pattern someway!

Back to my full time hustle but not without a certified playa status soundtrack to set off this beautiful sunny afternoon...

All the mocha lattes, you gotta do Pilates

Finally after maybe 10 years of hair extensions and various hair colours as well I have got rid of the rat tails and embracing the real hair flex. I was getting super annoyed with them when I was running and also when the occasional piece of weave would just come out in the middle of chatting to someone, you can imagine how embarrassing that was so I am now rolling with the short hair flex. It's gonna take some time to get used to but hopefully not having hair pieces stuck in my head will also improve the condition of my hair and maybe make me more streamline when in the mix running? Thats what I'm telling myself anyway!

My weekend and Monday were pretty busy mainly filled with patterns, bake offs, drawing, mood boards and seeing a playa pal. However I did manage to squeeze in some time away from the computer and do some doodling today whilst listening to The College Dropout, probably my favourite Kanye Album, I don't think there is one bad track on it so heres some type inspired by 'We don't care''. Could've definitely sorted out the letters a bit better but I also quite like the child like drawn letters so its catch 22.

On the note of running I have fully committed to a training plan now, a proper one rather than a heartbreak one which as bad as it sounds actually worked pretty well last year. I always say I run on emotion rather than energy but its really not a great idea to rely on that vibe if I want to seriously take part in all these runs this summer. Also if anyone else is doing the Nike we own the night 10k next month holllaaa cos I would quite like a running pal.

On that heres a banger from the College Dropout, 100% features on my running playlist...

Set it off...

Its been a while since I have put my Flyknits on with a serious mission in mind, the past couple of months my runs have been few and far between but since graduating I knew that I needed to get back to it. It was actually this time last year when I started running, I remember saying to my pal Craig ''Oh I want to be a running kinda playa'' to which he replied ''do it then''. I always think about that now in all contexts of life. And I can also remember how happy I felt when I did my first 10k, it was the weirdest feeling, seeing those kilometres rack up is seriously addictive. So I woke up this morning about 6am and thought ''Yeah just do it'' however the gym didn't open till 10 so I had to wait a couple hours but whipped up a motivational playlist and left the house feeling determined that even after 2 months 5k was gonna be fine.

It wasn't the best time in the world nor was it the best paced run but it was a run, at about 0.67k I thought ''ah what were you worried about''...at 3.65k I thought ''Shit you've been out the game'' but I finished on 5.4k and left feeling pretty happy about life. In fact I treated my pal Liz to a sweaty Facetime on my way home to which she said I looked VERY red and about 11, thats the only thing about the gym... no red lipstick, I feel naked!

So were back to a monthly target game and the score stands at 5/100k, its gonna be another long journey to get back to the 10ks I was whacking out before but its do able fo sure. 

Todays playlist was a mixture, I put Girl Talk- Feed The Animals on there as well as a few of my motivational songs so here enjoy this one, imagine me red faced, candy floss hair swinging about, nearly dying but still trying to be a G.

Holdin it down

A few days in the forest was the perfect mini playa break after graduation, I got the train back on saturday avec 2 rucksacks and an I-mac, probably not one of my smoothest journeys and I dropped various items along the way but nothing was gonna let me put that I-mac down in the middle of london. I was literally envisioning some sort of mugging incident happening but luckily we made it home!

I haven't really stopped yet but thats kind of how I roll anyway, I get super bored if I don't have something to do so I will make up lists of things that need to be done in the day. Thats another reason I hate sleeping is because I will wake up in the night and be like ''I need to do that right now'' or '' Genius idea but where is my notebook'', I can't say I remember the last time when I slept a whole night through.

Anyway home has been filled with doing a few of my favourite things including all the best people. First up an afternoon trip to The Hambledon, I have mentioned The Hambledon before but it is honestly one of my favourite places to go, the shop stocks everything that makes me haps..cards, florals, beauty products, socks, clothes, trainers and home-ware. Whenever I go there I never want to leave and conjure up visions of how my house will look when I'm a baller, I took a few snaps of my favourite bits on this visit, every time I go the displays change but always look top notch...

Some major inspiration above and below for both home decor and also to incorporate with some of my design work. Honestly I see things all the time and I'm like '' PATTERN, PATTERN, PATTERN''. I'm pretty sure I will turn into a pattern soon!

I have also been keeping in routine with a work schedule, I need organisation else I will be throwing paint about, cake tins galore, indesign going crazy, basically love a good structure so on my lunch breaks I have been working on some type hype, heres yesterdays...I'm not too sure on the colours at the moment, I might have a bit more of a play about with them later in the week...any thoughts?!

And of course whilst being home I got to see my playa pals. Residing in Shirley McDonalds with Mark and getting caught up in a kids party, we were apparently the only people in there not in the party so I did try and join in with the Happy Birthday sing along though by my standards there should always be some sort of rap involved in a birthday celebration. Liz and I popped to the pub to catch up over a couple of ciders, this used to be our weekly meeting which we called ''DA'' (that stands for dickheads anonymous) where we used to basically confess all the mischief and stupid things we had been up to during the week, we took it pretty seriously and I spent most of the evenings last year with my hand up going ''Hello, I'm Becki and I'm a dickhead because I fell over/ sent this drunk text/ thought I was really funny when I got up on the stage in the middle of the club and demanded a rap off..'' yeah you get the jist. I also got the chance to show all my family my work as they have only seen it via a couple of I-phone messages, bless my Grandad who took a business card just incase he fell over. Can't beat a good Grandad quote! So home was lovely and filled with friends, family,  breaks with Bryony, tea at Sarah and Petes and just generally good vibes. Back to London for a playa now with a hundred pattern ideas and a bake off in mind for this evening...

I have listened to a lot of music recently, mainly because I'm either sat at my desk or on my travels somewhere, I don't actually know what I would do without a soundsystem banger to get me through the day, there have been some treats on the shuffle this week, I went back to The Streets album, then Dilla, Bonobo, Kendrick Lamar but I'll roll with this one for my soundtrack of the day as it makes me super haps listening and you can catch up with pattern a day here www.onepatterneveryday.tumblr.com whilst its playing playasss!! 

D Double Decker Cupcakes

OH MY GOSH, IT'S D DOUBLE DECKERS!!! Bluku Bluku these badman cupcakes are a quick and easy afternoon bake off that will go perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee! I've had a fair bit of time this weekend to think about Hip Hop Baking and me and my friend were chatting yesterday which resulting in us going to Tescos staring at chocolate bars and cake ingredients for a good 20 minutes before reeling off a load of names to each other which then continued via text in the evening until I was laughing so much I couldn't sleep. 

D Double Decker Cupcakes

You will need:

3 Eggs

6oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

5oz Self raising Flour

100g Milk Chocolate 

3 Double Deckers

2oz Cocoa Powder

For the icing:

100G butter

300G Icing Sugar

Dash of vanilla extract

Method: 

Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until the mixture is light and creamy, add the eggs in one by one storing the mixture as you go until it is consistent with no lumps and bumps. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and add the melted chocolate to the sponge mixture. Make sure you fold the mixture rather than just stirring it about so your sponge gets a good amount of air and will rise properly, its not about flat cakes yo. 

Pop in the oven on 160c for half an hour until the cakes have risen and are golden brown.  Whilst they are cooling you can mix up the butter and sifted icing sugar to create the topping, add a splash of Vanilla extract and you are ready to spoon onto the top of the cakes adding the slices of double decker for the full badaman effect. 

It's pretty hard to choose a D double track for me to suggest you start your bake off with, there are a couple that feature on my running playlist and whenever I hear them I go from snail pace running to racking up kilometres in no time! But lets start with this tune and any of the Shillington playas will know whats up as Mark played this as his showcasing portfolio track..BIG!!

Ginupineapple Meringue

Going to do a double update today as I had forgotten to upload this one last week during portfolio time, probably one of my favourite names in Hip Hop Baking history I present ''Ginupineapple Meringue''  maybe just because Ginuwine is one of my favourites, every time I hear Pony it literally reminds me of being downstairs in Junk on a tuesdays...I spent the majority of my university life downstairs in Junk nightclub thinking I was in some R'n'B video and then waking up in the morning thinking ''Why were you doing that!?''

I always think anything that involves a meringue looks way harder than it actually it cos essentially you just whack some delicious ingredients in the middle and voila you have yourself a treat.

Ginupineapple Meringue 

You will need:

3 Large Egg Whites

175 G caster sugar 

pinch of salt

A variety of fruit including Pineapple 

Double Cream

Method:

Place egg whites and salt in a bowl and begin whisking (now it is essential you actually own a whisk as I  had attempted this with a fork with took me around 45 minutes, 3 breaks and a massive strop) Whisk until the egg whites form stiff peaks and then you can begin to add the sugar one spoonful at a time until the mixture has a glossy look to it as just like Ginuwine tells ya you want that pretty thick.  Pop in the oven on 140c for 30-40 minutes and then leave on the side to cool. In the meantime you can have a jam, I personally suggest '' In those jeans'' whilst chopping and slicing yo fruit. Whip the double cream and arrange the fruit on top of the basket. So simple but provides a delicious summer dessert. 

Now anyone who knows me will know my plans don't always run as smooth as Ginuwines lyrics, and after making this treat we had a power cut in our house to which the boys were like ''oh no we can't see anything'' I however was squealing ''WHAT ABOUT THE MERINGUE, IT NEEDS TO GO IN THE FRIDGE, MY MERIIIINNGUE'' clutching it with all my mite demanding we got an electrician out immediately. Luckily the boys calmed me down and we realised after half an hour of darkness we just needed to flip the switch but yeah that was a pretty intense 30 minutes of panic for my beloved ginupineapple meringue. 

So come on a jump on it playas get the tunes on and your hip hop bake off underway

Schools OUT

I can't believe it, school is over!! After probably the most stressful two weeks of portfolio madness of our lives last night we got to see all of our work displayed and celebrate graduating from Shillington.

It was a pretty emotional affair, well I've already cried a good few times this week, happy tears just because I can't actually believe what we have all achieved! It is so weird to think for 3 months we have been designing 8/9 hours a day plus coming home and doing more and now monday morning I will wake up and designing isn't gonna be the same without the encouragement and good vibes from all the Shillington playas.

So once again my friends did what they do best.. be amazing! Poor Lizzie was receiving texts off me from 5pm onwards going ''It's not right'' ''Bring Cigarettes'' ''WHAT AM I GOING TO DO'' to which she obviously responded in classic Lizzie Brown fashion being very calming and offering various options to help. Damon rocked up providing me various laughs and jokes as usual. Sarah and Pete arrived with a card and bunch of Sunflowers which are my absolute favourite...I didn't even know how Sar had remembered me telling her! Pete got the explanation of why they are my favourite down to a tee..because they are the happiest looking flower you can find! Lovely Bryony got lost on her way but made it down in the end equipped with an Estee Lauder shaped gift and a classic homemade card as well as one by ''calligraphuck'' (my favourite cards of all time) and then Lisa and Craig made me cry with this beautiful book about visual culture and design, its definitely a new favourite on my desk!

The past three months have probably been the best three months of my life and I just want to say a massive thankyou to our lovely teachers for all the help they gave us and everything they taught us, all the other guys in the class for putting up with my playa ways for 3 months and my pals for just being them and being there 24/7. Also probably couldn't have done any of it without my family, Clark OGs for life.

So the track of today is no hip hop I'm afraid but my celebrating song, when I handed my portfolio in I was listening to this on a mix and text my pal Mark saying ''Who's remix is this'' to which he replied ''Mine''... ofcourse. Big up to him for also being amazing and putting up with me in the last two weeks, texts every day, 2am pattern pictures, me crying, me excited, frantic messages about what I needed to do. Its been a whirlwind. But imagine me handing my portfolio in with this in the background...it was the best feeling ever!! Play on Playas!!!