Overdue?

Over the last few weeks I’ve been away from the keyboard. The reason for this started with a hectic workload, with the added urgency of trying to get certain things finished before I took a week off. Then, the gorgeous weather and time out with family distracted me from the Internet. Since we arrived home, every member of this family has individually or collectively had an illness. We’re nearly out of the woods – time is a great healer!

So to get back into the swing of things here, I want to mention a great piece of work by an amazing group of women who represent AIMS Ireland:

I’m a bit late in stating this, but Congratulations to all the gang in AIMS Ireland on getting the ’42 Weeks’ campaign up and running. The website looks great and is a credit to the women involved and who volunteer their time to improve the maternity services in Ireland. Our family have been supporters of AIMS Ireland for a few years for personal and general humanitarian reasons. I was also lucky enough to be asked to help them with the 42 Weeks logo, so I hope it works for them.

I also want to mention here the last minute help I received from Si Murphy of Illustrious State for sharing his expertise. Facebook can (sometimes) be a pain for me, but thankfully Si helped me resolve an issue with it and the 42 Weeks logo.

So, in the spirit of the campaign, my effort to spread the idea that the Estimated Due Date (EDD) offered to expectant mothers from the maternity hospitals in Ireland is can be slightly less than the natural 42 Week. Our first child was two weeks over the EDD according to the hospital, yet when she arrived the midwife reckoned our newborn was rushed out!? We agreed with the midwife – our EDD was a couple of days after the actual birth, not two weeks prior.

Anyway, I’ve changed my app images to the 42 Weeks logo to help spread the word about the 42 Weeks timeframe on pregnancy. Maybe you’ll join the rest of us, even for a day / week / month to help the pregnant women (and their partners) know that the hospital date (EDD) might be a bit off, so you can relax and enjoy the pregnancy all the way through to 42 Weeks!

creative labelling

The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic – family stuff, sorting out cars, employment, writing a blog post, losing blogpost, rewriting, more family stuff – life can be really busy when you feel you don’t even have a life!! Anyway, today I got to slow down a bit and sit at my desk and be creative.

At the moment, I’m working on some product labels for six green bottles. This is not paid employment. Hopefully it will develop into that! My wife is the aromatherapist, and I’m the supportive husband who does the designy bits! You can see our work here at the online store, the first edition site that’s currently being redesigned.

There are six different essential oil blends for women who are either pregnant, giving birth, and for motherhood afterwards. There’s also the bespoke option – the blend just for you (with a consultation from the aromatherapist of course!) Some feedback from friends has definitely helped create a more effective design – thanks! what else have I learned – I’m surprised by how much work is needed in designing a bottle of product for sale.

Thankfully, the label design is nearly finished. I also got to start on the brochure to describe the product, and a possible ezine / newsletter that can go out to existing and potential customers. Then I put some thought into the new website that will have to be redesigned to link in with the new branding style. Obviously, there’s going to be photography to capture the new look and show the organic, natural essence of the oil blends. And I also have the packaging of these products – i.e. what kind of container will protect the glass bottle through its delivery by the national postage system?

Once my creative mind started flowing I even daydreamed into shooting a small advert to put onto the website and YouTube. To be honest, the primary goal here was me getting to do more creative stuff rather than attract sales! It benefits us both so the idea is on the to-do list now. 🙂

So, throughout the day I have felt relaxed, compared to all the running around I’ve had over the last few days. I haven’t finished much today, and I’ve started more projects and identified extra tasks to lists. I never would have looked at six green bottles and understood how much work is involved in getting someone to admire them, and their contents, so much so that they choose to buy it. It is definitely a creative process, and needless to say – I’m still loving it!