This year has been such an insane one for me. When I officially set myself up as a business at the start of the year, I never would have dreamt I would be illustrating in Vogue by December. If someone would have told me that in January, I would have laughed right in their mother chuffin' face and maybe even given them a slight slap. I have never been the most confident person, so for me to achieve this all on my own is just crazy. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I tell you what I deserve it. I have worked so hard all year. My days off from my other job are spent painting or sorting out my paperwork 99% of the time. I get up early and sit behind a table all day with a paintbrush because this really is what I want to do. I know in my last post I spoke a lot about how this has affected my blog, and how it's had to take a bit of a back seat, but really sometimes the two things go hand in hand. This is my platform to share my life, and this is obviously a massive part of my life which I love sharing with you guys. I know I don't post about it that much mind you, because at the end of the day this is supposed to be a fashion blog, but it's nice to be able to share my passion (second to dogs obvs) with my readers.
Aside from what this year has had to offer, this post was mostly to say thank you. It's a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who has supported me. Wether you've shared my posts, brought a print or commission, visited me at my markets or liked a photo. I really am a one woman band and work so hard so I can do something I love. Your encouragement will never go unnoticed. I think being part of the blogging community gives me that extra support to. This little internet circle really crushed my stereotype of people in fashion being pretentious and dare I say, a bit stuck up. I've had nothing but nice comments and encouragement from other bloggers since I started blogging and illustrating. I have to mention the absolute babe that is Chloe from The Little Plum. Now she is someone that I'm sure most brands are dying to work with, she's sassy, clever and beautiful... but this year she has featured my work on her blog and Instagram a few times and written some really lovely words. It's support like this that means the world to me. It makes me clutch my hand to my heart and let out a little "awh". I really believe in girl power and building each other up as women and Chloe has really shown those two things to me this year. So thank you gal.
To celebrate this wondrous year that has been 2016 (despite all those celeb deaths) I am giving everyone 20% off everything in my shop until 2nd January. Just visit www.helenhird.co.uk/shop and get clicking!
I cant wait to see what 2017 has to offer!
x
