sillybadgerdesigns

Happy Birthday Silly Badger Designs!

February 3, 2026 sillybadgerdesigns

It’s Silly Badger Designs 10th birthday! I can’t believe it’s been that many years since I started this crazy adventure and so much has happened in that time! I’m going to ignore the price increases, regulations etc and focus on this amazing journey!

Starting back in 2016…

So here it is, where it all started. The very first Silly Badger Designs logo. I painted this in an old sketchbook not really thinking much of it. Sat on my bed daydreaming of designs and products and being so determined that I would not be selling greeting cards or painting any kind of custom paintings because that would be way too stressful. Little did I know by the end of my first year of being open I would be selling loads of cards and get my first requests for pet portraits!

My first card designs, my style has changed a bit in 10 years!

And here’s the first collection of my greeting cards! My first cards were printed by an external company as I didn’t have my own printer at this point. After a short while I realised I just couldn’t afford to buy so many designs in bulk so I took the plunge and got my first pro printer. Affectionately calling her Beast as she was huge and rather heavy, she was my most favourite work tool at the time and she opened doors for me and my creativity. I’ll add here that I was young and naive at this point, not realising the headaches that printers cause just because they feel like it. But even through all the flashing error lights I still love this machine.

My first rat portrait and first dog portrait from my first year.

Pet portraits also took off at this time, something I had never imagined and even though I’d been so against doing custom work up to this point I actually found myself loving it. I got to know some lovely people and have some brilliant conversations talking about the animals I was painting. I was surrounded by animal lovers and like minded people and I loved it. I took on many more custom work after this and I’m still creating some fantastic portraits.

The swarm of ratty faces before they tried to take over the world!

One other thing that happened after I got my paws on Beast was I finally realised I could print and cut my own stickers! This started as something I wanted for myself and then they became my best seller that year! There must’ve been rat faces everywhere! I think one of the best things about my products is that I make things I want to use… my sketchbooks and planners at this point were covered in these little ratty faces. To this day I still find them in random places 😂

I even played around with printable shrink plastic making some cute little ratty keyrings combining my artwork with my love of crafting and creating. I’ll admit before going through my photo’s for this post I’d actually forgotten I’d even made these! I really loved them but they took a lot of time to make so I stopped making them and continued with my new sticker obsession. And when I say obsession I mean it… there are now over 30 sticker products in my shop now!

I started playing with even more new handmade products and attended my first in person market! Completely leaving my comfort zone, it was a terrible market but I loved getting out with my work even if one conversation with someone was about the local parking and if I’d seen the amazing artwork on the walls 😂 I’m happy to say I’ve attended an in person event recently that was so much better and much more fun talking to people about cats and actually selling products.

I then started to work with a lot more handmade items, these wooden decorations were one of my favourite things to make. I started with Christmas stars and hearts and then on to some hearts for Valentine’s Day and the spring time. In two years I’d handmade over 300 of these!

I was so happy that everyone loved them as much as I did. It was a long process making them but I just loved how they turned out in the end. I still get pictures from past customers every Christmas of their Christmas trees decorated with hearts and stars with my artwork on them ❤️

A past kitty portrait in watercolour and pencil.

As the years went on I started to actually find my style and it continued to evolve. 2020 was the year it all changed though. The day before lockdowns started my printer, Beast died and I was stuck inside like everyone else but my business was on pause. Whilst everyone else was doing well I was struggling. It was a tough time and after a month of waiting and hoping I decided it was time to get back to work but without Beast I couldn’t offer printed products and my budget was so tight I couldn’t get anything printed by anyone else so I focused on pet portraits again.

I got the opportunity to work on so many portraits that year and that’s how my style evolved and grew in to what it is today. It’s strange as although that year was pretty rough without it I wouldn’t have the style I have today. That year also had me creating lots of other hand painted items too like the wooden slice decorations below. I did a live sale of them on Instagram and was completely blown away by how popular they were! It was the confidence boost I desperately needed at the time.

I still remember that evening posting them up and thinking one of them might sell… and then my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing as people sent messages claiming each design! I was so overwhelmed and excited!

The hand painted decorations that broke my brain.

2020 was also the year I got my iPad and this along with Pixel, a new printer to replace Beast I was set for a fresh start with my business and suddenly I became obsessed with learning digital art and making even more stickers! I was still making other products and painting pet portraits but like I said earlier, the stickers are an obsession!

I also started having fun with different print on demand sites including my own fabric designs which opened up a whole new set of ideas for me during 2020 and 2021. I have a huge pile of sample fabric with my designs stashed somewhere, I keep thinking I should learn quilting so I can make a fun blanket with them!

Between 2021 and now I’ll admit things have been a bit slow compared to my first few years, life started to get busy and chaotic and trying to keep up with everything was causing me to get severe burn out. I would be buzzy and busy for a few days and then I’d crash for the rest of the week. I let my business down and I really do feel bad about it.

There have been so many moments in the past couple of years where I have been so close to closing everything and just getting a nice stable job and then the universe kicks me by sending me an opportunity like a big portrait and I find that buzz again. With all the new regulations and everything so much has changed in my work and it’s not easy. It gets hard and some days I forget how far I’ve come. This little trip down memory lane has honestly reminded me of how far I’ve come, how much I’ve learned and how much I’ve improved.

A Card from my latest collection this year!

I have that spark again after a rough end to 2025. It’s reminded me of why I do what I do and actually reminded me that I actually love what I do and I love my little business!

My dorky self with some of my most recent commissions!

If you’ve managed to read this far, well done! You deserve a gold star as I feel like I’ve been rambling a bit. It’s been amazing to look back on the past 10 years like this. I also just want to say a huge thank you to you because I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without the support from people like you. You’re not only supporting a small business but you’re also supporting a dream.

So here’s to another 10 years of cute animal art, pet portraits, custom logos, wedding stationery, stickers, laughs and so much more!

Siobhan x

Happy January and a life update

January 13, 2026 sillybadgerdesigns

Happy January! I hope you’ve all had a great start of the year and are looking forward to lots of fun things ahead.

You may have noticed that Silly Badger Designs ended up being quite quiet for the Christmas season. Since I started my business back in 2016 this is the first Christmas I’ve missed and it feels really odd.

Unfortunately I had no choice in the matter as I was taken to hospital at the beginning of November. I remember laying in the bed in A&E suddenly realising I’d need to close my shops! I knew I’d be staying in and there was no way I could pack orders from a hospital bed. It went against all of my instincts but I had to close the shops and they stayed closed until January.

It was a very weird feeling to not be selling during this time and to not be posting about festive goodies and happy things whilst I was sat in a hospital bed wondering what was going to be happening to me I had no idea how long I would be staying in there and I was missing my family like crazy and I just couldn’t draw no matter what I did. I had a sketchbook and pencil with me in the hospital but every time I tried, I just couldn’t create. It felt like a part of me was missing. The stress of my illness and wondering what was happening was just too much and my creative brain was just not engaging. I was in complete survival mode and creativity was the last thing I wanted to do even when I came home the first time waiting for surgery, I was mostly feeling okay but I still couldn’t create. I remember the first time I put pencil to paper during that week. Everything felt forced and my coordination just wasn’t there. It was such a strange experience. I just couldn’t draw it took quite a few attempts for me to finally manage to draw something. Thankfully watching some Safari videos with loads of elephants was a great inspiration and I managed to draw some fun elephant line sketches.

Its been a lot to deal with recently and even though my recovery has gone well I also have a long way to go. Mostly with my anxiety from it all. But slow and steady works for me.

My shops have now reopened and I’ve already started to post out some lovely happy mail! The love heart season has already begun which makes me so happy. In a world full of darkness ita so good to be part of the light. I’m also catching up on commissions that had to be paused whilst I was unwell and it’s so nice just getting back to some kind of normal and painting again!

And then we come to 2026! A fresh start! It sounds cheesy but it’s definitely what I need this year and one thing has been bothering me. I have no goals other than to make enough money to keep going and to have a good work/life balance. It’s been bothering me not having any goals to work towards but this evening I’m wondering if this is all okay. Maybe just taking things slow and having fun with it is all I need right now. It doesn’t sound bad does it? So I’m going to just take this year one step at a time and share the journey as I go.

Getting back to my art with a quick wild dog doodle

Thank you for reading this far if you have! This is a bit longer than I’d planned and is a bit personal but it’s life.

I’m hoping this year is going to be a lot better and filled with lots of art, nature and adventures and I wish you a year of happiness too ❤️

Cats, Cats and More Cats!

June 5, 2025 sillybadgerdesigns

Well, what a month May was! I spent most of the month being super busy drawing and painting lots of cats so I was ready for the cat fair on the 31st. It was such a fun experience and the fair itself was wonderful, I had so much fun and did so well. I don’t often do fairs as I’ve had a few bad experiences but this was just amazing. I got to meet lots of cat lovers and talk about lots of cats which was the best! So a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by my table and chatted, took a flyer or even made a purchase! You have no idea how wonderful each and every chat and sale was for me. It meant the world.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any good photos from the day because if I’m being completely honest I was a nervous wreck and ended up with a headache half way through the day, that was annoying. But it was absolutely fantastic and it was just so nice to get out and talk about cats.

I may not have photos from the day but here’s a look at some of the new products I made for the fair!

I made greeting cards, art prints, a glossy sticker pack, some vinyl cat stickers and some hand painted cat pin badges! They’re all new designs created in April and May and they’re all available in my shops now!

SHOP HERE for UK customers and SHOP ETSY for international customers.

My new hand painted pins (shown above) might be one of my favourite things, I loved painting them with all the different coat patterns and adding all the tiny details. I think I might paint some more over the summer. These are only available in my shop and not on Etsy so if you’re an international customer and would like one please contact me using my contact me page

And finally after spending around 6 weeks drawing and painting a variety of cats I’m drawing them in my sleep! If you’re interested in getting a cat pet portrait done by me now would be a great time, you can find out more about pet portraits here

I hope you had a fantastic May, I’m currently taking things a bit slower after the crazy rush throughout May so I think June might be a bit calmer. Maybe. I also have a lot of ideas floating around my mind so who knows what might happen next!

Have a fab June!

Siobhan x

Frome Cat-Lit Fair!

May 12, 2025 sillybadgerdesigns

For any of my local pals I will be having a table here on May 31st! I haven’t sold in person for a few years now so this is both super exciting and making me super anxious.

But the best bit is I get to create lots of cat goodies to share on the day, if you’re local and free on May 31st please come say hi!

March at Silly Badger Designs

March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 sillybadgerdesigns

A month of doodles, magical collaborations and ponies!

It’s been a busy month here with lots of admin and lots of drawing! I spent a good part of this month drawing some cute ponies and a magical rat. I’m hoping to start using my sketchbooks more in April so maybe I’ll have some fun silly doodles to share with you next month.

But this month I’ve been busy with the cute ponies and also working on some custom portraits featuring some very cute ratties and a fog idea, I’m looking forward to painting some fog in the background for this one as it’s something I haven’t painted often if ever, this customer always gives me fun challenges.

Here’s a little look at some of my work in progress updates.

Custom Painted Ratty!

I got to create two custom wooden ratties this month which was lots of fun. I love painting these woonden ratties so when I got my first orders for custom designs I was so excited for the challenge. One of them included a red clover theme which was so much fun to paint, it had a fun 3D feel to it after being varnished that was just so fab. You can get your own custom painted ratty here.

Custom painted wooden ratty with a cute red clover theme.

A new design and a new cross stitch pattern!

This month I worked with the amazing Misha of MadeByMishMoo to bring another fun design to life. We’ve been discussing lots of magical potions lately and the bottle series has come to life! This month we started with this adorable potion rat design. I feel like a rat potion is probably a happiness potion, rats bring so much happiness to our lives. After a rough day one of the best things that cheers me up is having our boys run around and be little mischiefs or of course the little ratty kisses that melt our hearts.

I absolutely love how Misha brought this pattern to life. I was so nervous that I’d added too much detail to everything or too many colours but the final pattern looks absolutely fantastic. You can find this pattern and more by myself and other fab artists here.

New Products!

And to end the month I added a couple of surprise products! I loved the potion rat design that I created for the cross stitch pattern and when I got my hands on on some holographic vinyl sticker stock I just had to bring these to life. The holographic vinyl is just perfect for this magical design.

I also worked on something else that has been sitting in my iPad for months now. I made some original rough doodles of pony faces last summer (It’s been that long!) and then they just got forgotten. I kept trying to work on them but I just wasn’t feeling it until this month. It’s so nice to hold them in my hands now that they’re finally stickers and not just a digital design in a folder! I really want to design more pony products now!

Shop Now -Etsy

Shop now – uk

What’s coming this April?

Well April is a bit special as it’s my birthday this month! So I’ve decided to do something a bit special to celebrate. So from April 1st to April 30th ALL orders will be getting a little freebie sticker featuring this little cake thief!

I wasn’t sure what to create for this little freebie but the idea of a little rat running off with a piece of cake just seemed perfect. I’m always a bit weird with birthdays but one thing I’m always happy about is a good yummy cake! I hope you like him!

Other things coming in April are more fabric designs, some Redbubble updates, more drawing and using my sketchbook, and eating cake!

Have a fantastic April!

What’s been happening in February!

March 1, 2025 sillybadgerdesigns

It’s the end of February! So not only does this mean that spring is on the way (finally!) but I’ve been getting up to a lot of stuff in February which I’m going to share with you all:

Valentine’s Day Designs

Earlier this year, I worked on some new designs for Valentine’s Day featuring some old and current rats that have turned out looking really cute and awesome.

The rat on the left, the ratty hearts design is of one of my old rats, Sylvie, whilst the heart thief on the right is Eugene, one of my current rats. Both have turned out absolutely fantastic, and I really love how the stickers have turned out as well.

If you want to get the bundle featuring everything in the image above (even though it’s a bit late for Valentine’s Day, it’s never too late to let someone know that you love them), click below!

The complete bundle

24 Days of Rats challenge

Back in January, I had a fun (or so it seemed at the time) idea of doing a challenge in February – could I paint 24 wooden blanks cut out in the shape of rats, in 24 days, filming each one as well? Starting on February 1st, I began my challenge, and it started out happily enough!

Rats were painted and then inked the same day where possible – some of the early ones had to be touched up later on down the line as the ink and paint just didn’t play well together, which made it interesting to have to redo at times.

But as time went on, it became a lot more difficult, trying to come up with new rat colours and designs that weren’t repeats from earlier on in the challenge, since as we all know, rats tend to be a bit on the similar side (everyone loves a black and white hooded rat though) so I had to resort to borrowing inspiration from the rat community on Instagram who have some funky rats at times!

Luckily I was able to complete this challenge, and I’ve put some of them up for sale on Instagram, as well as my shops here – I’ve been posting pictures and videos up on my social media of each rat as it was made, and people were desperate to get their hands on them, which was nice. So if you want a particular one, I suggest you hurry and get it before someone else does, as they’re going really quickly at this rate!

Get your rat here

So, that’s all that I can talk about with February. I’ve been working on some designs and other stuff that’s coming out in March and April, but I’m saving those for another blog post and announcement in the future. Looking forward to spring though and more happy flowers in the future!

Love Is In The Air!

February 4, 2025February 4, 2025 sillybadgerdesigns

Whilst it may be a bit chilly at the moment and spring is distantly on the horizon, Valentine’s Day is coming up pretty soon! As it’s one of my favourite times of year (because who doesn’t enjoy snuggles and cuddles?), I’ve decided to put together a post of some of my favourite designs for Valentine’s Day that I’ve done over the years. These include Valentine’s cards, stickers and even a bundle of the newest stuff that is now available, so why not check out what I’ve made if you’re looking for a Valentine’s present this year?

You Make Me Boggle

This is definitely one of my favourite designs, as it perfectly encapsulates a rat lovers happiness. For those who don’t know, boggling is the rat equivalent to a cat purring happily, where a pet rat’s eyes vibrate when they’re happy or excited, so it’s a very good thing to see. This is a perfect card to give to a rat lover, because they’ll know exactly how much joy a boggling rat is going through.

Get the valentine’s card here

Bunny Love

I also really love rabbits as they’re just so cute and so much fun to watch when they’re busy doing bunny things. This is one of my favourite bunny designs that I’ve done, and would make a fantastic Valentine’s Day card (or even an anniversary card) for the bunny lover in your life.

Get the valentine’s card here

Love Bird Stickers

For something different, I also do stickers, and these are just fun to put around. Featuring a few of my other designs that I’ll be talking about in the next couple of sections, these stickers feature a variety of birds in various love situations or styles, and would make a perfect way of showing someone who loves birds that you love them.

Get the stickers here

I Love You Budgies

This card design (also featured in the stickers before) features two lovely budgies. As anyone who has budgies know, they can often be incredibly loving towards each other (when they’re not busy trying to boss everyone else around), so what better way to show your love for someone with a pair of cute budgies holding up a I ❤ U banner?

Get the valentine’s card here

You Stole My Heart Cockatiel Card

Of the last bird designs on this list, I’ve also chosen a cockatiel card, showing a cockatiel holding a love heart. It’s a really nice design that I’m really happy with how it turned out, and if you know someone who has a cockatiel, this is the ideal card to get them.

Get the valentine’s card here

The Complete Valentine Rats Bundle

And lastly, I’m also adding in a small part about the latest bundle I’ve got in my shop. It’s a bundle of two art prints and two glossy (but not waterproof) stickers of two of my rats. One of them, Sylvie, was a very special girl and was also very loving and she’s been immortalised here as the Ratty Love Hearts design. The other one, Eugene, is also very special and is a very loving boy known for giving everyone lots of licks. He’s been captured as the Heart Thief because he has a habit of stealing hearts wherever he goes.

Get the bundle here

So that’s it for a few of my Valentine’s designs. I hope you enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed creating them, and if you’re looking for something else, why not check out the rest of the shop here?

View my shop here

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January 2025 – Fresh beginnings

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 sillybadgerdesigns

Well, that was most definitely the longest January I’ve had for a while after spending almost 2 weeks of it ill and off my feet!

Even though it’s been a crazy start to the year it didn’t stop me creating some cute new designs for the shops!

I decided to keep things a bit less crazy this year and only released 3 new designs. Two of these are ratties! We have Sylvie (the sitting rat) and Eugene (the running rat) who have a fun Valentine’s theme of love hearts. A great way to spread some love this Valentine’s Day!

The third design is a spring update of my badger kisses design. So many people loved this at Christmas and I had a few lovely requests for a non Christmas version. I couldn’t resist creating a spring flower border for them 💜

You can find these designs and more in my shop and my Etsy shop now.

This month I also collaborated with Misha of madebymishmoo.co.uk again to create this cute heart rat pattern that you can find in the shop here. He turned out so cute! I might have to stitch him myself!

And speaking of stitching, I also started my hammy pattern this month. You can find the pattern here

I’m a bit slow as I haven’t done this for a while but I’m also having lots of fun with it 💜

My website also got a bit of an update this month, something that was really overdue and it’s looking so much better already. I just need to update my portfolio and images next and then I think I’ll be happy with it again. I’m terrible at keeping my website up to date so it’s something I really want to work on this year.

And finally I announced my 24 Days Of Mischief challenge this month! Starting on February 1st I will be painting a little wooden rat ornament a day for 24 days and sharing the progress to Instagram. On the 28th I will upload all of the designs to my shop where they will be available to purchase. These ratties are going to be one of a kind artworks that will each come with their own certificate of authenticity. I’m so excited to get started tomorrow!

Follow along on Instagram where I will be sharing my progress and the finished ratties 💜

And now my plans for February!

Of course my 24 Days Of Mischief challenge is the top of my list. This is going to take up most of February for me.

I will also be updating my portfolio on my website.

There may be a couple of surprises coming with the cross stitch pattern collaborations.

And finally I will also be adding seconds and clearance items to my shops at discounted prices as I need to make room for more stock!

I hope you had a fantastic start to the year and January was kind to you. Wishing you a wonderful February and remember if you want to keep up to date with my work and the 24 Days Of Mischief just follow me over on Instagram 💜

Thanks for reading this far!

Siobhan x

Goodbye 2024

December 31, 2024 sillybadgerdesigns

It’s been a long year here at Silly Badger Designs and I will admit that I had so many goals at the beginning of this year that just didn’t happen. Literally because this year just threw so much at me that I could barely keep myself treading water let alone thrive!

But that’s not the point of this post. Instead of focussing on the trials and stress of the year I want to focus on the amazing achievements that still happened.

Now where to start! I guess the first thing that comes to mind is the fantastic number of custom portraits I got to create this year. I love creating portraits and this year gave me so many opportunities to grow. Here are just a few of my favourites from 2024.

As you can see I got to paint a variety of animals this year with many different themes and it was the best. The Christmas tiels were probably the best ending to my commissions this year.

Next was updating my logo! I last updated it back in 2020 and as my style has evolved and my business has grown over the past 4 years I thought it was time to refresh my badger and I’m so happy I did even if it meant I had to go and change all of my product files to update the logo!

This felt like a good fresh start this year and has been the beginning of lots of brainstorming and planning for me.

Next we have my wedding commissions! I cannot put in to words how fantastic this was and how excited I was to work on these. I’ve had a lot of people ask me to work on wedding designs over the years but unfortunately they all fell through until this year so it really was a dream to finally create some custom wedding designs.

I finally got around to updating all of my product photos! This is something I’d been planning for a while now and kept putting it off as I knew it was a huge job but I got there and I’m really happy with the updates yet again.

I also started to update a lot of my packaging including giving my stickers backing cards and having a lot of fun with it all.

So yeah, it wasn’t the busiest year for Silly Badger Designs but it was a good year that I am proud to have survived! And now it’s time to close this chapter and start a fresh with the beginning of 2025.

I have so many plans and goals for the coming year and I hope to share lots of new adventures with you as I go along. I have a new collaboration that is already happening and bringing me so much joy, I have valentines designs in the works that’ll be coming soon and so much more.

Thank you for all your support this year and I wish you all a wonderful new year 💜

Pet portraits

August 20, 2024 sillybadgerdesigns

One of the most common things I’m asked is how does the pet portrait process happen? What happens next after I’ve made my order?

So, I decided to make this post to give you an idea of how it all works!

Firstly it all starts with someone contacting me with an idea for a portrait. In this example a lovely customer contacted me about creating a portrait of her friend’s dog who had recently passed ❤️ she wanted it based on a photo with the dog wearing a crown. It’s great when a customer gives me clear instructions like this so I know exactly what I need to create. I always need at least one photo to work with for portraits, especially if the animal has particular markings eg. White patches. And always include a bit of information on the animal and its character along with any ideas you’d like to have included. This can be elaborate like some of my customers who want to include a lot of background or it can be simple, just asking for no background but maybe include a favourite treat or toy.

Once I have the reference images and information I get to work creating a rough sketch! This is something that confuses some people as they worry this is the final illustration but this is just a sketch to give you an idea of the pose for the portrait. At this stage I can easily make any changes so it’s really just a rough idea that we can change until you’re happy with it.

As you can see this is a fairly scruffy rough sketch but like I said, this is just an initial sketch to show you how the portrait would look with the pose and any other items that are included.

At this stage the customer asked for a small change to give him “resting bitch face” so I made the edits and it got approved so I moved to refining it and creating a final sketch for the portrait.

Once a sketch is approved I get started on the final painting! I transfer this sketch to watercolour paper if it’s a traditional painting or if it’s digital I just start adding the colours now. This was a traditional painting so I transferred the sketch to the watercolour paper and start to add colour!

At this point I try to get the base colours and the shadows added. In this particular portrait as he had a crown I decided to make it shiny and metallic. I update the customer at all of these stages to make sure they’re happy with the progress and to confirm that I’m getting the colours and markings correct. This is important if I’m working from limited photos.

The customer was very happy with the progress at this point so I continued with the final layers of paint and added some extra details.

I send the final update to the customer and once approved the portrait is then packed with a backing board in a biodegradable cello bag to keep it protected and gets wrapped up in some tissue paper before being sent out to its new home.

And thats the full process of creating a pet portrait from the initial message to the portrait being posted. If this is a digital portrait the process is similar except after the final approval the portrait will be emailed to the customer.

If you have any questions about pet portraits you can always get in touch and ask me anything.

I hope this was helpful! Thanks for reading!

Siobhan