Happy new year! This first day of the new year got me to thinking about all the wonderful experiences Cavey has spurred this past year. 2011 has been wonderful, busy, rewarding, at times incredibly stressful, but most of all a LOT of fun: It’s hard to believe Cavey’s still not even two years old! I had a great a time putting this blog post together and recapping all the things that made 2011 such a great year for me…

May marked  Caveys first birthday, so we held a party for him in London. There was drinkies, food, music, and 12 artist-designed Caveys on display, with their eBay auctions finishing live on the night. I teamed up with 12 UK artists who each came up with a cavey design, which I them made into 12 one-off Caveys.

Cavey got his own book, limited to just 50 copies the full colour 47 page Cavey book catalogs every Cavey design from his first year. I thought it would be a cute idea to make a book about all the Cavey designs up to his first birthday, i thought ‘hey, wow hard can it be?’ turns out it was incredibly hard, I am by no means a graphic designer, so the book was a true labour of love (and the result of many hours banging my head on my keyboard, ha ha!) I am so happy with how it came out, and am considering doing a second pressing of them for the new year…

We took two trips to the states in 2011; the first for San Diego Comic Con in August which saw the release of Super Duper Caped Cavey. Comic Con was insane, we had the bestest, craziest time there over the duration of the Con seeing friends and making lots of new ones.

In September I teamed up with Thunderpanda to bring you Cavey the Sea Wanderer. This special release consisted of just 10 numbered extra elaborate Caveys, each with a goodie bag of Thunderpanda loot. More collab Caveys coming up in 2012!

October marked Cavey’s second Blythecon and the release of Scout Cavey. Held at the Baden Powell House in London we brought along the ‘great wall of Caveys’ and had a lovely day playing with dollies, eating cakes and meeting everyone. The super rare Yellow Scout Cavey was made as a raffle prize for one lucky winner, with all proceeds going to the Little Princess Trust.

Then we headed back to the states again for. Here’s me and John ‘Spanky’ Stokes at DesignerCon (Passadena, LA) in October which saw the release of Stroll Cavey, based on Spanky’s site mascot. DesignerCon was great fun, not to mention a challenge to get all the booth stuff packed into our suitcases! We also treated Cavey to a trip to Disneyland, and a generous amount of pancakes.

Cavey met Coney, and him and the little rabbit like creature instantly became firm friends. They teamed up on two releases, leafy Cavey and Leafy Coney in November, and Santa Cavey and Reindeer Coney for Christmas. Look out for another Coney design for Easter 2012!

On top of all this busy little Cavey also got a smashing new website thanks to the talented boys at Analogue, starred in a comic strip, raised money for the Little Princess Trust, UNICEF and Macmillan, celebrated the Royal Wedding and went to Berlin.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has supported Cavey this year. It’s Been a challenging year as Cavey grows, but the rewards have been amazing and I am so proud of how Cavey is doing.

I cant wait to show you what i have in store for 2012…. Here’s to another great year!

<3 holly xoxo