About me
The youngest of four, I grew up desperately wanting to either be Tony Hart or make the programme he starred in.
Possibly the determination of never winning a Blue Peter drawing competition kept pushing me until finally reaching one of my teenage goals of getting into London's Central Saint Martins Collage of Art & Design where I trained in Jewellery Design.
My second teenage goal was reached when I realised how expensive it was to make your own work after graduating and worked in television for 8 years before becoming ill (that wasn't a teenage goal). Somewhere in this I was proposed to by a glow in the dark ring hidden in a Kinder egg and happily married.
Rather than go mad being housebound I started taking up sewing and when I could leave the house did a freehand machine embroidery course - this led to Twinkle handbags which led to more illness which led (eventually) to having Toby and finally starting Tobyboo .... everything happens for a reason.
Possibly the determination of never winning a Blue Peter drawing competition kept pushing me until finally reaching one of my teenage goals of getting into London's Central Saint Martins Collage of Art & Design where I trained in Jewellery Design.
My second teenage goal was reached when I realised how expensive it was to make your own work after graduating and worked in television for 8 years before becoming ill (that wasn't a teenage goal). Somewhere in this I was proposed to by a glow in the dark ring hidden in a Kinder egg and happily married.
Rather than go mad being housebound I started taking up sewing and when I could leave the house did a freehand machine embroidery course - this led to Twinkle handbags which led to more illness which led (eventually) to having Toby and finally starting Tobyboo .... everything happens for a reason.
and now....
Tina currently lives in South London with her husband and son, Toby. Along side motherhood and being a slave to the sewing machine she battles with chronic pain, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia.
On the latest Oranges & Lemons collection, "My designs sprouted from my enthusiasm for London and it's history combined with my Catholic upbringing I always have a church in the back of my mind! I'm fascinated at the darker meaning behind children's stories and rhymes"
"I'm not keen on coming up with illustrations with no back story or history, I need something to get my teeth stuck into whether the viewer knows the story or not I need it for me"
On the latest Oranges & Lemons collection, "My designs sprouted from my enthusiasm for London and it's history combined with my Catholic upbringing I always have a church in the back of my mind! I'm fascinated at the darker meaning behind children's stories and rhymes"
"I'm not keen on coming up with illustrations with no back story or history, I need something to get my teeth stuck into whether the viewer knows the story or not I need it for me"