News & Updates from Claire Keay

Last week i decided to put the illustrating career to one side to try my hand at being a pop star!

I belong to a community choir called Funky Voices and we were asked to record an official single for this year's Comic Relief - how could we say no?! The choir is based in Essex and Suffolk and is for everyone, no audition or experience needed to join, just a love of singing required.

We sing modern music and some old classics and raise loads of money for charity along the way. Last month six hundred choir members gathered at a theatre in Colchester to record 'Relight My Fire' - we had a brilliant time and if you want to see the making of the single you can see us on YouTube http://youtu.be/q3jPITvo9aQ and then go and download it for just 79p from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/relight-my-fire-single/id610981710 Only the band One Direction and the choir have got official singles out for this years Comic Relief Red Nose Day - we are hoping to get up into the charts along with them and then I can add pop star to the CV!

As well as celebrating becoming an Exclusive Designer at CUP (yay!) I am delighted to be featured right on the front cover of the 'The Complete Guide to Digital Crafting vol 2' just out in the shops - that's my little mice on the main pic!

And of course a certain Crafty Bob can be found in the magazine too... http://www.moremags.com/guide-to-digital-crafting-2 I've been busy with book illustrations the last year but 2013 is going to see me expanding more into digital craft designs and very excited about the future with CUP :)