Rabbit and Other Stories

09/09/2026

🍎 New term. New chapter.

Back to school. Back to creating.

There’s something about September that has always felt like a beginning to me.

New notebooks. Fresh pages. The slight promise that this term might be different.

And this September feels particularly significant.

Because Rabbit & Other Stories is turning 10.

Ten years of businesses, brands, spaces, stories, colour, conversations, ideas, experiments, wonderful people, unexpected opportunities and quite a lot of learning along the way.

There have been chapters I could never have planned.

Some brilliant.

Some difficult.

Some that went completely off-piste.

And some where the best thing I could do was put the pencil down for a while and simply observe.

But through all of it, one thing has remained:

I notice things.

The colour of a wall.
The way a room makes you feel.
The tiny detail that changes the whole picture.
The thing a business is trying to say, even when it hasn’t quite found the words yet.

And then I want to create something with it.

So, for the next few weeks, I’m going back through the Rabbit & Other Stories schoolbooks.

What have ten years taught me?
What have I created?
What have I learned?
And what happens when you don’t follow a straight line?

Consider this Chapter 10.

Class is about to begin.

Rabbit & Other Stories
My business is to create.

📸 Cressida Wislocki

21/06/2026

13/06/2026

If you’re at a loose end tomorrow and fancy coming to see some country village owners gardens, my village is opening theirs between 1pm and 6pm. It’s the main village event of the year and raises funds for local charities and causes.

I’ve been responsible for the Shere Open Gardens Social Media feed and part of the team behind the redesign and development of their branding, website and other materials.

Tickets can be found at www.shereopengardens.co.uk.

13/06/2026

If you’re at a loose end tomorrow and fancy coming to see some country village owners gardens, my village is opening theirs between 1pm and 6pm. It’s the main village event of the year and raises funds for local charities and causes.

I’ve been responsible for the Shere Open Gardens Social Media feed and part of the team behind the redesign and development of their branding, website and other materials.

Tickets can be found at www.shereopengardens.co.uk.

💭 There’s something going on this weekend. We can’t quite put our finger on what?!

Do you know??

Oh! Yes! That’s it.

🗓️ Sunday 14th June 2026
🕐 1PM to 6PM
📍 Shere Open Gardens

🪴🏡 🌺

Come and have a wander around our beautiful village, see everything there is to see from quaint cottage gardens to wildflower meadows 😍

Don’t forget we also have:

🍹 A Pimm’s stall run by Shere Cricket Club
🪴 A plant stall run by Cherry Trees UK
🍰 Teas and homemade cakes available in the Village Hall run by the parents of Shere Infant & Nursery School
🚗 Free parking organised by Shere & Gomshall Scouts

Tickets are available online now, with a discounted rate for standard adult tickets purchased in advance 🎟️ www.shereopengardens.co.uk or you can buy in person from Shere Delights or Mad Jak.

Looking forward to seeing you there! 🪴

🌻

Sponsored by:
Silent Pool Distillers, Terra Cotta Estate Agents Surrey, Shere Delights, The Dabbling Duck, KLB.SurreyHills, Albury Vineyard, Surrey Villages Art & Craft, Kinghams Restaurant,
Partners Wealth Management and Simon Best Associates

📸 Jessica Andrews

05/02/2026

This view looked a little different today. Beginning of February drizzle, which meant I didn’t stop to take a picture between my car and running into the cafe, for a catch up with the lovely ladies of .

Community is a large part of running a business, and especially when you’re find yourself in business hibernation, while taking care of other life things. Whatever stage you are in your business, find other persons who are on similar journeys to yourself, and being able to share stories, bounce ideas around and generally remind yourself that everyone faces challenges.

Newlands Corner has been a thinking spot, and a major photographic muse for many years now. It doesn’t matter when I arrive, what time of day or season of the year, it always provides some form of inspiration. The reminder nature provided today, is that it’s ok to take a step back and rest. The plants are busy resting, and working hard on the inside to get ready for the explosion of growth that happens every spring.

23/07/2025

Facebook sent me a memory from 2015, yesterday of a request to my friends to borrow a child’s lunchbox. I had an interview - with Marketing Director and the Head of Marketing at the Online Travel Agents I worked at - and severe anxiety and imposter syndrome about showing up as myself. But I found a way around that.

The interview came with a task to complete. I had to demonstrate that I could come up with a social media strategy across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (as it was then).

An idea was born - a slightly crazy, off the wall idea. I walked into my interview and promptly announced that I was attending on behalf of someone else. That this someone else was sorry that they couldn’t attend and that they had sent a small token along with me to (erm) sweeten the deal. And so the lunchbox came forwards, and out came some marmalade sandwiches.

Can you guess who was ‘missing’ at the meeting yet?

My interviewers laughed a little (but not in a bad way) as we moved on to the presentation that had been prepared. We moved through a pared down years calendar of what “Paddington on Parade” might do. And it wasn’t just a PowerPoint presentation either. A page was created and still exists in my account in an unpublished way - for the memories.

The rest of the interview went quite well. Up until this one, I historically had seriously bad anxiety in interviews and got very tongue tied. I’m a natural introvert, work better when I can prepare answers to specific questions and I can be shy around people that sit in places I may want to aspire to. This interview changed things for me though. In putting myself in the situation of talking on behalf of someone else, I managed to overcome the previous mentioned afflictions. I’m a natural cheerleader and promoter of other peoples goals and aspirations, so somehow this strategy worked massively in my favour.

Did I get the job? Not on this occasion, but that’s ok. The feedback that came from the experience lifted my confidence and made the blow much less. The feedback told me that out of all the applicants, they had only interviewed two of us. I was up against another lady who had a degree in Marketing, and was already working occasionally with the department in question. My degree is in Theatre Design, and I had been in the operations and product department of the company.
But they went on to say, that I had made the decision quite hard, and not the simple one they had expected, and that they were sorry that on this occasion I was not the successful applicant. The comments about my presentation and artwork skills in the interview were also confidence building and validating.

Now you might think that this is a negative way to end this story, but the takeaway from this experience gave me a glimmer of confidence, and six months later when my department was made redundant, I looked at my options with renewed eyes, took stock of where I was and applied for new jobs, some in Marketing. Ultimately the combined experience of both, and a conversation with a business coach led me to a new idea.

I had always wanted to run a business… when asked where I saw myself in 5 years, at an interview 4 years before the one I described above, my answer was (strangely, and I don’t recommend this answer if it’s not aligned with the job role you’re interviewing for) “running my own design business…” My soul said what it needed to, and almost to the day, 5 years later, Rabbit and Other Stories, was born.

I’m Rabbit (as in Jessica Rabbit) and my clients are my other stories. I’m working towards bringing my services back and keeping the health in check. Watch out for announcements in the future about developments.

For now, I wanted to share this memory to anyone that struggles with anxieties in interviews, being themselves and shining their gifts; for anyone that may be interviewing for a new role or has been made redundant and is going through that rollercoaster of emotions that brings - hang in there. Think outside the box. Create an alter ego if you have to, and remember that everything you dream about lives on the other side of that fear you’re not addressing. One of my favourite sayings goes something like “not all storms are sent to destroy us. Some come to blow us onto new paths.”

You’ve got this... Marmalade sandwich optional.

01/06/2025

So, my lovely friend Kate, has taken her first leap with her playful and uplifting arts and crafts brand, Pip and Pickles, to the Sunday Surrey Villages Art & Craft fair at the Shere Village Hall! She’s here Sunday 01 June until 3.30. Come and have a look if you’re local.

Her stock can usually be found in her other business, alongside yummy cream teas, tea and coffees at in the Village Square.

Well done Kate. So proud of you. 💖

12/03/2025

This week has been a big week - and it’s only Wednesday! The wonderful Jo Ferrone, bought her networking back to a brand new location. As I’m not currently working in my business due to my health, I’ve found it hard to find reasons to keep attending good sized networking events, like these l, and I do miss them.
I managed to find my reason here though. I had wondered what to say in my 45 second elevator pitch, and I found it.
Cheerleading and elevating other business owners on their missions is something I really enjoy and I miss it! I wanted to be there to support Jo, but I also wanted to support all the other persons in the room, and hear about their adventures in business and life and offer that energy to the room.
And what a room of brilliant businesses. The talk was by the fabulous Emily Watson of about being your own cheerleader. She bought an amazing amount of energy to the room - the whole room was up doing superhero dances… most with more energy than my parred back efforts… but the joy in the room was palpable.
And she reminded us of the acronym ‘THINK’ which is explained in the images. It’s a wonderful reminder of a basic set of behaviours to aim for in life, particularly when we are dealing with challenging politics, world events and view points everywhere else.
Jo originally introduced me to a lovely pack of inspiring cards by , and now she’s sharing her own poetry in card form. My pull is also in the images, everyone got something different. You can find more of her poetry at .

I’m so so proud of this group of ladies, and the facilitator in particular, for the message that they bring to the world.

I’ll leave you with Jo’s three words she uses as a tagline:

Support | Encourage | Inspire.

All you need to know.

08/03/2025

Resharing this article I contributed to 2 years ago. This years theme is ‘Accelerate Action.’

“Every year, International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March. The aim of the day is to highlight the positive impact of women in society and also highlight issues that people continue to face including gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.

It has a history which spans over 100 years, with the first day being marked in 1911. Today, it continues to be celebrated worldwide in a variety of ways; some people hold gatherings to honour women’s achievements while others may speak out against problems that females have in modern society.”

I believe it’s still important to share this, as we live in a world where women still don’t have the right to vote, the right to make their own choice, and the right over decisions about what happens to their own body, everywhere in the world. In some countries we are going backwards.

Look at the history, the symbolism and the colour psychology to see how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go.

Happy

I was invited to participate in an article, that explains the history and meaning behind the colour and branding of this particular day.

Did you know that International Women’s Day is well over a century old, originating in 1911. That goes some way to explaining the colours associated with this day in it’s branding. There are strong links here to the Suffragette movement and the colours originate from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the UK. The colours there were established in 1908.

If you’d like to read the article, head to this link: https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/international-womens-day-colours-symbolise-historical-significance-4055934

In 1906, the term ‘Suffragette’ was used as a term of derision, in the London Daily Mail by the journalist, Charles E. Hands. However, the women he intended to ridicule, embraced the term, emphasising the ‘GET’ in the middle of the word and hardening the ‘G’ ‘SuffraGETtes’ implied that they not only wanted the vote, but that they thoroughly intended to get it. As the non-militant suffragettes gained favour in other press, they used their colour and mission statement to achieve their objectives, and hoped to avoid progressing their cause through ‘violence, crime, arson and open rebellion.’

What a legacy and message to leave behind in colour and symbolism. In 2023, International Women’s Day is a day of activism that provides a ‘visible opportunity for impact.’ As the website for IWD says, “There's no place for complacency. According to the World Economic Forum, sadly none of us will see gender parity in our lifetime, and nor likely will many of our children. Gender parity won't be attained for well over a century. There's urgent work to do - and we can all play a part.” Not least by embracing and honouring the work our ancestors did to pave this path in rosettes of purple, white and green.

14/02/2025

Have you had your fill of Valentines Day posts today? While I’m on health leave from my business, I’m trying to indulge my passions a little - storytelling and folklore being a large part of what brings me joy. And historically, I shared my services from V Day, under the banner ‘designed with love.’

So I thought I’d share the background behind why we celebrate Valentines and make such a big deal of this holiday. Hope you enjoy.

💘

It might be a commercialised holiday now, but Valentines Day, has meaning as a Pagan festival, Lupercalia. This was a Roman hedonistic affair in worship “of the god Lupercus, the hero-hunter of wolves; and is associated with the Roman foundational myth of Romulus and Remus, twin boys who were suckled by the she-wolf (Lupa) in the cave Lupercal (while under the protection of Lupercus). Lupercalia was a sexually charged celebration and “purification” festival, which featured matchmaking, coupling and purification rites in order to ward off evil spirits and prevent infertility.”

And so back to Valentine… this festival was adopted by the Christian faith (Old Testament, no mention of St. Valentine in the New Testiment) who made a martyr of someone called Valentine - a priest who “conducted marriage ceremonies for soldiers forbidden by the state, was arrested as part of the Roman persecution of Christians. While in prison, he is said to have healed the eyesight of his jailor’s daughter, and before being executed on Feb. 14, 269 c.e., he wrote her a note signed “Your Valentine.” “

Two centuries later, in 496 c.e., Pope Gelasius I named Valentine a saint, marking February 14 as his holiday.

Cupid factors in as the son of Venus, Roman goddess of fertility, beauty and love. Unclear who his father was. Various legends indicate this is between Mars, Jupiter and Vulcan. Cupid is considered to be the god of romantic desire. The interesting thing I didn’t realise is that he has two types of arrows, gifted from his mother. Some of the points were gold, which he used to grant love, and the others were led, with which he could sow ingratitude, hate and forget. So he could bring couples together, but also separate them.

Quotes from various sources.