Storeyshop Twitters

Okay, so I have done it. I have signed up and I have twittered. I'm not sure what to do now. I have found a few people to follow from Company magazine, where I used to work, and clicked to follow Phillip Schofield (and a few other celebrities who get their PA's to twitter for them now again). Is that it? Is it just lots and lots of twitters? No photos or anything else at all? Maybe I just haven't embraced it fully but I think I might be bored of it already.

My twitter name is Storeyshop. When I first tried to register, Storeyshop was taken and I got all stroppy. Then I tried resetting the password for that username in case it was me and I'd just forgotten. It was. How bad is that, that I can't even remember? I think I nabbed it in the very early days just in case the name got taken. Anyway, it will be me twittering and it won't be all boring Storeyshop promoting so please follow me!

Today I have made and posted 5 card orders and made a few new cards which will be coming soon. Dave has taken the laptop to work today which has Photoshop on so no photo editing until tomorrow but that's probably for the best. I have a painful neck which I think is from sitting at the computer too long. Probably all the online scrolling through shopping pages! I should probably have a break from typing now too so I will leave you with a couple of new 'I love you more than...' cards I made a few days ago.







Have a lovely evening everyone and remember, there's still time to enter my free giveaway for a personalised Storeyshop card of your choosing! Read down to Mondays post for more details. All you have to do is follow this blog, join my Facebook group or comment on the prize draw post. I'll be doing the very grand prize draw tomorrow afternoon!

Shopping, Sun and Hallways

Oops, my daily blogging has slipped a bit again. Nevermind. I had a weekend off and spent my blog time yesterday sitting in the garden. The weather is so nice and we don't get that very often so thought I'd make the most of it!

We had a very nice weekend. I braved the shopping mall on Saturday which is quite rare as I usually use the perk of working from home to sneak there on a nice, quiet weekday if I need to. It actually wasn't that bad, though. I was shopping for a present for my soon-to-be 11 year old niece, Freya. It was strange wandering around trying to pick a present. I kept finding something nice and then thinking 'Oh no, what if it's really un-cool?'. Maybe, I am now the old, unfashionable Aunt? I hope I have done ok with my picks. I better not say what I got, just in case she looks at this.

I must admit, I did treat myself to a few things too. A few nice tops, a necklace and a beach bag. I hadn't been shopping in quite a while so it was nice to not know what was going to be in any of the shops. When I used to work in central London, I used to nip in a shop or two most lunch times so would always know what was around. It got a bit boring (and expensive!) It's my birthday next month so I am going to try and save all my purchases to wear over my birthday weekend and trip down south. We'll see how I do.

Apart from my shopping trip, we went for a bike ride, chilled out in the garden, did some boring cleaning, went to the pub, ate nice food and put some photos up in the hallway. I have had the photos in the lounge in various stages of development for ages so it's nice to finally get them up. I'm still on the look out for more vintage and metal frames to add but here's how it's looking...




Most of the frames are oldies which I have altered in some way, I painted a couple, covered a few and added new wall hanging hooks on the back of some. Cheap and unique! It's a bit of a far cry from the interior magazines but maybe once we sort the floor out and cover the dodgy, hand-me-down nest of tables you can see on the stairs it will start looking alright.

Today I have been making new cards. I'm trying out the 'I love you more than...' cards in different colours and with some new subjects. There was a forum post on Etsy earlier today asking everyone's favourite foods. It was inspiration for a lady who makes felt play food but it was interesting reading for me too. A few of those ideas will be appearing on cards soon!

The Incident

Before I stopped work on Wednesday to have dinner and watch The Apprentice (Ben should have gone in my opinion), I wrote a long To Do list of things I wanted to achieve the next day (yesterday). I decided it was going to be The Most Productive Thursday Ever. I even woke up yesterday morning remembering the mission and got up early ready to start. And then I spilt tea on the laptop.

I have had a fear for years that I would do it one day, and it happens on Most Productive Thursday Ever! The laptop shut itself down as soon as I had grabbed some tissues to throw onto the keyboard. I powered it off, took all the leads out and sat it upside down on my lap while I called Dave. It's Dave's laptop.

After some blow drying, some pieces of kitchen paper tucked between the keys and a day sitting upside down on the sofa, Dave took the laptop apart and cleaned it with some sterile distilled water we found in the first aid box which went out of date in 1997. Luckily, the tea had only gone over one corner of the keyboard and we just found a few drips under the keyboard. They were on a flat silver part (you can tell how technical I am) and not on any circuit boards or components. Anyway, to cut a long story short, she worked when we powered her back up and she is still working now!

I went straight upstairs to back up all the things I had spent the day worrying I might lose, onto the PC. Phew. Must back up more often too. Everyone reading this -do a backup today!

Well, apart from the tea on laptop incident and some time Google-ing 'what do I do if I spill tea on my laptop', I used the day fairly productively after all. I made 9 new generic cards in nice bright colours to brighten up the shop and designed some new 'I Love You More Than...' cards which will be coming soon!

A Belated Happy Easter!

I'm back at my desk after a relaxing Easter break in the sun! By the sounds of it, we were definitely in the right part of the country for the sunny weather and we made the most of it. I feel so much better for having been outside lots and got some exercise at last! We went for a trip to the Northumbrian coast which is always really nice and we also sampled Morpeth, just outside Newcastle. That was nice for a wander-around too. I had spotted a craft centre near Morpeth on the map so we left the A1 when we spotted the brown sign but then found there weren't any more signs so we couldn't find it. I'll have to add that to my list of art places around here to explore one of these days. We did, however, find some charity shops! Yay. I do love a good charity shop. What else? Erm, we went for a bike ride, we did a few bits around the house, we ate lots of nice food, we had a lovely Easter Sunday lunch at Dave's parents. All very chilled. Here are some photos...

I Love Shopping!

I've been finding new pretties on Etsy and managed to get another treasury to show some off! I realised when I looked at my favourites that I must have a thing for red and yellow...



It's the Easter holiday weekend. Bank holidays just aren't the same when you work for yourself though. I actually think Dave and I might work and save our 'bank holidays' for my birthday or when we go down south at the end of May. It will hopefully be nicer weather and better traffic! I might have a sorting out my work area and craft supplies day tomorrow as an easy Friday. I need to get some inspirational things on the walls of the office as it's all very beige. I have been waiting until we decorate but that may be some time judging by our DIY speed and budget at the moment.

I'm hungry so must go and get some dinner on. I'll leave you with some of my recent personalised cards.

Happy Birthday Dave's Parents!

It is Dave's parents' birthday today. They have their birthday on the same day which I always think is very romantic. Happy Birthday to them! We gave them tickets for Jools Holland when he tours in Newcastle in December.





I have to admit this was their birthday card from last year. We bought them one this year. It's quite a novelty buying one these days! It's a lovely sunny day again today and I have just finished off a new style rainbow monkey and listed him in Storeyshop.








This afternoon is going to be spent making more templates for the laser cutting man. I am going to get some 'I love you more than...' cards laser cut as an alternative to my hand-cut ones (which will still be very much available). The laser cut cards can then be stocked in shops more easily and hopefully featured in another magazine or two. I must tidy the office too, there is cardboard everywhere!

My New Favourite Storeyshop Monkey

It's Friday! Not quite sure how that came around so fast again but I am looking forward to the weekend. I think we are going to go and investigate the Ouseburn Valley area of Newcastle where the Art Works Galleries are. They contacted me recently about stocking my cards so I'd like to see what it's like and I have heard it is well worth a visit. Other than that, I think it will be a weekend of sorting out the garden if it's nice weather and eBaying. I have had another wardrobe sort out so can hopefully make a few pennies (and some space for new finds!)

This is my new favourite monkey of all time that I mentioned in my last post. Check him out! So far I haven't been able to get any more of these socks either so it's looking like he's going to be very limited edition...











I won't mind at all if he stays around sitting on the shelf in the office but if you want to buy him you can find him in Storeyshop now.

Have a lovely weekend!

I Want Wednesday

This week is going so fast again. I have been thinking it is Tuesday all day but, no, I Want Wednesday is back! My 'I want' for today are these illustrations by Yuuco; 'You make me so happy', 'Une deux trois' and 'I'm always with you'. I love them. There are lots more fab illustrations in her shop too, Blue Bon Bon.














Happy First Day of April! I have cut and posted more personalised cards today and also recieved the laser cut samples. I need to send nicer card for them to cut from, but the design looks really good and you can still see that the designs are hand-drawn which I am pleased about. Next step is sending more card designs and card to Bob the laser cutter and they will soon be available to buy. Woo hoo!

Storeyshop Gets Technical

Well, I have just sent my first Storeyshop card off to be laser cut which is very exciting. I will still be hand-cutting personalised cards to order but I will soon be offering laser cut cards alongside these which will be a bit cheaper and quicker to send out as they'll be in stock, ready to post. This process will also mean I can make wedding invites and stationery in larger quantities without breaking the bank or my fingers! This task has been on my 'to do' list for a while so it can now be crossed off. A day went spent.




This is the first design that will soon be available laser cut. Hopefully in time for Mother's Day in the United States on May 10th.

Storeyshop Hen Party Cards

Here are some photos of a custom card order that I have just finished for personalised hen party cards. I love doing card orders like this and I hope they go down really well with the girls in Idaho, United States. Congratulations again to the bride-to-be!

Storeyshop Loves Mums

So much for my daily blog efforts. I can't believe has been over a week since my last post, this year seems to be going so fast. Happy first day of March!

Last week we went to a North East Business conference for a couple of days and then dealt with washing machine dramas for another one. Friday consisted of mopping up soaking wet floors, moving 2 faulty washing machines around the kitchen and lots of piles of (still) dirty washing. Our new Indesit washing machine arrived at 7am on the dot so I was overly excited about finally getting the last month's worth of washing done but it didn't work. It turned on and started filling up with water but then stopped and flashed it's lights. After waiting for a few hours with no success, we phoned the support helpline and without even asking what the problem was, they arranged for the machine to be collected and a new one delivered. I'm not such that that says much for the success rate of their products but we'll see..

Anyway, the Storeyshop side of life was a bit cheerier last week. Lots of Mother's Day card orders and new card designs for Mums out there are made and ready to list in the shop. There can't be anyone more deserving of a nice thank you card than the Mums can there?









Sorry about the photos. I'm working on that! My plan for the next couple of months is to organise my work space more. Storeyshop has now moved from the kitchen table to upstairs in the office. The next step is to get more shelving so I can be more tidy and organised (honestly, it's just the lack of shelving at the moment) to get a bigger, sturdier desk and finally to sort out a better mini photo studio. My photos will hopefully be clearer, brighter and maybe with nice backgrounds too.

Today I have a couple of card orders to make and some new cards to list. I'm feeling really tired though after spending the early hours of this morning stuck in stationery traffic on the A69 while the police tried to catch some runaway horses! We had been for dinner in Newcastle and then seen saw Kaiser Chiefs play at the Metro Radion Arena (it was a great show but nowhere near as good as Keane were in January). Anyway, coming home I was tired and I didn't have my glasses on. The traffic started slowing right down and there were lots of blue lights ahead of us. The next thing I see is a slightly blurry vision of a giant horse walking past the car on the other carriageway. It was so surreal! There were a couple of these stray horses getting more and more freaked out as the police chased after them on foot and in their cars with blue lights flashing away. I'm no horse whisperer but I'm sure that wasn't helping!

We were stationary for an hour and a half. Everyone was out of their cars wandering around and chatting to each other. Dave's Ibex truck got lots of attention! About an hour in to our wait, a half-naked and very drunk girl in a tiny dress was escorted out of the taxi next to us by her boyfriend. He tried (but failed) to preserve her dignity as she stumbled up the bank to relieve herself. And then fell back down the bank. Other people were running around with cameras. Horses were galloping to and fro past the cars. Honestly, it was like a dream. Helicopters were above us with searchlights beaming down and we could see quad bikes whizzing around in the fields nearby. I hope they caught all the poor horses and that they were okay.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Happy Birthday Niamh!

Today is a big Happy 8th Birthday to my neice, Niamh. She's a few hundred miles away in East Sussex but we are looking forward to a trip down to see all the family in early March. Happy Birthday Niamh from me, Dave and Seb the 17 year old chinchilla. Hi Freya and Harvey too!

Storeyshop Slippers!

I've been meaning to add these beauties to my blog for a while but kept forgetting. These are the Storeyshop personalised slippers Dave's lucky parents got for Christmas from us. His folks are quite hard to buy for so making them something always seems to go down well. I am thinking of adding these to my shop too. The only problem would be availablity of slippers. I think I'd have to find out what slippers sizes customers wanted and their top 3 choices of colours and then hit M&S and BHS to see if I could get the right thing. If anyone is interested do let me know! They are great wedding presents for newly weds, especially for the lady who gets her new initials sewn on them!

Storeyshop Has A New Look

I have been designing new branding for Storeyshop so have added a new banner here and on my Etsy shop. Well, I say designing but I decided the branding should be created by hand really seeing as I love handmade and everything Storeyshop sells is lovingly hand crafted. I am still playing around with ideas but let me know what you think!

Here is a sneak preview of some of the new Storeyshop items which will be available soon. This is a little wooden jewellery box covered with magazine type. The plan is to design my own coverings but this was my first attempt to see how it might work and how long each would take. I like how it turned out. Think this one might be a birthday present (must not keep it, must not keep it) but there is a new crossword version in the pipeline too inspired by my love of puzzles and the giant suduko canvas in our bathroom!

Storeyshop Cards: Mission Complete

Finished! Over 250 hand-cut Valentine's cards made and posted off around the world. My arms and hands are aching now so I am looking forward to a whole weekend off! I have been getting some great feedback from happy customers too which is always fab! Here are some more highlights from the card rush...

Storeyshop Weekend

Another solid weekend of card cutting! I have just taken the latest batch of 24 down to the post office. I must be helping to keep the local post office in business.




I am just having a quick tea, chocolate Buttons and blog break so I will add a couple of my recent card offerings before getting back to my scalpelling. Sorry to those people I have had to turn down for Valentine's orders but I don't want to promise to get cards to you in time when it may not be possible. I am hoping to get all the Valentine's orders posted by Wednesday afternoon to allow an extra day or two of postage time. A few first class cards have been turning up a day or two late lately, maybe because of the snow. I hope they all arrive in time for the day of love and go down very well with their intended!