Thursday, 22 April 2010
Friday, 9 April 2010
New Storeyshop Custom Card Orders!
Sorry, blog posts are a bit lacking at the moment due to all things wedding. I'll more than make up for it after the big day though when they'll be news and photos a-plenty! I'm also busy finishing lots of Storeyshop orders as I am freelancing on a magazine for a few days next week and before I know it, I'm going to be standing at the end of an aisle. Uploaded some photos of recent card orders last night while watching the Masterchef final on iPlayer and here are some new ones...
Off to tackle my giant 'to do' list now which includes finishing and posting some more card orders, looking through future mother in law's jewellery for possible wedding accessories, nail varnish shopping (and some other bits) and making Order of Service sheets and a table plan. All in a days' work, eh? Have a good day, all!
Off to tackle my giant 'to do' list now which includes finishing and posting some more card orders, looking through future mother in law's jewellery for possible wedding accessories, nail varnish shopping (and some other bits) and making Order of Service sheets and a table plan. All in a days' work, eh? Have a good day, all!
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Happy Easter and Treasury Time!
Have a great Easter weekend everyone! I have just received some new laser cut cards so will be listing them next week. In other exciting news, my latest 'Teal and Turquoise' treasury made it to the front page of Etsy this morning and mighty fine it looked too. Even if I do say say myself. I love teal and hope that every brilliant shop I featured got some nice views, hearts and sales from it...
I just got this very cool widget from Craft Cult so you can see the items more clearly and click on them to buy or visit the shops. Doesn't quite fit in my blog properly but it's the thought that counts, eh. Enjoy!
Friday, 2 April 2010
Our Wedding Invitations
Been promising to reveal these for a while. Don't get too excited as we just kept them really simple in the end. I did, however, have my first go at printing by hand and it was quick, easy and fun. We were running out of time posting our invitations out so they were a little bit last minute. I didn't have time to look into buying proper lino so I decided to have a go at cutting my design from a sheet of soft foam that had been knocking around the office for a while.
Using Illustrator, I designed a simple monogram of mine and Dave's initials and printed it onto thin paper. I stapled this to the foam and cut out the design all the way through the sheet, like I do with my cards.
Once I had my foam monogram, I glued it, right side down, to a piece of cardboard. I covered the piece of card in PVA glue first and left it to dry so that it was a bit more 'paint-proof'. I was just making all this up as I went along but, actually, the PVA coating came in really handy for cleaning the stamp halfway through prints and once I'd finished.
I made a little handle out of a couple more small squares of cardboard glued together and stuck that onto the back of my 'stamp' to make it easier to pick up and use without getting too messy.
Then I got stamping! We decided a grey colour would be nice as our 'save the date' designs, which we'd emailed out to guests, were grey...
I used acrylic paint and just mixed black and white to make a light/medium grey shade. I added some water to make it a bit more fluid too. Using a small brush, I painted it onto the stamp for each print and was careful to make sure there wasn't too much excess paint in the gaps between the letters. After a little practise on the back of an envelope, I printed onto off-white linen-textured A6 cards (A5 folded) and just tried to position the print roughly in the middle of each card.
I like that each invitation card is unique, the charm of handmade as always. For the information inside each card, we printed the wording onto a textured off-white paper inlay and glued a small round doily to the outside of this to sit between the outer card and inlay. Why not, eh? A bit of frill! We also included a slip of paper inside each invitation with accommodation, travel details and a hand-drawn map so decided to embrace the frill theme by cutting them out with patterned scissors. I knew those scissors would come in handy one day!
The photo's aren't the best as we were doing most of this in evenings but you can kind of get the idea. I'll nick an invitation back from someone one day to take some nicer pictures. You can kind of see through the paper to the doily on the pic below...
Dave wrote all the guests names inside with his much-nicer-than-mine handwriting and they were good to go! No cut out details on the invitations, but, fear not, there will be cut out details on other wedding bits. I will post photos of our handmade place names and table numbers soon as I loved seeing what other people had made/chosen for their big days while we were planning. I will also be offering more wedding-related stationery in Storeyshop soon so keep an eye out.
Not long to go until our big day now! We have lots of lists but are quite sorted with most things I think. Need to finish making table numbers, plan the table decorations and layout, make some favours and some 'Order of Services' and a few other bits. I really want to get some wood to make signs to put in the country lanes on the way to the church and reception too, if we have time!
Using Illustrator, I designed a simple monogram of mine and Dave's initials and printed it onto thin paper. I stapled this to the foam and cut out the design all the way through the sheet, like I do with my cards.
Once I had my foam monogram, I glued it, right side down, to a piece of cardboard. I covered the piece of card in PVA glue first and left it to dry so that it was a bit more 'paint-proof'. I was just making all this up as I went along but, actually, the PVA coating came in really handy for cleaning the stamp halfway through prints and once I'd finished.
I made a little handle out of a couple more small squares of cardboard glued together and stuck that onto the back of my 'stamp' to make it easier to pick up and use without getting too messy.
Then I got stamping! We decided a grey colour would be nice as our 'save the date' designs, which we'd emailed out to guests, were grey...
I used acrylic paint and just mixed black and white to make a light/medium grey shade. I added some water to make it a bit more fluid too. Using a small brush, I painted it onto the stamp for each print and was careful to make sure there wasn't too much excess paint in the gaps between the letters. After a little practise on the back of an envelope, I printed onto off-white linen-textured A6 cards (A5 folded) and just tried to position the print roughly in the middle of each card.
I like that each invitation card is unique, the charm of handmade as always. For the information inside each card, we printed the wording onto a textured off-white paper inlay and glued a small round doily to the outside of this to sit between the outer card and inlay. Why not, eh? A bit of frill! We also included a slip of paper inside each invitation with accommodation, travel details and a hand-drawn map so decided to embrace the frill theme by cutting them out with patterned scissors. I knew those scissors would come in handy one day!
The photo's aren't the best as we were doing most of this in evenings but you can kind of get the idea. I'll nick an invitation back from someone one day to take some nicer pictures. You can kind of see through the paper to the doily on the pic below...
Dave wrote all the guests names inside with his much-nicer-than-mine handwriting and they were good to go! No cut out details on the invitations, but, fear not, there will be cut out details on other wedding bits. I will post photos of our handmade place names and table numbers soon as I loved seeing what other people had made/chosen for their big days while we were planning. I will also be offering more wedding-related stationery in Storeyshop soon so keep an eye out.
Not long to go until our big day now! We have lots of lists but are quite sorted with most things I think. Need to finish making table numbers, plan the table decorations and layout, make some favours and some 'Order of Services' and a few other bits. I really want to get some wood to make signs to put in the country lanes on the way to the church and reception too, if we have time!
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Hen Weekend By The Seaside!
So it was my hen weekend last weekend and it was brilliant. I loved it! We stayed in a gorgeous flat right in the Camber Sands dunes. Literally in the dunes. The view from two of the bedroom windows was just sand! The flat was amazing and we spent quite a lot of our time there looking around it deciding what lovely features and decor ideas we could take back to our own homes. Wanted it all! Such a nice mix of random finds, designer bits and quirky little additions without seeming like it was 'trying too hard'. Oh, and it had a roof terrace!
We had a lovely 3 course meal on Friday night which my friend had prepared in advance and had a good girly natter and catch up with tea, cake and wine a-plenty. Then on Saturday we went for some spa treatments in Rye. I had (and still have) a fab manicure with bright coral pink nails which have lasted until now with only one chip. Saturday afternoon was a great retro buffet lunch back at the house and then pottery painting which was great fun. Lots of concentration and perfectionist painting. I can't wait to get my teal and lime green stripey heart-shaped plate back once it has been fired and glazed!
Then we went out for dinner and drinks in Rye on Saturday night with stick-on moustaches all round, of course. Oh, and a top hat for me. The classy hen do I'd dreamed of. A night time walk on the sand dunes in pitch darkness after that. As you do. Sunday started with a delicious cooked breakfast and then we all hit the beach for good walk to wake us up and blow the cobwebs away.
Sunday afternoon was spent sampling the cobbled streets (back in trainers rather than Saturday night heels!) and nice shops in Rye and then we headed homeward. Well, I went back to my parents to catch up with them for the evening. A walk and a spot of shopping with my Mum on Monday morning and then a train back up north. Perfect.
We had a lovely 3 course meal on Friday night which my friend had prepared in advance and had a good girly natter and catch up with tea, cake and wine a-plenty. Then on Saturday we went for some spa treatments in Rye. I had (and still have) a fab manicure with bright coral pink nails which have lasted until now with only one chip. Saturday afternoon was a great retro buffet lunch back at the house and then pottery painting which was great fun. Lots of concentration and perfectionist painting. I can't wait to get my teal and lime green stripey heart-shaped plate back once it has been fired and glazed!
Then we went out for dinner and drinks in Rye on Saturday night with stick-on moustaches all round, of course. Oh, and a top hat for me. The classy hen do I'd dreamed of. A night time walk on the sand dunes in pitch darkness after that. As you do. Sunday started with a delicious cooked breakfast and then we all hit the beach for good walk to wake us up and blow the cobwebs away.
Sunday afternoon was spent sampling the cobbled streets (back in trainers rather than Saturday night heels!) and nice shops in Rye and then we headed homeward. Well, I went back to my parents to catch up with them for the evening. A walk and a spot of shopping with my Mum on Monday morning and then a train back up north. Perfect.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Storeyshop Hand Cut Personalised Posters!
Personalised posters are now available in my shop after a special request from a lovely customer wanting one for her kitchen. I loved how it turned out so am very much up for making more. Same idea as my cards; you choose the colour, the wording and the imagery/shapes. Then I design and cut it for you, carefully pop it in the post to you and you receive it and smile and find a frame for it and put it on your wall. Or you give it as a gift to a lucky friend or family member. I think they'd be nice in a baby's nursery or child's bedroom.
Today has been a busy one involving taking lots of new photos of cards to add to my shops over the next few days and making templates for the new range of laser cut cards. The wedding 'to do' list is getting longer by the day so a weekend of trying to cross some things off lies ahead for us, I think. Hope you all have great weekends and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there!
Today has been a busy one involving taking lots of new photos of cards to add to my shops over the next few days and making templates for the new range of laser cut cards. The wedding 'to do' list is getting longer by the day so a weekend of trying to cross some things off lies ahead for us, I think. Hope you all have great weekends and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there!
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Storeyshop Giveaway!
Head over to the lovely Kate and Oli blog now for a little interview with yours truly and the chance to win a Storeyshop card. This includes any card from my shop, including personalised ones, so good luck! It's a fab blog too focusing on all things handmade. You can also find lovely paper goods and vintage finds in the Kate & Oli shop.
Welcome to my blog if you have popped over from Katie's blog too. Do have a browse and follow and/or leave a comment so I can see your blogs/shops/tweets. I look forward to 'meeting' you and love finding new shops and blogs to visit and feature on here!
Welcome to my blog if you have popped over from Katie's blog too. Do have a browse and follow and/or leave a comment so I can see your blogs/shops/tweets. I look forward to 'meeting' you and love finding new shops and blogs to visit and feature on here!
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