Storeyshop Newness!

A new product is unveiled from Storeyshop HQ. I have had a little stack of these nice notebooks on my shelf for a long time but have only just got round to introducing them to Mr Scalpel. The same idea as Storeyshop cards and posters; they can be completely personalised with words and/or images. Great for gifts for other lucky souls or as a treat for yourself. I need to build up lots more examples but it's a start...













My first design is quite fun as it's my new initials and is roughly based on the very first Storeyshop card which was a Valentine's Day card for Dave 4 years ago - back when I was a HB and had no idea how close me and Mr Scalpel would one day become (or that me and Mr Storeyshop would get hitched)!




ps. Don't forget my giveaway below. There's a free hand cut and personalised Storeyshop poster up for grabs! Still time to enter and spread the word as the winner will be announced on Tuesday. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Storeyshop Giveaway!

As I mentioned in my recent post, I'm very excited that my Storeyshop Etsy shop reached 1500 sales a couple of weeks ago. Woo hoo! I love a milestone and I definitely think a celebratory giveaway is in order. So, it's time to get winning!

The prize will be a personalised A4-sized Storeyshop hand cut poster. You choose the design, the colour(s) and the wording and I design and scalpel it for you before popping it in the post. It's that simple. You can even choose a personalised card instead if you would prefer.













So, all you need to do to enter the giveaway is to comment on this post with what you would choose for your hand cut poster or maybe what room of your home you would like to brighten up with a poster. No need to be exact or let me know every detail, we can discuss your actual poster if you win! Maybe you would give your poster away as a gift to some newly-weds or to a family with a new baby?

For extra entries you can do the following:
1) Follow my blog (or mention that you are already following in a comment).
2) Tweet about my giveaway and add a link to it (I'll keep track of all tweets if you include 'Storeyshop' somewhere within it.
3) Blog about my giveaway or add a link on Facebook (let me know in a comment).

I'll pick at random and announce the winner on Tuesday 24th August. Thank you and good luck!

Storeyshop Hand-Cut Table Numbers

Since really enjoying making the stationery and other accessories for my wedding in April, I have had lots of other paper cut wedding ideas up my sleeve for Storeyshop. Here are the first examples of table number cards. I cut these by hand yesterday in a range of styles and colours. They can be completely customised with a customer's choice of typeface, colour(s) and imagery so can tie in with any wedding theme. They can have paper inlays or be left as simple folded cards. The wedding menu or any other information could be included inside on a paper inlay. Listings will be able in my shops soon. Yay!






















The cards can also be ordered for special events and parties. Or maybe used as birthday cards with the recipients age on. It doesn't have to be a special 21st or 40th, have any age you like. Or they could be nice anniversary cards to celebrate the number of years you and your beloved have been together. I love a bit of romance...

Business As Usual

I'm back at Storeyshop HQ after a busy 5 weeks of freelancing in London. I was covering my old job as senior designer on Company magazine as well as getting to help out on the second edition of their 'High Street Edit' fashion magazine. An entire magazine nicely designed, on lovely matt paperstock and entirely about shopping. My dream!

I loved being back in Soho with every shop I could ever wish for on my doorstep each lunch hour but the thrill did wear off (somewhere during week three, I think) and I'm very happy to be back in the Northumberland hills with scalpel and card in hand.

Apologies again to anyone who wanted personalised cards while I was away. I couldn't keep up with orders on top of full-time freelance hours and commuting in and out of London (I stayed with my parents in Sussex for most of my London stint). All personalised orders are available again now though. Absence definitely made the Storeyshop heart grow fonder too as I have lists of new ideas and products to get cracking on! Although I am back to the lonely single tea runs, there's nothing like time in an office to make you appreciate working from home on something you love.

Here are some photos of a recent order I made for personalised menu cards. They were for a bright, colourful-themed wedding in France.










While I was away I also reached my milestone of 1500 Etsy sales. Woo hoo! I will be running a giveaway very soon to celebrate!

Read All About It: Storeyshop In Telegraph Magazine

I'm very pleased to be part of a feature in the Telegraph magazine today focusing on British sellers on Etsy. There are some great illustrators and makers featured so I've found some new shops too. It's a really good article and it will hopefully raise Etsy's profile in the UK. I was contacted back in January about the possibility of being included in this so it's very exciting to actually have the magazine in front of me now!







It's a shame that the feature refers to my personalised cards as 'laser cut' when they're nearly all lovingly cut by my own fair hands and a scalpel, but nevermind. This is the most mainstream press Storeyshop has had so far and it's great. Welcome to my blog if you have found me through the magazine. The article is also on the Telegraph website.

The Garden & Our New Tenants

Good news. Number 7A, round the back of our house, is newly inhabited by Blue tits! We've lived here for over 3 years now and have never seen any signs of bird activity in the box but a little family seem to have taken a shine to it this summer. Maybe because the family of Blackbirds, who normally take up residence in the tree opposite, have moved higher up in to the ivy on the garage. I'm no Chris Packham but I have loved sitting in the garden eating my lunch, for the last couple of days, and seeing a Blue tit popping in and out of his new pad. I think that officially makes us landlords. I hope they look after the place.



I am loving the sunny weather and the flowers appearing in the garden. Credit must all be given to the green-fingered lady who lived here before us, Philys. She did a grand job. We have tried to keep it tidy and not let it all go to pot but neither of us really have a clue what we are doing with plants. I think quite a lot of my prized flowers are actually weeds (go on, you can break it to me!) but we enjoy it anyway. I do want to plant some new plants in some of the gaps and have a better tidy up and weed clear-out but it's hard to find the time when we both run our own businesses. I am in awe of people who run businesses, have children to look after, cook lovely dinners from scratch every night AND do gardening! One day. We missed the tomato and veggies planting this year but some nice pink flowers (weeds) have popped up in the mini greenhouse so it's not all wasted. Here's a little snapshot of those and the rest of our (very) little patch of Northumberland...

Weekend Roadtrip & Glamping

Hoorah. I'm back and am finally back up to date with all my card orders. Sorry if any of you have had to wait a little bit longer than usual, but your cards are all on their way to you now. The reason for the slight backlog was some freelance design work last week and also our wedding roadtrip at the weekend. This was the first wedding we'd been to since ours and, as it was quite a way away, we decided to do some extra roadtrippin' and see some folks. We ended up doing Scotland, Yorkshire, Leamington Spa and Sussex in four and a half days but it was so nice to get away properly and catch up with friends and family. The weather was lovely and sunny too. Perfect for our budget accommodation choice... glamping!











Both wearing the shoes we wore on our big day! The photo below shows my relief at changing into flat shoes later on, I think. Don't know about Dave's excuse. Pimm's and champers, probably.