Happy New Year. We have been a bit quiet in the blogging department but we have been busy!! We’ve published some additions to our Layers range. They include designs by Max Ososki, Clare Fennell and Clare Isaacs. The cards are printed on an uncoated board, are debossed and delicately foiled in gold or silver. You can see the whole range here.
We’ve been working on our personalised wedding stationery range recently and the latest addition is a range of Save the Date cards. You can choose from a selection of designs or use you own photo if you prefer. As always if you want to change design slightly let us know what you had in mind and we should be able to accommodate you. We have matching wedding invitations, thank you cards and we are working on Orders of Service and Place cards (available in the next 2-3 weeks). You can order a free sample pack here.
We are delighted to announce the launch of 7 new age birthday cards designed by Max Ososki and part of our new Layers range. Currently we have designs for 18, 21, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 and we will be adding a 80 cards in the next few weeks. They are printed on cream board and debossed in the centre. The numbers and borders are picked out in gold foil. The cards measure 120 x 167 mm and come with ‘old gold’ colour envelopes measuring 125 x 175 mm. You can order them now on our website.
We have been publishing Advent calendars for a few years now and it is always fun to go through the process of designing them and deciding which image should go in which window. A lot of thought goes into where to position the windows so that the image on the front is still clear as the windows are beging opened. And the most important thing is making we get all the numbers right. One year our number 15 was very nearly printed in the same colour as the background making it impossible to see. Luckily it was spotted and rectified but I can just imagine all the calls and emails we would have received on the 15th of December from parents of children unable to find the right window. One of the questions we always get asked is “Do you calendars contain chocolate?”. The answer is no but hopefully the great illustrations they will see will just about make up for it …. and reduce your dentist bills.
You can see and buy our range of advent calendars here.
Now our blog is up and running we’d like to take the time to feature some of the great artists we’ve been working with over the years. This week it’s Wales based artist Lizzie Hodgkinson.
We met Lizzie at the New Designers show in London a couple of years ago and since then she’s produced some of our best selling cards. Her quirky collages combine hand painted ink drawings with wonderful pieces of vintage ribbon and paper, all brought together in photoshop. Her colours are fresh and exciting but overall her images have a nostalgic feel that’s really popular at the moment. We’ve just published a new home card by Lizzie with some great patterned bunting and silver foil which you can view on our website.
We’re always excited when Lizzie sends us some new work and we’re looking forward to seeing what she does next.
We’ve updated the bespoke Christmas cards and the window in the card where the picture is located is now much larger. A few customers had mentioned this and we agreed. You can see them here.
Our new range by Ailie Busby is now live on our site. There are 12 designs (one for each boy and girl up to age 6). Ailie came up with a lot of the ideas for the designs and we did quite a lot of tweaking to make sure we got the right design for the right age. It was a bit of a juggling act especially for the boys cards. We couldn’t decide what which age would make the best pirate, kite flyer and scooter rider. These cards starting going to shops last month but now you can order them on the website.
Much has been said and written about Steve Jobs and he has been a real influence on me since I bought me first Mac some 21 years ago and it was that which first got me interested in design. Watching him create Pixar and return to Apple has been inspirational. I keep this video on my phone. And this quote is particularly poignant:
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Thanks to everyone who has ordered this as a personalised recipe notebook. We didn’t think of that ourselves and we are now going to change the site to show this as an example of how you can personalise it.
