Merry Christmas!

As a last post before Christmas, I thought that I'd share with you my day from yesterday.  Me, Mr. T and some friends went to Hyde Park to the Winter Wonderland.  It is AMAZING!  I was expecting some more fake snow and Elves, but actually it is a German market, with lots of lovely handmade goodies for sale. Particularly good were the marzipan bites covered in chocolate!!!!

As per my usual style, I will let the photos speak for themselves!

Merry Christmas to you all, thank you for much for your support during 2012, it really is much appreciated!

( I'm on the right!)

papertrey ink

A while back I shared one of my favourite companies with you.  I wanted to revisit Papertrey Ink with you; the Nichole Heady's blog shares some great things to give inspiration, and this post did exactly that.  Visit the blog for some lovely works, and in the meantime, here are a few images from the blog post to keep you going :)

Here are some lovely tags, just in time to make for Christmas!

Shelly X

extraordinary ...

I have been meaning to share this with your for a while ... Back in October my favourite art blog Colossal posted about an artist called Chris LaPorte, who took over 1200 hours, using over 100 pencils to create this-

A hand draw gigantic life like picture of his Grandfathers high school marching band.

It is just extraordinary! Do check out the Colossal blog for more information, and lots more other great artworks.

Shelly

my week in bags ...

This week has seen me so busy! If I hadn't managed to to schedule my last few blog posts, I would have been MIA!!    I have not had a week like it for some time-  a little stressful and a whole lot of excitement.   I am hoping that I can share more about my busyness soon :)  The consequence of my possibly exciting news means that I have had to bring forward my new releases from January  and get some of them on the website and on facebook early! You can see the facebook page:

here.

A sneaky peak at some of the images .....

In amounst all the work I have been doing ,I have also begun my Christmas shopping.  You have heard me talk before about my friends over at I run a small business on facebook.  By far the best place to network, share, support and make friends online.  I LOVE it, and the admins of the page are a great bunch. Anyhow, I thought that shopping from my friends online would be a good place to start.  

You really can find some unusual and really special gifts, and even better, lots are made here in the uk, and by shopping with these independent traders we can support local communities up and down the country.

I thought I would share some more of my friends with you today ... with the focus on bags!!  Perhaps a little left wing, but I have had a broken handbag for months, and have not found a replacement yet... but with lovely items like these being made, it wont take me long to find a new trusty bag for all my bits and bobs!!

The first share is from a lovely lady called Victoria Burt, she is fab and a really active member of the online community. Supportive and good fun, she makes the most awesome bags for her business Bags of Loveliness.  You can visit the facebook page here ... Do pop over and visit her page, its packed with handmade goodies just in time for Christmas shopping.  She also had a new webiste if you fancy visiting that too!! It's here!

This page I would like to share with you is a really unusual one ... Its called Party Bag World, and it does what it says on the tin!! Party bags for all occasions, weddings, birthdays - you name it, I expect Kerry can make it for you!!!  I imagine for anyone with children and not very much time, this is the site for you to visit!!!  You can find it here at www.partybagworld.co.uk/

Lastly, I'll share this one with you.  I just can't help loving all the unusual fabrics and patterns that this company offer!! Its Applebags and you can find them here.  Belinda and Keiry supply a wide variety of bags, including lunch bags and shopping bags, all with great prints and vibrant colours.

Happy bag shopping, and happy supporting UK based independent businesses :)

See you soon

Shelly X

Sale!!

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my cards and design business over the last few weeks.  I have found a refined direction to take it in .... I am expanding the personalised aspect of my work. Cards with names and dates, and one off creations that recipients wont get elsewhere.  What this means is that I have a large amount of 'ready to buy' stock that needs shifting!!!

So, over at the facebook page I am having a huge sale!!  

www.facebook.com/evelynmaedesign

I thought I would share with you a few images of the sort of cards and card bundles that are up for grabs!!

Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing with you all the new creations and new offers at Evelyn Mae!

Ramsgate

Last weekend I took a little trip to Ramsgate for the day.  Its only a few miles from our house, but we had visitors so we took them to the harbour.  It stayed dry all day, but we had great views of the storms out to sea! I played around with the image in Instagram!  The image below is the original that I took.

Jewellery ..

This week I have mostly been updating FB and the website, I takes a long while to keep everything up together and looking fresh, and I love the feeling you get once you have achieved it!

If you fancy checking them out, here are the links ...

Facebook page

Evelyn Mae Website

The other portion of my time this week was continuing to get to know some other people in the small business world.  You may remember me talking previously about I run a small business on Facebook.  An absolutely brilliant group that is supportive for small home businesses.  I have made some good friends on there, and I have also made some new business contacts. For me, working at home, I enjoy have a group of people I can talk with, a little as if I was working in an office environment.

Anyhow, I thought that for the next few posts I would share some of the businesses that I am in touch with ... There is a whole assortment of people and businesses, so today, I'm starting with jewellery. 

Wire-witch is run by Joanne Webb, a great jewellery designer, and she makes some lovely items, especially beautiful bridal wear.  The perfect time to wear bespoke jewellery must be your wedding day!

Wire witch website

Jingle Jewellery is run by Leigh-Ann, who on supporting my FB page became a customer, which I liked a lot!!!  Jingle Jewellery is a really unusual company, in that they run  jewellery parties for girls and boys.  Its such a great idea!  

Jingle Jewellery website

Treats n Trinkets is run by another member called Julie Adams.  She makes gemstone jewellery, using the historic properties of gemstones to make custom gifts for people.  I love all the photos of the gemstones ... it reminds me of being a kid on my favourite beach in Cornwall, playing with the shells and stones!

Treats n trinkets website

Lastly, a fairly new to me person is Carolyn Moloney who runs Cooljoolz  ... If you have ever wondered where to go for bespoke handmade wedding rings, then here you are!  They are fab!

Cooljoolz website

That's it for today ... but I will be back during the week to show you some bags, some felt and some edible elves ;)

See you soon X

Bonfire!

Just a little note to say I hope you all enjoy Bonfire night. X

hearts and flowers ....

Hearts and flowers and butterflies have been staple themes of mine since I began professionally card making a some years ago.  In fact one of my very first designs used butterflies! I think as the market has expanded, we have forgotten some of the early simplicity that came with card making. 

This week I thought that I would combine two of the reoccurring themes in my work ...  Hearts and flowers. Using a design that I saw many years ago on an early episode of create and craft, I used little flowers to create a heart.  I plan to use these on frames soon too!

Hearts and flowers ....

A different new baby card ....

Sometimes a traditional card just wont do ...

So today I made a more unusual new baby card.  It uses really lovely Autumnal colours, and features Be our guest paper from the Home sweet home range.

It is very simple in design, taking most of the detail from the paper itself ... and I really like it.  Definitely a card that the recipient wont get from someone else!

Hand crafted

Sometimes, as I make cards to sell, I try to make them as efficiently as possible, trying to keep the costs down for the customer.  However, sometimes, it just takes time to make something.  

This week I have been making hand stamped, painted and decorated cards, and they take more time than some other designs because they are so time consuming.  The nice thing though is I really do enjoy making them.  Again, Christmas in October for you readers may not be ideal, but when you sell seasonally, I cannot make Christmas cards in December, people have already bought them!  And believe me, I have tried.  One year I was making cards up until  Christmas eve, and it wasn't' so much fun.

So if you will humour me, I will share my hand crafted little cards :)

I'm not sure which my favourite it!

[The stamps are all Dovecraft, and the inks are Versa Colour]

Recycled Christmas ....

Like most card makers, I began with a heavy amount of recycled materials in my design.  I still do when I can, but now I need designs that I can replicate, and that means buying in papers that can be re-purchased.

This week though, I went back to my re-using roots, and make a set of five cards from one old Christmas card that I had cut up from a few years ago ... this is how it started....

And here is what I came I did with it...

I really like them :)  And if no-one buys them I might just give them away myself!!

Merry Christmas in October everyone!!

Shelly X