dots and spots

A little treat

2012-01-31T08:47:00.002-08:00

I had a little bit of Christmas money hidden away and have decided to spend some of it on these lovely prints by Zoe badger of Zebedee Print. I have bought a print from her before but couldn't resist this little collection.

Valentines Love is the word lino print

Helter Skelter Lino Print

London City Linocut Print

I will have to find time to go to Ikea in the holidays to get some frames, as I also have the above print to frame to. Jeff bought it for me for Christmas from Little Owl Design

Must add fantastic service - I ordered the prints late morning yesterday and met the postman on my way out this morning at 8am, with a parcel to sign for!

Mugs - Part 2

2012-01-30T02:47:00.001-08:00

I thought I would share the second set of mug designs with you before they arrive - which is soon I hope! Part 1 - view here

Doodle Bird

Hen Peck!

Apples and Pears

Love and Home

*Star* Dad

Super Mum

There are also 4 red and blue spot and star print designs too

(see top of photo below)

All 24 designs are fired on a bone china mug.

They measure 8.5cm (height & diameter) and will retail at £8.95 each.

Just need them to arrive now and 'obviously' I will let you all know as soon as they do!

Daffodils

2012-01-29T06:30:00.000-08:00

Remember the lovely daffodils I treated myself to on Friday?

Well they are looking gorgeous now they have opened out.

Shame the forecasters are saying we're in for a cold spell over the next few weeks. Was enjoying the thought of Spring just around the corner.

It's Friday!

2012-01-27T02:48:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I just managed to take this photo and capture the sunshine streaming through the sitting room window - a truly lovely sight in this grey, dull, damp Winter we seem to be having.

It has seemed a long week and if truth be told a long Winter. I know we haven't had the snow and the cold but it does seem to be dragging on.

I have powered on this week, through the post show orders. I have managed to get all orders made up and sent out, that were placed before the show. All orders placed at the show by existing customers are done and I have even completed pro-forma orders that have made payment and these too, are packed and ready to go. This sight has greeted our courier every day since we returned from the show last week. He LOVES me!

We still have a pile of pro-forma invoices ready, awaiting payment so have something to keep me busy next week.

And we are still getting daily enquiries and orders from people that saw us at the show or have seen our advert in Gift Focus Trade Magazine, so all in all business is good. I feel a little exhausted as have not really stopped and having had poorly children in the mix , am feeling a little jaded.

So today, as it's Friday, I'm spending the day at home, catching up on all the little things that get neglected, forgotten, put on the back burner. I had a little wander around the garden and embraced the few hints that Spring is just around the corner, which lifted my spirits no end.

I also treated myself to my first daffodils of the year - a lovely fresh sight.

I better get on with all those little jobs that won't do themselves, so it only leaves me to wish you all a lovely weekend.

Mugs - Part 1

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

A year ago I met Jeremy and his lovely wife Jane at Top Drawer. Jane has a shop 'Creativity' in Sheringham, Norfolk and stocked dots and spots already, her husband Jeremy is the owner of Stubbs Mugs. Together they approached me about working with them on a range of dots and spots mug designs. Once we agreed, he chipped in that he wanted them in 2 weeks time so he could exhibit them at Spring Fair ( a huge Trade Fair at the NEC). I worked on the designs ASAP, posted them off and that was that!

It has taken a little time to get the colours right and I personally felt the original size mug was a little small but they have been selling well to trade customers for the past year.

The photo's I'm sharing with you are very much at the design stage, where I work on paper and wrap the paper copy around the mug to see if the design works. You can tell from the state of the photo quality what time of day I was it.

Heart

Flower

Star

Trio

Twitter Bird

Lovebirds

Hens

Trio

Coffee and Cake

Time for Tea

Cupcake

Trio

Beach Huts

Camper Van

Sail Away

Trio

I thought I would share these designs with you, as I have now ordered in all of the designs and hope to have the mugs for sale on our website in a few weeks time. All the designs will now be on the larger size mug, alongside a set of 12 NEW mug designs produced for this years show. Some of you will have spied these on a show blog post but I will share the designs in more detail with you another day.

Going with the flow......

2012-01-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Since I returned from Top Drawer things have not gone completely to plan - my gorgeous children have chosen this busy moment to catch coughs and colds and have INSET days etc, etc.

I have had Sam off school since last Wednesday - he returned today after enjoying a days Inset yesterday and then Sophie decided it was her turn for a day off!

They have had no option but to at least spend the morning over at the premises with me, as orders won't pack themselves. I do feel bad, as I know they would be better cuddled up on the sofa at home but it could be worse. When I was teaching I used to feel so guilty taking time off because of the children that I used to drag them in with me and camp them down in a kitchen attached to the classroom.

Every order wants 'Valentine's Cards' so orders need to go out as quickly as possible as the day is fast approaching.

We have a lovely collection over on our website - above are just a few designs. I've got my Valentine's card bought and hidden away - have you?

Apples and Pears

2012-01-21T06:36:00.001-08:00

I thought that now the show was over and all the new designs launching at the show are no longer Top Secret, I would share with you the new products we have added to the collection and a little bit about the process behind each one.

So I thought I would start with the apple and Pear Gift wrap.

As you can see from the photo's - I choose my papers, lay out very basic shapes to get the colour, pattern sequence correct.

When I'm happy, I ink them all in and overlay the papers into final position.

I then hand everything over to my printers - who I work with, to do the technical bit of getting the layout and repeats correct on the final sheet. It gets delivered over in flat brown paper packets and loaded onto the shelves.

Owen then came over to photograph it for the catalogue and website and there it is - ready....

.... and on our website (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Back with a bump!

2012-01-20T05:49:00.000-08:00

Since our return late Tuesday night, we have not stopped! Our 9 year old has kept me company, as he has been off school poorly with a cough and snuffly nose, so I haven't done quite as much as I would like.

It did take all morning yesterday for 2 of us to pack up the above boxes - samples heading out to our new agents. Every product we make is in those boxes and they are sooooo very heavy!

Today I have been catching up with orders placed before the show!

Jeff is doing invoices in the evenings when he gets home from work - all the pro-forma invoices have been sent out, all existing customer invoices will be finished over the weekend. Which means Monday, is serious 'Making up Orders' Day!

We have a good amount of stock prepped but have realised that this is a never ending process - we think we are doing okay and have loads of stock made up, then get a wave of orders and have to start all over again!

This is this mornings effort heading out to various shops in the UK - I'm now at home sifting through emails, phone calls and giving my boy some much needed sofa time! Think I might go and join him with a coffee before we head off to collect his sister from school.

Have a lovely weekend.

A little round up.......

2012-01-18T05:03:00.000-08:00

....of our fabulous time at Top Drawer.

As you know, we headed to London on Saturday to exhibit at Top Drawer - a London Design Led Trade Show.

We stayed in a lovely hotel right next to Earl's Court which was a huge improvement on last years 'tiny' room.

Only down side was that our room backed onto the tube station - I think they stopped around midnight and started up again about 5.30am! Just got used to them by the time it was time to leave!

I was pleased with my stand - we had so many lovely comments from visitors as they walked past. We have already booked our space for next year and added on an extra meter! I have lots of ideas in my head as to what to add to the collection and already know we will need a little extra space!

Our mugs were a huge success - I have placed my order and hope to have them on our website in the next few weeks - all trade enquiries need to go direct to Stubbs Mugs.

Our small selection of union jack products were also very popular with the upcoming Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee later this year.

Our tape display stopped people in their tracks and is still one of our bestsellers - with red hearts, pink cupcakes, hens, beach huts and lovebirds going to the top of the 'must have' list.

We had lots of lovely comments about the whole collection, how good our packaging was and how cohesive the whole range looked. We like comments like that!

Finally our gift wrap was a runaway success - great price, excellent quality, fab double sided designs - there was no outright bestseller but good sales across the board!

I've now come home and am taking stock of the past 4 days - it really was a fabulous show. We took lots of orders, talked to genuinely interested people, gave out plenty of catalogues to seriously potential interest. We took on 2 new agents and if some of the other conversations/opportunities come to fruition there are some exciting things in the pipeline for dots and spots.

It was also really lovely to meet so many lovely twitter, facebook and blog followers in person and even had a few people who recognised me from our Ideal Home feature (very surreal).

Top Drawer 2012

2012-01-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

We arrived in London just after 2.30pm to be greeted by our white space and home for the next few days.

4 hours later if felt more like home - a dots and spots home!

Ignore the plastic covering on the carpet - we will move it in the morning.

When I see it all displayed together, I do think WOW!

What a lot of products we now produce.

It took longer than expected to put it all together, partly because I spent far too long talking to fellow exhibitors (that's the fun bit)

We have 2 ranges/sizes of mugs which we have produced in collaboration with Stubbs Mugs.

Our lovely magnets and Union Jack products on display on my old tea trolley.

and finally a blank wall which we have cheekily covered in our paper.

We start tomorrow at 9.30am and finish at 6pm - so a long day ahead of us. Fingers crossed we have a good show -I feel I can do no more but now wait and see. If you are coming to visit we are stand D18.

And we're off....

2012-01-14T03:25:00.000-08:00

....... Top Drawer London here we come!

Well in an hour or so, Jeff has had to work this morning so we can't head off until lunchtime - plus my Mum and Dad have to travel up from Cornwall, so I had a few minutes to spare to say goodbye!

I've managed to just, get all this lot......

.....into the car - just enough room for Jeff and I to squeeze in!

Every time we do a show I say we will take less but in reality, we seem to take a little more!

So in an hour or so we head off to London, leaving the green Somerset countryside behind us. I'm going to miss my morning view - will have to get used to the hustle and bustle of the city.

I hope to blog whilst I'm there or my daughter will be cross if I don't get photo's to her ASAP!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

New Designs for 2012

2012-01-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

We head off to Top Drawer tomorrow - a big design led Trade Show in London, where we launch all our new products. I will share with you on my return, everything I have been working on and the process involved from idea to final product but I thought I would just share with you our new card designs - all 16 of them.

As you can see they are a real mix of designs for all occasions. I am already thinking of how to move my card collection forward into 2013!!! I want to develop more of an occasion based collection - basically fill in all the gaps of what is missing. Fingers crossed these new designs go down well. You can find them over on our website in a little more detail.

Coming soon....

2012-01-10T23:51:00.001-08:00

We have so many lovely new things to share with you on our return from Top Drawer

*16 New Greeting Card Designs*

*8 New Christmas Card Designs*
*14 New Postcard Designs*

*Baby Announcement Cards*

*3 New Gift Wrap Designs*

*6 New Matching Gift tags*

*2 New BIG Books of...*

*16 New A6 Mini Notebooks (sold individually or in pairs)*

*2 New A5 Gift Packs*

*7 New A6 Mini Gift Packs*
*Trio Notebook Packs*

and finally

*5 New Magnet Designs*

*PHEW* I think that's it!

www.dotsandspots.co.uk

Changing rooms.....

2012-01-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

....well beds!

This weekend Sophie got a new bed in the Laura Ashley SALE - it was ex display too, so even cheaper, I LOVE a bargain! I'd treated her to this lovely Cath Kidston duvet cover, which was also in the sale. What a lucky girl - I did buy a double duvet cover for me too - ready for Spring!

'Mock Up' time

2012-01-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

Today, I spent the whole day over at the premises. I knew I would be there a while as I wanted time to have a 'mock up' of my stand display, in preparation for Top Drawer Trade Show next week in London. I cleared all the furniture to one side, measured out my 4m x 1.5m space and started to move things into place.

It quickly became evident that the ideas I had in my head, wouldn't fit into the available space. I have had to make the decision to leave my lovely dresser behind but managed to cobble together some other bits and pieces that fit in well with scheme. Fingers crossed it will all now fit into the car on Friday.

Luckily I had all the boxes wrapped from my photo shoot for the catalogue and I had packed away from the last show sensibly so most things were to hand. I still have more to do but another day should see it finished, packed away and ready to go!

NEW Catalogue - 2012

2012-01-06T05:20:00.001-08:00

Just before Christmas, I took delivery of our new catalogue all 52 pages of dots and spots goodies. So much time and work goes into the production of it. Firstly, of course, the products need to be designed, then photographed, coded and now on many of our products bar coded. I then sketch out the initial layout, page set ups, order etc and hand it over to my printers to do their magic. We then have many proof meetings between then and the final product, making sure it's just right.

Today it was time to stuff the catalogues with an order form and a sample gift wrap sheet and envelope them ready to send out to all our trade customers prior to Top Drawer trade show. I was so glad to have a little help from my friend Rachel, who came and helped me at home as I still have a poorly boy cuddled up on the sofa.

We have worked really hard to make sure everything is clearly laid out and easy to see and hopefully easy to order when the time comes.

Any order received via our trade and customer website gets sent out a copy with your order.

Normal life resumes.....

2012-01-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to you all for your lovely comments about Ideal Home Magazine - and for allowing me to feel 'On Top of the World' for a day - but life has returned to normal with a bump.

Today dots and spots went back to work 'proper' with my little team at the helm, complete with an additional poorly boy - not part of the plan!

All our trade customers should be receiving this postcard through their letterboxes in the next few days, detailing our Top Drawer Trade Show stand details D18.

Agents packs of new samples have been made up, collated and boxed ready to send out with our couriers tomorrow. They always take longer to prep than you think but if the orders come flooding in then it will be worth it!

Stock is desperately being prepared so we can be slightly ahead of ourselves she says, half convincingly. I have never yet, managed to get ahead of myself. I thought once moving into premises, we would have loads of stock lining the shelves but we still pretty much make up to order, as there has never been any spare time to simply make up stock.

The NEW catalogue is all ready to be stuffed with an order form and wrap sample , ready to be enveloped and posted out first thing Saturday morning if tomorrow goes to plan!

And then there is the show prep to do - Saturday has been put by for that bit to start. I move all the furniture and mock up where everything is going to go, pack all the samples and products, make copious lists and tick sheets in preparation for packing the car next Friday with show set up on the Saturday!

So it's business as usual, with a poorly boy thrown into the mix!

IDEAL HOME MAGAZINE!

2012-01-03T05:48:00.000-08:00

Well the moment I have been waiting for has arrived!!!!!

Remember back in June of last year when the lovely Holly .....

....and Nicola came to style and photograph my little house?

Well the article is now in print, in no other than

IDEAL HOME MAGAZINE

if I'm honest, I'm beyond excited!

and so to celebrate, I bought not one, not two but 3 copies!!!!

The man in WHSmiths loved me!

It is the most surreal thing ever and to think that my little house made an 8 page spread and is in a major magazine.

Simply WOW!

I keep joking with the children that they are now famous!

Our house is a small Victorian terrace but the photo's do look amazing!

WOW!

What a fabulous start to 2012!

A huge Thank You to Nicola for sending 'that' email that got the ball rolling, for styling the house and for putting together such a great write up and to Holly for the fabulous photo's (except the one of me - diet prompt if ever there was one!)

The start of the year

2012-01-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

A New Year starts with a clean and tidy house and an organised me!

Well I like to try!

2012 starts with all the decorations coming down

and a clean and tidy, uncluttered house!

A bunch of fresh flowers are a must, preferably tulips

The new calendar/family organiser goes up, ready to be filled

and the new diary is set ready for the years adventures ahead!

Happy 2012!

My personal 2011

2011-12-31T04:21:00.000-08:00

As with any business, home life runs alongside it and with 2 children to focus on too, sometimes the work / home life balance sways. Sometimes one or the other gets more attention, leaving the other feeling slightly neglected.

I do my very best to keep things on an even keel and share some of our family life here on the blog so a better understanding of the reality of running a home and business can be realised. I have chosen a few personal images from 2011 to remember.

January

The arrival of Evangeline - the papier mache mouse,

made by the very talented Vanessa Cabban

A little treat to myself!

February

My heart tour of the house

I really didn't know I had so many hearts!

March

Has to be, Tulips - always a bunch in the house,

my favourite flower

April

I had to do a double take when I looked back at April, at just how warm it was,

we even had the paddling pool out!

It was also the Royal Wedding celebrations

May

I treated myself to this Flea Market find

My Retro Cabinet

June

TAKE THAT!!!! Live

Fabulous 40th present from my Hubby!

July

The end of an era - Sophie left Primary School

Farewell Ditcheat Primary

August

We celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss!

I was moved to tears by the little video clip Jeff put together

I also, actually managed to grow some flowering sweet peas!

September

Sophie started Secondary School - and is loving it!

October

Spotty Pumpkins

November

Cosy days at home

December

Christmas - I LOVE Christmas!

Source

So there is a little round up of my year and here's hoping 2012 is just as good.

I wonder what will come our way - we have our first family holiday abroad booked and secretly I would love to move house and start a new decorating project but we will have to see!

Wishing you all a very

Happy and Healthy 2012

dots and spots 2011

2011-12-31T04:04:00.000-08:00

Well what a fabulous year 2011 has been for dots and spots. I still have to stand back and sometimes take in, all that has been achieved - when it was never my original intention to do it at all. dots and spots has naturally evolved from a set of 8 designs and has grown in response to each event, happening, saying yes, instinct, I'm not sure how to otherwise describe it, rather than any big business plan. Possibly not the best way to tell people how to start and build a business but it is the honest story behind dots and spots.

January

Our first trade exhibition at Top Drawer

a design led show at Earls Court London

February

We moved into new, bigger premises

having outgrown our previous unit within 6 months

March

This little blog celebrated 500 fabulous followers

Thank You

April

I left teaching for good!

A big step but one that needed taking!

May

Our first set of gift wrap was designed

Something I have ALWAYS wanted to do!

June

Very Exciting!

Holly and Nicola came to style and photograph our little house for a major glossy magazine

(It's out in the next couple of days!)

July

We exhibited at Harrogate and produced more wonderful products

August

I hid away all summer to produce, pick and pack our biggest order to date.

Over 90 BIG boxes were sent out

August also saw me receive an retweet on twitter from no other than

Theo Paphitis - one of TV's Dragons

September

Our Big order made it out into the store's

30+ Dobbies Garden Centers around the UK

We also produced a set of Christmas Gift Wrap

October

I treated myself to an i-pad - a little treat for the business and

to make life a little easier!

I also had some design time working on new products

to be launched in the next few weeks

November

Our Advent Calender was launched onto you all and sold really well

Another product I've ALWAYS wanted to do!

I also worked closely with Owen, photographing our new products

for our new catalogue which is currently sat in boxes

waiting to be sent out any minute now!

December

And finally we are here today, on the last day of December.

I spent last night folding order forms ready to send out with our new catalogues in the next few days. I never seem to stop but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I wonder what 2012 will have in store!

Christmas in Cornwall - The Movie!

2011-12-28T02:11:00.000-08:00

Determined to have proof that he did really go swimming in the sea on Boxing Day, my OH has put together this short video of his exploits.

Mad!

Christmas in Cornwall

2011-12-27T06:06:00.000-08:00

We have just got home from spending Christmas with my side of the family down in Cornwall - the first time in 11 years that I have not 'done' Christmas. So a big thank you to my Mum and Dad for looking after us and feeding us all so well.

Sophie loved her sewing machine and is looking forward to getting it set up, now we are home.

Sam has not been seen since we got home, as he's been upstairs building his Harry Potter Lego.

My little niece Ella, got a bike - what a fab pressie to find under the tree.

And my 88 year old Granny got lost for an hour or two on my i-pad - maybe next year's Christmas present!?!

As we were in Cornwall, Jeff my OH got to tick off one of his lifetime wishes - to take part in the Boxing Day Swim. He's always seen it on the news and always wanted to do it and so this year, he had no excuse.

He was lucky as it was 11 degrees - mild for this time of year but still a little crazy, if you ask me!

But there were quite a number of other like minded, crazy people to share the big event with!

And due to a low tide, there was quite a run to do before you even got to the sea!

But he did it and quite enjoyed it too!

Now to enjoy a quiet few days at home, there are a few orders to put together and there is my studio mess to tackle but I have an afternoon with the sofa booked and a couple of days of relaxation planned, before New Year arrives.

Merry Christmas to you all

2011-12-22T04:52:00.000-08:00

Being a card designer, I really do take notice of the Christmas cards I both give and receive.

My poor husband says he doesn't enjoy choosing me a christmas card but every year I love his choice. This year he got me this gorgeous Mistletoe Letterpress card by Bobalong NOTHS

I bought Jeff's from Paperchase this year - very festive I thought.

The above 'CHRISTMAS' card was bought from BHS - a combination of red, spots and glitter - you can't go wrong!

And finally our family Christmas card this year.

I'm going to be taking a little festive break now but would like to thank you all for supporting me and dots and spots throughout 2011 and I would like to

Wish you all a very

Merry Christmas

It's all in the detail

2011-12-21T02:27:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Christmas as you know and every year I find something new to add to my festive collection. Every year the favourites come out and make Christmas, well Christmas! I thought I would share with you a few new and old favourites that make me smile.

My new rag wreath by Edamay

My spotty Cath Kidston candles and one of my favourite Christmas cards from BHS

A spotty IKEA bauble

A gorgeous little gingerbread man made by my very creative friend Sharon

One of my large glass baubles that hang in the window every year

A gorgeous glass, holly garland around the mirror

A sparkly snowflake

One of the little Christmas mice, once found in a stocking

A little felted wobbily Christmas tree on the mantlepiece

A red berry garland on the retro cabinet - looks fab against the blue

A gorgeous bowl of vintage baubles

Mr and Mrs Christmas Mice knitted for me by Jeff's Grandma - my first present from them now 19years ago

A simple wooden Christmas tree

Festive Christmas bunting and everyone's favourite Father Christmas

And finally one of my spotty wooden Giddy Kipper stars.

That is just a small selection of what makes Christmas in my house - I'm off now to bake flapjacks with the children - hoping your festivities are building nicely for the big day too.

Longleat 2011

2011-12-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Longleat - all 18 of us. It has become an annual event to get together with Jeff's side of the family before Christmas - have a catch up and exchange gifts the weekend before Christmas.

Normally it's 'just' the train ride to see Father Christmas - I say 'just' because that in its self is a magical event but this year, a few more festive attractions had been added - ice-skating being one of them.

I hadn't planned to have a go but Sophie only managed once around the rink so rather than waste the ticket, I was persuaded to have a go!

I fell spectacularly at least once but somehow managed a few turns around the rink - in my own unique style!!!!!

The main house was open with a fairytale theme - personally I thought this was a little disappointing but it was a chance to warm up and enjoy this spectacular Christmas tree.

The highlight for me was this musical Christmas tree - very Disney but certainly puts you in the Christmas mood.

The lights were spectacular changing in time with the music - fab!

Finally, it was time to take the train through the wood to see Father Christmas and a collection of happy children to end the day.

It really was a lovely day, even lovelier to share it with all the family - if you do decide to go - look out in May/June for booking the train - you really do need to book that early especially to get a late train when the lights and magic are at their best!

The Saturdays

2011-12-17T03:35:00.000-08:00

Went to see The Saturdays at Wembley last night - a belated birthday treat for my daughter. I was just the escort and really thought it would be a long night but they were FANTASTIC and the whole evening went by so quickly. Got home 1.15am so will be having a lazy day today - wrapping presents and drinking copious cups of coffee to keep me awake!!

Today has been all about.....

2011-12-15T07:32:00.001-08:00

.....saying Thank You!

Today was our official last working day at dots and spots before Christmas, as the schools break up tomorrow and I have given my little team the next 2 weeks off, whilst I however will probably be working until Christmas Eve. My poor husband has the task of loading on all the new products onto the website this holiday, in preparation for our next Trade Show in January. So a big Thank You to him.

Rachel and I went and enjoyed coffee and cake at Kilver Court - a little extra treat and exchanged gifts to each other. She helps me 2 mornings a week and I simply couldn't do without her but there are many other people who play a big part in dots and spots too, for which I am thankful. June and Steve cello up all my cards and pick them up and hand deliver them to my home. My agents work hard for me further away from home, spreading the dots and spots designs around the country. The local sorting office greet me happily every morning when I drop off my mail sacks.

Ashley, my soon to be 18 year old student helper, who helps once a week and Francesca (Rachel's daughter) who does the odd hour or 2 on a Saturday morning or in the holidays. There is Rich - my UK Mail courier driver, who couldn't be more helpful or accommodating. There are the Haskins men, who share a loading bay with me over at the premises and who are always more than willing to help me with a delivery.

And then there are my printers at St Andrews Press who work tirelessly with me on everything. I have been assigned my own person - Steve. Poor Steve has to put up with me on pretty much a daily basis when we have a number of projects on the go - so a big shout out to him. But all the team there do something along the process, from a design on paper going to print and I am truly thankful for all their support. So I merrily handed out these fab cupcakes to everyone made by the very talented Jo.

In return, I received this fabulous hamper from my printers

Wow - what a very lucky girl I am.

One final thank you goes out to my fantastic customers and shop owners. Without you, there would be no dots and spots - so a HUGE thank you to you too - sadly I can't send you each a cupcake but enjoy this virtual one instead.

I hope I haven't missed anyone off - Merry Christmas to you all.

All wrapped up!

2011-12-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I whizzed over to the premises super early to do the days orders, then came home to spend the whole day wrapping presents.

It was my only chance to wrap the children's gifts whilst they were at school and out of the way. Now Sophie is 12 she doesn't go to bed until gone 9pm and I certainly don't feel like starting wrapping presents then.

Once the children had got home from school, we wrapped the teacher's and friends gifts together - the Cath Kidston Christmas mugs were the preferred gift this year, with either a tube of Laura Ashley Christmas cookies or a bag of Thornton's Viennese Truffles (my favourite!) perched inside.

I think they look lovely and festive with the candy stripe tissue paper and hand written thank you notes.

To finish them off, we put them into simple white, little bags, added a ribbon bow and a dots and spots gift tag - perfect.

Festive Dresser

2011-12-12T10:52:00.001-08:00

I love my 'dresser' - I call it a dresser but it really isn't. It's an old sideboard bought from a junk shop 10+ years ago and on top, an old set of shelves destined for the skip, are perched.

It sits between 2 old built in glass door cabinets, built into the alcoves either side of what would have been a fireplace in our dining room. We boarded over the wall, as the previous occupants had removed the fireplace and had put a fish tank there in it's place.

It has become the main focus of the room - cards for all occasions get displayed there, be it a simple thank you, birthday or now Christmas. Usually a bunch of flowers, typically tulips occupy the top but for now my festive foliage collection. The picture was a gift from my husband and twinkling fairy lights surround it, all year long. The large, white, chunky, wooden stars also remain up all year long, bought from my favourite local shop in Wells - Maddie Brown's.

The drawer handles are home to the festive sleigh bells and with the tree close by, my 'dresser' is the perfect festive addition to any room.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-11T01:44:00.000-08:00

The wreath is up on the front door and inside yesterday,

...we started to decorate (at last!) We always wait until the second weekend before Christmas as I love it being all Christmassy as the festive season really gets going and the children have only a week left of school.

This year I pretty much left the tree up to the children to decorate. I just put on all the lights and the precious glass baubles, then left them to it. I think it looks fantastic - they must have had a good teacher LOL!

For the first time ever - we put up some lights outside, we never close the curtains despite being on a busy road - I like the little glimpses of the lights, tree etc as you go past. I always remember our childhood trips to Cornwall and looking out for all the lights as we passed by the houses on our way.

Our sitting room is tiny so we don't go too mad in there just my new wreath on the fireplace, lights around the mirror and a new little tree in the corner. Cards will go up on the shelves and a sprinkling of festive parcels will give the finishing touches.

I still have a little bit to add to the dresser - and I haven't even started on the kitchen yet, I ran out of time, Strictly Come Dancing was on far too early!

And finally the finished tree adorned with 600 sparkly white fairy lights and our lovely favourite baubles and decorations collected over the years. Each year we add a new set of decorations...

.. this year it was these lovely hand collaged, material baubles by the lovely Lexi - they look gorgeous and very much at home.

Lucky Me!

2011-12-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today I received 2 parcels in the post

The first was my prize from Roobarb Gifts blog giveaway - my daughter was certainly pleased with the sweets. Sarah owns a lovely shop in the village of Marsden and also has a website full of lovely things - thank you very much.

The second parcel was a real surprise from the lovely Rachel of Gingham Heart Crafts. I have only chatted with Rachel via facebook and my blog but she sent me this excellent little gift - a complete surprise. It's lovely and I will have to find a little spot for it in my studio, thank you ever so very much indeed.

I do feel very lucky, to have met some really lovely people via twitter, facebook and here on my blog - many I feel I could call friends although I have never met, some I have been lucky enough to meet at trade shows etc. I guess by just having a common interest, you converse at ease and genuinely enjoy 'virtually chatting' with like minded people but a day like today, really puts a smile on my face - thank you.

Christmas wreath

2011-12-06T11:23:00.001-08:00

Today I found a few minutes to put up the Christmas wreath - I fell in love with this one the minute I saw it - very simple, with an added little touch of spot!

Festive Tape Giveaway WINNER!

2011-12-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

Thank you very much for all the fabulous comments left here on the blog and over on facebook - Sam picked out the winner and..... drum roll please.......

The winner is Zoe Grant of Zoe and Drew

Please email over your details and I will pop your tape in the post in time for all that Christmas wrapping!

info@dotsandspots.co.uk

I'd hoped to squeeze in another giveaway before Christmas but can't see it happening, as I still seem to be so very busy with orders, trade orders, preparation for trade fairs in January, catalogue proofing, new designs, my own Christmas preparations etc etc - if I do find a quiet minute, you will be the first to know.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

2011-12-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Our decorative sticky tape is one of our bestsellers - we have been selling it now for well over a year and a half and if anything, it's popularity has grown.

I started to produce it when the company in Germany I bought from, stopped selling it. I looked everywhere for a suitable alternative, couldn't find any anywhere so decided to design my own.

It took ages to find a suitable supplier here in the UK who could manufacture it to my specifications - 30 meter rolls rather than the standard 60m so I could sell it to trade at a sensible price and in 2 different widths.

Due to the volume we sell, we always have one or two rolls per box that aren't perfect - the tape is in perfect condition, just the inner core might be marked or scuffed. The 2nds rolls are a bestseller by far, as at £3.50(wide) and £2.75(thin) a roll it is such a good price.

We have put together a collection of festive tapes and have reduced the price even further as a little festive thank you - Just £16.50 for a set of 6 rolls of tape - that's 180 meters of sticky tape heaven and works out at only £2.75(wide) a roll! This offer is only available as long as stocks last - so get yours now, to avoid being disappointed.

Lots of you have ordered these festive tape sets and are available here but I am going to give away 1 set to a lovely follower. All you need to do, to be in with a chance of winning is

be a follower here on the blog or over on my facebook page and
tell me which current design is your favourite and
what NEW design you'd like to see amongst our tape ranges.

We have 17 fabulous designs to choose from in a selection of 4 colour ways. My favourite has always been the red and blue star tape but I'd love to know which is yours.

Just leave your comments and I will pick a winner early next week.

Advent

2011-11-30T01:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is December the 1st and marks the start of Advent - always the marker in our house that Christmas has officially started. I found a few ideas on Pinterest which I thought were lovely...

This idea was from this Norwegian blog

Love these little houses - source

And of course there had to be spots involved somewhere - this fantastic idea found on etsy

In our house the Advent calendars have been put up,

Sophie's mystery mini lucky dip gifts have been wrapped and numbered.

And Sam.... well Sam begged me to let him have a lego Star Wars Advent Calendar this year. He does love his lego, so I relented this year but fail to see how it is festive in any way!

The new Christmas chocolate tin has been filled and

the Christmas hats dusted off ready for the festive photo.

Last year we really went to town but time hasn't seemed to have been on our side this year so we will have to ease into Christmas gently - love that clementines are now on sale and taste delicious - a real taste of Christmas.

My brave boy

2011-11-29T06:32:00.000-08:00

Life here at dots and spots HQ is a little disjointed at the moment due to my children. Sam has to go into hospital on Thursday to have some dental surgery - which he really is not looking forward to having done but wants to just get it over and done with now, as it's been hanging over us now for nearly a year.

He fell badly in Reception aged 4 and really damaged his 2 front teeth. One of them has grown normally but the other, had to be removed and x-rayed, as they were unsure if he had an adult tooth. He has in fact got an extra baby tooth which is blocking the way of his adult tooth. They are going to remove the extra tooth, attach a clip and chain to his adult tooth and fingers crossed, all going well, they will gently pull his adult tooth down into position with the aid of a brace over the next couple of years.

As with these things, nothing ever goes to plan and my normally healthy boy developed a bad cough on Saturday, so has spent the day with me today, trying to get himself healthy in time for Thursday. Tomorrow Sophie's school is striking and I guess Sam will be home with me on Friday recovering. In between all this I am madly trying to keep up with orders, complete my card designs and finalise all the art work for the new catalogue. Never a dull moment I guess - I'm looking forward to Saturday when it's all over!

I will endeavour as ever, to get orders out to you as quickly as I can but they may be a day or two later than normal - sorry.

Christmas at the Barn - Mells

2011-11-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

This morning Sophie and I went to 'Christmas at the Barn' in Mells organised by the very lovely Rebecca.

It is set in a beautiful barn and although on a smaller scale - the sellers are all offering quality, handmade items so well worth a wander. You can see the full list of stall holders here but let me share with you, a few of Sophie and my favourites.

So first up the lovely Rebecca of edamay and organiser of this lovely event - her stand looked gorgeously festive and I was enticed, without much persuasion to open my purse.

I treated myself to this lovely, colourful wreath, already hanging by the fire,

This lovely scented pudding hanger and a pudding card to put on my dresser this year.

The lovely millie moon where there and Sophie treated herself to a few sewing kits.

And she was also tempted by these chocolates by 'Coco-Bella'

I bought one of these hyacinths from 'The Little Flower Company'

(another treat for myself)

These two wooden signs are possibly presents bought from a stand by Gaynor Ringland, but the trouble is, I like everything I buy, so could happily keep it for myself.

And finally there was a lovely stand by 'Jo Lucksted Ceramics' who actually has her studio in Shepton Mallet and I didn't even know!! Her things were beautiful and I bought a selection of little bits and pieces to add to gifts.

It was a lovely start to the Christmas festivities and Rebecca should give herself a huge pat on the back for organising such a lovely event. It is on again tomorrow so if you are local to Frome - pop in and have a look.

I do hope my twitter friend Rachel over in Bristol, has had a successful day too - 'Christmas at the Orangery' I really wanted to visit there too but things sadly didn't work out but of course, there is always next year!

Photo's

2011-11-24T11:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent all day preparing all our products that needed to be photographed for our new catalogue. They are of a mix of old and new but have to fit in to the new catalogue layout, due to be printed in the next few weeks. As always due to time restraints, these things always seem to be rushed as a deadline looms but they will be well worth it.

I've been working with Owen of Owen Lucas Photography - he is a teacher at my husbands school and is married to a family friend. They trusted me with designing all their wedding stationery for them almost 3 years ago now.

Owen is building up a very good portfolio of wedding photography but was happy to help with some product shots. I've been setting up all the shots, many of which, are just of single products.

The tricky part is making sure, that say 12 shots of the same type of product, appear nearly the same. It becomes quite comical as I hover over a set up shot with a product, as Owen slides the previous set up out of the way!

The photo's are looking great and really make the products sell themselves.

Our ever popular tape, looks fantastic all piled up high - watch out for a special 'Christmas Tape Offer' coming very soon and a special 'Christmas Tape Giveaway' to be announced the beginning of next week - it will make those festive parcels stand out.

Our Advent Calendars have sold fantastically well and I guess you now have only a week left to purchase one, if you want it to arrive in time for the start of Advent.

I'm back over to the premises tomorrow, to hopefully finish taking the remaining photo's, whilst packing orders and then it will be time for a big tidy up and back to 'proper' work!

I think you'll agree the photo's so far are great and I will have many more to show you, when I share our new products with you very soon.

millie moon

2011-11-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

On Monday I had to go into Wells, my nearest town (although it is actually a city - the smallest city) to go to the bank, visit my printers etc. Whilst I was there I popped into the very lovely millie moon. I used to visit their other shop in Frome but now I no longer teach, I very rarely get over there, so it is lovely to now have a shop over here in Wells.

It has been open since the beginning of October and although I can't even sew, I have been tempted through the doors each time I visit.

I seem to see the lovely Rachel who I have known since visiting Frome - she is always lovely and smiley and very helpful.

There is always a lovely tactile display of buttons,

trimmings,

fabric and

finally ribbon - oh how I love the ribbons - I could spend a small fortune.

I can't tell you what I bought as they were Christmas presents but will share with you their website and sewing school.

They also have a blog you can follow.

All I need now is a little time to learn to sew!

Thinking about Christmas?

2011-11-20T00:59:00.000-08:00

For some reason this year, Christmas seems to be creeping upon me very quickly - I LOVE Christmas sooooo very much but will be enjoying a break from doing all the festivities this year as we are off to Cornwall to spend it with my sister and her family at my Mum and Dad's. So really I have a lot less to do but already seem to feel a little behind.

To get you in the mood and maybe help you get a few Christmas presents tucked away - why not support these 2 local'ish Christmas Festive delights if you can.

The first event is 'Christmas at the Barn' is organised by the very lovely Rebecca at Edamay. I went last year (read about it here) and it was truly magical with the first dusting of last years snow. It's in the village of Mells and is , this year, a 2 day event. The perfect setting to get you in the mood.

The second event is over in Clifton, Bristol - 'Christmas at the Orangery'. This festive event is organised by the lovely Rachel of Rachel Goodchild Designs. I have never actually met her yet, only tweeted but feel I know her already.

Sadly both events are on the same day but with 'Christmas at the Barn' being a 2 day event, you could do both!! Click on the links to find out more.

Good luck ladies - I'm sure both events will be full of Festive loveliness.

*I will not be exhibiting at either event, just sharing my blog support*

ADVENT WINNERS

2011-11-16T05:23:00.000-08:00

Time to announce the Advent Calendar Giveaway Winners

Thank you so much for all of you who took time to leave a comment - very much appreciated and you have given me lots to think about for next years design and when I say lots, I mean LOTS!!

Having spent over half an hour writing out names to put in a drawstring bag, the 3 random names picked out of the bag were........

Little Gem

The Krafty Cupcake

and finally

Sophie - Chez Sophie

Congratulations to the 3 lucky winners - if you email me your address details I will get them in the post to you ASAP.

Email : info@dotsandspots.co.uk

To show my appreciation to you all for entering, I will do a festive giveaway at the beginning of December, so keep a lookout for it - thank you.

Nice emails

2011-11-15T06:17:00.000-08:00

This morning I received a lovely email -

"I wanted to share this with you, back in September when my son turned 1 years old. We bought him an owl poster when he was born, so it was fitting to have a dots and spots inspired cake!"

What a lovely idea - thank you Leanne - I think the cake looks fab. I love getting emails like that.

Our Owl Posters have been around now for well over a year and a half now and sell so well. I thought I would share with you the process of how they were created.

I draw out the initial design just to get the scale correct....

then trace through the design in reverse, onto the chosen paper, via my light box.

I then tear around the pencil line to create the shape.

The smaller detail then gets torn out and stuck onto the design....

and inked in.

Slowly the design begins to build and take shape.

The worst bit to do at this stage, is the inking in - get something wrong now and it all has to be started all over again!

This design was titled 'One, Two Twit Twoo'

The alphabet design was a little trickier, particularly at the composition stage, trying to fit in all the letters.

This design was named the 'Owl- phabet'

Finally the third poster in the set - 'The Owl Family Tree'

All 3 posters get sent out in their own red tube, so ideal to give as a gift. They are available in 2 sizes and as you can see from the above photo, look fantastic framed. They fit an Ikea Ribba Frame perfectly - made to measure!

I really do need to start thinking about my Christmas shopping - it seems to be creeping upon me so quickly this year.

It's my birthday.....

2011-11-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

... and I was surprised by a lovely pile of pressies to open. Today has had to be a normal work day as there has been so much to do but once everyone was home and the phone began to ring, it began to feel like a birthday.

I had some lovely red tulips from Sam - my favourite.

A lovely hand tied, hand delivered bouquet from my Mum and Dad courtesy of Charlotte at Classic Flowers Design.

I also had a lovely bouquet from Steve, my printer - we share the same birthday so Happy Birthday Steve!

The children made me a cake yesterday, all by themselves - I wasn't allowed in the kitchen once. I only slightly panicked when I overheard "Emergency, the egg has sort of missed the bowl!!"

But it tasted delicious!

An then there were the presents - as you can see, I was spoilt rotten.

I love getting vouchers for my FAVOURITE shop and I got a subscription to Mollie Makes Magazine from my wonderful husband.

2 fabulous books for, if and when, I get a quiet moment to sit!

And a few bits to start the Christmas festivities. I have coveted the Cath Kidston Christmas Platter from the moment I saw it - lucky me.

And finally I am the very lucky owner of another unique creation by the very talented Vanessa Cabban. I just LOVE this festive holly pin.

Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes via twitter and facebook today and for making my day so special.

Thank you too for all the fantastic comments that are being left on the Advent Calendar Giveaway - will announce 3 lucky winners on Wednesday!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

2011-11-10T23:47:00.001-08:00

December is nearly upon us and it's been ages since I did a giveaway, so I thought I would offer up 3 Advent Calendars to my lovely followers from twitter, facebook and over here on the blog.

All you have to do to be entered in for the giveaway, is to leave a comment about what design / theme you would like to see on next years advent calendar.

I should have it already finished but time has escaped me, so it will have to be launched mid year, in time for the Christmas trade buying.

I have some ideas but I really value your thoughts too - after all you are the people that buy them.

So if you have time and wish to be entered, please just leave a comment on here with your idea or theme - simple.

I will announce 3 winners early next week.

It's Carnival time of year

2011-11-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight in Shepton Mallet, it is Carnival night. The road outside our house has been closed since Monday and been lined with Carnival floats waiting for tonight.

When I say outside our house, I mean directly 'outside' our house, so much so.....

.....that we don't even need to turn the lights on inside our house.

Within the next few minutes it will all start and for the rest of the night the music will play!!

You can see it in Wells on Friday if you fancy watching it.

A little.....

2011-11-08T08:29:00.001-08:00

....early Christmas shopping for me!!!!

Today I received 2 gorgeous parcels in the post.

The first was from the very talented Jane at Snapdragon

with a little note from Valerie who packs up all the orders.

I'd ordered a bespoke spotty glasses case for me as I found out last week I need to wear glasses. I have apparently been suffering from silent migraines - where I get annoying wavy lines going across my eyes. It is apparently a muscle complaint and a problem with bright light! So as I was feeling sorry for myself, I thought I would treat myself!

I also bought a few Christmas badges and I see a couple of extras got added to my parcel too - thank you very much!

This pudding badge has to be my favourite!

The second parcel was from the lovely Lexi at Lexi Loves.

Lexi has her own shop in the town of Cirencester. I have yet to go - I know my purse would just not cope but the other day she tweeted a photo about some baubles she had made and said they would be on sale in her shop soon.

I just fell in love with them and bought them there and then and today they arrived.

And they are just gorgeous!

So I am a happy customer - 2 lovely deliveries in one day!

Thank You!

Gift Focus

2011-11-06T01:57:00.001-07:00

Advertising is a really difficult decision to make - where to do it, how often etc. We have found that advertising in Gift Focus is good for us. It is a trade magazine, sent to Independent Gift Retailers for FREE so it is going to our market place and we do receive follow up enquiries via email from interested shops.

We have to put together the advert - well Jeff does that!

But we also get extra editorial copy within the magazine like the above feature.

And in this copy we got extra copy within a feature about great gifts under £10.00.

I find it really hard to say no to people over the phone so will now use my husband as a buffer, explaining that he has a final say on our advertising budget!!! You really do have to just find out what works for you.

Birthday Girl

2011-11-04T10:43:00.001-07:00

The cake is decorated - sweet-tastic!

The sweet garland has gone up,

the birthday bunting is hung

and the presents are wrapped.

Somehow this gorgeous baby,

then cute 3 year old.....

...is now 12!

How did that happen?

I score extra 'Mummy points' as tickets are booked for Wembley in December,

to go and see The Saturdays (Sophie's FAVOURITE group) - How I have managed to keep it a secret since June, is beyond me.

So we're now off to Ask for a birthday tea, friend in tow, then a girlie days shopping planned for tomorrow - Oh! to be 12 again.

Happy Birthday Sophie x

Day to day organised......

2011-11-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

...chaos!

I have so little to blog about at the moment because it is head down, work, work, work - just trying to keep on top of things. This time last year my trade orders had slowed right down as expected for the time of year but this year they are still 'pinging' into my inbox like anything. That's great but means the time I'd planned to design my new cards for Top Drawer in January is pretty non existent.

We are desperately trying to keep our stock levels up so when the orders do come in, we can 'pick & pack' rather than have to 'make up' every element of the order.

Our Christmas cards are flying off the shelves but quietly behind the scenes 6 of next year's 2012 cards are designed and ready for print.

My Lovely husband spent some of last week (half term hols) making up new shelves and re-organising the space, in preparation of our new notebooks arriving any time now - 16,000 mini notebooks plus re-orders of our current designs and a new 'Big Book' to be launched in January!

What hasn't changed is the mess on the end of my table - if anything it's getting worse. So many things are happening behind the scenes which I shall enjoy sharing with you over the coming weeks but for now I must hide away and get my postcard designs done, my mug designs done, my card designs done, my catalogue layout planned and organise my daughter's birthday celebrations for Friday - not much!!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Halloween

The children are excited about going trick or treating but for me Halloween is all about pumpkins - I love them!

I thought I would share with you just a few images I have been collecting over on Pinterest

Source

Love these collage faces

Source

Colourful pumpkins

Source

Velvet pumpkins

Check out some more pumpkin inspiration here

The above pumpkin is simple and very effective - just use a drill to get a spotty effect!!

Thank you

2011-10-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

The other week I received an email from someone thanking me for writing the blog, sharing my journey and the day to day happenings in the world of dots and spots. I often receive lovely comments on here, on Facebook, via email, on twitter and even over the phone but I am not very good at shouting out about them and blowing my own trumpet.

I do however really appreciate them all. I try to respond, reply, comment but sometimes time just doesn't allow it! Please be assured that I do read every single one of them and always really appreciate that someone has taken the time to get in touch.

So a very heartfelt

to you all!

I only went and......

2011-10-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

....got an i-pad!!!!!

I choose the fancy blue cover,

and ta-daaa, there you have it - my OH has set it all up and I'm good to go!

Daughter has promised to instruct me in adding i-tunes at a later date.

I do need a little bit of uninterrupted time to 'play' and get used to it and I do need to test the connection at school etc for when I am sat in the car waiting at pick up time but I do think - so far, so good!

Other recent purchases include this lovely ribbon from the White Company - I always LOVE their Christmas stuff.

I've also added to my 'tin collection' - this fab Emma Bridgewater tin, ready for the Christmas chocolates and....

....this fantastic Whittards red and white starry tin - full of biscuits ( a nice little bonus!)

Trouble with me is, that I buy things for Christmas pressies and want to keep it all for myself!

2 months today.......

2011-10-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

....it will be Christmas Eve

As you can see from the above pictures, we have lots of festive goodies to tempt you with on our website - why not take a peek.

dots and spots

Christmas Money

2011-10-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

We all love Christmas in our house and we all love to buy and give presents. We always do rounds on Christmas day, whereby everyone has a present and we all open them together, so you really see what people get given.

The children are coming to the age where they are responsible to start buying their own Christmas presents for the main members of the family. They were set the challenge last January to start saving up - what ever they managed to save - I would double!!

This morning was cash day - with out warning I asked them to hand over their purses/wallets and bring me their Christmas funds. I was truly surprised - every now and again they have been putting away the odd bit of Birthday money, pocket money etc.

Sam - for whom money burns a hole in his pocket, managed to save £34 and Sophie managed to squirrel away £46. True to my word I have now doubled what they have managed to save.

Together we have come up with a list of people they feel they want to buy for. They each have a little notebook to write down what they spend and at the end of December we will cash in what money is left and halve it. The idea being, that they now don't spend all this money on themselves and in Sam's case treat himself to loads of lego!

I think it will be a good way to start being a little more responsible about money and be aware of just how much things cost and they have both amazed me, that they have both managed to save!

I did remind them that Mum's do so much for them and that at least half their budgets should be spent on me!! LOL

I will let you know how they get on!

Gift Tags

2011-10-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

Now gift tags and I don't really go together. When I first started out I made each individual gift tag by hand. I then moved on to a printed version but each tag needed to be hand punched and strung. Cutting out 100's of pieces of ribbon was one of my most loathed jobs. So now I have my gift tags printed and strung to match our wrapping paper, packing tags are no where near as bad as it used to be.......

......well unless you are talking, packing 100's!
We are offering our Christmas gift tags in a variety of ways.

The pack above is a pack of 6 tags - 2 each of 3 designs, if you like the pattern side on the wrap.

This pack is again a pack of 6 tags - 2 each of 3 designs of the fronts of the wrapping paper.

We have a mixed pack of 6 tags where you get one of each or.....

......you can choose a pack of 6 tags of one design.

You are simply spoilt for choice - happy wrapping!

Research

2011-10-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

This morning we had to go to Bath and whilst there, with Sam counting down the minutes until opening time......

..... we headed to the Apple store to do a little research!

Both children are just so intuitive with new technology, within minutes Sophie was on iTunes and You Tube......

.......and Sam was on Angry Birds and all sorts of games. I was still trying to navigate to my blog and work out how to use the keypad! I am more convinced after talking to one of the 'Apple Guys' that it is what I need but will take hubby in half term to see what he thinks. I know it will get huge amounts of use from 2 little people if not by me!

After a couple of hours in Bath shopping, we went over to my sister's house and to the main event - my gorgeous niece's 3rd Birthday celebrations.

She is adorable and Sophie and Sam love her to bits - it's just like having a little sister!

Happy Birthday Ella.

Prima Christmas Makes

2011-10-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was alerted by the lovely Aldona (via twitter), that our tape had been spotted in the fabulous edition of Prima Christmas Makes.

This morning I found a copy and there on page 111 was our festive Decorative Sticky Tape.

It's listed under the name Berry Red, as that is the lovely stockist, who has fabulous PR and is very good at getting her lovely stock into magazines. It was the day we went on holiday this Summer, when I got a call from one of her team asking for samples. I said we were leaving for our holiday, could it wait a week - 'No' was the reply - samples were needed 'yesterday'. So we delayed setting off, I rushed together a box of samples, raced down to the Post Office and thought nothing more of it.

So glad I did them, as it's always so lovely to see things that you have designed in print.

It is a lovely magazine - full of fabulous festive ideas.

Can't wait to see if any of our things pop up in any other magazines over the festive season.

Design Time

2011-10-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

I spent a lovely afternoon in my studio on Sunday and you know when it just clicks....

.....without any effort, the designs just flowed.

The designs are for a new product to be launched at Top Drawer in January.

One for girls and one for boys.

I've had the thumbs up from my 2 children so.....

....it's off to the printers to get the ball rolling - so exciting.

Having one of those moments....

2011-10-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

This isn't a moan, I know how lucky I am to have my own business but just an honest opinion of how I'm feeling today.

I tweeted yesterday evening that I was feeling a little over whelmed by the sheer amount of what I have to do at the moment. It's the time of year when we are extremely busy with trade orders, retail orders are steadily building up and quietly behind the scenes I am supposed to be working on all my new designs for Top Drawer and our launch of new products for 2012.

I was awake between 2am and 5am, my mind just racing - I did manage to work out the new catalogue layout or so I thought, until I saw my scribbled notes done in the dark in the early hours!!

My studio is a tip - just piles of things beginning to crop up in any available space and then there is, the 'on the side' commission work to do - the things I should say 'no' to because I don't have the time but the things I say 'yes' to because I don't want to let people down.

Every now and then, I just completely stress about all I have to do. This year is different, in that I do have 2 mornings of help but of course also in that time, the business has grown.

It doesn't help that I try and squeeze in a new set of wrap designs before the end of the year. Not only is there the initial design time but then also the visits to the printers. Everything has had to be photographed for the website and then made 'live'. The order form has had to be done, samples for my agents made up before I even begin to tackle the orders.

Steve - my fab printer came and delivered all the wrap....

.... and stacked it all neatly on the shelves.

The gift tags are also here and are beginning to be made up into their various packs.

I managed to take a few photos today before I rushed home with all the orders, checked through the numerous phone messages and emails in my absence and then onto the school run.

What I really need is one of the above. I only have a cheap pay as you go phone and so don't like the smallness of the keypad etc so am debating whether to treat myself to an i-pad or a netbook with my 'BIG' order payment, so I can check on emails etc whilst over at the premises. If you have an i-pad - is it any good?

At least it is now the weekend, although it is already full to the brim with things to do. I am desperately hoping I'll be able to slope off to my studio for an hour or two if I'm lucky!

Okay, mini moan over, just feeling a little stressed by the enormity of what's ahead but I know it will all be fine in the end - plans are being made to do things differently next year, just little things to ease the stress and slow things down just a little.

Have a lovely weekend.

Advent Calendars

2011-10-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Advent Calendar

Packing up lots of orders for these Advent calendars - they are proving very popular with both our trade and retail customers. There are plenty and there is of course still plenty of time before Advent begins. This is the story of how they were made in case you missed it.

A bonus end to Summer

2011-10-02T03:17:00.000-07:00

We have been experiencing some unseasonally warm, sunny weather - what a treat! It has been glorious - at least 5 days of uninterrupted blue skies, sunshine and warm temperatures.

Autumn is nudging it's way back in and by mid week we will be back to the temperatures expected for this time of year - so we have been making the most of the sunshine and have spent most of our time out in the garden this weekend.

We have taken advantage of getting all the bedding washed and dry,

and picking the apples before they drop off the tree in the autumn winds.

The grasses are nearly over but the tips remain green and

the tree is still in leaf, although it won't be long before the leaves turn and fall but with it, leaving a smell of candy floss as they fall.

The very last sweet peas which are still in flower,

have now been picked and the delicious scent enjoyed for one last time.

So it is farewell to Summer but what a way to say goodbye and hello to Autumn.

Remember....

2011-09-30T02:17:00.000-07:00

.... the 'BIG' order that consumed my Summer.

90+ boxes that were filled to the brim with Christmas cards, place settings and decorative sticky tape. Well a lovely facebook follower let me know that she'd seen them in her local store, so I guess now they are 'out there' I can reveal where they all went.

It's to a retail chain of garden centre's called Dobbies.

I must confess until one moved into our local area I had never heard of them.

But they are big stores - 30+ stores around the UK, although predominately in Scotland and from 2008 they joined the giant that is Tesco's.

They do have a website and above is the interesting history of how the business has grown.

So after the tip off, I have been to visit our local store and there they were, dots and spots cards amongst their other Christmas bits and pieces.

I must say I did feel proud to see them there, I always get that little tingle of excitement when I see my stuff in a shop and when you lovely people out there, tell me where dots and spots goodies have been seen.

Fingers crossed they sell well and we will be doing it all again next year!!

Christmas Flyer

2011-09-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

Due to the lateness in producing our Christmas wrap or I guess you could say, sharing next year's Christmas wrap early, we have put together a Christmas flyer for our trade customers to show off all our lovely dots and spots goodies, due to arrive the end of this week.

We sent ourselves a trial copy just to check it was all OK and it was so exciting to see it on the doormat! (Okay, silly little things get me excited!) but it does look very professional!

We will be sending out a variation of this card to all our lovely retail customers who have bought from our website, slightly later in the month. If you are a trade customer and didn't receive a copy - do please let us know and we can add you to any future mailing lists and if you did receive a copy and are interested in any of our products, do get in touch.

Busy weekend

2011-09-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

Following on from the 2 recent posts on tins and boxes, I decided to cover a box with some of my wrapping paper, just to see what it looked like - and I like the idea! Will have to investigate further!

Jeff, my husband has been busy preparing the shop on our website for Christmas.

The wrapping paper is now loaded for you to view and if you click on any of the images on the page, they now enlarge! It's not available to buy yet but I hope to have it by the beginning of next week, if everything goes to plan.

We also have the matching Christmas gift tags for you to see - click through to the page to see all the various buying options.

I'm now working on a set of new smaller notebooks which will be available to buy either individually or in pairs (but not until the new year!) - there will be 16 different designs in total - should keep me out of mischief for the next few days.

My second unintentional collection of......

2011-09-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

......boxes.

Now a couple of posts ago, I shared a little unintentional collection of tins with you and was quite pleased to hear you could understand my love affair with a tin! Then the lovely Rachel commented on facebook, if I had ever considered getting my designs printed onto boxes. I have.... but as with the tins, it's the quantities and storage that are currently stopping me from going forward.

But then it struck me just how many lovely boxes I have around my home and well maybe if I liked them so much, others might buy them too, so I may, when I have a moment, investigate further.

I must confess every room in the house has a box or two in it - even the bathroom (see above)

This little collection houses my small jewelry collection - yes I know there is a tin in the photo I forgot to share with you last time.

This bow is a favourite from IKEA - it was bought for Christmas.

Even Hubby has to have a lovely, flowery Cath Kidston box to house his cufflinks!

Sam has quite a few spotty boxes for all his bits and pieces

and Sophie has quite a collection in her room too - must be following in her mother's footsteps - such good taste!

My study is just as full of boxes, as it is tins - you can never have enough in my opinion......

........ but alas like the tins, they fade so badly in the direct sunshine.

This has to be my most used box - it's full of all the usable scraps of paper I get - would be lost without it!

Have a lovely weekend.

Party Time!

2011-09-21T02:09:00.000-07:00

Firstly apologies if you think you have seen this post before, I somehow pressed 'publish post' once the images were loaded on, before adding any text - sorry, one of those mornings!

So back to the real matter - that, being parties.

We launched our range of new party invites, thank you's, party packs, magnets and wrap in July at the Harrogate - Home and Gift Trade Show and we have been over whelmed by the response - the invites, thank you's and magnets have all had to be re-printed already.

We have coordinating invites and thank you's for the boys and the girls - both have printed reverse sides to make the writing out a lot easier.

These Party Packs have been so very popular - ideal as a gift to give to the Birthday Boy or Birthday Girl or to give out as a party gift at the end of your party.

Each pack includes a notebook, 2 sheets of stickers and a magnet.

They can be bought for only £5.95

(£2.35 cheaper than if you bought all the items individually)

Our stickers have been with us for nearly a year now and are the perfect party extra - each pack contains 2 sheets so 30 fab stickers in all.

Of course you'll need to send a birthday card and these 2 fit the bill perfectly.

And finally you need to add the finishing touches with our new wrap!

Do email me if you are planning a party - we can offer a special price on our party packs, notebooks, magnets and stickers, if you want to order in larger quantities (more than 10)

info@dotsandspots.co.uk

A little unintentional collection

2011-09-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

I seem to have developed a little collection unintentionally but never the less, a collection of tins all the same. I have no use for the above tin what so ever - I just liked it last time I was out shopping, so I bought it and then I started to look around at home at all the other tins I have scattered around the place.

The First Aid tin was a present, bought from Cath Kidston (you will soon realise quite a few of my tins have been purchased from Cath Kidston)

This tiffin tin, meant for food and snacks is the perfect tin for plasters!!

This tin was from Next - part of a set of 3 but has become terribly faded in the sun in my studio - it's supposed to be for coffee but is full of scraps of sandpaper.

This tower of tins is a real mix of Cath Kidston, Tesco's and Next (another of the set of 3!) These too are faded from the sun but neatly store away bits and pieces.

This trio of tins, again a mix of Cath Kidston and Tesco's live in the larder cupboard and are home to the biscuits, cakes and a few sweet treats.

These 2 tins were bought from the Flea Market - and have so far been spared from being filled yet. They sit on the top of an old cupboard, so far out of sight, out of mind but I'm sure they won't remain empty for long!

A tin for string obviously and a really pretty tin from Greengate which was part of a set of 3, stuffed to the brim with all those little bits and pieces you don't know where to put!

This union jack tin was a present for my husband last Christmas and has stayed on the shelf where it was put when unwrapped! Looks nice though, just propped up on it's side.

This little Greegate tin is filled with all the odd birthday candles that get left over. It's full to the top so never a birthday without candles here.

This set of 3 Cath Kidston star tins sits nicely in an old French glass wall cupboard and are pretty in themselves - they hide the Calpol, inhalers, paracetamol etc.

And finally this lovely old Greengate tin - my favourite, sits on the dresser and hides all those bits of paper you feel you can't throw away. There are more tins, quite a few more and probably even more will be added to the collection over the coming months as the lovely festive tins come into the shops - I have spied some rather nice festive tins in Laura Ashley already.

I would love to see my designs on a selection of tins but the order quantities scare me for now and where would I store them all?

One day - maybe!

Festive gift wrap is on it's way!

2011-09-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

As you know, over the past few weeks I have been working on a range of gift wrap for the festive season. We are quite late in 'trade terms' as quite a lot of shops will have done there Christmas buying a long time ago but we thought we would try to sneak in past the finishing post and see if we could tempt any of our trade buyers before the Christmas season is in full swing.

I produce the imagery and then work with my printers, to do all the technical wizardry stuff to turn my initial collages into the fab wrap that has been created.

We have 3 festive designs - all double sided with a complimentary red and cream pattern on the reverse. Each sheet is printed here in the UK on 90gsm, uncoated, acid free paper.

Festive Faces

(a favourite for children)

Candy Canes

Festive Puds!

These are the final proofs and it's all systems go at the printers as I type, so should be with me by the end of the month. I have been busy today photographing our Christmas goodies in preparation for a 'Festive Flyer' to be sent out to our trade customers in the next week or so.

My poor, hard working husband has a week now, to get everything up and ready on our trade website and on our main website in readiness for the festive season and all you early bird shoppers.

I'm going to lock myself away and get busy onto my next design project now.

Have a lovely weekend.

This week is.....

2011-09-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

....National Cupcake Week

6 Cupcakes Card

Cupcake

Cupcake Tier

We have a few cupcake designs in the dots and spots collection and I must say all 3 cards are in our best sellers,

as well as our very popular cupcake tape - available in both a wide and thin variety.

Way back in June, when our house had it's little photo shoot for a glossy magazine (due out in the Spring) my friend Jo made me these gorgeous cupcakes for the day - they almost look to good to eat.....

Busy bee behind the scenes.

2011-09-13T08:47:00.001-07:00

Can't believe it was last Friday that I was on here - time is whizzing away again. No matter how organised I try to be, there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done.

We had a fabulous response to our first set of wrap at Harrogate Home and Gift and a lot of interest in a Christmas range if we could get one done in time. So I have been busy behind the scenes finalising my next set of designs, 3 of which will be Christmas and of course with the reverse of the sheet being a different design - that's 6 designs in total.

Jeff (my lovely husband) has been building the latest set of shelves, I do the final proof of the paper tomorrow, then in 2 weeks time these shelves should be full of new wrap - exciting. As soon as I have images, I will post them on our website so you can see what will be coming very soon.

I have also been having a re-think about my cards and brainstorming the different occasions to which we send a card.

I am planning on adding some new designs to our range in the coming months and was looking at which of my cards fit into any of the categories listed above.

When I first started out my designs were very general so could fit any occasion. As time has gone on, I have been asked to design for specific occasions like new baby, congratulations etc. Some of my cards fit easily into a specific category and others simply don't. By cutting the card images out and sticking them into the categories, it is quickly obvious that there are some areas I don't yet cover.

But am I missing any occasions/categories from the list above and are there any current postcard designs that you think should become card designs?

Any comments will be gratefully appreciated and those of you who take the time to leave a comment will be entered into a little giveaway of some current cards.

A little Autumn giveaway.....

2011-09-09T05:53:00.000-07:00

Tree Card

Well, as I wrote in my previous blog post, Autumn seems to be blowing in full steam ahead. It's my favourite season, so I thought I would celebrate by offering a little giveaway/thank you to all my valued customers over on the dots and spots website.

This morning I was packaging up an order and used my fab 'Spooky' tape, as we are now in Autumn and Halloween will be with us before we know it. I thought it looked great.

I was reminded that we have some seconds rolls and some rolls without a spotty inner core, lurking around in a box over at the premises, so I thought I would give them away to anyone who places an order over on our website to the value of £10.00 or over.

The tape is in perfect condition, just the inner core may be a little scruffy - it retails on our 'sales' section of our website for £2.75 a roll and could be yours, completely free, if you place an order with us, between now and the 31st of October, for £10.00 or over (*whilst stocks last).

Various Postcards

We have some beautiful, seasonal greetings cards and postcards over on our website and of course we will be thinking 'All things Festive' very soon!

Autumn.....

2011-09-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

....seems to have arrived early this year. So far we haven't been treated to the late summer sun I love but wet, blustery weather. Not my favourite, I must admit - the weather that is.....

......I love Autumn!

I have been locked away for the past couple of days, catching up on orders from the end of the summer holidays and starting to get myself into gear for the start of our Christmas season. I have already packed so many Christmas cards, it feels like we have started already! Blink and Autumn will have passed me by.

All the Autumn Magazine editions have come out - not had chance to have a proper read yet, more a quick flick through whilst grabbing a coffee.

I'm loving the new magazine - 'Mollie Makes' - it makes me want to learn to sew, knit and crochet and I just love these vegetables - not sure when I'll find a quiet 5 minutes to try but will store it in the pile aptly titled - 'one day, when time!'

This feature in Country Homes and Interiors magazine is close to home, it's a feature about The Orhard Pig, producers of Award Winning Real Somerset Cider and Pure Apple Juice. I often buy the apple and pear juice as it is soooo very delicious.

Magazines are expensive but are my one real, monthly indulgence - I have to say, Country Homes and Interiors is proving to be my favourite at the moment.