Valentine's is just around the corner......

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month.....

Wow, it's February tomorrow, January has just whizzed by. So I am turning my attention to Valentines Day which is a mere 14 days away.

So this weeks 50% Friday is following the LOVE theme

Our range of cards offer a few choices for that special 'Loved Up' occasion.

 We are also offering our 3 Love themed mugs but with a 20% discount. We know you'd like to see them reduced further but we simply can't afford to do so, as we buy them in, rather than print them ourselves. There are only a few listed at this special price of each design so it will be first come, first served. 

So you lucky blog followers get a heads up on tomorrows deals early. 

As always the 50% Friday will be live tomorrow for one day only.

My new favourite toy!

I was lucky enough at Christmas, to be given a new fancy phone. 

It's an i-phone 4 and I love it, especially for .....

...Instagram. 

It's a free App - you can take your own photo's and post them on Instagram. You can keep your images private or share them with anyone who's interested. You can follow other people and see the most beautiful images on there.

 I like to take a mixture of work photo's,

general nice 'stuff'.

I share a glimpse into life at home.....

and some photo's of home interiors.

I've just put together my first #instacollage! 

Fun Times!

I am an extremely visual person - I love to look at and share lovely images.

So you can follow me on Instagram *HERE*

And if you are only just discovering Pinterest - another source of beautiful images,

you can follow me on Pinterest *HERE*

Giveaway WINNERS

 Firstly a huge thank you to all of you who took time to leave a comment and take part in our little card Giveaway. With all the blog comments, facebook comments, shares, tweets and RT's we had over 500 entries, so guess what I was busy doing yesterday. 

So the winners are.......

Sam pulled out the name Bronwyn, a blog follower for the BOYS pack

Sophie pulled out the name Gemma Haynes, a facebook Liker for the GIRLS pack

 and Jeff pulled out the name Teresa Nicholls, also a facebook Liker for the MIXED pack.

CONGRATULATIONS to all three of the lucky winners 

Please email your address details over to info@dotsandspots.co.uk and I'll get you card packs in the post

New Wrap

Now we are coming towards the end of January,  life starts to even out a little. The Christmas Craziness is long out of the way, the SALE Madness is coming to an end - pre and post show prep is over. All orders are caught up with and just about sorted and we now look to February to give everything a bit of a Spring Clean. We have huge amounts of making up to do alongside the steady flow of orders, which will certainly keep us busy and out of mischief.

I thought it was about time, that I properly showed off our new wrap.

5 new designs 

in 3 colour ways

 all double sided 

so 15 new sheets but 

30 new wraps to choose from.

Spot, star, flower, gingham and stripe

 - big design on the front of the sheet and small on the reverse.

Red,

blue,

and pink.

There are of course, matching gift tags available in all sorts of different combinations.

We have also introduced the 'Wrap Pack' all 27 of our wrapping paper designs are available as a wrap pack. Each pack contains 2 sheets of folded wrap and 2 co-ordinating tags for just £3.50.

So there you have it - our new wrap. We had great comments about it at the recent trade show and it's now all listed on our website - I hope you like it too.

Family and Home

It's been a funny couple of weeks and it's when you spend time apart, you realise just how important simple family life is. We of course, were in London last week for 4 days away from the children and my parents kindly looked after them. Then since Saturday, Sam has been away for 5 days - his first time away from home. The snow hasn't helped and I've felt terribly unsettled and unfocused whilst he's been away. I've missed him.

But today I collected him, a couple of hours earlier than planned due to the weather and boy, was I pleased to see him. He was tired, a little teary, had enjoyed the activities but had missed home. Home, is something we hold very dear and family time is so precious. Now for the next few weeks, we can settle back into normal family life at home, together and fingers crossed I sleep well tonight, now everyone is home, safe x .

Giveaway update

WOW! 

Thanks for all the comments and shares on the Card Giveaway both on here and on my facebook page - I will close the Giveaway at midnight on Saturday, which will give me time on Sunday to sort it all out.

Winners will be announced on Monday.

Good Luck

Time for a Giveaway

As you know, before Christmas I was busy designing some new Greetings Cards,

 56 new designs to be precise.

 Each design is created by hand, by me, tearing or cutting paper, 

layering up a design and then inking them in.

I have really concentrated on some new designs for girls and boys and

introduced a whole new Age range.

Now Top Drawer is over, we have loaded all the new designs onto our website and I thought it was time to do a Giveaway, so I'm offering 3 sets of cards up for grabs. 

I've made up 3 different sets:

one for Boys 

  

one for Girls

and one Mixed set with the remaining cards.

All you have to do is comment on this post which set you would like,
 if you are one of the lucky winners.

If you feel like sharing this post on your blog, facebook page or twitter feed then let me know with your comment and you'll get an extra go.

3 lucky winners will be chosen randomly early next week.

Good Luck and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.

The white stuff!

 Now I'm not a fan of the white stuff but this was what we woke up to this morning, here in Somerset.

The children and Jeff all have a snow day and as you can see..... 

the children were out making the most of it at 8.30 this morning.

The kitchen is so dark due to the snow over the skylights, as is my study with it's glass roof.

 The first wave of orders from the show will be delayed slightly going out - thank goodness I didn't book them in with the courier last night. Jeff has done the post run but I'm afraid I won't be heading off to the premises today so orders will take a little longer than normal.

So I shall be enjoying a day in the warm, looking out at the white stuff. 

Fingers crossed it will be gone by the morning!

Home Sweet Home

As you know we have been away in London at Top Drawer, a Design-led Trade Show - it's our 3rd year and one of our favourite shows to do. The 4 days fly by - one day setting up and 3 days hard work but with the buzz of a busy show around you, you don't notice how quickly the time flies by.

But this year was different - we had a good show - it wasn't amazing and it wasn't dire -  it was a 'good show'. We have come away with orders, new customers, possible new leads, which, if they materialise, will have made the show a 'fabulous' show. I never get too excited though, as I've learnt over the years, that quite often nothing comes of the exciting chats! but there wasn't that buzz and excitement of previous years.

Footfall was noticeably lower than in previous years, possibly due to snow forecasts but more probably due to the terrible economic climate we find ourselves in. Spending was cautious and measured - to quote one of our customers "We can not afford to get it wrong".   

So now we are home - it's always lovely to be home after a few days away - you certainly appreciate it. The juggle of work and family life starts immediately, with the washing, food shopping, tidying etc to be done alongside the car to be unpacked, invoices to be done and orders to prep and pack. I've met some lovely people and had my annual catch up with others, who feel like life long friends. I've met tweeters, blog and facebook followers and a couple of people who recognised me from 25 Beautiful Homes Magazine (now that was odd) Hard to believe it's only 4 months until we do it all again - this time at PULSE. Blink and it will be here.

Top Drawer 2013

Saturday saw us load up the car and head off to London,

to Top Drawer at Earls Court.

We arrived to this daunting blank canvas - it always looks much worse than it is!

So are home for the next few days is Stand F15

.

And this how it looks once everything is in place

 My little perch for those quiet, sneaky, sit down moments!

So day one is over and I'm sat in my hotel room giving my feet a much deserved rest. 

Let's see what tomorrow brings - come and say hello if you are visiting.