28 October 2011

Exclusive christmas shopping events ...


What a productive week we have had design wise!  First of all we have designed a flyer for the Christmas shopping events at our gift shop .....




If you live locally please feel free to join us, we have lots of lovely new stock that will be ideal stocking fillers.

We have also been busy in the studio designing our new ranges,  we have also completed two new Christmas Gift Wraps for 2012, I know it seems early but they have to be ready for the trade shows at the beginning of the year.




The first completed design is Christmas baubles, which we think is for flat wrap, maybe printed on brown craft paper with foiling.




and a santa design, this is for roll wrap and will have three different backgrounds, yet to be decided.  They will be scanned and the backgrounds added on the computer.



We have finally got the 'official' photo from The Henries!!

Hope you all have a great weekend.


27 October 2011

Our Top 10 Best Selling Spring Seasons greeting cards.....

So far these are our top selling cards in our spring seasons range.


No.10


No. 9


No. 8


No.7


No.6


No.5


No.4


No.3


No.2


.......and finally our best selling card in our Spring Seasons 2012 is 


No. 1

If you are a trade customer and would be interested in stocking our range please get in touch.



26 October 2011

Paper Salad Money Boxes now in Stock ....

We have finally got the photos of the money boxes we designed for Smiling Faces ...







They are now available to buy in our gift shop, retailing at £11.99 each.

We LOVE them !!!!!!!!

25 October 2011

Christmas cards now available in our shop .....

All of our Christmas Cards are now available to buy in our shop either singly or in packs, also packs of gift tags available.













24 October 2011

Photos from last weeks greeting card seminar....


We are back in work today after what seems like ages, what with The Henries, then The Manchester Gift Show,  followed by three days down on the South East coast at The Ladder Club Seminar.  We are back in creative mode working on our next designs, as well as trying to complete two designs for Christmas Gift Wrap for Christmas 2012.


It took us the whole day to get to the venue, the first leg was 2 hours on the train from Stockport to London Euston.  Ryan Thomas (Aka Jason Grimshaw from Corrie) was on our train, we held him up struggling to get our bags in the luggage compartment and he was very pleasant indeed.


On our way through London we spotted a Taxi, that reminded us of our new gift wrap!!

Two tube rides from Euston to Fenchurch Street Station, stopping for lunch in between.


Then finally a 50 minute train ride to Westcliff On Sea .....


After arriving at our hotel and dumping our bags, it was a quick change before meeting up with Sharon  from the GCA and Tracy from Progressive Greetings...




Industry experts spoke about all aspects of the Greeting Card Market, and included founder of the Ladder Club Lynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery,  Jakki Brown from Progressive Greetings and The Henries Awards, Debbie and Mark from G.F.Smith Paper Merchants, Bob from the Imaging Centre, Steve and Nicky from The Sherwood Press, Sharon Little from The Greeting Card Association, Jeremy Corner from Blue Eyed Sun and of course yours truly.


Around 100 delegates came to the 2 day seminar and went away with a wealth of knowledge.  This event is key for new publishers, and also to existing publishers as it helps to keep the industry fresh, and the UK on top of a very creative industry.


Our role was to talk about our story, and the highs and lows of being a greeting card Publisher, so that delegates get a good idea of the industry and what they can expect, we also spoke about licensing and branding.

All in all it was a great two days, we all had positive feedback and we met some lovely people who we hope will become very successful in our fantastic industry.

Back to designing .......




18 October 2011

Off to talk at the Ladder Club Tomorrow ....




Yesterday we met Janet from GF Smith for lunch to celebrate our Henries win, before taking a look at the New Manchester Gift Show......and came back to the office to these lovely flowers sent to congratulate our win, Thanks to Nigel and everyone at Hallidays and Marjorie and Jason.





The show was held at the Trafford Centre and we were keen to take a look as it is so close to where we live.  We were met by these two on arrival.


There were a few card companies there, the biggest card stand was taken by North West agent Neil Greenwood, where he took space to represent the companies he carries.  Including Laura Darrington, Velvet Olive, Brainbox Candy, Urban Graphic, and Pango amongst others.




Our honest opinion of the show was that as it is very regional it probably wouldn't be worth doing, having said that it is very cheap at only £125 per metre.



The dreaded time has come around for us to talk at the Ladder Club, so we won't be around for the next few days.  The Ladder Club is great, we just hate talking to so many people and get so nervous, we have spent all day writing what we are going to say but it will all go to pot when we stand up to talk, wish us luck!!

17 October 2011

We won at The Henries .....

Hooray!!  We are both still in shock but we won a 'Henrie" at last weeks prestigious greeting card awards which were held at The Lancaster Hotel in London.

We were nominated in the Best Giftwrappings Collection with our designs which we licensed to Glick and they entered under the Paper Salad Brand.

We were up against stiff competition and really didn't expect to win!  Other finalists were Gorgeous and Girlie from Marks and Spencers and Orla Kiely Paper Collection.

The Henries greeting card awards were launched by Progressive Greetings Worldwide magazine in 1997 to recognise and award the excellence in the UK greeting card design and execution, with awards covering the whole spectrum.  The Henries are so called after Sir Henry Cole who was an eminent Victorian, whose 'claims to faim' include the UK's famous Great Exhibition of 1851, being the first director of the Victoria and Albert museum, a leading light in the establishment of the Penny Post - and most importantly he introduced the first ever commerical Christmas card! The awards are judged by 30 of the UK's top greeting card buyers including Paperchase, Waitrose, John Lewis and WH Smith.



We haven't as yet seen the official photos of us receiving the award but here are a few photos of the night ....




Before the award ceremony began


Laura Darrington and one of 'The Bearded Ladies' Aka Mark from Brainbox Candy.



Mark and Ben from Brainbox Candy, the night had a Circus theme, hence the fancy dress.



Karen with one of the girls from Stop The Clock Design.




Gavin and Anna from The Little Dog who were up for nomination in three categories with their fantastic cards.







The view from our room at The Lancaster Hotel over a lovely  Autumn day over London and Hyde Park.



Karen celebrating with Ian Hylands from Noel Tatt.







Award founders and editors of Progressive greetings Jakki Brown and Warren Lomax.  

More pics to follow....