Brighton Rocks!

Recently I visited my sister for a weekend and flew down to Southampton to celebrate her birthday.  We had a lot of fun together, including a shopping trip to Brighton. I love Brighton, it just gets better with delightful shops and eating places, the pier, the beach and The Pavilion.

The Royal Pavilion is completely over the top - a pastiche on oriental architecture and a mix of Chinese and Islamic styles - but it is the white stone that stops it becoming tacky and tasteless (mind you, you should see some of the interiors)! 

It's such a striking building, built as a holiday home for George IV when he was Prince Regent (wasn't he the one who died on the toilet)? The gardens are quite pretty - although not very imaginative - and, with the busy road outside, it's not a tranquil place. 

However, it has inspired me enough to make a diorama from watercolour paper of the architecture that epitomises The Royal Pavilion.  If you want to make a diorama of your own please visit Made In The UK and follow the simple steps to creating your own. 

Recycle - Reuse

Recently, at work, we had the bright idea of recycling old Ladybird books to make note books. We had a lot of fun making them but we were left with a lot of lovely illustrated pages.




Then I remembered that Lynsey of Swirlyarts makes recycled envelopes and gift tags so it made sense to send them to her to make use of. I got a lovely surprise when I received one of her large hand made envelopes packed full of small recycled envelopes and gift tags. The illustrations are from The Lives of The Composers.




So thank you Lynsey for the wonderful gift. If you would like to find our more about Swirlyarts visit her on Folksy and Etsy.

Look what she did!

Beautiful books hand stitched and constructed by The Gift Shed using wax batik paper made by me!!! Here's Galloping Gecko (top) and a red Giddy Gecko. http://TheGiftShed.etsy.com


I am now selling batik papers in packs of three http://ILoveRed.etsy.com and don't forget that shipping is free!

Hooray for Auntie's Card Shop

Today I received a lovely set of mini envelopes from http://auntiescardshop.etsy.com . These are perfect for sending out glass tokens or business cards. Auntiescardshop also recommends them for packaging beads, seeds, earrings, buttons and small notions. Each one is hand cut, folded and glued using acid and lignin free paper. They come with a blank white cardstock insert so you can write your own sentiment on them if you wish.
She also sent me two free gift tags and I am so impressed with the quality and also with her attention to detail. It was such a nice thing to receive in the post. It's shops like Auntie's that makes shopping on Etsy so enjoyable.

Promotional Ideas

Apart from business cards there is a huge variety of promotional items and ideas to be bought on Etsy. Here is a selection of promotional goodies and the etsy shops where I bought them.

• When I send out items from my shop I like to enclose a small note book. The original book was sent to me by http://kupokiley.etsy.com/. Kiley makes beautful handbound books and will also make books to commission .
• But a blank notebook is not a promotional item unless it has my URL on it. So I commissioned a rubber stamp, made for me by http://onefourzero.etsy.com/. I love this stamp and stamp it onto EVERYTHING in red or pink ink.
• The car bumper sticker was really good value for money, made for me by http://byleedesign.etsy.com/ and has my avatar and my etsy address in large letters on a red background.
• One of my best ever purchases has been promotional buttons (badges) made by http://kittycrossbones.etsy.com/. I was lucky enough to buy these on her birthday and got 100 for the price of 50. I ordered 50 with my designs and 50 to promote the Arts Factory where I work. I also won free magnets and these look really great. Kittycrossbones also sells stickers, scratch cards and notebooks.
• Finding pretty paper to make book covers is a pain so I was pleased to find washi paper for sale on Etsy. I bought some lovely decorative paper from http://jasminejewels.etsy.com/. check out her origami papers too.