A little of the story behind what we’re making for the shop this Christmas.
Did you know that we weren’t really going to do Christmas cards?
We wanted cards that were different, more universal, non-specific. No writing, no sentiments; just arty and interesting so that people could see what they wanted to see in the card and imagine for themselves a place where it might fit. It might have had the occasional wintry theme, but it wasn’t going to be a Christmas range, as such. But after we opened, we had a substantial amount of requests for both birthday and Christmas cards, so we discussed it, thought we should at least give it a go, and then set to work.
We wanted to keep to the ethos of doing cards that were different somehow, not your stock-standard Christmas cards. We haven’t always gone dramatically different, but we like to think our cards still reflect our personalities and our individual styles. And they are cards we’d buy ourselves.
This year, Lisa has been interested in Christmas artwork that tells a bit of a story, and to that end, she has painted the following: –
These are two of the concepts we’re working on. We’re still adjusting things, so these might not be the exact final versions, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek. What do you think?
And while we’re at it, do you prefer more bite-sized, newsy, product-related, shop-related posts? We still want to give behind-the-scenes tidbits like we have been*, but lighter and quicker. If you want a sampling, try the last three posts. Is this of interest to you? Is there anything else you want us to blog about? Tips? More book stuff? Educational ones eg writing and editing articles? Art advice? Did you prefer the more personal posts? Are you happy to just keep up with our latest products? We’d love to know your thoughts. Comment below or write to us sometime.
About the Author: Lisa Saul
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Firstly, do you like the direction we’re heading in for the blog? Shorter, lighter, newsier? Mostly shop and product related, but still with tidbits about us and behind-the-scenes? Is there anything you want us to include or start thinking about for future posts?
There is an idea, for instance, that all book-related topics could be moved to somewhere like Substack if they don’t quite fit here anymore, or for people who are just here for the novels.
And what do you think of our potential new Christmas cards? Have you got other ideas for little Christmas vignettes we can try this year or another year?
Hello!
Good on you for making the hard ongoing decisions that happen in business and pleasure. It’s great to hear you’re on the same page and moving forward with your visions.
I personally love newsy newsletters, and I come for the insights and sharing of lives. However, I delight in seeing and hearing about your creativity that ends up as products you share with the world. I’m easily pleased, I’ll be on board with whatever paths you forge.
I LOVE Christmas, so my bias will always have me cheering loudly for anything related, but I must admit I rarely put my money where my mouth is, so please feel free to ignore my enthusiasm 🙂
My encouragement is to keep following your gut/heart. Dont fear trying to meet consumer’s needs/wants/desires, just keep boldy loving and showing what you love and do, and let them authentically find you 🙂
Love this: My encouragement is to keep following your gut/heart. Dont fear trying to meet consumer’s needs/wants/desires, just keep boldy loving and showing what you love and do, and let them authentically find you Thanks so much for that encouragement. I’ll admit we’ve got ourselves into states of indecision before trying to decide what people want and how to meet that need. It can be paralysing. In the end (as I said in our subscriber newsletter) we realised that what we have to offer people is us. Our authentic friendship and joyous working partnership. That’s why we keep meeting up week after week and creating new products that are little bits of both of us. We really enjoy it. Hopefully, that’s what we’ll keep showing in our posts, and hopefully, like you, people will want to come along for the journey. We definitely want to keep some of the old… Read more »
I love Christmas too. I’ve been known to go a bit overboard with it. I tried to convince Jeff (husband – for those who don’t know me) and Tristan (son) to put up our Christmas tree this week (October), but I got funny looks and the classic: “It’s a bit early.” But the days are getting very short and very dark here, and it wouldn’t be inappropriate at all to have those lovely, cheery lights glowing. And it means we get to see the tree longer. I’ve agreed to wait until at least November. So that’s … tomorrow then. 🙂
I hope when you read this your tree is up and joyous lights are on! We had a new experience this past weekend – tree tagging! Yes, a fun morning going to a local Christmas tree farm to pick your tree and tag it now, ready for cutting and collection closer to Christmas. The whole morning made my heart sing, and how lovely it is now to have two days of ‘the getting of the tree’ event 🙂 x
That sounds like so much fun. And a great way to get the perfect size for your place. I would love to see a photo when you get the tree home and decorate it.