Ladder Club - Leigh on Sea - September 27 & 28 2012

 

Letter to Lynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery whose brainchild is The Ladder Club, set up by Lynn to help new greeting card publishers.

Dear Lynn

I had such a wonderful time at the ladder club seminar and took away such valuable information that I thought I would write to you straight away to say a BIG THANK YOU. As a second time laddette, it was even better for me than last year - mostly because last year I hardly knew anyone but this time, walking into the bar on the Thursday evening for the pre dinner drink, I immediately saw other ladder club members that I had got to know last year  and others that I met at PG Live. The general consensus was how fast the year had gone and, as most of us launched our fledgling publishing companies at PG Live, a mere four months ago, how far in that short time we had come.

It was with great excitement that I woke up on the Friday, eager for all the nuggets of information and wisdom that would be coming my way. And I wasn't disappointed. As you know, initially I was worried that, with the same speakers as last year, there may be repetition. Well, there was a tiny bit,  but the bit there was was well worth hearing again. Claire and Karen of Paper Salad entertained and frightened me in equal measure, by giving a realistic and white knuckle account of what it is like to land a major retailer. Jeremy Corner from Blue Eyed Sun reiterated his famous  SMART goals which was really useful and seemed even more relevant to my business this year. Particularly, as the Specific part of it was to increase turnover from 10K to 100K!  Imagining my ideal day/week and ensuring a work/life balance is a valuable exercise and one that does no harm to air again. I love the "looking back from perfect" and making sure the main thing you like and enjoy doing is the main thing you actually do.  Jeremy is just so brilliant at getting down to the nitty gritty of running a business and what makes it a success and his pearls of wisdom kept on coming; I really could sit and listen to him all day.. But move on we did. I am so glad Soula Zavacopoulos from The London Studio overcame her nerves as she gave such a useful and thought provoking talk on social media, and was full of useful tips for increasing our brand awareness and getting ourselves known in all the right place - advice which I intend to put into practise asap. The usual suspects were there with their advice and help with printing and paper and having Jakki and Warren from Progressive Greetings and Sharon from the GCA just completes this circle of fine people.

Without any exaggeration, being at the Ladder Club feels like being a member of a close and loving family and we all have you to thank for that. You are quick to praise everyone else, Pauline and Trudi for their hard work, undeniable, Bob Short from The Imaging Centre and Steve Summers from Sherwood Press for their support and help, Mark and Janet from GF Smith for their generosity, again all undeniable, but it is you who have brought this all together and without you the whole shebang would not happen. You are a star! and in my view the matriach of the greeting card industry.

Love from Nina Green

Two More Card Ranges Now Available from Cherry Picked For You

Cherry Picked For You have just published a further two card ranges, making three in total.  Our first card range was Betty's Dollies which comprises of twenty designs featuring Betty Bib's beautiful handmade Polymer Clay Dolls. These blank cards are 150mm square and are printed on luxury callisto soft white board.  They come with a lovely ribbed craft brown envelope and are individually wrapped.

Buttercup

Our second range of cards are entitled: The Botanical Alphabet. This plant themed alphabet revels in the beauty of the natural world and was inspired by the decorative qualities of illuminated manuscripts and William Morris. Painted by Brighton artist, Lesley Buckingham, in watercolour and ink, each initial depicts a flower/leaf that starts with that letter, ie Japonica are entwined around the letter J. Printed on good quality soft white accent antique art board, these cards come with a brown ribbed craft envelope and are individually wrapped. They have been designed with a 8mm white border which makes them look like the original piece of artwork that they come from and so could be mounted and framed if desired.

J for Japonica

Our third range of cards is entitled: stitched artworks. Working with textile artist, Wendy Dolan, these cards are printed from original one off stitched artworks. Using fabric paint and freehand machine embroidery these beautiful cards have been printed on luxury 300gsm soft white accent antique art board and they come with a good quality white envelope and are individually wrapped.

The Royal Pavillion, Brighton

To save you time and money, www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk  will send your card to your friend and family at no extra cost. The only cost is the price of the card you choose and the cost of a postage stamp. We save you the bother of visiting the shops, post office and post box. We dispatch the card immediately by first class Royal Mail.  We write a personal message of your choice in calligraphy script and send it to the recipient. All you have to do is complete the message box on the website with the message you want to send and type in the recipients name and address either in the message box or under the delivery address at checkout.

Happy card sending..

New Artist to join our website - Andy Driscoll of Andycrafts

New Artist to join our website is Andy Driscoll who makes beautiful wooden clocks, mirrors and home accessories.  Andy designs and creates each individual item with attention paid to each stage of the making process from inception through to the moment each piece leaves his workshop.

Hand crafted from solid English Oak

Andy works with only natural materials, recycled from sustainable sources where possible.

Whitewashed Timber Clock with Display Shelf

Driftwood Wall Mirror

Andy produces decoratively functional items which add a sense of character and syle to the home.

We Make Sending Cards to Your Friends and Loved Ones Easy

At www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk we make sending cards to your friends and loved ones easy. For no extra cost we will send your cards to your friends, family and loved ones and we will write your own personal message in handwritten beautiful calligraphy script. Simply send us the recipients name and we will do the rest.


With over a hundred beautiful cards to choose from:

 So save yourself the trouble of going to the shops, the Post Office and the Post Box and visit us today!

Last Weekend to come down to Hove for Artists Open House

Halinka's Tree Top Fairies

We are approaching the last weekend to visit our Artists Open House in Hove. So why not make a day out and visit us at: 52 Carlisle Road, Hove, BN3 4FS. A warm welcome awaits you. We are displaying the products on our website: www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk and many more new products that haven't been loaded on yet. We fling open our doors from 11am until 5pm this coming weekend. We have masses of handmade christmas decorations, handmade gifts and handmade christmas cards. We are also selling our new range of cards published by cherrypickedforyou.

Betty Bib's Organza Fairies £12 for four

Holly Berry's beautiful woven cushions

These images are a very small sample of the beautiful handmade gift ideas and christmas goodies you will be able to browse and buy this weekend.

Cherry Picked For You - Christmas Artists Open House in Hove

We are getting ready for our Open House as part of the Christmas Festival in Brighton and Hove. This is the chance to see all the lovely goodies on our website where they are available to buy. So..save the postage and packing costs and come along where a warm welcome will await you. 

We have wonderful gift ideas, handmade christmas decorations and cards.

 

 We fling open our doors at 11am until 5 pm. Why not make it a day out as there are lots of other venues taking part. The brochures are available all around Brighton and Hove which lists the venues and dates and times each house is open. We are on page three, and our house is listed as number 4 in the official brochure.

We look forward to seeing you.

Best wishes
Nina
only 42 days to go to Christmas!!

New Artist to join our website this week is Syke Meredith- Plant Dyed Handmade Dolls

Skye Meredith comes from a very creative family. Skye's mum uses plants to dye her Wensleydale wool and Skye delves into these abundant wool baskets, overflowing with gorgeous natural coloured wool and makes unique handmade dolls.

Green Doll £27.50

Green doll above has been made using a felting needle around a pipe cleaner frame. She has been plant dyed using chamomile, indigo and madder and her hair is naturally curly Wensleydale fleece dyed with onion skins.

Yellow Fairy Doll £27.50

Yellow Fairy Doll's dress is plant dyed chamomile and indigo and her hair is naturally curly Wensleydale fleece dyed with woad.

Rainbow Doll £27.50

Rainbow Doll's dress is dyed with cochineal, madder, chamomile and indigo.  Her hair is naturally curly Wensleydale fleece and has been dyed with onion skins.

Each doll is unique, handmade with love. Click on Textiles and then Dolls to see the whole range of Dolls that Skye is offering. Each one would make a wonderful gift for someone special or as a treat for yourself and your home.

Cherry Picked For You Goes To The Ladder Club in Southend-on-Sea

At the end of last week I attended the first day of the ladder club which is a brilliant seminar organised by Lynn Tait of Lynn Tait Gallery in Leigh on Sea and her trusty helpers, Trudi and Pauline. The first day is for budding greeting card publishers (like me!). Everyone is so friendly and generous with their help and advice.

Wednesday 19th October I travelled to Southend-on-Sea  to meet up with some of the delegates on the seminar and all the speakers.  We gathered in the Westcliffe Hotel for a three course meal where there was a speaker on each table and we all spent a lovely evening getting to know new people.

Thursday 20th October was the first day of the seminar. After a welcoming cup of coffee and a photo we kicked off with Lynn giving us a potted history of how The Ladder Club started and its aims. Basically, it is to help budding greeting card publishers climb the ladder to success in this inspiring and friendly industry.

Jackie Brown, the Editor of Progressive Greetings and Founder of the Henries Awards (the equivalent of the Oscars in the Greeting Card world) came next. She explained how her magazine is a useful tool for us to get our work known and find out all the current trends in greeting cards. I have read the last three issues and it is packed full of useful information and news.

Next up was Sharon Little, the Chief Executive of the Greeting Card Association. The GCA is a brilliant organisation run on a non-profitable basis for greeting card publishers. Their website is a mine of useful information and Sharon is at the end of the phone to help with any problems and answer any questions. Sharon's talk outlined how the GCA can help new publishers.

Claire and Karen of Paper Salad, who set up their company 6 years ago and have just won a Henries Award spoke of the pitfalls that can occur as you grow your company. They gave a very realistic slant on what it is like to take this exciting journey and some of the mistakes they made.

All this was before our first coffee break.

After coffee, Jeremy Corner owner of an award winning greeting card company, Blue Eyed Sun gave a talk on the nuts and bolts of the industry. Jeremy is known as the guru to new publishers, helping them out with advice and insider knowledge. He certainly did that. Jeremy explained about the many different hats a greeting card publisher has to wear from doing the accounts, boxing up and dispatching cards, creating and designing and what to prioritise.  He also gave some excellent advice on marketing and selling, trade shows, agents and cash flow planning. Phew!

After a delicious lunch we listened to presentations from Bob Short of The Imaging Centre who runs a very successful company specialising in digital printing. Digital is the way to go when you start out as you can do short runs and test out your designs.  However, when you get more successful and established and you need to do bigger print runs of your designs then Litho Printing is a good option. Steve from The Sherwood Press explained all about Litho Printing.

Next we had a very informative talk by paper manufacturers G F Smith. Debbie Wigglesworth and Mark Jessett shared their love of paper and how it is an integral part of the design of greeting cards. Most people work out their designs and then think about what board they will use. Debbie feels it should be the other way round with paper taking the centre stage and working the design round it. It certainly makes sense as paper behaves differently when printed and so can become an integral part of the design process.

What a day! Thank you to everyone for all your help and advice. I am now on my way!!

Nina Green, Director Cherry Picked For You




































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Jan Constantine - Hand Finished Love Cards with Swarovski Crystals

With a design background in fashion, interiors and styling, Jan Constantine has created a unique collection of original, hand-embroidered designs on exquisite textiles and home accessories. Her range of cards depict these images. We are really pleased to be able to offer Jan's famous "Love" Banner card Hand Finished with real Swarovski Crystals.

Perfect Card to send to the one you love.

Her equally famous "Love" Tatoo card, again Hand Finished with real Swarovski Crystals:

And her "Romany Heart" card embellished with real Swarovski Crystals:

And finally, Jan's famous "Leopard Jack Print" card, again Hand Finished with real Swarovski Crystals:

A perfect card to send to the one you love on their birthday.

All these cards can be purchased from us for the very reasonable price of £3.99 with free delivery.

Anniversary and Love Cards by Nina Green

Individually handmade and lovingly put together these original cards by Nina Green are very special. The Love and Anniversary Cards feature a handmade porcelain heart on wire with a bead.

Love Anniversary Card with Porcelain Heart on wire with bead

These cards can be made even more special by adding the date you want to celebrate on a heart on the inside front cover.

simply email the date you would like to celebrate

The Love Cards can be sent at any time but would obviously make wonderful valentine cards.

New Artist to join our website this week is Claire Vine of Elsy & Vine

Claire Vine, of Elsy & Vine, makes beautiful handmade cushions, brooches and lavender bags in top quality lambswool. Each individual handmade piece has been cleverly created to allow layering and  mix matching in response to individual mood or character. So..escape in the pleasure of creating your own colourful world.  Elsy & Vine are ardent supporters of British craft and industry and wherever possible source materials and expertise from as close to home as possible.

Happy Days Cushion in blue/green lambswool

The Happy Days cushion is inspired by family holidays and depicts a large caravan repeat on one side and knitted spots on the reverse. It sports a complementary zipper at the base of the cushion and a 'forgarty' hollowfibre machine washable cushion pad.

The reverse of the Happy Days cushion in blue/green lambswool

Knitted lambswool and marino wool lavender bags, stuffed with locally sourced lavender are handmade using the best quality lambswool.

Cloud Lavender Bags in three designs

 

Adorable caravan brooches.

New Artists to join our website this week is Lara Aldridge Glass

Lara Aldridge Glass is a design partnership of Lara and Jon Oakley. Starting business in 1994 after finishing their studies, they are now located in a new larger studio space in central Brighton. Lara Aldridge Glass specialise in kilnformed glass and metal, their work is instantly recognizable due to the processes involved to produce every piece.

Beautiful wall panel 

Each piece is handmade by themselves, using a combination of metals in the form of sheet, rod, wire and powder which is assembled onto a single piece of glass creating a metal collage, having been originally inspired by Gustv Klimt whose work is also produced using the collaging process.  This process can take a number of days to assemble the finished designs. The final step is for another piece of glass to be added on top of the collage and the whole assembly being fired in the kiln. The kiln fires up to 1000 degrees centrigrade, and dependant on the scale of the piece being fired can be in the kiln for 7 days.

Another beautiful wall panel

These beautiful wall hanging are only some of the products produced by Lara Aldridge Glass.  On our website: www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk you will find sets of glass coasters and beautiful bowls and dishes. So relax with a nice cup of tea and browse their collection.

Beautiful Glass Bowl

New Ceramic Artist this week is Annette Bugansky

Annette Bugansky is a British Ceramic Designer who graduated from Central Saint Martin's in London in 2005 with an MA in Ceramic Design. In 2009 Annette won Best Contribution to the Show at Origin, awarded by Crafts Magazine. 

We are really excited to have Annette on board as we just love her handmade porcelain cups that can also double up as a vase. Freesias or other small flowers look lovely in them. They are available in five patterns, Aran, Cable, Chain, Rope and Twist and they are fired to 1280 degrees centrigrade which makes them totally watertight.

Aran Patterned Cup/Vase by Annette Bugansky

Annette also makes the most gorgeous Porcelain Tea Lights. When lit the Tea Light emits a warm amber glow that highlights the rich surface of the knit textured pattern. Available in two patterns: diamond and rib. The natural matt finish of the porcelain is complimented with a glossy glaze inside.

Diamond Patterned Porcelain Tea Light 

Finally, Annette produces these gorgeous set of three Heart Decorations which make a lovely gift for someone special or as a treat for yourself and your home. Each heart features a slightly different texture pattern and is embellished with a heart shaped jewel making them special and unique.  Made of the finest porelain and glazed on the front they hang on a 3mm red satin ribbon.

Use them to decorate your home all year round. I have my set on some twigs in the kitchen. Especially lovely for Valentine's Day or equally gorgeous hangng from the Christmas Tree.

New Ceramic Artist this week is Kathy Laird

I have been trying to get Kathy to join my illustrious group of artists for ages. In fact, I set up www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk with her in mind! I have been buying her beautiful garden pots and ceramic pictures for a few years and when I had the idea of opening an online showcase for designer led handmade products she was one of the first people I thought of. I didn't realise at the time how difficult it would be to get her to be part of my website. To be fair, Kathy is a very busy person. She is not only a ceramicist but also a landscape garden designer - which is very apparent in her work! Now she happily manages to find the time for both her garden work and the ceramic studio she works out of in Brighton. You can see from her ceramic landscapes the gardening influence.

We now have a lovely range of Landscape pictures by Kathy which would make a great gift for someone special in your life or as a treat for yourself and your home. Simply click under Artists and scroll down the Ceramic Artists to get to Kathy Laird to see the full range of landscape pictures we are able to offer.

Kathy also makes gorgeous pots that are frost free which means they can be left out in the garden, or attached to a garden wall (there are very useful holes in the back to place them on a wall) all year round even when it is icy cold and snowing! She also makes adorable jugs. Both the jugs and the pots are hopefully coming soon. So watch this space....

 

New Jewellery Artist this week is Michele Rosaus

Michele Rosaus works from her Brighton based studio, Lostwerks, where she specialises in hand made, limited or one-off necklaces, earrings and bracelets in gemstones and sterling silver.

Turquoise Button Necklace £58

This beautiful turquoise button necklace is created from natural green/blue turquoise overlapping beads and is finished off with a sterling silver toggle. A beautiful and flattering colour against the skin and a great choice for the summer.

Blue-Lace Agate & Leaf Charm Bracelet £45

Inspired by the summer skies, this sterling silver and bead bracelet is made from 16mm faceted Blue Lace Agate stones and cream and pewter coloured Swarovski crystal pearls. It is finished with a large Sterling Silver Leaf, cluster and ring charm.

Michele's beautiful handcrafted jewellery is created from unusual and often uniquely cut semi-precious stones, which are chosen for their very flattering colours and hues and for the way they catch and reflect light. This often means that each piece is individual to the wearer. Michele's jewellery is influenced by long lost skills, vintage traditions and imagery. However, Michele imbues each piece with its own contemporary flair and a modern and often sculptural twist. All Michele's jewellery is carefully designed in length and shape to be very wearable and complimentary to the human form.

To view all Michele's work, click Artists, Jewellery and then on her name. Or use the media bar and look under earrings, necklaces and bracelets.

New Jewellery Artist ths week is Kirstin Moore

We are excited to have Jewellery Artist Kirstin Moore join us. Kirstin makes the most exquisite Freshwater Pearl Necklaces, Earrings and Bracelets. She then adds garnets and black onyx to make really striking pieces of jewellery that you will want to wear or give as a present for the special person in your life.

Freshwater Pearl and Garnet Necklace £39.95

 

 

Each of Kirstin's pieces of jewellery on  www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk are from The Regency Collection. This collection is inspired by the jewellery of the regency period using beautiful freshwater pearls, which were fashionable at the time, and complimenting them with semi-precious stones to add an extra dimension. Each piece is hand strung onto sterling silver wire adding a modern twist to the pieces.

Freshwater Pearl and Garnet Bracelet £24.95

This classy 8 inch bracelet is made of 6mm Grade AA freshwater pearls and 4mm round garnet beads. The silver wire setting on this bracelet accentuates the depth of colour of the garnet beads and beautifully reflects the warmth of the freshwater pearls.  A cluster drop emphasised by a stunning single coin pearl enhances the piece perfectly.

Freshwater Pearl and Garnet Earrings £17.95

These gorgeous cluster drop earrings combining beautiful 6mm Grade AA creamy white Freshwater Pearls with rich 4mm red garnets strung on silver wire match the bracelet and necklace and make a wonderful set of jewellery. Each piece can be worn separately but together they make a stunning collection.

Artists' Open Houses in Brighton and Hove and Fairy Sales Have Gone Through the Roof!

It is Monday afternoon as I write this and still I am feeling exhilarated. We have just completed our third weekend where we opened our house to the public as part of the May Festival. Most of the beautiful products on our website were displayed and the feedback from the people who came through our door was just brilliant. Running a website can be a little isolating as I'm not sure how our customers view the collection but hearing them praise it's coherence and tell us how inspiring it all is, coupled with the comments people left in our Visitor's Book is just overwhelming.

Every one loved the fairies, both Betty Bib's and Halinka's. Remember Halinka has designed us our very own fairies with cherry berets with green stalks,befitting to our name: www.cherrypickedforyou.co.uk

Our very own Cherry Orchard Fairy Couple

The Male Fairy has a choice of Lady in different attire - lucky!

 

 

 

Halinka is also well known for her rabbits and, of course, she had to design us the most adorable rabbits with cherry red jackets.

Betty Bib has also designed us our very own fairies. Betty Bib (aka Lesley Buckingham) is a renowned Fairy Artist, having written three best selling books on fairies which she not only wrote but illustrated too. These Sparkly Fairies can only be purchased from us:

Betty Bib's Boxed Fairies - each with her own special name in a scroll in the lid

Fairy sales during the Artists' Open House weekends have been very high. The biggest seller being the Betty Bib Fairy in a box that has her own secret name in a scroll in the lid which can only be discovered when she becomes yours! With so many fairies to choose from their was a frenzy of purchases but not before much deliberation as each fairy is unique.

We have one more weekend, which starts next Saturday, 28th May and goes through to Sunday 29th May. So come and visit us at 52 Carlisle Road, Hove, East Sussex between 11 am to  5 pm on either day and you will be guaranteed to see a fabulous collection of textiles, ceramics, wood, glass, jewellery,  and felt.

New Artist on Cherry Picked For You This Week is Jools Yasities

We are very excited to have Jools Yasities join our illustrious group of artists this week. Jools makes exquisite handmade books with gorgeous textile or leather covers. These books take several hours to make, and sometimes even days, as so much love and devotion goes into making each one.

Tall Leather Hand Bound Book £23.99

This is an elegant, tactile book incorporating 10 signatures of 16 pages each, making 160 pages in total, in plain white, unlined paper of 90gsm. A feature seam decorates the front cover, oversewn with black thread on this butter soft leather. Coptic stitching adds to that extra special handmade charm, and ensures the pages lay comfortably flat when working. The inner cover sports a complimentary multi-striped heavyweight paper. This book is the perfect size and weight to travel with and write or draw in style. It would make a wonderful present for the special person in your life or a daily treat for yourself as it makes a great diary.

Large Abstract Flower Hand Bound Journal £18.50

This Journal cover is inspired by umbel flower forms in nature, the covers are unbleached cotton, the back being plain and the front a riot of gorgeous grey, washy watercolour effect flower shapes. Consisting of 12 hand stitched signatures of 16 plain, unlined pages, 192 pages in total. The paper is 90gsm, which is sutiable for ink and dry media.

Small Leather Hand Bound Book £20

This is a very soft and supple grained leather.  Four eyelets on each cover are threaded with thick suede thonging that can be wrapped round the book or tied to keep it closed securely. Coptic stitching ensures that the pages will lay flat when open.  Consisting of 10 signatures of 12 plain, unlined pages, 120 pages in total. The paper is 90gsm and suitable for ink or dry media.