Card and Gift Blog: February 2013

Top Ten Pretty Cards for Mother's Day ...

Today's Mother's Day inspiration is my top ten pick of pretty greetings card designs. High quality cards with delicate illustrations, beautiful embellishments and the odd touch of glitter.

From Laura Sherratt Designs these first two cards have Laura's distinctive pretty illustrations and are hand-finished with crystals, satin bows and satin flowers. Retailing at £3.50 the designs are available to purchase from the Laura Sherratt Designs website.

Behind the Design: Suki Hubbard

Say hello to ...

Suki Hubbard from Suki Design

Tell us a little about yourself and your company?
My name is Suki Hubbard and I own suki-design.com. I started work (18 years ago) in hand drawn animation producing the Tetley Tea men, Tony the Tiger and Ribena berry adverts. I worked for Snowden Fine on ‘Bob’s Birthday’, an Oscar Winning Animated Short but since mid 90’s, I have pursed my career in graphic design and illustration. My flexible design style has given me the opportunity to work for a variety of clients – from physiotherapists and publishers CondeNast to the Discovery Channel and Department of Health. Projects undertaken have ranged from technical illustrations for books, brand development and stationery, invitations and online work – with website partner Dawn Mitchell at thinkmonkeys.com. On the side, I design and make my own stationery and hand paint items for unique gifts.

Today's card picks are a few of my favourite greetings cards for Mother's Day. Bright designs bursting with colour and overflowing with beautiful graphics. First up is a selection of designs from Rosanna Rossi's Lovey Dovey Spring range. Vibrant florals, spotted with birds and butterflies, and finished with embossing and coloured foil details. Retailing at £2.75 Rosanna Rossi greetings cards are available from stockists nationwide. Visit the Rosanna Rossi website for more information.

I hope you'll forgive me for breaking away from the normal showcase blog posts to give you an update on my new card & gift project ... Piccadilly Lane.

It's been a shamefully long time since we last caught up with Petra Boase. The last dedicated blog feature was way back in 2010 (click here to see the original posts). So I'm happy to be finally revisiting Petra's online shop, with a long-overdue look at the latest additions to her collection of greetings cards.

With their fifth birthday approaching in June, Dots and Spots have been hard at work adding lots of bright, fun new products to their collection. A party theme runs strongly through the new additions with greetings cards, wrap, social stationery, spotty gift bags, and party bag treats all in the mix. The new designs come in multiple colourways and patterns giving great choice for parties and celebrations. In pink, blue and red the new products are great to mix and match with patterns of spot, star, flower, gingham and stripe complimenting each other perfectly.

Meet the Retailer: Not The Usual

Say hello to ...

Jess Sweetingham from Not The Usual - NotTheUsual.co.uk

Tell us a little about yourself and your company?
Not The Usual has been set up by two brothers, myself & Richard, and two other halves, Yolanda & Hannah. Fed up with not being able to find suitable presents and gifts for friends and family, and frustrated by previous online shopping experiences, we are aiming to provide - great gifts and presents at sensible prices, and amazing customer service; always keeping our customers up to date with the progress of their orders . We stock popular brands such as Marmite, Touch of Ginger, Hello Kitty, Twisted Twee, Mr Men & Little Miss, Orla Kiely, Penguin Books, Ladybird, Rob Ryan, Ridley's House of Novelties ... and many more! We want to help shoppers find the perfect presents for their family and friends for all occasions from Birthdays, Weddings, Christenings to Christmas. We believe that Not The Usual provides those unusual gift that shoppers have been waiting for and we are passionate about finding the perfect gift for even those 'hard to buy for' people!

Today's blog is a quick look at 'Ferdie and Friends', a brand new children's range created by Artist Erica Sturla for Holy Mackerel. We've seen Erica's clay creations previously in her 'One Lump or Two' collection, but it's great to see this new range aimed at kids.

McLaggan Smith Mugs is a family-run business based in Jamestown, a few miles from the shores of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Founded by Wally Smith in 1974, today the company his run by his wife Camille and Daughter Polly. Every week the small team at McLaggan Smith Mugs dispatch their Designer mugs all across the UK, and as far afield as Japan.

Founded in 2011, SewLomax specialise in creating attractive and wittily stitched ethical bags. The Designer behind the brand is Emma Lomax, who uses her experience, skill, and passion for all things craft-based and homemade to create a unique collection of stylish, practical bags. Today's gallery of products are the Top Five best-selling bags from the current SewLomax range. The bags are decorated with cute and quirky imagery based on Emma's original embroideries. The timeless designs depict everything from beach huts to cupcakes, and make excellent gifts. Each canvas bags is ethically sourced, and treated with Scotchguard™ to protect them from stains and ensure they're easy to clean.

New greetings card publisher, Rocket 68 is run by Illustrator and Designer Jill White. With 24 years experience in the design world, Jill has launched Rocket 68 from a love of receiving tasteful, real greetings cards (no e-cards thank you!).

Posh Totty Designs specialise in personalised jewellery and gifts for the family. Founded by Jewellery Designer, Alice Rivers-Cripps, in 2006, Posh Totty Designs has grown to a staff of ten, including four fabulous Silversmiths that hand make each of the company's stylish, contemporary jewellery creations. Beyond jewellery, the Posh Totty Designs collection has a great variety of gift ideas for mums, dads, kids and more. Today's post is my personal top five gifts from the current range; vintage-inspired breakfast sets and mugs, super cute animal lunch boxes, quirky felt camera cases, and one of their gorgeous jewellery designs.

Behind the Design: Miss Magpie ...

Say hello to ...

Emily Summers of Miss Magpie Designs

Tell us a little about yourself and your company?
I am a self-taught illustrator. I studied Costume Design for a time but discovered that it wasn't the right direction to be heading in, although I took away from it a great many new skills that have helped me with my design work for Miss Magpie Designs. I have an obsession with birds, finding them a wonderful subject matter, so naturally all of my products have a feathery theme! I like to mix my materials, usually going with a combination of watercolour pencil and acrylic ink but am just starting to branch out into the textile world as well. I particularly enjoy exploring the use of typography within my designs.

Personalised Engraved Love Pebble by Letterfest, £15.

For today's recommended Valentine's Day cards we're looking towards some extra special handmade designs. Five Dollar Shake are well-known for their stunning, luxury cards and this year's Valentine's collection are no exception.

Meet the Retailer: Hirst & Hirst ...

Say hello to ...

Joanne Hirst from Hirst & Hirst

Tell us a little about yourself and your company ...
Hirst & Hirst is myself and Andy Hirst, my husband. We sell via our shop in Oakham and online at hirstandhirst.co.uk. Selling perfectly designed, useful items; many from small British designers and makers.

Continuing our Valentine's Day inspiration, here are a few more great greetings card picks. First up is a few beautiful, bright patterned cards from Big Jon. I love the paper cut-style, intricate patterns on these designs, and how the traditional Valentine's red stands out beautifully against the crisp white background ... a classic, stylish card for a loved one. Big Jon greetings cards are available from stockists nationwide, and can be purchased online from Scribbler. Cards are available in small to large sizes, priced £2.49 -£5.99.

With Valentine's Day approaching fast it's time to have a 'Love Week' on the blog and soak up a little inspiration for our first big Spring occasion ...

To end the week, we have a fabulous array of gift goodies from the folks at Really Good. Officially launching at this weekend's Spring Fair, the wide selection of new gifts are fresh designs for the hugely popular Bright Side and Waldo Pancake ranges.