Valentine's Day

My life has fallen into chaos with all the work I have to do so once again, another over due post (this one should have gone out on Thursday, if you couldn't guess).

Valentine's Day - or Single Awareness Day, depending on your relationship status - is probably one of the biggest days of the year for card shops, florists and, these days, anyone in the commercial industry. I think it's safe to say that I have now experienced Valentine's Day on three levels: single, taken and for the first time this year, on the other side of the shop counter (so to speak).
As you know from my last post, I had a craft fair a couple of weeks ago so naturally, I had to make a handful of V-Day cards for that. Word is spreading through my halls about my cards so as well as selling (very few) cards at the fair, I also sold some from the comfort of my own room. 

I'm not going to lie though, making lots of what I see as rather personal cards, was quite odd. The few times that I had sent a Valentine's card, it was more that just another card so making some that were for other people to send to their Valentines seemed quite strange. I didn't have any commissions, just the ones that I had made while watching TV in the evenings.

I guess I should probably share some now shouldn't I? Bring on the Hall of Cards . . . 

 I have now reached that point when if I am stuck for inspiration, I make an owl card to fit with that theme. I already have my design for Mother's Day!

 I really liked these two cards. I only had a couple of the heart embellishments otherwise I would have made more. I found the red, white and black colour scheme worked quite well for Valentine's cards. 

I was surprised that the calligraphy cards I made didn't sell. I only made two - the other one said Be Mine - but I thought, for something a bit different . . . ah well.
I plan on making lots more using calligraphy soon, especially for this weekend's fairs*.

Another owl one, yes, I know but I had to have two owls on a Valentine's Day card. I told a lie before; I did get a commission, from mum. She wanted an owl card but the two I had previously made had already gone so I had to make another one.











*That wasn't a typo, that 'fairs' was definitely a plural. Well when I say fairs, one of them is the new Manchester Maker's Market happening on Saturday. The event on Sunday isn't strictly a fair but is quite an important one for me: the St Gabriel's Annual Fundraiser. Those of you who have been with me from the beginning might remember that is was because of last year's fundraiser that I am where I am today, although don't go getting the birthday cards out yet though, the fundraiser is earlier this year!

Yet Another Flop

I was going to post this on Sunday but technical difficulties got in the way and I was laptop-less until yesterday. So here it is, a little late but here non the less.

Saturday's craft fair, if you hadn't guessed from the blog title, was a bit of a fail. I was there in plenty of time and I had a nice stall set up - like many of the other stalls - there was just no one about. I even bought my pretty heart shaped fairy lights because it'll be Valentine's Day soon.

The fair did give me a couple of things to think about with my stall (the learning curve is forever . . . er . . .curving?) and luckily - and as per usual - I had my trusty sketchbook on hand to make notes.

The first thing was that I should probably invest in a rack or small shelving unit to display my cards. This way, I can play around a bit more with my stall and try different layouts. 

To go along with this was the idea that I shouldn't wrap all of my cards up and leave some of them as display cards so people can see what they look like as cards - it's all very well showing them in the plastic wrapper but having them stood up on the table also gives me more options to play around with my display.

The other idea I had is a bit bitter. It came from watching the cake stall across from manage to get about 95% of the people to go over to her stall. How? She offered free samples. Rather than waiting for people to wander over and have a look, she invited them over with the promise of free samples. Yes I am slightly bitter about this but it's a technique that obviously works so I might try by putting chocolates or sweets in a dish on my stall. Even if it fails, it gives me something to munch on during the day!

I was able to keep myself occupied at the deathly quiet fair by doing a bit of crafting - treated myself to an extra magazine this month (those damn owls got the better of my once again, this time in the form of some really cute stamps) so I got to play around with the free gift. 

I was also productive in an architecture student sense by reading some Ruskin.

I was extra good and did a bit of networking as well by taking a wander and talking to the other crafters, picking up a couple of business cards while I was at it, although I still need to take a look on Facebook.

Despite the flop of last weekend, when I was able to get back on my laptop yesterday, I was greeted by a lovely e-mail about a new maker's market happening just down the road from me at the end of the month. Obviously, I replied immediately and I already have the form to book my place. One thing that this one definitely has going for it is that it is in student central so hopefully there will be plenty of people. Handmade is SO in right now!

Autumnal Owls

I realise that this is my second post today but this will be my entry for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

It is, of course, the autumn equinox and starting to get colder and darker. But autumn is probably my favourite time of year, and not just because that's when my birthday falls! I love the colours and bonfire night: wrapping up warm and going out to watch all the fireworks.

My first owl card

This week's challenge, to be inspired by autumn clicked immediately with me. I have recently been going through an 'owl phase'. I love absolutely anything to do with owls at the moment: cushions, accessories, t-shirts and jumpers, I've even spotted a purse I want to get! So, I decided to make some owl inspired cards. 

I began this by creating my own style of owl and made several sketches in my design book. After that, I made myself a template and had a go at making my first owl card.









I made six of these owl cards in total, all of them different, with different colour combinations but all sticking with the autumnal reds, browns and oranges that I looking to see in the next few weeks. Using the same template was useful and made it so easy to get them fairly uniform, although cutting out 12 eyes, wings and feet got old very quickly!
I added the branches straight to the card blank, having cut them from the same paper I had used for the owls. Foam pads were used to perch the owls on the branches, to make them stand out. 
I don't normally make cards with as plain a background as these are but I think it really works well this time and if needed, there is enough room to add a sentiment without ruining it.