New Look

I took it into my head yesterday to re-photograph my tags. Although I wasn't unhappy with my existing photos I knew there was room for improvement. So I spent the whole afternoon 'staging' them with a box wrapped in brown paper and stringand I even got out the Christmas decorations as well :)

I am really pleased with how they turned out. These new photos make the tags look more vintage and show their gorgeous muted colours far better than the photos taken on a plain white background. I just hope prospective customers agree :)

You can see all the new photos in my Folksy shop: www.folksy.com/shops/ClaryceDesign

Folksy Friday

I have never done a Folksy Friday blog before but have been featured in a few. Folksy Friday postings are a great way to feature other sellers on Folksy and are usually themed in some way.

My theme is everything French and all the items I am featuring were found searching this term.

I hope you enjoy my selection and that you will visit all the shops featured and have a browse :)

How could I resist this little fella :) I loved knitting as a child and invariably got an adorable knitted creature of some kind from my grandmother for Christmas, so they are very dear to my heart. I especially love his quirky expression and his jaunty beret! He was lovingly created by Rosie Plumpton -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/Rosieplumton

This gorgeous miniature pendant is right up my street as I make them myself :) I love the choice of stamp featured on this vintage wooden scrabble tile. This crafter obviously knows what they are doing as it is not easy to get resin to do what you want when making these :) Check out Emma Louise's other stamp pendants here:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/RussianDollDesigns

Loved this milk churn!! What a gorgeous colour and yes, so French!! This is a vintage item and would make a great umbrella stand or side table with a round piece of glass on the top. I am sure all you creative Folksiers could come up with other great uses for it too :) Available at:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/mrfolkart

I had a really hard time deciding what to feature from this shop which is brimming over with French inspired items. In fact I found it hard to resist buying up their entire stock!! Beautifully designed and crafted paper items from tags to journals - if you love decorative papers, stamping and ephemera in general you must take the time to browse Crafty Pagan's wares :)

http://www.folksy.com/shops/Craftypagan

This beautiful collage is 'to die for'. I love interior design and anything french and am an artist at heart so I cannot say enough in praise of this piece. Such talent! This collage is so understated in line and colour yet has a great movement and vibrancy about it. I love the furniture featured, I love the decorative wallpaper and the grey/blue tones. It is ridiculously reasonable, so snap it up quick. My only suggestion would be to frame this in a huge white frame with a white mount board and float the collage in the centre. Wish I had somewhere to hang it...

http://www.folksy.com/shops/stephiemariedesigns

Last but not least another stunning picture. What a simple but effective idea for wall art. These butterflies are diecut out of vintage French ephemera and layered over one another for a 3D effect. Beautifully framed in a white box frame. There are lots of subjects and colours to choose from in this shop so hurry over...
http://www.folksy.com/shops/TerrorDome

That it is for this week. I have enjoyed browsing through Folksy and finding new favourite items and sellers. I shall certainly do so again.

Thanks for browsing :)

So Far So Good

Don't look now, but I am blogging for a second day in a row! This could be dangerous!

Today I will share the latest addition to my shop - vintage style postcards. I ordered these from Vistaprint for promotional purposes and loved them so much I decided to try selling some. Of the 100 I ordered I have already sold over half. Not surprising really when you see how irresistible they are!

They are printed on recycled white card and are blank on the back apart from my business details. I have just ordered another couple of hundred - one with my Paris image with green stamp and the other my Christmas image with the two singing angels on it. I am hoping these will sell well as Christmas cards with a difference :)

You can find the swallow postcards for sale here:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/ClaryceDesign

Best Intentions

It seems every posting begins with a promise (empty) to post more regularly........sigh.....maybe this time it might happen - yeah right!!

It has been a crazy (good) few months with a house move, summer holidays and a big push to try and grow Claryce Design...

I survived the first two and I am enjoying the challenge of the third.

How do I begin sharing with you all the new items that I have created? I guess the easiest way is to start backwards with what I have done most recently and if I keep to my goal of blogging more regularly I shall then bring out older inventory to show you :)

Over the summer I brought out a range of 'to die for' rings made from flower cabuchons. I don't know if it their colour or shape that appeals most to me or just the fact that they shout 'look at me!'

As you can see one of our new kittens ( oh yes, I should have added them to the above list) took an interest in them. These are the smaller size which measure about 18mm.

The big sisters to these are about 30mm in diameter and really make a statement! The only bad part about these rings is deciding which colour to choose!



You can see the full range here: http://www.folksy.com/shops/IdeClaire

Featured in Blog

It was a lovely surprise this morning to hear that I had been featured in a fellow Folksian's blog - Two Hip Hippos's post entitled Folksy Friday :)

Here is the post:-

Here is the link so you can go there direct :)

http://twohiphippos.blogspot.com/ and go to the post 'Folksy Friday for May 14th.

New Shops!!

I have just opened two online shops this side of the pond! Check them out:

http://www.folksy.com/stores/ClaryceDesign

http://www.folksy.com/stores/IdeClaire

The first sells my more traditional looking items and the second a new range of more 'quirky' pieces that show somewhat better the more eccentric side of me :)

These cufflinks are made from shrinkable plastic (remember shrinking crisp packets in the oven as a child - no - you missed out!!) and sealed under a glossy layer of resin. I intend to add many more designs to the range but here are a few more:-

I have also been making some more fun and frivolous scrabble tile cufflinks. Featuring Union Jacks in outrageous colours; these are bound to be a big hit in the office :)

Featured in S and O's Blog

I love this blogspot - http://sandoproductions.blogspot.com Every Tuesday they feature 8 of their favourite Etsy treasuries. I think you will agree they have exquisite taste :) They featured one of my treasuries a few months back and they have just chosen this one, that I entitled 'I Whispered Softy'. Quite an honour as they had over 600 to choose from.

This time I didn't include one of my own items in the treasury, but I am sure you will agree that the items I chose are really beautiful :)