Blue Eyed Sun

Blue Eyed Sun - gorgeous greetings cards

Card Industry News

  • The Retas Greeting Card Retailer Award Winners 2012

    Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners of the Retas Awards 2012 celebrating Greeting Card Retailing in the UK. We hope that you enjoyed the evening and would like to thank all of you who stock our cards. We consider ourselves very privileged to be serving such a fine host of retailers. For those of you we are not supplying us, what are you waiting for?!

    Click here to stock us.

    Our lovely customer Mayther wins The Reta for Greeting Card Retailer of the Year

    The Retas Awards Winners 2012 are:

    Medici Gallery, South Kensington won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - London
    Hallmark, Holloway
    Heaven, Orpington
    Lizzie's, Battersea
    Rosebud Trading, Camden and Old Street
    Fresh, Witney won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - Home Counties
    But is it Art, Reading
    From The Heart, Hungerford and Wootton Bassett
    Sincerely Yours, Shenfield
    The Secret Garden, Borough Green
    The Card Centre, Felixstowe won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - East Anglia
    Abigail's, Dereham
    Belly Button, Norwich
    Cards N Things, Hellesdon, Norwich
    Celebrations, Aylsham
    Three Wishes, Verwood, Ringwood and West Moors won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - South West
    Best Wishes, Torquay
    Cardiac, Bedminster, Bristol
    Shorelines of Cowes, Isle of Wight
    Something Extra Special, Worle
    Token House, Nottingham won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - Wales and the Midlands
    Card Gallery, Mapperley
    RSVP, Porthcawl
    Special Occasions, Castle Bromwich
    Write Here, Shrewsbury
    Paper Gallery, Lancaster won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - North and Northern Ireland
    Derbyshires, Formby, Liverpool
    Just For You, Sheffield
    Mantons, Isle of Man
    Occasions, Holmfirth, Sheffield
    Kairds, Orkney won Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - Scotland
    Best Wishes, Aberdeen
    Paper Plane, Glasgow
    The Gift Box Too, Peebles
    The Square Peg, Lochgilphead
    Ruth Foster, branch manager for Card Bar, Sherborne is Greeting Card Retail Employee of the Year
    Diane Harvey, retail manager/buyer for CATS, Leeds
    Sarah Lazar, manageress for The Village Card Shop, Streatham Vale, London
    Janine Lewis, shop assistant for Cool! Cards, Oswaldtwistle
    Tim Wearing, manager for Pen To Paper, Brighton
    Greetings Galore, Bristol and Gloucester won Best Greeting Card Retailer Newcomer - South
    B Cards, Forest Hill, London
    Kerfuffle, Brighton
    Polka Dot, Keynsham, Bristol
    The Card Shop, Portishead
    Celebrations, Stourbridge won Best Greeting Card Retailer Newcomer - North
    Cards & Candles, Lancaster
    Conochies, Shetland
    Daisey Chain, Sutton Coldfield
    Greetings of Ellesmere, Ellesmere
    Bookends, Christchurch won Best Non-Specialist Independent Retailer of Greeting Cards
    Forty Four, Lincoln
    Fussy Nation, Notting Hill, London
    NPO, Downpatrick
    Pogmoor Post Office, Barnsley
    Mayther - seven shops in the South of England won Best Greeting Card Small Multiple
    Between The Lines - 12 shops in the South East
    Funky Pigeon - nine shops in London
    Hallmark - five stores in Northern Ireland
    House of Cards - seven shops in the South of England
    Penmark - 11 stores in the Midlands
    Bentalls, Kingston won Best Department Store Retailer of Greeting Cards
    Hamptons, Penarth
    Jarrold, Norwich
    John Lewis, Oxford Street
    Selfridges, Oxford Street
    Tesco won Best Supermarket Retailer of Greeting Cards
    Asda
    Morrisons
    Sainsbury's
    Waitrose
    Waterstone's won Best Non-Specialist Multiple Retailer of Greeting Cards
    Hobbycraft - 60+ stores nationwide
    National Trust - 200+ branches (inc 15 high street shops) nationwide
    Temptation - five stores in the Home Counties
    Walkers Bookshops - six stores in the Midlands and East Anglia
    WHSmith - 586 travel outlets and 611 high street stores nationwide
    Card Factory won Best Specialist Multiple Retailer of Greeting Cards
    Card Bar - 21 branches
    Cards Galore - 40+ branches
    Cardland - 24 stores in Scotland & Northern Ireland
    Clinton Cards - 400+ branches
    Paper Kisses - 28+ branches
    Scribbler - 22 branches
    Haskins, Ferndown, Snowhill, Roundstone and West End won Best Garden Centre Retailer of Greeting Cards
    Bridgemere Nursery and Garden World, Bridgemere
    Brookfields Garden Centre, Nottingham
    Burford Garden Centre, Burford
    Forest Lodge Garden Centre, Farnham
    Lynn Tait Gallery, Leigh on Sea won Best Greeting Card Retailer Initiative
    Clinton Cards - for its 'Sing It With Love Valentine's Day' activity
    Fenwicks, Newcastle - for its cloth bag promotion
    Stationery Boutique, Ampthill - for its 'I Love Mum' afternoon tea Mother's Day competition
    The Secret Garden, Borough Green - for its a 'Draw your Dad for Father's Day' campaign
    Budget Greetings Cards won Best Greeting Card Service Based Wholesaler
    Abbey Cards, Hayes
    CAPS, Manchester
    Jacksons Greeting Cards, Sheffield
    KH Distributors, Enfield
    Rupert Magnus, Acton

    NB: Wherever possible the names of the shops are clickable for you to be able to see finalists website and social media links.

    Now in their eighth year, The Retas are established in recognition of the tremendous contribution that retailers both large and small, make to the success of the greeting card industry. Launched by Progressive Greetings magazine in 2005, The Retas recognise and celebrate not only the top independent and multiple greeting card retailers regionally and nationally, but also the new generation of retailers as well as employees of outstanding excellence.
    This year the Retas Awards, the ‘Oscars’ of greeting card retailing, were held at at a Hollywood themed luncheon at at The Dorchester Hotel on Wednesday 11 July, where the winners of 2012 were announced. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!

    To visit the Retas Awards Website click here.

    Click here to request more information on Blue Eyed Sun.

    Thanks to Clairey Meadowcraft (aka Blue Badger) from Shorelines Gift Shop in Cowes for her help with info fed live from today's Retas.

  • What I learned from the Dutch Greeting Card Association

    Jeremy Corner in Holland speaking about the Greeting Card Association

    Last week I was invited to fly to Holland to speak to the Dutch Greeting Card Association about our GCA and the state of play with the UK card market. It was a fascinating trip, so I thought that I'd briefly share some of it with you.

    First of all, the Dutch GCA is very different from our UK GCA which is for Publishers only and very much focussed on nurturing and supporting greeting card publishers. Theirs is a tripartate arrangement between Publishers, Retailers and the Dutch Postal Service (Post NL). Because of this set up, and the involvement of the Dutch Post, they have a lot more funding than our GCA has in the UK (even though their market is a lot smaller than ours).

    The Dutch GCA does some great initiatives with this funding. For example, they have invested in a short TV series which meets people buying greeting cards in card shops and tells the stories behind why they are sending their cards. Sadly it's not subtitled in English, but you can watch Omdat ikaan je denk (Because I'm thinking of you) by clicking here.

    They also do poster campaigns and have 'weeks of greeting cards' initiatives where card retailer members of the Dutch GCA give away booklets of free postage stamps to customers spending more than 5 Euros in total on three greeting cards (Wenkskaarten in Dutch). These stamps are specially designed for the sales promotion and you can see them in the picture below. The booklet says 'Your present, free postage stamps' (Uw cadeau, Gratis postzegels).

    I found my trip inspiring and would love to see initiatives like these in the UK, to boost our already successful industry going forward. We still lead the world in greeting cards, but there is always room for improvement.

    To find out more about the UK's Greeting Card Association click here.

    Click here to learn about the Dutch Greeting Card Association.

    To request more information on Blue Eyed Sun please click here.

    Dutch Post - free postage stamps

  • The Ladder Club 2012 for New Card Publishers

    This year's annual Ladder Club seminar for new greeting card publishers (and those considering the industry) will be held on the Thursday 27th and Friday 28th September 2012. It will be my seventh year as keynote speaker and I am looking forward continuing to help as many people as I can to find the right path for themselves within the world of greeting cards.

    The seminar is being held over two days at the Westcliffe Hotel, Leigh on Sea, Essex. It usually sells out so book early by emailing waiteandtaitbakery@hotmail.com or by calling Trudi or Pauline at Lynn Tait Gallery on 01702 480180.

    What is the Ladder Club?

    Organised by publisher and retailer Lynn Tait, this event is to support and nurture the UK card industry to be the best it can be. If you are new to greeting card publishing then this is the perfect place to start. Speakers include Sharon Little from the Greeting Card Association, Jakki Brown from Max Publishing (Progressive Greetings Magazine, The Henries Awards and PG LIve), Claire Frost and Karen Wilson from Paper Salad, Jeremy Corner from Blue Eyed Sun and many other industry professionals including printers, envelope manufacturers, warehousing specialists and paper suppliers GF Smith.

    Who's the Ladder Club for? 

    Day One is for anyone considering the greeting card industry or who have just started their card business and is well suited to artists, photographers, illustrators, designers, writers and cartoonists considering their options.

    Day Two is more advanced and helps new card businesses that have been to one or two trade shows and would like to grow their businesses further.

    Networking Dinner

    Lynn also organises a dinner the night before each day, which is well worth attending if you are staying over. She seats card industry insiders on every table so you can pick their brains for help with your business and grow your knowledge as well as take the opportunity to network with other publishers. The dinner usually costs £23.

    Is the Ladder Club worth it?

    It is very affordably priced at £48 per day and I have received dozens of thank you cards for doing this over the years. Those that attended the Ladder Club answer this best though. Here's what some previous delegates have had to say about their experience of the day:

    "I just wanted to say thank you for putting on such an informative and useful day. I certainly felt I got my money's worth!! All the speakers were excellent and helped to put together the jigsaw puzzle of publishing cards." - Rayya

    "Thanks for my Ladder Club experience on thursday – it was well, well worth the trek from Bristol! It provided me with so much useful information and inspiration – it was just brilliant to hear from so many different people, and important to hear about the negatives as well as the positives. I drove home just buzzing with thoughts and excitement about my business" - Jenny

    "I have to say that you are all so inspirational and generous to organise these events and give up your precious time and I just wanted you to know that it's really appreciated. It's a fantastic industry to be working in and I wouldn't even be putting my toe in the water without all the help and encouragement that you and your industry colleagues have selflessly given." - Rose

    " I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the seminar. I am amazed at how much was packed into the day and I have come away with some new ideas and useful contacts." - Jocelyn

    " I was very impressed at how open and helpful everyone is to potential newcomers/competitors. Obviously paper manufacturers and printers are happy to help new customers but I was also impressed by the lack of any kind of 'sell' by them." - Caroline and Greg

    " I loved it! Was the best seminar I've ever been to! Thank you so much." - Cheryl

    Ladder Club Alumni

    Many good card businesses have benefited from the Ladder Club seminar training and are making their way successfully in the card industry. Including: Molly Mae, YTR Design, The Artrooms, Shine Publishing, Luvio, Full Colour Black, Lesser Spotted, Open Box Design, Iona Cards, The Art Lounge, Rosa Kitt Designs, Moobaacluck, Cutture, Megan Claire, Aiania and Big John.

    Why are you involved?

    Even though I am, in effect, helping the competition, I do this event every year for free because I believe a great card industry is good for all of us. Thanks to the generosity of the organisers and delegates, who have supported my many charity races over the years, I have also raised quite a bit of money for various good causes. With the support of last year's Ladder Club attendees and others I raised £609 for UNICEF by running Paris Marathon. Thanks to everyone who donated.

    How do I book a place at the seminar?

    Please note that Blue Eyed Sun does not organise or take bookings for this event. You must email waiteandtaitbakery@hotmail.com or call Trudi or Pauline at Lynn Tait Gallery on 01702 480180 to book your place in advance. It sells out every year and is only held once annually so don't miss it.

  • Blue Eyed Sun in Sage Solutions Magazine - Summer 2012

    Blue Eyed Sun appear in Sage Solutions Magazine -Summer 2012

    We have been using Sage software for over a decade now and regularly receive their business magazine, Solutions, each edition of which is mailed out to over 180,000 companies using SageCover across the UK. I've always wondered what it would be like to be interviewed in it and this month we were lucky enough to found out. Here's what the article says:

    The Business View 

    Along with a resurgence of interest in British made products, a recent Markit/CIPS survey showed UK manufacturing growing at its fastest rate for almost a year. We asked Jeremy Corner, SageCover customer and co-founder of greeting card publishers Blue Eyed Sun in Hove (alongside his wife Jo), about the changing landscape for products made in Britain.

    Why is there such a growing demand for British-made products?

    Major historical events like the Royal Wedding, the Queens Jubilee and the Olympics have created a real sense of pride in Britain. The recession and increased environmental awareness have also made many of us stop and think about how and where things are made and what that really means. As a result we are currently experiencing a strong demand for well crafted, high-end greeting cards and stationery made from sustainable resources in the UK.

    What inspired you to create Blue Eyed Sun?

    It was started 12 years ago by my wife, Jo. Since she was a child she has loved making things... in fact, her first greetings card designs were made using her childhood hobby kiln! We have both always been inspired by gorgeous paper products and a love of beautiful stationery. After countless requests from consumers for wedding stationery (and our own wedding), we expanded the company and launched our fast growing wedding division: Ivy Ellen.

    What has made your business successful?

    Our capacity to turn our vision for the businesses into reality has made both Ivy Ellen and Blue Eyed Sun successful. Our creativity extends from designing and marketing right through to the systems and structure needed to run the companies well. We also have a fantastic team of 12 staff who all work hard to keep our customers happy.

    To find out more about Sage software click here.

    To visit Ivy Ellen's wedding stationery website click here.

    Remember to follow us on the social media links at the top and bottom of the page.

  • The Greats Awards 2012 for Gift Retailer - Winners and Finalists

    The Greats Gift Retailer Awards 2012 - Winners and Finalists

    Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners of the Greats 2012. It's a wonderful thing to be nominated for awards. We hope that you enjoyed the evening and would like to thank all of you who stock our cards. We consider ourselves very privileged to be serving such a fine host of retailers. For those of you we are not supplying, what are you waiting for?! Click here to stock us.

    The Greats Awards Winners 2012 are:

    Temptation Gifts win overall Gift Retailer of the Year 2012

    The Honourary Achievement Award went to Oliver Tress, founder of Oliver Bonas

    Oliver adds this Greats Award to a clutch of very prestigious awards, including Retail Week's Rising Star Award. The Evening Standard recently listed him as among the top 1000 most influential Londoners and, earlier this month, he sat alongside the BBC's economics editor on the panel of TV’s The Apprentice You're Fired.

    Judy Stock, sales assistant, Blue Dog, Clare, Suffolk is Retail Employee of the Year  

    Finalists

    Luke Cherry, assistant manager, Utility, Liverpool

    Kim Hancock, display supervisor, Forget-Me-Not, Stubbington, Hants

    Hannah McMurray, manager, Orange Tree, Topsham, Devon
    Prathiba Serasinghe-Yapa, sales assistant, Fenwick, Brent Cross, London
    Sharon Statton, head of sales, Pebbles of Tavistock, Tavistock, Devon

    The Inside Man, Wandsworth won Independent Gift Retailer of the Year - London (inside M25)

    Finalists

    Gill Wing, Islington

    Grand Passion, Battersea

    In Spitalfields, Spitalfields Market
    The Gift Box, Uxbridge

    Cocoa Bean, Windsor win Independent Gift Retailer of the Year - Home Counties, South and South East

    Finalists

    Flutterbyes, Bromley
    Inklings, Hungerford
    Penny Royal, Battle, Rye and Hastings
    Pink & Brown, Sunninghill

    The Bottle Kiln, West Hallam won Independent Gift Retailer of the Year - Midlands and East Anglia

    Finalists

    Blue Dog, Clare
    Breeze, Cambridge
    Iapetus Gallery, Great Malvern
    Jupes, Melton Mowbray

    Cane & Able, Cwmbran won Independent Gift Retailer of the Year - South West & Wales

    Finalists

    Heritage in Thornbury, Bristol

    iota, Bristol
    Lumin-Essence, Poole
    Wonderstuff, Treorchy

    Jam, Wakefield won Independent Gift Retailer of the Year - North and North East

    Finalists

    Cherry Tree, Knutosford
    Fagans, Cockermouth
    Give The Dog a Bone, York
    The Attic, Ambleside & Windermere

    About Living, Glasgow won Independent Gift Retailer of the Year - Scotland

    Finalists

    Baxters, Stranraer
    Bonkers, St Andrews
    Charisma, Dunblane
    Scarlet Ribbons, Falkirk

    La De Da! Cheltenham won Best Gift Retailer - Newcomer South and Wales

    Finalists

    Florrie’s Gifts and Homewares, Street
    Fresh, Witney
    Okapi House, Leighton Buzzard
    Ruby blu, Southgate

    Celebrations, Stourbridge won Best Gift Retailer - Newcomer North and Scotland

    Finalists

    Decisions, Barnoldswick
    Limetree, Stewarton, Ayrshire
    Marmalade Meringue, Hinckley
    The Orchard, Leicester

    Between The Lines won Best Specialist Multiple Gift Retailer (4 or more shops)

    Finalists 2012

    Collectables in the North East of England
    Ortak in Scotland & the North of England
    Temptation Gifts in the Home Counties
    Utility in Liverpool, Preston & London

    Rooms of Coventry won Best Department Store Retailer of Gifts

    Finalists

    Jarrold, Norwich
    John Lewis, Oxford Street
    Heal’s, London
    Selfridges, Oxford Street

    Paperchase won Best Non Specialist Retailer of Gifts

    Finalists

    Cards Galore
    Dunelm
    M&S
    Steamer Trading

    Orange Tree, Darts Farm won Best Gifts Lifestyle and Homewares (interiors)

    Finalists

    Hamptons, Penarth
    Oliver Bonas, London
    Plate Tableware, Fulham
    Yummy Home, Pinner

    Melbury Gallery, Sherbourne won Best Gift Retailer of Jewellery

    Finalists

    Bloomsbury, Bath
    Denham & Finney, St Margaret’s, Twickenham
    Saswa, Cardiff
    Leila, Crouch End, Islington and Muswell Hill

    Mains of Drum, Banchory won Best Garden Centre Retailer of Gifts

    Finalists

    Brookfields Garden Centre, Nottingham
    Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree, Essex
    Scotsdale Nursery & Garden Centre, Great Shalford
    Webbs of Wychbold, Droitwich

    Aston Pottery, Oxfordshire won Best Museum/Visitor Attraction Gift Shop

    Finalists

    National Gallery Shops, London
    National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
    Royal Collection Shops, London
    World of Beatrix Potter, Bowness-On-Windermere

    Dulwich Trader, Dulwich won Best Retail Display

    Finalists

    Cocoa Bean, Windsor

    Housing Units, Nailsworth
    Salt & Pepper, Monmouth
    Tiger Tiger, Newbury & Marlborough

    Temptation Gifts won Best Online Gift Retailer, to include Mail Order

    Finalists

    Bloomsbury
    Lakeland
    The Brilliant Gift Shop
    Treather, Treathim

    Wonder Stuff – Personalised Shopping won Best Retailer Initiative

    Finalists

    Daisy Park – Keep It Local
    Jeyes of Earls Barton – Royal Wedding Street Party
    Something Special – Improve the High Street
    Fairwind – Fair Trees

    Winners of Best Service to the Independent Retailer

    Joe Davies won Gold

    Widdop Bingham won Silver

    Yankee Candle won Bronze

    Finalists (in alphabetical order)

    Carte Blanche Greetings
    East of India
    Enesco
    History & Heraldry
    Nemesis Now
    Robert Taubman
    Think Pink

    Now in their tenth year, The Greats Awards have become the accolades to strive for and the Awards event itself has become one of the most exciting and vibrant in the country. It brings together the entire gift industry for a night of celebration.

    The Greats Awards are owned and organised by Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide (published by Max Publishing). They recognise and celebrate not only the top independent and multiple gift retailers regionally and nationally, but also one-off niche retailers, garden centres and supermarkets as well as outstanding retail employees.

    The Greats 2012 'big night' was held this week on Thursday 17 May at the Lancaster London celebrating their 10th anniversary of The Greats with a ‘Circus’ themed event.

    NB: Wherever possible the names of the shops are clickable for you to be able to see finalists website and social media links.

    All gift retailers who have been named as a Greats winner or finalist over the past 10 years of the Greats are invited to attend a special Greats Party at PG Live next week on Tuesday May 29th at 3pm at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Contact Ian Hyder through the PG Live website for details www.progressivegreetingslive.com.

  • How will Royal Mail's Price Increases affect the Card Industry?

    It's been a busy week in the news for greetings cards. Sharon Little, Chief Executive of the Greetings Card Association, appeared on the BBC Breakfast News to discuss the 30% price increase in Royal Mail's stamps and Clinton Cards announced poor results.

    With many retailers relying on card sales to bring core bread and butter revenue and footfall into their stores, the sharp increase in price of postage stamps is a concern. Will such a noticeable rise alter the card buying and sending habits of our card crazy country? We do love our cards in the UK and send an average of 31 greetings cards a year each. Our total annual spend on single cards in the UK is £1.39 billion which supports over 100,000 card related jobs. Christmas card sales raise over £50 million a year for charities too. Does this mean they too may lose even more, much needed, revenue in the coming years? Will e-cards and the internet take over and radically alter the card industry in the way that the internet has forever altered other sectors like book selling?

    Well, when hysteria strikes it always helps to look at the facts first. So let's do the sums on this shock 30% price increase. If we each send 31 cards a year on average and we post them all using first class stamps we are currently spending £14.26 (31 x £0.46). Increasing the price to 60p each means we will be spending £18.60 instead. This is an annual spending increase of £4.34 to show our loved ones how much we care.

    All age groups still love receiving cards for special celebrations and sending them definitely strengthens relationships. According to a recent study people aged 18-24 need to receive at least nine cards to feel valued on their birthday (that's in addition to texts, calls and messages on social networks like Facbook and Twitter). The relationships we care enough about to celebrate, by posting greetings cards, are unlikely to be changed overnight and, if anything, the higher cost of stamps is even more likely to show the recipient how much they are truly valued.

    Because we tend to give cards to those closest to us, the recipients are often literally close to us too, so the majority of our cards tend to be delivered by hand (we find this especially true in the handmade sector). If we take this into account as well, I'm not sure that this headline making price rise will have a noticeable effect on the card sending. We still love sending and receiving cards in the UK and an extra £4 a year is hardly worth worrying about. Royal Mail has struggled to make profit for several years now and if you think about what it actually takes to get a card from you to a friend in Scotland the next day, 60p doesn't seem too bad.

    **** 1 April 2012 ***** Additional note since first posting this:

    I just saw this great comment from a reader at the bottom of the BBC article on this subject:

    "Those complaining that the post is to expensive and the internet is 'free' are conveniently forgetting the £500 or so they paid for their computer, plus software, plus say £10 a month for broadband. Not so free now is it? For those on fixed incomes like pensioners this is a double blow on top of their pension freeze. Buy a computer? Only worth it if you send more than 1800 letters in 5 years."

    You can read the BBC article on the stamp price increases by clicking here

  • Scribbler Cards Opens Brighton Branch

    Scribbler Cards opens in Brighton

    John Proctor was one of Blue Eyed Sun's very first customers and stocked our beautiful handmade Glass Enamel greeting cards in his Kings Road branch of Scribbler over ten years ago. Since then both of our companies have taken different paths in terms of design and product, but I have continued to admire John's work and his success as a niche retailer in the competitive card market.

    It's surprising Scribbler have taken so long to open a branch in Brighton, as our local demographic would have flocked to his unique offering in a heartbeat. They are here now though and customers clearly love it.

    Sadly, it was the closing down of another long standing customer of ours, Graffiti (who had not upgraded the shop for a long time), that has opened the door for Scribbler into Brighton. Well situated on Cranbourne Street, a busy thoroughfare between Churchill Square Shopping Centre and the Laines, I really like how they have brightened up the unit and made the most of the space. As you can see, the shop was already very busy when I passed by a week or two after it opened. I'm sure it will be one of their best.

    Scribbler Cards Open on Cranbourne Street In Brighton

  • The Trend for Embroidered and Stitched Cards

    Progressive Greetings Article on Stitched Cards

    We were pleased to be included in a lovely article on stitched cards celebrating British Crafts in last month's Progressive Greetings.

    If you didn't get the chance to read it, here's what we said about the popularity of the embroidered look and our new Vintage range of stitched cards:

    "I think there is a subconscious desire to counter the digital annihilation of all material things. Books, CD’s, photos and other items we used to actually be able to touch and feel are predominantly purchased digitally and I think we have a real need to feel handmade objects in our lives. They have so much more soul than computers and gadgets.

    The recession has meant that many of us are spending more time in our homes and we have focused on saving money by recycling, mending and making our own things. Because of this interest in crafts like knitting, stitching and card making, sales of handmade products are booming.

    Selecting the fabrics she wants to work with to create the designs for the Vintage card range Jo, my wife and business partner, hand cuts a variety of shapes and motifs which she then selects from to start building the artwork. They are all laid out on a linen base and then machine stitched on. Parts of the captions are free stitched by machine, which really adds to the handmade feel. After this the designs are scanned and laid up for printing and embossing. When they come back from the printers they are hand finished with jewels to complete the look.

    With such a strong reputation for handmade cards we want to keep producing ranges that have that handmade feel and offer great value to our customers. I think scanning original stitched artworks is a natural progression for us. The designs are nostalgic and fun, but with the contemporary colourful look we bring to much of our work."

    Sewing artwork for cards is a fast growing trend and the Progressive Greetings Magazine article features over a dozen greetings card publishers using the technique including Black Olive, Soul, Pootle, Inkdrops, Belly Button Designs, Lou Mills, Cinnamon Aitch, Stop the Clock Designs, Tanya Palmer, Open Box Designs, Carlton Cards, Design Hog and a new range called Freddie and Freya by CardMIX. The article excluded some of our favourite forerunners, of this current wave of stitched cards, who are also worth a mention: like Vicky King's sewn card ranges for Paper Rose, and seamtresses like Katy KirkhamClaire Sowden and Abigail Mill.

    Click here to order Blue Eyed Sun's Vintage designs for your shop.

    Click here to read more about greeting card trends

    Click here to subscribe to Progressive Greetings Magazine.

  • Key Greetings Card Trends for 2012

    Our predictions on key trends for greetings cards in 2012 were featured in this month's Gift Focus Magazine. Last week Editor, Sarah Reeve, also used some Blue Eyed Sun designs to illustrate her insightful seminar at Spring Fair International on forthcoming gift trends for Christmas 2012. Transcribed below from the magazine, our predictions are...

    "There is going to be a real trend for stitching, crafting, nostalgia, vintage and Britishness. With the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee we are going to see one of Britain's great strengths this year: Creativity. There's also going to be a real sense of nostalgia so  think we will see a lot of craft based work from artists and designers. Because of the recession a lot of people have been making and repairing their own bits and pieces using traditional skills like knitting and sewing. Because of this we will also see these homemade crafts becoming more popular. This year will be very big for handmade."

    Click here to request more information on all of our stitched Vintage designs.

  • Mary Portas seeking Independent Shops for New TV Series

    Mary Portas seeking Independent Shops for New TV Series

    Retail guru, Mary Portas, is back with a brand new series for Channel 4. Having watched her work wonders on retailers' stores in previous series, this is a fantastic opportunity for any of our customers who are struggling to expand in the current climate. The TV exposure alone will be a major boost to your business. Couple this with Mary's expert advice on branding, store layout, buying, customer service, etc and this could be just the catalyst you need to take your business to the next level. Remember, amazing things happen when you take massive action!

    To apply to take part in this incredible opportunity contact maryp@optomen.co.uk or telephone 020 32275896.

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