National Thinking Of You Week Event

National Thinking of You Week has been launched by the Greeting Card Association to highlight the emotional power of sending and receiving greeting cards. The aim is to create a wave of love, caring and happiness across the nation by getting everyone to send a card a day during the last week in September.

We're so happy with this initiative as it's just exactly what our cards and our philosophy is about. We've never been about birthday cards; we've always been about special cards for special people (and that's all of us) for any occasion and for "just because" occasions. 
So completely out of character, we are joining in the celebrations and are holding a week long event at our HQ - it's actually quite exciting!

This is what we are going to do, and it would be fab if local people could come along and support us:

• Pick up your address book and come to our HQ in Garboldisham between 9 and 12 every morning in the week of September 22 - 26
• Choose up to 7 of our woolly cuddly cards at half price - what a great opportunity to have a good look at all the zillions of woolly animal cards we do, and to discover that we're more than just about sheep and dogs.
• Sit at our lovely big kitchen table and write each of the cards to someone special in your life. We will have some creative help on hand to help inspire you 
• Drink our tea or coffee, eat our cake (I must improve my baking skills, so am keenly watching the BBC's Bake Off series for some hints and tips!)
• Enjoy some time out of your normal routine to sit and relax. 
• We will post the cards for you - we will have stamps available.
• For every card you write and send, you will receive a free raffle ticket. So 7 cards sent gives you 7 chances to win the raffle (which will be some sort of stationery products from our portfolio)

We will also be highlighting how we will be supporting our charity of the year. This year we have chosen to support Nelson's Journey, a Norfolk charity supporting bereaved children. You can read about the amazing things they do here

We will be showcasing these 2 activities at the business exhibition in Diss (open to the public and to businesses), Diss on View so do pop along and find out more

It's going to be a really fun week, and we would love to see lots of people queuing at the door with pen and address book in hand.
Will you be there?

How to Turn Unwanted Greeting Cards into Colourful Bunting

For an inexpensive bunting have a go at doing something along these lines. 

I had a pile of greeting cards that we had discontinued, and since I hate waste of any sort, I thought I'd recycle them into a colourful length of bunting. Here's what I did:
I roughly tore the cards into triangle shapes aiming to get a rough edge along the torn edges

The rough edges will soak up water nicely; mix up some colour in water. Using what I had to hand I used ink for one colour and dilute watercolour for the rest. But you could use anything that is water soluble - experiment with acrylic or even food dye.

Dip the torn edges into the dilute colour so that the colour can be taken up by the paper: 

And hang the triangles up to dry; I used a clothes airer and some pegs as they were both handy:

Once you have a nice stack of colourful triangles it's time to chose your ribbon. I decided on this simple green and white gingham ribbon from Jane Means Ribbons. I think it looks fab with these colours and brings the whole together.

Collect together all that you will need to assemble your bunting. White pva glue is perfect, and I use either bulldog clips or clothers pegs to hold the ribbon in place while the glue is drying.

Sometimes it's easier to work on the floor!

And then you're ready to party, or decorate your room. The bunting is one sided, since the greeting card design will be on the back, but hey, it just feels so good to create something fun out of all those old cards (especially all those Christmas cards from previous years)

How have you recycled old cards in the past? I'd love to hear your creative ideas.

One Way to Wash a Sheep's Fleece

I was very excited to find a North Ronaldsay fleece at the Royal Norfolk Show. It's from a 4 year old ewe called Dianthe. They're an interesting ancient breed originating from North Ronaldsay in the Orkneys where they have been fenced off the land and confined to the beach. You can find out more about the breed here, from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's.  It's one of the breeds that I first fell in love with when researching ancient European textile tools back in the 1980's.

The following is how I wash a fleece, ready for spinning or whatever else you want to do with it. I was shown this method by some Shetland spinners in about 1977 when I visited. It's simple although it may look long-winded here.

The fleece will come rolled up rather like a sleeping bag. 

The shearer will have extended the neck part out, twisted it around and tucked it in. So it's best if you can find this end and unroll it carefully. 

You can then examine the fleece and decide how you would like to divide it as you will want to wash it in smallish batches. How you split it rather depends on what you want to do with it, I think. The fleece along the back is always drier than elsewhere, and at the rear you may well get dag ends which may be best on the compost heap. (I love that term, dag ends - bit of a slang expression in Australia)

I'm not too fussy how I sort the fleece as I no longer spin the fleece, but use it in my work where it's the colour I want.
This particular fleece is small so I simply split it in half along the back.

Like pasta, fleece needs lots of space in the water. Fill the sink (bucket, basin, whatever) with as hot water as you can get. 

If the fleece is really dirty, simply immerse the fleece into the hot water, push it under with a rod or wooden spoon, and leave it completely alone until the water cools off a bit.
Let the water drain away - this is why I prefer a sink, where you can pull the plug and let the water drain. You want to handle the fleece as little as possible.

Re-fill the sink with more hot water - just slightly hotter than the water you've drained away.
Add detergent - the spinners in the Shetland islands told me they always use quality washing up liquid, so I do the same. You'll need more than if you were going to wash the dishes.

Immerse your fleece again. Push it under the water. Leave it alone! When slightly cooler, drain the dirty water. Fill the basin with new hot water, no detergent. Immerse fleece again to rinse.
Drain the water.
Re-fill again with hot water, plus detergent.
Two washes is usually enough.
End with 2 or 3 rinses.

This may sound long-winded and complicated, but this is what you need to remember:
Handle the wet fleece as little as possible
Leave it to soak in the water
Don't use extreme changes of heat when transferring from one bath to another.

Hot water + agitation + detergent = felt.

Once felted, you can no longer spin it!

Once rinsed, squeeze out as much water as you can. Lay it on a towel, and gently ring it out.

Lay it out somewhere to dry
Enjoy the results of your hard work and patience

Here is my before and after washed fleece from Dianthe - lots of lovely tones of greys which I shall really enjoy using in my art and greeting cards.

If you're a textile artist, I'd love to hear how you wash your fleece, and what you do with them afterwards. Do please feel free to add your comments below.

The RHS Spring Gardening Show, Malvern - a fleeting glimpse

There's not much opportunity to see much of the shows I attend when I'm on my own, but here are just a few bits that caught my eye while walking in in the mornings:

These alpines greeted me as I walked along to the Country Living Magazine's marquee each day

There were some fantastic gardens designed and created by various schools, all themed around children's books. These hedgehogs amused me

And some beautiful plantings designed with such creativity - I feel some new card designs coming on: 

This is one of the show gardens - very popular with the public, and with me - Boathouse No. 9 by Mark Eveleigh. If you're interested, you can find out more about the show gardens here

And these slates have nothing to do with the gardening show, but I love them. They were stacked up outside the b&b where I was staying

So, is anyone inspired to get out into their gardens now? (Weather permitting, as it's pouring with rain as I write this)

Colour blending when there's no time to dye

I use natural and dyed sheep's fleece for finishing all my greeting cards and art work, and many of the colours have rather bizarre names - horse, Buff Orpingtons, dachshund, pig, and the like (based on what we use them for).

Well, we've run out of "Mrs Nosey" - she was a bantam we had years ago, but in the studio we all know what this colour is. No time to dye any more at the moment, so it was out with the carders to do a bit of blending. I don't normally like to use merino tops as it doesn't have very much character, but needs must. Here I'm blending a bit of horse with a mixture of oranges to get what I hope will suit our Mrs Nosey.

Just the ticket!

Easter Greetings from Prague

Hello from a very un-spring like Prague! Apparently this time last year it was 20 degrees here; now we’re lucky if it gets above zero! But we don’t have snow, so I can’t complain too much!  And at least I can keep my running training up, as I’m running a half marathon in April.

It turns out that Easter in the Czech Republic is not quite the same as in the UK; whipping sticks, Becherovka (a Czech herbal liqueur – have a look at their cool website if you want to find out more) and buckets of water are all involved. 

This blog, Beyond Prague, has a good description of the Easter traditions of the Czech Republic.

Egg decorating is also a big tradition, and over the past week my students have been telling me how they decorate their copious amounts of hard boiled eggs.

Colouring the eggs is the first step, and onion skins seem to be a popular and cheap method! You need to put your egg in a sock with lots of onion skins and then place it in boiling water, or if you’re after a yellowy coloured egg, try the same with green tea. Another tip I received; if you want to make a pattern on your egg, try putting it in a pair of tights rather than a sock!

The eggs are decorated in a variety of ways often using batik or other skilled techniques. The results are amazing – you can find decorated eggs as souvenirs in Prague. Here’s a selection I particularly like which I found on the Beyond Prague blog. 

The eggs are then given as gifts or made into Easter tree decorations – fun!

But if colouring eggs isn’t your thing, we have an ever expanding collection of hen and chicken cards, these Silkies are the latest addition. 

Let us know what you think!

Wishing you all a very happy Easter, 
from Emma

New Year Happiness

Happy New Year!

From watching Jools Holland from the comfort of the sofa with a Baileys in hand, to dodging homemade fireworks on the streets of Prague, everyone has their own way of seeing in the New Year. These are a few of our favourites:

• Spanish people place a grape in their mouths on each of the twelve chimes of midnight for good luck!
• Germans prefer a small marzipan pig! Apparently pigs are a traditional symbol of good luck, the idea is thought to have originated in farming families who considered themselves lucky if they owned a pig

•  We also think the fireworks in Dubai look pretty impressive

We can’t offer you marzipan, but if you want to send some luck, then take a look at some of our handmade pig cards (which you can find online here)

And if the excitement of Christmas and New Years has gotten the better of you, what better way to relax than with a nice long soak with some of Royston and Hayes bath products, handmade with all natural ingredients in Suffolk?  Mmm, now that’s what I call a good end to the day and a good start to the new year.

Greetings from a very festive Prague!

We’ve had a few little snow flurries over the past couple of days, which is only adding to the christmassy feeling! Opposite our flat we have a small Christmas market, and there’s a slightly bigger one down the road at Namesti Miru

The lights are very pretty and there’s quite a few different craft and gift stalls, the Lindop family might be receiving a few bits and pieces from here this Christmas!

The biggest market is in Old Town Square, there are plenty of food stalls here – crepes, waffles, roasted chestnuts and of course the traditional trdelnik.

This is also where the huge Christmas tree can be seen; I think we need to up our game when it comes to lights!

   

We still have plenty of lovely Christmas card designs available on our website, so if you’re looking for something special, have a quick look over here and for a festive little garland or bunting, what could be more delightful than Penny’s handmade bunting which you can see here

We hope you have a very merry Christmas from everyone at Penny Lindop Designs!

Emma

Early Morning on Market Day in Diss

This morning was beautiful, with mists and sun so I went out early with the camera for some of those shots. But not early enough; within 10 minutes the sun had burnt off all that mist. So instead I'll take you round parts of my local market town of Diss: 

Not a soul to be seen around the Mere apart from a couple of hopeful fishermen

It's market day on a Friday - these flowers looked so fresh this early

And I witnessed a spot of crafty shop lifting too...

So many places were open already, all before 8 in the morning, with a relaxed chatty buzz around the town

Mouth-watering delights can be found at Frederick's Fine Foods - these baskets outside look glorious

Rooms with a View has to one of the loveliest shops in town, and not just because they sell our handmade greeting cards. They support all sorts of British artisan makers, and are super fantastic with interior design advice.

The Jewellery Workshop is another gem of a shop

I like all the angles on this fire escape and the buildings

A pleasant half hour spent in a small Norfolk market town.