Today's blog is just a reminder about our show over the Bank Holiday weekend at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire.  It's open from 10am til 5pm all three days, and is well worth a visit.  The house and gardens alone are stunning, so add in the craft show, and you'll have a lovely day out.  If anyone is interested, give me a shout and I have a £1.50 discount voucher that I can email over to you for money off your entrance tickets.

It was my birthday on Friday, but it was also Chris' mom's on Wednesday.  Shelagh collects ducks...wooden and ceramic ones at the moment, although I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple swimming about on their pond at some point in the future!...so we made her a wooden duck with a cute fabric wing.  It worked out pretty well, so we've decided to make them to sell as well.  Like an idiot, I forgot to take a photo of Mrs Duck before wrapping it up, but once we've made more, I'll put some pictures on here and then get them on the website.

My birthday present from Chris was this gorgeous toadstool house that he's been secretly making in the workshop for the last couple of weeks.  I especially love the two little cats that he added, our BumBum and Tillybum.  We're thinking about making similar versions to sell online and at the shows.  What do you think?

We have loads of shows coming up this month, so I'm off for a manic sewing day...beach huts, lighthouses, birdies, ducks, apples, hearts, boats.....and so the list goes on.  Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to write the list, it's a bit scary seeing in written down like that!!

Is that Sunshine!?!?

I know the weather forecast had said that today was going to be nice, but that doesn't always mean much.  So, I was very pleasantly surprised to see the lovely sunshine this morning, and felt the need to get some fresh air and a bit of warm sun.  Sunbathing was out of the question (not quite warm enough for that yet!), so taking some more stock photos seemed to be the best compromise, and stops the guilty feelings of not working.

I had a trusty photographic assistant today...yes Andy, that's you!!!...so after a sneaky pub lunch for my birthday, we turned the patio into our studio, and got to work.

I don't know how many hours it took us to get the three main photos that we needed, but we got there in the end.  I think it must have been all the reminiscing of our school and college days that put us off, remembering the holidays, the songs and everything else that went along with them.  It all seems so long ago now!!  Anyway, the other photos that were scheduled in for today will just have too be done next time the elusive sun decides to grace us with it's presence, and of course when Andy is around to help out!

It was our Wooden Houses that were on the menu for today, and they are uploaded and available to buy right now :)  We make them in lots of other colours too, but rather than drowning the website in them, we just added the three most popular choices.  If anyone does want one in anything different though, all you have to do is email us with your required colours, and we'll take it from there.


Red Wooden House
 £8.95

Cream & Green Wooden House
£8.95

Cream & Red Wooden House
£8.95

Double and triple beach huts are on my making list for this week, but my birthday is at the end of the week, so I can't promise to get everything done!  I'll get some pictures on here as soon as they are ready, and at least the sun is shining and helping me with the beachy/summery feeling that definitely helps when making that kind of thing.  Snow just doesn't have the same effect!

I'll write again soon, maybe with the extra wisdom of one who is a whole year older...well you never know ;)

Linz xxx

New products

The recent good weather has given me burst of energy, and things that have been in the pipeline for a while now have finally started to come together! 

Firstly, the website's new fresh and more contemporary look went live earlier in the week...really exciting!!...and we finally had the weather to get outside and take photographs of the new Beachside & Coastal range. 

After trialling the boats, beach huts and lighthouses at the craft shows, we were ready to get them online.  Yesterday's sunshine facilitated an enjoyable afternoon playing around with a pile of wooden crates and seashells, and now they are uploaded and available to buy online.  I still have a few more beach huts to make to complete the sets, but we really are making some progress at long last.


Neutral Wooden Boat - £13.95

Faded Blue Lighthouse - £11.95
























The cute Little Wooden Birdies are also online, and are just waiting for their opportunity to fly off to their new homes.  With their funky, distressed colours, they will be a bright and fun little touch to any room in your home.



Coral Wooden Birdie - £6.50

Our Facebook page is coming together nicely, and our number of 'likers' has been increasing steadily all week...thank you :)  We would love it if you would follow us so that you can see what we're up to, new products, and of course a few special offers that are only going to be available through Facebook ;) 

We're now starting to work towards our next show at Calke Abbey at the beginning of May.  Lots to do, but it's a great show, and always enjoyable.  Hope to see you there :)

Take care
Linz xxx

Our Facebook Page

How did I forget to mention this?!?!?!?

We decided it was time to create a facebook page for Pretty Beautiful.  Here's the link, and we would love it if you would come along and follow us on there :)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pretty-Beautiful/300167936781235

See you there :)
xxx

Easter Adventures!

Easter didn't turn out all that well for us here at Pretty Beautiful.  We drove down to Buckingham for a craft show at Hyde End, to find a complete mudbath.  The organisers had done an amazing job to even get the show open, but it wasn't the easiest of set-ups, and we had to be towed out just to add to the misery. 

The stand was looking good though, so off we went to our hotel to hide from the -7 temperatures outside.  The following morning (Good Friday) we left the hotel to go to the first day of the show.  That's when things really started to go wrong!  Our van broke down in a bad place.  The bottom of a hill on a main road in the middle of nowhere.  Lorries were thundering down the hill towards us, and how we didn't get hit, I will never know.  After a quick call to the RAC, and another to a friend at the show to come and rescue me, the van got towed away, and I opened the stand.

A Bank Holiday weekend is never going to be the best time to breakdown, especially when it turns out that the van needs some major repairs!  The long and the short of it was that we had a stressful few days and an extra night in Buckinghamshire.  The van was recovered and taken to my Dad's dealership in Birmingham, and we were recovered by Chris' mom.

We are still missing our van as it is very poorly indeed, and can't be fixed until later this week.  Much of our equipment and stock is in it, making life a little difficult, but at least we will get it back.  It was a scary and very stressful catastrophe!!

Anyway, it's the start of a new week, and we've got a lot to do!  Orders to be completed, stock to make, new designs to finish, and a whole load of photos to get on the website.  Our web designer (Meg at White Ochre Design) is working on a bit of a new look for the homepage as we speak, and that should be up and running shortly.  We need something new that reflects what we do and where the business has gone.  Our products are much more sewing, wood and fruit based nowadays, as we have slowly moved away from the cards.  We want our website to reflect this with a more soft, natural and handcrafted look.  We hope you like the outcome :)

These photos aren't going to take themselves, so I'm going to try and get some done whilst the weather is good.  I'll get some on here when I get a moment.

Speak to you all soon
Linz xxx