And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone that entered my giveaway. I'm please to announce that the winner of the pack of four gooseberrymoon owl notecards is...

Handmade from the heart.

Congratulations! As soon as I get your address I'll post them to you.

I selected the winner by allocating each person with a number 1 - 22 in the order the comments were left, then generating a random number using random.org.

Owl notecard giveaway

I first opened my Folksy shop in March this year and can remember how chuffed I was to get my first sale, and over the moon when I reached 10 sales. So imagine my joy and excitement to receive an order yesterday that got me to my 100th sale.

Thank you to everyone who has purchased gooseberrymoon stationery and to all the lovely people who have featured my designs on their blogs.

To celebrate this milestone I'm going to do my first ever giveaway! To be in with a chance to receive a pack of four owl notecards please leave a comment below - even if it's just to say hello. Each person will go into a draw and a winner picked at random. The closing date is midnight Thursday 26th November 2009. Good luck!

Owl gets a makeover

The very talented Willow Wire Creations has recreated my sleepy owl design into a fine silver pendant. He is truly beautiful! and is available to purchase in willow wire creations' Folksy shop.

Owl notecard - set of four
£3.50 gooseberrymoon

Fine Silver Gooseberrymoon Owl
£50.00 Willow wire creations

Colours of Folksy - mustard

I'm always looking for inspiration for new colour combinations to use in my designs and love to see how other designers use colour, whether on its own or teamed with another. I found these items on 'Folksy' by searching for mustard and it shows how gorgeous it is alone or combined with grey, green, purple, silver or brown.

Mookite and picture jasper necklace
£30.00 Blue Forest Jewellery

Goldenrod Slouchy Beanie
£16.50 moocow

Sunshine Retro Stud Earrings
£4.80 Buttercup Buttons

Statement Felt Necklace by More Cake...
£18.00 More Cake... designs

saffy
£30.00 boutique bunnies

Declare Damask - Handcrafted Fine Silver Oval Pendant
£27.00 Green River Studio

Polly Cowl - Mustard
£26.50 Silky Prudence

Colemans Bubblegum Soy Wax Candle
£12.00 Mr. Wick

Featured Designer

I'm thrilled to be this month's featured designer on shop handmade UK's website. It's such an honour to be asked, especially when I saw the previous designers featured. For anyone who hasn't visited shop handmade UK's website it is the UK's largest directory of artists, designers and makers of quality handmade goods. I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Belinda for featuring me.

Colours of Folksy - shades of grey

A showcase of beautiful items in shades of grey, by very talented designers on Folksy.

Little Red Riding Hood Reaches Grandma's House
£10.00 artquirk

Huge organic felt tub in charcoal and off-white mix
£60.00 Snowdrops And Daisies

Doily Beret - Grey
£18.00 Blue Fish Handmade

Grey Skinny Striped Scarf
£20.00 WildCat Designs

Grey flower recycled fabric resin necklace
£15.00 PennyDog Jewellery

6 Leaf-shaped Tags - Grey Envelopes
£2.10 kerli: little animals, handicrafts and recycling

Grey heart brooch
£3.60 Magic Alice

Grey Striped Cat
£10.00 Monstermagic

Christmas cards

I've Finally managed to design and list some Christmas cards in my Folksy shop. It's something I've been trying to get round to for weeks. I never know whether the design in my head will work in reality and can go through countless versions before I settle on a design. Lucky for me I only did about two versions of the tree and three of the star until I was happy.

I've steered away from traditional colours and opted for a beautiful colour combination of plum, olive and teal.

Colours of Folksy - brown and turquoise/blue

I'm currently in love with the brown and turquoise colour combination so I've just spent the evening scouring Folksy to see what amazing creations are available in this great colour scheme.

1. Leaf Toggle Clasp £20.00
Willow wire creations

2. Blue and Brown retro phone pouch with brooch £15.00
Zenda Design

3. Tri-Colour Scarf £15.00
Betty and Todd

4. O-Earrings - Blue £7.00
BeadsBySam

5. Lambswool Dog Cushion £44.00
Sara Carr

6. Octagonal Bowl - Abstract Design in Turquoise & Brown £17.50
Adorn Jewellery and Glass Art

My latest custom design

In a request to come up with a wedding invitation featuring thistles, here's what I've come up with - I hope they like them!

Colours of Folksy - pink and orange

I really love to search Folksy by colours and I'm always amazed by what talent and beautiful wares I find. So I'm planning to champion Folksy sellers through a regular 'Colours of Folksy' feature on my blog. This first collection shows how the clashing colours of pink and orange can really work well together.

1. Blooming felt brooch £12.50

fyberknitics


2. FRUIT SALAD Gorgeous Kitsch Charm Bracelet £30.00

Cherished Trinkets


3. Orange & pink Stars & Stripes flag cushion/pillow £36.00

Karen Hilton Designs


4. Juicy - merino/silk/bamboo/nylon sock yarn £12.00

Abstract Cat Crafts


5. Double Daisies Work Wonders £7.00

oddsox

6. Sugar Pink Vintage Suede Mini Clutch £17.00

Sow's Ear

My first proper wedding fayre

Yesterday I had a stand at my first wedding fayre - I've had my stationery on someone elses stand but this was my first solo attempt. It was at the Holiday Inn which seems to be really popular for weddings, they're more or less booked up for 2010 so we had loads of their brides coming to see what we had to offer. I was quite nervous about how I'd get my stand to look good and not too messy, and for my first attempt I was quite pleased with myself.

For days before the event I had been trying to think of ideas for a leaflet type price list to hand out and ended up with the idea to have a three fold booklet with prices on one side and my designs on the other folding into a neat little square. I have to give my husband some of the credit for this though!

Introducing

Oh my it's been a month since my last post! I knew I'd end up neglecting my blog. Anyway I'm introducing my new boy rabbit - yet to be named. I'll ask my son for some suggestions after all it was him who named the girl rabbit Minty - because she's beautiful like toothpaste! Don't ask, who knows how his little 5 year old brain works.

Now that I have a boy and a girl rabbit I'll soon be filling my folksy
shop with a whole collection of baby stationery including birth announcements, christening invitations and thank you cards.

Here's a sneak peak of the birth announcements.

Double whammy

Each month five shops are chosen as featured sellers on Folksy. I am thrilled to have been chosen by Jemima Lumley as one of them. The other featured sellers for July are Hello Monkey, Caroline Green Pottery, Tamsyn Amber and Susan Green Books. All these shops are gorgeous and well worth a look.

Not only have I been chosen to be one of this months featured sellers on Folksy but my poppy field notecards have made it as one of the featured items on the homepage as part of a flower theme.

Latest supplies delivery

I love getting parcels! My latest delivery of materials are these gorgeous paper ribbons in olive and chocolate from diy favour boxes . I'm planning on using them for my new range of butterfly stationery.

Here's a sneak preview of my new butterfly design! Cards and boxes coming to my folksy shop soon.

First post

Not sure how I'm going to get on with this blogging thing, but I'm going to give it a go. I think it will be a great way to record my ideas and insripation and the progress of gooseberrymoon. So here's my first. I'm in an Etsy treasury - yey!