New Cards!

Wowsers, it's been a while since I showed my face on here hasn't it! Sorry everyone. It's been a few mad months at QC HQ - including work on a very special project of which all will be revealed later this week!

In the meantime, there's some fab new designs for you to browse over...and Christmas will be coming shortly too (after trying to delay it, I've finally got to admit it's definitely time to get some of the festive spirt in gear!)

Now available to order are these super-cute personalised 'New Baby' cards.


You can either have little hearts or stars holding up the Baby's name, and their Birthday is cut out on a little banner along the bottom of the heart. They make lovely gifts for the parents as I've been told these are both now framed in the Baby's bedrooms, aw!


In a bit of 'something different' for one of my most popoular cards, my favourite custom order this summer was this Vintage-tastic Wedding card for a very happy couple.

The script-like writing lent itself naturally to a vintage look, and with the deep creams and blush pinks and the two little love birds at the top, I think it worked really well!

Bon Voyage! (in a few days...)

Just to let you know that from next Monday 1st August, I will be picking up my scalpel and cutting board and tootling off for a couple of weeks...in the first ever QC holiday!


Do not fear, I'll still be online and contactable via my Folksy and Etsy shops, so please do wing over any ideas for custom creations or general queries. Just for a couple of weeks I've got an actual holiday (hurrah!) and a very big and exciting project to be doing which requires all my concentration! I'll be back from the 19th August - and am still here for a few days yet!

Happy Birthday Mum!

It was my Mum's Birthday on Sunday, so this was her little treat :)

A special Anniversary Notebook

I've been busily working on a very special custom order for the last month, and it finally came together this week and is now with its very happy owner! (sorry for the bad light in the photos - that's what not being in my office during the daylight hours does to photos!)

I'm really happy with how this turned out - a custom Notebook cover which was spray-glued onto the front of a lovely red moleskin notebook, and a matching card.

Think I'd definitely love to do another order like this if anyone out there likes the idea!

Fab Giveaway with From Britain With Love & From The Wilde!

Have you seen this amazing giveaway? In From Britain With Love's November competition, you could win over £500 worth of goodies stocked by the fabulous online store From The Wilde - including some of my I♥tea goodies!

This is a fantastic competition, and I'm chuffed to be involved in it. So, get in there and grab yourself a chance to bag the goodies!

Happy Halloween

BOO!

Hehe, sorry - this was us all dressed up as Zombies last night. Which included driving home via a petrol station to top-up, still in our dead faces which evoked quite a lot of funny stares! I hope everyone's been busily creating Pumpkin carvings and getting dressed up in the most absurd costumes!

We've carved the pumpkin and I'm using half of it as a very *experimental* (ie. never before done and no idea what on earth it's going to taste like) creating of Pumpkin soup. I'll let you know how it turns out - all I did was route around on the t'internet for a simple recipe. Here's the one I'm using if you're looking for one - BBC Good Food.

In true halloween fashion (and yes, we're well over 12 but who cares!) we've made our own Spiders for pud later, yum yum! Concocted from a mini roll, chocolate teacake, butter icing and Matchsticks, I'm quite proud of our freakish creations!

Enjoy your spooky evening everyone!

Quite Contrary meets Widget!

Yes, that's right - at the Ilkley Arts Market last Saturday, we were lucky enough to have a celebrity amongst us! Widget had popped over to Yorkshire to stay with Quernus Crafts for a bit, so of course wanted to come and have a nose and meet some new people at the fair!

We all wanted a picture with him of course - and donated money to the Rabbit Welfare Associtation, making £20 alltogether!

So, here are Quite Contrary's first 'famous' pictures, and some of Widget's other antics on the day - he sure can move fast for a little 'un!

Meet the lovely Kirsten from Quernus Crafts - I was very excited to finally see her wee-uns in the flesh, and am currently babysitting a wee horse until I have to give it away as a pressie.

Widget and I got on quite well I think, aw...

He even had a quick nap in one of my I♥Tea mugs!

Tracey from RubySpiritDesigns got quite close and personal to him

Widget (along with the rest of us) found it very hard to stop himself gobbling all the yummy cakes available from the cafe!

He finally fell asleep in the pocket of Dan, web designer and developer extraordinaire of Sawley Studios

So there you go - a very famous day! The next Ilkley market is a special Christmas one on Saturday 11th December, so please pop along and say hello - and sample some of the yummy food too!

Quite Contrary stocked in the Pop-Up Design Shop

Quite Contrary has been lucky enough to be selected to feature our goodies in the Pop-Up Design Shop, in Newcastle upon Tyne. Hurray!

It's being hosted by the lovely people of MushroomWorks and supported by Hunkydory Home - they've chosen a selection of some of the best niche design-led, handmade home accessories and gifts, and it's on from now until 13th November, so please go and have a nosey if you're in the area!

More info can be found on their website here - let me know if you're popping along, I wish I could go for a peek but it's just a bit too far for a day out from Lancashire, boo. So if anyone has any piccies, please share them! :)

Some Folksy Folk Revealed!

Admittedly a tinsy bit late, when I was at Ilkley Arts Market the other weekend, I met some lovely other Folksiers who were there too. It was a lovely Market, and very good considering it's the odd September in-between time of people saving their pennies for Christmas and the mad Christmas present buy!

So, have a peek below to put some faces to some Folksy names you may recognise!

First up is the lovely Lynsey from Swirly Arts. You may also know her as the amazing lady behind Cuteable, a great website throwing the spotlight on handmade and the talent to be found!

We were both doing our very best to spread the word about Folksy and Cuteable to anyone and everyone who was interested, so hopefully sent some newbies over to both of them!

Dig The Earth aka. Kev is also one of the regulars at Ilkley Arts - I love his prints SO much! (I'm secretly hoping Dan might buy me one of the gorgeous button heart prints one day...I'll have to try and hint a bit harder! ;0) )

I also met a new seller on Folksy whose creations I love - meet Kate Bowles who makes the most intricate little books, they're so cute! She recycles unloved paper and materials into something to be cherished - gorgeous.

And, of course, here's a peek at Quite Contrary's little table for the day - featuring my new Cake and Tea Papercuts! :) They'll be listed on-line in the next few days. I'm so glad I've finally managed to find frames to suit them!

Swanky Maison feature

Quite Contrary is now proudly part of the fabulous Swanky Maison family - and what almost made me choke on my cuppa this week, but a familiar little picture featuring at the top of the monthly Swanky Newsletter!

You can view this Newsletter here. Thank you very much Swanky lovelies for choosing my I♥Tea! Mugs to be amongst the lovely new items appearing on Swanky Maison. Going to go make myself a nice evening cuppa in my own I think!

If you want to find out more about Swanky Maison, just click here and it will take you to their home page - where you can also sign up for their Newsletter and competitions!

Blackpool Word Fair

This Saturday, Blackpool kick off their week-long Literary fair with plenty of events - including a lovely bevvy of word-based Artists and their stalls in the Old Post Office on Saturday. I'll be amongst them with my worded cards, papercuts and mugs, so if any of you fancy a day out to Blackpool, please pop in and say hello!

Entry is free, and it looks like a fab event. You can find out all the juicy details including all the events planned for the week here.