Pack it up again - Tiara Box Consumer Testing!

Ok, so the tiara box dilemma may have been solved! The prototype of my new handmade boxes has been sent to the first buyer of one of my Rose of York fascinators via Folksy today.

I have decided to use the same card from the Kanban factory shop that I use for our backing cards treated the same with the tea and the ironing etc. I've made a template for a custom sized box with a lid featuring the Wychbury stamp. I am looking for feedback from our customers on how the boxes stand up to mailing and their general aesthetic appeal so until the end of April they will be offered FREE with all the fascinator bands sold through any of our online shops. If the feedback is good and the design is finalised then they will be available as a seperate listing, a snip at £1.50 each including all the froo froo leaves etc.

If you buy a fascinator will be invited to leave your feedback either as a comment on here or in the feedback field of the purchase itself. Please be honest, I can take it!

Paula x

Pack it up

As you know we like things au naturel here at Wychbury and generally use lovely muslin bags from Celestial Gifts on Etsy with our Wychbury stamp on them. However, in these dark times of unpredictable sales and fluctuating exchange rates we have been a bit, well *short* recently! This has led to me making do and mending with whatever white fabric I can find and dunking it in tea! There is something satisfying about making the packaging part of the creation. It's also nice to take stuff that would normally be binned and make use of it.

Our backing cards are made from misprinted and rejected card from Kanban in Shipley where their factory shop lets you fill up a box with whatever you like - my kids absolutely love it! We use used teabags to stain them and a combination of new and vintage rubber stamps to embellish them.

Ok, so I have a dilemma. I am now making a range of fascinator/headbands featuring my flower corsages, including a new range for bridalwear. My dilemma is that the only thing I can find to package them in is acetate boxes - which just isn't going to work with my aesthetic at all I'm afraid!

I've had a couple of ideas so far, one was to make a drawstring bag like the ones we use already but in a rounded shape with a stiffened and padded gusset to protect the fascinator - I've not tried that one yet. I have had a go at making origami boxes out of stiffened fabric. They are absolutely gorgeous but aren't really stiff enough for shipping and use a large amount of fabric - obviously putting paid to any thriftiness whatsoever. However, I'm thinking that they may work as a small jewellery box and be a perfect use for small scraps of fabric and recycled paper. There are loads of tutorial videos online on how to make them from paper and I just followed the same principle but with fabric that already has a layer of fusible backing on it - dyed in tea of course! Waaaaay too faffy to be practical but I think I'll just keep buttons in them for now!

I've just added an 'Our Packaging' set to our Flickr page for our packaging creations which I will hopefully be adding a design for fascinators to very soon. In the meantime, check out the 'Etsy Packaging' Flickr group for lots of gorgeous Etsy sellers packing their work up just right and PLEASE send me any ideas for packaging for my fascinators :)

Paula x

Sunshine Award!

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world. The rules are:Put the logo on your blog.Pass the award to 12 bloggers.Link the nominees within your post.Let them know thay have recieved the award by commenting on their blog. Share the love and link to the person from whom your recieved the award.

Before I accept this I should point out that we also received one in January from Leigh Shepherd, a fact that I was reminded of when I just went to nominate HER for one! I am sorry for my rubbishness Leigh and THANK YOU very much for the award.

This one is from the very lovely UK tatter, Tatiana Rosa so thank you very much for this Heather. We heart your jewellery the MOST :).

I am aware that this is a fairly finite system as a lot of the people I would like to nominate for awards have already received them and twelve blogs is quite a lot to choose more than once! (Which is Leigh and Heather aren't incuded!) I am doing two nominations in one go and participation is not compulsory - just sharing the lurve! Here we go :

UK Handmade - Ok, they no doubt have lots and lots of nominations but UK handmade rocks and features Wychbury so I simply must!!

Gracie's Garden Bazaar, beautifully presented, ethereal blog - regularly updated and, well - just gorgeous!

Swirly Thoughts, by Lynsey the fabulous author of Cuteable. Swirly thoughts is her personal blog including her wonderful chickens!

우리Uri-Craft Collections, Three Malaysian cousins whose current range of hair accessories are so beautiful that their photos alone make this blog captivating.

Incy Wincy Stitches - Just so good! Tutorials, patterns and generous, unconditional sharing of the fabulous textile work of Sam Gillespie.

Wild Woman Jewellery, for having the subtitle 'For the Whimsically Audacious', a totally addictive soundtrack and featuring lots of lovely, lovely things!

Le Fresne's Castle with Rowan DeVoe, Art, photography, red hair and black cats! LOVE Rowan's photographs so much :)

Smitonius and Sonata, Mum and Daughter based in the UK and Holland, making jewellery and miniature quilts. LOVE this blog, so many fabulous things in it!

It Is What It Is by Lynn Whelan, wonderfully chatty insights into her life and her lovely, bright work.

What Does Your Heart Desire? - The Heart Gallery of Hebden Bridge. Approaching its first birthday, the Heart Gallery's blog is full of lots of things that I love about

Yorkshire and the talent therein!

Kayla Coo, Goddam, this is beautiful stuff! LOVE Michela's work.

Big Blue Bed, Dorset buttons, family and a really lovely blog!

Paula x

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, so I failed completely to create any new products for Vally's Day! However I will point you in the direction of Lesley's Poison Heart Locket Ring from our Folksy shop.

Sticking with Folksy for a minute, here are the top picks from my lovely Folksy friends that popped into my head straight away when I started typing this! Leigh Shepherd, Rowan Grant and Tracy Connell are all West Yorkshire ladies and all just happen to have heart themed items in their shops right now!

LEIGH SHEPHERD DESIGNS

Love Heart Tattoo Brooch

£12.00

Leigh's brooch is 'A truly removable tattoo'! A print of her original painting of a rockabilly style tattoo on a gold background made onto a vintage draughts piece, also available in 'Life' and 'True Love' version.

RUBY SPIRIT DESIGNS

Overture Bracelet in Amethyst

£12.00

Tracy also has earrings and bracelets available in this gorgeous lampwork heart design in her shop, there's a pretty clear version too but who can't love a purple heart?

KITSCHEN SINK

'WhAt KiNd oF GirL aM I?'

ViNtAgE CoMiC NeCkLaCe

£14.00

Rowan has a few more of these fab vintage comic designs featuring kissing couples in her shop but this was the one that stood out for my Valentine's feature. Possibly because the description says 'What kind of girl am I?....I don't even know his name...and I don't care...I just want his kisses!' That in itself makes it irresistable in my opinion!

See? We are talented up here in the North and not at all Grim! However, some grimness exists in my neighbour's garden right now which I won't go into for fear of spoiling your lunch. In order to sweeten the pill of having to live next door to such horrors I went a bit overboard on our Valentine's breakfast this morning - yup, I made heart shaped blueberry pancakes and am not at all ashamed to admit it!! I used up the blueberries and blackberries in Nigella's American Breakfast Pancakes and just had to turn up the faff factor by a bit of heart shaped pouring!

Have a really great day and happy Chinese New Year too :)

Paula xxx