Taplow House Hotel

Taplow House Hotel is without doubt one of Buckinghamshire’s finest wedding venues; its magnificent sweeping grounds and beautiful Georgian country house will ensure the perfect venue for a wedding of any size.

Off here today for my first of many wedding fairs Taplow House Hotel in conjunction with Berkshire Wedding Fairs is holding a bridal show from 12-2pm.  I'm not exhibiting at this one, but going to network, get some inspiration, talk to a few brides and grooms and see what is on trend at the moment for the Berkshire set...

SICK BAGS

If your are gonna be sick.... do it in style please.... http://www.lydialeith.com/sick-bags/

TERRY POND

Found and loved this pic on Pinterest yesterday.... very very true

Its from Terry Pond, who i think may just become my new favourite person.  Not only does she love sausage dogs, but she is living my dream as a self-employed artist selling products and prints featuring her illustrations http://pondragon.blogspot.com/.  Shes a blogger http://terrypond.blogspot.com/and im looking forward to lunch time reading especially of the weiner blog http://weiner-dog.blogspot.com/

Nice to know you Terry!

Off Sick

Well this is us for now, all laid up, drugged up (not Milo) catching up on CSI...... Not by choice, if i could I'd be up on the printer printing, but am beat.  I lie here defeated with flu, sinusitis and glue ear.

 

Digital Printers

This may be the first of many post regarding digital printers.  This week alone, a considerable amount of time has been spent googling local digital printers, getting quotes, downloading artwork, waiting for ring backs that don’t ring back, talking print resolution & dye-sublimation blah blah blah.....

As most of my stationery are to have individual illustrations, digital printing was the only option and then have them letterpressed.  So it was vital I find someone (like me) dedicated to providing quality products and services.  There are many design and print firms around today and choosing one to look after your needs can often feel like a gamble. 

A gamble no one should take on STAPLES!!!  Don't get me wrong, Staples do provide extremely good office stationery and filling solutions but after a disastrous birthday card, the only printing I would conduct in Staples is to use the 10p photocopier.  They had poor customer service, poor knowledge of the printers, my cards were poor quality, the registration was off and I would not go back – please avoid.

Ones to recommend are Negs http://www.negs.co.uk/

My old faves, I used them a lot whilst at college, very down to earth, knowledgeable, give you what you want and if not make good recommendations.  Check out there site, they do test pieces for no charge and there quotes have always been reasonable and there are student discounts.

Whilst Soho used to be very local to me, and not so much now I was now faced with a challenge of finding a local printer in the Berkshire area local to me. 

Bullseye Print & Awards are my new friends.  http://www.bullseyeuk.com/ They had an online chat with me, gave me a speedy quote for my 'diva' like demands and made this challenge simples.  Not only will I be approaching them for my press packs, but also for my digital printing of the invites.  This is made even sweeter by them sourcing the card I want or a suitable alternative.  Perfect.  I will keep you posted on the outcome. 

In my opinion Digital Printers are like a good man.... hard to find, so i suggest when you find one, keep them.  Then let me know their details so I can add them to my new section of Recommended Print Suppliers.

Things To Do List

I haven’t blogged for a while, but I have done an epic amount of work on Very Impressed.  So I thought id blog today about something different but how this epic amount of work was achieved. 

Always being one for lists To-Do Lists are my essential item, if anyone asked id say it’s what id take to a desert island.  

When I don't use To-Do Lists i'm unfocused and unreliable. When I do use them I experience less stress, safe in the knowledge that I haven't forgotten anything important.  More than this, prioritizing intelligently it has focused my time and energy, kept me sane & motivated.  Struggling in the day job and fighting a heavy bout of sinusitis it hasn’t been antibiotics or therapy that has pulled me through, it was my Things to Do List.  Meaning that even when i’m down in the dumps and sick I can still be productive, and valuable.  So though I may not have blogged for a while I have been Very Busy.  It has to be the first time my list has exceed more than 10 things.  This time round I produced a list of 68 things. 

I’m now on task number 25 of my list, (25. Update blog) and wish I had a PA to help with the rest, as there really are not enough hours in a day for such things as source cardboard boxes, buy tissue paper, make press packs blah blah blah…

Ill let you know how i’m getting on, but stay tuned, as last on my list is Launch Party, which i’m just a little bit excited about.

Moonfruit Review

I previously blogged about the wonderful package that Barclays Bank offers new start ups and how it included the free website builder Moonfruit. 

I may have also mention that alot of money was lost through independent web developers making a few pages from their bedrooms then running off with my money.  So, thought I would attempt this myself & after trying WIX previously, was confident with trying Moonfruit.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this postings are my own personal opinions and should not represent or reflect negatively of Barclays or Moonfruit.

I consider myself a printer - not a website developer.  Moonfruit is very simple and straight forward the site is very clear and fresh and offers some really attractive templates.  I had looked on the forums and other people’s site and it was very impressive.  With some creativity I could also have something as impressive.

I worked on my site every evening for the past 3 months, it was always a bit of a chore, eye straining and time consuming.  I almost completed my site until I needed to add my shop.  This is where it became non functional for me.  I sell greeting cards and wedding stationery so therefore need the option of my clients buying in bulk quantities.  The Moonfruit shop builder didn’t have this function and only led you to add to cart then to payments.  There was no option for my clients to choose how many they wanted, they could only buy 1, so for example if my average couple wanted to order save the dates for example, for 100 guests, they would have to keep repeating the 'add to basket' 100 times.....errrrrr NO I don’t think so.

Other friends I know have used Moonfruit to publish their work and portfolios and the results are amazing.  For me however this ecommerce platform is not adequate for me.  I upgraded my account to get full ecommerce facility, but Moonfruit responded to me through twitter and email that I could be refunded or I could wait a few weeks for updates.

When running a small business every penny counts and time is also too valuable to waste, so on this occasion I opted to invest with WebCreationUK, who offer:

"......To build a respected and trusted website design company takes time, dedication, passion and hard work! WebCreationUK are one of the UK's fastest growing web design companies and we believe that no other can match our great services at the prices we offer...."

"......Our standard & advanced e-commerce web design solutions provide you with a contemporary, fully-functional online selling platform for your products and services - all at highly cost effective prices....."

It is alot of money to fork out and another business risk after being stung before.  But they were so friendly and cooperative that I am putting my trust in them.

This is also beneficial for myself as it frees up more time for me to concentrate on my design work and get messy with my prints.

At last.................