Cherry Pie Lane

My Awesome Find… T-Rex-Tastic!

Mar 152012

OK, so this isn’t ‘technically’ MY awesome find, but the awesome find of my fave x-stitching buddy, Sarah, at Magasin (oh and by the way, she is super cool & makes freaking amazing x-stitch stuff!). I was lucky enough to go to art college way back in 2001 with this lovely lady & we’ve stayed in touch since.

Anywho, I met up with Sarah a few weeks ago – she came down and met little miss CPL for the first time & brought BARRY THE DINOSAUR with her as a fabby prezzie for Pops. I think he only adopted ‘Barry’ after Mr CPL thought it up!

Barry

Apparently ‘Barry’ is Poppy’s new friend! He sits on her high chair tray & she feeds him bits of her food, he even came out to lunch with us a couple of weeks ago!!

I found out that ‘Best Years’ make this little green dude, so if you fancy grabbing one, do, they don’t bite, haha!!

Monday, Monday…we’re bringing etsy back!

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Mar 122012

Ahoy hoy! Thought I’d drop in and let you all know that I have been loading my etsy shop back up. I’m aiming to get it to be up & running as my main shop by the summer (unless any other shops decide to persuade me to be theirs… i’m easily bribed with cake, wine, sweeties, money & sparkly stuff, haha!!)

I’ll be able to run some exciting promotions and coupons over at etsy, so there will always be something to look out for.You can also access the shop via the CPL facebook page – where I can give you lots more discounts, but only if you ‘like’ us over there!

I’ll be listing all of the ‘stock’ items, like the 2012 wedding collection, home and garden bits etc will be available pretty soon & I’ll also be able to list custom orders for you all too, just ask!

Any who, here’s a sneaky peek of what’s fresh in the shop:

: Vinatge Style Ceramic Drinks Labels

: Vintage Style Ceramic Sea, Sand & Fish + Chips Sign

: Let Them Eat Cake – Hanging Ceramic Letters

: Pearl White Button Favour / Decoration

: Large ‘Thank’ & ‘You’ Ceramic Signs

See you on Thursday… maybe, haha!!

My Awesome Find… double whammy!

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Mar 082012

Well, you lucky, lucky people, I’ve got not one, but TWO awesome finds for you this week! The first is my new found love of Windows Movie Maker (which I have used to make a rather funky vid later in the post). The second I found via the God of social media that is Twitter… Cheri Bakewells (awesome custom cookies).

After jesting with the baking Goddesses about them sending me cake, they actually did send some fabulous cookie pops to me via the good old postal service. Now, there was a bit of a point to this – I’m being a bit of a guinea pig for Cheri Bakewells to see how well & how quickly the baked yummies can be delivered.

Here is an interesting package for me…

Parcel

What’s hiding inside??

Awww...

Mmmm, can I see cookie pops?!

Oooh...

YES, I can!!

Yummy 'Lips' Cookie Pops

Errrrrmmmm, hang on missy, they are NOT for you!!

Mini CPL trying to steal...

So, it would be rude not to eat them, you know, to test the products… I did have to get Mr CPL to help out here, 1 cookie pop, I can handle, 2 would make me a bit ill

Mmmmm… from Cherry Pie Lane on Vimeo.

Well, the truth is, they were rather delicious, I can see why the TOWIE (The Only Way Is Essex, for those that don’t know) people wanted them!!

Anyway, the moral of today’s post: Go visit Cheri Bakewells, order many yummy things, eat them whilst making hilarious videos on your computer!

See you on Sunday!

Monday, Monday… looking ahead

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Mar 052012

Wow, I’m slightly scared and also very happy that I am totally and utterly fully booked until April, I have got so many fabulous orders in at the mo, that I can’t take on any more till the end of the month & I have YOU GUYS to thank for making me busy, so thank you & give yourselves a big clap (maybe even fashion yourselves a star?!).

Anyway, as the next batch of orders to come in will be in April, we’ll be starting to get close to Father’s Day. I know that these guys are massively hard to buy for – especially now that I have to buy 2 lots of prezzies, one for my Dad and one from Mini to Mr CPL (with a little help from her, of course!!).

So… I reckon I have sorted this problem for you… Why not get Dad/Daddy/Father/Pop/Pa a ‘small-fry scribble’?? Get your fave little person to make a drawing for you (I can use almost any drawing or scribble) & then send it on over to me to translate into a fabby piece of ceramic art that you can keep forever without fear of it being torn up, dog-eared, soaked, crumpled or eaten by the cat!!

Here are a couple of examples of some small-fry scribbles (the name and age have also been stamped in to the reverse, but this can be added to the front, removed or changed to say whatever you like!) Just click on the gallery images to see a BIG piccy!

: Small fry Scribble – 1 colour

: Reverse of 1 Colour Small fry Scribble

: Muliti-colour Small fry Scribble

: Reverse of Multi-Colour Small fry Scribble

Prices start from £30 – just drop me a mail for your own quote at: info@cherrypielane.co.uk

Sunday Brainspill… Time to Reflect

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Mar 042012

2012 has been pretty ‘interesting’ (read: expensive) so far – first tax man came a-knocking, then the computer Gods came and dumped on me by busting my laptop & making me buy a new one, then the bills came rolling in from Xmas, Mini CPL’s Birthday – she has a terrible Birth date, poor girl – and the totals for the naming day/1st Birthday party we did for little lady P (which you can see on Les Enfants’ blog). THEN my kiln gave up the ghost and wanted new elements.

To be honest, only the laptop and the kiln set me back time-wise, everything else has been just about sort-able. Though it has been very irritating & frustrating not being able to get all of my orders through as quickly as I normally do, it has given me a little bit of time to slow down & reflect on things, life & CPL.

I’m working super hard, 24/7 – I get up early, I entertain mini CPL & juggle emails,listings, laundry, cleaning, shopping & baking during the day, Mr CPL returns home from work in the evenings and baths little lady whilst I cook dinner. After getting Mini CPL into bed, Mr CPL & I have time to scoff some dinner before I dive into the laptop or back into the other room to work on clay/painting/packaging – Mr CPL tends to do CAD/websites/printing for me or gets on with his crazy horology hobby!! After lots of work, it becomes pretty late pretty quickly. We crawl into bed, drift off to sleep, get woken by Mini CPL once or twice & then the alarm wakes us to start all over again!

You know what, I wouldn’t change much. Sure, I’d love another 5 hours in the eve so I could get more done. I’d maybe even like it for mini CPL to give me a few hours in the day to get more done, but I reckon we are doing ok. I do love a moan, especially on twitter, but that seems to be my main venting space. I miss not having family near by, but I have a few lovely friends that help to keep me sane-ish. But the main thing is, I really, really, really love doing CPL – it makes me feel useful and normal & gives me focus. I’m not the best business-woman in the world and really never will be, but I try to be the best I can & I hope people like coming to me for that.

Let me leave you with how my sleeping little monkey looked this evening…

Mini CPL

My Awesome Find… Local Wedding Lovelies

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Mar 012012

I was rather excited last night, as I had been invited to the launch of No. 10 Bridal in Farnham. This bridal boutique has been chatted about for a few months & I had driven past it a few days previously & it is BEAUTIFUL! Go check out their website for all of the details of the collections and fab pretties they stock there.

I traveled over to Farnham with Sarah from Creative Candi & we picked up Laura from Lobster Love on the way through. After battling for a short while with the one-way system in Farnham (it’s really one hell of a road layout with some pretty scary junctions!!) we arrived and opened the door to the beamed building.

Greeting us were gorgeous floral displays by Evelyn Cole and stunning sparkles from The Vintage Sparkle Company, along with loads of gorgeous dresses from talented British designers, most notably, Madeline Isaac-James. Paula from The Vintage Sparkle Company came over and loaded us up with fab goody bags & we made our way upstairs to see the beautiful, sparkly dresses.

We found Joyce from Brides and Beauty & met the very lovely Carrie of Devonshire Photographic. We met Laura from Your wedding Your Way, Emma from Emma Lappin Flowers and had a long chat with Emma from Gifted Heart Cakes (who had brought her hubby with her – he’s a good laugh & apparently gets dragged in to lots of bridal-y type things, so you’re highly likely to meet him too!).

After perusing some pretty frocks & working out which one I wanted to wear to my imaginary second wedding, we headed up to the top floor and crammed more goody bags with sweeties and cakes & then got to have a quick chat with lovely Natalie of Madeline Isaac-James/No. 10 Bridal fame.

I’ve got to say, standing up in the gorgeous beamed room and looking out over Castle Street was just amazing – such a special place to go and find your wedding dress.

I didn’t get round to speaking to everyone and I was gutted to find that I’d missed seeing Bex from Designed by Blush – I’ll catch you next time

Thanks to No. 10 Bridal for a great evening!

Monday, Monday… Don’t forget the design work!

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Feb 272012

Final CAD design for a custom wedding heart.

Well, February is nearly over already, crazy!! That means that you guys only have 2 days to place your orders to get £5 off any of our design services. All of our design services and some examples can be seen in this post from a few weeks ago – you can also see the prices too (don’t forget you get £5 off each package until midnight on the 29th!).

I always advise anyone wanting a custom or complex order to use the design service so that you know exactly what you’ll be getting before you put your final order in. It also helps iron out any design wrinkles before it gets put into clay – cos once that baby has been made up for real, it can’t be changed!

So what are you waiting for?? Don’t miss out!

Sunday Brainspill… shop wars

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Feb 262012

I’ve been pondering a change for a while now. I have several shops on the go. 2 are linked to my facebook page (the FB and etsy shops have tabs on the left hand side of the page), and 1 (the folksy shop) isn’t linked up.

The facebook shop (a payvment store) is the one that I use the most, mainly because it was the easiest to use when it first came out. It was simple, straight-forward and super fast to list things. I also like the fact that listings last forever and you don’t have to pay listing fees or any sales fees (other than the paypal fees). But when it came out of it’s beta phase and relaunched, I must admit, I fell a little bit out of love with it. I find it hard to use, hard to add new listings and hard to edit existing listings. It takes an age.

In the meanwhile, etsy had been pulling it’s finger out. Not only does it have a super fast and fab new way to list things, but the user experience it just a bit cleaner and nicer. Don’t get me wrong, I hate having to answer all of the silly questions it asks of me for new listings, but I know that it is thorough, so the more info I cram in, the more chance I will get found. Whilst listings and sales and subject to charges over here, I like the fact that each sale is recorded and gives you a chance for feedback and ratings.

The last shop I have on the go is my folksy shop. I’ll be honest, I’ve been lazy with it. I’ve listed very few things, mainly in the knowledge that it would never be my main salesplace.

I think my initial feelings were to get myself in as many places as possible so that I can have maximum coverage, but I’ve found that really, I’m diluting my effectiveness by spreading my time so thinly. I know that Etsy can be a super successful business platform, if given enough time and love, but I can’t afford to do that with all of the other shops too.

SO… I must make a decision to keep just one shop on the go. Do I save my pennies and press ahead with the facebook store in the hope that it will suddenly ‘take off’ one day and I’ll be discovered, or do I sink all my eggs into the mega craft-basket of etsy and make a real go of it over there?!?!

What do you guys reckon??

Monday, Monday… time for a tea party!

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Feb 202012

Alrighty, apologies for the lack of Sunday post yesterday, but I was celebrating my little (or not so little now) brother’s 20th Birthday!!

Anyway, remember the sneaky peek I gave you guys a couple of Mondays ago… no?! Well, it’s this one. I showed you one of the new drinks labels. THEN, the fabulous Jay Archer blogged the whole new collection on her awesome site last week. NOW the whole party has been featured on les enfants fabulous party blog, so you can see how the collection was used and to see how it looks ‘in situ’ – these pics were taken by the mighty Sassy of Assassynation and feature some of my other fave suppliers too; Jay Archer Floral Design and Cat’s Whiskers Cake Design.

In case you missed the new collection launching last week, here are a few snippets for you:

Let Them Eat Cake - White Glazed Letters

Sugar and Spice Vintage Style Sign

'Eat Me' Garland

Drinks Labels - Cream Soda, Lemonade, Ginger Beer

The rest of the collection can be found on our FB page – they are not yet available in shops, but if you fancy grabbing a few up, just drop me a mail on: info@cherrypielane.co.uk They can also be totally personalised too… Gin & Tonic labels anyone?!

See you all on Thursday!

C x

My Awesome Find… Polka Dot Love

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Feb 162012

Ever have one of those days where you just feel a bit ‘pfffffff’ or ‘meh’?! Well, I think today is my day for that. On a quest to cheer myself up a bit and a little bit of an escape back to being a teenager, I’ve decided that it is high time I bought myself a new pair on Cons. *cue searching about the net & plumping on the Schuh site* I found these… I NEED these…

My New Love Interest from Schuh - Two Fold Hi Li polkadot Trainers

OK, I’m off for 10 minutes of listening to some Pearl Jam, drinking some tea & pretending I’m not grown up – then I’ll get back to work again, promise!!

Older Entries Newer Entries

My Awesome Find… T-Rex-Tastic!

Monday, Monday…we’re bringing etsy back!

Monday, Monday… looking ahead

Sunday Brainspill… Time to Reflect

My Awesome Find… Local Wedding Lovelies

Monday, Monday… Don’t forget the design work!

Sunday Brainspill… shop wars

Monday, Monday… time for a tea party!

My Awesome Find… Polka Dot Love

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