New products... how very exciting!

I'm very excited today as my new product ranges, including badges, magnets and lavender bags are now all available on my website. Although many of them have been up on my Not on the High Street shop for a few weeks now, it has taken a little longer to update my own site, but it is now live which is great news!



Over the last couple of months, I have begun to concentrate more and more on little handmade gift items such as embroidered badges, fridge magnets and lavender bags as opposed to my printed range. This is for a couple of reasons really.... over the last year as I have been developing my business, I've had time to work out which products I like making the best, what my bestsellers are and alternatively which things have proved problematic. It has been a big learning curve - and I am still learning for sure, but it is a conscious decision to try a slightly different approach.

Since I purchased my badge maker a few months ago, it has become somewhat of a best friend, and I do think it is one of the best things I have bought in a long long time! Although they can be fiddly sometimes, my badges and magnets are fast becoming my most popular sellers, which is very lovely as I've not been selling them long at all. Working on such a tiny scale is rewarding when you see the finished product and I think they look so smart all lined up on their backing cards... what do you all think?
Concentrating more on handmade products, it also means that I don't have as much reliance on printers and suppliers, etc, making it easier for me to control my stock levels. Also, because I don't want to have to place massive orders with manufacturers and printers, I sometimes end up paying a premium for a short print run which isn't very economical. The only downside I guess is that with a bigger emphasis on the handmade and bespoke items, it means more pressure on myself in a way to be able to produce enough to meet demand without my back giving in from too much sewing! I'm sure in the future I will maybe return to having more printed products in my range, but I like that at the moment, everything is made by hand here in my Somerset, with love and care and passion.







Hurray, you made it to the end of my ramblings for today! I hope you like my new products, I would love to hear your thoughts on your favourites...etc so do take a look at my website and leave me a comment if you are passing:)

I am also always looking to have more independent shops stocking my products, so if you have a lovely boutique or gorgeous website that you think would suit my products, please email me at hello[at]jennyarnott[dot]co[dot]uk for trade prices and more information, I would love to work with you! x

A day of cupcakes...

.

I'm now back from my week away visiting my family up in Shropshire and both my shops are now open again. Had a lovely chilled out week catching up, which was really nice as I don't get the chance to see them very often. Me and my sister Harriet baked some yummy cupcakes together when she came home at the weekend... the icing and decorating part was the most fun - as you can see we were going for the 'anything goes' style of decoration, but I think it works!



The recipe we used for our cakes was taken from a lovely book called 'Bake Me I'm Yours: Cupcakes' by Joan and Graham Belgrove, but I thought I would write it out here in case anyone had the urge to go do some baking!

Chocolate Sponge Recipe (makes 24 medium sized cupcakes)

Ingredients

♥ 3 medium eggs

♥ 175g (6oz) caster sugar

♥ 115g (4oz) self raising flower
♥ 30ml (6tsp) cocoa powder
♥ 1.5tsp baking powder
♥ 1tsp vanilla extract
♥ 175g (6oz) slightly salted butter

Instructions

♥ Pre heat your oven to 170 degrees, and place cases in bun trays
♥ Put sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla extract into food processor and blitz together for 2-3 minutes. Alternatively, mix it all together using a hand held whisk
♥ Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa together into a separate bowl and then add to the mix gradually, folding with a spatula
♥ Spoon the mixture carefully into the baking cases (be careful not to overfill, they only need one good dollop of mixture each as they do rise a lot in the oven)
♥ Place tray in centre of oven and bake for approximately 16-18 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched
♥ Turn out and allow to cool before the decorating fun begins!



We couldn't decide on which icing to make, so we halved the recipes below and did half pink, half chocolate!

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
♥ 225g unsalted butter

♥ 5ml vanilla extract

♥ 450g sifted icing sugar
♥ 40ml cold water
♥ Few drops of food colouring if you want coloured icing

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

♥ 115g soft unsalted butter

♥ 50g cocoa, Dutch processed if possible

♥ 175g sifted icing sugar
♥ 45ml cold water

Instructions

♥ Beat the butter to a cream in a food processor or alternatively use a hand held whisk
♥ For the chocolate recipe, sift the cocoa and icing sugar together and gradually beat into the butter with the water. For normal buttercream, just add the icing sugar and water to the butter, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, then add the vanilla extract
♥ Add a few drops of colouring to the buttercream mixture if you want coloured icing
♥ Spoon the mixture carefully into an icing gadget with a star nozzle to make lovely swirly patterns
♥ Decorate you cakes with sprinkles, chocolate shavings, silver balls, edible glitter...etc
♥ Sit back and enjoy all your hard work with a well earned cup of tea and a cake!



To be honest, we weren't the most careful or professional cake makers in the world, but we had a fun afternoon all the same!

City of Blackbirds...

Now I'm not a photographer in any real sense of the word; my product shots are often purely functional. But on joining Flickr this week, it has reminded me that there are some truly inspirational photographers out there - one of which is Dublin-based Éadaoin.

I have been following Éadaoin's amazing photo blog 'City of Blackbirds' for the last couple of months now, and her shots are simply beautiful. She has such a great understanding of colour and light, with her shots often bathed in a lovely gentle hue, with a soft focus that just draws you in... magic. Lots of Éadaoin's photographs feature natural subjects, such as flowers, plants and animals, but I also love her more architectural shots of buildings, such as the ones of Paris I have featured here. Then of course there are the cupcakes! Now who doesn't like cupcakes? Especially ones as divine looking as these...

I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I do... if so, you should definitely check out her lovely blog and etsy shop, where you can buy many of her gorgeous photographs as prints:)



p.s. I know there are a lot of photos on this post, but I make no apologies, there were so many pretty ones I just couldn't choose between them... Thanks Éadaoin for letting me share them!

Sign up for my newsletter!

So I have finally gotten around to setting up a newsletter... I know, I know it has taken me a while!



Hopefully it will be a great chance for me to show you a little 'behind the scenes' of what goes on here, as well as any exciting news I have, and sneak peaks at new products I am developing.

From time to time, I will also be offering discount codes and free shipping offers, avaliable exclusively to newsletter subscribers, so make sure you don't miss out and sign up now!

Don't worry, it's totally free and I promise you won't be bombarded with emails! :)

And the winner is...

A massive thank you to everyone who has entered my giveaway this month, it is really nice to see so many new faces to my blog.

As promised, i have used a random number generator to pick the winner and here it is...


So the random winner is comment 9, which is Emma, who has a wonderful blog called "It's all about the fabric", which is absolutely packed with useful and inspiring fabric related posts, it really is a must for anyone interested in crafts, textiles and fabric of any kind. Do check it out here if you have a few minutes (although I warn you now that there are so many interesting things to read you will be there more than a few minutes!) Anyway so well done Emma, I will try and email you soon to confirm which set of badges you would like and they will then be winging their way to you very soon:)

Thanks once again everyone for taking part, it's been really fun and I am sure to be doing more giveaways in the future so keep popping back! xx

Fabric Badge Giveaway - Now Closed!

I haven't been blogging very long, but I have decided that the time has come to have my first blog giveaway! To celebrate the launch of my little embroidered fabric badges, I will be giving away a set of three badges to one lucky reader.

The winner will be able to choose which set of three they would like: either cupcakes, flowers or butterflies. If picked, you will get one of each colour (i.e. one pink butterfly, one green and one blue), with each badge on it's own little backing card.



All you have to do to enter is become a follower of my blog and then leave a comment on this post saying which badges you like the best. (The lovely people who are already following me, just leave a comment as usual and you will be included in the draw!)

If you also become a fan of my facebook page - Jenny Arnott Textiles - you will get one extra entry into the draw.
Please make sure to leave a separate comment on this post telling me you have become a fan:)

Finally, if you mention my giveaway on your own blog, you can earn one last extra entry! Please leave me a link to your site as proof, again adding it as a separate comment on this post.

The winner will be picked at random and you have until the end of Sunday 19th September to enter... Good luck!

Pretty Lavender Bags...

I've been a busy bee this last couple of weeks, working on some new products... first up being these little lavender bags. Perfect for hanging in your wardrobe to keep your clothes smelling lovely and fresh or on a door knob for fragrancing the entire room (tried and tested in my own house, which smells beautiful now!)



There are two different collections to choose from; 'beach huts' in nautical navy, red and white, with plenty of seaside-y spots and stripes, and 'flowers', with a patchwork embroidered flower on a soft needlecord backing.

Lavender bags can now be purchased at Not on the High Street, and on my own website in the near future so keep an eye out!

Pingg Designer Series...

I received a lovely email today to say that my 'Robin' design has been chosen as this week's staff pick from the Pingg Designer Series!

Pingg is a stylish, design-led online invitation service which features beautiful designs by a number of established artists, designers and photographers. Invites and e-cards are all customizable with your own details (some you can even upload your own photos into), and can be sent either online or by post.

Below are a few examples of my other invitation designs available to send at Pingg or click here to see my entire collection!

Portuguese Pottery...

In the last few years, I have developed somewhat of a fascination with ceramics and tiles and love to visit the colourful markets, stalls and potteries when I'm abroad. I nearly always end up buying a selection of local ceramics, which I then find myself having to cram precariously into my hand luggage for the flight back... This year was no exception!

When driving back from a day out in Sagres in Portugal, we came across a wonderful pottery, where the outside walls were absolutely covered with brightly coloured decorative plates like multi-coloured pick and mix, all different shapes and sizes. Some of the plates were broken and chipped, but this didn't deter at all from the charm of the display.

I spent a happy hour that day wandering up and down the many isles of dishes, stacked high with every colour and design imaginable. You do have to be selective as some of the designs in these potteries can be quite garish, but there are nearly always hidden gems to be found amongst the piles!

Holiday Snaps...

Just back from a lovely sunny holiday in Portugal; I am slowly re-acclimatizing to the rubbish British weather and gradually getting back into the daily routine! Had a great time away with my family... it was lovely to spend some time with them, which is a real rarity these days as we live so far apart. We stayed for two weeks in Lagos, a historic maritime town on the coast of the Algarve, which also has many beautiful beaches surrounding it.

The weather was amazing, but very, very hot during the day, so many of our beach trips were made a bit later in the day when it was slightly cooler and also less busy. Had a lot of fun scouring the beaches for shells and driftwood with mum; found lots of interesting bits and pieces to make into 'coastal style' decorative items (think driftwood mirrors and hanging shell decorations!)

When we weren't sunbathing or beach combing, we also went on quite a few day trips, driving out into the surrounding countryside and along the coast. We visited several traditional little towns, such as Salema, where I loved all the colourful painted fishing boats, filled with old bits of rope, lobster pots and other fishing paraphernalia. A couple of times, we also visited the nearby historic town of Silves, which has some pretty buildings adorned with highly decorative, old-fashioned wrought iron balconies and very Moorish patterned tiles. We also spent one very windswept day at Sagres, which is only a mile or two from Europe's most south-westerly point. It was so exposed out on the cliff tops and very remote but had stunning views on all sides out to sea...

All in all, a wonderful holiday!