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I was so thrilled when I recently saw that actress Kate Bosworth had been photographed admiring one of the many foil fortune cookies we made for an event in New York hosted by Kim Crawford Wines. The foil cookies were created with specially worded fortunes for the guests and hung on a wooden tree as fruit - so clever!
This is why we love working on orders for events, it's inspiring to see how our products are used so creatively by event organisers - plus, you never know who's hands they will end up in - brilliant!
Happy Friday!
I got some lovely features this week that I am super grateful for.
Thanks so much to -
The Bijou Bride
The Greedy Book
Etsy Treasury
Things are getting pretty busy here again - the January/February rush is well and truly here! I shall post some pics of what I have been up to soon.
Rosey
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I just wanted to give a big shout out to Swoonnose for your continued support for Sepia Smiles.
Thank you for featuring my products on your gorgeous website and within your Facebook community.
Check out their site, brides to be!
Rosey
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I'm loving this new Facebook Wedding Page - 'Help Getting Hitched'. Full of useful links and loveliness for your weddings. Thanks for featuring my polka dot bags ladies!
Rosey
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Last week I was lucky enough to visit the e-commerce hub for buyers and sellers of handmade goods, vintage goods, and art supplies - Etsy at their headquarters in DUMBO ("Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass")neighborhood of Brooklyn.
I have been selling on Etsy since 2009 and it's on there that I started my online wedding business Sepia Smiles. I have tried other online sites in the past and have always stuck with them as they provide the most useful seller tools and have a vibrant community of 30 million buyers and creative businesses. Since being on Etsy I have learnt a lot and my business has grown gradually over time.
Anthropologie US contacted me in June last year after seeing my message in a bottle gifts and asked if I would consider designing a range of them for their holidays and valentines capsule. Of course, I was so delighted as I had always had a dream of selling my products through them. They then placed a large order for their retail stores and their online store. This was all great news and I was of course very keen to fulfill on the order. The only problem was that I did not have the access to the funds and the facility to create such a large order on my own and in such a short timescale - the order needed to be turned around and shipped within a month.
This is when I approached my family friend and Management Consultant, Lance Jones who owns Working Strategy. I asked him if he could help and he was prepared to finance the procurement, manufacturing and shipping on receipt of the purchase order. The partnership worked really well and we have shipped several orders to Anthropologie since.
Etsy will soon be rolling out a wholesale marketplace (currently in beta) and they were interested in finding out more about how myself and Lance worked together as a team in fulfilling the large wholesale orders. We were more than happy to help answer their questions and they made us feel very welcome. As we were visiting on a Tuesday we were lucky enough to be included in Eatsy where we enjoyed locally grown food and we had a tour of the offices. I must say if there ever was a place that I would love to work at - it's there! We were shown around by Nadine Heintz who was super helpful and friendly and made us feel so welcome. We were so inspired by how they work together as a team based on equality and camaraderie.
I think one of the best things about the offices are all the different communal areas they have access to and also the themed telephone booths. Rather than making personal calls at their desks they get to go into one of the many themed 'photo booths' There a quite a few dotted around the offices - my favorites are the British themed 'telephone box' and the 'depeche a la mode' booth - how cool are they!
The tour ended with a visit up to Etsy Labs which is where all the crafty things happen and the training and meetings. Myself and Lance got to experience the photo booth - a kind of initiation ceremony for new Etsy employees. We had to dress up in funny props and have photos taken - it was good fun although my shots came out pretty bad so I am not posting them here!
I hope myself and Lance were able to help Etsy a little with our experiences with wholesaling and if anyone would like any advice or assistance from us who are in a similar situation to the one I was in - please get in touch - we will be more than happy to help!
The above shots were taken by myself. The big sculpture is actually supposed to be a bee but everyone says it looks like an Owl - I must say - I agree! It's the Etsy mascot and it's called Mr Grit and he is about 9 feet tall.
The other photos are of the main entrance leading up to the reception which is lined with an amazing living wall - I want one in my house.
If you want to see some more photos of Etsy HQ take a look at Refinery 29's tour over here.
Up next the visit to Anthropologie Headquarters.
Rosey
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I am delighted to say that my new collection of online exclusives is now available at Anthropologie US.
Exclusively designed for bridal showers, baby showers and summer entertaining.
Hope you like it!
You can view the collection here.
Rosey
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I was recently delighted to see that my feather place cards were featured on the fabulous wedding blog, Bijou Bride. A wedding fashion, beauty and styling blog run by London based stylist Alexandra Merri.
Alexandra used the place cards for a surprise trip to Mauritius for her husband. They renewed their vows during an ultra romantic ceremony on the beach. You can read all about it on her blog here - along with some useful tips for weddings abroad too.
Rosey
Photos courtesy of Bijou Bride
Yay! - the New Years Resolution Kits are now available to purchase online at Anthropologie US - click here for the link.
They really do make excellent conversation starters so are ideal as favors for your New Years Parties and make ideal Christmas stocking stuffers too.
Be quick as we have friends in the US that are ordering these for their own New Years Parties and there is limited online stock!
Rx
So, I have been going on about this 'secret project' for a while now and I can finally reveal what has been going on!
Back in June I was contacted by Anthropologie US via my Etsy Shop (thanks Etsy!) to create something along the lines of my message in a bottle kits for their holidays collection. Of course I was very glad to oblige and went on to custom design some products for them and posted them off. A month or so later they contacting saying that they would love to place orders for my New Years Resolution Kits. I was of course, delighted!
They have since also ordered the Valentines Message in a Bottle Kits I have designed for their Valentines Day capsule so they will also be available to buy soon.
My designs will be sold in 99 of their stores across America and Canada and also on their website too. I shall post a link to the items once they become available to purchase online.
This really is a dream come true for me as I have always been a huge fan of Anthropologie and I am so thrilled that they chosen my items to stock in their amazing stores - I am so grateful for the opportunity and beyond excited - still!
I shall be blogging about the whole experience and how the heck I managed to pull it all off in the short space of time I had to do it all in. It's all thanks to my amazing family and friends and some excellent expert help too.
Just goes to show it pays not to give up on your dreams - ever!
Rx
ABOVE IMAGES
ANTHROPOLOGIE LOGO
ANTHROPOLOGIE ROCKEFELLER CENTRE STORE NYC -
IMAGES VIA ANNE BARAKAT
Last week I visited the lovely Cotswold's and the beautiful market town - Stow on the Wold, with my good friend and business collaborator Lance Jones
We went to visit the recently opened Vivant Boutique which offers a wonderful range of UK handmade arts and crafts and to meet with the owner Jill Lawrence. Jill opened the boutique in October after moving back to the UK from France.
The boutique has a wonderful array of things to buy including wooden bowls, greetings cards, glassware, jewelry, teddy bears, scarves, wall hangings, enamels, decoupage glass, felt brooches, soaps, candles and a large range of other types of textile products like cushions, tissue holders, purses and lavender bags. Jill's own line of handmade jewelry - Vivant Jewelry is also on display there.
I am also very lucky to have my New Years Resolution Kits featured at Vivant too and they will also be available to purchase at the craft markets Jill will be attending over the holiday season.
If you happen to be in this beautiful area of the Cotswold's over the holiday season please be sure to stop by Vivant!
Vivant
5 Brewery Yard
Sheep Street
Stow on the Wold
Gloucestershire
GL54 1AA
Rx
It's at last Friday my favourite day of the whole week and the sun is finally shining - Hallelujah!
This week has ended on a high note for me, along with the sunshine I picked up the July/August edition of You and Your Wedding Magazine and found my Hudson save the date has been featured in their 'Something New' wedding stationery feature. It was such a nice surprise and it's the first time I have had anything published in a national magazine.
They did request me to send them some samples a while back but i didn't really think anything of it as there are so many amazing invitation designers out there and so much competition.
Thank you Kate Hornby for your beautiful styling and for including my save the date among all of those other stunning creations!
I will be finishing off all current orders this weekend and then I will be taking a week off from the blog and order processing.
Some much needed R & R is required!
/ / Please Note / /
The shop will still be open for orders and I will still be able to answer any inquiries however, please bear in mind I will not begin working on any new orders until my Monday 10th June.
Hopefully on my return I shall be fully rejuvenated and brimming with creative energy again!
Rx
