Action Medical Research charity Christmas cards now on sale!

Back in February I was asked to design a Christmas Card to help raise money for Action Medical Research. Twelve Artists from the Ladder Club were chosen by Lynn Tait and the cards were launched at PG Live back in May. You can read all about the launch here.

Christmas Cards Launched at PG Live 2014
Image by www.eddiemacdonald.co.uk

I was asked to design a card with a cycling theme, so liked the idea of a bike piled high with presents off to make deliveries. 

'Deliveries' - © Red Berry Hill 2014

You can now order these cards in packs of 5 for £3.50 from the Action Medical Research website with every penny going to the charity.

Money raised will help fund medical research into conditions affecting babies and children. Medical research can save and change children’s lives. Yet surprisingly, medical research into conditions that devastate children’s lives is poorly funded. Action Medical Research is currently supporting work around stillbirth, epilepsy, meningitis, cerebral palsy and brain cancer, as well as some rare and distressing conditions that severely affect children. 

I feel privileged to have been asked to be involved in such a great project for a worthwhile cause and be in the company of some great designs. Please choose Action Medical Research for your Christmas cards this year and remember all of the £3.50 goes directly to the charity. www.action.org.uk/christmas-cards

Something new!

In the summer I ran a competition at my local fete to win a portrait of your dog as a digital illustration in the style of the 'Top Dog' Cards. 

I really enjoyed producing it, here is the finished product, the owner loved it.

Copyright Red Berry Hill 2014

I was then asked by another family to do one for them which they were thrilled with.

Copyright Red Berry Hill 2014

So I have decided to start offering this as a service which is something new for me. 

Produced from your own photograph this unique print is digitally illustrated and mounted in an oak frame. Print size - 150mm square. Frame size - 250mm square and printed in the UK.

£39.50 plus £4.99 p+p (1st class signed for UK mainland only)

Please allow 2-4 weeks delivery

Email info@redberryhill.co.uk if you would like more information.

A week in the life of a (pop-up) shopkeeper

Back in June this year I received a tweet from Dalegate Market. 'Have you seen our Pop-Up-Shops?' I thought this sounded interesting so decided to go and have a look. 

Dalegate Market is a small shopping complex situated on the on the North Norfolk coast road between Hunstanton and Wells-next -the-Sea. It features shops such as Fat Face, Gone Crabbing, Relish Boutique, The Hare and Hen Gallery & Craft Shop, One Stop Nature Shop, Norfolk Hideaways, Deepdale Bike Hire and Deepdale Cafe.

Also on the site is Deepdale Farm which offers self-catering accommodation, independent hostel, campsite, group hostel and glamping (tipis, yurts & shepherds huts). 

For the first time this year they had decided to erect four colourful Beach Huts on the site to rent out as pop up shops to small independent companies for a week at a time during the summer months. I know and love that part of the Norfolk coast very well so thought it would be great place to have a shop, plus the idea of having my own little place for a week sounded a bit different and very exciting.

Photo Dalegate Market

After a bit of research I decided to book a slot and the last week of August was free. 

I arrived on the Weds afternoon was shown to my little hut which was really spacious and pink!

Now those who know me would expect at this point to see a scale mock up version of the hut with everything in place to make my life easier. BUT on this occasion I decided to just see what happens when I got there, not a good plan as all in all it took 5hrs to set up after moving tables into every position I could think of, lesson learned there I think!

I opened the shop on Thursday morning full of anticipation. There were a lot of people about and sales went well. I also had a few enquires about trade orders too. The next couple days were much the same, although the Sun, Mon and Tues was less busy because of the end of the school holidays. 

Hand screen printed bags with notebooks

Seaside postcard prints

Seaside postcards

Pug print

Most of my customers were dog owners, (I was in my element with all the sweet dogs to fuss!) so it was a great marketing exercise for my Top Dog range of cards. Everyday I looked at how well they had sold and put the top selling onto Facebook and Twitter which showed some interesting results which were as follows: 

Thursday's Top Dog was the Pug 

Friday’s Top Dog was the Whippet 

Saturday’s Top Dog was the Border Terrier 

Sunday’s Top Dog was the Chihuahua and the Springer Spaniel 

Monday’s Top Dog was the Border Collie 

and finally Tuesdays Top Dog was the Golden Retriever 

It was interesting that no two days were the same. Also the coasters, badges and magnets with the ‘Top Dog’ designs on went down very well too.

All four of the huts were rented out so it was nice to have some neighbours all of who were very different so gave some variety to the shops.

Photo Dalegate Market

Crafting Alison and Gemma’s Jewellery Box shared a hut and offered some lovely hand crafted papercraft items and jewellery

Crafting Alison & Gemma's Jewellery Box

Crafting Alison

 Gemma's Jewellery

Daniel Sa Designs offering unique hand made plaques from reclaimed wood. Photos on wood; the image becomes part of the wood with a special technique that takes up to 48 hours soak in.

Daniel Sa Designs

Daniel Sa Designs

Polly's Feltz only joined us for three days over the weekend a cottage craft industry with felted handbags and accessories designed and handmade by Polly.

Polly's Feltz(Photo Dalegate Market)

Polly's Feltz
(Photo Dalegate Market)

The owners of site site were extremely helpful and nothing was too much trouble. All the huts had electricity and free wifi which was good as I had bought my card reader along for the larger payments. The huts are situated at the back of the site and the team at Dalegate did a great job of promoting us on Facebook and Twitter and made signs and leaflets for the cafe tables to tempt people to come and see us.

Also on the site was a great cafe Deepdale Cafe with yummy breakfasts, pastries, sandwiches, coffee and hot chocolate!

If you are interested in a pop up shop then contact the team at Dalegate Market. All the information can be found on their website www.deepdalefarm.co.uk  They also have a popular Christmas Market every year which is on the 6th and 7th Dec this year, a great day out to get all your Christmas gift shopping done.

All in all I really enjoyed the experience of being my own shopkeeper for a week and hats off to all shop owners out there. Everyone I met gave me lots of positive comments and I made some great contacts too. 

Three today

Where did that year go? Its been a busy one:

I sent my first export order to Hong Kong

Image : Wikipedia

Took on my first agent in the South East

Increased sales and now stock all over the UK

Attended a successful Spring Fair

Launched a new age range "Jubliations"

Was asked by Lynn Tait of the Ladder Club to design a Charity Christmas Card for Action Medical Research. To be sold later in the year.

Photo by Action Medical Research

Photo by www.eddiemacdonald.co.uk

Exhibited at PG Live for a second year

Launched "Top Dog" at PG Live

and so to the next year and whatever it may bring!

Once again I send out a massive thank you to all my customers, family and friends for all your support over the past year.

Top Dogs

Launched at PG Live 'Top Dog' is the brand new range. It features big and bold portraits of some of the most popular dog breeds.

Digitally illustrated and mixed with collage on a crisp clean white background.

Comprising of 12 designs, 150mm square, printed on a lightly textured board and cello wrapped with a brown ribbed envelope. Sold in units of 6. Please contact info@redberryhill.co.uk for more information.