Petal & Pins

Category: creative business

October 9, 2019

Spring Notes

I’d like to say I sat down to this cup of tea and spent a few hours sketching but it’s just a pretty tableau to show off the beautiful detail inside the cover of our petal & pins notebooks that we released at the beginning of Spring. It’s exciting to go from an idea, finesse a design and then hold a new product in my hands.

The posy in the photo is from my patchwork hedge, there is lilac, crabapple blossom, japonica, beauty bush and a rose and if I’m lucky (like this year) their flowering overlaps for a colourful spring display.

The hedge inspired the patchwork dress which features in our Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe card collection. A sundress design I like to think of as conjuring up weekends wandering around markets or picnics with friends.

I timed the photoshoot perfectly because now it’s raining – the garden will love that and I’ll go and put the kettle on for a cup of tea I’ll actually get to drink before sorting stock to pack for  the Made by Hand Market this weekend at Hazelhurst Arts Centre.

Made By Hand Artisan Market

10 – 3 Sunday 13 Oct 2019

Hazelhurst Arts Centre

782 Kingsway, Gymea, NSW

This event is part of Sydney Craft Week see what other events are on here, and if you’re out and about in Sydney on the sunday come and say hello!

 

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June 15, 2018

Just A Card

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I was excited for our lapel pins to arrive, just in time to wear at our upcoming trade fair in Melbourne!

Have you heard of the Just A Card Campaign? It came about when British artist & designer Sarah Hamilton saw the quote “If everyone who’d complimented our beautiful gallery had bought ‘just a card‘ we’d still be open” by store keepers who’d recently closed their gallery.

This prompted a call to action! Designer/Makers and independent shops and galleries needed a voice and so in 2015 Sarah started the wonderful Just A Card campaign.

Sarah says “when you buy JUST A CARD, just a book, just a gift etc from an independent shop or creative business you’re not just buying a card…you’re supporting passion, skill, creativity, originality and community” – I couldn’t put it better myself!

Many of the shops that sell my work are small independent stores with passionate owners, so my sucess is also linked to their sucess.

While the Just A Card Campaign started in Britian it’s message has resonated globally with designers, makers, and independent shops and galleries and next week is a 3rd Birthday celebration of just how far it’s come.

Coming from a small island off an island  (my old atlas doesn’t even name it!) by necessity gives me a “there’s a whole world out there” focus on where I’d like petal & pins to be so I’ll be participating in their Five Day Instagram Challenge and I invite you to follow along – @petalandpins

How can you get involved?

  • Follow Just A Card on twitter and Instagram
  • Download a poster and put it up in your event or shop.
  • Like, comment or share the social media posts of designers, makers and independent shops and galleries whose work you love.
  • Re-post this blog post!

And finally as Sarah says – by all means compliment people, it makes the world a far sunnier place, but if you can, please, buy ‘just a card‘!

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5 Comments
March 26, 2018

Flower Lamp

autumn style mantle by petal & pins

I’m joining Cathy from Rambling in the Garden for In A Vase On Monday albiet with one I arranged on Saturday night as it’s raining this morning.

It’s been raining on and off for the last four days – not that I’m complaining because the garden needs it and it’s the perfect excuse as the mornings get darker to pull the quilt up tighter and ignore the alarm clock for a few minutes more.

I love this time of year when summer gives way to autumn, it feels like life slows a little and reminds you to take a moment to just breathe and be still – which is funny really because as the days get shorter you would think it woud bring a sense of urgency that you have less time to do all that needs to be done!

The hydrangeas have just about finished for the season but their late season faded colours are a favourite of mine and I’ve been leaving them to dry in vases around the house.

On Saturday evening after a day of grey skies and rain I decided to add a bit of autumn style to the mantle piece by filling a large cylindrical glass vase with dried hydrangea heads intertwinded with fairy lights.

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Want to try making your own ‘Flower Lamp’ vase? This is what you’ll need.

  • glass vase or jar
  • dried hydrangeas
  • secateurs or scissors to remove the stems close to the flower heads
  •  fairy lights

I have used Down To The Woods battery operated LED string lights that are on malleable wire that can be twisted and scrunched. The small battery box can be neatly tucked out of sight behind the vase so you can easily turn it off and on when you want!

I love the soft cozy effect the twinkling vase creates and I’m now keen to try out the idea with autumn leaves.

8 Comments
December 20, 2017

Seasonal

In November Mr Petal & Pins and I headed to Adelaide to do our 4th Bowerbird Design Market.

We love this event for all sorts of reasons – and although it’s work it’s also lots of fun, although not so much the 4am start to catch our flights (2) to get to Adelaide in time to set up!

We get to share our story and products directly to consumers and chat with other designers and makers from all around the country running creative businesses just like us.

And then there is the food…our favourite this time was from The Seasonal Garden Cafe. Their endeavour is to celebrate seasonal produce serving simple, peasant food that is guided by what is available from their cafe garden and from the gardens of local growers – and they certainly delivered that in a very delicous way!

Equally impressive was their stand display so I took some photos to share with you.

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December 7, 2017

A Playful Dash of Festivity

This years petal & pins Christmas Collection I designed with geranium flowers from the garden.

From window boxes in Paris to Australian gardens, these bright happy flowers add a playful dash of festivity – and perfectly suit a summertime Christmas!

trio of petal & pins xmas geranium gift tags

I had fun stringing our petal & pins gift tags and some sprigs of geranium flowers  above the mantle piece in the studio earlier in the week – the first festive trimmings to appear at our place.

gift wrap

We added petal & pins wrapping paper with this collection – it was exciting to see it develop from an idea to the finished product and branch out from just greeting cards.

The Christmas Geranium Collection is available at selected stockists and from the petal & pins online shop…and for classic with a twist, take a look at the Holly Dress greeting cards from my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe®

2 Comments
September 18, 2017

Write It Down

thank you ink

On Saturday it was my 5th blog Anniversary! A big thank you for following along and a warm welcome if you’ve just joined me.

If you have your own blog you are likely to agree the enjoyment can be twofold – spending time composing a post and the interaction with your readers and other bloggers you follow.

The raison d’être may or may not change over time but written with your own authentic voice there will always be a thread that strings it together and connects you to a reader somewhere else in the world. But keeping a blog going can be easier said than done, sometimes time and topic conspire to stay a suspended idea in your head. (I have many of those but Butterfly Wings & Other Things was one I didn’t let get away!)

Last year I was invited to write a guest post for Create & Thrive and I gave a couple of my tips for blogging – and I’d like to add this one to the list.

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It sits on the mantlepiece in my studio and I’m finding it a good reminder that there are times when you need to get things perfect and times when done is better than perfect.

It is beautifully written by calligrapher Tetia Stroud from Letter Bliss, one of the great women I met at Paper Camp earlier this year (you can get your free printable copy here!)

So start that blog, write that post, act on that idea because as they also say  – “Practice makes Perfect”.

 

7 Comments
August 23, 2017

The Seed Of An Idea

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Hello! this is me in our Life Instyle trade fair stand at the beginning of August.

In a few weeks it will be five years since I began this blog – I would never have thought then that I would be showing my designs at a trade fair (or sharing a photo of myself!)

Some people start a blog with a pronouncement of what it will – or won’t – be.  I didn’t really have a plan but I knew it was about taking the seed of an idea that was playing in my head and letting it take shape and grow.

Of course writing this blog has done that and  more – loosely around the themes of my garden and design work with a bit of life, loss, friendship, and travel thrown in. 

And now here we are. I’ve spent the last two weeks sleeving cards and packing orders to send to stockists and Mr petal & pins has made multiple trips to the post office and is updating the online shop with our new collections (all while juggling the start of a new job!)

So thank you for following along, I’ll continue to write and share snippets from my garden and studio here but I also invite you to subscribe to our petal & pins newsletter to be the first to hear about new releases, design markets where we can meet up and special VIP offers (Subscribe now and receive 15% off your first order!)

petal & pins stationery and art prints

‘Our stylishly playful stationery and art prints are designed with flowers and foliage from our Tasmanian garden.

Sandra draws on her background as a fashion designer to create ephemeral artworks that she photographs for the petal & pins collection including our signature range the Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe®.

Established in 2012, our studio looks out onto the rambling garden that inspires our designs and a ‘live in the moment, find joy in the things around us ethos.

petal & pins stationery and art prints are imaginative, unique and always enchanting.

We invite you to share our story…’

Sandra & Simon X

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