Our Home: Studio Tour

rainbow clouds bunting: Nyla Rose

teapot: charity shop // cloud cushion: Oh No Rachio // heart garland: Fayre Earth

hanging birds: Cloudy Blue

pink cube shelves: Ikea // pink heart chair: Argos // pink desk lamp: B&Q

dream big: Stacie Swift // purple heart tree: Snappy Crocodile // purple make today marvellous & rainbow heart tree: Holmes Made // she believed canvas: Kim Anderson // purple stag: By Charlie's Hand // Storm in a Teacup: Lazylinepainterbelle

trolley: Ikea // pink painted drawers: Peapod

scalloped shelves: B&M // cat plate: Winnie Shek

ceramic welly boot: Sarah Coonan

biscuit cushion: Pebble by Nikki McWilliams // polkadot wall stickers: Wall Dressed Up // paper circles garland: Scout & Acadia  

Welcome to the JillyJilly studio! This is where we design, print, make and package all of our products. I really wanted it to be a light and colourful space with fun details and lots of organisation. I think we managed to achieve this, especially thanks to the built in cupboard which hides a multitude of sins. You'll notice some bulky black sublimation equipment lurking on David's desk (unfortunately they don't make this in pink...), this is one of his main jobs and now that we have separate working areas it makes it much easier.

Before we moved into the cottage our studio was a corner of the living room with storage spread across the house - sublimation equipment was in my Mum's office and packaging stored under the bed! Because of this, storage was such an important factor when working out how to use the space. We have places for ready made stock, printing materials, jewellery findings, glitter (we have over 30 colours!), illustration supplies, gift wrapping, product packaging, postal packaging, printers, paperwork, event stuff and equipment. Phew! I'll admit we do have a small shed and another cube unit in the hallway as there was just no way to fit everything in one room!

One of my favourite things about the studio is having a gift wrapping station. It's so great having it ready at all times to wrap up orders all pretty and makes one of my favourite jobs even more fun. I also love my desk which is surrounded by inspirational artworks with beautiful colours, patterns and words to brighten up my day. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

In the Studio: Planning for Events

Hey guys, I thought I should focus this blog on events as it's the time of year where everything gets a bit crazy. With all the fairs and markets you need to have an eye-catching stall to get noticed. We've had lots of displays over the years but this is our favourite with lots of props and height, soft colours and branded details including a custom printed table cloth from Print Me Pretty. We also decided that we should get a card machine as lots of people used to ask if we took card. We use iZettle which customers seem to love, the ipad app for it is great too. You just need to make sure the venue has wifi (or signal for phone internet as you can get the app on there too!)

Our top tips for fairs are:

• Make the most of your space, try Pinterest for stall ideas and be creative. 
• Make sure everything is clearly priced - people don't always like to ask.
• Bring along lots of business cards (we get ours from printed.com you can get 20% off with our link here) and other promotional freebies - we give out a different discount code for the website at each event so we can track if customers become online buyers. Logo badges and sweets are always popular too!
• Make a check list so you don't forget anything important. You can see ours below.
• Smile! Don't be afraid to chat to customers about your goodies, most people love to hear about your ideas and how you make things. That's what makes you different to the big shops!

Jilly made an events checklist which we thought you might like to see, it's designed for us though so not relevant to everyone but it might help if you're making your own. We tend to visualise the stall from base to signage in the order we set up when packing so that's why it's split into sections like this. Of course this list doesn't have stock in it but that's because it often changes!

Hopefully this has been helpful for anyone starting out with fairs. Thanks for reading and see you next week.

September Places: North East Open Studios

Earlier this month I took part in North East Open Studios (NEOS) along with my Mum at Pebble. The shop was closed for a couple of days giving us a chance to look around some of the other venues. We decided to venture out to Banchory followed by Stonehaven and see what artists and designers could be found along the way. (If you've ever seen the NEOS map you would see it's actually quite tricky to plan a proper route!). I think we only managed about a half day by the time we'd set off and minus a lunch break, but we did see a few venues. I only took photographs at two but these were my favourites so it seems best to just feature them!

First of all we saw Juliet Macleod (The Cloud Pottery) who had such a bright and airy open plan space in her home to exhibit her beautiful blue and white ceramics. We got to peek into the 'potting shed' where we could see Juliet's work bench and equipment along with some pieces in progress. It's fascinating to see the process from dusty grey clay in the studio to smooth and shiny home wares. My Mum chose a small dish as a birthday present which is now hidden away until October!

After a late lunch we caught Nikki Bruce just before closing. Her studio is located in a quirky green summerhouse - Green Shed Studio. It had been transformed into a gallery for the NEOS week and was completely bursting with beautiful ceramic gifts. To say we were spoilt for choice was an understatement. I've stocked up on stocking fillers already which is a first for me at this time of year! Nikki's pieces are so much fun using wallpaper textures to create intricate patterns which are filled with glazes in a rainbow of pastel colours.

On the way home we popped into My Beautiful Caravan, one of my lovely stockists, then grabbed a delicious Aunty Betty's ice cream. A fab afternoon out but just a pity we didn't have time to visit more NEOS venues!

In the Studio: 100 Days until Christmas

Hey guys! Sorry again for the late post, I have been really busy with work. I work part time in security for events which includes some shifts for the referendum, these shifts are really long and tend to be finished early in the morning so my sleeping pattern is messed up.

On the JillyJilly front we've been working on organising the business more so that on the run up to christmas we are prepared for it and not running around like headless chickens as usual. It's only 100 days until christmas! Crazy! Time passes so quick especially when you are working from home, the days melt together into weeks, then months before you know it. Jilly designed this desktop organiser to make it easier to manage all the files involved in running the business from product and packaging designs to admin and promotion.

We've nearly finished the new designs and products which is always exciting news as I enjoy the process and also really like releasing them. These include our first ever calendar which we have both really wanted to do since the beginning of the business. We've also got some Christmassy Bottled Treasures in the pipeline and sourced some great new stationery too.

Finally, we can confirm some events are booked for the end of year! The first being Little Birds Market in St Andrews on the 28th of this month, so come along if you are nearby as it's a really nice little markets with lots of vintage, craft and design.

Thanks for reading, I'll be on time next week (I hope), see you later!

August Places: St Andrews

At the end of last month my sister and her boyfriend came to stay so we went to St Andrews for the day, it was great weather for a wander. We visited the lovely Little Birds Market for the first time, I'd been following online for a while and wasn't disappointed with the cute and quirky selection of goodies available. Next we went for lunch, then queued for yummy Jannettas Gelateria ice cream. I had apple pie flavour and vanilla which was made that day - delicious! We decided to have a barbecue that evening as we drove back to the cottage in the sunshine but by the time the barbecue was lit it had started raining. Typical! We finished the evening cosied up with a film and enjoyed our salted caramel cupcakes bought from Macbelles at the market earlier.

In the Studio: Planning Ahead

Hey guys, sorry this is a day late, no excuse other than we've been really busy. So this week Jilly is taking part in North East Open Studios, she's exhibiting her work and our products at Pebble in Aberdeen. Unfortunately this meant last week was a rush of trying to get work finished on top of the usual jobs with late nights and making extra stock. We're really aware of needing to get better at planning ahead to stop this happening and to have regular working hours would be great as we'd get more time off, which is a rare thing these days. 

Unfortunately because of not planning ahead, the Christmas collections aren't finished which means we're later than hoped for working towards wholesale this year but we'll still be creating designs just for everyone who wants to order from our online shop and upcoming fairs. We'd love to get into a seasonal collection release routine giving more time for launches and planned design time. This would mean we could finally work properly with shops to try and have our products stocked up and down the country, a big business goal of ours.

This year because of moving house and shifting the business to JillyJilly with a design focus rather than just Bottled Treasures it's been hectic to say the least. I hope by the end of the year we will have everything planned and get the ball rolling with keeping ahead of seasonal designs and also expanding the business to include more wholesale and press opportunities.

Hopefully I'll be on time next week, see you then!

Our Home: Living Room Tour

spinning tealight holder: Rustiques // teacup vase & vintage peony: Cottage Craft Centre // wallpaper: Jane Clayton & Co

love lantern: house warming gift // pink candle: Primark

 chalk paint on bookcase & mantelpiece: Milk by Autentico // rose garland: Sass & Belle // pink house lights: Nyla Rose

sofa: Ikea // floral cushions: Fayre Earth Gift Shop // mint cushion: Pebble // checked throw: Ikea // patchwork throw: Primark // world map print: Not on the High Street // house lamp: ebay

rug: Society 6 // chalk paint on coffee table: rose by Autentico

wooden heart trug: B&M // candle: Pebble // wooden doilies: Asda // napkin holder: Tiger // napkins: Cottage Craft Centre

table cloth: John Lewis // coasters & placemats: B&M

upcycled vintage chairs: Pebble by Alabaster Box

button lamp: DIY project

upcycled piano stool: Alabaster box // bright pink lantern: Bombay Duck // light pink lantern: B&M // dandelion artwork: Fayre Earth Gift Shop by The Wee String Plaque Company // doily: etsy // stag clock (below): Pebble

After the last post about our new home which focused on the village we decided it would be fun to start a series on 'our home' which will give us a chance to share our newly decorated cottage along with other bits and bobs about Falkland. 

So here is our living room! I think it's my favourite room in the cottage, but I do keep changing my mind. I did a mood board post with what I had in mind for this room back in July and I'd say it turned out how I'd planned. I know it's really girly with all the pink and florals but it's also very comfy, cosy and practical. We have our little dining corner which can fold out to seat 6 for dinner and the big pink corner sofa is a double sofa bed (it also stores all the guest bedding inside it!). We painted the plain furniture ourselves with Autentico chalk paints and my Mum is to thank for the wallpapering (thanks Mum!) There are links under the photos to where we bought some of our living room things but if I've missed something which you're curious about let me know!