A Snapshot of Nice

It's been a while! We've been caught up in the beginning of the Christmas rush since getting back from our weekend away as you may have read in David's post, I can't believe it's practically November already! This is just a wee snapshot of our time in Nice as a few of you have been asking what we got up to. We were only away for 4 nights so spent most of the time wandering around trying to see as much of the city as possible, it was so hot and humid so our walking was mostly split up with ice cream breaks to cool down (which seem to have escaped the camera). We spent a lot of time in the old town with it's maze of winding streets which were easy to get lost in but thankfully quite shady and filled with lots of cute independent shops. We also visited a few markets, saw the harbour, the view from the Castle Hill and ate some yummy patisserie treats. We spent half a day in Villefranche-sur-Mer which David had been wanting to visit; we took the train there then walked around the coast back. My feet weren't too happy but we had a lovely little apartment to come back to and relax in which was booked through airbnb.

Nice isn't the most chilled out of places (or maybe it's just us after getting used to living in a small village!) but it is so beautiful, the buildings are all candy coloured and everything is so bright and cheerful. On the last day we found Maisons du Monde was releasing their Christmas collections... so many pink decorations! We chose a small selection to take home for our first Christmas at the cottage, not long to go now.

In the Studio: A Catch up before the Madness Begins

Hey guys, you're probably wondering where we have been for the last while as we haven't written a blog for nearly a month. Well, it's been a busy month, not just making orders etc., but we had a little holiday, a market in Edinburgh last week and also a whole load of planning work for Christmas so we never ended up having enough time to write our blogs. 

Firstly, we really enjoyed our holiday in Nice because It gave us some time to relax and get away from work. It was only a weekend away but that was enough time off to enjoy some relaxing time together, it was a little bit too hot though! Jilly has a Nice blog coming soon.

Anyway, after getting back from our holiday we realised that we needed to figure out a solid weekly routine so that we worked definite hours everyday and actually get some time off too. This started off great but then Jilly got a really bad cold which meant that she needed to rest and I ended not sticking to the plan but there isn't much you can do when you aren't feeling well. Now we're feeling better and hopefully we can stick to the routine for the coming months.

If you follow us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram you'll have noticed the new collections being released with lots of exciting seasonal designs now available. The madness is beginning! We're getting very busy with orders, stock for stockists, upcoming events and all the seasonal promotions, and that's before the Christmas shopping really kicks in. Finally I thought I should mention that we are starting a 'Trick or Treat' offer tomorrow with lots of free treats being given away up until Halloween, exciting stuff!

Thanks for reading and hopefully we will get back into writing all our blogs :)

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.