The shop is open!

Many of you have already found my new-look Etsy shop . . . and my Etsy iPhone app has already "ker-chinged" Thank you!!!

On the blog layout, you'll notice there's a new button to take you to the shop (if you're watching in google reader, mobile version or whatever, you may not see it).

While dusting down the shelves I noticed a new  Etsy thingy . . . 'About', so I've added a fun little intro – you can see it here.

I though you might like to see the 'real' shop . . .  yes it does exist ;-) it's a red shoe box and looks like this

. . . and as you can see, I need to get busy packing and posting those orders; which means I'll have to go outside . . . in the snow! Yes, like most of the UK our corner of Suffolk is looking very wintery indeed.

This is our village green . . . don't Suffolk pink cottages cheer up a snow scene!


Celia
xx

Re-stocking the shop

I'm surrounded by boxes full of printed cards . . . the new 'not just for Valentine's Day" range has been printed and arrived this morning – and I took advantage of the sunshine this afternoon to photograph them.

I promised that my Etsy shop would re-open early in 2013 – well, I've dusted down the shelves and the new shop front is up . . .

. . . I'll re-stock the shop over the next few days; and update all the links and update the web site, so "bear with".

This morning, after Lorna had delivered the boxes of cards, I drove over to the picture framer's to collect some more frames – these are for the new woodcuts 'Love song' and 'My heart leaps' – they will be in the galleries soon.

It was a glorious day, cold (well below freezing all day) but the sunshine made the remaining snow and hoar frost twinkle; so it was a pleasure to drive up to Depden, a little village not far away, where I had arranged to meet Tim to persuade him to stock my cards in his lovely farm shop/café.

At the farm shop it was a pleasure to meet Cheryl, she is a very keen stitcher and knitter and was holding a 'stitch'n'bitch' session in the cosy café, so I joined her and had a bowl of Tim's delicious lentil soup for lunch.

And the good news is that my cards are now for sale in Depden Farm Shop.

Must go, I have cards to pack and prints to frame!

Celia

x

Magic Cochin's Emporium closed for a major refit

I've decided to make a few changes to my "online presence" so I have closed my Etsy shop until early in 2013 to give it a major refit. The new look shop will still stock the best-selling card designs but there will be new cards . . . the first of these will be new prints and cards for Valentine's Day :-)

And I'm thinking of giving the shop a new name . . . what do you think?

The little red hen will still be part of my brand logo, but she will no-longer work as my online-agent – it's time to blog and run the shop as the real me.

Celia

xx

Now is the month of Maying . . .

Fa-la la-la-la . . .

If you're about to go a-skipping round a May-pole this Bank Holiday weekend in England, you'd better wear your wellies! I won't go on about it, but if you live here in the UK you will already know that it's been the wettest April on record, May has so far been a deluge and night frosts are forecast for the holiday weekend! Never mind, eh?

So, I thought I'd do something to cheer you all up . . . in fact it was a case of "necessity being the mother of invention"! I'd received a trade order for a selection of my cards, including the 'Magical Hares' cards but supplied as single, individually packaged cards. But then, my laser printer which I use to print my cards, decided that it didn't like printing black onto the parchment card stock (what!!!!). I was rapidly wasting precious card blanks and getting very stressed! the stupid machine was printing the red 'Birds' wedding' and brown 'March hares beautifully, but the black was rubbish.

Then I had a brain wave, I'd discontinue the black version of the Hare designs (and apologise to my new customer) and introduce new colour versions . . . and here they are . . .

The colour choice was inspired by my collection of vintage embroidered linens and book jackets.

olive

fuchsia

tangerine

teal

You can buy single cards or a pack of each of the four designs . . . and there's another reason to smile . . . yes!!! FREE SHIPPING to UK mainland addresses on ALL purchases from Magic Cochin's Emporium.

I'll keep the price of cards the same until 12th June 2012, then I'll review things. I might increase the prices a little, but shipping to the UK mainland will still be included in the price of each item  . . . no add-ons (except for an overseas shipping sur-charge).


I hope you all have a lovely May Holiday . . . forget about the weather forecast, in my experience the weather reports always err on the gloomy side and it actually turns out to be not bad at all.

Celia
x

PS I'm planning to send out my next studio newsletter after the holiday weekend, so if you haven't subscribed and would like to, please click here.

Leaping

There are hares leaping, dancing,
boxing and skipping all over
Magic Cochin's Emporium!

The 'Magical Hares' card bundles are back in stock and there's a brand new card design based on my new linocut 'March hares'.

 March hares

The rooks are repairing their nests high in the tree-tops, the buds in the hedges are about to burst and the 'mad March hares' are dancing over the field furrows. When I'm lucky enough to see the hares 'boxing' . . . the prancing of feet and flurry of paws, it never fails to bring a smile to my face because I know that the cold months are behind us and the spring flowers will soon fill the hedgerows.

This is a edition of 30 prints on Japanese Kikuchi Haini Kozo Koban. The image size is 15 x 15cm. Each print is named, signed and numbered in pencil by me. An unframed print costs £48 (which includes p&p to addresses in the UK mainland). The original limited edition unframed prints can be ordered by emailing studio@celiahart.co.uk


Celia
x

Perfectly packaged

Yesterday the postman delivered a package from Japan . . . I knew what must be inside – I'd made a purchase on Etsy, but it was a surprise that it had arrived so quickly!


For a while I just enjoyed looking at all the stickers and stamps on the outside, then it got even more interesting when I took out the contents . . . like 'Pass the Parcel' there was another package inside and I remembered how packaging is an art in Japan. I won't be throwing this paper away!


This is what I found inside: two fabric covered buttons (one with a 'C' for Celia on it); two pairs of chop-sticks in little folded paper packets; and some pretty decorative stickers.


Ooooo . . . there's more: little packets of tissues with Miss Kitty designs on them and a map of the Tokyo subway – these made me laugh. They reminded me of my holiday seven years ago – they are so typically Tokyo!


But, wait a minute! I didn't order any of those things, they were just little extra gifts that Mayumi had popped into the parcel :-)

This is what I'd bought from her Etsy shop, Karaku . . .


Wooden rubber alphabet stamps – and what's more it's an old fashioned type-writer style typeface, like the one I use for my studio's stationery; and they are in lovely little tins too!


Gosh! I'm going to have so much fun . . .



Celia
x

Shopping options – Etsy and Folksy

I've recently re-opened my etsy shop with a new image and name, Magic Cochin's Emporium. I'd been concidering opening a folksy shop instead so I could price items in GB pounds, in the end I decided it would be a shame to ditch the etsy shop.

However, this morning I was tweeted (is that the correct term?) by Emma, saying she would prefer to pay in pounds. Maybe others feel the same? I had a rethink and decided that I would list all items on etsy AND folksy. At the time of listing the prices will be as near the same as I can get them, but as you known the currency exchange rates fluctuate daily; if you want to get the best possible deal you can check the GBP/US Dollar exchange rate on here.

Here are the links to Magic Cochin's two Emporia . . .

Magic Cochin's Emporium (etsy) – prices in US dollars

Magic Cochin's Emporium (folksy) – prices in GB pounds

Celia x

Magic Cochin's Emporium now open

I've re-opened my etsy shop with a new name . . .


the shop will sell cards, books, vintage and printed gifts.


Must dash . . . back soon :-)
Celia
x

New for you to view (and me to do)

summer•shorts no:11

The to-do done list:

• design and send out a new flyer promoting my illustration work to publishers and studios tick
• add a new section of digital illustrations to the online gallery tick
• complete a new set of illustrations and print new cards tick
• put the new cards in the Etsy shop tick
• tidy up the Etsy shop tick
• add lots of new digital illustration work to the Studio pages of my web site tick
• revise the web site home page tick
• start new paintings . . . oh! can't tick this one yet, but it's dull and rainy outside so I'll make a start
• put Giraffe and Elephant book in the Etsy shop . . . mmmmm! – I should do that today too tick it's here in the Etsy shop
• start the design and illustrations for the two new little books I've been planning in my head . . . yes! I MUST
• write a new to-do list

Name that veg

Another glorious sunny day and another chance for an outdoor photo shoot. This time I was taking photos of the painted garden labels I made last week. A trip to the local timber yard – a great place to shop with helpful staff who round down the price – and a few happy hours cutting and painting and I have a basket full of bright labels to cheer anyone's vegetable plot.


The tags feature scans of my 'Leaf Doodle' papers in different colours and space to write inside – all ready to go in the Christmas stocking. They will be for sale on my stall at the Christmas Bazaar in Withersfield and the Mayor's Appeal Arts Fair in Saffron Walden at the end of November . . . oh, and they're for sale in my Etsy shop too.


I've kept one of each colour for myself and written the names of some of my favourite vegetables on them so they are ready for next spring.

Hens, bears and angels

It was a perfect sunny day today – just right for taking photos of the tree decorations I've been making. They are linocut designs printed on some lovely Indian and Nepalese papers, I designed them last summer and they quickly sold out! This year they have the 'Leaf Doodle' paper on the reverse. They look lovely on a Christmas tree or a tree branch, and they looked great in sunshine in the garden – so they're not just for Christmas!


I'm selling them in packs of four different designs – each pack will have at least one angel, bear and hen plus one more. I had fun selecting the colours and designs that looked good together.

And here they are, all packed and labelled and for sale on Etsy.

Printsy Interview

Printsy represents the printmakers of Etsy.com, working in the time honored techniques of intaglio, relief, screen printing, lithography and monotypes. On the Printsy blog you'll find links to the work of all the artists, as well as interviews with some of them.

Last week Mariann Johansen-Ellis interviewed me for Printsy
read it here.

A parcel of delights!

I'm intrigued how some people happen upon my blog, occasionally I check the hit-counter and check to see how recent visitors have found Purple Podded Peas. Often it's a google search for "peas purple pods", the other week it was a search for "looking after hens". What caught my eye was the website listed after my blog, it was www.hencam.com, a message on the screen read 'The chickens are in bed for the night. Please try again in the morning.' The hencam is part of the website of Terry Golson a talented chef and author who lives near Boston in the USA, and like me, she has a shop on Etsy.com. I spent a happy tea break reading Terry's blog and smiling a the witty retro pin badges she makes from vintage book and magazine pages.

It wasn't long before Terry had spotted I'd listed The Store at Little Pond Farm as one of my favourite Etsy shops and after a chat via email we decided to swap some goodies. Terry selected a print of my much loved (and missed) Black Cochin hen picking blackberries, she was named Queen Victoria (who else would wear such stately black crinoline!). I chose Terry's latest book The Farmstead Egg Cookbook and a few badges.

The parcels obviously passed in mid-Atlantic and both arrived yesterday! The cookbook is beautifully designed and illustrated with gorgeous photos (including some of Terry's hens) and they are just the sort of recipes that are useful for using fresh eggs and home grown vegetables and fruit.

The badges are fab! Which one shall I wear today?


that's a perfect thought for the day!