Hello, I have now listed three of my new tie-bags on our Etsy and Folksy sites! I have some more in production that I will put up soon and many more planned!

Hello.
I have also been away. Mark and I went to New York for a week and had a great time there. I found some interesting and inspiring ideas from our visit which I hope we can translate into new products very soon. I have put some of my photographs on my Flikr page. I especially loved a quilt I found at the Devils Kitchen Market. They style is known as "dollar" or "penny" quilt and the one I saw was made from 1930's family fabrics. It was lovely.

Since we came back I have been working on a few new bowls. The Stray in Harrogate is an amazing open park space surrounded by trees. It is not really exaggerating to describe it as awesome. I will certainly be making some more because I really enjoy painting them and I'm hoping that other people will enjoy them as much as I do. So I have been producing bowls inspired by the trees there and there are two new ones for sale in the shop.

Last weekend we visited family staying at Flamborough Head in North Yorkshire for their holidays. We walked on the beach and I took loads of photographs of rock pools. I have started making a new range of Memory Bowls based on those.

We are hoping to be attending and selling our gifts at a few craft fairs and markets in Harrogate and North Yorkshire and in Portsmouth leading up to Christmas. We will keep you posted.

Yesterday I visited a car boot sale at Weatherby Racecourse (looking for silk ties for Laura's new tie bags). It was a beautiful day, lots of people and stuff. While there I met some people who have recently started a business "Your Gift Box". They prepare brilliant gift boxes for all occasions. I especially liked the box for a student starter which had a variety of little gifts to get a uni newbie feeling good about being in Halls for the first time. They will personalise the gift box to suit the person you want to gift. It's a really nice service. They don't have a web page yet (but I think they are planning to) but you can get in touch with them by email ygb1@hotmail.com or 07806 754648.

Apologies for not posting here for a while, things have been a bit hectic. Not only am I discovering that running a business takes more time each day than there is available, but I have also bought a house in the last week. There is a lot of work to do to make it what we want, and I'm now on my second day of waiting in for the removals men who are supposed to be coming to take the rest of the seller's furniture. The house also has limited Internet access for the time being, so I'm not able to get much done!

On a more relevant note, we now have a Folksy page! Folksy is a great British-based website where artists and crafters can sell their beautiful handmade items. We're still working it all out, but we have an ameliagreenheart page and are in the process of putting all our lovely things up for sale there.

I have also acquired a good selection of ties and am still trying to perfect my tie-bag technique. I will put these up on our Etsy and Folksy pages asap.

Oh well, back to stripping wallpaper!

Since getting back from my stay with David in Harrogate, I've been trying to organise myself a space to work at home. It hasn't gone very well so far. I have good intentions of clearing our spare room so that I can have a proper creative "office". I am easily distracted, so having a dedicated space will be invaluable.

Today I've finally managed to make a successfull prototype tie-bag, after much sewing and unpicking of various other attempts. I had the idea to re-use the material from gentleman's ties while I was in Harrogate, and this is the result so far. I plan to keep experimenting with this and trying different sizes until I find a few styles that I'm happy with. Being a perfectionist doesn't make this process go quickly!

I've also been sewing a collection of labels to put on my items. I've used the cotton padding from inside the ties as the base - another opportunity to recycle! Tomorrow I'll be attaching these to the items I've already made, and probably sewing a few more. I feel this will become a never ending task...

I have also just added an Etsy tab to my Facebook page, and will be doing the same for the ameliagreenheart page shortly. This will update automatically with all our new listings and posts (hopefully), so should save a lot of time!

Today I've started make the bases for a whole new set of bowls and I've begun the process of producing papier mache pulp. I decided to make little video clips of how they are made and then when I've finished I will stick the clips together and post a video onto the blog. We have a few really interesting product ideas which we are both working on now so that we can expand our range and open up our creativity. So we will keep you posted and updated.

I also called the Henshaw Arts and Crafts Centre we mentioned on Sunday and spoke to someone about volunteering there. I have an appointment to meet with them in a couple of weeks time when I get back from my trip to New York.

Thank you to the friends who have sent us messages of support and interest in our shop, this blog and our Facebook page. Best wishes, David

We have been pretty busy since our first blog post setting up various administrative documents and trying to complete various tasks for the new business. Google's GMail seems very helpful. We are loving the shared documents and calender functions.

If you use Facebook to keep in touch with friends please have a look at our page ameliagreenheart. We will have updates on there as well with information about our products and the Etsy shop.

We were inspired by Lauren Lukes' website. This is a lady from Jarrow, near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne here in England who has a blog where she gives tutorials on how to recreate the make-up secrets of the stars. It's fascinating and very entertaining. We love it and neither of us wear (much) make-up. Follow the link, you will not be disappointed.

Anyway we are planning to try to post some videos on this blog to show you some of the products we are making, share some of our ideas for new stuff and introduce you to people we meet along the way.

Today we met some very nice people who run a retro clothing shop in Knaresborough Riot Vintage, and we had a great time trying on clothes and boots...There were some great fabric designs and ideas which we will think about for our products. David sacrificed a fabulous pair of cowboy boots (admittedly size 6 and a bit girly) to Laura. They were purchased as part of her forthcoming birthday celebration. If you find yourself in Knaresborough this shop is well worth a visit.

While we were in Knaresborough we also visited Henshaws Yorkshire

which is a centre that supports people who are visually impaired,

have learning and other difficulties. The Arts and Crafts Center has a gallery, workshops, a handmade gifts shop and a very pleasant cafe. We walked through sensual garden which is beautiful. Most of the Centre was closed today but we were able to peek through the workshop windows and into the gift shop. The goodies glimpsed definitely ensure that David will be returning during the week to have a proper look, get inspiration and meet some of the people who work there.

Finally a note about Freecycle which is a brilliant idea usually available through Yahoo Groups. Most areas and towns have a local group with a message based website where people can share things they no longer need with their community and ask for things they need. No money is exchanged, items are shared for free and it is amazing how generous people are and how pleasurable it is to offer something you no longer need and give it to someone who does. Today David collected some plain cardboard from a lady who offered it through the Harrogate Freecycle group. We are going to use it to make business cards and gift tags for some of our products. Thank you Pat!

Hello. This is our first posting! We decided this week to get our little business underway formally and properly by registering with Inland Revenue as a self-employed partnership. Laura has been staying with me here in Harrogate and we have been doing some local research on the sorts of products people sell in gift and craft shops here.
Today we have spent what seemed like hours building this blog and thinking about what we can do next. We have a list! On the right hand side of this post is a link to our Etsy shop where you can look at the items we currently have for sale (and buy!). The shop accepts PayPal which seems to be a good standard.
Our next task will be to get a YouTube or similar account so that we can chat on video about what we are doing, show you what we are currently making, how we make it and keep in touch. We welcome your custom, suggestions and feedback. David