Did you know that June 21st is not just the longest day of the year but also 'World Music Day'? Every year, over 1,000 cities around the world throw music celebrations. 39 years ago France’s Ministry of Culture dreamed up an idea for a holiday where free, live music would be played everywhere: from street corners to rooftops and from parks to mountaintops. Amazingly, this dream has come true. France now shuts down on the summer solstice and musicians take over. Almost 8% of the country (that's 5 million people!) have played an instrument or sung in public on 'World Music Day'. 30 years later, this day is now celebrated in 120 countries around the world including the UK. Take a look at...
I know from experience that Father's Day gifts can be hard to choose. On top of that if you're like me you'd rather shop small and find something from an independent British business. So here you go, 5 winning ideas that any Dad would be very happy with... 1. Personalised BBQ Set The perfect gift for the king of the BBQ this summer. These stainless steel tools with ash wood handles can be personalised with any message. The letters are manually cut into the metal using a half tonne 1950's cutter. How cool is that! They are securely held in a canvas bag. 2. Personalised Chocolate Pizza A guaranteed winner for any Dad. A chocolate pizza handmade by a small team of chocolatiers...
I don't know about you but my kids love a bit of arty fun so I decided to have a go at fruit and veg printing and see where it took us! I think that's the key to successfully making art fun for kids, don't be too structured and just go with the flow (if you can handle the potential mess!) On that note I'd advise covering the table in newspaper or something similar and popping your little darlings into some kind of bib or apron. We have these ones from Ikea that our two call their arty bibs! This will make cleaning up super easy. I selected some fruit and vegetables which would make different sized and shaped impressions. For...
I have been running my print and greeting card business for a few years now and I realised the other day that while I don’t stop banging on about cards, I haven’t yet spoken about how you can actually display them! I used to be from the school of just put them wherever you can, which generally means squeezing them onto already cluttered shelves or mantlepieces. Now there's nothing wrong with this but they can get visually lost and with space now at a premium (how do kids have so much stuff?!) this is getting harder and harder. As it was my daughter Vivi's second birthday last week I thought it would be a good opportunity to find some better ways of displaying...
Technology is so wonderfully brilliant in so many ways. My business, for example, wouldn’t be where it is today without it and I’m convinced that there is an app to help you with almost anything you could want! It can also help us remember all of our friends’ birthdays, but what you do with that reminder is then up to you! Obviously it is incredibly easy to fire off a text wishing your friend a happy birthday, and being the owner of a greetings card company, you could call me biased, but I do genuinely believe that it is important for friendships to send physical birthday cards. Whether we are sending to friends that we see all of the time...
