guest author - march

© Steph Says Hello

Yippeee... I'm really excited as *pur-ple has it's first guest author :)

Steph Baxter is going to be our guest author for March. (Hi Steph... big wave!) Steph's a freelance illustrator and graphic designer who's into typography, paper cutting, surface pattern, character & card design. You can find out more about Steph and her great work at her website www.stephsayshello.co.uk

Iv'e left it entirely up to Steph to decide what she posts about & I'm really, really looking forward to reading her posts!

... if you would like to be *pur-ple's guest author for April... then please do contact me :)

free - screenshot advert

I am currently offering one FREE screenshot advert of your website with a direct link straight to your website when you click on your advert... just like the ones on the left here on *pur-ple.co.uk (the advert will run for three FREE months)

All you have to do is:

1. Become a follower of www.pur-ple.co.uk (by clicking Follow at the top of this page)

and

2. Leave a comment below with your website that you would like a screenshot of.

and I'll randomly pick a "winner" at the end of this month!

... only condition is that the websites do have to be greetings cards related ie. that you are either a greetings cards designer or publisher, have fun... Louise :)

new cards - Kathryn Ferrier

We are sooo excited as due in at Purple Greetings Cards very soon are some delightful cards from Kathryn Ferrier, which I have been admiring for a while now!

I'll let you know when they arrive!

Hidden Eloise

I was going to say "this is my 100th post" :) but...

whilst on Twitter this morning I came across this problem that HiddenEloise is currently experiencing...

It is a very interesting read and I am glad that she has made her problems aware to others.

Now, I am a very "principles" person, and I have found from past experience that when you are extremely passionate about something and you know yourself that you are in the right it can be very hard to make that known.

At, times you almost have to "do it alone" instead of "following the crowd"

But, in the end it is often worth it, perhaps just to get things corrected or even to hear an apology, so that you can start to get back to normal again.

If what you think you are doing could be wrong, is an easy option, is what "everyone else does" or may offend someone's feelings please think twice about doing it and the repercussions it could cause later on.

If it is already done... it really is best to back down and admit that maybe you were wrong.

just added - Ingela Peterson for lagom

Ingela: happy birthday 066IL - £2.00

I have just added this delightful "happy birthday" card by Ingela Peterson for lagom to our birthday cards page.

just added - lanterns card

Lanterns GC981R - £2.10

Roger la Borde © 2010. All rights to Roger la Borde designs are reserved by Roger la Borde and/or the author of the design.

I have just added this beautiful "Lanterns" white foiled card to our birthday cards page.

It reminds me of warm summer evenings :)

first email posting

I have never used email posting... I never really new it existed
until I fell over the little envelope icon on my blogger dashboard.

So here it is, my first email posted post! A little boring I know,
but it may be helpful to others who didn't know it existed either!

(You can find the little envelope icon near the top of your dashboard
in the center)

I am going to brave it now and click on send and see what happens....

busy adding cards

Indian Summer Birthday GCR1312R - £2.10

Roger la Borde © 2010. All rights to Roger la Borde designs are reserved by Roger la Borde and/or the author of the design.

I am busy this morning throughly enjoying myself uploading cards to Purple Greetings Cards and also altering image sizes so that they all look a little more streamlined... yet another job that I have been meaning to start but never seem to have time. I have nearly finished the blank cards page, and as always "I wished I'd found the time to do it a long time ago" as it looks so much better with all the images set at 200 pixels wide.

It's a bit nippy sat at the computer so I am warming my hands around a nice warm blackcurrant in my favourite Cath Kidston pink spot crush mug, surrounded by greetings cards catalogues and my baby boy cooing at his toys on the floor! My kind of heaven!

I have just added this card "Indian Summer Birthday" which I was drawn to in Roger la Borde's 2010 catalogue. It just makes me smile and feel very relaxed when I look at it! It's a new favourite card of mine!

Purple Greetings Cards - lovely comment

I received this lovely comment from one of our customers today which really made me smile :) So, I'd like to say thank you very much Alex for taking the time to send us your comment, it really is nice to know that we are appreciated.

"Just to say, thank you for the fantastic speedy delivery and beautiful presentation.

I came across your lovely website by chance and couldn't resist treating myself to several of your gorgeous, very reasonably priced cards.

Not only will I be coming to you for future cards, I will definitely be recommending you to my friends and family"

Alex

valentines day - cards

Roger la Borde © 2010. All rights to Roger la Borde designs are reserved by Roger la Borde and/or the author of the design.

A little bit of Valentines love from Roger la Borde, available at Purple Greetings Cards.

Do you have any of your own Valentines Day card designs, that you have designed yourself that you would like to be featured here on *pur-ple? If so, let me know :)

guest authors required - would you like to?

... when I first launched pur-ple I had lot's of ideas about how I would like to see it grow.

One of the many ideas buzzing around in my head was to have one guest author a month, posting as many posts as they wanted on a subject that they were passionate about (greetings cards + design related)

If your interested in having a go, maybe you could post about what's on your desk at the moment (if you have one), or how you first started doing what you do and why. Or, what inspires and drives you to do what you do. Your favourite, colours, textures, materials, tools, creative spaces... I could go on and on!

Myself, right now have Adobe Illustrator CS4 open in the background playing with a ladybird for a client. I've been researching the little bug by looking (or should I say squinting!) at photographs and am trying to come up with different combinations of ladybirds be it traditional or a bit fun. I am currently even dreaming of ladybirds... it is already like a little friend that appears constantly on my screen (Oh dear, I'll be talking to it next, and asking it's opinion on things! "now do you think six or eight spots looks better?" ha ha)

I am a terrible perfectionist and probably spend far to much time trying to get things perfect when really "is there such a thing as perfection?" or is it just something we decide (put pressure) on ourselves to achieve! When does something reach "perfect"?

Anyway..., if you are are perhaps an illustrator, screen printer, paper cutter, typographer, printer, graphic designer, etc etc and would like to have a go at posting then please contact me here, or if you know of someone who may be interested in posting then please let them know.

You are more than welcome to add a link back to your own blog / website in your posts.

I look forward to hearing from you, Louise

Rob Ryan - Maggie's Faith & Hope Card

Please support Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres by buying this new Faith & Hope Card by Rob Ryan. To find out more please read here.

Purple Greetings Cards - Red & White Bakers Twine

Now in at Purple Greetings Cards, hard to find Red & White Bakers Twine for all your card making, craft & wrapping needs!

This fab red & white bakers twine is of a fantastic quality and is very thick and strong which makes it just perfect for craft making and eco-friendly gift wrapping.

Just beautiful to wrap those special christmas gifts, be it for customers, friends or family... giving them a wonderful vintage look. It comes with free p&p too!

mibostudio - christmas creatures

... mibostudio (the place to go for print-and-make-at-home projects) is one of my favourite websites, I rushed to it the minute my newsletter arrived in my inbox!

Having lovingly created PIP and his friends (PIP's sat on my printer looking at me while I type!) a few months ago, I was delighted to see the arrival of the Christmas Creatures and the 2010 calendar also.

The PDF instruction sheets and templates are carefully and precisely put together, which I love.

I'm not sure which one of the little creatures will capture my heart the most, think I will find that out upon creating it! I will let you know... please let me know yours!