Wednesday 26 August 2015

What I have been up to the past week or so....

Hello everyone,

Apologies for my blogging being a bit thin on the ground. It has been super busy here for last week or so meaning that blogging and social media has had to take a bit of a back seat. But.....hopefully it will all be worth it as I have had a super productive week and this has meant that I have loads of new items in my shop!

What I have been up to.....





1) I took some time out to visit my family. Family is super important to me so I travelled over to London to go to my cousin's birthday party and got to see loads of my family. It was so nice to catch up, see everyone and hear their news and is strange how we are all looking more alike as we get older! Eeek!!






2) I launched my new jewellery collection which is a range of one of a kind necklaces in glass, crystals and pearls. The collection would be perfect for weddings and special occasions as well as every day wear.

I am really pleased with how the collection looks and it is nice to have something completely different in my Etsy shop
 I ran my first ever giveaway on Instagram (also on Twitter) to celebrate the launch and gave away one of the necklaces which is part of the collection to this lovely lady who I hope will treasure the necklace for years to come.







3) As well as the new collection I have also been busy working on making and adding lots of new items to my shop including a range of bright coloured necklaces, wool ball necklaces and some vintage pieces.

4) All this listing meant that I hit a big milestone (YAY!) and I now have 400 different items listed in my shop! It has taken me a very very long time to get to this amount of items and is lovely to see lots of the pieces I have worked on available for sale in my shop.



5) I also met up with some other local Etsy sellers which was great fun. We met in a little local cafe and brought along our own craft project to work on. We also made team bunting for our Dorset Team 'Etsy Made Local' fair in December. I can't wait for the fair, it is going to be so much fun!

The Dorothy Days X

Monday 17 August 2015

Inspirational Quote of the Week - Andy Warhol


Hello everyone,

Last week for my Inspirational Quote of the Week I posted a quote by artist Georgia O'Keeffe so today I thought I would post another quote by a famous artist. I found this quote by Andy Warhol which I thought was lovely and particularly inspirational for creative projects.

Hope you all have a great week.

Do you have a favourite quote you would like to share?

Please let me know in the comments section below!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Saturday 15 August 2015

Style Saturday - Bake Off Inspired - Baking Cookies

Baking Cookies

Hello everyone,

I am so happy that Bake Off has returned to our TV screens, it is one of my favourite shows to watch and I always love seeing what the contestants come up with so I couldn't resist making this week's Style Saturday baking related! 


Get the look....

Photo Credit: Crate and Barrel



Photo Credit: Kohls






Every baker needs a set of mixing bowls! Save space with these nesting mixing bowls which fit inside each other. Their simple design in white means that it will compliment any kitchen especially if your kitchen has a bright colour theme


















These tea, coffee and sugar canisters are a really easy way to give your kitchen a vintage/ retro look

Find these are Kohl's
















If I make homemade biscuits (cookies!) they don't last very long at all in my house but this cookie canister would be perfect to store larger batches of homemade cookies and store bought ones too

Find this adorable owl cookies canister at ModCloth















Thanks for reading!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Thursday 13 August 2015

5 minute Etsy shop improvements- review your packaging

Hello everyone,

Hope you have been having a great week so far. Today for my 5 minute Etsy shop tips I wanted to talk packaging. My apologies for this being up late. I have been working on a new collection for my shop which is taking up most of my time at the moment. Will still be blogging as much as possible though :)

Packaging.....


Packaging is super important when running an Etsy shop as all orders that you make are sent through the post so it must be both functional and protective but also appealing to your customer.

I realise that reviewing your packaging is more than a 5 minute task (depending on what your current packaging is like) but why not take 5 minutes out your day to sit down with a pen and paper and start 'brainstorming' your ideas and start thinking about your current packaging and how you can improve it.

Things to think about, some questions to ask yourself and some things to consider....

*What is your packaging currently like? What do you like about it? What do you think could do with improving?


Practical

Does your packaging provide good protection for your item? Could you make it better?

- You might want to think about packing nuggets, bubble wrap, gift boxes, air pockets, foam, cardboard tubes and hard backed envelopes and high quality envelopes which do not rip easily and stick securely.

If you sell something like art work or prints do you also have something to protect it from getting wet?

-A plastic sleeve for example. I have never had a package which got wet but of course the postal staff work in all weathers so even a few drops of rain on a parcel could go through and smudge an ink.

Does your packaging stop the item from bending?

If you are selling clothing then this wouldn't matter but if you were selling artwork it would.

Hard backed envelopes work well.

Have you protected the package's weakest areas?

I normally find that the corners and joins of the box are the weakest so put extra tape on there and extra padding in each of the corners incase the box gets knocked.

Is your handwriting clear enough to read or would it be better to print your postage labels?

Personally I like to handwrite every single postage label because it adds more of a personal touch but if you feel your handwriting isn't very clear or you are stressing about getting the spelling correct or having a lot of labels to write you might want to print the postage labels instead.

Packaging costs - Does your packaging mean you go into another postage band? Is your packaging too expensive?

It is important to think about the cost of packaging as well as if it protects and if it looks nice. As well as thinking about the actual cost of all the 'parts' (ribbon, packaging nuggets, wrapping paper etc) you also need to keep in mind if the cost of actually posting the item will increase if you change your packaging. For example if it makes your parcel much heavier or bulkier it might have an effect.

You can get leaflets at the post office or look on the website for the different weight and sizing categories. Factor this into your decision about different packaging. It is a fine line between making the parcel look amazing and keeping the cost of postage low for your customers.

Aesthetic (the fun bit!)

Your creativity doesn't have to end with the product you have made. Why not extend your creativity to the packaging of the product. I have seen some amazingly creative and original ways which Etsy sellers package their items so think outside the box and make your packaging memorable.

Thank you note

In each of my packages I always include a little handwritten thank you note to my buyer. It is a nice personal touch and lets your customer know that you really value their custom.

Gift wrapping

Make the parcel a joy to open and a great way to do this is to gift wrap the items. This might be in a gift box, wrapping paper, tissue paper etc. This is something I do for The Dorothy Days for my customers and it makes it easier for them if they are giving it as a gift or just as a nice treat for themselves. If I am gift wrapping with paper I will often leave one side not taped down so that the person buying can have a look at the item before giving it as a gift so they don't have to re-wrap it.

Does it fit with your branding?

If your brand is fun and bright then make your packaging fun and bright. If your brand is more minimalist jewellery then maybe you would want to use a single colour for your gift wrapping. If you have branded stickers, business cards, a postcard with your details on etc you should also include these in the wrapping

Goodies!

Everyone loves a little surprise in the parcel so it is sometimes nice to add in something to make the customer smile. Maybe some branded stickers or a coupon for their next order. I have seen some sellers put in sweets. Get creative! This is not a must have but is a nice extra touch

Extra Tips

Ask yourself....

Does the packaging look appealing as well as protective? Would it be something you would like to receive through the post?

Remember sometimes less is more. If you have a really brightly coloured necklace you might want to put it in more plainly coloured packaging so the product really stands out and the packaging looks smart but isn't the main focus.


Wednesday 12 August 2015

Wordless Wednesday - The beautiful colours of Hove beach huts!


My Wordless Wednesday photograph. On Wednesdays bloggers from around the world post a photograph with no description or text. This is my wordless wednesday photograph for the week.

Thanks for looking!

The Dorothy Days

Monday 10 August 2015

Inspirational Quote of the Week - Georgia O' Keeffe



Hello everyone,

Hope that you all had a fantastic weekend. Each Monday I am posting an inspirational quote of the week and today I have chosen a quote by the artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887- 1986) who is most famous for her paintings of flowers. I hope this quote will inspire you this week.

Georgia O'Keeffe - Blue and Green Music 1919

The Dorothy Days Xx

Sunday 9 August 2015

A rather beautiful weekend....

Hello everyone!

Hope that you are all having a wonderful weekend. I have had the most lovely weekend so thought I would share with you all some photographs of what I have been up to.

I am attempting to be super organised with my blogging and put up photographs and write the blog post as it is happening/ just after rather than what I normally do is take lots of photographs so I can share them with you all, upload them to my computer and save them ready to start my blog post, get distracted and end up not writing the blog post, keep looking at the photographs and pondering about which ones would look best on the blog, keep saying to myself that I should write a blog post and then realising a few months later that they are still sat there on my desktop! Eek!! I have a folder of trips, places I have been and cool photographs all for my blog which have never been uploaded. It is a little like a blog photograph graveyard! Ooops!

So... I am sat here on Sunday afternoon in my front room which looks out over the garden typing this blog post for all of you. I have spent lots of today outside as it has been beautifully sunny with blue skies. It has been so lovely out.

FRIDAY


This week has been quite a busy week so I couldn't wait until the weekend. Friday seemed to go by at snails pace (as it always seems to do when you are counting down to something!) so I put on some cheesy songs and cracked into my lollipops! YUMMY!

SATURDAY

On Saturday one of my best friends came to visit. We have not seen each other for a while so it was so nice to see her and catch up. I went to pick her up from the station and then we went for breakfast in the park with lots of yummy breakfast food. Croissants, yogurts, mango and watermelon and an innocent smoothie....mmmm!



After our picnic we went for a stroll and came across this beautiful field of wildflowers. They were so beautiful.

She also came with lots of gifts for me and I got totally spoilt! She even made me these beautiful handmade bath bombs with petals. They smell incredible!

SUNDAY

Today I spent most of the time out in the garden but when it got too hot I came inside for a while and decided to do something creative so got out my pens and started drawing.

My friend also bought me some of those adult colouring pages so I had a go at those. It was really relaxing to sit and colour for a while so going to have a look on Etsy to see if I can find any more colouring designs.


Thanks for reading

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend

The Dorothy Days X

Saturday 8 August 2015

Style Saturday - Hats, fascinators and hair pieces

Hello!

Was trying to think of what to choose for my Style Saturday theme this week and turned to Pinterest for inspiration and found my board on hats, hair pieces and fascinators. I have not pinned to that for a while (naughty me!) but it is one of my favourite Pinterest boards.

Hats never really suit me. I always wear a bobble hat in the winter and a big floppy wide brim hat in the summer and have worn small fascinators to weddings but don't think I could pull off some of the more extravagant, 'out there' hats (although I would really love to). So, partly for this Style Saturday and partly mostly so I can indulge myself and spend some time looking at beautiful hats my Style Saturday this week is all about hats!

'A hat makes clothing identifiable, dramatic and, most importantly, fashion … It’s the cherry on the cake, the dot on the ‘i’, the exclamation mark, the fashion focus. Everyone from showgirls to dictators knows that by wearing a hat they will be centre of attention.’
Stephen Jones - Milliner


With Stephen Jones' quote in mind I started thinking who wear hats and of course it was not long before I thought of the Queen. She is nearly always photographed wearing a hat. I found this amazing video by British Pathe of some of her hats throughout the different years of her reign. They range from floral numbers to bright colours and feathered pieces and everything in between!





A few years ago (April 2009) the Victoria and Albert museum had an exhibition called Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones. I never got to see the exhibition but it looks amazing. The exhibition was a collaboration between the V&A and Stephen Jones, one of the fashion world's most prolific milliners. The exhibition featured some of the greatest hat designs of the time. As part of the exhibition, the V&A held a live catwalk and presented the work of Stephen Jones and five of London's most exciting new milliners including Pier Atkinson, Nasir Mazhar and Flora McLean.

I had a look at some of the photographs of the exhibition but was thrilled to find this video of the catwalk show which was called 'Fashion in Motion'.


Fashion in Motion @ the V&A: Millinery in Motion from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

Finally, I thought I would share with you all my own Pinterest board collection which I  have  had been working on (and I promise that writing this post has inspired me to start pinning to it again so watch out for lots of new pins coming soon!). It features hats from different designers from those in high fashion to fashion grads and Etsy sellers. All are amazing and so different.

I have tried to pin a variety of different styles but got rather addicted to pinning the more 'out there' outrageous hats which are art pieces in their own right.


Follow The Dorothy Days's board Hats, fascinators and hair pieces on Pinterest.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post

The Dorothy Days Xx

Thursday 6 August 2015

5 vines which are making me smile this week...

Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to share with you all some vines which are making me smile this week.

To be honest with you all, I don't often watch vines. They sometimes come up on my Twitter feed and I will sometimes be intrigued and watch one but I don't consciously look for vines to watch. My sister however is totally addicted to watching vines and when she visited me she kept showing me different ones she had been watching or I would find her manically laughing at the computer screen so I started watching more vines this week and now I am a complete convert and an also addicted!

Here are some of the vines which are making me smile this week. 

The videos are a few seconds long and will play without sound so if you want sound on you will need to click on the lower right hand corner of each video (they are much better with sound on!!) Click again on the video to stop it playing on loop.


#1 - Rob and Pete

Rob from the Youtube video, Beach Please, which I posted up on my blog a few weeks ago (You can view it here if you haven't already) posted this vine a few days ago which made me laugh!



#2 Adorable Dashund

Animals doing silly things are always a winner for me especially when they look this adorable whilst doing it!!



#3 Death from the Shadows

So admittedly I thought that vines were only really for short funny films or clips of animals being silly (which of course I love and can't stop watching!!) but I also found lots of really cool art vines including this one called 'Death from the Shadows'

#4 - Old NASA footage

I love watching science video (super geeky I know!) and space has always fascinated me so I love this vintage clip from NASA.

50 years ago Mariner4 flew by Mars and snapped the first close-up photographs of another planet. Amazing to see how much technology has changed with the recent photographs we have been seeing in the news of Mars



#5 Punch Card

Rather random but also rather hypnotic, the perfect vine?!



Hope you enjoying watching

The Dorothy Days Xx

Love for Greek Etsy Sellers - Buy from Greek Etsy Sellers

Hello everyone,

Something totally different for today. I wanted to share with you all a treasury which I made on Etsy for Greek Sellers. One of the many things I love about Etsy is the community spirit and this is particularly prevalent within Etsy Teams. 

The Etsy Italy Team and the Etsy Greek team are twinned with one another and, the Etsy Italia Team, on hearing about the financial crisis in Greece contacted the captain of the Greek team Nafsika and they were receiving updates on the situation and what it has been like for Etsy sellers in Greece who are part of her team. Nafsika told them that many sellers were finding it hard to pay their Etsy bills, that they couldn't access the money going into their bank accounts etc so the Italy team came up with an initiative to help and show solidarity for the Etsy sellers in Greece.

"Greek people for us are not some abstract entity or a far away reality: they are persons we feel near our hearts, with the same values and often, the same problems as ours. They are part of our community, they are our neighbours and in a situation of need such as this, we think it is very important to offer them our solidarity and a concrete help." - Etsy Italia Team

The Etsy Italia team have put together some information about how you can help Etsy sellers in Greece who are having a hard time at the moment. For more information please see http://etsyitaliateam.blogspot.it/2015/07/eit-for-greece.html

I wanted to do my own little bit to support Etsy sellers in Greece so I made this treasury made up from items only from sellers located in Greece. Please take a look, have a browse and support these sellers. 

If you wish to purchase from these sellers please use Paypal only :) 
Red Hair Bow, Hand Crocheted Bow, Hair Fashion Accessories, Spring-Summer Womens Accessories
$11.20
Watermelon brooch from papier mache - green and red summer fruit jewelry
$13.00
Red paper straws with white stars, 25 pieces, weddings, birthdays, baby showers, partys, cocktails
€3.49
Enamel ring, promise ring, sterling silver ring for women, poppy ring, fashion ring, statement ring, red ring, enamel jewelry, unusual ring
$49.00
Smena 6 LOMO camera RED LEATHER special edition /working
€100.00
Red chunky cowl- Valentine's day- crochet scarf cowl with heart- gift for her
$34.00
30% OFF Red Cat Pin,Sleepy Cat Brooch,Cat Brooch With Hand Embroidered Features,Textile Brooch
$10.50
Neon pink spike stud earrings, Neon pink small cone post earrings, Neon pink earing studs, Small pink earrings, Plastic pink earring studs
$11.00
Red leather accessory bag,makeup case,cosmetic bag,zipper pouch,utility bag,travel zipper case,vanity storage - Estia Bag
$42.00
Stripe Coral White Pillow Covers. Outdoor/Indoor Pillow Cover. Waterproof Pillow Case. Beach Decor. Decorative Throw Pillow Cover.
€15.00
Pink bow bobby pins, neon pink leather hair bow, Girls hair bows, Cute pink hair bow, neon pink bobby pin, Small pink hairbow, Neon hair bow
$5.99
Red small leather purse / Bucket bag / Handmade leather bag / Red Italian suede leather
$62.00
Lady Bug baby crochet shoes, Red baby shoes,  Crochet Baby Girl Booties, Crib shoes, Baby Girl Booties, Baby Shower Gift
€13.40
Gold Nugget Custom Initial Ring Garnet Gemstone  Gold Plated Stacking Rings Red Jewelry January Birthstone
$130.00
Fuchsia Stud Earrings Fabric Button Earrings Mod Earrings Fuchsia Fabric Buttons
$5.00
Fish greek ceramic beads / charms, hot pink beads - 10 pieces
$2.80

Thanks for reading

The Dorothy Days X

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Wordless Wednesday - Beautiful Sunflower

Hello everyone,

Today is meant to be Wordless Wednesday where I post a photograph with no words to describe it but really I am not very good at being wordless so most of the posts end up as nearly wordless wednesdays.....doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it?!

Anyway, today I wanted to share with you all this sunflower photograph I took. I was walking in town and I this planted in someone's garden facing the street. I stopped to admire it and it made me smile so I thought it would be perfect to share on the blog with you all. I have always loved sunflowers as they remind me of my Granny. She was always full of fun and joy so a sunflower perfectly summed her up and they were her favourite flower. Every time I see one I think of her and my memories of her as a child. When I think of her I think of porridge, sunflowers, her songs and rhymes, humbugs, these dolphin ornaments she used to have and let us hold for a special treat (!!) , and playing with the ducks she bought us for the bath and how counting all the coins in her penny jar was the most fun game ever! She used to write little letters to us and draw sunflowers and little snails all around the edge of the paper which I loved getting as a little girl.

Hope this sunflower makes you smile as it has made me smile too!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Sunday 2 August 2015

Sunday's need adorable dog photographs so meet Tonkey - possibly the cutest dog ever?!

Hello everyone,

Happy Sunday! I hope you have all had a good week and a relaxing weekend. This week I have been totally obsessed with the cutest dog ever who looks like a little bear! He is just so adorable. So just take 5 minutes out of your day to admire how adorable this little pooch is!!


Meet Tonkey....!


A photo posted by Tonkey Bear (@bearcoat_tonkey) on

He is a Shar pei dog and totally adorable!


Oh stop....! How he be so cute?!



He is a rather popular puppy and hang outs with some pretty cool dogs!

Hope this has made you smile today!

Thanks for reading

The Dorothy Days Xx 

Saturday 1 August 2015

Style Saturday and happy August!




Hooray! August is finally here!! Hope that you have been enjoying summer so far and that August is a fantastic month for you all.

This time last year I was in Paris so today I wanted to share with you all a Paris themed Style Saturday post.

Desk Set


Photo Credit: Uncommon Goods




In Paris there was an amazing patisserie just on the corner of the road in which we were staying on. Every morning we went down and got freshly made bread and patisseries for breakfast which we then ate on the balcony. I love this pink cupcake planter. Perfect for bring the outdoors in and having this in your desk space.

The cupcake planter is available from Uncommon Goods 






Photo Credit: Harvey Nichols


Paris is said to be one of the most romantic cities in the world. We went for some amazing meals out, went on a night river cruise along the Seine and visited the Eiffel Tower at night.

This kissing lipstick is by the British makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury available on Harvey Nichols 










Photo Credit: Harvey Nichols





and to go with the kissing lipstick is this 'lip cheat' lip liner also available at Harvey Nichols












Photo Credit: Target




Let's move to Paris! I would move to Paris in a heartbeat, it is such a beautiful city. I spent lots of time in the galleries looking at the art and being a total geek scribbling away in my notepad. Notepad available from Target 














Thanks so much for reading. Hope you all have a fantastic August