March 2011

Kuler- simply rock and roll!

Posted by Andrea in Kudos, Scrapbooking on March 31, 2011
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There are a few things that rock my design world on a regular basis: paper – preferably patterned, textured and heavyweight, seriously talented paper artists like Jen Stark and Yulia Brodskaya, letterpress projects, retro wallpaper designs (you should see my studio and my dining room!), typography and of course, Kuler.

For those of you not in the know, Kuler is an internet application from Adobe Systems that lets people try out, create and save various color schemes. If you’re creating websites, digital scrapbooking supplies, interior designs, fabric patterns, or any other visual, you can experiment with color variations and browse the thousands of wonderfully named themes from the Kuler community; names such as Tears of a Clownfish, Enchanted Getaway and Bubble Coconut. Not only do they sound wonderful, they are a veritable feast for the eyes – how can this not make you smile?!

It is an invaluable resource for me and can spark my imagination in an instant. If I’m having trouble building a scheme around an old photo, I simply select colours from my photo, make a note of the RGB, CMYK or Hex number, go to Kuler, key in the codes or numbers and it builds schemes for me or suggests pre-designed schemes from the community. If I’m struggling to design a digital scrapbooking paperpack, I can jump to Kuler, select a scheme from the community and build my product around those colours.

My Banyan Tree paper pack for digital scrapbookers is designed around a colour scheme I fell in love with whilst browsing the community on Kuler. It remains one of my favorite colour schemes -  not only forming the basis of my paperpack but also the colour scheme in my bathroom…

Seriously rock ‘n’ roll!

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Investing in ‘Value for money’ products

Posted by Andrea in Kudos, Life on March 30, 2011
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When my mother suggested to me over 3 years ago, that I try Eve Lom cleanser, a cult classic in the beauty industry, I baulked at the price and could feel my heart stop and my husband’s wallet shriek in despair – £80 for 200ml is an awful lot of money to pay for a product that simply cleans your face. Seeing my reaction she ‘gifted’ me a sample pot one Christmas.

I loved it and was instantly hooked. I bought my first pot in Space NK in Stratford-upon-Avon, came home and marked the bottom of the pot with the date in permanent marker. If I was going to continue using and buying this product, I needed to know how much I needed to save and how often. Fifteen months (yes, fifteen months) later it finally ran out; I calculated the cost (because that’s the way I am) and came to a startling discovery – Eve Lom at £80/200ml is exceptional value for money, and here’s why:

Eve Lom cleanser removes eye-make and face make-up eliminating the need for separate eye make up remover (this is your first saving). You only use it in the evening and only need to wipe your face with a warm cloth in the morning, eliminating the need for a morning cleanser (your second saving). Now for the maths:

£80 over 15 months is equal to 456 days or 65 weeks, or thereabouts. £80/456 days is £0.175 pence a day or £1.23 a week.

Now, my daughter is very fond of eg. Simple face wipes at £3.99/25 (generally considered entry-level for cleansers)- these work out at £0.16 pence each and you usually need 2 to do the job. These are already way more expensive than Eve Lom per day (a saving of £67 a year by the way) and I haven’t even got onto the savings compared to cleansers at the higher end of the market.

This is my justification for continuing to buy this product and yes, it is needed. When you are investing in beauty products (a lot of which, let’s be honest, are a complete rip off) you need to check their ‘value for money’ criteria and this cleanser certainly meets mine!

Read more about Eve Lom cleanser

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Using your home to promote your business

Posted by Andrea in Creative Art, Life on March 29, 2011
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Whenever a client calls at the house, the first thing they always comment on is the large (and I mean LARGE!) creative canvas hung on the wall in the dining room – it is 36″ x 24″ and is of my darling 5-year-old DD…

Its reason for being there is three-fold. Firstly, I love the canvas (in fact I love it so much it forms the basis of nearly all my advertising postcards and leaflets), secondly, it looks fabulous against the rich red walls, and thirdly, when clients visit me and are waiting for me to make them their tea/coffee, they casually walk around the dining room browsing the quirky paintings, drawings, photos, paper crafts and arty bits and pieces that are on display. The canvas always attracts attention. I have sold more creative canvases this way than any other form of advertising or marketing.

A neighbour was in our home for a BBQ last year and fell in love with it too; she booked a photo shoot with her 2 gorgeous kids, ordered an album, several prints, a framed montage, and this week, on the back-end of that initial enquiry, a creative canvas – this one is 30″ x 20″. Simply gorgeous.

Opening your home up to clients can be tricky, you always have to have it looking clean and tidy and smelling sweet for a start! (I was up at 6.30 this morning doing just that as I had a client meeting me at the house straight after the school run). But it also has huge advantages; being able to work around my kids’ timetables and my husband’s job, being able to dash upstairs to grab a client’s file and discuss their requirements whilst stirring a risotto also has its merits. More significantly, it allows me to adorn my home with my unique personalised pieces, whether it be photos, canvases, paper, photo and word art montages, paper crafts, hand-made books and ornaments – even knitted handbags (yes, I have been known to don a pair of knitting needles). It also allows my clients to view items ‘in situ’, not in some cold, white-walled, impersonal studio. Framed photos and prints line my walls, stairways and hall, canvases sit on shelves and are hung from walls, albums, WordArt, PaperArt and PhotoArt pieces are casually placed around the house along with handmade books and arty pieces. All are used and looked at and ‘lived in’ within my home – this, in my opinion, is why I get the response I do from clients.

To prove a point, my client (from the school run this morning), booked a photo shoot, placed an order for a 36″ x 24″ creative canvas and asked whether I would be interested in running a craft afternoon for her daughter’s forthcoming birthday bash – all this, before I had even passed her her coffee.

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