In The Wild - New Products

Since the launch of my British Bird range and the special project I have worked on with Highgrove this year, I decided to develop my range of British wildlife illustrations and begin a new collection called 'In The Wild'.

These six new designs will be available as greeting cards, finished with silver glitter for Christmas 2015. Like the British Bird range, they will be printed onto a 290gsm embossed board, and come individually wrapped with a kraft brown envelope.

You can see these at Spring Fair International 2015 from February 1st-5th at my exhibition stand number 4J27. If you would like any further information about the products/prices please get in touch via email (mail@faysstudio.com).

Highgrove - Christmas Cards and Tree Decorations.

In February whilst winding down from a busy Spring Fair International at the Birmingham NEC, I was approached by the Special Projects Manager from Highgrove about my British Bird illustrations on my trade stand. After a lengthy talk about my illustrations and how the cards are produced, we agreed to work together after the show on a special collaboration for Christmas.

We met again in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, where one of the Highgrove shops can be found, and deliberated over my designs, the finishes, and the possibility of also translating the designs onto Christmas tree decorations. It was great to have a creative meeting and work out the finer details of the project. It was really important for Highgrove to fully understand my process of design and my ethics as a designer/publisher. From day one of producing my cards, it has been important for me to use only FSC boards and envelopes and biodegradable packaging. I believe it’s very important to be aware of your impact on the environment, and this resonated with Highgrove.

Robin and mistletoe Christmas card pack.

Bird tree decoration.

Christmas Robin greeting card pack.

Tree decoration.

Four designs from my ’12 Days of Christmas’ collection were selected for mixed packs and I was specially commissioned for two other Christmas robin illustrations. It was so exciting to keep the project under wraps for 8 months, creating unique designs and I was really thrilled to see my designs on Christmas tree decorations. Licensing my work for other products has been something I have wanted to do for a while.

Four Colly Birds mixed pack of Christmas cards.

Colly Birds tree decoration.

Three French Hens mixed pack.

Three French Hens tree decoration.

Partridge in a Pear Tree mixed pack.

 

Partridge in a Pear Tree decoration.

Although I have done commissions before, this has been an extra special project which has really got me involved in seeing the products develop. As a greeting card designer, the opportunity to license my designs has been a thoroughly enjoyable process. It’s been such a pleasure and an honour to work with Highgrove.

The greeting card packs and tree decorations are available from Highgrove in Tetbury and online.

HOORAY!

I had been hearing a lot on the grapevine from customers that they found it difficult to find Birthday cards for those difficult ages, especially teenagers that do get a bit forgotten. So, with this in mind I set out for some inspiration for a new range. I knew I wanted to design a card for almost every special age, concentrating mostly on teenagers and as we are living longer, the 80-100 years.
I found an image which was my starting point for the colour palette. I knew I wanted a bright neon range with lots of hand drawn 3D lettering and geometric shapes.

I had already sourced neon yellow envelopes to match and decided to make this range a slightly smaller square collection measuring 125 x 125mm, I felt this was more suited to the designs.

In the end I had 27 pencil drawings all with a different look and using the palette I had worked on above. I then scanned these in to my pc and added the colour. I say it all the time but this range was a lot of fun to make and was a step away from my others styles.

You can order the 'HOORAY! range today. Please contact me through www.faysstudio.com or email mail@faysstudio.com

Fay x

Thistles - New everyday card range.

Today I have a little product release news for you. I have been busying away on a new range of everyday cards with a bird theme. There are 18 cards in this C6 size (105 x 148mm) range which are printed onto a beautifully embossed board and hand-finished with iridescent glitter. Each card is blank inside and comes wrapped individually with a matching envelope.
Please get in touch E: mail@faysstudio.com if you would like order/price information or to request the 2014 paper catalogue.

Wrapped up.

Lately I have been considering many more ways to license my designs in cross category products via my agents Advocate Art, and have been trying ideas for gift wrap just to get a sense of how my work could look on gift stationery and wrap. I've had a bit of fun with my Birdcage and Baubles designs (below).

I am always on the look out for different projects to get my teeth into, and hope to have some new stationery and accessories in the near future. Creating a repeat pattern was something new to try and I hope it shows that I have succeeded at that!

Tesco Extra!

This year Fay's Studio turns 5 years old, (I might have a little cupcake to celebrate) I was actually reminded of this by the editor of Greetings Today magazine. How time has flown since those days selling my cards at craft fairs, and family and friends saying in jest, what if one day my cards were stocked in Tesco. Well, we always used to laugh about it anyway, but there was no harm in dreaming.

Then in August last year, just a normal day doing my everyday tasks running the business, I received a surprise email from the card buyer at Tesco enquiring about my 'Sweet Tooth' Valentine's Day cards, asking if I would be interested in supplying to some of their selected stores.
Well, after my excited dance, which has become a bit of a tradition when good news arises, I enthusiastically responded.

Tesco Extra Coventry

So here we are, 5 months on visiting the Coventry Arena Tesco Extra, with a lot of excitement and anticipation!
There have been more learning curves for me whilst fulfilling this order, a task I am still doing all by myself, from the design to the hand-finishing, the packing, wrapping and dispatching, plus dealing with a leading supermarket is a different kettle of fish, and such a proud moment for me.

For the past two years Tesco have won RETAS awards for Best Supermarket Retailer of Cards, this award is judged on range of products, marketing and display, customer service, competitive edge and the retail environment. Having visited the Tesco Extra store in Coventry today, it is easy to see why.

The easy to find greetings and stationery section.

Rows and rows of greeting cards as far as the eye can see.

Me, with an ear to ear grin at the Valentine's section.

My 'Sweet Tooth' cards sitting happily in the display.

What a proud moment!

My cards were really standing out on display, with their googly eyes and green envelopes, shoppers wondering why I was posing with the cards. All I hope now is that they are popular with customers!

If you happen to be near any of these Extras, Aylesbury, Borehamwood, Watford, New Malden, Purley, Toton, Stockton, Coventry, Chesterfield or Gwent you will be able to find my cards in store. I'd love to see your photos of my cards, please send them to me by email : mail@faysstudio.com or tweet them to @FaysStudio.

Have a lovely Valentine's Day!
Fay x