A little market research please... on happy birthday cards

Today, I am doing a little market research on happy birthday cards.

For years I've had an urge to produce greetings cards – happy birthday cards, thank you cards. I have millions of designs like the ones above, I've just picked out a couple of randoms here.

Would appreciate your thoughts, are they worth pursuing?.

The inners would be printed in a bright coordinating colour, but, left blank mainly. They would come with a contrasting brightly coloured envelope, so the bright pink for example. Retail would be around £1.50-£1.75.

These are not completed designs, just testing the water! They would be under a 'brand' and all follow a similar look and feel.

Any feedback greatly appreciated, thank you!.

Seeing Red... leather gloves

Today, I bought a pair of red, leather gloves in Sainsburys!.

I'm afraid I may have to give up grocery shopping. Items seem to relentlessly follow me round the store until I give in and pop them in the trolley. (Oh, go on then).

I'm not feeling too guilty about these red, leather gloves mind you. Reduced to £5 in Sainsburys. My mum and I both agreed these were a sound purchase.

Red seems to be my accent colour of choice at the moment, and not just in my accessories and wardrobe. My house is seeing snippets of red here, there and everywhere – I just can't stop myself.

Have you noticed a colour theme that filters through your wardrobe AND your home?

One for the road... hand painted wine glasses

In a break from normal service – today, I bring you NOT something I have bought, but rather, something someone has bought for me (which should please both the boyf AND the bank manager).

My mother in law gave me this beautiful, hand painted 'Lolita' wine glass. A truly thoughtful gift as it encompasses two of my most favourite past times... shopping and wine! She knows me too well me thinks.

This is the 'Shopaholic' version, there are tons available, one to suit every taste I'm sure. If you'd like to get your smackers around one of these hand painted wine glasses, they retail around £16 in the UK and come beautifully packaged, they make an ideal pressie.

I found some here at John Lewis, to save you the bother of google, such a hasslepants.

Now please excuse me, I'm off to pour myself a large glass of Pinot! I may be some time.

Rule Britannia... Union Jack style

I'm a woman of my word... when I said I had a hunch of matching this thrifted union jack belt with floral, I only blimmin' well did it.

My union jack belt has left me feeling rather patriotic today, but I have to admit to being a useless patriot. I had one of those moments when for some reason I was adament our queen was called Margaret. What? Margaret? And you know that feeling when you are so convinced of something and argue your case only to suddenly realise you are a complete imbecile and shouldn't really be allowed out of the house unaccompanied.

Honestly, what was I thinking... Margaret... everyone knows she's called Vera.

ps. Do you think you can be imprisoned for misquoting the 'name' of the Queen on a blog? If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know the answer is YES!

And in the depths of the sales...

You know when the sales seem to drag on and on? And you wonder why shops leave a couple of rails with a selection of old tat in a range of extreme sizes that surely no one will ever buy, even if it is reduced by 90% – in some cases looking like they would pay you to take it off their hands.

Yet, for some reason, I still feel the need to trawl these rails. No, I'm not after that elusive neon yellow ra-ra skirt, it's because, just now and again you do come across a bargainistic find, purely by chance.

The blazer above is one such find in Matalan. An amazing £3!! reduced from £30!. Hi fives all round I do believe.

Thrifting on the 1st Feb...

What better way to start off February, than with a spot of thrifting?

I didn't have a very enjoyable week last week, it was rubbish. I actually ended the week in hospital! (It's a really long story which I won't bore you with, but I'm fine now and it wasn't all that serious). So, to cheer myself up, I took the day off today to recover and met my mum and sis for coffee and thrift time.

First score was this Jigsaw top above. I loved the orangey/terracotta embroidery. £6 from Cancer Research in Bury St Edmunds.


I also found this little cute-cream-coloured-cape (try saying that a few times) for £2.50 from another thrift shop in Bury St Edmunds. I'm not sure exactly what I'll wear this with, but it is really pretty and a nice girlie addition to my wardrobe.


And finally, this union jack belt in Oxfam for £3.99. Bit chavvy... agreed, but I was feeling patriotic. I'm going to try wearing this with a floral dress... not sure why... I just had a vision and in my head it looked good! We shall see...

COMPETITION WINNER NEWS! Before falling ill, my colleagues and I did manage to choose a winner for the competition to be published in my ickle magazine.

We had more than 50 entries, so picking a 'best' was an impossible task. So it came down to what most suited the February issue. And the winner was... northwestlondongirlinthecountry.blogspot.com Congratulations!

Thank you all for your entries, they were all fantastic. The magazine is produced monthly, so I may publish some more of the articles as the months go on. I'll be sure to let you know if I do. And feel free to keep submitting articles you feel may be suitable.