Sunday 19 January 2014

Personalised Ceramic Hearts And Stars And A Website Facelift For Handmade Monday



Its been a busy week with some sizeable unplanned detours... more on that in a moment! First of all though i want to show you some of my new range of hand painted heart and star decorations.. i've had great fun with these so i hope you enjoy them too!

Hand Painted Personalised Ceramic Stars

I've found my hand painted ceramic decorations to be very popular at Christmas and this year it struck me - why not create some seasonally relevant designs for all year round... I started playing with some ideas and i've started to list some of them for sale now... (they are priced £7 and clicking on the pictures will take you to the listings in my Etsy shop).


New Baby Personalised Ceramic Star


These little stars would make a lovely way to welcome a new baby i think... they are personalised with the little ones name on the front and i'm happy to add a short message on the reverse side.


I can't wait to get some orders for these as the arrival of a new baby is such a uniquely special occasion and something i know i will enjoy helping people to celebrate!



Star Baker Ceramic Star


Inspired by the fabulous Great British Bake Off i think this would make a really fun gift for a home baker - i love baking and am very tempted to make one of these to hang in my kitchen!


(* For anyone not familiar with the Bake Off its a popular British TV show where home bakers compete against each other - its must see TV! :))


'Never Let Anyone Dull Your Sparkle' Ceramic Star


We all know what its like when things get you down - whether its something critical someone has said, lack of money, or seeing yourself in a negative light in comparison to others... these are the things that cut us off from our creativity and dull our sparkle.

I've always found that keeping inspirational messages like this around helps to keep me on track to being my best self. I also think it would make a fantastic gift for someone else who's lovely light you'd like to help shine, such as a child or friend you'd like to support. 


Also, wouldn't this be a fun gift for the ultra clean and tidy person in your life! :)


Romantic Love Quote Ceramic Hearts

As with the stars, the hearts are £7 and a click on one if the pictures will take you to the listing in my Etsy shop.

I painted these with Valentine's Day in mind but they would be great for anniversaries and other romantic occasions too. As with the stars i'm happy to add a name or short message on the reverse side.

"I Loved You Then, I love You Still..."




"I Belong With You, You Belong With Me..."



If you have another quote or lyric you'd prefer i'm happy to take custom request for these - ever the romantic i have quite a few ideas myself for other possibilities so just get in touch if you'd like to discuss!



Impromptu Website Spring Clean


It all started when i popped over to Folksy earlier in the week and realised that some shops there are modelling a lovely facelift. Although i have a shop over there i don't visit it that often (there is only one of me and so many hours in the day!) so i'm probably the last to hear about this.

Of course once i saw other people's shop looking all new and pretty i had to join in with the fun but in order to featured the redesigned shop front i had to come up with a new banner... which led to this...



Here it is in my new upgraded Folksy shop!



I'm sure you can guess what happened next... suddenly all my other shops looked very tired and boring - so i took the opportunity to work on a more cohesive image for Free Spirit Designs and create matching banner for my website...




... Etsy shops...







...and WowThankYou shop too.




I'm loving the end result - much more profesh :)  (these pics are clickable if you fancy visiting the sites)

I've also begun a more drastic overhaul of other areas of Free Spirit which i'll keep you updated with over the next few weeks. For now though, its time for my weekly trip around the fabulous Handmade Monday blogs... i wonder if anyone else has been up to a bit of early spring cleaning...?!

Thanks for stopping by! x 

30 comments:

  1. Love the hearts and stars - some perfect designs there for Valentine's Day! Nothing like a new year for a refresh!!

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    1. thank you Wendy!

      yes, i love that part of a new year :) x

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  2. Your ornaments are lovely! And I think the new look is great, your banner is a really "fresh" colour.

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  3. Its lovely to be back and catch up with your lovely designs again x you're an inspiration, i never know what you're going to come up with next...
    Lovely to see all your fresh looking stores..
    Which works better for you Etsy or Folksy or does it depend on which you promote most? xx

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    1. Aww thank you, that's really lovely of you to say :)

      I find Etsy works best for me but i do have more stuff listed on there and i promote it more too... having said that i do think Etsy get more overseas visitors than Folksy... hope this helps! x

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  4. Lovely ceramic items, the hearts are definitely my favourites. Your online shops look fabulous, I'm always tinkering with my one site - don't know how you find the time to have several! Have a good week.

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    1. Aww thank you Lucy :)

      I know... i often think i'd be better off focusing on just one but i can't resist the variety! x

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  5. The ornaments are lovely, I hope you do really well with them.
    You've got me thinking about tidying up my Folksy/Etsy shops now.....

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    1. thank you!

      hehe, it is a good time of year to do it! :)

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  6. Very lovely refresh:) I need to do that with my shops too!! I agree there are only so many hrs in a day!

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    1. thank you!

      i know... and everything takes so much longer than you think it will! x

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  7. They are really lovely, especially the cupcake one. Such a lovely keepsake gift for all occasions. Hope you have a good week.

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  8. I think the shops makeover is really good idea - yours look lovely to view. I have neglected my Etsy one and each one has different banner. You put in so much effort you deserve to do well. x

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    1. Aww thank you, its one of things its hard to get round to isn't it... i am pleased with myself even though i kind of did it by accident! :)

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  9. Lovely items and beautifully photographed. Your shop banners look so fresh and clean :)

    Jan x

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  10. I love all the hearts and stars. The baker one is my favourite.

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  11. I do like the Star Baker medal. We seem to quite regularly have family competitions which involve signatures bakes etc. I bet the baby medals will sell well too.

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  12. I love the ceramic hearts, especially Lumineers lyrics... may have to show that to my other half before Valentine's day *hint hint* :-)

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  13. The stars and hearts are gorgeous. My favourite though are the baby stars they're so unusual.

    Well done on your new look shops - you have been busy.... xx

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    1. thank you very much!

      hehe, yeah there's so much to do! :)

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  14. Oh my you have been very busy as usual and of course I loove all your makes. The heart is gorgeous and I love the the stars with the names on. My friends daughter is expecting a baby in May so I will know where to come for a lovely gift.
    Ali x

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    1. Aww thank you Ali, you're so kind :) i'm glad you like them! x

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Your lovely comments are much appreciated x