I came across this amazing flower series by photographer Qi Wei – so beautiful!

Exploded Flowers | Thoughtful Photography.

I love autumn! Crunchy leaves, beautiful shades of red and orange, and crisp mornings! Our weekend was spent jumping in leaves, meeting neighbourhood squirrels and supping yummy hot chocolate! I hate winter but there’s something about autumn that makes it one of my favourite times of year!

I’m a big fan of the Free People Blog…not neccesarily their updates about their clothing range (although they are beautiful!) but they have some fantastic inspirational quotes, photographs and craft projects. Each Saturday, they post a ‘Saturday Do’  – something you should be inspired to do each Saturday. This week’s really caught my attention:

DO: Embrace your “youness”

Not only should we embrace our individuality on a personal level, but it also relates a lot to business. The things that make us unique and individual as people are what make us special and I really think the best businesses translate this well to their products. The most sucessful businesses are the innovative, creative ones – businesses that are the first to do things. All the people I admire in business are those who are true individuals and they’ve embraced it. Their businesses are built on being different and bringing something new to the world. Afterall, if your product isn’t unique, why would your customers want to choose it over all the other similar things on offer? It’s easy enough to create a copy of something, but creating something new and exciting is what truly brings success, in my opinion.

So, here I am sitting at my desk, surrounded by piles of Elephant Poo, Reindeer Poo and knife blades. I think you have to be a little bit nuts to start a business out of something essentially made of ‘poo’ but I’d rather be nuts than boring. Judging by the pile of orders I have to do today, the world outside Ruby Wren seems to appreciate it. I always have lovely comments from customers saying how they love that my cards are unique and they’re sending something completely special. I feel very satisified in embracing my “youness” both in person and in business

Photos: Free People

My Plans for the next few days…

Hopefully I can absorb some of this guy’s passion for design/technology/business/life.

We received an amazing little gadget in the post the other day – an energy monitor from British Gas! The little device shows you your energy consumption in pence, in real time! It’s a brilliant wake-up call for showing you just how much energy you are using at any time. We’ve been trying it out for a few days now and it’s shocking to see it jump when you turn appliances on and off…the most dramatic being the kettle, oven etc. It’s really encouraging us to switch off things that are turned on unnecessarily.

If you’re interested in getting your own monitor, you can get them either from signing up to British Gas Energy Smart tariff or from shops like Ethical Superstore.

We’ve been working hard here at Ruby Wren and have some amazing new products to share with you! The first (and my favourite!) new product is our Word Search Card! Personalised with your recipients favourite things (or bands, or football players, or chocolate bars…!). It’s like a card and gift in one – an interactive Greeting Card! So much fun!

Don’t forget to keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages to ensure you are the first to know any Ruby News! There’ll be lots more in the next few days!

Years before Ruby Wren Designs, I was involved with some amazing companies through a gift/greeting website I used to run. One of the companies to most influence me and one which I wrote about frequently was Carte Blanche Greetings. CBG was (and still is) one of the biggest inspirations for me starting my own business years later. I still follow the company with eager anticipation to see what they do next, as well as treasuring some of the goodies I picked up along the way (one of my prized possessions is a personalised sketch Me To You artist, Mike Payne, drew for me!).

So, with Carte Blanche Greetings near the top of my ‘most brilliant companies on the planet’ list, there’s not much room for improvement in my eyes. However, last week, I was flicking through one of the Greetings trade magazines and saw the article about CBG signing licensing agreements to create the plush line of Simon’s Cat products. I was stunned – it’s a perfect match, in my opinion. I love Simon’s Cat and am thrilled it’s become a global sensation. For CBG, a company who I consider to be the leading company in quality gift and greetings products, to be developing a range of Simon’s Cat plush products, is just too perfect!

Carte Blanche Greetings just keep going from strength to strength and I’m increasingly more impressed by them as the years go on. For a company that seemed to rely so heavily on Me To You as their main brand, I’m thrilled that their other lines (Blue Nosed Friends, in particular) seem to be catching Tatty Teddy up on brand awareness and popularity. I’m sure Simon’s Cat will be another huge success story for my friends at CBG and I can’t wait to see the products in the shops!

Click here to see the news article on the CBG website

One of the big advantages of buying from Ruby Wren is how personal you can make your cards. We’ve recently enabled custom printing on most of our designs, but now we’ve gone one step further by giving customers a choice of fonts when ordering their cards. We’ve also expanded our range of colours to include lots of shades to choose from, making it even easier to personalise your order!

It’s that time of year again! For small business owners, our Christmas planning is 6-12months ahead of the actual holiday! Ruby Wren has some new ideas mocked up, photographed and ready to be put online nearer to Christmas. Here’s a little sneak peak of a twist on an old favourite…this year we’re doing the Reindeer family cards in ‘Ellie Poo’ so that we can print your wording on the front! This little family of reindeers is on it’s way to be part of a photoshoot!

With sample cards, I always struggle to think of example names to print on the prototype cards. With made-to-order products, I always get given the information to print…but I need some imagination for mock-ups! This one in particular uses the surname of one of my heroes! I’ve chosen another of my favourite people to adorn the sample to be featured in the NOTHS catalogue this winter! Such fun!

I had some amazing (but anonymous!) feedback via NOTHS Feefo review service for one of the Ruby Wren Wedding Cards. I wish I could thank the lady for her wonderful comments…it’s customers like her that make all the hard work worthwhile! So, thank you anonymous lady, you made my day! I’ve also recently heard from lots of lovely people who’ve told me that their cards mean so much to them, they frame them after the occasion! So special!

“Received one of these beautiful cards from a friend when my husband and I got married so asked them where they got it so I could get one for a friend. (My friend was pleased the tradition is continuing!) I was concerned the card may not arrive in time as I had left it late. However, to my delight, my order arrived very quickly & in plenty of time for the wedding in a great little ‘do not bend’ envelope in perfect condition with a lovely hand written message on the invoice from Hayley. (Really liked the personal touch.) Thrilled with the card. Great service, great product. I will definitely be ordering these for all future friend’s weddings! Well done notonthehighstreet, and special thanks to Hayley for her efforts in getting the card to me so efficiently. So pleased.”