Our New Photo Gifts Widget

We are trying to promote our specialised personal gift service inside the gated communities of Peer-to-Peer networks and blogs.

This is our first attempt, which should allow people to add our photo gift service inside their online photo albums.

It means that anyone who visits and had permission can order a photo gift using one of the images on the blogger’s online album.

And it means that the photograph rights holder will get a commission of 10% of the product’s value every time an order is placed.

It makes it easier for friends and family to create some memorable gifts, we suppose.

As you can see, we are still battling with one problem …

The …

thing …

is a bit …

too …

deep …

Still, it’s a start and hopefully we can refine it.

With energy prices sky-rocketing as they are, we decided to focus on those devices that can offer some practical help. For all those who have older homes with eccentric, ill-fitting doors, these items can be a life-saver. As you can see we offer two standard sizes, based on averages of internal and external doorways, but customers can also let us know their particular requirements and we will make the items up to measure.

Patterns & fabrics: The cotton covers can be printed in any of our patterns but we can also make them in durable mock leather.
Sizes & Prices: Small (85cm) £22.00, Large (110cm) £25.00 [ See our shop page ]
Custom sizes: The excluders can also be made to order to fit your door.
Delivery: 1 week to 10 days and flat postage fee of £3.00.

No, seriously … As if we did not have enough country, folksy, rural prints there I go and design another one. Fact is, however, we never did have one of those classical French vintage patterns and it was something I was determined to get somewhat right. And … voila! I have called it “Kingham”, after the best little station on the Paddington-Worcester line. It was when we we lived there that we had a proper garden, complete with rose climbers that might have looked just a little like this. We started with the blue, then added the red, and finally decided a reverse version would help us finish the set. As you can see from the promo pic above, we are thinking along the lines of wallpaper too.

For some time we have been meaning to develop a new stripe option that was more classical and sober. We wanted a new alternative for our garden cushions and I think the new pastel stripes on the straw and khaki backgrounds are going in the right direction. They are certainly proving easier to combine and very versatile. Here are the prototypes we have developed so far.

A recent trip to a country fair prompted the development of a new pattern for our catalogue. The Malvern print is inspired by a vintage scrap that my daughter, Francesca, brought home and uses a background of a lightly aquamarine blue with strips of floral decoration. It feels perfect for kitchenware (particularly when combined with a tight, bold-coloured gingham) and the bathroom accessories. I think the pattern would also make lovely pillow slips … Here are the prototypes we have developed so far.

I love this gadget and I would love to add something like this to our personalised gift service. It would mean you would be able to create your own images of this kind and use them to customise cushions, shoppers, tea-towels, etc. What do you think? Just a bit of fun. Try it out at Say-It.com.

Do you like the idea of using these tools to create custom gifts? CLICK TO VOTE

One of our cloth dolls, Mimi, recently gained some online notoriety when she became the subject of intense debate (on MumsNet) over her skin colour. Some of it was considered and thoughtful and some it rather flippantly judgmental as a great deal of internet chat can be.

Like all our dolls Mimi was originally named after a member of the family. Indeed Mimi was the Transkei student who lived with us during our last 5 years in Cape Town in the late 1980s. She was young and ambitious both for herself and her young daughter. We loved her when we were under the same roof and missed her greatly when we left. I could not say a great deal more except that as with all our products this doll is extremely personal and we would miss her too, if we were to stop making her.

But the debate has made me aware that many continue to see in objects like the Mimi doll symbols of something quite different. To them she is a reminder of servitude, bigotry and inequality. I wish they could have met Mimi. Just as I wish they could have met the girl who made the doll.

I still remember Penelope walking alone down the centre of the High Street in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape holding a single wreath and wearing her academic gown. She was walking alone because the law in South Africa at the time held that if another joined her it would be considered a “riotous assembly”. It made her especially vulnerable and on either side of the street were people were shouting and swearing at her. Some spat. She kept on walking and looked straight ahead. She was giving her contribution to a vigil to mark the passing of Steven Biko, the Black Consciousness leader who had died in detention a week before. She was something else, Penelope. Never suffered fools and never looked the other way.

I consider myself lucky enough that she allowed me to move in with her a week later. I have not moved out in more or less 30 years!

HAVE YOUR SAY

And so I have decided to ask your opinion on this debate. By the time you read this I might have actually found a widget to allow you to vote on this. If so, I hope it is still working. Otherwise, please leave your comments below. Do you think we should stop making dolls like Mimi? CLICK TO VOTE

Penelope is a star! And now everybody knows it. Here is the lovely story that our local paper, the Gloucestershire Echo, devoted to her and her shop this weekend. Click to Enlarge.

It seems that all our efforts to spread the good word about Rosablue have paid off royally, with at least three mentions of us being published this month in media near and far. We were certainly excited when the Guardian told us they would include us in their Interiors Directory. And they said such sweet things too. And if that was not enough, Country Living, a dear and old friend in our household, chose to feature one of our shoppers in their March/April issue, so look out for us in Emporium if you come across the mag. And finally, is seems that our local newspaper, the Gloucester Echo, has finally decided to run that feature on Rosablue that it has had on ice for a few weeks. Fame and fortune, here we come!

We have not exactly launched our new service – that would take money (who’s got any of that, right?!). But we have let it go live, softly-softly. And guess what? We have already received our first order in just one week! We hope you will have a good nose around and let us know if it’s a goer or a stinker.