Established in 2013

This time last year Rosie and Radish didn't even exist. It wasn't until June of this year that the little guys came into our lives, and now we couldn't imagine life without them. It just goes to show what a difference a year can make. With 2013 drawing to a close, what better time to reflect on the first 6 months of life in Rosie and Radish Land ...

Rosie and Radish were born 6 months ago on the 29th June 2013. 

In 6 months (184 days) we have created 4 little characters,

and designed loads of greeting cards and prints,

as well as some super cute paper dolls.

We have built and designed a website 

and sold our wares at a Christmas Fair.

We have had 25 weekly Thursday meetings during which we have consumed 

25 Fish Finger sandwiches, 25 tomato and mozzarella ciabattas, 50 pints of lime 

and soda and 50 mugs of hot chocolate.

We have each put on an average of 2.5lbs in weight.

In October I took a trip to the Ladder Club in Southend to learn 

all about greeting card publishing.

This pushed us into booking a stand at the PG LIVE trade show for May 2014.

As business partners we have kept in constant contact and have 

sent each other 500,245 meaningful and professional Whatsapp messages.

Being attached to our smartphones hasn't gone un noticed by our friends and 

family and we have tried hard not to let work interfere with our social lives.

We have built up 500 LIKES on Facebook, 710 followers on Twitter

 and 109 followers on Instagram which has resulted in lots of lovely 

feedback and comments. 

We even had a tweet from the legend that is Tony the Fridge. My life is complete.

And on top of all of that we have managed to fit in a wedding, 

a blossoming relationship with a dog,

and a very important business meeting with Orville the duck.

We have had a tremendous amount of fun, and with so many exciting plans for 2014 I hope that the next 6 months will be as much fun as the first. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year. Here's to a very happy, fun filled and prosperous 2014. HAPPY NEW YEAR YEAR EVERYONE!!! 

Amy Xx

Feeling Festive!

We are feeling very festive here at Rosie and Radish HQ ... Christmas tunes have been playing, our Christmas jumpers have been donned and our Christmas cards have been written!

With lots of lovely retailers to send cards to this festive season we wanted to make them extra special by drawing cute little Radish's in each one ...

And then we packed them all up and gave them the Radish seal of approval!

If you haven't thought about Christmas cards yet this year there is still time! You can buy a pack of 4 cards for £3.50 or 2 packs for £6 from our shop. There is one of each of these adorable designs in each pack.

Buy a pack by clicking here and join in with our festive fun! 

Amy Xx

Rosie and Radish's First Outing!

Yesterday morning my alarm went off at 5.45am. It was Sunday. It was illegally early. It was pitch black. And it was sub zero temperatures outside my duvet. BUT, it was the day of Rosie and Radish's first ever Christmas Fair! So I eagerly jumped out of bed, skipped in the shower and dashed out the house without even a hint of the early morning blues - for I had Rosie and Radish goodies to sell!!!

OK, so I may have have told a little white lie. I was very tired. And when I met Helen at Beamish Hall she looked equally as bleary eyed. Team Rosie and Radish were in desperate need of a caffeine and croissant fix. But we were soon pumped up and ready to get the show on the road. We had 2 hours to turn our 12ft stall into Rosie and Radish Winter Wonderland!

We had spent weeks illustrating, designing, cutting things out, gluing things together, packing up cards, mounting up prints and deciding what to put on our Rosie and Radish stall. Thankfully it all came together nicely and we managed to turn this ...

Into this ...

We were super proud of ourselves. We were just putting the final touches to our stall when the doors opened and the Christmas shoppers came flooding in.

Our pack of 4 Christmas Cards proved to be the biggest hit of the day. It seems the lovely folk that came to our stall couldn't resist our Christmas Angels!

We also had lots of interest in our personalised prints, with lots of customers wanting to buy them for Christmas, New baby and Christening gifts. Who could blame them? They obviously have very good taste!

Our lovely little stocking fillers also went down a treat. Our Paper Dolls stole the show centre stage in their cute little outfits!

As did Helen's genius inventions ... her fab 'Pretty up your Present' packs, which contain ribbons, paper flowers, stickers and a gorgeous Rosie and Radish gift tag. Fun, quirky, Christmas wrapping at its finest!

It was a wonderful day all round and it certainly got us into the Christmas spirit! It was lovely to introduce Rosie and Radish to the public and to see them smile and engage with our products. We got so many lovely comments and loads of positive feedback ... we hope it was a taste of good things to come in Rosie and Radish Land in 2014!

By 5pm we were all packed up and ready to go home for a well deserved rest. Needless to say my alarm will not be going off at 5.45am again in a hurry. This lack of sleep is making us a bit delirious! 

Amy Xx

Well hello Dolly!

Amy has been very busy keeping this blog up to date whilst I have been a teeny bit busy with other matters - mainly getting married and drawing up lots of Rosie and Radish illustrations.

I thought it was time I brushed off my keyboard and gave Amy a break so that I can introduce two very special little characters and a brand new product that is perfect for Christmas (just over 6 weeks to go...eek!)

Firstly, let me introduce you to a rather dapper young chap. Sam is a mischievous little boy who has a big heart and a cheeky grin. Like Rosie, he has a special little partner in crime - Spud the Hedgehog. Spud can be a bit shy, often curling up into the potato-shaped ball which inspired his name. Look out Batman and Robin, there is a new dynamic duo in town...

And the other news I am very happy to share with you is that Amy and I have developed a wonderfully retro pair of Rosie and Sam paperdolls with a special festive twist.

There was much fun involved in coming up with the prototypes - I never thought I would devote such a large amount of time dwelling on such ponderings as the size of Rosie's neck or whether Sam's hair was just too curly to cut out!

They are perfect as stocking fillers for the little people in your life and trust me, they will definitely keep them occupied for a while. Amy was very quiet and well-behaved as she trial ran the first one. Of course every doll passes through the Ralph the Studio Dog inspection to check that it arrives to you in tip top condition too!

You can purchase them on our website here. Please note that Ralph the Dog is not included (although this is negotiable on how naughty he has been).

Helen
x

The Ladder Club

So the wedding went off with a bang. Helen looked beautiful, and myself and the Graphics Girls helped the happy couple celebrate with a drunken knees up to remember. I think I've just about recovered!

Anyway, I'll let Helen fill you in about her big day. For whilst she was busy sunning herself on honeymoon in the sun drenched, picturesque hills of Sicily, I had important Rosie and Radish business to attend to … in Southend.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. To some that may seem like I got the bum deal. But what do you know? I bet you couldn't find 65 greeting card enthusiasts and industry experts with a burning passion for pretty bits of folded paper in Sicily. Nope. I knew where it was at. The Ladder Club Seminar! I was even greeted with some lovely Southend sun on my arrival :-)

The Ladder Club was held at The Cliffs Pavilion in Southend

The Ladder Club is an annual two day event held in Southend, designed to help designers and illustrators (like ourselves) learn everything they need to know about entering the world of greeting card publishing. The first day is dedicated to us newbies, and the second day is for those with a bit more industry experience. Set up by Lynn Tait of the Lynn Tait Gallery 14 years ago, The Ladder Club has grown from strength to strength and has helped many greeting card publishers on their road to success.

The day was jam packed with speakers and suppliers offering advice on all aspects of the industry. After a brief introduction from Sharon from the Greeting Card Association and Warren and Jakki from Progressive Greetings Magazine the fun and games began.

First up were Claire and Karen from Papersalad. They graduated from The Ladder Club nine years ago and have never looked back. As two friends who met at art college, and have now set up a successful business together their story really resonates with ours - They were truly inspirational. They told us of the highs and lows of running your own greeting card business and showed us how determination and hard work really can pay off.

Jeremy From Blue Eyed Sun was next. Jeremy was a great speaker and spent a lot of time talking about marketing, production and financial planning, before scaring the living daylights out of us all and warning us of 'The Valley of Death'. Yeah, thanks Jeremy! Joking aside, Jeremy gave a very honest insight into the world of publishing and provided us with some invaluable financial projections and models that we can use.

The Valley of Death

We heard about Litho (Simon and Nicky from Sherwood Press) and digital printing (Bob from The Imaging Centre) and we were also told how envelopes were made by the lovely Julie from Enveco.

Now I thought I was passionate about all things paper related. That was until Mark from GF Smith took to the stage and showed us what it was really like to have an obsession with the white stuff. This is a man who knows his Callisto Soft White from his Callisto Pearl. The world of paper really is our oyster with this guy as a contact.

Next up Simon, Operations Director from PG Live (a greeting card trade show) made us realise that taking our cards to a trade show is definitely the way the forward. It really is the best way to get our work out there and attract buyers and agents. Which brings me nicely onto our last speaker of the day, a sales agent Ian. Ian told us what to look out for when finding agents to sell our cards, and how getting the right agents can make or break your card sales.

My head was well and truly spinning by the time I boarded the train back up to Newcastle. Armed with my Ladder Club goodie bag (which can only be described as a bag of paper porn) my business partner in crime, fresh from her honeymoon, met me off the train and we retired to the pub. We spent the next few hours eating fish finger sandwiches and going through my pages and pages and pages of Ladder Club notes. With so much information to take in and digest I think I can safely say we both left the pub a bit shell shocked.

Paper HEAVEN

A few weeks on we have finally managed to get our head around it all. We are back on track, and more determined than ever to get our Rosie and Radish greeting cards into shops nationwide. The Ladder Club really has given us the push we needed. With lots of hard work ahead, we are aiming to exhibit at our first trade show next year so we had better get cracking. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the seminar, but I made some lovely new friends and it clarified that greeting card publishing is definitely the friendly, creative industry that Rosie and Radish want to be part of. We love it!

Amy Xx

Wedding Bells!

Apologies for being rather quiet over the past few weeks but we have been terribly busy. Not only have we been adding prints to our website and creating some new card designs, but we have also had birthdays to celebrate, hen weekends to attend and most excitingly - a wedding to plan! Or should I say, Helen has had a wedding to plan!

This week marks Helen's last week as Miss Turner before she ties the knot with the lovely Luke on Saturday. We are soooo excited!!!

And we certainly haven't let Helen's departure from her Miss Turner status go unnoticed. A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in Harrogate celebrating her last few weeks of freedom. And boy did we celebrate in style. A weekend of fizz, fairground rides, dancing, exceptional tambourine playing, mask wearing and dressing Helen up as a fabulous artists colourful paint palette was enjoyed by all! Finished off nicely with a lovely relaxing morning at the Turkish Baths. It was perfect, and with a few of us misplacing our Helen masks, the legend of the 'Paint Palette Bride To Be' will be living on in Harrogate for weeks to come!

Lots of Helen's and her colourful Hens!

After our weekend away it was back to work with our cute little duo and time for us to upload our prints onto our online shop. With 12 to choose from there really is a print for everyone. They are now available to buy from our website so go and check them out NOW!

We also came home to find a lovely review of our website from Moon fruit. We think they like it as much as we do! Read what they wrote about us here.

In between all the work, preparations and mayhem Helen managed to sneak in her birthday, for which Rosie and Radish baked her a delicious cake! Yum!

With only a few days to go until Helen gets married, she has put down her magic drawing pen and is taking a well deserved break to enjoy her wedding and honeymoon. But fear not, I will be here to hold the fort and we have plenty lined up to keep you entertained, including some new cards and a few new characters!

But for now I just want to wish Helen and Luke all the happiness in the world for their future together as Mr & Mrs Heath. I hope you have the most wonderful wedding day on Saturday. I can't wait!

Lots of love,

Amy Xx

Team Rosie and Radish

Now you have had a chance to look at our website and see our products, I thought it would be a good idea to give you an insight in to how we bring our cute little characters to life. Team Rosie and Radish consists of two people - Helen (our super duper illustrator) and me, Amy, who designs stuff.

We spent many hours brainstorming, sketching out ideas and doodling before we finally decided upon Rosie and Radish being a little girl and her pet mouse. But that was the easy bit. What hair style was Rosie going to have? Should her socks be pulled up or slouched down? Should she have freckles? Should Radish the mouse be naked? So many life changing questions and so many developmental sketches done by Helen ...

But once we had answered them, Helen went away, worked her magic, and our cute little characters were born - all shiny and new and ready to be used on greeting cards and prints. And that is where I come in. As a designer it is my job to position everything on a page and to combine Helen's illustrations with other elements and type to make it all look pretty ...

Once we had our products we then needed a website to sell them on, and this process shows off our illustrator and designer hats perfectly. Whilst brainstorming ideas for our website I came up with a lovely little scamp, where Rosie has what can only be described as a wedge cut, and Radish looks like an extra out of Harry Potter, flying around on his broomstick ...

Thankfully Helen wasn't put off by the fact I had massacred her beautifully drawn characters and she (somehow) managed to translate it into this ...

After a few tweaks and the addition of a few more elements and some type I then transformed it into this ...

Our wonderful website!

The lesson that came out of this exercise is that I should definitely leave the character illustration to the professionals. But it is also a great example of how Team Rosie and Radish work perfectly together.

Amy Xx