What we've been up to lately

Ok, so it's been a while

Yep, it’s one of those blog posts where the author apologises for not updating for so long, so sue me.

We’ve been busy, you know. We’ve been wearing our Paper Plane hats (note to self: get some Paper Plane hats made) selling cards and prints both on and offline. Who knew that Christmas cards could take up so much of your time in October and November?

Paper Plane's best-selling party drinks cards

We’re now selling our PP range online at paperplanedesigns.co.uk, relovedvintageinteriors.co.uk, notonthehighstreet.com and etsy as well as in the real world at Vintage Betty and French Grey Tales (and a couple of exciting new stockists in Stamford and Rutland to be announced soon) and also at the awesome Lollyrocket Shopping Event, organised by the whirling balls of energy that are Hayleigh and Michelle from Lollyrocket. You should check out their website – especially the candles, which appear to be selling like hot, um, candles.

So, yeah, we’ve been doing our PP thing, while trying to learn about how Etsy and notonthehighstreet work.

We’ve had loads of very helpful advice from a friendly bunch of fellow sellers including Newton And The Apple, Bread& Jam, Bookishly, Megan Claire, Tanya Garfield Jewellery, Becka Griffin, Zoe Brennan and The Green Gables – which is a little bit exciting in itself because we’ve always looked up to these people (still do) and can only dream of emulating their success and talents. It’s a bit like being 12-year-old girls who’ve just talked our way onto One Direction’s tour bus, feeling like utter imposters, only to find that, despite being super-huge megastars, Harry, Niall and co are a lovely, welcoming bunch.

Reloved Vintage is still very much alive and well, though. As well as her regular commission work, Laura’s found time to produce two brilliant chests of drawers (her best work so far, if you ask me) – now she just needs to find the time to get them both listed for sale with a full range of photos.

You can see one, Percy, here.

It's Percy!

Oh yes, and we bought a van! We really did! It’s a Toyota HiAce and we had to travel two and a half hours each way to get it, but it was well worth it. Now we can take on bigger jobs we previously had to turn down – and maybe we can squeeze in a big buying trip to France some time next year…

We only went and bought a van...

There’s just room to say that if you haven’t subscribed to our newsletter yet, please do – we’ll be sending out an exclusive discount code for subscribers only very soon.

Getting It Right - #1 Bread & Jam

We're nosy little people here at Reloved Vintage. We're always checking out what other small (and big) businesses are doing – looking for great ideas we can be inspired by, or terrible horrors to make sure we avoid. 

Every so often, we see something that just makes us want to stand up and applaud - and that's what we'll be celebrating in our Getting It Right series.

You Are My Cup Of Tea mug £8.50

We love Bread & Jam. In fact, we love Bread & Jam more than we love bread and jam. And who doesn't like bread and jam? Hedgehogs can't get enough of it, and it's really bad for them. The prickly fools.

We first saw the work of Jamie and Catherine (aka Bread & Jam) on Facebook and assumed they were a huge, successful, Paperchase-style giant. Turns out they're a tiny, soon-to-be-ultra-successful small business.

Jamie and Catherine both have a background in interior design - and it shows in their eye-catching, retro-meets-kitsch-meets-modern-meets-cute-meets-cool products. The simple elegance of their patterns is reminiscent of classic Hornsea, but what sets Bread & Jam apart from the many talented designers out there is their eye for words, a perfect turn of phrase to melt your heart and lift your spirits. They also photograph and accessorise their products so well it makes us secretly seethe with jealousy (but don't tell anyone, it would make us seem childish).

Screen Printed Wooden Pencil Box £7.50

The quality of their work has not gone unnoticed and in addition to their Not On The High Street store, Bread & Jam products are also for sale through the style behemoth that is Anthropologie.

Not content with being bloody talented, they're also jolly nice, generous people, who have always been on hand to offer us advice whenever we've pestered them.

Bread & Jam are one of our biggest inspirations. Like us, they're a couple, originally working from home, selling online and aspiring to build a successful business. And, like us, they seem to live in a house that is permanently full of boxes...

We're so happy for them that their work is now being seen by a wider audience (especially as it means our Bread & Jam mug may one day become a collector's item!).

Notes Of Apology £9.50