Eight new cards for Spring - and a giveaway for UK postal addresses

May 29, 2023

*** This giveaway is now closed, thank you to those who entered ***

I’ve been subscribing to the The Card Boys quarterly card subscription box for over a year now and received my fifth box from them at the start of the month. As it goes I also received my sixth box from them pretty soon after as there had been a small hiccup as I received a duplicate of the winter box. I mean they’re great cards, but I didn’t need another box of the same and of course I was keen to see the designs in the spring box.

The Card Boys resolved this super quickly and the spring box was with me the next day - which given how temperamental the post can be at times is pretty impressive. They also said they were happy for me to share the box with someone who would enjoy it, and so at the end of this post that’s exactly what I’m doing.

The giveaway will be a simple one - you’ll only need to leave a comment on this post and enter using the widget, but please remember I will only be posting the winter box to a UK postal address, so apologies if you aren’t in the UK. The winner will obviously need to provide their UK postal address so that I can post their prize to them.

For details of how to enter please see the ‘How to enter’ section further down in this post.

But first let’s take a look at the cards for spring:

First up is what turned out to be a timely inclusion with the recent passing of the legend Tina Turner, and a play on her Simply the Best, and something that I’m sure all prawns (or shrimps) feel, or should do. But going back to Tina briefly, it’s easy to forget just how remarkable her life and career was, and how much of a difference she made for so many people.

A blue card with a prawn wearing a party hat - the wording shrimply the best above — ARTIST: GRACE CHILTON

Next up is a simply drawn bunch of flowers by Hollie Fuller - what I like about these cards is they often have many uses and can be used for any number of occasions. There’s often a thank you card in the box, and that’s great as I know it’s great to receive thanks, and even better if the card it arrives with is gorgeous too.

Flowers regularly feature in the designs and this box is no different. I like the variation in styles the different artists have, though if pushed I think I’d select the image above as my favourite floral image - I love the drama, and the colour.

A COLLECTION OF SEA SHELLS AND BEACH FINDS ON A PALE PINK BACKGROUND — ARTIST: CLARA BOOTH

The final two cards are again different in style - there’s the beach finds one above, which is nice and calming and my favourite of the whole box, the vibrant jungle cheetah - or what I think is a cheetah anyway!

Edited to add: And one more

The more observant will have spotted that I originally posted this with only seven cards. The final card is added below. I hadn’t noticed that there was a card missing from the box when I photographed them yesterday, but there was and MOH thought he’d be rumbled yesterday - but wasn’t.

It’s my birthday today, and it seems I have a convert to the cards! He said these are much nicer than the ones we can buy in our local small supermarket, and he knows I like nice cards. And nice tins. He’s not wrong on either front!

And so I discovered the eighth card was missing, but for the best reasons!

The trouble as ever is parting with these cards, but also knowing that when you do they’re appreciated by the recipient too. So another great box from The Card Boys, I’m glad I discovered them at last year’s Grand Designs and I’m certain I’ll be continuing my subscription.

How to enter

As I said at the start of this post I received a duplicate winter box in a delivery hiccup, which I will post to a UK winner once this giveaway closes. To enter the giveaway please leave a comment on this blog post telling me how receiving ‘happy post’ makes you feel - and by happy post, I mean not the bills or everyday drudgery such as junk mail etc.

It’s that simple, but please remember I will only be posting to a UK postal address, and I will obviously ask the winner to provide their UK address so they can receive the prize.

The winner will be contacted by email on 5 June.

The prize

You can see details of the cards included in the winter subscription box on my post from earlier this year: Eight cards to brighten a wintery day, they are also included in the short video below.

Contents of the winter subscription box from The Card Boys, the prize in this giveaway.

Post Comment Love 26 - 29 May

May 26, 2023

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week, please remember this, posts which are older will be removed from the linky. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

We’ve our final bank holiday of the month on Monday, so the linky will stay open for an extra day closing at 11pm on Monday, giving you extra time to link up.

We’ve had one of those weeks where we’ve been ploughing through tasks, none of which seem particularly photo worthy. We’ve had some family meet-ups with more to follow, which is good for my car as well as my soul. As is the gardening, and being able to potter and pick off jobs a few a day, rather than our previous blitz it style. Like anything though, once you start paying attention to something you notice the smallest changes, and it’s great to notice these in our garden. Usually as I wander up and down I have my phone in my hand, ready to capture what I see - and I’m particularly pleased with this capture of the new growth on the yew tree.

Three from the Design Arcade

May 25, 2023

* I was provided a pair of press tickets to the Grand Designs Live so I’m marking posts from my visit as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

One of my favourite parts of Grand Designs Live is the Design Arcade. Last year it’s where we met the Card Boys and where we bought our new light so it has pretty good credentials!

Though the show overall seemed smaller than it had been in previous years, and (sob!) there were no room sets, the standard in the Design Arcade was as good as ever. Like any show the participants vary year to year, but noticeably this year at Grand Designs Live there were less ‘big’ and well known companies and more new to us brands, which is not such a bad thing.

But back to the Design Arcade, and what caught my eye this year:

1 Luxury Wallpaper by Avalana Designs

It was the swan wallpaper that caught my eye, and then the wallpapered background of the stand. The detail, the colours and in the case of the flowers, their size. Aren’t they fabulous?

On their website there’s also bedding and furnishings that complement each other, and while once my thing for bedding was ‘crisp and white’ over the past few years I’ve definitely changed my style to incorporate much more colour, so there could be the very real chance of a purchase in the hopefully not too distant future.

And it’s still the swans that are calling me…

2 Scented Candles by The Wick & Wax Co.

I love a candle or two, but it was the ‘Made in Stamford’ that caught my attention as that’s one of the places we’ve been visiting more regularly in our house search. Even though we’ve ruled it out as somewhere to live, it’s very much still on the somewhere to visit regularly list.

On their website there’s information about the luxury candles which are handcrafted in small batches and promises a ‘touch of luxury with a clearer conscience’ - I’m looking forward to seeing more of this company, and smelling their wares at shows which I hope will soon be classed as more local, and exploring their scents to work out which to buy. I don’t know about you, but sometimes the choice is just overwhelming - and not just for candles.

3 Door Signs by These Fair Hands

Now you might be thinking these are like any other door signs you might have seen, but they probably aren’t. These ones are made by from Corian, which is stone like and hard wearing, and you’ve most likely heard it used for kitchen worktops. But it’s also weatherproof which makes it ideal for door signs, which by their very nature are outside and subject to the elements.

On their website you can see the full range of door signs and more - and on the intro page, they say they don’t do standard - every piece they make is different, but beautiful.

This is another future potential purchase for me, and it’s the more modern designs, such as the 93 Lakewood Road sign, that appeal most, but the work in all of them is exceptional.

Door signs hung on the stand at Grand Designs Live

So some great finds, and some potential future purchases from me which is ok as for the first time ever I think, we left the show empty handed but armed instead with buckets of inspiration.