Solitaire Shop Blog

Print & Pattern feature

2012-02-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

The brilliant print & pattern blog have kindly featured our new products.

Baby Style File - Alphabet print

2012-02-02T03:55:00.000-08:00

Baby Style File is the place to go for style-savvy parents. Their taste is impeccable (but we would say that wouldn't we). I'm glad they mentioned the colours as it took a while to perfect them. There are pink and blue versions of the print also available from our print page.

Love Bugs Card

2012-02-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

We have a pink version of our Love bugs cards for Valentines day exclusive to our Not on the high street shop. You can find the card here.

NEW for 2012

2012-01-30T05:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at our new products for 2012.

We've gone a bit baby mad as we have a little one on the way next month.

The designs include Alphabet Boy and Girl cards...

...Alphabet A3 screenprints available in green, pink and blue...

...2 new additions to our popular lavender bag collection...

...a Jelly Birthday card and a new version of our toadstool design...

...and our long awaited Snail wrapping paper is now available...

Country Living - January 2012

2011-12-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

Our fox lavender bag and owl card have been featured in this month's Country Living Emporium pages.

Leigh Handmade and Vintage Fair

2011-11-23T03:27:00.000-08:00

We have got a stall at our local Handmade and Vintage Fair on Saturday 3rd December.

Its at Leigh Community Centre, Elm Road , Leigh-On-Sea, Essex, SS9 1SP and on 10am - 4pm. There will be over 70 stalls of vintage clothing , accessories and homewares as well as many vintage inspired and original handicrafts.

There is also a vintage tea room run by 'All the Tea and China'. Serving gorgeous homemade cakes and afternoon tea.

Please pop down and see us, we are doing some special offers on our products just for the

event. Em and Matt

Christmas Robins Wrapping Paper

2011-11-23T03:09:00.000-08:00

Our new Christmas Robin wrapping paper has been very popular.

One of our stockists 'Forty Four' has made this lovely wreath out of

our paper for there local advent festival. You can see how to make it here.

Recent inspiration...

2011-11-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Just a few images that have been inspiring me on recent trips out. Thought I'd share them with you. Matt

Creature Cushions

2011-11-08T05:04:00.000-08:00

Been meaning to the post this for a while, but been so busy.

Our round creature cushions were featured on the lovely baby style file blog.

Print & Pattern

2011-09-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

The wonderful and ever-popular Print & Pattern blog featured our new products today. Here's what they kindly wrote...

solitaire have a new range of goodies for the autumn winter season. these include a striking fox cushion which is handprinted onto linen, and lavender bags featuring a fox, owl, or cup cake. also featured is a lovely robin wrapping paper and a new addition to their exisiting christmas card range.

You and Your Wedding Magazine-Sept/Oct issue

2011-09-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our yellow vintage plate place mat was featured in "50 things we love" in You and Your wedding magazine this month.

Father's Day 19th June

2011-06-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy printing Father's Day cards over the last few weeks. Last orders for cards to arrive on time is Thursday 16th June.

Country Homes & Interiors feature

2011-06-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Our placemats and lavender bags are featured in the July issue of Country Homes and Interiors magazine.You can view our whole range of lavender bags and placemats at solitaireshop.com.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-04-04T06:03:00.001-07:00

Didn't get round to posting this yesterday, but just wanted to wish all mums a happy Mother's Day.

Birthday elephants

2011-02-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

It was our Daughter's 1st birthday last week. Since she was born, Florence has been given quite a few elephant toys (our favourites pictured), so sticking with the elephant theme, we had these lovely cup cakes made for her party. We had a variety of flavours, strawberries and cream, cookies and cream and lemon which all went down very well with our guests.

Valentines Cards

2011-02-01T06:21:00.001-08:00

We have a lovely selection of Valentines Cards. Our favourite is this new yummy biscuit card....Good enough to eat!

NEW for 2011

2011-01-24T02:04:00.001-08:00

We've just launched our new products for 2011.
Visit solitaireshop.com to see our new eco wrapping paper, lavender bags and greeting cards.
Don't forget. There is still 20% off all our cushions, aprons, place mats and tea towels before the end of January.

20% OFF EVERYTHING!!!

2011-01-14T04:39:00.000-08:00

Visit our shop to claim 20% off pretty much everything until the end of January. Click image to link to solitaireshop.com

Happy 2011...

2011-01-10T04:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and thank you to all our Solitaire customers in 2010. Lots of new things coming shortly so keep checking or join our mailing list here. Em x

Enlightenment

2011-01-10T04:30:00.000-08:00

When I can I like to get out into the Essex countryside armed with my camera to see what I can find. If I'm lucky I'll get a good picture of a creature or wild flower but I'm also fascinated with unusual or mood lighting and trying to recreate it in our work. Subject matter aside, this dusky photo may be inspiration for a future illustration.

Hello 2011!

2011-01-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Early January always means a lot of drawing for us. I couldn't think of a better way of starting the year. It was inevitable that all those cakes over Christmas were going to find their way into our next lot of designs. Here's a sneak peek of what's to come. Delicious!

More cakes...

2010-12-15T02:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my sister brought over these beautiful Christmas cupcakes that her friend makes. (visit www.madebymollie.com )
My favourite was the red holly one which was raspberry and strawberry flavour. Yummy! Em x

Secret recipe revealed!

2010-12-15T02:13:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas I make tomato chutney for our family and friends. It's been getting rave reviews so I thought I'd share my no fail recipe...

For every 1kg tomatoes:
• 1kg toms, peeled and chopped
• 200g onions, chopped
• 100g sultanas
• 250g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• 300g sugar
• 225ml vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 crushed clove of garlic

Method:
1. Put everything in a large pan and heat gently until sugar has dissolved.

2. Bring to the boil, then simmer on a low heat for about 1 hr (or until thick and pulpy). Give it a stir from time to time to avoid burning.

3. Pour into sterilised jars and cover.

4 Leave to mature for over 2 weeks (min) before eating.

Enjoy!
Matt

Monkey business

2010-12-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered how our cards are printed....

Christmas Cakes

2010-12-10T02:03:00.000-08:00

After a week of being snowed in and drinking lots of cups of tea to warm up (and of course, eating mince pies) I ventured out yesterday to our local shops in Leigh on Sea to see what else was on offer in the Christmas cake variety. First stop was our local bakers. Lots of traditional themed Christmas cakes....

...plus this impressive Santa's workshop cake...
..But my favourite of all were these gorgeous cheeky robin cakes in the window of Fancy Nancy...
Happy cake eating! Em x

Christmas Desktop wallpaper

2010-12-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

We gave this wallpaper away for a few days on our online advent calender and now we're making it available here. To download, click image to enlarge then drag image to your desktop or ctrl click (mac) or right click (pc). Enjoy! Matt

Christmas states of mind.

2010-12-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

When I think of Christmas an instant array of images fill my head, mostly from childhood and probably shaped by the idealistic imagery of Disney, Jim Henson, even classic 80s American films like National Lampoons. More recent additions to my image library are also from the U.S and my love of early 20th century newspaper comic strips. I've been a huge admirer of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo for years and I always picture his version of Santa (top picture). More recently I was introduced to Frank King's Gasoline Alley, who, like McCay based his main Character (Skeezix) on his son. I love the execution of the chimney smoke in this excerpt...