Beautiful artist designed cards and stationary to treasure

(Birdie Folding Note-lets, by Lucy May Schofield, £8 set of six)

It's that time of year again when you start receiving greetings cards and invitations through the door, some may be pleasant to look at, others hideous, but all seem to make it onto the mantelpiece in our house. Why not show them how it's done with our selection of beautiful artist designed cards and stationary.

Lucy May Schofield's, incomprehensibly lovely, folding bird note lets, which fold to form their own envelope.

(Birdie Paper by Lucy May Schofield £8 set of six)

Or, perhaps, Lee May Foster's illustrated cards featuring strange snowy worlds, full of talking animals and exciting storms.

Winter Stag card by Lee May Foster (£2.50)

Or how about American design company I'm Smitten's colourful cards, reminiscent of 1950's children's books.

(Cards by I'm Smitten £2.50)

Aware that things can become incredibly commercial at this time of year, I think it's more important than ever to send something that the recipient would want to keep as a little treasure even, in the case of the Birdie Note lets or Proverb Postcards, perfect as presents in their own right?

Remember Free Delivery for November
(see previous post below for details)

The Christmas Cabinets Open + Free Delivery

Free Delivery*

To Celebrate the launch of the
Christmas Cabinets

We know it's November not December, and don't really approve of playing Jingle Bells in the shops in October, but as it's the busiest time for the post office, it's always wise to get your Shop Floor shopping done early to ensure your gifts arrive in time to go under the tree. That's why we're offering Free Delivery* for the whole of November!

To help with ideas for gifts this Christmas we have created a Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe inspired Gift Guide. Open the doors of the cabinets to take you to objects that you may not have usually been drawn too.

Click here to visit The Christmas Cabinets


Free Delivery Terms of Offer:

*UK CUSTOMERS Offer applies on orders over £50, please type the discount code below in the box at the Checkout:
101208FD

*INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS (please note, we deliver to all countries, but sadly, not the USA or Canada). Offer applies on orders over £100, please type the discount code below in the box at the Checkout:
201208FD

Bauble II: Limited Edition Artists' Christmas Decorations

(Fox and Hare, by Theatre de la Mode)

It's a rule in our house not to talk about the intricacies of Christmas (where to get the tree from this year, when to open the sloe gin, what everyone wishes for etc) until after Halloween. This year's it's been particularly difficult, one, because of the snow covered mountains that we can see from our studio making us feel all Christmasey, and two, because of the exhibition we've been busy curating.

(View from The Shop Floor Project)

Bauble II follows on from the success of last years' inaugural show, in which, we commission a selection of artists and designers (including ourselves) to create a collection of alternative baubles to decorate the tree.

(White Fretwork Bauble by Pieter Erasmus)

The initial idea rose out of a love for hand-made treasures that are brought out each year, every piece having a story to tell; where it's from, who brought it back from their travels, how long we've had it. We wanted to create a collection of new objects that have been lovingly made which would cause excitement each year.

(Follow the Stag, set of six lockets, by Denise Allan)

All the artists who have created a limited edition collection for Bauble II have been working on their ideas for over a six months, creating beautiful, humorous, absurd and even DIY baubles to dress your tree. The hope is that these objects are treasured and collected for future generations to enjoy.

(All I Want for Christmas, second series, by Samantha Allan)

As all the baubles in the exhibition are handmade and limited editions we recommend purchasing in advance of the 1st December.

Prices range from £9.50 to £70

Available from the Bauble Exhibition Rooms

Winter Twilight - New jewellery by Lee May Foster

Cornish jeweller, Lee May Foster, has created a new collection for winter, featuring stars, moons, leaping deer, dew drops and feathers.

Inspired by late night and early morning wanderings along the Cornish coast, the collection shines out against the darkness of winter.

Lee May has continued her love of mixing natural materials such as carved stone with vintage materials such as Czech glass and Lucite beads.

Beautiful and mystical, this collection celebrates all that is special about winter.

Prices from £16. Available from the Jewellery Department

New Kitchen Linen Department Opens

We are excited to announce the opening of the new Kitchen Linen Department within The Shop Floor Project. We launch with the work of British illustrator Megan Price.

Megan's hand printed tea towels, canvas grocery bags and aprons feature her signature prints inspired by the good old British cafe.

Travelling around the country, paying particular attention to sea side towns, Megan photographs and sketches fading signs, menu boards and items for sale such as cakes and ice-creams. Coming back to her studio in Norfolk she translates these sketches into hand printed textiles using only the best quality 100% cotton twill.

Her canvas bags already have a cult following having been featured in Vogue and Elle France, and the tea towels and aprons are surely going to follow. After a customer told me she had framed her Cafe Culture tea towel in the kitchen instead of using it, I thought 'great idea I'll do that too', but which one to choose?

Now open in The Kitchen Department.

Shake a Tail Feather: Modern Hosiery Collection

Awarded The Scottish Accessory Designers of 2008 by VOGUE.COM, Chloe Patience and Mhairi McNicol's hand printed tights are causing quite a storm!

The Edinburgh and Glasgow School of Art trained pair inspired the launch of our Modern Hosiery Department earlier this year. Today we are excited to launch their second collection inspired by Ostrich feathers, Tattoo parlours and Showgirls - perfect for winter parties or brightening up everyday outfits!

Designed and manufactured in Scotland and made with beautifully soft and strong 80 denier tights they look delicate but can take a lot of dancing!

From £20, available from our Modern Hosiery Department.

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Whilst we call our new department 'Modern' Hosiery, finding this beautiful miniature painting by Isaac Olivers from 1615 (from the Victoria & Albert Museum) shows a pair of tights that could easily be included in our collection today.

The man in the portrait is Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. In the diary of his wife, Anne, she records the many extravagances that led to the mortgaging of their house, Knole in Kent.

Amongst other outlandish pursuits, such as medieval jousting festivals, I imagine that his hand embroidered blue tights (the most expensive dye and pigment in the 17th century) greatly added to his financial difficulties!

Not content with commissioning a portrait by a leading artist of the time, Sackville requested Olivers to use the three most important blue pigments: costly ultramarine (lapis lazuli) for his breeches spangled with moons and suns; smalt (a pigment made from cobalt-coloured glass) for the greyish curtain behind the sitter and blue bice (azurite) for the stockings.

Those were the days, when a pair of blue tights could cause such a commotion!