First steps on Etsy

Today I have been designing new printables to go in the RecklessHen Etsy shop and it has been so much fun being back in the creative zone. I am happiest when I am doing anything creative, it relaxes me and creates a real feel good buzz. So after spending quite a few hours designing some prints and taking photos of them I logged on to Etsy to create the listings in the shop and my feel good mood quickly evaporated! I had completely underestimated the time it would take to get the listings done and how frustrating it would be to think I had finished only to find a mistake somewhere. After checking and rechecking a million times (Ok that’s a slight exaggeration but you get what I mean) I think I finally have them done correctly but I only managed to get 6 items uploaded. I am sure I will get quicker at it the more times I do it  – boy I hope so. If anyone has any advice on using Etsy efficiently I would love to hear from you.

Anyways, the first items are now in the shop so I declare it officially open and you can find it here. All the prints will be available in both printed and digital form so you can either print yourself at home or get a ready made print that you just need to pop in a frame and hey presto – new wall art. I love to change the decor in my home by adding a few new prints and some flowers and moving a few decorative pieces from room to room. Such simple, economical little tweaks can change the whole feel of a room without spending a fortune.

Here is a little peek at the new prints in the shop.

Grateful, thankful, blessed print from RecklessHen

Just breathe print from RecklessHen

Though she be but little print from RecklessHen

I would love to hear any advice on using Etsy.

Have a great weekend x

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Mother’s Day round up and an Easter Freebie

With Mother’s Day looming how many people have forgotten to order their gifts in time for them to be delivered before Mother’s Day? I always do this whether it’s for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings etc. and I end up rushing to the shops and getting something that isn’t exactly what I wanted. So if that is you today then I thought I would do a quick round up of some of lovely, quick make at home gifts that would put a smile on any mum’s face.

First up is this sweet Crocheted Daffodil from Simply Crochet.

Crocheted Daffodil from Simply Crochet

You could crochet up a few of them to make a bunch or add a brooch pin on the back to make a cute brooch. What mum wouldn’t be delighted with that!

Next up is a bouquet of Map Roses from Pillar Box Blue.

Map Roses from Pillar Box Blue

If you don’t have any old maps these would look just as good on pages from an old book or on scrapbooking papers.

Or what about Mother’s Day in a Jar from Hello Splendid.

Mother’s Day in a Jar from Hello Splendid

What a great way to pamper your mum, giving her lots of her favourite little treats in a pretty jar that she can use as storage afterwards.

If your mum likes to sew how about making this cute little Teacup Pincushion from Pins and Needles.

Teacup Pincushion from Pins and Needles

You could use some fabric from a favourite old blouse or dress, or from clothes that the grand-kids have grown out of to make this gift extra special.

Lastly, if you like to bake how about making this yummy Rose and Dark Chocolate Shortbread from Waitrose.

Rose & Dark Chocolate Shortbread from Waitrose

Add some pretty packaging to make a gorgeous handmade gift.

There are loads more fabulous ideas on Pinterest for quick and easy Mother’s Day gifts to make, but I warn you that you may end up spending so much time looking at all the great ideas that you don’t actually get the time to make anything (I speak from experience here lol).

Finally, with Easter just around the corner I thought I would make a cute Easter themed freebie for you. I love to add to my seasonal decor with printables because they are such a quick way to change things up a bit. Please remember that our Easter printable is Free for Personal Use only.

Easter Printable from RecklessHen

The printable will fit in an A4 frame and you can download it here.

Free Easter printable from RecklessHen

If you like our printable please Pin it and if you use it we’d love to know.

Why not follow us on Facebook or Instagram too we would love to see you there 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there.

Spotty Dottie font goes global

We are so excited to be able to tell you that our Spotty Dottie font is now available on dafont.com. Spotty Dottie is available free for Personal Use. If you are interested in our Commercial Licence please email us for details.

Spotty Dottie font by RecklessHen (free for Personal Use only)

A blast from the past

I’ve been trying to organise all my photos on my new computer which is taking forever. I so wish I had kept them organised better over the years, it would have saved me so much time now. I have just reached 2009 and I’ve come across a few photos of something I had completely forgotten – I once had a digital scrapbook layout published in a magazine!!! Can you believe that – I can hardly believe it myself. It was a layout of a couple of photos of our last trip to Walt Disney World and I called the layout ‘Winnie the Pooped’.

I haven’t done any digital scrapbooking for a while now and finding this has really made me want to get back into it again. I have a computer full of great digiscrapping resources and they are going to waste if I don’t get back in there and start using them. Some of my favourite designs come from Weeds & Wildflowers, but I’m slightly biased as I was on the CT there until the designer took a break to concentrate on family life. I also love the designs of Kate Hadfield and she often has a freebie on her site too. If you haven’t tried digital scrapbooking and you want to give it a go there are plenty of free resources out there that you can use to see if it’s for you or not, just pop it into google and Hey Presto! I use Photoshop Elements and you can try it out with a free trial to see what you think. Here is a Getting started with PSE guide I wrote a few years ago. It is for an earlier version of PSE but it should help you get the gist of it. Do you digiscrap? If you do or if you decide to give it a go I’d love to hear how you get on.

The end is in sight

Has the countdown begun in your house? I know it has in mine. Only 14 days left until the end of the school year here in Northern Ireland and I for one can’t wait. I have always loved this time of year when I look forward to two months of no school lifts to do, no homeworks to check, no uniforms to wash and iron, no lunches to make and when unplanned days of just going with the flow lie just around the corner. I have always loved having the kids at home for long, lazy days in the summer and now that they are older and like to do their own thing I kind of miss not having any little ones to take to the park or the movies or even just to be in the house playing games and making the place feel busy and alive. Our house was always full of their friends in summer and there was always the sound of laughter and chatter as they jumped on the trampoline, swung on the swings or played in the paddling pool. Now I tend to hear music blasting out from their rooms and they only appear when they want fed lol. One of my other favourite things about this time of year has always been choosing a present for their teachers. I usually tried to get something a little different as I know that teachers are inundated with sweets and smelly stuff at the end of term. Quite often I made things myself which would mean something to the teacher. At the end of my son’s first year I made a cross stitch sampler for his teacher of things that they had done during the year and a personalised card to go with it. Another year the girls helped me make a salt dough plaque of children in their school uniform. When the head mistress was retiring I organised the whole school to make a massive quilt. Each child in the school designed a square and then fabric painted it. Myself and another mum then stitched them all together and I cross stitched all the childrens names around the edges. Although my kids are too old to do teacher presents now I thought I would like to design a printable that could be framed and sit on a desk or go on the wall. This is what I came up with – it’s printed on linen blend fabric using some fab fonts from Kimberly Geswein and framed in a 5×7 frame. I think it’s cute – what do you think?  Are teacher presents an end of year tradition where you live?