http://www.littlecrab.co.uk en-gb littlecrab.co.uk 2012-5-15T00:00:00Z littlecrab.co.uk http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#118326 Have added another design to our Extra Large Nursery Art collection today very girly Russian Dolls . My daughter age 11 is begging me to have this one up in her room...I told her to get saving her pocket money 2012-5-15 16:53:46 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#117963 Thanks to all those who entered our competition. The winner was Caroline Ebdon from Surrey and as it turned out we were so pleased she won as she tells us she has just had a baby girl a few weeks ago and this picture will finish off the nursery nicely awww She chose Beside the Seaside 2012-5-9 09:15:52 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#116779 To celebrate the arrival of our new Extra Large Nursery Art Designs on the website we are having a competition. All you have to do is join us on facebook and you could be the lucky winner of one of the four designs available. Simply go to our facebook page and like us and the winner will be selected at random after the closing date of Sunday 6th May at midnight. Please spread the word to family and friends who would like to be in with a chance of winning. Normal 0 false false false ENGB XNONE XNONE ... 2012-4-20 11:06:37 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#115096 Frantically dealing with the last run of orders before I go on hols for a week You can still order whilst Im away but they wont get dealt with until Monday 2nd April. However I just thought I would give you a sneaky peak at the new A3 size designs Sarah has done and that are now ready to go on the website sorry about the quality of the photo just a quick happy snap.Absolutely gorgeous I think youll agree They have printed really well and look fantastic in these new frames that will work with any nursery decor for both boys and girls bedrooms. Once back from hols I will get these up on the website asap and will be launching a competition for one lucky person to win one so check back in April to get all the details 2012-3-22 11:58:26 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#114128 We always like to listen to customer feedback here at Little Crab Designs so after several requests for larger size pictures we are in the process of making it happen. I have sourced a suitable frame which I think is going to look fantastic and will work with all colours and styles of nursery decor and Sarah has been busy coming up with some really adorable new designs. Here is a sneak preview of a couple of them excuse the quality they are just snapshots taken on a phone. With the overall finished picture size coming in at around 45cm x 32.5cm I am really excited that these will make stunning artwork pieces for any baby or small childs bedroom walls.Furthermore this hive of recent creativity has even prompted me to get back on the sewing machine too Having spent far too much time on the computer these past 18 months or so I have finally got back in the creative zone so hopefully we should have even more designs coming along soon too 2012-3-8 08:34:45 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#112068 We have been rather chuffed with ourselves this past month. Whilst the media continue to report doom and gloom a receding economy the retail industry being in a mess etc etc we seem to have managed to buck the trend and have had a bonanza month in January Up on last year orders were flying out the door and there seems to be no slowing down as we pass the first week of February. Maybe more people are having babies as they are not going out and spending their money so they have to find something to do at home Whatever the reason for our booming sales we are extremely grateful for your businessI will say though sanding frames in this cold cold weather is not my favourite job ...roll on summer 2012-2-8 13:43:58 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#110476 Back from our trip to the Alps now and caught up on all the outstanding orders that came through whilst I was away. The Cucumelle holiday promotion was very popular and I had a manic time last week getting back up to speed Anyway now back in control and thought I would introduce you to a potential future artist for Little Crab Designs my daughterJasmine now has her own website www.jasmineseager.com where she can show her latest pieces of art. She is hoping to do an art scholarship to her senior school in a couple of years and I am really proud of her and the art she is producing. Do go have a look at the gallery my current favourite is the gazelle 2012-1-16 12:41:17 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#109282 SPECIAL OFFER 10 CASHBACK ON ALL ORDERS PLACED BETWEEN 29 DEC AND 8 JAN INCLUSIVEIts that time of year again where we are off to play in the snow and by the looks of things we are going to be well rewarded as it is forecast to dump in the next couple of days yippee Only downside to that is that the drive into resort could be an interesting one if the mountain pass is closed...Anyway what this means to you the customer is that if you place an order between now and 8 January it will not get dealt with til Monday 9th January 2012. So... to make up for any inconvenience this may cause if you type in the comments box on your order CUCUMELLE when I get back and process your order I will give you 10 cashback i.e. if your order totals 16365 you will receive a 1636.50 refund and your pictures of course. Happy New Yearplease note this offer is for all orders received between 29 Dec and 8 Jan inclusive and does not include gift vouchers 2011-12-28 16:17:49 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#108361 It dawned on me this week that Little Crab Designs has just passed the five year mark When I look back at how it all started and the journey I have been on to get where we are today... I feel very proud.It all started with a small stall at the childrens school Christmas Fair with the Tom and Jasmine canvas blocks on display and NO stock just lots of interest and people preordering. From there a years worth of various fairsevents the introduction of our textile prints with the still ever popular Hotchpotch Sealife and Hotchpotch Farm collections lots of hard work and lots of mistakes made Then we moved onto the internet deciding this was where I really wanted to concentrate our efforts. For a year though we had a nice looking web store but it wasnt really visible so we had very little traffic. Then with much help from Sussex Enterprise I worked out how to get it seen and get more visitors to the site and the orders started to drip through. I still remember those first few orde... 2011-12-8 12:03:04 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#107928 Having begun to offer our our unisex collections in plain white distressed frames back in October we have now added this possibility to our boys ranges of pictures Driving me Spotty Boys Toys and Dotty about Dinosaurs. You just have to select white frame from the drop down options box under each picture. Sometimes people dont want the blue or green frames because they might already have a blue boys bedroom say and dont feel the blue frame will stand out enough so being able to have them framed in plain white irons out this problem. As with all our pictures though please dont hesitate to get in touch if something is not quite as you would want it we will endeavour to meet your demands if we can 2011-12-1 15:53:25 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#107312 Well things are starting to hot up on the Christmas order books which is keeping us nice and busy but I did find time last week to enter a competiton on Facebook never dreaming I would win as I NEVER win ANYTHING but guess what... I only bloomin did... and when this gorgeous little package arrived on Saturday from Nalu Beads I was absolutely thrilled I already have some of these gorgeous beads all named after various wave breaks in the UK and around the world but I really wanted some more and the best bit for the prizewinners was that we could choose exactly which beads we wanted to the value of 16350. So if you like the look of these do make sure you go check out their website Nalu Beads they would make a lovely Christmas present for a girlfriend or put them on your own Christmas wishlist I would also like to thank the team at Nalu Beads for reminding me how well Facebook works as a business promotion tool and seeing the kind of response they got to their competition ha... 2011-11-22 16:28:15 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#106909 Having been told by the powers that be my husband mr retail himself that this is the week that Christmas shoppers start to get busy on the net I got the decorations out...Hope you like them And dont forget final day for orders to ensure delivery for Christmas is Friday 16th December. Happy Shopping 2011-11-15 19:03:00 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#105063 Over the past few months several customers have asked for the Hotchpotch Sealife or Hotchpotch Farm pictures to be framed in plain white frames as they are not sure if they are decorating the nursery for a new baby boy or a new baby girl Whilst we do offer these unisex prints in a green frame as an option to the blue or antique white with a hint of pink we do appreciate that sometimes green might not work with someones nursery decor and plain white is just more versatile... so with that in mind we have now added the option to have plain white distressed frames on our Hotchpotch Sealife Hotchpotch Farm Circus Spotty and Garden Animals collections which are all suitable pictures for both boys and girls. 2011-10-20 12:42:06 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#104544 We have just improved our free delivery offer to allow customers buying 4 or more pictures from any of our framed picture collections to benefit from it.At the time of the original change in the postage structure on the website back in the summer we had overlooked that some of our collections namely Gorgeous Gingham Boys Toys Beautiful Butterflies Driving Me Spotty Dotty about Dinosaurs and Circus Spotty only have 4 pictures in the set and that if you buy all 4 this totals 16366.00. With our original free delivery offer standing at purchases over 16370 many of our customers buying from these collections could not benefit from it. We have now rectified this issue so that all you lovely people buying a full set of 4 of any of these collections get your just rewards I probably shouldnt mention it... but in the internet shopping world of retail in a couple of weeks people WILL be doing their Christmas shopping... so hopefully this offer will entice a few more people to buy Little Crab ... 2011-10-13 11:48:18 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#102982 Having taken a bit of a back seat in the last year our childrens canvas prints have seen a recent surge in popularity over the past few months. Our canvas printers have recently upgraded their machinery and in doing so changed the stock they now print on. The result being that we think they look even better than before. With girls and boys specific designs as well as our lovely stripy sea and stripy farm ranges that are suitable for both these striking pictures make great choices for older children or a larger nursery or bedroom. As they work best when there are several of them on the wall to encourage you to get maximum impact out of them if you buy three or more you benefit from FREE postage too 2011-9-21 17:23:50 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#102564 Very excited yesterday to see that we have gone over the 100 mark on our facebook page for likers I have to say that this has a lot to do with my very nice friend Melissa who is starting out her own new venture and unlike me is much better at doing the whole facebook thing she got her 100 likers in five minutes and then very kindly helped me to tip our number over the 100 mark too Melissa is the brains behind Brownielicious where they make all things Brownie. I personally have sampled the brownies themselves delicious warmed up with ice cream and the fantastic Brownie Pops Brownie lollies with sprinkles and icing on top which my kids absolutely LOVED They can also do fantastic Brownie Stack Wedding Cakes which if had been around when I got married would definitely have been my choice And there are lots of other ideas in the pipeline such as brownie wedding favours different flavour brownies such as with fresh raspberries mint orange etc. and brownie party bag fillers.I wish ... 2011-9-15 10:03:52 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#101550 After our first order for Switzerland last week we have had another order from a shop near Southport Cherubs of Churchtown. Opening in October Lesley is getting organised and making sure she will be well stocked so has placed an order with us that includes some of our canvas prints and full sets from our boys and girls picture collections. We wish her every success with her new venture 2011-9-1 07:19:41 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#101153 Exciting week this week... our first order from our new friends in Switzerland New online baby boutique Hopscotch is opening very soon so we are busy getting together their first shipment of pictures. It was interesting to see which designs they chose and they have gone for a good mix to get them started to include Hotchpotch Sealife Boys Toys Gorgeous Gingham and Garden Animals.This large order coupled with a sudden August surge in sales on the website that is unusual for this time of year I thought everyone was on holiday meant that Little Crab Designs ran out of stock for the first time EVER Not a panic situation and only for a day or two but it is the first time that our stock has been run right down to the bottom 2011-8-25 07:00:16 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#100636 This week sees the update of our Hotchpotch Farm range. Having been on the site for over 3 years endless print runs had started to take their toll and the originals were looking a tad tatty So we have or should I say Sarah has given them a fresh new look even more adorable than the first edition dont you thinkThis also means we have some FANTASTIC bargains on our SALE page on the last remaining few prints from the first edition. Nothing wrong with them... you can still have them framed in the colour of your choice... just limited stock and no ducks left but be quick... they will get snapped up at this price 2011-8-17 08:57:58 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#100095 At last... in between managing children on school holidays going on holiday ourselves and the general chaos that is behind the scenes at Little Crab Designs this summer we bring to you the all new Gorgeous Gingham girls collection of pictures. Inspired by Sarahs daughter Boe they are all her favourite things Totally girly very pink they will be adorable in any little girls bedroom or big girls for that matter my 10 year old is asking for them in her bedroom 2011-8-8 16:46:18 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#98359 Very exciting news this week Little Crab Designs nursery art will soon be available in Switzerland Hopscotch a new online boutique opening in Switzerland will be stocking some of our pictures later in the year when they are up and running. The idea is the brainchild of two sisters living there who are keen to fill a gap in the market for quality childrens products particularly targetting the large expat community there. They will be offering toddlers clothes toys pamper bits for mums and nursery art namely Little Crab Designs art Cant wait to find out which of our designs they will be trialling first 2011-7-14 15:09:02 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#97870 Having had a clearout on the site of some of our older designs things on the girls nursery pictures front have been particularly sparse but do not despair... Sarah has been working on a new range and they are currently winging their way to me as I write. Very pink very girly and very gorgeous they have been inspired by her daughter Boe. They are all her favourite thingsLittle sneaky snapshot below to give you a taster taken on a mobile so pls excuse the quality hopefully should get them up on the site for sale in August sometime. 2011-7-7 13:38:02 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#96210 We have added a new collection to the website Circus Spotty They can be found in the JungleSafari Animal Nursery Pictures section and comprise of giraffe lion elephant and sea lion all performing clever tricks in a circus styled setting. Great for boys and girls as they can be framed in antique white with a hint of pink green or blue so do go take a look they will look adorable in any new babys nursery 2011-6-14 12:33:39 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#94592 We have made some amendments to our postage calculations we hope you are going to like Always a tricky one as sadly Royal Mail put their prices up a fair bit each April and as a small business who cant get a bulk deal with them it can be very hard to offer competitive postage... but we have had a look at the figures over the last year and projected postage costs for this year and have come up with a change in structure which should hopefully reward those customers who are buying several pictures as opposed to penalising them.So the new postage rates are as followsOrders up to 16314 in value will be charged 1632.50 postageOrders from 16314.01 to 16370.00 will be charged 1633.95 postageOrders over the value of 16370 will get FREE POSTAGEWe have so many customers who are decorating their first babys nursery and buy 46 pictures so this way they will get a bit of a reward for doing so Happy Shopping 2011-5-23 16:31:24 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#93674 We have now turned our attentions to the Hotchpotch Sealife collection. These hugely popular designs have had a makeover. Still the same style and simliar types of fabric used just a little less tired As we always do our prints runs from the originals the first edition designs were getting a bit untidy with a few marks here and there so we decided to redo them. We havent really changed much to them to be honest as they have been such a hit as the old saying goes why fix something that aint broke so hopefully our customers will like these as much as they did the original ones. Again they work well for both boys and girls looking equally fantastic in the whitepink blue or green frames. Talking of which there seems to be a bit of a trend towards people buying green frames at the moment because theyre preparing the nursery and dont know what they are having. The green option offering a safe bet for both boys and girls nursery decoration whichever baby turns out to be 2011-5-11 12:24:00 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#93241 Due to us updating some of our ranges over the coming months we have some real bargains on our SALE page at the moment. As we run down our stock of first edition prints across the various collections we are inevitably left with odd ones here and there so we will be putting them onto our sale page and selling them at fantastic prices. Still the same quality and still framed in the same handpainted way I listed a set of three first edition Boys Toys prints yesterday and within 3 hours they were gone We are also discontinuing a couple of our design ranges that have been on the website for a long time it was time for a real spring clean so do go take a look as I have a feeling these wont be round for long 2011-5-6 05:09:11 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#93116 Kids finally went back to school after SIX weeks off due to them changing schools and having two sets of holidays and I can get on with the task of updating some of our designs which have been around for a while. First to receive a facelift is the Boys Toys range. These four pictures have been a huge success so I really hope these refreshed and updated versions are as appealing as the original ones were... time will tell I guess 2011-5-4 13:08:09 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#91192 I was dead chuffed to be included in Kate Garraways blog feature last week about mumpreneurs Much as I hate the term mumpreneur it was great to be included in her line up of mums working for themselves and of course being associated with a household celebrity mum to boot 2011-4-6 21:52:53 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#89471 Check this out We decided we needed to update the Little Crab Designs logo as after four years and the type of art we sell on here being textile in the main the original watercolour logo is a bit out of context with the rest of the site so we have come up with this new one. Just need to work out how to get this looking good on the website now... 2011-3-18 12:04:45 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#89232 Normal 0 false false false ENGB XNONE XNONE Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable msostylenameTable Normal msotstylerowbandsize0 msotstylecolbandsize0 msostylenoshowyes msostylepriority99 msostyleparent msopaddingalt0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt msopa... 2011-3-15 08:28:06 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#88814 Well the sun has come out and I have been busy photographing new pictures ready to upload onto the website. Lots of changes afoot at Little Crab Designs at the moment updating our hotchpotch range updating our logo new designs to add on etc etc. Aside from this I have been working in the background on raising the company profile. We are now listed on The Online Shopping Town a great website with lots of nice shops all in one place to browse through. We feel very priviliged to have been approached by them for inclusion and you can find us on the Art Prints amp Posters Childrens Furniture and New Baby Gifts streets.I am also very excited to have been contacted by a well known TV celebrity this week to feature in an article on their website about mumpreneurs watch this space for how this develops over the next week or so 2011-3-9 12:23:54 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#88652 Normal 0 false false false ENGB XNONE XNONE Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable msostylenameTable Normal msotstylerowbandsize0 msotstylecolbandsize0 msostylenoshowyes msostylepriority99 msostyleparent msopaddingalt0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt msopa... 2011-3-7 15:45:16 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#88333 We have trialled a new shippingdelivery method this week. Royal Mail prices keep going up and as a small business we dont have access to preferential postage rates so can sometimes pay up to 1639.00 for sending out a large order when we only charge 1634.95 postage. At a time when VAT has gone up too we are conscious of wanting to keep our picture prices affordable in todays economic climate. Enter Collect. This concept is great you input all the postage details print off the tracking label and pay for it online then take it to you nearest linked in cornershop in my case at the end of the road Delivery is quoted as 35 days and the recipient then has to sign for the package. I am waiting to hear feedback from the two orders I sent this week using this service to see if its really going to work for us but with Collect charging a flat rate for parcels up to 5kg it means we can keep our prices down and our postage charge to a minimum.Its worth checking out the website anyway as m... 2011-3-3 09:35:55 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#87587 As you may or may not be aware we print all our pictures from the original artwork every time. Whilst this always produces excellent results it does mean that after countless trips to the printers the originals can get a little tired Our Hotchpotch Sealife and Hotchpotch Farm collections were our first textile designs and have been on the website for over three years now so we have decided to try and give them a facelift. I say try because as these designs remain our bestsellers today we want to make sure we come up with something every bit as gorgeous as the current ones are. Sarah is in the process of doing new sets of each. She will be keeping very close to the original designs in style and look so that we dont stray too far from what our customers like and I am awaiting first proofs as I write. I cant wait to see what she has come up with 2011-2-23 08:31:46 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#84528 At last... I am feeling SO proud of myself. I have put the gorgeous new range of Garden Animal Pictures on the website. Ive only been trying to do this since November... ah well the best laid plans and all that I hope they have been worth the wait 2011-1-13 14:25:42 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#84374 Well another year is here already and there seems to be no pausing on the production line here at Little Crab Designs. The run up to Christmas was fantastic best December to date in terms of sales then I just managed to squeeze in a quick snowboarding holiday at the beginning of January before coming back to an unexpected but welcome flurry of orders. I must also mention the Mummy Grapevine competition finished last week and the lucky winner was Wendy Mcdonald who has chosen a Driving Me Spotty Truck picture in a blue frame to go in her sons bedroom. Congratulations to Wendy 2011-1-11 12:49:32 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#80994 Its all systems go here at Little Crab Designs the production line is in constant flow as the Christmas orders build. This does mean that putting the new designs on the website has had to be put on the back burner for now but there is still plenty of choice for girls and boys and for either farm animals sea and jungle themed pictures or of course our gorgeous nursery canvas art range. So go explore but please do read the Christmas delivery information to ensure your pictures arrive on time 2010-11-23 07:56:25 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#80371 Very excited to see today that The Mummy Grapevine a fantastic new blog covering all things mummy related has posted a review of Little Crab Designs. I think it is so well written I wish I could employ Rebecca to write all the copy for my website Go check it out there is a competition on there to win a Little Crab Designs picture as well so well worth the visit 2010-11-15 14:14:40 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#80138 Couldnt resist putting a sneaky peak on here they are just SO gorgeous Just need this wind and rain to go away so I can photograph them properly to put them on the website so you can buy them 2010-11-12 13:52:19 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#80064 Well I am back from holiday and suffering massively from the post holiday blues particularly when it is so horrid outside today Had a fantastic time check out this video on you tube to see a very clever little boy cant help being very proud learning to kiteboard httpwww.youtube.comwatchvl6rvoj3p4vk. But of course the party had to end and now its back to work and to cheer me up 6 brand new designs arrived on my doorstep from Sarah this week. They are absolutely gorgeous my kids already asking for them in their rooms and they are 7 and 9. Theres a mouse a hedgehog a bunny a bird an owl and a tortoise. Just need to work out a name to give the set now. Not so easy because I am thinking they are woodland animals... but then a tortoise isnt really they are not farm animals... so what am I going to call them... Just in the process of getting them ready to photograph if it ever stops blowing a gale and raining so I can get them up on the website ready for the run up to Christmas.... 2010-11-11 14:03:24 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#78285 Found a great new website this last week Kiddiebase a one stop shop for all things kiddie related lots of different products all under one roof so to speak easy to browse through as they are clearly categorised. I have listed some boys and girls pictures on there in the art section. They are having a huge awareness push this week including a feature in the Guardian baby supplement and exhibiting at the London Baby Show at Earls Court so heres hoping for a flurry of sales from it 2010-10-19 13:52:35 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#78184 I have been thinking how we can get the Little Crab Designs facebook page fan base up. Its only been live a week and we already have over 50 fans which is great but we would love to get to the magic 100 mark. The catch though is that we want these to be genuine fans. I have seen on various forums recently shameless fan swapping going on and whilst I have no issue with others who want to do this to be honest I just dont really feel comfortable with it as I dont want to just like pages for the sake of getting ours and other peoples numbers up. I want to like them because I genuinely do like them. In the same way as I want people to like Little Crab Designs because they genuinely do like it hope this is making sense Anyway I have decided that for all you lovely people visiting our website and who took the time to click on the link that bought you here if you become a fan on our facebook page when you place an order with us put a note in the order instructions or send us ... 2010-10-18 10:58:28 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#77691 Yippee Little Crab Designs gift vouchers are now a real live option on the website very exciting You can have them for any amount you want and they are delivered by email so great for those uncles and aunts who have left the gift giving to the last minute I know about those as my children have them. Please spread the word a great idea for the dreaded C word that is fast approaching us... 2010-10-12 08:47:42 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#77265 My autumn brain seems to have finally got back into gear after the long summer holidays obviously takes a bit longer the older you get Anyway after my earlier lightbulb moment in the week about gift vouchers which incidentally is moving along nicely I think I can make it work I then delved into the world of Google Adwords as I had been advised this was a good way of finding out a lot about my audience and what kind of words they use to find my website in a relatively short space of time. However along this journey I got somewhat distracted by a discussion on mumsclub I told you before this website was a mine of information for the wannabe internet entrepreneur about facebook and learnt that I had made an error setting up a facebook group for Little Crab Designs and would be better setting up an individual business page instead. So I have had a crash course in how to do this learnt how to do far more things on facebook than I knew how to do last week thanks chloesmummy and now h... 2010-10-7 10:33:54 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#77037 I came up with a brainwave over the weekend which I am very excited about. I was thinking about how an increasing number of people have been ordering pictures as a gift for christenings birthdays new born babies etc and had been contemplating how I might spend some vouchers that I was given for my birthday when I had a light bulb moment and thought Aha why cant I offer gift vouchers on my site In the case of newborn gifts my customers often dont know what sex the baby is going to be or in the case of a christening gift they might not be exactly sure of the wall decor of the babys room in question so why not offer gift vouchers so that people can buy a lovely gift for their friends and family where the mummies and daddies can choose the pictures to go with their nursery decoration or in the case of the older child they could choose their own wall art. Genius However being a small business with constraints on my website capabilities it is not quite as simple as I would like it to... 2010-10-4 15:57:16 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#75618 Ive done it... only a week since I said I would do it and I have... and I am feeling SOO proud of myself. See here is the proof Little Crab Designs on Facebook. Once I actually sat down and did it it really wasnt that tricky...however now I have to put some effort in to make it interesting and keep it updated...best get to it 2010-9-16 12:10:05 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#75079 Phew... thats it the summer holidays are officially over the kids went back this morning... and its so quiet around here And now its back to work properly for me and back to doing all those things Ive been meaning to do for ages. First on the hitlist setting up a facebook page for Little Crab Designs. And now I have written it down here I really have to do it dont I My business adviser told me to do it over 12 months ago friends have been nagging me for ages to sort it out but somehow I just dont seem to have gotten round to it. So this is going to be my first project for September watch this space 2010-9-9 11:10:43 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#73073 So... I want to tell you about my friends new website that is just up and running. When I am not working on the website making pictures running round the kids exercising the dogs etc etc I can be found on the beach at Littlehampton or East Preston kitesurfing. I absolutely love it in fact its a bit of an addiction for both me and my husband and we are constantly juggling things so we can get that all important time in on the water. Anyone that does a wind related sport knows exactly what I am talking about and those that dont ... just think were weird Anyway the guy I have to thank for getting me into this great sport is Jason Higgins who currently teaches out of his van in Littlehampton West Sussex affectionately known by the locals as LA baby LA. He is a fantastic teacher very patient and calm and I recommend anyone thinking about trying this sport having lessons with him. This week he has launched his brand new website www.finkyinc.com and very soon he will be setting up a pe... 2010-8-17 15:18:10 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#71987 Gosh its hard getting back into the swing of things when youve had a great holiday isnt it Our little oasis of paradise in an otherwise crowded french coastline lived up to expectation yet again and we had a fantastic two weeks eat sleep surf repeat eat sleep surf repeat Love to tell you we did the chateau thing a bit of culture to please our parents but no... we had great conditions and both kids now catching the blue water as Tom puts it Next year Im guessing theyll be leaving us for dustGot back to a stack of orders to send out so plenty to keep me occupied as I reminisce about warm water waves and moules frites 2010-8-3 08:10:32 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#70435 Ok so my holiday is almost upon me yippee but I do understand that this might be very inconvenient for people who were hoping to order pictures over the next couple of weeks. So to try and make up for it a little bit if you place an order over the next couple of weeks I will give you a 10 discount.What you need to do is place your order online as normal then send me an email to annalittlecrab.co.uk giving me your unique transaction i.d. number you should receive a copy of this once you have placed your order and the July offer password which is Plage des Casernes one of my favourite beaches in France. When I get back from holiday on Monday 2 August and process your order I will refund you back the 10 excluding postage. Sorry I cant offer a slicker way of doing this but as a small business with website constraints I am unable to do promotional codes and take the discount off at the time of order. This offer will run on all orders received from now up to and including Monday 2 ... 2010-7-15 09:18:15 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#69414 Wow what a month June has been. I have been thrilled with the increase in sales on the website over the last three months but June has surpassed all my expectations and became my best EVER month for business since I started three years ago. In website terms the thing I am most excited about is that the reason for this increase appears to be that all my SEO work for those not in the know of such terminology this is all the work you do in the background to make sure your website is found by the people you want it to be found by seems to have paid off as I am getting much better quality traffic i.e. the right customers who actually want to buySo after all this hard work I am very much looking forward to my upcoming family surf trip in a couple of weeks. I feel I have definitely earned a break 2010-7-2 16:13:44 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#68728 The emergency budget this week was not such good news for Little Crab Designs. Like everyone else I had an inkling that VAT was going to go up but it doesnt dull the pain at all when it actually happens As a nonVAT registered small business who operates on very tight margins every little rise in costs really affects me. This increase means I have to pay more for prints canvas frames delivery of all supplies etc etc and although an extra 2.5 doesnt sound a whole lot when you add it onto the cost of everything that goes into producing a picture it does become significant to the business. I really dont want to have to put my prices up the website is really flying at the moment sales are going up and up and I have had some fantastic feedback from customers. Over the past couple of weeks in particular people have been writing me some lovely emails. Its so nice when people take the time to write to you saying how pleased they are with their pictures or how friends were delighted... 2010-6-24 12:46:21 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#67892 Well my little darling was NOT my little darling last week. We fell out... MAJORLY As you can see here she looks as innocent and gorgeous as could be happy with her chew...However... I disappeared upstairs for about 5 minutes with a load of washing to put in the airing cupboard and when I came back down the she devil had whipped my freshly painted frames off the kitchen table where they were waiting to be sanded dragged them into the garden and put puppy teeth marks all over them. Completely unsalvageable I had to do the orders all over again..... NOT HAPPY 2010-6-14 13:23:54 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#67231 Our latest range in our boys nursery pictures section has been added to the website Dotty About Dinosaurs. We hope you like them We think they make great nursery wall decoration for any little boys bedroom and you can have them framed in green or blue or just buy them mounted so you can take care of the framing yourself. 2010-6-7 11:08:40 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#65996 Arent these just gorgeous I just love these quirky dinosaurs Sarah has done a fantastic job and I am sure they are going to be an instant hit. Just need to come up with a name... get them printed... and get them up on the website. Probably be early June so make sure you keep coming back to check 2010-5-24 12:15:02 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#65540 Exciting news Sarahs been working on some new designs and she promises they will be in the post this week. I had hoped to get some new ones of my own up and running but with sales being as busy as they are and training my troublesome apprentice see picture below taking up a lot of my time at the moment its just not happening. So I was thrilled when Sarah told me she had come up trumps Dont want to spoil the surprise so wont say whats coming just keep an eye on the site over the next couple of weeks and all will be revealed.Like butter wouldnt melt... 2010-5-18 07:57:51 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#64741 I have had a bit of a result this past week with the website. For ages I have known that with all the images I have on the site the download time is a bit slow. I had been asking around on forums and stuff how to speed it up how to reduce the size of the images but not lose the quality but had never quite seemed to work out exactly how to do it. Anyway it all came together when the monthly newsletter from Mr Site my website host stated that Google would now be taking download time into consideration for search engine rankings so thinking I had better get my ae into gear and sort it out once and for all I combined the information they gave on how to do it with advice I had received from Sadie at Glassraven Web Design a while back on the Mums Club Forum she is an active poster on there and always willing to offer tips and advice. Anyway I managed to apply it to my site and with a bit of trial and error reduce the size of all my images considerably whilst not losing any of the qua... 2010-5-7 08:08:12 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#63489 Well its been a few weeks since the last entry but thats not because I am slacking Quite the opposite in fact. Despite being heavily distracted by the new love of my life...April 2010 has been the best month EVER for Little Crab Designs in terms of sales and there is still a week and a half to go I have been really busy turning out pictures as fast as I can make them up rolling orders from the printers and framers so have not really had time to do any blog writing or SEO work. I am feeling very pleased with myself 2010-4-21 11:26:30 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#62264 OK well its been a couple of weeks since my last posting... what can I say Ive been busy Firstly I had to go visit the mountains for a week its a hard lifeand then... a couple of days after we got back...look who arrivedIf ever there was a distraction from work... Nala is it. Who wants to do search engine optimisation stuff and end of financial year accounts when you have a new toy like this to play with After a long journey down from Lincolnshire when she was sick on me SIX times... she has now settled in brilliantly and is getting more cheeky each day shes definitely going to be a handfulConsequently all the creative thinking I did whilst I was away on holiday and the ideas I came up with for new designs have kind of been pushed aside for the time being whilst I work out how me and my new little friend are going to work together in harmony. We have already had two disagreements as she has decided that computer cables are great fun to pull and chew and I have discovered that ... 2010-4-5 19:51:35 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#60721 A welcome distraction this week from the stresses of website worries I went to see my new baby No... not the human kind we are getting a puppy and I went to see the litter currently 5 weeks old. Absolutely gorgeous as you can see.We will be getting it in a couple of weeks so I took the children to Pets At Home to get a few bits and pieces as they are so excited BIG MISTAKE 16360 later this puppy has more toys than the average 6 month old baby has I was amazed at what you can buy for puppies these days and had to run round after the kids taking stuff out of the trolley as quickly as they were putting it in My husbands remark when we got home with our booty was I couldnt understand why Pets At Home just sold for 163900 million but now I know why because they have customers like you 2010-3-17 11:53:51 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#60230 Oh my goodness I think I have gained a million grey hairs this week Those of you who have been following my blog will know that last week I was complaining of the anticlimax of my website hosting companys recent upgrade. Little did I know then that the anticlimax of the new features not working would turn out to be the least of my worries this week when my website lost much of its formatting all by itself the shopping cart stopped working all by itself the pages changed their layout all by themselves and whilst this nightmare was going on and I was tearing my hair out trying to fix it the website hosting companys forum was going crazy with the chatter of unhappy customers suffering a multitude of problems arising out of the supposed upgrade. At first the company were trying to appease everyone saying things like please bear with us we are working through the issues as fast as we can etc etc but then on Sumday and Monday the technical support team went AWOL for 48 hours no re... 2010-3-10 11:49:44 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#59765 My week started out full of anticipation for the eargerly awaited upgrade being launched by my website design company. I couldnt wait for the new features that I was going to be able to add to my website the benefits I would be able to bring to my customers by being able to improve upon areas of the site I was not entirely happy with etc etc.They said it would be available on Monday 1st March. Monday went by no new features available. Tuesday went by no new features available but a message on the forum to say they were staggering the roll out as it was such a massive upgrade they didnt want to crash the server. Wednesday came round and low and behold when I logged into my administration area I could see some new buttons and tools. I only went and had a look to see what was on there when all of a sudden my website changed all by itself. Fonts changed menus disappeared pages were all over the place What had I done Fighting back the panic I had a quick look on the forum to dis... 2010-3-4 12:04:26 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#59134 Well this has been quite a testing week so far. The orders are still piling in so I am chasing my tail keeping on top of them all good of course. Then yesterday I tried to update some stock information on the website and add a privacy policy after my useful seminar on legal issues a few weeks ago where it was pointed out to me that I should have one Anyway midworking on this I went to upload the new information and the website crashed coming up with some complicated error message...needless to say all changes were lost I tried several times getting more and more frustrated each time as I wasted more and more time setting up new stuff that kept getting lost in cyberspace. I then contacted technical help who said it was just a temporary error and would resolve itself very helpful. I then realised that my existing website i.e. what was on the web prior to me trying to make the changes had gone offline too When customers would have tried clicking on my website yesterday they wo... 2010-2-24 17:14:37 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#58576 Well I know I have not updated the blog for a couple of weeks but that is because I have been SO busy Orders are coming in thick and fast the new range of boys pictures Driving Me Spotty have already sold out on the first print run and no sooner do I get a frame order in than I am having to reorder again Not that I am complaining or anything its great just means I have had no time to do anything apart from fulfill orders the last couple of weeks. With the kids on halfterm this week time management has been even more crucial than ever and painting frames interspersed with flipping pancakes this evening has truly put my multitasking skills to the test 2010-2-16 20:16:30 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#57448 Congratulations to Caroline Rossall winner of the Little Crab Designs January competition to win 2 brand new design boys prints. We had a great response with some really lovely ideas for naming the new range so choosing one was quite tricky but in the end we went with Carolines idea of Driving me Spotty. Fun in keeping with the style of other range names we have and short enough to fit on the menu bar we thought this was brilliant. Well done to Caroline her prints will be winging their way to her very soon. To the rest of you who sent in an entry thank you so much for making the effort and the Driving me Spotty range will be in the boys nursery pictures section on the website ready to buy by the end of this weekbeginning next so do check back soon. 2010-2-1 13:01:08 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#57044 Over the last couple of weeks I have been spending quite a lot of my time scouting round the net on various forums websites for mums websites for wahms work at home mums etc looking for advice ways to promote the website ideas for SEO search engine optimisation PR opportunities etc. There are some truly great resources for business mums out there where you can find other likeminded people to chat to bounce ideas off and give you that much needed support network when you are selfemployed and dont have an office full of people to whinge to when things arent going quite right So I thought I would mention a couple of sites here that I find particularly helpful for those of you who might be reading my blog and either already have a small business working from home or are thinking about starting something. The first one I will mention is mums club.co.uk I actually came across this one towards the latter part of last year but I am finding it increasingly useful particularly the m... 2010-1-26 12:55:47 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#56159 Well at last... the kids went back to school today Much as I love em and love the snow it was becoming a bit of a mare not being able to get on with stuff I wanted to do to the website or get back to work properly after the Christmas holidays. I have to say though... I was dead jealous when I dropped them off this morning I could see why the school had been unable to open with the foot deep white blanket over the playground and rather wished I could have stayed to go out with the children at breaktime... But of course I had to get my adult work head back on 7 days tabogganing on the trot is really not acceptable for a grown up selfemployed business womanSo I am pleased to report that I got knuckled down and have had a very productive day. Sorted out latest orders check. Ordered more prints check. Ordered more frames check. Written a plan of attack for the rest of January check. Added new Beautiful Butterflies designs to the website check. I am feeling MOST proud of... 2010-1-14 14:46:36 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#55548 Phew what a busy day I have had. With Christmas over and too much eaten...again and at last some clear sunny days I figured I just had to get down to the job of reshooting photos for the website showing the new frame design. After a couple of days of painting and sanding gosh sanding in freezing temperatures is a really nasty job today was photo day Having packed the kids off to a friend for the morning as they are still on holiday I set off down to the beach only to find that actually the frost had not burnt off the breakwaters were all wet and I couldnt use my usual studio for taking photos after all What to do... I needed to redo the photos as so many of them were now out of date with the old frames that it called for some ingenuity on my behalf to come up with an alternative plan. Half an hour later I had set up a little photo backdrop in the garden by the kids beachhutplayhouse and I was David Baily for the morning I was super organised and photographed the new des... 2010-1-5 20:11:07 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#54900 Well the Christmas orders are all done and sent out and the website has suddenly gone very quiet in the last couple of days well timed now my children are at home for the holidays. Thought I would just pen a quick blog entry to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and to thank all my customers for shopping on my website this year and a special thank you for all those who took time to write or even phone in one case and thank me for their pictures. I have had some really thoughtful and kind comments over the past year and it means so much to me when I know people are really happy with their purchase I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and enjoy spending time with your families over the Christmas I know I am really looking forward to some down time. I shall be back in the New Year with renewed energy though you can place orders over the holiday period they just wont get posted til wc 4th Jan and I have lots of exciting things planned for 2010 New ranges you have seen a ... 2009-12-22 16:44:55 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#54736 Well how excited were we in my house this morning when we woke up to a blanket of white This is what my children got up to before breakfast ...I think hes very cute too and then we went tabogganing with some friends which was brilliant we got a really icy track going. I cant remember the last time we had snow this early on before Christmas. Heres hoping we get a repeat next FridayNow back to work matters my day got even better as the post had arrived when we got back from our mornings entertainment and Sarah Isle of Wight artist who supplies me with many of the designs for the website had sent me some gorgeous new pictures beautiful butterflies What do you think... just a quick snapshot photo here I know I shall get them up onto the website and available to buy in the New Year but I think they are just gorgeous and my daughter and her friend adored them. They also remind me that Sarah is way better than me at creating pictures and that I really should just stick to the m... 2009-12-18 13:43:47 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#53876 A pretty crazy week for me with the rush of Christmas orders not that I am complaining combined with end of term school madness nativity plays and carol concerts my daughters birthday and of course my own Christmas shopping to do An observation I made this week when analysing data from online orders there seem to be a lot of boys being born at the moment Having sold mostly pictures in whitepink frames over the summer and early autumn the last couple of months have definitely been blue frame time and the Boys Toys range have been hugely popular. They are flying out the door as quickly as they come in on the print run You still have plenty of time to shop for Christmas presents and in fact as a way to see who is reading my blog find out if I am interesting or not if you quote this phrase the hopeless camel when you place your order up until 25th December I will send your pictures out with free delivery I will refund you the postage costs when I receive your order. Why t... 2009-12-3 15:05:49 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#53416 Well this has been a slightly testing week Went along to collect some frames from my supplier on Monday only to find that the profile of the small frame I use for a lot of my pictures namely Hotchpotch Farm Hotchpotch Sealife Boys Toys Vintage Spotty Farm and Country Kitsch has changed And the warning I received that this was going to happen...NONE Of course he couldnt see the problem this might cause me price is the same its still a pine frame just been updated a bit in fact I even think I prefer it to the old style... however this is not the point The point is ALL my photos on the website show the old style profile and now with immediate effect all orders will be fulfilled using this new profile. The dilemma is that I will now need to update a huge amount of photos on the website to show the new style frame Urghhhhh This is a major amount of work... not to mention a fair cost involved. The other issue is it is now winter and if anyone else has noticed it has been blow... 2009-11-26 07:58:58 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#53398 This last week has been a busy one Christmas orders starting to stack up and even getting some from across the pond which is nice as I really dont market to the States at the moment. I have also been busy getting around the net sourcing possible PR and link opportunities for the website. I came across one site that has been particularly helpful called www.mumsclub.co.uk. Its a business club for mumpreneurs and I urge any mums reading this who runs a small business from home or are thinking of starting one up to take a look as there is some great stuff on here not to mention the forums where you can chat with other like minded mums and get some feedback on your ideas etc. I am really looking forward to making full use of this support network over the coming months. On a totally unrelated topic to nursery wall decoration I just have to tell you about this as it is SOOO crazy As a keen kitesurfer myself I have been making the most of this recent windy we... 2009-11-18 18:21:55 http://www.littlecrab.co.uk/page28.htm#53396 Well here we are... today is the day for starting my blog I have been thinking about it for a while and equally putting it off for a while wondering what to write not wanting to bore people etc etc but my business adviser assures me its a great idea so here goes... I wont be posting every day thats for sure as I am busy working mum of two one of the things that was putting me off doing it in the first place was finding the time. I am going to use my blog to tell you about new projects on the go and to keep you up to date of what goes on behind the scenes at Little Crab Designs. Current dilemma... am considering whether to take the plunge and trial selling my products on amazon. Firstly are my products the right kind of thing to sell on amazon have had a look and there are some nursery art sellers on there not too many either which could be a good thing as not too much competition yet. However they take a pretty hefty commission which is what is p... 2009-11-9 18:08:22