I think I’ve reached that point in the year where the days are getting shorter, the to-do list is getting longer, and Christmas is approaching rather faster than I’d like! 😆

Preparations for Lake 6 are very much underway, and behind the scenes at Fern Dale Rituals, there’s been plenty of making, organising and trying to work out how everything is going to fit into the space available.

It’s quite something preparing for several weeks of Christmas trading, particularly when you’re the person making the products, planning the displays, sorting the packaging and doing all the other little jobs that nobody really sees.

But amongst the practical preparations, I’ve also found time to play with a few creative ideas for Fern Dale Keepsakes.

This week I’ve been experimenting with personalised greetings cards, using photographs of real pets to create illustrations in different styles. It’s been rather lovely seeing how one photograph can become everything from a delicate watercolour to a playful little character.

Whether it becomes a new product remains to be seen, but sometimes it’s nice to create something simply because you want to see if you can.

And there was a small victory for Fern Dale Makers Studio this week too. After searching for some long-lost engraving settings, I finally found them in old screenshots and saved them properly into the app. Which is particularly amusing considering I built the feature specifically so I wouldn’t lose them in the first place! 😂

That’s probably a fairly accurate picture of life behind the scenes here. A little bit of making, a little bit of experimenting, a lot of organising, and the occasional moment of wondering where on earth I’ve put something.

There’s still plenty to do before Christmas, but things are gradually coming together.

Have a lovely week. 🍂