Anthology 10 - 1 April 2022

September 20, 2023

Well, HELLOOOOO Spring! This week has been just glorious hasn't it? A little sunshine just makes everything feel a lot more possible...

Yep, that was true when I started writing this email last week. However, today, as I'm putting the finishing touches to this email, I'm back in thermals with the log burner at full blast and a dusting of snow in the garden. Ah, Spring in the UK, how we love thee. 

Wrap up warm / bring out the flip flops!*   

I'm still a little bit in love with our wooden flowers and now my mind is all a-buzzing with new ideas and applications.

We're working on wooden flower bunting - maybe in birth flowers - definitely in daisies, roses, peonies, and dahlias. I'm thinking it will make a beautiful, letterbox-friendly gift and will be just the right size for draping across a large mirror, along the edge of a shelf, anywhere that needs a little lift.

I also mocked up this mini bunting daisy chain. It would have been a cute token gift for Mother's Day, but apparently, there are only 24 hours in the day, and all the imagining I like won't change that. The mini bunting would be great on a desk, maybe across a screen, or over a picture frame. What do you think? I'd love to know where you would put it.

I recently stumbled across this and it's one of those rare discoveries that needs sharing and sharing - so here I am, sharing! 

This is Martyn Stewart. he grew up in Birmingham and used to record the blackbirds singing in his garden, aged 11. Fast forward five decades and he's one of the most prolific audio naturalists around, having amassed over 30,000 hours of audio from over 50 countries. His work has been used in over 150 movies, and hundreds of documentaries and podcasts. 

Stewart was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer last year and has released 200 soundscapes, free of charge to the public, to inspire conservation and give a voice to the animals. His project - The Listening Planet - has me hooked. It knocks spots off any meditation app. I've only been to one of the places in this library, Costa Rica, and the sounds transported me back in an instant. I highly recommend a listen.

Read more about him here.

We've stayed close to home this last month, but nonetheless travelled around the sun one more time and, BOOM - Betsy Benn the business is suddenly 12 years old! 

I really needed to celebrate our 12th birthday, I think we all did actually! We had plans to "have a bit of a do" on our 10th birthday, but, lockdowns happened. So we are going big for our 12th. We had cake and silliness in the studio on the actual day, and an actual in-person party is planned for June.

We sent out birthday boxes to our top 100 customers that included personalised notebooks, a Betsy branded chocolate bar (thank you Quirky Chocolate), a key ring and gorgeous copper star print. Did you get one? I'd love to know what you thought. 

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