For this month’s blog post, I approached Tracey Colliston, the creator of Ginger Betty, one of my favourite independent stationery suppliers for my little Clitheroe shop.
We will start our story in a small village called Stacksteads, situated between the towns of Bacup and Waterfoot within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire.
Stacksteads’ claim to fame came in the 1980s, when the village featured in several episodes of the long-running BBC1 police procedural drama series Juliet Bravo, set in a fictional part of the Rossendale Valley between Rawtenstall and Bacup.
Today, Stacksteads is home to Ginger Betty, Tracey’s brainchild. Tracey and her husband, Pete, started their greeting card company just as their daughter left home to attend university. Choosing a suitable name for their new venture was a ‘Toy Story’ moment when they found her much-loved ginger-haired rag doll amongst her things left in her bedroom – ‘Ginger Betty’!
Taking inspiration from the beautiful outdoors
Tracey combines two passions, Lancashire wildlife and art, to design and illustrate a beautiful range of stationery.
Tracey lovingly captures feelings and emotions through her beautiful, captioned watercolour illustrations.
A typical day for Tracey starts in and around Stacksteads, accompanied by her best chum, Ralf. The beautiful Lancashire hills around Stacksteads provide inspiration and a wealth of wildlife, the subjects for her illustrations. There are also regular visitors to her garden, including hedgehogs and badgers.
A typical day
A typical day involves many things besides being creative… “I’d love to spend all my time being creative, but other tasks take over!” said Tracey.
Tracey sets aside some quiet time to sit and sketch. Sometimes in the garden, weather permitting, and sometimes in the evening, where she often sits with a scented candle… with her constant companion by her side.
Tracey selects watercolour paper that resembles the paper on which the cards are printed, and then uses watercolours to capture her feelings. Finishing touches are added with pencil crayons and pastels, which lend softness and a touch of character.
The finished design is scanned, cleaned up, and finalised onto the finished card using a computer.
After much thought, simple captions are selected and added to the cards using the computer. The dark blue leaf in the image serves as a guide, indicating to the printer where to position the debossed leaf.
A team effort
Tracey and Pete work well together; Pete takes care of the general administration, earning the nickname Spreadsheet Pete!
Pete adds any required graphic elements and collates the necessary information to make the designs print-ready.
You can see how much love and care go into every Ginger Betty greeting card, and so will the recipient; they are guaranteed to delight.
Tracey said, “Meeting our customers at trade fairs is a highlight of running the company and makes all the hard work worthwhile.”
So what’s next for Tracey? In addition to producing Ginger Betty cards and stationery, Tracey has recently completed a children’s book and created two giant eggs for the Big Egg Hunt in London.
See Tracey in action in this short video – click here to view.
Aud’s Kitchen
For my May recipe, I wanted to highlight World Tuna Day, observed on 2nd May (first observed in 2017), an annual date aimed at raising awareness of the importance of managing tuna stocks through sustainable fishing practices, as promoted by the United Nations. As part of this awareness, they are asking us to buy only from companies that display these fishing practices on their packaging.
I am featuring Salad Nicoise, which originates from the French city of Nice. Over the years, there have been many variations, but here we follow the more traditional ingredients of potatoes, egg, tuna, leaves and green beans finished with a French vinaigrette. It’s a lovely combination of ingredients in a summer salad, and this savoury loaf, served fresh and warm alongside the salad, really makes for a delightful summer treat.
Soda bread is straightforward and quick to make; you don’t have to wait for yeast to develop, and it is perfect if you are short on time.
This recipe is for a Wheaten bread which contains a high proportion of wholemeal flour, and this differs slightly from soda bread, which is generally made from just white flour.
It is best eaten on the day of baking, but will last a couple of days.
Download both recipes here and enjoy!
Auds
