Tuesday 25 November 2014

Handmade Caterham Christmas Cards

A couple of weeks ago I was checking out the new Lotus Seven club site, and found a post on there about some handmade Caterham cards... With Christmas fast approaching I thought they would be a great unique card to give to friends and family alike.

..So... I got in contact with Liz Hawkins (her email address is s6crafting@gmail.com) and made my enquiry... I asked for the cards to be made similar to a picture on my blog, with the car in light blue with orange stripe, aero screen, carbon front cycle wings, and the xmas background.

They arrived this morning and wow - they look superb.  The attention to detail is very good, the quality is absolutely superb and I'm really glad I ordered them.
Handmade Caterham R500 Christmas Card
Handmade Caterham R500 Christmas Card.
Some information for those of you who may be interested in purchasing your own handmade Caterham cards from Liz...

Liz has been hand making cards for over ten years now, and the inspiration for the Caterham cards came when they bought their first Seven.  She wanted a way to be able to put her car on a card and decided die cut pieces looked (and worked) best, at which point she realised she could customise the cars in (pretty much) endless ways matching to customers' requirements.  There are a number of backgrounds plus car options like clamshell wings, full cages, multiple primaries and various countryside options to choose from.

  1. Cost per card is £5, but members of the L7C (Lotus Seven Club) are entitled to a 20% discount with all orders being subject to P&P (which is calculated fairly based on weight and shipping location)
  2. The average lead time from order is around seven days which means Liz is still taking orders up to and including the 10th December, which will allow her time to make the cards, dispatch them and give you enough time to send them by the last pre Christmas posting date this year.
  3. All cards are made from high quality card stock, some colours are bought ready coloured (particularly for pearlescent or aluminium finish Caterhams), other card colours are produced by sampling customer supplied photos and printing custom coloured card stock for working with.  All cards are delivered in cello bags with white envelopes.
  4. Cards can be posted anywhere, and so far have ventured to all areas of the British isles and subsequently much further afield.
  5. Liz is always looking to add other occasions that the cards can be used for, and is currently looking to add a get well soon version (for the owner or perhaps a sick Caterham) and one to impress the ladies (or potential wife) a wedding card!
A number of image variants are below... But best bet is to email Liz at s6crafting@gmail.com telling her what you are after (they're bespoke after all) and from my experience she'll be able to make it.
Happy Birthday Caterham card with full cage and wall background.
Happy Birthday Caterham card with full cage and wall background.
Happy Birthday Caterham card with aluminium look body panels and countryside background.
Happy Birthday Caterham card with aluminium look body panels and countryside background.
Caterham Card with multiple primaries, cat and exhaust cover and track background.
Caterham Card with multiple primaries, cat and exhaust cover and track background.

Saturday 8 November 2014

Low Flying Magazine - October Front Cover

Where on earth have I been?  I'm sure everyone is desperate to know!?! (joke)..
Anyway... To explain the lack of blogging... work, work, more work, then a bit more work after that - had a real hectic time implementing a new CRM for our business - and once that was done I needed a holiday, so went to Sharm El Sheikh diving... Totally off topic, but my Scuba pictures are on my flickr account (for those of you that like that sort of thing).

Came back about two weeks ago, and to be honest the weather hasn't been 'Caterham' weather - well not for me anyway... So I don't really have much content to write about.

I did notice that the November Low Flying magazine came through the post this morning, and made me remember I took the from cover picture for the October issue - and didn't even write about it!

So here's a scan of the front cover:-
Front Cover of October 2014 Low Flying magazine.
The picture was taken on a Sony RX100MII camera in RAW and edited in Photoshop CS6.  The picture was taken at the Western end of the Elan Valley, B4574, near Cwmystyth and the cars are, mine in the foreground, then Alex's white R500D, Andy's blue R300D and Steve's black 1600 Superlight K Series - from our Mega One Day Wales and back blat back in August - seems a distant memory right now whilst I sit here looking out the window at the wind and rain.

So I may be able to get to the North Herts meet tomorrow, so there's some potential content there - and sadly after that it'll probably be the 'putting her to bed' post for a few months... Oh yeah and I must fit those Carbon Headlights I was in such a hurry to get completed! :o)