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My latest adventure: a 4 day trip to Amsterdam.

I love adventuring, and although they usually consist of Welsh costal paths and seascapes, we decided to take a different type of trip and get away for a few days. It was also my birthday (as well as Valentine’s Day) — so we decided to take a city break and explore Amsterdam!

This trip initially came about after seeing that The Band Camino we’re touring Europe, and had a gig in Amsterdam a day after my birthday — my partner and I love the band and this was the perfect excuse to book a trip. They were incredible.

We spent the rest of the holiday exploring the restless city, and the quaint scenery Amsterdam has to offer. Whilst the weather wasn’t so great we explored museum exhibitions and art galleries. The highlight for me had to be the Moco Museum, where we saw a Banksy Laugh Now exhibition, some Warhol, Haring and Hirst pieces, and the most incredible light exhibition by Studio Irma. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and although it wasn’t a ‘relaxing’ 4 days, it was definitely a nice break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

I will be returning to Amsterdam for another visit, with warmer weather.

If you didn’t see the programme Heno on S4C last Friday, I – along with my little shop – had a feature! On TV! Check it out below:

If I was told a year ago that I would be invited by S4C to film an section on the programme Heno, I never would have believed it – I definitely would not have believed that I would overcome my fears! But I did get an invitation, and I did accept the opportunity.

Without a doubt this is the scariest thing I have ever done, but I am so glad I did it. A lovely team from S4C came over to my house to see behind the scenes of my little Cardiau Cymraeg, and to ask some questions about the shop – where it started, my inspirations etc. I was shaking like a leaf before they arrived, but once we got the questions out of the way, I had loads of fun showing some of the process behind designing the cards and preparing orders.

As the whole interview didn’t make the program, here are the questions I was asked along with the answers:

1. Give us a little of the company’s history. Where did the shop start and why?

The idea of ​​starting Welsh cards shop originally came from my dad and brother. After graduating from University in design, I wanted to do something creative, fun and something where I could design and illustrate. Although I do illustrate and design the cards and prints myself, I’ve had loads of support from my family through creating the website, and giving feedback on new designs and ideas. I opened an Instagram page and launched the shop about a year ago now, and the morning after launching on Instagram I got a message from the first shop enquiring about stocking the cards in her shop – I couldn’t believe it. Before reading the message I hadn’t even consider selling the cards in shops! I still get loads of support from my family and definitely from my partner who takes the lovely pictures of the cards and prints (as can be seen on the Instagram page) and through helping fold the cards and preparing larger orders.

2. Why did you choose to not use plastic? What do you use instead?

It was very important for me to start something as environmentally friendly as possible, by making sure everything was biodegradable or recyclable. I definitely didn’t want to add to the huge problem of plastic pollution, therefore instead of using single-use plastic packaging on my cards, I use craft paper bands – which are biodegradable and can be recycled. As for the prints, I use packaging similar to plastic cello bags, however they are made from potato starch – making them completely biodegradable too!

3. What is your inspiration when designing the cards?

I’m inspired by everyone and everything – in terms of the card design ideas, I’ll randomly wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, I’m constantly make notes, and every now and then I receive messages from customers asking: “Do you sell a card like this?” to which I answer “No, but I will!” My family, friends and my partner are always suggesting new ideas and types of cards I need to add to the collection. Loads of ideas come from everywhere. Sometimes I see a photo of an animal and instantly think ‘I want to draw one of those!’ not knowing what that particular card will end up being until after I’ve finished the drawing.

4. With Valentine in the pipeline are there any new romantic cards? If yes, can we get a preview of one?

I have a huge selection of love cards available on the shop’s website, but this time of year I do become inspired to create more ready for next Valentines. There is one card that can give you a sneak peak of – it’s not been sent to print yet. This card is a design of two Puffins. I came up with the idea after walking through a small town in Pembrokeshire, where an artist has painted loads of little puffins all over town. I saw some of these puffins, and was inspired to illustrate my own – so I did, with no idea what kind of card it could be. After I finished the illustration, my little puffin looked lonely so I added another one, and it became a love card.

5. What are your hopes for the future of Welsh Cards?

To be completely honest, I am over the moon with my little Cardiau Cymraeg, I can’t believe so many people buy the cards let alone that they’re being sold in shops across Wales! In the future I would love for the shop to exist, and also to have a much wider variety of designs, cards and prints available!

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A huge thank you to everyone who has supported the shop in every way, and thank you to S4C and the Heno team for inviting me on the program! x

“While trees burn, our wildlife also suffers. It’s been estimated that around 1.25 billion animals have been killed across Australia to date. This includes thousands of koalas and other iconic species such as kangaroos, wallabies, kookaburras, cockatoos and honeyeaters burnt alive, and many thousands more injured and homeless.” – WWF

With the continuing crisis of Australia’s bushfires, Cardiau Cymraeg has decided to create a product which will help contribute towards ‘WWF’s Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund’.

Back in November we took part in a 5 Days of Good challenge, where we dedicated each of the five days to raising awareness and / or donating to a great cause. For the fifth day of 5 Good Days, the idea was to illustrate, design and create a card to be sold with all proceeds being donated to an important cause. With so many valuable causes, it was difficult to pick one to dedicate a card. However, with the current horrendous Australia bushfires causing havoc, we decided to base our charity card on the much loved koala bear, and donate all proceeds to WWF.

This card features a digitally hand illustrated koala bear, contently chewing leaves – which unfortunately is not the reality for how the animals of Australia are living at this current time. For every one of these Koala cards bought, all profit will be donated to the charity at the end of each month.

If you would like to donate more to the cause, click here to be redirected to the WWF donating page.

“It is high time we turn our attention fully to one of the most pressing problems of today – averting the plastic pollution crisis – not only for the health of our planet, but for the wellbeing of people around the world.” – David Attenborough

For day three of ‘5 Good Days’ I have chosen to comprise a list of plastic free swaps that are very easy to make, and make a world of difference.

“The total amount of plastic entering the marine environment is over 12m tonnes a year – according to a report by Eunomia in 2016. For comparison, a double-decker bus weighs about 12 tonnes.” – friendsoftheearth.uk

Whilst trying to do my bit for the environment, by making simple swaps to reduce my use of single use plastic, I have brought together a selection of reusable and sustainable product alternatives – which together make a great gift package this Christmas.

Tote bag
Investing in one simple tote bag saves the use of thousands of single use plastic bags yearly. 

“100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags annually.” – biologicaldiversity.org/

The tote bag seen in the above image was purchased from the English artist Laura Daly on her Etsy page. I personally purchased this one in particular as she donates a portion of each of her sales to an ocean conservation charity, working hard to fight plastic pollution in our seas.

LUSH products
LUSH shampoo, conditioner and moisturising bars and bath bombs are an eco friendly alternative to standard bottled products as they have ‘naked’ packaging i.e. once used they leave nothing behind. When purchasing from LUSH, your products are placed in a compatible paper bag – completely plastic free! LUSH also sells tin and cork containers for shampoo bars etc, to allow you to take your products anywhere.

Bamboo Toothbrush
Plastic toothbrushes are very harmful to the environment, a sustainable alternative is bamboo toothbrushes which are biodegradable and come from a highly renewable, natural material that has antibacterial, and antifungal properties. These toothbrushes can be found online, as well as in any zero waste shop.

Biodegradable Cotton Buds
After researching into more environmentally friendly ways of living, I discovered the highly negative effects of cotton buds on the environment.

“In the UK alone it is estimated that we use 1.8 billion, mostly single use plastic, cotton buds every year […] resulted in the pollution of inland waterways and the marine environment.” – cottonbudproject.org.uk

I then found bamboo cotton buds which are completely biodegradable and can be bought online or in any zero waste shop.

Cardiau Cymraeg Card
Of course I wouldn’t write a blog post about eco friendly products and not include my own card! As a lover of the environment, I refuse to wrap my cards in any (in my opinion unnecessary) plastic wrappers, instead all packaging and products from Cardiau Cymraeg are recyclable and biodegradable.

Bamboo Straw & Bag
I recently visited a zero waste shop in Narberth called ‘Happy Planet Green Store’, which was adorable! Whilst there, I found some bamboo straws and these lovely little cotton bags to keep them in. I’m not a huge straw user myself, however seeing these straws and that bag I had to have one.

“More than half a billion plastic straws are used every day around the world.” – earthday.org

Travel Mug
In most coffee shops they now offer discounts on hot beverages if the customer brings in their own travel mug. My lovely travel mug (seen in the image above) was a Christmas gift one year and I love it. Since then I have purchased a couple more, as there are so many amazing designs available.

“16 billion disposable coffee cups are used each year. These are coated with plastic to laminate the inside and use plastic lids.” – earthday.org

Glass Water Bottle
I recently made the swap from a plastic reusable water bottle (which is still in use) to a glass one. I had been wanting to invest in a glass bottle for some time, but feared smashing them as I can be quite clumsy sometimes. However, upon research I found that most glass bottles come with some form of protection around the glass lowering the risk of smashing. Along with the pictured bottle (above) I also purchased a glass bottle with a straw, from a company who donate a percentage of the proceeds to the Marine Conservation Society.

“More than 480 billion plastic bottles were sold worldwide in 2016. That is up from about 300 billion only a decade ago.” – earthday.org

Reusable Sandwich Bag
I was given this reusable sandwich bag as a gift one Christmas, not knowing these existed at the time, and I LOVE it. Single use plastic sandwich bags are incredibly wasteful, and making this simple investment / swap is an easy way to tackle the ongoing issue.

Reusable Cotton Pads
A few years ago I decided to stop using single use cotton pads and make the swap to reusable cotton pads (as seen above) which can be washed and reused over and over again. No only am I now not contributing to plastic pollution through the plastic packaging of the cotton buds, but I am also reducing my water wastage (as well as reducing a lot of my own waste). These reusable pads are my favourite to buy, from the Etsy page Little Green Craft a purchase I would highly recommend to anyone looking to make the swap.

“20,000 LITRES– The amount of water needed to produce one kilogram of cotton; equivalent to a single t-shirt and pair of jeans.” – worldwildlife.org

*20,000 litres is the equivalent of what one person would drink over 3 years.

These are just some small things that can be done to reduce plastic waste and help our environment.

Look out on our social media and here on the blog to see what we’re getting up to tomorrow for Day 4 of 5 Days of Good!

For the second day of ‘5 Good Days’ I have decided to show my support to an immensely important charity that is very close to my heart. I love animals, and therefore have decided to adopt an Amur Leopard through the charity WWF. This is a nocturnal creature, that lives independently when not raising cubs. This specific species (along with many others) is currently endangered, with only 100 remaining in the wild, and their habitats being destroyed through logging, forest fires and industrial development — which is also affecting the leopards prey. In addition to this, the amur leopard faces the issue of poaching due to its beautiful coat.

About the Amur Leopard

Listed as Critically Endangered

Lifespan: 10 – 15 years in the wild

Adult height: 64 – 78 cm

Weight: 32 – 48 kg (male) 25 – 42 kg (female)

Running Speed: 35 miles per hour

Leaping Length: 19 ft (5.8 m) horizontally

Tail Length: 81 – 89 cm

Cutest Fact: Their long tails become very useful during winter as they wrap them around themselves to keep warm.

(waza.org)

For more information about the animal and the cause, go to the WWF website. Keep an eye on our social media and here on the blog to see what we’re getting up to tomorrow for Day 3 of 5 Days of Good!

In light of the Christmas season, Cardiau Cymraeg has decided to see through ‘5 Good Days’, which is something we made up to focus on one charity or some type of cause or awareness everyday for the next 5 days, to give back at this time of year. Look out for our Instagram posts and our blog posts to see what we’re up to! To kick off these 5 good days, today we dropped off a donation for the Operation Christmas Child charity. This very simple donation consisted of two shoeboxes packed to the brim with exciting Christmas presents for a girl and a boy.

We have been busy preparing two donations for Operation Christmas Child, and it was very straight forward – all you need for prep is to decide the gender you’d like to donate the shoe box to (girl or boy) and the age range (2-4, 5-9 or 10-14).

Then:

1. Find an old shoe box (or a few) and decorate it with colourful wrapping paper, ensuring you wrap the lid and box separately so that they can be opened and checked.

– wanting to stay as environmentally friendly as possible, we wrapped our boxes using brown paper and recyclable brown tape, and decorated them through doodling Christmas lights.

2. Go shopping (my favourite part) and pick out some things to fill the boxes with lovely gifts. It’s good to keep in mind whilst shopping, these children need school supplies, a “wow” item – which is a toy that they can love, hygiene items, and some other fun little things. The only downfall is all the things you buy need o fit inside a shoebox.

3. Pack it all up and print the label indicating the gender and age range.

Optional but recommended:
Post a photo of your shoebox on social media to encourage others to donate too!

4. Donate £5 per box to the charity to help with costs of distributing these gifts to children around the world. Whilst making this donation you will also be given a barcode that can be printed and placed inside the box. This barcode will then be scanned & in January you’ll receive an email telling you which country your box ended up in!

5. Drop it off! There are loads of drop off locations, where these boxes are collected, check the website here to find your nearest drop off location.

We had so much fun building up these boxes, and it doesn’t have to be extortionately expensive – we went to shops like Poundland and Home Bargains and managed to get so many lovely things for about £10 per box. As we were filling two boxes, we bought things like sponges and different stationary in packs to share between the two boxes, which made things very affordable. This year we decided to pick the age range 2-4 for both the girl and boy.

Here’s what we included in our shoeboxes (of course everything was fair between the boy & the girl):

– Soft cuddly teddy

– Colouring book, sticker book and doodle pad

– Stationary including: colouring pencils, crayons & a pencil case to hold them all (a little trick to save space & fit more in – take away the bulky packaging)

– Toothbrush, flannel, sponges, soap, a fun character wash thingy (the puffy shower things) and kids plasters

– water bottle

– hairbrush (for the girl)

– little car (for the boy)

– kids xylophone

… and of course a Cardiau Cymraeg Christmas Card with a little Christmas message!

There is a list of prohibited items, and some rules that need to be stuck to when buying for these boxes – more info here. This is such a fun way to give back this Christmas, which makes a difference to a child in a third world country, and we will definitely continue doing this every year. Unfortunately there isn’t much time left to donate these boxes, as the end of drop off week is Monday the 18th of November. However if you are inspired to donate, and you don’t have the time to pack a box tomorrow (and drop off Monday morning) there is a section on the website where you can pack a last minute box online choosing your items for £20 including £5 project donation, or send a prepacked box online for the same cost.

Look out on our social media and here on the blog to see what we’re getting up to tomorrow for Day 2 of 5 Days of Good!

Cardiau Cymraeg strongly believes in preserving our wonderful world, and we (obviously) hate single-use plastic. We therefore try our best to ensure our products leave the least amount of impact on our environment as possible. We love our little planet, and believe that everyone should be doing a little bit more in preserving and protecting our environment. 

You know those plastic wrappers that give a greeting card that “perfect” finished look, while protecting it from any mess? You’ll never find those wrapped around our cards.  

We believe the long term environmental impact of single use plastic is not worth the short term protection of a greeting card. Having said that, we do take pride in our cards, and use eco friendly alternatives to give our cards that finished picture-perfect look, with a tint of chic. Our packaging is a simple, recyclable kraft paper belly band with a small stamp of our logo.

Oh, and did we mention? Every single one of our cards is printed on uncoated paper, which means all cards and envelopes from our shop can be recycled! 

Come check out our range of eco friendly Welsh cards, where you can buy without worrying about the waste that could come from the packaging! 

A couple of weeks ago we decided to pull together a selection of our cards to create a small donation package for a local charity that is very close to our hearts. Each of these cards were sold with ALL proceeds going towards the cause as donation.

Here’s Zen ready to drop off our donation!

This local charity is the ongoing cause of a building fund for Caersalem Newydd Chapel, which is in dire need of refurbishment. The chapel congregation have been working together tirelessly to raise money for the building and have raised a considerable amount, but there is still a long way to go. This beautiful building is held dearly in the hearts of many, but unfortunately due to the ancientness of the building structure the Chapel has had to be closed for the time being to allow refurbishments to begin. The closing of Caersalem has caused a considerable stress on the local community, forcing the members of the Chapel to regroup in other holy buildings in order to continue their Sunday services. Despite the warm welcoming of nearby Chapels, the task of regrouping in various other Chapels has been a difficult one as many of Caersalem members are elderly and unable to drive.

Our card donation was very small in relation to the funds needed for this beautiful building, however we are very aware that all donations, big or small, have been greatly appreciated.

If you’d like to donate, or read more about the cause, press here.

It’s the month of love and time to introduce our range of love cards!

Here at Cardiau Cymraeg we have a wide selection of beautiful love cards of varying designs, suitable for all situations and occasions. Need a Valentine’s card? Anniversary card? Birthday card for a loved one? We got you covered! You can find all sorts of love cards here at Cardiau Cymraeg, some with cute illustrations and some with bold typography – every single one illustrated by hand, originally designed and made with love.

Our cards are also perfect to use as small random reminders to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you, whether that’s your partner, your older sister or your best friend. Everyone loves to be loved, and our little Welsh cards are the perfect love spreaders. Check out our range here!