The 31st Jan 2025 marked the 20th year of my being in business. And, what a roller coaster of a ride that has been.

I started with a dream of being a florist and after 2 years of training including formal qualifications and extra research and development, I took the plunge and opened a bricks and mortar shop full of flowers. 12 years later and approx 500 weddings, I sold the shop with cold feet and a belly full of warm memories. I put a million hours of hard sweat and toil into that shop and business and I regret not a single minute.

There were times I allowed it to take over my life though and I could have been accused of being too emotionally involved so I did learn some lessons in that respect. But, overall it allowed me to work part time and be there for my children whilst they grew up. I was in the playground at 3 to pick them up, attended every school assembly they took part in and never missed a sports day. I employed and trained over 20 people in that time and helped to add a few more florists to the creative world.

I loved being part of people's happiest moments and helping them in their darkest too. A florist does that, and along the way I met some lovely families and very much felt part of the local community. Of course, working with the public face to face does bring its own set of problems and not everything is plain sailing, but I have to say, I had some lovely customers and I still miss our chats to this day. I warmly remember how people I knew took a trip over the town and passed several florists to support my business, and that is something I will never forget. Kindness is translated in so many ways.

Fast forward to 2017 and The Sarky Cow was born... well it was actually seeded within the florist shop but officially flew the nest on the 14th Feb and launched as a full time business, which in turn got my full attention. It also allowed me to have warm feet once more and for that I will always be eternally grateful.

So it was bye bye to the shop that I had sold to another excited new business owner.

At that time, I unleashed my creative side and I designed and created various hand crafted products, from personalised wine glasses to wooden plaques and hair accessories too. I always had a secret obsession with stationery though so creating fun stationery sets was always in the back of my mind, I just didn't know how that would manifest itself.

But eventually the first notebook was born.. it was basic but the concept was fun and had legs, I knew it did! I can smell what sells usually.. a phrase I stole from Alan Sugar but I am sure he won't mind.

My memory books were a hit and soon they were followed by new collections to cover all genres of life from nurses' notebooks to gardening journals. Initially the notebooks were a stand alone product but now they have all been developed so that a customer can choose a full stationery set with matching designs. This has proved really popular I am pleased to report.

Over the years I have been in various offices and work spaces and I have now settled in to my funky lil urban space in the bottom of my garden. I absolutely love it, I really do. In fact, my last blog was dedicated to the space so if you want to mooch at that, please feel free.

So, what's next? Well I have a list of new product options as long as my arm but I have settled on photo albums and guest books so watch this space, images are being created as we speak. Launching a new product takes time though, much longer that I first imagined. But, I have honed the product and am happy with the finish so just the collections to plan, create and design now.

I feel like this product collection will firstly compliment the other products I do but also it will open doors to other collections, maybe party related.... who knows?

I hope you stick around to see what's next.

So Cheers to 20 years and another 20 to go... I have no plans for retirement so I am here for the long haul... Life is short but it's the longest thing you will ever do.

Thanks for reading and I do hope my occasional blogs brings a bit of real life to my shiny little corner of the web.

Toodles for now

Paula x