It's all new

At Top Drawer in January I launched my first couple of kits. Kits seemed to be really popular amongst the people I spoke to and I have plans to introduce a few more over the coming months. My first kit, 'little Brown Bear' is now available to buy in my Mondaland Shop:

I've also been working on some ideas for personalised baby keepsake gifts and wedding gifts, which will be available soon:

I have lots more new things in progress too that are keeping me quite busy at the moment. It's all good though. I'm feeling a bit of renewed enthusiasm and energy after a bit of a blah spell in January and February. It's the same every year - the January blah's always seem to hit me - this year they just spilled into February a bit too because I had Top Drawer to keep me busy during January.

I see creatures!

A design I entered into last weeks spoonflower contest (with a sea creatures theme) was placed 4th this week:

original design

design printed onto fabric

I might design some co-ordinates to go with this (when I get a moment). I think they would make nice nursery fabrics. In the meantime, this print, called 'I see creatures' is available to buy here
Spoonflower are now also printing onto Kona cotton. It's still quilting weight but a bit heavier than their regular cotton, which I think it great as it's a lot more robust - and is the same price as the regular cotton too.

A MONSTER SALE

In a fit of much needed sorting out and tidying, I have decided there is just way too much stuff taking up way too much space in my little office/studio.
As a result of this, I'm having a Monster SALE in my wooly stuff shop.

Until the end of February, or until they have sold out, whichever comes first, my monsters are reduced by 25% - just use the code MONSTER at the checkout.

More sorting and tidying continues here, as well as lots of admin for something new and exciting in Mondaland - all will be revealed very soon.

felted wool scrap bags

I really had to tackle my felted wool jumper scrap mountain so this morning I sorted it into colours, bagged it up, weighed it, photographed it, and popped it in the shop:

There are 9 7 3 2 bags left, lots of yummy colours, perfect for small projects like bunting, monster making, needle felting or patching. If only I had the time to do some (or any) of these things!

snow

It doesn't ever really feel like winter to me until we've had some snow. Living in the south of the UK, we don't really ever see that much snow. We often hear on the news about snow further up north and see lots of pictures of it but we don't often get it. BUT on Saturday evening we got some snow! It wasn't very much, and sadly it seems to have pretty much gone now but I liked it whilst it lasted. It must be the inner child in me that likes it so much, that and the fact that I remember it snowing on and around my birthday when I was little, so snow time means it must nearly be birthday time.

For every Ying there is a Yang. Yesterday we had a 13 hour power cut (was it the snow? surely not). From 2.30pm we had no heating, no hot water, no lights, and later in the day no cooking of the pork fillets we had bought for our tea! It came back on at 3.30 this morning, along with the washing machine which had been mid wash when the power went off, so we were treated to the sound of the washer spinning away at top speed at 4am this morning. We're feeling quite tired around these parts today!

off to a new home

Here are my printed softies, now packed up and ready to go to their new home in Guernsey:

 If you happen to be in Guernsey soon you might spot them in a shop called Indica

New products also come with new labels. I actually designed these as business cards with the intention of using them as product labels as it was more cost effective for me to do it this way, despite the trimming, punching and stringing of them:

This week I've also worked on a couple of new designs for the latest spoonflower contest. It feels like an age since I've done this but it was nice to test myself with the art deco theme. It's not something I would naturally gravitate towards although I do like art deco design in general:

one year on

This time last year we had just got married, me and my lovely boy:

Ahhh such nice memories of our day.
Our anniversary celebrations were sadly rained off. We had planned to go out for a meal, but I wasn't  feeling too well so went to bed, and the Mr. cleaned the oven and went to B&Q! We did manage to salvage some of the day to celebrate with an afternoon tea in the style of the wedding day. I kept a few pieces of the china I had collected for the wedding which we used and had a lounge based celebration instead:

sentiments

You might remember, sometime last year, I was just playing around with my typewriter and some washi tape, and made this card for my boy:

This image received a lot of love via my flickr photstream (and continues to do so) so I promptly bought lots more washi tape in pretty colours with the idea of making more simple sentiment cards for my shop, and then did precisely nothing with it and worked on other things instead.

I felt the need for a bit of making with paper this week (as a bit of a distraction from what I am actually supposed to be working on) so I got out the typewriter and the list of sentiments I wrote months ago, plus some pretty paper and the lovely washi tape, and made a small batch of cards, which can now be found in my shop:

If these go down well, I may offer personalisation of sentiments too, so you can give a card that truly speaks to the person you're giving it to.

Top Drawer

The Story behind my first trade fair:
Late last year I was contacted by Charlotte Abrahams (a freelance writer and journalist) and asked if I would like to be part of an event she curates at the Top Drawer Trade Fair, called 'Spotted'. Spotted is intended as an entry point for designer/makers to get a foot in the trade fair door without it costing the earth.
I was initially unsure whether I could take part - aside from the quite scary prospect of putting yourself out there publicly for the first time at such a huge event in a renowned venue such as Earls Court in London, there was also the consideration of whether handmade products would be well received at a trade fair alongside mass produced products. Could I price my items competitively enough to interest people and to still be able to make money for myself? And did I actually have enough money to invest in this initially?
After considering all of the above, I decided to go for it. You've got to be in it to win it, and if I hadn't I would probably always be wondering 'what if...'
Fast forward a few months to January, and with lots of planning, deciding and prototyping, I was exhibiting my soft toys, kits and tea towels at Earls Court:

My soft toys and kits

one of my new tea towels

spotted plus (for last years spotted exhibitors)

This was a really good experience and definitely a big learning for me. It was great to speak to potential retailers and get first hand feedback. One of the big and constant pieces of feedback was that retailers wanted kits - I had just two for the show. I'll definitely be following up on this and introducing a range of kits in the coming months.
I've had a couple of orders which I'll be working on in the coming few weeks, and gave my details to lots of buyers so hopefully I'll see some more orders trickling in over the next few weeks.
It was also great to meet some of the other exhibitors at the show - people in the same boat as me and my new business and people with a little more experience - who had really invaluable advice to pass on to a newbie such as myself.
One thing I have learnt is that trade fairs are exhausting. I think I need a few days to recover.

hello 2012

Happy New Year!
It's a bit late in the day I know. I've been meaning to blog about all the nice things that Christmas brought along with it, but I was just swept along by it and didn't stop to blog it all.

2011 was a good year for me - not least because I married my lovely boy and best friend but lots of other positive things happened along the way too. I won't recap everything - it would take way too long. Looking forward, I'm hoping 2012 will be a good one for me. There are certainly a few things in the pipeline to indicate this.

I suspect I'll be rather quiet here for the next few weeks, as I'll be preparing for Top Drawer - my first ever trade show, at Earls Court no less. To say I am panicking about it all would be a massive understatement. I am well and truly flying by the seat of my pants here and everything seems so last minute. Still, you've got to be in it to win it. At the moment I'm mostly working away on some new products, wholesale lists and prices, T's & C's and, well, everything else!

front of my new business card

christmas all wrapped up

I'm feeling quite festive as I've been doing a spot of Christmas wrap designing in the last few weeks:

I'm really feeling like winding down for Christmas. Just sitting on the sofa watching Christmas films and eating Satsumas, but I still have quite a lot of work to do before the big day. This time last year I was busy making things for our wedding and it seems no matter what I'm working on, I'm always really busy in the run up to Christmas.

In Giveaway news, the random number generator has spoken and selected comment numbers 4 (Holly Surplice) and 3 (Cupcakes for Clara) as the recipients of grey kitty and lilac kitty:

Ladies, please drop me an email with your address details and I'll get these posted out to you asap.

miaow

I really didn't mean to be absent from my blog for such a long time. Things just seem to have been running away from me this last week. There is lots going on and plenty to distract me away from my blog, not least trying to get the house sorted out in time for Christmas and a visit from the in-laws this weekend. I'm trying to tidy, clean and declutter everything, including my studio/office/guest room.
Part if this tidying is working out what to do with my prototype printed softies:

Grey kitty and Lilac kitty are by no means perfect. Grey has a wonky bottom edge and Lilac doesn't have enough stuffing, but aside from that they are both quite lovely. I was going to put them in my shop as 'sample' items but have decided instead to offer them to anyone who reads my blog.
So if you'd like the practically perfect in every way (in a Mary Poppins style) Grey or Lilac just leave me a comment on this post before the end of the day on Thursday 15th Dec telling me which one you'd like. I'll pick recipients at random.
I can only post to the UK this time (sorry world wide folks) and will do my best to get them posted in time for Christmas.

Winter Wedding

My bestest friend got married on Friday. It was a lovely day, lovely venue, great food and great people. I wish I had been feeling a little bit better though - I spent the whole day coughing and blowing my nose. Still,  I am feeling much better than I was this time last week so I'm thankful for this.
As part of my friends wedding gift I made the happy couple a little personal gift as a reminder of the day, in the colours of the bridesmaids dresses, which were a combination of mustard, teal and grey:

dec the halls

I've been making Christmas decorations:

These are a bit of a new take on the scrappy trees I made a few years ago.
As you can see from the top picture, I've stitched strips of fabric, lace and ribbon onto a piece of cream wool blanket, then I've stuffed them and backed with a white linen canvas.
The little cone is similar to some I made a few years ago too. Also utilising the same old wool blanket.

I'll be getting some of these into my shop, when I can get a decent picture of the them. The light is shocking today and even photoshop doesn't seem to be able to work it's magic. Well, it could be photoshop, or it could be me. I'm inclined to think it's me as I'm not quite top notch at the moment.
After suffering a horrible cough, sore throat, wheezing, earache, and a headache, I took myself to the doctors to find that I have tracheitis. Without wanting to sound wimpy, I honestly can't remember a time when I felt as poorly as I do now.
I've still got tonnes to do though, so I'll still be working away here, but do excuse me if I'm absent from here for a little while.

Something that has been cheering me up a little is a new radio station I've found, called Smooth Christmas. It plays lots of Christmas tunes and no adverts - brilliant! It's only live until 27th December, but I rather suspect I might have had enough of it by then anyway!

Handmade Winchester

Are you in the Winchester area tomorrow, Saturday 26th November? Then please pop in and say 'hello' to me, as I'll be at Handmade Winchester in the Guild Hall from 10am-5pm, along with over 70 other talented designer makers

It's great for a spot of handmade Christmas shopping. I'm not sure I'll be able to leave without buying anything - it's always such a good fair!