My competition entry

I've been really inspired by recent listings on sites like folksy where sellers take an item and 'customise' it such as a mass produced Cath Kidston make up bag with a ribbon added to make it easier to close.

So for my folksy comp entry I have customised one the The Warren's sock bunnies into a 'home hub' capable of controlling any piece of home gadgetry at the touch of a button. This sock bunny doubles up as an ipod, teasmade, answering machine, toastie maker, george foreman grill and nappy changer all in one.

Surely a winning entry???

Please note this item ships from Outer Mongolia.

etsy front page!

My lovely friend Ariane of Peppermint Twist Designs emailed me to say I'd been on the front page of etsy. Well my little lady modelling the deer and star tshirt had been!

I also discovered craftcult as a way to find expired treasuries, hearts, views etc so I could see how it looked. I can't for the life of me take a screenshot though.

I also found that the butterflies tshirt is in a gift guide and the rabbits and star tshirt was on the front page back in march.

Yay for etsy!

the folksy children's category disaster

ok, folksy.com is turning into the most annoying website to sell on.

they have removed the category for 'children' on the account that categories are for 'objects'. added in is 'housewares'. As they say on the blog it is a huge category but on that is recognised on many online shopping sites. Duh as is children.

Etsy, notonthehighstreet.com, misi , dawanda - all have children or baby and child top level categories.

As was pointed out by several posters on the blog people often browse a whole category looking for inspiration for presents. Now on folksy they have to search each top level category to find the children sub category.

And then I find admin put a little post up a while back asking for 'feedback'. I can't stand this way of communicating. Not everyone has time to read all the forum posts everyday. What about a dedicated email to sellers. That would seem fairer.

Along with the static and frankly boring front page, front page link to a competition that finished last year and the everlasting totes promotion it just looks to me like they couldn't give a monkeys about how their site looks.

I've never really looked into misi or coriandr in depth as their front pages put me off. My pet hate is anyone's items photographed lying on a laminate floor. Ok for some old tshirt you are sticking on ebay but your handmade items?

But at least their front pages have some life to them. On folksy there are some items I see pretty much everyday. If I was a buyer I'd think they had bugger all to sell.

Ok rant over....

I thought that A Resin Revivals 'organ grinder' pendant and locket was appropriate!

Gorillas in the mist

Took the little lady to london zoo as an easter treat and it rained all day! Some of the animal didn't seem to mind including the meerkats who had a tiny baby with them.

The Gorillas though contune to depress me everytime I see them. Despite the 'no flash photography' and 'don't bang the glass' signs people - adults and children just rush up to the glass, bang on it, shout and take photos with a bright flash!

I find it very sad. The male gorilla died before christmas and I think the females are really missing him. Or am I just projecting human values onto them? I don't know.

I'm not sure these beautiful creatures are really suitable for a zoo to be gawped at. It's no wonder they don't breed.

There's a series of gorilla portraits on one of the walls in the visitor bit and they all look so different. Most were rescued as babies and have suffered trauma after their parents were killed for bushmeat or for their hands.

I sadly think that by the time the little lady has grown up there will only be gorillas and many other animals left in zoo and not in the wild where they belong.

It's very sad.

what have I been up to?

not blogging that's for sure and that is naughty.

I like blogging but I am just so tired at the moment. I am now the size of a beached whale and getting to sleep at night is so hard. Baby Sister likes to wake up and kick me for most of the night and the weight of my pregnant belly just gives me a dead leg! ouch...

but I am a happy chook after a good run of sales and two press features - country living mag (but sadly only the back of a tshirt) and in Sustained Magazine which is a really interesting publication that I hadn't come accross before.

They have featured my old oak tree organic cotton tshirt. I can't for the life of me manage to take a screenshot though of the online version.

Bloggers Block?

Is there such a thing?

I certainly haven't had the inclination to write anything for a long time! I've found online selling so time consuming too. Why do etsy, folksy, MISI, Trunkt etc all require different photo sizes, file sizes etc etc etc! It's driven me mad.

However I am much more motivated now after an online break where I have been concentrating on new designs and just doing some sewing projects for the hell of it!

On the home front too there will be a new littlechook arriving early June and I must say the first and second trimesters were pretty hard going with constant morning, noon and night sickness.

My little lady is very excited at the thought of having a baby sister. When my sister was born I used to try to sell her outside our local shop while my mum was shopping. Hope history doesn't repeat itself but then times have changed and there's no leaving the little 'uns outside now while you shop!

Handmade Oxford

My blog laziness knows no bounds but I have been busy concentrating on designing and making a whole bunch of new baby and toddler tshirts. My hands are curled into small claws after cutting large batches of flock into many lovely deer, squirrels, rabbits, stars and other forest creatures!

On Sunday though I was part of the Handmade Oxford Craft Show and what a day! It was so well organised by Becci and her team and the town hall is a stunning building making such a nice change from mouldy old church halls that are the usual location for craft fairs.

And everything there was handmade! No re sellers , no sweatshopped in china crap! There was so much lovely stuff and I met some nice folk like cloudhopping, snap dragon beads and poor robin whose etsy shops and blogs I have read and admired so it was lovely to meet and chat.

crafters rock!