new moo cards

at last I ordered them to take advantage of the etsy discount and have chosen a new image. I went for a couple of my screenprints which are quite simple and in one colour as I wanted to get away from the really colourful vintage cushions.

I am trying to create my brand (get me!) and want something simple and stylish to reflect my fab website too. (designed by the lovely jen of http://www.jhollywooddesigns.com/ she also sells fab jewels on etsy but I will dedicate a whole post to these when my brain is less jet lagged. (Katherine is teething, has a cold and now an eye infection).

There's not much sleep her in the Duckett Road household at the mo. Fingers crossed for tonight!

littlechook on cuteable.com

the littlechook green rabbit and flowers tea towel has been featured by the lovely Lyndsey on cuteable .com

it's in my etsy shop along with some other designs. I'm working on more at the moment with deer and squirrels. I have also been using the brand new heat press and my new flock sheets to put deer, squirrels and rabbits onto some kids t shirts.

This is my attempt to get ahead of the game for the summer season of craft markets!

east london craft guerillas

Went to Penny Fielding Beautiful Interiors in Walthamstow old village today to see the east london craft guerilla market. They use the lovely terrace area at the back of the shop and since it was a lovely sunny day it was perfect.

The free cupcakes were much appreciated by Katherine as she had slept through lunch. We had tapas next door in the Orford Road Saloon Tapas Bar. Their food is amazing. My favourite today was the chorizo and lentils mmmm.

We bought Katherine a dress and a placemat with animals on it (she loves her animals). I really want one of Munano's squirrels aka anton tony jet. I couldn't add his photo from etsy but click here to see his cute lil face. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8222035

http://www.pennyfielding.com/

I'm hoping there will be a space for littlechook at the next event!

North London seemed to have a bit of a magical atmosphere about it today too. The sunshine seems to have made everyone happy. Finsbury Park was full of famillies and friends chilling out and Katherine was running barefoot in the grass.

And now finishing off our day with a few beers.

trapunto cushion

I learned about trapunto from my tutor Debby at Morley College. It's an italian enbroidery technique where sections are stuffed with wadding and then embroidered on top.

I have a couple of works in progress that I will photograph over the weekend and I'll post a step by step 'how to' cos it's a really fun technique that looks very effective.

On this cushion cover I've used a vintage cream cotton backed with a coffee and cream piece of french ticking. The design is called 'walk in the forest' and combines shades of green and brown with corally pinks for the flowers.

It's in my etsy shop as a custom listing at the moment with others ready to buy to be added soon!

a late night post

ok, feeling more positive and going to start by getting to grips with this blog and making it more interesting and not all me , me , me.

had another sale on etsy too which is great. A vintage fabric cushion cover in the Laura Ashley Emperor fabric. Have got a soft spot for Laura Ashley as I used to work for them and I love the birds in the emperor fabric. Might have to make up some cushions for our sofa although I know my husband will hate them...

probably my worst day for a long time

feel really disconnected tonight and unsure what I want to do.

had an awful day - the colours washed out of all the tea towels I printed. No idea why, I ironed them before washing. My t shirt printed thing needs screwed onto a table and I don't have a table. And the cutter for my badges won't cut the vintage fabrics.

am I trying to do too many things at once? Should I just concentrate on the vintage fabric cushions. I meand I have enough fabrics!

tired, frustrated, bit sad tonight

back to nature

took katherine to our local nature reserve today. it's a bit of a strange wee place off green lanes but it is a genuine urban oasis with a pond and a small woodland. we explored and katherine played on the slide. she was very impressed when i slid down on my belly!

A large dog in one of the nearby gardens went a bid mad and was barking it's head off so we ran away!

On the littlechook side not much happening really but a few ideas brewing.

my heat press is here!

I'm very excited and have bought some flock on ebay to make the sample kids tshirts. Hopefully the flock will arrive tomorrow or saturday.

I haven't unpacked it yet cos it is so heavy.

Also discovered another potential craft market. The eco baby and children fair in on 26th april in Muswell Hill. The company, futurefriendly fairs has another in Islington in May which I am going to look into. Would be a fab place to see what customers think of my kids tees. www.futurefriendlyfairs.com

My etsy shop is filling up too. I have 61 items for sale now and the vintage fabric cushions seem to be getting a good number of views. Will add this blog address to my shop announcement tonight too.

Off to bed now, am knackered from all the fresh air at the park.

moreglitterplease

I have also discovered the pounce feature on etsy and bought a fab keyring from moreglitterplease. Its a loteria card and has a frog on it. Def time to find out how to upload a photo!

http://www.moreglitterplease.etsy.com/

apart from that a quietish day today. Had a lot of fun with katherine watering the plants and eating jaffa cakes.

couple of enquires about my vintage fabric cushions and another sale - yay.

Just finished putting together a parcel to send off to Texas to a lovely customer. Included some vintage fabric badges as a wee treat as she is a great customer.

new shoes

Katherine's feet have grown half a size in about 6 weeks so I got her new shoes today. She loves them! They are pink with little flowers on the straps. She kept stopping and looking at her feet. She is so funny!

We bought some treats for all the toddlers and mums who are coming to see us tomorrow. It will be great to see all the girls for a catch up.

On the etsy front I have another sale which is fab, more vintage cushion covers. I have listed up some products too on icraft.ca and in my bigcartel shop too. However my latest plan is to start wholesaling and getting my things into shops. My plan is to go through all my back issues of living etc and elle dec and pick out the interiors shops that I think would be good stockists and then contact them for a meeting. Or hopefully my lil sis will do that bit as she is brilliant!

sunday sales

have had a wee flurry of sales on etsy which is nice. Have sold some vintage fabric cushions or 'pillows' as the lovely american customers call them.

apart from that a quiet weekend with lots eating and drinking.

websites and yet more websites

I have finally started to figure out how to edit my blog!

I will be adding some pics soon and have just added a blog counter and managed to cut and paste some fancy html stuff.

The green apple lady is planning to order some badges so I have been digging out all the lovely off cuts of vintage fabrics that I have in the studio and have made some really sweet little badges. I am tempted to list some on etsy but the paypal conversion charge is a killer.

I listed a couple of tea towels on icraft.ca It is a lovely looking website and we'll see what happens. I've all but given up on tuggle.co.uk as I have had so many problems loading items and the site is so slow. I am worried I'll end up with just too many sites but I am pressing on with bigcartel and I want to link to wwwlittlechook.co.uk so my shop has items in £'s for UK buyers.

And lastly I am listing on ebay again and have one lady interested in buying four cushions so we will see.

etsy is still my fav though....

the green apple website

its been re vamped and it is lovely

http://www.the-green-apple.co.uk/

I have sent samples of badges to Mickey today and I hope she decides to stock them. I think the site is fab and I love the fact that she had no retail experience but decided to set up her site anyway.

I used scraps of vintage fabric to make the badges aswell as some vintage imagery with cut out butterflies and dragonfly shapes. And I posted them without takes any photos first.....

It snowed here yesterday too which was exciting. I will put my pics up on flickr tonight.

a very relaxed saturday

we sold our ikea wardrobe doors on ebay and the guy came and collected them today. He was really nice and the studio looks so much more spacious without them leaning against the wall.

I finally decided to sign up for the craft markets in Brixton and Walthamstow so I need to get my t shirt printing stuff organised. Things need ordered and I want to set up a wholesale account with Amercian Apparel. Don't feel I want to use t shirts made by children for a children's range and I like American Apparel stuff.

Katherine has been very chatty today. She is trying lots of words out which is great. I just love watching her grow and develop. She is just lovely. We took her to the park when there was a break in the rain and I felt really happy just walking with my family and blethering about nonsense.

Feeling very tired....

but also very busy trying to promote littlechook and find time to create aswell. Sherrytruitt started a thread on etsy talking about how online promotion actually took up alot of time which leaves less time for creating.

I stayed up late last sat printing my first batch of tea towels. I was using a couple of existing screens aswell as some stencils and it was just great fun to be producing something again at long last.

I listed a couple on etsy and have sold one to my flickr friend, kaylovesvintage who has the most amazing house and lifestyle in holland.

I am really into flickr at the moment and love making new friends there and getting glimpses into other people's lives. My favourite group is definately corners of my home. The amount of beautiful homes out there is inspiring.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21910223@N06/

if I was a publisher I would commission her to do a book because she has great taste and very photogenic cats too which Katherine loves looking at.

Off to pay my council tax bill now and to browse ebay for a dresser for our kitchen (and a church pew, I really really want one for the kitchen.)