Sew Long Good Buy

The east london craft guerilla are holding the 5th and final outdoor craft market this saturday in the garden at the back of the Penny Fielding Beautiful Interiors shop in Walthamstow village and littlechook will be there. It is organised by the lovely Deborah Daniel who is also busy organising the E17 art trail on 10th September.

I managed to staff the pop up shop for the final saturday after a wee mix up here and there so I will be taking a selection of my lovely organic cotton children's t shirts along for my stall. I may possibly squeeze in a small print run of the linen/cotton tea towels - maybe!

More info on the market at http://www.eastlondoncraftguerilla.blogspot.com/

urban craft stars and skinny la minx

The urban craft stars are featured on skinny la minx's blog today. I got in touch with Heather Moore to ask her if she would feature us and I am so chuffed she picked us to write about. She also says she has seen an empty shop that would make a perfect skinnylaminx pop up shop. I hope she does as her work is so lovely.

Her etsy shop was one of the first shops I discoverd and I love it's simplicity. Her designs are always printed in a lovely pallette of soft colours.

Thank you Heather! We went to Brighton today (it was very wet and cold but nice to see the seaside) and it was nice to come back to this feature.

The little lady had a ball and was paddling in the sea with me but was most taken with the teacups ride on the pier!

charles and marie

came across this website today - http://www.charlesandmarie.com/

to be honest I am not 100% sure what they do! They seem to sell a variety of products in limited editions aswell as blogging and doing alot of travelling as they have just finished the New York Gift Fair and are going to Paris for the Maison et Objet show. They seem a wee bit 'try hard' for me but I did like the simplicty of the sun jar by toby wong.

However I do like their frank minded website where they talk the global sameness of cities as small independant retailers are edged out by the big corporations. Personally I am heartened by sites like etsy and folksy that give us designer/makers a chance to sell to a global market but then it's hard to have your voice heard outside of these arenas in the wider press.

baby tshirt photography

Another attempt at photographing the tshirts today as the sun was out this morning. I tried to keep thing simple by laying them on the grass. It did seem to highlight the colours especially with the red tshirt with the rabbit and squirrel. Cropped them tonight and may add them to my big cartel and etsy shops if I am able to stay awake!

Good day in the pop up shop today aswell with plenty of sales.

Hoping for some rest and relaxation tomorrow and a trip to hampstead heath for some fresh air after the stale air of the tube today.

little flockstars

Spent some time yesterday trying to photograph the new tshirt designs but the pics didn't come out too well. It's quite dark in the pop up shop and too many shadows. Also I'm not sure how good tshirts look when not on a real child! My toddler is way to wriggly for a model!

I've added some pin button badges to the toddler tshirts. For the singing birds tshirt I have added a badge made from vintage sheet music.

Struggling a bit to get some good images for my website. I'm switiching from linking http://www.littlechook.co.uk/ to etsy to linking to my bigcartel shop. I am hoping in the longer term this will be more cost effective as there's still no option to pay in anything other than dollars on etsy and the paypal conversion charges are extortionate.

Urban Craft Stars on Living etc.com

it's a dream come true! http://www.livingetc.com/news/Urban_Craft_Stars_article_265888.html

Living etc is my fav interiors mag. I have every copy going back years and I have refused to chuck them away during any housemoves/clear outs!

And now they have featured the urban craft stars on their website! It is so exciting and so kind of them to feature us. There's a click through to etsy aswell so hopefully more uk buyers for us etsy folk too.

The pop up shop is so busy today aswell and people love our things so it's all good in the world of littlechook today.

http://www.livingetc.com/news/Urban_Craft_Stars_article_265888.html

Kim Parker Textiles

I've seen bits and pieces of Kim's work in the past but until looking at her website I didn't realise how lovely it is. http://www.kimparker.tv/ She is on the back page of this months living etc (finally got myself a copy) and I think her style is very individual and beautiful. I love that she is self taught too. She uses colour so beautifully and talks about painting flowers how she feels them rather than how she sees them.

"A designer with an exuberant style, Parker combines her own fantastic floral prints with unconventional flea market finds, fashionable antiques, and unique modern pieces to create a vibrant, colorful look"

To me she is the opposite of the blonde wood, neutral and sterile strangehold that masquerades as some kind of minimalism. Homes are meant to be lived in!

Her cushions really caught my eye and I'd love a couple for my sofa. I have just found some amazon vouchers so I may order her book Kim Parker Home although I am not sure I can get both this and Soule Mama's book. I find her blog very calming in the swirling madness of parenthood but that's another post!

Life in the pop up shop continues with a really busy day today with some great sales including one from a lovely american couple. Plus yesterday someone bought one of my kids tshirts! I was beginning to think no one liked them except me and the little lady!

in and around carnaby street

On saturday we had a really busy day in the pop up shop as we had our friends and family day plus I had been busy putting flyers everywhere I could think of around carnabay street and soho and this seems worked.

I really enjoyed chatting to other shop owners aswell and found some beautiful interiors shops. Many are tucked away round here and need searching out but they are worth the trip for the beautiful and unusual items and knowledgeable service they offer.

One of my favs is lifestyle bazaar in newburgh street. http://www.lifestylebazaar.com/ filled with well edited choices including china, lighting, glassware and furniture.

wee birdy blog

features the urban craft stars today which is so kind of her!. I love Rebecca's insightful blog with her pick of the london shopping scene. Her blog covers fashion, design, beauty and style in general and it is not just a 'oh look at this etsy shop' kind of thing.

You can tell she really researches her features and edits and picks the best from a range of designers, new and established. She picked out a vintage fabric cushion cover from my etsy shop in blue and white french ticking with a pink floral on the reverse. Oh the lady has style!

My blog posts are overlapping a wee bit at the moment for several reasons including the fact that I am so knackered and I am not really getting any new littlechook work done. Being away from the little lady has been really hard too. More for me than her I suspect though!

I do feel the littlechook blog is the place to be a bit more personal about me whereas urban craft stars is about the 'collective' and what we do with the pop up shop.

But - it is friends and family day tomorrow in the shop so if you are around Carnaby street come and see us for champagne and cakes. Yum.

new designs

I've been working on more print designs and am thinking now about printing them onto some vintage fabrics as well as the organic cotton. I've been incorporating the paper cut outs with hand drawn images mainly of beetles and moths with some cut outs with text on them.

When I get some time that is! Between Urban Craft Stars shop, blog, my blog, little lady's molars, and a flurry of etsy sales I am knackered!

The little lady is in a nursery play today about all the different countries the children in the nursery are from and they are dressing in national costume. Her's is a bit lame - all I could find was a tartanish dress. Did manage to score points though by taking hubby's sporran and kilt pin along for the kids to see.

where have they gone?

I've lost living etc. I can't buy the latest issue anywhere. Has it sold out? what is in it to make it so good that everyone is buying it?Also my selvedge magazine hasn't arrived in fact I think I am missing two issues now.

What is going on?

I'll have to make do with surfing the living etc website until I can find a copy.

Apart from that I've been lucky enough to have some etsy sales recently and the pop up shop is keeping me busy too. Our flyers arrived so we are busy spreading the word. We are also now featured on the official carnaby street website. http://www.carnaby.co.uk/events/events_item.cfm?id=80

Anorak

I came accross this brand in this month's real homes - anorak. http://www.anorakonline.com/ and I love the prints and the made in the uk philosophy. Her website is great with pics of Laurie Robertson as a child in various campsites they used to visit.

I have been thinking about taking Katherine camping at some point especially after meeting a couple who take their two children camping alot and they are around Katherine's age. After our trip out of london to willows farm yesterday I am hankering after a bit of country living. Oh and I really really want a rabbit!

Back in the pop up shop tomorrow after a day not feeling too good and the little lady is cutting her molars so we are all a little under the weather at the moment.

Inside the pop up shop

here's a little preview of whats in store for you when you come to the pop up shop!

Flower image is by Ryokan Art on canvas. Tea towel is a lovely new flower circle design by littlechook (me!) on a 50% linen , 50% cotton tea towel. The bag is by the lovely urbanknit and is my favourite one of all her bags and purses in the shop. The little kids treasure bag is a mini tote with a flock print - this one is called Tweet. The cards are by Bombus and use recycled maps and magazines.

The shelf and the elk came from my house which is looking bare with all the furniture now in the shop.

We worked hard on saturday to get all the stock uploaded onto big cartel so we can now take crdedit and debit card payments too.

day 2 in the pop up shop

and here is a picture of the outside of our shop in all its glory.

great day today with plenty of sales and lots of chat with people who love our work. Also met the lovely steven who makes toys, childrenswear and other goodies - http://www.myhappyaccidents.etsy.com/

I am really enjoying being in Kingly Court and meeting lots of new folk and Carnaby Street was buzzing when I was dragging myself home tonight. I remember the world of going for drinks after work with a spring in my step and a twinkle in my eye.... but then that was LBT (life before toddler)

And big thanks to the lovely Richard for coming to the rescue of the Urban Craft Stars today and fixing our wi fi. Beers are due!

pop up shop open for business

I totally forgot to take photos of the shop on its first day!How silly was that??

We had a first great day in our carnaby street pop up shop though and made a few sales including a bag by peppermint twist and a t shirt by my mums a hippie. I also met the manager of our neighbouring shop, Stromboli Circus Shop (vintage clothing) and he gave me some advice on dressing the window and lighting the shop which was really kind of him. We plan to change the windows round every few days to keep things fresh and to ensure that all our urban craft stars get maximum exposure.

Kingly Court really gets going in the afternoon and in the early evening they have live music so it's a really nice atmosphere. The smell of the food from the Chinese restaraunt downstairs drives me into a hungry frenzy though...

Ok, off now to update my etsy shop and then into town to open up for day two...

the pop up shop is full of goodies!

and we open tomorrow for business! Today was a day of very hard work by all of the urban craft stars and it looks fantastic. So if you are in the Carnaby Street area come and see us at 1.4 Kingly Court (1st floor).

Our stars are:

Urbanknit

Peppermint Twist

My Mums a Hippie

Bombus

Ryokan Art

FreeflowMamas

Littlechook

Hope to see you in the shop soon ready to spend your pocket money....

pop up shop is almost here!

I got the keys to our unit today which makes everything seem very real now for our pop up shop. I have also just read our fabby urban craft stars press release written by my oh so talented lil sister.

Off to bed now as knackered and need to be up early for our 'man and van' arriving to take all the props and stock down to carnaby street. I am worried I have more than a van load and will have to follow in the car!

urban craft stars blog

finally today I managed to set up the new urban craft stars blog. I am hoping that urban craft stars will become a force to be reckoned with in the UK design and craft scene helping its members to gain publicity in the press, opportunities to sell their work and time to network with each other as being a small business owner can be kinda lonely sometimes!

Whilst I love etsy it isn't the most well known site in the uk and as far as I can see promoting etsy outwith the US doesn't seem to be a priority for them. I did contact them tonight about the carnaby street pop up shop as I think it would be great if they could feature us somewhere on the site.

I need a website so I'll have to talk nicely to the lovely Jen of http://www.jhollywooddesigns.com/ , designer of the littlechook website, etsy jeweller and soon to be mama for the second time around!

So have a look at http://www.urbancraftstars.blogspot.com/ and if you would like to join us the email me urbancraftstars@googlemail.com It is not just for etsy or dawanda sellers but for any indie designer/makers who are UK based. You can do anything - jewellry, textiles, knitting, ceramics, illustration, fine art, photography - as long as it is handmade.

exhaustion sets in!

For some mad reason I decided to print a whole new series of cushions and tea towels for the pop up shop which has left me absolutely knackered with trying to organise everything, look after the little lady, update my etsy shop etc etc - the list is endless!

And the prints haven't turned out the way I want them to either. My ideas are still in my head and I really need to do something with them.

I am thinking of making changes to the website again so I've been looking at other websites for inspiration and I really love Melin Tregwent's site, http://www.melintregwent.co.uk/

It's fantastic to see a welsh woollen mill using its traditional skills to create some gorgeous fabrics. I love the vintagey feel to their products and I love the bags. Everything is photographed beautifully too. Their blankets look really soft and cuddly. I'd love to visit the mill next time I go to Wales to see mum and dad. Having worked in a textile mill I am always interested to visit and I especially like buying fabric remnants in mill shops!