The folksy display in howies

We were in town today shopping for a suit for hubby so we went to carnaby street to have a look at the folksy display in the howies shop and it looks amazing. I really like the way they have displayed Bbel's bracelet and necklace by drawing a figure and arm onto a brown bag. The folksy logo is made out of some distressed chunky wood and it looks really good.

The voting systems is basically stick a gold star beside the one you like best. So if anyone is passing the shop and wants to vote for me that would be ace!

There are more pics on my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlechook/ and in the flickr folksy group http://www.flickr.com/groups/folksy/

Move over etsy - folksy rocks!

I made the final!

of the Howies/Folksy competition! I am so excited as I never win anything. Well I did win a prize in primary 2 for a painting I did but I got myself into trouble by inventing a middle name (elizabeth) for myself as I was always annoyed that I didn't have one.

Anyway......

My Free as bird tea towel will be in the window of the carnaby street store as of today. I think that the final winner is decided by a public vote (just like the x factor but I am sure JamesB is much cuter than simon cowell) so I am going to hassle everyone I have ever met to vote for me me me!!!

Going to Selfridges tomorrow morning so will pass howies on the way to see how fabby the window looks with all the folksters in it. There are some fab entries which can be seen on www.folksy.com

Howies/Folksy competition

Folksy are running design competition in conjunction with Howies and I decided last night to do a last minute entry. I had been thinking about their 'life is complicated, sport is simple' theme for a while and had some ideas but true to form life is complicated and I hadn't had any time to do anything about them.

So last night I cut some flock, did some embroidery and came up with a bird themed tea towel.

I went for a tea towel cos everyone has to do the dishes and I wanted a design that would remind you to hurry up, dry up and go outside.

The winning designs will be displayed in the window of the Howies carnaby street store during london design week. There are some lovely entries on folksy at the moment. I like Stitchy Woo Woo's freedom to wheel tote bag and Lucy Player's simple illustration.

discovering folksy

My blog discipline has faded a little recently due to being so exhausted by the last week of the carnaby street pop up shop. The clear up and clear out ended up being really stressful due to one man and van cancelling and the other ending up being late and going to the wrong address - nightmare!

So I've been taking it easy today and spending some time with the little lady. I have also discovered the new 'uk etsy' in the form of folksy.com and have managed to list a couple of things so far, one kids tshirt and one vintage fabric cushion cover.

It looks great and so good to be able to buy and sell in £ and not have to pay the paypal conversion charges (dick turpin wore a mask!). However I'll be interested to see how they spread the word about folksy beyond the crafting community or will they fall into the etsy trap of marketing to sellers?

I asked loads of people who came to the shop if they had heard of etsy and very few had. These were the sort of folk who were happy to spend their cash on our handmade goodies. Hmmmm

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.

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

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.

urban craft stars

is the collective name for all the pop up shop designers.

So far confirmed we have:

my mums a hippie

urbanknit

peppermint twist desings

bombus

Tim Williamson (photography)

and of course littlechook.

Most of us sell on etsy already but I'll post profiles of each over the next few days in advance of us opening our pop up shop in carnaby street. It's all very hectic but very exciting too. Thought I'd start with an urbanknit tote bag which I am very fond of!

hero shots

Tonight we had a meeting of some of the 'urban craft stars' who will be part of the carnaby street pop up shop. All tonights stars are etsy sellers. Our lovely PR specialist aka my sis has asked for our bio and logo in order to put together a press release along with four images - hero shots!

I really love this expression for some reason! I need to now pick mine which is proving difficult. I've included a possible here so any feedback on this is very welcome. Needs some cropping and editing though.

I also spotted the most amazing sofa in a secondhand shop today. It is a pink upholstered two seater with a scroll back and arms. We glimpsed it's loveliness from the bus window and are going back tomorrow for a closer look!

all things original

Doing some research into etsy like sites tonight and came accross allthingsoriginal.com

It's a beautiful site featuring some really fab designers including bombus (who is going to be part of the carnaby street pop up shop).

I have decided I am in love with the coffee table covered in decoupage with a vintage 1960's london map. It belongs in my living room!

I do wonder though how many of these types of sites can be successful as I know from my time in the corporate world how much time and cash is needed to develop a website and then all the marketing and PR needed to get the name out there. I think alot of folk still think 'build it and they will come'.

This week though I am really looking forward to meeting the other pop up shop folk and to having another peep into our unit and to deciding how we will arrange all our goodies.

the pop up shop

is finally going to happen....

I saw our unit yesterday. It's in Kingly Court just off Carnaby Street. The unit is absolutely massive so I am hoping that we can do it justice.

I am keeping in mind though all the Mary Queen of Shops programmes I have been watching and how she advises her clients to keep the layout and fixtures very simple. I love the interior of the Mayfair Stella McCartney shop with its vintage style wallpapers combined with modern touches like the bright pink bag display unit.

My aim is to move us as far away from a 'craft fair' with its horrible 'behind a table' philosphy to a place where customer can browse and touch the product, see demos of knitting, embroidery and other crafts and really talk and get to know who is behind the product. I have a fab bunch of designers ready - some london etsy folk, others I have met at craft markets.

In order to keep costs down I am planning to use some of the victorian pine vintage furniture I have already plus we are of to find a cool sofa and chair at one of the many second hand places round here at the weekend. Plus a trip to Ikea for some open shelving too.

I have big plans so watch this space!

Like mother, like daughter

Haven't had a chance to photograph my latest street find which is destined for the seven dials/carnaby street pop up shop but here it is.

I am developing a slight obsession with vintage suitcases and luggage. I already have a lovely silver steamer trunk which is being used to store all my vintage fabric cushion covers. I rescued this little beauty with Katherine's help. The outside is a lovely coloured tweed fabric but when we looked inside and saw the paisley patterned lining fabric we both said 'ooohh' and she was coming home with us.

My long suffering husband says I am corrupting a toddler with my magpie habits. I think it's all in the genes...

Katherine made a little bed for herself inside the suitcase this afternoon. She's been a bit off colour these past few days and possibly has chicken pox. We just have to wait to see whether her rash turns into the actual pox. I have calamine lotion ready.

So no nursery for her today and hence no new designs for littlechook. Hopefully I'll catch up on my new flower circle designs over the weekend.

littlechook in the Schmap Guide

One of my flickr photos was chosen to appear in the London Schmap Guide. It's an online guide and covers loads of cities/countries aswell as London.

It's a picture from the first artichokeltd gallery of Hush's work in Carnaby Street. His work is now selling for big money and he was asked by Banksy to appear in a recent show of street art - the 'Cans Festival' which took over a disused tunnel near Waterloo.

http://www.schmap.com/ Seems like a good idea but I find the site is very very slow to load.

Tonight I am trying to do some work on my neglected etsy shop but finding other design blogs far more interesting.

throwaway society

my poor husband hates my habit of finding furniture abandoned by the side of the road but I am always just amazed by what people throw out. My pet hate round Crouch End/Stroud Green/Harringay is seeing mattresses dumped outside houses. It just looks awful and I am sure they could be recycled in some way.

anyway, my current project is to put together a group of designers to sell their work through our very own pop up shop. Hopefully to be located in either seven dials/covent garden or carnaby street. I am in the process of contacting talented etsy sellers who I hope will be interested in my concept. I also found a few possible folk at Broadway Market but I am going to devote a seperate post to the delicious handbags once I find their business card!

Back to the furniture, my idea is to set out the shop like a house with a mix of original , vintage and second hand furniture possibly with a fifties or sixties theme hence the gathering of cast offs to dress my shop!

My best find so far will however end up in my bedroom after the shop. Isn't this just lovely! It was rescued from my street undercover of darkness (husband refused to be seen 'tatting' in daylight!)

My creative endeavours today involved a morning working the fabulous East London Print Studio using their open access time to put together some new screens. Hopefully Katherine will sleep ok tonight and I will get a chance to print up some fabrics and see how they have turned out.....

www.eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk