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!

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!

office gossip

our internet connection is fixed at last thanks to the lovely Colin and Ben at Tiscali. I actually managed to load a new item - a red bird treasure tote bag onto folksy and started on updating my etsy shop.

Somehow though my new camera makes the picture's dimensions too big for etsy size so that's another technology challenge for me to wrestle with.

My other challenge is being back at work part time. I do though have the most family friendly employer aka my sister. Her company Neon goes from strength to strength in the world of PR and I am very very proud of her. I think alot of people do dream about running their own business but not everyone actually takes the leap but she has done so very successfully.

Treasure bags for little 'uns

I'm working hard on new images for my littlechook website and managed to get some great shots in finsbury park with the little lady modelling the bags. She had a great time helping me stuff them with paper bags to make them more photogenic then we hung them in the trees. They looked really sweet and the squirrels and loads of passer bys were intrigued!

Hopefully I'll be able to get this internet problem fixed and get the new images of the mini toe bags onto etsy and folksy soon. They sold really well in the pop up shop so I have high hopes for them at all the christmas fairs this year.....

slow, slow and slower...

We spoke to a nice tiscali call centre person last night and thought our problem was fixed but nooooooo....

It is driving me crazy having intermittent internet access. I have new things to add to etsy but can't and also I seem to be unable to add any photos to my blog either.

On the bright side although I didn't win the Howies/Folksy competition they are sending all the shortlisted designers £30 in Howies vouchers which is nice as I really need a waterproof type coat as I can't push a pram and hold a brolly in the winter weather.

And it feels so cold at the moment. I've had the little lady modelling but I've had a long sleeve tee under her tops as I don't want her to catch a cold. I'm ordering American Apparel long sleeved baby tees for the winter range (doesn't that sound posh) as I'm struggling to find organic cotton ones.

At least the AA ones have been made under fair working conditions. I do wonder when I see baby items for sale on various 'craft' sites at such low prices - £3/$6 for a 'onesie' if the person selling them thinks about how they were made so cheaply. I have friends working for a few design companies who have visited Indian and Chinese textile factories and it isn't a pretty sight. Virtually no health and safety for a start.

Yes I do sometimes buy the the little cheap supermarket clothes but I always feel really guilty and try not to buy too much. I hate the idea of children's clothes made for us westerners by developing world children. Kids should be out playing and getting an education not slaving in some sweatshop.

broadband hitches

I've been trying to put this post up for 5 days now, hopefully it is now fixed. We will see when I try to upload the picture....

I got a new digital camera , a fuji finepix, as an early birthday present and it is fantastic! I keep wandering round the house taking random shots of anything and everything. I did manage to persuade the little lady to model one of the new tshirts (bribed her with a biscuit) so she struck a pose and I think they turned out really well.




I'm hoping to set up a new etsy shop soley for the tshirts but need to get a few more decent pictures first. I'm glad I went for the organic cotton ones and they are washing and wearing really well. I did print onto a couple of the really cheap fruit of the loom ones and you get what you pay for.....

babygros aka 'onesies'

I really liked my singing bluebird from the Howies/Folksy comp entry so I re cut the flock shapes again and used them on a babygro (onesies as the US etsyians call them) and also tried the rabbit and love heart designs on other babygros and they are just cute as a button!

I've been thinking about other garmets that I can use my designs on as t shirts will be more seasonal and just now everyone is thinking about keeping their little ones warm. So I am trying long and short sleeved babygros and long sleeved toddler t shirts. It's been hard to find organic cotton ones so I think I will have to go with the american apparel long sleeved t. It's not organic but at least I can be sure it hasn't come from a sweatshop or been made by children....

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.

where are the children?

A little hungover today after a lovely anniversary meal at La Bota in Crouch End last night. Still trying to unpack everything from the pop up shop too!

So I'm avoiding this by flicking through Living etc and Real Homes.....

Living etc has a featured house this month belonging to Sara Berman. On the floor plan it does show a playroom so I can only imagine she locks her kids in there in order to keep the rest of her house so 'stylish'.

I had an interesting conversation recently with a woman who works in child health and development and she said she is seeing more and more children from middle class families who are not allowed to be children as they live in these perfectly styled homes with no consderation to their needs.

She said many are not allowed to use paints or play with water toys in case the house gets dirty or heaven forbid the kids get anything on their clothes. The kids have their lives totally managed with 'play dates' and 'french lessons' but they never get time just to lounge about or to just play outside.

I find that really really sad.

In another conversation with a woman who used to work in primary schools I found out that many schools hardly teach art, sewing or music anymore. I strongly believe that everyone is creative in their own way and that in children this should be encouraged and supported.

Without creativity I think our society gets smothered and the world is a greyer place. Thank goodness for etsy and folksy so I know I'm not alone....

Ok rant over.....

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

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.