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!

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!

Hello Battenberg

The lovely hello battenburg was at the East London Craft Guerilla on Saturday and she has got the most gorgeous collection of handmade toys, badges, baby pixie hats and bib/burp sets. She uses vintage fabrics and simple shapes to make really beautiful things. www.hellobattenberg.etsy.com

I love the birdy with its button eyes and so does the little lady. I also love her pixie style hats and I need to measure the little lady's head so I can do a custom order. It's always dangerous when I've got a wee bit of money in my paypal account!

Another etsy sale today to Australia! I sometimes wonder if my mum distributed some flyers or business cards before they left Melbourne....

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

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.

littlechook loves brixton

Didn't manage a post yesterday out of sheer exhaustion! The day started at 4 am when the little lady woke up early. I left for the market at 6.30 am getting horribly lost on the way (those AA road maps are rubbish!) I managed to get to the Elephant & Castle and muddled my there from there!

The market was great. It was on the famous Electric Avenue. Brixton totally rocks! It has such a fantastic atmosphere. I saw so many ladies wearing the traditional nigerian wax prints made into beautiful dresses and loads of folk just rocking their own look.

I managed to sell a fair amount of littlechook handmade goodies (mainly cards but also two cushions) but I am not sure the organisers publicised the event enough. One of my last customers of the day was the chair of the local residents association and she said she didn't know the market was happening and it was something she would have sent details of to her mailing list.

There were some other really talented folk selling crafts there and I will hopefully blog about them this week.

Hubby and the little lady joined me after lunch and they both had a great time. My daughter just seems to take everything in her stride and she was walking round the market charming all the shopkeepers!

We got home in time to watch the Euro 2008 final but I slept through most of it only waking up to see Spain lifting the trophy. Yay!

Today was catch up on sleep and housework day. Hubby is kindly making me spag bol tonight and I am enjoying a glass of red wine.

the calm before the storm

I am sitting here surprisingly calmly the night before the Brixton Craft Market and drinking fruit cider. We had a brilliant day today with lots of sunshine and just general family happiness. I put together a trial layout of my stall for tomorrow and I have a fair idea of what I will do tomorrow.

I am really on my own though tomorrow with my sister at Glastonbury and hubby looking after the little lady. We decided it wouldn't be fair to get her up early and then have her spend all day at the fair so I am driving there and setting up on my own. To unload by my stall I need to arrive between 6 and 7 am. I'm hoping there's somewhere around to have some breakfast!

I'm actually looking forward to the whole thing as it will be a good chance to get feedback on my work and to chat to other artists and designers. Still bit gutted that I have no t shirts though as I felt they would sell well at an event like this. Instead I have vintage fabric cushions, badges, cards and tea towels. I am looking forward to seeing all the handmade goodies on sale.

Wish me luck!

Vintage Fabric Button Badges

I finally got around to uploading these to my etsy shop. They are made from vintage fabrics using my lovely badge machine. It seems like a fun way to use up off cuts of the fabrics from my cushion covers. I hate wasting lovely vintage fabrics! My photos of the badges are not very good! I think it is because of the plastic film that goes over the badge to protect it. The fabrics do look much nicer without the film but they'd get marked or might not handle rain too well.

I have also added some badges to some of my handmade cards but I am keeping these for craft fairs rather than etsy for now.

Next weekend is the brixton craft market so I am busy preparing for this event. Tomorrow I am going to practice setting up my stall so off to check out the flickr group for craft shows to get some inspiration!

And finally our purses from peppermint designs arrived and they are gorgeous. They even come in a linen bag to protect and store them. Just lovely!

katherine's quilt

I love reading about the featured sellers on etsy and finding out what inspires them. I always fantasise that etsy pick me to be a featured seller and how I would answer the questions. That is pretty sad!

Anyway the question asking handmade item do you treasure the most would be an easy one. I have a quilt that my classmates at Morley College made for me when Katherine was born. The summer of 2006 was a total heatwave and I was heavily pregnant but still struggling to work and college and managed to finish my dresses in time for the end of year show.

I didn't realise at the time but everyone made a square and Sue then joined them together into the most fantastic quilt. Some of the panels are textural so Katherine loves stroking them and also all the colours. Some of the squares too are japanese fabrics. Sue kindly gave me a card too which shows who made what!

So that would be my most precious handmade item by far!