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.

all change please!

Change is in the air....

It's still hot and sunny here in london and I'm enjoying it while it lasts having picnics in the park.

Labour have lost the Glasgow East by election, Obama has been doing a JFK in Berlin and littlechook is organising the pop up shop and has new etsy sales - yay! I am surprisingly un stressed. (for now).

I have also decided not to make up any more vintage fabric cushions. From now on I want to concentrate on my own print designs. I just feel that is now the right direction for me and I am full of ideas at the moment.

Tomorrow is the little lady's birthday party so I'm looking forward to some family chill out time filled with food, drink and catch up chat.

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!

the studio clear out

is now complete! I have room for my heat press, sewing machine, printing stuff as well as my stash of lovely vintage fabrics all boxed and labeled.When I packed my latest etsy sale to send away to the customer I could actually find all the things I needed without having to run up and down stairs or saying any sweary words. Result!

The room was used as a kitchen by the house's previous ocupants so I have a very useful sink and some much less useful kitchen cupboards and a cooker (now covered by a piece of chipboard and has my lightbox on it). The second pic also shows the crazy light which you can pull down or up. I have managed to raise it up a bit so I don't keep hitting my head on it!

children's bedrooms

Whenever I see children's bedroom in interior magazines like living etc and elle dec it makes me feel a bit sad as they are always so 'styled' and more for adults than kids. Recently DesignSponge featured a Yellow and Grey colour scheme which to me was really bland and had very little to stimulate a child's imagination.

Ok so the pics here of the little lady's room are after a good tidy and hoover this morning but it is a room for playing and enjoying. Yes it does have elements of her mum's style in it - vintage furniture and crochet blankets but it is for her to enjoy as she grows and if she wants Barbie wallpaper at some stage then so be it!

The wardrobe I bought on ebay, it is victorian pine and it is gorgeous. The child's chair I resuced from the side of the road. The rug is from ikea (it's really easy to clean) and the grey toy cupboard was given to me by my mum.

The wallpaper is cream with silver flowers - it was here when we moved in and I actually really like it now!

Busts 4 Justice!

I received an invite on facebook to join the group Busts 4 Justice! Basically Marks and Spencers think it is ok to chrage more money for bras above a DD cup. They say it takes more development and technical expertise to make the fuller cup sizes. Busts 4 Justice say this is rubbish as you don't pay more for a size 20 dress than you do for a size 10.

And they have Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman as the group avatar. I loved that show when I was little, although I did think the lassoo of truth was a bit of a lame accessory! I loved it when she used to catch some random bloke who fell of a roof. My friend and I re enacted this by getting her little brother to jump of a wendy house roof.

Luckily there were no broken bones!

So after being distracted by this important topic I did manage to do a quick revamp to my etsy shop. I also want to start a DaWanda shop but just getting to grips with the website.