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.

my little treasure

I am in the blog dog house as I haven't been blogging for ages. No excuses really apart from a visit from the grandparents and just general tiredness.

I didn't realise I hadn't uploaded the pics I had taken on our day out in brighton and this one just sums up what happy wee soul my daughter is. (most of the time!). She loves buses at the moment.

Design wise not much happening either but trying to get back on track. Few sales on etsy for vintage fabric cushions which has been nice and I'm trying ebay again to see what happens there.

featured seller on etsy

The current featured seller on etsy is Bombus aka Amelia who was part of the urban craft stars pop up shop. How exciting to actually know a featured seller on etsy!

The pic is of one of her decoupage mirrors and a chair covered in an old london a - z. When this was in the shop I noticed that our street was on one of the legs.

Congratulations Amelia!

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.....

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