Mosaic Earrings!

It's quite exciting over here in Trouble HQ because I've got a new line of mosaic jewellery now available - mosaic earrings! These are still in the very new stages - I've only made 5 pairs so far and I'm now waiting on more backings to arrive before I can make some more. But thought I should share them with you.

None of them are yet in my Etsy shop but feel free to drop me a line here if you are interested in any of them. They will be £22 + postage.

Pendant and Earring set - £42 + postage

What do you think? I'm excited - almost excited enough to re-pierce my ears so that I can make myself a pair!!

Mosaic Mania!

Despite the ankle surgery and spending most of my time presently lying on my bed I have managed to get up for a few things...

I've had a few custom orders in the past few days - one from a lady who ordered a pendant from me and as soon as it arrived ordered another one! That's got to be a compliment and a half, right? I can't show a picture of it yet as she ordered it as a present but her feedback was lovely:

"I am thrilled to bits with the necklace, it is simply beautful. Could you possibly make another one as quickly?"

So I've spent a fair amount of time in the garage over the past week making some mosaics pendants. What do you think of my new designs?

Of course I haven't just restricted myself to pendants... I've made a few new rings and a pair of cufflinks as well:

And the good news is that the physical bricks and mortar shop up in Highgate has sold a few of my pendants too so I'm going to have to restock there as well! Here are two of the pendants I'll be sending up to them later on this week (the others aren't quite finished yet...)

I've also been having requests from all sorts of people in the past few weeks about making mosaic earrings. I have to say I've been a bit dubious about them as part of me thinks they'd just be too heavy. But I've been convinced to give them a go. I haven't actually made them up into earrings as yet (I'm going to need to go into a craft shop to buy the fittings in order to do that first) but there are designs for 2 pairs ready to put together properly and see what they're like...

So it's all go on the mosaic front! So much so in fact that I need to put in some orders for new stock! Hmm... best get on with that. I have ambitions of moving onto bigger and better places this year and I'm going to need a fair amount of stock ready by August at this rate. Off I go to check out my suppliers...!

New Year, New Website!

Well it's finally happening. After years of being a blog with some added on extras, Creating Trouble is finally moving onwards and upwards and becoming a website! It's not quite ready yet and there's still a long way to go but I thought I'd show you are few sneaky peeks at what is going to be the brand new Creating Trouble site. I can't wait to get it all up and running!

Don't worry, the blog will still continue to run as it always has. But the web address for my blog is going to change - I will be unlinking it from my domain name over the next few weeks and linking the domain to the new website. There will be links in this blog to get back to the website and links in the website to get to the blog so hopefully it will all work itself out at some point, although at the moment my head is going round in circles trying to work this all out!

Do you want to see what it's going to look like? Here you go:

It's going to be my Home Page - still a few bits to do (like customise my images) The main image is actually a slideshow. 

Creating Trouble has 2 main sections - Mosaics and Textiles. This is the main product page.

The Mosaics product page - I really like how if you hover over a product, you get some details about it! 

So what do you think? I know I need to re-look at my photos (again) and there are lots of little things I need to tweak, change, add to etc. But as a work in progress, I think there's the beginnings of something here. Any comments or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Etsy Treasury

I've been over on Etsy almost all day today. I finally got around to taking some photos of jewellery this morning and spent quite a long time editing and trying to get some listings up. As a bit of a break from photo editing, I had a bit of a browse in some of the shops belonging to members of the new team, British Emporia, that I was invited to join yesterday. British Emporia is still in its very early days (as in it only came into being yesterday) and at the moment all the members are crafty folk I already know from the Etsy community which is great - lots of friendly faces. Anyway, I decided that I would make a treasury today as I haven't made one for ages.

I do have a bit of an issue with finding the time to make treasuries and I'm not sure if I am the most talented when it comes to colours and finding things that work together. But here's today's attempt. If you click on the picture, you'll get sent to the treasury on Etsy from where you can browse the individual items and see some other things that these lovely shops have to offer.

I managed to post up a few listings today as well... 

What do you think? (Click on the pictures to go to the Etsy listings) 

I've got a few more photos up my sleeve to list over the next few days, so please go over and have a look over the next few days! http://www.etsy.com/shop/creatingtrouble 

Exciting News

You will have to forgive me for not publishing this earlier. Something went wrong with the photo uploading at the start of December and I haven't been able to publish any blog posts at all for weeks. For once it isn't actually that I am too busy, too forgetful, too...

Anyway, this is quite exciting news for Creating Trouble!

A few months ago I was at a craft fair with a lovely lady called Jules who sells the most beautiful vintage furniture and re-loved pieces as well as some smaller pretties such as lavender sachets, chocolate lollipops and vintage china. And then in November she came to visit some of us at A Vintage Tea Party, a craft fair I was at in Highgate. I was really excited when I got an e-mail from her in late November... I knew she loved my mosaic pendants but I hadn't anticipated that she would ask me if I'd like a shelf in her new shop! 

Early in December I went over to Forget Me Nots Vintage in Highgate to see the new shop and find out more from Jules in person. I took some of my pendants with me and we had a cup of tea and a lovely chat. Which ended up with Jules choosing 15 of my pendants to showcase in one of the window shelves! How exciting is that?

I went over to the shop launch on the 11th December as well for mulled wine and canapes so it was nice to be able to talk to potential customers and see them talking about the shop as well. As it is still quite new, there are new things being added every day still and I'm really happy to know that some of my other crafty friends have shelf spaces as well. 

So, I'm looking forward to an exciting 2013 with new outlets, new fairs, new products... I'm definitely quite excited by everything! 

Apologies for not blogging...

Well it's been a really hectic few weeks here at Trouble HQ so I'm afraid the blog has suffered a little because of it. I'd love to say, 'But HEY! I'm back!' but if I'm totally honest, I think you may have to put up with me being a little sporadic over the next few weeks. New Year's Resolution: To blog more regularly!

The main reason I've been so absent is craft fairs, craft fairs and even more craft fairs. I can't even begin to start talking about them, but needless to say it's been crazy busy making sure I've got enough stock for all of them. If you're London based and fancy coming along to some of the fabulous fairs that I'll be at along with some other great artists and crafters, then look to the sidebar on the right and you'll find a list of upcoming events. (That's a new bit on the blog!)

My stall set up at the Balham Craft Fair (25th November) 

I have to say, while I find craft fairs absolutely exhausting, I do really enjoy doing them. There are always some fabulous other crafty folk around (and my Christmas gifts are almost sorted due to some incredibly talented people) and even when they aren't the most successful, I still enjoy getting to spend time with some really great people.

Then there has been the launching of Inspired: London a guide to London designers and crafters - in which I am featured! I'm so excited about it. If you click on the picture, you'll be redirected to the online order form where you can pick up your own copy for just £12.99 - good either for giving as a Christmas present or for using to find some Christmas presents!

The launch of Inspired: London was a really nice opportunity to meet some other great artists and designers from London. It was really fantastic getting to put faces to names as a number of people featured are shops I know from Etsy and being able to finally say face to face how much I like people's work. 

In addition to these, there have been new designs, new lines, more things added onto Etsy and all sorts of other craziness as well. I'll write a separate blog post about some of those as I've got lots of pictures to show you... watch this space! 

Exciting News!

I am super excited at the moment because... I've had my first ever quilt commission! I was showing some of my quilts at Tootopia back in September and a lovely customer asked about some of my designs. Last week I got an e-mail asking if I could make a commission quilt featuring some owls and foxes for her expected niece/nephew. I found a few options and we put this combination of fabrics together:

When I actually got the fabrics I realised that they needed something a little extra to stop them from being too busy and mind-boggling so I tempered them with some plain lime green fabric as well. My lovely customer was quite specific about the quilt being non-gender specific so I used green instead of blue which would have been the more natural match in my head. As a finishing touch, she wanted the quilt to feature some stars as well so we used some red fabric with white stars as the binding. What do you think of the finished product? It has a stripy backing as I couldn't find another suitable backing material (which is insane considering how many colours are featured!) so I've used the same fabric as the stripes in the main quilt. It still needs me to sew on a label and finish off some of the threads, but other than that, it's done and ready to go. 

Inspired: London

I'm really excited today as tonight I am going to the pre-launch party of Inspired: London - a book that is all about fabulous designers and artists from London. I can't remember if I ever actually wrote about it here, but I am lucky enough to be one of the featured artists in the book, so it has a special meaning for me.  I've never been featured in a book before (although I was quite excited to be quoted in the Guardian a few weeks back - about a book I'd read) so this is an exciting time for Creating Trouble. What's even more exciting is that I am finally going to meet some of the fabulous artists and crafters that I have been in contact with over the past year or so. Here's what the front cover is going to look like:

The actual book isn't properly launched until 10th/ 11th November during the Spitalfields 'We Make London' fair but if anyone is going to the We Make London fair in Chelsea on the 4th November I know it is available there. The book costs £12.99 although it is available at the Chelsea and Spitalfield's markets at £10.99. It's going online for sale officially on 11th November so if you're wondering what to get a friend for Christmas, this might be a good call... in the hope that they will buy you a lovely present from one of the designers featured! I can't wait to see what it looks like - I've seen a few sample pages as I was making up my own page but other than that, it's all been top secret for the past few months.

I can't wait for tonight's pre-launch party as it will be a fantastic opportunity to meet some fellow creatives who share similar interests. YAY!

Some new pieces

It's been quite busy here at Trouble HQ recently, which may go some way to explain why I've been so quiet blogging recently. My super-amazing mum offered to help me with some sewing, so last week I took advantage of it and went home on Saturday evening. Arriving fairly late (as I'd had a craft fair) I immediately set to work printing some new designs that I had cut from lino so that we'd be ready to start on Sunday morning. Well, we actually started on Sunday afternoon as I did some more printing on Sunday morning and then some ironing, pinning etc. In the end, my mum and I managed to make quite a few new tote bags with French seams. What do you think of the designs? They will all be in my online store and Etsy shop over the next few days.

I think I might make some ice-blue snowflakes to go with the red snowflakes and I'm wondering about making hearts and lovehearts in other colours too. What colours do you think? And you haven't seen the last of the 'Oranges and Lemons' yet... the design is about to feature in some other items soon, so look out for them!

On another note - I've just noticed that my 'shop' section hasn't been working. I had a huge issue with the design of my blog a week or so ago and I'm assuming that the link must have broken then. I think I've fixed it now so hopefully it's working - but if you notice it isn't, please let me know!

Weekend sales

This weekend was a great weekend for sales. The Craft Britannia team on Etsy hosted a BNR and I got involved in it. I wasn't curating on this one, more just hanging around, chatting, browsing through all the shops and seeing what there was to see. It's ended up in me buying some lovely things, selling a few pieces and generally enjoying getting to know some other crafty peeps. I always really enjoy BNRs, although I find them incredibly addictive and have to force myself to go and do other things! As a result, I haven't done anywhere near as much this weekend as I was planning. So it's going to have to be some extra hours for me over the next few evenings. The penguin stock is looking low at the moment...

First up, I sold this lovely black and white millefiori and vitreous glass mosaic pendant. It went to the lovely Sarah of therainbowgirl who sells gorgeous dyed fabrics, cottons and wools. Sarah has some really lovely green lace that I've had my eye on for a while now... I just need to come up with a good project as an excuse to get hold of it!

Black and White Mosaic Pendant £16.00 & p+p

After that I obviously bought back in to the BNR as I'd been eyeing up some of the lovely goodies available in the other stores. And got bought out again within half an hour! This time it was a pair of coasters which are now on winging their way over to the U.S. - I think that's only my second international order so that was quite exciting. 

Mosaic coasters based on Rubics Cubes £14.00 & p+p

And then finally, I sold my first Christmas decoration! I was kind of hoping I'd have a bit more time to get my Christmas stock sorted out and organised, but I had literally only just listed this tree decoration when it was sold as well!

Felt Tree Decoration £6.00 & p+p

Of course I made some fabulous purchases as well....

I'm looking forward to getting these fingerless gloves from the lovely Shalotte. I've known Naomi through Etsy for a while and am always intrigued by her designs. She makes bohemian-couture yarnwork, clothing and wirework jewellery. I'm definitely looking forward to getting these as the mornings are getting cold on my bicycle! 

Click on the picture to go to Shalotte's Etsy store

I think the rose bath salts from WitchWayBeauty may have already arrived - I wasn't home when the post arrived this morning and I have a 'package was too large' note to go and pick up. Wondering whether I should be good and give these as a present or just say, nah, all for me?!!

Click on the picture to go to WitchWayBeauty's Etsy store 

And lastly I bought some beautiful yarn from SpinningStreak which I am really looking forward to receiving. I'm thinking of making a cowl with this...with some pretty wooden buttons as embellishments. What do you think? I absolutely love the colours. 

Click on the picture to go to SpinningStreak's Etsy store

So there you go, a fairly productive weekend in the end! Certainly put a positive spin on what had been quite a hard week really. Of course I am now really sick so I'm all tucked up in bed feeling sorry for myself, but hey, we can't have everything! 

Weekend Excitement

Continuing in the busy bee craft extravaganza I've a jam-packed weekend this weekend. Not one but two craft fairs this weekend at different places. I'm quite excited about both of them as I haven't done either of them before and I think both could be quite good.

On Saturday I'll be at the opening fair for the Vintage Craft Carnival. It's organised by some lovely crafters who I've met at A Glamourous Affair and it's going to be lots of fun with face painting and goodie bags for the first 50 people coming through the doors. All the stall holders have donated something towards the goodie bags and in addition there are the 'bank of frippery' vouchers that can be redeemed at any stall. They come in different values from 50p to £5 so it's a lucky dip as to what you get so definitely worth while getting there early!

Where: The Priory Tavern, 250 Belsize Road
When: Saturday 22nd September, 12-6

Then on Sunday I'll be at the Pop-Up Market which I'm also quite excited about. I can't remember where I heard about it before but I seem to come across the Pop-Up Market all the time. It's a fortnightly event so if it goes well I might try and return a few times... fingers crossed! There's music starting up in the evening as well as various events in addition to the craft and vintage fair. If you're free either day then come along and say hello!

Where: The Abbey Tavern,  124 Kentish Town Road
When: Sunday 23rd September, 2pm - 7pm

So it's busy busy busy this weekend! And that's on top of a full working week this week. Luckily I'm off to the Isle of Man next Thursday for a few days so I'll get the chance to breathe then! Anyway, if you are free this weekend, please come along and say hello!

A craft-astic weekend

Well I've been very lapse in the blog posts recently but that is definitely because Trouble HQ has been super busy the past few weeks. As you may have noticed I've been posting up about different fairs that I've been at so thought I should give you a bit of a run down on last weekend's fairs.

I was at Tootopia Festival down in Tooting this weekend. It was a two day event although there were slightly different vendors on the different days. It was lovely to see Emma from Emma Barrett Designs there - she is a lovely crafter who I enjoy chatting with and it's always great to see her. Emma works wonders with beads and also makes the most beautiful bunting possible.

Click on the picture to go to Emma's website

I also saw the lovely Mic from Dagaz Designs who was selling her vintage jewellery and designs. We've bumped into each other a few times and there was a lot of laughter for the time that we were sat opposite each other... mostly due to my clumsiness I think but I'd like to think it was more to do with bubbly personalities...

Click on the picture to go to Dagaz Design's Etsy store 

And I met Nikki of Nikki Stark Jewellery who was absolutely lovely and makes some gorgeous silver and gold items. I was really impressed with her work and also the fact that she's just been featured in Vogue! Wow!!!

It was an interesting (and tiring!) weekend. The weather was beautiful which kept lots of potential customers outside in the sun instead of in the Tooting Tram and Social with us, but even so it was quite a productive weekend, and it's always great meeting new people, chatting with people about your work and seeing what people are interested in. I got a lot of enquiries about my quilts although I didn't actually have any orders. I'm going to be listing some of them this week though so keep your eyes peeled for them!

I sold a number of pendants including the lovely Daisy Daisy pendant to a lady who actually put it on there and then and wore it around the garden for the rest of the afternoon.

And another lovely customer pointed out that some of my cufflinks match some of my pendants and bought a pendant and pair of cufflinks as a wedding gift for her friends - subtle enough for both to wear at the same time but matching so that they are a complete gift set. I hadn't actually thought of doing that before so quite excited about the prospect of doing some more matching designs.

Lots of little penguins are flying off to new homes (have fun little guys!) and some cards and cufflinks have gone as well so all in all I would say I've had a fairly successful weekend. Hooray! I'm back at A Glamourous Affair this weekend in Islington if anyone fancies coming along to say hello...!