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...!

An Etsy Treasury

I"ve been spending quite a lot of time on Etsy this week. The new British Emporia team are super friendly and chatty and I've been talking away with lots of people there. Rather brilliantly though, we've been doing shop critiques and this week my shop was being critiqued by 4 other teamies. I've been given some really positive feedback and ideas of where to go from here. As a result, I've spent quite a lot of time adding things, tweaking things, changing things and generally doing more with my online presence. Please go over and have a look at my present 'look' and let me know what you think!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/creatingtrouble

As a 'Thank You' to some of my team members, I thought I'd make a treasury featuring some of their work. It's been freezing cold around here (thought I'd get a snow day on Monday) and we've had lots of the white powdery stuff. So a frosty theme seemed appropriate. What do you think of my latest treasury? Please click on the picture to go to the actual site and browse the shops featured.

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!

Paper Cutting Fun

Ooh oooh oooh! I'm like a child with a new toy. It's called a scalpel and I've been putting mine to good use this week. For ages I've been more than a little enamoured with paper cut designs. There are a few people I know from the crafting community who make the most stunning cuts which I am so impressed with. Anyway, this week I thought I'd have a go at making a paper cut myself.

As it's Valentine's Day next month I thought I'd make some love hearts. Here are some of my first attempts. What do you think?

I'm actually really pleased with how these turned out. I still have a lot to learn about the art of paper cutting but for a first few attempts, I think I've done OK. This week I'm going to work a little bit more of the design aspect - I'm generally more of a blocks of colour type of girl as opposed to a delicate design person, but you never know, I might suddenly discover a new talent... Wish me luck!

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! 

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!

A Lovely Glamourous Affair

I'm so glad that the first of a whole 'season' of craft fairs went well. On Saturday I was at 'A Glamourous Affair' in Islington where I was lucky enough to have a really good pitch near the door downstairs and surrounded by lovely people.

First of all I had Kate of Kate's Fascinators on my left. Kate makes absolutely stunning fascinators and top hats with really intricate beading and feathers. I fell in love with a gorgeous green one that I really loved. Sadly I don't have any events planned and, while I am obviously trying to convince all my friends to get married, take me to the races, have babies etc etc so that I have an excuse for a fascinator, no one is being very obliging so I shall have to wait a little while I guess. Anyway, you can see her facebook page by clicking on the picture and go over and like it. I'm hoping to see Kate again at A Glamourous Affair next month but also at a few other fairs over the next few weeks...

On my other side I had the lovely Alice of Stitch Your Soul. Alice makes quilts, comforters and other textiles but what she was mostly selling on Saturday were lovely homemade soy candles. She finds vintage tea cups, glasses and bowls to pour her candles into and, because they are made of soy they don't ruin the ceramics or glass. Which means that once your candle has burnt down, you can use your tea set or glass again and you have a lovely piece of china or glassware! What a fabulous idea! Alice sells on Etsy as well as having a facebook page so both links are here: Etsy and Facebook

There were of course lots of other lovely crafty folk around - it was really nice to see Emma of Knickerbocker Glories again and meet all the other amazing stall holders.

In true Bank Holiday style it poured with rain which obviously affected the number of people coming through the door - although there were definitely some visitors who were just trying to avoid the downpour! But the atmosphere inside The Library Bar was great, some of my friends came to visit and say hello and Creating Trouble did quite well. There are some coasters, penguins and pendants all off to find new homes - mostly to be given as gifts I think. One of the pendants I sold was the blue cityscape pendant. It's always been one of my favourite designs and I hope it's new owner loves it.

I also sold a round blue pebble mosaic pendant but... I only made it this week and didn't have a chance to take a photo of it before I sold it! It was a really striking design though so I will definitely be trying to make another one of them this week. Hopefully this time I will remember to take some photos!

All in all, I had a lovely day and it has set me off for the next few weeks in a good way. I'm really looking forward to the next few craft fairs, meeting some of the lovely folk and hopefully selling some more pieces.

Plans are Afoot...

There are some new projects going on at Trouble HQ. For a start, have you noticed a new page in the link bar? Yes, it says 'shop' and it means that... you can now buy directly through the website! I am still of course selling on Etsy as well, and indeed I have more items listed there than I do in the shop section of my blog but, it's a big step up for Creating Trouble and I'm looking forward to someone making use of it! Please go over and see what's on offer - there will be more listings going up over the next few days and weeks but it's always quite a long process trying to word things right and work out how best to describe your products.

Next up... I'm turning www.creatingtrouble.co.uk into a proper website! At the moment it's just a blog with some links to other places and I've been meaning to make it more than that for quite a long time. So now is that time! It's presently very much in the early stages; working out what text I want, what I want where, photos etc but it's going to happen, and it's going to happen soon! Don't worry though, you will still be able to see this blog and I will still be writing as often as I can. There will still be my weekly features and I will be sharing new things with you regularly.

In addition to that I have some quite exciting news. Remember back in January when I said I wanted to start doing some craft fairs? And then I did? Over the course of this year, I have been a stall holder at 3 fairs - I figured that one every few months was a good way to break myself in. Well, I got back from Grand Cayman thinking I really do need to be more proactive about Creating Trouble so have jumped right in. I thought I really needed to step up and do some more fairs - maybe one every month or every 3 weeks. It hasn't quite worked out that way though. I'll be hosting a stall at a number of events in the next few weeks - in fact I have 4 lined up on 4 consecutive weekends from the end of August through to the middle of September. Woah! I suspect that by the end of them I will be absolutely shattered! Watch this space for news of where I'll be and when.

My biggest concern right now though is... do I have enough stock? And the simple answer is no. So over the next few weeks I am going to be a seriously busy bee as I try to make enough pendants, cufflinks, coasters and more to sell at craft fairs! I'm guessing I will have to start thinking about not taking all my stock with me just in case I have a particularly successful day and run out! Please be slightly patient with me if I don't manage to blog quite as often as I do usually, or if my weekly features are a day or two late. It's not intentional, it's just me trying to get everything done in a very short amount of time!

Craftgawker and Summer Dresses

Oh wow! I have just discovered my new favourite internet website ever! It's called Craftgawker and if you are at all artsy-craftsy and have a love of beautiful, inspirational things then you really really need to get yourself over there RIGHT NOW! I think I'm in love...

Essentially it's a bit like Pinterest in that it a list of links to other beautiful things but the slight twist is that it's just jam-packed with fabulous tutorials to try at home. How great is that? So guess what I've been doing?

Well, having found myself over there and having spent the past few days wondering at my lack of cute summer dresses that fit me (the problem with losing a stone is that none of your clothes fit anymore and some of them I'm just not up to altering myself - I'm not that experienced at tailoring) I found myself totally drawn to this tutorial...

Click on the picture to go directly to the tutorial on Trinket in Bloom's site

And I discovered another gem of a website! I'm in love with Trinkets in Bloom's fashion D.I.Y tutorials and I suspect you'll be seeing some more bits and pieces appearing over the next few months. But for this week I thought I'd stick to just one thing... a new t-shirt dress.

I pretty much ran out the flat to go and find some t-shirts to get stuck into this. I was super excited about it... And then my excitement turned to despair. I couldn't find any nice t-shirts! You see, I had envisaged a really cute loose stripy navy and white dress and my local shop didn't have anything like that on offer. After some sad minutes looking through all the very unsuitable t-shirts I did however get a glimmer of hope: a t-shirt in a sort of minted-green/aquamarine colour. And even better - there was one a few sizes bigger too! It wasn't as long a t-shirt as I'd hoped and I was very worried about having such a bold colour as a dress - I'm usually all for the demure, cutesy things instead of the statements. But I bought them and got stuck in right away...

And here is the result! A really cute dress, super simple and easy to make. I'm not a dressmaker but I had this done and dusted within an hour of starting it and that included coming back into the other room to check instructions every 5 minutes. What a fabulous tutorial - easy to follow, quick to make, and the possibilities of variations are pretty great too: why not up-cycle some old t-shirts and make a more eclectic / varied dress with different colours and patterns?

My initial concerns about the colour being a little too much were, it turned out, well-founded. I am just not the person to be wandering around in such a bold statement colour with nothing to break it up. So I did a little re-vamping and had a look at what I could find...

... and now I am much happier with the result! What do you think? I definitely have plans to make another one of these. So if anyone sees any super cute stripy t-shirts in navy and white, or even better navy with white polka dots,  give me a shout. And if you are at all arts-&-craftsy then I suggest you go and look at Trinkets In Bloom's website now! Who knows what little gem you will be making this evening?