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 

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. 

That Friday Feeling...Winter

Brrrr, I know it's only November so the proper cold, snowy months have not yet started but I haven't been able to feel my toes for days now! I am soooooo cold! So what better theme for this week's Friday Feeling than Winter? Here are some of my favourite finds of the week - please do go over to Etsy and have a look at some of the shops I've featured (click on the links in the captions) and also go and have a search generally. It's that time of year when we start thinking about Christmas presents (I said it, the dreaded C word) so Etsy is a good place to start looking. Lovely handmade gifts all round!

Cute little ceramic brooch by LoveandLovelier

What about a wintery cushion to remind you it's warm indoors! By maximilia

Love this chunky scarf by KnitFrekkles 

 I'm not sure whether I want to share any wintery facts with you today... they might make me feel even colder! I'm presently wrapped up in a scarf AND a cowl in a cafe which technically should have heating. And when not typing I'm clutching a mug of hot tea! OK, OK, here are your fun facts for the week:

• Icicles most often form on the south side of buildings
• The record for most snow angels at one time was made in Ontario, Canada in 2004. A number of schools joined forces and 15,861 were created.
• Wind chill is a measurement of heat loss on exposed skin
• The coldest temperature ever recorded was in Antarctica (no surprise then!) of -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius)
• Snowflakes fall on average at 3.1 miles per hour
• The tallest snowman was given a name! He was called Angus and measured 122 feet (37 metres)
• Ten inches of snow melts down into 1 inch of water
• A single snow storm can drop more than 40 millios tonnes of snow, which has the energy equivalence of 120 atomic bombs.
• Apparently if squirrels start building their nests on the lower branches of trees it means we're going to have a really cold winter. The same goes if ants build higher than normal mounds or birds start migrating early. 

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!

How To.. make a SEWING BOARD

Does anyone else experience the disaster of the sewing box? Admittedly I usually use a tin for all my threads - I have a gorgeous sewing box but it's totally full up with ribbons and fabrics so my threads end up drawing the short straw and living in an old chocolate tin. I can't even bring myself to show you a photo of what it normally looks like but trust me when I say it usually takes about 20 minutes to get some thread out of it.

I came to the end of my tether with it all this week and decided enough was enough! I need something that will keep all my threads and bobbins separate. So I thought I'd make a 'sewing board' - basically a sewing box on a pinboard! Here's this month's How To tutorial. Hope it helps!

What you'll need:
1 piece of board
Enough fabric to cover the board
Some wadding (optional)
Tacks - choose long ones that are about the length of an average spool of thread
Hammer
Glue - fabric spray adhesive works best but PVA will work if you haven't got anything better to hand!
Scissors
Ribbon for 'washing line' effect
Some fabric in a contrasting colour for pockets
Elastic
Sewing machine (not essential)

What to do:


1) Cut your board to the size you want - if you are using a saw please be careful and keep fingers away, always saw on a stable surface and follow the instructions.









2) Cut a piece of fabric a little larger than the piece of board you want to cover. I used an old scarf that I never wear and the width was almost right. You need a few inches on all edges.

3) If you want a padded board (that you can then stick pins into or add extras to) then cut some wadding to the same size as the board and use spray adhesive to stick it on securely. If you don't have spray adhesive, just use whatever you do have - I only had PVA when I made mine and it still sticks it fine!

4) Start with your pockets - this is where I can't give many photos as I stupidly decided to do mine at the end so had to hand sew them on and it resulted in bent needles! BUT... start by drawing yourself a semicircle on some pretty fabric with a widened flat top. Remember there will be seam allowance so think about how big it will be when you fold over the seams.

5) Cut out your semi-circle and then cut 2 pieces of fabric using the semicircle as a template.

6) Fold over about an inch from the top of your semi-circle and pin it. If you place your pins at 90 degrees to the line you sew, you don't need to tack it as well.

7) Sew in a straight line near the edge of your seam leaving a good half inch space between the top of your semi-circle and your seam.


8) Attach a safety pin to the end of some elastic (don't cut the elastic yet!) and, using the safety pin to hold onto, thread your elastic through the seam.

9) Sew along one edge of the elastic to hold it in place. Then pleat up your fabric until it is about half the width it was before and sew the elastic in place on the other end. Repeat Step 6-9 with the other pocket.



10) Place your fabric over your board, right side facing up. Adjust so that you know exactly how it will fit (with an even amount hanging over each side. Place your two pockets about half way down and fold under the edge of the unsewn edges. Pin in place, making sure you pin the pleats too - you don't want to sew the fabric straight.

11) Sew along the folded edges of your pockets, leaving the elastic opening free.



12) Now for attaching the fabric to the board... Place your fabric face down on a flat surface. Spray your board's padded side liberally with adhesive - or smother it evenly with glue if that's what you are using.

13) Carefully turn the board over and place it centrally over the fabric and press down. Trim the corners so that you don't have too much bulk.

14) Pull the top edge taut over the back of the board and glue it down. Do the same to the other edges. Make sure you keep it as taut as you can as otherwise you'll end up with puckered fabric.

15) Cut a piece of ribbon about 3 - 4 inches longer than your board. Glue one side of it and attach it to the back of your board, below your pockets.

16) Turn your board over and stretch your ribbon tight over your board in a straight line. Pull it around to the back of the board and glue the other end onto the back. Make sure you keep it taut throughout this. This will give you a cute little 'washing line' that you can pin things onto with pegs or, if it's taut enough, you can keep paper safe by tucking it under.









17) You're ready to do some hammering! Turn your board so that you have the wrong side up and put it on a stable surface. Balance it so that the top half of the board hangs over the edge (so that you can hammer safely) and hold it steady.

18) Place your first tack in one corner and carefully hammer it through to the other side. It will try and pull your fabric off the board when it exits the right side - just push your fabric back onto the board.

19) Hammer tacks all along the top edge of your board and then make a second (and possibly third depending on how annoyed your neighbours are with your hammering) line underneath making sure you push the fabric back each time.

20) Essentially your board is now done... although because tacks are much thinner than the holes of your spools of thread and bobbins you may want to wrap something around each tack so that they stay on better. (it's a bit precarious otherwise)

21) I used scraps of paper for my board as it gave the bulk for the width and, unless you look really closely, you can't actually see it's scrap paper, it just looks like white hooks. Get strips that are about 8cm / 3" long and about as wide as a spool of thread is high (1.5" / 4cm)

22) As tightly as you can, roll the strips of paper and glue the ends down. You will need a paper roll for each tack you have used.

23) Cover your tack with PVA and carefully push your paper roll onto the tack. Leave them to dry.

24) Finish off your board by adding picture hooks and threading some wire (or string) onto the back.

Voila! One sewing board that you can hang on your wall and keep some of your threads from getting tangled up everywhere. You can use the ribbon as a clipboard and your pockets for needles, sewing machine feet or whatever takes your fancy!

That Friday Feeling....Oranges and Lemons

"Oranges and lemons,' say the bells of St. Clement's

"You owe me five farthings," say the bells of St. Martin's

"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey

"When I grow rich," say the bells of Shoreditch

"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney

"I do not know," says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed

And here comes and chopper to chop off your head!

I've had this famous nursery rhyme in my head all week for a good reason. I've been making things with an oranges and lemons theme this week. First of all, there's the Oranges and Lemons bag: 

£9.00 & p+p available in my Etsy store

Then I have also been making some gorgeous patchwork cushions with the same design as well. 

£16 & p+p for the cover, £20 incl cushion 

So it seems only fitting that this week's Friday Feeling theme should be Oranges and Lemons. There are some lovely items available on Etsy but here are my picks for the week:

Cute little felt hearts from Smika

How lovely are these napkins from LittleBirdsBoutique?

I love these sweet little boards from Recy

So what little snippets can I find you today? 

• The phrase 'Oranges and Lemons' may be traced back to the 1600s when there was a square dance called 'Oranges and Lemons'. The actual tune and lyrics are not known but it's suspected that the lyrics are similar to those that we presently know.
• The 'bells' referred to are all the names of churches within the city of London. 
• You are a 'cockney' Londoner if you are born within earshot of the Great Bell of Bow - which is not actually located in the area of Bow, but is actually the bells of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. The original church actually burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was rebuilt and destroyed during the Blitz and wasn't rebuilt again until the 1960s. As it's actual location is within the heart of the City of London, it is unlikely that anyone is actually born within earshot of the bells as it's not a residential area. And for a number of years it was impossible to be born within earshot as there were no bells! So Cockney Londoners are usually thought of as those from the East End.
• The tune of the nursery rhyme is meant to sound like the indvidual bells ringing which all have their own distinctive tune and pitch.
• There are various theories as to what the rhyme means, including representing the difficulties that Henry VIII had with his many wives, describing public executions and references to child sacrifice. However these are mostly totally unfounded as the last two lines about the execution were added at a later date to the original lines. 
• It is thought that the last few lines may have been added by children around 1783 when public executions at the Tyburn gallows drew crowds of up to 100,000.
• St Clement Danes' church bell now plays the tune of Oranges and Lemons as it's ring. 
• In Orwell's 1984, Winston cannot remember the whole of the nursery rhyme, with different parts provided by different characters throughout the novel with the final two lines coming very symbolically at the end of the novel. 

Hope you all have a great weekend! 

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!

Busy Quilting Bee

What's happened to all my craft projects? It would appear that I have totally neglected them over the past few weeks. But that's not actually the case - I just haven't been blogging them very much recently. I've been working on lots of textiles, of the quilted variety. You might remember that after my nephew was born, I made him a quilt out of some gorgeous fabric by designer Dan Stiles (you can see it here). 

So I decided to make some more! I've found some gorgeous fabrics over the past few weeks and have really enjoyed putting some of the colours and patterns together. Some of these have already been listed in my new online shop (click here!) and hopefully the others will be listed in the next week or so. What do you think? 

Love the little elephants on this

Possibly the most traditional one I've made - baby blues

OWLS! STRAWBERRIES! How cute are these fabrics? 

And as I loved the first Marine quilt, I thought I'd make another one... 

I seem to have caught a bit of a quilting bug at the moment... at the last count there were six new quilts and I definitely have plans for more. But I might have to take some time out of quilting for a few weeks because sadly it's time to get started on the next projects... I'll reveal more soon! 

By the way, if you are in London this weekend why not come to the Library Bar on Upper Street, Islington on Sunday? It's time for A Glamourous Affair again and I'll be back with some of the others from 12-5pm. And they do Thai food...

Some talented kids

It isn't just me who's leaving my school at the end of this week; our head teacher is retiring as well. So all the children across the school have been making presents for her. My year group decided to make a mosaic... which meant that over the past few weeks, 60 children have all had to don goggles and arm themselves with glass cutters to cut and fix the pieces. They designed the mosaic themselves, chose the colours (our head's favourite colour is green) and made it all. The only thing that I have done on this was instructing them how to do it and grouting it.

We had a bit of an issue when the first mirror didn't have the right adhesive. I was in the middle of polishing it up post-grouting when... SMASH! It fell out. I was in the classroom with my class at the time, who all sharply drew in their breath and went 'uhh!' Knowing how much work the children have put in to the project, it took a lot of self-control not to scream and burst into tears on their behalf, but luckily I managed to keep it together, calmly clear up all the pieces and then rang around to see if someone could cover my class while I ran to a hardware store to replace it. Anyway, the second mirror has been fitted properly and we gave it to her on Monday. What do you think of their work? I am seriously impressed with how good this looks - they even chose the order of the colours, got all the pieces the right size and helped sealing it properly. We have some fabulous kids in year 6! 

Mosaics for Men?

At both of the craft fairs I've been to recently people have asked whether I make any other kinds of jewellery with mosaics as well as pendants. The one that people keep coming back to is cufflinks - can I make some mosaic cufflinks as it's really hard getting presents for men?

I've been a bit dubious about making things like cufflinks or earrings as it involves making the exact same design twice. This doesn't sound that hard but sadly glass has it's own mind and will do what it wants, not necessarily what I want it to do! Even when I make a design more than once, it is always slightly different so I worried that it wouldn't look right. However, I finally came to the conclusion that people don't walk around with their wrists together comparing whether they are exactly the same and it's a hand-made, unique gift so... why not? 

It took a fair amount of sourcing to find suitable bezels for the cufflinks, but I think I have finally found some. I only got five pairs to start with as I wasn't sure how they would turn out and I obviously haven't made all of them yet - it takes a fair amount of time to make a design, cut the glass, make sure it's the right size, cut another piece because the first piece wasn't the right size, go and find a plaster as you've cut yourself again... sand down the pieces so they are smooth, attach them, wait 24 hours for them to dry, grout them, polish etc etc... and even longer to make two of the same! What do you think of those that I have made?

I can't quite get the colours right on the photo - these are a deep red with gold

Art-Deco Black and White

My personal favourites - shades of green with gold

I'm really happy how they have turned out. I'll be taking these ones with me to my craft fair this weekend where they'll be available for £20 a pair. If you'd like a pair yourself, just send me a message through the contact form saying which pair you would like. I also do custom orders so if you would like different colours / a different design, please just let me know and I'll see what we can come up with! 

A few designs

The last few weeks have been quite busy really but I've had a chance to finish a few bits and pieces in the past few days.

First of all: the mosaic commission! It's based on the rainbow drinks coasters I make and sell at my craft fairs. I was asked if I could use the same colours but that the actual design was up to me. I decided to make a series of concentric circles with a glass pebble in the middle. It always amazes me how different mosaics look before and after grouting them. Look:

In the process of making the mosaic

Finished mosaic - it's much darker now and has lost the vibrant glare.

Sadly the only photo I remembered to take of this was taken late at night when my camera decided it didn't really like taking photos after all so it's a bit blurry. Sorry! Anyway, do you like it? I'm quite happy with how it eventually turned out.

Secondly, I finally got around to changing a cushion cover. I've had a cushion for years and years and it was beginning to look pretty worse for wear. It was clearly beyond another tumble through the washing machine so I took the plunge, found some old scraps of material and made up a new cushion cover. You might recognise the material from the insane city quilt I made last year. It was actually surprisingly easy to knock together and probably only took about half an hour. In fact I am considering making some other new cushion covers with other scraps of material as I quite like the effect. I have some reds and pinks left over somewhere....

This week I'm going to work on some more small mosaics for the next craft fair I'll be doing (10th June, Keston Lodge, Islington for those who might pop in to say hello.) And I need to make a few more penguins as I'm beginning to run low on stock!