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!!

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! 

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...!

Love the Weekend

It's been a good weekend - well apart from the fact that I haven't left the flat in days and am going a little crazy... But I was really excited on Friday when I checked my e-mail and discovered that I had sold 2 (yes, 2) mosaic necklaces! How great is that? So a massive thank you to Julia from MyApplique who bought them (check out her Folksy shop - it's cute!) Part of me is a little sad to see them go - the mosaic one is one of the very first necklaces I made, and the Red Reflection one is my favourite design. But I'm glad they're going to such a nice person. Just in case you've forgotten what they look like - here are the two necklaces in their boxes about to be put in the post:

Posting these turned out to be harder than expected. I don't have business cards yet (because that would make me feel like a grown-up) so up to now I've been printing off a small card with the Creating Trouble logo on it and using it instead. Except for last night my printer decided it just didn't like me. At all. After about an hour or so messing around with it, Andy decided to try printing with the same printer from his Mac. And of course, it liked him. Admittedly we only managed to get one piece of paper out of it in full colour, and normally my cards are a LOT smaller than half an A4 sheet, but at least we managed to get something!

It was such a palaver (love that word!) Andy decided to design and order me some business cards. They should be arriving on Wednesday or Thursday and I'm really excited to see them!

AND... I follow quite a few other blogs and tend to comment when I see something I like or get asked a question. This weekend Kate from Scientific Culture posted a picture of one of her yetis and asked what people were up to this weekend. Apparently my comment was the most interesting response (it involved turning into a Yeti to be able to move) and she's sending me one of her cute badges! How cool is that?

Go & check out Scientific Culture on Etsy - really cute badges & more!

I'm getting a Yeti Thumbs Up badge... it's so cute! And in fact has quite a lot of character so I think he deserves a name... Any suggestions? Thank you Kate for deciding to send me a badge :-D

Artist's Feature: CinLynn Boutique

I'm really happy about featuring this month's artist. I've not met Cindy as she lives about a million miles away from me (over in Michigan) but she has been really supportive of my work over the past few months. She's been encouraging me when I've nearly thrown the towel in and I'm really happy to say thank you by giving her this month's feature. So thank you Cindy, and ...over to you! 

First up, a quick introduction...

My name is Cindy and I make jewelry and as of late, tote bags too. 

What got you interested and what inspires you further?

I've always had an interest in art, but never really found my niche until one day when my daughter-in-law gave me the tools to start making jewelry.  It didn't take me long to realize that I found my new love or, I guess you could say, obsession.  I get my inspirations by looking at beading magazines, looking at other jewelry designs (I don't copy), and by paying attention to what other women are wearing.

Do you have a favourite item? Does it have a story behind it?                 
I would like to say I have a favorite item, but I don't!  You see, my true favorites have either sold or I've kept them.  But I love everything I make or I wouldn't list them in the first place.  I'd tear them apart and re-make until I do.  I have a lot of items in my expired listings on Etsy right now just waiting for their re-make!


How would you describe your style?

I think my style is best described as eclectic.  I do a little of everything.  I love the simple classic styles, the beachy styles, etc.

Lots of artsy-craftsy folk juggle many different things in order to have time to spend on their chosen paths - how do you manage?

As far as juggling my life, yes, it IS a juggle!  I'm in the full time ministry as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and so I'm gone everyday for a few hours.  Then with my family to care for,  my house to keep up with, babysitting my grandchildren every other Friday, I have to MAKE time to make jewelry.  But so many of my friends have been such a great encouragement (because they love my jewelry), I continue to fit it in and I love it!  There has also been a lot of encouragement from fellow etsians;  I appreciate that too!

Are there any artists or crafters whom you admire or who have helped you along the way?
I do want to send a shout out to Deb of the Wuglyees shop on Etsy.  She has been such an encouragement to me that I can't even put in words just how much I appreciate her!  She's like my cheering squad!  :)

Do you have an online shop / blog / twitter / facebook page etc where people can find you? If so, please let us know
You can find Cindy in LOTS of places... I hope I've managed to remember them all!
website: http://cinlynn.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/Beadlynn7 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cindy.newell1#!/CinLynnDesignandBoutique1
Etsy:  http://CinLynnBoutique.etsy.com  
Blog:  http://cinlynnboutique.blogspot.com
Zibbit: http://www.zibbet.com/CinLynnBoutique

Be sure to visit Cindy at one of her many sites and Cindy - a big thank you for allowing me to feature you!