Friday Favourites

1. tin.numbers, 2. something blue, 3. katie eleanor, 4. Smile, 5. +, 6. be my valentine, 7. Untitled, 8. empyreume urbain, 9. the sfgirlbybay home office.

Wonder Hill Craft Market

Pretty soon everyone will have stopped following my blog, as all I seem to blog about is craft fairs! But yet here I am, blogging about yet another craft fair.... this one is at The Miller pub near London Bridge. I'm really looking forward to it as I had such a great time at the Crafty Fox Market last weekend, and I feel more prepared now for this one! If you're in London please do come along - details are below :)

Date: Saturday 31st April 2012
Time: 11:30am - 5pm
Where: The Miller, 96 Snowfields Road, London Bridge, SE1 3SS
 Why: because you love me and want to make me happy!

Hope to see some of your lovely faces there - I will be debuting some of my new products at the market too, so it's your chance to see them first as I won't be listing them on Etsy for a few weeks....

List 27: my favourite TV shows as a child

Although technically I was born in the 80s (1986 if you're interested!) I consider myself a true child of the 90s. I was too young to really enjoy shows from the 80s first time round, but instead I watched all the 90s kids shows going! I have such fond memories of so many of these TV programmes and, as lame and old as it makes me sound, they really don't make them like that anymore! Here are just a few of my favourites...

1. Rescue Rangers

2. Gummi Bears

3. Tots TV

4. Raggy Dolls

5. Talespin

6. Penny Crayon

7. Fun House (whole lot of fun, prizes to be won!)

8. Duck Tales

9. Muppet Babies

10. Eat Your Words (no-one else EVER remembers this - it was a game show on really early on a Saturday morning!)

11. Captain Planet

12. Wizadora

13. Clarissa Explains It All

14. Sabrina the Teenage Witch (oh my gosh I was obsessed with this show - when she clicks and her outfit changes - JEALOUS!)

15. Hey Arnold

16. Round the Twist

17. Are you Afraid of the Dark?

18. Eerie Indiana

19. The Raccoons

20. Mike and Angelo

How many of you remember these? And do you have any others to add to the list? The other day I spent a lot of time listening to the theme songs from some of my favourite 90s shows, and it made me feel all weird and nostalgic. It's so funny how, even though I haven't seen some of these shows for about 15 years, I still remember every single word of the theme song!

Friday Favourites

1. 20, 2. Quaint, 3. Shoppers, 4. Japanese tray and red needles, 5. Dala horses, 6. dear santa..., 7. polaroid love, 8. lakeside park, 9. Caramel Banana Omelette.

the little things

Writing blog posts late at night seems to be a bit of a recurring thing for me lately! It seems to be the only time I have to do it, but that's okay I guess. I've just got in from watching Los Campesinos! play at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, and my throat hurts from singing along so loudly. But before I head to bed I wanted to share a few photos of the little things in life that have been keeping me going. The last few weeks have been crazy busy, so I need all the help I can get!

these super cute hand knitted teddies I got from a charity shop in Malvern

finally getting all my accounts up to date (literally the best feeling ever!)

 instax mini photos from fun times with one of my favourite people

 this ridiculous poodle I found in a junk shop last week (it has two babies too!)

 wearing socks that look like burgers (from Lazy Oaf of course)

 the flowers coming out in our garden as a result of the gorgeous spring weather

 blue skies for miles (everything feels so much better when the sky is blue)

changing the desktop background on my computer to this super cute photo of my pupster

What little things keep you going during stressful times? xo

ladybird likes

this quote (taken from this adorable handmade calendar)

 this awesome DIY bedside table

 this incredible tutorial for a cyanotype printed constellation scarf

 these super cute nesting owl measuring cups

this beautiful illustration that sums up the weather right now

 this beautiful (and yummy) looking pink lemonade pound cake

List 26: things I have learnt since starting my own business

Starting your own business is a lot like learning to swim - no matter how long you spend wearing armbands in the shallow end, at some point you're going to end up jumping in the deep end and hoping you don't drown. And here ends the dodgy business analogy. But seriously, I'm the queen of preparedness (as well as being queen of many other unrelated things) and bought many books on starting your own business, read more blog posts than I care to remember on the subject, and emailed all my business-owning friends for advice. But none of that really prepared me for the reality of working for myself and running my own (albeit very small) business, so I thought I'd share with you all some of the things I have discovered over the last few months...

1. eight hours sleep a night is for wimps - you can still (mostly) function on only four hours of sleep a night, especially if you have spent the entire day drinking coffee

2. no-one bothers to find out your name before they email you - deal with it. Try not to get too angry when they address an email 'to shop owner' and definitely don't bother trying to work out why on earth they addressed it 'dear heidi' as your brain may implode.

3. making things is fun. Making 100 of the same thing is less fun.

4. if you try to use a sewing machine after being awake for 21 hours you will forget to put the foot down and end up making a huge mess, so just walk away and go to bed before you throw said sewing machine through the window.

5. you can never have enough crochet blankets because at 4am your craft room is absolutely freezing.

6. doing accounts is not fun. Not even a tiny little bit. Not even when you do your accounts whilst simultaneously watching a video of tiny puppies. I will give a million English pounds to the person who tells me how to make doing accounts fun.

7. there is no limit to the number of times I can rewatch Criminal Minds.

8. the vast majority of people are amazing, and understanding, and helpful, and supportive. However this means there are a small minority who will make you want to cry/punch a wall/throw your computer out of the window. Ignore them, take a deep breath, move on. Anger and hatred make people ugly.

9. you will want to throw lots of things out of the window.

10. you cannot do everything. Or maybe that should be you cannot do everything in one day.

11. not everything will be perfect all the time. Things will go wrong, you will have to prioritise and that means some things won't get done the way you want. It's okay though, no-one expects you to be perfect except for you.

Does anyone else have any gems of wisdom they have discovered since starting their business/becoming self-employed? I'd love to hear them! xo

Crafty Fox Market

I was lucky enough to wangle a place at the Crafty Fox Spring Market - they always have tons of stall applicants, and I didn't really think I would get a stall, but somehow I did, and since then I have been non-stop crafting! This will be my first EVER craft fair as a stallholder, and I'm feeling a mix of excitement and nerves at the prospect. I will be selling my wares in The Dogstar in Brixton all day on Sunday 25th March if any Londoners fancy stopping by. In addition to my Etsy shop items, I will also have some craft fair exclusives (which I will be sharing some sneak peeks of next week), plus some new items which will be launching first at the Crafty Fox Market, but will be available in my Etsy shop in the next few weeks.

If you live in London I would definitely recommend checking out the market - there are so many awesome sellers lined up, I'm sure it will be a great weekend. Oh, and if you do drop by on the Sunday and see me be sure to say hello :) xo

Friday Favourites

1. photo by Barbra Ziemer, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. .0226, 7. Plates, 8. Polish Forest, 9. Bird Plants

Friday Favourites

1. 72250016, 2. Rose Macaroon Ingredients., 3. emily_0012, 4. Spring cranes, 5. a fine day for sailing, 6. New Banner!, 7. Musée Rodin, 8. IMG_0369, 9. mistake

the great escape (part 2)

So here are the outdoor shots from my brief jaunt to stay with my dear friend Lucy. I stayed the night and the following day we went on a three hour walk with her dog Onion who, it would seem, is not a dog but rather a bottomless pit of energy. Seriously, I was dead after the walk. And it wasn't just a walk... oh no, there was snow involved people. And hills. Plural. But nah, in all honesty I enjoyed it. Poor old Jasper can only walk for about half an hour before he is pooped!

 we even saw cows! they smelt pretty bad, but they look so cuteeeee

 these signs ALWAYS make me this of Alice in Wonderland

 ugh such a beautiful forest - I need to live near a forest as I'm pretty sure I could spend the rest of my life in there taking photos and building forts

Thank you to my dear friend Lucy for letting me run away from my life for a few days, and for putting up with my need to go in every single charity shop within a mile radius! xoxo

the great escape (part 1)

A couple of weeks ago (ha, how many of my posts start like that?!) I went to stay with my bestie Lucy for a few days to escape the city and have a break. I was burnt out, having been working non-stop since about October getting ready for my Etsy shop opening. You may remember me mentioning Lucy before on my wee blog - she owns and runs Creighton's Chocolaterie along with her parents out in Leighton Buzzard. So obviously I spent some of my weekend hanging out in the shop, sampling the good....

yeah, so this chocolate bar was inspired BY ME! I'm obsessed with peanuts and chocolate, so Lucy made this chocolate bar in my honour. It tastes like a chooclate and peanut butter whoopie pie which, in case you've never had one, is basically incredible. Ignore the fact it says 'nutter' in the title - I suggested simply naming it 'the zoe' (like 'the rachel' haircut) but apparently not...

 Valentine's Day window...

 ...and Valentine's merchandise (wish I liked white chocolate!)

for some reason some of these photos have a greenish tinge - any ideas why? pretty sure it's not they type of film as I've used it before... maybe the lighting?

 BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER - I couldn't even finish it, it was so rich and chocolatey (I had already consumed half the chocolate shop by this point and it kind of pushed me over the edge!)

 I stayed at Lucy's new pad, which she has made look amazing! She has the BEST taste, particularly in art prints, and I had to take a few photos to show you my favourite bits of her house....

these prints - on their own they are ace, but together they are perfection

 painted ceramic flying geese - her living room has a kind of peach and gold vibe, but with added bits of colour

 you all know how much I love crochet blankets, and Lucy has her own little collection going on too - plus look at the plush birdie which she MADE herself (there is literally no end to her talents)

 THIS = AMAZE

 uhhhhhhhhhh need this need this need this - can't stop thinking about this light fitting and how I could incorporate it into a photoshoot (ps. look at the bits of peach and aqua walls in the background - ahhhhhh)

These are the 'indoor' photos from my time away, and tomorrow will be the 'outdoor' photos featuring, wait for it, SNOW. Yup, these are kind of old, so there was still snow when I took them! HA! xoxo

Friday Favourites

1. Jaklamyra, 2. Untitled, 3. my sister in law is married!, 4. wool embroidery, 5. Untitled, 6. Tulipan, 7. Untitled, 8. Rock & Shop Market poster, 9. Green

Blog and Buy Sale: Stall 6

Hey everyone! Just a quick blog post (I'm currently working on making a ton of stock for my four craft fairs coming up) to say that I am currently one of the stalls over at the awesome Blog and Buy Sale. Every month they showcase a range of new artists and designer/makers, and this month I am one of them :) Please do go and have a look at my stall and feel free to tweet about it too. And there are lots of other wonderful stalls up there too, including the uber talented Magasin who makes incredible cross stitched accessories and jewellery.

Last week I learnt how to do a screenshot for the first time, and have been taking screenshots of EVERYTHING. It's quite a nice way to keep a record of how things look, and where I've been featured, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon. Or at least I hope so...

Anywho, back to work I go. But fear not, next week I'm going to be doing a little giveaway! YAY! xoxo