Heeeeeeere's Pippa!

So after my initial excitement at having a blog, in the 6 months since I set it up I have entered nada. Nothing. Not a sausage. I'd love to come up with some good reasons for it, but unfortunately just keeping up with my everyday life seems to have become a bit of a challenge in itself. But all that's about to change, I promise. Spring is upon us, and you'll be hearing much more from me from now one. Cross my heart and hope to hoot.

So what have I been up to? Well, there's been highs and lows in the world of the owl. The party hat came out for a few occasions, and there were a few when it definitely went back in the box.

Some of you may be aware that I have a partner-in-craft, otherwise known as the lovely Mary Foley of Quite Contrary Crafts.

http://quitecontrarycrafts.blogspot.com

As well as being horribly talented and a thoroughly good egg, she also happens to be my best friend, and we’ve come together to create ‘The Owl and the Butterfly’, an almost regular market stall on Greenwich Market, South East London. The stall sells both of our items and is manned exclusively by us and our nearest and dearest.

After the disappointments of trying to get a stall at the market every weekend in the cold of winter and being turned away, our luck changed in January and we had a really positive response to our products and the stall in general. Since then we’ve been doing a stall every three or four weeks and doing a steady trade, though it’s still peaks and troughs for both of us really. Here’s a pic of our latest stall, complete with bunting because, lets face it, everything looks better with bunting.



Sadly, as Mary is deserting me for the North and that crazy little thing called love (you know I’m kidding, Maz!), the future of the stall is a little uncertain at the moment. I for one am hoping we find a way of continuing it as it’s great to get out there and meet people. I think when you’ve made something yourself all the feelings around it are much stronger – the disappointment when you haven’t sold as much as you’d like, and the elation when it really takes off. So fingers crossed!

Apart from craft, I’ve finally managed to get the garden done now (including the hanging baskets which I’ve been boring my friends with for weeks). The fluff baby has discovered the joy of sitting in the sun, though he’s so sweet as he has to keep his eyes closed because it’s too bright, so he just follows sounds with his head. Too cute!

The boy is currently in Canada enjoying the last of a very late ski season (and from the sounds of it many pints of beer afterwards) so I’ve been able to get busy with the craft in the last week and I’m aiming for more this weekend as I have no plans except a yoga class on Saturday morning. I’ve got a photoshoot booked in for Friday with the rather lovely Beth Harwood of B-Seen photography, so you’ll be seeing (see what I did there?!) the results of that before too long, both in my Folksy shop and on here.

On a totally unrelated issue, hope you Brits out there have voted today. Remember, if you don’t cast your vote, you can’t bitch about it later ☺

Peace out and keep it nice,

Pippa

First blog

So I'm new to this, so I'm not really sure what to say, other than hello and welcome to my blog!

This is where I intend to blog to you lovely people about how my double life as a childrens' book editor/accessories designer is going, including new ideas for designs, techniques and materials. Basically it's a craft manifesto (craftifesto? Does that work?) laid out in the domain of the interweb, blending age-old manufacturing techniques with 21st century technology. Geddit? Good, as I think I'm waffling a load of bobbins, and if you've followed me thus far it will stand you in good stead to continue.

So this weekend was a mixed bag really. Finally, finally, FINALLY managed to make a profit at the London Designer Makers sale this weekend, and while it was only £32.50 it still restored my faith that what I make is good and people will pay money for it. I'm not sure if any of you other creative types feel this way, but sometimes I really struggle with having the self-belief to put myself out there, to say to the world 'I have made this and it is good'. Somehow after all the effort I put in, I always end up seeing the negative in what I've done, so to have people actually pay their own money for it is just great, and has given me the boost I needed.

With that in mind, much of Sunday was spent in a creative daze, though not all of it as successful as I would have preferred. Dabbled in more embroidery, some good, some treading the fine line between shoddy and shoddier!!! But practise makes perfect, so I'll get there I'm sure. Pictures of new designs to follow :-)

In bad news though, my Nana has fallen on some black ice and broken her hip - poor lady. It will be so strange having her in hospital over Christmas and not home with us. Dad was in a bit of a state about it, especially with the divorce coming through this week, and now the holiday he was supposed to be taking with Nana, that he was really looking forward to, may have to be cancelled. Felt so bad for him last night; don't ever hear my dad that upset and it was awful. It's pretty depressing how hateful human beings can be to each other. Gotta always think about the karma, guys! Do good things and good things will happen, I believe it.

Anyway, back to pretending to work while in actual fact I'm enjoying a bit of Black Eyed Peas and typing this blog! Ha ha! Not that I'm being horrifically lazy though; literally all I have to do is sort my email inbox out, and when it's this cold in the office and 2 days away from Christmas holidays, who but the dullest among us could muster the enthusiasm for such a mundane thing?!

More crafting tonight, along with making my now legendary leek and potato soup for the boys. Am I letting the sisterhood down by enjoying that kind of stuff? There's a whole nest of hornets there for you to think about . . .

Peace out and keep it nice!

Pippa