Business As Usual

I'm back at Storeyshop HQ after a busy 5 weeks of freelancing in London. I was covering my old job as senior designer on Company magazine as well as getting to help out on the second edition of their 'High Street Edit' fashion magazine. An entire magazine nicely designed, on lovely matt paperstock and entirely about shopping. My dream!

I loved being back in Soho with every shop I could ever wish for on my doorstep each lunch hour but the thrill did wear off (somewhere during week three, I think) and I'm very happy to be back in the Northumberland hills with scalpel and card in hand.

Apologies again to anyone who wanted personalised cards while I was away. I couldn't keep up with orders on top of full-time freelance hours and commuting in and out of London (I stayed with my parents in Sussex for most of my London stint). All personalised orders are available again now though. Absence definitely made the Storeyshop heart grow fonder too as I have lists of new ideas and products to get cracking on! Although I am back to the lonely single tea runs, there's nothing like time in an office to make you appreciate working from home on something you love.

Here are some photos of a recent order I made for personalised menu cards. They were for a bright, colourful-themed wedding in France.










While I was away I also reached my milestone of 1500 Etsy sales. Woo hoo! I will be running a giveaway very soon to celebrate!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas and New Year! Storeyshop will be staying open over the festive period but please be aware that custom orders and deliveries may be a wee bit slower.

There are some photos of Storeyshop and other handmade goodies on sale in the Christmas Pop Up Shop at Oblong Gallery in London here (click on 'Exhibitions' and use the next button top left to look through the Christmas shop images). The shop closes today but there are some great exhibitions coming up in the New Year too.

I was working in London last week at Company magazine which was great timing for my last minute Christmas shopping and catching up with friends down there. It was nice to be working away from home too so that I could properly 'come home' for Christmas! Have a lovely one everyone!

Storeyshop at Oblong Gallery

Storeyshop hand-cut cards are available for a limited time in the Oblong Gallery's Christmas Pop Up Shop! Details and opening times are all on their website.

Well I am back up north after my busy weekend down south. It was fab to be back in Sussex and to see my family and friends again. Friday night was my friend Lisa's birthday beer and cider festival where she had the best 'pick your nose' paper cups ever!








Saturday was We Make Christmas in London so it was an early start. The fair was quieter than I was expecting considering the great, central location but it was still worth doing and fun to see other Etsy people. Monkeys and cards were the best sellers and I think a few more monkeys will be unwrapped on Christmas day now, including the cutest little girl who took a shine to the monkeys we had hung up in the foyer. She has a monkey on it's way to her if her Dad has managed to keep it a surprise!











Saturday evening was a lift back to Sussex (thanks Ma and Pa!) via M&S for quick dinners all round and then dressing up for Grace's 80's birthday party. I wore a shiny, puff-sleeved, shoulder-padded jacket courtesy of eBay and managed to look really awful not even just funny! It was great though. My friend Caz even wheeled out an original 'Jason & Kylie' t-shirt. Top marks!

Sunday was visiting my sister and brother in law's for lunch to catch up with them and my nieces and nephew. A viewing of 'Polar Express' with advance warnings of everything than was about to happen minute by minute and a few games of 'Pass The Bomb' later, we relaxed infront of 'Antique's Roadshow'.

Wedding invites today so I am currently printing, cutting and tieing (is that a word?) ribbons. After that it will be taking photos of new monkeys and adding them to Storeyshop.

Ta ra

We Make Christmas lists

I am surrounded by lists! I am heading down south for We Make Christmas tomorrow and have to remember everything I will need for the fair as well as an eighties fancy dress outfit for my friend's birthday party and some local ales and a warm outfit for another friends birthday beer festival. I'm a list girl at the best of times and these ones are getting long!

I am still trying to stock up on Storeyshop goodies for the fair. I haven't been albe to make as much as I'd have liked but I have had a couple of very busy weeks with lots of Christmas sales and orders.

My arms are still aching from cutting 8 more personalised Christmas cards yesterday including some of the longest messages I have cut so far and these two...








Tonight is going to be spent making more monkeys and cutting some more cards as well as packing up todays sales ready for the post office in the morning. Then packing for the busiest weekend ever!

Ta ra

Storeyshop Monkeys

I am busy making monkeys this week to stock up for We Make Christmas (see my previous post for details). They are selling well so I am having trouble stock piling but it is all good. I am enjoying making again after my busy month of magazine design and have lots of plans for new Storeyshop products too. I am away tomorrow but I think Storeyshop is being featured on the We Make blog so do have a look!

This is the latest monkey I have made for a lady on Facebook. There is a Storeyshop Facebook group you can join and also 'Your Sock Monkey Needs You' group. Everyone welcome!

We Make Christmas!

We Make Christmas is soon approaching so I am busy making. Here's an invite.. Everyone very welcome. See you there!

Something Lovely!

Blue Spotty monkey is now available to buy on Something Lovely. It's a fab online shop with lots of beautiful things! Let's hope he gets lots of admirers and does Storeyshop and Something Lovely proud. Storeyshop monkeys are still jetting off around the world. Two went off to Las Vegas this morning and two emigrated to Canada last week!

I am still stupidly busy with the new magazine, logo designing and Storeyshop but it's fun and definitely keeping me occupied. Beca and I have just signed up do do another We Make craft fair in London at Christmas time so I'll be packing a case full of Storeyshop goodies again and trundling down to London. Will keep you posted..

Oh yeah, click here and here for a couple of photos of Storeyshop's stall at We Make London in June!

Ta ra

We Make London

Not long now.. Everyone very welcome!

Back Up North

My latest freelance stint in London went well. I got back home really late on friday and then Dave and I headed off to the Lake District early on saturday for a bank holiday camping trip. Neither of us had any mobile phone signal at all so trying to find our friends who had come up from Reading was all done with paper notes attached to cars. Much more fun! It's lucky Dave's Ibex 4x4 is very recognisable!

We had a great time. The weather was lovely and sunny just really windy! Our tent held up at night (some poor people's didn't!) but it was very noisy and we didn't get much sleep. I was grumbling about hating camping at one point in the night when the wind was literally lifting the edges of the groundsheet up, I was freezing cold and had to brave it outside to go to the toilet. In the morning though, with bacon cooking on the little camping stove, I loved camping again!









Right, I must go and finish off my card orders. I made 5 yesterday and I have 2 more to make today along with a monkey who needs packing up and sending to the U.S. Then it's more monkeys and bags to start making ready for We Make and the shop.

Ta ra

Older

I had a fab birthday! I managed to celebrate for 4 days, ate lots of nice food, saw my friends and family and got lots of nice presents. I like being 27 so far! This week I'm working in London again on Cosmopolitan magazine. It's good. I'm enjoying being back in the city but am also looking forward to getting back to Storeyshop. Beca has started printing her own fabric and it looks so nice! She has made me some to make little bags out of, looking forward to creating those!

The posters are going up around London for 'We Make'. Beca is hand-printing paper bags and business cards and I am thinking up new card designs. Woo hoo, not long now!

We Make London

The craft fair 'We Make London' is fast approaching and Beca and I are busy making new Storeyshop goodies to take along! Hopefully Storeyshop will be featured on the We Make blog soon too. Have a look at the blog for details of all the other sellers who will be at the fair and for links to their Etsy shops if you can't make it to London to see them. There are some gorgeous things!

I'm creating a new range of generic greetings cards to sell at the fair. Here's the latest..

Living The Country Dream

I'm back to the Storeyshop making! I have finshed my latest stint on the magazine in Newcastle (it was so nice having a lie-in this morning!) and I have spent most of today making cards and taking better photos of my remaining sock monkeys still for sale.

I have just got a treasury on Etsy. Da daa!



One day one of them has to make the front page!

Going to call it a day soon and get dinner and relax. Maybe head down The Black Bull for a swift one. Hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow so we can get out for a walk or a bike ride. Oh yeah, I took my camera the other day when Dave and I went for a walk around our new homeland. Here are a few (I got a bit snap happy!) of the photos..









Look how lovely it is. I have my days when I do wonder why I ever moved out to the countryside. When I am waiting for the 6.50am bus to start a job at 9am for example! Being able to walk into gorgeous scenery from your front door makes it all worthwhile. The thing I most hated about living in London was that you couldn't just walk to anywhere rural. It always had to be a big all day mission in the car or on the train.

Next time I'm waiting at a freezing cold bus stop in the dark I have to remember that!!

Ta ra

Back In The City

I'm in London today. It's a gorgeous sunny day and I'm in the office working on the magazine. It's a quiet spell so I thought I'd update my blog. I came down Monday morning and finished off a sock monkey on the journey. I'm sure the train guard walked past an exra few times trying to work out what I was doing.

Here's a photo of him all finished sitting comfortably for the rest of the journey!



This week has been really busy but good fun and a nice change to working on my lonesome at home. It has been a bit of a break for my scalpel fingers but I have still been getting orders and making them after work and during lunch hours. I have just made a card for someone's aunt who is about to turn 100. How cool is that?!



More cards to make after work tonight and then I'm back on the train heading home. I'm glad. London was always a bit too hectic for me and, now that I'm used to the rural countryside, it's even more so. A couple more crammed tube and train journeys and then back to the fields.

Here are some photos of the Chinese New Year lights on Oxford Street..





Ta ra

Card Central

I can't believe it's friday already. This week has gone so fast. I have been scalpelling for England with the card orders! I have lost track of how many I have made and there's still plenty more to do, not that I'm complaining! My fingers are getting quite sore now though and I'm racking up the scalpel cuts. I think I'm going to have to start buying plasters en mass along with scalpel blades.

Here are some of the latest creations..










I have hopefully arranged some freelance design work on a magazine up north which is good news. I do like the a trip down to London to work for the odd week here and there but it will nice to come home in the evenings after work and it also means I can keep up with Storeyshop better.

I definitely need a break from card cutting so I'm quite looking forward to a week on the Mac next week freelancing down at Company magazine. I get to catch up with all the girls there too. I miss the daily catch ups and banter (and the cafe round the corner for mushrooms on toast!)

I really hope the weather improves for the weekend. It's been snowing, hailing, raining and generally grey for the last couple of days. Monday was lovely and sunny when I went over to Newcastle for my meeting and it made me want to go back and explore the town more. One day of my weekend will be DIY on the bathroom I think but the other day I'd like to go out somewhere. There's so many places up here that I haven't been yet!

Ta ra

Oh, and my target for sales by the end of January nearly made the 60 mark let alone 50! This 'setting targets' thing works :)

Getting all high tech

I'm back from my week working on the animation in London. I made lots of miniature things out of cardboard in a big studio in Stockwell. Very fun and I can't wait to see the finished animations taking shape!

Today I have been getting all high tech. I have managed to get all my songs off my old vintage iPod Mini that I have had for years and into iTunes to add to Dave's new fancy iPod he got for Christmas. Him with his swish new toy and me finally joining the digital revolution with my new camera, we're a bit behind but we're getting there! I have been loading CD after CD into the computer too to add lots more songs. It's taken all afternoon but we have broken the 1000 mark. The iPod takes 20,000 songs so a little bit of space left!

I've been designing cards while the songs have been uploading. I have 5 card orders to do today and tomorrow which is fab! I'm really enjoying making cards to fit around people's requests for names and imagery etc. I'll get the finished cards onto here very soon.

Oh yeah I remembered to bring my camera lead back home too so I can add some festive photos..



This is the spectactular display of Christmasness awaiting our arrival at Dublin Airport!



And this is our New Years Day swim in the sea!!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008 to everyone and I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

I'm back at home after a hectic few weeks working in London then heading to Sussex to my family for Christmas then back up north for Christmas II with Dave's family and then to Ireland to stay with friends for New Year! A fab time was had by all and I have lots of photos which I will put up when I get my camera lead back (I left it at my parents by mistake, grrr!)

The highlights were seeing my friends and family again, eating lots of nice food, getting and giving (hopefully) lots of nice presents and swimming in the Irish sea on New Years Day! Have a look at the 'Zimmer Swimmers' link on the right for video proof!

Now I'm back to the card making and monkey stuffing. I have a steady stream of orders to keep me busy until I spend next week back in London working on the cardboard animation project again which I'm looking forward to! It's snowing today which is all very nice but I really hope it doesn't affect my trains to and from London...

Ta ra

Here's a few cards I have made recently but haven't been able to reveal in case people saw them who shouldn't!

Ready to sew!

I'm back up north and ready to get sending and making!
I was freelancing in Cardboard land all last week back down in London. It was very fun but really tiring and I did get lots of UHU glue headaches and papercuts! Just to recap, Beca and I were working with Maggie who we went to university with. We were (and Beca still is) making town scenes and room interiors entirely out of mostly brown, corrugated cardboard. As you do! It's looking good and when it's finished I'll add some pics on here. We didn't have any internet access in our little office though so I felt a bit stranded from the world and was missing updating my blog and checking Etsy.

I'm very pleased to be back in Haltwhistle, even if the weather is horrible and rainy. I have sold 2 monkeys over the weekend so I'm getting them all packed up today and ready for their journeys and I have a birthday card to make which needs to be in the post by this afternoon too. Other than those things, I am going to get sock monkey and bag making today. I'm planning to do some new personalised card listings on Etsy too.

The bathroom up here is useable now which is quite a treat! It's still missing floorboards so you have to be careful not to fall down the holes and probably through the kitchen ceiling but mustn't grumble!

This is one of my favourite monkeys which has just sold and is off to live in Manchester..




Ta ra!

PS: Note my new links to Morganstreet, Rawsoil and 2minutesplease blogs on the right --->
They have all added lovely mentions of Storeyshop products!

Back in London

I'm back at the magazine this week. It's been busy but fun being back in the office. The Christmas decorations are all up in London too which always makes me feel festive. It's so much warmer down here than up north too. I always thought that was a bit of a cliche and that you wouldn't really notice the difference but you definitely do!

Also I have been popping into the office round the corner where Beca is creating a cardboard wonderland! She is working with Maggie who we lived and university'd with when we were in Bath. It's a bit of a long story but they're producing an animation all made out of card and Beca and I are invited! I'm not sure how much I can reveal about it all but I'm working there next week and really looking forward to it actually. I just hope my craft skills are up to it..

Nearly hometime. I'm staying at my parents tonight in Sussex so I have a bit of a commute to get down there on the train but it's nearly friday so it's all ok. Back up to Haltwhistle tomorrow evening. Oh, I got 2 more card orders on Etsy today too which is fab so I'll make them on saturday morning when I'm back home.

Sorry bit of a boring blog today. I will add pics and maybe make up some more exciting news soon!
Ta ra

Back in the city

I'm back at a desk in an office in central London. About the most different surroundings to my normal ones of 'sewing in the lounge' or 'cutting out cards on the kitchen table' that you can get. It's making a nice change but the early starts and train journeys are already taking their toll. I think I have the beginnings of a sore throat. But that might just be from a very smokey bonfire party on saturday night. Hopefully.

Talking of fireworks night, there is video footage of me running away from an exploding bonfire so I'll have to get hold of it to add on here! It's funny and not as dangerous as it sounds. I was just worried about my new 'Topshop special' coat getting burn holes.

Going to get some photos developed at lunchtime from my old school 35mm camera. I'm excited. It's one of those films which has all different things on from just having my camera in my bag on random occassions. I love getting photos back. I'll add some on here if there's any good'uns..

Oh yeah I'm also excited as lots of people (well, 59 ..not bad!) have joined our Storeyshop Facebook group. Just need all their friends to join. And all their friends. And all THEIR friends...

Ta ra