spring collection: sneek peak

Hello! As I mentioned previously, I've been thinking and thinking and thinking some more about life and Pocket Carnival and the like! While I've been thinking, I've also been working on a brand new collection for Spring 2011 which I'll be debuting at Design Made Trade in July.

I've never actually designed a collection all at once before, generally I just release a few new products each month. Designing a collection is challenging, that's a lot of designing! It also helps my organisation and is really enjoyable - I've chosen a colour palette that is joyful and fresh, but still fairly classic. The colours are for the most part based on colours I normally use, so a few of my current designs will be travelling into Spring (rainclouds is one of them! Fear not!)

I'm working with a bunch of my favourite patterns, and have been building on some pretty diverse inspirations including Moroccan tiling & woodland animals.

The whole collection is a bit different from past Pocket Carnival products, but I'm very excited and I hope you are too!

There will be a few brand new products and of course Pocket Carnival remains committed to using organic textiles, corn fibre stuffing, recycled cardstock and the like.

Bring on July!


(And of course, all images and content is copyright 2011 Pocket Carnival).

work in progress...

Usually I work on some purses one day, some cards the next, a little of this and a little of that. This week, however, has been a combination of being overwhelmed by what is happening in Japan, plus lots of purse orders. So it's been a sewing week.

I have been almost glued to my sewing seat, watching things or listening to music on the computer. I'm getting there... if I can get it all finished by Friday, the weekend will be so nice.

Miso soup for lunch... oh Japan, I hope you'll be okay! This nuclear stuff is so very scary. I guess it's an overwhelming and unwanted lesson that nuclear power can never be 100% safe, no matter how careful we are.

I did get a new fabric delivery today which is exciting! So many new products on the way, I can't wait to show you!

the real pocket carnival studio

Lara Cameron wrote on her blog a couple of days ago about the pressures we put on ourselves (and subsequently each other) to present a perfect image on our blogs. Not necessarily a perfect photo (although that helps!) but an idealised version of our craft, art, business & lives.

Her post very much sums up a lot of what I've been thinking and feeling lately. It's so incredibly difficult to stay motivated and keep on top of every single aspect of a business, especially when you work largely by yourself & from home. Argh. It can be super fun, but stressful too, obviously! I spend a bit too much time looking at other peoples blogs and imagining that if I was just that much neater, or the owner of that pretty chair or painting, etc etc, that my life would be so much more complete.

I'm sure lots of us do that!

I always do feel it's important to present a good image of Pocket Carnival, and myself. Obviously it's important to keep a clean & tidy workspace, and organisation is crucial. However clean, tidy & organised does not mean ready-to-be-photographed-for-a-magazine!

Usually when I put photos of my studio on the blog I spend ages rearranging everything and making it all picture perfect. Which is pretty unrealistic.

Generally whenever I want to take photos or have a general cleanup, Mr. Cardboard Box will be utilised. Oh dear.

I'm not 100% sure of the point of showing you my daggy old cardboard box (on my equally hideous grey carpet), but I guess it's just as a reminder to myself and others that behind every ideal looking house, studio or blog post, is very much likely to be a cardboard box, wardrobe or secret room full of mess, or undesirable furniture.

Perhaps just pop over to Lara's blog where she says it all so much more succintly, but I suppose this post is my response, and also my reminder to myself to stop worrying so much about it all!

I thought I'd finish with this wise old kitten - this is a peek at a new design. Kittens!

Whenever things are a bit quiet and I am not working on so many orders I try and get some designing happening. I find I go a bit whacky when I'm in design mode - it's hard!

Hope you like! Pencilcases & coinpurses soon!

studio, in purple & teal

Lately I've really been leaning into the purple, teal & lime green colour scheme. I don't know how it happened! But here it is.

Plus a renewed appreciation of pattern. Love my chevron woven basket... awesome op shop find!

This is why you should pre-wash fabric. I washed my curtains and they shrank! Oops. Oh well, they're still pretty.

The owl in the plant pot is courtesy of The Storybook Rabbit. So lovely!

Oh, the fabric pile. These are all the fabrics I'm supposed to be working with at the moment... Hmm. Never ending pile of sewing.

More creative spaces here.

my creative space: so many things

So many things happening at this time of year!

The gift tags have been selling - I always love to imagine big piles of lovely gifts, wrapped up with a Pocket Carnival gift tag. Hooray!

Lots more toys waiting to be stitched up after they've been stuffed with corn & hemp goodness... the toys are still on sale for a little while longer too!

Purses! A big pile.

And something new I'm working on... mmm lemons :)

For more creative spaces, take a little peek at the list of blogs on Kootoyoo!


P.S. Just added a few sample pencilcases to Etsy at a lovely sale price!

sneak peek

Often people ask me if my little animals and people have names. They never have names, but they often have a bit of a back story - I like to imagine where they might live, and what they might do. These frogs are pretty fancy in an 80s kind of way (of course prior to the '87 Stock Market crash).

Stay tuned for more, involving a Fedex delivery somewhere between Memphis and Honolulu. That's the life.

my creative space: the frogs

Frog skins! And something else too. All sewed up, and turned inside out, waiting for...

Stuffing! This is corn fibre stuffing, it's really similar to polyfill apart from the fact it's made of corn. Awesome! I use a combination of corn fibre and hemp stuffing. The corn fibre is from Inner Green - check them out.

Partially stuffed...

Softie army!

I am photographing the frog softies right now to put in the shop. They'll be for sale at Finders Keepers, along with a few other new items, which is exciting! I love having new things! More on these soon.

P.S. The other new softies may make an appearance at Finders Keepers, depending on how I'm going for time!
P.P.S. Remember the giveaway is still on!



Edited to add:
The frogs are now in the shop!


Bunny legs!

the owl quilt

I'm super sleepy today, and I choose to blame Daylight Savings. If I still had this quilt, I might be tempted to take a little nap under it, but it was a gift for my little Grandma, who has been through a rather rough patch, health-wise.

In the above photo, the quilt is folded twice, so you're seeing a quarter of it. It's somewhere between a single bed & cot size, and it's perfect for brightening up a hospital bed I think! It's not really a proper quilt, in that it doesn't have any batting inside, it's just organic cotton with my owls, and the back is pretty flannel from Patchwork on Central Park. I stitched down some of the tree trunks to keep both sides in place - alas, my skills at sewing such large pieces of fabric leave something to be desired, as the owl fabric ended up longer than the flannel, so it's a bit lumpy down the bottom. Oops.

This is another sneak peek of something. More very soon.

my creative space: hoot!

Cutting lots of fabric - usually I tear the fabric I use for lining, and then snip away with this handy template!


Check out this fabric. Found in an op shop, I know it's rather hideously 80s, but the colours are perfect with my new Owl Forest orangey colourway! I kind of love using an overscale print in a tiny purse, it makes it a bit dreamy. And hooray for finding a way to reuse that fabric, amiright?

The owl purses have been flying out the door (pun very intended), so have been sewing a bunch more. The orange ones will be online soon.

A box of goodness delivered to lovely Bec at Little Shop Of!

Zippers! Hopefully this boxful will last until after the big C (that's Christmas to you & me).

Checkitout - lovely Shannon found me these gorgeous vintage fabrics. They're destined for lining more purses!


For more sneak peeks at totes creative peeps, visit Kootoyoo (yes, it's one of those sugary, windy, sunny, cloudy, funny days).

huzzah!

Look what just arrived! New fabric! Organic cotton goodness! Thank you Spoonflower! I love you!

Large scale owls, this is for a personal project, will show you when I am done!

Cake! This cake right here, actually, from Have Cake Will Travel. I made it using a honey/agave combo instead of the specified maple syrup - it's got no cane sugar in it. And it's really good! And vegan! Love cake. It's a dense, chocolatey cake, and the recipe is quite forgiving (I tend not to measure when I bake). If vegan, low sugar cakes are your thing, take a peek at the recipe!

P. S. - the fabric competition this week on Spoonflower is Kawaii themed! I may have even entered, but it's all so so so cute! Love.

my creative space: new...

Something new! I've wanted to make these for awhile...

Lovely hemp & corn fibre stuffing - no polyfill here! I love things that are (eventually) biodegradable... (Not that I would want anyone to compost one of these, but you know what I'm saying.)

I've finally mastered the perfect hidden stitchy running stitch thing. Hooray!

And finally... new designs! Little sneak peek.

P.S. - there might be a sale coming up at Pocket Carnival - if you'd like to be notified by email, leave a comment or use the contact form!

xx Penny



For more lovely crafty types & their studios/creative spaces, get clicking at Kootoyoo!

from the weekend...

Daffodils from the St Kilda Farmer's Market - beautiful!

This weekend has been a combination of relaxing in a bake-y / flowers-y style, and sitting at my computer editing css and html and trying to fix my shop. I love hosting my own online store, yes I do, but this week I broke the fundamental rule of editing stuff online - understand what you're doing before you do it. I really like experimenting and not following instructions - you can get away with this when you're baking a cake or assembling some Ikea, but sometimes not so much with websites.

Fortunately, all of the data in my shop is safe & backed up. Unfortunately, the shop is now in a semi-online, moved state, and will take a few days to get back!

To make myself feel better (and also to create gifts) I made a batch of oatmeal chocolate raisin coconut cookies. Yesterday at the Farmer's Market, lovely Phillippa's Bakery was selling a delicious chocolate oatmeal slice. Delicious, but very buttery & sugary.

I found a recipe in my beloved Veganomicon cookbook and adapted away to make my own yummy, healthier & vegan cookies - I'll post the recipe next time I make them!

This recipe made a large amount of little cookies - thankfully I have lots of people to give them to!

More little fabric squares! But it's not a quilt.

Hope you're all having lovely weekends!

my creative space: new cards!

I like to try and have new products every month to keep Pocket Carnival fresh & happening... this month I've been a little bogged down in finishing a big bundle of new fabric designs (not to mention launching Little Websites) so everything's taking awhile!

The fabric's in the mail (hopefully) but these cards are now in the shop - my favourite is the little Lion in Snowshoes - you might be seeing more of this little guy soon!

Today I'm still just printing, scoring, folding & packaging cards... and watching dvds to keep me entertained!

xx Penny


For more lovely creative spaces, check out the list on Kootoyoo!

work in progress (sort of)

Not too much has been happening at Pocket Carnival HQ, apart from dvd watching and nose-blowing, and fist shaking at the never ending cold.

It hasn't been all bad - being confined to the couch for almost a week gave me a chance to finally draw some illustrations that have been in my mind (and my sketchbook) for a long time.

Hopefully with just a little bit more work, they'll be ready to be printed and packaged up very soon!

my creative space

More experimenting with the ceramic pens! I'm really enjoying them, but my problem is that a- I need more colours, and b- the pens aren't that fine, so it's hard to draw how I usually do. So progress is slow! But there will be some for sale soon, promise.

And sewing... I've almost run out of my fabric labels, and left it a bit late to order more, so I've mainly been sewing zips into things lately. Important, yes, the purses would not be so useful without a zip. But not quite as rewarding when I can't see the finished product!

I must say today was a bit of a go-slow day as well, what with all the excitement involving our new Prime Minister. It's lovely to have a lady up there, and one who'll hopefully remain true to her leftie roots!

For more crafty people and their creative spaces, visit the links on Kootoyoo.

my creative space

Hello! This week I've been trying some new things. First - new purse design! Hooray! I'll list these in the shop tomorrow, and I'll be sending some little coupons to my mailing list, so if you want on it, send me your email here!

I've also been baking - delicious lemon cake! It's vegan, lovely and moist and very lemony... the recipe is here. I put in a bit less sugar to make it seem healthier.

And finally... I have learned my lesson after the little debacle a few months ago when I designed some fabric for mobiles, AND had it printed without actually doing a test pattern first (oops!)

This is my little tester - it's an old screen print I had from my tote bag making days. This particular little bunny will be going to a super cute 6 month old (she won't mind it being wonky!) but watch this space for softies soon - they will be made of organic cotton and stuffed with natural fibres - perfect for hungry babies.