Some new friends x

As promised I have returned and promise to blog on a much lighter note this evening!  I also mentioned that I have been working on some new products, and this post gives you a little insight into my little one/ world.  If you follow my blog or have seen my work before you will know that I love trees. Love with a capital 'L' I find them magical, intriguing, comforting, grounding...I love the way they change with the seasons, the roots and trunk and branches and leaves...I also love the things that you might find in a tree, like a beautiful baby bird or even better a tiny tree house.  Ok, I think I've illustrated my point...

Anyway I have long been thinking about my little trees; the Happily Ever After Tree and my favourite Miss Peabody and wondering what little creatures might live in their trunks or climb their branches. That led to many happy hours of sketching and scribbling.  As usual for me I designed far too many little peeps and then had to be vaguely business minded and narrow it down to just a few...so here they are, works in progress...

Below is little Isabella, she is frightfully serious and needs a little encouragement to lose her inhibitions and just have fun!  She wouldn't dream of climbing a tree but instead nests in the hollow trunk of Miss Peabody wrapped in a cosy blanket knitted by her mum and only comes out when her scarf is carefully in place.  She does love to draw, play hopscotch with her woodland friends and has a splendid collection of pebbles, leaves and acorns all kept in shiny glass jars on very tall shelves deep in the trunk of the tree...

'Hello' says little Isabella...she comes with a pink stripy sweater and matching pink scarf or her weekend attire of a pale green knit with matching scarf...nb she doesn't like to mix and match...I did warn you she is quite a particular little bunny...

Now you might recognise this little chap...yes, he is Trevor from the Topsy Turvy Tree.  I have had so many requests for a cuddly Trevor to sit alongside his tall skinny tree.  He has a very smart green waistcoat with three shiny green buttons.  He has strong legs and floppy arms so he can wrap them tightly around you...

And finally the baby of the group...little Mille.  You need to keep an eye on her, she is a real 'curious george' and doesn't always do what she is told.  She lives in the branches of the Love Apple Tree and often eats so many sweet juicy apples that she gives herself a terrible tummy ache. Mille loves to play hide and seek, I hope you won't lose her!

Alas I have slipped into my little one/ world...I am most definitely a frustrated story teller.. I have dreams of huge collections of my tree cushions lining sofas and heaped onto beds making wonderful magical  enchanted forests.  I love to think of children inventing stories about the trees and making life long friends with Mille, Trevor and Isabella...whispered conversations to these special trees and forest friends long after the lights are switched off and they are tucked up in their snuggly beds...

And so to bed for me...and in case you're wondering Miss Peabody is on my bed.  She props me up whilst I am reading and then scrunches up when I fall fast asleep. Jake has a large collection of trees and friends in his nursery and I can't wait until he asks me to tell me why Mr Melancholy tree is sad, or why does Trevor live in the Topsy Turvy tree x 

Back from hibernation...x

Oh where to begin..? First of all I must apologise for disappearing in mid-December.  I have to admit that at one point I thought I might have gone for ever (from my blog that is) but I have made the brave decision to start typing and just take one small step at a time.  Sorry if I sound super dramatic, it is after all just a little blog about little old me and my slowly growing baby business but in November and December things got quite crazy as I had taken on so much and I realised that the most important thing was not nurturing my floundering little business but nurturing my precious little baby boy. 

I think I set myself the impossible task (or very difficult at least) of taking my business to the next step in the hope that I might at one point in the near future be able to be a stay at home mum.  This meant not only making lots of lovely things but the all important selling!  I therefore needed to get my products to the people so signed up to do five fairs between mid October and mid December. All sounded fine in theory but with the preparation of making all of the products and then the time spent at the fairs I realised that turning one/ into a full time venture with a full time job to return to and a little boy to get to know was just not possible at this time.

So I literally returned from my last fair, put all of my cushions and trees in the loft and became a full time mummy for a while..and my little bundle has very quickly grown from this...

To this...I definitely made the right decision!  How could I miss a moment...

We had a lovely first family christmas together and have played, walked, row row rowed the boat in sing-along, stretched in baby yoga, made our first splash in the swimming baths, dipped our fingers in the sea and thrown countless plates of food all over the floor...it has been great, but now I am ready to come out of hibernation and stop being scared of failure.  I realised that having my business and designing and making lovely things are as much a part of me as being a mum and to stay whole and happy one/ is an important part of that.

Maybe I will never sell in Liberty or make a name for myself like Donna Wilson but I will keep designing, making and trying!  Hundreds of one/ products are already all over the UK as well as in many different countries so I am moving in the right direction.

Well anyway, sorry for the slightly rambling and hopefully not too tedious blog post, I just wanted to try and explain and hopefully have made some sense.  I can't tell you how many times I have sat at my laptop to write this post and haven't been able to, so now that it's written I can move onto lighter and more colourful things and will show you some of the new things that I have been working on as well as giving you a little peak into my studio.  

I promise to be back soon x

Super duper special christmas offer x

Help me and get a super duper bargain at the same time..! Sound good? Then read on to find out more...I am longing to design some new products in the new year and have already done sketches for a 'good morning', 'good night' cushion, a trevor bear cushion with ears and some tree screen prints...I can't wait to turn my sketches into lovely new products, but alas I am running out of space in my little upside down house in Parsons Green and need to clear some space. So I have decided to have a sale to create some room for new things in the new year and also to thank my lovely customers for all their support with my business over the last six months...

So here goes with the special offers...I have reduced my lovely bird reversible shoppers and meadowsweet reversible shoppers from £20 to £6 (more info below)

Lovely bird shopper in natural cotton. Printed in peach. The lovely bird shopper is lined with co-ordinating peach stripes and is fully reversible. All shoppers come packaged in a cotton drawstring bag for snug and safe storage and with a hand printed gift tag and tiny badge to personalise.

All badges are handmade so illustrations and colours will vary but will co-ordinate perfectly with your meadowsweet shopper.

Height: 41cm, width 37cm, straps: 62cm.

Perfect to carry your groceries. Great to store children's toys or even as a baby girl's nappy bag.

Meadowsweet shopper in natural cotton.

Available in beechy brown embroidered in cream and peach and in cream embroidered in green. The meadowsweet shopper is lined with co-ordinating beech brown or green dots and is fully reversible.

All shoppers come packaged in a cotton drawstring bag for snug and safe storage and with a hand printed gift tag and tiny badge to personalise.

All badges are handmade so illustrations and colours will vary but will co-ordinate perfectly with your meadowsweet shopper.

Height: 41cm, width 37cm, length of straps: 62cm.

And I have reduced the last few clementine wooden hoop bags from £34 to £12...!

Clementine wooden hoop bag in two beautiful colour ways. Choose from natural cream cotton and blue or cream and green. The cream and blue Clementine is printed and embroidered in blue and is lined with co-ordinating blue stripes . The cream and green Clementine is printed and embroidered in green and is lined with co-ordinating green dots. Both Clementine bags are fully reversible.

All Clementine bags come packaged in a cotton drawstring bag for snug and safe storage and with a hand printed gift tag and a selection of three badges to personalise.

All badges are handmade so illustrations and colours will vary but will co-ordinate perfectly with your clementine bag. Each Clementine bag comes with one large badge and two small badges. One of the small badges is embellished with faux pearls or tiny crystals.

Clementine bags measure approximately 23cm by 30cm by 9cm

All of these products are available on my Not in the High Street shop, but to receive the super duper special offer which is on until 19th December please send me an email to kate@one-ofakind.co.uk and I will send you a paypal invoice...happy shopping x

ps buy two or more products and receive an extra drawstring bag of badges to customise your bags x (and the boring bit...I will add £2.00 to your paypal request to cover postage and packaging)

Spreading the word...x

I'm well aware that many designer makers are featured in lots of magazines and blogs but as a relatively new face on the block I'm not really at that stage yet so when my good friend sent me a photo of my name in the Evening Standard newspaper I was thrilled and this was followed my a picture of my dearest Melancholy tree cushion in West London living...yey x

Here you can see my little press snippets which will hopefully soon be joined by more as January and February are going to be all about the press release...as well as working on some new designs. I have also been featured on some really lovely blogs...please check out the links. Craft Central's blog, Amelia's magazine, the super talented jewellery designer Sarah Hallowes and last but by no means least a super lovely customer Anna, who writes a wonderful blog Creative mischief and me who wrote a simply gorgeous post about my packaging...

Thank you everybody, you have made me very happy x

Christmas fairs...x

Oh my goodness, what a busy bee I have been over the last few weeks...I am slightly worried that my poor baby will have forgotten who his mummy is, although he has been extremely well looked after by my other half and his adoring grandparents! Following on from Renegade and Spirit of Christmas I then popped over to Clerkenwell for the Craft Central open studio event and then to Notting Hill for the Design Fair...

It has been a very busy time but also extremely enjoyable. Nothing beats meeting your customers face to face and getting instant feedback on your work. I got some good constructive criticism and also lots of lovely compliments particularly on my urban garden range and cushions. I had lots of special offers as I know people are really watching their pennies at the moment and it was wonderful to see so many of you doing some of your Christmas shopping with one/of a kind boutique...

My favourite product is the melancholy tree as I love the idea of adopting a sad little tree who is all alone in the forest and giving him a cosy new home. He now comes with a 'happy face' badge in a little pouch as well as his 'glum face' badge so once you have given him lots of lovely cuddles, you can change his sad face for a more cheery one. It made me very happy to see so many melancholy trees going off to their new homes...x

New trees growing in the Urban Garden...x

I am super busy at the moment wrapping and packaging up orders as Christmas shopping seems to be well underway. I particularly enjoy parcelling up my little trees complete with their story tag and tiny badge to send to their new homes all over the country and in some cases all over the world as I sent a Miss Peabody to Washington yesterday and a set of Tree Triplets to Guernsey!

It is nice to think of the trees arriving and being unwrapped and displayed in all kinds of different places and I hope that their new owners will read the stories and have a little smile! All of my trees are limited edition and when Spring arrives I will be working on some new designs to add to the collection. I have already begun sketching a 'You are lovely' tree as well as a new arrival tree to celebrate babies born in 2012...

The little tree triplets...Percy, Pippa and Sue have been very popular so am wondering about a little twin set of trees, along with maybe a sleepy tree or dreamtime tree...

I would love to know what you think...any ideas for new little trees to bloom and blossom in the urban garden range..? x

Come and say hello at Craft Central x

Phew...no sooner is the Spirit of Christmas fair over and I've got home, unpacked and just about got back to normal than the Craft Central open studios is about to begin..! You may remember that I applied to take part in this show a long while ago and waited patiently to find out if I had been selected. I was thrilled to be included as I will be exhibiting alongside some very established designers such as Michelle Mason, Lucie Pritchard and one of my absolute favourite deisgner makers Esther Coombs...

I am excited to have my make one/sewing kits back in stock after a complete sell out at Spirit of Christmas. I have been beavering away putting them together and making lots of lovely samples to show people the decorations, key rings and brooches that you can produce. Please do pop by and say hi if you are in the Clerkenwell/ Farringdon area...I have lots of special offers as well as a couple of new products that won't be on my website until the Spring! Must get back to packing up my bits and pieces...x