I don't do New Year's Resolutions but if I did...

So yes, I don't make New Year's resolutions, I guess because I feel like they never get kept and if I really wanted to stick to some kind of decision I had made calling it a NY's resolution isn't going to keep me to it any more.

BUT I have been very slack on this blog lately and that's just not good enough! So I am planning to blog more in 2013 and about more than just what i've made and what i'm adding to my shops. It isn't all about consumerism after all! (she says, knowing that eBay listings are going to be part of this blog, sorry!)

So the plan is to blog about my likes, what i've been excited about recently, where i've been (on the rare occasions when I go somewhere worth talking about) new books, or magazines or iphone apps or Etsy/Folksy shops or local makers (inspired by our I Make Fun Stuff markets) and whatever else takes my fancy. I hope that's okay with you all! To make things easier I will, no doubt, be using some pictures taken with my iphone so I hope that's not too offensive to anyone. Let's see how it goes huh?

So first off, we've been having a bit of a tidy up and clear out this last week. We haven't sorted out some rooms since we first moved in nearly a year ago so it was definitely about time. I found some clothes and things that were too good to just give to the charity shop so i've listed them on my eBay page here.... (click "here") All items start at 99p!

Authentic Welsh Tapestry Ladies Coat. Size 16-18. Excellent Condition

Vintage Synthetic Fur Ladies Coat. Size 12. Excellent Condition

Vintage Burgandy Clutch Bag. Slightly worn due to age.

Vintage Orange Handbag. Slightly worn due to age.

More items can be found on my eBay page. Link above the images! 

See at the next post! 

Christmas Stuffing!

I have added so much stuff to my Etsy shop at the weekend including lots of new painted brooches, brand new things that i've been working really hard on so I hope you like them. At the moment you can't find them anywhere else but i'll be adding things to my Folksy shop soon as well.

I have also added lots more teacup earrings in a variety of colours and will be adding lot sof teacup and wool badges soon too. Promise!

As well as all that i'm working on a new collection so stay tuned for sneak peeks of that in the future.

Clutter City Yuletide Market

After a successful day at the Weasel in a Teacup market at Colchester Arts Centre this Saturday you will find me at the Clutter City Yuletide Market in Norwich.

I'm really enjoying doing more markets than I normally do and it lots of different places. It's so exciting seeing new and exciting makers and their work. I can't wait for Saturday!

Weasel in a Teacup Art Market

I am doing more markets than usual this year and I am VERY excited about it! You will find me and my wares at the Weasel in a Teacup Christmas Art Market in Colchester on Saturday. I've never done this market before so i'm really pleased to be involved and I hear there is Mulled wine and cake so that can't be bad can it?

Come and visit me if you are a ready and coming to the event, i'd love to meet you and i'm sure you'll love the market.

The St Peter's Street Market!

Last weekend was the 3rd annual I Make Fun Stuff Christmas Market on St Peter's Street in Ipswich. If you are regularly readers you will know that I organise this event so I have the biased opinion that it is the best craft and vintage market there is! (Of course I do!)

We were very lucky with the weather, no rain, a slight breeze and loads of bright sunshine. We started to get a bit cold around 3:00 but it's November, you can't complain!

I had a very successful day and sold lots of bits and pieces so I was really chuffed. I even sold one of my new circle necklaces! Below are some pictures from my stall and some more circle necklaces which aren't currently in my shops yet. There are however two available in my Etsy shop! So go check them out.

St Peter's Street Christmas Market

The next in the fabulous St Peter's Street Markets from I Make Fun Stuff! We have 34 stalls selling a range of exciting products from handmade jewellery to artwork to vintage homeware to vintage clothes and so food thrown in for good measure!

It will be one hell of a Christmas bash! Come on down and make a day of it.

NEW! from Hello Pushkin!

A selection of photos of my new jewellery pieces. These will debut at the St Peter's Street Christmas Market in Ipswich on Sunday 18th November.

More necklaces and brooches to come. Comments and feedback very gratefully received.

New technique. New jewellery!

The last few weeks I've been using some new techniques for me. I've wanted to work with wood for jewellery for ages, I've done some laser cutting and some screen printing. Now I'm on to painting. Ideally I'd like to be cutting shapes from screen printed wood but its near on impossible to cut circles with a scroll saw and it's all about circles for me.

So here is my latest creation using paint on pre cut wooden circles. As always I'm sticking to the bright colours and adding some other bits and pieces in there like coloured o-rings (love these!)

Ill hopefully have some in the shops soon but if not they will debut at the St Peter's Street Christmas Market. More on that soon!

Please let me know what you think.

Hot Hot Hot! Market Weekend

It's been a while since I last had a stall at a market but i've only just uploaded the photos with the madness that has been work recently. So here are some pics of my stall and my products from the I Make Fun Stuff Maritime Weekender Market on 18th and 19th August. It was a very hot few days!

Some of these products aren't available in the shops currently so if you're interested just comment or pop me an email to hello@hellopushkin.co.uk

Doodling patterns

It's been a busy few weeks and so I've been missing in action! Apologies to all as I'd just got back into blogging again after too long an absence.

I don't know that work is going to get any less busy, we've been preparing for this year's intake of students. They start on timetable in just over a week so things won't quieten down so I need to pull my finger out and keep the momentum up.

The picture shows some random doodling I did on brown paper to wrap some presents in. It was good to do as I've felt a bit blank for ideas and just some patterns on a page have reminded me to mess around once in a while. There will be more to come!

Suffolk Sketchup

Are you local??? Do you live in Suffolk and would like to meet up with illustrators and designers to chat, have a drink, compare notes, get new ideas and inspiration?

Then pop over to the Suffolk Sketchup Blog and find out about where and when the first Sketchup is on!

New Things!

Do you remember those green triangles you used to get in tins of Quality Street at Christmas? Noisette triangles they were and they were my favourite! Maybe that is because of my deep rooted love for all things geometric, maybe i'm just off on some mad ramble but whatever it means, my newest addition to Hello Pushkin is triangles.

I have been having a whale (is it that whale or the other one?) of a time playing with screen printing onto wood, oh yes my friends wood! I can't tell you how happy it made me. After I had printed patterns on to wood I needed to cut them out in some way so I went and got myself a new bit of kit. It was like being in DT at school all over again. But better!

I have so far made 3 of these but there will be more to come. As soon as I have finished decorating our front room/dining room. More about that soon (i hope!) Until then, these are available in my Folksy and Etsy shops and at the upcoming St Peter's Street Maritime Weekender market in Ipswich on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th August. Pray for good weather for us! 

Printing and Iron-On Vinyl

This weekend I had the house to myself. Chris was away helping 8 of his work buddies do the Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge. They walked 62 miles in 30 hours!!! Chris was part of the support crew feeding them, looking after them and motivating them to continue. He really enjoyed himself and it left me time to get on with some artwork and play around with new things.

The images below are of a jersey scarf I printed probably this time last year with the black geometric crystal form pattern. The print went wrong because of some badly mixed print paste (Grrrr! my own fault) and some smudges from mucky fingers (again my fault) so I hadn't looked at it since. But the want to print scarves came back and I decided to carry on and use it as a prototype.

I'm sorry about the bad light. My studio is in my basement so there is no natural light and the spot halogen lights have been placed at very odd points in the ceiling, but it does give you an idea of the print as a length.

A slightly lighter shot and here you can see the colours properly and the small gold triangles which are the iron-on vinyl. This is cool stuff! I did a test wash of a sample I did previously and washed it at 40 degrees. No problems!

Finally a bit of a detail shot so you can see the colours in their full glory and the iron-on gold vinyl. Sorry (again) for the shadow in the bottom. They are just quick snaps I like to take as I go along.

The print turned out lovely and I was really pleased witht he colour combinations, but little did I know that sewing jersey is an absolute arse! Not happy! I am going to try some interlock jersey and hope the same annoying issues don't occur with that too. Any help???

Totally New Bags

I apologise for the title, it was just so obvious I had to go with it.

I realised that I posted some taster photos of some screen printing I did but never posted the finished products. How foolish of me!

I've gone back to playing with layering colours which I absolutely love. It's why I love screen printing so much which first began when I did my National Diploma 11 years ago. I now teach on that course and my fascination with shape and colour hasn't wained. Only increased! It seems to subconsciously creep into my work when I don't even know it. 

I've only printed a few of these bags to see if they sell. If you like them, i'll do more and in different colours too!

Available from my Etsy and Folksy shops now!

Super Maker!

No pictures of exciting things i've been doing this week i'm afraid. I have been super busy at work as we were finally given our timetables for the next academic year so we've spent the week in planning meetings and generating projects and paperwork. Yawn!! I have Schemes of Work coming out of my ears and I don't want to talk to anyone, anymore!

So in the mean time I thought i'd start a new feature called "Super Maker". In these posts I will be showcasing the work of makers and designers who's work I really love.

I thought i'd start with Lucie Beeston of Lucie Ellen.

I've decided to insert pictures of things from Lucie's website that I want to buy. Starting with the Wooden Bunting Flag Necklace - Sun and Sea

I actually own one of these in yellow but I had to post a picture anyway because they are so cute!

Balloon and Ribbon Brooch - Pink, Blue, Mint or Yellow

My ears are pierced but I stretched then to 14mm years ago so I can't wear normal earrings, BUT! ever since Lucie started making these I have wanted to get my ears pierced again so I can wear these beauties!

Wooden Triangle Stud Earrings - Blue Spotty - Four styles to choose from

This probably isn't the first time i've showcased Lucie's work because she's constantly coming out with new things I want to buy! Keep checking her website and her facebook page for new and exciting things.

I love you Brogues

My mission behind Cuppa Tea and Cake has always been to make products that I myself want to own and hope that other people feel the same way. This may be a risky starting point for a small business but how can you enjoy making things if you don't want them yourself? The more I think about it the more it seems like a fantastic idea actually!

Anyway, my lastest creation is the brooch above. I've loved getting my illustrations laser cut out of wood so this is product number 3! The illustration is of my well worn and well battered brogues. They were actually tidied away for the last time recently because i'd worn them to death. Luckily now they are immortalised as a brooch (and I bought a new pair!)

These guys are surprisingly big! I will add a picture of me wearing one when my sunburn has gone down. They're available now in my Etsy Shop and Folksy Shop.

You may notice something different over there, more news on that soon but get ready to redirect your RSS feeds because the blog is on the move!!

New Year. New Post. New Things!

It has been a long long time since I last made a post hasn't it? And a lot has happened since October 2011 I can tell you! The reason I haven't been posting is partly because I had lost my momentum with my work, it had got very busy in my day job because i'm a lecturer and it was the first term of the year which meant I didn't have a lot of time or energy to make anything I was happy with.

Also, at the end of November, Chris and I made the decision to buy our own home and I can tell you that process is all encompassing! So making stuff went on the back burner because it all had to be packed away until we moved at the end of January. Since then i've been given more responsibilites at work and my inspiration brain cells have not been firing.

Luckily the next I Make Fun Stuff market started looming on the horizon and I neeeeeeeded to make some more work! That seems to be the massive kick up the bum that I needed because i've been well away screen printing and enjoying myself again.

So watch this space for all the new things i've been doing!