Apparently it’s badge making month here at Asking For Trouble! This is a new set of badges called, of course, I Like Bears. I have been drawing an awful lot of bears lately so it was time to set some free into the world of products. These make me very happy indeed.

I especially like the first bear, who may need some explaining. Here is the original doodle:

When I drew him, I had the idea he had just missed the bus and it was raining and thus he is shaking his fist at the disappearing bus and wishing he’d remembered an umbrella, or a hat. Obviously, I relate to this situation A LOT. Having no wish to draw a bus, I instead added a mischievious ghost. What the ghost did to upset the bear so much, I will leave to your imagination.

I’ve also been fiddling with my badge packaging a bit. It may not look any different to you but it includes a backing sheet inside a much taller bag which makes the whole thing much sturdier. So if you buy a badge set for a gift, or to keep perfectly sealed in your badge tin rather than wearing them (or is it just me who does that?), then they should hold up a lot better.

I’m also pondering some kind of pick ‘n’ mix badge buying thing for the shop as it seems that everyone’s favourite part of my stall is the bowl of badges you can rummage in.

And finally, you should TOTALLY join my newsletter as I now have a super-fancy MailChimp deal and the next newsletter will have pictures and other such awesomeness. Plus special offers just for you! If you were subscribed to the previous mailing list then you’re already subscribed, yay!

It’s a new badge set! With all the prototyping and faffing I’ve been doing lately it was great to get something finished. These are all doodles from my sketchbooks and they seemed to go together - I could imagine them all hanging out in a forest together. The little sprite on the bottom left definitely has something Totoro-ish about him; personally I believe he grew out of an acorn. Anyway, if you like them, they are in my shop (and Etsy, Folksy and DaWanda too).

Also in the shop are the last two Japanese fabric notebooks - a Fun Bunny and a Happy Day. I’m keeping the rest of the fabric for ME so this is your last chance!

I had a lovely day trip on Saturday out to Inver Cottage near Loch Fyne with Katy of Girl Industries - it was lovely and sunny, we saw some amazing scenery and I even got free pie and mash! I’m not sure how you could make that better. We were out there on Mafia business (complete with horse’s head in the boot!) so I will have more to tell you about that once we confirm things. Yay!

Don’t forget you can name the horse, over at the GCM blog. From what I hear, the prizes are pretty awesome so get to it!

I don’t know about you but it is stupidly hot here. It takes about two hours to cool down after every 15 minutes of activity so I am not getting much done. Clearly, being in close proximity to a hot laptop is not the sort of fun I’ve been looking for, but that does mean I’ve been playing around with some new toys.

Hopefully I will have more to show you soon but here’s a little peek at one project - drawing on mugs! I have mugs available on Zazzle but they are kinda spendy so I’m trying to create some cheaper ones, and they’ll be hand-drawn to boot! I still need to go through the oven baking and dishwasher testing parts and that is not going to happen while this heatwave is on. More pics soon though! And if you’re interested, I got the pens from www.porcelainpaint.co.uk which is not the prettiest of sites but they give brilliant service.

I can also finally show you this Jammie Dodger pincushion I made. It was a special request and turned out pretty cute I think! I will probably add this to the shop soon as a custom order.

Okay, I need to go fan myself some more now. Monthly update coming soon once my brain un-melts enough for me to remember what books I read.

Yay! New products have arrived for me to add to the shop. My favourite is this happy orange leafy card.

But then the vintage flowers cards have also come out beautifully.

And I’ve been printing up Cakeify and Friends notebooks with my new stamps.

More to come soon as well!

It’s not laziness, honest, but a response to a request I get all the time - can I make a PDF version of the Tokyo Shopping Guide? Well, apparently I can, so you can now buy one in the shop, download it and print it yourself!

It’s great for last minute travelers who only discover the guide just before they jet off to Tokyo, don’t have time to wait for the postman and would prefer not to print out a pile of web pages. I’ve streamlined it for printing so it’s got all the same shopping information as the pre-printed version but none of the extras and only includes images of the shops and their logos to save you some ink. It also includes a special discount voucher in case you want to order the real thing, or the Ten Days in Tokyo zine on your return.

The main reason I haven’t done this sooner is that I knew eventually someone mean would get a hold of it and print copies or resell it for their own gain. But with this cut-down version, you’re not getting anything that isn’t available in the online version - it’s just edited and laid out better for quick printing.

One question I do have though - the PDF is laid out for A4 paper but I know Letter size is very popular in the US. Would a Letter-sized version be a good idea or, indeed, any other international paper size? Please let me know in the comments!

Say hello to my new friend! I got my new tiny Mac last weekend and we’ve been having fun getting all my files moved over and email set up and trying to remember all my logins. It really is amazing to be back online properly and to be able to tackle online tasks without worrying the connection is going to disappear half way through. So expect more blogging, more Flickring and more new work.

I have tons of ideas for new stuff to make and there’s lots of new stationery in the post, but in the meantime, I’ve added some mousemat designs to Zazzle. If you need to cute up your desk then this is certainly the answer!

I have my dad visiting this week so I won’t be at any of the Glasgow Craft Mafia markets but that’s no excuse not to be there yourself. As always, you can find the best local handmade sellers at the Buff Club on Saturday and Mono on Sunday, and all the details are here.

And in other amazing Mafia news, the awesome Kim just finished a huge feltidermy horse’s head from our logo! We are all flabbergasted at how perfect it is and I can’t wait to see it in real life. Even better, we’re currently running a competition on the GCM blog to name the horse, so go make a suggestion and you could win some cool prizes.

DaWanda is probably my favourite of all the marketplace sites I sell on so I’m extra-glad about their new offer. All this week, if you buy from a shop for the first time, you’ll get 15% off your order!

Obviously, you can choose something from my shop, but you might be surprised how many of your favourite Etsy sellers are on DaWanda too, not to mention lots of Europeans who don’t sell elsewhere. Go have a look!

As an extra bonus, every order I get from DaWanda this week will get a free Cakeify postcard.

In other news, I am a bit sunburnt and my purse is a lot fuller after a lovely Saturday doing Bungo in the Back Lanes. We basically set up in the back garden of  GCM member Rosie and then sat around in the sunshine selling stuff. Lovely!

I won’t be doing any more markets until August so that gives me some time to play with new product ideas and build up my stock. I have lots of ideas too so watch this space.

Sorry I’ve been gone so long - my laptop has become obsessed with both the wireless router and electricity and can’t be parted from either for more than 5 minutes without conking out. As you can imagine, it’s been a joyful few weeks but I have now given up and purchased a new smaller friend for it which can do all the fun internet things while my larger grumpy laptop stays put for graphics work. I’m off to fetch it this very afternoon so expect business to return to normal at the weekend.

Some other news:

- I was playing around with some hand-stamped felt at the market last weekend and made some random prototypes. These keyrings came out pretty cute so there’s an orange and a pear in the shop right now.

- I’ve just received a huge stack of blank notebooks and muslin bags so expect some new fun stuff very soon.

- I’ll be at Bungo in the Back Lanes this Saturday, a fun day of stalls and stuff in the back lanes of Strathbungo, Glasgow. I’ve never done a market in the Southside so this is your chance people! We’re having a little Glasgow Craft Mafia area in the garden of Rosie’s Retro Styling’s house so come along and have a browse. Girl Industries and Pumpkinsputnik will also be there, yay. Here’s a map - you’ll find us in Moray Place.

- And finally, Monsieur Le Bun is giving away even more awesome prizes on Super Cute Kawaii so go enter! Pick of the bunch are a notebook from me and a robot sampler by Miso Funky. You’ve only got about 24 hours left to enter so get on it!

I can’t promise you sun or ice cream tomorrow at DCT’s Summer Craft Fair but you never know! At worst, there will be two floors of local handmade goodies, tea and cakes and ME. Do come, because I need the money! I’ve been making lots of fun little treats especially for this, including hand stamped cards and cute keyrings plus a sneak peek at an exciting collaboration between me and jiji~punch. With the state of my internet, who knows when these might be available online!

I did manage to get these Cutie Fruity Friends notebooks in the shop - they’re hand stamped with my new stampers and then coloured with watercolour pencils. I like how slim these notebooks are - since there are approximately 500 notebooks I want at any given moment, it’s all the better if I can use them up quickly and justify a new one. If you fancy one, they’re available right now.

I’ve been getting to grips with my new stamps and the first fruits are now in the shop - little notebooks with my characters. These are double fun to make as I get to colour them in with watercolour pencils. Bread Slice and Orange are available now and lots more will be added in the coming weeks, once I get a red ink pad.

I also tried out my button stamps to make new thank you cards to go out with orders. Every time I make a batch of cards I think there’s no way I’ll get through them and then all too soon, they all disappear. So an extra big THANK YOU to everyone who makes a purchase from my shops - I still get far too overexcited when I get a sale.

And finally, don’t forget the brooch sale ends tomorrow. Hop to it!