More new stuff.....

More new things for you! Its the Forest Friends Purse. I spotted this rather cute fabric a while ago and thought it would fit into the range perfectly! Click HERE for more details...

Enjoy the sunny weekend!

Anna, CM

At last!

The Custom Made Little Friends Cushion is here! Click HERE to get all the deets and buy one if you like!

Anna, CM

Spoonflower fabric V motorbikes!

This lovely lovely fabric arrived just before I was about to leave to watch Anthony do this (below- hes the one in the middle of the photo) When I opened the package I felt like whipping up some creation right then! I dont think Anthony would have been very happy though!

Anyway I am back from getting showered with shale (thank you red fake raybans for saving my eyes) and ready to make some lovely things with my fabric from Spoonflower!

I have to say I think Kim & Stephen have set up a fantastic service. They have captured the hearts and imagination of a world of crafters with loads of ideas! Check out the Spoonflower flickr pool for yourself.

The reason I think it works is its an accessible service. There are no arsey sales team telling you your minimums are 100 metres per print its like buying fabric from a lovely online store instead (except you have to design the fabric too, which is the fun part!) There is plenty of information on how to do it on the blog

Now onto colour! I have read a few other peoples blogs regarding colour. There have been a few comments that the colors have not matched the original designs. I am 100% happy with the colour. The fabric came to me as I imagined it would with the colours as I imagined. The thing to remember is this is digital printing onto cotton. Its strengths are detail and the number of colours you can put down in one go. With this in mind I cant wait to get onto the next design session! I already have the next idea floating around in my head.

I also got an email from the guys yesterday saying the shipping charges had been re-assesed. Well I had a look and infact they are approx 1/2 of what they were! Brilliant!

Thank you Spoonflower!

Anna, CM

PS- the black Heidi scarf is in now, just not of the website yet. Should be today hopefully!

My Bobby Dazzler Buddies have got a new blog...

Hi,
My Bobby Dazzler buddies Fumi & Rosie have just set up a new blog. They are the masterminds behing many a dashing doll. They also push a weird tiny little Victorian pram around London. Mostly they make lovely dolls and help others make them too. Have a look at their blog HERE

Anna, CM

Everyone laughs at my neatness......

Everyone I know teases me about my neatness! I always deny it and say "oh no I'm not that neat!"

Well, Anthony asked me to make him some numbers for his number boards for his bike as he is racing this weekend.

I cut these out with scissors....I guess I am neat! I cant help it!

Anna, CM

Heidi scarf!

We are just starting to bring Autumn in and this is the start of it. Our new Heidi scarf. Heidi = plaits right? There are two more colours to follow, black and a light marl grey. Its made from soft cotton jersey, and has a pretty plait detail at the ends. It measures 200cm long. Wrap it round and round or let your plaits hang down! Click HERE to take a proper look!

Anna, CM

Waiting.....

Its a waiting game here at Custom Made at the moment. I am always waiting.....for fabric. Not because my fabric suppliers are slow, just some of them are far away.
I am hoping today will see the arrival of three new fabrics for the range. One of which I have designed myself and had printed! I am very excited about this one. For a sneaky view of this fabric go HERE.
The other two will appear on the website very soon as purses I hope.
The other thing I am rather excited about is a print I have designed for a bag. This has been on hold for a little while but hopefully will be in work next week.
I love adding new things to the range, its the best thing about Custom Made I think. When I was a teen I loved all the names on lipsticks and things and dreamed of having that job- naming the products. Now the dream had come true, not with sparkly lipsticks but with purses bags and things! Its the best!

Have a great weekend people.

Anna, CM

Stuff I love.........Andrea Garland lip gloss!

Check out this cute little fella! I actually meant to do a blog post ages ago about him but totally forgot. He is an original 70's lip balm tube filled with fabulous Andrea Garland lip gloss! Andrea is a market buddy of mine and when I saw this little fella one Sunday morning I knew I had to snap him up before someone else did! Go HERE for more lovely products from Andrea....

Anna, CM

Indie 103.1....fill your office with music

I was give the heads up on this by the Nylon Mag blog. I listen to Indie 103.1 often in the quest to fill my office with music all week! Its a US station in L.A so I have listened live if ever I have been in L.A but have never seemed to be there for Harmony in my Head the weekly show by Henry Rollins......I'm rambling, get back to the point Anna.
Anyway something I didnt know about was Jonesy's Jukebox (Steve Jones) which has guests in to chat and play music. This week its Johan Hill and Jason Schwartzman two of my film faves! I'm listening to it now and its pretty funny so I recommend it. BUT apart from Johan Hill and Jason Schwartzman there are loads of other guest sessions like Scroobius Pip and Dan Le Sac, Rosanna Arquette, Henry Rollins etc etc.
Go and have a listen.

Anna, CM

UPDATE: Day 2 of Johan Hill and Jason Schwartzman is pretty cool....Roman Coppolla is their guest and he blew me away. The mans mind is amazing....

Stuff I love......this print from Threadless

I really love this print from Threadless....
How cute is it. I love Threadless too, but I think my last order from them had a curse on it! I bought a hooded sweat for me and a t-shirt for my friend Taff for his birthday. At another friends wedding he did some very good improptu break dancing so the T that said "in case of emergency breakdance" on was perfect for him.
The first part of the curse was the bloody import duty I had to pay on the stuff coming in. I think it was about £30!!!!! Yuk, not good but I got over that. I ship a lot of stuff in to the UK and dont usually get stung so this time I did....
The second part of the curse and the worst part was this. Taff loving his T-shirt, wore it while BMX'ing at some big BMX thing. He did a 360, and crashed, broke his collarbone and had to have the t-shirt CUT OFF!
It took him a while to actually own up to this.....
I tried to get him another in the actual shop in Chicago last year and it was the only style they didnt have in stock.
Threadless I love you, and I will be buying from you agian but lets hope the curse has been lifted!

Anna, CM

A cool swap....

Check out this lovely drawing of Custom Made's Charley by Gemma Correll!
The best thing about being a "crafty type" and knowing lots of other crafty types is cool swapages!
Thanks to the lovely Gemma for this little beauty, it has had a LOT of attention from people in our house I can tell you...

Click HERE to see what Gemma got in return....

Anna, CM x

New stockist alert!

Hi there,

Just thought I better give a quick mention to the lovely shop in Stoke Newington, London that as of this week stocks Custom Made!
Its called Of Cabbages & Kings and can be found here- 34b Kersley Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 ONH
Also online here- http://www.ofcabbages.co.uk/
Its the most adorable shop ever selling wares from indie designers, artists etc. The interior is fab, check out a little write up here on Indie Quarter- http://www.indiequarter.com/blog/2008/07/31/of-cabbages-and-kings/

Go and shop there!

Anna, CM

I've done it!

I bought THESE Manimal moccasins!!! You know the ones I was lusting after in a previous post......
Well I did it, I never splash out on anything any more so I thought I needed too. What I didnt realise was, the soles are made from recycled tyres. Pretty cool right. I went for the bone colour you see in the picture and they are vegan too. Whilst I am not vegan, and do own some leather shoes I mostly wear canvas shoes, Converse and Vans. I dont rely on leather. Anyway I am super excited to get these but I'm going to have to wait until September when I see my friend Vania (I got them shipped to her house in San Diego)
So thank you to the lovely Angelina at Beklina www.beklina.com the lovely ethical online store I bought them from. She was very helpful with my complicated checkout needs! I suggest you all go and shop there, the clothes and accessories are FAB!! Oh and check out the brand Manimal, beautiful handcrafting at its best www.save-the-manimals.com

Anna, Custom Made

Stuff going on at Custom Made....

Well, its been another busy week at Custom Made. All weeks are busy here, but I wouldnt have it any other way.

There are some new brooches on the website click HERE to take a look. There are also some new necklaces that are not up on the site yet that should be!! Look out for those next week.

I am also working on a something free for you all!! A very special free downloadable pattern for a plush toy. Its nearly finished and I will let you know when that is up for you to download. Will be next week too.

Thats it for now, more news next week :)

Anna, CM