August was a bit rubbish, weather-wise – it’s been more like October. While I like Autumn a lot, I don’t feel like I’ve had enough Summer yet, or nearly enough ice lollies. The theme this month has been layers – I seem to spend a lot of time taking off jumpers and putting them back on again, and opening and closing the window.

What I did in August

Got my hair cut short again. Went to Rothesay. Did a lot of freelance work. Filled out the most complicated form of my life. Went to the cinema, twice. Watched a lot of TV. Commissioned some awesome Pusheen bookmarks. Was a runner-up in the Moo sticker contest. Went to Edinburgh twice.

Things I bought for myself

A colour-in calendar of Bute, some cute deco tape from Hannah Zakari, some zines that haven’t arrived yet, 6 NANA manga books, a set of pretty screenprinted Japanese postcards. I think I was too busy to spend!

Reading, Watching, Playing

I wrote about a lot of stuff I watched in my Day in the Life post so this is a bit short!

Arrietty
I liked this a lot. Being a Ghibli film, rather than a Miyazaki, I was wondering if it would be up there with The Cat Returns or on the dodgy side with Earthsea and it was definitely one of the good ones. Lots of great little details and the whole miniaturisation theme could hardly be anything other than fun. The story held together pretty well too, though the ending was a bit abrupt. I’d rather they’d given it more resolution or combined the stories, rather than setting up a sequel.

NANA 16-18
I’ve been falling behind with NANA and I keep forgetting what’s happened so I’m making the effort to catch up. After all the doom and gloom of the last few books, things are actually quite fun again now, though it’s pretty clear lots of big stuff is about to happen. Also, bonus origin stories at the end = awesome.

Pokemon SoulSilver
I started playing Pokemon right at the beginning with Red and Blue for the original Gameboy, but fell off the wagon after Sapphire. SoulSilver/HeartGold are reworkings of the original Gold/Silver so it’s a good way to get back into the game – everything is familiar but there’s lots of new stuff too and your lead Pokemon follows you around which is adorable (and sometimes hilarious, if it’s a giant crocodile dinosaur, or a ghost). If you’ve never played Pokemon, it’s a bit like an RPG crossed with rock, paper, scissors. You catch wild Pokemon and fight other Pokemon and trainers to level them up  and they learn new moves. It’s mostly strategy so water beats fire, fire beats grass, electric beats flying etc. etc. And then you travel through various towns challenging the Pokemon gym leaders and fighting off the pesky Team Rocket. I like that there’s only a loose storyline and it’s the perfect mix of puzzle and cute. I cannot deny I choose my Pokemon team for their cuteness as well as their battle skills; at some point I need to load up all my old Pokemon games and see how much crossover there is in my Pokemon choices! It also comes with a Pokeball shaped pedometer, which is making walking more fun.

iPhone app of the month

Boo hoo, they won’t give me a free phone yet and I can’t justify paying for an upgrade. Hurry up with that iPhone 5 so the prices drop!

New Product Round-up

- Gift Tags Variety Packs

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 5
Items sold on Etsy: 16
Items sold on Folksy: 31
Items sold on DaWanda: 17

Weird month, August. I sold loads in actual shops and wholesale (and Pusheen bookmarks by the lorryload) and then 5 measly sales in my own shop!

It’s been mega hot this July so I have been living in a rotation of vests and shorts. Even when it’s not that hot outside, my laptop is like my own personal bonfire. I am very pleased with my Frostbites necklace – it’s the perfect length and the chain isn’t bringing me out in a rash (I am super sensitive to metal). Also, it’s adorable. Big thanks to Sarah at Kookizu for sending it to me!

I always like doing these updates because I’m so busy it’s easy to forget all the stuff I get done every month. July went superfast, and while it felt like all I did was play Pokemon and code websites, it appears I did lots of cool stuff. So yay me, and make sure you take the time to appreciate everything you do!

What I did in July

Had a visit from my sister and checked out the new Riverside Museum. Sewed up some tea towels for the shop and placemats for my dad. Went to see Eska’s first gig in forever with some old diskant friends I haven’t seen in ages. Had lots of fun with stickers. Got more wrapping paper printed. Finally got my fabric swatches in the post, plus a secret surprise. Played a lot of Pokemon. Went to London and Anime Con. And no, my scar still isn’t 100% healed. It doesn’t like the hot weather at all – I may well have a portable barometer now.

Things I bought for myself

A voucher for a new haircut, Pokemon SoulSilver, A Dance With Dragons, Paperchase sticky notes, jollygoo Tokyo zine, some shorts and a top in the Uniqlo sale, two dresses from the TK Maxx sale, a vase from the Habitat closing down sale, a Futurama blind box figurine at AnimeCon (I got Zapp, complete with his Big Book of War).

Reading, Watching, Playing

A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin

I thought I would end up reading it really quickly, but it actually took me nearly two weeks! A lot of that was due to how ridiculously heavy the book is – also a ton of new information to puzzle over. If you’re reading it, I totally recommend the chapter discussions at Reddit – it’s amazing what people much smarter/obsessed than me can figure out from the vaguest of clues. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot but I have to take points off for there being virtually no moves towards resolution – as the fifth book of seven, you’d hope things would be turning towards the finish. Also, for the totally punchable cliffhanger at the end – stop maybe/maybe not killing off characters I love! So, how many years til the next book?

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time 
I can’t remember who recommended this but I am always up for a high school Japanese anime. It’s, uh, about a girl who starts leaping through time and going back to fix things or have another go at them. I especially liked that she went back in time to make sure she got to eat her pudding before her sister stole it – priorities! About half way through, it got mega confusing, and I say this as a fan of LOST, Doctor Who and Fringe. In fact, I can’t even remember how it all worked out in the end – my brain hurt too much.

Black Swan
I was hoping this wouldn’t be as terrible as everyone said, but yeah, it was pretty terrible. It was more laughable than scary. If you liked the concept though, you should look out for the 3 part documentary on the English National Ballet that turns up on iPlayer every now and again. It actually covers a lot of the themes in Black Swan but in real life, and without anyone going insane.

Tangled
On the other hand, this was way better than I expected. I am not a Disney fan and have seen very few of the films since I was an actual child, but this retelling of Rapunzel was really fun and well done. Obviously not up to Ghibli or Pixar levels but I would watch it again (as long as I could ffwd the dreadful songs).

Various Shuttle documentaries
While the shuttle program ending is sad for me, it has inspired a whole heap of cool documentaries. This one is especially awesome, covering all aspects of the final mission from prep to launch to landing and talking to everyone involved. It’s still available on iPlayer until Thursday.

iPhone app of the month

Nothing. One week til I can get a new iPhone that doesn’t cry when I use it.

New Product Round-up

- Wrapping Paper Packs
- Kawaii Balloons Gift Wrap
- Sticker Sets
- Custom Address Labels
- Cutie Fruity Tea Towels

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 34
Items sold on Etsy: 28
Items sold on Folksy: 17
Items sold on DaWanda: 17

Pretty much double last month’s sales!

I know I say this every year, but how the heck can it be July already? Especially when the weather is only at about May. It’s been a busy month, and I can only hope the weather catches up soon so I can get back out on my bike again. The drawing above is what I wore to my granny’s 85th birthday party – I sent it to her as a thank you card!

What I did in June

Attended, and sold at, my very first Zine Fair, put a bunch of stuff in my Super Summer Sale, went back Up North for the aforementioned party (and ate a lot of cake), booked a trip to Rothesay for August, designed a lot of new fabrics for Spoonflower (I hope they arrive soon!), finished my new Tokyo Shopping Guide (so much work). And continued to watch scar tissue form at the rate of 0.0000001mm per day. How much longer can it possibly take to heal?

Things I bought for myself

A new section, as I need to curb my spending – and how better than by public shaming!

100 Tiny Moments comic book at the Zine Fair (see May’s post), 2 cute vests in the sale (candy stripe and polka dot!), a ticket for the Eska reunion show in July, a bunny ornament (wait and see!), a couple of zines.

Reading, Watching, Playing

Finally started finishing books instead of buying them.

Trawler by Redmond O’Hanlon
I picked this up in a charity shop, with the impression that it was a travelogue about a trip on a deep sea fishing trawler in the North Sea. Coming from a fishing village, I was particularly interested. Although the book begins like that, it soon develops into a fairly hilarious tale of sleep deprivation as the author struggles to keep up with his similarly afflicted crewmates in hauling, sorting, gutting and packing the neverending catches in a Force 10 gale. It’s more a tale of camaraderie and madness, but I also learned an awful lot about fish.

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
Young American girl moves to Paris, dyes her hair pink and gets into innumerable scrapes, often involving unsuitable men. It could have been written in any era but it was published in the 1950s, somehow managing to have a perfectly modern air mixed with a Scott Fitzgerald/ JD Salinger backdrop. I only wish I had read it when I was 16.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer / No Way Down by Graham Bowley
Lent to me by my dad and both about mountaineering disasters on Everest and K2 respectively. They were both equal parts gripping and horrifying. I now have a slight wish to climb a mountain and also a new terror of ever being stuck on even a small hill after dark in the summer. I’m certainly not going anywhere named the Death Zone. It all seems a bit pointless really – it’s one thing to die trying to explore somewhere new or to see something amazing but most people seem to climb mountains so they can say they did it, and half of them lack the ability/experience to do it without a constant help. I looked it up and over 200 people have died attempting to climb Everest since it was first summited in 1953, compared to less than 30 people who have died in the entire history of space exploration. Guess what the difference is? Oh yeah, amateurs with money aren’t allowed into space.

Game of Thrones
Still kind of overwhelmed about how awesome this was. As a book reader, there were a few scenes that lacked something from already knowing what was coming, but the big moments were amazing. The finale was a bit emotional because I am a sap, and also for setting characters on paths I cannot wait to see next season. If you didn’t watch it you really really should. I would be incredibly sad about having to wait a whole year until next season but it’s just a couple of weeks until book 5 comes out so I think I’ll cope for a while!

A Glasgow Companion by Herb Lester
Lovely little fold out guide to Glasgow. Covering a much wider range of stuff than my own guide, though in less rambling detail…) and complete with an excellent map. It’s also got a lot of distinctive contributors so it’s really like asking a group of awesome friends for tips. Would like actual full length guidebook now. Get yours from their online shop, along with guides to London and more.

iPhone app of the month

Cute Fat Fox: Photobooth (£1.79)
Purikura on your iPhone! I reviewed this for SCK and it is great fun. My iPhone is hella slow these days though – really counting the days til I can upgrade in August.

New Product Round-up

Just the new Tokyo Shopping Guide. I have a few things coming up though.

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 12
Items sold on Etsy: 16
Items sold on Folksy: 9
Items sold on DaWanda: 9

Still quiet here. But pushpin had an amazing first month, and took over all my digital sales too.

This is apparently the third May I have recapped! May was SO ANNOYING weather-wise. I could have drawn just about anything in my wardrobe this month from shorts and sandals to wooly hats and borrowed coats as we’ve had torrential rain, sunshine, gale force winds and everything in between. Good old Scotland. So this is pretty boring. I lack new clothes to draw, as predicted. At least I have a SCAR (which still hurts – 11 weeks later).

What I did in May

Did a ton of work getting my zine distro, pushpin, open for business. Read a few billion zines as I planned my stock. Went Up North for a windy visit. Bought a load of books. Came back home in a gale and spent a slightly terrifying 15 minutes waiting for a bus in a very rickety bus shelter. Went to, and sold at, my first zine fair. Made a new zine. Broke my fabric buying ban. Sold even more stuff on eBay. Saw my name on TV. Redesigned Super Cute Kawaii. Wrote a load of Tokyo Shopping Guide posts. Watched scar tissue form at the rate of 0.0000001mm per day.

Reading, Watching, Playing

Still having book completion issues, though I’m only really reading 4 just now. Big old zine post coming soon too.

Fire & Knives
I’ve been making an effort to subscribe to the (very few) magazines I actually read regularly. Not only does it help them continue to plan and print new issues but I don’t have to use any part of my brain to remember to buy them. Win-win! A new issue of Fire & Knives is always a delight. It’s such a nice size and weight and the content is always surprising and great. I’m not a huge foodie but F&K is full of personal stories that happen to be food-related, whether that’s retro supermarkets, knife design or Penguin cookery books. Plus it’s crammed full of great illustrations and old food ads, and takes about as long to savour as it does for them to put together a new issue.

The First Men in the Moon
I caught this on iPlayer and it was quite possibly made just for me – A HG Wells story about a bumbling professor going to the Moon, tied into the Apollo landings and given a Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Day Out meets Doctor Who spin (it was written, and stars, Mark Gatiss).  I loved pretty much all of it – they didn’t try and make sense of any of the ridiculous aspects of the story (and especially spaceship design) and made it a romp, with a certain amount of sadness. The Selenites looked a bit stupid but no worse than your average Doctor Who episode. It’s a BBC film so I’m sure it will be on many times again – look out for it!

Upside Down
This is a new documentary about Creation Records so went straight on my Lovefilm list. Creation was one of my big obsessions as a teenager and home to a lot of my favourite bands, plus I visited the offices to interview Paul Cannell etc. This was a pretty great documentary, possibly because it focused more on the early days, and all the Glasgow bands/mates that got it all going. I cannot deny my eyes glazed over once the Oasis days arrived, although I have to say Noel Gallagher is growing on me – he is at least an intelligent and fairly amusing talking head. Lots of great footage of the bands too so I would totally recommend it if you’re interested in checking out some of the best music of the 80s and 90s. Would like a new compilation of all the (shoddy, cheap, terrible) Creation videos now – my VHS tapes are long gone.

Mollie Makes
A new crafty magazine in the UK about ‘living and loving handmade’. I quite enjoyed this and have signed up for the £5 for 3 issues deal but I’m not sure I’ll be sticking with it. It’s a slightly odd mix of handmade, vintage and High Street, and a lot of it looks familiar to me from various blog reading. If I’m honest, it might just all be a bit too twee for me. Happy to give it a chance over the next 3 issues though.

100 Tiny Moments From My Past, Present and Future by Edward Ross
I got this at the zine fair and it’s really great. As part of the One Hundred Days to Make Me a Better Person project, Eddie drew a little comic every day. As the title says, each one is a tiny moment from his past, present or imagined future and they’re all sweet, funny and sad. You can view all the original comics here, but you’ll be wanting the book so you can dip into them again and again. Hopefully I’m going to be able to stock some of his stuff at pushpin too.

Buffy
My favourite thing about Lovefilm is being able to do rewatches of old TV shows you never saw all the way through. I used to watch Buffy back in the day, until I moved out to go to art school where (old person alert!) I only had a black and white TV, with a dial for changing the channels, and, I kid you not, a wire coat hanger as an aerial. That was when I pretty much stopped watching TV. But, I’m now almost at the end of S2 of Buffy and I’m remembering most of these episodes – it’s all still good stuff, though a bit clunky and dated in these fancy CGI days. I’m thinking I probably stopped watching regularly around S3/4 so it should get more interesting soon.

iPhone app of the month

Nothing
I haven’t installed anything fun for ages – what’s new and good?

New Product Round-up

- Miles Better – a guide to Glasgow zine
- Kokeshi Flowers Gift Wrap & sets

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 8
Items sold on Etsy: 20
Items sold on Folksy: 10
Items sold on DaWanda: 6

Another quiet month – a good reminder that most people cannot live on Etsy sales alone. One day I will count up all my individual regular  income streams – it must be well into double figures now.

April has been pretty dull really. My hand healed up a lot but it still hurts when I do stuff so I’ve been staying at home mostly. I really wasted my nice birthday haircut  - I had it ONE DAY before I cut my hand and became useless at both brushing and washing my hair properly.

What I did in April

Not Very Much. My life has revolved around Game of Thrones, Fringe, starting but not finishing books, going out to buy flowers and trying to get back to a normal work schedule. I did design some new fabric patterns and some stuff for Zazzle, answer a lot of questions, get my Tokyo Shopping Guide back on track, write a crazy amount of posts for Super Cute Kawaii (21 in 30 days!) and order a load of badges. And at least the weather was quite nice.

Reading, Watching, Playing

I am actually horrified that I apparently didn’t finish a single book this month. According to my book pile, I am reading 7 books at the same time. I did read some amazing zines though, which I will blog about soon.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
I went to the ballet twice for my birthday – once to see the Pet Shop Boys ballet in London and then to see the new Alice in Wonderland at the Scottish Ballet. The Royal Ballet in London also just put on their version of Alice so it was pretty awesome that it was on TV this Easter and I could compare the two. I’m really not sure which one I liked best – the Scottish Ballet’s was more impressionistic and surreal with cute little twists, like a female White Rabbit and schoolgirl Tweedledum and Tweedledee, but it had a much smaller cast (and budget I expect!) so some parts were skimmed over. The Royal Ballet’s was a much bigger production with a massive cast and amazing design and some awesome effects but they were so faithful to the story that there was way too much going on and it jumped from scene to scene to scene. The Queen of Hearts was hilarious though. Would definitely recommend you see either if you get the chance.

Fringe
Fringe has been A+ all season pretty much and has just left me going whaaa? at the penultimate episode. I’ve loved this season so much that I have nothing but fear for next week in case they kill off someone or worse, lose one of the worlds. At this point, I would have a very hard time deciding which universe I like better.

Game of Thrones
I have been looking forward to this adaptation for about 18 months now, and I think the anticipation almost killed me. Considering the first time I read the books, I felt like I’d been repeatedly punched in the stomach as terrible things happened to all the characters I liked, I’m not sure why I’m quite so excited to see all these things happen again in front of my eyes, but there you go. Two episodes in, it is very much living up to expectations and I can’t wait to see all the big moments further down the line. S2 is going to be doubly epic. Also, I would like a direwolf puppy.

iPhone app of the month

Nothing
Turns out I am no good at left-handed iPhoning.

Things I liked on the internets

I’m going to retire this section as I’m starting to post things I like on my Tumblr instead.

New Product Round-up

- A load of stuff on Zazzle
- Famille Le Bun badge set

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 12 (not counting free zines!)
Items sold on Etsy: 11
Items sold on Folksy: 8
Items sold on DaWanda: 15

Very very quiet. But then, so was I this month.

If I’d known I was going to slice up my hand, I would have kept my what I wore to the wedding drawing for this post. Instead, you’ll have to do with a photo at the Greenwich clock, complete with ineptly brushed hair (these things are hard, one-handed!). March was…interesting.

What I did in March

Cut my stupid hand. Celebrated my 36th (eek!) birthday by buying a Lego space shuttle. Went to London. (Re-)watched a heck of a lot of DVDs. Went to a lovely wedding. Got new windows installed. Re-arranged my room. Was very bored.

Reading, Watching, Playing

The Celestial Cafe by Stuart Murdoch
A book of essays / blog posts / diary entries by the Belle and Sebastian frontman. This kept my mind reasonably busy while waiting at A&E for over an hour with a bleeding hand so credit there. That aside, it is pretty great all round, with a friendly chatty style and an obviously deep love of Glasgow. While nothing enormously thrilling happens (or he at least doesn’t write about those events), it’s still full of lovely stories about everyday life, and makes me wish everyone I know would write about what they get up to. Your life might not seem that interesting to you, but everyone else thinks so! Or so I’m led to believe from peoples’ comments to me about these monthly updates.

Sunshine / Wonders of the Universe
I’ve read many reviews warning of the rubbishness of Sunshine, and yes it was pretty bad. The first 2/3 are great in a classic disaster/space movie style but then it all goes horribly sci-fi/horror/stupid. However, they also got dreamy science popularizer Brian Cox* to do a commentary about all the science behind it and point out all the stupid bits, and he’s so enthusiastic I was pretty won over by the end and disliked it less. I certainly enjoyed Brian Cox better without having to watch him standing on glaciers and striding across deserts pondering the state of the Universe as in his TV series. He is really becoming a parody of himself. All credit to him, he is awesome at explaining complex things, and giddily excited about doing fun experiments that usually involve jet planes, but all the arty shots of him posing about and Thinking Hard are getting ridiculous. Good series but the Universe is way less fun than the Solar System – it’s just too big to comprehend.

*TM Bad Astronomy. I laughed.

The Social Network
Conversely, I’ve heard loads of good things about this and was surprised to find I really enjoyed it, especially since I find it difficult to like actual Facebook. In fact, it kind of made me like Facebook better, which is stupid because a) everyone in this film is pretty unlikeable and b) it’s not real life. But yes, surprisingly great for a film about upper class computer nerds suing each other.

LOST
I finished my rewatch in what, 2 months? As with Alias, the final season was a lot less stupid the second time around, probably because there are no longer any surprises or expectations. The final season is still my least favourite but I no longer really have any problems with it, except that it was a bit dull in parts and some of their answers were lame. I think S4 is my favourite – too short to have many duff episodes and lots of new awesome characters, but S1-3 are pretty much awesome overall. Hurray. Now hoping Fringe manage to finish off a JJ Abrams show not-stupidly. With all the (awesome) crazy this season it could go either way.

iPhone app of the month

British Airways (Free!)
My plane to London was delayed because of fog early in the morning and thus I spent most of my first day in Glasgow Airport instead of London. It was pretty dull, especially as it’s mid-refurb and there are only 2 seats in the airport where you can see the info boards. So hurrah for the iPhone which gave me a BA app to check updates to my flight time while lounging at the back of the airport. It eventually left 3 hours late but the staff were so apologetic they let us have two free snacks instead of one! I can’t imagine I’ll use this very often, but I’m glad it exists.

Things I liked on the internets

Not much internetting this month. I’ve mostly been enjoying Bad Astronomy and Serious Eats.

New Product Round-up

- New Cutie Fruity Friends badge set
- Get Well Soon card
- Kawaii Skies badge set

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 34 (not counting free zines!)
Items sold on Etsy: 23
Items sold on Folksy: 23
Items sold on DaWanda: 9

Not bad, considering the whole being off the internet for 2 weeks thing.