Insomnia is not my friend. Half past six on a Sunday morning is a terrible thing to see, especially if you've already been up for two hours. I plan to snooze in the bath later this morning.

Thankfully the internet is a twenty-four hour operation, and instead of wasting half the night on Cute Overload or I Can Has Cheezburger, addictive as they both are, I've been reading lots of inspirational blogs.

This list is mostly for my benefit, so I'll remember where I've been, but I thought it might be useful to other people as well.


Lauren and Emira have a book and a blog called "The Boss of You". It's about being a designer and an entrepreneur, and gives excellent advice on setting up and running your own business.

Jenny Hart talks about Crafting a Business - this article specifically talks about some of the copyright and licensing ideas I that I was discussing the other day.

At decor8, Marcia Zia-Priven talks about finding your niche as a designer.

Design For Mankind has several interesting posts about "Roadmaps", and how they can help you as a creative businessperson. Follow the links to other blogs and websites, for even more inspirational designers and crafters!

I became quite a fan of Seth Godin after I bought one of his books, Small is the New Big. I read his blog regularly, and he always seems to have something relevant to say.



I also bought three interesting books this week:

DIY: Design It Yourself is full of inspirational design ideas, coupled with extremely useful practical advice - something which is missing in a great many craft books!

Fabric Jewellery contains twenty-five projects which I will almost certainly never make. But it's already inspired me to think in different ways about the materials that I already have at home, which is exactly what I'd hoped it would do.

Sustainable Fashion & Textiles: Design Journeys is a series of essays by Kate Fletcher, about various aspects of the fashion industry and how they can be approached in a more ethical manner. I haven't read this yet (6:30 on a Sunday morning is probably not the best time to start!), but I'm looking forward to learning some interesting things, and seeing what differences I can make myself.


As it happens, I didn't exactly buy that last book - I bartered it for one of my duvet cover skirts. I'm more than happy to be paid in goods rather than money (sometimes - books don't pay the bills!), so if I've made something that you like, please feel free to barter for it, if you've got something that I might like in exhange.

The monkey slippers are finished!

I added some felt soles, with a decorative blanket stitch to neatly finish off the edges. I hadn't worked blanket stitch for approximately 28 years, but it was lovely to have a look through my Great Aunt's sewing book from 1940, for a little refresher course. :)



I love these monkey slippers with a fiery passion, and I have managed to find a single fat quarter of the same fabric, but with the nuts/gourds in purple rather than brown. If I buy it, I can make one more pair of monkey slippers... or of course you can all have something different!

I've also finished my second pair of slippers - these are a slip-on mule style, made from skull and crossbones print fleece.



The uppers are made from two layers of fleece, with a layer of denim sandwiched in between for strength. The soles are made from a layer of fleece, then denim, then heavy buckram, and finally felt on the bottom. (This is what the soles look like.)

The monkey slippers have a layer of foam rubber in the sole, which makes them extremely squashy and comfortable to walk on. They feel a bit tight the first time you put them on, but after a couple of days the foam compacts down nicely. The mule slippers don't have any foam in the soles at all, which is something I want to change about them. I think it would be nice if they were a bit softer. I also need to make some changes to the felt soles, to make them a little safer. They're a bit slippery on laminate flooring - I've almost gone skating a couple of times!




If anybody would be interested in buying the skull slippers, they're a size 6/39, and can be yours for the bargain prototype price of a fiver! SOLD to ladylizbet!

I'm not taking formal customer orders for slippers yet, but if you'd like to help me by testing out a slightly experimental pair (possibly involving you drawing around your feet), please drop me a comment, and we can work something out. :)




And now, it's back to beating my head against the Zen Cart template setup. I'm supposed to be a professional web designer - I will not let this defeat me!

I don't suppose anybody has an old manual typewriter that I could beg/borrow/steal/buy?

I'm fairly certain that my Mum got rid of her old Imperial when they moved house. Typically, it's now exactly what I need for my Nefarious Plans...



I'll also ask on Freecycle later in the week, and see what happens.