British Craft Trade Fair, Harrogate 11-13 April 2010

'To The Zoo' new range of T-shirts

Forgive my blog, it's been three months since I last posted! The British Craft Trade Fair took over my life in January and still has me reeling.

At the beginning of the year I received an email from Jersey Enterprise asking me to attend a meeting about the show and then suddenly I'm booked to go with nine other Jersey artists. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to get a new range together so each evening after work and after getting the children fed, washed and into bed I have been drawing, printing and putting Excel spreadsheets together. It has been a busy few months behind the scenes but the show was the most amazing experience and well worth the work.

On the way up to Harrogate Sarah, Lisa, Bianca and I made lists of what we would like to achieve from the show, aside from the 'making money' wishes here are a few things I did achieve;
'to have a magazine article published about my work' (here's a preview).
'to get to know my fellow Jersey exhibitors, Beverley Speck and Nanette Regan better and possibly collaborate'
'meet up with my-most-lovliest-Sarah and further our 'plans''
'talk in a confident and business-like way about my work', after Beverley's selling masterclass I feel a lot more confident!

I have so much more to tell about the show, further posts coming...
Jo x

giveaway...big prizes...free stuff...read all about it!

Those wonderful folks at The Green Parent are holding a Little Bird giveaway, all you need to do is send them an email with your name and address to the email address below to win yourself a gorgeous (if I do say so myself!) Little Bird tee shirt...

Let's Go Fly

"Little Bird is a small, family run business that creates beautiful organic cotton tees for nature loving children. Joanna Howell, founder explains, "We have designed a range of tee shirts for playing not posing, to respect the fact that children need to hide in dens and climb trees. By choosing 100% organic, fair trade cotton our customers can help ensure the social and physical well-being of the cotton farmers and their families. The inks used to print our designs are water-based and organic." See littlebirdbypost.co.uk
for info. We have five of these gorgeous tees to give away. For your chance to win, email us your name and address to competitions@thegreenparent.co.uk."

Best of luck x

(September) Competition Update...
We have five lucky, lucky winners, Margaret Rae, Carly Green, Gary Hargreaves, Michelle Bruce and Louise Maryon-Inwood, your Little Bird tees are in the way!

The Green Parent Ethical Fashion Special

Oh my goodness, more press news... here we are in the fashion pages of The Green Parent magazine, Ethical Fashion Special, February/March issue.

fame!

Olivia and I are in the local paper, thanks Carly for the lovely article

Little Bird says something about respect
by Carly Lockhart

"A local artist has opened a children's clothing business that sells 100 percent organic, fair traded cotton T-shirts for children aged six months to six years.
Jerseyborn Joanna Craven (34) launched virtual shop Little Bird at the end of last year with her first collection of long sleeved T-shirts for autumn and winter.
The T-shirt designs by Miss Craven feature Carmen Miranda of the Allotment and the Acorn Boys, who look like two boy scouts.
But the Little Bird best seller is an owl design which was inspired by Miss Craven's daughter; Olivia Howell (4), and her favourite toy, Phunt the elephant.
'Her friends think she is called Olivia Owl' said Miss Craven, 'and the pattern of the owl on the T-shirt is modelled on her favourite toy.'
Miss Craven started thinking about Little Bird about two years ago when she discovered what little choice there was for children's clothes.
'A lot of T-shirts that you can buy have slogans across them and are not very respectful for children' she said.

Illustrations

'I thought about how I could use my art work to make something myself. I wanted the illustrations on the T-shirts to reflect a child's world and lifestyle. Then I started thinking about how they would be made and what they would be made from. I realised that they should be made from organic cotton, and fairly traded, to make a product that was respectful throughout.'
The T-shirts cost £18 and are available to buy at www.littlebirdbypost.co.uk. They are made in a Fair Trade factory in Turkey and printed using organic ink.
'Sometimes prints on T-shirts can feel plastic, but these are really soft,' said Miss Craven, who added that the T-shirts are also durable.
'I knew they had to withstand washing and ironing, and often people pass on children's clothes to siblings and friends so they had to last.'
After the success of her Little Bird autumn/winter range, Miss Craven will launch her spring/summer collection featuring short-sleeced T-shirts with seaside designs.
She plans to change the T-shirt designs every six months to fit in with the seasons and ensure that there is sufficient choice."

Joanna x