asking for trouble

End of the month update: February

What I mostly wore in February

And the endless winter continues. Although it has actually been quite Spring-like this week and I did go out on Monday without wearing my hat so maybe I will have more fun things to draw from now on. Layers has been the theme of February.

What I did in February

Donated/sold/threw away a whole van’s worth of stuff. Started Admin Day. Made a zine about hats. Booked an exciting event for July. Packed up a lot of wholesale orders. Took apart a shelving unit in my room (which has given me SO MUCH SPACE but sadly nowhere to put my record player). Redesigned the rest of my website. Ordered more copies of my book after they sold out, yay, thanks!

Reading, Watching, Playing

Memoirs of a British Agent: Being an Account of the Author’s Early Life in Many Lands and His Official Mission to Moscow in 1918
by Bruce Lockhart
I cannot believe I wrote a book and didn’t give it a ridiculously long subtitle. One of my favourite things ever, especially when they start with “being”. I also love books that do this at the beginning of every chapter, like “Chapter 5: whereupon I discover a large tiger living in the caves and it savages my leg but I manage to escape to higher ground where I meet a group of pirates”. In these spoiler-phobic times, it’s truly amazing. I guess it’s from the days of newspaper serials. ANYWAY, this was a pretty interesting account of the Russian Revolution, one of my pet topics, from the eyes of the British consul. Despite being a typical English Gentleman abroad, he ends up pretty sympathetic to the Bolsheviks but after the first few months, he goes a bit mental, returns to the UK and misses a lot of important stuff so the last section is a bit confusing. So, not a book to read if you know nothing about the situation but interesting if you do to see an on the spot outsider’s view.

Astronomy Now UK magazine
It’s official – I’m back into full time space nerdery. I only bought a couple of back issues as research for my Solar System zine but now I’ve started buying the new issues too. Far too much about telescopes and the reader’s questions are SO DULL but the rest is pretty good and so many lovely pictures.

Moon
This is not really about the actual moon, before I look crazy obsessed but a low budget film set on the moon for plot reasons (remote from Earth). It did a pretty amazing job of making you think Something Terrible was going to happen and then turning into something completely different. Also, whenever things got a bit tense, you were guaranteed a laugh from the sight of the robot which has a screen showing one of four emoticons and always so brilliantly pitched. Is it wrong that I was kind of jealous of the whole station set up? That is like my dream home – slightly futuristic pod home with views of space. I’m so antisocial. I would just need the internet, better food and a swimming pool really. Hit me up NASA.

iPhone app of the month

Nothing. I did download the new Guardian app, because I wanted to support them but it’s doing my head in. So slow to load and of all the things I might have wanted in an upgrade, videos and reader comments were at the bottom of the list. Ugh.

Things I liked on the internets

Hiki’s photos of a trip to Hawaii on Jollygoo. Really is top of my list of places to visit.
Vintage finds from an eBay observer at Poppytalk. Great picks and such a fun illustration idea.
Showcase of websites with illustrated backgrounds on Line25. It’s a good look – they pretty much all look great.

New Product Round-up

A5 Sun and Rain Writing Pads
Oddments #2 zine
Kawaii Japan book

Online sales

Items sold on Shopify: 27 (not counting free zines!)
Items sold on Etsy: 12
Items sold on Folksy: 32
Items sold on DaWanda: 15

A lot less than the last few months but it’s actually nice to have my shipping done before lunch instead of taking all day.

marceline

Hello! I’m Marceline Smith, the designer and owner of Asking For Trouble. I create illustrated stationery, accessories and gifts using my cute characters inspired by Japanese kawaii. This is my business and personal blog where I write about my creative doings, inspirations, travels, Japan trips and daily life. Read more »


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