CARiLOVES goes mobile

After a few months of driving lessons, last Thursday I passed my test! For the last few months I have been hoping that I'll be able to drive home to see my new neice/ nephew due 17th September, and now I can! I'm so pleased.

Fi is on maternity leave now so we call each other loads during the day - I always run my ideas by her before I print anything. She's growing a baby and I grow T-shirts. One day I guess I might grow up. :)....erm not very likely.

Anyway, I learned to drive with Anna's Driving School - Anna is a great teacher and has become a good friend too! On the day of the test, I can not remember being more nervous about anything as this was a really big deal for me. Now I can drive to different locations with my stall which is going to be a HUGE help! So look out for us, me and my t-shirts are coming to a town near you!

My neighbours Aisha and Leila made me a card which was so sweet of them I just had to share it - see pics below.

Now I better get back to washing screens ready for some new designs...

My little Citroen Saxo x :)

Freedom Chasers

Ok so I've now managed to upload most of the new stock to the website which I printed last week. The new Freedom Chasers designs have already been a big success on the stall and I even had to print more stock before uploading them. While I was working the Spitalfields Stall last week I had enquiries buzzing in from the website and facebook - the wonders of the Blackberry means I can still do business from my camping chair which Fi bought me for the stall opening :) It's great when I get to meet people who understand where I'm coming from with all this. On Friday I met a lady who said we were the best thing she'd heard about in ages and that the t-shirts had made her week.

The Freedom Chasers is my fave design so far because I feel it most clearly represents something about me and many of the friends I've made on my way. I have always taken the scenic route through life and have a total aversion to being trapped by anyone or anything. I used to run away from stuff but now I'm trying really hard to stay with myself and put my energies into something creative. Building the CARiLOVES brand is truly the best job I've ever had. The only job that came close is when Matt Rivers and I used to do hair wraps in Spain on the promenade. We were like 17, living on a 1960s boat, making great money then  spending it on...erm...fun ;)

So anyway, here are some of the new Tees, hope the customers will digg them x

In my view, there's not much for free in life, but you can always hope, always choose the positive and always, always believe...x

Living Room Factory

Wow, what a week. I've been up from early till late every night this week preparing and exposing screens, printing new designs, ironing them on and stitching in all the labels. I had to really improvise with the latest stock as it came in while I was at home in Yorkshire and I hadn't checked it as I usually would. Needless to say, I had made a mistake and had ordered unisex rather than women's Ts! However, I then realised that lots of people ask for larger sizes and I like oversized Ts so these ones are going to be my first Unisex/ boyfriend Ts! Hopefully the customers will digg it.

So I'm all ready for Spitalfields tomorrow and hopefully a busy Bank Holiday weekend!

Here's a couple of pics of some making and some of the new gear...I've simply run out of time to get them uploaded to the website so I'll have to do this early next week after some more market adventures!

Back To Yorkshire

Just back from Yorkshire where I had the most fantastic time. The only drawback was that it went way too quickly! Whenever any of my family get together there is always a lot of laughter. I spent lots of time with Mum, Fi (my 8 mnth preggers sister) and Robyn (my niece). The Fair (Scorton Feast) was in Scorton and needless to say Robyn couldn't get enough of it! We therefore went three nights in a row. We are now pros on the Dodgems and went on The Edge about 5 times. I actually nearly vommed on the Waltzers which is the one where the guys spins you around until you can't see anymore. My internal organs have visited new areas of my body and my legs are really bruised?!

  

We also went for a long walk around Easby Abbey, and followed the Drummer Boy route - finding the stone where local legend claims the Drummer Boy was last seen when leading the way through the underground passage - it's quite scary when you're reading about it in the woods however I realise it's a 'you had to be there thing'!. Also, you can stand and shout ridiculous things which create a serious echo around the Abbey which Robyn and I had fun with. By the time we got home we were starving and totally ready for a Feast!!

My final visit was to see one of my oldest friends, Ste, and we proved that we can still talk endless rubbish without getting bored! Ste has made me a really cool banner for the stall and also some pretty cool stickers!

Anyway, my insides have almost re-settled themselves in (hopefully) the right places and with the help of the cheap and very cheerful Megabus I am now back in London. I have a strong desire to get back to my screens and am still trying to get the exposing down with the hallogen light...I will sort this out this week! Anyway, as I believe Thomas Edison said, every failure is a step closer to success - I will hopeully get my desired screen printing results in under 10,000 as I am just printing tees!

Can't beat home sweet home! xx

The Caravan People

For my final college project back in June I had already decided to resurrect The Caravan. In September last year, on a coffee-induced high, I was hit by a bolt of inspiration. I was thinking about The Caravan and I wondered could I one day resurrect it? The beer mats and countless focus points we collected. The planets picture that Gaz and I made. The hundreds of all night sessions, the music, the friends and friends of friends. The French. The Beatles, The Eagles and Bob Marley. The grown up parties, the pyjama parties. The Guest-Book. The secret stashing hole where the gas heater used to be that only I knew about, where I hid all my private letters. What happened to writing letters?



In the summer we’d put the speakers in the doorway and all the family, Ste and anyone else – friends and even passers by would gather in the garden round the BBQ and Suzie was so young then she would be sitting on my knee while we listened to Bob’s Legend Album and I would tell her about my travels and stuff. After we’d finished eating and it got dark, everyone would go out the back and find wood to continue the fire into the night…music, wine, inspect repellent candles, laughter and stories.


That was when I used to smoke and drink and everything was so different. But the best things that are still the same is how close we all are and how much we still laugh every single day. They certainly were some of the best days of my life. And they have inspired some of my new t-shirt designs which I’m working on right now.


So I made the Caravan model for the final show with headphones playing The Beatles’ Revolver Album on repeat. It went down well with the visitors and my family/friends. Strangely, I felt that the whole process had had an unexpected cathartic effect on me and I felt completely ready to create more stories and adventures…and they are the ones I’m creating now!

The Market Is Born

A quick update of the last 3 months:

For the first part of this year I was applying to do a degree in fine art following a 2 year art course. My final interview was at Goldsmiths and as I nerve-wracking-ly went through my portfolio, showing my best work I came to the final piece, a painting of Kate Moss that I did in black and white acrylic. Now this happens to be my favourite painting – I love painting beautiful women. I find women inspiring in all our forms and for this reason I love to capture something I see in the moment, in a painting. However I came crashing back to the interview room with a bumb as one of the women interviewing me, Professor ***, openly scoffed at my work shortly before pushing my portfolio away from her and leaning back in her chair with a look of revolt. I was sorry that I hadn’t brought in something a little more crass than some paintings or perhaps something toilet related but there we have it :) I like the old traditional stuff, painting.

And sure enough, four weeks and three agonizing days later, Goldsmiths became the final of my uni choices to turn me down. So, after an incredibly tough, two year endurance test on the Central Saint Martins foundation course, working at a job for three years that I never thought I’d be able to do and months of soul searching, I realised that all the while I’d been dreaming of working for myself and was now quite relieved that I would not have to commit to a 3 year degree. CARiLOVES was something I had created and no-one could tell me whether I was right or wrong. Only my customers had that right – they would buy if they liked it and that’s all that matters. The new chapter in my life was born. CARiLOVES the market stall. I was going back to my true roots, I’m a free spirit and I have never been able to follow crowds. Whenever I try to do 9-5, Monday to Friday it just doesn’t work out for me. I’m so grateful for my previous job because it helped me to persevere and taught me so much. But I know where my heart is now, no matter how cheesy that sounds. I’ve caught up with myself and I’m excited, nervous, scared, hopeful, have no idea where this is going to go, but I’m certainly alive again that’s for sure.


It’s now Monday morning and I’m fresh from the ‘soft-launch’ / ‘dry run’ of the market stall. It seems to be pretty tough going for many of the traders who have endured the last 3 years of recession. However I love the fact that for the most part, the folks are friendly, encouraging toward newbies like me and everyone is so hard working. By 12.40pm on day 2 though, and I still had not made my first sale. Also, as helpful as it is, everyone wants to tell you how to run your stall. I’ve managed to pick up all sorts of really useful advice about how to set up, pricing and getting out to meet people. But it stings a little when my neighbouring stall holder tells me that I should lose the t-shirts from the table top and replace them with accessories. Like, t-shirts is my actual business?! When setting up a business it would be easy to get swept away by people’s comments until you no longer remember who you are and what your purpose is. I consider myself, at this point in time to be establishing a brand – a brand that stands for looking at the positive side of life and my core values; love, family, fun, creating, comfy clothing, believing and the miraculous.


The day began by someone saying that I had taken someone else’s pitch and it made me feel very uncomfortable because they were talking about it behind my back. Upon hearing this, I made it quite clear to them that I was not here to cause any problems and that I could easily move but that I would first speak to the market manager as they had issued me this stall. I got to stay as it was the market’s mistake and the person whose space it normally is, happily and kindly moved to another pitch. I understand that the person who was talking about it was just looking out for her buddy but I know I would never want to upset anyone – at the same time, I will not be intimidated by someone because it’s my first Sunday. Then, later in the day, the person I thought had a problem with us actually bought a hoody and shades from me! Awsome. The morning was so slow again that I was wondering if I was doing the right thing, but then a pretty, peroxide punk girl came up with her boyfriend and wanted a grey tank with the planet heart logo. She got changed down to her bra in front of the whole market, not giving a hoot who saw (and causing quite a stir) and put on the tank inside out, stuffing it into her (tiny) shorts so you could barely see the heart logo! She gave me a handful of change and said it’s all she had - it was actually 44 pence short of the price, but hey it was my first sale and I was gonna take it! After that we had a few sales including a German guy who wanted to buy a grey believe hood for himself but instead got one for his girl friend.


A week ago, I had just a few days to prepare a new collection of stock, stitch in labels, sort out the layout for the stall, make a sign, get all the hanging equipment and get it all from Bounds Green to Brick Lane. And it felt good to look at the stall all up and running and making sales yesterday. All round it has been a challenging and exciting week which ended on a very positive note. I still have a lot of work ahead of me but I’m just starting each day with a fresh attitude and a lot of gratitude for each and every sale we make.


Let the Good Times Roll!

Cari xx

 

Quick Update

I've been doing a few sneaky tee designs when I should have been doing college work so that as soon as I finish this term I can concentrate on getting them printed, putting them on the site and taking with me on my travels this Summer.

Very excited and just hoping that everything goes ok, so apologies for not writing more at the moment but I am snowed under making The Caravan - a tribute to our Caravan from the past. Will post pics when done.

Have a lovely week.

Cari xx

Four Ways to Have The Audacity To Experience More Joy

Four Ways to Have The Audacity To Experience More Joy

Sewing Machine Love

For me, there really is no better way to start the day than by running. This morning I ran 7 miles and as I ran down Alexandra Park Road, in the rain at about 8.00am I felt a euphoric feeling taking over me and I remembered why I do this!

I'm trying to incorporate some more graphics with the next tees and I really want to use some bright colours so over the next couple of weeks I'll be sketching them up for the website. It was my birthday last week and I asked for a sewing machine. After a quick lesson in the shop, where the sales woman said "oh my, you really are a beginner aren't you!?", Greg collected it for me. Then, after lots more practising back at home, I can now stitch the labels into the tees/hoods myself! Wow, the small wonders of life. :)

The latest edition is "Entrepeneur"...label stitched by me!! It wasn't until later that Robbie and Fi pointed out to me that I had actually managed to spell Entrpreneur wrongly! Yep, I even surprise myself sometimes.

That's all for now.

Hope to have some more pics and designs soon
xx

The Beginning

So this is my new blog. I've been meaning to get round to this for some time now but when Sam bounced in from work yesterday and said "Carrers you HAVE to get a blog!!!" I thought, ok, it's time to blog. I sat in bed this morning with a nice cup of tea and wondered how i could use a blog and what it could do for me...

The story so far is that I have a website called CARiLOVES from which I sell tees and hoodies with bold, life affirming statement prints. Most of them are hand screen-printed from our home-based workshop, the living-room table, and it's pretty much a family set up. I love comfy clothing and I love to be creative. I have lived in the dark and in the light and at this point in time I much prefer the light because the dark side can get pretty scary. So my tees are all inspired by the lighter side of life and I'm trying to spread some happiness - pretty cheesy I know, but someone's gotta do it! :)

I believe that it is possible to do what you love in life and my amazing Mum's motto 'where there's a will there's a way' is a great one to live by (she does have many others which may be featured from time to time). It's quite simple for me, I want to share my ideas through my clothing and maybe inspire someone on the way. So as I sat in bed and finished my lovely hot cuppa, I realised that I could have some fun with this blog. I want to be as honest as possible and hope to share my life and my t-shirt making antics with anyone who cares to read!

Hope to write again soon!

Cari xx

PS - We can do no great things; only small things with great love. Mother Teresa