art equals happy.

A Fair Christmas. :: Shop Talk & Market!

The little Art Equals Happy elves have been busy making fun things for Christmas! The favourite snowflakes are back in tons of colours. We've got brand new handspun! Both self-stripe and some naturally dyed!We've also got special little lavendar sachets that make perfect xmas ornaments, and then can be tucked into your undies drawer to help keep everything smelling lovely all year round. :]
If you came along to the Camden Night Market last week, you'll have seen these, and THIS WEEKEND we are doing the lovely Fair Christmas Fayre at the Horniman Museum. It's going to be super super great! With all handmade/eco friendly/recycled lovely gifts waiting to be snapped up and given to a loved one. Check out all the details here. 
Online shop updates planned for this coming week. (Thank goodness my last day of term was today! Hopefully I can get back to our regularly scheduled blogging.)
Lots of love, Kim xo 

This Thursday Camden Market! :: Shop Talk.

This Thursday Art Equals Happy will be with the We Make London people in Camden for a night of winter market fun! There will be music and workshops and goodies and winter cheer!

See all the vendors on the We Make London page. 

Hopefully see some of you there! Kimxo 

Where I'll be this weekend. :: Shop talk & London

Me and Art Equals Happy will be at Old Spitalfields Market with the We Make London bunch all weekend, selling and (probably freezing and) spinning! I've got some naturally dyed fleece all ready for spinning & I've even got some hand knitted socks ready to be sold. :] Stop by if you can!! Otherwise, be sure to follow me on instagram (kimsmithhappy), cause I'm sure I'll be tweeting all day.Love, Kimxo

Weekly Craft Club. :: Friends and photographs.

Love this little snapshot from one of our weekly meetings in October. A casual group of us get together every week on a wednesday evening and do a bit of knitting or drawing or macrame or crochet or spinning... or anything that is remotely crafty. It's a brilliant excuse to hang out and there are a few girls who are avid knitters and it's great to catch up on thier projects. Sometimes we have it at my house, and sometimes we go down to my cousin's pub and chill out there. It's a highlight of my week. :]
kimxo

V&A Medieval Inspiration :: London & BA Illustration.

Early this summer I started gathering inspiration for a new project. My first stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum. It's probably my favourite place to go and find things. It's full to the brim of beautiful pieces of creative history. It gives me butterflies.Was I expecting to find a pot of Medieval stuff brimming to overflowing with statues and staircases and tapestries, no. But I did find it. I thought, maybe a few paintings, a tapestry... not literally everywhere I looked. What a pleasant surprise. Here are photographs of some of my findings, because I thought they might inspire you too. And so you can get a sneak peek of what I'm working on.Okay- this ceiling isn't medieval- but it is William Morris and he very much subscribed to the medieval sensibilities.So intricate and long-lasting.These stitched masterpieces are my favourite. So much time and love and hard work. Sigh.
Love, Kimxo 

Beautiful Amy at the Beautiful V&A. :: Friends & London.

This girl. Thank you internet for bringing her to me. She is such a great friend and helper. Always there if I need a helping hand, or if I need a friendly voice on the end of the phone. Or a study buddy to go to the Victoria And Albert museum and geek out over old stuff.Perfect friend. There is something magical about knowing that I can always have my camera out, or stop and draw something and she always gets my Harry Potter jokes. Plus our birthdays are really close to eachother, which is awesome. (Mine is Oct 31st, hers is Nov 3!) Isn't she beautiful?
Have you met anyone from online that was, like, amazing and meant to be? Tell me about it! Kimxo 

PoPS London Meet-up. :: London.

Well, so... How do I put this... I'm a big Platoon Of Power Squadron fan. Like, this summer I've gotten geekily into super heros and stuff. I did a post over at Hobzy a little while back about PoPS, so go there if you want some more info. Also, here is a link to thier Youtube Channel. It's brilliant. And the thing I love most about it (besides the super powers and jokes, obviously), is the fact that Jake was just like 'I'm going make a web series' and he did it. I completely admire the organisation and time and planning and dedication that he puts into it. Oh. And one of the main characters knits.

Jake's wife, Eliza, has a little crafty blog called If & Any, which is great. I'm rambling a bit. What was my point. OH YEAH- they came to London (They live in Chicago) and we had a meet up! Yay! I wanted Eliza to be able to take home was real UK wool, so I wrapped up a little present for her (see her post about it below).We met up near the Royal Albert Hall with other fans (hi guys!) and had fun chatting, taking pictures, geeking out, and picking Jake's brain about video making. We even did a little 'UPDATE' thing for the update blogs they do everyweek. It was awesome. Oh yeah, we got cool PoPS buttons too. :] Thanks Jake & Eliza!!

It was good fun. Below you can see Jake 'directing' us. haha!They were super down to Earth and maybe it's because they are Youtubers & Vloggers, but they just seemed really 'real' and just like thier videos.Kind of wish we lived closer so we could hang out more. :] I'm sure I'm not the only one that wants to be an intern for them. A good day! Kimxo

At Spitalfields with We Make London. :: Shop talk.

This weekend Art Equals Happy was at The Old Spitalfields Market! We were next to a whole bunch of nice people in the 'We Make London' section. Check them out here. Although it was very cold all day (see below), it was fun to sit and chat with I Am Acyrllic and LadyBirdLikes and knit and be wrapped up in gloves and scarves.Not a bad way to spend a saturday. Especially cause my Mum was there fussing over me (with blankets and starbucks! yum!!)- don't you just love Mums. They are the best.I tell ya what- it's great to have a full shop to set-up, complete with displays. This is pretty similar to my Renegade stall, only simplified a bit.(there's Mary of We Make London snapping a photo of me snapping a photo.)The Tote bags sold really well- we are all out of 'Knitting = Happy' so it looks like I need to paint some more! They are hand painted and sewn together using vintage sheets/curtain fabric. And a steal at £6 each!Lovin' my moo cards (I had to order more after Renegade because I liked 'em so much).And, of course- no Art Equals Happy stall would be complete without at least one Harry Potter reference. :] (I spy some potter badges!)Love, kimxo 

We Make London & Spitalfields market. :: Shop talk.

Hey everyone! This all kind of happened last minute (well, I've been schemeing and plotting for months...)- but it's rather exciting. :] 

This saturday, I will be a vendor at the famous Old Spitalfields Market. A true landmark of London. It's a place I love to go for unique gifts and walking around the area makes me completely inspired (there's some great little old alley-ways and jack-the-ripper haunts).

So if you're in town, come and stop by. :] I'll be with the 'We Make London' people. You can see everyone here, and I spy a few fellow renegaders. (I can't believe I still haven't blogged about Renegade!)

P.s. I'm hoping to do a lot more fairs in the coming months so keep an eye out for the Art Equals Happy sign! kxo 

Walthamstow Art Trail. :: London & Friends.

At the end of Summer, a dear friend of mine moved to London for reals and we went on a little adventure to a new part of town (for both of us). We stopped in at a little cafe and had yummy drinks and sweets, in between wandering around Walthamstow looking at the Art Trail.We found a beautiful part of the town, that felt like a little village.All the shop keepers were really nice and welcomed us, like we were neighbours. Something that is hard to find in the big city of London sometimes.

You can see Amy's photos here if you want to see more from the day. :]Love you, Kimxo