First up to appear in ‘Day in the Life of’ is Jennifer Perkins from Naughty Secretary Club. Our American readers may also know Jennifer from Austin Craft Maffia and Stylelicious.

Getting Up

Typically I try to get up around 9 in the morning, this does not always work out for me, but this is my average. I am one of those people that has a very exact first thing in the morning routine. Step one I go to the front bathroom in my house and wash my face. Step two I go to the back bathroom and brush my teeth. Step three I grab the first of many diet cokes of the day. I am just starting to question why my toothbrush and face wash are in different bathrooms so that my morning routine is more complicated than it should be.

Starting Work

Naughty Secretary Club has been my full time job for about 5 years now and I have always worked out of my house. My office is the master bedroom while my husband and I sleep in a room half the size. After my morning routine the start of the day is always about replying to emails and just waking up. For instance I am ahead of schedule today and it is not even 9 and I am already on question number 2. I usually come into my office, click on my ITUNES first off and start checking email, My Space, the Austin Craft Mafia and Stitch have a yahoo group I check in with and then I try to blog. My assistant Ginger gets here at about 11 so for the first two hours I kind of just spend quite time drinking diet coke (my coffee) and waking up.

Working Day

Since I work from home the only other people in my work space besides my assistant Ginger who is here 4 days a week is my cat Georgie and my dog Lucy. They love me working from home and when I am away on business my husband says when he gets home from the office they are a mess. A working day for me is sadly a whole lot of emails. For running a jewelry business sometimes I feel like I spend more time in front of a computer than I get to designing. Typically Ginger will let me know what she is out of and what I need to make in order for her to fill orders so I might spend the afternoon actually putting together jewelry. I have had 2 assistants in the past, one that specifically makes jewelry but currently I am doing that job. Working from home is really low key and not that exciting. There are days when I never even get out of my pajamas. There are also those days that Elle Accessories, Teen Vogue and Cosmo Girl all call on the same day needing me to custom make them samples for a photo shoot and I am designing and making jewelry like a crazy woman. Those days are pretty exciting.

I also spend 5 weeks a year in Los Angeles filming my new TV show Craft Lab on DIY. I go back for another 65 episode shoot in September. Those days are way crazy. I wake up at about 6am read over my scripts, listen to some music, drink a diet coke and then have to be at the studio around 7:15, 7:30. I go into make up and then after that wardrobe where people pick out my clothing and I just sit and try to slyly work in my jewelry with every outfit. About 9 I go on set and meet my first guest of the day. We film for about an hour and a half then I race out of the room, change clothes, get my make up touched up and then race back to set and meet guest number two. Somewhere in-between is a quick lunch then after lunch is a repeat of the morning until 7 at night. Yes there were days where I shot 4 episodes. At 7 I go back to the hotel read over my scripts for the next day, order room service, call my husband, check my email and pass out by like 9 from exhaustion. So that month is a little different than normal.

Lunch

I usually don’t eat lunch, or even breakfast for that matter. I am trying to be better about that. I will occasionally go and meet up with friends for lunch. Most times my days are too busy for me to go off and take a 2 hour lunch. However, friends like Vickie Howell and my sister Hope Perkins live within a mile of me so that makes for a nice occasional lunch time distraction.

Evening

Sadly I don’t really have an end time. This is what working for yourself is like, work is never really over. It really depends. If my husband is going straight to band practice from work that day then I might work from the time I get up in the morning until he comes home from practice at midnight and we go to bed. If he has the night off I usually stop around 6 for us to have dinner, walk the dog or ride bikes and then in the evening if we watch a movie or something I might make jewelry or click around on the lap top while we watch. I am kind of obsessed with my business. This is not to say that several days a week I do not see my friends and hang out, however my friends are in the craft mafia or run their own businesses so we still end up talking about work a lot of times!

Last Word

Thing I Like Best About Being an Indie Designer

I absolutely love making and designing jewelry. I never get sick of that part of the job. Every time I get new beads or baubles it is like Christmas day and I run around my studio trying to match them up with other pieces designing as I go. When I get on a roll I can make like 15 revamped vintage necklaces in a day. Not exactly mass production, but that is a lot for one person!

Thing I Like Least About Being an Indie Designer

Sometimes I miss being a secretary and having an office job. Coming home at 5 and work is just over with nothing for you to think about. The part I am finding tricky is all the extraneous things that go along with running a business like hiring accountants, lawyers, book keepers, assistants, web designers, graphic designers. I know how to make jewelry not keep the books and those things are equally important parts of running a business that have to be dealt with.

[Wow - what a great start to the feature - Thank you Jennifer! If you would like to appear in ‘Day in the Life of’ email Jenny at info@indiequarter.com.]

With Wimbledon starting today I wanted to find something appropriate from the blog. Hence the ‘Let’s Play Tennis’ earrings made by queen of pop art jewellery, Lady Luck Rules OK.

The hot pink tennis rackets are original 80s gumball charms and the dinky tennis shoes have the cutest detail.

If you haven’t already visited www.ladyluckrulesok.com you should definitely check it out. It’s a haven of music inspired trinkets, zany tees and kooky, charm laden goodies.

Nicola Jane brings us a whole world of quirky, elegant characters - sophisticated shopping fashionistas, flirty femme fatales, pretty outdoorsy girls complete with pet pooches, jaunty Scottie dogs and contented cats.

These beautifully hand drawn characters adorn canvases, cards, badges, mirrors and address books. The canvases (shown above) combine hand screen printed illustrations with applique and are mounted onto chunky canvases.

And if you’re looking for something a little smaller, there are lots and lots of cute badges to choose from, priced from just £1.00 each.

To delve into Nicola Jane’s world go to www.nicolajanesboutique.co.uk. (All designs copyright Nicola Jane.)

Back in November last year we featured fashion label Me & YU. Boyfriend-girlfriend team Gordon and Angela are the designers behind the brand, which combines fashion, graphics, art and photography.

Since then Me & Yu has gone from strength to strength with an entry at the glitzy Little Black Dress awards and winning a place to trade at La Boutique in Barcelona. They have now joined forces with another North West based fashion company - Instant Fashion Happiness and have their own brand spanking new shop at Aflecks Palace, Manchester.

The two companies have similar ideas and inspirations but each label has its own distinct style. Me & Yu specialises in hand-made and hand-printed menswear and womenswear. Each item has its own unique feel and no two items are ever exactly the same. To visit the Me & Yu website go to www.meandyu.com.

Instant Fashion Happiness is the creation of Sarah Randle. Her collection takes inspiration from pop annuals of the 1970s and popular icons such as Madonna, Bambi, David Essex and Marilyn Monroe. To visit the Instant Fashion Happiness website go to www.instantfashionhappiness.co.uk.

And if you’re in or around Manchester, you can visit their shop at

Me & Yu Versus Instant Fashion Happiness
Unit 317, 3rd Floor (opposite lift)
Afflecks Palace
Church Street
Manchester

Back in 2003 Francesca Salvini and Emma Smalley hung up their dancing shoes to bring us Temporary Measure. Their gorgeous range of accessories, bags, canvases, cushions and cards have been delighting us ever since.

Their ’garden shed chic’ designs combine a mixture of photography, embroidery and original text. They have a generous range of handbags for all occasions, in different shapes, sizes and colours, with quirky button and decorative embellishments.

Their cards and canvases include childhood and travel photographs and have been cleverly combined with witty text and anecdotes. They will even put your own photograph onto a canvas and write some accompanying text for you.

Emma and Francesca work out of their bright and airy shop in the Craft and Design Centre, Manchester, where you’re sure to find a warm welcome. They can also be found selling their wares at the Manchester Fashion Market, every Saturday. And for those of you who don’t live in Manchester or like to shop in your pyjamas, you can visit their website at www.temporarymeasure.co.uk.

Every time Emma Gordon brings out a new range, I get really excited. If you take a look at her website, you’ll see why. She designs the most beautiful handbags and she has a real eye for detail. From stylish clutch bags to glamorous shoppers, these are the bags you would buy for your best friend.

‘Emma Gordon London handbags are all about sophisticated femininity. Each bag is handmade by her. She uses wools and cotton twill outers teamed with delicate chiffon frills and sweet lingerie trims and her bags always include a charming patterned lining. Inspirations include the innocent quirkiness of Amelie and the light-hearted glamour of Holly Golightly in ’Breakfast at Tiffany’s’.

Emma aims to create the perfect bags for smart girls who love that extra special bit of glamour.’

Emma Gordon handbags are available to buy online at www.emmagordon.co.uk.