Got a question? I’ve got an answer.

What payment methods do you accept? Do you take international orders?
I’m happy to take orders from any country in the world. I am a Verified Paypal user and can accept all major credit cards via PayPal.

I’m not from the UK. How do I know how much your things cost in my local currency?

You can use the currency converter. Remember that exchange rates change daily so the final price at checkout may be slightly different.

How long does shipping take? Do you ship internationally?
Please see the Shipping Information page for answers to all your postage queries.

Something’s broken on your site!
Oops! If there’s something wrong then do let me know so I can get it fixed. Use this link to let me know what browser and operating system you’re using.

I can’t place an order! HELP!
Oh no! I use Shopify and PayPal to run the shop and payment systems and unfortunately have no control over any problems they might be having. Do email me though and I can put your item(s) on hold and send you a PayPal invoice.

I’m unhappy with my item(s). What are you going to do about it?
I’m sorry to hear that. Please see my returns policy for more information.

I need to phone you! What's your number?
I'm sorry but I can only respond to enquiries via email - please email hello AT askingfortrouble.org if you have a question.

Do you have wholesale/SOR prices?
I do! If you’re interested in becoming a stockist, please view the stockists page for more information or contact me for a current price list.

Will you be getting any more of (insert item)? It sold out before I could buy it
It depends. I can only keep so many products in stock before I run out of money! If the product you want is in the Out of Stock page, then I am planning on making more. If not, I may be able to do a custom order for you. Ask me and see!

Where do you get your printing done?
Most of my stationery items (cards, notepads, sticky notes etc.) and mugs are printed professionally by various companies including Vistaprint.co.uk, Moo.com and OvernightPrints.com. I do a LOT of research when I have a new product idea and sometimes wait years until I can find a suitable service. For instance, it took me 2 years to find someone to print wrapping paper how I wanted and at an affordable price so I'm not quite ready to share that supplier yet, sorry.

What other suppliers do you use?
The notebooks are usually from Paperchase or Muji. My bags come from The Clever Baggers and Etsy. Most other things (felt, cello bags, washi etc.) I get off various sellers on eBay. The plain book hearts are made by Paperchase and you can buy boxes of them on Amazon. For badges, I make my own with a badge maker I got from Buttons.co.uk. And coaster bits come from BlankPlastic.co.uk.

Do you make everything yourself?
Depends what you mean by 'make'! All items involve my artwork in some way, though some products are hand-printed and some are professionally printed. There are also some items available 'on-demand'. This means I designed the product but another company (Zazzle, Plueys, Spoonflower) take care of the manufacturing and shipping)

Do you take commissions?
Yes, I do. If you see something you like but you’d prefer a different colour, size or illustration then email me at hello AT askingfortrouble.org and I’ll see what I can do. I can also take on larger custom orders for wedding favours, thank you cards etc.

What software do you use for formatting your zines?
I use Adobe InDesign, which is a professional print layout program. It's probably overkill for zines but I use it for designing posters and other print things so I'm used to it. Plus it's great for margins and columns and page spreads. Before InDesign existed I used Illustrator to do each page separately (insanity!) and before that it was good old cut and paste using basic word-processing programs and even a typewriter back in ye olde pre-computer times. You can read more of my zinemaking tips in the Let's Make Zines PDF I have available.

I don’t get why you sell crafts and also records. What’s that all about?
Asking For Trouble is the name of both my record label and my crafting label. The record label is all about unique, hand-crafted, short-run records so it made sense to use the same name for both. The label is taking a bit of a break at the moment though I’m not really sure why. All the bands I want to release aren’t very organised and I never get around to chasing things up. One day!

Is this your full time job?
Kind of. I work from home full time on a number of projects. As well as Asking For Trouble, I'm a freelance web designer, edit diskant.net and co-run the Super Cute Kawaii blog and shop.

A web designer eh? Will you design my website/shop?
I’ll certainly give you a quote! You can see my portfolio at www.marcelinesmith.com and contact me if you think I can help. 

I really like your shop design - did you build it all yourself?
Thank you! My shop is hosted by Shopify, who are amazing and do all the backend e-commerce stuff. I designed the theme myself, from top to bottom! I also have a free Shopify template available which I designed for creative folks. It’s called Prettify. Which may lead to the question, has this got something to do with how Cakeify got his name? To which I would say, yes.

I've always wanted to run my own business/print my own stationery/work from home. Do you have any tips? 
I've answered this a bit here and hope to write up some more tips soon. In the meantime, please feel free to ask any specific questions via Formspring below.

Still got questions?

You can ask me a question on Formspring (and view previously answered questions here)

You can also email me at hello AT askingfortrouble.org and I’ll do my best to help.