Custom Orders and Creative Imagination

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! I am just popping in today to share a small post about a huge dose of creative imagination! Wowee!

Cast you minds back (or imagine it if you are a newbie Buttoneer!) to my Create 28 blog challenge last year – remember it? Well, stretch your memories a little further way back to the French knitted flower hair grips. Okay, now we are all on the same page which and that makes this post waaaaaay easier to explain!

If it helps you to imagine them, over in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop I describe them as:

“Sumptuous raspberry pink coloured wool/yarn (quite possibly hand-spun by little raspberry fairies!) has been knitted into a long continuous piece of woven loveliness, using the French knitting technique.

With a huge dollop of love and large amount of crafty goodness, I carefully hand stitched the knitted rope-like tube into a pretty flower shape and added a silver-coloured metal alligator grip to the back”

Well, last month I received an Etsy conversation from a lovely lady who asked if I could make two of my Raspberry Pink French Knitted Hair Grips for her daughter. I was thrilled to be able to help and got to knitting right away. Side Note: It is waaaay harder to get two handmade items to look exactly the same, than you think – which is fabulous as everyone gets a unique piece, that is unique to them – however when you need two for one person, it is hard!

Photo-a-Day – January 2016

Hello lovely Buttoneers! Instead of my usual ‘Around Here’ post this month I am mixing it up a bit! Hooray! If you are a long term Buttoneer from right near the start (100 button points to Gryffindor to you beauties!) then you may remember that I took part in Fat Mum Slim’s Photo-a-Day Challenge for a whole year.

I loved how I could have 365 (366 this year!) guaranteed photographs of everyday life, snippets of work, play, or photographs of around where or what I was up to in that moment…

…they were all attached to a daily prompt that would inspire my photo-taking senses (They are like Spidey Senses but a lot more flashy…geddit!? Flashy…camera…oh never mind).

I loved it…until it got too much. I got to a point in February last year where I had just embarked in my epic goal of the ‘Create 28 Blog Challenge’ and it all got a bit too much pressure to keep up with, so I swapped it for a more relaxed ’round-up of my month’ post. I was struggling to keep up with the prompts every day, I would hate it when I got behind and I generally started to feel uninspired about the whole process.

Fast forward to now. I made the decision (along with threats from my family and friends) to not embark on an epic  stupidly hard blog challenge (read all about it here) and without it, I found myself in a bit of a slump and a case of the ‘January’s’ (read here). Last year I was also putting a lot of pressure on myself to keep up with a regular Instagram posting schedule frenzy.

As most of you probably know – Lots of Mental Pressure = A Creative Black Hole. Fun Fun!

Well, If you follow me on Instagram (grab yourself another 50 button points as you pass go) you will know that I decided to jump back on the photographic challenge train this month! Toot! Toot! 

So, in a nutshell, to keep my Instagram regularly updated with pretty, inspiring or just plain lovely photographs, I thought I would head back to a Photo-a-Day challenge to rejuvenate my creative juices, challenge my creativity and get back on the photography train on its way to Happy Land. Phew! (Seriously, if you have stuck with this post this far – another 100 button points to Gryffindor – go you!) 

I don’t know if I will do a whole year yet, I am going to take that pressure off, but so far, I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge again.

I love that I am documenting my everyday surroundings without all of the nasty, icky pressure thus opening up new blossoms of creativity flowers. Hurrah!

So…Without further ado…here is my Photo-a-Day – January 2016…

Day 1 – Black and White – Seeing in the New Year in our pyjamas with our cups of tea watching the fireworks in London on the telly – Perfection!

Day 2 – ‘What I Did Today’ – IKEA! Hello old friend…We’re home!

Day 3 – ‘Water’ – Tiny little water droplets on my pretty little primroses! Is it me or has Spring come way too early!? 🌼💦

Day 4 – ‘Circle’ – Lots of 3D circles on the pavement in Bristol whilst sale shopping! I always fall in love with the blue tiles in the floor here 💙

Love is on the Cards!

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! This post is coming to you a little later than I wanted it to but hey ho! We are here, sat together with our cup of tea now so it is all okay in the end isn’t it!? It’s been a funny old start to the month really. Can you believe we are in the last week in January already!? Can we not just borrow a time turner and start over? I wasn’t ready!! 

Does anyone else feel like this? I had so many plans and changes for you January, but you whisked my legs from under me and now I am sat on the floor wondering where the hell the month has gone.

Maybe I just have a huge dollop of the Januarys on my cereal each morning – Darn I thought that was yoghurt!

Don’t fear though. I am okay – I am just trying to find my footing a bit and as Eliston Button turned 2 a couple of weeks ago (Did you catch that Birthday discount code!?) I am figuring out what I want to get from this little bloggity blog and where I want to explore next. I am gathering up the creative goodness and laying it all out on the table. So bear with me, I will get there.

I will pop in here and there when I have adventures to share or crafty makes for you to indulge but, for a while take on a bit more of a casual blog posting schedule to lessen the pressure and make more time to make, create and explore all of the handmade possibilities. This will hopefully in turn loosen up the ol’ creativity mojo and imagination a bit more without the dementors shouting at me!

Quality over quantity, that’s what we’ll call it! Hurrah!

Anyhoo, I am popping in today to share and show of my new handmade babies – A new hand stamped card – just in time for Valentine’s Day! *cue the lights dimming, the romantic piano medley, and the flicker of candles…*

Now, I know some of you like a simple, minimalist design…a sleek, straight-to-the-point message and a bit punch of colour on a crisp white background – This my lovelies, is for you…

Eliston Button is 2 Years Old Today!

Hello lovely Buttoneers! Welcome back! Did you have a lovely Christmas break and a Happy New Year? I can’t believe we are into January already! Did you see my end of year round-up post last year? I mentioned that a certain little creative blog and biz was turning 2 today! Hooray! 

🎶 Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday Eliston Button…Happy Birthday to yooooooooooouuuuu!🎶 

If you are a newbie Buttoneer – Catch up and read all ‘About Me‘! 

So, over here in the Eliston Button Headquarters (I am almost finished organising it…maybe…soon, I promise!) I am in full on celebration mode (with a gallon of coffee, ’cause let’s face it, it is the first day back at work) Today, I just wanted to share with you lovelies a few thoughts about my little biz and my ideas for the future of Eliston Button and the Eliston Button Etsy Shop – not to mention a cheeky little ‘thank you’ gift for you guys at the end! Hooray for celebrations! It’s like Christmas all over again! (With less food now though…right!?)

Excuse the cliché, but it has been one hell of a roller-coaster. I have laughed and I have cried – Isn’t that the potion mixture for pretty much anything that you put your heart and soul into?

I have had some really tough times over the last two years (You can read about it here) but I whatever has happened, this little space of the Internet has made me sit down at my desk and just show up to work. It has (even with last year’s unexpected summer hiatus) been the port where I dock my ideas, the lighthouse to get me back on track, the thing that has held me accountable, made me keep at it. 

A few times it would have been so easy to give it all up and move on but, this little bloggity blog has kept me going, held my hand while I pushed through the fear and the unknown. It has made me push my creativity into new adventures, made me fall in love with writing, photography and graphic design more than ever.

Thank you little blog…

If I think right back to the start of blogging, I can remember the fear that held my little crafty heart as I hit that publish button and released my website out into the Internet along with a part of my heart and soul. I never imagined that I would still be here, tapping away at my laptop, writing about it all turning two years old – Its crazy pants! 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year you lovely Buttoneers!

2016 – I have so many new ideas to share with you, more adventures to take and exciting possibilities to explore.

Also, Eliston Button is 2 years old on the 7th January!!! Whhhaaatt!!?? Crazy Pants! Be sure to check in and join me for the celebrations!

I have so many hopes and dreams for you 2016, but above all, please be kind…

What a Year! (Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!)

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! It’s almost Christmas!! I am very excited – I really am a big kid amongst the pretty, twinkling fairy lights and the decorating of the tree, not to mention the Christmas songs and films and festive socks (that one is for you Saree!) I am already getting a bit carried away! More than anything this year though, I will be super glad of a little break. To be around family and friends. To just stop for a while and soak it all in. To put on the brakes, sit in front of the telly or knit and sew just for me…maybe pull out some Christmas crafting that isn’t just for the blog or snuggle down under a thick fluffy blanket with a good book. All will be calm. All will be still. Well, a girl can dream can’t she!? 😉 I can guarantee I will be bouncing around in my festive pyjamas waiting to be able to tear open prezzies and fill my face with turkey! Who’s with me!?

Well, What a year! It has been Crazy Pants with capital letters this year. 

I for one will be super-duper glad, with jingle bells on top, for the new year to come around, so we can all start a fresh and grab hold of a bit of hope and possibility again.

As you lovely Buttoneers know, this year was a tough year for us – I wrote all about it in my post ‘It’s Not You…It’s Me (And Why This Isn’t a Break Up)’ so rather than go over old ground, feel free to pop over and have a read.

All of the negativity and stress and anxiety led me to lose the hold I had on my life. It all sort of knocked my legs from under me and for a long while I worried that I had lost my mind, let alone my creativity! But, alas! The ice started to thaw, time became a healer, I found ways to cope better with situations and slowly but surely I found my way again. Bit by bit I started to blossom with ideas and excitement and love for what I do again. Hooray!

 I learnt a lot about myself. I learnt a lot about people. I learnt about what was important to me and what was not.

I learnt that to just show up, to just sit at my desk and type or make or paint or sew, to just start…was, some days, enough.

I found out that my brain needs as much care as my body (and that honestly, both need to improve!) I found out that I really love what I do but also found that I shouldn’t overdo it. I found that I have a fire inside of me that lights up at the mention of art, craft, design and adventure. I found out that I am strong if I put my mind to it. That I can get through the toughest of times if I just remember to turn on the light (Thanks to J.K.Rowling for that one) I found that people can be horrendous and spiteful and terrorise others BUT, that if you look closely you can sift out the good ones, you can spot the real ones, the ones who are full of love and happiness and have huge hearts. They are my people. I want to be in that tribe. 

I learnt that no matter what, I have a support network of family and friends (including my ever so patient and understanding, superhero fiancé) My favourites, behind me and I know that no matter how tough it gets, no matter what bad decisions I make, or however much I hibernate away, they are there, standing next to me, holding my hand. 

After I was shook through the sieve this year, I learnt who the pure gems are. I learnt where and what and who my gold nuggets are…

A Festive Adventure

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! It is almost Christmas and I am super excited, especially now that I have been adventuring to some late night shopping festivities! What is it about Christmas markets that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and as excited as…well a kid me on Christmas morning!?

I love the smell of mulled wine that lingers in the cold crisp air…the scent of chestnuts roasting (on an open fire!?) The bright twinkly lights that give a sense of magic just around the corner…the stalls of handmade goodness, mince pies, gifts and festive foods….the happiness that soaks into your soul as you wander around without a care in the world…Christmas perfection!

At the weekend, my fiancé and I adventured out down the road to the beautiful Cotswold village of Broadway which is just about ten minutes away from where we live – It is my fave! They had carollers, brass bands and so much Christmas spirit – not to mention all of the lights! 

The sparkly twinkle fairy lights looked divine against the creamy golden Cotswold stone buildings and we easily felt like we had be transported back in time…it is the most quintessential Cotswold village. It is not hard to see why it was voted as number 1 in AOL’s ‘Best Christmas Destination in the UK’ this year!

It really was chocolate box material!

Pavilion Interior Design have the most beautiful showrooms and each one contains a new theme of gorgeous and enchanting items. I have a bit of a thing for delightful doors and this one was a beauty! It felt so warm and inviting and felt like a total wonderland to peer into through the glass.

Every single shop had outdone themselves with their window decorations and displays. Each one unique and magical filled with glitter and sparkle and elegance.

Around Here…November 2015

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! Happy December! It feels like I was only just sat at my desk writing up my October monthly round-up and now we have waved goodbye to Autumn.

Now we are knee-deep in grey, winter days where frosty mornings nip at your nose and misty afternoons make you crave snugly blankets and hot mugs of soup!

Lots of things happened in my world and in the big wide world this month. I always love documenting the little things, the everyday things, the run-of-the-mill things I am sure to forget when I am old, the favourites, the days out, the food, the way things make me feel…the little things that make up the bigger things, The things that fill my heart.  

My favourite place for this is on Instagram but I love to share my monthly round-ups on here with you lovelies too. Not only that, but I love to look back over the last month and remember it all, soak it all up and move forward to more adventures. 

Here is what went on Around Here…November 2015…

Around Here…I’ve always loved this intricate Gothic clock tower memorial in Stratford-Upon-Avon and never think to photograph it! It has Shakespeare quotes around the outside too, so that and the beautiful architecture and I’m in love! 😍 It was donated by an American publisher called George W. Childs in 1887 and features American Eagles, English Lions and numerous fairies from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – Fascinating!

Around Here…The Gothic clock tower memorial also has the smallest little door on the side! I like to think it’s for the house-elves that work the clock and keep it running smoothly! 😄

Around Here…”Imagine the wind in your hair, the sun on your face and the sand between your toes as you stroll along the creamy yellow beach amongst the rocks and driftwood with the seagulls calling out your name…”
Now you can, every day! I announced that my fabric ‘Beach Huts’ collage is now available as a PRINT!! It is available in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop 😉

Around Here…It’s very rare for me to catch the sunrise so when I do it feels extra magical 😍

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (and Last Christmas Postage Dates)

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! It feels like just last week I was on ‘An Autumn Adventure’ over here (I literally was! ;)) and wham! Just like that, we are into Winter and thinking about Christmas. Blimey!

I thought I would create a little post about all things Winter and Christmas with a cheeky nod towards the Eliston Button Etsy Shop as ideas for your handmade Christmas gifts and, a sneaky hat-tilt towards making and soaking up the holiday cheer with my festive tutorials!

[Shhhh! Buttoneer Insider Information Enclosed: For any order made in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop before 25th December, I will send you a free handmade mystery gift AND 15% off your next order!! – Am I good to you or what!? Details at the end of this post! Shhhh!]

*cough* *cough* So, Here is a fun little round up of just some of the handmade loveliness in my shop…

You can get swept away with the ‘Oo La La’ of French charm with my Embroidery Hoop Wall Art…Take a walk along a driftwood covered beach with golden sand between your toes in my Fabric Collages…Add a touch of whimsy to your hair with my Embroidered Felt and French Knitted Hair Accessories…or even pretty up your ears with my Embroidered Felt Petal Earrings…

…You could decorate your home with love with my Quilted Fabric Bauble Decorations – These come in traditional Red and White (like in the opening photograph) and Pastel Pink and Smoke Grey! 

My Embroidered Felt Flower Brooches from my ’27 before 27′ blog challenge are still available too, some have sold now, some I have re-made with my crafty little fingers, some are waiting to find a loving home…

An Autumn Adventure

Hello lovely Buttoneers! I am clinging on to the last of the beautiful Autumn today before we nosedive into the frosty winter months, with an Autumn adventure for you! A few weeks ago, I was having a bit of an off day at the weekend. I felt a bit restless, nothing was going right with my work (which is why by general rule, I try not to work at the weekends!) so when my Fiancé had finished watching the football, he suggested we wrapped up warm and went on a picnic to get some fresh air, some perspective and to walk away from any oncoming melt down that may have been about to occur! It was the best idea with the most perfect timing – He’s a keeper! 

So we threw a pizza in the oven, made a flask of hot coffee (yes, like old people…don’t judge me and my coffee on a cold day in the countryside!) grabbed out coats and scarves and headed out on an adventure to Dovers Hill, a national trust area of outstanding beauty (and luckily only 14 minutes from our house!) Hurray! 

I have been to Dovers Hill a hundred times before, growing up, but I was taken aback by the breathtaking beauty of Dovers Hill in the Autumn.

The drive up the hill, looking back over to where I live is phenomenal too – My fave! 😍 It looks like it goes on and on forever!

Fun Fact: Dover’s Hill was in fact the site of the original English Olympic Games, which began there over 400 years ago in 1612! Blimey!

The natural and historical amphitheatre continues the tradition with an ‘Cotswold Olimpicks’ every year! 

I felt like a big kid, crunching along in the fallen leaves and kicking them around so that they fly and flurry in blurs or orange, brown, orange and yellow…definitely good for the soul! 

The end-of-November sun was setting and it was like the sun dripped liquid gold and bronze onto each individual leaf…I was in love…

Tutorial Tuesday – Autumn Leaf Art Mobile

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! Remember last week in my Workspace Wednesday – Autumn Leaf Art when I promised I would show you what I created with my pretty, arty leaves? Well, here it is! I have even made it into a little tutorial for you to follow along just in case you get stuck (aren’t I good to you!?)

If you are a regular reader on this blog, you will know how much I gush and gush about how much I love Autumn.

I love the warm golden sun on my face in crisp afternoons. I love the richest russet oranges, the breathtaking browns, the sun-dripped yellows. I love cosying and snuggling up under a blanket with a mug of tea when it is dark outside, with candles flickering with warmth. I love introducing hot comfort-food meals after a summer of cool salads and ice lollies…

And just like in the Spring, I love the start of a new season, one with noticeable changes that bring beauty to our surroundings…I love it all so Autumn crafts are definitely up there with Christmas crafts for me! 

You can catch up with all of my tutorials here and here is last year’s Autumn Glitter Leaf Garland Tutorial 🙂

If you didn’t catch last week’s Workspace Wednesday – Autumn Leaf Art, I hand decorated a pile of assorted Autumn leaves that I had collected up. I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen, but any gel pen would work for this. Pop over to the post to have a look at my creative process if you like! 

Workspace Wednesday – Autumn Leaf Art

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! If you are a regular reader of the blog or if you follow me on Instagram or even on Pinterest, you will know by now how much I love Autumn…

I love the colours of Autumn, the warm golds, the rusty oranges, the breathtaking browns, the sun dipped yellows….pure perfection!

So, naturally, on my workspace today it is full blown autumn – I’m not even kidding – you should see the mess! I started playing around with the leaves and wondered how I could make them full of arty/crafty goodness…and voilà! An idea was born…

I started by gathering my leaves – this is the fun part! I love walking through the crispy, crunchy explosion of colour at this time of year and was really happy to collect it all up and bring them home with me. 

I grabbed my white Gelly Roll Sakura Gel Pen (Any white gel pen would work but, these are my favourite and really hold their colour and have a great ink flow) and started doodling on the leaves.

I love, love, love the contrast of the crisp white against the auburn reddish-browns and they were so silky smooth to draw on to.

I played around with different patterns, not worrying too much whether the lines were straight or perfect or whether they kept within the lines. Again, regular readers will know how amazing this is for me as a total perfectionist! It was actually really freeing, I felt calm and relaxed and let my hand swish away along the lines and create beautiful imperfect patterns. I found this looked so much better than if I was too rigid with my illustrations. T

The natural curves and edges rolled over the natural veins of the leaves and gave a really organic feel to each design.

These feathery looking patterns were one of my favourites as the white hand-drawn lines contrast beautifully against the brown leaf, creating a painted effect – I had to show my fiancé the original leaves because he thought I had painted the photograph below – I wish I was that good! 🙂

I got seriously carried away creating different patterns and designs. One idea led to another and the inspiration and creativity flowed – Seriously…can I do this for a living please!? I love the Aztec inspired designs so much but there is something really beautiful about the simplicity of the original idea, where I followed the natural lines of the leafs veins with the gel ink pen. 

This Steam Train Stops at Hogwarts…Right!?

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! A few weeks ago I went on an Adventure! A real steam train adventure! I packed my lunch into my Hogwarts insignia tote bag, stepped into my new flowery, happy shoes, waited for my parents to pick me up with child-like excitement as my brain was screaming “This stops at Hogwarts…right!?” – I mean you have to be sure now don’t you? You wouldn’t want to be on the wrong train!

When I think of steam trains, I can’t be the only one who thinks of Harry Potter steaming out of Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross on the Hogwarts Express or those old romantic black and white films where they talk really fast and love really deep…

My heart flutters at the romantic notion of the old days…of simpler days…of days before the hustle and bustle of technology. Don’t get me wrong, without technology I would be able to write this blog post (or maybe I would write it all out and post it off to you, sealed with a kiss?) but my romanticised notion of the old days seems pretty dreamy! (I know…I know…It wasn’t all like that…but we can pretend can’t we!?)

Here is my adventure on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway…

I was so excited to be going on this adventure and to be sharing the whole day with my parents and my sister, Sarah. It is always great to carve out quality family time and we always have a great laugh and a catch up when we get together so I knew we were going to have the best day! 

I was bowled over by the beauty of the Cheltenham station when we arrived. 

The tall trees and the neat and tidy flowers and bushes looked so perfect and I gasped in excitement when the steam train chugged into the station!

Not to mention those gorgeous signs with the gorgeous lettering (I am such a typography geek!)

We found our seats and with coffee in hand (I started chomping on my huge box of carrot sticks I had packed!) the train left the station and immersed us into Autumn. I took so many photographs and just had to share them with you. I love these autumn trees – those colours! They make my heart swell twice the size for their warm colours and crisp autumnal hues – they look like a painting! 

Beach Huts Fabric Collage Art Print

Hello lovely Buttoneers! I have a new Eliston Button Etsy Shop item to share with you today! Hooray! Now, before you get all “we have seen this before” on me – you have and you haven’t. So, way back in the summer (doesn’t that feel like it was a lifetime ago now!?) I sold my fabric beach huts collage – the original one that I had created as a part of my Create 28 Blog Challenge.

I was happy to know it was going to a lovely artist by the sea, that it was going to an happy art-loving home, but I couldn’t help but feel a little sad to see it go.

Just like anything I sell in my Etsy shop, I put a part of my arty, crafty heart and soul into each piece and so when they fly their arty, crafty goodness to a new home, I feel like I am waving off a small piece of me…

So, before I posted off the fabric collage, I created a digital copy of the original as a memory of what I and made. As most of you know I am a sucker for memory keeping and documenting the bits and pieces that make up my days. Then I got to thinking – So much work and time and love goes into each piece, isn’t it a shame that I can’t reproduce them easier and make them more accessible for more people, let alone be able to price then accordingly…

…and the rest (which consisted of copious cups of tea and the odd chocolate biscuit during an looooong editing process to ensure a pretty great, if I dare say so myself, 2D print that looks almost as textured as the original collage!) is history! I bring to you, my lovelies, my ‘Beach Huts’ fabric collage prints! Hooray! 

Imagine the wind in your hair, the sun on your face and the sand between your toes as you stroll along the creamy yellow beach amongst the rocks and driftwood with the seagulls calling out your name…

You come across a little row of beautifully painted, stripy beach huts and maybe you stop a while for a cup of tea or a snooze under the shade of the wooden roof…bliss…

For this collaged beach scene, originally each small piece of fabric goodness was lovingly hand-picked and cut to size to create a layered collage effect. The warm beige and creams merge together with oatmeal and sunshine colours to create a wonderfully textured surface which translates beautifully on to the 2D Print. This in turn is complimented by slithers of wispy woven cotton clouds, denim blue skies and sea foam highlights of the dreamy sky. Two blue and white striped beach huts with navy blue roofs and doors cuddle up around the a central red and white beach hut, all in a row amongst the soft fabric sand dunes.

I always find that the more you look into each piece, the more you see…maybe pieces of driftwood in the sand or a trail from an aeroplane jetting away to a faraway city or tropical island…

I created this high quality print from the original fabric collage on to quality card with rich coloured inks by myself,  so that the little creative perfectionist in me can ensure a high quality print every time.

Each print will look great in a 8×10 frame which will leave a small white border around the collage itself to set if off in your frame. 

So there you go! The ‘Beach Huts’ fabric collage print will be available in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop immediately and will start off with just a few in stock to start with, and I may make more as time goes on. 

What do you think? Can you imagine yourself walking along the soft textured beach? Where would you put this print? I would love to hear all about it! 

Meet me for a chat with a cup of tea in the comments below. I’ll click the kettle on!

 

Around Here…October 2015

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! I am pretty sure I say this every month but how are we in November already!? Am I the only one that feels like this year has just whizzed by!? Blimey! If you want to catch up with my Around Here posts then grab a cup of tea and nestle in!

I had a bit of a panic towards the end of October that I wouldn’t have enough to make into a monthly round-up post. It’s been a strange old month and where I have still kept up with blogging at least one a week since coming back from my break, I seemed to dip back into a bit of a creative lull. Maybe its the change in weather, the grey days and the dark nights that has created a shift or maybe my brain is still pushing through the clouds in search of speaks of sunlight and needed a rest. However, here I am and here this post is, again surprising myself with the amount I actually did do and inspiring me to keep plodding through, because when I look back each month and reflect on these little colourful squares of my month past, I smile and remember the good bits, and shake off the grey fuzzy bits. 

This post has become a bit of a therapy for me in parts.

It allows me to see that it wasn’t all murky and tired and full of battling the urge to hibernate. There were lots of sunshine and happy and feel-good, soul restoring glimpses of magic. I will always hold on to those.

So without further ado…here is what I got up to Around Here…October 2015…

Around Here…My beach huts fabric collage flew it’s crafty self to a lovely fellow artist by the sea in Devon this week, it was obviously meant to be! This one here is called ‘Driftwood’ and is the last of my fabric collages in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop at the moment! My heart is always a little sad to part with them but I love thinking about the adventures they go on when they fly the coop!

Around Here…We headed up to where my fiancé and I had one of our first dates, The Rising Sun Hotel on Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham. Coffee for me, a beer for him and a view that feels like it goes on for hundreds of miles = perfection 😍

Around Here…I could have sat on that bench forever 😍

Around Here…Golden Oreos…to be honest taste a lot like Custard Creams. I’m not complaining, Custard Creams are fabulous but I was expecting something a little more Oreo tasting!

Grand Designs Live 2015 – Part Two

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! Welcome back for Part Two of my adventure to Grand Designs Live this year at Birmingham’s NEC. Did you catch last week’s Grand Designs Live – Part One? 

If you caught Part One then you know just how many photographs I took and how much inspiration I came back with after a full days adventure into design goodness. I couldn’t just leave it at one blog post so here we are with Part Two! 

I think my favourite part of Grand Designs, bar the wonderful talks by inspiring people on the theatre stages, is the smaller booths of handmade and independent sellers (I know…I know…totally predictable!) So many bits and pieces caught my eye so I was eager to share them with you!

I have never really watched The Great British Bake Off but these wooden egg holders were fabulous! They are from a company called Culinary Concepts, London and are hand-crafted from solid beech wood. The ‘Bake Off’ one grabbed my attention to begin with but I think my favourite is  ‘Crack On’! How much fun would it look in the kitchen…

…Hell, I could do with it as a friendly reminder to stop procrastinating doing valuable research on Pinterest when I am supposed to be making and creating in the Eliston Button Headquarters!

Smeg filled my heart with 1950’s style and a dreamy pastel colour palette all over again from last year! I fell in love the ballerina pink coloured stand mixer – pretty sure I could also deal with having the matching fridge freezer, kettle, toaster….okay you get the point! 

The most innovative design I found from Smeg was their creative bird stove tops – what a great idea instead of the boring rings that you normally find! I have an electric hob at home because I used to hate cleaning around our old gas one in the old house – I think these could swing me back to gas! What a talking point they would be! 

The Meile Live kitchen looked great too and held a good range of interactive cookery demonstrations, kitchen design talks as well as fun ‘cook off’s’.

We actually stopped to talk for a while with the people behind Wine Cellar Pods because they were so darn cool looking! It is basically an underground wine cellar that is installed into the floor of your kitchen! (Where do I sign up!?)

Unfortunately I don’t think it came fully stocked! It is a really clever design of just three circular shelves that hold up to 81 bottles of wine (who has this much wine still sitting in their house!?) and a clever mirror on the bottom that makes it look as if you have an actual well of wine in the floor!

Grand Designs Live 2015 – Part One

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! As promised last week in my ‘Around Here…September 2015‘ post, I am going to share with you my adventure to Grand Designs Live at Birmingham’s NEC this month. Did you catch last year’s Grand Designs Live Part One and Grand Designs Part Two? Well, this year I went with a blog post or two in mind so found that I went with an agenda to capture all of my favourite parts.

Armed with my camera and a very (VERY) patient Fiancé (I seriously stopped to photograph everything!) I grabbed the complimentary tickets I had won last year in a photograph competition and snapped away taking it all in and soaking up the vibrant energy of all of the design goodness that Grand Designs Live had to offer.

Did you catch some snippets on Instagram or Twitter? 

I took a grand total of 358 photographs and a few videos so that I could steal some quotes out of some of the talks on the theatre stages. Don’t panic! I am not going to share them all! Can you imagine!? I have, however, whittled them down to some of my absolute favourite things I found during my adventure and will be sharing them over the course of this post and another post next week, so keep your eyes peeled for further excitement!

I have to admit that when we arrived, parked up and took the little bus ride to the NEC, I was beyond excited and when we walked the tunnel to the main hall I was a little overwhelmed at the pure amount of exhibitors (over 500 according to their website!) Luckily this was all broken down into smaller sections that branched off from a circular hub in the middle (where you could also grab a coffee and breathe for a while before adventuring into the next section!) which consisted of ‘Interiors’, ‘Gardens’ ‘Kitchens’ and ‘Build’.

On of the first stops for us was the Grand Theatre to watch a fantastic talk called ‘Luxury for Less’ by Sophie Robinson and Dan Hopwood from The Great Interior Design Challenge. They demonstrated “how to get the very best interior effects on a budget” –

It was so lovely to see them both in person after being a fan of their TV programme and I found myself nodding along and taking in everything they talked about – not to mention Sophie’s fabulous outfit!

I felt like I picked up a lot of great tips to try out at home and loved that I shared a very similar outlook about adding colour to your home and not just sticking with neutrals. However, I know that when we were renting, colour wasn’t much of an option on our walls so playing around with textures and fabrics is a great idea. It is definitely something to bear in mind now we have bought a house too before we start getting adventurous with the paint and wallpaper! This was by far my biggest takeaway from the talk…

Around Here…September 2015

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! Do you know that the last ‘Around Here’ post was in May!? Jeez….Well after last week’s rather deep blog post ‘It’s Not You…It’s Me (and why this isn’t a break up)’ I felt like sitting in the Eliston Button Headquarters again for a little while to get the lay of the land and to try to feel a little more settled in there. That’s when it occurred to me, whilst flicking through my phone, that even though I thought I hadn’t done a lot other than mooch around in my pyjamas feeling under the weather, I had. 

I looked back over the last month (as I tend to do when I welcome in a new month) and loved that even though in my heart I wasn’t as happy or relaxed as I would have liked to have been, I had had more good parts of days than I realised. They may not have been full days, but I was so grateful that I had documented small parts of days.

I had savoured sunshine. I had collected moments of calm. I had accumulated small pockets of goodness. I had amassed memories that would carry me through cloudy or stormy days.

I am so grateful for that. I am so grateful for Instagram. I am so grateful that I am a collector, a hoarder of memories and moments. 

So, here you are…Won’t you stay a while and read with me through my month of September 2015? The month where ‘Around Here’ I re-found light and colour and warmth…So without further ado…

Around Here…As I mentioned before, I opened up about what is truly going on ‘Around Here’ in my latest blog post ‘It’s Not You…It’s Me (and why this isn’t a break up)’

Around Here…These might just be my most favouritest new shoes ever! They are so cute that I can’t stop staring at them! 

Around Here…I thought there would be no way that these grapes would actually taste like Candy Floss…they do!!! Mind Blown!

It’s Not You…It’s Me (and why this isn’t a break-up)

It’s not you…it’s me…

I haven’t abandoned ship or walked the plank…I haven’t ran away with the circus or joined a travelling dancing show…I haven’t downed tools, lost my paintbrushes or mislaid my pens. I haven’t wandered away from my wool or even abandoned my embroidery thread. I am here. I am sat for the umpteenth time this month trying to find words and put them into the right order to make sense of the last few months. I am sat wondering whether I can post such a personal blog post. I am sat, as usual, worrying that I promised I would be taking a break for a while, but that it has been a little longer than that and that is not okay…but I am beginning to be okay with it.

When I announced my break after my Create 28 blog challenge I was excited to relax and be quiet and gather my ideas. I was looking forward to adventures and plans and no plans. I was eager to re-group, collect inspirations and hoard new ideas. I wanted to come back to work refreshed, inspired, on top of my little creative world, back in the game, ready to push myself and my little creative biz further and higher up the crafty little ladder than I had before. 

Except as you can probably tell by now, my hiatus did not at all go to plan. Actually it pretty much rolled right off the tracks into a fast flowing river I call life. Life got in the way. Hell, life overtook me, looked back at my exhausted self and reversed back to take a good old look before flying off into the sunset taking with it my creativity and umph. 

Create 28 – I Did It! (a.k.a. My Therapy Session)

Wowee! Hello there lovely Buttoneers! I really didn’t think I would make it to this point so hold on to your pretty little hats and make a big cup of tea – this is going to be a long one! It is the end of the road for the Create 28 blog challenge! Hooray! I am sat here in the Eliston Button Headquarters, coffee in hand, gazing at the blank canvas that this blog post currently is. I am gazing at the Create 28 banner for the last time and in turn gazing the potential of new adventures. New crafty goodness adventures, new blogging adventures and a new year of life adventures. When I post this it will be my birthday! I am now 28 years old. I created 28 pieces of art and crafts over the last five months. I probably had about 28 breakdowns in the process and equally, 28 breakthroughs. I thought that my ’27 before 27′ blog challenge last year was tough, I struggled, I won. I had no idea how easy I had it making 27 embroidered felt flower brooches in the same amount of months compared to 28 different things. Things that I didn’t know how to make, crafts that I needed to learn and crafts I had only dabbled in.

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow” – Ronald E. Osborn.

Just like with my last challenge, the rush of excitement and positivity soon disapparated and left me wishing I had an invisibility cloak. I realised really early on in one of my many panicked, teary and snotty (they were oh so attractive!) meltdowns that I was never going to create 28 new and different things, photograph and edit them, blog about them, list them in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop as I went along (because, let’s be honest, last years “let’s list them all at the end” nearly killed me off!) and still be able to brush myself off, learn a new craft well enough to be able to want to share it with the world and start all over again. Oh. Dear. 

Thankfully, my beaut of a fiancé came up with the live-saving plan of, rather than making a collection at a time of many items for one entry (see Gift Tags, Embroidered Felt Flower Hair Earrings, Hair Comb Slides, and Hair Grips,) to split them up and as long as they were different enough, then they could be a separate entry. Fabulous – I could get more done quicker and put more effort into each piece. Except that I still had to blog about each one, which don’t get me wrong, I love doing but it was taking time out of the actual making. This was surely going to be impossible!