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!

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! 

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…

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!

 

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! 

Create 28 – No.28 – Embroidery Hoop Wall Art

Hello there lovely Buttoneers!! Woweeeeee!!! I am at number 28 in my Create 28 blog challenge!! Can you believe it!? [Insert party popper, streamers and a truck load of cake here] I am so super excited to be sharing the final part of my crafty adventure today with you all. Keep your eyes peeled later in the week for all of my thoughts, feelings and general roundy-uppy goodness…Ooo did I mention before that it was my birthday on Thursday!? 😉

If you have only just tuned in, you can catch up with all 28 creative doses of crafty goodness here

But, before all of that, I am here to tell you all about the final crafty adventure of the series and one that is definitely right up there on the favourite list. As you avid reader Buttoneers will know…

I have a huge love for France and all things French…the country, the culture, the language, the elegance and pace of life…okay maybe not the escargot or the moules or the…well, you get the point.

So, naturally my original idea for a ‘Hello’ embroidery hoop turned into a more French inspired piece…and I love it! 

So, without further ado (and because I have a date with my laptop in a therapy session spill-all-about-this-challenge blog post, here is No.28 in my Create 28 blog challenge…

Come with me and bring your imagination…”Bonjour” You chime with a little wave as you pass a fellow cyclist on your way through the fields of calming purple lavender fields that stretch out to the golden sun sat low on the horizon. The wind in your hair and your troubles a mere speck of the past in your relaxing journey to a wonderful destination. Or maybe you are hand in hand with a special someone, strolling along.

Baguette in hand from the boulangerie along the road, the smell of freshly baked bread merges with the delicate floral lavender scents as you pass the fleuriste. You buy a small sprig of flowers and place them in the windowsill of your little French cottage to remind you to be calm and take time out.

Bonjour relaxation….Bonjour calm…

Create 28 – No. 26 & 27 – Fabric Beach Scene Collages

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! I can’t believe that this time last year in my ’27 Before 27′ blog challenge I would have been all done and dusted! Damn that extra year! Haha! This last part seems to have flown by though; I seriously don’t know how I was so relaxed about it all at the start? How did I ever take time off? As you can imagine, I am truly looking forward to that part! 

This week for my Create 28 blog challenge, I am whizzing back through time and space to waaaaay before this little crafty corner of the blogosphere was imagined up in my crafty little head. Waaaay before brooches and felty goodness that started this here bloggity blog, there were fabric collages. In fact, the super button detectives among you may have noticed that they are actually all over this blog…can you spot it? If you have invested into Eliston Button too in the Eliston Button Etsy Shop, you will may have spotted it too, or even in your pretty packaging? There is a teeny section of an old fabric collage of mine in the top right corner of my branded products, right up above on the Eliston Banner for this blog and on my business cards and packaging stickers!

100 points to Gryffindor for all who spotted it! 

So, I wanted to whiz back to my crafting past and re-create these as they have always been a favourite of mine, and anyone who visits my house or my parents’ house and seen them up on the wall! This time around I upped my game and made the slithers of fabric scraps a lot thinner, more colourful and a lot more detailed. I am pretty darn proud of these, they may need to be prized out of my crafty little hands at the Post Office! 

Without further ado…Here are numbers 26 & 27 in my Create 28 craft blog challenge…

The sea breeze refreshes the balmy suns warmth on your face, the oceans tide crashes against the shore in a relaxing rhythm as the sand cushions your feet with every step along the beach.

You stop and pick up pieces of water worn driftwood and admire the weathered wood that lines a path down to the blue-green hues of the sea that meets the horizon with a shimmering dance of light across its surface…

Breathe in salty air…breathe out your worries…relax…

For this collaged beach scene, 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. These colours merge with white foam on the oceans edge and then into the blue, green, grey and teal tones of the sea. Shimmery material captures the light on the surface and subtle glittering specks catch your eye as you, move in front of the piece. This in turn is complimented by slithers of wispy woven cotton clouds, denim blue skies and sea foam highlights of the dreamy sky. 

Around Here…May 2015

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! How the blooming buttons are we in June already!? How did this happen!? I always get to this part of the month and love to create a round-up of the previous month, but always do so worrying that I won’t have done enough, or more likely photographed enough to make a round-up. This luckily is never the case (phew!) and always manage to surprise myself with how much I had forgotten!

I love being able to look back over my adventures, crafty or personal, I love seeing which blog posts were written and posted, which doses of crafty goodness are made and how far I have come…

I am still finding that I love this way of documenting my everyday things like buying a new plant or making a new Create 28 item compared to my previous Photo-a-Day method. This way I feel like the pressure is taken off a bit and yet I am still able to snap away and share with you my days and weeks each month. How lovely!

 Here is what has been going on in the Buttonsphere in May 2015…

Around Here…French knitting became a new obsession. I played around with my old Knitting Nancy for hours until I had finally grasped it all over again. I loved that I could make a continuous knitted tube and make this into a flower, or rather even better, a French knitted flower hair grip as No.14&15 of Create 28.  

I was sure that the gorgeous yellow wool was spun from the sunshine itself and the lovely raspberry pink must have surely been hand-spun by raspberry fairies!

I also fell in love with Portlebay’s crispy bacon and maple syrup popcorn – I mean come on!! It’s crispy bacon and maple syrup flavour and its popcorn!! What more could you possibly want from a snack!? 

Around here…We spotted gorgeous Wisteria on our adventures. I love the pretty, chalky pastels against that beautiful slate grey wall; I could stare at it all day. In amongst the chalky pastels of the Wisteria, up close it is just as beautiful as from afar with this huge dose of loveliness to a grey day. 

Whoever said there was no such thing as a free lunch didn’t win a Walkers crisps free lunch! hehe! I rarely eat crisps and I never win anything, so this totally made my day!

I also happily sat in the Eliston Button Headquarters and made new paper confetti to add to my Etsy orders! I love putting pretty bits and pieces into each package as a lovely, fun surprise when it’s opened!

Create 28 – No.24 & 25 – Quilted Ball Decorations

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! Here I am, back as promised in the last instalment of my Create 28 blog challenge – Typographic Quote Illustrations, with the second in a double whammy Create 28 week. Do you remember waaaaay back at the very beginning of this crafty little corner of the bloggerverse? Right back when I created a tutorial for Quilted Baubles? Well, since then, not only is it one of my most viewed blog posts, but many, many of you have asked if I will ever make them to sell as you don’t have the time/resources/inclination to make them. 

Originally, I always answered this question with a resounding “NO”. I love them, don’t get me wrong, they might actually be one of my favourite things to make, but they take hours to make and even though it is a seriously rewarding outcome, your fingers and thumbs hurt from pushing in all of those pins! 

Anyhoo, things changed. At the beginning of 2015 – January 13th to be precise (Lucky me!)…

I made a rather un-thought-out, not-at-all-planned selling of my soul announcement, that I would be going on 28 crafty adventures for the Eliston Button Etsy Shop before I turned 28 in June…

This forced me to create a list of ideas. How could I not add these beauties to the list!? They would have felt so left out! 

So, without further ado and because I have a lot of love for you all and your feedback/requests…No.24 & 25 in my Create 28 blog challenge is…Quilted Ball Decorations! 

40 squares of fabric, 209 metal pins and a lot of crafty goodness makes up this eye-catching and unusual quilted fabric hanging decoration. Perfect for any time of the year as a beautiful splash of rich colour in to any room but especially lovely at (but definitely not limited to) Christmas time due to its traditional colour palette of rich red and crisp white. 

Each square of fabric was lovingly folded and quilted into shape and secured with a pin to a central polystyrene ball in each section to make sure they have a strong hold. The fabric was carefully selected for its vibrancy and 100% cotton properties to give a bright star pattern and a clean crisp fold line.

The polystyrene ball in the centre means that the hanging ball decoration is super lightweight with the fabric giving it enough weight to hang beautifully from the ribbon. 

Create 28 – No. 22 & 23 – Typographic Quote Illustrations

Hello there Buttoneers! I am firmly into the twenties (not just in age thank you very much!) in my Create 28 blog challenge! Hooray! I feel like I still have a lot to go before the finish line (Have you seen my nifty little countdown on my sidebar!?) Five more to be precise, but I am gripping hold of the light at the end of the tunnel in my mind and ploughing through.  Have you joined me on the ride so far? If not, grab a cup of tea and explore the past adventures here.

This week, we have a double whammy of crafty goodness and they are two lots of my favourites so far (I know…I know…I have said that before!) 

I truly loved playing designer for a while whilst illustrating these lovelies and transporting them into digital prints.  I am super in love with them (so much so that copies are already framed for the walls of my home!) I have always been a lover of quotes.

Quotes from all sorts of walks of life and adventures can inspire and hold your hand on your not so sparkly days, your need a boost days, your need motivation to move your butt days…You know the ones, the Pinterest pin-your-day-away-days!

So, designing and illustrating my own ‘made up out of my crafty imagination’ quotes seemed like an obvious crafty adventure for me to pack my pencil crayons for. 

I am so thrilled with them and I hope you love them too! Without further ado, Here is No. 22 & 23 in my Create 28 blog challenge…

           “Spread a Little Sunshine on your Toast this Morning”      

This is an original quote, created in my own imagination when I needed to brighten up a cloudy grey day. Along the lines of creating your own happiness each day and bringing your own sunshine to your day, I wanted to add a fresh and bright fun pop of colour to your wall. This quote print would look amazing in your kitchen or dining area to catch your eye and remind you to keep smiling and to add a bright sunshiney splash of warm colour to your day. 

The mixture of my own hand lettering and a contrasting digital font makes a gorgeous combination and has an almost vintage sign inspired feel. I can imagine this print hung in a 1950’s American diner!

Create 28 – No. 19, 20 & 21 – Handmade Clay Buttons

Hello there my lovely Buttoneers! I am so thrilled to be into the twenties of my Create 28 blog challenge! The light at the end of the crafty but exhausting tunnel is dim but visible…phew! Fingers crossed I can make it over the finish line in one mentally sound piece and with my head held high with pride for all of my crafty adventures…time will tell. 

It occurred to me about a month in to this challenge that I should had to explore making my own buttons, but I was never really sure how I would do this in the time frame. I seriously have so little room for do-overs now that it’s scary pants! Anyhoo, it all came down to time and my beaut of a Fiancé suggested that we carve out some crafty time together at the weekend to stop my brain from going into overload (I normally have a strict no-work rule at the weekend that sometimes more often than not these days, gets smushed)

This sounded like a plan and I was super grateful for a clay warming, ball rolling, oven pre-heating, not to mention dishy assistant to take the edge off.

We had a ton of fun and I was super happy with the results – So much so, that I added an extra line to the collection and swapped some things around to have an overall of three sets of handmade clay buttons! Hooray! 

I mean, come on!! How could Eliston Button not make buttons!?

These handmade black flower buttons are detailed right down to the veins of the five pretty petals of each flower. The centre of the button is a textured round circle and two holes are placed either side for sewing. 

The monochrome black tones make this button super easy to match to any outfit, bag or crafty project by being neutral allowing the design itself to be eye catching. It will compliment almost anything or colour it is next to, giving you full rein to attach to anything your imagination allows!  

Create 28 – No. 16, 17 & 18 – Sea and Sky Painted Canvases

Hello lovely Buttoneers! Since the very beginning of my Create 28 ideas, I envisioned a mix of art and crafts and handmade goodness that I could play around with, decide what crafty makes would survive my harsh inner-critic, which projects I loved and which projects I loathed. Amongst my great vision of ideas (most of which were seriously crazy pants, especially in the time frame!) I always imagined I would return to painting. I loved painting whilst I studied art and design at college.

I loved the therapeutic processes, the smell of the paints, the daunting blank canvas, the deliberate brush strokes against the textured surface and the sense of accomplishment at the finish line. I loved the idea that you have created a small piece of your imagination out there for all to see, the slither of your soul laid bare in colour and movement…

I knew I had to dust off my easel, grab my paintbrushes out of the old jam jar pot and explore the possibilities…This in turn became its own mini collection of paintings, that I am truly proud of (so much so that I almost kept them for myself!)

First up is ‘Summer Skies’…

You lie back onto a picnic blanket in the long grass and gaze up towards the bright blue sky filled with summer haze and white fluffy, wispy clouds. You take a deep breath of fresh air into the top of your lungs, you breathe out all of your worries and troubles that float on the breeze away from your own little piece of heaven.

That is exactly the feeling I wanted to bottle up and keep forever! Instead I tried to capture the essence of a summer sky and everything that it brings to mind.

Each brush stroke has been lovingly and deliberately swished across the textured canvas to capture the depth and colour of a dreamy summer sky. Each wisp of cloud carefully placed to pool in a sea of blue tones and shades to create a calm effect across the whole piece.

Create 28 – No. 14 & 15 – French Knitted Flower Hair Grips

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! It has been a couple of posts since my last Create 28 post! Don’t panic, I am still keeping my head above the water (Just!) but it was nice to share my Springtime Adventure and chat to you all about what’s going on Around Here!

If you have no idea what I am talking about (Where have you been!?) or are a newbie Buttoneer (Hello! You are going to fit right in!) I am talking about my Create 28 Blog challenge.

Today I have for you numbers 14 & 15 – French Knitted Flower Hair Grips. I have wanted to dig out my beloved Knitting Nancy for ages now and it suddenly dawned on me that I could play around for a few of my crafty adventures for this blog challenge. Some projects you win, some you lose – this was definitely a win for me. I thoroughly enjoyed using the knitting Nancy again and it felt like I was using a teeny tiny loom!

This time though I was able to transport it around with me but also sit with a cup of tea and knit away – Bliss!

It became to be a lovely light relief from my computer work or admin and a great way to relax. French knitting really is quite therapeutic but also keeps your mind active – you can’t mess up on a peg! 

I wanted to add a splash of happy sunshine to your hair with his French knitted flower hair grip! This colour adds so much cheer to the rainy grey days we have been having lately, I can only imagine the shot of vibrancy and colour it could add to a sunny day! 

Gorgeous warm yellow coloured wool/yarn (quite possibly spun from the sunshine itself!) has been knitted into a long continuous piece of woven loveliness, using the French knitting technique. 

Around Here…April 2015

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! Can you believe that we are in May already! It is totally crazy pants how fast this year is going but on the other hand how much has happened to fill you all in on since Around Here…March 2015! (This seems like just yesterday!) 

I had a little weeks blog hiatus last week due to being a little stressed and burnt out from keeping my head above water with the Create 28 blog challenge doses of crafty goodness (I swear if I ever in a million years complete this challenge the round-up post will be twice the size of the ’27 Before 27′ one!)

Anyhoo, I start ranting now it will be a whole new post entirely! Hehe! Here is what has been going on…

Around Here…I always look out for these two friends on my way to Broadway Tower! The sheep and deer duo are my favourite and they always stick together! They let me get nice and close for a photo and I was super grateful as they are so sweet. They were the only two left in the field! 

The moon looked amazing right at the start of the month and I was equally amazed at the ability of my new camera to be able to capture it in such detail, including its crater! Gold star Nikon…Gold Star. 

I discovered this ‘Bust of Zeus’ at a local garden centre that I hadn’t explored before! Can you imagine the expanse of garden you would have to have to make this look remotely at home!? 

Primroses! These beauties were dug up and re-potted (by my lovely Mum) when we moved so that we could take a bit of colour with us for the new garden. I was sure they had all died but discovered them all smiling back up at me at the start of the month. Did I mention that I have this thing about Springtime?

Around Here…I launched my Picture Bead Coasters into the Eliston Button Etsy Shop after months of trying to find something suitable for my big mugs of tea and coffee. I am really thrilled with how they turned out and equally as thrilled that I was able to re-create them for Create 28. 

I discovered that the best thing about your family going to France was the yummy goodies they brought me back to go with a cup of tea! Hello taste of France…You my love, are my favourite:)

This month the fresh daffodils were bought in bulk for around our house every fortnight. They brightened up my kitchen, living room and hall way with their ever changing types bought from the supermarket for £1 a bunch and lasted the full two weeks before I grabbed some more bunches (I must remember this as soon as they appear next year!) They were my happy flowers for this month and pretty sure I used his to my advantage in a lot of my Instagram photographs! Also, Do you remember that ‘Home Button Home’ word tutorial? It is still going strong in my living room! 

Create 28 – No. 13 – Hand Printed Streetscape Cards

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! I have my next instalment of my Create 28 blog challenge. At number 13 I am amazed that I am a dose of craft handmade goodness away from the half way point! Wowee!

If you are a newbie Buttoneer, grab a cup of tea and explore my Create 28 blog challenge! 

So, waaaaaaay back in the Eliston Button crafty archives, do you remember when I hand carved my streetscape stamp and the little buildings stamps? (Along with my ultimate craft fail!?) Well, I love these stamps; they are by far my favourite and have been meaning to create some wall art for the Eliston Button Headquarters using it.

It makes me feel like I have the sea breeze in my hair and the hot sunshine on my face, that my worries have been long taken by the oceans tide and the seagulls are calling out my name…

It’s a no-brainer that this hung in a frame in the craft studio would be a good idea. Until my crafty little imagination ran away with itself and I began wishing I could send other people that little piece of my own little paradise without the hefty air miles or petrol costs down to the coast! Cards! Hand printed cards! I loved it and got my crafty little hands all covered in ink (and my desk) and stamped away to my heart’s content, brimming with pride that I had hand carved the stamps myself and excited to eventually stamp four near perfect pieces of handmade goodness to create as a set (I assure you that my inner perfectionist had a field day in my brain during this process!) 

So, without further ado…here is No. 13 in my Create 28 blog challenge – Hand printed streetscape cards…and I couldn’t love them more! 

Perfect for any occasion or even just to say hello! These hand printed streetscape cards are each lovingly stamped individually to create a steady colour throughout the set of four. The initial stamp, made up of little houses and buildings were hand-carved in a unique and playful design. Each of the little houses were then inked using a chalk ink which leaves a beautiful matt finish and gorgeous dusky colours when printed.

The little fairy-like houses are printed in my favourite inky colours from left to right – Pink Petunia, Purple Hydrangea, Night Sky, and Sea Breeze with an aptly named Sunflower Yellow sunshine and Jumbo Java birds! How fun do they look together! The pretty soft ink colours are acid-free and archival, meaning they will endure time for longer than regular inks – perfect for keeping these cards as a keepsake or memory once sent! 

The little buildings and bright sunny sky filled with flying birds definitely remind me of holidays and sea front walks in the sunshine! You can almost imagine all of the tiny stamp people that live in the tiny stamp houses! 

Create 28 – No. 11&12 – Picture Bead Wall Hangings

Hello there lovely Buttoneers! I have No. 11&12 in my Create 28 blog challenge here for you today! If you are a newbie Buttoneer then Hello! You can catch up on my Create 28 Blog Challenge and I will wait with a cup of tea….Ready? Great!

I really loved (even though there were many rejects and hours of trial and error) playing with the picture beads and fusing them together under extreme heat and creating all of that handmade mug-holding, table-saving crafty goodness with last week’s Create 28 entry – Picture Bead Coasters. So, I wanted to play around a little more and explore the possibilities of decorative art or wall hangings. I wanted to create something less practical or useful but something that I would hang in my own home or craft studio. 

In last week’s picture bead coasters, one of the things that stood out to me in my trial and error stages were that if I removed the heat earlier than normal, the beads would still fuse together but also still keep their form and holes.

When held up to the light they showed a lace-like holey quality and a gorgeous pattern emerged on the other side in shadow.

This made me very excited to try out the idea of a wall hanging as the light could shine through and the beautiful shadow would always be there (which to be honest is a lot more practical than attaching my coasters to the wall!)

No. 11 – Love is in the air…or at least hanging in your home! This picture bead heart wall hanging is sure to add a huge pop of colour and fun into any space, whether at home or at a party, with is gorgeous love-heart red and its crisp white tones. 

Each heart is made up of picture and Hama beads to create a simple yet eye-catching design. Starting at the top, the smallest heart is handmade and built up with love and approx. 77 beads fused together in alternating colours…

Workspace Wednesday – Studio Update – Part 3

Wowee!! A Workspace Wednesday post you say!? No way!? Haha! It has been a while and I wanted to just pop in to share a little mini tour of the new Eliston Button Headquarters and would you believe it – it’s a Wednesday and it’s my Workspace! Hurrah! Also, what do you think of the new banner!? Snazzy huh!? It was definitely time for a change especially as the workspace in the old banner isn’t even my workspace anymore! 

So, if you are a newbie Buttoneer or even just a bit forgetful (that’s you Saree!) there is a bit of catching up to do. In a nutshell, my fiancé and I bought our first bought house together after renting for almost 10 years (Blimey!) the day after my birthday (and the day after the completion of my 27 before 27 blog challenge and the opening of the Eliston Button Esty Shop!) last June (nice and stressful!) Over the last 9 months we had house problems and various other issues (not with each other!) so my studio became a slow process of trial and error, seeing what worked, unpacking and repacking just to have to unpack again, until today. Over this time I have also shared little snippets of the Eliston Button Headquarters in Part One and Part Two of my mini studio updates in my Workspace Wednesday posts, but this is the most up-to-date. Things have been moved and changed and shuffled around so much that I hardly recognise the older photos of this space and it feels a life time ago that my studio was in a bedroom at our old rented house (I really need to finish the studio and update that page!) 

So, I am so excited to share with you some little doses of my creative space to keep you going until I am all done and can reveal the whole thing (for the love of chocolate, let that be soon!) which is more than likely going to be when I have (hopefully) completed my Create 28 blog challenge and have some more free time my life back!

For now, grab a cup of tea and explore the Eliston Button Headquarters and think of it as an aperitif to the main dose of my crafty sanctuary!

Create 28 – No. 9&10 – Picture Bead Coasters

Hello lovely Buttoneers! Here we are at Create 28 time again! Hooray! If you have no idea what I am talking about (Hello there newbie Buttoneer!) You can catch up on my Create 28 craft blog challenge…go on…I’ll wait.

Okay, so here we are at No.9&10 – can you believe it!? As a part of my blog challenge I wanted to create a few things for the Eliston Button Etsy Shop that were not just pretty to look at but were useful too. Things that served a purpose and perhaps solved a problem or filled a gap of something I needed but couldn’t find. Well…No.9&10 is just that. Since moving house I have been on the hunt for some good coasters and am yet to find any that are ‘us’ or that are unique or unlike the last set I bought, are not particularly wipe clean friendly – oops! 

Voilà! I thought – I shall make my own and this is where the idea for these handmade mug-holding, table-saving doses of crafty goodness came from!

Okay, before I get started I think I have to be honest with you all. This is just a selection of my reject pile.

Now, if you have ever made anything yourself, then you will have probably had a reject or two until you get the hang of it or manage to master the art.

I have never had so many rejects, or spent this much time trying to perfect something! Jeez…I either added too much heat, or not enough. I either loved the design but then hated it once fused together or ended up pulling the design off the ironing paper too soon and messing the whole thing up (the downside of being a total perfectionist and totally impatient all in one!) But, alas! I mastered it in the end and am jolly well proud of my finished pieces and I learnt a lot along the way! I guess it is true what they say; it’s not the destination and all that. 

On the up side – look at all of the reject coasters I have now! That’s almost one for every cup of tea or coffee I have in a morning! 😉

Anyhoo, on with the show! Don’t you hate it when you have a large mug of tea or coffee and the mug is too big for a regular coaster!? Me too! (Gosh we are sooo the same, we should definitely go for coffee and cake sometime!) This is how these larger than average coasters came to be created. 

No. 9 – large picture and Hama bead patterned coasters – One is royal blue with crisp white and the other is lavender purple with crisp white detail. Each of the two large coasters (These will be available in a set of 2) were hand designed by me using picture and Hama beads on a circular peg board. The design flows organically around the centre bead almost like petals on a flower before branching off into a symmetrical bold pattern. Each coaster was held under the right amount of heat and pressure to carefully fuse the beads together 

Create 28 – No. 7&8 – Woven Wall Hangings

Hello there Buttoneers! I so excited to share with you numbers 7 & 8 in my Create 28 craft blog challenge…Woven Wall Hangings! If you are a newbie Buttoneer you can catch up on my Create 28 challenge in its category here. As most of you know by now, I am a little obsessed with weaving, especially weaving on my wooden peg loom. You can find examples here and here and not forgetting my Peg Loom Weaving Tutorial Part One and Part Two. So, naturally, I wanted

I wanted the woven wall hangings to be one of the first items in my list of crafty goodness, but time was not on my side!

If any of you have woven on a peg loom before will know how time consuming the whole process is – especially the threading up of those long warp threads through the wooden pegs with tiny holes! Yikes!

Now I finally, after a lot of practise I feel like I am thoroughly proud of my weaving and therefore am super excited to be able to share them with you. I have certainly put a lot of thought (and a whole heap of trial and error) into how to hang and finish them off, which meant a lot of playing around with pine wood dowels and wooden beads of different colours and sizes. Phew! 

So, without further ado, here is number 7 in my Create 28 blog challenge…a pretty pink and dusky grey wool/yarn peg loom woven wall hanging…