baking and making

at last.... the time has come, when I can say - I HAVE A KITCHEN!! :D

Of course it still needs tiling and flooring, but after weeks of having no hob, and months of having no worktops, you can imagine my delight when it all got installed last week! :)

I LOVE IT!


First meal HAD to be pasta - i'd really missed cooking basic tomato sauces and boiling pasta (i know i could have probably done it all in the microwave, but to be honest i still dont trust them that much!)

Don't worry, we celebrated properly at the weekend by cooking steak, and then a roast dinner :)
Although we were a bit out of practice and ended up with soggy roast potatoes :(
Must try harder!
But to be honest, with the weather the way it is, I want a bbq!

You may notice from the cooling rack in the first photo, I am now baking my first cake in our new house!

Partly to celebrate winning the bonus ball lottery at work (i've been promising to bake for the girls at work since i moved), partly because i keep finding black bananas in the reduced aisle,
and mostly because I LOVE CAKE!

This is the recipe I'm trying - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/black_banana_cake_52982

Yum Yum Yum xxx

future thinking....

since things got a bit quieter after Mothers Day, my mind has turned to the craft fairs i've got booked soon.
im really looking forward to showing off my work, and getting out & about again!

the last few stalls i've had - mainly filling up last minute space at Warkton, have been less than planned, and i've not felt that i've got enough stock. i always joke us crafters should get t-shirts printed up saying "a crafter is never ready"!
so for next months Warkton, when i have a stall, i want to be confident that i've got everything i wanted to sell, and be happy with how my stall looks.

i might be inspired by my friends fair i'll be visiting tomorrow -

 or maybe its the mention of spring being on its way (not that the weather knows about it!), but i'm actually beginning to get my head around making stock before the mad rush a week before!
i've been laying my stock out on the props i use, and making price tickets with my new toy - letter stamps!

i'm going for nice spring pastel colours (definately inspired by Selina's pastel fair!)  and i'm trying out some new products, these are pin cushions-one side bright, one side cream

to top it all off, this link popped into my inbox this evening!
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/get-ready-for-spring-craft-shows/?utm_source=etsy_success&utm_campaign=etsy_success_032113_5244374254_0&utm_medium=email&email_sent=1363901941&euid=n9YrLmDvC8GI0HBoeI25kiMnhqMV



i'll be at Warkton Village Craft Market on April 20th
and the Art, Craft & Design fair at Lamport Hall on May Bank Holiday Sunday 5th & Monday 6th
see you there!

a funny old weekend

its been a long, busy and slightly odd weekend...
nothing has quite gone to plan, Mercury must be in retrograde!

i took a long weekend off work to use up my last few days, and i thought it would be nice to have a rest around running Warkton Village Craft Market on Saturday
there are still LOTS of jobs to do around the house and i should also get on with making some stock for upcoming fairs i've got stalls at....
the thing is when i plan too much, i never do any of it very well, while i'm doing one job, i'm thinking about doing another

so i start off wallpapering the hallway - just lining paper to paint over, but its an improvement on the green plaster of yesteryear!

i ended up bodging a couple of bits, and going over some rawl plugs that i was too girly to remove myself and too impatient to wait for Kev to take out! so that strip may be re-done,
i really wanted to get the job finished that day though! i hate waiting

today, me and Jon attempted to fit the kitchen sink, but couldnt work out where the stop tap was, until after twiddling lots of taps under the sink, I realise after Jon's given up for the day & gone home, that i have no water! we just hadnt drained the water tank enough.... again, i hate waiting

yesterday was Warkton
i woke up to a dreary morning and got suitably soaked while i hammered in the signs by the sides of the surrounding roads. i was glad to see Deanne had opened up the hall and put the tables out already by the time i got there, I already knew it was going to be a quiet day, if i hadn't been doing this, i'd be in my pjs all day!
unfortunately i was right and it was one of our quietest fairs to date...
we had a good laugh, and ate lots of cake,

...but we feel bad for stallholders who've taken a whole day out of their weekend, when they could be crafting at home in the warm, who may not sell as much as they'd hoped to

seeing that a vintage fair in Northampton yesterday was really busy, i'm starting to worry that the handmade wagon might be on the way out, vintage seems to be overtaking.
Thinking about my own shopping habits, i'm guilty of snubbing handmade fairs, for more "delving around for a bargain" vintage events! I love handmade crafts, but i tend to buy more online than at fairs, and also, like a lot of creative type people, i try and make a lot of things myself...

i think we have Kirstie Allsopp to thank for a lot of this!

i dont want to stop doing them altogether, but monthly fairs are a lot to keep up with
we have talked about maybe doing less in the year, advertising more, and trying to find more new exciting stalls for our customers

a lot to think about...
and what with fitting my kitchen, measuring for worktops, and working out logistics of ordering kitchen items,
my heads all over the place! but luckily i have no work tomorrow either so i might actually get a rest!

its good to talk...

i've just got in from a lovely evening at a crafty friends house

it was lovely to sit & pootle about with our crafts, cross legged on the floor like children, in front of a gorgeous roaring open fire
i took some new pin cushions to finish off, but i think i spent more time talking and eating cake!

just to have that little bit of human interaction with people is so important, especially as some of the girls don't have day jobs where they see other people
and to talk about where we see our little businesses going, and ideas we might have
and to air little moans, that you think is just you, but when you say it out loud it seems everyone else feels the same :)
us crafty types are a little bit.... erm..... different! in a good way of course.... my kind of weird

i love having crafty friends, and hope these evenings will continue
(next week i might even take some wine with me!)

what the cat was up to, while the kitchen mice were playing...

thought you might be interested in what mr buttonit was up to at the weekend...
his photos are now up on the magazines website...
http://www.mxvice.com/blog/photo-galleries/amca-british-masters-preston-docks/#prettyPhoto

such vibrant colours - taking me back to my early 90s childhood
(oh the shame of the shellsuit!)
great action shots, and so crisp - his new camera is certainly worth the money

when we first met, over 10 years ago, we used to go out walking in the countryside taking photos with our film SLRs, to get away from either set of parents we were staying with.....
he's certainly come a long way from the typical landscapes and close ups of flowers!

i'm glad he's gone down the route of photographing, and not so much riding motocross
(even though he did look good on a bike)
i hate to think of the injuries he might come home with!

back to blogging

mixing business with pleasure through Instagram, got me thinking, I should blog about more personal stuff as well as buttony stuff...
And now I've got the "blogger" app on my phone I might actually get round to posting... So here goes nothing... (if I get past a couple of weeks, then I'm really onto something, bear with me)

So my life....
Right now im on my sofa, with a large glass of red (nothing new)
With a re-awakened love of our house, since we moved in, in oct last year.
We have cupboards on our kitchen wall!!

Kev-mr buttonit, is away for the night, as a motocross photographer he's covering a race in Preston so he's got a hotel room, and I can starfish in bed on my own tonight (if I don't fall asleep on the sofa)

I always think i can get more stuff done while I've got the house to myself, but unfortunately I love to procrastinate.
Telling myself I'm getting around to the things I've been meaning to do, but actually just doing the easy, fun stuff and then going out shopping because I'm lonely!

My weekdays are full of crafting and working, so i try to do work on the house at the weekend, but there's always something (more exciting) going on.
Last weekend was a night out in MK my mates boyfriend was djing at, and the week before there was a vintage fair.

But this weekend by Saturday night there are cupboards on my kitchen wall, and for that I am forever indebted to Jon.
I've had a lovely day with a good mate who I dont see nearly enough of :)
And there's been a lot less arguments than if I was helping mr buttonit do it!!

Listening to Craig Charles on the radio earlier, the anthem of my life in this house came on- "the clean up woman"
Boys make mess and build things, I tidy and clean up...
#manicureneeded

i didnt realise it has been quite so long since my last post,
it has taken since the beginning of may to go through the process of buying our first home, so i think you can let me off not blogging for that very stressful period!

we have now got our new house keys, but dont move in for a while as it needs a whole new re-wire and the kitchen wall is coming down! (very much a project, i feel like Sarah Beeney is going to walk in at any moment!)
oh and because its taken so long for us to exchange contracts, the garden resembles a wild meadow!

this week i have been mostly..... getting ready for, MK Vintage & Handmade Fair
a market outside John Lewis in Milton Keynes, that a lot of my crafty friends have done before and thoroughly recommended, we're all going to be there this weekend, Saturday 9-7 and Sunday 10-6
(yes, very long weekend - takeaways guaranteed!)

thought i'd share some photos on here instead of clogging up your instagram feed.....

beret hats with interchangeable flower brooches

hairgrips before being buttoned...

dont they look pretty in sweetie jars!

collar scarves

pretty heart earrings waiting to set

all packed and ready to pick up Quirky Boots!

so thats me now, finishing off a few more brooches and hairgrips and getting an early night before the manic weekend! Deanne from Quirky Boots is sharing my stall, so I'm picking her up at 6am tomorrow!
yes thats right i said 6am! eeeeek!

please do give me a prod and wake me up if you come along over the weekend!
love & buttons, michelle xxx

i think i've just about got it sorted.......

packaging and presentation are two things that are really important to me 

- yes, i will buy a book just by the cover!

i always try to take the best photos that i can - i do re-do them every now & again 

- and everytime think "how did i sell any of them with photos like them before?!"

so when "Postage-Gate" came about, i took it as a good opportunity to re-brand and re-juvenate my shops!

i designed my logo a long while ago when i launched my new website 

(which is currently offline while i update it)

and now i've finally got round to ordering some business cards with the same design!

i can't wait to use them!

i've added some new products to my NOTHS shop, 

that i made at Christmas as special orders, 

these chunky bracelets & rings have gone down really well :)

i'm rocking the polka dots at the moment 

 realising i can use them in a whole host of other ranges that i make - it ties them all in together, & creates matching sets of things that can be given for gifts

(more polka dot hair accessories on their way soon!)

and my favourite thing i've been mostly doing this week is decorating these gift boxes for my earrings

i realised to cut postage costs, i can package earrings in boxes

and so i just had to buy some stamps to decorate them with!

My friend Fran - Little Gift Store makes the most gorgeous rubber stamps,

 so i asked her to make me some buttons! 

i think she's excelled herself-they are so intricate 

(she even had to make her own tool to make them!)

i hope you love them too!

so as i was saying, i think i've just about got it all sorted on my NOTHS page

still to come is my own website - but i will let you all know when its back up

and i think i'll do a SALE or something to reward you all for your patience!

lots of love & buttons, michelle xxx

 

lately i've been mostly....

.....very busy doing grown up things!
button it has kind of gone on the back burner for a while, which is frustrating me in a way - i'm happiest when i'm creating, but sometimes exciting things in life have to take priority!

firstly, back about a month ago me & my fiance went to see where we're planning on having our wedding -

a waterfall in Scotland near Fort William called "Caig Falls" where Bonny Prince Charlie was rumoured to hide out in the olden days. We'd already had our hearts set on this place since seeing it a couple of years ago, but we needed to find a hotel to have the reception at.
So we enjoyed the hottest week ever in Scotland and found the hotel straight away!
Lots of walking and eating at gorgeous restaurants later we were driving back to Northamptonshire planning our guest list for May 2014!

Next up on the list.... (wedding, house, dog then kids - thats just how life goes)
We've been house hunting recently since we saw a 1930's bay fronted semi go up on the market and then sell before we could see it, we looked around the next door & put an offer in for that - which was beaten just before we went to Scotland - so frustrating, but as everyone said - everything happens for a reason...
Last week, the original house came back on the market - and we got first dibs to see it!
Our offer has been accepted and we're going to arrange our mortgage on Friday! Eeek!
Fingers crossed everyone! :)


So after all that, I hope you'll forgive me for being a bit quiet!
I am still busy sending orders out, and I will soon be re-jigging my shops due to Royal Mail price increases - which needs a whole blog post to itself!

I have also just been accepted onto 2 big-ish craft fairs in September & October, which will keep me busy preparing for - i'd better get those knitting needles out again ;)

catch u soon!
lots of love & buttons, michelle xxx

this week i 'ave been mostly...... trying to catch up

time has been running away from me lately...
working part time, selling online, and attempting to have a social life is a bit too much sometimes!

since my last post we've updated the Warkton Village Craft Market blog (see last week)
with photos of the lovely day we had...

i loved having an excuse to wear my vintage apron made by Billie who has been to Warkton before

as anyone who has had a stall at a craft fair will know, it is knackering!
all you want to do afterwards is slob on the sofa and have a takeaway
its even worse when you're the organiser and have to pack everything away and collect the signs from the grass verges around the village!

so last week was spent relaxing and getting over the busy market weekend...
still the orders kept on coming through Not on the High Street so there was no rest for the wicked!

i have also been making new products, which need photographing and editing, but up til a few days ago i didn't have any bulbs for my halogen studio lamps - silly me let one fall over and the bulb broke!

luckily mr button it ordered some more (they are actually his lamps!) and decided to buy a light tent too - which helps me out no end now!

i only used one light, and will probably use another from the right side to even out the shadow,
but i am loving the way the tent diffuses the light
and i absolutely love these buttons i found in my stash - proper vintage!