new website!

seeing as my new website has a link to my blog (which i last updated in december last year), i thought it was probably best that i write a new post!

if you looked at my website recently, you would have noticed that the shop had gone and there were just links to the shops I sell through. I removed the shop function before Christmas because it was getting harder to keep on top of stock levels with Not on the High Street, Etsy, and various craft fairs.
and I decided that I probably didn't need another shop really, as they do it so well already!

but of course I still wanted a website that is pretty and functional, and to serve as a hub for all my web prescences, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and here on Blogger.

after a few not so gentle hints to Mr Buttonit, he has come up with the goods, i hope you like it!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... finally!

The silly busy season is upon us, and although it is still as busy as last year for me, I have more time and I am slightly more organised, so thankfully it doesn't seem as silly :)

Last weekend I attended my last fair of the year ...
It was a lovely day with lots of Christmas shoppers, and lots of bored looking men! (well done to all the other halves at this time of year for putting up with our girly shopping trips!)

(Artisans of Market Harborough - a lovely fair which has two more dates before Christmas),

Due to Black Friday I also had a lot of online orders to process, so it was a pretty busy weekend.
I had made sure to book in a date night with Mr buttonit, for the Saturday night, as I knew the rest of the time would be spent working. Although I could have easily fallen asleep in the cinema!

I had a bit of a research day on Sunday, and went to meet my mum in Leicester, and have a look around the Guildhall Craft Fair. Friends of mine had stalls there, and I am thinking of applying for next year.
The Guildhall is a lovely old Tudor building, which reminded me of the Old Grammar School where Artisans of Market Harborough is held. There was a roaring open fire, and lots of nooks with stalls in.
Definitely a lovely Christmassy atmosphere, and I shall be enquiring about booking a stall soon.

I am planning a full and busy event calendar next year, as it will be my first full year working for myself (minus the 3 mornings i do for Little Stamp Store).
I am also hoping to have a space in Vintage Fleur in Kettering, to sell from.

Its a good job I like to be busy!

Anyway, I'd best get back to work,
Just so you know, my virtual shop doors will close at midday on Friday 19th Dec (only 2 weeks away!)

November already? (Lamport Hall round up)

so, in my last blog post i said i'd be back next week with tales from Lamport Hall... 
Well that was nearly a month ago now! (i did think it was a bit over-ambitious to blog every week!)

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, it really will soon be Christmas!
As I predicted I am nowhere near ready for it this year (i say this every year!), and I'm realising now that I really should have quit the day job earlier!

Lamport Hall Gift and Craft Fair is a lot of peoples first Christmas Shopping day of the year, and it was a lovely weekend, with not too bad weather (good for an almost outside event in October!)

I tried out some new display items (my pigeon hole box) and made some special Christmas cards (baby's first Christmas etc).

Everything was well received, especially my poppies, which seem to sell more and more each year, this year I raised well over £100 for charity :)


And so the Christmas season is well underway now, at least the weather is feeling more wintery now, and I can crochet well into the evening under my granny blanket!

Next, I will be at my local schools Christmas fair next week, and then My Little Vintage's fair at Bosworths Garden Centre all weekend on 15th & 16th Nov. 
Artisans of Market Harborough is back in the newly refurbished Old Grammar School in Market Harborough very soon, and fingers crossed its all ready for the 29th Nov when I'm booked in for a stall!

better get cracking then! but before I do, I thought i'd leave you with my morning dog walk view, absolutely gorgeous! have a great day folks xxx

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Not on the High Street

Enjoying the weekends again

I can honestly say, this weekend has been the first one in months, maybe even years, that I've properly enjoyed.
I've not felt guilty that I should be working, and I've actually done proper weekend stuff. That I've been putting off for months (maybe even years!)

I took the plunge and became self employed last week.
I now work 3 mornings a week for a friend and her business, and the rest of my time is for me and my business. Thursdays and Fridays are now my "work weekend" meaning I have Saturday and Sunday free to spend with Kev (Mr button it) and Walter our 6 month old Husky puppy

I really did underestimate just how much this would change my life.
I expected to feel happier, but didn't quite realise just how much happier, in even just the first few days. Its amazing, and I wish I'd done it sooner. 

The first thing I did on Thursday morning - my first day at my desk, was write a to-do list... 
It really helps me to "brain dump", get everything out of my brain and onto paper, so that the creative side of my brain can have some time alone, to get on with fun stuff
I divided my paper into two halves, one side work/business related, and the other house/life related. 
Keeping the two separate is a tip my new boss Fran gave me, she said "keep weekend stuff to the weekend". So although it was so tempting to get on with the decorating I've been wanting to finish for months, I wrote it on my "weekend" list, alongside fixing (restuffing & sewing up) Walters toys.
A job, that if I hadn't written it on my list, I probably would have put off for another week, but seeing his little face as I gave his stuffed octopus back to him, all fixed and ready for him to pull apart again, I'm glad I did.

Thats one of my top listing tips - make sure you do everything on your list. 
I would carry jobs over to the next week, but then they never get done, and you never get the sense of satisfaction of ticking off every item, and throwing the list in the bin. 
So another tip that goes with this one - be realistic.
I knew I would be limited with time, and that the last few days would fly by, but with these two lists I feel satisfied with my achievement, and that I've not just wasted my first self employed week.

Feeling very positive about next week, and one of my biggest craft fairs of the calendar - but i'll tell you more about that next week,

Have a splendid week folks,
love & buttons, 
michelle xxx

a weekend at Lamport Hall

I had a lovely bank holiday weekend at Lamport Hall Art, Craft & Design Fair
it was the first of this kind of fair they've done, and one i hope they will continue

i had attended their October Gift & Craft Fair so I knew what to expect;

- setting up the day before so I didn't have to stress on Sunday morning and realise i'd left something at home (even though it was chucking it down with hail on Saturday afternoon and i dropped my price tickets in a puddle!)

- demonstrating my craft (getting myself a £10 discount!), by which i mean happily sitting crocheting my blanket, which everyone fell in love with, and created a lovely talking point

- sitting at the doorway of a cold stable block, even though there was baking hot sun outside!

- and hoardes of people visiting the gorgeous hall & gardens and buying my stuff!

it didn't just meet them, it surpassed my expectations,
i was so happy after the first day, having doubled what i took on the first day in October - i went to a friends birthday bbq party with a big grin on my face!
even bigger when i didn't get up with a hangover, and drove down the road in the glorious sun for the second day :)
the ice cream van made a killing, and i didn't do too badly either!

i had expected it to be a lot quieter than October, because there wasn't the buying potential that Christmas brings...
however, i wonder if people are happy to treat themselves more at this time of year, the sunshine always makes me want to buy new pretty things!

My new display helped a lot, and new cards went down a storm, especially when people realised i could personalise them there and then with my trusty pencil!

My gorgeous printer tray continues to make people smile, and i'm always so chuffed when i set it up and fill all the little spaces with my pretties!

My popularity may also have been down to a game i devised....

... of,  how many buttons in the jar?

Lots of people took the time to guess and write their details down for me, I have guesses from 82 to 1800!
I can tell you its somewhere in the middle, but I haven't had the time to count them yet!
I thought it best not to count them beforehand, otherwise i'd have been able to give clues!

I will be counting them tomorrow and emails will be sent out to everyone who entered,
Good Luck! :)


All in all, a bloomin lovely weekend. Oh, and the sun came out! ;)
Thank you to my lovely stall neighbour Debbie from Daisys Yard for helping me out on my stall when i needed a wee (and a sneaky wander round the other stalls - everytime i went away, she sold something!)
And thank you to the lovely Sara who was painting a gorgeous picture next to me all weekend - it was great to see the painting take shape throughout the 2 days!

I will be there again in October, and i'm looking forward to it already! :)

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!

this week i 'ave been mostly...... preparing for the first craft fair of the year

not a craft fair i was selling at though,
this was the first Warkton Village Craft Market of the year!

i organise this market with my friend Deanne Quirky Boots
in the gorgeous setting of Warkton, nr Kettering
and we LOVE it!

we used to panic every month, "have we done enough advertising?", "have we got the right stalls?", "have we got everything?"...
and with it still being a cold and dreary February day, we did wonder if it would be slightly too quiet, but soon after 10am people started trickling in, and it was pretty steady all morning!
by 2pm the cakes had nearly all run out!

our dream is finally coming to fruition,
a monthly handmade event that supports local artists and crafters, in a friendly environment
providing an alternative to high street shopping for visitors to come back every month and see different items

it really does have to be seen to be believed though - lots of people think "craft fair" they think granny knits and pocket money toys, not our market!
we strive for the best top quality stalls with lovely crafters who will help make the friendly atmosphere for the day,
everyone chats together and makes new crafty friends, and helps each other out with tips & supplier info.


like i said before, we LOVE it! and i hope it shows! :D
(photos from yesterday on Deanne's camera still - will post them soon!)

this week i 'ave been mostly...... taking time out

after finishing a stack of valentines day cards ready for posting on Saturday, I set about giving myself a bit of me time :)
lying on the sofa on friday night watching telly, I was very nearly falling asleep - so I got my crochet hook out and got a couple more squares for my blanket done :)

Then Saturday came around and I had a day of doing lots of lovely things - firstly was going to look round a craft fair a friend was organising - Little Gift Store - where there were lots of Warkton stallholders - so in true chatterbox style I had to renew my car parking ticket twice!
This is how Warkton looked from Kettering - all pretty in the snow - hope it warms up before this Saturdays market there!

And after all that me time, it was time to go out for the night with the boyfriend to see Sarah Millican!
I kinda billed it to him as our Valentines night out - even though I knew he probably wouldn't really appreciate her humour as much as if I was to take a girlfriend, but he laughed quite a bit and said afterwards that  it had been funny :)

the highlight for me was the woman sat in front who shouted out (after being asked why would you take spare pants when you go away for the weekend) "i've got a pair in my handbag right now!!"

We went for dinner beforehand too, to Little Tokyo in Leicester - very scrummy Japanese food - if you havent tried it yet, you really should!

Now, after such a busy Saturday I was going round to a friends house yesterday to have tea & cake and general girly chat....
but knowing that she has just got into sewing, I took a dress pattern round that a friend gave me years ago for my birthday-with some GORGEOUS fabric, and thought we could "have a look" at it, and just ponder actually making it....

this is what I came home with!
8 hours of trying to decipher an American dress pattern, 1 of those trying to work out one of the steps and why it wouldn't look like the picture,
lots of tea & cake later, we have made a DRESS! :D

so chuffed with myself and so thankful to lovely Lisa for helping make sense of a scary pattern!

what a lovely weekend! didn't really want it to end....