Looking for some photography help!

I'm hoping that Santa will bring me a book to tell me how to use my SLR camera to at least 10% of its potential! Or better still, send me on a course! I'd really love to know how to take a photo of my Christmas tree like this one.

I know there are plenty of amazing amateur photographers out there so if anyone could give me a few pointers I'd very much appreciate it!

V xx

Beautiful music

I'm by no means an authority on classical music. In fact, I don't really know very much at all. But I don't think you have to be to know what you like. I first heard Ludovico Einaudi years ago on Classic FM in the UK - my station of choice on the drive home from work when stuck in traffic! I think his music is so beautiful and moving. I listened to him a lot whilst pregnant and love that every time I hear a track it reminds me of that time.

We also had a friend play Le Onde during our wedding dinner.

His music crops up in a lot of places such as the soundtrack for This Is England and also during this clip from the 2009 BAFTAs.

So if you are having Christmas meltdown or just fancy taking some time out to relax, I recommend a long bath, glass of wine and some Einaudi.

Friday Fives... What time is it?

I saw this fab clock in one of my favourite little local shops today - Sedonia. So my inspiration for todays Friday Five is clocks!

Geek Clock - I LOVE THIS!!!

Dali Clock

Doily Clock

Ceramic Quote Clock

V xx

Decorating DIY - yarn wreath

I had a little DIY project at the weekend and decided to have a bash at creating a yarn Christmas wreath for our front door. I'm pretty please with the result! I looked high and low for a foam based but couldn't find one anywhere. So I improvised and bought an inner tube from the shop for $4! It did the trick and the valve works perfectly to hang it from! All in I spent about $20.

Just the tree to tackle now...

V xx

Health Guru or Domestic Goddess?

This is Gillian McKeith. She is 51. She is a TV “health guru” advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and ill health, promoting exercise, a pescetarian diet high in organic fruits and vegetables. She recommends detox, diets, colonic irrigation and supplements, also making statements that yeast is harmful, that the colour of food is nutritionally significant, and about the utility of lingual and faecal examination.

This is Nigella Lawson. She is 50. She is a TV cook, who eats nothing but meat, butter and deserts.

Permission to overindulge this festive season granted!

Merry Christmas!

V xx

Christmas Cookies

G and I had so much fun baking our Christmas cookies! The entire house was covered in sprinkles by the end! Here's how it went...

Our Christmas Card...

Here are a few pics of the Longmuir family Christmas card this year. I love the boldness of the black and white. And the little bronze accent works really well with the bronze pen used on the inside and on the matt black envelope.

The stock I used is a beautiful, soft textured paper that I recently used for a wedding client.

I always struggle with creative ways to display our cards so was delighted when I came across these fab natural stings with metal and ceramic ornaments and little wooden pegs!

What do you think?

V xx

100th Blog Post Sale

Well it sure has come around quickly - my 100th post! I'd just like to say thank you to everyone I've 'met' over the last 8 months. It's been a very busy and exciting time I've had so much fin sharing it with you all!

As a little thanks to those of you who have been here from the start and also to welcome the new readers to my blog, I'd like to offer 30% off across the entire shop!

Feel free to share with your friends and family - we all know someone who needs a little helping hand with the last minute Christmas shopping - or better still, post the image above on your own blog or Facebook page!

V xx

Friday Fives... Christmas Baking

Gabriel and I are going to attempt to bake and decorate some Christmas cookies this afternoon. I'm pretty sure they are going to have an extremely 'homemade' aesthetic! I'll post some pics next week. So todays five are some beautiful sweet Christmas delights! They'll look too pretty to eat!

V xx

Custom Christmas Cards

It's been a bit manic around here this last week with markets, new wedding clients and lots of online orders! I'm not complaining but I hate when I don't get the chance to post!

I just noticed that this post is 2 away from the big 100! That happened quickly! I'm going to do a special Blog Sale for all my lovely readers tomorrow afternoon after my Friday Fives post so be sure and check back!

I've just completed a job for custom Christmas cards. I love how the colours mute into the shimmer stock. The imagery and font choices are fairly traditional but the little touch of blue and the use of lots of white space really brings it up to date. What do you think?

Mention on The Circle!

I was lucky enough to be asked by Linda at Nifty Mums Network if I'd like to contribute to the baby hamper that she was putting together for Gorgi Coghlan from The Circle and 7pm Project. I missed the show but Gorgi was delighted with her gifts from all of the 'work from home' mums!

I included a little Babysitter notepad and some personalised cards like this one saying "A note from the Coghlan Family" and by all accounts was very excited about them!

Great job, Linda! Thanks for letting me be a part of it!

V xx

Friday Fives... Christmas Decorations

I'm getting into the festive spirit so todays five is a collection of some beautiful contemporary Christmas decorations I've come across online...

Yarn Wreath Felt Handmade Holiday Door

Gingerbread House

Ok, I know this isn't really a 'decoration' but I just love it!

Christmas Series Merry Christmas Burlap Pillows

Felt Christmas Tree

DIY Advent Calendar

V xx

Absolute and complete technical meltdown!

It has been an eventful 24 hrs at Buttercup Ink HQ... Yesterday afternoon, my lovely Mac decided to go into full and unrecoverable meltdown! There was some freezing and then suddenly nothing. No warning. Just instant disaster!!! When I tried to re-boot I experienced what I've always dreaded... the 'click of death'!

I immediately rushed her down to the local Mac store in the hope that they could perform CRP and resuscitate her but it was no use. It was too late.

It was a harrowing 24 hrs but she's now back home having undergone a full hard drive replacement. Lesson learned? Back up more than once a month and back up email!

I've probably lost about the last 6 weeks of work and ALL email! It could have been so much worse though as I just delivered a big wedding invitation job to a client on Wednesday night!

I know I can link my Mac mail to a gmail account so I think I'm going to do that. Seeing as my lovely girl was 'going under the knife' I decided to give her a bit of a 'nip and tuck' and upgraded to the latest Mac operating system which comes with Time Machine - automatic and constant back up! Perfect! Only thing I have to do now is reinstall all my software which I'm sure all you fellow designers know can be a rather 'tricky' job!

So for all of you who are like me and keeping meaning to back up... DO IT TODAY!!! Don't do as the poster suggests. My recommendation is to take action now and save yourself from panic later!

V xx

I'm back!

Hello my lovely blog readers! Well, I'm back from Noosa. What a lovely break! It was great for G to spend some good quality time with his grandparents.

I can honesty say I did not touch a computer for 5 whole days. The break was much needed. I'm now back, feeling refreshed and ready for the busy Christmas period.

Has anyone started their Christmas shopping yet?

V xx

Blog break

Just to let you know that I'm going to be away for the next week - relaxing on the beach with my parents and baby boy - so there will be no posts until I return next week. I plan on being technology free (iPod's don't count, right?) for an entire 5 days with my book in hand. Bliss!

Have a great week! I'll share some pics on my return.

V xx

New online home and lifestyle mag!

I've just come across Adore Home magazine. It's a new Australian online mag and is full of beautiful products and interiors!

V xx

Christmas Collection now online!

My Christmas collection of cards, gift tags and notepads is now online!

I've decided to just list on my Etsy store as I've been finding it hard to maintains both the Etsy and Madeit shops. The vast majority of my sales come via Etsy so I'm going to be phasing out the Madeit store and will not be renewing expired listings.

Head on over and have a look! I'm really happy with how the collection looks as a whole. I feel that it's definitely something alternative and a little different from what is currently available out there.

V xx