Open Face Sandwich

Open Face Sandwich is one of my fellow 'papernstitch'ers' this month and I just love their beautiful prints. The fish and robot pillows are my favourites!

V xx

Can I adopt David Attenborough?

I LOVE Sir David Attenborough! He's definitely in my top 5 of people I'd like to meet. It amazes me how knowledgeable he is on EVERYTHING animals and nature. During our trip to the zoo on Friday, I saw a sign that had a quote from the man himself. He truly is one of the voices of our generation. I can just imagine him taking his grandchildren down to the bottom of the garden and telling them about all the living creatures he finds! I'm sure he makes even the common garden slug sound fascinating!

This print is a nice little reminder that we have to look after our communal home. Think I should send one as a gift to BP?

V xx

Buttercup Ink exhibition space on papernstitch

I'm so excited to announce that Buttercup Ink has it's own little exhibition space on papernstitch from today until the end of July!

For those of you who aren't familiar with papernstitch, it's a beautiful online exhibition space that was created to promote talented artists, designers, and makers selling handmade goods. The exhibition space is curated monthly and showcases the best of the best on an international level.

I'm so excited to be showing my work with so many talented designers.

This week I'll be posting each day about one of my fellow papernstitch'ers.

V xx

Gabriel's 1st Birthday

We celebrated our beautiful baby boys 1st birthday on Friday. It was such a nice day. It went something like this...

Steven and I wake up and have to wait until 9am until the little prince decided to wake! We spent the morning opening the many gifts he received from our friends and family from Scotland and eating breakfast pancakes. Those of you in Melbourne will know how miserable the weather was on Friday but that didn't stop us from our planned trip to the zoo to see Mali, the baby elephant who was born at Melbourne Zoo a few months ago. Gabe loved it! He was especially taken by the gorillas! It all got a bit much for the wee man and he passed out in his pram after lunch.















We then went to a local pizza place for a little family birthday dinner. I was pretty impressed with my birthday cupcakes I made the day before. Although, our Dalmatian did have some additional blue and red spots afterwards! With all our family back in the UK, it's always hard when it come to the big days in Gabe's life but thanks to Skype, his grandparents were able to sing happy birthday with us and watch him blow his candle out which was really special.





This year has been amazing. I've heard parenthood described as making your life twice as hard and twice as good and I couldn't agree more!

Some of my favourite things...
His 'jazz hands' dance moves. The kisses he gives himself in the mirror. (Typical boy - mouth open, tongue out!). The little wave he gives me when he's had his bedtime milk and going for storytime with daddy. How he watches in awe when his daddy plays with the soccer ball. How proud he is of himself when he walks with his little walker. When he feeds Einstein from his highchair when he thinks no-one is looking!

V xx

Happy 1st Birthday

Today my beautiful boy turns 1. We went to the zoo. More pics to follow next week...

V xx

A little story of weirdness

I often have people struggle when pronouncing my name - especially as it sounds so different with my Glaswegian accent! I was out getting some last minute bits and pieces for Gabe's birthday tomorrow - had a meeting with the Birthday Fairy about a train set at Aldi as they have a fab toy sale today - and stopped to grab a coffee on the way home. The guy asked my name and after the 3rd time, chose to just make something up that he thought sounded close! He said, "Aw, Bridie. Sorry, I didn't get it first time." Now I don't think Bridie is even close to Vari and a rather unusual name to pick but here is the weird part... THAT'S MY MUM'S NAME!!!

I love when weird and wonderful little things like that happen so I though I'd share it with you!

V xx

Feature in madeit 'ink + paper' email!

Just when you think you've mastered this parenting thing and are comfortable in your little routine, babies have a way of throwing you a curve ball! Gabriel decided that there's no need to sleep between the hours of 1am and 4:30am last night! As a result, we've had a bit of a PJ day!

So you can imagine how excited I was to get an email from madeit and see my scandinavian inspired thank you cards featured!!! Also beautiful paper delights from other designers including Paddock Press and Red Letter Studio.

V xx

Sugar and Spice Children's Market

On Sunday we took a drive out to Woodend to the 1st Sugar and Spice Children's Market. I was blown away by the quality and variety of products!It was great talking to some fellow Etsy and Madeit sellers too. It's definitely something I'd be interested in trying. Not sure if my current line of products are the right fit though with most of my items being personalised...

Some highlights...

I fell in love with the beautiful photography by Tea & Jam. Kate's images are just so vibrant and alive.


Gabe got some aborable pj's from LittleBrats with cowboys on them! They were supposed to be part of his birthday presents but I just couldn't wait until Friday to get him into them!

There were also some great items from Lark - a little children's boutique in Daylesford.

How exciting! Feature on Style Collective!

Amanda from Style Collective contacted me a while back about featuring some on my less than traditional wedding invitations. I've been so busy with Buttercup Ink that I forgot all about it until she dropped me an email on Friday to say that my feature would be posted today. I love creating wedding invitations that truly reflect the couple. Who says it has to be all flowers and lace!

V xx

Interview on Handmade Kids

Caz over at Handmade Kids saw my post a few weeks back about the mini makeover I did on Gabriel's room and thought that her readers would like a look. Thanks so much for the feature, Caz!

V xx

Personal Notepad

It's a beautiful sunny, winters day in Melbourne! I love being able to get wrapped up and get out in the fresh air. Although, my friends and family in the UK would laugh at the idea that 15 degrees is cold! I've definitely gotten used to the warmer temps here!

Finally got round to listing one of my personal notepad designs on Etsy and Madeit. It's been way to dull and rainy in Melbourne this week to take any photos! This is a great alternative to thank you cards for weddings and birthdays and also a nice little bridesmaid gift for the newlywed couple. I've got more designs that I'll be posting in the coming weeks.

I'm going to create some with bird and birdcage graphics as it appears very on trend at the moment. Anything else you would like to see?

V xx

GIVEAWAY winners!

Thanks for you comments ladies - all your date nights sound fab! Winner were chosen at random and they are...

Cara1979, Jessica T and Wicker!

Just drop me an email to hello@varilongmuirdesign.com with the following info and I'll send you your personal pdf!

Name(s) of kid(s):
Mum's Mobile:
Dad's Mobile:
Home Address:
Home Phone:
Local police station phone number:
Doctor details:
- Name
- Address
- Phone
Allergies:
Date(s) of Birth:

V xx

Quick - GIVEAWAY ends tomorrow!

Don't forget - my GIVEAWAY ends tomorrow. Tell me all about your perfect date night and win a personalised babysitter notes pdf!

V xx

Inspiring interiors - "It's Complicated" set design

I love holiday Mondays! Especially when you've got nothing to do and all day to do it!

When Gabriel went for his afternoon nap I sat down with a glass of wine to watch the Nancy Meyers movie, "It's Complicated". My husband had spent the morning watch the World Cup so it was only fair that I had control of the remote in the afternoon. He actually secretly loves a rom-com anyway!

What a great movie! There were so many things I loved about it. Meryl Streep is so sophisticated and graceful and just looks fantastic. I hate when people say, "She looks great for her age." Why can't we just say, "She looks great." We would never say, "George Clooney - he looks great for 49."

Meryl's character, Jane Adler has a beautiful life (if not a little complicated!). 3 well balanced kids that appear to actually like their mum, a successful business that she is passionate about and THE most amazing Santa Barbara home!!!

The set design is the work of Jon Hutman and Beth Rubino and is as much a character in the movie as Meryl herself. The mix of designer with antique creates such a warm and inviting space and makes you want to move in tomorrow! The bathroom is just magnificent - I love the roll top bath. The colour palette is soft and muted and love the apricot accents throughout. It's definitely a key colour of the Santa Barbara region with the terracotta tiled roofs as shown in the opening sequence. Her veggie garden is to die for too - I'm sure even Martha herself would be envious!

The only complaint that I have is you never get to see the new kitchen! Do I hear a sequel?

There's a great story here of a fellow Etsy seller that I just love! Congratulations, Anne!

Be inspired!

V xx

Perfect Date Night GIVEAWAY!

My husband and I had a fab baby-free night out on Wednesday and went to see Russell Brand. He's just so funny and I admit, I have a tiny bit of a crush! I used the babysitter notes that are on my Etsy shop to leave all our contact info. I got to thinking and decided that I would run a little giveaway/focus group to see if there was any information that I've missed that other mums out there would like to see included.

Here's how it will work... Leave a comment here (on my blog, not the Facebook link) telling me about where you and your partner would go on your perfect date night, leaving the kids with the babysitter. Next Friday at 3pm (Melbourne time) I will select three of the comments at random. These lucky people will receive a personalised pdf version of the babysitter notes. Then you MUST get the babysitter lined up, fill out your babysitter notes then have a fabulous and well deserved night out!

I'd appreciate any feedback as to what you might include or change about the notes.

Happy Friday!

V xx

Perfect Wedding Gift

I recently had the pleasure of working on the wedding stationery for one of my ladies. The last item was the Thank You cards. As an alternative to a traditional card, Nicola opted for personal stationery - she admits to not being a very good estimator when it comes to quantities for these kind of things! Having ordered extra, she now has her own stationery for all her correspondence! There was a nod back to her wedding invitation with the black chandelier graphic.

I think it's a really nice gift for a bridesmaid to give the newlyweds. I'm working on some designs just now. Let you know when they are available.

Below are some pics of their 'save the date', wedding invitation, personal note paper and the new Mr & Mrs Moran.

V xx

Gabriel's Bedroom Makeover

When I was pregnant with Gabriel we didn't find out if we were having a boy of girl. I think there are so few things to pleasantly surprise you these days and loved the fact that I didn't know. I understand though that some people just HAVE to know! So when decorating his room, we went for neutral tones.

Now that he's almost 1 (cue the typical cliches of 'Where has the last 12 months gone', etc) we thought it was about time his room got 'boy-ified'.

We've had these blank canvases in the spare room for ages and have done what everyone who buys blank canvases does and forgets all about them! So we got the paint brushes out yesterday and had arts and crafts Sunday at the Longmuir house! Being inspired by our new original artworks, the train, plane and car, Gabe and I took a trip to the black hole that is IKEA to get some accessories... and the compulsory 100 tea lights for $3.99! Tip: Monday morning is a great time to go to IKEA! We were in and out in less than an hour - a PB for me!

What do you think?

V xx

Sex and the City art print

SATC is taking over the globe at the moment - and so it should! I've created some art prints using quotes from the Carrie. Here's a sneak peek...

More to be posted on Etsy and madeit over the coming days.

V xx

Camel Toe?

My PT trainer Linda from Plus One Mums put me on to this fab athleticware brand from Canada called Lululemon. Great workout gear that you can wear outside the gym too! I just jumped on to their website for a look and love the tag line for their new yoga collection! Very clever!

V xx

The Versatile Blogger award

The lovely and talented Janette over at My Sweet Prints sent me the Versatile Blogger award earlier this week but having been sooooo busy, I'm only getting to it now! Thanks Janette!

The rules are to list 7 of things about you. I've decided to tell you 7 of my favourites...

Day of the week?
Sunday (afternoons especially)

Number?
8 and 15,000,000

Colour?
Changes daily but I have got a long term love affair with red.

Place?
I've got a few!
Italy - was taken on a surprise trip to Capri as I'd always said it's my favourite place I'd never been!
NYC - shopping, food and cold winter days where you get to wear hats and scarves.
Melbourne - it's got a little bit of a lot of places I've been.
Scotland - Melbourne is home now but there's always a wee part of my heart still there.

Film?
Top Gun. What girl didn't love Maverick? What happened to you Tom?!

Book?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. So simple and inspiring. One of the few books I read again and again.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A really storytellers book. Mysterious and enchanting.

Food?
Lasagne or chilli con carne. Mmmm...

Happy Friday!

V xx