September

In all the chaos of Riot Raffle ending I wanted to take a few minutes out and reflect on September.  A month of new beginnings and change for many as a new school year starts.  It certainly was a month of new beginnings in our house!  I have just about got used to Kitty being at school full time, although still have days when I wish she was here instead of there.  My older chidlren seem to have settled into the new school year quickly, although already feeling the strain of homework.  Connor started CCF, Jack has a part in 'Guys & Dolls', Lucy's teacher is amazed at how much her drawing has improved over the Summer, Amber is preparing for her Piano Prep Test and Kitty is learning to read.  Nevermind the results on the Rugby pitch and the bruises to show for it!  I am incredibly proud of all my children who are all incredibly talented in many ways. 

Jack, Lucy, Amber, Connor and Kitty at the front pulling a funny face!

As for me September has been incredibly busy!  I started as Blog Editor for Les Enfants Parties at the beginning of September which has been lots of fun and has created lots of  guest writing opportunities already for some major blogs.  I am also thrilled to say through this I now have a second client starting this week, for whom I will also be a Blog Editor.  I never imagined this is where I would be now but I am absolutley thrilled.  You all know how much I love writing, blogging, creating inspiration boards so this is like my most perfect job. 

My lovely new cushions I made after raiding my fabric stash!

I have also made some new cushion covers for the lounge.  Yet I still have to make new curtains but I can't decide on the fabric! I also need to make some new cushions for the dining chairs and I have decided all the glossing in the lounge and hall must be finished before 1st December.  We have plans to tidy up the hall too, sort out proper storgage under the stairs, fit a wooden floor and use stripy runners as a carpet on the stairs.  So not much really, there's still a couple of months!!

So now it's October, thoughts turn to cooler days, Kitty's birthday, Halloween.  I love Autumn as it means I can start wearing my fabulous coat collection again and those of you that know me know I have a few!  I hope September was kind to you and thank you for your support when I was feeling a bit lost, I really appreciate it.

Take care
Zoe
xx

A Day in the Life - My New Business

I thought today I would share with you a day in my life.  My life is incredibly busy with school runs, housework, endless washing and being mummy to five fabulous children, nevermind working as a freelance writer from home and having my Buttons & Bows shop on Folksy.  I also adore creating things, especially with fabric, but have not got enough time to create gorgeous things to sell.  Up until now all this has been done either at the kitchen table or in my makeshift office in the cupboard under the stairs.  Now I am very excited as my husband and I have decided to share a spare room in our new house as a studio/office/study. Whilst my husbands end of the room will be filled with History text books mine will be stacked with fabric boxes and jars full of buttons and trims, craft books and numerous magazines, paints and canvases I hope to finish and of course my sewing machines.

Finally I will have space to leave out projects, have an inspiration board and work away from the general hubbub of family life. Whilst our room is still stacked with boxes and we are yet to buy desks I feel inspired and am ready to start my new project, Inspired Celebration.  The idea first took root when I ran a week long feature about handmade weddings on this blog earlier this year.  I have since become addicted to blogs about weddings and parties, read wedding magazines even though it is several years since I got married.  I have reignited my love of stationery and intend to try out some fantastic papercraft projects very soon, especially as my youngest daughter turns four in October and is already asking to send party invites!

Inspired Celebration will be a blog offering it's readers inspiration for any number of celebrations but also continuing the ethos of this blog by supporting and promoting small creative businesses. I hope to create a directory of such businesses aswell as offering a research service, finding small creative businesses that meet the needs of my readers to create their ultimate celebration.  Whilst I will concentrate on UK based businesses I will also feature the creative talents of designers from around the world, as we all know life is not limited to the corner shop anymore.  Yet I will also research local businesses if required when people purchase my research package.

I spent alot of time looking at blog designers work to choose the right look for my new venture.  There are so many to choose from but I loved the Love Tree template by Louise at Adori Graphics and found that I kept coming back to it.  Louise is a talented designer and her customer service was impeccable, customising and uploading the template within days of my order being placed.  However she does have a longer waiting time for custom designs and she will be away on a well deserved holiday in October, but I highly recommend Adori Graphics if you looking to makeover your blog.

As if life wasn't crazy enough I am excited about this new project. But fear not I will still be writing this Buttons & Bows blog, Monday to Friday, aswell as freelancing, all whilst being mummy and of course suporting my husband as he completes the final year of his degree.  I have already started looking for a designer to makeover Buttons & Bows, so watch this space!

Inspired Celebration

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Please email me if you would like to be featured in A Day in the Life

So, You Want to Start a Blog

I often read on forums or on Twitter, should I start a blog? My answer is YES YES YES! I love blogs, reading them and I follow a fair few and writing them.  Whilst it may seem like just another thing to add to your ever increasing to-do list it is a wonderful chance to showcase your business, your talents, or just to vent frustrations when a new project goes wrong!

Starting a blog is simple and free. I use Blogger, but there are other options available, for example Wordpress or Typepad.  Initially you will need to create your blog by thinking of the blogs name, which will probably be your business name.  Unfortunately Buttons & Bows was not available hence registering the blog URL as Zoe and Drew, but I then called this blog Buttons & Bows, so don't panic if you cannot get your specific trading name, it can be rectified.

So now you have a blog, but what next?  I wrote my first post without really setting up my page, I just had a title, had added a couple of widgets for followers and my blogroll and that really was it!  I have spent many hours reading other peoples blogs and looking at their layouts to see how I can improve mine.  There are also many blogs out there to help you get to grips with using the blogger widgets and adding extra tools.  Only on Monday did I work out how to add LinkWithin, so that older posts appear at the bottom of each new post.

In just four months of blogging I have learnt so much, from a little bit of html, some I still need to apply, to my post layout, blog template and how to add sharing buttons! I have now become more focussed on my writing and now plan posts a month at a time and have decided on a more structured attitude, so that I don't panic and think 'What shall I write today?'.  Wednesdays will now become the day I look at marketing your small creative business, whether that is through social networking or blogging, I hope to share some of the knowledge I have gained in the past few months and hope you will share too! 

Now I want to improve the design of this blog and am investigating blog makeovers, which for me is exciting! 

For some great advice and tips try -

Craft Blog UK

(This has been a huge help as I have progressed with my blog)

Sneaky Momma Blog Design

(Scroll down for 'Tips by Ability Level')

Advertising Winner Spotlight - Peculiar Forest

Today I would like to introduce you to one of my advertising giveaway winners,

Peculiar Forest.

Peculiar Forest designs and makes jewellery from art clay silver or PMC, from her home in France, having recently moved there from the UK. Lucky her!

Peculiar Forest started out using polymer clay about five years ago creating personalised wedding cake toppers, which she sells in her other Etsy shop, Hunter Designs.

Peculiar Forest has embraced selling on Etsy by joining Etsy Metal Clay Team and European Street Team.

I adore walking through the forest and Peculiar Forests jewellery truly reminds me of this!

Aswell as selling on Etsy, you can read more about the design inspiration on Peculiar Forests blog or find her on Folksy.

Advertising Winner : Peculiar Forest

{Etsy}  {Folksy}  {Blog}

Making an Ad Badge for Promotion

I love finding new blogs to read and have come across some great ones in the past few weeks with lots of helpful tutorials, hints and tips for improving your blog, esty shop or general design ideas.  One of my favourite blogs currently is Going Home To Roost , where the lovely Bonnie shares advice for Etsy shops aswell as gorgeous ideas for interiors and gardening advice.  Just last week Bonnie posted about another blog called Meylah and upon looking at this I discovered a great tutorial for creating an advertising badge.  This tutorial is very simple and user friendly, perfect for time strapped small businesses trying to promote themselves.

I have downloaded Gimp and am now working on my badges. Why not have a try yourself, I'd love to see the results!

Giveaway - Promoting Small Creative Businesses

Follow my blog with bloglovin

A couple of weeks ago I held a giveaway to celebrate having 100 followers on this blog and 300 followers on Twitter.  I realised today I had not updated my lovely blog followers of the winner, my sincere appologies.  The winner was randomly selected and was Nina, one of my Twitter followers.  Nina is a self taught crafter who has created some gorgeous items, as I discovered from looking at her Flickr page.

As you can see Nina is a very talented lady.

I now have another GIVEAWAY to share!  This time there will be no ribbons or buttons involved, but something that will hopefully help the three lucky winners.  I have been planning some posts about Promotion and how to help small creative businesses get the most out of the options available and to give details of possible marketing options.  So my new GIVEAWAY is offering three of my followers one months free advertising on this blog.  This will always start on the first Monday of the month and initially will be for my blog followers only.  My blog now receives over 500 visitors a month and over 1100 page hits a month, from the UK, USA and Australia, so you will be receiving good exposure.  Ideally the winners will have a badge to use in the right hand sidebar on the main page of this blog and I will then link it to their shop, website or blog.

I will announce the winners on Sunday! GOOD LUCK!



P.S. Other advertising options will be available, details to be announced in July!

Good Cause Giveaway

I received a message the other day from Kelly at A Place of my Own through the British Mummy Bloggers network regarding a crafty raffle in aid of Cancer Research.  Sadly this illness touches so many lives, with most people knowing somebody who has had cancer.  The Folksy community is currently supporting Macmillan Cancer Care with a shop for this cause and lots of us listing items with proceed going to this charity. So I gadly offered support to Kelly and have added one of my rings to the raffle. 

I am proud to be part of such a great blogging community.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sharing the Sunshine

I have been trying to write this post all day but it is the Easter hols and with five children insisting on trips to the park, playing Just Dance on the Wii, games of Scrabble and the like, this has not been easy! If I am lucky I may just manage to write this post before bedtime stories. 

I was delighted a couple of weeks ago to be nominated for a Sunshine Award by Lynwood Crafts.  This is a lovely award for crafty blogs and really brightened up my day.  So now I have finally maaged to narrow down my choices to the suggested twelve and can share the sunshine.  There are a number of reasons for my choices, some share great crafting tips, small business tips and design ideas.  Some are simply inspriring and I just love to read all my choices.  I have also gone gobal as I follow blogs from around the world, for some reason I seem to have alot of Austarlian designers / makers in my blogroll!

.....So......drum roll please......the Sunshine Award goes to.....

Monaluna

RicRac

Emma in Wonderland Photography

It Belongs to Turtle

Sixty One A

Haptree and Me

Helen Rawlinson Lighting & Textile Design

Giddy Stuff

The Hippy Hen

paper-and-string

Charlotte Macey Textiles

Kristopher K Design

These are not in order of preference and are all great reads.