Product of the Week 12th May - 18th May

About time I hear you cry ... well better late than never.

A simple yet decorative decoration is this weeks special 'Product of the Week'!

These wooden tea pot shaped hanging decorations are great for displaying around the house whether it be the kitchen, dining room or living room! Hang one on a hook, door knob, twiggy tree or over the corner of a mirror or picture frame.

At approx 3.5in in size these tea pots have been hand painted and distressed to give that shabby chic look and then finished off the a vintage cream button - each tea pot has a different button making them all unique!

For this week only you can have your own personalised text hand stamped onto the front of the tea pot for no extra cost. Have the text of your choice whether it be family names, sayings or messages making a great gift idea even more perfect!!

You can buy these decorations for £2.25 here in the 'Online Shop'

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Product of the Week 5th May - 11th May

This week I've chosen to shout about the product that practically kick started Random Button ... Tea Cup Pin Cushions!

They've always been one of my favourite items to make (I know I probably say that about everything but it really is true this time!!) I love the fact that each one is unique even if you've used the same cup and fabric combination before they each have their own little personality!

They're great practical items as well as decorative items - they've been admired by seasoned sewing enthusiasts as well as people that have never even sewn a button on before! (Yes those people do still exist!!)


                              


These pin cushions make perfect presents for when you want to get a craft loving friend or family member something a bit special and unique!

Prices range from £9.50 to £13.00 (plus postage) and are available here in the online shop.

                                     

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Product of the Week 28th Apr - 4th May

Better late than never but this week I've chosen one of my favourite (and best selling!) cushion designs as 'Product of the Week'.

This shabby chic inspired cushion has a stitched bunting design made using the prettiest floral fabric and finished off with a mix of vintage buttons in between each 'flag'. Prefect for any bed, chair or sofa in your home and a great idea if you're looking for a nice present for a loved one that's a bit different from the normal candles, toiletries or flowers! (As much as I love those too!)

 

As a special 'Product of the Week' treat this week this pretty cushion will be available for the discounted price of £16.00 (plus p&p) and is available here in the Random Button 'Online Shop' ...along with a collection of other lovely items!

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Product of the Week 21st - 27th Apr

The second Random Button 'Product of the Week' is this pretty ditsy blue flower bunting! Perfect for getting into the spirit of summer and for decorating your home and garden. This bunting is ideal for kids bedrooms or playrooms, garden dens and tents! You can even use it for decorating a party or event!

This bunting is double sided and 2 metres in length (with extra bias binding either end for easy tying) Each bunting has 9 'flags' 5.5in x 6in

Normally £14.00 this bunting is discounted for this week and available for only £10.00 here in the Online Shop.

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Product of the Week!

So I've decided to do a 'Product of the Week' feature where every Sunday I'll upload one of my favourite pieces from the website. I'll try and give you some interior styling tips, gift inspirations and I might even give you some exclusive discounts!

The first product of the week has a wedding theme and as it's National Gardening Week (15th Apr - 21st Apr) it was only right that I chose these new floral wedding favours that have been added to the website this week! So if you're in the midst of planning your wedding and looking for shabby chic/vintage themed ideas these would be perfect!

These 'Sowing the Seeds of Love' favours are great for a Sring / Summer wedding and are perfect for giving to your guests for them to take home and plant up leaving them with a lovely momento of your special day.

Each little seeded bundle can be tagged up with your choice of printed text - you could have your names, venue, even your guests names can be printed on the tags and then be used as fun and quirky place name settings!

Filled with seasonal 'Cottage Garden' flower seeds like Gypsophilia, Cosmos, Iberis and Matthiola (plus many more varieties!) these floral bundles are made using pretty vintage fabric swatches and tied with rustic string giving your wedding a special shabby chic twist!

You will be given a stack of easy to follow care/sowing instructions for each of your guests so even the most un green fingered family and friends can grow pretty flowers.

The favours are available to buy here for just 55p each (Tagged with your choice of personalisation on both sides) or you can order them untagged for 50p each. (Discounts available for orders over 60 units)

If you would like them made up in colours to suits your theme then that's no trouble at all! Simply get in contact via email (mail@randombutton.co.uk) with your required colour choices!

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Facebook Giveaway!

Just a quick blog to let you all know (that's if you haven't seen already!) that I'm having a special giveaway over on the Random Button facebook page!

You can be the new owner of this trio of goodies by simply liking the facebook page and sharing the giveaway post that is pinned to the top of the page, once you've done that leave a comment to let me know you've done it! Simple!

Each comment will be given a number - 1st comment number 1, 2nd number 2 and so on - when the giveaway closes on Thursday 14th March at 7.00pm the numbers will go into a random number generator and hay presto the winner will be picked!

Up for grabs in this giveaway is a pretty knitted cushion with button stitched fluttery lace hearts, a mini knitted hanging heart and 2m of lovely rose and polkadot pattern bunting!

Good Luck!

(Giveaway is in no way endorsed by Facebook and is only open to UK addresses)
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A simple knitted blanket pattern...

So you might have seen on the facebook page I posted last October I was starting a special piece for myself - something to pick up when I had a spare few minutes and knit - nothing too taxing but something that I could keep as a bit of an heirloom piece. It was pretty chilly at the time (nothing compared to now though! brrrr) so a blanket was the first thing that came to mind! I looked for a pattern but all I could find were really complicated ones - even though they looked really nice they weren't a pattern you could follow easily in front of the tv! In the end I made it up as I went along!

I uploaded the finished article to facebook the other day and found that many people thought the same thing about wanting a non complicated blanket pattern! So for anyone else that has thought they want to have a go at making a simple blanket or throw here is the pattern I worked to to make a large stocking stitch with garter stitch border blanket... (I don't think Debbie Bliss has anything to worry about when it comes to knitting pattern writing though!)

I used 8 x Stylecraft Special Chunky and 7.5mm circular needles.
Tension 12sts x 4in

Blanket size - approx 157cm x 147cm (when laid flat)

Cast on 170 stitches.
Knit in garter stitch (Knit every row) for 18 rows or until work measures 8cm/3in.
On next row (with the wrong side facing you) Knit 10 stitches, Purl 150 stitches, Knit 10 stitches.
 *You might want to place a stitch marker before/after the 10 Knit stitches to make it easier to see where to change the stitch. (I just use a knotted loop of contrasting yarn)*
Next row Knit all stitches.
Carry these two rows on until work measures approx 140cm/55in or until the blanket is the length you'd like it.
Now repeat the 18 rows of garter stitch that the pattern started off with.
Cast off.
Sew ends in.
Snuggle with a cup of tea.

If you wanted to spice it up a little you could do the borders in moss stitch (Knit 1, Purl 1) or you could change yarn colour and do stripes!

Enjoy!

If you try it let me know how you get on!

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Just a little bit of bunting making...

 It's been a few weeks since I last blogged so I thought I'd get back into the swing of it by sharing with you all what I've been creating over the last few weeks! Back in January I received a lovely email from a customer asking about ordering some bespoke bunting ... 60 metres of it! The customer wanted purples and lilacs in a shabby chic /vintage /pretty theme - I got together a collection of fabric choices and she selected her favourites!

So then the marking out of triangles ... cutting out of triangles ... sewing triangles ... ironing triangles ... connecting triangles began!! I lost count of the amount of flags this bunting used up and as each flag is double sided I couldn't even begin to imagine how many tiangles I made! I did really enjoy making it though! Especially knowing that it's going to be a part of their special day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm sure this is going to look great in their venue! It makes the day even more special when the bride to be knows she has a unique decoration that no-one else has and that she's selected the fabrics for herself!

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Christmas Swapping!

So this Christmas to make it a bit more interesting I took part in two Christmas gift swapping events!

If you've never heard of them before where have you been! It is what it says on the tin really ... the idea is you put together a collection of gifts then simply send it off to your swapper and someone will do the same for you!

This is the first year I've taken part and I would recommend you sign up to a swap next Christmas! I opened both of my presents on Christmas day!

The first one I entered was Fabric Godmothers Christmas Swap! My swap partner for this one was Sue and she put together a lovely selection of items for me! My favourite pieces are the fab handmade vintage fabric covered mirror and badges and especially the beautiful Christmas decoration! It went straight on the tree soon after this picture was taken! The chocolates and hot chocolate didn't last long I can tell you!



                                             





My other swap was part of the Curiosity Projects Christmas Box Swap! Now this collection of goodies was put together by a 'curious friend' who wrote a lovely card explaining why they decided to put each item into the Christmassy box they sent it in which was a lovely personal touch! My box included some delicious fudge (my swapper was from Edinburgh so it was authentic Scottish fudge!), a cute hot water bottle, pretty bird decoration, a lovely snood and my fave - a 'Bitchin' Kitchen' cross-stitch picture handmade by my swapper!

 

 

 

I hope the recipients of my boxes were as happy with theirs as I was with mine!

Happy New Year!

So we all made it through to the other side then!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I can't quite believe it's been and gone! You spend so much time working up to it in all the preparations etc. but then in a blink of an eye it's all over and done with and the decorations have started to creep into the box to go back up in the loft ready for next year ... or should I say this year as it's now 2013!

It really has been a great year! What with all the Jubilee celebrations and the Olympics/Paralympics it certainly has been a year to be proud to be British! (and we can't often say that!)

There's so many people that I'd like to thank for making 2012 a fantastic year for Random Button that I would be here for ages! So in general I would just like to thank everyone that has helped me out in some way during the year, placed orders, visited the website/facebook page/blog, left comments and messages and just generally been there throughout the year! Without all of you I wouldn't be able to do a job that I love!

There's lots more exciting things to come in 2013 including new designs and website developments that are already taking shape so things are looking rosy for this coming year too!

In the meantime I've started the sale rolling on both the website and the facebook page so be sure to check them out to get your hands on some handmade pieces at discounted prices!

Happy New Year!
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Head over to the Random Button website to find some lovely shabby chic themed homewares!