My Workspace

I am delighted to have my workspace featured on the UK Handmade blog today. There are some photos and a short interview. Please drop by and say hello!

Button Bonanza at MISI

After two years of buying, collecting and selling buttons, I was prompted to go through my entire stock of single buttons and small sets to come up with these sumptuous packs. I doubt that I will ever be able to repeat these packs as they took a long time to accumulate.

The packs contain a mixture of new, second-hand and vintage buttons.

Hope you like the results - these packs (and a few others) are available to buy from my MISI shop.

Love Buttons on MISI.

Upcycled Button Jewellery

Here are some colourful and fun necklaces and bracelets from MISI seller Cillabub. This stunning necklace featuring 'upcycled' vintage buttons is £15.

Cilla's shop has all sorts of styles of contemporary earrings, chokers, necklaces and bracelets. Why not brighten up your autumn and winter wardrobe with a lovely handmade piece of jewellery?

Holiday In Fife: Crail

Crail is a small town in the East Neuk of Fife. It is situated south of St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland. We had a lovely time here, exploring the harbour, pottery, and shops, eating ice cream, and just wandering around taking in the scenery and pretty cottages and houses in the town.

Crail Pottery is well worth a visit if you like handmade ceramics, earthenware and pottery. It is run by, and features the work of, the Grieve family. There were a number of styles, from terracotta herb planters to ornamental pieces featuring decorative patterns and glazes, to plain, but beautiful, everyday pieces.

Rob chose this cup and saucer.

And I picked this one. Ideal for morning coffee!
They cost £12.50 each.

Here is part of the interior of the shop. There is quite a lot more to see inside, plus an outside area.

Here is Crail Harbour.

Holiday in Fife

Rob, Henry and I have been back about a week after our holiday to Fife in Scotland. We stayed at Keystone Cottage in Freuchie, a small village about 10 miles from St Andrews.

Here are some interior shots of the cottage. Taken a day or so after we arrived, you may observe the unmade beds, chaos and detritus that we have introduced in such a short time.

The white square was Rob, who is too shy to appear in public!

We paid £335.00 (including £15 for one dog) for the week commencing 4 Sept 2010. The cottage sleeps two and has a small kitchen area, open plan dining/sitting room, small bath/shower room and twin bedded room. (We had to push those together in the end, as we couldn't get used to not sleeping in a double bed!).

There is a village shop and post office nearby, a pub and hotel in the village. The cottage has a TV and DVD, plus books and games. The beds and sofa were comfortable and the decor was quite nice, with the owner's overspill collection of chicken and animal ornaments on a high shelf in the main room. The kitchen has plenty of equipment and crockery, a fridge/freezer, cooker, microwave and washing machine.

A galleried area upstairs was locked up, but visible from below, which was a bit creepy. Rob put four large house spiders out of the door in seven days - unnerving if, like me, you are not keen on arachnids the size of a child's hand. (Might have been the same one getting back in!). Henry had quite a walk to get to the nearest grassed areas, but he did like seeing the neighbour's dog, Keira. She, however, was not so keen on Henry and growled at him every time they met.

All in all, though, it was a comfortable cottage, and a good centre for visiting Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife and the East Neuk coast. The Pillars of Hercules organic cafe and shop, with forest walk nearby, was close enough to go for a great veggie breakfast.