Our First Paperchase Project!

We’re so excited to share our news that we are now going to be working with high street stationers, Paperchase, on their recently launched blog, The Journal. We are probably the two biggest fans of Paperchase out there (we both recently bought a whole load of matching stationery from there… losers!) so to be working with them makes us really happy.

They asked us to create a half term project for kids using their Spectrascope range of paper and card. So we created a paper train to be made with the help of your little ones. For the step-by-step tutorial, check out our post over on The Journal.

If you like what we do and have two minutes spare, we’d love it if you could vote for us for the MADs (Mum and Dad Awards) for Best Craft Blog. Click on the picture below, enter a blog of the year first, then enter us for Best Craft Blog. Thank you!!

~ Laura & Tia xx ~

A BIG Thank You

Yesterday we found out that our blog has become a finalist in the Brilliance in Blogging Awards (BIBs) for Best Craft Blog. When we found out via twitter, we did a wiggly, jiggly dance and texted each other with a OMG!!!!!! We are so grateful to everyone who voted for us to get this far, anyone who comments on our posts and for turning up in the first place and reading our blog – we wouldn’t be here without you (we’d like to give you all a big hug). We’re up against so really fantastic crafts blogs and feel very privileged to be among them. Click here to have a look at the finalists.

 And, erm… if you feel like voting again (you know you want to!) then nominations for the Best Craft Blog in the MADs (Mum and Dad Awards) are still open. We’d love to make this year a double whammy and reach the finals. All you need to do is click on the picture, enter a blog of the year then select us for Best Craft Blog. 

 Thanks again, we’re still pinching ourselves.

 ~ Laura & Tia xx ~

Meet a Maker on Hobbycraft

This week we were interviewed by Hobbycraft for their ‘Meet a Maker‘ feature. We were asked about our inspiration, our favourite crafts and how we make time for crafting (erm… we are regularly sitting at the sewing machine at midnight!). To have a read of the interview, head over to Hobbycraft now.

Tia & Laura x

Our MAD Blog Awards Weekend

On Friday we waved bye-bye to our Buttons for the night (secret high-five) and hopped on a train to London for the MAD Blog Awards. These awards honour parent bloggers in the UK and we were finalists in their best craft blog category. We had a really lovely evening and totally weren’t expecting to win anything (our competition were all established and awesome blogs) so when they called our name out as winners… Well it was all a bit of a shock. We have no idea what we said when we picked up our award but will probably cringe when we see the video.

We’d like to say a massive thank you to all of you for your support, votes, comments and general niceness! We really couldn’t have done this without you.

It was also great to meet new blogging friends at the awards and to chat to some lovely people who have been an inspiration to us in the last year: particularly Verily Victoria Vocalises, who was the first person to nominate us and showed has us constant support and encouragement since we started blogging. (Also the lovely Mummy Daddy Me Makes Three, Hurrah For Gin, Gammon and Chips, Along Came Cherry, But Why Mummy Why and Just A Normal Mummy to name a few.)

After the excitement of the awards we went to Hampton Court Palace on Saturday to attend The Handmade Fair. The fair was a collection of crafters and makers and it was great to see so much crafting talent in one magnificent setting. There were lots of bunting, tea and pom-poms to be seen and talks and demonstrations galore. We particularly liked the giant knitting skills of Wool and the Gang!

But rather than tell you about it, why not take a look? Yes, we’ve finally gotten around to doing one of our New Year’s Resolutions – we’ve made a video! (We’d love your feedback. It is our first attempt though, so please be gentle…)

~ Laura & Tia xx ~

Life In Pictures

Life in Pictures is our weekly mini-gallery of what our Little Buttons have been up to over the last seven days. We’ve had a REALLY exciting weekend… we’ll share all the details very soon, but for now here’s a little taster. 

   

 

    

Our Very First Award Ceremony

Ooh, we’ve got a really exciting weekend ahead of us – tonight we’re off to the MAD (Mums and Dads) Blog awards as finalists for best craft blog. We never get dressed up these days, so we’re very excited to get to wear fancy dresses and paint our nails. It’s also the first time we’ve left two of our Buttons for a night away so it’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time!

Then tomorrow we’re stopping by at Kirsty Allsopp’s Handmade Fair for a crafternoon (sorry..) of inspiration. Set in the magnificent Hampton Court, this looks set to be the crafting event of the year. There are still a few tickets left so if you fancy joining us click here for more details.

Good luck to all the other finalists tonight. We’re really looking forward to meeting all you inspiring bloggers.

~ Laura & Tia xx ~

EEEEK! We’re Finalists for the MAD Blog Awards!

We are very (very very very) happy to announce that we have been shortlisted for BEST CRAFT BLOG at the 2014 MAD Blog Awards!!!! Can you hear the squeals as we type this? We can barely contain our excitement and are struggling to resist the urge to fill this post with exclamation marks!!!!!!!! (Sorry, couldn’t help that one…). The MADs are the Mum and Dad Blog Awards, that honour the best parent blogs in the country.

We’d like to say a big and very grateful THANK YOU to everyone who voted – it really does mean the world to us. We’re sure the Little Button Diaries will be up against some fairly stiff and serious competition, but we would be so happy if you could vote for us once more to win! Just click the link below (or visit www.the-mads.com/awards/) and press “Vote Now” in the Best Craft Blog section.

We would especially like to thank Victoria at Verily, Victoria Vocalises for nominating us in the first place and letting us know – thank you Victoria!

Hooray!

Tia, Laura, and our Little Buttons xx

Award Season

We’re really lucky here at Little Button Diaries to have been nominated by Karinna from Cheesy Biscuit and Simon from Spade Fork Spoon for a Liebster Award, and Jo from An Expat Abroad for the Sunshine Award. Both of these awards are given to blogs from other bloggers as a way of paying it forward. We are so thrilled that people enjoy reading our blog as much as we enjoy writing it. Thank you!

For each award we were asked a set of questions about ourselves. Here’s a small selection of our answers…

Why did you start the blog?

We started this diary of our life to document our Little Buttons growing up, and for them to read when they are old enough.  We also wanted to start more craft projects and finish the existing ones, and having the blog gives us the motivation to do this!

What is your favourite book?

At the moment it’s Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. I know it’s a children’s book but my Little Button loves it so much because of all the flaps to lift up and explore.

What is your most prized possession?

We both love our photo albums and our cameras. They are like our other children!

What is your favourite blog post (provide a link)?

Our favourite post so far is our 100th post. It felt like such an achievement to reach this point as we didn’t know how long we would keep this up once we started. Now we can’t wait to plan our next landmark post.

What’s the worst item of food you’ve ever tasted?

For Tia it was a portion of fermented soya bean in Japan. She still shudders at the thought of them. For me, it’s any hot fruit. Even the ones disguised as a crumble.

Who (or what) makes you laugh?

Would it be too much of a cliché to say our Little Buttons make us laugh? I’m struggling to think who else makes me laugh more.

What thing do you do less, that you actually think you should do more often?

I always seem to have every intention of flossing my teeth because I know it’s good for me but never seem to get round to it. I also think I should step away from the iPhone/computer/camera more often and live in the present a bit more.

To where would you most like to travel?

I would really like to go to Hawaii so I can wear a grass skirt (in public) and play my ukulele, and Tia would love to go tango dancing in Argentina.

What motivates you to keep blogging?

We tend to motivate each other to keep going and spark off one another for ideas. Also the wealth of talent from other bloggers and the desire to create beautiful things is very motivating, as are the lovely comments and feedback we receive from readers.

Most embarrassing moment in your life?

For Tia her most embarrassing moment was when she was 12 and she accidentally wet herself on stage in her acting debut in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Damn that teacher who wouldn’t let her go to the loo!

We’ve selected a few of our favourite blogs for the Liebster award (listed below). Nominees need to answer the same questions, link back to this post, and then pick more blogs they themselves enjoy. Here are ours:

Katie at Hurrah For Gin

Katie at Mummy Daddy and Me Makes Three

Helen at Actually Mummy

Tas at Not My Year Off

Diana at Little Bits of Nice

There’s also time to nominate us for Best Craft Blog in the MAD parent blogger awards. To do so please go to http://www.the-mads.com/vote/ vote for a Best Blog of your choosing and then vote for us as Best Craft Blog.

~ Laura xx ~

The MAD Blog Awards

Victoria at Verily, Victoria Vocalises tweeted us yesterday to say she had very kindly nominated us in the Best Craft Blog section in the MAD Awards. The MAD Awards are the Mum and Dad Awards, that honour the best parent blogs in the country.

We are so thrilled that even one person thinks what we do is award-worthy.  We would really appreciate your support, and if you like what we do then we would love it if you could vote and spread the word.

To vote, click on the photo of our Little Buttons below (or visit www.the-mads.com) and vote for us in the Best Craft section. To see all the crafts we get up to, visit our craft page. Thank you, and fingers crossed!

Tia, Laura, Amelie & Harper xx