Blonde Buttercup

Boutique Logo

2014-07-01T08:27:00.002-07:00

The truth is, everyone is more fabulous in black & white...

2012-08-22T15:14:00.001-07:00

Animal accessories..

2012-08-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

It's all about accessorising you know...

I gots my bonnet, my glasses, my errr... bubblewrap.

Lust List: The Chocolate Box Cocktail Ring from Andrew Geoghegan

2012-08-22T14:36:00.003-07:00

Designer Andrew Geoghegan is something of a master when it comes to creating beautiful jewellery, and his latest (mouth-watering) Chocolate Box designs are probably my all time favourite.

Droool...time to get saving.

Check out his website here or join his facebook page.

30 Years as Friends in Pictures

2012-08-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Love this. As a tribute to their friendship, five friends from California have photographed themselves every five years in the same spot since 1982. The men, now in their late 40s, just recently took their 7th picture in June.

Wish we'd done the same kind of thing when we were younger...

1982

1987

1992

1997

2002

2007

2012

Take a look at their website here.

New John Lewis Christmas Advert 2011

2011-11-11T04:21:00.000-08:00

Papaphobia - a Fear of the Pope

2011-11-10T01:45:00.000-08:00

Every gone to bed worrying about the fact peanut butter may get stuck to the roof of your mouth during breakfast the next day? Perhaps you've suffered nightmares when a friend has voiced a word over eight letters long, or maybe it's gravity that really gets your heart pounding with fear - I mean, this whole sticking to the earth thing just can't be right, can it?!

Here's a few of my favourite phobias...

When God Made Me...

2011-11-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

17 Things You Didn't Know About Your Morning Coffee

2011-11-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

Zoo magazine - old school lads mags

2011-11-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

A little different to today's over inflated, bronzed babes in the lads mags? Any reason for the huge change in those gracing the pages?

Things I would have loved when I was younger No 1.

2011-11-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

NovelTEA Hidden Animal Mugs

2011-11-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hidden Animal mugs here

Happy Movember...

2011-11-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

Well done to all those who are actively becoming women repellants this Movember in the name of charity - why not celebrate the occasion with a novelty tash mug?

Buy it here

Chocolate covered carrots?

2011-11-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

Ever started cooking and then wondered which foods, herbs and vegetables really compliment each other? Perhaps you're unsure how to season fish or want to understand the tastiest vegetables to accompany you Sunday dinner? Look no further. The Information is Beautiful site is always awash with brilliant statistics and facts presented in a way only a designer could envisage. Thanks to the genius's at IOB and their 'taste bud' charts, you'll never again team chicken with strawberries or scare guests away with a chocolate and goats cheese tart...

MORE TASTE BUD CHARTS PLEASE...

MORE TASTE BUD CHARTS PLEASE...

Doggy Hall of Fame...

2011-11-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Famous dog alert!

Check out Pops on this website :) Stunning Dogs website

Stunning Dogs website

Such a Pain Being Beautiful.

2011-10-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

We women put ourselves through hell and back in an attempt to look, and feel great. From skyscraper heels which give us blisters, to epilating, waxing, acid peels and eyebrow shaping. We must be completely mad.

There’s a saying which goes:

“Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women, but the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is a male, the surveyed female. Thus, she turns herself into an object.”

(Berger 1972, 45, 47)

In my mind I only half agree with the above quote, I think that while women may want to feel attractive to the opposite sex, it's mostly the case that women quite often dress and preen themselves for other women, a competitive 'keeping up with the Jones'' type act.

Have you ever binged, purged, or starved yourself? Have you or someone you know experienced life with an eating disorder? Have you had or considered liposuction? Breast enhancement? A thigh lift? Botox? Collagen injections? Have you ever stayed home from socialising because you weren’t happy with your looks? Have you ever skipped a work out because you felt self-conscious about your body? Have you ever secretly bought diet pills, laxatives, or diuretics to take weight off fast? These are all ways that we come to see “constraining, enslaving, and even murderous” conditions as “liberating, transforming, and life-giving,” scholar Susan Bordo says.

We all spend a lot of our lives worrying about what others think. We spend even more time staring into the mirror prodding and poking the parts of ourselves we’re least happy with, sporadically embark on fitness campaigns which leave us exhausted, diets which leave us bloated and beauty regimes which leave us penniless!

So what is it that makes us so critical of ourselves and put ourselves through ‘beauty regime hell’ for often less than satisfactory results.

‘Try Something New Today’ with these pointers to a less judgemental you!

· Go on a Media Fast: Choose a day, a week, a month, or longer to steer clear of as much media as you can. That way, you can see how your life is different without all those messages and images, and when you return to viewing and reading popular media, you will be more sensitive to the messages that hurt you and those that are unrealistic.

· Be a Positive Example: Research and real-life experience make it clear that when women and girls speak negatively about their bodies and their appearance, they negatively impact those around them. That goes for women talking about themselves in hateful ways in front of their children and family members, girls that degrade themselves in front of their friends, or any other time a woman or girl says awful things about herself in front of anyone near. Start today with a goal that you will never again say something negative about your appearance aloud, and soon the negative self-talk that floats through your mind will become less and less prevalent, too.

· Eat well: it’s not about dieting, binging or starvation – our bodies need certain things in order to function properly. It’s a fact. You’ll have been told before and we’ll tell you again. Choose fruit, vegetables, delicious salads, lovely grilled meat and yes, you can treat yourself every now and then (Feeling guilty is a wasteful emotion)

· Take up an exercise that you actually enjoy: Try something new which doesn’t wear you out and makes significantly differences to your body and how you feel about yourself. Yoga, pilates, running, Zumba. Whatever it is, make sure you enjoy it, go as often as you can and get yourself some exercise clothes you’re actually comfortable in (It makes a huge difference!)

· Tell the Truth: When you think a nice thought about someone in your life –– tell them. Now that you realize how many negative messages we hear each day, counteract those lies! Choose to compliment the girls and women in your life for character traits, actions or talents you admire about them. The compliments that stick with you for a lifetime are those that acknowledge your valuable qualities, like a good attitude, selflessness, talents, honesty and so much more that has nothing to do with a cute outfit or pretty hair (those are nice too!).

· Finally, give yourself a break: we know it’s hard, but 99% of us are never going to be Kate Moss or Heidi Klum. Yes it’s sad, in fact it’s royally unfair. But deal with it, there’s plenty of other things that matter much more in life. Standing in front of the mirror is wasting precious time you could (and should) be spending elsewhere!

Wedding Pic Gone Wrong...

2011-10-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

You'd still frame it though, wouldn't you?

From The Daily Muse Blog

The Dirty Truth

2011-10-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Before you read this, I must warn you that after reading some of the stats you will instantly feel just that little bit dirty (I stopped to wash my hands half way through The G2 article from which I got the basis of this post!)

This evening, sitting down to read the paper I learnt that October 15th marked 'National Handwashing Day'. That's right, on October 15th, 200 million people (most of them children) gathered together in an act of communal handwashing. Later in the same article I was to learn that this great show of togetherness was backed by Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever. I suppose that 200 million people wishing to wash their hands needs someone to supply the soap, non?

So now I've eased you into the background and significance of the post, here's a couple of facts for you (that you probably never wanted to know):

Handbags may carry up to 10,000 bacteria per square inch. So next time you think about going rooting round in a woman's handbag remember this: 30% of these bags carry faecal bacteria - sexy.
Your chopping board, the one thing which regularly holds food you believe to be good for you, is actually probably equivalent to eating something you found in a mouldy bin on the street - with findings showing it has 200% more faecal bacteria than the average toilet seat. Oooh, I can tell you'll enjoy your tea tonight.

And so back to an article which states that although encouraging people to wash their hands after using the toilet or handling food may seem like stating the obvious, it's actually quite a spectacular statistic which shows just how rare these simple acts of cleanliness are. 95% of us claim to wash our hands after going to the toilet, while in reality only 10-12% of us actually do.

Fanacinatingly disgusting, our soap dodging has unsettling repercussions. One in six UK mobile phones for instance, are contaminated with faecal bacteria (according to a study by the London School of Hygiene) Add to this that the average person touches their face three to five every waking minute and you've got some grubby facts.

Following outbreaks of swine flu and bird flu, it seems we're living in a world which is obsessed with germs but in the same breath devoid / nonchalant about hygiene. You may well hover above the toilet seat in public bathrooms in the style of America Pie, but then then the horror of germs doesn't go as far as the toilet door - a much more ghastly environment...

Apparently there are seven levels of disgust identified in human behaviour; ranging from our disgust at threat of contagion, the site of bodily fluids, rotting foods, physical deformities and moral disgust we direct towards those who violate our own moral codes through cheating, lying or abuse. Every single one of these disgusts are rooted in our desire to avoid contamination.

Don't go dousing yourself in bleach too soon though, as harsh chemicals may also have unwanted consequences. strong soaps, beauty products and biological washing powders strip the skins protective outer layer, leaving us all more likely to develop allergies. So is it a case of the 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' when we talk about germs? Apparently to a degree, it is! Children who have limited exposure to germs and bacteria in earlier life have been proven to have an incresed chance of getting asthma, allergies and autoimmune diseases.

In conclusion, it appears that apparently one of the most effective ways to make people to 'get clean' (at least in the handwashing sense) is to shame them into it. Cue visions of service station goers glaring at those next to them until they thoroughly wash their hands anyone...

Cleanliness is next to godliness my friends. Wash um'

Sparkling & Shimmering Decorations for a Stylish Christmas

2011-10-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Too early to blog about Christmas? Oh, I care not - on my blogging travels I've seen some beautiful Christmas decs and finishing touches that are even more magical than the fairy on the top of the tree. Have yourself the hottest looking table, tree and house this year with a few of my favourites. As usual I've added the links below so you can get them yourself should you so wish...

1.) Shimmering Snowflake Place Card for Glass

2.) Silver Bauble Place Card Holder for Glass

3.) Silver Glitter Starburst Decoration

4.) Decorative Silver Reindeer Piece

5.) Silver Reindeer Lantern

6.) Christmas Cracked Glazed Ball

7.) Snowflake Napkin Ring Holder

8.) Silver Decorations & Tree

1.) Personalised Christmas Bauble

2.) Personalised Linen Christmas Stocking

3.) Hanging Gingham Christmas Heart

4.) Rocking Rudolf Place Card for Glasses

5.) Christmas decoration with red hearts

6.) Applique Snowflake Christmas Cushion

7.) Personalised Christmas Bauble (Pink Writing)

Client Coverage - Ideal Home Magazine

2011-10-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

Click here to visit The Last Detail and see their range of beautiful finishing touches for weddings & parties

Client Coverage - Mother & Baby magazine

2011-10-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Visit Gledhill & Co for your own bespoke children's chairs here

Trend Spot: Perfectly Cool Skulls

2011-10-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

With Halloween on the near horizon I found some gorgeous skull inspired homewear that McQueen lovers will adore. And once Halloween is over? Well luckily enough these cool, statement pieces will look amazing adorning your abode all year round.

Get these beauties here:

1.) Upcycled Vintage Teacup & Plate

2.) Alexander McQueen Skull Cushions

3.) Wig Vase

4.) Skull Chair

5.) Glass Skull Pen Pot

6.) Various Skull / Skeleton Mugs

7.) Skull Wallpaper

Autumn

2011-10-21T08:24:00.001-07:00

How to make a crochet apple jacket

2011-10-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Today is National Apple Day. Here's how to make a crochet apple jacket to keep your fruit warm this winter. No really, no need to thank me, you're welcome.

If you manage to figure out the below, please feel free to send me one of your apple jackets.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Cotton DK yarn
3.5mm crochet hook
Embroidery needle
Button

ABBREVIATIONS:

ch – chain
dc – double crochet
rep – repeat
sl st – slip stitch
st – stitch

WHAT TO DO:

Start with a slip knot. Work 4 chain, join to form a loop with a slip stitch into first chain.

Round 1: ch1, 9dc into central loop, sl st into 1st chain to close up the circle.

Round 2: Working in the round, 2dc into each subsequent stitch (approximately 18 sts).
Insert a contrast colour yarn marker (3cm length of yarn positioned horizontally between the last stitch and the first one of the next round) at this point, this will allow you to see when you have completed a 'round' and stops you from worrying about counting stitches.

Round 3: 1dc into each st

Round 4: *2dc into next st, 1dc into following st*, rep from * to * until you reach yarn marker.

Round 5: rep Round 3

Round 6: rep Round 4

Rounds 7-13: rep Round 3

When you reach the end of round 13, you need to begin working backwards and forwards rather than around and around. This will create the opening at the top of the cosy.

Round 14: ch1, turn the cosy and work in the opposite direction. 1dc into each st. Stop at the last stitch before the 1st chain.

Round 15: ch1, turn *1dc in to each of the following 10 stitches, skip one stitch (i.e., miss a stitch between your previous dc and next dc)*, rep * to * until you reach the end of the row – don't worry if there aren't 10 stitches in the final group.

Round 16: ch1, turn crochet, rep round 14

Round 17: ch1, turn *1dc in to each of the following 8 stitches, skip one stitch (i.e., miss a stitch between your previous dc and next dc)*, rep * to * until you reach the end of the row. When you arrive at the end of the row, ch12 and using a sl st join the last chain back to the main body of crochet to form a loop for the button. Cut the yarn and using an embroidery needle, work it into the back of the cosy. Sew the button to the cosy opposite the loop.

Got it? Yeah, me neither.

A Designer Tree - Pantone Christmas

2011-10-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

Designer's everywhere will enjoy decorating their trees with these cute pantone baubles...

Get them here