Itty Bitty Book Co Birthday

Our little business of promoting positivity is one year old this month!

We're not quite sure where the time has gone but we have come along way and had so much fun. 

Getting up at 6 for our market stall every Saturday and Sunday has not been easy... Especially for a few rough months when that little cutie was up every 2 hours... Along with the daytime juggling act of work/parents... But we never thought starting a business the year we had a baby would be easy, we just knew it'd be worth it and it was. A million percent :) 

Living the dream

'The dream' as I put it back in 2011 when I started this blog - 

"To stay as happy as we are now, to have the time we want together (and with our own family in the future) and to live sustainably on our own land. That's it really, the simple, good life."

Note the first 2 points, they are the most important to us and thats what this post is about :) 

We are definitely succeeding with the 1st one, in fact we are even happier, we laugh, hug, play, smile and joke around just as much. The 2nd point is always a balancing act, we want to work, to earn money for the 3rd point and yet we place huge importance on the time we have together since for us that is directly related to how happy we are - point 1! So both of us working full time for someone else, commuting and just being away from each other for so much of the week never quite sat right with us. We're soppy, I know :) 

Now with Ché Phoenix here too the time we spend together, as a family, is even more crucial.  

I have been working towards being, at least partly, self employed for a while with The Itty Bitty Book Company. That's going really well since being off on maternity and I'm loving spreading the positivity with them! I'm working on my time management, and getting better at it :) I'm finding little ways to be mum and business woman at the same time, like walking down to the post box with Ché Phoenix. That's my daily exercise and book dispatched in one :)

People said to us you can't do anything the 1st year of having a baby, it's crazy, you'll be exhausted, you'll have no time for yourself etc ect. We decided to ignore them! If your whole world is going to be turned up-side-down and re-arranged anyway then as you're finding your flow and settling into this wonderful new world with your baby, why not put it back together the way you want to? We knew it was up to us to decide how this first year was going to be and we decided we are going to make it amazing! It's our year of new beginnings in so many ways.

I'm not the only one making changes this year, Al has decided to start his own business too! He'll be doing freelance graphic design from home :) We are so excited about this :) This is such a special time for us, for our family and we'll never get it back so it's super important that we are happy and have no regrets about how we spent this time in years to come. Al is such a loving and dedicated father and husband and spending 11 hours a day (including commute) 5 days a week away from his son and wife during this time just wasn't acceptable to him. He's always been a courageous person who isn't scared of taking a risk if the reward will be worth it. I admire him so much for taking this step. I know he'll make working from home a success and the bonding time he'll have with Ché Phoenix will be priceless too :)

"Never separate the life you live, from the words you speak" - Paul Wellstone

New Year - New Challenge :)

This year I've started a new business...

The Itty Bitty Book Company! 

I hand make itty bitty books full of positivity and happiness! It's still really early days so I haven't set up on Etsy yet but I will soon, for now its all on my Itty Bitty Book Company FaceBook page. Click like to keep in touch - there'll be quotes and pictures shared from around the world that are sure to brighten your day :)

**EDIT** heres my etsy page

So what exactly is the itty bitty positivity book???

Its a 32 page, 5cm square book of positive quotes and inspiring images. It's matt laminated and professionally printed on card so it's very durable and silky to the touch. It's binding is made of strong cotton cord decorated with various beads from my collection including hand-spun fair trade glass beads from India. 

You can get a closer look on the facebook page where there are lots of photos of the quotes and the beads too.

It's purpose in life is simple - to promote positivity!!!

I'm so excited about this new little venture so please have a look, like, share 

and let me know what you think! xxx

***EDIT*** I now have an etsy shop click here!!! 

Plastic plant pot revamp!

A few weeks ago we bought £20's worth of 'hard to kill' house plants. I always kill houseplants, they look great for the first month then spend the next year just begging to be put out of their misery LOL The very knowledgeable lady in the shop gave me a few hints though so maybe these ones will last a bit longer, who knows? Here's what she said -

• Remember house plants come from the rainforest originally (thats why they don't need full light) so watering them with cold water will shock the roots, always use warm water.
• Water regularly, like not just when they look dry, once a week ish.
• Spray them with a mister whenever you remember to stop leaves drying out.
• Windowsills are not always the best place because of the big change in temp from day to night, most houseplants like as steady as possible temp so keep away from radiators too!
• Feed them.

They needed re-potting but we only had ugly plastic ones and being frugal and environmentally conscious we didn't want to buy new ones. DIY time :)

These paint samples we had from the living room where the wood burner went in, you don't actually need the masking tape, I was going to do something arty with it but decided not to.

Give the pots a good sanding with a fine grit sandpaper. I recommend cleaning them first not just banging them out like I did, my desk was covered in soil and a few bugs...

Paint away :) I think its easier to use a brush than these little applicators, they are kind uneven... You'll need at least 2 coats but they dry pretty fast, by the time I had done the 6th pot the 1st one was ready for a 2nd coat.

Then get re-potting :) I love how the purple really makes the green leaves stand out.

If you have any houseplant hints I would LOVE to hear them. I decided this year that even if they only last the winter and I have to buy new ones each year it's still worth it. They make the home feel so much more fresh and I know they're doing the air quality good, especially important over winter and when baby arrives (we've got a few picked for his room/our room when he's born).

P.S - Im having a little issue with my blogger account could someone please tell me if in their blog reader, a picture comes up next to my new post snippet and does it say noreply@blogger or my name and email? Thanks very much :)

HENS HENS HENS!!!

 So after a few delays we finally have our 3 gorgeous hens :) My face hurts from smiling so much - no kidding! We just picked them up tonight and they are all snuggled up in their wee house. No names yet, we want to see their personalities a bit more first :) Happy Astra & Al!

I really wanted to see them out in the run but it was after 8pm so they weren't as keen as me, one did poke a head out though! 

Al's so happy, and not bothered at all that he's now out numbered by us ladies 5:1 lol Cara was watching all this fuss from the kitchen window, looking distinctly unimpressed!

I took these pictures yesterday but never got around to posting them, I just really wanted to post with real hens I guess! Anyway heres the whole run, and Cara making herself at home!

On the run!

Sorry I couldn't resist the pun! Today the rain halted work and I was stuck inside, it turned out quite nice though. I did some crafting and organising - always satisfying :) Anyway we did some more work on it yesterday and the roof is on the house now and all waterproofed but I didn't want to give too much away before the hens are in but here's a sneak peek...

The next pictures will be of our new ladies! I am really happy with how the house has turned out, especially since I did it all myself! Al has been doing the wire. It's taken a lot longer than I first thought but I'm glad I didn't rush it because it looks just like I'd hoped - so happy :) I might post pictures of our 1st house and 2nd house we built so you can see the progression of my carpentry skills LOL

A work in progress...

So the hen run is taking a little longer than expected but thats only because the car needed MOT'd and we decided to focus a full day yesterday on my new Etsy shop, taking pictures etc. I'm really excited to be getting that up and running, a creative outlet for me and everything I earn from it can go straight into our mortgage fund, every extra helps! Also it suits my personality to have a few wee ventures on the go :)

Anyway back to the hens! Heres what it looked like on friday after a few evening hours at it...

House starting to take shape - roof is going to be very steep so there is room to perch on the
high side and nesting boxes on the low side. All very sturdy - should last years and years :)

Then today Al has been working away by himself (I'm working on the computer outside 'supervising' lol as if he needs it) He's attaching the wire and doing a beautiful job - look how tight and neat it is! It's starting to look like a real chicken run now SO EXCITING!!!!!

 

We're getting hens!!!

We've been talking about it for ages and we decided this weekend to just go for it, and start building! If we only have 2 and our run is movable then it shouldn't mess up the grass too much and we are dying to get back to eating our own fresh eggs! We'd love our hens to free range but since there is so many cats around here, Cara the hunter included, we've made them a secure run as big as we could move and when we are at home to keep an eye on them they'll be allowed out to wander :) 

We bought the wood for £25 ($40) at a saw mills. I had drawn up some rough sketches so we had average measurements, they worked out great for the run, we've still got the house to make. 

What we started with...

Getting stuck in, Cara also helping as usual...

We had to put the screws in really deep because we didn't have long enough ones lol

Hubby getting stuck in - I'm not too great with precise sawing so I left that up to him

The perils of drinking tea outside... I fished it out and drank it anyway, is that gross?

Putting the supports on the bottom

Half done!

Al putting in the last screw :)

And thats the frame for the run done, we have some chicken wire already, just need to add that. Those bits sticking out the sides are the handles btw so I can take one side and Al the other and we can easily lift it to another area. The house is going to go on top, in the middle but up against one side, to about half way across, if that makes sense? There will be pictures, hopefully by the end of next weekend there will also be hens :) Anyway for one day I was pretty happy to just get the frame done.