{#BEDM} passion project

My passion lies in design and creating. From a young age I was always drawing and making things, I'd save my pocket money up and go on a spending spree to John Menzies (like WH Smith) and buy tonnes of stationery. Now I'm just the same, and I buy tonnes of stationery!

You may {or may not} know that I have my own graphic design and photography company called AEM Photography and Design and when time permits I sell personalised prints {mostly from my Facebook page}, I always have an order or a project on the go to keep me sane.

Two of my best sellers and my favourites are...

personalised home print

This is the home print that I had displayed in the hallway whilst I was pregnant with the littlest now the McBump has been changed to her name. I have sold loads of these, great for a wedding gift or a new home gift and great for a family gift for a new baby.

baby bunting

The baby bunting prints are so cute, they have 3D bunting and can be personalised with date of birth, weight, time of birth and in any colour... this one pictured sits on top of my TV cabinet.

I'd not be able to retire on my earnings from my passion project or give up my full time job but it's a hobby that earns me some pocket money and I love creating.

A x

{#BEDM} five favourite posts

My five favourite posts are:

I'm a PostCircle Angel - I love being a part of PostCircle, I can say without doubt that I've made some lifelong friends being part of this great community.

{teapigs} matcha green tea - I love it! It has changed the way I feel and my health {for the better}! I a matcha shot daily. If you're feeling rundown then give it a go!

Home sweet home - I love my home, there really is no place like home... your own bed, your favourite cup / mug, lounging about... and relax.

Smitten Saturday - My village.  I love the walks, the animals you see each day... my little bit of heaven.

My Kiddos - I love them...


I hope you enjoyed my five favourite posts.

A x

#BEDN {home sweet home}

...there's no place like home, there's no place like home {I really do need those red glittery shoes!}. No matter where I am in the world, or whatever fancy hotel I go to there really is no place like home. It's the place I feel most comfortable {and sometimes most stressed when it's very untidy}.

We've stayed here nearly 4 years and for a long time {as it was a new build} we lived with magnolia walls. We've lately been adding lots of colour to brighten the place and you'll see in my kitchen that I mean LOTS of colour... here's some of my favourite places and things at home.

breakfast time with the littlest this morning 

{scrambled egg and toast btw}... 

in the background you'll see my 'feed me now please' print. 

I created this image when I was at City of Glasgow College 

studying Graphic Design & Visual Communication and it was 

part of my Typography Unit. I ate the toast and

 pasta shapes for my lunch after I photographed it.

I love my colourful prints and the best thing... 

I can change them whenever I desire!

pops of colour, I have a bright orange kettle and toaster 

{really wanted a pink one but couldn't find one I liked}, 

some new festive dried fruit and cinnamon sticks 

{that I bought at the Christmas Craft Fare at the weekend}

 in a sex pistols cup and saucer {that's my big girls}

more colour! we had to wait months and months for these 

coloured chairs to come into stock at John Lewis 

{there's a green one too out of the picture}, 

they really brighten the room.

my living room... we recently got a new 4 seater 

sofa and statement chair {that's mine!}, 

we also replaced the carpets with some lovely grey oak wood flooring,

 it's so much easier to keep clean {we had cream carpets before!} 

now we have a huge polka dot rug

my office area and were all my #Postcircle takes place!

I love hearts, this one is on the cloakroom door.

now I have a thing for clocks, there might just be one in each room. 

This one I designed and had the design printed on to foamex 

and then I attached the clock fittings but it's not just any 

regular clock, oh no siree.. it's a backwards clock! 

Yep, you read correctly it goes backwards... 

and the reason why is revealed in the next photo

the clock is at the top hallway and when you look in the mirror, 

to check yourself out before you go out, then you see the correct 

time in the mirror. It was one of my genius moments that 

the Mr at first just shook his head at and thought 

I had gone slightly mad... 

obviously until it all came together perfectly!

SUPERHEROES! I love them! I think my favourite is 

actually Batman but I've not found the perfect Batman 

graphic just yet. Spiderman however sits in the top

 hallway just outside my bedroom door.

Superman, now he's above my bed.

you'll have noticed by now that I do love my wall art and 

apart from the Superheroes it's all designed by me. 

This wallart is in the family bathroom and is 

inspired by The Beatles past masters cover.

this wall art is in the ensuite, it says 

'don't forget to smile but brush your teeth first'

this wall art is in the downstairs loo, it's huge... 

the size of the whole wall... it's a bit quirky, 

still not 100% sure I like it so it may come down 

next year and be replaced with something else.

the last place I'll share is the littlest room. 

I made this cloud mobile when she was just McBump in my tummy. 

We call it 'the twinkles', I love how it hangs from the 

sun ceiling lamp and the clouds gently move and spin and smile.. 

there's rainbow twinkle, heart twinkle and star twinkle 

{glow in the dark stars hang from this one}. 

You'll spot another clock in the background... 

this was an clock I used to have in the kitchen and I put 

Ikea finger puppets on the spikes to 

create a fun clock for the littlest room.

We are about to embark on a huge declutter as we're planning a garage conversion, we also have far too much stuff. I need to be ruthless and just look through everything. Starting with my clothes! I have a wardrobe that I can supposedly walk into... I do remember being able to do that for a few months when we moved in! Time to clear out!

A x

Through the Keyhole {part 1}

I love looking at other people's homes and decor. It's amazing to see how different people's taste is and to get some great tips and ideas for your own home too.

I had some lovely feedback about doing some 'Through the Keyhole' posts to my home, thank you! So I'm kicking it off with the main room / hub of the home. The living room / dining area.

We stay in a new build house, can't believe it's over three years since we moved in! New build isn't where my heart lies, I love older home with character and tradition but this isn't our forever home. Our previous home we had ripped out completely and it was a whole lot of hard work so I vowed I'd not be doing that again any time soon, hence the new build buy!

We've recently refreshed our main room: painted the 'mushroom' walls grey {as Dulux delisted the 'mushroom' colour}, replaced the creamy carpets with grey/brown oak wooden floor and a long awaited for new sofa!

living room area

I love my living room area, it's nice and bright. It has a huge window to the front and at the back of the room {at the dining area} there are patio doors that lead to the garden. The garden is always in full sun until around 8pm so there's lots of natural light flowing into this room all the time.

You'll notice I have a 'thing' for dots!  My littlest got a little armchair for Christmas {from Dunelm Mill}, it is of course red with white polka dots. Our other dotty item is a huge rug from Ikea, only £20! I also have a 'thing' for Zebra print. I do try and limit my animal prints as too much isn't nice {I don't think}.  I have a lampshade in Zebra print, the lamp base is from TK Maxx as is the shade but both were purchased years apart {There used to be a pleated red shade on the base.. yuk!}. I also have a Zebra print storage box which holds the piano music, another TK Maxx purchase.

The canvas above my sofa was a total fluke make, it did take me a few days to get used to it but now I love it! I used spare paint I had in the garage and just slapped it on... adding to it, rubbing bits, twisting the brush.. anything really. I'm not sure anyone else likes it but I do and I made it!

Clocks... Oh you'll see a whole lot of clocks in these posts, this one is from TK Maxx {yeah I do like TK Maxx}.  My favourite clock is at the top of the stairs... it's a backward clock that I made..So when you look in the mirror you can see yourself and the correct time, anyway more on that when I get to that post {exciting}.

My TV unit is from Ikea, a great buy! It holds our huge TV {Hubber likes his gadgets, I could so live without a TV} and I have storage boxes along the bottom which houses all littlest's toys! Quick to throw back in once she's in bed, close the box over and voila toy free living room!

dining room area

The dining room area is hardly used as we eat at the table in the kitchen, but on special occasions or if we have guests we'll eat here as it seats 6 comfortably. You may remember lightgate?  If not I won't bore you with the details but the short story is: I saw a light I loved and it was out of stock and out of production but I eventually found it on display at Next and begged the store to sell me it, so once they had it pat tested I got it!

The dining area isn't huge but it does hold the dining table, 6 chairs, the piano, a tall cupboard and the bureau! {jeezo that is a lot}. All our furniture is dark brown / black wood but the bureau is a lighter colour... that kind of annoys me but I do love my bureau as it holds all my #PostCircle and crafting supplies, plus when we move house it will have it's own room {fingers crossed}. A recent addition to the dining area is the deer's head. Like the canvas, I'm not sure anyone else likes it but I LOVE IT!

My other favourite things are my Paris photos, I took these in 2008. The flower arrangement on the table {in the animal print jug with a matching milk and sugar bowl} are fake, I used to run a little flower / fascinator company {many years ago} called Bloomsadaisy and this is one of my creations from then.

So there you have my first through the keyhole post!  I hope you enjoyed it!  Now I wonder which room to focus on next...

*Scheduled post {I might even be on the operating table as you read this!}