Happy Monday Everyone!

I am just the happiest girl in the world right now, this weekend has been so exciting all down to the Birmingham Blogger Meet Up.  Everything went exceptionally well and to plan, everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves.  This proves Lipstick beats snow any day!

Myself and Charl beating the snow with our lipstick!

 

This day wouldn't have been possible without the two best sidekicks in the world Clare from A Bit of This and That and Sara from Pretty in Pink, I need to just say how amazing they were and im very proud at how well we worked as a team.

All the behind the scenes organising was done and we were on our way to Starbucks in New Street Station to meet all the lovely bloggers that had battled through the snow to be there, the nerves kicked in and I was worried not many people could make it.  You can imagine the relief and delight when we walked round the corner and there was everyone sitting sipping coffee!  I was amazed everyone had made such an effort to be there even as far as London and Cardiff! Thank you so much ladies you made the day everything it could have been, without you all it wouldn't have been half the day it was.

Sipping Coffees

 

Once we had introduced ourselves we split into groups to go shopping, we split into groups according to the coloured stars on our name badges which worked really well and allowed everyone to meet some bloggers they hadn't met before.  Clare made such an amazing job of the name badges I just loved them.

My group had the yellow stars and we decided to head to Boots and Selfridges, two of the most popular blogger destinations.  I found myself at the Mac counter trying out an amazing red lipstick 'brave red'.  I have always been a bit of a wimp when it comes to a statement lip but with gentle encouragement from Charl from Ginger Girl Says there I was sporting the most beautiful red lippy, and I loved it!

 Selfridges Beauty Hall

We then headed back to Starbucks to meet up with the other groups for the next part of our day, cocktails at Rodizio Rico.  Rodizio Rico is based at The Cube and is such a lovely setting for a trendy cocktail bar and restaurant with glass walls and views over the canal it is very picturesque.  The staff were very welcoming and helpful making sure we were all seated, with a cocktail in hand.  A very special mention to Jai as he was obviously very interested in the whole blogging concept and made the visit a treat.  We sipped on a mixture of delicious Caipirinha cocktails and mocktails. The caipirinha cocktail is unlike anything I had every tried before, very refreshing yet intoxicating.  I will be posting seperately about my experience at Rodizio Rico in more detail so please do look out for that.

Jai - The best bartender and myself

 

Feeling merry we made out way across to Red Pepper for our sit down meal.  This was my favourite part of the day as myself, Clare and Sara had made a special effort to make the table look unique with place cards and crystalised candles made by yours truly, table crystals to add a bit of sparkle and some very exciting filled white bags in the middle. 

We all sat down with more cocktails, laughter and some very delicious food.  As I was tucking in to my starter I looked up the table and seen everyone was smiling, laughing and chatting. This is what blogging is about, all of us getting to know each other and take the passion we share for blogging and turn it into friendships.  I genuinly really enjoyed speaking to everyone and getting to know them a little better and would even say these bloggers are not just bloggers they are friends.

 

We had a couple of tweet to win competitions running throughout the day to win some goodies.  There was a lovely goodie bag from Make Believe Beauty, A necklace from We Love Button Jewellery  and a goodie bag from KMS California.  Charlotte from Lil Miss Chickas was the lucky winner of the Make Believe goodies and the We Love Button Necklace,  Sophie from Sophie's Beautique won the KMS goodies.  A massive well done to both of these hunnis!

 

Just before everyone started to leave and make their way home we had one last surprise! 

A cake, but not just any cake the cutest, prettiest and most scrumptious cake I have ever seen and tasted.  The buttons just made it perfect.  This beautiful cake was made by Vicky from Victoria's Vintage. This lovely lady has just started her own business Victoria's Vintage Cakes and if you love the cake she made for the day you should see her other creations, just beautiful!

The whole day was just fantastic and Im really happy that everyone enjoyed it so much, every single blogger left with a jam packed goodie bag, so jam packed that I would like to give it a whole post of it's own, so do look out for that in the next couple of days.

I have only added a few of the pictures from the day on this post but should you wish to see them all you can find them HERE.  Everyone who attended is more than welcome to use these pictures as long as full credit is given.

 

I will be updating the Birmingham Meet Up page to include all of the twitter handles and blog links of everyone who attended too so you can all keep in touch.

 

Rebecca from Beca Boos Make Up also vlogged at the meet up and it is fantastic!  I didn't even realise she was filming throughout the day.

 

Lots of Love

 

Gem

 

xxx

Jewellery has been a big part of my 2012, style wise.  I have always loved jewellery but I have really embraced it this year and styling most outfits around the jewellery I want to wear that day.  My taste is really weird, somedays I wear my tiffany and others I want my ever loved costume jewellery and sometimes even a mix of the two. 

 Incase you hadn't realised I love buttons, this is due to the individuality of them, so many different shapes, sizes and designs, so when I came across the amazing We Love Button Jewellery I had found what would become my new jewellery love.

  The first thing to attract me was the name, being mad about buttons I just had to investigate.  As soon as I entered the website I was blown away.  This jewellery was simple, delicate, feminine yet some bang on trend pieces.  Trying to place an order was impossible, I wanted EVERYTHING!

We Love Button Jewellery is created by the lovely De'Onne, after a trip to London Portobello market inspired her.  In a little shop De'Onne fell in love with a pair of button stud earrings and after deciding which colour to purchase she left and went home, later regretting not purchasing more of the earrings in different colours.  Her plan was originally to return to London to get some but this clever lady had a better idea - to make her own.  Thank goodness this beauty never made that return trip to London or we would never have had the chance to purchase these creative wonders.

After seeing my excitement about my new found jewellery obesession all over twitter and facebook De'Onne got in touch with me and offered to send me a couple of pieces, which was amazing easily one of the most exciting emails I have ever recieved.

I choose two pieces that had caught my eye instantly, due to the fact that they were girly and feminine with delicate detail, which made both of these items suitable for everyday wear. 

 These arrived gift wrapped in pink tissue paper and placed in a pink mesh bag, such a lovely way to be packaged. This would also be perfect for a gift as very little effort would be needed to make these look nicely wrapped when you recieve them. 

Hammered Silver Button Studs £4  - more button studs available HERE

Floral Button Bracelet £6 - more bracelets available HERE





I literally dont take these earrings off, they are my new favourites.  They are  personalised in a strange way, Button's Blog is a big part of my life now and when I wear these earrings I feel like Im taking a part of the blog everywhere I go, like a lucky charm I suppose.

As I have been wearing them lots truthfully I expected them to turn my ears green but they haven't and Iv been wearing them non stop for around two weeks now, so if they haven't turned by now I doubt they are going to. *Just incase I could always coat the back of the earring with clear nail polish which would put a stop the the metal changing colour.*

 This is amazing quality jewellery for tiny prices, my top jewellery find of 2012 without a doubt.

Doing this post has made me crave some more We Love Button Jewellery so Ill be visiting the website very soon to decide on my next purchase.  Twitter and Facebook are great if you want to be the first to hear about special discount codes, new items and latest news from We Love Button Jewellery.

You can visit the website HERE

 Like We Love Button Jewellery on Facebook HERE

Follow @welovebuttons on twitter HERE

Lots of Love

Gemma

xxx