The Importance Of Perseverance!

I read quite a profound post on Scoutiegirl this morning be terrible at something. It reminded me of a post I’ve wanted to do for a while specifically on the importance of perseverance.

We are not always "gifted" at everything we do straight away; quite often it takes hard, hard work. Beautifully made things are not necessarily instantly made beautiful... they need work-shopping; they need help from friends or even a fresh outside point of view. Products may need to go down the wrong sample path before you are able to find "The perfect sample". Sometimes you just have to simply enjoy where you are at before you find the idea you were originally looking for!

 The following is a snippet of part of my creative "Hip Brown" and "Hip Brown Homewares" journey. Warning, this exercise is probably high on the list of "Do Nots" as far as marketing 101's go but for the sake of perseverance and showing that we all start somewhere, I think it's an important one to own. If anyone else is up for the challenge of owning or revealing a snippet of their creative journey, please feel free to link in below.

Above August 3, 2009 My first ever Etsy sale "Hip Jean belt"....the photo has become rather pix-elated but I still believe this customer (bless her!) had a great deal of faith!

Hip Charlie: Children's Belt Accessor

Thankfully a friend who was a talented photographer gave my photographs a makeover. Other friends offered suggestions from sewing styles to fabrics... It was all wonderfully useful even if I didn't always choose to use it!

Hip Owl: Children's Belt Accessory

Below is my first ever lavender sachet sample. Hmm not sure what it is exactly??... BUT it did remind me of a tea bag which directly led to my next product sample which was the creation of Hip Brown Lavender Tee bags.

 Lavender Sachet Product Sample

"Hip Brown Homewares" lavender Tee Bags/ Sachets

 

"Hip Brown Homewares" Lavender Tee Bag Decorations

Standing out from the crowd!

Oh wow, oh wow, how fabulous is "Madame Flavour Tea”! Bound be the last person in the world to have just discovered it nevertheless found it at the supermarket last week and had to immediately shout out some jumbo sized loving its way. Have you tried it already?? I rarely venture far from my daily border-line medicinal dose of Dilmah however on this occasion I am very glad I did. There are quite a few MF blends on offer; I purchased the Green, Jasmine and Pear. It is a gorgeous tasting tea and the pear notes really sweeten the green tea flavour beautifully. Ooh la la sounding like a tea connoisseur yet?? What I also loved about this Tea was the "yours truly note" included inside their sweet packaging.

 

I never thought it possible to have such a personal and delightful experience buying tea at a supermarket?? A warm, sincere and personal marketing approach is a ridiculously good recipe for fabulous-ness... I also think if you enjoy what you do, like Madame Flavour your product will clearly stand out from the crowd. 

Giveaway Announcement: The winners are

Giveaway Announcement

Hip Brown Lavender Tee Bags

A quick Reminder, our first ever blog "Giveaway announcement" will be drawn this Friday March 1st. All Followers/ Subscribers and Comment's from this blog get an automatic 3 x entries. Fans from our Facebook page who also like this giveaway post will also be included. The lucky winners (there will be two) will be asked to pick any item of their choice from either of my online stores Hip Brown Homewares or Hip Brown (Children's Belts). Thanks Rachael x

A Cute Foot Stool Makeover

From the depths of big guys tinkering land and beyond, my husband appears with this mini stool he had just whipped up in hand. I do vaguely remember him mentioning he was going to make a foot stool; we needed one for our living area particularly so that our son could do his homework more comfortably. I remember thinking just quietly to myself that I had other ideas... you know, it was possibly the perfect opportunity for me to workshop a Moroccan pouf or maybe some sort of antique box but just hadn't got round to verbalizing it to him.

Pre Stool Makeover

The funny thing is I really like this stool! It's rough and by no means perfect but it has oodles of character. I knew from the very instant that this stool and I could work together! Naturally I also loved it because my husband had made it and there is nothing more lovely or meaningful than his thoughtfulness and time. 

Post Stool Makeover

This makeover method was a simple distressed white in Dulux. I used a string of bright green fluffy pom poms and hammered in decorative nails.

Giveaway Reminder: Winners announced this Friday March 2nd

Giveaway Announcement

Hip Brown Lavender Tee Bags

A quick Reminder, our first ever blog "Giveaway announcement" will be drawn this Friday March 1st. All Followers/ Subscribers and Comment's from this blog get an automatic 3 x entries. Fans from our Facebook page who also like this giveaway post will also be included. The lucky winners (there will be two) will be asked to pick any item of their choice from either of my online stores Hip Brown Homewares or Hip Brown (Children's Belts). Thanks Rachael x

Brisbane Love

Brisbane city view and Story Bridge by RHonner

Ok, so it's not quite the skyline of Brooklyn Bridge or NYC. However what I love most is: that Brisbane is a friendly city. Where I live in particular, people quite like to have a chat. It's lovely!

A picture of a Bulimba Ferry by RHonner

I like to think it is a big city that has still maintained it's country town charm.

Photograph- R Honner

Definitely not an old, old city like London or France but there is still history.

Bike swap not wife swap by RHonner

Perhaps not as bike friendly as Amsterdam but there is hope.

Newfarm Park by RHonner

 I call these the hairy arm pit trees.

Photograph by RHonner

My children love them!

Tea, Cricket and Citronella

I often find myself craving girly-ness particularly within the predominately male world, I live in. For those of you who do not know, I have two boys, a three and a six year old. Including my husband I am definitely outnumbered! I do not necessarily mind this as I really do enjoy my own girly company. Lately however, I have noticed that my taste particularly in homewares has become less contemporary and more feminine in style. We could quite easily blame this on current trends. I mean Florals really seem to be hanging around! However I often think, it is a result of the crazy boy energy around me and my new appreciation for all things very feminine is my way of finding a balance. Yes too much cricket on the television has me itching for pink florals!

 

Found myself itching for some thrift shopping this week too. I bought this lovely tea cup and then... turned it into a citronella candle for our outdoor living area. The boys will love it, ha! Strangely I kind of feel bad though. I mean, is it a bit sacrilegious to do that to a beautiful tea cup? Surely that would be one of the top three “DO NOTS” for high tea drinkers??

Also found this beautiful big bowl to house all my lovely shells in. The boys and I collect shells from our beach holidays and then bring them home as a reminder. They get very excited by which ones they have found and contributed.

Now what do you think this tea cups best use would be? a) A tea cup (A tea cup for tea drinking?? Now that would be very wild and crazy!) or b) Citronella candle (very much needed in Brisvegas for us outdoor living types)??