The Berylune Blog

On Saturday, our shop expansion will be open for business.

It's taken a bit longer than we anticipated, but we're pleased to have it up and running for Christmas (oops, pre-November c-word slip). It has been harder work than opening the shop from scratch over 2 years ago! At least then the building was empty, and our ideas of what we wanted were less defined; we know now that you come to regret...

These gorgeous things are now in stock. We also have Music Box Teaching Clock, Two Tune TV and Chatter Phone! They start at 12 months +, but there is no mention of a maximum age, so they are clearly aimed at adults. Clearly.

Now my Christmas Donkey has a friend.

I found a cool tutorial for making origami dishes.They're really simple, but I think they look really cool, especially filled with nibbles:

We're big fans of Zentangles around here. From what we understand, it's sort of like doodling, only you don't do it when you're on the phone. You set aside a bit of quiet time, clear your mind and concentrate on building layers of pattern. You don't have to be able to draw, so what are you waiting for? Get those tangles down on paper! There is stacks of inspirationand plenty of tutorials online,...

Anyone who came along to our Craft Party in June will already be aware that we're smitten with pompoms around here. Kirstie Allsopp also seems to be similarly afflicted, and is making a world record attempt for the longest line of pompoms at The Handmade Fair!

Click herefor details on how to get involved, you can make pompoms and drop them off at your local Hobbycraft if you're not attending the...

So my favourite picture from my recent tour of the North East is this one:


I really liked the Angel of the North, it is epic in size and makes an impressive impact on the landscape. As you walk away from the body towards the tip of the wing, the span is really quite surprising! It looms over you far longer than you would expect. I like this picture best because I noticed something about the Angel...

And they're better than ever! There is even a tin that combines the very best animals you can get - a Donkey, a Giraffe (aka jarf in Amy's toddler speak, it seems to have stuck) and an Elephant.

I don't eat much spread or butter type stuff. I have toast about once a week and I'm not a huge sandwich fan. So when I do, I like to have proper butter. The frustration is that as an infrequent butter consumer, my butter is always in the fridge and completely solid. Nic once experimented with warming the butter on top of the toaster. Do not do that.

We were running a bit low on pom poms. A busy season of weddings and garden parties had taken it's toll on our stock levels. But fear not! A fresh supply has now arrived:

Craft rooms/cupboards/corners are often messy places. They're usually well used and have unfinished projects lying around. However, if you do catch them at a tidy moment, they can be pretty and inspiring.

Here is a corner of Amy's craft room:

It's been sweeping through my circle of friends like an easily transmitted disease. Roisin was heavily afflicted when I first met her and symptoms were apparent and obvious. Zoëwas a carrier, but recently the symptoms have started to become more pronounced. Then it took Amy. She seemed to be weathering it well, until last Christmas, when she gave up fighting it altogether (I feel a bit bad about...

We had Eloise Renouf prints in stock on our opening day. It was one of the items we were most excited about. We were no less excited when we opened our parcel of limited edition giclee prints this week!


We have changed how we sell prints a bit, we now sell them unframed but offer to pop them into an Ikea Ribba frame for you - which is great, because we hate storing frames, and it means you can swap...

Time for some words.

I love magazines and always have. In a time before the internet (I don't mind admitting I remember it well), magazines offered exclusive access to exciting images, interesting articles, news about new and exciting things and very often a free gift of some sort on the front - making them exceeding good value for pocket money. We are almost overwhelmed with these things now. Blog...

More excited than words.

Words will come later.

I received a newsletter from Donna Wilson today, announcing a new range of fabric by the metre! OK, it's completely gorgeous. Here are my favourites:

...there is no order.


It's raining. And a bit cooler than it has been. I'm going to say something controversial (we're British, we're supposed to moan about the weather constantly) - it's actually quite nice.

This is all Amy's fault by the way, she made a dress with rain drops on it.

OK, since I wrote the above, it got sunny again, but now it's tipping it down and there is a small river running down...

We're having a clear out to make room for new stock! Get 35% off our remaining Cloud 9 organic cotton fabric (on the bolt), whilst stocks last. Click here to order online.

We've had a busy few days here at the shop! Amy and I headed off to Winchester for the day on Wednesday for a jolly/inspirational tour.


They have some pretty shops, I'd recommend it for a day out. We were far too hot for lunch, so had an ice cream sundae instead, but there were many lovely looking eateries to choose from. Minty left Warwickshire for the first...

I have a post by Zoë!:

Our new Retro Designed canisters make great kitchen storage, but they would also look lovely in a bathroom to keep all those little bits and pieces tidy. To go with the canisters you could knit a set of face cloths in coordinating colours. I have used Rico Essential Cotton Soft as it had the shades closest to the designs, I used Melon, Anthracite and Smoke. However, you...

So we've been having a think about our workshops. You all seemed to really enjoy the craft party, which had more of a 'Come and play with us!' feel, rather than a 'Come and learn from us!' feel to it. We have been toying with applying that idea to our craft workshops.


We'll still be getting super talented 3rd parties in to teach for us - Tracy with her expert sewing knowledge and crowd control...