Renovation Sensation – Upcycling an Ottoman
Excitingly, I was recently invited to take part in the Direct Blinds Renovation Sensation competition. The premise of the competition is to demonstrate that old, discarded pieces of furniture can be renovated and given a new lease of life. Which, for a crafter, is pretty much a given and I loved the concept as it’s an important message to share with the world! To buy my piece of furniture I went to the British Heart Foundation Furniture and Electrical Warehouse in Sale – this place is AMAZING. It’s chock full of awesome furniture that’s been donated or picked up at house clearances and it’s all going for a song, not…
Free Midi Skirt Sewing Pattern
I’m so glad that midi skirts have come back in fashion, they’re elegant and comfortable and are appropriate for most situations. They’re also relatively straight forward to sew so I thought that a free midi skirt sewing pattern would be a great download to share with you. You need: Printer 12 sheets of A4 Paper Scissors Pins Tailor’s chalk 3m of your chosen fabric Iron on interfacing Sewing machine 7″ zip Use this link to download the free midi skirt sewing pattern. The sewing pattern includes a half inch seam allowance that isn’t shown. The pattern is a size 10 but I’ve included some tips on scaling the pattern up…
DIY Heart Bunting from Paper
The beauty of being crafty is that there are always lots of things to make and do to keep your environment fresh without having to spend any money. I’ve recently been suffering from tonsillitis which has meant I’ve been spending alot of time on the sofa, under a blanket in the living room watching TV and it made me realise that I’m a bit bored of the ‘welcome home’ bunting that I made a while ago and fancied a change so after dosing myself up with some soluble aspirin and a hot drink I made the journey up the stairs to the craft room and got started on some new…
B&Q AW14 Press Day
Fresh from Glastonbury, on Tuesday I headed down to London to the B&Q Aw14 Press Day. On a lovely sunny day I was greeted at the door to the event by Father Christmas – all quite surreal in July! B&Q are aware that they’re currently perceived as a destination for practical help and advice rather than for interior style inspiration and their Christmas collection really demonstrates the work that they’re doing to try and change this. I dove right in to the full Christmas experience, first viewing the new collection of Christmas trees. The range this year has expanded from the traditional imitation trees to include more pre-lit and pre…
DIY Upcycling Wine Bottles & Coffee Jars – Topps Tiles Mosaic Challenge
Summer is finally here and it only means one thing (to me anyway) – barbeques! I am a true carnivore and barbeque is my absolute favourite food. Hand in hand with outdoor cooking goes outdoor dining and when I was invited to take part in the Topps Tiles Mosaic Challenge I thought it was the perfect opportunity to liven up my al fresco dining experience with some mediteranean inspired tableware. Mosaic tiles make me think of swimming pools and holidays so for me, they’re a perfect fit for an outdoor project. As I’ve talked about before, I find it hard to throw things like empty jars and bottles away because…
DIY Daisy Bun Ring
I’m still on the theme of summer hair accessories and faux flowers: summer is so much fun and I love hot weather but it’s a hard time for hair styles. The last thing I want when I’m hot is my hair sticking to the back of my neck so it’s time to start thinking about up dos and this DIY daisy bun ring is perfect for keeping long locks out of the way in style. The great things I’ve found out about hair accessory tutorials so far is that they’re quick and easy and pretty cheap too which makes them incredibly satisfying projects! For this tutorial you need: Faux daisies…
Fruit Print DIY Inspiration
One thing you may not know about me is that I don’t like fruit. Ever since I was a baby I have hated the texture of fruit and veg and have never managed to find a single one that I could eat. Don’t get me wrong, I like the flavour of fruit but can only consume it in juice or smoothie form or in sweets and ice creams! So it comes as a bit of a surprise to me to say that I’m obsessed with fruit – fruit prints that is! Perfect for summer, the fruit print adds a whimsical touch of colour to any garment and is so prevalent…
DIY Scrunchie Tutorial
I have two problems: I hate elastic hair bands as they always seem to get tangled in my hair and I have ALOT of scraps of fabric that I can’t bear to throw away. Good news is, I’ve discovered the solution to both of these dilemmas and, even better, it’s 90s themed! I’m not ashamed to say that I really enjoyed the 90s, from the ages of 7 – 17 I had a lovely time, I liked watching Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (check out my PJs on instagram) and Thundercats, I was a big fan of 5ive and who didn’t love mood rings? I never thought it would happen but…
DIY Shed Makeover – Beach Hut Chic
With summer approaching (what little summer we have in Manchester), I’ve finally managed to convince my boyfriend to make a start on the garden. It has been sorely neglected over the last few years and now it’s time to get hold of it and whip it into shape. As I hate gardening, I was happy for Jon to take the lead on the project and his first demand was to do a DIY shed makeover. Not brown or green as you might expect, but like a beach hut! Our shed was fairly sorry looking, weathered and a bit neglected so I was happy to give it an update. So off…
Sizzix Texture Boutique Beginner’s Kit: A Papercraft Tool Review
This week I received a lovely parcel from the darling people at Hobbycraft with a nifty new tool to try! The Sizzix Texture Boutique Beginner’s Kit is great for papercraft newcomers (like me) to get to grips with embossing, cardmaking and other papercrafting activities. Besides the machine itself the kit comes with a ton of extras – blank white and ivory cards and envelopes, 40 sheets of multicoloured cardstock, sentiment transfers and three embossing folders. If that wasn’t enough the machine itself is super cute and shaped like a handbag in a very fetching duck egg blue! I’m not one to make things easy for myself so instead of using…
