Give Nana's ornaments a facelift

You've seen them before - the forlorn looking ornaments gracing the shelves of pretty much every charity shop.  Give those ornaments a new home and a new lease of life with this super quick tutorial I made for Craft Candy.

Toilet roll craft pinatas

Who knew loo rolls could be so cute!  I made this tutorial for Craft Candy who are celebrating their birthday this month.    Instead of being filled with sweets, these pinatas are filled with crafty treated instead.

Build a little birdhouse in your soul...

"Not to put too fine a point on it, Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet, Make a little birdhouse in your soul"...

Here's a little DIY cardboard and pom-pomy birdhouse demo which will surely cheer up your soul (Please note, any bibliophiles watching this video and cringing at the book being cut up - it was already damaged!) 

DIY: Pom pom twigs

Another quick tutorial I did for Craft Candy recently, simply using pom pom fringing, a splash of paint, some twigs I picked up in the park and my favourite craft tool of choice - the glue gun.  

DIY round-up: height charts

Do you remember standing up as straight and tall as you possibly could while your mum or dad marked off your height on the family chart, willing yourself to be a whole 3 or 4 inches taller than the year before?  I do, and although I've never made it past 5ft tall I was always excited to see my progress on the tattered giraffe growth chart.   Here are some creative ways to create height charts that look pretty on display all year round with the added bonus of being able to take them with you if you move house:

Burlap Chart

Measuring tape

This measuring tape by Variations on Normal was made and used as a diary, but you could do the same thing for a height chart.

  
Giant ruler

Trending: Pom poms

Traditionally, pom-poms were simple creations made by children but they seem to be having a bit of a grown-up renaissance at the moment.  Pom-poms are being turned into all manner of homewares and used to decorate clothing and accessories and have recently been seen on the catwalk too.  Join the trend by adding these fluffy delights to scarves and blankets, turn them into garlands, poufs or necklaces and even make chandeliers from them.  Have you jumped onto the pom-pom train yet?  

Pom-pom fashion

Pom-pom pouf

Pom-pom scarf

Pom-pom garland

Pom pom chair

Pom-pom flowers

Pom-pom chandelier

DIY Round-Up: Dolls Houses

My baby girl is growing up so quick.  She's almost 2 and already loves pretending to cook me dinners of play dough and 'looking after' her baby dolly (this usually involves giving it milk before hurling it on the floor, or grabbing it by the head and shoving it roughly into the mini pram upside down) and I guess it might not be long before she might be interested in having her own dolls house.  But have you seen how much they cost?! A bomb, is the answer.  So here are a few creative ideas to DIY an imaginative dolls residence fit for a child to explore and will save you a few quid at the same time.

The pretty cupboard dollhouse

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The bookcase dollhouse

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The suitcase dollhouse

The cardboard box dollhouse

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Ok, so this one isnt a DIY idea but I do love it - Dual purpose - a coffee table for the grown ups and a mid-century modern dolls house for the kids.

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DIY Round-up: Concrete

Concrete seems to be the medium of choice for have-a-go crafters at the moment.  Its cheap, quick and easy to use.  Here are a few projects to have a go at.  Which is your favourite?  Have you tried any concrete DIY projects?

Concrete Hook

Concrete lamp 

Concrete votive/plant pot

Concrete Planters

$5 Concrete Stool

Concrete Decorative letters

Its a wrap

Christmas is fast approaching and each year, I try to find new ways of wrapping my gifts to add an extra 'christmassy-ness' (Is that even a word?)  to them.  Here is some inspiration if you are looking to give your gifts some extra pizazz!

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Baby clothing DIY inspiration

Yikes! Aodrable baby booties from I Think Sew

Fitted crib sheet easy tutorial from Joanne Arbour 

'Cute as a button' button top tutorial by Shwin&Shwin

Yay!  A tutorial from Dana Made It for an easy skirt, and a cute one at that!

Lotta Jansdottir's book, Simple Sewing for baby has a lot of lovely simple patterns for baby, like this little swaddle blanket. 

Every baby needs a bib, find out how to make your own at Purlbee.  For your baby, not you, of course!

There is nothing cuter than a little bundle of joy in stripes.  Made by Rae shows you how to make your own

With a little bun in the oven, I am starting to think about making some cute little clothes and baby accessories while I still have a bit of energy left and there is a tonne of inspiration and ideas on the internet, here are just a few.

Big Props

After spending a lot of time collecting items to use to decorate our wedding venue in July, I decided to put them to good use after the wedding by hiring them out.  I had collected about 100 jam jars, 8 belljars, vintage typewriters, birdcage, bunting, easel, vintage china etc etc.  

I have added a page called Props to my website, which you can see here enabling other people to hire out my decorations instead of having to spend ages trawling charity shops or online looking for items to decorate their wedding/party/photoshoot.  

There are lots more items to be added over the coming week or so.

My pallet obsession continues...

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I have a thing for pallets. Every time I see one discarded in a skip or leaning up against someone's bin looking lost and lonely, I want to rescue it, take it home and spruce the fellow up and make him pride of place in my home. As I have so many 'works in progress' at the moment, I am making do with swooning over these fine looking pallets instead.

Make Do and Mend- New TV show co-presented by yours truly

(Presenters: Lucia Kempsey, Simon Wright, Jo Behari)

Last summer I was shortlisted for a craft expert TV presenter role, and after a lot of nailbiting and embarrassing appearances in front of the camera, I got it!

Last autumn we filmed 20 episodes for Channel 4 for the series which is called Make Do And Mend and features 3 experts: me, the craft expert Jo Behari, the DIY expert and Simon Wright, the food expert. We spent time with a different group of people each week, in a different town or city teaching people how live life more thriftily. We tackled all sorts of projects for the show, I showed contributors how to make and upcycle all sorts of things including including reupholstering, altering clothing, charity shopping, making driftwood mirrors, and tonnes more simple projects, and all on the super-cheap!

The show starts next Monday at 12.05pm on Channel 4 and runs for 20 episodes each weekday for 4 weeks. Please watch if you can and also head over to the Make Do and Mend Facebook page

Lightbulb moment!

Flippin' amazing! Absolutely loving this unique way of repurposing an old lightbulb, into something beautiful - found via feefearn, this is the work of Souther Salazar. You can see more of her work on her blog. Click here to visit his etsy page.

Sewing the seeds of inspiration

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Last year I made my first forays into gardening with mixed results! I have to admit I had more fun making the the little gardening area look pretty by using old crates to grow my veggies than the actual gardening itself. I like the idea of repurposing old household items to grow new life. I think a bookcase on its back could work well, but I guess its not going to look as pretty as this idea. Have you used any unusual vessels to house your veggies or flowers?

Fork-poms

Fork pom-poms, what a great idea and it involves less faffing than the cardboard rings or the wrapping of yarn round the fingers method. Eskimimiknits has written a tutorial on her fork-pom method which you can see in full here.

Some things that make me happy

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