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

Best of the Blogs: Wit and Whistle

A new find for me, Wit & Whistle is a lovely blog written by Amanda Wright who also has a wonderful online shop full of beautifully designed stationery, tea-towels and homewares.  A mix of DIY ideas, scrumptious looking recipes, snapshots of her work as an illustrator mixed in with lot of lovely shots.  She has a real knack of evoking the seasons with her posts too and it's a nice blog to read to relax.

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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New website!!!

Yay!!!! I finally got myself organised and got myself a new website with the help of my boyfriend (who designed it) and Applebox Designs (who did all the tech bit and the online design). There are workshops, tutorials, surface pattern design and more to have a gander at on there so go check it out the new Bettyjoy website here and let me know what you think.

Bedroom on a budget

We've been in our current house for about 6 months and although we are getting there decorating-wise, we still have a lot to do. The bedroom is one room which hasnt had much TLC since we moved in and so with that in mind, I am putting together a 'bedroom on a budget' post to inspire you if you are planning a low-cost makeover for your little nest too.

The DIY bed

There are numerous versions of the excellent pallet bed on the internet but here are a couple of my favourites:

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If pallets are not your thing, there are plenty of other ways to make yourself a bed from scratch, two bookcases on their side, side by side with a mattress on top gives you not only an instant bed, but also storage space underneath. Alternatively, why not build a scaffolding 4-poster, like this one:

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The DIY headboard

There are so many ways to create your own headboard for a fraction fo the cost of buying one, here are just a few:

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Also, you could use fabric/scarves hung down from a curtain pole, paint your own frame on your wall, use pallets again, painted trellis, DIY large artwork, window panes, shutters...the list is endless.

Under-bed storage

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Or what about dis-used drawers with castors attached to the bottom - the front of the drawers could be painted to match the bedroom color-scheme.

The DIY bedside table

How about a stack of suitcases, a stack of books, an old vintage chair, a little step-ladder, an old food-crate...here are some more

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DIY Bedside light ideas

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(you can stiffen lace by using starch - link)

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I love this idea, I'm a huge fan of globes but I don't know if I could dismantle one of these bad boys, maybe only if one of them was damaged, them this would be a fab project.

Rug ideas

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If these aren't your style you can paint existing rugs, make rag rugs from old t-shirts, printed cardboard shapes, felt pom-pom rugs, macrame rope rugs,

curtain/blind ideas

I recently made a pair of lovely no-sew curtains using just hemming tape and muslin fabric (and an iron of course!)

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There is no end to the type of fabric you can use for curtains - sari material, flour sacks, vintage hankies, vintage bedding, tea-towels, or you could make ribbon curtains using ribbons, of course, and anything else you can think of attached to threads hanging down - spool bobbins, fabric circles and more. Or paper like this:

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OK, so I have to be up early tomorrow so I'm signing off for today - there is plenty more to come on the bedroom front, so I'll be back with more later this week.

Tutorials

I' ve added a few tutorials to my new tutorials page. Now you can learn to make a jam jar pincushion, learn how make shrink plastic buttons and also how to jazz up your old jam jars.

Mermag - my new favorite blog

I cant believe I only just found Mermag blog - its so inspiring, Merrilee is a real talented lady, a designer, illustrator and painter, who makes so many wonderful things and paints lovely pictures too! and she has made the most fantastic octopus costume for her son - you have to see it! Go check her blog and be inspired.