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 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…
DIY Milk Glass – Upcycling Coffee Jars with Paint
Since Christmas I’ve continued to stockpile coffee jars waiting for the perfect upcycling project and this definitely fits the bill! Turning boring old glass jars into pretty pastel coloured pots is very satsifying and messy enough to be really fun too! Milk glass has been around for a long time and has become very popular with vintage lovers, becoming quite the collectors’ item. Whilst some gems can be picked up in charity shops and craft markets, it is possible to create the milk glass effect yourself in a number of different ways. The first way I’ve demonstrated in this tutorial (with more tutorials to follow soon). You need: Glass Jar…
DIY Inspiration: Liberty and a Quick Tip for Personalised Ceramics
Sorry blog friends for my radio silence over the last week, work has been crazy and over the weekend I travelled to the big smoke to the amazing Blogtacular event (round up post of this coming soon). Whilst I was down there I managed to make time for a trip to Liberty, one of my favourite places of all time and a great source of inspiration for DIY projects. There were a couple of sections that really caught my eye: Monogram Plates Monograms are making a comeback in a big way and there are monogram DIYs popping up all over the place. I love these plates, each letter is made…
DIY Upcycling An Ikea Wardrobe with Fabric
Furniture ain’t cheap, that’s what I’ve come to learn so when it finally came round to redecorating the spare bedroom I was most definitely on a tight budget. When it comes to furniture though, budget usually means devoid of personality which is a problem so sometimes it takes a little bit of TLC to turn something basic into something special. The Aneboda wardrobe from Ikea is £60 (cheap!) and is the stalwart of rented apartments everywhere, I’m not a fan of the semi-transparent plastic though and think that it looks messy when you can see the clothes inside. I came up with the idea of removing the plastic panels and…
Five Craft Room Essentials You Might Not Expect
This weekend I’ve spent some time sorting out the various piles that had accumulated in my little craft room and now that it’s a bit clearer, I realised that some of the things that I use all the time aren’t necessarily the most orthodox crafting tools so I thought I’d share them with you to see if I’m not alone in turning every day bits and pieces into must have DIY essentials. Craft Room Essential #1: Baby Wipes Being honest, these aren’t just a craft essential – despite being designed for the delicate skin of babies, these suckers will remove almost anything thrown in their path! Whether it’s cleaning the…
Things To Do With Doilies #2: DIY Jar Labels
I’m constantly on the look out for storage for my craft room, I have a lot of stuff crammed in to a little space but storage isn’t always pretty and as part of my ‘things to do with doilies’ series I found a cute, shabby chic solution. Clear glass jars are great for storage as you can see exactly what you’ve got and they’re pretty cheap. In the past I’ve picked them up from vintage markets for £1 or Ikea have a whole range of sizes starting from a similar price point – I think the jars pictured here were £3 each. You will need: A jar A doily…
DIY Spring Wreath with Tissue Paper Roses
Before I start, I’m going to apologise for the state of my nails in these picture, I had an unfortunate incident of nearly tearing my little finger nail off so couldn’t get my acrylics filled in – dark times. Anyhoo! It may still be rainy and cold but I’ve seen the sun a couple of times and now it’s officially spring! I’ve updated my wardrobe accordingly and now it’s time for a bit of interior design. You need: Tissue paper is various colours A polystyrene wreath Hot glue gun Scissors Ribbon 1. The flowers are made in the same way as the fabric flowers in my Hillary’s Country Crafts Competition…
Things To Do With Doilies #1: DIY Handstamped Doily Bunting
The humble doily, favourite of grandmas everywhere, has had a new lease of life since the shabby chic trend hit interior design. Just like everything else, doilies don’t have to just be used as mats. I recently bought an Xcut Vintage Notes Doily Die and I’m going to be doing a series of posts about the possibilities of upcycling paper doilies. Of course, you can just buy paper doilies if you don’t have a die cutter but I like to think it makes a project a little bit more special if it’s as handmade as possible. From my previous posts you already know that I’m in love with bunting so…
