Craft Swap: Sammy

Another new feature for 2016 that we are very excited about, Craft Swap!  We were wanting to find a way to inject more creative thinking around our projects and try and include more of our friends to join in the fun too.

I really enjoyed the limitations of the copper wreath project I did before Christmas, in the way that the lovely guys at Turtle Mat sent me a small selection of supplies and by adding just a few bits from my stash I made something awesome.

So we have decided to start a Live it. Love it. Make it. Craft Swap.  The idea being that two people will gather together some crafty bits and bobs from their stash, then swap them with each other. Each person will then use them to create one or more handmade items.  We will share ours and our friends stash swaps and their creations on the blog over the next few months, in the hope that it will inspire us all to use up some of those bits we have been saving and give away the stuff that others can make use of.  We are so excited to kick off this new feature and we hope you will enjoy it too!

Lets get started with the goodies that H gave to me last month.

H swapped me: a glass jar, a test tube container, some patterned paper, a sheet of glitter paper, a necklace chain, a wooden pendant, some pink wire, a heart peg, red flower stamens, a gold succulent craft kit from a copy of Mollie Makes, a plain paper note book and some small wooden scallop charms.

And here is what I made...

My first idea was to use the glass jar and the gold fabric from the magazine kit to make a scalloped collar to go around the jar to make it in to a pretty vase, then I used this simple paper flower tutorial with the paper from the notebook, the wire, staples and some glue to make a cute bunch of everlasting blooms to put in my new super cute vase. This quick simple project would make a great mothers day gift, don't you think? I kept it clean by just using the white paper, but you could also use patterned paper to create a more colourful bunch of flowers.

My second make was with the patterned paper, I used this paper folding tutorial to make some of these fun ornaments. I love these so much, I am going to make a ton more in different colours and hang them up in my conservatory roof, they will look lovely in there.

My third and final make from this swap was this necklace. I loved the wooden elements together, so I added some jump rings from my stash to attach the scallop charms to the necklace chain. Then using some metallic thread, again from my stash, I used the holes in the lager pendant (also a free gift with Mollie Makes I think) to create a simple design. I attached the last of the scallop charms to the bottom of the large pendant with a scrap of smaller chain to complete the necklace. 

So as you can see I didn't end up using all of the swap bits this time, but they have been put into my stash for other projects. 

We would love this to become something that everyone can get involved in, if you have a friend that you can do a swap with we would love to see your makes!  Tag us in your pictures @liveit.loveit.makeit on Instagram and use the #lilimicraftswap so we can see and share them with everyone. 

If you are a blogger and would like to get involved in our craft swap please get in touch via email liveit.loveit.makeit@gmail.com so we can feature them here or pair you up with another blogger. 

We hope you like this idea as much as we do and that it might encourage you to have a go, even if you just dive into your own stash and get inspired! Next month you will get to see what H made with the goodies I gave to her, so be sure to keep a look out for that one. 

Sammy & H, xxx

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Love it: UK Craft Blogs #3

Another instalment of 'Our Favourite UK Craft Bloggers' for you today. I am writing to you today from sunny Austria, where I have been catching up on some blog reading as well as sightseeing, photography and a lot of relaxing. Don't forget to head over to these lovelies and say Hi and let us know your favourites in the comments below.

Miss Jojangles
Possibly the sweetest blogger we know. We fell in love with her whimsical life on her blog and even more so when we met her at Blogtacular earlier this year. We love her illustrations more than anything and we can't wait to see what's next for Jojo.

New Craft Society
We owe our trip to Liberty to these gorgeous girls (we are forever in their debt) and just adore their style, we can only dream of being this cool. Their attitude to crafts old and new is refreshing and their addiction to Liberty prints makes for some yummy crafty eye candy.

The Things She Makes
Jam packed with awesome tutorials, no faffy lifestyle stuff here, just pure unadulterated crafts... and we love it. Great for beginners and masters alike, great photos and easy to follow instructions make TTSM a brilliant place to visit on a rainy afternoon for a quick crafting fix.

I'm off to enjoy the last day here before we drive all the way home tomorrow (and the next day...)

Sammy xxx

Love it: UK Craft Blogs #2

Welcome to the second instalment of our favourite UK craft blogs, thank you for all your suggestions on our last post, we have made some great new discoveries and rediscovered some old favourites so thanks for all your suggestions, keep them coming. We have three more awesome blogs for you today, all based right here in the UK.

Fall for DIY

Fran is one of the bloggers we have known for the longest, one of our first ever reviews on our blog was for one of her previous businesses (she has a been a part of a few) Check My Box. We Love her gorgeous blog Fall For DIY. She has amazing style and great vision for using unusual materials for making stunning jewellery.

Knit me a Cake

Leanne is one of the sweetest bloggers we know and her blog is a place we love to visit. Her recipes are the reason we spend so much time over there, I made her Banana, toffee and pecan fudge loaf a few weeks ago, it was sooooo yummy! But we love her sewing and knitting tutorials too, head over and check out her amazing Sky Blanket project.

Lotts and Lots

Lotts hits it out of the park every time with her jewellery tutorials, you may have seen her embellished lace collar tutorial in  issue 40 of Mollie Makes magazine. Her Instagram feeds is one of my all time faves.

Who are your favourites, this is the second in a series of posts about UK based craft blogs, our favourite fellow Brits doing wonders for bringing crafts out of the dark ages. Tell us in the comments about your faves so we can include them in later posts and crush on their mad DIY skills of course.

Sammy xxx

Love it: UK Craft Blogs #1

We write a crafty blog, so it is only natural that we gravitate towards other creative folk, we have a looonnnggg blog roll on Bloglovin of blogs we love and we have shared some of our faves here before. We love bloggers and blogs from all over the world, a lot of our favourites are from across the pond in the USA, A Beautiful Mess, Sugar and Cloth, Lovely Indeed, Paper and Stitch and the list goes on, but in this series we want to give a shout out to our favourites from right here, our home, the United Kingdom!

Burkatron

Caroline is a beautiful fashion/craft blogger and self confessed nail art junkie, I always love the photography styling in her posts. Her DIY's are always pretty and super chic. Our fave recent post is this one about building your own terrarium.

Buttons and Paint

These two lovelies live just down the road from us in Reading, You may remember them from their guest post for us back in March or you may have popped over from our guest post on their blog. We love this recent DIY to make yourself a trimmings folder, a must have for any haberdashery hoarder.

Claireabelle Makes

We don't know how the lovely Claire manages to run her own (super cute) etsy shop, her blog and have a job, but she does it, and beautifully too! We are crushing hard on her Bicycle Bracelets at LiLiMi HQ.

Who are your favourites?  This is the first in a series of posts about UK based craft blogs, our favourite fellow Brits doing wonders for bringing crafts out of the dark ages. Tell us in the comments about your faves so we can include them in later posts and crush on their mad DIY skills of course.

Sammy xxx