Make it: Liberty Print Button Rings

A really lovely way to jazz up an outfit is to add a colourful accessory, what better to add a little spring in your step than to pop on a jazzy ring. These are made with cover buttons and Liberty print fabric scraps. They are super easy and you can personalise them to give them as really thoughtful gifts. 

Review: Molly Coddles Kitchen Mystery Pack

As bloggers it's really nice when you get to review some new products on the market and so when we were contacted by the lovely Rebecca from Molly Coddles Kitchen recently about her Mystery Pack, we jumped at the chance to have a look see.  Plus she resides just up the road from Sammy, so it's good to have a local crafter to review too.

The Mystery pack is full of Molly Coddles Kitchen goodies, with a value of at least £20 for the price tag of only £5, bargain.  The Mystery Pack includes at least 6 items. These cute surprises may include a felt accessory, ring or bracelet, as well as earrings, magnets, hair clips, brooches and more.  But you just never know until you receive yours what you will get - fun hey!

Ours came in a lovely Surprise black and white paper bag and what we found inside was: 2 pairs of button earrings (yellow and pink), Button ring, plastic Rose ring, cat keyring, bunting coffee cosy, felt flower brooch and flower hair slides.

All of the items are handmade by Rebecca herself in her Kitchen no doubt - hence the company name.  The curled up felt cat keyring chain is super cute with a good quality keychain attached.

This felt flower brooch would make a lovely gift or to brighten up one of your own outfits.  It's a really lovely put together piece once again.

These earrings and rings are definitely staying firmly with us, love button themed jewellery, it must be a crafter thing!

These hair slides will look great for all these weddings coming up and they are blue so that always helps to match most outfits for H.

This felt coffee cup cosy is a handy addition to the morning coffee run.  Again, Rebecca has put this together really well and it is a fun item for the coffee addict.

All in all, the Mystery pack is a fun and inventive gift for someone, or for yourself.   The items are well made and very different and so there is plenty of treats to have.  It's a lovely idea that you don't know what your going to get as it makes it a real surprise.  Although for some people that might not be a good thing as they like to know, but I like it as a concept.

Rebecca also has a subscription package called the Stud Club, which you can get for 6 or 12 months.  You receive 2 pairs (or more) of stud earrings each month.  Again it is a surprise what you get but you can give guidance on colours to help with your selection.  You can buy them from the Molly Coddles Etsy Shop.

If you get one of these packs, let us know via Twitter or Instagram using the #livelovemake and we can have a look what you get.

H

Make it: Wrap Bracelet

I have been lusting after one of these multi Wrap bracelets for ages and yet they are so expensive and so I thought I must have the skills and the tools to be able to make my own and voilà, a tutorial is born!

You will need:  Scissors, Superglue (or other strong glue), thin waxed cord, embroidery thread, needle, a button (not in the picture), beads (I chose a combination of 4 different shades of blue - of course), clipboard (or like me, a piece of mount board and a big bulldog clip!)

First, things first.  You will need to find the right length of cord for your bracelet.  If you wrap the cord around your wrist the amount of times you want your bracelet to be, then add some extra for fastening, say about 10cm at least.  Then double that length to make the sides of your bracelet.  Measure the embroidery thread - you will need it to be at least twice as long as your cord.

Next pop a button at the bend of the cord and tie a knot to keep it in place.  You may want to pop a bit of glue onto the knot so that it stays put.  Wait for the glue to dry before going any further.

Put the button under the bulldog clip/clipboard so that it will keep it firmly in place whilst you are making the bracelet.  Separate the two cords and so you have a left and right side - I found it easier to put clips on the bottom of the board aswell to keep these two sides separate and to stop them moving around.

Tie the embroidery thread onto the left cord at the top by the button knot, again a little glue helps it to stay in place.  Then thread a needle onto the other end of your embroidery thread.

Here comes the complicated bit, but once you have it, its a simple repetitive few steps.

From the left hand side put a bead on your thread and pull through, making sure the bead sits in-between the cords. The thread then goes over the top of the right cord and then around and underneath before going back through the bead and underneath the left cord, and pull through - making sure the bead stays in-between the two cords.  

For your next bead, you will just bring the cord up and around the left cord, through the bead and over the right thread, around, underneath and back through the bead and so on.  Keep repeating that same few steps until you come to near the end of your cord (I left about 8cm at the end of the cord).  Knot the embroidery thread on one side of the cord, again pop a bit of glue on the knot to fix it and trim the excess. 

Tie a knot in the cord at the end of your beads to keep it all in place and then leave a gap (for your button to go through) and then tie another knot so that the button will snuggly fit in the gap.  If you are making this bracelet for a friend you may want to do 2 sets of gaps so that they have the option of different lengths. 

Then you are done!  You will end up with a great present to give someone or a lovely treat for yourself.

I have always had a bit of a thing about long wrap bracelets and I really enjoyed making this one.  I think I might make another one with slightly larger beads and a longer length as I think more layers would look great. What do you think? What colour beads would you choose?

H

We would love to see if you have a go at these. Like with all our DIY's if you do, take a pic and share it with us on Twitter or instagram with the hashtag #livelovemake

Button Jewelery Workshop

If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen me post this pic last week on my way to our button workshop which I spoke about last Friday. 

Make it: Button fun

1.Button phone case  /  2.Button Rings  /  3.Button Christmas card  /  4.Button Hair pins   /  5.Button Magnets  /  6.Button Gift wrap  /  7.Button Art  /  8.Button Monogram

Last night we held our Button Jewellery workshop at Norden Farm, as usual we had a fab night with all attendees and made loads of pretty things with buttons. 

I have a massive collection of buttons, I have been collecting them since I was a child, We were on holiday in York visiting family and Mum took me to Duttons for Buttons. I was enchanted! 

Ever-since I have bought and collected buttons from all over the place, I recently found in my parents loft a hat that was covered in an array of novelty ones from when I was little, it got me to thinking what else can we D.I.Y. with buttons? Here are some of my favourite ideas that I have found around the web.

So I hope you have fun this weekend raiding your button collections to have a go at making some of these.

Sammy xxx

Link for the Week: Our Button Jewellery Workshop

Come to our next workshop over at Norden Farm in Maidenhead - you know you want to! We will be making Button Jewellery on Thursday 27th June from 7-8.30pm and all for £15. You can find out more information and book at the link below:

http://nordenfarm.org/?&tmpl=event&e_id=17767&es_dspl=0&es_title=Jun&es_str=2013-06-01

We will show you how to make bracelets or necklaces using the many tubs of buttons we have.  You can learn how to make jewellery for yourself or as gifts and get some inspiration for further jewellery ideas. 

Why not make something special for a friend or even a distinctive piece to go with an outfit for that wedding or party this summer.  There is nothing like someone asking where you got it from to make you feel so good when you say you made it yourself.  Also, if you have some buttons at home you would like to use, then please do bring them along and we can add them to your piece to make it extra special.

Looking forward to it already.

H