Let's Meet: Alice Tams

We are back this year with our Let's meet series and this month we finally got a chance to have a chat with Alice Tam's of Birds in Hats fame!  I have loved her work since the very first Renegade we ever went to and so it was a great chance to meet up with the woman behind the scenes. So over to Alice.

Free 2016 Calendar Printables

Happy New Year! H and I are so glad to be back, we took a little break over the festive season to get ourselves rested and ready for all that 2016 has to offer us. We are changing things up a little and we hope you will enjoy what we have planned, I can tell you that it includes some new features, a little revamp of some faves and lots more exciting stuff to come.

With all this planning going on over here I designed myself a couple of calendars to help myself keep everything straight. I ended up designing three different versions so I can keep a track at home, at work and on the move with an A4 full page, a slim version and a planner calendar for my filofax.

I wanted to include a little something on each page to keep me motivated each month. I had seen on social media that it has become popular pick a word or mantra for the year to come. I do love that idea but I am far too fickle and impatient to pick just one that will last me a whole year. So I have chosen a feeling or intention for each month and made it a part of my design.

Each has a hand written month and my chosen 'word' to help remind me of what I am planning to work on that month. I am planning on sharing these on my Instagram too if you fancy joining me. @SamanthaClaridge don't forget to follow us @liveit.loveit.makeit while you at it.

As you can see January's word is resolve. It is a month of new beginnings and resolutions to do better than before. To be brave and try new things, to eat refreshing food, de-clutter and make exciting plans for the year ahead.

When I was printing out my copies I thought it seemed only right that I made them available to you too, so you can download them for free, just click on the one you want below.

Download full page A4 pdf  /  Download Slim A4 pdf  /  Download Planner A4 pdf

I love how January makes me feel like anything is possible. I am so excited for the year ahead and now that I have a great planner and calendar assortment to keep me in check it will be even better.

Sammy xxx



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Make it: Paper Houses Advent Calendar

It is no secret that I love Christmas, everything about it, from the food to the shopping to the decorations. So today I am sharing with you the first Christmas 'make it' of the year - how I made our new Advent Calendar. I wanted to make one that I could fill up myself and that Steve and I could share, so a fun colourful house Christmas countdown seemed perfect.

You will need: 24 sheets of A5 white paper, a small box or packet to use as a template, a selection of colourful card, double sided tape, some stickers and embellishments, number stickers from 1 -24, 48 paper clips, sticky-tape, scissors, bakers twine and your choice of filling.

Step 1. First to make the paper pouch which will hold your treats, start by taking your A5 paper and folding it over leaving a 1.5 cm strip at the bottom, then wrap it around the small box (I used the box from the paper-clips) fold over the end and seal it with sticky tape.

Step 2. Slide the box out of the paper pouch and seal the joins with some washi tape. Repeat for each of the 24 days.

Step 3. Then you can make the houses to stick to the front of the pouch. Cut out some squares and rectangles big enough to cover the biggest side of your paper pouch. Then cut some triangles to create rooves and stick them to the rectangles with double sided tape to create the base for your houses.

Step 4. Stick your houses onto the paper pouches. Repeat this for all 24 pouches.

Step 5. Next, grab a bunch of stickers and embellishments and add some doors, windows or chimneys to each house, I added these little owl stickers too, aren't they cute!

Step 6. Arrange your houses in an order that you like and add your numbers, I used a selection of thickers stickers and wood shapes from my stash, but you could just stencil or draw the numbers on each house.

Step 7 & 8. Add two paper clips to the back of each pouch and thread the houses onto a length of twine.

Then you are ready to hang them on a blank wall with command hooks or just washi tape if you prefer. Oh and don't forget to fill them up with goodies ready for December the 1st.

I just love how mine turned out, if you have children or youngsters in the family I reckon this would be an awesome project to get them involved with, they could each decorate some houses and help hang them in number order, or mix them up to make each day harder to find.

What would you put in your advent calendar? I love the idea of mixing it up with sweets, wintry activities and little treats like Lego figures and nail polishes etc. I can't wait to start opening ours!

Sammy xxx

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