Make it: Anthropologie Inspired Christmas Decorations

Anthropologie is one of my absolute favourite places to visit, both in-store and online. I always love flicking through their mailshots and like most of you, wish I could afford to buy everything! However just occasionally I see things and think, 'Whoa I could totally make that for half the price' and have the fun of making it myself along the way. This years Christmas decoration collection was the perfect example and I thought I would share what I ended up making.

Pom Pom Wreath

I absolutely love this pompom wreath, I love the textures and the soft colours but I could not justify the price tag! I used a mixture of soft wools and my trusty Clover pompom maker to recreate this lovely door wreath for my own home. I simply hot glued the pompoms I made onto a cardboard ring I cut from a box and hung it with some sparkly ribbon. 

Monogram decorations
How beautiful are these beaded initial decorations, I love them, but not all the colours were to my taste so I used my felt and bead stash to recreate the letters I wanted in the colours that matched my scheme. I simply drew and cut out the letters from felt then stitched around with embroidery thread before stuffing them to make them rounded. To embellish I just jumped into my bead boxes and used some yummy bugle beads and sparkles. You could easily replace this step with some glue if you didn't want to sew all the beads in place.

Pom Pom garland

This garland was a no brainer, I just used the leftover pompoms from my wreath and joined them together to make a garland to string in my tree, or maybe on our stairway? 

Do you have any favourite Anthropologie 'hacks' or inspired tutorials? If you do, link them up in the comments so we can all go and take a look and get inspired.

Have a lovely weekend
Sammy xxx

 Live, Love, Make, Like, Share, Follow, Tweet, Pin, Add, Enjoy. 

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Live it: Crafty Fox talks

A couple of weeks ago we got a last minute invitation to go to the Crafty Fox Talk in London.  The very lovely Zoe from Craft Candy offered us a ticket, although it was only 'one' so it was a H solo mission - scary!  Zoe was going to be talking at the event and so it was lovely to be able to go and support her.

If you have not heard about Crafty Fox before, you can usually find them running markets in London (see more about them here), but have in the past year embarked on a talks series.  I think their website says it best and so, ahem "The Crafty Fox Talks is an event series designed to bring creative's together for an evening of inspiration, learning and sharing. Each event includes speakers discussing a particular topic with plenty of opportunity for audience questions. This is followed by relaxed drinks, tunes from the Crafty Fox DJs and a chance for guests to meet one another and make connections."   I think that just about sums it up.

The night started with chatting to a few people in the room, having a drink, looking at the inspiration table as it filled up with goodies from some of the attendees.  I got to meet the lovely Tilly from Tilly and the Buttons who was doing a talk and totally had a fan girl moment when she said she had seen our tweet just before the event!

Then, it was onto the talks which were all about using social media and blogging for your business, after a short intro from Sinead who runs Crafty Fox Markets, we met Katie from Eventbrite who was chairing the event and got us rolling. Then Tilly was up and talked about how she got into blogging and started her business.  With some great tips about social networking and finding inspiration for your blog posts, it was great to hear Tilly talk about her blog.

Up next was Jo from HAM who talked about how she started doing pop-ups and used social media to promote her brand.  Then it was Zoe's (Craft Candy) turn for a bit of Pinterest advice and how to use it to gain new followers and interest in you as a brand.  When it was over it was time for a bit of networking and catching up with Zoe properly.  I got to meet some new (to Me) bloggers and crafts people and catch up with some old friends too, from Mister Peebles to Claireabellemakes.

It was a great night and some really useful advice to take back to Live it. Love it. Make it HQ.  Did you go to the talk?  Or have you been to any of the others?

The next talk is in September and will be on the Creative Process, so do go check it out.  Its a great way to meet like minded people and learn something along the way.

H

Link for the week: Lindy Bop

Now, I am sure you all know by now that we both love Vintage - after all we did do 'Live it Vintage' event last summer in Sammy's hometown of Maidenhead.  I particularly love a Vintage Dress and have a few for events coming up, not too many details though as I want to keep them a surprise!

There is nothing quite like finding a beautiful Vintage dress that you love, but then there is of course the added problem of it fitting like a glove and for those of us who are a little on the larger side, those outfits are much harder to find.  For those of you who don't want to alter something to make it fit, there is always the Vintage Inspired dresses out there and whilst I was reading Vintage Life magazine the other day, I found a company which I thought I would have to share.  Mainly due to falling in love with one of the dresses - now just where to wear it! 

http://www.lindybop.co.uk

and my particular favourite dress is here, can you guess what colour?

The great thing about these dresses is that they are not too pricey.  One of my bugbears is that when you put the name Vintage to something, it instantly becomes expensive.  You can get the look of the 1950's without breaking the bank and I am all up for that. 

Where is your favourite place for Vintage inspiration?  Let me know in the comments below and we will go take a look.

Love it

H

Link for the week: Excel Art (yes really)

Photo courtesy of http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/

I am constantly amazed by artists all over the world with their skill and enthusiasm for their work and then someone comes along and really makes me rethink how art can be made.  

Using a different tool of the trade and some huge imagination the artist Tatsuo Horiuchi uses Excel to make art.  Yes really!  He sat down one day and thought I can make something really amazing with a very mundane office tool.  You can see more about his work on the link below:

http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/

I know you won't believe your eyes and so I thought I would add another picture from the article, so that you can see that he uses the autoshapes tool to make mini works in each of the cells, so that when combined they make beautiful pictures!  

Photo courtesy of http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/

His work may not be the most unusual of subject matter but the way in which it is made really shows what can be done with alot of imagination and a programme people use everyday for spreadsheets and accounts.  As one of the people who commented on the original site said 'Just imagine what the guy could do with Photoshop!'

I am going to give it a go the next time I find myself doing some life admin, so if you try it too let us know in the comments below as we would love to see what you get up to.

Make it

H

Favourite Friday: Inspiration and Relaxation

Something a little different for my Favourite Friday this week, my Favourite ways to relax and get inspired. We have been so busy lately, which is great, but I have hardly had time to just take time out and enjoy the calm.

It is hard to remember that taking time out for yourself is just as important as working all hours. It's often the case that if I am struggling to work something out or finish a project, that stepping away and clearing your mind for a bit can be more helpful than working on, full steam ahead. It can fill you with ideas and solutions that are only visible when you take a step back. On that note, these are the things I will be doing over the next few weeks to get myself back on track.

Reading Craft Magazines:

There is nothing better for me than sitting down with a cup of tea and a stack crisp new Craft magazines filled with articles and images designed to inspire! I always start at the back of a magazine and work my way forward, then when I'm done I go through from the front with a pack of sticky notes close by to mark pages and make notes.

Pinterest:

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in the amount of hours I have lost pinning images to virtual pin-boards!?!   I have been on Pinterest since the beginning and I still can't get enough, I Love going through pages and pages of inspiration and ideas.

Watching movies

I am married to a gadget-aholic which has it's advantages, like when he bought an Apple TV... I thought 'oh here we go another fruity gadget' but we are on version number three and it is hands down the best thing he has ever bought! I can rent a movie at the flick of the remote, it doesn't take up any space at all and you can get TV shows, music, radio and pod-casts on it as well.  Basically you can view you entire i-Tunes library including pictures on your TV through this little box! I love nothing more that sitting down in front of our TV in my Barker lounger and watching a movie, Popcorn in hand of course.

Scrapbooking

I am a member of Studio Calico, a monthly kit club based in the U.S. Every month I get sent a selection of awesome co-ordinated  paper-craft goodies in the post. I love this company in particular because they pull together some of the best names in paper-craft and include them in the kits. The likes of  Dear Lizzy, Amy Tangerine, Basic Grey and their own lines are some of the best products around. It is so fun to create things like mini books, cards and gift wrap out of these kits. I get totally stuck-in and hours can pass while I am creating in my craft room.

Re-arranging and Tidying

It may not sound very relaxing, but for me tidying my craft space can be very therapeutic. I put a good movie on, something like Dirty Dancing and sort out some pretty things. Whether it's rummaging through my button jars or sorting my fabric stash, I always come across a little something that sparks an idea. I always clear my desk first, so that if I do find something to make that just cant wait, I have a clear desk to work on. I am so lucky to have a space all to myself to indulge in my creativity.

I really want to hear from you guys today!

leave a comment below and let me know what you do to chill out and get inspired.

Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing weekend <3

Sammy xxx

Love it: Pinterest Inspiration

Ric rac cards

I have been feeling a bit ill this week, so surfing the net for ideas and inspiration helps to keep my spirits up {that and my lovely husband feeding me with jam on toast} one of my best pick me up site is of course Pinterest. This week I have been pinning some lovely things that have inspired me with ideas to use in my shop.

Look Magazine Fashion DIY's

Check out this weeks Look magazine for ideas to make your own catwalk inspired wardrobe!

Love it!
H

Link for the week: Small Craft room Ideas from Craftaholics Anonymous

I am looking to set-up a craft area in my new-ish house.  Moving a few months ago it hasn't been a priority as settling in and getting things done has taken over, rather than making my craft space look pretty!  So I am going to take a few tips from the article on Craftaholics Anonymous. 

I will take a photo when I am done and share it with you, perhaps you could share your spaces with us back?

It's always good to see what other people are up to and have a chat with like minded people.  You can talk to us on the facebook page, via twitter or even in the comments.  Tell us what your up to or what you would like to see.  If anyone has an idea for a guest post too, it would be lovely to hear from you! email liveit.loveit.makeit@gmail.com

Love it

H

Love it: Marie Claire S/S 12 Runway Edit

This week my lunch hour has been filled with McQueen, Jacobs, Vuitton and Chanel! I love a good magazine fashion edit, mostly the pretty pictures, but also getting to know key trends. I am not a 'trendy' dresser I wear what I like, but I always enjoy looking at fabrics and colours and cuts.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of this one, I love the layouts.

It is great to get ideas for designs, customising clothes in your wardrobe and even for colours combinations to use for all sorts of craft projects. 

Love it

Sammy xxx