Make it: Quick Coin Purse

I thought I would show you a very quick little project today, one which you can make within an hour and use the very same day.  Sound good?  Then let's have a look at how to make this very cute Coin Purse.

You will need: Fabric for the outside (I used two different ones which will be explained later, but you could just have one, entirely up to you), Fabric for the inside, a 4 inch zip, strong fabric glue such as Gutterman HT2, scissors and optional needle and thread.

Firstly pick your fabric for the outside and inside and cut to the size you want your purse.  I had a stash of bits and bobs that I had acquired from the little gifts you get from Craft Magazines and so I decided to use this lovely gold leather look fabric and some turquoise material for my purse.  I recommend always keeping the gift bags even if you don't want to make what is inside as you can always reuse them for something else further down the line.

So, once you have cut your size, making sure you cut it to the length of the zip, you can start to put your purse together.  Now, because my fabric piece was not that large, I added some turquoise material to the edges so that I wouldn't loose any of my gold material to edges.  I decided to glue my purse together as I wanted to use it quickly, but you can of course use a good old needle and thread to put it together.

I glued the fabric to the edges of the gold material so that it joined the edges together and then cut away any excess. I made sure I kept the purse wrong side out to make it easier to work with. Then using more of the turquoise fabric, I covered the inside of the purse (keeping it wrong side out) so that there are no edges showing inside to get my money caught on.  I glued this down spreading the glue thinly over the whole area.

Then, I attached the zip.  As your purse is wrong side out you will need to remember to attach the zip the opposite way, making sure your zipper is facing into your purse and that the edges of your fabric do not go over the teeth of the zip.  It also helps to have the zip in the open position here so that you can turn it through after you have glued both sides to your pouch.

Then you can turn it through and voila!  You are done.  If you need to glue down any edges of the zip you can do this now and I recommend leaving it in the open position for a while, just in case!

That's all you have to do really for a little coin purse.  As I said you can do this with needle and thread, just in the same way.  Make sure you have nice neat stitching would be my only advice, as you will see it on the outside.  You could match your thread or sew in a contrasting colour to make it more interesting.

I thought this was a great project to use up some bits and pieces and also made for a nice and easy make for a spare hour - although it probably wouldn't even take you that long.  I am giving you half an hour to find the fabric you want to use in your stash, as we all know that's half the battle for these projects.

What colour and fabric would you make yours in?  and who would you make it for?  As usual we would love to see if you do have a go at this or any of our projects, send us a photo on Facebook, twitter or tag us on Instagram. Just use the #livelovemake

Now, just to find some coins to go in it!  No mean feat in January!
H


Bloglovin / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Google+ / Instagram

We are in Reloved Magazine!

Once again we are very excited this month to be featured in another magazine!  After our feature in Mollie Makes last month, we are in Reloved Magazine this month.  Two months on the trot means we are going to be sad next month to not be in a third.

Obviously you can go and buy the magazine, but we thought it might be good for you guys to get a sneak peek.  You may notice that we featured the clock on the blog before but it was a great time to make a full tutorial and get it in print aswell.

We even got a mention on the Reloved website for one of their favourite projects this month.

What do you guys think?  Do you read Reloved magazine?  You can get it from WHSmiths or larger Morrisons or even online if you like.

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

Bloglovin / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Google+ 

Declutter your life - Part Two

Last Thursday I took you through how to start a de-clutter in your life and I promised that this week would give you some hints and tips for all that stuff you now have bagged up.  Hopefully will have a good few bags full like these ones of mine!

For everything you have bundles up ready to go, you have a few options:

Take to your local Charity shop, I like to alternate between a local charity and a more national one for my bags of goodies.  My local shop even gives me a card so that they can gift aid and they let me know how much my stuff has made each year.  Nice to know it's going to a good home and it's giving the charity some much needed funds.

The good condition items (including items still with tags) could go on ebay or taken to a car boot sale to make some extra cash.  I have found I get much better results with brand names or items that have not been worn much, if at all.

You could see if you can customise anything - perhaps you would wear it if it was shorter/longer or less faded.  This is where a sewing machine or some clothing dye would come in handy.  You could add some extra material to the bottom of a dress or make your Jeans into cut-offs or a skirt perhaps.

You can take beads off of the jewellery, use the findings again and make new necklaces or earrings.  Just because it doesn't work as one piece of jewellery doesn't mean it won't work for something else.  I love taking apart necklaces and making earrings or brooches, especially ones I have no use for anymore or the ones you find in car boots.  As I mentioned before I have to be picky with my jewellery as I am allergic to nickel, so If I love something, I can always make it into something else!

Your Jewellery could be sent away to a worthwhile cause for recycling - they take broken jewellery too so don't woryy about that.  A few I have sent to include The Alzheimers Society, Diabetes UK and Marie Curie, all information can be found on their websites.

There are even places you can send your good condition old bra's too!  Don't throw them away, send them to Against Breast Cancer or Oxfam, more details can be found on there websites.  They are both very worthwhile causes and mean that someone out there has the benefit of something you no longer need and we all know they are going to end up in landfill otherwise.

Plenty of options for all that stuff you had before, that could now have a new lease of life, either with someone else or from what your imagination can do with it!

H 

Make it: An up-cycled Cake Stand

So as the long Jubilee weekend is going to be shortly upon us, we thought a cake stand tutorial would be just the thing to get you through the week!

Thanks to the Jubilee and the recent trend in cakes and all things vintage we thought that making a cake stand for your jubilee party might be just what the doctor ordered.  It is so simple you can find some items on the charity shop on Saturday, make it on the Sunday and have it ready for the extra days off's celebrations!

Firstly you will need a few things and thanks to a rummage in the house and a very helpful Vintage fair for a few of the lovely plates, there is some very helpful photos below of the items you will need!

3 plates of various sizes and 2 bowls or cups to make the pillars

A tape measure, glue and pen

I managed to find 3 different plates in various sizes, the largest for the bottom of your stand and the smallest for the top tier.  Also I found two glass cups, one taller for the bottom tier to make it stand a little taller.  But you could use tea cups or little vases, whatever you already have or you find when you are out and about!  It's always nice to keep a consistent colour or style of items, to make it seem not too mismatched, but you can go with whatever you like really.

1.  To start I would wash and clean all of your crockery and glassware and so its all nice and shiny.  Then using a tape measure, find the centre of your largest plate to make the base of the stand and mark with a pen.  Tip: If you also draw around the top of the glassware on the bottom of the two other plates, making sure you keep it central - it will make it easier for you later.

2.  Adding glue (you can use glue of any kind, as long as its strong and will bond glassware or crockery) to the base of the first glass cup, you then place it in the middle of the plate and hold until adhered.

3.  Then add glue to the top of the glass and using your previous marks on the bottom of the middle plate you can keep it central.

4.  Then repeat steps 1,2 and 3 for the next glass cup and top plate, making sure you keep it all central.

That, as they say is all!

You end up with a Cake stand that even the Queen would be proud of!  Something to show off to your friends at your party and make sure you try and get some Special edition Jubilee Fondant Fancies to top it off!

Make it for the long weekend!

H