Valentines DIY's to try

tablet holder, Geometric cushion, Heart necklace, e-reader case

OK, ok so we might be a little late to the party, but if you happen to be at home today or have an hour before your partner gets home, we have put together a few of our quick and simple DIY's from our blog history for you.

Top 5 - Customising Make it's

Its the summer and so we thought why not take you back to a few of our past customisation posts so that you can try them for your summer holidays.

Welcome to May Makers Month

Hello and welcome to our Makers Month and the first ever one in May.  We have been doing Makers Months in September for the past few years now and thought that twice a year would give us double the fun.  You can see Makers Month 2015 here and 2014 here.

We love to share what other people are up to and help you find some new makes to lust after, as these are always the premise of Makers Month.  We like to showcase designers/makers and ask them questions so that you can learn from their mistakes and opportunities.  We want to show some fun tutorials by other crafters, so that you get to see what other people have made, rather than us all the time.  We hope that being able to see behind the scenes of some of our favourite people, you get to learn more about them and love them just as much as we do.

We wouldn't want to spoil too much of what is coming up, but if you are new to creating your own work, you may want to keep your eyes peeled as there may well be some good advice to get you on your way and lets face it just being plain nosey into other people's lives.

We are also entering the Mollie Makes Awards this year for the Handmade Champion Award as we thought it was right up our street as sharers of all things pretty, crafty, design and general all round cuteness.  You can see our Pinterest board here if you would like to see it.  Fingers crossed.

Let us know if there is anyone you would like us to feature as we will keep them on our list for September.

Hope you enjoy this month and we look forward to sharing all the joy!
H & Sammy, xxx

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Whats on our desks - April

 

Another look at our desks this month and a little behind the scenes action.  So, lets take a look at what's been on our desks this month.

H - I thought I would do a little behind the scenes shot for this month including some air dry clay that I have been enjoying using.  Sometimes I find it easier to have everything set up for blog posts the night before and so I can just get straight on shooting in the morning of the weekend.  Its about getting all the equipment out and making sure camera battery is charged and tripod and notebook are by my side.  Sometimes I find it easier to write a step by step first with a shot list and other times its just for writing notes or ideas down while I go.  Just before I got started with this little lot it was a chance to have my favourite weekend breakfast of poached eggs on crumpets and a big old brew to keep me going.

Sammy - My desk at the moment is my sewing desk, I have been sewing up a storm on my little Janome. The black and white fabric is a dress for myself that I have had cut out for ages and have finally got around to finishing off this last weekend.  It is a jersey fabric from our friend Maude and the pattern is the Colette Myrtle. I am so happy with how it turned out, it is my new favourite dress! As well as goodies for myself, I have been sewing up samples for Sew Crafty and some tutorials for  later this month. 

What's been on your desk this month, any new ideas and fun projects?  Let us know in the comments, as we all like to be a bit nosey!

H,xxx

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Cut Out & Keep Crafty Superstar + book review

We have something a little different for you this Monday.  We have been working in collaboration with the US website Cut out & Keep and will be their Crafty Superstar for this week.  This basically means we have a tutorial a day going up on the site for the next 7 days! exciting.  We can't wait to see what the Cut out & Keep readers think!

and talking about Cut out & Keep, they also have a book out this week, Around the USA in 50 Craft Projects.  We were lucky enough to be sent a copy and so we could have a little look-see before it came out.

There is a great Index section which pulls out all the areas of the USA and where the projects are from.  Obviously for us UK folk it is all very different to some of the projects we would get here, but that's what makes it fun, right!

The paper used for the book is like alot of the craft books around, that nice thick matt paper, which unfortunately seems to have dulled some of the pictures, but I love the feel of this paper, so that's a good start.  

The projects are quirky and fun and are all quite simple to make, which is always nice.  They go from food recipes, to craft items and present ideas.  Mostly they have these round pictures that take you through the steps which is a nice touch.

The whole book is quite thick and has so many different projects that there is bound to be something for everyone.  I really like the shopping list style tags for each project, it's the simple ideas that make books different.

A few of my favourite projects are the Cowboy hat bowls for Mexican food, Neon sign chalkboard and movie night ideas to name but a few.  I think some of the projects would definitely work better for the USA audience, but really that is the where these guys are from, so that's not a bad thing.

It's a really fun book and so great for a present idea for some very different projects which are simple to do.  Plus if your having a party, some of those recipes are just that little bit different from the norm and so would make for great party pieces.

Don't forget to check out the Cut Out & Keep website this week too for our Crafty Superstar projects.

H

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Who's who: Becca Lou Creates

This month's who's who is a fellow blogger!  yey.  We thought it about time we shared the joy of a who's who to the blogging world and so you can add it to your list of ones to read!

Who are you?

Hi, I'm Becca from Becca Lou Creates. I'm a 35yr old, married, working mum from Hampshire. I work full time for a bank so crafting is my escapism and a way to relax after a busy week.

What do you do?

I love all sorts of crafts and really enjoy trying new things. I guess this makes me a Jack of all trades and Master of none. But, life is too short and I want to try everything. I like to try out a number of kits and classes as well as some more traditional relaxing crochet and patchwork in front of the TV with a glass of wine and some chocolate. 

How did you start?

I've been crafting for as long as I can remember. When I was a teenager I would make jewellery which I sold at craft fairs, I used to have a fairly decent business for a 13 year old! But I then stopped to focus on my exams and university, I think I picked up an embroidery needle again when I was about 25, I've been gradually increasing my craftiness ever since.  

What's Next?

I would dearly love to give up the day job and open a craft shop and cafe, but that is never going to happen (unless I win the lottery of course!). So I will continue trying new crafts, learning new skills and sharing my ideas with like minded people through my blog. One thing I really would like to master is adding zips, they are my nemesis!  Once I've cracked this I'd like to try making some clothes, I don't think I'm quite up to The Great British Sewing Bee, but a girl can dream! 

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the beginning?

Don't stop crafting! I gave it up because I didn't believe there was a career in it and I was told to concentrate on my academic work. Who knows where I would have ended up had I continued, I would image there could have been a crafty business in me, maybe one day??

We think Becca has got it right and everyone should just keep crafting and adding skills to their repertoire.  Those skills can always be used to make presents, to furnish your flat or like us, in your day job!  There are plenty of tutorials on her blog too, so lots to keep you going.

Are these posts of interest to you guys?  We love finding out new information about people and let's face it being a bit nosey, but are there any other things you want to know or people you would like us to feature?  Let us know in the comments below and we will see what we can do!

H & Sammy

P.S.  The Tapestry purse in the Kit reviews picture, bottom left is from our friends at The Craft Closet - shameless plug, he, he.

Make it: House of Wonderland Cupcake Necklace

Hey guys, today we have a guest tutorial for you from House Of Wonderland.  You may remember their awesome heart necklace we featured back in January. We will now hand over to the lovely Tessa.

 For this tutorial you will need:

Fimo cupcake bases

Screw hooks

Decoden faux whipped cream

Embellishments, crystals,beads, charms, faux sprinkles

Jump ring

Necklace chain

Begin With a Fimo cupcake base.  

These can be purchased or made by hand using a mould. 

Using decoden faux whipped cream 

(available on etsy.com), randomly pipe on a creamy topping 

Use handmade embellishments, 

crystals and cabochons to embellish your cupcakes!  

Insert a screw hook if you wish to make your charm into a necklace 

Let your charms dry for 24 hours.  

Attach a jump ring when dry 

Secure a chain to your necklace and your done! 

Hope you had fun learning how to make a cupcake necklace with me. 

If your still not sure you want to attempt one of your own shop HOW's decoden cupcake necklaces at: www.how-store.com 

House of Wonderland have also made this as a pdf available for you to Download for free.

Tessa

© House Of Wonderland 2012. All rights reserved 

Check back later for your chance to win one of these!!

Make it: Folded Ribbon Rose

Last week was the first of our Craft Club evenings at Norden Farm.  Fabric hearts, flowers and bows were on the agenda for the evening and we had so much fun! We had a great bunch of Ladies, thanks to all who came along.

Live it: A fun Craft Day

With our Christmas break we decided to have a little craft day as it is becoming a new tradition for me and Sammy.  We have been friends now for over 14 years and so we love to hang out and get creative just as much as we like to enjoy events and doing this very lovely blog.  Sometimes we have to stop ourselves and actually hang out like normal friends, which has been one of the perks of the recent Christmas and New Year break, lots of time to do that!  yey

We have a few tutorials coming up for you with what we did so we don't want to give too much away, but we thought you might see a little of what we get up to when left to our own devices!  Sammy's poor husband must think I live there sometimes!

Firstly we started with sandwiches and cake, afternoon tea style!  Sammy made a selection which were delish and if you know us by now, we like eating just as much as we like being creative!  I think we were meant to tuck into these all afternoon but they were mostly finished before we even got started!

Then onto a bit of creating, we got a few projects under our belt which we have been meaning to do for ages!  Some snap purses that neither of us have done before and a Kindle case for H's mum's Christmas Present based on one that Sammy had done previously - watch out for the tutorial for that.  

Then there was various chatting, more tea and a bit of needle felting.  I am afraid neither of us really took to this, but I have seen some really good needle felted goodies.  I just think that maybe it's not the craft for us, after all not all crafts are for everyone.  Even we can't love everything, although we do try!

So what did you get up to for your Christmas and New Year break?  Did you get up to any new crafts or just crafts you know and love?  It would be great to hear what you got up to, so please comment below and say hello if you haven't before.

H & Sammy