STYLISH STOCKING FILLERS WITH HOMESENSE

The countdown is on with only a few days left to go until Christmas! Eek! If you're like me then you're probably squeezing your budget to find some last minute Christmas stocking fillers and make them look good. I love giving presents, but if there's one thing I love more, it's all the loving little touches that go into the wrapping to give them the wow factor. I headed to my local HomeSense store to pick up last minute affordable gifts, after all it's the thought that counts not the cost, and thought I'd share some of my wrapping style tips with you to get you ready for the big day.

*Family look away now as you might be in for a few spoilers ;)*

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR SPARE ROOM WITH THIS DIY WALL HANGING

I love entertaining at home, having friends and family come over to stay and enjoying the space I’ve created. Currently we rent a two bedroom flat and I always dream of having a spare bedroom for guests to stay over in comfort, but until then we tend to room swap, letting guests stay in our bedroom or using an air mattress in the lounge (not so ideal). However I wanted create a cosy corner that is beautiful, functional and welcomes our guests.

DIY GOLD GLITTER WASHI TAPE GARLAND

When it comes to Christmas I'm all for a bit of sparkle and making a little magic at home, and I have to admit I was pretty quick in getting the tree up in the flat. As well as unwrapping all the treasured decorations I always like to make a few of my own, so I though it would be fun to share this super easy DIY gold glitter washi tape garland, that literally takes minutes to make once you have the materials at hand. 

It so super easy to make and you only need a few items:

• 1 spool of gold string or twine

• 1 washi tape with your choice of pattern

• White feathers

• Gold glitter

• Craft glue

First cut 2.5 inches of tape and then fold it over your string/twine and then repeat every 3cm along the string until your create a long line of tape. I then went back along and decorated the edges by cutting small triangles into the end but you could leave it with a straight edge for a more contemporary style. 

The finishing touch is made by dipping the end of the feathers into the craft glue and leaving to dry. This will be used to make the end of the garland and add a touch of sparkle to the finished piece.

Once dry, secure the feathers on by trying with a simple knot to the end of the twine and find somewhere to hang your garland. I've used it to decorate this Stag head and bring a bit of colour to the wall.  

There we have it! A super simple DIY gold glitter washi tape garland that is so easy you could even get the kiddos to make it and use it to jazz up plain walls or even wrap around the tree. If you fancy making this yourself why not pin the image below or save it for a rainy day. 

* Stag Head c/o French Bedroom Company.

BEAUTIFUL DIY CURTAIN TIES BACKS ON A BUDGET // INTERIOR INSPIRATION

Ever since I revealed my room makeover I've had some lovely emails and messages from you lovely lot *blushes and huge thanks!* and quite a few of you have been asking how I made my DIY curtain tie backs! Well as they only cost me the grand total of £10 for two, I thought I would share it on the blog with a little Make It tutorial. I really love the pale natural wood, especially against the grey, as I think it definitely adds a touch of Scandi style to the room. 

They are so super simple to make all you need is:

• 6ft of grey suede cord or string.

• 2 x 2ich diameter wood beads

• 8 x 1.5inch diameter wood beads

• 4 x 1 inch diameter wood beads

• 16 x 1/3 inch (or 1 cm roughly) diameter wood beads

• Scissors

Cut your cord in half and start to thread the beads on using the following pattern:

1 small bead (SB) / 1inch / 1 SB / 1.5inch bead / 1SB / 1.5inch bead / 1SB / 2inch bead / 1SB / 1.5inch bead / 1SB / 1.5inch bead / 1SB / 1inch / 1SB. 

Once you have created your repeated pattern then tie off the ends, making sure you leave a loop for your curtain tie backs to fit onto the hook on the wall. Cut of any excess cord or string and then admire your handy work! 

It really is that easy! It took me about five minute to make both and you can pick up the wooden beads in most craft shops – or Hobbycraft in the UK – and it gives a lovely finish to your curtains, creating beautiful wooden curtain tie backs on a budget!

 Have you got any DIY home hacks planned for your home?

HOW TO PRINT YOUR OWN CUSHION COVERS

I love creating things for the home and adding my own stamp where possible and for a while now I've been looking for some large cushion covers with a bit of personality. After endless hours of searching and drawing blank I decided to take get my DIY on and take matters into my own hand. I posted a pic  over on Instagram and had a few people get in touch asking 'How did I print my own cushion covers?' so I thought I'd share it over here as it's super easy, cost effective and all you need is a potato.

Yep potato printing is one of my favourite go-to crafts when wanting to get creative quickly. I do like lino cutting and screen printing, but I find potato printing just as easy plus it's affordable too! I bought a few large neutral cushion covers from Ikea as a canvas for my design and started doodling down some ideas. I love eye designs and even have a new eye tattoo eye on my thumb, taking inspiration from one of my favourite Fine Little Day prints I thought this would make a great addition to the sofa.

All you need to print your own cushion cover is:
• Fabric or cushion cover
• One large potato
• A sponge
• Fabric ink
• Pen & paper for your design
• Scissors
• Sharp knife or scalpel

To make you print:
1. Draw your design onto paper, make sure it's the exact scale of your desired print and cut it out carefully with scissors.
2. Cut the potato in half and place the paper cut out onto the middle. The potato should naturally make the paper stick to it keeping it in place.
3. Using the paper cut out as a template, with a knife or scalpel carefully cut into the potato and carve away a little at a time so that the paper area is left raised. This can be fiddly so take your time.
4. Once you have carved your design, lie your fabric/cushion cover on a flat surface.
5. Dab the fabric ink onto the potato stamp evenly with the sponge to ensure full coverage.
6. Arrange your design and press the potato stamp onto the fabric. Once completed allow to dry.
7. Once dry apply heat with an iron to seal the ink.
8. Sit back and admire your handy work.

I love the finished look and the how easy it was to make. It would make a great personal Christmas gift and can be applied to any fabrics, you can even let your kiddo create their own design on a t-shirts with this simple method.

If you fancy some more craft and DIY inspiration check out my Pinterest board for ideas. What do you think? I love how it looks with the rest of the cushions and I can't wait to try a blush dye on some other covers to give them the personal touch.

MAKE YOUR OWN ESPADRILLES // GET YOUR CRAFT ON

Sorry it's been a little quiet here, I had all intentions of posting last week while in France but at 37 degrees neither me or my mac seemed to cope with the heat, but I'm back and have some fab posts to share with you. A few weeks ago I spent a few day in London to attend the wonderful Blogtacular Blogging Conference – post coming on this soon – and a travel trade show. Sandwiched between the two was a fun craft morning making my own Espadrilles with The Makery in the Regent Street John Lewis store.

Slightly fuzzy from the Blogtacular/Pinterest after party at the West Elm Store, I arrived with Lottie and Sarah-Lou, with a coffee in hand ready to take on the table of sewing machines. The super lovely Kate was there to meet us and a few other ladies were already in full swing. Our first job was to purchase a piece of fabric from the huge range available in the haberdashery department and cut out our templates, I chose this fab retro material.

Once I’d cut the two shapes needed from my patterned fabric and a lining material the next job was to tackle the sewing machine. It’s been quite a while since I’ve used a machine, in fact the last time may have been at university, so with an unsteady hand I set about sewing together the two pieces with a 10mm margin. Pleasantly surprised by the results I then set about pinning the pieces to the soles which come with the kit before attempting the hand stitch.

After Kate got me started, I sat engrossed with the task at hand, stitching back and forth, enjoying the process and when I’d finished one shoe I slipped it on to admire my handy work. It fit! I made a shoe! I felt such a sense of accomplishment and surprise, it’s not often you can say ‘well today I made some shoes’ is it?

The kit instructions were super easy to follow and are available to buy from The Makery, I’m going to buy F’s size so I can make matching shoes for summer *insert geek face* plus they’re sooo comfy! Like wearing slippers outside.

You can check out the DIY YouTube video below and also buy your own kit here. This should definitely be on your things to do list this summer.

GET OUR CRAFT ON // PINECONE HOOPLA GAME

As nature is supplying such a bounty of conkers, sticks, pinecones and acorns this autumn, I thought it only right to share a quick DIY game you can play with your little ones. F is always asking to make toys, whether it's bows and arrows, stick men, Go fish game, swords, catapults, sensory boxes, the list goes on. So after a lot of talk about the Moscow State Circus before his birthday, I decided to reinvent the old fairground classic, Coconut Shy game, with things that can be found outside.

To make your Pincone Hoopla game you'll need:

1. A few pinecones
2. Glitter glue / OR loose glitter and PVA glue.
3. A hoop of some sort.
4. Paper.
5. Washi tape.

To make your game is super simple, place some paper down to protect your surface from any mess and let your kiddo get creative with the glitter glue. Try and encourage them to use different colours and place blobs on different parts of the pinecones to make them sparkly. 

Once the glitter has dried, decorate your hoop with washi tape. I used an embroidery hoop but any circular ring will work well, or you can even make your own hoop with bendy twigs tied together. Once everything is ready, find an open area and place the pinecones spaced out on the floor.The aim is to throw the hoop over the pinecones, the person who captures the most pinecones wins! Simple. F really loved playing this game and got quite competitive with me, and was thrilled when he managed to catch one. This is a great game for concentration, spatial awareness and gross motor skills, as well as the creativity involved making it. After you've finished playing the pinecones can also make a pretty nature display in the home.

MAKE YOUR OWN POM POM GARLAND

Last week F asked me to make him something for his room, something to give him happy dreams and to keep any bad dragons away. I have been meaning to make a dream catcher for a while now but as we had ten minutes to spare before heading out, I decided to make this super quick pom pom garland hoping it would do the trick. F picked out a few of his favourite sticks – we tend to have a stick pile in our house – and I got to work with some wool. A few pom pom's later and I was hammering the new good dream giver/pompom garland above his bed, F beaming at all the lovely new dreams he is going to have and me happy at how good it looks on the wall.

After sharing the snap on my Instagram feed, I had lots of lovely peeps get in touch asking how I made it so quickly, so I thought it would be fun to share and hopefully catch a glimpse of some of your creations.

Click to read more

LETS MAKE ART BRISTOL

A week or so ago with not much planned we wondered what fun we could find, thankfully living in Bristol there is pretty much always something going on, so when a friend invited me to come along to Let's Make Art I didn't hesitate. For all those parents who like me, slightly cringe at the thought of arts and craft at home due to the over enthusiastic nature of their child, which always leads to washing down the walls or dry cleaning the sofa cushions when paint/pencils/play-doh have found their way mushed in, then this is the kiddo class for you.

This post pic heavy so click to read more.

GET YOUR CRAFT ON // DIY BATH BOMBE CRAFT KIT

I've been on solo duty this week and I'm not going to lie it's been a bit gruelling. I'm often used to doing these solo stints but this one has been a baptism of fire after having several days away on holiday altogether. So I was very thankful when the lovely people at Hobbycraft got in touch asking if I'd like to try out their Bath Bombe Craft Kit. What better way to ease my troubles away than a relaxing soak in the tub and some me time.

The kit is super easy to use and contains a mould tray, fragrance, bicarbonate powder, citric acid powder, a 50ml measuring cup, a mixing bag, fragrance, colourants and pipette. All you need in addition is water and not much at that.

Following the instructions carefully I decided to try and make four bath bombes to start with and add my own fragrance of jasmine to uplift and de-stress myself. After mixing 100ml of bicarbonate powder with 50ml of citric acid powder, I slowly added and mixed a few drops of colour and fragrance in before I transferred it over to the moulding tray, making two blue and two pink. 

After only one minute the bath bombes are ready to be tipped out of the tray and left to dry out overnight. F was so excited at finding these drying that he promptly picked up and destroyed a blue one just after I took the below pic, so safe to say this is best done when you have some time on your own.

Now all you need is to turn off the phone, make sure the kids are in bed, run a steamy hot bath, drop in your bath bombe and relax. I also think these would make a lovely personal gift to friends or family members who need a little bit of pampering.

We were sent a kit for review purposes, but all thought and words are my own. 

GET YOUR CRAFT ON // DIY POTATO PRINT TEE'S

Inspired by the new Fine Little Day Drops Pillow Case and my love of most things screen printed, we decided to do a little craft project and try our hand at – wait for it – potato printing. Ok definitely not as sexy as screen printing but it's super easy, kid friendly and anyone can do it. After going through F's drawers and packing away some of his smaller clothes *sob* I found a few plain white tee's knocking around. Not one for white t-shirts, we put them to good use immediately.

To get printing you'll need:

1. A potato or if you're adventurous, a different vegetable.

2. A kitchen knife or scalpel.

3. A brush and dish to rest it in.

4. An item of fabric you wish to print.

5. Ink – I used fabric ink which I got from a local craft shop.

6. A piece of card.

7. Child, optional but fun.

First decide what design you would like to print, we went for triangles and arrows. I chopped the potato into wedges and then carved the shapes into it. I found that wedges were easiest for F to hold when printing. Next apply ink to the stamp shape using the brush and set the brush aside. 

Next place the card inside the t-shirt to stop the ink going all the way through to the back, flattened the fabric and get ready to stamp! We printed one tee each, F going more for a creative style where as I took the symmetrical route. When you've finished leave to dry and iron on reverse to set the ink, allowing you to wash the item at 30 degrees and keep your design looking good. 

Et voila, two most definitely cooler tee's. Have you ever tried potato printing?

HALLOWEEN | LET'S GET SPOOKY

Images via Pinterest

As a child we most definitely celebrated Halloween with spooky treats, cobwebbed corners, witches hats and pumpkin carving. Some of my most fun Hallows Eve were spent at my nannas house, my costume complete, hand in hand with my best friend all ready to go trick or treating with the neighbourhood kids.

Living in a flat we don't tend to get many trick or treaters calling at ours, so over the last few years we haven't made such a massive effort with all the spooky decorations and candy, but we always pick out a pumpkin and get competitive with our carving. However with F turning three and catching on quick to another potential festive party, I'll definitely be ramping up the effort this Halloween.

This year we have been gifted a beautiful New Zealand Blue pumpkin which I can't wait to carve, F has picked out a pumpkin qourd to play around with while Paul has gone for the biggest one he can find as usual.

What spooky fun have you got planned for Halloween?