-
Bee Bold Makebox review
I got another Makebox for Mother’s Day this year – the Bee Bold kit – and have finally found time to finish it! (You can check out my review of the Bee Kind box here) The kit contained everything needed to make 2 embroidery pictures, one of a flowery bee, made using satin stich, catherine wheel stitch for the roses and my favourite – french knots. The other was a rainbow, made using chain stitch, with flowers at either end. The kit included charcoal paper to transfer the design, pins, a needle, thread felt backing and ribbon so these can be hung on the wall in their hoops. There was…
-
Upcycled Wire Lampshade
Following on from the oriental lamp upcycling post, here’s part 2: the upcycled wire lampshade. For this I used: An old circular lampshade (I got mine for a couple of pounds at a charity shop) Fencing wire Wire cutters Floristry wire Spray paint (I used copper) Sticks from the garden First I removed the material from the lampshade, leaving the wire frame. I washed the frame with warm water and a scouring pad to get rid of any glue. Then I measured how tall I wanted the lampshade to be and cut the wire to size. Watch out with cutting the wire, I cut my fingers several times on the…
-
Rope Rainbow Hair Clip Storage
After seeing a hair clip rainbow from the fantastic Nerdy Knits, I wanted to have a go at making something for my little one’s growing collection of hair clips and hair bands. After a lengthy discussion involving mermaids and unicorns, we landed on a rainbow hair clip storage solution. You will need: Macrame rope (I used 10mm thick) Wool in your choice of colours Ribbon for hanging Fabric Button Needle and thread Hot glue gun (or use the needle and thread to attach) I used the same method to make the rainbow as in my Rope Rainbow post, except I used three lengths and cut the rope long so there…
-
Climbing Wall
Last Christmas, during yet another lockdown, we wanted to do something special for the kids. I had a crazy idea that we could build a DIY climbing wall in an unused alcove. It was a few days of work but well worth it as the kids love it, so here’s how we did it. You will need: CLS Timber for the studwork (we used 38x63x2400mm) 18mm softwood structural plywood for the walls (we bought 2 large sheets and cut to size) Wall bolts M10 x 50mm (we used BP Fischer FWB wallbolts) – 4 per upright stud 50mm decking screws – 8 per upright stud strong drill with masonry bit…
-
Fabric Paint Meeple Curtains
Another lockdown, another lockdown project! This time, I wanted to brighten up our games room by zshushing up some plain curtains with brightly coloured meeples. Read on to find out how I created these fabric paint meeple curtains with a homemade stamp. You will need: craft foam cardboard pva glue scissors or scalpel to cut out the foam masking tape fabric paint paint brush or roller to spread the paint curtains / material To create the stamp, I (full disclosure – my husband did this bit as he’s a lot better with the scalpel than I am!) cut a large meeple shape out of the craft foam and then stuck…
-
Rope Candy Canes
These rope candy canes are super simple to make and feature macrame rope and wool, so you can use up your yarn stash. You will need: Macrame rope (I went for 10mm thick to get chunky candy canes) Wool (I went for double knit red and white from my existing stash) Floristry wire Cut a length of rope as large as you want your candy cane, I did this by eye and these are roughly 17cm long. Wrap the rope with floristry wire, leaving 1cm at each end for fraying. I went forward and back with the wire so it was doubled before cutting off, making sure any sharp ends…
-
Upcycled fabric Christmas tree wall hanging
I have a quilted wall hanging that I made a couple of years ago and I love it, but it’s autumnal so I always feel I have to put it away at Christmas. This year I decided to make it reversible so that back is now an upcycled Christmas tree wall hanging and I can have it up in my house for longer! This was also a great scrap buster for green material! First, I edged the wall hanging with red material from an old pair of curtains. This formed a nice 4 inch border frame for the picture. Next I arranged a selection of green fabrics into a pattern.…
-
Easy upcycled face mask using a pair of leggings
I was so impressed when my daughter made this easy upcycled face mask from a pair of leggings that I wanted to share it with all of you! This pattern will fit a small adult’s face (the elastic is a little tight on me!) or a child. Firstly, take a pair of child’s leggings, ideally ones that have been outgrown or are never worn. Cut off the legs so you have about 22cm of fabric. Pin a 2cm hem each side. Sew the hems. You can use running stitch or backstitch or whip stitch if you don’t want the stitches to show. Make sure you leave a good sized channel…
-
Crochet Temperature Blanket
I had a lot of fun making this Crochet Temperature Blanket for a present for someone special using an apache tears pattern. It was a great evening lockdown activity and as I did this for the birth year of my mum by looking up historic UK temperatures, I already had the data rather than sticking to one row per day. Full disclosure, getting the data was time consuming and took 3 evenings to copy down all the data! Then I chose my colours: Temperature (Celsius) Colour below 41 dark blue 41-45 blue 46-50 light blue 51-55 green 56-60 light green 61-65 mustard 66-70 light orange 71-75 pinkish 76- 80 red…
-
Autumn Wreath
An autumn wreath made with leaves and conkers
