Posts

Showing posts from April, 2014

Upcycled Wine Cork Trivet II

Image
Hi again everyone! I told you I had a lot of posts to publish? Well, here is another one :) Easter was a very creative time so I actually manage to do some projects that have been on my list for a while. One of them was this wine cork trivet. You may recall my first attempt at this? Over time, it needed some reparation (=more glue) and as I was working with the glue gun anyway, why not use up the rest of my corks? In the meantime, the stash had grown again and I even had enough corks to make a large trivet this time.   I have a tiny problem with buying funny grossgrain ribbon at pretty much every show, so this is also a great way to use some of that :) Isn't this gingerbread man print the cutest? I made sure to take a piccie right away in case of kitchen spatters or so ;) So now I have a small and a large trivet. They're really handy for oven dishes or teapots.  I'm still saving corks for other (yet undetermined) projects but as the stash is tiny right now,

Running Tutu - In Detail

Image
Hello again! I just discovered that I took a LOT of pics of the finished tutu. They were on another card so I only just found them LOL. It's a real shame I only have the one piccie of the me in the outfit but that can't be helped now. The below images show a bit more of a detailed view of the tutu, done with less than 3 meters of tulle! I am still shocked by this... for a really crappy girls tutu you can easily pay £7 here. This only cost me £3 in tulle (I still had ribbon leftover)! I still have a little bit left so I can still add some more if I should need to for some reason.   I used a black ribbon as a base. I did sew two ribbons together as the instructions say. I decided on black for several reasons: I had plenty of it around, this colour combination is great for both Halloween and the MS Society who I will be running for in October. Close up of the tying of the tulle. It was really easy, although I did manage to ruin 4-5 pieces by pulling the fabric too hard

Running - Electric Run London 2014

Image
Good morning everyone! Running event season has started, every day I get an email from one friend or another asking for sponsorship for some event. And yes, I am also one of those friends. LOL. Although I know that I will only raise a little bit, it's still great fun to take part in these events :) Not to worry, this is not a request for sponsorship! It's all about yesterday's event!! About 6 weeks ago, I managed to injure my knee somehow and running has been quite painful since then. I've finally been to my doctor and it seems to have something called 'iliotibial band syndrome'. No idea... I still want to see a specialist and see what they have to say. So for the time being I am taking it easy. What does this have to do with the event, you ask? At the beginning of the year I signed up to lots of charity races so I really have to heal quickly!  The first event was yesterday, the Electric Run 2014, in Wembley Park. A 'race/rave' which takes plac

Easter - Yarn Wrapped Easter Eggs

Image
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter :) Finally, after having bought a ton of Styrofoam eggs a couple of years back, I finally sat down and wrapped them in yarn. Having seen a lot of tutorials on Pinterest ( this is one for example), I really wanted to do this. So, having some time off at Easter and actually taking the time for lots of crafty stuff, I did it! I won't post a tutorial here as there are so many everywhere to be found, but the process was easy. You just need lots of hot glue, Styrofoam eggs, and any yarn you have on hand (I have a LOT of leftover 80s acrylic LOL). Check out the result:   I kept an egg carton for easy storage, so handy! I made on egg too many for the box though LOL. The ribbons are attached with a tiny silver pin that (sometimes) glued into the egg. I didn't glue in all the pins as the result was about the same and it's not like the eggs are that heavy that they need to be glued in.  Proper branches were so pr

Easter - Much Needed Wreath Improvement

Image
Good morning all! In 2012, I made my first ever Easter wreath. It came out OK and I did use it for that year, but I was never excited about it and felt it was missing something... Do you remember what it looked like? It was this one : A little sparse, don't you think? Not to fear, more Easter stuff to the rescue! I added a better bow. I found rolls of bright colours at Tiger for only £1 each so I got a lot. I also added only one ribbon with bunnies so that really pops I think.  Then I added another pack of plastic eggs to the whole thing, rearranging some of the existing ones as well. And a little more paper grass that I had leftover from the original wreath. The result is amazing. I really love it now :) I also left out the large hanging ribbon and replaced it by a simple white one, drawing attention more to the wreath itself. Would you like a comparison? Before and After Yes I like the new one much better! Now it's definitely more Eastery and

Easter - Gradual Egg Dying

Image
Hi all! It's Good Friday and that always means one thing: dying Easter eggs! It's been tradition since I was a little girl, and I am still doing this every year.    I found this way of dying Easter eggs in a Martha Stewart magazine (or so I think, I have since given them away so I can't remember exactly, nor can I remember the exact word for this technique), and it's really easy and fun :) The result looks great too! The instruction are easy. Add you dye and vinegar (or whatever you normally use) to a bowl and add the egg. Let this be for a few minutes, then add more water. Leave this be again, and add more water after a few minutes. Gradually, the egg will be covered in water, but because part of it has already been dyed, it will become lighter and lighter towards the top. It's great fun, check out my results: It can be seen best on the purple and pink ones. I love this technique! I made a few, we're only two so why make more? There is one where