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Craft workshops in Newcastle

By Clare Albans / 03 Jul 2016

Following my appearance on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour last month, I received so many lovely comments about my blog and the show – thank you SO much! It really meant a lot 🙂 

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Woman’s Hour

By Clare Albans / 10 Jun 2016

I love it when fun things happen unexpectedly, and this week I was approached by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

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Hello, little girl!

By Clare Albans / 18 May 2016

Well hello there, friends! It has been a long long time since I wrote a post on my blog…for those of you who are new here, I was expecting my first child in April. I’m pleased to say that she arrived safely and we are loving getting to know her.

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Tweed waistcoat

By Clare Albans / 09 Nov 2014

[vc_row row_type=”row” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” video=”” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1471180435886{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]It has been a long time since I made a waistcoat – the last time was over a year and a half ago when I was making our wedding waistcoats, and I made 6 in total! It seemed like a long enough period of time to be…

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Colouricious stamps small square blocks | Hello! Hooray!

Colouricious stamps

By Clare Albans / 27 Oct 2014

When I visited The Great Northern Quilt Show earlier this year, there were so many amazing stalls – it really was like Christmas had come early! One of my favourites by far was Colouricious, and they had the most beautiful hand carved wooden stamps. I bought a few Colouricious stamps (and it took a while…

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Sewing machine cover

By Clare Albans / 16 Oct 2014

I spotted this amazing fabric about a week ago and immediately began thinking about what I could possibly make with it in order to justify buying it (know that feeling too?!). Then I read a post on Tilly Walnes’ blog about keeping sewing machines dust free, and decided that it would be perfect as a sewing…

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Brownie badges

By Clare Albans / 09 Oct 2014

My friend Donna has recently taken over the running of her local Brownie pack – yes, she’s a Brown Owl! How cool is that?! I was in the Brownies and then the Guides when I was a girl, although I don’t think I really appreciated them as much as I should have done at the time. In…

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Festival of Thrift 2014

By Clare Albans / 27 Sep 2014

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411851326181{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Today was a really exciting day – it was the first day of the Festival of Thrift! The sun shone over Lingfield Point and me and Mum went along to see what was going on. And a lot was going on! I’ve been really excited about this for such a long time,…

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Project Life: August 2014

By Clare Albans / 18 Sep 2014

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I started on working on my first Project Life album last month, and I’ve been so excited to share it with you! It’s one of those things that I knew I’d enjoy, but I didn’t realise just how much – it’s just fab! It’s been really good to think about the things I’ve enjoyed doing…

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10 years in Newcastle

By Clare Albans / 12 Sep 2014

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]September 11th is a date that we all remember, but for me it has other connections too. It’s my Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!) and it is also the date I moved up to Newcastle from my hometown, York. And that was 10 years ago! I can hardly believe it really, as it doesn’t…

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The making of Tom’s trousers

By Clare Albans / 05 Jul 2014

A few weeks ago, I started making a pair of trousers for Tom (see my work in progress post for the beginnings of this project!). It was never going to be a quick project, and I wasn’t entirely sure that I’d get it right first time but I’d got some fabric quite cheaply, so this…

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Mosaic bird bath

By Clare Albans / 23 Jun 2014

  I was recently invited to take part in the Topps Tiles Mosaic Tile Challenge, and as I’ve never actually made a mosaic before (and I’m always up for a crafty challenge) I decided to give it a go! I was sent a batch of mosaic tiles and some tile glue, but then from there…

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Work in progress: Tom’s trousers

By Clare Albans / 24 May 2014

I recently asked Tom if he would like me to make him something, as I haven’t made him anything since the wedding waistcoats and I seem to have lots of things for me planned! Anyway, he said that he’d quite like some trousers. Hmm, trousers. From what I knew about trousers, they’re quite tricky –…

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Top tips for a handmade wedding

By Clare Albans / 18 May 2014

As part of The School of Thrift, I’ve written some special wedding-themed tutorials as well as my top 5 tips for a handmade/thrifty wedding. It has been really lovely to look back at our wedding and think about how we planned it, so I thought I’d put together a more detailed post about it. So…

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DIY Filofax inserts

By Clare Albans / 17 May 2014

  I seem to have been working on loads of things that I can’t quite share with you at the moment, so I’m really pleased to be able to share this project with you at last! I had been meaning to revamp my Filofax inserts for ages but didn’t get around to it for the…

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Tutorial: how to make a floral bouquet

By Clare Albans / 16 May 2014

The School of Thrift has had a wedding theme for the last couple of weeks, and it has been really inspiring to see lots of ideas on the Festival of Thrift Google+ page! [Edit: Google+ now no longer exists, so you’ll have to believe me!). I’ve already written a tutorial post about how to make…

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Instagram gallery: March 2014

By Clare Albans / 31 Mar 2014

March seems to have gone in a flash! Here are my favourite Instagram photos from this month 🙂

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Fabric covered letters

By Clare Albans / 20 Mar 2014

I’ve seen lots of fabric covered letters around recently and have wanted to have a go myself – this weekend I finally got around to it! It is a project that you could complete on an evening after work (if you need a weeknight craft fix, as I often do!) and would make a great…

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The Festival of Thrift 2014

By Clare Albans / 13 Mar 2014

  The Festival of Thrift was launched last year at Lingfield Point in Darlington, with the aim of showing just how much fun and creativity there is to be found in living thriftily and sustainably. Thrifting, the idea of creating something yourself or ‘make-do-and-mend’-ing has definitely seen a huge revival over the past few years…

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Flow – Book for Paper Lovers

By Clare Albans / 10 Mar 2014

  I discovered Flow magazine through Instagram – I kept seeing beautiful photos of things that were in the latest issue! Then I discovered that they had issued a special book to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the magazine. How could I resist?! 

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Instagram gallery: February 2014

By Clare Albans / 28 Feb 2014

This month has been another busy one, and spring is finally on the way! 🙂 Here’s my Instagram gallery for February!

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Getting organised

By Clare Albans / 14 Feb 2014

  There hasn’t been a huge amount of crafting going on here this week, but this is for an important reason: I was sorting out my embroidery threads. I used to keep them in a little bag, and would do that thing where you try and pull out a colour but end up with a…

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How to line a vintage suitcase | Hello! Hooray!

Tutorial: how to line a vintage suitcase

By Clare Albans / 31 Jan 2014

Today’s post is a wonderful DIY tutorial: how to line a vintage suitcase. I bought this gorgeous vintage teal suitcase last year with the intention of re-lining it – in fact, I looked at my original post about it and realised that I got it in March!

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Scrapbook paper thank you cards

By Clare Albans / 29 Jan 2014

  I’ve never really got into ‘scrapbooking’ as a thing, but recently I’ve discovered that scrapbook paper is brilliant for projects where you need a small print. The first project that I did using scrapbook paper was to line the insides of my wooden drawers, and I’ve been thinking of new things to do with…

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