My plan for craft workshops in Newcastle

My plan is to set up some craft workshops in Newcastle upon Tyne, which will hopefully begin in November 2016. This will give me time to get everything set up and I’ll be running a few to ‘test the water’ so to speak. Then if they are successful I’ll look to create a more regular schedule. These workshops are for adults (sorry, kids!) and will have a limited number of spaces for each one. I have so many ideas of things that I think could potentially make brilliant workshops. I’ve actually had to put a notebook by my bed again for when I wake up with ideas in the middle of the night! Haha!

I’m obviously working this around Little One as she is my number one priority, so the workshops will be on weekends at first. Some people might think I’m a bit mad trying to get this up and running with a (currently) 3-month old, but I feel like now is the time for me to go for it. I want to raise her knowing that she can give anything a go, so I’m doing the same  I would always rather go for something and if it doesn’t work, then at least I’ve given it a go. This is so much better than forever wondering if it would have worked!

So at the moment, I’m working on things for an hour or two a day once Little One has gone to bed. I’m setting myself small targets and making a little progress on my project every day. I’m so very excited and I hope the people of the North East will be too!

Craft workshop survey

I’m still at the very early stages of setting up my new venture, so I’m currently carrying out some research in order to find out what people are interested in making. I’d also like to find out a bit more about potential locations and hear any other thoughts and suggestions that you might have. So to do this, I have put the skills from my day job into practice and have created a short online survey to find out more! If you live in the North East and you are interested in attending workshops in Newcastle, it would be brilliant if you could spare a few minutes to complete it. It is completely anonymous and you don’t need to provide any personal details. This research will help me to provide the workshops that people would really love.

Please click here to take part in my survey.

Edit 14th November 2016: My survey is now CLOSED. Thank you to everyone who took part!

If you know anyone who would be interested, please do share it with them too. As much as I love my readers from all around the country (the world, even!), please only complete this survey if you live in the area and are interested in attending craft workshops.

I really appreciate your help – thank you so much! I’ll be keeping you updated with the latest news here, and on my social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

WORKSHOPS UPDATE!

My shop is now open and you can book workshop places for November and December 2016 I’m starting out with a vintage floral embroidery workshop, followed by a felt Christmas decorations workshop. Both are suitable for beginner/intermediate level and I’d love to see you there!

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The art of writing letters

Do you still write letters? Many of my long-term readers will know that it’s something that I try and do as much as I can. I really love spending time making cards and envelopes to send (yes, I still do that after many years!) and I always send thank you cards for gifts that I have received. I think it’s really important to do this – partly because I was brought up doing it, and partly for the pleasure of saying thank you. For me, it’s much nicer to do that with a card or a letter, with something you can hold in your hand. What do you think? Do you still send letters or thank you cards? I’d love to know, so please do leave a comment in the box below if you have time. I do hope you can tune in on Monday! 10am (BST) on BBC Radio 4.

If you’d like to make your own cards or envelopes, there are loads of tutorials on my blog! See links below or browse through the archives to find inspiration.

An update

I had so much fun on the show and have had some lovely comments – thank you so much! Here are a couple of photos of me in the broom cupboard at BBC Newcastle before we got started:

It was a really great experience – thank you all for tuning in! I’ve been working on something exciting since the show…stay tuned for more information coming soon!

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I spent a lot of my working at home days during my pregnancy sleeping – that was one thing I hadn’t really anticipated! I’m not going to lie, I lost a bit of enthusiasm for crafting and my blog which was a bit disheartening after all the effort I had been putting in to it. But in the last few weeks I regained my crafting mojo and was able to complete a few projects for Little One. The fabric buying ban was still in place (and still is, actually!) so I raided my stash for all the plain colours I have. So these are a mixture of mainly Kona cottons, Moda solids and a few other random ones I had. There are 21 colours altogether, and I used 3 squares of each – Tom helped me to work out how to lay them out so they were ‘random’, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It reminds me of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant! The backing fabric (pictured above) is ‘Mother Goose’ by Windham fabrics and it’s just gorgeous – I got it from Fabric Rehab with a birthday voucher (which certainly does not break the fabric buying ban haha!). As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to get it for this quilt.

I ended up with extra backing fabric and my Mum suggested making a cushion for tummy time – I found a tutorial online and it has turned out really well. I made some spare covers for it, which is why you’re probably thinking ‘but the one in the photo has cats on it!’ I’m going to do a separate review post about that pattern, so look out for that at some unspecified point in the future…!

I also managed to make some curtains for the nursery, using fabric from the duvet covers I had when I was younger. I loved them so much that I couldn’t part with them! It’s really nice to have been able to use them to make something for Little One.

Our nursery is quite small, so we kept everything white and decided to add lots of colour. My Dad very kindly came to re-wallpaper the room, and Tom did the painting. I think he’s all DIY-ed out now! Here are a few more pictures:

The piano stool has been useful in the nursery (added storage = bonus!), but I didn’t get the chance to paint it before Little One arrived. Something to add to the list of things I’d like to get around to at some point…

We are big fans of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Dr. Seuss My Mum picked up these cute bookends in the charity shop she works in. They’re fab!

This mini wooden seaside was a gift from Grandma H and Grandad K – we call it Maryport in a tin (that’s what it came in). We spent quite a bit of time there as a family, so it’s lovely to have this in the nursery. Little One likes to look at it now that she can focus in on things a bit more. It’s a good job that crabs and seagulls aren’t this big in real life – not to scale here!

The lovely prints on the wall are from Miri Studio. We wanted to have some pictures in the nursery, and had a couple of these frames from Ikea already. Katy from Miri Studio makes them to fit these frames, so they were perfect! And it’s good to support artists from the UK. I love them all, but the cheeky squirrel is my favourite!

I can’t tell you how long it has taken me to put this post together! A big thank you to Tom for the gift of time to be able to do it I’ll be returning the favour so he can do some composing! He has taken some extended leave thanks to shared parental leave, and it has just been wonderful having him around. Time is going so fast and it’s brilliant that he can be around to be with us. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if he had gone back to work after only two weeks – I have a lot of respect for everyone who does that. We’ve been able to muddle through the fog of the first few weeks together, and it’s so nice to be emerging from it and to be able to do a few more normal things. I’ve been getting back in to Instagram too, as well as posting a few things on my Facebook page, so you can pop over there to see more in between my blog posts if you like. It feels good to be back!

(I love this picture! It took a while to get it, but I got it! )

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I asked Tom what he would like his waistcoat to look like. Cue usual answer, which is “I’m not sure, really!” So I suggested tweed because I had secretly wanted to make something with tweed for a while – see what I did there?! Anyway, after a search online we found In Tweed and sent off for some samples (which arrived really quickly). Tom chose this beautiful lightweight Teviot tweed. It took a while to find some satin for the back in just the right shade of grey to match, but after sending off for some samples from Platinum Bridal Fabrics, we decided that the Duchess satin in Majestic Gunmetal would be perfect to compliment the buttons and the tweed. The satin samples arrived so quickly too, so we were very impressed!

So today, I started making this tweed waistcoat – if you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen these work in progress photos already (sorry!) but I wanted to share them here for those of you who aren’t on Instagram. I used the same pattern that I used last time, which is Vogue Men V8048. It all came flooding back to me as I started to make it – as my friend said earlier, it’s just like riding a bike![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”6339,6340,6341,6342,6343,6344,6345,6346,6347,6351″ img_size=”large” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1415565359563{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]I am particularly pleased with these buttonholes – those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that on my old machine I didn’t have the foot that I needed, so had to adjust the settings manually which was a nightmare! This was a breeze in comparison, and I feel a lot more confident about doing them on other things now.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6353″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” img_link_large=”yes”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1415565655897{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Making this waistcoat seemed to go really quick – I was obviously in the sewing zone today – and also not doing any embroidery on it helped! I’m looking forward to Saturday when Tom can wear it, and I’ll try to get some good photos if he’ll let me…I keep forgetting that it gets dark so early now, which is nice for cosy crafting but not good for photo-taking.

I hope you have all had a fab weekend! What have you been making?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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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 to choose, I must admit!) and a bottle of decolourant, which looked fab. Well, yesterday I finally got around to trying them out! 

Testing my Colouricious stamps

I had pre-washed my fabrics so that I was ready to go, and started with the square geometric blocks. I just played around really, as this is the first time that I had used decolourant. It basically does what it says on the tin – it removes some of the colour once you have stamped and ironed over it. The more you use and the more you iron, the more colour is taken away, and the fun thing is that you don’t really know how the colours will look!

My first attempts on the purple looked like this once I had ironed them, and I tried some out on pink too. I really like the contrast between the colours here! I decided to make a few patchwork squares which I’ll use in a future project.

Christmas stamps

I recently added some of the Christmas stamps to my collection, and have some ideas for creating a few cards – whether I’ll be able to get them made in time for this Christmas is another story! I stamped some snowflakes and a tree onto some red and green fabrics – the red was definitely more successful than the green.

I’m really excited to start working on some new projects with these gorgeous stamps, so look out for more in the future! I would highly recommend these stamps – the detail is wonderful and they are such good quality. Visit the Colouricious website for more information (link at top of this post).

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I decided that I’d make a quilted cover, so chose some white fabric for the inside lining – it didn’t really need to be jazzy because no-one will see the inside! For the binding I picked out the pale aqua colour to co-ordinate, and got myself a bias binding-making tool too.

The first thing that I did was measure my machine with its plastic cover on – I measured from the middle of the front to the back, and then the width of the front. I also measured the width and height of the side. When I had the measurements I drew out some templates on craft paper, and to get the shape of the side pieces just right I drew around the side of the cover.

Once the templates were cut out, I then cut out all the pieces of fabric and wadding. I layered up the side pieces first and then pinned them together.

I tried out my quilting guide attachment for the first time today, and it’s brilliant for sewing evenly. I haven’t used it before because I’ve only ever used thicker polyester wadding, and not this thinner cotton wadding. I love the thinner stuff – it’s much easier to sew with! I decided to stitch between every other row after experimenting on some scrap pieces.

Once I had quilted the side pieces, I did the same with the large rectangular piece. This larger piece needed more pins to keep it all together, but I quilted it in the same way.

Once all three pieces were quilted, I pinned them (wrong sides together) before stitching. To make the cover fit a little better, I trimmed the excess afterwards.

The final thing to do was to make and attach the bias binding. The tool was really easy to use and it didn’t take as long as I thought! I also got a binding attachment for my machine, but I could not get the hang of it at all when I practised using it…so to save making a complete mess of my cover, I just pressed the binding in half and pinned and stitched it on.

Ta-dah!

I’m so glad that I chose this fabric – it certainly brightened up a very gloomy day today! Hopefully I’ll be able to sew dust free from now on…

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I wanted to make something special for Donna, because I think it’s brilliant that she and her fellow Owls have taken on these roles, which are all voluntary. So I decided that Brownie badges were a good plan! Felt badges are really easy to make, and you can make the design as simple or as complicated as you can manage. So even if you don’t want to make owl badges you could make any felt badges in this way, so just follow the steps below.

You will need

Pencil and paper
Scissors (a pair for paper and a pair for fabric)
Some wool felt in various colours (I got mine here)
Matching thread
Pins and needle
Little pieces of fabric with a small print, matching the felt
Brooch backs (I got mine on eBay)

Step 1

Draw out your design and then cut out some little templates for each required piece (you might need to trace the design to do so). Pin the templates onto the felt and then carefully cut around each one. Layer them up to check that they are all the right size.

As I was making my owls, I changed my mind about the design – I cut body-sized pieces of fabric here instead of doing the separate scalloped pieces of felt that I had originally thought about. Don’t be afraid to change your design as you make, as I do it all the time!

Step 2

Next, I started stitching the pieces together. You might need to change thread a few times here, depending on how many colours you’ve used! I started with the beak because that was the smallest piece to get in the right place. I also stitched the head pieces on at this stage too.

Step 3

I decided that I wanted my owls to be on a background, because I wanted to stitch the pack name on each one. So at this point I cut out two oval-ish shapes of felt and then began to stitch the owl to one side of the badge.

As I got to the sides, I attached the wings at the same time. I obviously got carried away at this point, because I didn’t take any photos!

Step 4

I worked out where the lettering needed to be, and then marked it on with a fabric marker (ideally I should have used my dissolvable one, but I used a very fine quilt marker instead). Then I stitched over the letters using splitstitch, but you could use whatever you feel comfortable doing.

Step 5

The next step is to attach the brooch back to the other oval-ish piece of felt. Try to get it as central as possible!

Step 6

The final step is to attach the front and back of the badge, using a small running stitch.

Ta-dah! The badge is ready to wear. I also made a badge each for Snowy Owl and Tawny Owl too – I picked backing colours that would all work together. I really hope that the ladies like them, and wish them the best of luck running their new pack!

Post updated 23rd September 2024.

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We were immediately greeted by some art work by Francisco De Pajaro, who has been working on various pieces around Darlington this week and was doing the same around the site today. They are so much fun, and it was great to spot them throughout the day![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”5581,5582,5583,5584″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411851233983{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]Right from the beginning of the day, there was such a lovely atmosphere and SO much going on. We started at the Arena and main stage and pottered around the stalls there. I loved the Charity Shop DJ where people could choose cheesy tunes from a box of LPs from local charity shops, and have a go at DJing.

 [/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”5587,5588,5589″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411847878771{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Next, we headed into the Beehive – just look at that writing! I love the retro styling of Lingfield Point.

There were some fabulous stalls in there, and I was super organised and got a couple of Christmas presents. It was here where we bumped into curators of the Festival of Thrift, Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway! I explained that I’m a part of the School of Thrift, and they very kindly agreed to having their photo taken – thank you so much to you both!

After that we left them to rummage through some LPs and continued on our way. We came across a stall from The Beehive Brand, which had the most beautiful knitted garments in traditional patterns. I can’t really describe how beautiful they were, so you’ll have to take a look : [/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”5596,5597,5598,5595″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411851507792{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]The Beehive Brand was established in 1785, but after a period of decline has recently been bought by Andrea Freeman, who’s passion for this exciting project really shines through. Not only is she recycling the old brand, but the old patterns too, and new garments using old patterns are being gradually released once more. I’m really excited to see how the brand develops! If you’d like to find out more, visit her website.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411850503131{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Here are a few more photos from around the site! Look out for the tea ladies with the invisible dog (if, indeed, you can ‘look out’ for an invisible dog!) if you’re going tomorrow – they’re hilarious![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”5602,5603,5604,5605,5606″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411849392734{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”5607,5608,5609,5610,5611,5612,5613,5614,5615″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411849832037{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Mum had a go at weaving, and made this to add to the huge spider’s web – fab!

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]There were so many lovely stalls around the event, but I was really pleased to catch up with my friend Victoria, aka Dizzy Miss James! We met a few years ago at a craft fair and it has been wonderful to see her shop develop. She designed all of these little guys herself – aren’t they adorable!?

It was also brilliant to meet some new people at the event, including Angela from Maison Royale – her stall was fabulous and she was so lovely to chat to! You see that gorgeous arrow light? That will be hanging in our new kitchen in a few months! Yes!

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1411851452668{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]I took so many more photos, but I don’t want to give everything away! If you’re in the area tomorrow then you MUST go along. And don’t forget to tag your photos on social media – #FOT14

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You can read all about how I put together the title pages and getting started here, but I wanted to show you how I’m using the 12 x 12 paper and pockets for monthly dividers. I stuck one of the small journaling cards on each page and wrote the month on it – I like that I can find my way around the months easily this way! There are cards stuck on the other side too, which I’m using to write down all the things I’m looking forward to about the month ahead.

The first pages that I created were all about our first wedding anniversary (you can read about that here!). One of my favourite things about Project Life is that I’m printing out photos again – with everything in digital format, it’s so lovely to be able to flick through the pages to look at them. Another thing that I love is that this process is like writing a journal and compiling a photo album in one. I used to write a diary when I was much younger, but that sort of fell by the wayside as life got busier. Doing it this way means that I can write shorter snippets about things we’ve done, and it doesn’t feel like a chore!

As I spent a lot of time during August working on my new website, I decided to make some pages about it – I used some 2 x 2 inch photos that I got printed through Inkifi. I really love these little photos, and I’ll be reviewing them soon, so look out for that…

As you may have guessed, I like my pages colourful! These pages are all about my trip to the Northern Quilt Show with Mum:

And with the next divider, I’m ready for September!

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I decided a little while ago that I’d do a post about it as a sort-of commemoration of my time here. It’s a day later than I’d planned (because I didn’t get myself sorted in time before we went on holiday) but it doesn’t matter! I’ve been looking through lots of old photos and came across this one, which is probably one of the first ones I have of me and Tom. It was taken just after we’d sat our final exam of our first year, which is probably why we’re looking so relaxed![/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”5300″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”large” css=”.vc_custom_1410548069299{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column_text]We haven’t changed that much really! Lots of my old photos will end up in my scrapbook, and I’m hoping to put the pages together this weekend so I’ll share them with you when they’re done. It was interesting to see how my photography has improved over the past 10 years – and during this time when we switched from film to digital, so there are some photos that I had put onto a CD so that I could have a digital copy! A lot has changed now and I take so many photos on my phone, but I love that I can just snap away and delete all the bad ones now.

I decided that I’d have a wander around Newcastle on my own little photography tour to celebrate my time here. I started at the University – the reason why I moved here – as this seemed like the best place to start. So this is the Armstrong Building, which is where the Music department is (although it has since expanded to other buildings).[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”5301″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”large” css=”.vc_custom_1410548282311{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410548316161{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]When it came to choosing a university, I only wanted to come here so decided not to choose a back-up. That seemed like a good idea, except on the run-up to results day, when I kept thinking “what have I done?!”. I didn’t actually quite get what I needed to study on my chosen course (which was a 4-year course and had a year abroad as part of it) but I got a place on the 3-year one instead. That turned out just fine for me – I met Tom through our course and we wouldn’t have wanted to go in the end anyway! Anyway, the Armstrong Building sits next to the Quad, which is just a lovely place to go and sit. The Quad itself hasn’t changed too much, but the areas around there and the Student Union building have had a lot of work done to them over the years, and it looks fab. Here’s a few more photos:[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ images=”5313,5314,5303,5302,5305″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410548787822{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]From the university I wandered along Northumberland Street – this is a memorial at Haymarket, which can been seen from the building where I work. There’s no trickery on the photo – the sky can actually be this blue in the North of England![/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”5316″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410549200806{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]What I’ve realised throughout my time in Newcastle is that you need to look around and, more importantly, look up. There are so many beautiful buildings here, but I guess most of the time we’re so busy that we don’t notice these things! It’s nice to notice things about where you live when you pass them everyday but haven’t seen them before. I love these windows on Northumberland Street – the first time I saw them was on a dark December evening, so they were lit up from behind. Aren’t they beautiful?![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ images=”5318,5319,5320,5321″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410552572645{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]From there, I went to Grey’s Monument (click here for the post about our trip up there!), through the Central Arcade and then down Grey Street past the Theatre Royal towards the Quayside. I decided to go over the swing bridge and then up to the Sage Gateshead, as I’ve spent quite a lot of time there over the years! I’ve actually performed in both halls there – in hall 1 with the University Symphony Orchestra and in hall 2 with a band that I used to play with. It’s such an amazing place – if you haven’t been then you must if you’re in the area! You get brilliant views of the Tyne Bridge from here, and as you can see the city is celebrating the Great North Run’s 1 millionth runner! We went to the opening ceremony for that which was amazing – I’ll probably be posting about it soon![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ images=”5323,5324,5325,5326,5327,5328,5329″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410550991746{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]I then wandered to the Millennium Bridge and hung around to watch it tilt – this always provides a great photo opportunity! Whilst waiting I went to the Quayside Seaside and had a cuppa :-)[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ images=”5331,5332,5333,5334,5337,5338″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410551699869{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]To finish my tour I walked along the Newcastle side of the river to take some photos of the bridges from downstream. By this time there were some very dark clouds gathering![/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”5335″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1410552041963{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]I really enjoyed my photography tour – I hope you have too! Here’s to many more years here in Newcastle, and more adventures to come! Look out for my post about documenting this in Project Life, coming soon…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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I can’t believe how much I’ve learnt about sewing by making these trousers. If you want to get to know your sewing machine a little better, then this is certainly the way to do it! I’ve used about four different feet to do things I didn’t know were possible, and numerous different stitches too. AND I put an actual zip in! This is so exciting!

The waistband and belt loops were pretty tricky, mainly because it took me so long to get my head around the instructions at that point! It really made my brain hurt…but not as much as the blind hemming. That was the most confusing part! I managed to work out that I own a foot for that bit, but even though I was reading the instructions in my manual, I just couldn’t work out how I needed to place the fabric. But thankfully, I found this super helpful video about blind hemming – phew! Really could not have done this without it!

One thing that I didn’t attempt here was a buttonhole – I cheated a bit and used a hook and bar instead. That’s actually what Tom said he would prefer, and it saved me having to learn something else for this! I’ll be having a play around with the buttonhole foot at some point soon though.

I’m so SO pleased that I’ve made these and that they actually look like trousers! There is just one problem…when measuring up and thinking about sizes, we decided to make the smallest size, but they are actually a size too small! I couldn’t believe it! Although I was a bit disappointed at first, Tom did remind me that this was meant to be a trial run anyway And I really have learnt such a lot from making them, so my next pair should be even better!

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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 it was up to me to design my own crafty project. There is a Pinterest board but I decided not to look at that – although, now I have in order to be able to put the link in and there is a bird bath – argh! Never mind, I’m really pleased with how this project has turned out!

Making a mosaic isn’t the kind of project that you can do quickly. It takes a lot of time in terms of making and preparation, but spending time getting all your materials ready will result in a better mosaic. I looked up some tips on YouTube and found that this video tutorial (to make some wall art) was really helpful. I took on board lots of their advice whilst making it, and it definitely helped! If you’d like to have a go at making your own mosaic bird bath, just follow the easy steps below.

You will need:

Some mosaic tiles and glue
A tall terracotta pot (I used this one)
A large terracotta saucer (I used this one)
Tile cutters
A paint pot (or other tub)
Eye protection
Masking tape
Some grout (must be suitable for outdoor use)
A margin grout float
A washing up bowl of hot water and rubber gloves
Something to dry your tiles with
A couple of dishcloths (ones you can throw away afterwards)
White vinegar (not the red one!)

Step 1

Remove all of the the tiles from the backing and wash them in warm water to get rid of all the glue. This takes a little while, but it’s worth getting everything glue-free. We did this in the sun, but ended up moving into the garage when we got too hot!

Step 2

I decided to use the blue and white tiles for this project, and after playing around with some designs, decided not to cut the darkest blue ones. This made laying out the chevron pattern easier too.

When we had laid out the pattern, we glued the tiles on – Tom was really good at this super-precision bit!

Step 3

The next step was to cut the lighter blue and white tiles into small pieces. You need to wear eye protection for this, and mind your fingers too! I placed the tile and the cutters into my paint pot, which avoided having little fragments of glass flying everywhere.

Step 4

Now for the really fun part! Select pieces of the pale blue and white tiles and glue them in. It’s easier if you position and glue as you go, rather than laying them all out first like we did with the dark tiles.

To complete the sides, I stuck down one small layer of the blue and white fragments and then placed whole white tiles over that around the edge.

Step 5

Before grouting, I stuck small pieces of masking tape around the rim of the saucer to avoid getting any grout on it. I mixed up about 250g grout in my paint pot, according to the packet instructions.

Step 6

Scoop out some grout and use your grout float to work the grout between the tiles. Make sure you do this evenly and cover the base and sides.

Step 7

When you’re happy with your grouting, carefully peel off the masking tape before the grout starts to dry. With a damp (but not dripping wet) cloth, wipe the tiles to remove any excess grout.

Then, turn the tall plant pot upside down and spread the rest of the grout over the top. Carefully position your saucer and press down as firmly as you can, without putting your thumbs in the grout! Then you need to leave it to dry – refer to the instructions on your grout for timings. I left it to dry in the sun, but only do this if you know it isn’t going to rain!

Step 8

When the grout is completely dry (which may be 24 hours later…) mix a little white vinegar with some warm water. With your other cloth (making sure it is damp but not dripping), wipe the surface of the tiles to clean them. The vinegar will really bring the tiles to a shine! Except if you use the red stuff…that will undo all of your hard work!

Ta-dah! You’re ready to position your bird bath – we chose a spot at the bottom of the garden, near to the bird feeders and the hedge where the birds like to play. We’ll be able to see them splashing about from the house, so it’s the perfect spot!

This was such a fun project to make, and even if I don’t win the prize I have a lovely new bird bath!

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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 – but I like a challenge, so I said ok!

The pattern I’m using is from Burda Style No.7022, which is ‘average difficulty’ apparently! I’ve made quite a few notes to myself on the pattern so far, and it definitely seems like a pattern that would be easier the second time around. That’s assuming I make these again after I’ve finished! I am actually really pleased with them so far. I’ve had to learn quite a few skills quite quickly! This is the first time I’ve made pockets, as I avoided doing them for the waistcoats!

The back pocket took me ages – mainly because I was trying to work out what the pattern meant at this point! After a long, long time I finally got it put together, but it didn’t turn out quite as I thought it should…but it looks ok (I think!).

I think what I found most frustrating was that this is actually a fake pocket – all that effort for it to be sewn up!

The next job is to baste the legs and stitch them before I can start to put them together. Helen very kindly sent me a link to some amazing trousers on the tomofholland blog – if I can make mine to look half as good as his, I’ll be really pleased! Wish me luck!

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1. Start collecting ideas and materials

There are so many ways to collect ideas for your wedding, but one of the most helpful is probably Pinterest. When we started planning I created a wedding board (which mainly consists of flowers and cake ideas!) and it meant that I could keep all of the things I liked in one place. It also meant that Tom was able to have a look too – from the start we planned things together, even though I did do most of the ‘making’ bit! The first thing we collected for our wedding was the paper to make the envelopes for our invitations, and then we designed the rest of the invitation around it (you can read more about them here). When collecting ideas, don’t be afraid to be selective – you might like a bit of that and a bit of something else. The beauty of putting something together yourself is that you can combine ideas to create the perfect thing for you, whether it’s your invitations, colour scheme, flowers or any other element of the day.

2. Make it personal

Making things for your wedding yourself will ensure that they reflect you and that they are totally unique – and it really is so much fun! When you start planning your wedding, you’ll realise that wedding stuff is everywhere! I remember that as soon as I changed my relationship from ‘single’ to ‘engaged’ on Facebook, I was bombarded by wedding-related adverts (and then, quite soon after, baby-related ones!). Although getting ideas from lots of other people and places is a great thing, I think it is really important to remember that your wedding day is your day – it’s about you and your husband/wife and the day should reflect that. There is a lot of pressure to do things in a particular way or have certain things, but you don’t have to at all.

I wouldn’t say that our wedding day wasn’t a traditional wedding, but we didn’t do things just because ‘that’s what people do’. So we didn’t have a theme or a colour scheme as such, but instead went for pinks, purples and creams in patterns that complimented each other. We kept the table decorations really simple, opting for simple name cards and lovely flower arrangements that Tom’s Mum put together on the day. We didn’t have the usual ‘line-up’ before the meal, we had a ‘first dance’ that wasn’t really a first dance as such and our guests joined in with us, and we didn’t have speeches except for a rather impromptu one that Tom and I gave in the garden! For many people those things are traditional and integral, and I’m certainly not saying that everyone should scrap them! But if you don’t feel comfortable doing something then don’t be afraid to leave it out – it’s your day and you want to be relaxed and enjoy every moment. Our wedding was just the most amazing day and it was a true reflection of us both, and I’m really proud that we planned it together.

3. Get your friends and family involved in the planning

I have played at weddings for several of our friends, and I always feel that it is an honour to be asked to do something special on such an important day. So no matter how big or small it is, get your friends and family involved in the planning! We are very fortunate to have very talented and kind family and friends who wanted to get involved with our wedding! Our friend Hannah made our beautiful wedding cake, and amazingly (with the help of her Mum) managed to get it from Stockton down to York in the back of her car! It made it there safely and Hannah has received so many lovely comments about her cake – read more about it here. We asked our friend Lee to provide the musical entertainment in the evening, so she brought along her PA and we hired some lights and did a brilliant job! We selected the songs we wanted her to sing and so the playlist for the whole night was very personal to us – I LOVE dancing, and I’ll never forget that wonderful night!

To decorate the venue we borrowed our family bunting that was originally made for Tom’s Aunt’s wedding a few years ago. When it was made, all the guests were asked to donate some fabric so that it could be made in time to be hung up at the reception. Since then, it has been used at several other weddings and family events – I always try to find my old pyjamas that contributed to it! If you would like to make your own bunting with your family and friends, follow my exclusive tutorial for The School of Thrift. It’s a great way to give life to old fabrics and get everyone involved in a special project!

4. Shop around

Weddings can get very expensive very quickly, so if you’re trying to keep costs down then you’ll certainly need to shop around. You can support local businesses by buying your supplies from them – we bought chocolates for each table at the reception from an independent shop in Alnwick (click here to read my post about them) and I bought most of my flowers from various stalls at York market! The main reason that I decided to make the bouquets myself was because I nearly fell off my chair when I started looking into the prices – £80 for the bride’s bouquet alone was an average estimate!

Whilst you may prefer to get your flowers done professionally, don’t rule out the possibility of doing them yourself. In my tutorial for The School of Thrift, I show you how you can make a beautiful bouquet – the flowers I used to make it cost me just £10! It is a really simple bouquet to make as it just uses roses and spray carnations, but even with just two types of flower in the same colour it looks beautiful. Once you have done a practice bouquet or two (which I would highly recommend!) you can get more adventurous with your choice of colours and flowers. For my wedding bouquet I used all of my favourite flowers such as peonies, roses stocks, freesias, gypsohila, and spray carnations in pinks, purples and creams. My bridesmaids had smaller bouquets with cream freesias, roses and spray carnations, and when they arrived the day before the wedding we made them in my Mum and Dad’s kitchen! We had such fun catching up and making the bouquets, and it is a lovely thing to do together with your friends.

5. Give it a go!

For many people (especially if you don’t regard yourself as being a crafter), the idea of a handmade wedding is very appealing but daunting. My advice is to not worry, but to just give it a go! You don’t have to make everything yourself, so you could start with something small and go from there – for example, you could make the buttonholes (see how to do that here). If there is something that you can practice before making the ‘final one’ then I’d always suggest doing that – and try to leave enough time to do it too! What you’ll probably find is that once you get started, you’ll get hooked and will want to make lots of things! I think that’s how I ended up making waistcoats…I asked myself many times ‘why am I doing this?!’ during the making process, but it is a project that I’m so proud of. I also made a stole for Tom’s Dad, as he conducted our wedding service. Everything that you make will become a special part of your day – no matter how big or how small.

Whatever you decide to make (or not) for your wedding, enjoy the planning process and the day itself, as this time will simply fly by. Everyone said this to us beforehand, but until it’s actually happening you can’t imagine just how fast it goes!

The post Top tips for a handmade wedding appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

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 start of the year. However, I tend to work in academic years anyway because of my current day job, so I decided to do it anyway!

I’ve written this tutorial for Less Grafting More Crafting, which is the craft business that I started last year with my partner-in-craft, Daria. We’re focussing much more on online stuff now that she’s a Mama, so we need to be super organised with our craft time and the posts that we’re scheduling! So I decided to make it my blogging Filofax – this will hopefully mean that between the two blogs I’m really organised!

You can see the full tutorial here, but I thought I’d put a mini gallery here so you can get an idea of what it’s like. I have a massive obsession with washi tape at the moment, and I’ve used it a lot to customise the pages! I’ve bought many tapes from the lovely Jen at Moon Stick Supplies – she’s got a fab selection (look out for the zebras – they’re my fave!).

It’s really easy to revamp your Filofax/organiser – and so much fun!

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To make a floral bouquet you will need:

Some flowers (I used roses and spray carnations for this bouquet)
Some floristry tape (not the waterproof one)
Sharp scissors
Floristry pins
Ribbon

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

You’ll need to do a few practice runs before the real thing – experiment with different colours and flowers and pick your favourites too This is my actual wedding bouquet – I bought flowers from various stalls on York market to put it together:

Here are a few final tips!

I’ll be doing one more post about wedding planning – look out for that this weekend! :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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

The post Instagram gallery: March 2014 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

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 decoration in your home or perhaps a wedding gift. The possibilities are endless! I bought my letters from RE (if you haven’t seen my post about this amazing shop, click here) and raided my fabric stash – a fat quarter is more than enough for a letter. Tom chose this funky grey fabric with little buttons on it for his ‘T’, and for my ‘C’ I went for pink (obviously!) as I thought that the circle pattern would tie them together.

I decided against covering the ampersand for 2 reasons: the first was that I couldn’t decided on a fabric that matched the other two, and the second reason is that it would probably be really difficult…I’m pleased with the end result and think I made the right decision!

You will need:

Card 3D letters
Mod podge and a paintbrush
Some fabric (iron out the creases before you get started!)
Sharp scissors and a pencil

Step 1

Lay out some fabric and place a letter on top, and then lightly draw around the letter with a pencil. Trim the fabric so that you have a 2 cm border around the edge of the letter that you have just drawn. For this letter ‘T’ I cut out one T shape and a larger square so that I could cut some long strips to be able to cover the sides (but that’s in a later step!). For some letters, like the ‘C’, you’ll need to make sure that the fabric is the right way up for the front and the back (as shown in the second photo).

Step 2

Paint some mod podge onto one side of the letter and stick it onto the fabric. Trim the edges as required so that the fabric will fold neatly around the edges of your letter. For curved letters, you’ll need to snip around the edges at regular intervals so that you can fold the fabric around the curves more easily.

Step 3

Repeat step 2 with the other side of your letter. Cut out some long strips of fabric the same width of the letters, then paint on some more mod podge on the sides before sticking on the fabric.

Ta-dah! That’s it – you just have to leave them to dry now before displaying them in a suitable position

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