home: made [ Christmas table decorations ]

home: made [ Christmas table decorations ]

It’s almost just a month away and if you’re busy planning gifts and festive nights out, don’t forgot about the decorating and it can be simple and low cost to create effect displays, decorations and centre pieces with items sourced from around the home, foraged from your local park or handy bits picked up from a local craft store.

From around the home find old jam jars, cardboard, string, old baubles, even an old dried up sponge can be useful.

Foraging free bits from out and about is also great – local woodlands having an abundance of conifers, holly, pine cones, twigs, branches and more.

Then from local craft stores (or online) choose items including metallic spray, glitter, pva glue and soft wire.

With these items you can create unique decorations using imagery from Pinterest for inspiration.

Use PVA and glitter to create a Christmas feel to branches of conifer tree, by pasting on the glue and sprinkling over the glitter; and create a long garland for the mantle piece by tying the branches together with wire.

Spray jars with metallic spray and tie gold or silver round to make festive little vases for winter flora and twigs. Cluster various sizes together to make a centre piece for the table.

Cut and stick cardboard into cone shapes, coat in PVA glue and wind sparkly twine or string round, ensuring not to leave any gaps to produce modern, simple statement Christmas trees. Again these would look great in varied sizes and clustered together.

Using old baubles in shades of the same colour and modelling wire with an old sponge as an oasis, poke in each bauble on a wire stick to make a gorgeous dome of baubles – another great centre piece. Or go extravagant (slightly more complex) and create an entire sphere which could be hung from the ceiling!

Head to Pinterest and explore for an abundance of creative ideas!

Simple paper trees

Confetti for the table

Confetti for the table

home: made [ bath caddy ]

home: made [ bath caddy ]

For some people there is nothing better then a relaxing evening in a bath with a book and a glass of wine. Putting said book and wine somewhere safe isn’t always easy, so have you considered a bath caddy?

This practial addition to your bathroom is straight forward in construction made fully of wood [ cedar is a good choice ], and if you have the correct tools, simple to make.

We have found a great tutorial from themerrythought.com

home: event [ neon workshop ]

home: event [ neon workshop ]

Fancy learning all about neon? Somerset House in London is hosting a 2 hour neon workshop with Neon Workshops where you will be introduced to how it is made and have a chance to create your own.

‘See glowing examples of neon art explained, expect mesmerising demonstrations of cutting, blowing, stretching, bending and fusing glass with flame, filling with gas and illuminating with electricity. Experience the chance to have a go yourself under tuition. If you want to take home your neon, Neon Works can turn it into a working light after the workshop, for an additional cost’

Head to somersethouse.org.uk for tickets

Sat 28th or 29th Oct –  £140

home: event [ macrame wall hanging workshop ] 

home: event [ macrame wall hanging workshop ]

Amongst all the great workshops on offer by our favourites The London Craft Club, we spotted they have a macrame workshop in October. 

Book now for this exciting and creative way to spend a few hours. 

£39

Details: 

When: Sunday 8th October 2.00 – 5.00 pm

Where: Todd Sloane 71 High St Epping CM16 4BA

They say;

We’re carrying on our love affair with macramé. It’s a great way to make a wall hanging – and it’s way quicker than weaving, knitting or quilting. If you’ve been putting off taking up a new skill because you’re busy, this might be the one for you. Plus you’ll have the skills you need to make all sorts of plant holders, wall hangings, jewellery and more. Macrame is super versatile and looks good in everything from kitchen string to leather cord, so what are you waiting for? Now’s the time to pick up the skill and get creative with it!

We’ll be using recycled jersey yarn created by our favourites over at Hoooked – we love their bright colours and sustainable manufacturing. Choose from pink, yellow, white or black. We’ll also supply a foraged rustic stick to hang your work from that’s been washed and heat-treated so its clean and dry!

What’s included:

– jersey yarn recycled by Hoooked

– a foraged stick to hang your macrame piece from

– a cotton tote to bring your handiwork home in

– fully illustrated instruction sheet to take away with you

Who’s it for: This is perfect for beginners. You must be over 18 to take part

 

home: made [ books ] 

home: made [ books ] 

Looking to re style your home, create unique homewares, DIY or upcycle furniture or learn how to make your home blend and coordinate? There are many books on the market to teach, advise and guide you to a beautiful home.

Our favourites:

A Beautiful Mess/Happy Handmade Home £18.99 Amazon

Max Mcmurdo / Upcycling £20 Waterstones  
Farrow & Ball / How to decorate £12.99 Amazon 

The Maker £12.82 Wordery

Bright Bazaar / Book Depository £21.33

Home Decor Cheat Sheets / £8.03 (kindle) Amazon 

home: made [ washi tape wall design ] 

home: made [ washi tape wall design ] 

Bored of clean plain painted walls in your home? Using washi tape (and some inspirational images) is a quick brilliant way to introduce colour, pattern and quirkiness to a room. 

It’s straight forward and non permanent, which makes it an ideal way to decorate – allowing easy changes, mistakes to be rectified or updates whenever you like. 

Searching google, creative blogs and Pinterest gives a plethora of design ideas to get inspiration from.
Design depends on the room. Anything from geometric patterns, stripes, Aztec designs, crosses, linear and also a great way to bring in on-trend colours like blush, metallics or simply in monochrome. 

For kids rooms it’s the perfect way to bring in their favourite images… animals, mountains, trains or simply fun pattern for stimulating a new born baby. 

Great places to buy washi tape;

https://www.thefoxandstar.co.uk/collections/washi-tape 

https://www.papermash.co.uk/collections/washi-tape

home: made [ diy marbling ceramics ] 

home: made [ diy marbling ceramics ] 

Try out marbling to create beautiful, unique homeware for your home or for gifts. We’ve rounded up our favourite tutorials to guide you through the process in a simple,straightforward way. 

You don’t need to spend much and you may have most products in your home already. How simple that you can use nail varnish to create amazing patterns on mugs or bowls?! Nail varnish is a cheap way to get incredible colours to work with. 

Credit for images / tutorial links : 

The Sweetest Occasion 

House of Hipsters

Simple Most  

Alana Jones – Mann 

home: made [ art work ] 

home: made [ art work ] 

We love DIY art as it’s personal and unique to  home. You can adjust colours to your interior, use letters, names or words to personalise or simple enjoy using your own creativity and have fun. 

Brit + Co blog have excelled in curating a fantastic collection of links to so many incredible projects and ideas. There’s so many to choose from with varying levels of difficulty. Many just involving materials you may have lying around the house – paint (tester pots are very useful), masking tape, coloured paper, sequins, old books, all sorts! 

Have a browse through their blog and find the right tutorial for you! 

home: made [ diy blogs to love ] 

home: made [ diy blogs to love ] 

We love to scour great creative blogs to bring to you inspiring diy projects for the home. Here’s a pick of some of our favourites for you to explore. Subscribe and get a regular dose of ideas, projects and inspiration. 

YOUNG HOUSE LOVE // a talented duo (and couple) with a background of house renovating, book writing and living with a family; their blog has endless diy projects to try.

THE PAINTED HIVE // budget friendly and stylish diy projects by this clever, creative wife and mother 

ALL THINGS THRIFTY // Huge collection of diy projects from this mega blog, for every part of the home and lifestyle. 

THE DESIGN CONFIDENTIAL // slick stylish and well written blog with styling, interior design and lifestyle inspiration and guidance. 

home: made [ framing ]

home: made [ framing ]

Double sided frames have been more popular than ever recently. The apeal being you have more options to what to frame, creating more than just a picture. The majority if times you are likely to frame a photo or print, but consider other options to bring interest and fun to a shelf or wall.

Flowers: Pressed flowers and leaves bring delicate shape and colour to a picture. If you like greens and nature this is a lovely way to bring the outdoors in. This is also great as you can change the pieces seasonally and add new colours.

Feathers: In the same way as pressing flowers, feathers bring pattern and colour and using these natural pieces mixed with photos and drawings you can curate a personalised picture wall.

Fabric: Cut out your favourite fabrics and place in a uniform fashion or randomly. Again this is a way to bring pattern and colour to a wall or shelf in an interesting way. Moroccan / bohemian prints are a cool option right now. 

Cutouts: Use magazine or book cutouts of your favourite images. Pop icons, typograpy or drawings for example. Layer up different smaller images in a larger frame. This quirky type of collage looks great in smaller spaces like a hallway or bathroom.

Typography: Rather than placing anything in the frame why not consider making your own mark with a pen. Use a Sharpie to write a phrase or slogan and place against a white wall for an instant monochrome feel.

The options are endless, have fun putting together different looks and designs. And remember, it’s so easy to change everytime the urge takes you.

For more styling ideas head to apartmenttherapy.com and blog.decoratorsnotebook.co.uk 

For our pick of frames check out Rockettstgeorge.co.ukSkandivis.co.uk and Oliverbonas.com