home: made [ DIY tools beginners guide ]

If you are looking to start doing more DIY around the home or you have already started and need some advice on the best tools to use, then we have found a great online piece to help from grillo-designs.com

Medina has created her 11 Must Have DIY Tools For Beginners post and it’s the perfect place to start to get ideas and know-how on which tools you will need for projects in the home.

Build up a starter kit and you’ll be ready to go!

home: made [ Baskets ]

A beautifully created book to teach the art of basketry. Tabara carefully walks us through the projects to create some unique basket designs to fill your home.

Get your copy of this wonderful book direct from La Basketry for just £15

They say;

This book will teach you how to master the versatile art of basketry. Each of the four chapters tackles the different materials and their subsequent techniques, including grasses, rope, twine and cane. Learn how to add pattern and colour to your woven wonders as you create a colourful collection of 15 storage accessories of your own. The projects include laundry baskets, baskets with lids, rope bags, a picnic basket, a gorgeous woven lampshade and a stylish collection of patterned tableware.

Discover more about this tactile craft as Tabara N’Diaye explores its history and origins through her Senegalese roots. With clear instructions accompanied by the beautiful lifestyle photography and illustrations throughout, Baskets demystifies the art of basket-making for makers at all levels.

home: made [ things to do at home ]

Our lives have changed rather dramaticaly over the last few weeks, and this means we are indoors the majority of our day.

Once we have our daily work and chores out the way, it’s important for all if us to have some down time. Self isolation is not a fun position to be in on the surfce, but we can take some positives from being at home. Use this opportunity to slow down and become more productive in the home, and you will start to feel fullfiled.

Below are some fun and relaxing ideas of things to do to escape the crazy life we are all currently living.

Start painting

Maybe you haven’t painted since school, maybe you had great plans of picking up a brush last year, but never did. Now is your chance to get your creating juices flowing. Head to Amazon or Hobbycraft for basic art supplies

Paint anything and everything. Just letting you mind wonder and find one escapism will do wonders for your mental health right now. A great starter book for daily exercises is 365 days of Art

Plant some seeds

Spring has sprung and with the clocks going forward this weekend we can start to feel rejuvinated and enjoy a bit of sunshine. Of course we are not having a ‘normal’ Spring, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do the things we normally would.

Get yourself some plant pots, some seeds and soil, and get messy. Watch your seedlings grow over the coming weeks. This will give you purpose and an element of responsibility to help your seeds to grow. This is a great activity of you have kids. You can try growing anything from flowers to vegetables. Check out Amazon.co.uk for all you needs, including starter kits.

Odd jobs

We all have odd jobs in our homes that we never got round the finishing. Whether it’s a loose cupboard door, an unpainted wall or a putting up some pictures. Use this time to get these jobs done. You will feel positive from completing this tasks. All good for the mind.

Needlepoint and knitting

Try something new like knitting or embroidery. It’s proven that these type of hobbies are stress releaving. Craft something for someone, or knit a blanket for your home. Whatever it is, you will get satisfaction in what you can achieve. And with time on our hands, you can dip into it for a little bit each day.

Make sure you all take time out for yourselves, and do a little something you love each day. We will get through this!

home: made [ home crafts ]

When your stuck at home and needing some fun craft project ideas that will result in some lovely items for the home, we can’t get over how many amazing projects there are on Crafts By Amanda.

Hunt around the house and see what you can make from the list of great projects on the site, from the things you can find.

home: made [ vintage chest of drawers project ]

As her tag line says ‘inspiring your creativity’, she definitely does.

Medina Grillo, of Grillo Designs, is a creative and talented lady. Her blog is full of exciting interiors and homeware DIYs, craft projects and more. Explore her blog and instagram for an abundance of inspiration (and witty intelligent chat!)

We picked this up-cycling of a small vintage unit as one of our favourite projects, which she did to show the versatility of working with second hand furniture (this piece sourced from a charity she was working with to promote buying second hand!) Just one of the many exciting projects that fill her cool home; inspiring people to make more of the homes even if they are renting but still want to make design statements within their four walls – inspirational, budget friendly ideas.

And if you’re a fan of a great Ikea hack her blog is the place to go!

home: made [ kitchen magnets ]

Looking for a cute easy project to make some great kitchen magnets? We found three great online projects

First, a fun simple project. Metallics are very on trend so how about getting some colourful alphabet magnets and spraying them with a metallic paint? It’s so quick and effective. They’ll be fun for the kids but still look stylish in your kitchen. Head to Kojo Designs for the full tutorial.

Second, a handy mini storage project. Create magnetic little boxes to pop pens, cutlery, plants or anything else small that might need containing – using vintage tins or tins from certain food products and then attach good strong magnets to them with strong glue.

And third, try hand painting some stones and attach magnets to make handy memo holders! Use geometric designs for a great on trend look and paint with colours to match your interior. Or even add initials on to personalise them.

Check out the tutorial from Alisa Burke

home: made [ SWISH ]

We love sharing great makes, projects and tutorials every Thursday to result in unique DIYs for your home – from painted ceramics to hand woven rugs, no-sew pillow cases to crafting with wood.

The talented folks at London Craft Club offer a plethora of classes to attend to get crafty but what is it you need for all this creative making? Materials!

Join them for the big craft SWISH and stock up on craft materials that will inspire you as well as pass onto others craft materials you’ve not used and can spare.

They say;

When: Sunday 28th January, 10:00 am – 1:00pm

Where: Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Rd, NW1 7AY

This is it! The Big Craft Swish!

Let’s not lie about it, crafting uses up a lot of materials. And even more materials don’t get used at all! So if you have a secret stash of guilty craft purchases, this is for you….

• Swish away your ill-advised crafty purchases!

• Take home some guilt-free stuff you’ll use!

• Help minimise waste!

• Add some good karma to the world of craft!

• Share your crafty stories with other crafters

All that stuff going to waste in our cupboards, lofts and under our beds is a crying shame. It’s taking up space that us London-dwellers can ill afford, and all that clutter just isn’t good for our creative souls. So let’s do something about it.

Maybe you’re new to craft, and you bought a load of stuff that now you don’t know what to do with? Bring it along and swap it for something you can use. Or you might even meet someone who can show you what to do with it instead.

Already a Super Crafter? Come along and declutter, get inspiration, encourage the newbies and share stories with fellow crafters.

Here’s the rules – simple but fair…

1) Everyone must bring at least one item of quality craft material or kit (drop off from 10.00am)

2) You will have half an hour to browse before the swish opens (10.30 – 11.00am)

3) No item may be claimed before the swish opens at 11.00am

4) As soon as the swish is declared open, everyone may take what they want.

5) Remember we’re here for sharing not sharp elbows!

Our hosts Cecil Sharp House have a delicious range of light bites, homemade cakes and main meals available throughout the day in their cafe. Why not grab a bite there then pop in at 10.30 for the browsing before the swish opens at 11.00am. Then there’s an hour and half of nabbing what you want, and of course craft chat.

Tickets are £4 to cover costs, and any profit will be donated to Mind or Stop the Traffik

home: made [ plant pots and plant stands ]

January is all about new projects and hiding from the cold, and making crafty projects.

Introduce some indoor (or outdoor) gardening to your home but instead of just buying planters and pots – look to use, upcycle, recycle and make your own alternative containers and stands for your planting.

There’s great tutorials from favourites A Beautiful Mess and Brit & Co but there’s lots of easy projects without tutorials.

Search for unusual containers – cups, buckets, tins, old crates, bags or even tea pots. Depending on what you choose to plant your chosen container may need to have drainage holes. Then you can think about creativity with paints, sprays, varnishes or if the item has vintage charm it might look great as it is.

Look at trends in colour and pattern for inspiration and use masking to create designs on the outside – try geometric , stripes or colour blocking. Techniques including drip, dip and ombré may be a little more challenging but have great results too.

Find a collection of great tutorials all grouped together at Cool Crafts

home: made [ mason jars ]

We love a crafting or DIY project and this super book brings together 35 brilliant projects using mason jars and other glass containers.

‘Crafting with Mason Jars and other Glass Containers: Over 35 simple and beautiful upcycling projects’

This book explores methods and makes for great lighting, storage, gifts, kitchenalia, table settings, wedding ideas and so much more. With easy and building to slightly more complex tutorials, it’s a lovely way to improve your crafting skills and give you a great repertoire of ideas to use for many occasions and interiors

RRP £12.99

Currently on Amazon at £9.54

home: made [ dipped spoons ]

Simple creative projects are great to make personal gifts, are fun with the kids and result in unique items for the home.

Items dipped in paint are hugely on trend right now with stores offering a variety of furniture and accessories with the ‘dipped in paint’ look. Anything from stools and coffee tables to vases and glasses can look great with splashes of colour. It’s an easy way to get highlights of present colour trends into an interior – currently popular is copper, neons and simple monochrome – either black or white.

Start small with an easy project of dipped wooden spoons. All you need is spray or paint, masking tape, a brush and to strengthen to allow washing use a sealing agent like acrylic sealer, shellac or paint in enamel paint instead.

Head to high street kitchen stores, IKEA, or supermarkets for cheap basic wooden spoons.

For simple tutorials try BespokeBride, BrightNest or LittleBitFunky.

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