Home Grown

So since moving into our new home we have enjoyed experimenting with some growing!! We have planted tomatos, cherry tomatos, runner beans, peppers and courgettes. My friend has still some aubergine plants to give me too!!

We have even started using a water butt to try and reuse as much 'free' water as possible!! That way the cost of the plants is actually pretty negligible!

It helps when the weather is goo though...

Also, please note the horrible orange of the decking will soon be a lovely shade of beaumont blue! I am planning an aray of colourful garden accessories to make our outdoor space as fun as possible.

Peg Bag Tutorial

So I have had this planned for some weeks now, the camera keeps playing up so I thought I had lost my pictures and would need to make another before I could make the tutorial. Turns out the mister had organised me into a folder!!

Anyway.... this is how I make peg bags, this one in particular has a waterproof lining - we have wooden pegs and I am keen to keep them relatively nice!!! Same as my other tutorials I am rubbish at measurements, I work by eye and how something looks!

This piece of material is probably 30cm by 30cm, not massive but just enough!!

I cut a cheap shower curtain to fit the size. Do these steps twice.

About 10cm from the top I cut one piece. 

I then turned the edges over about 1cm to make the hem.

I chose a zig zag stitch so that it was more of a feature as opposed to just there. 

I brought the front and back together and pinned so that I could play around with it.

I ended up with a little visitor ....

I double stitched the edges to make sure they held because it may become a weak point if the pegs are particularly heavy.

I just re-used an old coat hanger I had, I needed to break the ends off by about 5 cm because the bag was smaller than the hanger!! You can't notice it though. 

Once I was happy with the position I cut the bag to allow for the hanger to come through.

Then, Voila! The bag was ready.

I think I will add  crochet flower just to make it a little bit more girly!!

Another weekend gone!

How does this keep happening!? Every time I pay attention to the date its almost the end of another month, I just can't get my head around it!

I guess time does fly when you are having fun?!

This weekend we have pottered around the house and just tried to keep on top of things. I never knew how intense maintaining a house could be! My mister is getting better at doing things but he has other interests that i guess just pop up as more important! I am certainly getting better at juggling a lot more balls and seeing how things can be combined to get more done. Part of me thinks that has something to do with being female and the majority of the cleaning falling in my domain....

I am really into decorating at the moment, I have so many ideas for the blank walls in our house! The downstairs bathroom is really exiting me at the moment, a friend gave us one of her boxes in a teal colour and I decided to go for pink on the bathroom cabinet so I am thinking of a really rich colour scheme like pink and teal with all of our metal signs and vintage prints.

 Aww, nice awkward face!!

You can tell why I am keen to decorate this space!! I can't get over how plain the house was before us, the previous owners can't have liked colour much as everywhere is white!!!

We are starting delivering again soon, so I am hoping to use the time to crochet blankets and bits and pieces so that the time is used productively! I mean, we will be getting paid too and when its busy I obviously wont be crocheting, but when its quiet I hope I can get pieces together to put in my shop/sell at a market.

I am also really in love with this simple but effective idea. I think I will try and give it a go this week. Maybe!

Making your own fabric

I was having a quick google around this morning, I think I quite fancy investigating how to make my own fabric. That way I will have tried it and the clothes or things I make would be even more unique to me.

source

So Mum, if you are reading this book isnt out yet but I am thinking ........... birthday present?!

Nail Varnish

I love my pink Barry M polish, its so girly and summery it makes me smile. I just wonder why it doesn't take very long until it is chipped!!

I am tempted to do my nails before camping (if we go) because of the forecast we are holding on before we make a decision!! Therefore, if I do my nails the chances are they will be kept lovely for as long as possible!

I heart my new hoover!

We just spent the last of our wedding vouchers yesterday on a new hoover! Its amazing, the cat seems to malt everywhere so it was getting to be a pain.
This Russell Hobbs is so brilliant at getting rid of the hair I didn't think it could be that easy!! The suction on this would suit any home even without pets, its just a great compact little thing! Plus its white so its fairly cute?

I have been asked to help (do) another scrap book, for someone at works daughter. I am quite excited because this little lady is also 21 so I feel like I have a bit more potential to do it right!! Although the previous one went down very well so fingers crossed for this one! I love working with people to create personal memories, if this was my job I would be very happy!!

Now I am off to sort my student finance and take another look at this scrap book ....

Martha Stewart has so many brilliant free sewing templates and craft ideas its unreal. I get an email every day giving me a new tutorial to try out.
I love this fabric and would really like to make something similar as an easy day bag.

There is talk in our household of going camping soon! I am slightly scared because the only times i have really camped is when I was doing Duke of Edinburgh. But I am sure its the cheap break we have been looking for!

Me and my budget is hoping we can camp for less tan £50, so we shall see! I will post about it on my return! I am visiting a craft fair with my mum and sister today which I am quite excited about - i love handmade, I love inspiration and I love meeting up with my family :) so it should be a great day. My mister is off out tonight so I will be pampering myself and thinking about birthdays I have coming up, and anything else we may need for camping!

The Bead Shop - Manchester

Just before we moved into our house I brought a rather large selection of beads from this bead shop, the prices were so reasonable and even when I had ordered something that wasn't in stock they just refunded my money.

I ordered over a bank holiday when they were giving a discount too which made it all the more appealing!!!

I add these to all my necklaces just so that the recipient knows :)

Etsy Selling

As I have just finished college I am thinking about one of the biggest 'to do's' on my 25 before 25 list... 

I want to make things to sell, I think I have pretty much decided to use Etsy as opposed to Ebay for the time being. Mainly because Etsy has its own handmade loving audience. 

I have been playing around with it to decide what I actually want to sell and what my style will be. I love vintage, the way it looks and the stories behind it. 

So I thought I would share a few things I came across that inspire me/I have fallen in love with.....

fifiduvie

katieblairdesigns

There are so many cute things, I could just spend a fortune!! The best thing about buying handmade is helping out another person on their little journey. 

Carrier Bag holder tutorial

To start with, I am not a sewer that measures very often! So all lengths are approximate and really just try your own and go with it. See what you create!!

I started with a large piece of fabric and cut about 30cm from the fold - I folded the fabric in half so that I didn't have to sew up one side.

Then I pinned the top hem, I unfolded the fabric and did it in on long strip.

I added some elastic to the bottom because I thought it would give it a nice effect - I didn't hem it either, I left the end frayed just to give it a bit of an old feel.

I pinned the elastic to start with, pulling it taught as I did and found that the best way for me to do this was to just sew the first bit and then pull the elastic (40cm at most) as I put it through the machine. This was a bit of trial and error but the end product looked good.....

Once all of the little bits were done I then pinned the sides together and stitched it up to make a tube shape. Before this stage you could add any embellishment you like, I did think about felt hearts with a blanket stitch edging but I love this material so I wanted to keep it plain.

You also need to remember not to stitch the hemmed top of the tube up, this is where you will thread your ribbon to add the holder to a hook.

Thread the ribbon through with a safety pin, tie a knot and you are done!!

This is my finished piece in the kitchen, I was amazed at how many carrier bags I had squirrelled a way :)