Raindrop cushion - Pin It Do It & Tutorial

Well, here's a post I started writing in November 2014.  I'm sure you can imagine why that was such a busy month (what with the twins being born!) and it never got finished.  But, we have the return of #pinitdoit, I was reminded to finish this one and I recently shared a pic of the cushion on Instagram too.

House update - furniture

by Bex

We've made some excellent progress in the house with all major work now done.  I'm so glad we organised that as soon as we moved in!  It's meant we could get on with the more fun side of moving - decorating!

I had some great ideas for certain rooms thanks to my brilliant evening at Hege's Pinbassador event and I have definitely utilised the colour scheme from the left of my mood board for the living room.  I'd also planned on a 'seafoam green', champagne and gold scheme for the master bedroom but this has been adapted somewhat to include more grey and less gold although we still have some metallics in there, they're more of a cool gold and pewter idea than full on gold.

The rooms we were most desperate to change before babies (luckily their room was left untouched paint-wise as it was perfect as was) were the living room and master bedroom (not counting the more drastic changes in the kitchen/dining room).  There are still quite a few finishing touches to make to these rooms so the proper before & after pics will have to wait a while (I'm afraid I have no idea how long what with imminent twin arrival as I write this!) but for now, here are a few of the little projects we've been up to in some of the rooms...

First of all, none of this would have been possible without Mum's help!  She has not only been amazing at helping out with general chores, cooking, washing, ironing while I've been beached on the sofa growing these hefty twins, but she's also been working on a few projects for us using skills we don't have and saving us loads of money!

Unfortunately I've been a bit rubbish with the before photos here but we had a storage footstool/seat in our old living room from TK Maxx (I think it was about £50) which was covered in a lush olive green raw silk.  As I used this almost daily to put my feet up while watching TV/blogging, the cover had become very worn and torn over the years and looked horrendous (one of our removal men thought a cat had been at it!)  I always planned to get it recovered but it was never a priority with everything else going on.  As the living room colour scheme has changed though and we bought some fabric to make roman blinds for this room, we bought some extra and Mum has transformed the footstool!  It looks fab and the dark plum ties in perfectly with the subdued heather and grey tones in the room.  She also had enough left over to make two new cushion covers for our new sofa (replacing green ones which I have now stored as I still love them!).

Not content with just covering this little stool, Mum has also managed to breathe new life into our old brown leather ottoman.  I bought this about 8 years ago with my old brown leather bed for my flat in Edinburgh and we've had it either in the living room or hall in Glasgow since (as it would no longer fit the end of the bed due to the shape of our bedroom in Glasgow).  The bed has since departed our world and I had intended the ottoman to be sold with our similarly aged brown leather sofas once we had new furniture down here.  They're all still in great condition, just not our taste any more and we fancied a change.  Mum had suggested that the ottoman could now go back at the foot of the new bed as there is plenty of room there but the brown leather just wouldn't go at all.  I didn't even think of covering it until the stool was done!

Only just remembered a before pic.
(After the lid and feet were removed and Mum was just about to start stapling!)

After another trip to our new favourite fabric store, C&H Fabrics, and approval from Nik on the fabric I fell in love with (which quite surprised me, I was ready for a debate!), some more sewing/stapling magic from Mum and the end result is this fantastic piece of furniture...

The butterflies are the most prominent but there are some 
huge dragonflies amongst all the other bugs too!  :)

We love it!!

With some help and extra bits n pieces from our lovely new neighbour who makes blinds for a living, Mum is also making the blinds for our bedroom (we're leaving the living room until last as the bedroom ones are clearly more urgent) using a different fabric from C&H but they're not quite done yet so watch this space!

Another fab bit of furniture I'd planned to get was a settle or monk's bench for the hall.  I know Sarah has one and I've always loved her little pew inside her door.  It seemed like the perfect solution for us as a place to sit to take off shoes (or kiddies wellies!) as well as storage for all of the twins' inevitable collection of scarves, hats, gloves, etc. as they get older.  We very nearly got an amazing bargain in the Friday ads down here of a beautifully carved oak version for just £135!  Unfortunately someone else had beaten us to it.  It might have been a little out of place with our modern grey hall now anyway though so when we spotted this more simple pine design in a second hand furniture shop in Haywards Heath, we snapped it up!

It fits the space perfectly and is a great size for the twins to sit on together :)  Although it does go with the doors and oak floor pretty well, I think it would look nicer painted in a dark grey just to really modernise it.  Plus I am just not a fan of pine furniture at all.  Again, watch this space as we have now got a few projects which will certainly be longer term before they are done.

Another one being this AWESOME chair we picked up at a different second hand furniture shop (we've been hunting for a bookcase for the living room but finding other fab things instead!!) in Crowborough.

It's in pretty good condition, the man in the shop thinks it's walnut and from around 1900.  The fabric is a bit worn and the trim coming away a bit at the front but the cushion pad is perfectly fine and the only repair needed is the left arm is slightly wobbly.  All we plan to do with this is clean it up a bit and recover with the same fabric as the ottoman above.  We could paint the wood but I think that would be a shame with this piece as the wood is quite lovely.  It will either end up living in the corner of our bedroom or in a corner of the living room, we've yet to decide.  After some haggling (as we also bought a few other bits there so drove a hard bargain), we paid £65 for the chair.  We just need to get a reasonable quote for the upholstering now as this is a little beyond Mum's skill/comfort zone.

Felt Heart Garland - Pin It Do It

by Bex

This little project was so much fun to do and really relaxing, perfect for the last couple of weeks pre-babies!

The idea came from one of the very first nursery idea pictures I pinned when we decided on a rainbow colour scheme.  It's a fab heart garland from Etsy for £40.42.  I knew I could make this myself and would enjoy it.  I already had most of the colours of embroidery thread and some felt.

Image Source via Pinterest

Luckily for me I have a very crafty Mum (who's also on Pinterest) with lots of awesome craft tools and machines and while she was still in Saudi, before I even asked, she had cut out loads of colours of felt hearts in two sizes for me!  As she used her die-cutter, they were all perfectly uniform so they matched up easily for sewing.  Obviously you could just make or find a template to cut out the hearts by hand if you don't have a die-cutter or super crafty Mum!

I finally got around to doing something with them recently and spent many a happy evening on the sofa watching TV while hand-stitching the hearts together.  I used a simple blanket stitch (after a quick reminder from Mum how to do it!) and stuffed each one with some stuffing out of an old misshapen pillow.

I finished them off by tying a knot in the pointy end and burying it inside before bringing the end of the thread through the stuffing and cutting off before straightening out the point again.

Then I simply threaded them onto a pale grey piece of embroidery thread (the same colour as the wall I planned to hang them on) and tied a loop in each end.  They're just hung on pins above the Hemnes Daybed (I'd have preferred them to be higher on the wall but wanted them flush against it and the slope starts too low unfortunately) and I spaced them out properly after they were hung.

I still think they look great though and it's another thing I can proudly say I made for the twins' room.
:)

If you fancy making one yourself, you'll need:

Your choice of colours of felt (50p per sheet in Hobbycraft and more than enough for multiple hearts from each sheet).
Heart template (drawn on paper or greaseproof paper would work well)
Tailor's chalk or a pen which will mark the felt
Scissors
Embroidery threads in matching colours (90p each from Hobbycraft) plus white or grey to thread onto.
Needle
Stuffing (mine was from an old pillow but you can get it in Hobbycraft for £3)

If you choose the 7 standard rainbow colours and repeat them, and assuming you have a basic sewing kit, you could make this for around £13.70.  If you sew them like the one in the Pinterest example which looks to be sewn with just white edges on each coloured heart and on a white thread, or like me already have most of the felt and threads in the right colours, it would only cost around £8.30.

Boho style inspiration for Thailand - Pin it do it

by Bex

I'd already planned most of my holiday wardrobe for this trip but after spotting a couple more things in town, it really has turned into entirely boho style for this holiday.  I'm thinking, beads, long necklaces, fringing, tie dye and lots of floaty dresses.  Ideal for the sticky heat and long days on the beach, by the pool or exploring the local towns and national park.  My hair will most likely be frizzy in the humidity anyway (Monica style) so the straighteners are (probably) being left behind and I'll be going curly full-on frizz on this holiday.  I expect it will be mostly tied up in the heat anyway, it's already 30+ degrees over there!

Here are a few of my inspiration pins (since it's been so long since I did a pin it do it!) and below you will find a few of the new items I have bought as a wee pre-holiday treat.  i.e. I couldn't resist!

Personally I think there are two ways to do boho, the simple, stylish, neutral way and the full-on print-tastic, colourful, fully accessorised way.  I like both and will be mixing it up a bit and of course putting my own spin on the look.

Simple boho style inspiration:

L-R: One, Two, Three, Four
(I particularly love number 2 - I have a straw fedora like that, £2 from Primark last year
and I have some coloured trousers similar to number 3.) 

Then colourful prints and floaty dresses/trousers:

L-R: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Of course, the billowing cover-ups and fringing:

L-R: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

And the accessories, piled up bangles and bracelets, dangly necklaces, beads and chunky rings:

L-R: One, Two, Three, Four, Five
(I have plenty of friendship bracelets and beaded accessories.)

I've got some tie-dye dresses which I bought in Malaysia and quite a few beaded accessories already.  I also have a fab black fringed bag from H&M which they have just brought out in a pale grey - ideal for summer!  It's only £19.99 (although they do have a real suede one as well as faux leather for £69.99) and I had a voucher for 25% off so it was only £14.99.  (Voucher code = 1319 for 25% off one item and 1396 for free delivery if spending over £50.)

£19.99 - H&M

I also spotted this gorgeous pink and olive green dragonfly print scarf so OBVIOUSLY had to have it, especially since it was only £7.99 and strikes me as a bit McQueen-esque!

£7.99 - H&M

And although I definitely can't afford the Missoni sequined kaftan above, this H&M one is pretty gorgeous:

Sequined kaftan - £59.99 - H&M

Forever 21 also have some awesome boho style accessories at the moment:

 Bracelet - £3.90 and Necklace - £5.65 both Forever 21

And this gorgeous green beaded stunner - £11.65 - Forever 21

Primark also have some fab boho style things in for summer including this gorgeous fringed cover-up:

£15 - Primark

And these gorgeous chevron palazzo pants:

Palazzo pants, £12 - Primark

I also got a very flattering floaty tie-dye maxi dress for just £10 but can't find any pictures online.  It's very similar to this one but with yellow bits around the white patches:

Image Source

I have a few sewing projects (adjustments and new tops) to make before we go as well.  I can't wait to go all hippy style in the sunshine!  Which is your favourite look above?  Do you embrace boho style for the summer?

January Joy - Learn Something New

by Bex

I love trying new things so this January Joy prompt from Florence Finds is a good one to get me thinking about what new things I'd like to have a go at this year.  I am not good at learning when it comes to reading about things, I was terrible at passing exams when I had to learn from books.  I had to repeat a year at university as a result.  When I was able to learn skills and practice them and do things, I could pick things up and remember them so easily, passing exams was easier after a certain stage, once the practical work started.  I'm a very visual learner it seems.

Anyway, I suspect that's why I love crafts so much, I love learning and doing practical things.  Over the last couple of years, since all the crafting and making things for our wedding, I have tried learning lots of new crafts, helped along by the fact I like blogging about them and of course, since I discovered Pinterest!

Recently (in the last couple of years) I've had a go at screen printing (where I met Roz), making decorations out of dough, making cards, making bath bombs, re-learning how to make friendship bracelets, felting and felting patches, a little bit of carpentry (an update on that tomorrow now Christmas is over!), making gift tags and bunting, I even made an apron.

Things I'd like to learn this year include making macarons (something I have been meaning to try for ages - I even have a recipe with tips from aDizzyGirl!), making a neon dream catcher (thanks to Foodie Historian for the pin), making soap (thanks to The Mrs Makes for the idea) and I want to get more adventurous with my sewing projects.  I have lots of half made or entirely unmade items of clothing to make but keep putting it off as I need to re-learn how to sew in zips and be more confident cutting and sewing more complicated designs than cushions and vests.  Especially since I would LOVE to make myself a maxi skirt out of this amazing green sequin fabric!  I also have a half made coat which I began when I still lived in Dundee (about 8 years ago) which I'd love to finish!

I'd also like to learn more about food & fashion photography, I really want to improve my pictures on the blog, especially outfit photos.  The problem is finding a willing subject to take pictures outdoors which would be the ideal.  I always end up just posing in front of the mirror and snapping myself.  If I'm stuck with myself as my own photographer, I might try setting up the tripod in the study instead and see if I can get better shots that way.   I love sharing my outfits, it makes me more experimental with my style and I love seeing other outfit photos as inspiration and want to do the same.  I just wish I could get better photos to represent my outfit ideas, I see so many amazing outfit photos on blogs like ThankFiFi, Florence Finds and on Pinterest, I just don't know how to get such quality photos by myself.  It doesn't help that when I do have a photographer (Nik) handy, I always feel a bit awkward knowing how to pose and he feels weird taking outfit photos of me in public so it's always done in a rush.  Any tips would be gratefully received!  :)

As far as learning from a personal development objective - I've already mentioned that I'm trying to adjust my attitude this year and learn to be happier with my life, even when things are going wrong.  I am really enjoying filling in my "Happy Diary" each day, especially since it's so pretty!  :)  It hasn't been easy to keep thinking positive, we're still in another state of limbo waiting for my MRI this time and all the while we're still learning of more and more people we know becoming pregnant.  I currently know 12 friends who are pregnant and at least 17 who have had babies since we found out we can't.  There's no getting away from it, we're at that age where our friends and colleagues are at a similar stage in life and starting families.  I am actually finding it easier these days to focus on being happy for them and less on being sad that it may never be us.  It's been a while since I cried over our situation (the last time was when my operation was unsuccessful) which I'm viewing as a success!  I want to learn to deal with it better for my own sake as well as my friends'.  I want to be cool Auntie Bex, not miserable, jealous Bex.

From the list above, I will have plenty of things to keep me occupied this year, whatever happens.  Learning new things is always a good way to live life and not dwell on the bad stuff I reckon!  And just maybe we'll finally learn some good news about my body and our chances of conceiving after my MRI.  :)

Pin It Do It - Sewing Project: Bunting

by Bex

I'm super excited today as Mum arrives tonight and I can't wait to spend some time with her and get lots more sewing and crafting done!  I'm looking forward to showing her what I've been making recently and enjoying lots of exciting trips and things that I don't normally get to do with her.

I've been making some bunting for our Halloween party for #ODP2!  It's been so much fun and is actually a really simple sewing task.  If you're new to sewing or fancy giving it a try, I'd suggest this as a great project to start with.  And if you mess a bit up, you've only ruined one triangle.  (Although I find I often mess things up when sewing and it's generally easy to correct with a bit of unpicking!)

I went to Mandors to look for some Halloween print fabrics to use.  I know they have a huge range of printed cottons for quilting, etc and they always promote making your own Halloween costumes so I'd anticipated some cool ghost or skeleton or pumpkin prints.  Unfortunately I was rather disappointed as they had a HUGE range of Christmas prints and patterns but not a single Halloween one!  I did ask just in case I missed them in amongst all the other awesome prints but, nope.  I did find lots of Halloween coloured patterns and raided the 'Fat Quarters' section to select a few different ones which I thought were most Halloweeny and went well together.

Making the bunting is very easy, I decided to try it without following a tutorial but if you want a proper one, I found a couple via Pinterest but this one was my favourite image...

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250794272972449060/

The most difficult part was deciding on the dimensions for my triangles.  I took a guess at a width and chose an appropriate length to make the shape I liked.  The first one my point was a little off - the difference between 3 3/4" in and 2 3/4", oops.  The first one was a little smaller than I liked so I made it longer.  

 

Once I had the measurements right, I drew them all out before pinning and cutting.

Then simply sew the triangles together with the good sides facing in.  Trim the tip off to get a better point and turn them inside out before ironing.

A brilliant array of different coloured threads, just £3.99 from Lidl!

It's so easy.  I haven't stitched them onto the ribbon yet as I was determined to find some more Halloweeny fabrics and ordered some from ebay which are all cut and pinned but waiting to be stitched before I decide on the final layout of the bunting.  When I do, I will simply pin them into the folded ribbon and sew along catching the triangles in and sealing the folded edge.

I did also buy a few Christmas fabrics while I was in Mandors as they had a great offer on where if you buy 5 fat quarters you get an extra 1 free or if you buy 10, you get 3 extra ones free.  I chose a few olive green and white ones to make Christmas bunting to go with my usual Christmas colour scheme.

I also bought a couple of other, very cute, prints as I needed to pick more free ones and I couldn't resist the elephant print!  (A rather optimistic plan to make bunting for a nursery one day!  It can always be a gift for someone else or I can sell it if the baby plan never works out.)  My original idea for a nursery was to have white furniture, I already changed the chest of drawers in the spare room to make more space and had a new layout in mind for when we turned it into a nursery.  I wanted it to have an aqua colour scheme with lots of additional bright colours (pink, purple, blue, green...) for an under the sea theme (I know elephants don't really fit with that but look how cute they are!) with lots of my colourful underwater photos on the wall.  I think the blue and one of the aqua fabrics have a print which looks to me a bit like fan corals so they fit well with that theme.  :)

Fabric Shopping in Borneo - Pin It Do It

by Bex

Instead of a normal Pin It Do It from us or someone else this morning, this is another "intend to do it" and not strictly from Pinterest although I have looked on there for ideas, some of which you can see below.

You know I love bright colours.  You know I love shopping.  You know I love making things.  

Shopping for fabric to make things in bright colours IS SO MUCH FUN!  

The fabric shop we go to in Borneo is called Jakel Silk House.  It's where I bought all the fabric to make our bridesmaids' dresses for the wedding (and a few other pieces including the fabric this maxi skirt was then made out of) and on our trip back to Borneo this time, we went back so Georgia could have a look as she's currently studying textile design at college.  Obviously this meant Mum and I could have a good browse too!  :)  I think we did well not to buy more as the fabrics are so beautiful, reasonably priced (so much cheaper than here) and there's such a great range of colours, patterns and types of material.  Literally three floors of choice, fabric piled high with roll upon roll of gorgeousness!  Oh to be a fashion designer and be able to do this as a career!

This time we managed to find the ultra-reduced corner where I found a huge roll of olive green jersey (below) for just £1 a meter!!  I bought 5m and plan to make palazzo pants, a vest and a maxi skirt/dress depending on how much I have left.

We did have quite a pile between us by the time we were finished (after about 2 hours or so!) much to Nik's distress!  Although we did spend quite a bit, we got a lot for our money AND as I like to point out, we're paying for a hobby and time well spent as well as the fabric and resulting clothing.  I really do enjoy sewing and get such a feeling of satisfaction and pride knowing I've made a garment myself.

Being waved off by the school girls outside.

Here are the fabrics I brought back and what I plan to make with each...

This would make a lovely maxi (dress or skirt) with the ombre effect.

This was actually one I bought last time I was in Borneo which I planned to make a sarong out of.  I think it looks a bit like starfish or octopuses.

This metallic one is just to make a cushion as I just loved it as a future room decor inspiration.
I'm thinking and Indian or Moroccan style with rich teals and golds.

This one would make a lovely blouse like this bug print blouse I own.

These twp will go together nicely to make a sundress like my green one I wore in Sorrento.

These two fabrics will make lovely A-line skirts

Image Source

This one was super cheap in the sale and I thought would make a nice summer maxi but now think it would be a fab pair of Pyjama bottoms or palazzo pants or a boho maxi dress.

I think this grey & green textured one would make a lovely shift dress or one like below...

Image Source

This one is also intended to be a boho maxi dress but would also make a nice floaty printed vest

Image Source                                                    Image Source

This chiffon one was only £1 a meter!  I have to admit this was the only one I didn't have a specific plan for when I bought it.  

This is another intended maxi skirt (also very cheap in the sale, I got Roz this in purple too!)

And my massive wodge of olive jersey for vests, maybe a skirt and definitely some comfy palazzo pants.

There's certainly plenty to keep me occupied over the next year or so!!  And I still have some screen printing fabric to make into things too.  Lots of sewing posts coming up I think!