Martha not helping with the sewing

Couldn't even get one thread without the threat of a lost finger!

DIY Silk Stacking Rings

A great little DIY jewelry project to make something pretty (and to save some pennies!) is this tutorial on DIY silk stacking rings from The Lovely Dept. blog.

Rebecca Thuss

Absolutely love the website of Rebecca Thuss, former editor of Martha Stuart Weddings, photo stylist and all round creator of pretty things. It's just page after page of lovely things. Indulge here.

Lino Cutting for Beginners

So I tried my hand at lino cutting, something I have to admit I haven't done since I was about fourteen, cutting out a picture of a local church under the orders of my 200 year old art teacher. So I wanted a way of creating something immediate and with a handmade edge to it - literally edge, the wobbly edge variety. Within five minutes I had a bird stamp with which I adorned the front of my newly bound notebooks (stand by for the blog on easy binding!).

You may think from the pictures the stamp seems to print in rather a patchy manner but as I just used a standard ink pad and not a roller with proper ink the results were not as good but nevertheless the stamp is still great! Another easy method of printing is to paint on some acrylic with a paintbrush to the stamp and you get a lovely painted look.

First off you need to buy a little special equipment here, a lino cutter ad some lino, I bought a cutter with changeable cutting shapes on it for a mere £6 which is a great start as it gives you 10 options for cutting shapes and is a good price to give it a go without the guilt of investment! You can get them at most craft shops or online here.

Next you need a piece of lino, also available from craft shops, prices range from about 40p for small squares to around £3 for an A4 size, for my stamp I just cut a square out of a larger piece.



Next you need a piece of lino, also available from craft shops, prices range from about 40p for small squares to around £3 for an A4 size, for my stamp I just cut a square out of a larger piece.

Simply draw on your desired shape in pencil and decide weather it is in negative or positive, i.e. cut round the shape or cut the shape out, then start slowly marking with the cutter around the shape and cut away the lino. Make sure to cut the lino deep enough to prevent the other parts catching the ink.

N.B it's much easier if you warm your lino a little on the radiator or on top of a lamp for a few minutes as you get smoother edges and less crumbling of the lino.



Once you're done, use a rolled over piece of tape or souble sided and stick it to something solid, I used a wooden letterpress block to give it an even stamp as it's quite small and flimsy at this size. Then stamp away to your hearts content!


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Christmas Decorations Online Shopping

1. Fabric Christmas Pudding, John Lewis £3.25; 2. Dot Hearts Hand printed Decorations, SouthernSkirts $9; 3. 'Gwyn' Owl from Habitat, £2; 4. Lovebirds Christmas Ornaments, PrinceDesignUK £10; 5. Help for Heroes Charity Bears, Selfridges £15 each; 6. White Porcelain Bell Garland, The White Company £15

My top picks of Christmas tree decorations that are available online to shop in your lunch break. I was disappointed that Habitat hasn't a great selection online, as in store they have some amazing decorations. You may prefer to go into The White Company shop for some of their decorations as they are selling out fast - or do what I did this January and buy them up in the sale!

If the shops are a bit same same etsy.com has the world's largest selection of handmade items for sale, beware it's addictive!

The alternative it to make you own which ensures some unique and budget friendly decorations, so if you have the time, have an afternoon with some felt, origami paper and string. Try these links for some home-made ideas:

- For a modern wreath I made one from Domestifluff last year - totally worth the effort!
- Origami a go-go with this amazing star from How About Orange
- For food that will last forever, try these faux sugar cookie ornaments from Creature Comforts

If you can't find anything you fancy with these amazing blogs, my ctl+alt+del is always craftzine.com for an endless supply of making ideas.

Christmas Tree

Yay, we finished our first Christmas tree in our first house! Minus the flea market fairy on top, but she's just disinfecting at the moment. It was like opening new presents this year as I'd rather thriftily bought my decorations in this years January sales and managed to get a rather lovely selection of The White Company decorations at a third of the price, so opening my decorations box I was glad to see they'd survived the move and looked as lovely as they did in the shop (the danger of The White Company - everything in the shop looks so amazing in the shop but your house has to be chic to start with!).

With a few additions of Home Bargains candy canes (a mere 70p for 20!) and Ikea baubles, I think our tree looks lovely this year - we're almost grown ups!

Now if only we had presents for underneath...

Snow in Salford!

Celebrating the nearing of December today as I wake up to a dusting of snow across Salford. Only one more sleep until I have an excuse to create a tacky nightmare in my house - only twenty more origami baubles to make, recycle recycle is the theme this year!

Find some good starting points for origami decor here

Or try this origami wreath, a nice 15 minute project.