Guest Post - DIY Macrame Pot Holders

Today I have my first guest post whilst I am on holiday, yay! It is brought to you by illustrator, cat enthusiast and succulent queen,  Harriet Gray!...

hello everyone, my name is harriet and today i'm taking over laura's blog!

i know laura is partial to a bit of diy, and like me, i know that she is very fond of the little green things that are slowly but surely taking over my tiny flat ... i'm talking succulents!

i'm a little bit obsessed with them! so i thought i'd introduce you to some of my favourites from my collection ...

i decided to take a few cuttings from my string of pearls succulent, and now that they've rooted it's time to pot them up. being a trailing succulent, they like to be free to hang, so i thought i'd make some simple mini macrame pot holders! ... and 'cause i'm nice, i made a little tutorial for you to follow!

you will need : a succulent, planted in a small pot (my pot is from ikea, if you were wondering), embroidery floss in a nice colour, a pair of scissors.

1. cut your floss so that you have four strands measuring approx. 60 inches in length.

2. gather them together *neatly* and fold them in half.

3. using the looped edge as the 'top' make a knot about half an inch down -

this will be what you hang your finished creation from

4. lay your thread down and section the threads out so you have 4 groups of two - you might like to  place something heavy on the 'top knot' to help you in the next steps (else it can get a little fiddly!)

5. gather two threads at a time and knot them together approx. 9 inches down the length of the thread.

6. repeat steps 4 and 5, only this time make the knot about 3 inches down from the previous row

7. again repeat steps 4 & 5 this time the knots are about 1.5 inches away

8. yep, you guessed it, repeat steps 4 & 5 about 1 inch down from the previous knots

9. tie all your threads together in one big knot (like you did at the top)

10. chop off the scraggly ends with your scissors to make a nice, neat tassel!

all that's left is to hang your succulent somewhere sunny and admire your lovely new pot holder! hooray!

Thanks Harriet!  These Macrame pot holders are the prettiest! Also, I think we all now want your tortoise plant pot! You can follow Harriet's blog here and visit her shop here.

Don't forget to come back on friday when I have Claire from Claireabellemakes guest posting with another brilliant DIY!

Laura xXx

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Getting organised with a Blog Organiser!

I have discovered that I am happiest when I am most organised. Unfortunately I've been rather disorganised lately, especially with this here blog!

I currently have about 5 different note pads containing all my ideas, brainstorms, to do lists, notes and goodness knows what else! I'm sure I have a lot of really useful information in them, but finding it is going to be virtually impossible. Today I am solving this problem!

A little while ago I saw another blogger reveal her blog planner. Unfortunately I have since completely forgotten who this was (another reason I need an organiser), so if this looks familiar please let me know who I can credit the original idea to.

Anyway, instead of just keeping ideas in a book, this clever blogger had decided to use an A5 ring binder. This way pages can be inserted or removed and it will still remain tidy! If there is a topic I have forgotten I can add it at a later date. Hurrah!

Now A5 ring binders seem to be a little difficult to track down. However, I finally found one at trusty Paperchase. You can find it here. I also decided to buy a pack of coloured card, as well as a pack of note paper, which is meant for a recipe book. I would actually recommend buying this lined paper instead as it is cheaper.

Of course, the outside of the organiser is very important. I decorated it using a white gel pen and (you will never guess) pretty coloured nail varnish!

You might recognise the font, it is my favourite and features in the original Wrapped Up In Rainbows logo. I copied each letter from here. You can download it for free too.

Inside I have decided on 5 categories.

Initial Ideas - For me to write down brief ideas as they come to me

Ideas - For when I want to fully draft my ideas

Notes - When I see good blogging advice in books I am reading or on another blog

To Do... - A growing list of all the things I want to do to make my blog as good as it can be

Brainstorms - I like to brainstorm my ideas once a week so this is a good place to keep track of them

Sketches - If i have an idea that I can't quite put into words, this is where I will squiggle it out

How do you organise all of your ideas?

Laura xXx

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DIY Jumping Clay Space Invaders

In my Crafty Creatives box last month I received some Jumping Clay. I had never heard of this before and was unsure what to do with it until I saw Claireabellemakes post, where Claire used a button mould to make little clay buttons.

You may remember a while ago I made some chocolates using a space invader ice cube tray. Well, I decided to get that back out and make some cute little space invaders that I can keep!

It was a pretty simple process as you can imagine. The two little tester packs I had made exactly 4 space invaders. The clay itself is quite interesting, it's a lot lighter than any other clay I have used before, and it does bounce if you drop it! At the moment they are sitting happily in my office, but I am quite tempted to turn one of them into a brooch. What would you do with them? 

Laura xXx

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DIY Natural Face Mask

The other day I tried out something a little different. I had seen lots of DIY facemasks online and decided to make my own out of stuff I already had in the cupboard.

Please be warned, whilst wearing this mask you WILL NOT look pretty. I actually kind of scared myself when I saw myself in the mirror, I looked like something from the blue lagoon! However, rest assured that your skin will feel silky smooth afterwards!

Ingredients

• Half an avocado
• I teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon honey

As you may know, I am a bit obsessed with avocado. I had run out of different meals to add it to, so I thought I would put it on my face instead! Anyway, all you need to do is either mash the ingredients together or mix them in a blender.

Before using the face mask, make sure you have cleansed your face thoroughly, then apply a hot wet cloth to your face to open your pores.  Leave the mask on for about 10 minutes then wash off. Now you should have lovely soft skin, hurrah!

Laura xXx

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Before and After - DIY Colourful Vase

Today I have a fun and simple DIY for you. We are going to turn an ordinary glass jar into a pretty colourful vase! All you need are the following:

• A glass jar
• Plasti-Kote Paint (The colour I have used is Aqua Satin)
• Washi Tape
• Newspaper for protecting your surface

I used an old Roses glass jar. It used to be full of the Roses the sweets, now it is going to be full of the flower instead! You can use whatever you can find. If you haven't got anything bigger why not use a jam jar and use it to hold smaller cuttings of flowers. Here is how it looked before;

First up, you need to clean your jar. Next, protect the area you are going to be using to spray the jar by covering it in newpaper, and make sure the area is well ventilated. Spray the paint onto the jar using the instructions on the can. 

Mine took 3 coats in total. Leave it to dry. I love how the raised pattern of the rose came out on the side of the jar. I decided to add a bit more decoration to the vase by using washi tape to cover the top area where the lid would screw on. The great thing about this is that I can swap it for a different pattern whenever I like!

What do you think? I think its great when you can make something pretty out of something you just had lying around. Also, I am quite obsessed with this colour at the moment! Chris bought these lovely flowers for me by the way, he is a good boy isn't he!

Laura xXx

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DIY Fancy Brogues

You know how much I love nail varnish right? Well, today nail varnish is going to be partnered with shoes! Cute little black brogues to be precise! I like a bit of colour and these seemed a little bland, so I thought, why not!?

The handy thing about brogues is that you already have a line to follow when painting! I picked 2 of my favourite varnish colours, but the bottles were coming to the end of their lives. Then I simply painted in the lines. It took 2 coats in total.

Below you can see how they looked before:

And here's after

I could probably have painted a little bit neater, but I think they came out great! And if I get bored I can just paint over it!

Laura xXx

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Guest Post at Caught On A Whim - DIY Cross Stitch Bracelet

I am super excited to be guest posting over at Caught On A Whim today, while Erica is on holiday. It is such a lovely blog full of wonderful DIY's. You really must take a look!

You can take a peek at my DIY Cross Stitch Bracelet Tutorial here. Hope you like it!

Laura xXx

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Hair Tutorial - 80's Curls

Today I wanted to share with you the results of my attempt at this hair tutorial from The Glitter Guide. I actually first tried this for last New Years Eve party, as it was an 80's theme. It worked so well I wanted to see if I could pull it off in everyday life. I love curling my hair but I don't like the idea of damaging it using curlers or hair straighteners too often. Well this is the perfect solution as it involves no heat whatsoever!

Please excuse the myspace-esque photos. I didn't have a Chris handy to take them for me. Also, I find it very difficult to take photos of myself without making silly faces, you may notice this in a moment...

When still damp (but not too wet) simply twist segments of your hair into little buns. (You have done it correctly if you are starting to look like Bjork or one of the members of Alisha's Attic) I also sprayed a little hair spray onto each bun as I finished it. Then sleep on it! In the morning untwizzle them and seperate the hair and you should have something similar to above. But whatever you do, don't brush it! If you are in a hurry you can also do this with dry hair, just make sure you use lots of hairspray, then leave to set for a couple of hours. 

I was pretty shocked at how big my hair was to begin with! But it soon calmed down into some rather nice waves. It seems that my hair doesn't hold a curl for very long at all! Luckily I quite liked the way it tuned out in the end. One of those styles that looks naturally tousled in a boho, bed head sort of way. (even though it did take me a fair bit of time to achieve this 'I've just got out of bed' look!)

I've been looking at lots of hair tutorials recently. My hair is getting pretty long now so there seems to be lots more I can do with it, I'm looking forward to trying some more! Have you found any good hair ones recently?

Laura xXx

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DIY Tutorial - Customised Jumper using Fabric Paints

If you follow me on twitter you may know that Chris and I are hunting for our first house at the moment. To help us in our quest I decided to make a lucky house hunting jumper! (Of course)

A little while ago the people at The Works gave me a voucher to spend in their store! Yippee! Among the crafty bits and bobs I chose was a set of fabric paints. This gave me the perfect excuse to put my crafty hat on and try my hand a DIYing my own jumper.

Supplies:

• A jumper
• Fabric Paint
• Some fabric transfers of your choice
• Pins
• An Iron

First up, pick out a cute design. Mine came out of 'The Bumper Book of Embroidery Transfers'. This is authentically vintage as it was my mums and it's got to date back to the early nineties at least! 

Pin your designs upside down to your jumper.  Try to avoid using the pretty pins with little coloured plastic bobbles on the top. I used these once and the iron will melt them very quickly onto your lovely jumper, and that probably isn't the kind of unique design you were going for.

So, once you have them pinned securely in place you want to carefully iron over each design. You can peel back the corner of the transfers to see how well they have taken, if they are missing areas or are not dark enough then just iron a little more! Once you are happy that the whole design has been transferred you can unpin them.  

Now get your fabric paints and start painting! You can see above how the transfer came out (the lighter areas of the design) and the areas I have started to paint. In the end I decided to just use the black paint, but i might add some pretty colours at a later date.

I found that the nib of the paint a little too large for the intricate designs of my pattern, so i resorted to using my nail tools to do the job, but they actually worked quite well! Although it made it a little more time consuming than i would have liked.

I think it turned out pretty good, what do you think? I'm not sure how the paint will wash yet, but it looks like it will hold up well. If my new lucky house jumper helps me to find a house like that one then I shall be very happy! Well, I can dream! Wish us luck!

Laura xXx

P.S As I am posting this Chris is putting in an offer on a house we went to see this morning, eep! 

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DIY - Colourful hair grips

Here is a super easy DIY I came up with last weekend. It's really quick, and I bet you'll already have everything you need to make them - colourful hair grips!

 What you will need;

• A selection of pretty nail varnish colours
• Hair grips/Kirby grips/Bobby Pins (or whatever you call them!)
• A piece of card

See, I told you you wouldn't need much!

All you need to do is line up your hair grips on a piece of card, then simply paint across the top of each one with your chosen colours. Thats it! Obviously wait for them to dry before putting them in your hair, or you could end up with a bit of a mess!

I just love having colourful accessories! You have probably noticed by now that I like to spruce things up with nail varnish. If not take a peek at my DIY Biro's, DIY Rings and DIY Buttons.

Laura xXx

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Satchel Revamp - Before and After

I have been hunting for a cute turquoise satchel for some time now, but I couldn't quite find what I was looking for, so I decided to try out a little bag makeover! If you want to give it  a go yourself, here is what you will need;

• A satchel (obviously!) Thrift it, fish it our from the back of your wardrobe or buy it new, the choice is yours!
• A tin of Plasti-Kote Super in your chosen colour
• Masking Tape
• A very well ventilated area
• Newspapers or old cardboard to protect the floor/table you are spraying on
• A pretty piece of card or paper

This is what the bag looked like to begin with. I found it on ebay and decided to not spend too much in case my plan didn't work out. All I wanted was a large satchel with a front pocket, so that is what I got! Then I searched for the perfect colour, this was a little tricky as I needed a paint that would cover any surface. I finally found a Plasti-kote super colour that I loved (cool jade) and ordered it online.

Now I will enlighten you with the seven secret steps to making the satchel of your dreams;

1. Pick a well ventilated area. I used the garage with the back door open so as not to gas myself!
2. Prepare your work area by covering in newspaper or old cereal boxes. Don't leave any gaps and cover as much as possible, the paint goes further than you would think!
3. Cover the clear front pocket with masking tape to protect it from the paint.
4. Open the bag out flat. Do not leave it closed like I did (pictured above). Not the end of the world but it meant that when I opened it I had a whole area unpainted, and I had to give it another couple of layers to even it up.
5. Following the instructions on your can, spray a thin even layer over your bag. My paint told me to leave it to dry for an hour until you applied the next coat.
6. Go and make a cup of tea and watch 'Bargain Hunters' for an hour, then come back to paint your next layer, you will probably want to turn the bag over and do that side before you start layering up the first side.
7. Make another cup of tea and watch 'Come Dine With Me', then go back to your bag and paint another layer. Repeat this process until the bag is covered to your satisfaction. It took me about 5 journeys to the kettle in all, but of course I was having to turn the bag each time, so I would say 2 coats overall would be enough.

Once the bag was completely dry I hunted out some pretty paper to go in the clear pocket at the front. I always keep any paper that comes in packaging so I easily picked out this little flowery number, which matched the colour of the bag nicely.

One word of warning... I wouldn't wear white jeans with this bag!  I carried it next to a white paper shopping bag for the day and at the end I noticed the bag was looking a little green. This was only the day after I painted it though so it may be ok after being left to dry for a while. If I still have the same problem next time I will look to see if there are any clear 'sealers' that I could spray on top.

This project has made me want to paint all my bags different pretty colours. Although what a really want is a proper Cambridge Satchel Company bag, especially since I just visited Cambridge. I shall just have to save my pennies for one of those though!

Laura xXx

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