• hand print dragon
    crafts - Crafts for kids - handmade - St George's Day crafts

    Hand print dragon for St George’s Day

    April 16, 2013 - By 

    I probably bore you to tears with tales of our hand print painting. However, it is good, messy fun so I can never say ‘no’ when the toddler asks! St George’s Day is coming up on the 23rd April so I thought we would try and make a dragon using his hand prints. We needed some new supplies so headed off to our local Hobbycraft for a very enjoyable browse, returning with a huge bottle of green paint, glue sticks and a selection box of googly eyes. Check out my google+ page for pictures from our trip to Hobbycraft to…

  • crafts - Dolls quilts - handmade - Patchwork & Quilting - sewing - tutorial

    Grandmother’s flower garden doll quilt update

    April 15, 2013 - By 

    It’s three weeks since I wrote about the Grandmother’s Flower Garden doll quilt I’ve been working on. You may remember I asked for some advice as I’d got to a mini crisis point. I loved reading everyone’s suggestions so I thought I’d share a little update. I was lucky enough to find a remnant of the green material I was using for the flower border which made things much easier. My first step was to square off each end with half flowers as someone suggested so the whole shape was rectangular. Then my problems started again! I realised it was…

  • crafts - handmade

    Crafting – not just for girls!

    April 10, 2013 - By 

    Have you seen the new crafts magazine for girls called Ruby Loves? Ruby Loves* comes out monthly and includes materials to make the items featured in the issue, online content which is unlocked with a secret code, prizes and much more. Everything is contained in a paper bag and we were very impressed when we opened it as it contained the magazine, lots of craft materials and the special code to use online which gave access to extra templates, patterns, crafts and lots more goodies. We’ve all had a good read of the magazine which is bright and colourful with…

  • crafts - handmade - London - sewing - tutorial

    Pinned it made it – how to make an embroidered pegboard

    April 8, 2013 - By 

    I love cross stitch and I love trying different things so when I saw an embroidered pegboard on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. Equipment needed to make an embroidered pegboard: Pegboard White paint Paint brush Sand paper Tapestry wool Needle How to make an embroidered pegboard: I bought a large piece of pegboard (also known as perforated hardboard) from my local wood shop, gave it a light sand then a couple of coats of white undercoat. I wanted it to look a little rough so I didn’t try too hard. When it had dried I embroidered big…

  • crafts - handmade - London - sewing

    Where I join a sewing bee (kind of)

    April 6, 2013 - By 

    I really enjoyed watching The Great British Sewing Bee which started this week, it reminded me a little of Project Runway. I think it’s made by the people behind Bake Off and there’s plenty of room in my life for programmes about makes and bakes. I liked the fact that the contestants all had completely different backgrounds and loved watching how they faced the challenges. Last week I attended my first proper sewing class at The Make Lounge. I signed up for Learn to Sew: Cushion Cover+Floral Corsage which was suitable for beginners. I’ve been hand sewing for years but…

  • crafts - Dolls quilts - handmade - Patchwork & Quilting - sewing

    Grandmother’s Flower Garden doll quilt

    March 24, 2013 - By 

    I’ve been really lucky to attend both the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show as well as the Spring Country Living Fair in the last week. There was so much lovely inspiration and a fair few fabric purchases too. Grandmother’s Flower Garden doll quilt Lately I’ve been spending my precious free time making hexagons the EPP way. I just love the whole process, from making paper templates, to choosing fabrics and basting my hexagons. Somehow I’ve ended up with 4 patchwork projects on the go, all in various stages of completion. My current favourite is my doll size version of a…

  • crafts - Easter - handmade - Kids crafts - Spring - tutorial

    Hand print Easter chicks

    March 23, 2013 - By 

    Following the theme of hand print fun, last week we got messy with the paints to create some Easter cards. Hand print animals are really easy to do and require few materials. We added a good dollop of yellow paint onto the paint tray and the toddler sponged it onto one hand before carefully pressing his hand down on to a sheet of paper. We left the hand prints to dry over night and then I added some legs, eyes and a beak with sharpies. As we wanted to make these into cards we then glued them onto blank cards…

  • book review - crafts - handmade - homestyle - What I'm reading

    What I’m reading: Hand knit inspiration for your home

    March 16, 2013 - By 

    I’m on the look out for inspiration for our new home and finding plenty of it in craft books. I was recently sent a copy of Hand Knit Your home – 30 knitted projects for a modern home by Melanie Porter which is full of new ideas. Hand Knit Your home is a really interesting book as it presents a fresh perspective on decorating your home. The book is divided into three chapters and colour schemes – hot ideas, cool collection and pale palette. The projects are really inspired, ranging from a small flower vase cosy to a large floor…

  • crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - moving - tutorial

    Up inspired moving card

    March 13, 2013 - By 

    My sister is moving to the country cottage of her dreams this weekend. When we visited a couple of weekends ago we drove out to see it and it is lovely, a typical ancient cottage and it even had a stable door for the front door with roses growing around it! We thought we would make her a card as she is really excited about moving from town to country. I set up everything the toddler needed – a paint tray, big dollops of his favourite colours and some corks. We’ve painted with corks before and they’re the perfect size…