I have no doubt that there will be plenty of entertaining in the upcoming month as we lead up to Christmas, and I’m sure many of you are looking for different ways to decorate. How’s this for a beautiful place setting, and the best part is that the napkins have been handmade using a stencil and fabric paint. You can check the original post out here for more details.
Happy entertaining!
I recently received a bunch of glass jars from Consol and they are truly beautiful to use for storage around our home. There are some in the kitchen, some in my office, one withbe jelly beans in (they don’t last long), some that are still empty cause I need to find things to store in them! With a few of these jars around at the moment I did think about using some to make some Christmas presents. What you think?
Love this gift idea for Cookies in a Jar. You can see the full post over at Make it Do, together with the free printables like the one on this jar, as well as a printables with the directions for baking.
And how about these labels for your mason jars that you give… (Seen on Older and Wiser)
Or how about this cute sewing kit from The Paper Mama
One day… seriously, one day soon I’m going to get my herb garden growing nicely… At the moment there is one lone lettuce that I’m not even sure is a lettuce… I do love these ideas..
Using a cork to mark the herbs growing – this would be perfect for a beginning like me who might need some help in this area… (Idea from Shine Your Light Blog)
How good would it be to have this hanging in the kitchen!
(Image from Pinterest)
(From Casa Sugar)
Chalkboard paint could possibly be one of the most underrated product for some DIY fun I reckon!
So… to start off with, I found this ‘recipe’ from The CSI Project to make your own chalk board paint – the great thing is that by doing so you can create chalk board paint in any colour…. (I haven’t tried this yet but am hoping it works as well as it looks!)
And once you’ve made your paint (or brought some of the standard stuff from the store), you could do something like this at your entrance hall…. imagine being able to create a personalised welcome to your family or visitors when ever you wanted to create one! This inspiration comes from The Four McGarveys
And here’s some more inspiration from Chic Cheap Nursery
Have you seen those cool glass jars with the chalk board labels on them where you can write on what ever is in the jar (like the one in the picture above).. uber trendy at the moment I think…. I’ve even labelled the pasta in my kitchen with them… you know… it’s important to label such things in case you get confused 
But… don’t you think this idea is such a great one to make your own chalk board labels – all you need is some plain white label stickers, chalk board paint and there you go -your very own labels…
You can see how it’s done at A Little Learning for Two
I say it every year…. but seriously THIS year I am going to make a lot more of my Christmas presents for family. There I said it… Christmas.. I know, it’s only September, but I know how it works, before we know it, it’s like the 22nd December and we’re frantically scrambling for last minute presents. This year… I’m going to be organized… and going to make gorgeous, loved filled gifts (only for those family members of course who will appreciate handmade goodies!)
So…. for those of you with gardeners in the family – don’t you love this idea – fabric covered pots that you could fill with seeds, gardening gloves etc. The tutorial says not to use them outside, but I reckon perhaps on a verandah might be a happy compromise to grow some herbs in? (Says me who can’t keep a weed alive, ha ha, it just sounded nice believe that I could grow a herb garden on my verandah in such pretty pots though)
The tuturial can be found over at Christine Chitnis
Pop over to www.jamtin.co.za to view a selection of stunning handmade South African wares, or to become a lister yourself
When ever there is a fridge with alphabet magnets on it I find it difficult not to try and quickly put a word together… not sure if that’s just me!! I’m thinking these scrabble magnets (tutorial available here from Oh Crafts) might be a great project for the top half of our fridge and keeping the bright plastic alphabet magnets for the bottom half
Pop over to www.jamtin.co.za to view a selection of stunning handmade South African wares, or to become a lister yourself
Such a cute idea… perhaps for a market day for kids, or just a sweet idea for something different for cupcakes… love the added touch of wrapping a spoon around the cups… You can see the full tutorial over at Nothing But Country
Did you know that it’s “Choose Glass Week” this week, and so in honour of this I thought I’d put one or two posts up on using glass.
First off – here’s 5 reasons to choose glass
Follow this link from Chez Beeper Bebe for a tutorial on how to make these Mason Jar Lanterns.
Love this idea from Completely Coastal to display photos from a summer holiday, either for your holiday home or as a reminder of a special holiday when life returns back to normal.
Here’s some more examples from Design Sponge where they’ve used glass jars to display photos.
How simple is this idea for using glass bottles for vases. I’m a sucker for this kind of decor!
(Image seen on Tiny White Daisies Tumblr)
I’m always a fan of colours, and just love these revamped pieces of cutlery from More Design Please. There’s a tutorial on their website if you’re up for trawling some second hand shops for some cutlery sets that need some colour added to them to give them a new life
So if you’re reading this blog, then you probably don’t need much convincing about how trendy and popular crocheting and knitting have become again. Anyway, for anyone wanting to give crocheting a try (and if you’re anything like me, a crafter can hardly say no to starting a new project when it involves different wools, in difference colours). Here’s an amazing blog, Attic24, that you really should visit for stunning colour combinations, as well as a great tutorials that are really easy to follow.
My favourite tutorial from the Attic24 blog is for these granny squares… check it out here….
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