17/04/2016

Living room update - easy gallery wall

What else is a bank holiday for if not a bit of DIY? So over the Easter weekend we put up this super simple but highly effective (if I do say so myself) gallery wall. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that despite living in our house for over a year, these are the first pictures we've put up. And considering how much more homely they make the place feel, I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner! 


As promised, they were really easy (and cheap) to do. The frames are from The Range and were a bargain at just £3 each for a 10x8" frame, Wilko and Ikea would also be good places to look for cheap but stylish frames. The photographs are all ones taken by me (most have featured on the blog in one post or another) on various holidays over the last few years. I ordered them from Truprint for just 99p each meaning the whole thing cost less than £25.

As the frames are all the same it made placing them so much quicker than trying to design a mix and match gallery wall. I also wanted a cleaner, more uniform look for the living room. Plus I'm saving the mix and match gallery wall for our hallway!



To put them up we started with the middle two frames and worked outwards, making sure the gaps between the frames were all 4cm. We also made sure to measure each frame individually rather than just assume all the hanging hooks were in the same place – which was a good call as they weren't! 

I think we did a pretty good job and as a bonus they make the room feel bigger and taller too.

Would you have a uniform gallery wall in your home or do you prefer the mix and match style? 


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10/04/2016

Crochet phone case pattern

Because phones need stylish knitwear too.

This easy crochet phone case is perfect for stash busting and uses a simple double crochet (UK) stitch throughout. It's embellished with a pale pink crochet chrysanthemum, but the decoration for yours is completely up to you. Get creative with beads, cross stitch style motifs, flowers, bows, anything you like! 

I love a quick project that you can finish in a few evenings and this would make a great (dare I say it…) Christmas gift, just customise the colours and decoration for each lucky recipient. The pattern is intended for an iphone, mine is a 5c and it fits perfectly but for any other phone just widen or shorten as needed. The finished case measures 7cm x 15cm.


Hook: 3.5mm
Yarn: Sirdar simply recycled 

Pattern
The case is worked continuously in the round so a stitch marker is essential, unless you have an absolutely amazing memory. 

Foundation round: work 30 foundation single crochet stitches (this is a US term, I assume the UK equivalent would be foundation double crochet, either way there’s a great tutorial here – scroll to the bottom of the page for the video version). It basically creates your foundation chain and the first row of double crochet stitches at the same time, which is a lot less fiddly than creating a long chain and working into that.

Join at the bottom of the first foundation crochet stitch and place your marker.

Work 30 rounds of double crochet into the back loop only.

Slip stitch into the first stitch of the last round and fasten off.

Seam along the bottom and turn inside out.



Flower
The chrysanthemum is from 100 flowers to knit and crochet by Lesley Stanfield. I’m constantly stealing borrowing this book from my Mum as there are so many cute flowers to make, next on my list are lavender stems and a poppy in time for November. 

What would you customise yours with?



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DIY leather tassel key ring

How to make a leather tassel key ring (without a glue gun) in less than 30 minutes


Add a pop of colour to your outfit with this simple leather tassel key ring DIY. I needed a bit of yellow to add to a recent party outfit, so decided a little handmade leather tassel charm was the answer. It's easy, quick and cheap to make. Most other leather tassel tutorials require a glue gun, but as I don't own one you can make this simply by using a slipknot and needle! 



You will need:
Small piece of leather or leather type fabric 
Keyring or similar (I used the clip from an old lanyard)
Scissors
Needle with a large eye



How to:
Cut your leather into long thin strips and set one strip aside.



Thread the strips through the keyring and hold in place.



Create a slip knot in the piece of leather you have put aside making sure one end has a long tail.



Thread your slipknot over the top of the key ring and pull tight. Cut the short tail from the slipknot.



Thread the longer tail through your needle, wrap around the tassel to cover the knot then thread underneath to secure.


Attach to your bag or keys! 

I'm loving this sunshine yellow at the moment, what colour would you make? 





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