... and Fabric Christmas Tree Cards

I still had blank cards left over from the  Fabric Scrap Cards I made last year, so put them to good use a made more this year!

... and a Denim Shirt Cushion Cover

I randomly found a denim shirt in my fabric stash.... probably bought from a charity shop 'just incase'! I'm glad I did buy it though, as it meant I had something to upcycle into a cushion cover!

... and a Button Skull

We've been a bit absent recently. Sorry about that! Today I thought I'd share part of a project I'm working on - a fabric scrap book. I'm mixing up vintage materials with old pictures of skeletons and skulls and having a lovely old play with techniques such as machine embroidery, fabric printing, making embellishments etc. For one of the pages, I decided to have skull made of buttons as the focal point...

Tips, Tools & Techniques - Using Your Kids' Artwork

Hello! Here's our regular feature where we share tips, tools & techniques that have caught our eye, things we have Pinned, and things we have tried. These are probably not going to change your life(!) but might make it a bit easier...

Obsessions & Distractions - Easter Crafts

Well the Easter hols are halfway through, and Easter is next weekend! Here's some great crafts we've found that you can do - there's something for all ages!!!

... and a Fabric Flower Brooch

The girls over at Live It. Love It. Make It recently did a fab guest post for us on how to make lovely Liberty Print Button Rings. So we were delighted to return the favour and share our Fabric Flower Brooch!

Obsessions & Distractions - DIY Clocks

Here in the UK the clocks went back last night and although we miss out on an hour of sleep (boo!) it means the evenings get lighter (yay!). Here are some of the fun and funky clocks we've seen around!

... and Liberty Print Button Rings

We were really excited when the girls from Live it. Love it. Make it. got in touch. Not only do they have a fab blog (which you can check out here).... they had a button related post to share.... plus they are only down the road from us in Reading!! So today we're really pleased to share their post on Liberty Print Button Rings!

... and Handmade Buttons (a ThermoMorph Review)

We were delighted to be asked by the makers of ThermoMorph to review their product by adding our own crafty twist to it*! There are many possible uses to this product, as we will explain, but straight away we decided to make our own BUTTONS!

* DISCLOSURE - we were given a jar of ThermoMorph for the purposes of this review. All opinions are our own.

... and a Picture Frame Pincushion

You can never have too many pincushions right? As my crafting has definitely spread out all over my house (and not nicely contained within my craft room as I pretended would be the case), I felt the most sensible thing to do would be to make another pincushion. Having seen loads of these all over Pinterest, I was dying to make one that could stay on my desk in my craft room...

... and a Make Up Bag

For part of my Mum's birthday present, I decided that I wanted to make her a make up bag. I had it all planned out in my head, chosen the fabric/colours etc.... but then suddenly I realised I only had one day left and I had never tried sewing a zip before... eek!

Luckily all was not lost, as I found this great tutorial by Noodlehead which gives really clear instructions on adding a lining and a zip. I tweaked this slightly for my version, and here's what I did...

... and some Pretty Pins

We've been making lots of gifts lately - so this post is a bit of a change from that! I have been working in my craft room and realised I needed more coordinated items (actually we're meant to be starting on our Christmas stock to sell and I'm procrastinating!!!) So here are a selection of different types of Pretty Pins!

Obsessions & Distractions - "Obscure" Button Crafts

We love buttons! Have we said this before?! What better way to start off our new monthly feature than to showcase some of the best ideas the craft world has to offer for using up your stash...

You can spend AGES scouring the internet for button crafts - there are lots of lovely jewellery pieces out there (see our round up of button jewellery and some links to great tutorials here), hair accessories, button flowers and LOTS of button tree art! Of course there are also upcycled lamps and DIY coasters (!)

... and a couple of Lamp Revamps!

Hello! Today we have a very quick and easy project, but VERY effective. Revamping Lamps!

You know how we all have lamps that we have a) had for so long they are in need of some loving, b) bought because they were cheap and could have upcycling potential or c) inherited when merging property with not so tasteful boyfriends?!! My lamps are both from the c) category although to be fair to Dunc, they were just a bit boring rather than ugly and horrendous!

... and some Button Jewellery!

We love buttons. Have we mentioned this before?! We have a HUGE stash including some lovely vintage ones donated from older friends and family who had collected them for years - long before we got into crafting. After pinning many, many projects on Pinterest, we decided it was time to get on with it and we spent an evening making jewellery.

... and a Facecloth Toothbrush Wrap

Whenever I pack to go away, I hate the thought of putting my toothbrush 'loose' in my washbag. I've tried those plastic toothbrush holders, but I never seem to be able to clean them properly *sigh*! But all is not lost... while browsing on Pinterest I saw that people had made a travel wrap from a facecloth.... a perfect solution to my toothbrush related dilemma!!

Although I took my inspiration from Pinterest, I didn't follow any particular pattern and as per usual made it up as I went along! Here's what I did...

... and a Secret Storage Monster!

Mally has been a poorly boy lately. Nothing too serious but we have been at home A LOT and as well as getting on with as much work as I can from home, we have definitely been making the most of it by having lots of fun too. When Aunty Siany came round yesterday, we decided to have a proper "crafternoon" and make something we have been planning for a while!

... and a Baby Name Canvas

We have a new baby in the family! Coming from a VERY large Indian family this used to happen every 5 minutes when I was growing up... But recently it feels there hasn't been many since Mally was born. So I was thrilled to try out some new techniques for baby Tolunay (pronounced Toll-un-i) born to my cousin's daughter Sheena and her husband Erhan. He is half Indian and half Turkish and no doubt 100% mega cute - I haven't met him yet but I can't wait!!

I have seen many new baby presents on Pinterest and I immediately was drawn to doing something with his name - after all I don't think there are many ready-to-buy "Tolunay" gifts. I am not a trained seamstress but really wanted to give appliqué a go... So I have sort of cheated and made a bit of wall art for his room instead of a quilt (which I would love to learn to do one day).

... and Fabric Scrap Earrings

While out shopping with my sister, we saw some fabric covered button earrings.  Having assured her that it would be possible to make them yourself, I thought I'd better put that to the test and make some for her birthday!

I'd never made my own fabric covered buttons before... but how hard could it be right?!  Well after much swearing great patience I discovered there was a lot of trial and error involved.

... and a Button Coaster

I loved this post by Morning Creativity on DIY Button Coasters, so thought I would give it a go myself.

I decided to 'tweak' the design slightly, so instead of sticking the buttons to each other I glued them directly to a piece of felt.  I have convinced myself that I chose this method  because it then makes a nice soft base.... however it is mainly because it requires a lot less patience!