A Spot of Upcycling

Hello everyone and a belated Happy New Year!
As with a lot of people, New Year to me is about fresh starts, new hobbies and learning a little more about yourself. In fact, next weekend I will be attending a jewellery workshop at our local Heritage Centre as this is not something I have tried before. I will be sure to let you all know how that goes! 
In-keeping with this New Year theme, I decided that for my first craft project of 2015, I would give something I own a new lease of life. Now this is my very first upcycling project, so I would love to know your thoughts (and tips for any future ones).

Back on my 13th Birthday, my best friend bought me a jewellery box that looks like a little wardrobe... And I loved it! I've always remembered the excitement on her face when she handed it over to me to open. Around a year later, she moved to Australia. We still keep in touch and she actually got married in December last year - so congratulations to you both!

Now, over 10 years later I still have (and use!) this jewellery box as a memory of our friendship. Over the years, decor and taste changes and so to bring my jewellery box up-to-date, I thought I would give it a little makeover. 

I worked on this over the past few weekends in the spare moments of time I did get. It did involve a little waiting around, so it was great as a project to keep going back to when I had a spare 5.

Please feel free to use my process for this as a guide for your own upcycling project. 

To start, make sure you protect your work area with an old sheet to allow for sanding dust and paint splatter.

Before I could do anything to the jewellery box, I had to prep it. I started off by covering all the components that I didn't want to get paint on (such as the handles and glass) in masking tape for protection. If you are able to unscrew and remove such components, you are best of doing that.

The jewellery box was coated in a layer of varnish so I then had to sand the whole thing down with sandpaper to remove it. I am not going to lie, this part was very tedious and took a fair bit of time and elbow grease. This process can create a lot of dust, so you are better off doing it in an open space. If I am to go totally health and safety on you, I would recommend wearing some kind of respiratory mask as well!

As sanding down does create a lot of dust, you will need to make sure to wipe down the jewellery box afterwards. I used a soft cloth which I dampened so that any loose dust would stick to it. Make sure to dispose of any loose dust that has also gathered on your sheet. With the dust out of the way, there will be no dust-related mishaps when painting!

Once the jewellery box was sanded down, I got some white primer and coated it with this as a base for the paint to adhere to. I needed 2-3 coats of it overall.

My dad had a spare tin in his study so I just used this. I wouldn't go out and buy any specifically for such a small project, as I can guarantee a family member would have some lying around somewhere!

Once I had coated the jewellery box in 2-3 coats of primer, I started to paint. I didn't want all one color as this would have just been too similar to what it was before. I opted for a pale gold to lift the mocha tones throughout our bedroom, and mixed my own dark teal colour for contrast. As this was a small project, and wouldn't be used to the extent a piece of furniture would be, I just used acrylic paint - which I had plenty of!

This process took a long time as I had to keep going back to it. Not only this, but the fiddly parts such as inside the compartments and ensuring I didn't get the teal on the gold sections and vice versa, took a lot of time. I painted 3-4 coats overall. 

Once the paint had dried completely, I was able to remove all of the masking tape that had been used for protection. To finish off, I inserted a cut sheet of paper featuring a contrasting stripe pattern behind the glass panel in the door of the box. Papers like this can be found in most craft / art shops. This particular one was taken from the Wildflower Premium Paper Pad which can be found from The Works. I simply cut it to size, and then used double sided tape to fix it directly onto the back of the glass panel.

And there we have it! My very first upcycling project, and first completed project for the New Year. Hopefully this time next week I will have some new handmade jewellery to keep inside it!

I would love to hear your thoughts and see your upcycling projects too. The whole process has become so popular and accepted over the past few years and its intriguing to see how creative people can get.

Again I hope you have enjoyed the read and that I have inspired you to do something creative in your spare hours.

Keep watching this space.

Zo..x

Handmade Christmas Cards

Hello my lovely people and welcome to 2014! I know this is probably not the best time to publish a festive-themed post, but (to put it simply) I have just not had the time to sit down and type away!
I have always been one of those people who isn't happy unless I am so busy that I want to cry. That is why this Christmas I decided to make my own Christmas cards. When I told people about this idea, they mentioned how expensive this process could be. Now seeing as I am trying to look after the pennies, I made it my mission to do this as cheaply as possible. I already had some blank cards and envelopes, so this was a good start! 

To make the above cards, I simply rummaged around my bedroom to see what I could find. I managed to find use for the following items:
- Blank cards and envelopes (5x7") by Papermania - available at most craft stores
- Black and white paper from old sketch books - sketch book paper is very good quality and lovely to work with
- Leftover Christmas wrapping paper found in the loft
- Christmas ribbon left over from last year's gift-wrapping
- Buttons from my sewing box (accumulated over the years)
- Festive Washi Tape (I admit this was a new buy, but was used for this year's gift-wrapping originally)
- A range of patterned papers from inside craft magazines
- Tissue paper
- Stamps and ink
- Cat biscuit boxes used as cardboard for mounting and backing
- Paint charts
- Festive-themed templates (stockings, bells etc.) I printed off from the internet



We are all guilty of hoarding a little - whether it be hanging onto glittery wine bottle bags to re-use on your Aunt's next birthday, or keeping hold of that pair of jeans you will fit into again one day. 
My point is, if you are thinking of making your own festive stationary next Christmas then have a mooch around to see what materials you can find in your own home. 
For example, the background to this card on the left is left over wrapping paper. The black paper is from an old sketch book. The brown paper is left over gift-wrap and I used my stamp set to spell out 'Merry Christmas'. Both the Christmas tree and its background are made up of colourful papers that I ripped out of craft magazines. Mags such as Craftseller usually include tear-out papers that are great for card making and other projects. They also include many card-making ideas for inspiration if you're not sure where to start.
I put it all together using double-sided sticky tape and finished off with some festive Washi Tape. To give a little depth to the card, I adhered the Christmas tree using 3D foam adhesives (a must have for card making).
It is always worth cutting out bits and pieces and having a play around first before sticking everything down. This way you can see which arrangement looks best for each card. 
Don't be scared to go bold and colourful! As you can probably see, I love mixing patterns and for some of my cards, I wanted to go a little less obvious on the colour scheme. 






With this card I went a little more traditional in theme and colour. I also played with different textures, incorporating ribbon, fabric, card and paper. 
The background is made up from robin themed wrapping paper. The central panels are made up of sketch book paper and brown parcel paper. All of these components were secured with double-sided sticky tape. To make the bauble, I drew around a template onto cardboard from a cat biscuit box! In-keeping with the bird theme, I mounted some scrap fabric from my sewing box onto the bauble shape. The bow was also in my sewing box. I think it fell off some clothing a few years back. I finished off the look with some Christmas ribbon I saved from the year before. I mounted the bauble with the 3D foam adhesives. To stick down the fabric, ribbon and bow, I used Bostik Glu&Fix all purpose extra strong glue. This can be found in most craft and stationary shops.

On this card, I used more wrapping paper and papers from craft magazines. I stuck with my stamp kit to spell out a seasonal message - I just love the playful charm stamps add to a craft project! The denim tree has been cut out of an old magazine and the button baubles are from my sewing box.

This design is one of my favourites purely for how simple it is and how well it worked. I had an old Sanderson paint chart in one of the drawers under my desk and from it, I collected up a range of the paint sample squares in green hues to create a Christmas tree. 

To top it off, I added a large star in a contrasting pattern and colour. 

The beauty of this project was how little it cost. It was so satisfactory to hand make unique Christmas cards from everyday items and them hand them out to family and friends.

If you have any questions on how any of them were made or have any general feedback, please feel free to post a comment below. I would love to know your thoughts. 

I love handmade cards of any sort so please share your crafts too!

For images of each of my finished Christmas cards, visit my Facebook Page.

I hope I have inspired some of you to make your own seasonal stationary and that you enjoyed the read.

Keep watching this space!

Zo..x

Take A Seat At...

I'm sure you are all aware that table numbers play an important role in a wedding - even though they are such a small part of it. Your guests will walk through the doors, into the reception room, locate their name on the table plan, see the table number and off they pop to sit at their seat as happy as Larry (until they realise who they are sharing a table with!). 

Now I believe that just because table numbers are functional doesn't mean they can't be pretty - I mean they will become part of the decor after all. Because of this, I have decided to do just that, and make my table numbers part of the decoration.

Design Idea

The theme of my wedding is quite 'English Country Garden'. In-keeping with this, I have decided to name my tables after flowers rather than give them a number. After meeting with my florist, I gathered up the names of all the flowers being used on our big day and hey presto! I had my table names.

Once I had decided on the table names, I started to think about how to display them on each table. Before long I had four main elements I wanted to work with:

        - Photo frames

        - Floral paper

        - Diamantes

        - Pearls

The idea was to display the table names in attractive photo frames, backed onto floral paper and embellished with diamantes and pearls. In my head it looked lovely - I just had to try it out...!

___________________________________________________________

I started by choosing floral paper to mount the table names onto. I have used the same 12"x12" papers as I did on my Save-The-Dates to maintain continuity. These good quality papers come in a 32 pack (16 designs, 2 of each) and are available from Daisy's Jewels and Crafts.

I should be having around 10 tables at the reception (including the head table) and have chosen a different style paper for each one.

I wanted to add a touch of glamour and interest to the table names. Whilst visiting my recent home-away-from-home (Hobbycraft) I found some self-adhesive diamantes and pearls that would do the trick. I decided to add both to the mix and alternate them around the table name. The fact that they were self-adhesive sold them to me. This meant less mess to worry about and I knew they would look neat (no excess glue to ruin the look). 

I chose some thick, good quality paper in a parchment-style for the table names to be typed on to. I thought this style would add some charm and mix well with the floral patterns. I decided on the same font that I used on my Save-The-Dates for the Flower Names. To impress the passionate gardeners on my mum's side of the family, I included the Latin name underneath to add an extra touch!

Now even though I loved this idea and wanted it all to look as high quality as possible, I had a slight issue with finding the correct photo frames. As you know, they are not the cheapest of items to come across if you want something that looks half decent. I found that on average, the kind of frames I were looking at were around £8.00, which is £80.00 altogether!!! As I am trying to do a wedding on a budget, this just wasn't feasible. 

After a lot of searching, and thinking until my brain hurt I came across some pale blue and silver glossy frames in.... wait for it.... Poundland! Which came to a grand total of £11 (I bought one extra just in case). They fit the bill perfectly and look a lot better than one would have expected. During the process of creating my own decor, I have found that you really have to search, rummage and think a little more outside the box to get your perfect look for good money. 

And here they are! The end product.

In case you are wondering, they did take a little while, but I worked on them gradually in my spare time. This made them a fun little project. My one niggle would be the measuring out on each and every one to make sure every piece of paper were the same size and every diamante and pearl were spaced evenly. Having said that, precision is not a bad thing!

I would love to know your thoughts if you have any. Would you have done anything different? Maybe you have worked on something similar yourself. Keep me posted.

Keep watching this space.

Zo..x

Handmade Save-The-Dates

Hi guys! I know it has been a while since my last post, but the ball is really starting to roll on the hand-made stuff now so hopefully my posts will be a little more frequent! My next post is on my Save-The-Dates.

Now if I'm right, Save-The-Dates are more of an American tradition and we Brits don't tend to send them out. However, they do seem to be growing in popularity throughout the UK now. With our wedding falling on a bank holiday weekend, I thought this would be an ideal way to let my guests know early on and I could get in there before the thought of any weekend getaways!!

Right. Now the idea for my Save-The-Dates was again country garden - to compliment my evening theme. This immediately brought bunting, floral patterns and pastel colours into my head. With this to go from, my mum took a trip to Hobbycraft after work. Here she found a few bits and bobs for me to work with, and come up with a final design.

The Design Idea
Bunting - Four different flags strung together with pretty craft string and 'draped' across the front of the Save-The-Date.
Florals - Floral-print paper to trim the interior.
Pastels - Metallic pastel paper to mount the information onto.
Mini Calendars - A handy calendar card to the inside of the Save-The-Date for the guests to keep hold of. 

The Front
What I really like about this design, is that each and every Save-The-Date is different - due to the different bunting flags and string colour. 
The flags came with pre-cut holes which was handy for neatly threading the string. Once threaded, the flags were held in place by the use of mini square 3D foam adhesives. 
I love these because it prevents the design from looking too flat. The double sided foam adhesives can be picked up from most art shops and are very cheap. 
The blank cards themselves fitted the theme perfectly, as the bottom edge represents lace and also features rose motifs. These cards, the bunting flags and the string were all picked up from Hobbycraft (which recently has become my second home!!).

The Interior
These 12x12" papers were used for the inside of my Save-The-Dates and worked really well - especially for covering up the string from the bunting! I got them from an online craft suppliers I found called Daisy's Jewels & Crafts. The papers are very good quality and come in a 32 pack (16 designs, 2 of each) and have come in really handy for other wedding related projects - shhh! I'm not spilling just yet!

Here is a sneaky of the inside. The information and the mini calendar were printed on good quality, textured card. The information was mounted on metallic, pastel blue/green paper. All were fixed with the foam adhesives. 
The card and the metallic paper are from my recently acquired second home; Hobbycraft.






The Finished Product
Again, I love the personal touch. The fact that each one is different, causes me to like this even more. To be honest, I have spent many evenings making these. However, having other projects to work on and leaving myself plenty of time to do them, I have really enjoyed creating them - it has been fairly therapeutic!

I have added an extra personal touch by investing in a stamp that reads 'Handmade By Zoe' which I absolutely adore! If you are into making Christmas cards etc. and like this idea, then personalised stamps like this are available from NotOnTheHighstreet (love this site).





If any of you are thinking of creating your own Save-The-Dates, invites, order or service sheets or anything like this... I would definitely say go for it! Yes, it takes a little time finding all of the materials, but the outcome is so rewarding. Not only this, but the guests seem to appreciate them too!

I would love to know what you think, and if anybody has made anything similar to this... I would really fancy a nosey!

Keep watching this space,
Zoe..x