Friday 23 August 2013

Tutorial Stall - Village Fair at the South Bank Centre

 Tutorial Stall - featuring 12 UK Craft Bloggers


 
This weekend (24th and 25th August) the Southbank Centre is hosting a large scale quintessential Village Fair including stalls, traditional games and crafting.

The key theme of the fair is community and bringing people together to share their passions. This is explicit in a series of interactive talks titled the Craft Code Village, which explore the relationship between the craft community revival and the Internet. In response to this the Southbank Centre have invited 12 Craft Bloggers from across the UK to create a collective Virtual stall on their blogs for the weekend of the fair - and one of them is me!

Crafters traditionally share their practice at market stalls and sell their goods as a way to generate income, whereas craft bloggers are more likely to share online and often share how to make their craft too. What happens when craft bloggers create a virtual stall?

THIS is the result: a Tutorial Stall sharing one link to each blogger's favourite DIY tutorial on their site. It provides a chance for all 12 bloggers to simultaneously share each other's practice to their readers and through doing so celebrate the very foundation of Craft Code Village.   

Participating Craft Bloggers (click on the link to be taken to the tutorial)

1
DIY Plastic Taxidermy by Pointless Pretty Things

2
DIY Dip dyed Shoes by Trends with Benefits
 
3
DIY Rubber StampPrinted Handkerchief by Davina Drummond at The Making Home

4
Crochet pin cushion by Crafting Finger

5
Woven ribbon lavender by Tales From Mountpleasant

6
Flower Fabric Badges by The New Craft Society

7
Felt Streamers by This is Wiss

8
Little Paper Book by Some I Made

9
Teacup Embroidery by Ailie Willia

10
Booboxes by Emily Quinton at the Start Up Wife

11
DIY Curve Bead CordBracelet by Claireabellemakes

12
Bunting Notebook by Papermash



I hope you are feeling inspired and please let me know if you do follow our tutorials - I'd love to see the results. Happy Bank Holiday!

Thursday 22 August 2013

The Village Fair Virtual Stall - This is Wiss Tutorial for Felt Streamers

This weekend the South Bank Centre in London is hosting a quintessential Village Fair, with an urban twist! There will be stalls to browse, traditional games to play, local brass bands, and loads of crafting. For more details of the events on Saturday and Sunday then check out the South Bank Centre's website.

The key theme of the event is Community and bringing people together to share their passions. I am really excited to be part of the Virtual Tutorial Stall, where rather than selling items 12 craft bloggers are sharing ideas and giving tutorials, so that you can make rather than buy. Interesting idea, huh?
 
 
Here is my tutorial for quick and easy felt streamers. Perfect for celebrations, decorations or maybe to go on a stall of your own...










Tuesday 13 August 2013

*NOW ENDED!* Win a Personal Planner...

My name is Angela and I am an addict.

I am a stationary addict! There is nothing I love more than a new notebook or sketchbook and the joy of writing (in my best hand) on the first page. Yes, I have my iPhone with it's notes, calendar and other fancy apps but I still prefer to have things written down on paper. I have so many things happening at the same time, deadlines to work to, and now Wiss has social engagements of his own to keep up with I find it useful to be able to see it all in front of me on the page. This usually involves post-it notes and many scraps of paper. But not now!

I was given a Personal Planner notebook at Brit Mums Live! and was instantly attracted to what they do - you are able to create your own planner or notebook exactly as you would like it. You can choose from 4 sizes, upload images for the front and back covers, choose the layout of the diary, add To Do boxes (love this option!), print your contact details at the front and even add all the birthdays and other important dates you have to remember so they will be printed on the relevant day.

I was given a free voucher to create a year planner for myself and it arrived this week! I chose an A5 diary, with equal spaces for the days of the week plus one for notes on each page spread. On the front cover is a picture of Wiss, and my husband and I on the back. Each planner or notebook comes with a rigid clear cover, an elastic closure, a ruler/page marker and a plastic sleeve for all those receipts and random bits of paper you always collect.




I love the 'To Do This Week' section at the bottom of each page as it has a box to tick for 'Started' as well as when you've 'Done'! There's nothing like ticking boxes to make you feel productive, in my opinion.

 
Another wonderful feature is you are able to customise the back pages by choosing from a range of options - I went for some squared paper and the 'colouring book' pages (great for keeping little ones entertained in an emergency!)
 
You are able to start the diary from any month you wish, which means it could make a perfect gift at any time of the year. The only problem I have is I made mine to begin in September so I've still got a couple of weeks to go before I can start using it!
 
It is clear that I love this product, and I think you will too so why not enter this competition to win a Personal Planner of your very own?
 
COMPETITION! It's really simple to enter: just leave me a comment below making sure that I can get in contact with you (so no anonymous entries please) and that's it!
 
Good luck!
 
The small print: The competition will end on Tuesday 20 August at 8pm (GMT) and the winner will be chosen at random from all the entries received. I will contact the winner within two days of the competion ending and I will also announce the winner on Twitter. The winner will receive a digital gift voucher for any size planner/notebook to use on the Personal Planner website. Prize could be worth up to £24.98
I have not been paid for this post and the prize has kindly been given by Personal Planner.

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Dining Room Art Gallery

When we moved into our new house, our dining room was a large white box with nothing in it at all. It looked like a new art gallery, but obviously it couldn't stay that way for ever! Furniture was moved in, shelves were built, stuff got deposited in various places like it always does, but I kept one wall blank. One large white wall that I hoped would become our art gallery throughout the year.

I've mentioned many times how much I like the MADE website. It is a huge inspiration for many things but I particularly like the ever-changing house decorations she makes (halloween and snowflakes for example) I thought that Wiss and I could make something every month to go on the Art Gallery Wall - it would be a nice activity to do together and we would be able to make something topical or seasonal as the year went on. (As you will see, we've not quite done it monthly but you know how time goes so quickly!)

I've tried to use a variety of crafts so that Wiss gets to experiment with different materials and mediums. I really enjoy the time we spend together talking as we make, and it's been a really good way for him to begin to understand the passing year, and how things change, as well as making some great art. He is really proud to have his work on display and because it's in the dining room it's a great focal point.

So here's our Art Gallery catalogue so far...


January - Paper Plate Fishes for our Octonauts Party




February - Folded Paper Painted Hearts

Wiss admiring his work whilst creating the next exhibit




March - Easter Eggs, Chick & Bunny using stickers, tissue paper and glitter pens


Using glitter pens for the Easter Eggs
May - Spring Flowers using cupcake cases, egg boxes and tissue paper (with 100 drawn ants!)

Sticking on foam cubes for the 'sun'

Sewing packing foam chips onto wool for the 'rain'

June - Our British Summer!


 
We're due a new exhibition very soon - while it's sunny it may be a good time to do some really BIG art... What do you think?
 
And if you've not got space for a large wall gallery how about this Kids Art Display idea from Davina at The Making Home? The curtain wire could be fitted into any available space and you could hang new pictures up as often as you like.
 
As always, I'd love to see what you have been making and creating so please leave a comment or link below and show us all!