MADE London - The Design & Craft Fair

Readers of my blog will know how much I love making stuff - anything and everything. I adore handmade. Regular readers will also know that I had a baby a year ago, and finding the time as a mum of two, to make things for my home, my family, or even myself has been much more challenging than I thought! But although my 'To Do' list of future projects is ever growing, a girl can still look (and buy) can't she?!

There is such a wealth of talent around these days and some really wonderful events that showcase new designers and makers. I am really excited about the upcoming MADE LONDON Design and Craft Fair starting next month on the 22nd October and open until Sunday 25th. There will be a whole range of products on show from furniture makers, glass blowers, textile designers, woodworkers etc. I've only been shown a small preview of some of the goodies on offer but just look at these:

MADE LONDON is being held in a particularly stunning building too, so not only are there 4 floors of makers to explore, but the Grade 1 listed church built by John Soane is an attraction itself too.

I can't wait to be inspired, impressed and hopefully make a purchase or two! Tickets are available now...

MADE LONDON – The Design and Craft Fair 

One Marylebone, London, NW1 4AQ

22 – 25 October, 2015

Open 11.00 – 17.00

£10 on the door, under 14s free

info@madelondon.org 

www.madelondon.org

@tuttonandyoung

#madelondon

Easy Halloween Decorations to Make with the Kids

We got our hands dirty in the name of art this week!
 

 

Our Dining Room Art Gallery needed a new exhibit, so we went spooky for Halloween... Floating Ghosts and Creepy Spiders! These are so easy to make the kids can do most of it themselves, and they look fantastic too.

For the Ghosts you will need:

Some polystyrene cups, some plain white tissues, pva glue and some googly eyes.
Then all you need to do is turn the cups upside-down, paint around the base of the cup with glue and stick on one tissue, making sure there is enough hanging down past the cup. Repeat with another tissue to create a full ghost effect.

Once the glue is dry stick on googly eyes as desired. Hang away from the wall with fine thread (to create the illusion of the ghosts hovering). The ghosts will move whenever someone walks past....oooooooohhhhhh!

The spooky spiders are made from two black hand prints cut out and stuck together and their web is just cut from folded tissue paper (like you would make a snowflake)

 

I have always loved the Mexican Day of the Dead imagery and think that it is a wonderful idea to celebrate those no longer with us. The brightly coloured sugar skulls and fun skeletons are in contrast to our own spooky ones, and they are great for kids to make (especially those that may get a little frightened by Halloween.)

I drew a very basic skull shape with eyes and teeth and left the rest up to Wiss and his glitter pens! As he was drawing I explained that the festival remembers the happy lives of those who have died so that we don't have to be sad. He thought for a minute then asked if we could paint a happy 'Jimmy'. Jimmy was his black fancy goldfish that was unfortunately found floating on Saturday morning :( So, here are our Day of the Dead inspired skulls, and a fish!

 

Enjoy Halloween with the kids (and the sugar-induced craziness!) but if you're looking for something more grown-up then check out the Horniman Museum website. They are hosting a Day of the Dead Late night on 7 November from 6 - 9pm for over 18s only. With parades, theatre, puppets, Mexican street food and costumes, it looks amazing!!! See you there?

Tutorial Stall - Village Fair at the South Bank Centre

 Tutorial Stall - featuring 12 UK Craft Bloggers

Village Fair at the Southbank Centre

 

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!

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...



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!