Thursday 18 May 2017

Our Wedding cross stitch sampler & cross stitch table numbers / letters


Wedding cross stitch sampler


Hubby and I recently celebrated our 4th anniversary. As most of you know, we handmade a lot of the things that featured in our wedding - and one of my favourites was this Wedding Day Cross Stitch Sampler. I also used the same kit to create table numbers! (well letters, actually.) I had never cross-stitched anything in my life before making this so I admit it was a bit of a plunge into the deep end, but when I saw this beautiful kit from socreastitch I just had to make it. Cross stitch is a lot easier than you might think, and many kits are colour coded. That said, this one wasn't but if I can get the hang of it, anyone can. It was such a pleasure to make - and I still remember evenings spent stitch in front of the fire stitching while hubby designed invites. We had the sampler on display on the actual day and it now hangs in our bedroom as a reminder of our beautiful day. 




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Thursday 8 December 2016

Festoon ceiling garland decoration + for Christmas or Weddings




If you fancy doing something a bit different with your Christmas decorations this year, here is a very pretty and affective way to add sparkly to your festive season. This string of ceiling decorations are so easy to make and you can easily adapt it to your own style. I had a lot of leftover baubles so I came up with this garland to make use of them. I like to keep mine simple with brown string, fairy lights and mis-matched baubles but you could easily keep them uniform or even add tinsel! 

You will need:

A length of brown string / twine / ribbon

Battery operated wire fairy lights in silver or copper

Selection of baubles 

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Wednesday 18 May 2016

How to make a flower crown + for weddings, festivals and flowers girls

A few weeks back I was invited to take part in a blogger challenge by the Luxury Silk Bedding company Gingerlily. I love a crafty challenge so I was more than happy to join in the fun. We were sent a box of silk flowers and some other bits and bobs, and with the Chelsea Flower Show as our inspiration we were told we could create anything we wanted using the silk flowers as our main element of inspiration. 


how to make a flower crown


For a day or two I kept wandering past the flowers on my craft table, while I waited for them to shout out to me and tell me what it is they wanted to become - I toyed with a fairy garden, then a summer dining display ... but these flowers were so pretty I wanted to wear them ... so I asked myself in what scenario could such flowers be worn? of course ... weddings and festivals!! So here is my floral crown - inspired by the fresh flower crown I made for my own wedding day. This would be perfect for a flower girl, a bride, and I'll certainly be dancing around wearing it at festivals this summer :-)


How to make a flower crown

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Thursday 12 February 2015

Embellished heart art - with Noolibird stamp



Today I'd like to show you how to make a beautiful, intricate piece of art which is really easy to make, you just need basic sewing skills. Basically, if you can thread a needle you can do this. This took me an evening, with one eye on 'Call the midwife' and it was really fun to make. The stamp, is called you and me and is designed and handmade by Nula, from Noolibird. You might recognise it as I used a smaller version in my how to make a simple rustic card for Valentines last year. I love this stamp, it's just so pretty and I find it incredibly useful as it suits every occasions. It's also ideal as a wedding gift, or for wedding craft, for making invites, the table plan, thank you cards, labels etc Now I plan on using this stamp for making gifts, such as artwork, lavender cushions, bunting and who know what else. All of which I'll share of course, starting with today. This is how I created some simple, yet beautiful art for the wall ... I might even make one for Mrs Miggins next door.



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Tuesday 28 October 2014

Wedding ideas magazine feature


 Earlier in the year Wedding Ideas Magazine had approached our Wedding Photographer Binky Nixon to ask we'd be interested in having our wedding featured in their magazine. During the making of our wedding I had referred to Wedding Ideas magazine for inspiration, so we were more than happy to pay it forward to other couples knee deep in planning. It's an 8-page spread containing Binky's gorgeous photographs and our story; how we made things, where we bought things and our advice for other couples. If you're getting married or know any couples that are, I'd highly recommend it.


Wedding ideas magazine feature

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Tuesday 22 July 2014

Love My Dress features A Handmade Wedding


I've been feeling quite popular this month! Last week I was Laura Ashley's blogger of the month (oh yes I was) and today our handmade rustic wedding was been featured on Love my dress! What is Love my dress? it's the largest, most widely read, multi-award winning wedding blog in the UK and world ... and today they featured our wedding! Here's a quick glimpse ...


Awww I want to do it all over again!

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Friday 11 July 2014

The making of my antique lace wedding dress - Part 2


My antique lace wedding dress - The making of



Stage 1 -  Sourcing the fabric.

    So in part 1 I told you all about my search for the right dressmaker, how I went about designing my dress and finding the right fabric. Now it was finally time to make the dress! As we were using my Normandy antique lace bedspread to make this dress, our fabric needed to be supplemented with some more 'tulle' (very fine netting) as the bedspread alone wouldn't be enough. So I sourced some 'point d'esprit' - which is a tulle with tiny dots on. Adrienne, my dressmaker from Bridal path then dyed the tulle to match our lace with ... Nescafe coffee! It worked perfectly (though always do test run first!) We then sourced some lovely shimmery satin to use underneath the lace.


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Friday 27 June 2014

How to make natural wedding confetti: with dried flower petals


handmade rose petal confetti
Photograph by Binky Nixon


A friend bought me these beautiful roses the other day. It took me right back to drying out petals to make our natural wedding confetti. It was so easy to make, and my friends and loved ones enjoyed helping us too. This was our basket of confetti on our wedding morning - we wanted dried rose petals in red, pinks and orange for our guests to throw. It didn't cost us any money to make, as 6 months prior to the wedding day I simply asked my close family and friends to dry out any roses they were given / or had growing in the garden ... and whenever I, or my gal pals bought ourselves flowers (as we girls like to do) we simply chose roses! Then on my wedding morning, my friends all popped in to see me, tipping in their confetti offerings on the way, it was such a lovely joint effort. Here's a simple guide to making your own dried petal confetti.


At the end of our wedding day, Mark the lovely caretaker had swept the confetti into a heart for us ...
Awwww : ) Photograph by Binky Nixon.


How to make dried rose petal confetti: 

I used mostly roses but there are some others in there too! Lavender, Delphiniums and Hydrangea petals all make lovely confetti too ... and a mix of colours really brings it all to life. IMPORTANT NOTE: Air dried petals can stain if wet so I suggest you use freeze dried petals if you plan on throwing confetti in the rain! otherwise they work perfectly. Also note that while fresh petals look beautiful they can also stain, and wouldn't look as pretty in pictures as they're much heavier and will wilt quickly.


handmade rose petal confetti



1.
When you've enjoyed your vase of flowers and it's looking a little tired, pull all the petals off at the flower head in one go (where they attach at the stem) As doing this petal by petal will take an age!


2.
 Lay a piece of kitchen roll (paper towel if you are Stateside) on a large plate or tray and lay the petals out, making sure they're not too overcrowd or overlapping too much as the air needs to get to them.


3.
Then put them somewhere warm and dry - an airing cupboard is perfect. That's it! When each batch is completely dried out, empty them into your basket (keep somewhere dry) and stick a fresh batch in the airing cupboard!




Photograph by Binky Nixon.


To read more, or see more pics from our handmade wedding click here.

JM x





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Wednesday 25 June 2014

Transforming and upcycling your clothes

You don't have to be a super seamstress to update your existing clothes. Here's a few simple changes that will transform your clothes and give them a new lease of life ...


Beautiful buttons!

 Change them. If you've got a pretty-but-plain shirt or cardigan, update it by swapping it's boring old buttons for some pretty colourful ones ... or even some rustic wooden ones! (which also compliment chunky knitwear).


I love collecting buttons ... and I felt these complemented this shirt perfectly.
They turned this regular shirt into something special and original.


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Wednesday 18 June 2014

My handmade antique lace wedding dress - Part 1


Like many brides I tried on quite a few dresses before I found 'the perfect dress' but unlike many brides I found my dress hanging up in my front room ... as it was my curtain. This is the story of how my lovely handmade wedding dress 'Rita' came into existence. In Part 1 I'll show you some of the other dresses I tried, and how I went about having a dress made. In Part 2 I'll show you the step-by-step making of, and how this ....




...was transformed from this .....



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Monday 9 June 2014

Our handmade wedding album - by Lacuna work




As you know we had a handmade wedding, so I wanted to find a beautiful, rustic photograph album that was also handmade. After much scouring of the net I found Lacuna - books with wooden memory. Hubby designed our wedding invitations, which consisted of our silhouettes in a ring of leaves and flowers. This image became our theme throughout the wedding, and we wanted this design carved into our wedding album too. Hana, the lovely lady who makes these (as well as lots of other things) was so helpful. She adapted our image and sent me sketches throughout the process. I asked if she'd mind taking pictures as she went so we could see how she makes them. She very kindly agreed and talks us through the entire transformation ... from the simple piece of reclaimed wood (below), to this most beautiful photograph album.

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Tuesday 3 June 2014

How to make Elderflower cordial & the 'Hugo' cocktail


Before I learned how to make Elderflower cordial I was often put off by long winded instructions and the general 'faff' that often comes with making your own produce. But I do so love Elderflower cordial so I was determined to give it a try and I'm so pleased I did - It is unbelievably easy to make, there is hardly any faff and it also tastes a thousand times better than shop-bought. I now look forward to making it year after year (as does my family) and once made you can also use it to make scrumptious Elderflower cocktails such as the 'Hugo' which I served at our wedding! I've included the recipe for that at the end too ...


How to make Elderflower cordial



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Thursday 29 May 2014

How to make simple rustic bunting - for any occasion


This video will show you how to make simple rustic vintage bunting that works for ANY occasion:
WEDDINGS, BIRTHDAYS, CHRISTMAS and GARDEN PARTIES!  

Super easy and ideal for absolute beginners and experienced crafters. 
Ralphy (my dog) and I show you how to make three types of bunting, in just 3 minutes ...

* SUPER EASY VINTAGE BUNTING * DOUBLE SIDED BUNTING *
and BUNTING LIKE YOU GET IN THE SHOPS! 

Enjoy and don't miss Ralphy's party trick at the end! :-)

JM & R xx




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Wednesday 7 May 2014

Our handmade wedding




Next week hubby and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary! *beams*
So I thought this would be the perfect time to tell you about ... our handmade wedding. I suggest you make a cuppa and curl up in a chair for this one. Those about to marry might find this very helpful, and those who aren't might also find it useful as many of the crafty ideas we used are just great for around the house and garden, lace lanterns and bunting for example. I've got SO many things to show you so today I'm just going to give you a little taster of what we got up to, and in the coming weeks I'll go into more depth on each subject; show you the making of the dress, and photos of all the crafty bits and photos from the making-of! We didn't have a huge budget to play with so my thrifty knowledge came in very handy, and with the help of family we managed to craft the perfect day. I learnt quite a lot in the process so hopefully I can pass some crafty wedding wisdom ...

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