Craft Project for Hillarys Blinds Country Craft Competition

Hillarys Blinds have released a new competition where you are to 'Cut, stick, stitch and blog your way to £1000!'. Now how could this not catch a craft lovers eye?

You could choose between four beautiful materials, then they would send you a 100cm x 100cm sample cutting of your choice for you to craft whatever you like.

This was incredibly exciting, as think of all the possibilities!? Now I'm not great with a needle or thread but a bit of a whizz with a nail gun, so i knew the type of craft I wanted to make. Definitely some sort of upcycling!

After choosing my Bird Parade Teal material (which I fell in love with) I got planning my project.

After careful consideration I decided to make a picture board. I felt the material was so beautiful I wanted to be able to see it in all it's glory. So why not create something lovely to hold all my pictures and notes? It seemed like a match made in heaven.
Now if I'm really honest the task didn't go quite to plan at first. I had a large piece of chipboard from a broken Ikea frame and thought this would be perfect. However once I went to staple into the board all my staples bent! I tried a nail and that wouldn't work either. At this point I realised the board was way too hard for this purpose and abandoned it. Thankfully I had a brand new canvas almost the same size in the loft, so after some attic hunting I got that down to see if that would work. I can tell you now the a blank canvas is perfect for making a picture board!

Now I was back on track, the process went very smoothly. And here is the finished product!

So want to make one?

Equipment needed:

- Canvas

- Material

- Padding

- Staple gun

- Butterfly pins

- Bradle

- Scissors

- Ribbon

Firstly lay down the canvas and wrap the padding around it to ensure it covers it all, as well as over the edges. Holding it carefully to the board, turn it over to it's face down, and staple down the padding all around the edges of the frame on the back. 

Once this was done do the same process with the material - it's important here to hold up the canvas and check you're happy with the placement of the pattern of the material (you don't want half a peacocks head cut off at the edge!). Then repeat the process of nailing the material to the frame, pulling it tight as you go. 

Once this is done trim the excess fabric, and ensure it's secure. For extra security, I nailed the inside of the frame as well.

Now the next part is securing the ribbon. Decide what pattern you want the ribbon to display (e.g. rectangle squares, diagonal, diamonds etc..). I went for a simple rectangle criss-cross so not to cut through the peacocks or to distract too much from the material. Measure the ribbon across the board and ensure you leave enough at each end to wrap around and staple - like you did with the material. Cut accordingly then measure where you want the ribbon to go. It's important each ribbon is symmetrical so I used a ruler and marked where it was going in pencil. Then one at a time wrap tightly around the board where you want it and flip it over ready to staple it down. Repeat for each ribbon. 

Now, once the ribbon is secured you want to make the intersections. I first used an upholstery pin (could use a drawing pin) to pierce through where the ribbon meets through the canvas. Then remove pin. Now using a bradle you are going to slowly make this hole you've now made bigger. A good way of doing this was separately, so lift the top ribbon and push the bradle gently through to make the hole slightly larger, then repeat on the ribbon underneath, and again with the hole that goes into the canvas. Then line all these pieces back up and you should be able to push a butterfly pin through to the back. Once pushed through, keep it tight and then open the pin at the back to secure it.

Repeat for all intersections.

That's it!

I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this craft project and I'm thrilled with the finished product. The material is stunning and I now have an item to base my new decor around.

* Check out the competition and the winner announcement here: http://www.hillarys.co.uk/inspiration/the-hub/2014/country-craft-competition/ *

Instagram washing line

It's been a year since I went travelling (in fact this time last year I was in Cambodia right now). So feeling nostalgic I felt it was about time I displayed some of my favourite travel photos in all their glory.

I had already printed some Instagram versions of my favourite pics in a Polaroid style so now it was just a question if how to display them.

I wanted it to be simple,  but effective and cost efficient. I believe I have that with my photo 'washing line'.

Pegs & String are main components 

What you need to do it yourself: 

- String

- Scissors

- Small nails and hammer

- Blank wall (or space where you want the line to hang)

- Wooden pegs

- Printed photos (any style you like, polaroid, standard etc..) 

My blank wall

Firstly I measured how long I wanted the washing line to be against the wall, then marked the ends on the wall with a pencil, and cut the string to the right length. On each end of the string I tied a small loop (can be a bit tricky so allow extra string to make a large loop then pull it tight to make it small enough to fit the nail head). I then put down my strings and placed the nails against my pencil mark - one each end, and hammered them into the wall. 

Now you can hang the stings on the nails so they lie against the wall, just like a washing line. 

Now all you need to do is using the pegs, peg them along the line however you want. I did seven on each line and had them equally spaced and matching to each line. Then add your photos to the pegs. Done! 

So easy and really effective. 

Finished!

Another diagnosis

Who else watched Celebrity Big Brother?

The truth is that I actually barely watched but had an interest in a few members so watched it occasionally/while I did other jobs. 

Something I noticed was that we rarely saw Sam Faiers (from the tv show TOWIE). I thought she had been evicted several times as they barely showed her.  And now it has been revealed why.

She has been diagnosed with Crohns disease. I disease I myself know too well.

My first thought was "that poor woman" having to have it announce itself while in the house as besides being a crippling and painful illness when it's flaring, but also having an incredibly embarrassing set of symptoms - which I couldn't imagine showing in front if friends, let alone strangers and the general public! 

It's a disease that is often misdiagnosed and hard for people to understand.  It's comes under a collection of illnesses known as 'invisible' as others can't physically see the disease,  they have to just believe you when you say you're in agony and sudden weight loss for example, has not been done on purpose. Sam was accused of being anorexic (as was I once) by ignorant and judgmental people.

What is Crohns disease exactly? 

Crohns disease: "a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines, especially the colon and ileum, associated with ulcers and fistulae."

There are many symptoms associated with this disease. Symptoms are due to inflammation in the wall of the affected parts of the gut. When the disease flares up, the inflammation may cause one or more of the following:

• Diarrhoea is the most common first symptom. It can vary from mild to severe. The diarrhoea may be mixed with mucus, pus or blood. An urgency to get to the toilet is common. A feeling of wanting to go to the toilet but with nothing to pass is also common (tenesmus).
• Pain occurs in about 7 in 10 cases. The site of the pain depends on which part of the gut is affected. The last part of the small intestine (ileum) is the most common site. Therefore, a common area of pain is the lower right side of the abdomen. When Crohn's disease first develops it is sometimes mistaken for appendicitis. The severity of pain can vary from person to person. Also, a sudden change or worsening of pain may indicate a complication (see below).
• Weight loss that is not intentional is another common symptom.
• Ulcers. An ulcer is a raw area of the lining of the gut which may bleed. You may see blood when you pass stools (motions or faeces).
• Generally feeling unwell, which may include loss of appetite, fever, and tiredness.
• Anaemia may occur if you lose a lot of blood.
• Mouth ulcers are common.
• Anal fissures may occur. These are painful cracks in the skin of the anus. Skin tags (small fleshy wart-like lumps) may also appear around the anus.

So as you can probably see this can be a very distressing and debilitating illness. I wish Sam all the best and hopefully the public will start showing more sympathy to the condition.

Do check out the Crohns and colitios UK charity if you want to help support people with the condition or to learn more about the disease. 

http://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/

Personalised present for new baby Roo

My childhood friend has recently had his first baby and I wanted to get him something special.

Although I missed the baby shower I saw a picture all of the presents, and they got everything they could need and more. So what do you I get a child and his folks who already have everything?

I thought perhaps I could make something. I've been more adventurous in my craft projects lately and I thought I'd have a go at crafting something.

After researching some ideas I decided on making a padded letter to go on the wall of the nursery.

So I began by drawing and cutting out a large 'R' letter (his name is Rueben) out of cardboard. Then found some material and light padding to put inside. After cutting around the template - slightly larger than the letter to fold the edges over, I turned the letter over to glue to the back. To do the corners I had to cut into strips to bend neatly across each other and not to cause bunching in the fabric.

I had to neatly trim away any excess padding as that ruined the clean edges and made the glue difficult to stick. After gluing the outside edges I left it to dry overnight.

The next day I focused on the center piece of the letter, which was more tricky. In some places I used staples to increase the staying power. I was able to do this because of cardboard was congregated and the padding hid where they'd gone into the cardboard. I covered the back with another layer of glue ready to lay the back piece of material and seal it, to create a professional finish on the back. This had no padding so the material stuck easily with the craft glue.

Finally I went round the edges with some scissors to make sure there was no excess material or fraying.

Although the letter wasn't perfect I am pleased with the final result and the parents have put it on baby Roo's door already!

New Job - New Outlook

Recently I have joined a new organisation. I have only been working there two weeks and yet I feel a significant change.

So I had been job hunting for a solid two months and had a vague idea of the type of work I wanted - organisational, working with people, especially young people, guidance roles etc.. but it seemed these jobs weren't readily available or not quite right.

http://www.the-challenge.org/

However along came The Challenge. The Challenge is a national charity that provides the National Citizen service to local young people. We provide an extensive summer programme to get young people aged 15-17 engaged in social action projects in their local areas. Over three weeks they will experience team building, skill development and running their own social action campaigns for local communities. Then over four weekends in September they go into action and work on real projects and campaigns. I am now a member of Midlands office running the programme all over the West Midlands. I am now Assistant Programme Manager for North Birmingham. 

Without sounding biased... the programme is amazing. It's ingeniously designed, allowing residential time just for fun, teambuilding, independent living experience, social interaction within community groups and more. It's great for social cohesion amount their peers as well as the partners we mix them with. The projects are carefully and painstakingly fine-tuned (trust me) to make sure we are fitting all the aims of the charity. The social interaction is for all parties and we try to create a legacy. This is not a case of volunteering some time then off they go back to their own lives.. this is contributing to things that have long time meaning and changing peoples views. 

We run a youth board with young people who have graduated from last summers programme.  As a newbie I went to meet some of the kids and help with an upcoming project of their own. I was overwhelmed by the feedback. There was one girl, Emma* who had Autism (not that you could tell) and she told me that before The Challenge she was in a one-to-one school unable to learn without additional support. After the summer she went straight into a mainstream college with no support and is loving it. She had tears in her eyes as she said to me "The Challenge is the best thing I've ever done, it has changed my life, I really don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing now without it". Wow. How much more accreditation do you need to know you're contributing to a good thing? 

The job is tough no doubt about that, but I can see already how rewarding it will be. I'm proud to think I'm going to help make this happen. Today I lead my first meeting to make a partnership with a local day centre for adults with physical disabilities. The place has a great atmosphere and lots going on. We arranged to run some projects in the summer where our kids can do some photography projects with the service users. I really think it's going to be great. I just know, even as I type this, that if these projects go well I'm going to be an emotional wreck by the end of the summer... it really does feel so good to be giving something back and supporting communities. 

Tomorrow I'm off to help a colleague run a project with Cerebal Palsy Midlands and a group our of kids making videos diaries. Wish me luck!