Give Nana's ornaments a facelift

You've seen them before - the forlorn looking ornaments gracing the shelves of pretty much every charity shop.  Give those ornaments a new home and a new lease of life with this super quick tutorial I made for Craft Candy.

Toilet roll craft pinatas

Who knew loo rolls could be so cute!  I made this tutorial for Craft Candy who are celebrating their birthday this month.    Instead of being filled with sweets, these pinatas are filled with crafty treated instead.

Build a little birdhouse in your soul...

"Not to put too fine a point on it, Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet, Make a little birdhouse in your soul"...

Here's a little DIY cardboard and pom-pomy birdhouse demo which will surely cheer up your soul (Please note, any bibliophiles watching this video and cringing at the book being cut up - it was already damaged!) 

Flashback: Helen Musselwhite

I first found Helen Musselwhite's work back in 2010, and wrote about her intricate paper cut creations on this blog.  I have recently seen her creations cropping up on Pinterest a lot lately and wanted to show her current work to you all again, in case you missed it first time round.

Helen lives just south of Manchester and takes a lot of her inspiration from the countryside round there which is obvious from her work which feature lots of British flora and fauna.  Helen has been busy since I last featured her and her work has been used on many magazine covers and advertising campaigns, including Audi, Cadbury and Nokia and also window designs for Stella McCartney and Smythson.  

I love to read about people making a living from something they LOVE doing, which is sadly a bit of a rarity in this day and age.  You can see how much care and attention goes into her work and its lovely to read on her website that ..'I think it’s simply that I love doing this so much I can get totally lost in what I’m doing and the time passes by without me noticing. I’m at my happiest when I’ve nearly finished a piece that I’ve been really caught up in – sometimes I feel quite bereft when I’ve finished them!..'

DIY round-up: height charts

Do you remember standing up as straight and tall as you possibly could while your mum or dad marked off your height on the family chart, willing yourself to be a whole 3 or 4 inches taller than the year before?  I do, and although I've never made it past 5ft tall I was always excited to see my progress on the tattered giraffe growth chart.   Here are some creative ways to create height charts that look pretty on display all year round with the added bonus of being able to take them with you if you move house:

Burlap Chart

Measuring tape

This measuring tape by Variations on Normal was made and used as a diary, but you could do the same thing for a height chart.

  
Giant ruler

Trending: Pom poms

Traditionally, pom-poms were simple creations made by children but they seem to be having a bit of a grown-up renaissance at the moment.  Pom-poms are being turned into all manner of homewares and used to decorate clothing and accessories and have recently been seen on the catwalk too.  Join the trend by adding these fluffy delights to scarves and blankets, turn them into garlands, poufs or necklaces and even make chandeliers from them.  Have you jumped onto the pom-pom train yet?  

Pom-pom fashion

Pom-pom pouf

Pom-pom scarf

Pom-pom garland

Pom pom chair

Pom-pom flowers

Pom-pom chandelier

Flashback: Swarm

When I first featured Swarm, it was back in 2009, after I found this video (which will make you want this man's job, as the then current buyer for Anthropologie, he may have one of best jobs in the world!) Swarm, aka Leslie Oschmann, used to be the Visual Director for Anthropologie and you can see the great and unique design, which is often seen in Anthropologie's amazing goods, in her work.  Combining old furniture with oil paintings she finds in Dutch flea markets, the result is particularly eye-catching.

Trending: Weaving

I remember the first time I was introduced to weaving.  I was 9 years old in craft class and our teacher, Mrs Sayer, gave us each a yoghurt pot with 5 or 6 cuts made vertically down the pot to its base.  She gave us some little balls of wool to weave in and out of the pot slits and once finished it was offered to our Mums as a Mother's Day gift.  I can't say it was my finest work, but I remember it was lots of fun.

It seems weaving is having a bit of a renaissance if Pinterest is anything to go by and I'm a big fan of this contemporary take on a very traditional craft.

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Mister Finch - Maker Spotlight No.2

There is an absolute wealth of talented artists and craftspeople based in my home county of Yorkshire and Mr Finch, who creates fairytale-like fabric taxidermy is one of those.  Most of you have probably come across his incredible textile sculptures before, but for any of you unlucky enough to have missed it until now, here is a little sneaky peek at this man's fascinating creations.  

In the words of Mr Finch 'Velvet curtains from an old hotel, a threadbare wedding dress and a vintage apron become birds and beasts' he loves to hunt for objects to include in his work.  He plays with scale in a lot of his work too. Moths and bumble bees would usually be things that would fill me with abject horror, especially giant ones, as someone who is pretty terrified of moths and insects in general but Mr Finch's work is so beautiful, I find myself drawn to it, like a moth to a bright light.  A lot of his inspiration comes from nature and British folklore. Mr Finch says 'Humanizing animals with shoes and clothes is something I've always done and I imagine them to come alive at night. Getting dressed and helping an elderly shoemaker or the tired housewife.'  

If you get the chance, do go and look at his facebook page too, full of images of his work and links to odd stories he has found, like a video of the last glass eye maker in Britain.  

Hen party craft workshop

A few weeks back I did my first hen party craft workshop, I've done lots of craft workshops before, but never a hen party workshop.  As with all my workshops, I used Jam jar Beads' upstairs studio, which is a great light space for workshops.   The ladies had come from all over the country to Sheffield for the the hen do.  I had a lovely time teaching them how to make feathery fascinators and beautiful button-bejeweled brooches while the ladies got to snack on Fancie cupcakes and a spread of sandwiches and dips too (and of course the obligatory teas and coffees) to fuel their creativity.  It was a hive of activity and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and went away with some super accessories to be proud of.  If I get any photos from the ladies showing off their lovely wares, I will be sure to show you.

Make Do and Mend- New TV show co-presented by yours truly

(Presenters: Lucia Kempsey, Simon Wright, Jo Behari)

Last summer I was shortlisted for a craft expert TV presenter role, and after a lot of nailbiting and embarrassing appearances in front of the camera, I got it!

Last autumn we filmed 20 episodes for Channel 4 for the series which is called Make Do And Mend and features 3 experts: me, the craft expert Jo Behari, the DIY expert and Simon Wright, the food expert. We spent time with a different group of people each week, in a different town or city teaching people how live life more thriftily. We tackled all sorts of projects for the show, I showed contributors how to make and upcycle all sorts of things including including reupholstering, altering clothing, charity shopping, making driftwood mirrors, and tonnes more simple projects, and all on the super-cheap!

The show starts next Monday at 12.05pm on Channel 4 and runs for 20 episodes each weekday for 4 weeks. Please watch if you can and also head over to the Make Do and Mend Facebook page

New website!!!

Yay!!!! I finally got myself organised and got myself a new website with the help of my boyfriend (who designed it) and Applebox Designs (who did all the tech bit and the online design). There are workshops, tutorials, surface pattern design and more to have a gander at on there so go check it out the new Bettyjoy website here and let me know what you think.

Fashion forward

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Apologies for my absence - the wedding planning and such are sending me a little Bridezilla to put it mildly. I'm all over a lot of the new fashion trends at the moment and thought I would share some of my finds this week.