keep your eye out

Two weekends ago I paid this year's Renegade Craft Fair a little visit. I'd always wanted to go, having followed all the beautiful fairs held in San Francisco, L.A, Austin etc and now living in London I had no excuse not to. It was a pretty inspiring trip all round and lovely to get opportunities to chat to the designers themselves. Its also free (winner) and a really great place to score some cute and quirky Christmas presents so if you didn't get along this year then do go next year. Here are some of my favourite stalls... 

I've seen these gorgeous prints from Paper Moon bouncing their way around the blog world and had already even pinned a few. I think her colour palettes won me over on first glance!

Aren't these beautiful?! Gorgeous illustrations turned into badges and jewellery from Kayleigh O'Mara.

I was already following this talented lady's work but it was great to see all her lovely products laid out together on the Oh no Rachio stand. I love the simplicity in her design and the build your own succulent kits were a highlight. Had to exercise some serious self control to not buy one.

I stared at Lui's necklace selection for a good long while, imagining one of these bad boys round my neck. Stunning colours that would definitely make a statement.

These illustrations probably excited me the most! I'm a sucker for collage as you may have already realised so the Lucy Driscoll stand was a real draw. They're all so thoughtfully put together and yet retain a sense of

spontaneity.  

This collection of rainbow fun would be enough to brighten up even the bleakest, rainy days (which that Saturday was). Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes is a quirky range of perspex accessories set to put a smile on even the saddest of faces and even more impressively this talented lady is self taught.

Gold, leather and pompoms anyone?...100% yes! Benu is owned by Pauline who loves working with leather. I hadn't really even thought about what a versatile material it was until I saw these. Each design was fun and bursting with personality.

Scout Editions had some really eye catching prints, my favourites being the Bird Series. These are printed using a risograph, which I'd never heard of but it creates a lovely affect and the pops of neon colour caught my fluro-magpie attention.

What a clever idea this is! Ceramic glossed gems look almost good enough to eat, especially in all these powder shades. You'll find them at Made By ME ME ME.

Tweet

give me diamonds

It's been so long since I last posted a DIY project....too long! I don't seem to have much time at the moment and yet my head is swimming with endless ideas. Despite these endless ideas, here I am with another necklace DIY. Help me, I can't stop making necklaces! I'm not entirely sure how that happened but I'm just going to roll with it. Here's a simple idea where the star of the show is cork. It's cheap and easy to cut, so you shouldn't be left feeling intimidated.  Here's what you'll need...

• Flat sheet of cork (you can buy single sheets from Ebay)
• Rivet Punch
• Pliers
• White paint (acrylic or emulsion) and delicate paintbrush
• Gold wire
• Chain to the length you want
• Card
• Pencil
• Scalpel
• All-purpose glue
• Ruler

How to make...

1. Draw and cut out a diamond shape from your card. Then draw round it onto your cork and cut out with a scalpel. Make double for backing. You can then either draw on your design or use washi tape to mask off areas before painting with a couple of layers of white paint.
2. When dry, glue the fronts to the extra diamonds to give them thickness.
3. Then using a rivet punch, gently make a hole at the top of each diamond. Be careful as cork won't withstand lots of wiggling in one of those punches.
4. Then cut a small section of wire and use pliers to bend it into a circle leaving a gap. Thread through the cork hole and then close the gap with pliers. Then you can thread your chain through this hoop.

Then you can wear your new necklace (it's so simple it will go with anything) or give it away as a gift. Either way give it a try!

Tweet

so that was july....

From top left...

*For the first time in a reeeeeally long time July actually felt like a very generous dollop of Summer! Parks, picnics and frozen desserts in abundance.

*Busyness finally gave way to some time to rest and see my lovely Husband who somewhat lost out recently. It’s amazing how you can miss someone who lives in the same house.

*This lovely couple got hitched! It was a beautiful day and so much fun to finally get to put all my months of craftiness into action. Looking forward to sharing some more of that with you.
*With hot weather comes thunder storms, which I’ve surprisingly enjoyed falling asleep to. Perhaps the best part is waking up to a calm, stillness in the morning. I think I need to make more time for that stillness in my life. 

*Literally never thought I’d be glad to see a nineties revival filling the shops but I have to say I’m loving it! It’s just flashback after flashback. Caught up in this nostalgia, even sparkly high heeled jelly shoes seem quite appealing.

*I love the book of Ecclesiastes and was pretty pumped to hear that’s what we’d be going through in July. Another great chance to do some sermon artwork and some brilliant sermons to listen to. Check them out here.

Tweet