Craft Cupboard 2.0 - Week 1 - The Haberdashery Shelf

So I made a new years resolution that I was going to learn a new craft every month this year so 2014 is definitely going to be a busy year. However before I can even start to think about that I had to do something about my craft cupboard. I had been so busy crafting on the run up to Christmas that I had just shoved things in everywhere and it was now over flowing.

Then it hit me - why don't I merge tidying my cupboard with learning a new skill - WOODWORK!!!

I started designing craft cupboard 2.0 immediately and was very pleased with my plans, masking taping them to the wall for inspiration

I couldn't wait to get started the next day and dragged my boyfriend to the local DIY shop (Homebase) to help me pick out wood. I was all ready to by sheets and sheets of wood but Quinn recommend I just buy a couple to get me started and then if it works out ok then I can come back for more. Luckily it had turned out I'd bought enough for 1 shelves worth of wooden tidies and that was hard enough work in itself! Turns out my plans to have the whole cupboard finished by the end of this week was a bit inspirational but I am very happy with what I've managed to achieve.

The first shelf I started with is my Haberdashery shelf for all my material, wool, buttons, ribbon and thread. I didn't think I had to much for this shelf but it turns out there was lots of things hiding in there and I might need to do a wee bit of a further clear out

For the stuffing and wool I just made your average box. Actually the material one is the same but I wrapped the material around piece of cardboard before slotting them into the box so that I can easily see what I have to hand. I made two of these material boxes, putting one in front of the other.

For the 3 in the middle they were slightly more complicated so I've made a tutorial for each in case you want to learn how to make your own!

Thread Holder

Button Drawers

Ribbon Holder 

Hope this inspires you guys and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll have some more time to tackle another shelf

I'll be back xx

Get outta my drawers!

You can never have enough buttons but I have loads and they are in every nook and cranny of my craft cupboard so as part of craft cupboard 2.0 I wanted to make my own set of drawers to store them in. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be although I won't be winning any prises for my woodwork skills just yet as it was all a little bit wiggly! Still as long as the drawers pull in and out, what ease do you need?!?!

What you need:

Wood (I got 6mm thick MDF from Homebase and a thinner one for the sides of the drawers)

Wooden dowelling
Wooden angle moulding (you can find this next to the dowelling in Homebase)

Hot glue gun

Step 1

Cut the wood to fit the space you are doing to put it in. My shelf was 38cm tall by 38cm depth and I had a 14cm gap on my shelf, so I cut the following:

38x38cm - 2 pieces (sides of outer drawers)
38x10cm - 2 pieces (top & bottom of outer drawers)
38x12cm - 1 piece (back of outer drawers)

36.5x8.5cm - 3 pieces (bottom of drawers)
36.5x4.5cm - 8 pieces (sides of drawers)
9.5x9cm - 3 pieces (front of 3 drawers)
9.5x5cm - 1 piece (front of top drawer)
8x5cm - 4 pieces (backs of all drawers)
36 cm angle dowelling - 6 pieces (drawer runners)

2.5cm long dowelling - 4 pieces (handles)

Then sanded it all down so that it was all ready to be glued together.

Step 2

Glue the top and bottom of the outer drawers to the left hand side at a 90 degree angle.

Step 3

on the left and right hand side of the outer drawers, measure even spaces of where you want to place the drawer runners, making sure you put them at the same distance down on both sides. I made mine shorter than the wood you are gluing them to and then glued them so that there was a small gap at the front and the back.

I also wanted my top drawer to be slightly smaller than the others so I left a little less space between those runners and the top of the drawers.

Step 4

Flip the right hand side over and glue it down so that the runners are on the inside. Then you can glue the back piece onto your outer drawers as well

Step 5

Now you want to make your actual drawers. Glue the two side pieces onto the drawer base at a 90 degree angle. Repeat for all 4 drawers

Step 6

Take the front and back pieces and glue them on. I then went round the inside of all the drawers and did a layer of glue as I hadn't cut the wood quite straight enough and this filled in all the small gaps so no buttons would fall out.

Step 7

Take your small pieces of dowelling and glue one to the front for each of your drawers.

Step 8

As an extra step you can also make some dividers to glue into your drawers. This worked well for my drawers as my shelf is so deep it meant I could keep the drawers thin and make the most out of the length of them.

I also put a triangle divider into the top drawer and then covers some stuffing in material to make a small pin cushion, so that I could store all my pins and needles in a safe place.

Step 9

Then just put each of your drawers into the outer structure and fill it with all the bits and bobs you have lying around

I'll be back xx

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Hopefully by now you are all getting in the Christmas spirit...are at least getting some spirits in you!! But between all the drinking and eating, you decide you want something different from your traditional Christmas tree, then this tutorial is definitely for you!

What you need

• 3D Christmas Tree (This one is from hobby craft and was given to me by my AMAZING friend Tatum)
• A shed loads of buttons (I needed about 3x300g bags - which also came from hobby craft)
• Black spray paint
• silver paint
• scouring pad
• assortment of beads
• glue gun

Step 1

Working your way round the tree, glue on your buttons. I used a hot glue gun at it makes sure the buttons are sturdy and don't start pushing each other down.

Step 2

Take the tree outside and spray paint it black, making sure you get in between all the little buttons. Also make sure it's not windy when you do it as I learnt the hard way when the black paint came back in my face! Bring the tree back inside and leave it to dry. I put it next to the heater and it dried in no time.

Step 3

Once the tree is dry, put a very small amount of silver paint on the scourer and then dab it on some paper so that there is only a thin layer. 

Gently rub the scourer down the tree until you have silver lines over the top of the buttons and you are happy with the effect. I had to go over some a few times to get the look I wanted.

Step 4

For the tree ornaments I bought a range of beads and strung them together, using this silver embroidery thread.

Step 5

I then glued the decorations evenly round the tree and then stuck these little bows over the top of the glue so you don't see the join.

There you have it and it only took 5 steps!

I'll be back xx

twit twoo - this is owl is easy to do!!!

For the last week I've been running a competition to win this cute little guy 

and today I announced Victoria Russell as the winner!

 BUT 

don't worry if it wasn't you as I've created this tutorial so you can create your own!

What you need

• an owl (I got mine from hobby craft)
• different material
• scissors
• PVA glue
• 2 buttons for eyes

Step 1

Cut the material into lots of small pieces. 

Step 2

start layering the material on the owl using the PVA glue. I cut out yellow and orange flowers of the beak and feet

Step 3

Keep coving the owl until you can't see any of the original ornament, making sure that you have a thin layer of PVA glue over the top of all the material, just like you would do with normal paper decoupage. This helps you mould the material into all the curves.

Step 4

Cut two circles out of your remaining material and glue into the eye sockets, then gluing the buttons in the centre of the circles. See that wasn't difficult at all - go on, give it a go!!!

I'll be back xx

Where do the weeks go?!?!

I have been up and down the country over the last couple of weeks and it's amazing how quickly time flies!
Sorry for my sudden disappearance but I'm back with a vengeance and this week we will carry on with the lighting theme we never quite got round to!

 As always I wanted to start the week off with something simple to get you started, so I went searching the web for more amazing tutorials and came across this one

Button Lampshade - 99crafting

All you need is: 

• a lampshade
• LOADS of buttons 
• a glue gun

Start off on the edge with one of your buttons and then just keep building up the pattern until you have covered as much of the lampshade as you wish.

There are so many options for this idea - you could copy what they have done in this image and just go a bit crazy with colours or you can pick a couple and make more of a patterned effect.

I'm definitely going to give this one a go and I'll love to see any of your attempts as well so let me know if you try it out!

I'll be back xx

Paper Rose Necklace & Hair Clip

I was at an amazing wedding last week and I wanted a statement piece to go with my dress, as it was quite plain.

I had previously seen lots of tutorials on paper flowers that I was dying to try out and this seemed like a perfect opportunity so I gave it a shot and it transformed into this beautiful necklace and hair clip.

Thankfully it didn't rain, it's definitely a necklace for warmer climates!

Click on the image to see my first tutorial