Arriving home for summer after my first year of Shakespeare and Jane Eyre, I noticed that my room wasn’t the same any more… After taking down all my photos and memories and shipping them off to my room in Newcastle, it really did look bare!
What a perfect opportunity to get my paws into some crafty creations and put them up in my room! I cannot describe the amount I miss doing Art, design and textiles – for my birthday some friends ended up giving me art kits to shut me up and stop me moaning about it (yes. it has come to this extent.)
I wanted to post some photos of my creations and step by step methods in case you would like to join the band wagon and get creative too… Summer is here after all, and lets not lie we will have more spare time that usual!
My room has a sort of shabby chic – come – Cath Kidston – come – the girliest person in the entire world vibe… so if that’s not your thing, feel free to make these but with a twist of your own style. Art is all about expressing yourself… that’s very important.
Anyway, less of the serious more of the making:
1) Hanging Happiness
I featured a sneak peak photo of this in a photo previously on my blog… but here’s the real deal. A hanging heart photo holder, covered in happiness, literally.
– These frames are so easy to pick up… online, in Dunelm, John Lewis, anywhere selling home decor basically – in my eyes they’re an essential. I got mine from a market stall in Milton Keynes shopping centre for £12. I’m sure the shapes extend beyond hearts as well so go wild and pick something that fits your ‘vibe’.
– I started by finding lots of photos on places like Tumblr that I felt would bring happiness to my room. As you can see… I like summer…. and the beach. Infact I’m sat at home right now wishing I had sand between my toes and a cocktail in my hand! I looked for things that had quotes on about happiness – because to me that’s the most important thing in life. I also have some of flowers because I am quite frankly OBSESSED with flowers and floral patterned everything, its probably unhealthy. Your photo choice could be of you with your family or friends, or things that fits the style of your room… basically it can be ANYTHING, its all about what you love as a person and what is going to make you smile when you look at it when you wake up on a dull Monday morning (although right now England isn’t so dull with 30 degree heat!).
– Once the decision making was done… I hole punched each photo with a single hole and purchased three different ribbons that matched the colours in my room. I particularly love the twisted robe. Threading each photo onto a ribbon I then simply tied them to the hooks on the frame.
I loved this idea as it is a bit more out of the box, who would hang photos on ribbons when you could just slide them into the hooks? Well me. And the ribbons really add a beautiful touch. Maybe you could too…
2) Jar Tea light
This I saw on Pinterest and HAD to have a go myself, although the original idea was not my own…. the point was that I could make the light my own. I covered it in things I love…
-The jar I bought from a craft store which is why it has engraving on it, however, my mum tried this out after I showed her using just a recycled jam jar from the cupboard and it looked amazing! So get collecting jars and don’t throw them away – they make beautiful candle holders!
– I tied ribbon in a bow around the top, I use ribbon on everything… I think its probably coming close the the floral obsession.
– Then stuck hearts around the bottom. These my boyfriends mum got me from a store, they came in a craft pack with lots of colours. I know they sell these sorts of things in lots of places that do any form of card making so have a look round and get yourself something similar! Or anything that sticks and looks good!
– The hanging beads I got from old bits of jewellery that I no longer wanted, threaded them to a piece of string and it looks really pretty.
– Finally I got some colour paper and cut hearts out of it, rolling it into a cylinder I put in the jar and let it open out to the wall of the glass… When the candle is light, the light shines through the hearts which is beautiful AND extra hearts made it extra pretty.
So get creative! If you wish… you could even punch holes in the lid and slide string through them; that way you can hang them from the trees outside for a summer evening!
3) Pretty Pin-board
Sick of looking at an ugly cork board?
– I purchased a cheap painting canvas from the pound store (would you believe it) and spent the money instead on some lovely fabric from Dunelm Mill at around £6 per metre. Obviously I didn’t need a metre! So it really is cheap to make and looks like you’ve spend some money buying it in a shop.
– I the cut the fabric just larger than the canvas itself, so that it could fold underneath the sides. Once I had folded it under I simply took three drawing pins for each side and pinned the fabric on tight at the back (into the wooden section of the canvas frame). This was so easy to do and once hung up on the wall it looks very professional!
– I found photos and messages that were memories and created a little memory pin-board, the canvas works just aswell as cork did and looks so much better covered in fabric. I can’t wait to fill it up!….
I hope you liked my krafty kitten kreations and that you think about trying it out yourself. After all if you’re going to be spending time in your room this summer then why not make it a nice place to be in.
My next crafty post with be about how to make your own Cath Kidston style bunting (you may have noticed mine sneakily in the first photo of this post). So keep reading….
Bethan x
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