Thrifty, DIY wall art

Three beautiful, simply framed fat quarters in kimono fabric

Inspired by my honeymoon to Thailand and Singapore, home décor with an "Oriental feel" always ticks the boxes for me. So I absolutely love the new additions to my bedroom wall! Stunning Japanese kimono fabrics look fabulous in cheap wooden frames. I think they give a really unusual and unique look, and the texture adds intrigue next to the usual paintings, photos and prints.

A closer look

I ordered a "fat quarter" of each design from an Etsy seller, for just a few pounds each. All 3 pictures (which are quite large) set me back less than £20, including the frames. This could be done for every room, and every colour scheme in the house, and I have now become a little obsessed by framing fabrics! It's an easy craft which could, in fact, be done even more frugally- by sourcing second-hand frames and re-purposing fabric items. It is also a great way to use up your fabric scraps, and something different to do with those beautiful fabrics you may already have in your stash! 

Growing my own herbs

Adding fresh herbs when cooking undoubtedly makes a dish much tastier than using dried herbs from a jar. More often than not, however, I find myself opting for the latter- for no other reason than frugality! Fresh herbs cost around the same as their dried equivalent, but I find that the fresh variety don't tend to keep for long, and I end up really only being able to use them once. This is such a waste- of food and money.  I have been hunting around for solutions to this problem, and come up with a couple of recommendations. 

Freezing them in ice cube trays
This works! The herbs do keep for much longer in the freezer, and frozen herbs do taste better than dried herbs from a jar. One drawback, though, is that they do stay soggy. I like to sprinkle coriander on top of curries and soups, and that only works with freshly-picked leaves. 

Kitchen roll in a sandwich bag
Sounds crazy, right? According to my friend, transferring fresh, cut herbs into a sandwich bag along with a piece of kitchen roll and storing them in the fridge helps them to last longer! I tried this, and the herbs did stay perky and crisp for about a week... definitely a few days longer than normal. I actually found this to be a good tip. 

Grow your own
My garden is an area of my house which needs a lot of attention and TLC, so I have not been tempted to try and grow things in it yet. However, my open-plan kitchen/ living room does have huge French windows, and the room gets pretty warm in the summer. 

Looks easy enough!

Unwins very kindly sent me their DIY herb kitchen garden kit to try out and review, and I am very excited to see the results. The kits are on sale for £5.99 each, and they come with the adorable wooden box, compost, plastic pots and seeds (coriander, chives, basil and parsley). Considering that buying herbs from the supermarket costs £1 a time, I consider this to be good value. You can also buy a Mediterranean herbs version. I didn't have a small watering can, but I found that Heather's sippy cup did the job! The idea of having small amounts of herbs growing at all times in my kitchen really appeals to me. If my herbs grow as promised on the box, this solution would cut out the waste, cost a lot less and look fabulous. 

Herbs all planted and watered

My latest creation... baby Betsy!

After a bit of a break in writing, I'd like to introduce my latest creation, baby Betsy Mae. She was born 3 weeks ago, and I'm in love! As you can see from the photographs, Heather is enjoying being a big sister too.

Life so far juggling 2 children under the age of 2 has been busy to say the least, but I have loved it. I'm now really looking forward to settling in to maternity leave and getting back into being creative, writing my blog and finding ways to save money. Watch this space! 

Heather learning her "big sister" duties

My two girls just chilling in bed

Geeky craft swap: June

I enjoyed the Dainty and Ivory craft swap so much last month that I couldn't wait to take part again for June. This month had a "geeky" theme, and being a complete geek myself, this appealed to me immensely! We were all matched up at random, and I was assigned Hannah as my recipient. She told me a few facts about herself and her geeky loves, and from there I set about putting together a geeky package for her. 

Hand-beaded dragon bookmark

What I sent: 

Hannah loves reading, especially fantasy and fairytales, and one of her favourite mystical creatures is a dragon. I found this beautiful dragon bookmark, and customised it by beading it in her favourite colours- greens, blues and golds. 

One of her geeky loves is the book 'A Song of Ice and Fire', now Game of Thrones... a geeky interest we have in common! I spent the best part of a year reading all the books, but I actually prefer the TV show... which doesn't happen often! Since Game of Thrones is a show I love as well, I thought I would make Hannah two types of brooch. The kilt pin represents 3 of the main families battling it out for the throne- the Starks, the Lannisters and the Targaryens. The fabric brooch is a more subtle nod, with the coveted crown in the centre. 

Stark, Lannister and Targaryen kilt pin

Game of Thrones fabric brooch

Star Wars made Hannah's list of geeky loves, and I wanted to make something a bit different. I took a classic quote from Han Solo to Princess Leia, and made it into a blank greetings card: 

Greetings card inspired by a classic Star Wars quote! 

As per the rules of the craft swap, all participants must include a little bought gift in the parcel as well. I'd never heard of Studio Ghibli, but Hannah likes it... and a little search on Etsy revealed this cute unicorn pin as a Studio Ghibli character. I thought he was perfect, as she also told me she loves pastel colours (check!) and another of her favourite mystical creatures is the unicorn (check!)

Studio Ghibli pin

What I received: 

My geeky gift-giver was Joanne Burgess. When signing up to the craft swap this month, I confessed to my complete geekery, and listed some of my indulgences as reading, writing and TV shows like Breaking Bad, The Wire and Game of Thrones. 

The package I received from Jo was delightful! First, I opened a letter with numbered clues as to what my parcel contained. Since I make no secret of the fact I enjoy a freebie, Jo sent me a "bonus" gift of a kilt pin finding. I can't wait to make something pretty from that! 

Jo doesn't watch Game of Thrones, but she did her research and made me this stunning 3D beaded dragon. I can tell that he was made lovingly and took a lot of time- and now he is right at home nestled in my geeky study next to my George R.R. Martin collection. 

Danaerys Targaryen's dragon

Keeping with the Game of Thrones theme, I also got a beautiful handmade necklace, inspired by a dragon's egg. It was also very thoughtfully made in my favourite colours. A cheeky bonus of dragon-shaped jelly sweets was also very welcome! 

Pretty dragon egg necklace

I was lucky enough to receive a couple of lovely "bought" gifts too. In my opinion, nothing beats the feeling of opening a new, crisp writing set or notebook. Since drinking tea is one of my favourite pastimes, this writing set was made for me! 

The macaroons look divine!

A fellow Breaking Bad fan, Jo confessed to actually wanting to keep my final gift... I don't blame her, and I can't believe I've never seen this around before. It's a wooden spoon, stamped with Heisenberg's face! I now want to run out and buy one for all my friends who share my love of Walter White. Definitely a wooden spoon for displaying proudly in my kitchen. 

Heisenberg spoon... just, wow!

A lovely, kind gesture- Golden Peacock is mine!

I had a lovely experience recently when I was on the receiving end of an unexpected act of kindness by a fellow member of our creative blogging community. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how I had been drooling over Jo Conlon's Golden Peacock painting on Etsy for well over a year, but could never seem to get the money together to buy him (read the previous post here). 

Jo read my post, and got in contact to say that she really wanted Golden Peacock to belong to someone who appreciated him, and that was more important to her than the cost. So... she offered to sell him to me for considerably less money, putting him within my reach! 

Hanging proudly in his new home!

He has now safely arrived in his new home, and doesn't he look great?! I think the colours complement my living room decor perfectly, and the gold in the painting shimmers beautifully in the light from the big windows. 

It's situations like this that remind me how lovely it is to be part of a creative community, where appreciation of crafts and talents outweigh everything else! I am very grateful for Jo's kind gesture, and I am delighted to have this stunning new addition to my home. My little girl approves too- here she is checking him out, and saying "awwwwwwww!" 

Awwwww... a beautiful peacock!

My first craft swap experience

I have liked the idea of craft swaps for a while now, but never found one in the UK to participate in. Around a month ago, I was joining in on a Twitter chat with #craftblogclub and Hannah at Dainty and Ivory said she'd be interested in running one. 

The theme was "spring" and we were all allocated a partner at random. I got Sally Bee Makes to create a parcel for, along with the information that she liked sewing, music, organising, reading, dog walking, kettle bells, shopping, Africa, flowers, lots of colour and sun. I also discovered that her favourite colours were yellow and purple. It's quite difficult to decide what to make for someone you know very little about, especially since my social media stalking revealed that Sally is frankly amazing with a sewing machine! Alas, my skills are somewhat limited. I decided to make her a few handmade items instead of one larger gift. 

My gift parcel

I made a lined "Jordy Bag" for Sally- if you have never made a bag before, I can't recommend the lined Jordy Bag more- it's fairly easy for beginners and it comes out a gorgeous shape.  I thought this might fit in with her love of organising, and would perhaps come in useful for storing/ carrying small sewing projects. The fabric I chose was bright, flowery, and adding a red lining gave the bag an overall "African" feel to it. 

Sally seems to enjoy wearing handmade, judging from her blog. I added a kilt pin to the parcel- since her favourite colour is purple, I thought she might like the floral, purple glass beads. It's one of my Pink Robot designs. To complement the pin, I included some matching handmade purple beaded earrings. On top of the handmade items, we were asked to include a little bought gift too- my gift was a floral hardback notebook, which I thought matched the bag perfectly. Who doesn't love a notebook, with clean, crisp new pages?!

Kilt Pin from my Pink Robot range

My package arrived the same morning I posted my gifts. It's so exciting to receive a mystery package... and an occurrence which I certainly enjoy very rarely. Jane had made me a lovely bracelet from buttons in all my favourite colours. I particularly liked the style of clasp she had chosen. The box and wrapping paper was equally beautiful, and she had even made me an origami peacock- he is now sitting in my study alongside this swan. My bought gifts were peacock-themed too: a cute lip gloss and a scented sachet for my drawer. It's so lovely to receive a gift from someone you don't know, especially when it's obvious that they have made the effort to send things you'd like. 

The lovely things I received

I've signed up again for this month's craft swap- this time, with a "geek" theme! Since I most definitely enjoy geekery, this is right up my street. Hopefully, lots of people will get involved- making and receiving lovely things while having fun in the process. If you're interested, get in touch with Hannah to sign up!

Gorgeous peacocks from UK Etsy sellers

Etsy is one of my favourite websites out there at the moment- it ticks all the boxes for me. Generally-speaking, it's more affordable than shopping on the high street, it supports independent creators and retailers, and provides an unrivalled selection of completely unique treasures! I really enjoyed writing my "cherry blossoms" post a couple of months ago, so decided to write another Etsy post, on peacocks. I have fallen in love with these majestic creatures over the last year- decorating my living room in peacock-inspired colours and obsessing over peacock patterned fabric, home décor and gifts.

Here is a selection of my favourite peacock-themed items currently on Etsy, from UK designers, makers and artists:

Golden Peacock, by Jo Conlon

I actually hold this painting solely responsible for kicking off my entire peacock obsession... Golden Peacock by Jo Conlon simply belongs in my house! There is a space on my living room wall which is exactly the right size (it's a big painting!) so I have been visiting and re-visiting it on Etsy for well over a year now, but with maternity leave sapping my funds, have never been able to scrape together the money to buy it. At £260 plus p&p, it is not a whimsical purchase. It is, however, to this day the only painting I have ever fallen in love with, so one day Golden Peacock- you will be mine! 

Messenger Bag, by Handmade With Joy

This messenger bag and purse set caught my attention as soon as I saw it. Crafted in rare Amy Butler fabric, it's one of a kind and stunning. I particularly like the colour combinations in this set- they give it a quirky, vintage-type feel. The cute little Eiffel Tower charm also attracted me to it, as I love Paris... peacocks and Paris in one gorgeous bag... what more could I ask for? 

Handmade peacock journal, by My Parlour

This handmade peacock journal by My Parlour would make a perfect, budget gift for a creative friend, writer or fellow blogger! Hardback with 80 blank pages, I think I would really enjoy scribbling down ideas for my future posts, and it's a great price at only £7.50. 

Hand-painted silk scarf, by Mandarin Duck Craft

This beautiful silk scarf is hand-painted to order by Mandarin Duck Craft. At £38, it is affordable designer luxury, and I think it would make an amazing gift for somebody special. I love the colours the artist, Luo Tao, has chosen- and the fact the design is painted freehand. 

Oriental peacock fan, by CreativMichelle

There is something quirky and wonderful about this oriental paper fan. It incorporates cherry blossoms with peacocks, and would add a real element of interest to a room. Michelle uses 3-layer decoupage to build the images, and the fan comes with a presentation stand. At £6.49, I think this is incredible value for money! 

Right now you can get £5 off your first purchase at Etsy using this link.