Summer shoes

Summer is here and it's about time to put the big sensible boots away in the cupboard and dig out the pretty little ballet pumps. I'm a bit of a cheap skate when it comes to pumps, as I wear them out so quickly and I think it's nice to have them in many colours or patterns.

There's lots of different ways to recycle last years pumps or add some extra flair to an inexpensive pair. I bought two pairs from Primark for £3 or £4 each and only used materials I already had in the house to customise them.

Adding buttons can create a great beachwear or shabby chic look. Just make sure that they either sewn or glued on securely.

Brooches, earrings etc can look great. Just make sure you have two the same or similar.

Bows and flowers are on a lot of shoes at the moment. You can recreate these with spare ribbon. A larger bow adds a more expensive feel to your shoes.

Lace. I love lace on most things, but this gold lace lining is perfect to add a bit of glam.

You can buy already made sequinned panels to add to your shoes. This one was actually off a £2 Primark headband. Just remember to buy two. 

I think I'll buying some more Primarni bargains and customising them. 

Seating Pads

Seating pads are something I see everywhere at this time of year. Everyone is getting ready for summer (or the 2 days in Glasgow that resemble summer) and all the shops are full of outdoor dining tables, chairs and fluorescent plastic plates. Seating pads are handy in that you can put them on any chair to make it much nicer to sit on and then take them inside before it rains. Looking around the shops they do range in price from anything from £1 to £15 and more.

I'm not lucky enough at the moment to have a garden but my kitchen could do with some brightening up and comfier seats. I didn't want to spend too much on doing this so decided to make my own.

Instead of buying new material I went to the pound shop and bought some pretty looking tea towels.

I then cut them down to large squares, turned them front to front and stitched around the outside. Really just like every other cushion I've ever made. I left a hole in one side where I could stuff it. I still had wadding left from another project so used that before stitching up the hole.

To add some detail and make the usual cushion pad shape I stitched a button into the middle, stitching all the way through the cushion to give a more defined shape.

I then attached some ribbon onto one side of the cushion to use as ties.

I'm quite proud of my little cushion pad and will have to get on and make 3 more so all the seats match.
You could use any old or recycled material, buttons and ribbon for this and they don't have to match in every detail, in fact it will probably look better if they don't. If you want more in depth details then just let me know.

Paint it up!

Last Friday I went to Paint It Up at The Life Craft. I took a friend from work and together we painted up a storm. This was the last ever Paint It Up they were going to host and I definitely took advantage of that and painted  more than I have before.

It always starts with good artistic intentions and gets more creative as the drink starts flowing. I'm sure if I had spent more time and effort and wasn't necking back wine at the time then my pottery might have been a little better; but so what it's all part of the fun.

This was the first mug I painted. My mum loves butterflies and thought it would make a great gift for her. It does look like a child painted it, but the effort is there.

This is one I painted for my flatmate who loves buttons.

I definitely started to get too creative with this one. I was in two minds the whole night whether to just start again, but it actually turned out slightly better than I thought.

I tend to like things that are useful as well as pretty, which is why I painted so many mugs as I have way too many empty money boxes. I decided to mix it up a bit and paint a cupcake shaped dish. At a different Paint It Up night I painted a cupcake shaped trinket box, which I currently use a sugar bowl so I thought this might make a lovely addition to my kitchen.

There's still about a week left of The Life Craft being open so it definitely worth heading along to pick up a bargain or paint something pretty.