A Totally Selfless Day

Mornin' all

Happy Sunday to you. I hope you've got lots of lovely plans to spend it with your nearest and dearest/at the pub with some mates/on the sofa catching up on your TV shows and eating as many flavours of Pop Tart as one human being can safely consume in the same day (it's 6, by the way). 

I spent yesterday doing lots of totally selfless and righteous things, like a slightly less wrinkly Mother Theresa. Wait- do you think good deeds is secretly the reason people get wrinkles? If so, I want to end my life looking like this:

Ok, maybe they weren't completely virtuous activities- one involved Free Cake, and the other involved shopping; but they were still both for charity, dammit! I spent the afternoon with my friend Holly at Sew In Brighton's charity bunting-sewing session for Red Nose Day where we chatted with inspiring fellow crafty folks, sampled the complimentary cakes, and made a bit o' bunting. It was nice to do something a bit different for charity- I'm definitely not a marathon kind of girl (with the exception of Snickers, obviously*)

First flag - front

First flag - back

I didn't take any more photos after these because I was too busy scoffing Swiss Roll doing lots of sewing for charity. 

When all the lemon curd tarts were gone we'd made a good stack of flags, Holly and I headed out to scour all the brilliant charity shops around George Street in Hove. 

I ruddy love charity shopping. It was ingrained in me from a very young age that second hand doesn't have to mean lower quality- it just means cheaper. And "cheaper" is my second favourite price in the world, only to be beaten by "free". Because, kids, as we all know: if things are cheaper that means you can buy MORE of them for the same amount of money. Or buy less, and have money left over to spend on essential things like shampoo, bus tickets, and Mini Cheddars. 

Obviously, I also love charity shopping because it's helping out other people who need some support. It's basically just donating money to a good cause and they then happen to give you a cardigan in return. 

I picked up a couple of real bargains yesterday too, which gives a buzz that no other experience can equal. Some people don't believe me that finding a scarcely-worn River Island wrap dress delivers a much greater high than injecting crack cocaine into your eyelids**, and at half the cost. Ah well; all the more wrap dresses for me!

I grabbed myself an older version of this storage box from Habitat which I'd been admiring online last year for a bargainous £4.99 (RRP £30!) It's a bit scuffed, but I figured I can always paint it a different colour. I'm using it to store ribbon, and may possibly stick this picture of a kitten on the front too if I feel the need to make it even more twee. Probably going to happen. 

I also spotted a non-stick coated, loose-bottom cake tin in the "general tat" section of another shop, which the lovely lady gave me for an unbelieveably reasonable £1; because I'd inadvertently given her a tip about what to do with her leftover "Brighton" wallpaper that had been used to decorate the changing room. When I got it home, I found it had a spare base in it too! Woop!

My final bargain of the day was a very Easter-coloured cardigan***, originally from Primark, from the sale section of a charity shop. If heaven is personalised, mine is going to be one big charity shop sale section (assuming I can keep up the wrinkle-inducing good deeds, obviously!). I can't show you a picture, because it's in the wash- so imagine a long blue, purple and yellow striped cardigan with pockets. It's that. 

We refuelled at the taste sensation that is Ethel's Kitchen. I really can't recommend this place enough. The hot chocolate is to die for, they have stacks of freshly made cakes teetering on the counter at all times, and their mezze is one of the best I've ever tasted (and I've tasted a LOT of mezze).

Your eyes do not deceive you.
Those ARE giant chocolate buttons sticking out of my hot chocolate.
I told you Ethel's was brilliant. 

Each table at Ethel's has a different salt and pepper set (all equally kitsch and awesome). Yesterday we got the one with the kangaroo, evidenced below. This was also a totally selfless act, because we were supporting an independent business instead of going to Costa. Although Ethel's is cheaper, tastier, more atmospheric, and just generally ruddy nicer than Costa. But still. Selfless. 

Katie xxx

* I've just found out that Snickers are apparently named after the Mars family's horse. Definitely storing that one away for my stint on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (which I'm totally going on once they promise me all the questions will be about chocolate)

** My education in the drugs arena is based entirely on gritty teen novels about "skag heads"; I am therefore assuming this is what people do with crack cocaine. 

*** In case you were wondering, the colours of Easter are golden-yellow and purple. Fact. Sort of. 

Easy Christmas Decoration Tutorial 3 - Pompom Bunting

Hello lovelies

My third tutorial is the easiest yet. That's right- it's even easier than painting plastic dinosaurs! I'm not even going to post any how-to pics; because all you have to do is thread a needle. 

I've labelled this as a Christmas craft, but there's no reason that pompom bunting couldn't be used to brighten up any celebratory occasion (or just be left up all year round because it's pretty... *ahem*)

You will need: 
Needle & thread in your choice of colour
Ready-made pompoms like these*.

All you have to do is thread the pompoms together, and then space them out in whatever distances you like. Don't cut the thread when you start sewing- just sew through all of the pompoms, unwinding the thread from the spool as you go, and then cut the end when you're happy with the length. 

My top tip to stop this from getting tangled up is to wrap it round a postal tube/wrapping paper tube or a large piece of cardboard- and unravel it as you hang it up. 

I think it's really sweet and cheering, and requires absolutely minimum effort. Always a winning combination in my book :) 

Katie xxx

*Alternatively, you could make your own woollen pompoms - Lindsay Marsh has recently written an incredibly helpful post contained several different pompom making techniques (including one with a fork- genius!) 

Super Stuff

Hello lovelies :)

Hope you're all having brilliant weekends! I wanted to share some of my latest discoveries with you, to try and banish the Sunday night blues...

I was recently introduced to the Rules of Tea Duelling, and can't wait to take part in one. Anyone fancy a challenge? 

My fabulously talented friend Lucy has opened an Etsy shop. I cannot stress enough how beautifully made Lucy's products are; she certainly doesn't subscribe to my "Bodge It Until It Looks Ok From Far Away" style of crafting.  Lucy's also got some gorgeous Halloween bunting up at the moment; perfect if you're planning to throw a scary soiree!

Lucy's spook-tacular Halloween bunting

I wish I had the space, money, and general piratical fabulousness to pull off this chair:

How fun are these cups? A ceramic version of the classic Heads, Bodies, Legs drawing game, in three different combinations of characters. 

I've just stumbled across Mellybee and fallen in love with everything in the shop. I'd definitely recommend checking the site out get some bargain Christmas presents in early. These are some of my favourite pieces:

I've mentioned how much I love Color Me Katie before, but particularly loved her recent post that included lots of stunning pictures of colour-coordinated toys. 

I'm a bit in love with the purple camel

This: 

And, last but definitely not least, I was seriously psyched to find out Tiger has opened a shop in Brighton!!! Eeep! I met up with two girlfriends yesterday specifically to go Tiger shopping, and we all went just a little bit crazy. It's like Paperchase, the homewares section of Ikea and Rice gave birth to a three-way baby.  

These are some of the goodies that I bought (afraid I can't show you all of them, because some of the things I bought are presents. This year I am determined to be Totally Prepared for Festivemas), and I think they were pretty bargainous too!

1. Black candles for my Halloween party - £1 for little one, £2 for big one
2. Extendible duster (owning one of these makes me far happier than it probably should) - £1
3. Adorable sewing tin - £2 (which I thought was a bargain anyway, and then I found out it was full of sewing equipment too! Pins, scissors, needles, thread, needle threader, unpicker, tape-measure, thimble...) 
4. Tiny ceramic-lid storage jars - 2 for £1. I have to admit they're a bit rubbish at sealing tightly shut, so probably wouldn't keep spices etc. very fresh, but they're perfect for storing buttons
5. Plastic toothpicks/cocktail sticks - £1
6. Beautiful pink size 6 crochet hook - £2. Tiger has loads of different colours and sizes, all £2. 
7. Wooden chopsticks - £2. 

What have you discovered recently that's made you smile? Please do share!

Katie xx

Patchwork Pictures

Apologies for the shoddy photography- it appears too much caffeine means my pictures end up at a rather jaunty angle. Below are a few pics of the patchwork quilt I made last winter. It was meant to be a Christmas quilt, hence the red-and-green theme, but it is good for snuggling up under all year round :)

I decided a plain back would be too boring, so I appliquéd on triangles of fabric to look like strings of bunting. It's definitely one of the craft projects I am most proud of so far.

Bunting, Bunting, Everywhere

Yet another stitchy thing I’d been meaning to make for ages- the inspiration to start finally came with the purchase of a beautifully floral vest from h&m that looked lovely on the hanger, but hideous on me. It’s very easy to make whilst watching TV- always a win in my book.