DIY TASSEL GARLAND

I've been crushing on tassel garlands recently - the confetti system ones in Lane Crawford are lush! I recently had a go at making a little set of my own. This was one of my project's you'll find in Cosmo Australia this month - along with a bunch of others.

You Need: 

• 10 sheets of assorted coloured tissue paper. 
• A rotary cutter 
• 2 m of twine or rope 
• Clear sticky tape 
• A cutting board 

How to: 

1. Take a sheet of tissue paper and fold twice to form a smaller rectangle. 
2. Orientate the long fold of the rectangle away from you on the cutting board. 
3. Using the rotary cutter and leaving a centimeter at the top, cut the tissue paper into 1 cm strips. 
4. Unfold the rectangle and orientate the spine or uncut part of the tissue paper toward you. 
5. Carefully roll the spine up to form a roll of tassel with fringe on either side. 
6. Use stickytape to secure the roll. 
7. Fold the tassel in half to create a single tassel. 
8. Twist the tassel at the top to create a hole in the top. 
9. Thread the twine through this hole to attach the tassel to the twine. 
10. Repeat the steps with the other sheets of tissue paper. 
11. Arrange the tassels on the twine, using tape to secure.

These are perfect for hanging over the bed or on an inspiration wall, although mine were relegated to the office when my boyfriend saw them and thought I was turning into Zooey Deschanel and was going to start singing my feelings and stuff.

Make sure you grab your copy of Cosmopolitan magazine (if you happen to be in Australia) to check out my other projects in the DIY spread.

Have fun!

DIY DIPTYQUE INSPIRED TUMBLER CANDLES

Ok so I'll be the first to admit that to me, Diptyque candles are the ultimate. No other candle smells as good, and once used they make a perfect jewelry/make up brush holder. What more could a girl want? But a recent foray into frugality (more frugal than usual that is) has left my diptyque candle fund severely depleted (girl's gotta eat right?), so I decided to have a go at making my own. Whilst not a lot could compete with the real thing, I did my best to get some scented candle action in my life. To me the difference between diptyque and other candles is the quality of scent, so if you're going to splash out on anything spend your money on some good quality essential oils to add to the wax mix.

You need:

- A glass tumbler

- Wax beads

- A wick

- Tape

- A knitting needle or pen

- Essential oils (I used rose and vanilla - feel free to get creative and mix your own scents!)

How to: 

1. Fill the tumbler with wax beads.

2. Put the beads in a pyrex jug in a pot of water and bring to boil.

3. Add your essential oil. For each candle I added around 10 drops of oil.

  4. Using some wax, fix the wick to the bottom of the glass.

 

5. Tape the wick to the knitting needle/pen balanced on the glass so that the wick doesn't collapse when the wax is poured in. Then pour the wax into the tumbler (careful, it's very hot!!) and let it set overnight.

6. If your wax dries with a dip in the middle (which can happen when it shrinks), heat a little more wax and fill so the surface of the candle is flat. Finally, cut the end of the wick to around an inch long.

Enjoy!

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PINNING AT HOME - DIY INSPIRATION BOARDS

I've been working from home recently and although it was probably more of an attempt to slack off from actual things that needed doing, I went a bit crazy a few days ago and plastered a wall in my apartment with inspiration - project ideas, goals and other bits and bobs to get my DIY obsessed juices flowing. Although my pinterest boards are a favourite place to store ideas, I can't go past the textual and visual appeal of a real life pinboard. 

Here's how to create your own:

- Build your board using either an oversized frame, giant cork board (like this) or stick directly onto the walls using blue tack - put up some paper first if you think our landlord/mother will strangle you if you ruin the wall.

- Gather things that inspire you - magazine cut outs, postcards, vintage butterick patterns, recipes, quotes etc. 

- Cluster your inspiration around key themes (so pinterest!) - ie things I want to do this year, things I want to eat (cue pictures of nutella crepes), things I want to make (check out the rest of this blog if this theme is a little empty...), things I want to buy etc. Feel free to also sort into colour groups if you're feeling particularly like procrastinating.

- Add textual items like soft leather, fabrics, ribbons, jewelry, feather etc etc for that extra little something -  take that pinterest!

- Leave up for a few days, a year or take down and put back up every week. It's up to you!

And what better way to be inspired to create your own real life pinspiration board than to gather some, ahem... inspiration? And yes, for those of you who are wondering, I used pinterest to find many of these images... The addiction continues!

Images: Design Sponge, The Coveteur, Decor8, Daily Imprint, The Glitter Guide, My Ideal Home, The Decorista, Marcus Design Inc, A Beautiful Mess, New York Times Magazine

SEWING - HOW USEFUL IS IT?

I've been thinking about this topic for a while now and decided to reach out to you guys to get some of your thoughts on sewing. If you come here often you'll know that many of my DIY projects have an element of sewing in them -  and my before & after projects would be nothing without my trusty singer. Even though I have very basic sewing skills, the things I make and wear wouldn't be anywhere near as good without the help of my machine.

I would love (and be ever so grateful) to hear your thoughts on sewing. I often see comments from people in relation to sewing skills and sewing machines - if only I knew how to sew, I would love to have a machine, I have a machine and don't know how to use it etc and thought I would start a discussion on the topic here on my blog. Feel free to leave your responses below and I will be sure to answer any questions/discussion points you have. A few ideas on discussion points -

- Have you ever sewed?
- If yes, what level would you say you are at?

- If not, would you like to learn how to sew? To what level would you like to learn? Ie basic/ sewing with patterns etc

- Do you think sewing is important/useful for DIY Fashion?

- Do you have a sewing machine? Do you want to get one?

- Do you enjoy sewing?

- If you would love to sew but don't, what do you feel is holding you back? Is it time, cost of a machine, space etc.

- Do you prefer DIY projects that don't require any sewing?

Thank you so much if you get a chance to leave your thoughts, they mean the absolute world to me and will help me shape my content so you get more of the things you love. I'll leave you with some sewing/craft room inspirations - which isn't to say you need this sort of set up to start experimenting with sewing, but these are the types of DIY inspired spaces I dream about!

Images: Home Remedies, Lovely Design, Junkaholique, Coletterie, Decor8 Blog, Design Sponge, The Marion House Book, Little Fine Day, A Sewing Journal, Ticking and Toile

DIY HOME: ACCESSORY LADDERS

Accessory storage can be an absolute pain - do you stack handbags? Put belts in drawers? Fold scarves? The options are numerous but I've never felt completely happy with the way I have done it at my place, somehow I always seem to find handbags and whatnot hidden at the bottom of my closet... It goes without saying that the Coveteur is a constant source of accessory storage inspiration, but sadly my boyfriend isn't too keen on me balancing my pointed pumps in the fruit bowl - believe me I've tried!

Recently my friend got me onto accessory ladders, and let me just say - such a good idea. You can drape scarves, bags, big necklaces, hats and just about all your other accessories over the ladder in your bedroom. This makes it so simple to see what your options are every morning, and to display your accessories like art. I'll be showing you how to make your own simple version soon so stay tuned. For now here's some inspiration found via pinterest.

Images via: Sunshine Girl, House Vaganza, Diggers List, Karen Haller, Home Made Simple, Dying of Cute, Design Tabloid, 79 Ideas, The Coveteur, French Larkspur, Wallpaper

DIY HOME - NEON WINDOWFRAME

Just in case you're not sick of neon yet - why not add a dab of it to your house? Perfect to bring in a little sunshine on gloomy days.

Image: here

DIY HOME - CHALKBOARD PAINT

Who doesn't love DIY chalkboards around the house - on walls, cabinet doors, milk bottles and just about everywhere else. I love that you can just slap on some chalkboard paint and away you go. Perfect for writing love (or hate) notes and also for covering with rubbish when you've had too many bottles of wine with friends. I'm in the process of moving house and think this is a great idea for my next place - but in a frame so the owner doesn't have a heart attack. One of my favourite projects is this one, and did you know you can make your own chalk paint in any colour? How. Good. Here's some inspiration for where to slap your chalkboard paint.

Ps. Thank you to those of you that sent me your reader DIYs - I'm absolutely blown away by how dedicated to DIY you all are, and how much talent is out there! Each and every project I received was amazing. I've been collating the projects into a few posts, and will also be uploading them to the A Pair & A Spare Facebook page in the next few weeks. A big thank you for taking the time to email me. It really meant a lot. x

Images:

100 Layer Cake (#1), Pinterest (#2, #6), Apartment Therapy (#3), Celebrations At Home (#4), Mossiere.tumblr.com (#5), Design Sponge (#12, #13, #15, #19), The Style Crusader (#9), Song Of Style (#10), Martha Stewart (#14), Always Order Dessert (#16), Apartment Therapy (#17, #18), Michael Ann Made (#20),