DIY RIPPED JEANS MAKEOVER

A while ago I saved this photo on my computer:

I loved the look of the ripped white jeans with the fabric behind the holes. I really like ripped jeans, but often do not love the look of my (sometimes pale) legs showing through.

About 3 months ago I went along to a clothes swap and picked up these beauties and set about making them more wearable:

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

- Ripped jeans

- Fabric to cover holes

- Needle and thread (same colour as jeans)

- Sewing pins

I popped down to the local op shop and picked out a grey long sleeve turtle neck top, in a light stretch fabric. As these jeans are quite tight - I needed the stretch in the fabric so that the patches would move with me and the rest of the pants.

I then cut patches about 1 inch wider than the holes in the pants, placed the fabric behind the holes, and from the front, pinned the patches to the jeans.

I then grabbed a single white cotton thread and sewed them on, using a simple back stitch and trying to sew as straight lines as possible!

The result? 

Some cute new jeans for summer that I feel much  more comfortable wearing :)

Mx

DIY GIFT TAGS

Christmas is coming, and one of the best things about giving is wrapping the presents first! One thing I really hate though are tacky Christmas themed gift tags, so this year I decided to make some myself out of some scrap white cardboard I had in the house.

I wanted to make simple shapes with simple borders - and used a fine-tipped permanent marker to draw them on,  but a fancy ink pen would probably do the job much nicer if you have one!

I have uploaded a scan of the ones I drew, as well as some created on the computer if you want to download them HERE.  You can then print and cut out on light card, or just use it to copy from onto your own card.

Then you can get to the really fun part...

Wrapping :)

And of course, they aren't just for Christmas :)

Mx

DIY CRAYON WALLET

Christmas time is nearly here, and this year I decided to make a few gifts to save some money. My sister and brother-in-law are about to jump on a plane and take their three kids to Cambodia for six months to volunteer for a charity. They said 'no Christmas presents' because the postal system over there is not very reliable, so I had a think about what I could make for them that would be fun for the trip, and I could give to my nieces and nephew beforehand.

I came across this pattern on Etsy (Via Pinterest) and thought that I would create a few myself, with a little addition of a cute animal friend on the front.

The idea for the pocket friend came from my lovely Grandmother. When I was about 5 or 6 years old, she made my sister and I dressing gowns each, that had a little pocket and animal attached by a ribbon. We thought they were just the bees knees! I chose a different animal for each of my nieces and nephew, and sewed their initial onto the pockets.

You can see below how the envelope unfolds. This ended up being a very cost-effective gift - the packets of crayons were $2 each from a dollar shop, and the notepads were $1.80 each from the supermarket. Fabric was a mix of some I had on hand, with a couple of items specially purchased from the quilting store.

If you want to make one of these yourself, you could purchase the pattern from Etsy, or you could have a play and pull one together yourself.

These are the measurements of the final product:

I started trying to pull step-by-step instructions together but it was a bit of trial and error so I thought I would leave off! When making the strip that will hold the crayons in, make it longer than you need (start with about 20cm) so you can bunch it up as needed to fit the crayons in, then tuck the excess into the two main layers before you sew around the outside (make that the final step - apart from the sewing top edge which I sewed together first - tucking the crayon strip inside to secure well)

You could also buy one of these ready-made of course :)

Mx

BABY'S ROOM TIME :)

This weekend we moved my office into our bedroom to create some space for the new baby. He won't have a whole room to himself, but there is a nice little alcove in our bunks room which we can make his.

We picked up an awesome cot for only $35 (just needs a little TLC) so I have decided to base the colour scheme for the little corner around this.

Check out the alcove, the cot and a lamp I made from something I found at the Recycle Centre below:

Our landlord has told us we can paint the wall behind the cot, so I am thinking a pale grey would go nicely with the existing green walls, and compliment the turquoise, orange and brown colours.

There are so many great ideas out there for little DIY projects that I think I can incorporate into the area - one I am loving is the 'paint swatch' dresser.

Here is my initial thoughts for what I will do to the space, the colours on the dresser are the test pots I bought today so that I can start on that project right away:

I also bought some great frames from the second hand store this weekend, so will create something to put into those for behind the cot. I am also on the hunt for a large letter (like the 'B' in that dresser image above) so may incorporate that into the wall as well.

Here are some baby rooms I found online that have some neat elements:

Love the scrabble letters and muted colour palette on this one

Grey walls with decals

Colour scheme!

Gold branch pattern - very elegant

It's another alcove :) And cute mis-matched bunting

Lovely grey with a pop of bright green

Grey and orange. Love the stripes

Same colours :)

Cloud lamps... love

Love the ladder and dark grey walls

Pom poms and silver lettering xx

Grey walls and silver letter

Stick letters!!

Any other ideas for me?

Mx

WEDDING INVITATION

I received two very special deliveries yesterday - my maternity cocktail dress from ASOS for me to wear at a New Year's Eve wedding, but more importantly the wedding invitation for my dear friend Hollie's wedding!

It was with great excitement that I opened the envelope because I had been given the great honour of designing it. We went for a baby's breath theme to tie in with the bridesmaids' flowers and a dusky blue to match the groom's suit.

Mx

DIY HEX NUT BRACELET

I love making bracelets out of everyday objects. A year or so ago I made these Hex Nut bracelets (I made another with a beige string but couldn’t find it today to take a pic) and this zipper bracelet.

I was thinking about making some more Hex Nut jewellery so popped into the hardware store and picked up the smallest ones I could find – 3mm. I am not sure what other people use to make the actual bracelet, but I have found that venetian blind cord is the best. It does not fray or soften, and you can melt the ends with a flame to keep it tidy. I used the smallest width I could find of 1.5mm.

I decided that instead of plaiting them on like last time, they would look really striking stacked. To keep the band delicate, I knotted 15 at a time onto a single strand of cord. I wanted to have two rows that sat together, slightly staggered, so decided instead of making two bracelets I would place two rows of stacked nuts on the same strand. I finished it off with a loop on one end, and tied another Hex Nut onto the other end to secure it.

I won't bore you with the step-by-step pics (because it is very basic) but basically you cut a 50cm or so length or cord and tie your first knot about 12cm in. Stack on the nuts and knot off.

You then need to wrap it around your wrist to see where you want the next stack to start, and put a knot there. Stack on another 15 nuts, and knot off.

To finish, I tied a hex nut on one end, and then made a loop that would be big enough to thread it through (without the nut falling out). I then trimmed and melted the ends of the cord with a lighter to keep it neat.

I’m really happy with the result, they sparkle and reflect light as they move around. I will definitely be making more of these!

  

Mx

A NEW ADDITION

The Veysey family has a new addition coming! I am looking forward to hunting out baby bargains and getting our home ready for the little one.

Mx

RETRO OP SHOP FINDS

I went on a trip to the Recycle Centre on the weekend and found some awesome retro items. My favourite were these Royal Kitchen Scales - the Swedish lady in the shop even taught me how to use them as her mother had some just like them when she was a child. They are a lot more fiddly to use than my regular kitchen scales, so these may just be used for decorative purposes only. I thought the ceramic planter on top matched perfectly, so am going to make some paper flowers or find some faux peonies to put in there.

I also got these scales which work really well!

And I couldn't resist this 'Quickcube' ice cube tray in silver and gold.

Mx

THE LOVELY HOLLIE K

In December I have the honour of being a bridesmaid for my wonderful long-time friend Hollie Kay. She has been such a great friend over the years and I cannot wait to share her and Scottie's big day with them! I am also delighted to be designing the wedding invitations which I will share later on.

I couldn't resist showing you the pictures from her engagement shoot which was organised by  The Bay Wedding Collective, a group of the Bay Of Plenty’s most creative and professional wedding vendors. Shot by Greta Kenyon of Vela Images and styling and propping was by Shaye Woolford of On My Hand vintage hire and styling. 

Love this girl xx

San ah saa, san ah saaa, san a saaaaa!

Mx