a reason to drink more wine...(responsibly of course)

I like to try and keep my crafts easy to copy, however this one does take a bit of hoarding. I work in a wine bar so have easy access to A LOT of corks and wanted to find a way of using them. This cork board is far prettier than a shop bought board and you can make it any size you like. If you work in a bar this craft is great, if not it may take a little longer to collect enough for this project. As an alternative you could pop down to your local friendly pub or wine bar and ask for some, or as with pretty much anything, you can also find used corks on Ebay for under a tenner.

To make this cork board you will need-

- a box photo frame, or a frame deep enough to fit the corks inside.

-wine corks, any size is fine

-strong glue.

Remove the glass from the photo frame and glue the backing of the frame in place to stop it wobbling around.
Once dry arrange the corks to make sure they all fit in. its good to have one or two spare corks that you can cut up to fill in any gaps. I wanted an abstract look, but you can arrange them in rows or patterns if you want, just cut the corks to size to fit them in.
Then, just glue the corks into place and you're done! no more lost shopping lists or post it notes all over your kitchen!

easy peasy cake stands

cake stands make a great gift, or to keep for yourself to jazz up your dining table. Even if your baking skills aren't up to much, (I'll let you in to a secret, I didn't make the biscuits in the photo, shhh!) your supermarket bought treats would still look lovely on this super easy to make cake stand.

What you will need-

- Pretty saucers or small plates. the best place to find these are car boot sales or charity or junk shops, they can be matching or mismatched, its completely up to you! I found mine as a set of 4 in a charity shop for less that £3 bargain!

- candle stick holders, egg cups or shot glasses. Basically anything long and narrow that you can stack the plates on. just make sure they have a large enough surface to apply the glue.

- strong glue, suitable for your chosen materials. If you're using ceramics or china you can use superglue, however if you're using glass make sure the glue is suitable as a lot of quick drying glues aren't.

To make the stand just arrange the plates into a tier formation. when you're happy with the shape mark the centre of the plates to ensure the columns holding the tiers are in the middle ( I used a light coloured felt pen, to make sure it wouldn't be visible after I assembled the stand.

I used UHU glue to join the stand together. this glue takes a while to dry. If you wanted to be speedy you can use superglue (if using ceramics or china)

and there we are! and the best thing? now you have a reason to always have cake in the house (although I always have cake)

Crafty Christmas

I love Christmas, pretty lights everywhere, Shakin' Stevens on repeat (Merry Christmas Everyone = best Christmas song ever) and drinking mulled wine at every possible opportunity. The only thing guaranteed to ruin my Christmas cheer is the idea of having to go Christmas shopping. If your loved ones have been kind enough to give you a Christmas list, you end up manically trawling through every single shop trying to find something, anything from said list. If you don't have a list and have to freestyle, you end up having a panic attack trying to find something they might like and grabbing a toiletries gift set from BHS five minutes before the shops close. A gift set they'll probably shove in the back of cupboard and only use seven months later when they've discovered they've run out of shower gel.
To avoid the crowds and any possible Christmas shopping disasters I decided this year to make a lot of my Christmas gifts. Homemade gifts can have a bit of a bad rep, but steer clear of the poster paint and cotton wool balls and you can create something really lovely and unique for your loved ones.
All the crafts I blog about are pretty simple and can be made pretty last minute. I try and and use things that are easily available from craft shops and car boot sales, as long as you have a good supply of glue you're ready to go!