How To: Quilling

This page has a great beginner's guide to quilling, and tells you how to create all of the above shapes. And before you know it you'll be creating birthday cards and masterpieces like this, this, this and these :-)

And when you get really good, you can attempt something as amazing as these works of quilling art, by Yulia Brodskaya!

Felted Boots

There are so many wonderful things you can make with felted sweaters, and felt boots are no exception! Go here, here, and here for tutorials, and to learn how to felt sweaters in the first place, go here.

Hanging Book Display

This is a nice project for rooms where a bookcase can't fit, or if you want to store your current reading books so that you can reach them from your bed. Go here for the how-to.

Shoulder Bag Tute

Click here to see a really clear and helpful tutorial showing how to make the above shoulder bag, as well as an explanation of how to create a recessed zipper.

Gourmet Traveller

Gourmet Traveller has a delicious, professional-looking recipe list with nice simple ingredients. And the choice of food is amazing . . . I personally think that the raspberry pudding above looks divine, and my other favourites include the 'Burnt honey ice-cream and raspberry brioche sandwiches' and the 'white chocolate and raspberry ripple ice-cream cake'. Mmmmm . . .

Paper Mache Fairy Lights

These paper mache party lights look so cute, and all you need to do is paper mache balloons - easy yet so effective!

9-Hole Clay Buttons

This is a really smart way of creating personalised buttons - by making them yourself out of clay, and making sure you add 9 holes so that any letter or number can be embroidered onto them.

Pop Art Plate

I love love love Lichenstein art prints and pop art, so these plates are amazing. . . they would definitely be a talking point and they're so cheap too!

T-shirt String Necklace

Really creative DIY tute, which shows you how to create this really fashionable necklace/scarf - for much less than you would pay in a shop that's for sure!

Oilcloth Shopping Bag

I love this shopping bag made from the most GORGEOUS Echino oilcloth fabric - and to see how it's put together, click here.

Blog Chef

Great blog with some yummy looking recipes. Simply click 'recipes' under the 'categories' column to see them all.

And if you're a bit of a bacon addict like me, then you may want to click here to learn how to cook the perfect crispy bacon (as shown above) OR you may even want to know how to make a cup made out of bacon (and why wouldn't you want that?!)

Button Cushion

This is a great idea for a cushion - and it's as cute as a button! Instead of using the permanent marker for the red lines you could of course use embroidery stitching, piping or whatever you can think of instead- find the how-to here.

Tennis Raquet Mirrors

These mirrors have got to be a must for tennis enthusiasts - mind you, I have no interest in tennis and I love them too! The tutorial is here.

Road Kill Plush Toys

I know I have odd taste sometimes, but I can't be the only one who thinks these Road Kill softies are brilliant?! They come complete with plush guts, popping eye, tyre marks and death certificate!

Plastic Spoon Mirror

This is a fabulous mirror which would especially suit being in a kitchen, since it is surrounded by over a 100 plastic disposable spoons! Go here for the instructions.

Outdoor Chandelier

Add a bit of glamorous beauty to your garden with this chandelier made from a wire basket, jam jars and crystals (or baubles)!

Umbrella Caddy

This umbrella holder is one of my favourite Design Sponge Makes because it's useful, easy, and so cute! This would look lovely in your porch - click here for the info.

And don't forget, you can always change the project slightly if you prefer - for instance, you could cover the tube with fabric or wallpaper instead!

Squishables

These Squishables are sooo cute! They look super soft and squishy, and I bet they would make lovely gifts for any girl in your life :-)

Buckle Up!

This is a nice idea for transforming some plain old shoes into unique and stylish ones by just using a leather belt! Have a look here for details.

Watercolour Stencil Portrait

There are many techniques I have seen for making a portrait, but this is definitely the most colourful - and is now definitely my personal favourite (especially as it lets me use that masking fluid I've had in my drawer for years!)

So, to find out how it's done, go and join in the fun here.

Button Table

This is a really versatile technique of using resin to set buttons into the top of a table, and it can work with all sorts of other things as well, including ceramic pieces, souvenirs from your travels, comic book strips, gumball plastic charms and beads, to name but a few!

Go here for the tutorial.

Mini Danish Pastries

Mmmm don't these bite size pastries look devine? I love Danish pastry, and if you do too, you need this recipe!

Seat Belt Camera Straps

Photojojo sells these fantastic seat belt camera straps, which are an ingenious way of holding your camera in style! I also love these seat belt belts from Joe Browns (one of my favourite clothes shops).

But if you're the creative type, you could always make your own - although I'm guessing the only place you can reclaim seat belts is at a scrapyard? Worth a try I think!

Beaded Cables

If, like me, you hate the look of messy electrical cables, why not hide them with some lovely big beads?! You can pick up big plain beads cheaper than fancier ones - then you can paint them yourself if you like! Go here for details.

His 'n' Hers Pillows

I think this is such a cute idea for a crafty couple - and you could also use this technique to add pictures, or add stencil photos of the owners to the pillowcases instead! And for a kids room, the child's name with a little picture would be really adorable - go here for the how-to.

Grand Illusions

Grand Illusions is a really fun shop, and is perfect for getting that hard-to-buy-for somebody a present! There are all sorts of interesting, unusual and clever gifts, as well as optical illusions a-plenty.

Heart Lights

I have been trying to find out how to achieve this lovely photographic effect for aaaaggggeeesss, and it's so easy now that I know! All it involves is a bit of black paper - go here to see how it works.

Uncommon Goods

Uncommon Goods is a very useful website for finding unusual gifts, since it is full of all kinds of products which are 'anything but ordinary'. My favourite products are the cute little lamps shown above.

Glass Memo Board

Click here to learn how to make a very useful and very cute, glass-fronted memo board.

Drink Stuff

Drink Stuff sells all kinds of cool homeware and gadgets, with my personal favourite being the 8-piece multicoloured set of bowls and measuring spoons as shown above - funky!

Mini Photo People

I love this idea of leaving little cut-out photos of people all over the house for people to find . . awww! For more info, click here.

Slice And Bake Cookies

Great idea for making a large batch of cookies - you make a big slab and then slice it up for individual cookies! Click here for the recipe.

Alien Abduction Lamp

This is a fun how-to showing you how to imitate the alien abduction lamp you can buy in shops - with just a few simple items. I think this is genius!

Plastic Messenger Bag

This video shows you how to make a messenger bag from fusing plastic bags together, which is a great way of recycling all of those plastic shopping bags you have lying around. You can also find written instructions here.

Uses For Pom-Poms

My favourite uses for pom-poms are using them on pillows and adding them to bags...but if you want something a bit more exciting and ususual, then why not cover a chair with pom-poms (as shown above)? Or perhaps you could make your very own pom-pom rug, as shown in these links:

Creature Features

Flickr

Craftypod

Pom-Poms

I love pom-poms because a) they're fluffy, b) they can be added as decoration to almost anything such as pillows and bags, and c) they can be grouped together to form a squishy rug (see next post). The best how-tos on pom-pom making can be found using he following links:

Dad Can Do

Bella Dia

Zakka Life

YouTube

DIY Key Holder

Key holders are often quite dull, but this one certainly isn't! And if your painting skills aren't upto much, don't be put off, because you could always just add some gorgeous fabric to the front instead - go here for the how-to.

Customise Your Furniture

I really love this tutorial because it can be used to transform any furniture you have into something unique which you have designed and constructed yourself!

You can add extra curves and shapes to your furniture, decoupage it in comic book pages/newspaper/magazines, or paint with your own design - it's so exciting, and it's all done with a basic PVA and water mix, paper strips and a bit of wire!

Wedding Garter

If someone you know is a soon-to-be bride, then this garter can cover the 'something new' and 'something blue' requirements with ease! I personally think I'd wear this on my wrist as a bracelet - but each to their own! Go here for the tutorial.

Knitted Wig

This would be such a fun accessory for your fancy dress parties, and also a cosy alternative to a hat or balaclava next Winter! The instructions are here.

Enameled Bottles

I don't know whether it's because the enamel is in my favourite colour, but I LOVE these enameled jars, bottles and vases so much! To find out how, go here.

Chocolate Raspberry Moelleux

This recipe is for a chocolate muffin (rich like a brownie), with a liquid raspberry centre...mmm!

For the ganache:

125gr raspberries, fresh or frozen

100gr black chocolate (about 67% cocoa content)

30gr cream

For the biscuit dough:

70gr flour

200gr chocolate (about 67% cocoa content)

250gr butter

4 eggs

220gr sugar

(Yields about 12 muffin-sized moelleux)

The moelleux can be prepared with various fruit inside . . . you could substitute the raspberries with passion fruits for instance.

This is a great recipe for trying a range of techniques, and it certainly looks like fun!

Rubik's Cube Pincushion

Really original and clever idea for a pincushion - a Rubik's Cube! Go here for the how-to.

Original Wall Art

Unique art work you can create using any bold image on your computer. . . it requires little artistic skill but you can be as creative as you like with this technique. And for some easy 'modern art' for your walls, I don't think yarn gets used enough with polystyrene - so now is your chance to change that! Have a look here to see how.

Gradient Tights

If you want to know how to take some boring white tights and transform them into stunning gradient tights - then click here!

Reline Converse Shoes

These instructions show you how to reline your old converse shoes in funky fabric to give them a new lease of life - and the banana fabric is so cool!

Mollie Flowers

I think this is a really attractive technique, and it could be used to make the most beautiful throw for a chair or sofa - see how you can do it, here.

Fabric Cone Tree

This is a really classic project for home decoration - these cone trees are absolutely adorable and they are so versatile because they can be done in any fabric, they can be covered in buttons or sequins or anything really - and I love 'em! Click here for the pattern.

Tree Branch Jewellery Stand

I think this tree branch is a great way of bringing the outside in and displaying your jewellery in elegant style! For more info, go here.