Popsicle Stick Pendant

It's so easy and cheap to make pendants from popsicle sticks.

I've back at The Pinning Mama Today sharing how to make these pretty pendants from "popsicle" sticks. It does pain me to call them that - to me they are lolly sticks - always have been, always will be! I even made an image with a Lolly Stick Pendant title - just for UK readers! 

But today I am a guest at The Pinning Mama and "when in Rome" and all that, so popsicle stick it is. 
Anyway, whatever you call them they are cheap as chips and you can make 2 pendants from each one with just a scrap of pretty paper and some glue.
They would be great for kids to decorate (you'll have to prepare them first) and would make great earrings or charms too.

So pop over here to see a full tutorial and a few different versions I tried out.
Just out of interest, what do you call them in your part of the world?

Silent Sunday 10th May 2015

Buying New v Using Old

Moving house is expensive! Most people can't afford to buy all new everything to decorate the new place. We've recently moved and can't (and wouldn't want to) buy all new for the new house straight away so I'm looking at ways to adapt things we already have.

A step by step tutorial to make this little gold heart pot can be found here

I've been mostly working on our bedroom in the last few weeks. In the old house it was natural colours (cream/beige/brown) with quite a lot of splashes of turquoise picked out from the wallpaper as an accent colour.
In the new house we have inherited cream painted walls with one wall a gold strip wallpaper and white woodwork, included built in wardrobe doors. We also have these beautiful glass light fittings left by the previous owners. 

A little while ago we visited Dubai and on that trip went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque at Abu Dhabi. It's VERY beautiful and I loved the white and gold colour scheme.

So in a spirit of using what we have and not redecorating a perfectly nicely decorated room (that's SO not going to happen around here) We're adapting some things to fit our new classy cream/white/gold look. Luckily a lot of our stuff already goes as the colours are not that different to what we had before, I've just been doing a little tweaking.

Remember how I made this earring holder with the pom pom trim. This was one of my first ever blog posts!

I pulled the pom pom trim off and left a bit off a mess.

Also, remember this trim I added to a little cardi to make it fancy for evenings out? I had a little bit left over.

I super glued the trim on to cover the damage and gave it all another spray of gold paint. 

I think I like it better than ever (though I do still love pom poms - I haven't completely lost my mind!)

We had a complete absence of drawer space in the new bedroom so I have splashed out and bought this IKEA Hemnes chest of drawers and matching bedside tables.

 

 

They are a great size with masses of storage but those black handles are not right with our new look, I like them but it just doesn't fit with the rest of the room. I can't decide if they give it a country look or an industrial look, maybe both? Industrial country chic?
It was so quick and easy to switch the handles for these pretty amber glass ones from Trinca-Ferro which they were kind enough to send me to review.

I love how a simple change like switching the handles can make a piece of furniture look so different.

I just unscrewed the black IKEA ones and the new ones screwed right in the same holes. They were a perfect fit and I didn't need to drill anything or make any other changes.

They are very pretty, classy (which is what I am aiming for here!) and really catch the light.
Trinca-Ferro have a website chockablock with beautiful cabinet and door knobs of all shapes, colours, materials and sizes and they ship internationally. Mine arrived in just a couple of days and were well packed so no chips or breaks even though they are glass.

On my bedside table I have an amber coloured bud vase that I inherited from my mum, it matches the new glass knobs perfectly. Flower arranging is not really my thing (though I do have a pinterest board where I collect advice and tips) but the white flower is pretty! 
I made the little ring dish from ThermoMorph, see the tutorial here and used to use the turquoise version - now I'm glad I tried a gold version too.
And such a cute photo of us all from about 13 years ago that used to be in the living room, now acquired for the bedroom.

My wooden jewellery box is staying as it is - for now. It has little gold handles and key so it kind of goes, I may revisit this decision one day, who knows? 

I've got quite a few more things to share where I've just tweaked our old things for this room, but I'll share them in a part 2 another day as I think this post is quite long enough!

Do you like to use things you already have or do you prefer to buy new when you decorate or move? Or a mixture? Would you consider a simple knob or handle switch on a cupboard or drawers to give it a new look?

Disclosure: I received the glass knobs from Trinca-Ferro for free to review here on Sum of their Stories

You might also be interested in:

Adipose Cushion

Easy Sew Cushion Cover

Plastic Tub Planter

UK Coin Picture

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not go and have a look!

Silent Sunday 3rd May 2015

My Favourite Finds April 2015

I've found some gorgeous projects this month to share with you - let's get started!

These Paper Peonies from Ash and Crafts are just amazing. They are made of crepe paper, can you believe it?

Ashley has provided full step by step instructions with loads of photos if you fancy having a go.

Isn't this just lovely? I actually pinned this ages ago but saw someone else linking to it on facebook the other day and revisited Atty's amazing blog. If you crochet at all it is a fabulous blog to spend an hour or 3!

I need to work on keeping my crochet edges straight as they tend to wander if I'm not really careful so this would be a great project to practice. 

Bev at Flamingo Toes makes the most beautiful embroidery and appliqué loveliness and this hoop is no exception.

There is a very detailed tutorial too with loads of hints and tips to help you make something similar.

Made by Chrissie D is a fab blog that features mostly beautiful quilts and other sewing projects but this knitted tray really caught my eye.

Chrissie provides the pattern and full instructions (for free!) and uses a really chunky wool. I'm thinking it would probably work as a great stash buster project too and you could easily use 2, 3 or even 4 strands of wool to get a similar effect. 

There you have it, my favourite finds this month - what a lot of loveliness there is out there on the ol' world wide web!