Repurposed Wood Bug Hotel

For some time now, I've wanted to make a bug hotel. But I could never quite get my hands on the right materials. Though I could have quite easily gone out and bought wood to make one (or bought a ready made one), I wanted to go the upcycled route and use something that had outlived its original purpose.

So this rather worn-out little wooden sleeve ironing board, which I found at the charity shop, was perfect!

Vintage-Style Leather Cuff

Over the past few days I've brought you leather cuffs of several different styles. Leather & chain, painted leather, and even leather using spacer bars as decoration.

This is the final post of the set (for now) and can once again make use of upcycled materials!

If you've got an old brooch knocking about that you never wear, this is the craft for using it!

Painted Leather Cuffs (Plus a Paint-Free Bonus DIY!)

Yesterday, I posted a tutorial for a leather & chain cuff, and said I'd post more ideas.

Today I'm bringing you painted leather cuffs, in two styles--plus a bonus, paint-free style, for those who don't trust themselves with a paintbrush!

These can look a little daintier, and you can go wild with colour combinations--your only limit is the colours of leather/paint you can get your hands on!

As I mentioned yesterday, this is a good upcycling project for bags/garments no longer usable, and you can use faux leather too.

Leather & Chain Cuff DIY

I started making leather and suede cuffs when I was a kid. Mum bought some suede scraps and some eyelets, and showed me an old choker one of her old work colleagues had made. Then we made our own!

This is an updated version of our DIYs. I made it back in April along with some others, after finding some leather scraps at a local market (and then I forgot to post about them...oops!)

Leather cuffs - or suede ones! - would make a great upcycling project if you have an old and knackered leather/suede handbag or garment that's outlived its original use.
Of course, you can also use faux leather for this!

These are relatively simple to make. In fact, this one is the most complicated of the bunch I ended up making. Which isn't really that complicated at all.

Here comes the tutorial!

Beach Pouch DIY

Remember how, back in November, I posted about destashing?

That I claimed to have a list of project ideas to work on?

Well, my friends, I finally used some of that fabric, and made this cute stripy pouch with an embroidered nautical design. 

Summer might be months away, but dreaming of those warm and dry days is a nice way to forget about the grey skies and damp air, don't you think?!

There are a zillion and one zipper pouch tutorials out there, but here's another. ;)

You'll need:

Stripy fabric

Neutral fabric*

Fabric for lining (I used thin polycotton)

5"-6" Zip (mine was old and a weird size)

Embroidery thread

Sewing thread

Optional: thin ribbon

Tools:

Sewing needles

Sewing machine

Zipper foot

Ruler

Scissors/rotary cutter

Dressmaking pins

Optional: pinking shears

*I used some loose-woven neutral fabric, but it was a total pain in the butt to sew. I could have done with some interfacing on it! Lesson: take care in your fabric choices!

Okay, on with the tutorial!

DIY Vintage Buckle Pendants

Today I want to share this really straightforward DIY for making pendants from buckles!

You could incorporate these into a great gift for any vintage fan or family history nut--see below for how I used mine!

Cord & Chain Necklace

Though I had some hassle getting cord ends that would fit my reams of leather cord, I finally settled for some coil end springs (which are slightly too big, but close enough).

So, armed with my shiny new pack of cord ends, I began experimenting and now I have this cord & chain necklace tutorial to share with you!

This project will take 1-2 hours; it took me a while because I made a couple of mistakes during the process.

Here comes the how to!

Brown Paper Packages...

'Tis the season when the makers of gift-wrapping products are rubbing their hands in glee.
Well, sorry rich dudes, but I wrapped all my presents for the grand sum of 89p.

(Yes, 89p!)

Pearl & Leather Wrap Bracelet

In my attempt to use up some more from my leather cord stash, I made this pearl and leather wrap bracelet!

With this DIY you can make use of any small beads you have lying around; I went for faux pearls as I had lots of small ones left over from some broken vintage necklaces.

You'll need:

Leather cord (I used 4mm cord)

Small beads

Beading wire

Jewellery wire (I used approx. 1mm wire)

Clasp

Jump rings

Crimps

Tools:

Scissors

Wire cutters

Round nosed pliers

Flat nosed pliers

Crimping pliers (optional--use flat nosed pliers if you don't have crimpers)

Wire-Wrapped Beaded Leather Bracelets

Today I want to share a how-to for these wire-wrapped, beaded leather bracelets.

As I posted previously, I have a ridiculous amount of leather cord, so I used a little of it in this tutorial!

These bracelets would make a nice little gift for anyone, as you can pick colours and beads according to their personal tastes.

Understated Pompom-Tassel Necklace

Did you like the Sweetlime inspired necklace I posted about last week, but found it too big for your tastes or too busy for your personal style?

Then this tutorial is one for you. This pompom tassel necklace uses some of the same, or similar, parts, but produces something smaller and more understated.

It also takes less time!

Bottle Necklace

Whilst browsing the internet recently, I found some cute bottle necklaces! I have a few little glass bottles that I’ve kept since childhood, so decided to turn them into necklaces!

It doesn’t take much to make a simple necklace, just wire, chain and basic jewellery findings. After making the first, I made more and took pictures so I could share this tutorial!

Heart Sun Catcher DIY

Now that Christmas is over, I can share this new tutorial! I made the sun catcher in the picture as a present for my mum, so I couldn’t post until now in case she saw!

This is slightly fiddly to put together – one of those projects that could do with an extra hand or two – but the method is relatively simple! 

You’ll need:

Beading wire (I used .012 diameter)

Jewellery wire (I used approx 2mm wire)

Lots of small beads and/or crystal chip beads

Large clear bead/charm for the centre

Ribbon

1 split ring

Jump rings

Crimps

Tools:

Tape measure

Wire cutters

Flat-nosed pliers

Round-nosed pliers

Friendship Bracelets

A while ago I got hooked on making friendship bracelets. Though they were time-consuming, I liked the result. Since I have a ton of embroidery floss (perfect for these bracelets!) I ended up making a number of them!

I won’t go into detail about the process, because there are tonnes of friendship bracelet tutorials out there.

However, here’s a quick rundown of how I embellished the ones above.

Left to Right:

Blue Tones: Added studs (taken from a broken watch strap)

Pink/Purple/Yellow: Sewed on colour-coordinating skull beads using matching embroidery thread (I finished this bracelet with a snap closure, as I made it a bit too big!) 

(These last two bracelets were made for a friend. As she very much an outdoorsy, nature-loving person, I picked natural colours!):

Green/Brown/Beige: (No extra details)

Green/Brown: Added small beads in the process of weaving the bracelet. I threaded a bead onto the centre two strands and then continued weaving around it, leaving the centre strands out of the design until I reached the bottom of the bead, where I tied it on. This gave the bracelet a ‘wobbly’ shape.

Keyboard Key Brooch

Are you a computer geek? Perhaps you know a computer geek. Or maybe you just think that keyboard keys are cool.

I have a bag of keyboard keys, because I think they can look cool (and I’d like to be a computer geek, but I don’t have the brains). They came from various defunct keyboards and although I’ve collected them up with different projects in mind, this brooch happened:

Pacifist Geek Chic?

On top of a new pile of keyboard keys, I acquired a bit of circuit board from a broken ‘computer thingamy’ (I think it was a keypad of some kind, but it came to me with stuff broken off and no housing, so I’m not sure).

Here’s how to make a little keyboard key brooch of your own.

You’ll need:

Keyboard keys

Backing for brooch (I used a piece of circuit board)

Brooch back

Strong glue

Cutters or a small saw

Sandpaper

Circuit Board & USB 'Dog Tag' Necklace

What do you do with a broken computer mouse? Or anything else that plugs into the computer, for that matter?

Throw it away? Toss it into a cupboard and forget about it?

Hold your horses!

Don’t just toss it, cannibalise it!

Unscrew screws, cut wires, take stuff out that you can use (and drop off any leftover metals at your nearest recycling point!). Just be careful if you’re playing with anything that might hold an electrical charge, and watch for sharp edges.

Amongst a heap of broken computer stuff I was given for crafting with, was a broken card reader (I think that’s what it was anyway!) Basically a bit of plastic with a bit of circuit board inside, attached to a USB plug.

I wanted to make something with a more masculine edge to share with you here, so this is what I came up with:

My inspiration was dog tags. The circuit board especially reminded me of a tag.

As I happened to have a necklace with multiple strands of ball chain, I took a strand off to use for this craft :)

Of course I have a tutorial for you too. So if you’re looking for a little inspiration or what to know how to make one of these USB and circuit board necklaces.

Crystal Charm Pendant / Crazy Busy

Goodness me, has it really been so long since I last posted here?! 

I have been (and still am) crazy busy and blogging has really been put on the back-burner! 

Luckily I have a couple of ready-prepared posts, and five minutes to post one :)

Back in December, I went to a Christmas fair at the village centre. There was an abundance of stalls selling all kinds of things! One particular stall was half covered in crystals and half in collectibles, and it was there that I saw the craft bargain of the century...

A bowlful of small pieces of crystal, for just £4.

I instantly thought of all the things I could make with those crystals and couldn’t hand over the money fast enough!

In a crystals shop, those pieces would probably cost 50p-£1 each, so I wasn’t going to turn away at the prospect of spending £4 on them!

I’ve only done a little crafting so far, but easily churned out these wrapped crystal charm pendants!

Want to make one too?

The method is practically the same as my agate necklace.

Simply wrap the crystal as described in the agate neclace tutorial, and fix on a charm using a jump ring and flat nosed pliers.

To add beads, slide them on during the process of wrapping (as described in my post on crystal wrapping techniques)

Yet again this was a cheap project, but again would make a great little gift!

Will link up at the parties listed below (provided I get the time!)

Map Pendants

A while ago, my dad unearthed an old pocket diary and – since it was dated 2005 – was going to put it out for recycling.  Of course, I rescued it!
In the back of the diary was a set of maps, which I promptly pulled out for crafting with. (I have a thing about map crafts recently!)

Using sections of the maps, I put together these simple pendants.

Construction is really simple and uses items easily found on eBay or in your local craft shop.

Here’s a tutorial!

Swarovski-Inspired Bracelet

A couple of weeks ago, my middle sister showed me a gorgeous bracelet from Swarovski Elements. It was like an elaborate friendship bracelet, with the traditional woven strap, and the addition of diamante, chain, and coloured lacing. My sister loved it, I loved it...but it was £176. Ouch.

I realised I could use it as inspiration to make my own version.

So here’s mine:

My version, cost £0

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And here is the original:

Source: swarovski-elements.com via Kei on Pinterest

Joyful Bracelet by Bibi Bijoux for Swarovski Elements, RRP £176

Isn’t it beautiful? You can buy it at the Swarovski Elements Web Shop

I made my bracelet with things I had to hand, so it was essentially free. Production was pretty time-consuming, but I’m pleased with the result!

Read on for a tutorial!
 

Time needed: An afternoon

You’ll need:

Friendship bracelet or decorative trim
Rhinestones or rhinestone trim

Stiff webbing or similar (width = width of friendship bracelet + width of rhinestones + 0.5cm)

Chain

Embroidery thread

Extra strong thread (I think what I used was carpet thread!)

Press stud kit

Glue

Pliers for cutting chain

Embroidered Tags

Yesterday I posted about the gorgeous vintage suitcases I now use to store my fabrics. I mentioned that I can’t see through the sides like I could with the plastic boxes I used to keep the fabrics in. Well, here is my solution!

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These embroidered tags were made using things from my scraps box :)

I was inspired by these Anthro knockoff Penmanship gift tags, made by Bev at Flamingo Toes:

Source: flamingotoes.com via Kei on Pinterest

(I pinned this ages ago, intending to use the idea at Christmas…then was too crafted-out!)

As you can see, mine deviated quite drastically from Bev’s!

Keep reading for the tutorial! :)