I love it when you have too many ideas and not enough time – on many levels I hate it too, but when you actually get to do them it is amazing. This was the case with these POP painted recycled jar lids. I have been holding onto pretty empty bottles for ages, and yes they do tend to get packed away and hoarded, but when I use them they find a new loving home and become totally functional.

I painted the lids and then added pretty store bought handles to finish them off and make them pretty.

Step 2 – Leave the lids to dry and then drill a small hole in the center of each lid.

Step 3 – Add a layer of grey wax using a stipple brush.
TIP: I did not sand my lids after painting so that I could keep the texture and brush streaks.
The wax sits inside the texture formed by the brush strokes and create a beautiful effect.

Step 4 – Use an old t-shirt and buff the wax to a shine.

Step 5 – Insert the handle in the lid and tighten.

Step 6 – See how the grey wax sits inside the texture for a lovely distressed effect.
Make sure the handles are tightened well.

All you need to do now is fill the jars with sweets for Easter and you have a lovely table decoration.

These will make great memory jars filled with trinkets, notes, Polaroid photos and keepsakes.
Select one of the 15 trendy colours to recycle your jars and create something truly unique for your home.

Look out for the POP paint of range at your nearest craft, home decor and hardware store!
Add some colour to your life in a few easy strokes!

If you are lucky enough to own an electronic cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette then you are always looking for a cardstock that will cut like a dream right? yes you are! So this week I tested the Chiswick range of cardstock and put them through my Cricut machine – and it cut like a dream. While playing on my machine I created a recycled project as part of my keeping it green motto. I cut a sentiment band to wrap around an empty metal food tin

I used the cardstock as a band layered on top of a sheet of Prima patterned paper strip – this way my pattern peeks out from underneath my bright pink cardstock wrap.

Don’t you just love the detail and texture of the cardstock! Here’s how I went about the process
step 1 – I cut my word onto the cardstock using my Cricut machine. I then trimmed the cardstock to measure 5mm thinner than the width of my recycled tin. I cut my patterned paper the exact width of my tin as i wanted it.

step 2 – Remember to keep the inside parts of the letters like “O”, “P” etc. I inked the edges of my cardstock strip using a dark brown chalk ink to finish it off. Add your adhesive to the back of the cut out sentiment strip  – make sure that you add your adhesive as close as possible to the edges of the cut-out letters.

step 3 – Carefully wrap the cut out band around the tin (on top of the patterned paper strip). I made sure that my overlap piece is at the back of the tin.

step 4 – Finish it off by adhering the center part of the “O” to finish it off. Decorate the tin with punched flowers using your Chiswick flower punches and cardstock.

Sharing some ideas from my Christmas photo shoot in 2013 for The Christmas Magazine. Each year i hope to get organized and start prepping for the festive season really early (don't we all) - although the commercial side of it does put a damper on it all, there still is that magical true meaning side to it all.I love these rusty ornaments and especially this cake stand from my home - so I incorporated it into my decor and filled it with my handmade fabric wrapped baubles.

The photos were all taken on my old farmhouse style table i inherited (or got) from my dad's parents. I painted it white and sanded it to get just the perfect amount of chippiness to it.

more rusty urns filled with sweets and decorated with berry garlands

and finally some handmade quick and easy kid friendly decorations for the tree - Using buttons and ribbon to create miniature wreaths - add them to candles, around serviettes, on cupboard doors - and when you are done recycle them to create something else

Strips of torn fabric wrapped around and pinned to the top of a polystyrene ball and then a ribbon loop added with a decorative pin

simple gift wrapping ideas with brown paper and paper garlands to string on the tree

and an old recycled curtain ring covered in ribbon and a festive berry - quick and easy and earth friendly decorating

are you planning anything for Christmas in July to help you get an early start to your special season?

I am for ever losing my most used tools on my desk that is always so full of work in progress projects. This also leads to me losing my sense of humour and some other things every now and again. So what’s a girl to do?

With a little bit of imagination and some recycling you can make something so simple and functional. And those die cuts sure do make life a lot easier – they cut like butte through paper and cardstock which makes decorating your everyday life so much prettier.

i love how my XCut tools perfectly fitted into the holes and the colours are really pleasing with everything beautifully co-ordinated!

Products Used 

Crate Flea Market Paper Pad Cuttlebug V2 [PC 2000293] 

Glue Dots Pop Up [GD12296-75] 

Tombow Mono Multi Glue [TB 62191] 

Purple Turtle Double Sided Tape - 48mm [PT13] 

Xcut A5 Die Set – Flowers [DXCU503195] 

Xcut A5 Die Set – Leaves [DXCU503194]

Capturing memories are fun! And we often have so many great photos, fantastic trips, good memories and special occasions captured on film (so to speak) that it’s not always easy to have them on display. It’s great to scrapbook them but how many of you actually have an album or two out on the coffee table for the kids to peruse whenever they want to? I can honestly say that I really have layouts all over my work area and the lounge for that matter, so there’s always a memory floating around for anyone to see. Having said that… I am always on the lookout for cute ideas and things that can be altered with photos that can permanently be on display – but also changed at a whim when I get bored. I have a couple of framed photos in the lounge all in the same frames so they are pretty great and we see them every day.

Then I found these cute little photo cubes at a discount store the other day – and all I could think about was how amazing they would look stacked up in different configurations all over the house. They could hold different memories, can be dressed up with a couple of easy stickers and pretty paper, or even just photos added without any decoration. They are super cool, versatile and economical. Did I mention they would make for great gifts?

I also spotted this cute “earth globe” and having wished for a vintage one for my home I settled on this little guy. The colours on the map were just not me so I pulled out my pot of chalkboard paint and took to it without thinking. I cut a camera from one of the sheets of paper and sprayed it with water to soften the fibres in the paper which will make for easy handling and shaping around the contours of the globe. While the camera image was still damp I adhered it to the globe using gel medium and left it to dry thoroughly. A few more decorations and a scribble or two with chalk and I had a funky and fashionable travel item to display with my travelling photo cubes.