Posts about: storage
30/10/2019
Do you often find yourself discarding your favourite pieces of jewellery around the house? If your nightly ritual includes leaving your rings and necklaces on your bedside table this is the DIY for you!
I'm guessing you've assumed that this trinket dish is made from some type of leather? Well look again folks, this catch-all dish has been made from clay. (Yes that's right, clay!!!) FIMO has created a leather-effect clay and it's pure GENIUS. Before I tried it I was a little sceptical, I figured it would be strange to work with and wouldn't really look like leather but I was sooooo wrong.
I'm so excited to share this project with you, I'm rarely this excited about a product but this is something special.
The beauty of this clay is that once you've baked it becomes flexible. You can bend it, emboss it, cut it and even sew it. (Think of all the things you could make with leather-effect.. key rings, bookmarks, purses, jewellery. I have so many ideas for future projects already.)
I'm going to share the simple tutorial for this 'leather' trinket dish and you'll see why I'm so obsessed with this new discovery.
Materials:
Clay machine (or a rolling pin)
Knife
Ruler
Thread
Step 1. Pick your leather effect. I'm using the grey here but it comes in a wide range of colours (You can also combine different colours together to create new shades or cute effects like marble).
Step 2. Roll out the clay, use a flat working surface like a tile, glass sheet or baking paper.
Step 3. Next, roll the clay out to a thickness of approximately 4mm. I've been using a clay machine and it's a total game-changer.
I rolled my clay out waaaaay more times than I needed purely because I wanted to play with it. You just pop your clay in and turn the handle to roll out perfectly even clay.
....Obviously, you can use a rolling pin to roll the clay flat, it's just not as much fun!
Step 4. Once you've rolled the clay to a 4mm thickness you'll need to cut out a rectangle shape. (Use a sharp knife and push down when you cut leather effect to keep the edges sharp.) I cut my rectangle to measure 5-inches by 4-inches for my trinket dishes. Remove any excess clay.
Step 5. Using your knife cut out a small square from each corner of your rectangle and leave to one side.
Step 6. Pierce holes in each corner of the remaining clay shape.
The trinket dish is now ready to bake.
Step 7. Bake the clay at 130 degrees for no longer than 30 minutes. Allow to cool before handling the clay.
Step 8. Finish the trinket dishes by folding the sides up and tying some string through the corner holes to secure.
I can't believe how similar this clay is to leather after baking, it's looks and feels like the real thing, it's so damn clever!
... if you didn't know better you'd think this was a leather dish right? I'm keeping mine in the bedroom to stash my jewellery in.
These dishes are also really handy for keeping keys and coins in too.
What do you think? Let me know if you try using this clay too!
Back soon
Caroline x
18/07/2019
nothing gets my inner neat freak stirred up like a junk drawer. we all have them right? they start out semi-tidy, a place to throw keys and items that don't have a home but they always end up becoming a hot mess of random (and mostly useless) stuff!
i've been on a huge declutter mission lately, you might remember my hidden door storage and small storage hook shelf DIYs? well, this is another quick little project to help make your home a little more organised, drawer dividers!
trust me, nothing feels better than getting rid of a junk drawer. i had one in the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom (i'm totally guilty of sweeping everything into a drawer when i'm doing a quick surface tidy!)
you can grab boxes and dividers at ikea but they often don't fit my mid-century or vintage furniture and i wanted something that was more of a custom fit.
these do-it-yourself balsa wood dividers are quick and easy to make and fit perfectly. organising my stuff just got a whole lot cuter and you can find the DIY over at hunker!
go take a peek and let me know if you try making some too..
back soon
caroline x
21/04/2019
happy easter guys, hope you're all enjoying a few days off? (have you made the compulsory pilgrimage to the garden center and hardware store yet?) i love to fix up the house over the holidays so i figured i'd share a quick little project for this s-hook shelf in case anyone was interested in making one!
in my marie kondo-esque mission to utilise all the wasted storage space in our house i decided to make an easy shelf that would work in cupboards, closets or small spaces like bathrooms to hang all our stuff on.
07/04/2019
i feel like storage is always pretty high on my home agenda- we don't have much built-in storage so every cupboard and unit counts! with an ever-growing collection of toys and clothes breeding in every drawer i'm having to get more and more creative with how i'm storing my stuff.
i've been doing a few things to maximize the unused spaces in my home and i thought i'd share a few with you.. i figure some of you might be bursting at the seams too and hey every little helps right?
one of my favourites is this hidden door storage, all you need is this grid panel -I've shared the idea and how to quickly install it over at hunker home, go check it out. it's a really quick way to utilize cupboard doors as they're such a wasted space!!
(i styled it up with cleaning utensils for these photos but after a wardrobe reshuffle i'm now using it to hang handbags and totes- it works SO well as it keeps them super tidy and easy to browse. no more bags precariously dangling from my clothes rails.)
i've got a few more ideas that i'll share with you over the next few weeks, let me know if you try any of them and if you have any hacks too!
back soon
caroline x
04/02/2019
I love storage DIY's, especially in the new year when I'm trying to get more organised and streamlined at home. This trinket bowl project is a great solution for storing smaller items like desk accessories, jewellery ..or in my case baby paraphernalia! Whether you decide to use the bowls in your entryway to stash car keys or your bedroom for your earings this easy project is just as pretty as it is practical. (Marie Kondo eat your heart out.)
Most rope bowls are traditionally made using a sewing machine but I've teamed up with Gorilla to show you how to make your own no-sew rope bowl in a few simple steps!
You'll need:
10mm white cotton rope. (I've used a 10 ft length of rope which made two bowls.)
Scissors
Step 1. Shake the super glue gel well and apply a few drops of the glue to the ends to stop the rope from frying as you work.
Step 2. To start the base of the bowl run drops of super glue gel a few inches along the rope. Thanks to its gel formula this glue doesn't run so you have more control on the application. (it also works on ceramics, leather, and wood to name a few so it's a good all-rounder for your craft and DIY kit!)
Step 3. Start to coil the rope into a tight spiral.
Step 4. Keep gluing and coiling the rope until you create a flat rope circle the width you want your bowl to be. The glue bonds quickly (from just 10 seconds) so press the rope firmly into the glue as you work. I found it easier to do this with the rope on a flat surface.
Step 5. Once the base is finished you can start to build up the sides of the bowl.
Take the rope and continue to apply lines of glue as you wrap the rope around. Go a little higher each time you work around the bowl.
Step 6. Continue building up the sides until the bowl is deep enough.
Step 7. Trim the end of the rope with sharp scissors and apply super glue gel to stop the rope fraying.
Step 8. Run some glue along the final inch of rope and firmly press down to secure. The glue dries so quickly you can use these babies right away!
How simple is that? You can use different sizes of rope to create bigger and smaller bowls plus there are some other great rope DIY's from rugs to baskets and coasters all made using the same technique.
I hope you'll try this DIY too!
Caroline x
*Sponsored post with Gorilla, thank you for supporting the brands that help make these projects possible.
08/03/2017
sometimes there's nothing as satisfying as a quick DIY and this storage grid totally fits the bill. you may remember i posted this metal memo board a few years ago but with this version you can store stuff in a handy pocket!
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