Embracing the beauty of the warmer months

Welcome to my first blog post! Each month, I’m going to be updating you on what’s inspiring me and sharing with you a few of my favourite recycled creations.

Don’t be afraid of creativity!

If you’re new to this blog, or new to crafting, don’t be afraid – creativity is not something to fear. Like any skill in life, creativity is something you develop over time, as you respond to your environment, the people you meet, the things you see and the places you visit. If you can hold a paintbrush and paste things together, you’ll easily be able to manage my instructions.

I know how pushed for time you all are, so on my website, I try to keep all my instructions as short as possible; it shouldn’t take more than half an hour to make each of my creations. If you’re interested in more detailed projects, my new book From Drab to Fab will be available in South Africa at the end of June and on Amazon at the end of September.

What’s inspiring me at the moment

At the moment, I get most of my creative inspiration through my outside environment; I love being outdoors and appreciating the changing of the seasons. As you have probably seen if you’ve already perused my website, I like to bring the beauty of outside material into the home – greenery, pieces of wood, eggs, honeycomb, herbs – and also take a lot from the inside outside.

Right now, I feel everything has a flavour of green – that’s probably because, after the long, dull winter, we all appreciate the beautiful green of England. But I’m also thinking of my dear friends in the southern hemisphere, who are currently in their winter. So with them in mind, I’ve put together a winter album on Facebook, on my website and on Pinterest.

 Plans for this month

This month I’m focusing on a few key themes.

• Spring cleaning – we don’t want to get rid of everything in a spring clean, but reuse materials for affordable gifts and house accessories.
• Housewarming – house moving season is here, and that means you’ll be needing some housewarming gifts to give to your friends.
• Entertainment – very simple recycled table ideas to make a great impact when entertaining, but with very little cost.

This month, I’m going to show you how to make:

Guest towels from old sheets

• Homemade ribbon and fabric tabs
• Recycled old spoons
• Herb basket
• Matchbox bunting
• A couple of interesting table centrepieces
• Table settings, including napkin rings and placemats
• Refresh your table crockery and cutlery in an instant
• Spring cleaning and accessorising for dog owners

As a bonus, I’ll also share what I call my “tapas for the mind” – little snippets of creative inspiration to help you make simple changes that will transform your home in minutes. This month, we’ll look at how to upgrade your cupboards.

I’m going to show you that with the existing items you have in the house, it’s not always necessary to go out and buy a lot of new things. For instructions on how to make all these, make sure you follow me on Facebook and Pinterest.

Happy crafting and see you next month!