DIY Home Decor | Pineapple Jar

I'm not particularly known for being ahead of trends, so it's probably no surprise to you that I'm sharing a pineapple DIY well past it's sell by date.
As much as I love an accessory, I'm also lacking in space, so this DIY tries to bring both together in the most stylish/functional way.  Here's how you can create your own storage jar using a Decopatch shape and spray paint!.




| WHAT YOU NEED |

Mache Pineapple / Gold Paint / Craft Knife / Packaging Cardboard / Pencil / Glue Gun


| WATCH THE VIDEO|

| HOW YOU MAKE IT |
Start by marking the lid of the pineapple with a pencil and ruler, before carefully cutting through the mache with a craft knife to separate:

| TIP | If this stage goes horribly wrong or you aren't happy with the neatness of your cut, it can be fixed! Tear small strips of paper / thin cardboard and glue to the pineapple to neaten the edges or even fix the pineapple back together.
Also - the inside is plastic - the more you know!

For the quickest and easiest DIY in all of craftland, you could leave the make here and jump straight to painting, however; here's a way to create a secure hold to keep the top and bottom of the pineapple together.

Cut a length of the packaging cardboard [this is the corrugated thick card], around 1cm wide and wrap this on the inside of the pineapple opening.
Fix in place with the glue gun at the points where it meets and let it set.  Once the cardboard is in place, fix in place securely by filling the gaps with the glue gun and leave to set:

Repeat this method for the pineapple lid.
When dry, add a second, wider length of cardboard to the inside - this should be placed with around 3cm prominent from the lid to hold the top and bottom together - before fixing in place, ensure that the jar holds securely together:


After your glue has dried, you may find the lid lip doesn't sit flush to the bottom, so use a craft knife to even out these areas and ensure the gap is consistent around the jar.

Next, take yourself to a very well ventilated area outside, protect all your surroundings and spray the inside and outside of your pineapple gold.  Small light sprays work best and will prevent the paint running - a couple of coats may be needed and it should be left to dry completely:

...before filling with items that need tidying away.

DIY stylish, affordable and practical storage for the win.  This can be applied to most of the DecoPatch range - which would you choose?

DIY Halloween | Trick or Treat Munchkins

 An easy DIY anyone can make to suit their style, budget and home decor.

| WHAT YOU NEED |

Muchkins | Paint | Paint Brush | Stickers

I couldn't walk by these munchkins in Waitrose - they are between 5cm to10cm tall, 10cm to 15cm wide and were £1 each and too cute to leave behind, so here is my justification for buying them - turning them in to a Halloween totem pole.


| WATCH THE VIDEO|

| HOW YOU MAKE THEM |
This is a simple and only two-step make to create your own stylish and modern trick or treat decorations.  Give your muchkins a wash to remove any dirt and then paint them in your chosen colours:

[found crafters paint dried the quickest and gave the best coverage]
Once completely dry, add your stickers to spell out any or witty halloween-themed quote:

[these 3D stickers were perfect, but make sure you hold them i place to prevent them from peeling away]

... and you have yourself some cute-but-chic halloween decorations to add to your mantle.  Now just to decide how to display them:

You could also embellish these with stick on gems, creepy-crawlies or add a few glitter cobwebs.  Or, you can, of course, create larger versions of these for your table or entrance with pumpkins - let me know if you do!

DIY Halloween Decor | Sequin Skull Lantern

Halloween Decor with sparkle.

| WHAT YOU NEED |

Polystyrene Skull / Black Paint / Paint Brush / Sequins / Sequin Pins



| WATCH THE VIDEO |

| HOW TO MAKE IT |

This DIY uses the old-school sequin and pin embellishment technique [it's strangely therapeutic] and lets you add a little chic to your halloween decor that can be a home decor accessory all year round. Win.

Start by coating your skull in paint - allow to dry fully and add a second coat if needed.

Now, grab a chair, a hot drink and get pinning those sequins.  I added detail around the eyes, jawline and head - but this would look fab.u.lous with if it was completely covered in sequins - I'm very tempted to do this with my next free evening.

Once you have completed your embellishment, you could leave your skull as the awesome decorative item that it is - but follow the next steps if you fancy transforming it in to a lantern.
Take a battery candle and mark in the bottom of the skull where it will sit comfortably and hollow out this area with a knife.

To ensure the light could be seen through the skull, I hollowed out the eyes with a pencil, meeting in the middle and joining with the hollowed area made for the candle to sit in.

Paint the exposed polystyrene before finishing the look by removing the paint around the teeth with a pencil:

Display as part of your Halloween decor, or as a chic accessory.  It can be easily changed to reflect your style, colour preferences or to match your home colour scheme.



| HEALTH AND SAFETY |
These are polystyrene items - there is no material more flammable. DO NOT even think about having a naked flame near these - the 'candles' I have used are fake and battery operated.  Even then I didn't leave them unattended.  Safety first people.

DIY Autumn Decor | Pumpkin Vase

This DIY makes Autumn home decor easy and an addition to your current home accessories for the season.  [it's also an excuse to get the gold paint out....]

| WHAT YOU NEED |

Polystyrene Pumpkin / Paint / Paint Brush / Foam Flowers / Florists Foam

| HOW YOU MAKE IT |

This is not only easy - this is a cheap and quick DIY that takes a polystyrene hollow pumpkin to chic Autumn vase within the hour.

Use a knife to cut an opening at the top of the pumpkin - no deseeding, scraping or washing needed, just a little tidying up of the opening by removing any excess:

Apply a few coats of paint to cover the outside to match your decor.  Then, apply your accent colour to cover the opening before taking a brush and making strokes from the top to middle:

Apply a few coats until you achieve the depth of colour you like.
To fix the flowers in place, cut a small block of floristry foam to the height of your pumpkin so that it sits in line with the opening [if the foam doesn't fit securely, or if you would like to weigh your vase down, add decorative crushed glass or stones:

Starting from the outside in, begin placing your flowers in to the foam - keep the flowers close together to conceal the opening and prevent any gaps:

Once complete, your vase is ready to display:

This DIY can be easily personalised to suit your decor and style - or create a Halloween version with grey paint, silver detail and dark flowers!

Don't forget to see how this DIY was made by visiting my YouTube channel and see you next week!

Feature | HomeSpun Magazine

I'm really excited to share with you something that was sent to me this week from the lovely magazine Australian Homespun - a feature of my easy embroidery hoop spiderwebs - the perfect Halloween craft to add a little creepy crawler décor to your home.

You can find out how to make them here and more Halloween DIYs here.

It's pretty amazing to see a feature in any magazine, let alone one sold the other side of the world.

Thank you Homespun!

[You can give them a visit here]

DIY Home Decor | Brush Stroke Art

You have probably noticed my aesthetic is quite grey. White, gold and sometimes, a bit of glitter, but primarily, my house has been decorated with a palette of light through to dark grey.  Time to lift the decor a bit and there is nothing better to do this than with some DIY art.

| WHAT YOU NEED |

Canvas / Brushes / Paint


| WATCH THE VIDEO |

You can add huge statement pieces or smaller colour ways that pull your room together.  I need a statement and colour - but I'm also still renovating, decorating and putting my home together, so it need to be something that can adapt to.  Brush stroke art is your answer and it requires very little time and next to no painting skills!

| HOW TO MAKE IT |

The key is to start - anything [and I mean anything] that you paint can be changed, painted over or built on - so I decided to order my colours to make the process easier.  The main colour I wanted was pink, so this is where I started - covering the canvas with strokes starting from the top to middle and bottom to middle:

I went for long strokes to fill the canvas, progressing with smaller strokes as I added my accent colours.  I used the same technique, dense colour and fairly dry bush strokes starting from the top to the middle and bottom to middle with the second main colour:

Vary your brush strokes by loading the brush for dense colour or removing the excess for a softer finish:

I painted the brush strokes around the canvas to break up the pink, before picking a third main colour, complementary to the navy to give a little balance:

Finally, I chose accent colours to use sparingly but add some lightness and a little shimmer to the art, breaking up the matt finish:

The colours look different throughout the changing light during the day - in areas of the house which have floods of light, the colours look pastel and muted and insdarker corners, the colours are a deeper shade, more vibrant and in particular lights, the gold is highlighted:















I still have a few blank spaces which I am tempted to bring to life a little with some smaller versions of these - can I persuade you to have a go too?