How to... Stained glass flowers

My beautiful hair model, Asel

A friend sent me a picture of some really pretty and and apparently hand made little flowers the other day. I decided to give it a go and see if you really can make flowers with wire and nail varnish. You could use these like I have as hair accessories, or wire them together to make a tiara or bracelet.

Things you need:

1. Wrap the wire around a pen to make a petal shape. Twist the bottom of the petal together and then do this all again until you have a something resembling a flower.

2. The next step is the tricky part. You need to brush the nail polish onto a petal and keep catching the drips and re-spreading them until it clings to the whole petal. I found this video explains it well.  

  In my experience the cheaper the polish the better, its slower to dry and usually a thinner consistency

3. If you want to add more colours to each petal this is when to do that, when the first layer is tacky. If you have a steady hand you can make some really pretty designs.

This is such a simple craft and it's you already have these things at home, I like the idea of attaching a flower to a bobby pin for easy wearing :)

You should give it a try (and share your experiences/ideas in the comments), as long as you can get the paint to stay it is guaranteed to look lovely.

Have a great Monday,

Meals in the Woods

Via Kinfolk

I am a really big fan of the outdoors, nothing beats it! I love cooking over a fire on the beach or in a field with friends. So when I first happened upon Kinfolk's outdoor workshops I was absolutely in love. The attention to detail, sustainable food and community over delicious food left me drooling. They are based in Oregon and as far as I’m aware I don’t think they really have a UK following. 

My mum is working on a project to turn an old lake and its surrounding woodland into a useable area. They have done really well, there are all sorts of great conservation groups and activities to get families out of the house. Its accessible by foot and there are small walkways around the lake. The trees hangover into the lake which is where ducks build their homes. I personally find this place magical.

There is this one space I’m going to try and paint you a picture of. Its a little clearing next to the lake, all you can hear is birdsong and swaying trees, its far away from roads and houses. Some of the conservation has involved building a fence around the clearing with reeds and branches, making benches from logs and a fire pit in the centre. It is seriously beautiful! This clearing would also make the MOST perfect place to run a kinfolk style session. Cooking over an open fire, festoon lights and candles.

This is an event I REALLY would love to do. It would be such a waste for the space not to be used in this way!

I just thought I would throw this dream out there, do you know anyone who specialises in campfire cooking or with a keen interest in local and sustainable food? Does it sound like an event you would go to? Does anyone have experience or ideas?

If all else fails it’s where you’ll find me this summer, burying my jacket potato in the embers.

                                                         

Via Billy's Lake

Via esteraevents

Bath bombs it is, and happy weekend.

Hello all you beautiful people, Happy Friday!
I'm so happy to see the sun shining today, despite being indoors writing essays it fills my heart with the anticipation of summer.

Each month I tell myself I will print out flyers for the next workshop to distribute in the local area and each month I get a little closer, this month is not that month so here is another cyber invite :)

As mentioned above we will be making bath bombs, I like the idea of making them as gifts for Mothers day so we will also spend time packaging them beautifully. As always it costs £1 and all ladies over the age of 10 are welcome.

How are you going to be spending your weekend? Matt and I just got our bikes serviced so maybe we will go for a looong cycle ride somewhere lovely.

Have a good one!

Today I had a great idea...

Happy Fridaaaaaaaaay!

Today I am loving So Shays Friday playlist, its perfect for your journey home, little bit of nostalgia and a lot of happy!
Here it is:





 I've had two good ideas today: 1. When I was looking at cinema times last night I saw that Frozen is on in the AM at Vue in Stratford. By AM I mean the kids showing time, as in £2 and an empty cinema (I went once before). I've not seen Frozen yet so I may convince Matt this is exactly what he would like to do tomorrow morning. If you are around feel free to join! :) 2. Ive spent my day cleaning and cooking as I've not had uni and we have people over tonight. We used to have two chopping boards but one day Matt decided to show off his insane man  strength by karate chopping our chopping board, sadly it worked. So now we are left with one that makes the mornings fruit taste like last night garlic. So today I had the great idea to label both sides!

(obvs buying a new one also would have worked, but where's the fun in that)

Goodbye flavours that aren't supposed to be mixed. I also forgot how much I enjoy Pyrography.


Have a lush weekend everyone  :)

Baths bombs vs. Jewellery

I've been trying to plan the next workshop today, it's on the 19th of March which is perfect for making some mothers day gifts! 

I've been trying to decide what a brilliant activity would be.... I'm thinking of choosing between making bracelet and earring sets OR beautifully packaged bath bombs.

I'm torn because not every mother may want a bath bomb 

BUT 

we've done a fair bit of jewellery making before (bling is always a crowd pleaser though). 

What would you choose? 

Orrrrrrr

The Nighshelter II

A few of you may remember one of the first posts on this blog. It was about our friend Jonny and his vision to start a nightshelter in Newham.  The nightshelter started back in October and ended at the start of February. Over the 3 months it provided 61 homeless people with a hot meal, a warm bed and a leg-up back into housing/work/society. Over 150 volunteers gave their time and energy to make it work.

During my time as a volunteer I loved hearing peoples stories and having so many of my preconceived ideas as to why people become homeless totally changed. In London there are often people sleeping rough on street corners and as I walk past there is usually a mixture of guilt, compassion and a few excuses swirling around in my head. 'They will just buy alcohol if I give them money/ could buy food/ there is nothing I can do to really help'. The nightshelter is just that, it's really helping. Its giving people a second chance and seeing people for who they are, not the predicament they are in.

The heart and success of the nightshelter is better described in this video:

Im also pretty proud of my lovely husband for making this  vid 

The nightshelter will be up and running again at the end of this year, hopefully for 4 months this time. I would absolutely encourage anyone local to get involved!