Inspired Decoration on Etsy

Hello, I hope you all had a fab weekend and managed to get outside and enjoy some sunshine.  We certainly did with lots of gardening, cleaning cars and a trip to Rendlesham Forest.  Today I am very excited to finally share with you all a new venture for me.....Inspired Decoration now has an Esty shop!

Inspired Decoration on Etsy

I know it seems a little empty at the moment, but fear not, I have plans.  This shop will be me indulging in  my love of haberdashery and I will also be adding crafty kits that I have designed aswell as embroidery patterns and kits.  For the past few months this idea has been whispering to me but I just felt like I couldn't do it, not now, not when I'm studying.  But the idea just wouldn't go away so I started taking it a little more seriously, looking into suppliers, planning kits and curating packs.  Suddenly I realised I could do this, in between everything else I can do this! As many of you will know I love curating things, I love making things and love sharing ideas for making things.  This shop is me, pure and simple, no frilly packaging, although my parcels will be pretty.

So the next few weeks, months, years, will be busy as I add to stock in the shop and build this blog, alongside everything else, but do you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way!

Have a lovely afternoon,
Zoe
x

DIY Fabric Frame

Morning! It's Friday and we've made it through another week.  It's certainly been a busy one here.  I've busily been working on something in between being mummy and keeping the children amused as the weather has thwarted many plans for the school holidays.  But I am hoping by Monday I will be ready to share an exciting new venture for Inspired Decoration. Perhaps you have seen some sneaky peeks from me on Twitter or Instagram this week? Right back to this mornings post!  As it's Friday I wanted to share an idea for a diy project for you to try this weekend.  Maybe you will be spending the weekend trawling charity shops, flea markets or auctions and come across some sturdy picture or mirror frames but want an interesting way of upcycling them.  Well how about using some of your fabric scraps stash to adorn your frames?  This fab tutorial to make a fabric covered frame from Moda Bake Shop has all the details of how to do this.

Fabric Frame Tutorial on Moda Bake Shop

Be sure to share your projects with me as it's great to see people trying out the diy ideas I've shared here.
Have a fab weekend,
Zoe
x

Crafting Kits for Children

Hello again, I hope you are all enjoying the school holidays. Kitty and Amber have braved the windy cold garden to practice roller skating again, having customised their retro style skates earlier with fabric glue and sequins! I have always encouraged my children to be creative and reguarly have crafty afternoons with my three daughters.  Sadly my sons are no longer interested in glue and paint, but are great at helping in the garden.  A few years ago I ran and taught craft sessions for preschoolers and then for children aged 3-11 in the school holidays.  I always loved planning these as much as running them and spent hours cutting out templates for some of the activities.  Perhaps you are not lucky enough to have sessions like these near to you or actually just want to stay cosy indoors making and creating with your children.  There are many tutorials available on the internet for childrens crafts but today I wanted to share some crafty kits for children.   The ones I have chosen are probably aimed at older children rather than preschoolers, that allow them to practice sewing.

1. Paper & Stitch  2. Gemima Craft Kits  3. Sparks Living 

4. Clothkits  5. Cupcakes For Clara  6. Sophie Tilley Designs

7. Kitty Kay  8. Sock Creatures 9. Random Nicole

This is just a tiny selection but I am sure will inspire your children to get sewing and making.  Be sure to share photos of any items stitched and sewn by your children with me on Twitter or Instagram.

Have fun

Zoe

x

Mollie Makes Handmade Wedding

Hello lovelies, I hope you have all had a fab Easter and got to indulge in some delicious food, family time and maybe even some crafting too.  We made some very cute easter egg garlands from card, tissue paper and pens, which I have shared on Instagram over the weekend. They were very easy to make and it was really fun to sit with my daughters and get creative.  Also over the weekend I was very excited by an email from the lovely Mollie Makes team about their latest publication, Mollie Makes Handmade Wedding.  I have sat and looked at the preview available here on Issuu and cannot wait for the printed edition be available on 4 April, just three more sleeps!  I was also thrilled to see a very dear friends wedding featured.  Emily Quinton of The Start Up Wife is a very talented lady, busy juggling a young family, teaching photography courses, writing a gorgeous blog and expectantly awaiting the arrival of baby number four any day now.  Her wedding was full of many handmade features and I look forward to reading the full feature later this week.

So if you are busily planning your wedding or helping your sister or best friend I am sure this magazine will be a very welcome addition to your plans.  Personal touches and beautiful handmade creations really do make your day extra special, quirky favours or decorations created by you and your family and friends will make it truly a day to remember. 

Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend.

Zoe

x

A Little Makeover

Hello again! I know it's been a little while but I am now on Easter holidays and have decided to give the blog a little makeover. What do you think? I am planning on writing posts reguarly with inspiration to get you making and creating so the tree of buttons seemed very appropriate.  Then I fell in love with this font and it seemed to go perfectly with the tree.  However the hardest decision came in deciding where to place the words and the tree! But my twitter family came to the rescue this morning in helping to decide when my fabulous friend Heidi of GiddyKipper suggested placing the tree as one of the I's.  After a quick play in photoshop I shared with her the idea and my new logo was born.  Obviously I am not a graphic designer but I am pleased with my efforts.  After finalising the logo I got to work with all the other buttons I needed and tweaked the fonts used on the blog to fit the new design.  Not bad for a mornings work!

New Logo!

I am also busily working on an idea that has just not gone away for the last four or five months.  All will be revealed very soon.  But the buttons in the new logo are a little clue! 

Have a fab afternoon,

Zoe

x

Mother's Day - Hand-Tied Bouquets

Morning! I hope you are all well and having a good week.  It's been lovely to see some sunshine these past few days and it has really felt like Spring is about to make an appearance.  Driving home from uni through the country lanes, the acres of brown muddy fields are looking alot healthier as shades of green are sprouting through the cracks. Daffodils are starting to appear in our garden too, little rays of sunshine to brighten a murky end of winter morning.  Yesterday Lucy arrived home from Guides with a beautiful hand tied bouquet for me as an early Mother's Day present, with daffodils and sprigs of greenery.  A local florist had taught the girls to make these little bouquets which are a beautiful gift.  So I thought today I would find some inspiration and helpful tutorials for you to create your own hand-tied bouquets for Mother's Day or for Easter or birthday gifts for family and friends.  

How to make a French hand-tied bouquet from Frolic!

How to make a bouquet from Valley & Co. Weddings

I love tulips and this simple idea of tying ribbon around the stems looks amazing.

image source

Big daisies are my all time favourites. So simple and brighten the gloomiest of days. I love how these have been mixed with smaller flowers of the same colour.  Wrapped in some yellow tissue paper they would be a beautiful gift.

image source

A great idea from Martha Stewart

This is a great idea from Saved by the Southern Belle,  pop a hyacinth into a cool tin. It would look great on the kitchen windowsill.

Fresh flowers really do make a fabulous gift and will make even a stressed mother or hostess smile.  I  hope you all have a wonderful day on Sunday.

Zoe
xx

Fabric Friday - Blueberry Park

Cushion and fabric panels available from Blueberry Park

Hello again! Can you believe it's March already?! Although the promise of Spring is making me smile.  As we head in to a new season I thought I would start writing my Fabric Friday posts again. I know how much I loved doing this many months ago on my old blog (Zoe & Drew) and I always loved discovering new designers too.  This year Andy and I have written an action plan to get some jobs done around the house, planning to tackle a room a month, but also working on the garden.  So this month it is the living rooms turn for a bit of a makeover.  Thankfully it doesn't need decorating apart from some cupboard doors in need of a fresh coat of glass.  So it means I get to have a splurge on fabric! I know I want to add some Amy Butler prints but undecided which ones as yet but I also want to add some handprinted textiles. Therefore for todays Fabric Friday I want to share the fabulous designs from Blueberry Park.

Fabric panels available from Blueberry Park

I met Karen last year at Top Drawer and have been a fan of her fabric designs for a while.  I recently discovered Instagram and love seeing Karen share her new designs for her business, Blueberry Park.  Seeing her share her photos of the screens used to print the fabrics and then seeing the first print runs is fantastic.  The joys of visual social media! With bright and cheery colours mixed with geometric or floral design I am currently Blueberry Park's biggest fan.  Aswell as selling panels of her screenprinted fabric Karen also sells a selection of products made using her fabric designs, including cushions, washbags and quilts.  So even if you don't sew or don't have time to sew you can still indulge in Blueberry Park designs.  As for my plans for our lounge, I had a little splurge yesterday and brought several panels for cushions! I will share with you soon which ones.

This kit looks like a great way to brighten up a tired lamp this Spring!

Available here 

So which are your favourite designs? Mine is definately the Triangle Mania and Karens new flower design which is yet to be added to her website and her Etsy shop.

Blueberry Park

{website} {twitter} {facebook} {etsy} {instagram} {pinterest}

Have a fab weekend!

Zoe

xx

PS. This is NOT a sponsored post. Fabric Friday is about me sharing my fabric finds and addiciton with you!