• Posts Tagged ‘crafting’

    Ahoy there, crafters: FREE bunting

    by  • Monday, April 26, 2010 • Books and TV, Craft, News, Stylish shopping • 8 Comments

    Oooh la la! The new June issue of Ideal Home is in the shops now, and it’s a cracker! Bunting fans will be especially chuffed to discover we’re giving away some gorgeous printed bunting with this issue, covered with pretty vintage-style floral patterns fresh from the pages of the lovely Reprodepot Pattern book: Flora.

    It’s so easy to make – all you need is a ribbon and some staples or glue – and it looks great draped around the garden for a summer party. Stick it to your shed, tie it to trees and bushes, wrap it around your garden furniture – instant summer chic! Also, if you’re keen to get hold of the Reprodepot Pattern book: Flora and the joyous accompanying CD of high-resolution printable patterns for craft, we’re running a special offer in our June issue, which means you can get your sticky little mitts on the book for just £9.99 as opposed to £16.99 – you can’t say fairer than that. – Ellie



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    Scrabble-tastic

    by  • Monday, December 7, 2009 • Craft, Decorating and interiors, News, Stylish shopping • 8 Comments

    Scrabble cushions, Scrabble wall art…who’d have thunk it? My favourite game is finally cool. Of course, I usually get stuck with seven vowels while my opponent scores 96 on a triple word score square with ‘opaquer’ or some other RANDOM word that I didn’t even know existed, but HEY – losing aside, I do LOVE Scrabble. Check out these fabulous Scrabble cushions from Rockett St George…Maybe this trend started a while ago with Stephen Reed’s Scrabble cushions installation for the Bloomberg offices in London? I’ve got a bit of a thing at the moment for vintage black Scrabble tiles with white lettering…ever since I saw some in Vintage Heaven‘s Halloween display back in October. I bought the letters ‘LOVE’ (cheesy, I know) and they’re in a grey rack in front of my old typewriter – how pleasing…

    Sometimes, it’s as if the lovely people at Rockett are reading my mind…

    These cushions look so cool on a white sofa in front of a dark grey wall (REALLY need to get this dark grey thing out of my system soon!) If you prefer the traditional cream tiles, check out this stylish Brigitte Herrod artwork, also from Rockett:

    This is lovely, but I can’t help thinking you could make your own…vintage Scrabble sets are cheap as chips on eBay, and some shops (such as Vintage Heaven!) sell old Scrabble tiles for pence. A trusty IKEA Ribba frame, some super-glue, and job’s a good ‘un. Right, I’m a bit Scrabbled-out and still recovering from the opening party of the fabulous London pop-up Drink, Shop, Do…(Smack my Stitch up, anyone?) so let’s see if those lovely pics from Sibella Court’s new book,  Etcetera, have arrived yet…oooooh, they have! – Ellie


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    Typefaces treat

    by  • Wednesday, October 28, 2009 • Craft, Stylish shopping • 8 Comments

    Obsessed with Helvetica? Got a thing for Wing Dings? Fancy a bit of Futura? If you’re a typefaces geek like me, check out this gorgeous new book: Type, A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles. It’s a beautiful hard-back book, crying out to be cooed over – the kind of tome that deserves pride of place on your coffee table stack.

    typography3Apart from the fact that this is a fascinating read all about the history of fonts and a lovely visual book to own and cherish, there’s another reason why I love it. Each copy comes with a unique access code to a huge online library of high-resolution graphics and typefaces, which you can download and use for free!

    typography1Perfect for cheap wall art – I’m going to print a few vintage typeface specimen sheets out and frame them. And imagine the Crafting Potential! I plan to use the downloads to make some personalised stationery, vintage-style Christmas cards, cute labels for homemade jam…and some of the downloads feature vintage chemist labels, which you could print out and glue to jam jars or glass bottles for cheap yet lovely bathroom accessories. Hurrah! – Ellie

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