the green gal

Lovely Monday

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There are so many things I love about this photo. I love how the flowers look like they've just been picked from a garden, it makes me feel like Spring and pretty fleurs aren't too far away. I love that the vases are actually tin cans covered in pretty paper – so simple and so effective! And I love that there's a long line of vases running down the table, not just one or two spaced far apart, flowers look even prettier in abundance!

If you want any more ideas for how to make your own flower vases you might want to check out this DIY I wrote a while ago… 

PS Thank you so, so much for your lovely comments on here, twitter and facebook about my home featuring in Style at Home. I'm super smiley that you all like my home and really touched that you took the time to tell me. You're a lovely bunch, you are! xx

Pretty and planet-friendly finds: Love Eco

I first came across Love Eco years ago and bought my mum one of their chicken doorstops. One of the things I love about this online store is that you can always find ethical and eco goodies that you don't see anywhere else, the three pictured are perfect examples. 

T-shirt, vinyl record clock, socks

The T-shirt looks so comfy and cool and is made from a new eco fabric called Eucalytus Tencel. It seems there are lots of uses for vinyl records, besides listening to the music on them, but this record clock can be sat on a desktop with its folded edge or hung on a wall. And as for these socks, they come in several gorgeous colours plus, when you buy one pair another pair is given to a street child in Mongolia. Feels pretty good to me. 

I know what's going on my Christmas wish list…

Too beautiful for a wall in my house

find it here

I am totally in awe of this. What an incredible piece of visual wall art to create from the humble vinyl record. Quite possibly recycling at its most beautiful. Just awesome in the proper use of the word. Please, please take a look at Paul Villinski's work here, there are even more incredible pieces to behold…

Pretty and planet-friendly finds: eco-eco.co.uk

The long-held belief that eco-friendly products are unattractive and over-priced is one that I am trying to dispel. The view that a product to be made from recycled materials must be of a lower quality, that fair trade means 'foreign-looking', that organic fabric is dull-coloured, and that for all of these a sky-high premium is automatically slapped on the price irks me enormously! There may be some high street chains who think eco and ethical products should scream greenness by looking worthy and lacking in design but they're not representative of the beautiful stationery, housewares and fashion available.

So, I plan to bring you pretty and planet-friendly products from around the www, to prove that you can have gorgeously designed, top quality, fairly priced items that don't compromise on standards – visually, ethically or environmentally.

I'm starting this week with a gorgeous trio from eco-eco.co.uk:

Lolita hand-painted cups

Eva & Lolita hand-painted jugs

Eva hand-painted cups

I love this set of matching jugs and cups, I can see them sitting comfortably on kitchen tables with their timeless quality while looking on trend. 

I'd love to know what ravishing and responsibly-made treasures you've found on your travels so hook me up!

Tutorial: How to make an envelope

I've been meaning to post a tutorial on how to make a paper envelope for a while but a comment from a twitter friend this week gave me the push I needed! When you've gone to the trouble of making a card for someone special it's so much nicer to present it to them in a handmade envelope too. So, here's how you do it…

1. To make an envelope that will fit an A6, postcard-size card you will need: an A4 or US legal size sheet or a piece of paper measuring 21cmx21cm, ruler, pencil, scissors and double-sided sticky tape.

2. The piece of paper you're going to use needs to be square and measure 21cm each side. With the sheet best side down, the easiest thing to do is fold one corner of an A4 sheet over to the opposite edge and then cut off the excess strip to leave you with the square.

The only drawback is that you'll have a crease showing on your finished envelope.

3. Turn your square so you have a corner pointing down. Measure 9cm up from the bottom corner and mark the point. Measure 7cm in from each side corner and mark these points. You are going to fold the corners in at these points so to make it easier you can draw a line across each mark so you can see exactly where to fold. 

4. Fold the three corners in along your fold lines.

5. With the side flaps folded in, add double-sided sticky tape to their bottom edges so that the bottom flap can stick to them. You only need a thin strip so cut a piece of sticky tape down the middle lengthways before sticking onto the edges. Fold the bottom flap up so it sticks to the side flaps and you now have something that looks a lot more like an envelope. I like to tuck in the little point you have sticking up from the bottom flap but you can cut it off if you'd rather. 

6. On each side edge of your envelope, measure up 11.5cm and make a small mark. Using the ruler to make a sharp crease, fold the top flap over. In creating the top flap you've folded over the top corners of the side flaps and so the envelope looks a little 'unprofessional' with this little bit of excess folded paper. So you can just snip it off to leave clean edges.

7. And there you have it, your finished envelope! You can seal it with regular sticky tape or double-sided tape, or a sticker or glue, or whatever takes your fancy :)

I used a plain sheet of white recycled paper for this tutorial but you can use any paper or thin card you like. How about an old map or a magazine page? The options are endless!

I hope you liked this tutorial and found it useful. I'm very happy for you to share this tutorial but please name this blog as the source and post a link back to this post rather than give the full instructions. 

I plan to make tutorials a bit more of a regular feature so I'd love to hear what you think of this one. And if you want to share pics of envelopes you make do leave links in the comments box so I can take a peek!

Junk for Joy!

Do you remember way back in March I told you about a book I was going to be featured in? Well, it's called Junk for Joy! and it's out now! (There's me below!)

It feels like such a long time ago since I talked to Sian about my little business and remade service, about a year in fact! It is such a fab book and I'm not just saying that because I'm in it. Author Sian Berry gives lots of different ideas to revamp tired old items, from big projects that will take a few hours to quick make-its that give you results in less than an hour. The photographs by Sarah Cuttle are beautiful and as well as little ol' me you can also check out Dave and Debbie Powell from the Bracknell Re-Use Project, Hilary Bruffell from Make It and Mend It and Peter Martin from Junkk. Plus there's a very useful Resources section at the back.

Published by Kyle Books Ltd, you can find it on Amazon here.

The Challenge is over

In February 2010 I set myself the challenge of not buying any new clothes for a year. I allowed myself to buy secondhand clothes from charity or vintage shops, or make my own (that never happened), you can read my original post here. 

So, a year and a few months on, how did I do? Well, since the official end of challenge on 23 February 2011 I have bought a pair of tights. Yep, that's it. And that was only because I felt I should buy something (why I don't know), plus I fancied wearing plum coloured tights. 

A year of not going in clothes shops and recycling catalogues without opening them seems to have retrained my brain to just not think of clothes shopping. I don't buy the usual women's mags so I don't get tempted from that direction either. 

So, what have I been wearing the past year? I won't bore you with numerous snaps of jumpers and tops and dresses, but I thought I'd show you a couple of nice little outfits I found secondhand, just to show I've not been walking round looking like a slob the whole time:

The dress, belt and cardigan all came from charity shops, the leggings are a few years old, the boots were a brilliant find in a Monsoon sale about seven years ago (not sure how many more times they can be resoled), and I bought the vintage necklace at the Bath handmade and vintage fair I had a stall at last Christmas. The dress was too big and needed taking in but this is now one of my favourite outfits to wear.

This is a piccie from last summer. The belt is from a charity shop and my lovely friend, Kirsty, found the dress in her local charity shop and kindly redonated it to me. A little bit of adjustment to fit and it's a perfect summer frock.

And lastly, a little bit of glamour (I know, I'm trying and failing to pull of the Audrey Hepburn look)! I found this 1950s shift dress in my local vintage clothes store, called Shrewd, and it fits so perfectly I just had to have it. The brooch was found in a charity shop, as were the shoes – I had to have them because they're green and they fit but the heels are a bit scarily high for me. I love this outfit, even if I struggle to walk in the heels!

Thanks for your support and encouragement over the past year, it definitely helped to know that the wider world knew about the challenge I set myself and would hold me to account over it! If you're thinking of doing something similar I say go for it! If, like me, you're not a big new fashion buff you probably won't find it too hard. 

The challenge has really raised my interest in vintage clothing and, knowing I've given a second life to some really lovely clothes that also only cost me a fraction of their original cost, and that I've saved them from possibly being landfilled, has made me smile a lot over the past year. I'm sure I will end up buying the odd item of new clothing but my attitude towards clothes shopping has definitely changed for good.

T-shirt to scarf in 4 easy steps

My latest make and do for Daisy Green Magazine is on their website now so go check it out!

Ready for my close-up

Yesterday was not an average day at the green gables. I spent the morning tidying and beautifying my garden studio and the afternoon being photographed in it. 

A few months ago I was contacted by Sian Berry, writer and green campaigner, as she was interested in featuring me as a case study in her new book, Junk for Joy. After I got over the shock I agreed, of course. We had a lovely chat all about the creations I make, in particular those made from recycled materials, such as my Remade service where I take treasured pieces of clothing and remake them into new pieces to use or display or give as gifts.

find it here

Junk for Joy is a follow-up to Mend It!, all about helping you to fix an item rather than automatically binning it. Junk for Joy focuses on recycling old into new and I think there are three other people featured as case studies as well as me.

So then I come to yesterday. Sarah Cuttle, the photographer who worked on Mend It!, and her assistant, Issy, arrived to take photos of me (only a few of those, thank goodness) and lots of my handmade products. They were quite taken with my shirt cushions and wildflower paper bunting. 

It is universally agreed that a quite nasty shirt can make a quite lovely cushion cover

They were so lovely and friendly and made me feel at ease in front of the camera, no mean feat I can tell you! It was fascinating to watch them at work on the still life shots, I hope I've picked up a trick or two to improve my own photography skills.

I think until yesterday I didn't really believe it's happening – that I am really going to be featured in a book! For my career to date I've been the writer behind the scenes so to be the subject, all be it a small one among many, feels quite different and v exciting!

Junk for Joy is published by Kyle & Cathie in September and I'm really looking forward to getting loads of ideas and tips from Sian as well as reading about the other featured folk. I'll be sure to tell you all about it as soon as I get my hands on a copy.

10 things to do with ribbon

I've been up to my guest posting tricks on daisy green magazine again. This time I show you a few ways (well, ten, as you can tell) to make use of the scraps of ribbon you probably have lying around. It can't just be me that saves ribbon from presents and the end of a roll! 

So motor on over to daisygreenmagazine.co.uk and take a look…