Alibaba Pots

I found this old fabric-covered pot (the smaller one) in the charity shop a while back.  I love the vintage fabric and real 60's vibe going on with the gathered fabric.  I have lots of spare baby milk tins which would work well and wanted to have a go at making one using one of the tins.  Great for keeping crafts or make-up in.

See more after the jump

Paper Animal Heads

I'm not entirely sure if I have lost my mind with this project.  I can't tell if these heads look quirky in a good 'folky' way or just downright terrifying and awful.  I'll let you be the judges!

See more after the jump

Dear forgotten blog, I have been busy...

Clay buttons for giftwrap

 Clay decorations for giftwrap and tree

 Clay numbers for my homemade advent calendar - still half-made!

Ghostie halloween brooches

Crysanth felt brooch - quick and easy to make.

Rose bib detail

 Rose Bib Necklace

 Pretty Hairbands

Typed tape for xmas

I have soooo many tutorials I want to share with you on the blog but time is against me as usual!  Who knew babies took up so much time eh!?  Here are a few images of things I have made recently, tutorials to follow soon, fingers crossed.  If someone can show me a tutorial which shows you how to create extra hours in the day, I would be very interested to read it!!   

Baby Label Lion

My little baby daughter LOVES labels.  If I buy her a new soft toy, you can guarantee the most exciting partof it for her is the label, not the bright shiny parts or the noises it makes!  So with that in mind I decided to make my own baby toy using LOTS of labels which I had cut out of old clothes.  It was a very simple toy which took only about 40mins to make, so you could even do it in your baby's naptime!

 1.  Gather your material.  You will need an old carrier bag, lots of fabric clothes labels, some yellow cotton cloth, some stuffing (I used some from an old cushion) and some embroidery thread.  You will also need a sewing machine and a needle.

2. Cut 2 circles from the cloth and from the carrier bag.  My circles were about 20cm in diameter.  Take one circle and lay your labels all around the edge facing inwards, like above and pin them in place (I didnt bother as Im a bit lazy!) and sew the labels in place using your sewing machine.  Sew approximately 0.5cm from the edge of the circle. Stitch round the circle a couple of times to make sure the labels are extra secure.

3. next you need to sandwich all your components together.  So the sandwich should go in the following order, starting from the bottom of the sandwich:

-a circle of carrier bag

-the blank yellow cotton fabric

-the yellow cotton fabric with the labels sewn on (this MUST have the labels facing downwards so the labels are sandwiched between the two pieces of cotton, if you lay it so that the labels face upwards, when you come to turn the fabric lion the right way out after sewing you will find the labels inside the lion instead of acting as his mane!)

-a circle of carrier bag.

Once you have then sandwiched together in the right order you can pin the layers in place and sew round the edge, 1cm from the edge of the circle but DON'T SEW ALL THE WAY ROUND, leave a gap of about 5cm.  Next turn the lion the right way out through the gap you have left.

4. Next embroider a cute face on the front of your lion, like this:

5.  Stuff your lion with the toy stuffing.  Sew up the gap in your lion by hand and Hey Presto, you have a crinkly crunchy labelly lion.

Racy Lacy Net Curtain Lampshade

Net curtains and old standard lampshades are two things that scream 'Granny' in the world of interiors.  But what do you get itf you cross a net curtain with a horrible old lampshade?  A net curtain lampshade of course.  I'm calling it 'old folk's home chic!'  If you want to know how to make such a thing, please see below: 

For this project you need a hideous old lampshade, some old net curtains, scissors and a glue gun. 

1. I found this monstrosity in the local charity shop for the grand old price of 50p (a bit steep if you consider the state its in!).

2. Remove the existing fabric, this one had a outer fabric and a lining.  I tried to keep the outer fabric to use as a pattern for the new covering but it got a bit mangled in my excitement to get the nasty pink fabric off, so I used the lining fabric as a rough pattern guide.

 (lining fabric which I used as a pattern for the net curtain fabric.  I added a good inch all the way around the edge when I cut out the net curtain - sorry forgot to take a pic of the next few steps!).

Once the net curtain fabric is cut out, you need to sew the vertical edges together (about a cm from the edge).

Then turn the fabric the right way out and slip it over the lampshade carcass. As the net curtain fabric is a bit stretchy it is quite easy to get it to fit.

Starting with the top of the lampshade turn the edges over the lampshade carcass and, using the glue gun, attach the netting to the lampshade carcass.

Repeat the process with the bottom of the fabric on the lampshade (as seen below), pulling the fabric tight as you go.  Trim any excess fabric from the inside of the lampshade and you are done! 

I have since added some bright pom pom trim the bottom of my lamp to jazz it up a bit (will add photos when I get a minute!)

For more tutorials, workshops and surface pattern, please visit my website at http://www.bettyjoy.co.uk

Easy Peasy Covered Buttons

This is a really easy covered button tutorial with the most basic of supplies.  No fancy schmancy machine to get to grips with, instead just some old shank buttons, a scrap of cloth and a good old needle and thread.  Read the 'how to' after the jump

Wedding belles

Those of you who read my main blog will already have seen my many wedding pics of our handmade wedding back in July this year in the Derbyshire countryside.  If you want a peek at more pics have a look here.

We had a really handmade theme to a lot of our wedding.  My husband designed the invite which we based on the royal wedding memorabilia (which you can see here), which were printed on tea towels and he designed the menus and order of service etc.  I made my wedding dress and accessories for the wedding day, the boutonnieres and made and sourced most of the decoration for the wedding too and me and my family did the flowers on the morning of the wedding, having bought flowers from the wholesalers that morning.  My brother took all the pics and my sister in law took a Super8 video of us too and our families worked their backsides off to help us out setting everything up and taking it all down after the celebrations.  It was a lot of hard work, but definitely worth it.  

Did you have/Are you thinking of having a handmade wedding?

Baby DIY

With a little bun in the oven of my own, I am starting to think about making some cute little clothes and baby accessories while I still have a bit of energy left and there is a tonne of inspiration and ideas on the internet, here are just a few.

Yikes! Aodrable baby booties from I Think Sew

Fitted crib sheet easy tutorial from Joanne Arbour 

'Cute as a button' button top tutorial by Shwin&Shwin

Yay!  A tutorial from Dana Made It for an easy skirt, and a cute one at that!

Lotta Jansdottir's book, Simple Sewing for baby has a lot of lovely simple patterns for baby, like this little swaddle blanket. 

Every baby needs a bib, find out how to make your own at Purlbee.  For your baby, not you, of course!

There is nothing cuter than a little bundle of joy in stripes.  Made by Rae shows you how to make your own

Apologies for going AWOL the last few months.  I was busy preparing for my wedding which was in July (tutorial posts to come) and also found out I was pregnant so been struggling with morning sickness which has thankfully now passed, with eveything going on the blog has been a little neglected, so as I was writing this post for my main blog, I thought I would copy it here and just to let you know I haven't gone for good!  

Put a lid on it!

Cute tutorial to jazz up your old jars from Designsponge using scrap paper.

I have to make this!!

Doilies plus wallpaper paste plus glue = fantastic looking lightshade!!  Tutorial from the amazing dosfamily

New Bettyjoy website

Yay!!!! I finally got myself organised and got myself a new website with the help of my boyfriend (who designed it) and Applebox Designs (who did all the tech bit and the online design). There are workshops, tutorials, surface pattern design and more to have a gander at on there so go check it out the new Bettyjoy website here and let me know what you think.

Cute 'all year round' wreath

A wreath is not just for Christmas as this cute tutorial over at Curbly shows.  

A different kind of writing desk

I saw this image on Kika Reichert's blog.  I love a good soak and whats even better is if you have a good writing tray to pen your memoirs as you bathe.  Check out this fantastic idea - you could knock one up using just old pallets and nice bit of varnish.

Canamel (or Caramel in a can)

Not a tutorial as such, but a very good idea nonetheless.  I found this idea onYolanda Campbell's  pinterest page.  Simply boil a tin of condensed milk.  

Cabbage Rose stamp

Cute easy-peasy stamp idea from good ol' Martha Stewart