Category: Craft

Back in May, I decided one random day at 2 am to crochet flower pot coasters for Mother’s Day (celebrated on the first Sunday of May here in Portugal). I found it while casually browsing Pinterest and decided it was the right gift. I didn’t even know if I had any yarn I could use. But I was determined to make them myself. And this late-night decision marks the beginning of my crochet adventure. Ever since doing those coasters, I’ve learned a lot, made many mistakes and became slightly obsessed with crochet. After 2 months, I’ve been crocheting almost every day, and now that I took a little break to avoid burning myself out, I can’t stop thinking about it. I guess this means I’m a crocheter now. In this post, I’ll share everything I’ve done for the past couple of months, what I’ve learned, and even share patterns and …

My bookshelves always bothered me for one reason: they are too deep. And lately, with the growth of my book collection, I found myself thinking of putting the books in double rows. Although which books will go in the back? They will be out of sight and hard to reach, so I need to think carefully about which one will be in the back. While scrolling through Pinterest, I saw an ad for a shelf riser for manga collections. And that was the answer I needed all along. A shelf riser, or as I prefer to call it, a shelf shelf is a structure to elevate the books that will be placed on the back row. So, I grabbed a pencil and paper and began to draw. I wanted something simple and cheap. Cardboard. Although for it to sustain such weight, it had to have a structure underneath that could …

Taking care of our planet matters to me more and more as time passes by. Slowly, I’m becoming more aware of how much we just use and throw away, and consequently, waste is becoming something that bothers me. Even throwing away onion peals or eggs shells is something that doesn’t sit right with me anymore. If it can be transformed, then I want to do it. While a compost bin still has some “questions of logistics” to be considered, I can start re-purpose other things. And the next item on the list of “things that have a short life span” comes water bottles. Yes, they can be recycled, although I’m still using them once and then throwing them away (to recycling). I want to give them a new life before they are shredded into tiny pieces to be reborn again. Then one day, while losing myself in the slow living …

The days might be cloudy and rainy, but one thing is undeniable: Spring has arrived. And the small taste o sunny weather brings out the gardener in me. It’s beautiful to watch something grow day after day, taking care of it, and then harvest the hard work. For the longest time, I wanted to create a small garden with vegetables and herbs to feed my little dwarf bunny. I can’t always find diversity for her in the supermarket and grow it myself would solve the problem. I started this project back in April when everything was in lockdown. I would preferably build a vegetable patch out of wood, but with shops only half working I wasn’t going to go out exclusively to buy wood. I had to work with what I had around the house. And in one of the attics clear-out, I went through all the architecture models I …

Christmas is fast approaching, and I couldn’t let the season slide without a little DIY to kick in the spirit! I think it was mid-September when I started to brainstorm for new projects and between my mindless scavenge on Pinterest, I decided to make a Pompom Christmas Tree and put it on a canvas. The process is really simple and the only thing that spends more time is making all the pompoms, but nothing like watching your favourite Christmas movie or watch the new Hallmark Christmas movies while you wrap yarn – I’ve been binge-watching the whole Aurora Teagarden mysteries movies. Supplies: Canvas 35x45cm 2 Balls of Yarn Green – needle size 5,5mm to 6,5mm (115m each) Ball of Yarn Yellow – needle size 4,5mm Scissors Pompom maker 5,5cm Pompom maker 3,5cm Acrylic paint in Dark Blue Yarn Needle Paintbrush Step 1. Prepare the canvas. Place those little wood thingies …

I had this wood box laid around for years lost in the attic. I tried to make something out of it a few times but never succeeded. A few weeks back, I found the box once again and decided that this was the time to turn it into something beautiful. My original plan was to use plastic straws to give a new purpose to them while helping the planet. Well, that plan went quickly down the toilet. I found on Pinterest that you can do some cute flowers out of straws using double-faced tape. I even went to the trouble of doing small clay balls to be the centre of the flowers and having the straw going around it. Until here, everything was working fine once I started painting them, everything went wrong. The double-faced tape wasn’t sticky enough to hold the straw in place, so it started to unroll. …

Once upon a time, there was a sad little mouse. He didn’t have a house. He would sleep in the cold, with no one else there to hold, alone in the dark, every day being chased. It was a hard time he faced. Until a friendly witch cast a spell, working really hard to craft it well, and out of paper and clay, she built a brand new house for him to stay. Well, I must stop the story here before something terrible happens! But today, it’s not the time for storytelling – that, I save for sleepovers – but it is time for another craft, more specifically a house for your mouse! Just like in the story! Now seriously, this is a craft I made two years ago when a friend needed a box to store her mouse. And in case you haven’t guessed it yet, I’m talking about …

There has been a trend that took the book community by storm: sprayed edges. This isn’t something new that we never saw before, there are a few books editions that have sprayed edges, but suddenly every book worm out there are adventuring themselves into arts and crafts to make their books unique. Since I love books and I love crafts, I couldn’t miss this opportunity. So today, I’m going to spray paint a paperback book!! Since it’s the first time I’m doing this, I didn’t want to risk the life of a favourite book, and the only spray paint I currently have it’s a glittering silver, which would look perfect in a Christmas book. Deciding which book to paint was easy, the only thing left was figuring out how to protect a paperback. Supplies: Spray Paint (silver) A book (Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, Lauren Miracle) Paper …

Today, I bring to you another DIY in celebration of the upcoming season: Autumn. I’m not going to bore you to death why it is the best season and why I love it so much – I’ll leave it for another time – and instead jump right into the DIY since that’s what you are here for. Supplies: Cork sheet (1 or 2mm thick) Cardstock Glue String X-acto Knife Needle and Knitting needle Step 1. Draw the base shape for the acorn to use it as a template to create as many as you wish. Outline the entire acorn on to the cardstock, cut it out and set it aside for now. Step 2. On the cork sheet, outline only the cap of the acorn and cut it out. Be aware to have your blade always sharp to get clean cuts. There is nothing more annoying than trying to do …

I wanted to make this DIY for quite some time. I got inspired while scrolling down Karen Kavett‘s Instagram and found this. The “hello” postcard immediately stick out for me and I wanted to make those letters in 3D. I always wanted those cute handwritten sign to place on my shelves that you see everywhere, and since I couldn’t find any, I better create my own. Although, it wasn’t that simple. What sticks out the most in the word are the coloured shades, so I had to have them but how? After a quick brainstorm, I got to an idea that possibly – possibly – could work, and I started making it. But as soon as I grab my knife the problems appeared. The amount of work, strength and steel nerves I had to have for it to work it wasn’t worth the effort. The easiest wood to work with …

For the past few months, I’ve been decorating boxes for my friend to give them for their birthdays. Instead of wrapping tiny presents one by one, it’s better to put them all in one box and give it away. Although, just because you are giving a box it doesn’t mean it has to be bland and boring. With a bit of imagination – and a few minutes on Pinterest – it’s possible to create something with attitude and, if you are like me, loads of humour.