DIY Christmas Gifts: How to Make Affordable Pearl Necklaces

This year I wanted to give my girlfriends a Christmas gift which was a little bit more personal. I was keen to make something, but was worried it'd just end up in the back of a draw somewhere (or in the bin...!). In the end (and after a little research), I settled on making freshwater pearl necklaces.

I sourced freshwater pearls from eBay, along with some silk thread, jewelry clasps and threading needles. The pearls were aprox. 5mm in diameter, came on threads 50cm long and, surprisingly, cost less than £4. I bought two of these strands which made a total of 4 necklaces, with pearls to spare.

To create a necklace, I cut a strand of thread about 80cm long. I threaded the clasp onto the thread, before folding the strand in half and knotting the clasp in place. I then proceeded to string the pearls onto the doubled up thread. (Doubling up the thread is a good idea as it'll make the necklace stronger!) By the time I was finished, the total length of the necklace was about 40cm long.

I tied off the pearl strand with a small jump ring so that the clasp would have something secure to grab on to. Finally, I dabbed any knots I had tied with a little superglue to make them extra strong.

So there we have it - a super simple, good quality gift idea for under £15 for four!

 Do you have any good DIY Christmas gift ideas? If so, leave them in the comments below! Also. don't forget to let me know how yours turn out if you decide to give this a go

DIY: Chunky Knitted Scarf

Over the last few weeks I've found myself settling down in the evening to catch up on a little TV and, during these unproductive moments, I've been picking up some extra large knitting needles and knitting myself a scarf.

I picked up some beautifully soft wool from a local shop dedicated to knitting (yes, these exist!) and slowly recalled the skills I was taught by my grandmother when I was little.

When I was very young, I'd sit curled up on the sofa in front of early morning cartoons, a cup of contraband milky sweet tea on my armrest (my mother didn't want us having the caffeine so my Gran would sneak us cups while she was still asleep!) and an old ball of wool nestled between my feet. Gran would show me over and over how to knit a row of stitches and then I'd have a go and create line upon line of holey wool. Apparently, some of her lessons paid off and I was able to do a slightly better job this time around!

After a bit of a shaky start (I unravelled my first AND second attempts) I finally worked out exactly how many stitches wide I wanted my scarf and how to change colours. Before long I was happily knitting away and my scarf was appearing at astonishing speed!

A couple of days ago, I eventually finished and am very proud of my finished product! I found knitting to be a great little way to unwind in the evening and who knows, I may even tackle a jumper next (although that may be wishful thinking!).

DIY Macrame Charm Bracelets

Over the last few months I've noticed that many shops have been stocking these little knotted macrame bracelets, each for around ten pounds a pop. Every time I've seen them I've been tempted to buy one, but have been held back by what seems to be a ridiculously high price for what is predominantly prettily knotted string. So I did a little research and found out how to make one, which I will now share with you.

You will need:
Chinese knotting cord (I used 2mm but I think these could look just as pretty with thinner)
Connector beads
Scissors
Super glue
A clip board

Start by cutting a piece of cord which is long enough to wrap loosely around your wrist twice. Fold this in half and loop it through your connector bead. Fold this loop over the bead and pull through the rest of the cord. This will anchor the cord to the bead. Then, clip the bead to your clipboard. This will make the threads easier to work with as you don't have to worry about them not staying taut.

Next, take another length of cord about double the length of the first. Find the centre point of this thread and pass it under the threads connected to the bead. Now you are ready to start a simple square knot.

For the knot, take your left hand thread and pass it over the middle 'anchor threads'. Your right hand thread should then pass over the left hand thread and under the middle anchor threads. The knot is finished by poking the right hand thread up through the loop on the left side and tightening.

Now repeat this, starting with the new right hand thread.

Continue until your knot is roughly half the width of your wrist. Pull your final knot firmly and cut the left hand and right hand cords. I the dab a tiny splodge of superglue on the ends to insure they won't unravel. Tie off your two anchor threads with little knots at the end.

Repeat these steps on the other end of the connector bead. Now you should have two long knots attached to either end of the connector bead.

Finally, to make this bracelet adjustable, you need to make a clasp. Loop your bracelet in a circle so that your anchor threads from each end are crossing. These four threads will form the centre anchor threads for the clasp knot. You may find it useful to tie the threads together with some spare cord while you're working with them.

Cut a short length of cord (you only need to make around four or five knots) and centre it under the four anchor cords and knot as usual. This can be a little tricky just because the bracelet is loose and the there are more anchor chords.

Once your knots are complete, cut off the excess cord and secure with super glue.

There we are! One (much cheaper) macrame charm bracelet!

How to Make Cheer Bows

I've noticed that it's surprisingly expensive to buy cheer bows, which I find odd since they're literally just a bit of ribbon. Therefore I had a go at making my own!

Here's what you'll need:
50cm of 38mm ribbon
a short length of 16mm contrasting ribbon
Cable ties
Hair bands
a square of cardboard
Super glue

Start by cutting yourself a template from your square of cardboard (mine was about 20cm wide) by cutting a slit up the middle of the cardboard.

Next, fold your ribbon around the template and pinch it in the middle, securing a cable tie around the pinch. Before tightening the tie, adjust your ribbon so it's even.

Use a second cable tie to secure the hairband to the bow. This will ensure it's on nice and tightly. Then, cut a short length of ribbon to wrap around the cable tie and hairband (I used about 4cm) and secure it with superglue. Voilà!

 I then went on to add a couple of hotfix gems which jazzed them up a bit! As an extra little tip, if you like your bows to be extra stiff, spray them with hairspray.

Owls Everywhere (and a penguin...)

Since my DIY Valentines post a month ago, I've had a couple of requests (/tantrums) from friends asking for a little owl of their own. Well, needing an outlet for all my excess creativity *cough* I took to my sewing machine once more and rustled up a couple of companions for Hoots.

I have to admit, I'm seriously impressed with myself- they just look so cute!

I nearly went as far as making up an entire family tree for them, but then thought that would be a little weird eccentric...

Jossi when I first told her she couldn't keep Hoots

The new editions to the family (and an adopted penguin)

Look how confuddled he looks!?

Family portrait 

These little birds have now all flown the nest and gone to their new, loving homes. But who knows when they might end up with some new cuddly additions to the family!  

DIY Valentines

My boyfriend and I decided this Valentines, we'd have a crack at making presents for each other. I have to admit, I was pretty dubious about this to start with but surprisingly  it turned out to be really fun trying to guess what he could possibly be making, while panicking at my lack of arty skills.
I trawled the internet looking for ideas, but all the craft sites seemed to be suggesting overly girlish presents which I'm fairly sure no man would want to possess, let along treasure! In the end, I resorted back to my all time favourite blogger who made these delightfully fluffy owls! They're simple to make, not too girly (I don't think?) and oh so cute, so if you get the chance have a go and make one! I've already had requests from friends for more!

The production process was simple enough- it essentially involved making a stencil, cutting out your fabric and sewing on cute, goggly owl features! I used some pretty cotton I found on ebay and felt for the details.

As you can see, I cut a stencil out of paper and then cut two of the stencil shapes out of the fabric- one for the front and one for the back of the owl.

These were the colours I used.

I sewed on the features before joining the front and back of the owl together.

Sew the front and back together inside out. This way, all the stitching is invisible when you turn him back round the right way. 

Everybody meet Hoots! I filled him with rice, but you could simply fill him with soft toy stuffing if you fancy a squishier owl. 

Hoots went down very well with my boyfriend although I had quite a hard time giving him up-he's just too cute with those big round eyes! I especially love the fact that if you decided to fill your owl with rice, you can heat him up in the microwave and snuggle with him on nippy nights. I'd definitely suggest having a go at making one of your own!

Polka Dots and Petticoats

Over the last summer, I came across one of the prettiest dresses I've seen in a while. It was a frothy pink polka dot creation with a plunging back and bows at the waist. The only problem was it was far too expensive for my diminishing student budget. Luckily, I happened to show a picture of it to my boyfriend's mother Susan (one of the loveliest ladies in existence) who then told me how she's a pretty dab hand at dress making! So, inspiration struck and we took up recreating this dress as a summer project. The only hold up was that I'm pretty useless unartistic and my experience in dress making begins (and ends) with making cloth sacks for Barbie to model. Pushing my lack of experience to one side, I went out and bought a dress pattern off the net, some pretty silk (from a shop somewhere in SoHo, London) and became closely acquainted with a sewing machine.

A few cotton reels, pricked fingers and stamped feet (I lack patience when it comes to fiddly jobs) later, we'd managed to create a dress straight out of Alice in Wonderland and more than perfect for summer picnics. This really went to show that anyone with a bit of persistence (and a large dollop of guidance) can create something beautiful for the fraction of the price of something shop bought! (If you're lacking  guidance from a physical person, it's always worth having a look for tutorials on youtube!)

The icing on the cake? Months later, my boyfriend's family managed to hunt down the original dress somewhere in the sales and gave it to me for my birthday! They really are amazing people.

Here's the dress we made- it had a full circle skirt and we created a pretty mint green petticoat to make it 'poof'.

I really do love those plunging backs- so flattering on everyone!

Here's the original inspiration for my creation:

It was from Jack Wills (I think the 2012 Spring/Summer collection, but it may have been earlier). As you can see, it really is a fairy tale dress!

I'd really recommend having a go at making your own dress at some point as it really was a rewarding experience. For anyone interested, I used a 'Vintage Vogue' dress pattern which I found online for around 15 pounds. So what are you waiting for?