Tutorial - tights into leggings

Last sunday i had a major making day and recycled some pieces for the girls. Apart from the swirly skirts these where their favourite as they had something they can continue to wear even tho they where originally to small.

Tools:
Sewing machine or hand sewing needles and thread.
Cotton any colour you want
tights that are outgrown length wise


Select your tights, most probably they will be the ones that have been loved the most, dont worry if there are marks or stains these can be covered or patched for a more funky effect

Carefully cut the feet out of the tights ensuring a straight edge but as low as possible on the tight.

Next you want to turn them inside out if you havent already and turn up a hem of about 1/4 of an inch. dont double fold or they will be to bulky around the ankle and will look 'homemade'.

Now turn back the right way and voila!! your old tights are now leggings to be enjoyed for that little while longer.

I then went and added a 'skirt' to a pair using the botton of an old tshirt of mine then flared out. this looks so cute on and a perfect layering look for your trendy minis!

now go forth and refashion those old tights!!

L xx

Bags for Bag Lovers

Like most woman i have a major bag fetish! I own way more than i have room for and they are all within an inch of their life! Admittedly all are high street but i yearn for a lovely high end designer bag that i could love for years and years!
Modalu have some exquisite pieces for there s/s12 collection and with a price tag that even i could afford I'm frantically saving my pennies ready to choose the ONE for me!

I spent some time perusing the website of all the bag candy and to be honest i could of quite easily bought them all but this little beauty needs to find a new home here with me!
Made from genuine leather and style that even Prada would envy this has my name all over it!

Suitable for all occasions yet simple, elegant styling to be suitable on even your 'down' fashion days what more could you ask for, especially when when Danni Minogue is a huge fan! (how amazing does she look even unglammed up?!!)

I urge all you bag candy fans out there to stop by and have a little peek yourself, i guarantee it wont be time wasted!
WWW.MODALU.COM

L xx

Motors.co.uk Local Hero Comp

Motors.co.uk launch national search for most deserving local hero.

Leading used car website Motors.co.uk has launched a UK wide search to find outstanding people in local communities who go above and beyond to help others. The winner, nominated by a friend or family member, will be rewarded with the gift of a car worth £10,000 – plus a donation of £2,500 to a registered charity of their choice.

Nominate your "Most Deserving" to win £10,000 towards a car from Motors.co.uk, plus £2,500 towards their chosen charity.

The competition launches today on http://mostdeserving.motors.co.uk and invites the general public to nominate their most deserving, using a simple form.

Motors.co.uk would like to know:
·         Friends and colleagues who work tirelessly helping others
·         Individuals who have made outstanding contributions to a local charity, or community project
·         Anyone who selflessly gives up their time to help an elderly neighbour
·         Stories about people who have changed someone’s lives for the better

Phill Jones, Commercial Director at Motors.co.uk, explained: “There’s so much bad news and you don’t hear enough about the great things that individuals do to help others, without reward.

“As well as providing the winner with a valuable, useful prize in a car from our wide range, we want to celebrate all the thousands of people who contribute so much to our local communities by sharing their unique stories.”

The competition is being held in two rounds.  The first stage is open nominations where anyone can nominate anyone they choose, being invited to support their nominations with images and links to other media that help to tell the story about the nominee.

The Most Deserving Panel at Motors.co.uk will then choose finalists from all the regions of the UK, and the general public will then be invited to vote for their favourites – and to support their friends and family as much as possible.  The three finalists with the most votes will then be assessed by the Panel who will announce the winner.

The competition launched on 18th January 2012 and will end on 5th March 2012.

Keep up to date on Twitter via the hashtag #MotorsWinaCar and to let your friends know about the competition and your entry.

Full Terms & Conditions can be found at http://mostdeserving.motors.co.uk


About Motors.co.uk
Motors.co.uk is a leading used car advertising website that aims to make the process of finding the right car as easy as possible for used car buyers & the selling of used cars as straightforward and cost-effective for used car dealers.

Recycled Notice Boards

Ive had these lovely cupcake canvases on my kitchen wall for almost a year now and to be honest they don't really go with my 'feature wall' and i couldn't bring myself to throw them out so after a spark of inspiration i thought id make some cute little notice boards from them.

All i used was some card making brads, some satin ribbon and some super glue. This one was my first attempt and I'm pleasantly surprised it looks as good as it does.

Im planning on selling them in varying sizes from old canvases i have stored away, suitable for any room. So keep your eyes peeled on mychicunique.etsy.com for our up cycled canvases. You could also send me a canvas of your own and have it transformed into a notice board for a very low fee.

Thanks for reading and i hope its fired up your imagination to create something new from something old or unwanted.

L x

The Gardening Book by Jane Bull

I don't usually buy new books, i prefer finding discarded gems in local charity shops or on ebay but whilst wasting half an hour yesterday afternoon whilst in town this caught my eye in Tk Maxx and at just £1 in the sale i couldn't say no.

This caught my eye for more than one reason and it wasn't because it was a pound hahaha We love gardening and grow a lot of fruit and veg in the summer and the girls really love getting stuck in and the thought of being able to draw some inspiration from it for Home Ed as well as growing in the colder months i grabbed it!

There are loads of lovely little DIY projects that really take gardening to a whole new level I've never thought of before and i I've chosen two of my favourites for you to have a little look at.

Perfectly simple even for the youngest of green fingered boys and girls, fun AND educational.

The first being these totally cute little jar lid decorations, the kids can completely customise them to their own likes and physically watch the cress grow right there around their little environment.

And this one appealed to my naughty boy side, making like a King Kong tile scenario surrounded by plants that they have actually grown.
The tutorials are filled with loads of lovely pictures even children can follow and all there 'To Buy' lists are realistic and you probably already have them around the home or garden.
And lastly its a perfect way or recycling unwanted or unplayed with toys and if your little treasures can't bring themselves to donate something to their very own garden then pop along to your local charity shop and pick up a few bits for pennies and hey presto...DIRTY FUN!
Cant wait to see what you come up with!!

L x

Business and has it changed?

Is it common practice in 2012 to not pay your stockists on time? is it a matter of robbing Peter to pay Paul for all people in business? Is the economy strangling the life out of business that we have no choice but delay payments when you have to rely on others to pay you first?

When i was asked to provide stock on sale or return i always imagined, possibly through rose tinted lenses, that when a debt was due for sale of stock that payment would be made promptly and invoices would be sent on the dates mutually agreed by both parties on the contract.
Yet from experience invoices often don't get received for moths at a time then when they do it takes yet more months to finally be paid for all my hard work.

I wonder whether this is wide spread, if its just small business that suffers or that this is now the world we live in. To be honest it makes me want to throw in the towel, call it a day and cut my losses. I often think of myself as nieve, purely because i believe that everyone should be nice to one another, keep their promises and always use their manners but i don't want to be wrong!

I hate sending ' naggy' emails over and over about invoices and none payment. I hate having to listen to the voice of reason ( my hubby) go on and on about how i need to be 'harder' and not let these people treat me in such a way. But what can i do? My emails fall on deaf ears and I'm lied to time and again. AND is that truly part of business????

*considers hiring a hench man*

La Chic Unique for 2012 and COMP

Ive been wanting to step away from 'Handmade Jewellery' for some time now but i haven't been 100% convinced that i would be able to compete in the vintage market alone as there, like handmade, is so much competition even though you are never going to find 2 pieces exactly the same!
So thinking about what i enjoy doing on my down days have decided to go with a Curio site, selling everything from jewellery, to clothes, to collectables and children's books and toys etc, anything thats pretty pre 1980 and lots of fun!!!
And to top that off we will be officially stocking Vintage Life Magazine!! How exciting!! And don't forget this months mag subscription offer is our FABULOUS 'Secret Garden' Necklace!!
What i would love you to do, my lovely readers is come up with a fabulous new tag line for the website, ideally using the word CURIO.
The comp will be open for 1 week from today and the winner will receive a goody bag stuffed with jewellery and other goodies!!
Comment below to be entered!!!!
Good Luck and tell EVERYONE you know!!


L xx

New Year New goals

While most people are busy setting their new years resolutions, only to break them 2 weeks in to jan, I've spent the last 2 months thinking carefully about what i want to get from this new year.
At first i mostly thought about the business and where i wanted to take it into the new year, this has taken up the most of my thought power. I originally assumed that i wanted big things from 2012 and my small business, on quiet reflection, and after the 2 weeks of down time with the family I'm not convinced this is at all what i wanted.
Yeah sure i want to try new crafts and create pretty things but to sell? Hmmm I'm not to sure! i'm proud of what I've achieved over the last 12 months, especially with no time, money or experience but after the initial thought that id be able to make some kind of living from it I've decided that it will be taking a back seat. Yeah ill be evolving the business, there will be new stock and i WONT be hanging up my tools just yet, but it will be back to free time and if and when and more about the enjoyment instead of the hope ill make some money.
(my brain just took a massive sigh of relief now I've finally wrote that down!!)

My time and energy will be filtered into my home and my family and the hope i can change how we live.
Homeschooling is a pure joy and the girls are learning way beyond my expectations already and i want to grab that tighter and really instil a love of learning about the world. Expect more educational visits, bedraggled kids and tired parents! hahaha

Ive also decided that this year will be more about what we have and what we NEED not what we want. Im meal planning seasonally and will be shopping locally, the supermarkets, where humanly possible are officially BANNED!! Today will be my first visit to the greengrocer and butchers since 2009 when we moved miles away from any!! yes i can see this may be an issue but whats a short bus ride for produce grown and made in this country, i don't want to see the high street vanish all because its EASIER to walk to the end of the street for some potatoes.

Im also planning not to buy the girls toys or clothes at retail. We have that many toys we could stock Toys R Us anyway, and the majority haven't seen the light of day since we got them so with careful down sizing of the multiple toy boxes will provide a nice array or fun and educational toys and much less for me to tidy away!

Clothes wise we are lucky to have all girls within a few years of each other as we can easily pass clothes down the line. Apart from underwear, and shoes for the eldest we don't really need to buy brand new clothes anyway. Where i can't pass down i already buy from charity shops and ebay so that over the last 6 months has already saved a fortune and now armed with the cutest vintage sewing patterns, and some fab quick and easy tutorials for making wardrobe staples we shouldn't really need to step foot in a children's clothes shop ever again! (this makes my purse very happy)

We already use the library and charity shops for books, and sport a rather extensive children's library (maybe i could lend out books to the local kids for 10p a book!!!) which is an absolute god send!

Cooking, which I've grown to love over the last few years will now be ran like a military operation and all meals will be seasonal and cooked in bulk so i can batch freeze meals for when that overwhelming urge to have a take away takes hold.

Childrens tv will be limited to an hr at lunch and a dvd or two in the afternoon, hopefully in keeping with the topic of the week to make the most of our learning experience!

Crafting will become a more family affair, the girls have requested to learn what mummy does (how exciting!!)  they have asked to make their own toys and accessories for said toys and this i fully intend to make the most of. Not only does it save money, it gives them a skill they wouldn't have learnt other wise and ignites their imagination to create something they can't find elsewhere and means they can make their friends birthday and christmas presents. HOORAY!

Even though our handmade christmas, for others, went down like a barrel of snot i don't intend to give in and start buying gifts again. I more than enjoyed the whole experience and felt that what we gave where more personal to the receivers and i had hoped they would treasure them more than thoughtless shop bought gifts but it turns out i have ungrateful family and friends that just went "yeah thanks" or just completely bypassed the whole saying thank you of receiving, I am, after being slightly heartbroken about the whole thing, considering not even making gifts for anyone but our immediate family this year, i would really appreciate some feedback on this this, i am completely torn!!

i hope to blog more! The last 8 months i have been undertaking a ' nothing new for a year' challenge to try to change my clothes shopping habits. Its not been plane sailing but i haven't bought more than a handful of brand new items this year and in fact haven't really bought many clothes at all. Trouble is i started out with great intentions of blogging most days and having tutorials for makes etc but somehow i managed to loose inspiration or whatever a few months in and I've popped in and out with some ramblings and that was that.

Finally our home, which is still half a house! We have lived here for 2 years in 2 weeks, and hardly any of it has been decorated how i wanted or what makes it a home for us. Upstairs hasn't even been touched and the magnolia walls and cream carpets is starting to send me la la! The lounge is being redecorated over the next few months, the hall and downstairs loo is nice, they just need finishing touches to bring us into it. The kitchen is almost how i want it, pale pink and cosy but still needs those touches to complete it then maybe ill finally relax and live here instead of exsisting!  Then outside will get the finishing touches, red door complete with vintage door knocker, gated drive, roses round the door and a handmade door number on the wall (we keep getting lost... apparently!)

So yes i have made plans for 2012 but they aren't exactly what i originally thought they would be! i thought it'd be all books and plans and meetings and 'selling myself', instead its jumping in muddy puddles, painting, expanding our knowledge and laughing. I hope you'll agree i chose the better option!!

Heres to 2012 and that you all laugh more, love more, experience more and most importantly LIVE! Life is cruelly short and the best of the people we know are cruelly snatched away before we have the time to appreciate them fully for who they are, so take the ones you love, hold them close, tell them you love them then tell each other crappy jokes til your ribs hurt cos memories they last a life time!!

L xx