Bring it all back to you...

Recently I jumped on the bandwagon and watched the awesomeness that is Stranger Things on Netflix and it brought back so many memories of being young, watching The Goonies and ET for the first time and how fun hanging out with your friends for ten hours a day could be.

It made me miss all the cool things we used to have as kids and got me thinking about crafty ways of bringing the 90's back into my life....

I don't know about you but I loved trolls and had quite the collection. I also love biscuits. So this cookie cutter is perfect for bring them back into our lives in a very delicious way just like cookienan has done. 

Speaking of delicious things, I think we all remember the feel of soggy string on our wrists after biting our way around a candy necklace. Now we can be proper adults and use them as elegant napkin holders at our fancy schmancy dinner parties! Thanks to The Fairies Home for this idea. 

The many hours we wasted with one sheet of paper predicting our future love lives.... Nowadays paper fortune tellers are used as wedding favours, classroom tools and even in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy! Refresh yourself on how to make one and download your free template from Skip to my Lou. 

I had about 3 million sticker books and never did anything with them. This tutorial from FancyMade on making a sticker iPhone case is a great way of bringing both the 90's and stickers back into your life! 

Ah the feel of a feather pen on your cheek as you daydreamed about what jelly sandals you were going to buy.... Bring that feeling back and make your own fluffy pen with this great tutorial from Fashion Follower.

Bring back all the things you love about the 90's by sewing (or hot gluing if you're lazy) patches to your backpack. Wildflower and Company have super 90's inspired patches for you to choose from. Or maybe add some enamel pins? Chic Kawaii have some great ones like this awesome Polly Pocket one. 

And where would any of us be without the tattoo choker? Guess what? You can make you're own and it's soooo easy. Just follow this tutorial from Hello Whimsy. 

For more 90's inspired nostalgia please visit my Pinterest board here. Make sure you've got the Spice Girls blaring in the background first! 

Kiss me I'm Irish

As we all know the day when people all over the world celebrate the fact that Irish people are the best  as an excuse to get very drunk, tell some stories and have a dance, is fast approaching. I always seem to end up working or involved in something that prevents me from celebrating and this year is no different but if, unlike me, you are more prepared and have booked the day off then here are a few more ideas on how you can make it even more fun!

Well, first of all, you have to be looking your best for the parade! Sure the whole town will be out!  This awesome clover crown from one of my favourite sites Oh Happy Day will make sure you're looking your best as well as sticking with the theme. 

Once you've got your look sorted then you'll need to focus on your luck! You'll need a lot to get you through this marathon of a day so why not make these bags of gold created by Patti from Celebrations? They are super cute and include chocolate so I don't see what's not to love. 

Now that we've got those out of the way, on to the important stuff - the drink. These edible cups from  Lovely Indeed mean that, not only are you getting a taste of the Irish fuel but, by eating them, they're also providing the necessary soakage so that you can carry on drinking. A full proof plan. 

And you can make your drink even more festive by making these Shamrock Straw toppers; another awesome  project from Martha Stewart. 

And if you're stuck no what you should drink, try out some of these cocktails - all Irish themed, obviously. Cocktail making is craft to learn all in itself so you'd be killing two birds with one stone. 

And when you've had enough to drink and start seeing tiny men then this leprechaun trap from Lia Griffith will be just what you need so set it up before you go out! 

If none of these ideas tickle your fancy then head over to the Tiddlybob's Pinterest board where there are lots more. 

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

If I only had a heart...

Valentines Day is just a round the corner Tiddlybobbers and it's a bit like marmite - people either love it or hate it! I, for one, love it! I think it's great to have a day to celebrate love and happiness but I do wish there was more of a focus on all kinds of love and not just the romantic kind. So, this year, try and tell your friends, family members and pets how much you love them too and let's celebrate love in all it's forms!! In fact I'm so excited I want to make everything heart shaped!! Below are a few ideas if you want to too!

How about letting nature know how much you love her by making these awesome heart-shaped bird feeders created by Alison at No Time For Flashcards? Birds will appreciate it and you'll get to wile away the Valentines day hours bird-watching - sounds like bliss!

But if looking at nature is not your thing, what about looking at some photographs? You could create a photo collage in a heart shape of all the people you love. I particularly love the overlapping design above from Hadley at Huffington Post as part of another inspirational list blog. 

Or why not invite all those people you love over for some cake and surprise them with a secret hidden heart! A brilliant creative bake recipe from I am Baker and one that definitely must be tried out!

And what is cake without a cup of tea? Try making these genius heart-shaped teabags courtesy of Her Imajination. It's a great tutorial - very easy to follow and beautiful pictures. 

And if there's something I love more than tea then it's books! This heart shaped bookmark is perfect  for those gorgeous times when you get to curl up with a great book and travel to your favourite far off world. This video tutorial below is from Lindsay at Craft Foxes and shows you how to make them. 

I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day celebrating love in all it's forms even your love of crafting! 

Boiled, Scrambled or Painted?

So we all know you can paint eggs and there are many people out there who have taken that to a whole new level and created masterpieces on shell BUT did you know you could do all this??

This fantastic Egg Totem Pole from Mr. P for example. A great decoration for a room or if you glue a piece of wood or a plate to the top you could create an awesome candle stand. 

We've all heard of message in a bottle but what about this? Surprise your Valentine by ditching the Hallmark card and sending a sweet message in an eggshell.  This great tutorial from Poppytalk shows you how with beautiful pictures.

Or why not vent some stress and anger by filling eggs with paint and throwing them at some canvas? Love this idea from Crystal Underwood on Growing a Jeweled Rose - soooo messy and fun and you have something to hang on your wall at the end! Brilliant!

Speaking of filling your eggshells with stuff - fill them with wax and create beautiful candles. You can leave the wax in the shell like these candles from Kidspot or you can peel the eggshell off and create egg shaped candles like those below from Andrea at Guide Central.

You can also use the technique to create the most awesome craft that I think is possible with eggs - JELLY SHAPED LIKE EGGS!! Yes that's right! JELLY!!!

It's just amazing. And so joyful. Thanks to Steph at Oh Happy Day for creating and blogging about this. 

Have an Eggcellent time crafting!

(see what I did there!)

Say Cheese!

I live in rented accommodation and currently I'm trying to figure out little ways to make our space feel like our own. I think one of the best ways to make a room more personal is by adding photographs to it. Unfortunately hanging photo frames often means holes in the walls which equals an angry landlord so I've been looking up alternative ways to display our photographs. 

Most people now have a set of chunky letters in their house so I love this idea from Petia Mitchell on Shutterfly to use them as a way to display photographs. You could also add old ticket stubs or other mementos to make them even more personal. 

Turning photographs into dancing cut-outs is such a brilliant and silly idea! It's great! Here's the tutorial from Sweet Paul and I love the suggestion of adding magnets to the back so you can stick them to your fridge. 

Speaking of magnets, this tutorial from Sundaesins is a gorgeous and cute way to turn your pictures into magnets. I like how she added a polaroid photo border to each but you could use borders of different colours and shapes to your liking instead and to give a bit of variety. 

Tonia on eHow made this awesome photo jigsaw as a fathers day present but you could just make one to keep on your coffee table and maybe put a different photo on each side of the cubes so you can have six different jigsaws. You could even just display the jigsaw in it's box on a bookshelf or mantelpiece. 

You could also follow this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess and learn how to transfer photographs to fabric. You could then add your photographs to cushions and blankets to make the ultimate personal soft furnishings and your landlord can say nothing about it!

I would also recommend getting some blender pens so you can add photographs easily to your journals like FP Jana has done here or display lots of photos at once by creating some collages from your digital photographs and then display the collages instead  - Pic Monkey is a great site to do this and helped me create the photo strip below.  Now I've just got to make a decision on which way to display it. 

I hope this has inspired you to get creative with your photographs and add an an extra personal touch to your home. I'd love to see pictures of your projects so feel free to comment or tweet me @Tiddlybobs.

If the key fits...

Unfortunately this week our house was broken into so a change in locks was necessary. With this brought a new house key but it also left me pondering about what to do with the old key. Leave it in a drawer to get lost forever or is there something more interesting I could do with it?

So off I popped to Pinterest and what an awesome collection of craft project ideas I found including an amazing organisation...

First up and the most common idea is to turn old keys into necklaces, earrings or badges. You just need some old bits and bobs and some glue and a chain to string through the hole in the key. It's super easy but looks very cool.

The pictures above are from the lovely ladies at The Green Divas who take you through making your own jewellery here too so you can never get lost! 

Another popular idea was making windchimes. There are many different styles and types - a few of which are on my Pinterest board. I think it's probably best to let your imagination go wild and work with the materials you have at home to make a really unique piece (and save on cost!) but if you are looking for direction you can find the tutorial for the windchime shown in the picture on the awesome Urban Threads blog.

I love this idea from Wendy on Sierra of turning old keys into a key rack as it completes the life cycle of a key perfectly and as we know from The Lion King the circle of life moves us all!! The tutorial is great and can be found in slideshow form here.

The final project is called The Giving Keys. These are repurposed keys with inspirational words carved into them. They are given to a person when it's felt they most need it and the person keeps it until they meet someone else they think needs that word in their lives. It's a beautiful project and it exists to employ those transitioning out of homelessness so it's for a great cause also. I urge you to get involved if you can. 

Finding Method in the Madness

It has been a few days of serious organisation in my house and I definitely think it's on most of our minds at the start of any new year so this weeks Tiddlybits is all about offering you some crafty inspiration for organising all your bits and bobs. 

The christmas cakes and biscuits have all been gorged on over the last few weeks but what to do with the tins? Why not paint them and use them as storage boxes for all your favourite things? This tutorial from Home DIT shows you how to create a cute tea caddy as inspiration to get you started. 

Spring is just around the corner so before the flowers start to bloom pick up the last of the winter twigs and use them as a jewellery stand. You can even pop them in glass bottles left over from the Christmas drinks - two birds with one stone and all that! Thanks to Tina on SF Gate for the idea.

As I'm getting older I am discovering two things: 

1. Adhesive hooks are probably the most genius invention of all time

2. There is nothing more frustrating and annoying than the pots and pan press (a.k.a the pots and pans cupboard for you non-Irish folk!)

This great idea from the genius people at Instructables may just have proven number 1 and deleted number 2 making me a very happy lady and hopefully doing the same for you! 

I love this idea from Sewing Barefoot as a way to hide cables, wireless routers or other tidbits on your shelves but I would use old cereal boxes and make up mock book covers instead. This is only because destroying books makes me cry inside but if this doesn't bother you then destroy away!

How many lost keys do you come across organising your drawers? Why not use nail varnish to colour code your keys and never be confused again! Great idea from A Bubbly Life!

And finally possibly the most awesome idea of all time comes from the genius of Buzzfeed. Use lego people to organise your cables. I don't care if you don't own any (like that's even possible), you go and buy some. This is brilliant. So brilliant. 

I hope this has given you some cool ideas and best of luck with your organising!

Deck the halls...

CHRISTMAS IS SO CLOSE!!!

Yes I may have already overdosed on sweets and Christmas films but there's still time to craft up some quick decorations before the real fun begins. This weeks Tiddlybits has some great ideas on projects for you to try and don't forget to visit the Pinterest board for lots more. 

First up is this gorgeous wall hanging from 20 North Ora. I'd love to make a wreath for my front door but I have no idea where to find the greenery and I can't afford the greenery or afford the base they need to go on so this wall hanging offers an awesome alternative. 

I tried this idea myself last year and I love it. It's such a great and easy way to add Christmas cheer to doors and cupboards. However, last year I didn't add a gift tag and think it's a brilliant idea so thanks to Liz on Call for that one! 

So, if like me, you've started the Christmas celebrations already, you may have some wine corks lying around the house. Instead of dumping them, why not turn them into colourful Christmas decorations that you can from year to year? This tutorial from Joy's Life is awesome and more importantly easy to do and for those of you with children, it's one that they can get involved with too. You could also use glue to sprinkle them with glitter too! 

And if, you've got wine corks then you must have wine bottles too! Follow this great tutorial from Born in '82 for a clever way to turn them into beautiful decorations. Super simple but so elegant and decorations you'll have for years!

Also, if you have old magazines or no idea what to do with the toy catalogues after you've finished writing your list to Santa, why not try making these gorgeous paper ornaments from them? A beautifully simple idea from Stephanie Lynn. 

And because we don't restrict ourselves to crafts here at Tiddlybobs, why not try your hand at creative baking and make a Santa bread?

How cool is that?? Love this idea from Taste of Home and hopefully will get a chance to try so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

It's the final countdown!!

This week I have started making my own advent calendar which will soon be revealed on this blog but in the meantime I thought I'd give you a few advent calendar ideas, in the form of this weeks Tiddlybits, so that you might be inspired to make your own. 

From the queen of all things crafty, Martha Stewart, comes this delightful matchbox advent calendar. Each day the matchbox is turned around to reveal a piece of a Christmas themed picture, in this case a Christmas tree but you could pick your own. You can also place sweets inside the boxes or perhaps rolled up pieces of paper with wishes or activities to do together on them. 

I love this box garland advent calendar from Crafts Unleashed. It's super easy to make and you can add your own flair by mixing up the colours and number design. You could also think about making the boxes yourself out of recycled toilet paper rolls.

As followers of this blog may know, I have discovered that there is nothing that you can't do with a recycled toilet roll and advent calendars are no exception. 

Take for example Morning Creativity's super charming advent calendar house made from toilet rolls covered with brown paper. I bet this is sooooo much fun to break into each day and see what's inside! I think I would paint the roof too or perhaps make it into a Christmas tree shape rather than a house.

You could also cover your toilet paper rolls in fabric or paper and make this great cracker themed advent calendar from Mindy Pitcher. This is the perfect one if you haven't got much space as you can hang it on the back of a door or the side of a bookshelf. 

Or how about making your toilet paper rolls completely unrecognisable and turning them into this gift box advent calendar from North Story? This is such a beautiful idea and the tutorial is fantastic so you have no excuse not to make it!

Finally, I love this gingerbread man garland from one of my favourite food blogs Honestly Yum and as I was putting this blog post together, I thought why not ice numbers on to the gingerbread man and each day you could eat one? So I'm putting that out there into the world and if you make it, I want day 24! 

I could go on and on as there are so many creative advent calendar ideas out there but please check out the Tiddlybobs Christmas Pinterest Board 'Snow is falling...' for some more ideas as well as many many more craft ideas for the holiday season. I will be updating it all the time so make sure you follow that board!

Thank you for reading and happy crafting!