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!

To peg or not to peg

Sticking with the theme of using stuff you find around your house for your crafting projects, this week's Tiddlybits is all about the weird and wonderful things you can make from clothes pegs. 

First up are these easy to make clothes peg magnets from the Daily Fix and though I love the floral design, the great thing is that you can mix it up with any design you want. I'm seriously considering Harry Potter themed magnets... if only I can get my housemates to agree...

This has been pitched as kid sized for kids but I'm sorry it's way too awesome! I demand you find yourself a larger box and make this adult sized! Genius idea from U Create!

So this blog post is not in english but the pictures are really good so you should be able to follow the tutorial quite easily. It's such a great idea and reminder that peg crafts don't just stop at the wooden bits!

Too many cables? Too little time? This is a genius idea for a pin cable tidy and plus there's a few other ideas if you're looking for more inspiration to support your technical organisation needs.

Okay so this is not a tutorial nor is it credited to anyone as I couldn't find the source but I couldn't resist posting it. It's a Christmas tree made from pegs to hold lollipops! Do you understand how much of that sentence is soooo right?

And on that note, that's it for this weeks Tiddlybits. Please check out the Pinterest board for more clothes peg crafting inspiration!