Handmade By You in Kew

Finding a new place in South London to attend a craft workshop is always exciting and I recently found a little gem. Tucked away in Kew is Handmade By You, a quirky craft little company, situated on the high street.

In preparation for Valentines, Handmade By You ran a Valentines themed workshop, unusually we were making both a valentines card and shampoo and it was only when a few people had mentioned to me that is was a strange combination of crafts, that I thought it did sound a little odd, but you should have been there, it was refreshing to do 2 completely different crafts and total value for money (I absolutely loved learning how to make natural shampoo)

After a weekend of snow it was great to get out of the house and enjoy something creative. Our night started perfectly with heart shaped scones, stuffed with jam and cream, my body is a temple mantra went out of the window!

Our card making tutor was Jessica Aldred, Co-author of Adventures in Needlework. I was slightly in awe, Jessica was great, she gave us a selection of 4 of valentine’s cards to pick from, I chose the very pretty button heart.

The time flew by, Jessica was the perfect tutor, chatty and helpful. We managed to finish in the allocated hour and then onto the chemistry of making shampoo, with essential oils, presented by Alice.

I was terrible at chemistry at school and I think left to my own devises I would have been equally as awful at making shampoo, but thankfully Alice was on hand to teach us the importance of the PH balance, the combination of different essential oils and the benefits of making your own natural products versus buying products from the shops and there are loads and not just to the environment but also to your hair, but don’t just take my advise, contact Alice for more info. @handemadebyyou

I loved my finished products, one valentine card and 2 different shampoos , needless to say these were too nice for Mr Big and I’ve kept them for myself.

At the end we were handed more lovely goodies, remember the lucky dip bags from when we were kids?!? A pretty paper bag, filled with surprises, only when we opened ours, there were no sweeties or small toy, far better, ours were filled with, vintage threads, pretty beads, embroidery threads, a Handmade By You broach making kit.

The very small touches that Handmade By You have added to their workshops make a huge difference to the customers experience. The workshops are a great gift or like me you could just save it for yourself. 
The next Handmade By You workshop is Jewellery making – Vintage Charm Bracelet 26^th Feb. 

Find Handmade By You on twitter and Return the special tweets to win a free place. But if you can’t make it to Kew, the lovely Alice who runs the workshops is also in Hammersmith too, here’s what Alice had to say:

"I run The Make Something out of Nothing Craft Club every Tuesday Night in Chiswick/Hammersmith.  We craft in Pantry at The Hampshire Hog and Pantry, King Street, Hammersmith from 7-9 every Tuesday.  Each week, we have a mini workshop where we upcycle and refashion vintage, pre loved or seemingly useless objects into beautiful homewares, accessories and treats. Want to make a tie into a necklace, a tea cup into a pin cushion, some fabric into some cufflinks?  Then this club is for you!  Club members can either bring the object we are refashioning or purchase one from me for a small fee.  All club nights are cosy, fun and informal and a great way of meeting new, crafty people.  Joining the club is free and you just pay £10 for each night you attend."

You can find a full list of the Handmade By You workshops listed on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHandmadeByYouShop

Website: http://www.handmade-by-you.co.uk/
Twitter: @handmadebyyou

Hammersmith/ Chiswick Meet Up: www.meetup.com/The-make-something-out-of-nothing-craft-club

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Handmade-by-You

Valentines Tutorial – Part 2 The Gift

I’d like to say that this gift idea was mine, but i was actually inspired by another blog and I’ve now made my version to hopefully inspire you. Like the part 1 Valentines tutorial this isn’t just for valentines it can be used for any occasion and you can customise it in any way.

Equipment

Second-hand picture (the bigger the better)

Spray paint – for the frame

Scissors

Paint colour charts

Glue – ideally spray mount and pric stick

Letters

Masking tape

This was a really fun project to do, the best part was picking what colours and shades I was going to use – Tip: you may need to visit a couple of shops to steal the colour charts and fill up your boots, I used a lots and often changed my mind about which shade to use!

Start by selecting your shades and cutting up the colours

After cutting up the colours needed, arrange them on to  the image you are replacing or the backboard of the frame, you could mix up the colours, select them to go from light to dark (like mine) or just have lots of shades of the same colour.

When you are happy with the layout start to stick the shades with spray mount: Tip - This stray needs lots of ventilation and is ultra sticky. I've suggest removing the colours as you had placed them, cover the board with spray mount and then quickly stick onto the board.

Whilst the colours are drying on the board, spray your  frame. When I brought mine (From a charity shop at the top of Brixton Hill) it had an ugly black and gold frame, so I sprayed it white.

Picking the words to go on there should be easy, keep it short and sweet and will look really effective. I stuck the letters with pric stick (Spray mount is far too sticky).

When the frame, letters and colours have dried, put the frame back together and use the masking tape to hold the back of the frame in place.

Finished - An original piece of art work, hopefully for a happy recipient. 

Pin It

Valentine's Tutorial - Post 1/2

Valentines day is less than 2 weeks away and as I’m not fond of the commercial stance the day of Lurve has taken, I’ve spent the last few weeks making the gift, card and a special little table decoration for a romantic meal for two.

This week’s tutorial is a quick, easy and will look good on any table, not just for valentines, but any occasion.

I’ve been dying to try frosted glass spray and Romantic centre pieces seemed to be the way to go, it’s very easy to use and I think I may have been a little too experimental with my attempt, but below is another example to give you a clearer image.

Equipment

Frosted glass spray

Glass – I used old jars, which I washed the labels off. But the spay can also be used on drinking glasses, mirrors and windows etc.

Scissors & paper

Pric stick 

Start by designing and cutting out an image to go onto the glass. In my experience the more basic the better, I chose True Love and a heart but the words didn’t come out as clear as I would have liked.

Pric stick is the best glue to temporarily stick the paper to glass. Pric stick doesn’t stick to glass but it will hold your image there long enough to spray the glass frosting over.

Source: gardenersworld.com via SWCraftClubLondon on Pinterest

As not to gas myself whilst spraying the jars, I sprayed mine outside and they needed 3 or 4 coats of frosting to get a really good frosting effect.

Here are mine, a heart and the word Love - sorry not as clear as I would have liked as I was trying to set the scene on my table but it’s a dark, below is another example.

Source: gardenersworld.com via SWCraftClubLondon on Pinterest