Home crafts for money-savvy women

APril 2015

£3

Trendy LIVING

DIY wall art

How to:

Upholster chairs

Pet CornerLiving with

house rabbits

5 ways to create crafty cushions

Upcycling

Old bottles

Plus!

Trendy LIVING

Features

4 DIY WALL ARTCreate your own canvases and frames with these artistic ideas.

6 UPHOLSTERINGRenovate your chairs in these simple ten steps.

Trendy LIVING is a craft based interior design magazine, offering affordable ideas to spruce up your home.

For fasion-conscious women in their twenties and early thirties, Trendy Living aims to provide contemporary style inspiration, whilst on a budget.

Savvy savings and nifty crafts combine to create a stylish, yet inexpensive bible of renovation.Each month we’ll bring you fresh and clever ideas to make your home over, with pictures, step

by step guides and trendy tips!

ContentsIssue #1

8 PET CORNERCreate a home for your rabbit that you’d be

envious of!

10 UPCYCLINGHow to make a cushion cover and how to

upcycle with style.

Page 3

Spring time is fast approaching, and with that we all envisage the smell of fresh flowers coming

into season and sunshine through our windows giving us that much needed ray of inspiration to spruce up our homes. Whether it’s a new colour scheme, spring cleaning or perhaps a complete room renovation we’re all guilty of that un-relinquished desire to accessorise. Unfortunately, everything is so expensive and sadly overpriced these days and with our reluctance to swap quality for quantity most of us remain at a bit of a décor deadlock. From plant pots to throw cushions, DIY projects are the modern solution to avoiding the costly sabotage

retailers have placed on redecorating.One of the most exciting ways to

liven up any living space is by getting creative with canvas art and breathing life into your bland and seemingly empty walls. These three simple ideas can be experimented with to make your project your own, and are guaranteed to have visitors asking where you purchased then. Typically original canvas and wall art, even in the majority of high street stores are upwards of £40 to £150, with galleries advertising unique pieces anywhere from a few hundred to thousands. Each of these projects are guaranteed to cost £15 or less and can be completed within one or two hours.

What You Will Need:Wooden Pallet: Ask a local warehouse or supermarket for one, they should be FREE! Alternatively you can buy them online for around £5.Two cross-pieces of wood: DIY stores often have offcut pieces of wood they are happy to give away.Wide Paint BrushStrong Wood GlueAcrylic Paints (2+)SpongeCraft KnifeSandpaper (Optional)PencilMasking TapeScissors

Wooden Pallet Wall Art

Break apart your pallet until you are left with the boards and choose how many you want to use.

Glue each one to another side by side and firmly push together to secure the adhesive Do the same with the cross pieces of wood on the back.

Alternatively you can use metal connector plates and small screws.

[NOTE: Be careful not to screw through

the front!]Paint over the front and sides of the

board with a backing colour and cut your stencils. Allow 20 - 30 minutes to dry.

Place each stencil evenly onto the board and secure with masking tape.

Paint over the lettering in your choice of colours and allow 20 – 30 minutes to dry.

OPTIONAL: You may finish your board with a clear coat of wax.

Acrylic Paints (You can choose to use and

mix as many different types as you want!)

The Works - Royal & Langnickel – Acrylic Paint: £1

(60ml) http://www.theworks.co.uk

Hot Glue Gun

Ocado = Rolson – Mini Glue Gun: £4.95 https://www.ocado.com

Shaped Punchers

Butterfly, Heart, Flower etc.

Hobbycraft – Butterfly Punch Mini: £2.50 (1cm) http://www.

hobbycraft.co.uk

Hobbycraft – Butterfly Punch Small: £4 (2.5cm)

Hobbycraft – Butterfly 3D Punch: £6 (3.2cm

Blank Canvas’

Loxley - Blank Canvas’: £2 - £15 [Depending on size]: https://

www.artdiscount.co.uk

Where to buy: DIY Wall Art

What You Will Need:Box FrameSuperglue or Hot Glue GunColoured or Patterned Card: Try using paint colour sample cards; Any Home DIY Store will have these for FREE! (Homebase, B&Q)Shaped Punch: Choose your own! Butterflies, Hearts, Flowers etc.

3D ButterfLy Frame

What You Will Need:Blank Canvas: You can use any size you like.Paint BrushMasking TapeAcrylic Paints: The more colours you use and mix the more colourful your canvas will be.

Herringbone Acrylic Canvas

This can be the quickest 3D artwork you’ll ever make depending on how many

butterflies you want and how big your frame is. Take the frame apart so you’re left with the back board. Using either a stencil or a box, draw a large heart shape evenly covering the centre of the board. This will allow you to work within even edges and can be rubbed out when you are finished.

Using your butterfly punch (or punches if you have two sizes) cut a reasonable amount of butterflies from your choice of card, again relative to the size of your chosen frame. If you need more you can always cut some later.

Fold each butterfly down the middle and open to create a 3D flutter effect. Continue to do this with each one until you are ready to glue.

You can use either superglue or a hot glue gun, both will work with equal strength.

[NOTE: A glue gun will reach up to 250°F so use with caution]

Add a spot of glue to the bottom fold line and place within the heart template.

Once you have filled your shape and are happy with it leave for 10-20 minutes to allow the glue to set.

Rub out your stencil lines and put your frame back together. Great! Your artwork is ready to go on display.

Using your acrylics paint vertical lines down your canvas. These are supposed to

look uneven and messy so go crazy with them! They can be any mix of colours you like.

[NOTE: Add flicks of paint or glitter to liven it up!]

Allow your canvas to dry for 45 – 60 minutes.

Using equal measured strips of

masking tape apply the Herringbone pattern to the canvas, taking off the odd piece here and there.

Paint over the entire canvas with a white acrylic paint and leave to dry for 30 minutes.

OPTIONAL: Instead of paint, for a quicker result use white matte spray paint.

Carefully peel off the masking tape and voila! Your pattern is perfectly complete.

Trendy LIVING

DIY Wall ArtD I Y p age 5

UpholsteringDo you have some worn

out furniture that looks a bit tired? Or

maybe you have some chairs that need replacing of their make-up ridden seats? Reupholstering an old piece of furniture can give it a whole new appearance, as well as creating a new lifespan for it. Not only is it a great way of putting your own stamp on things but also making it look unique.

These next steps are going to show you how you can turn a chair that’s falling apart into something new again.

REnovate your chairs from boring to beautiful in ten easy steps!

1.Firstly you want to remove the original fabric from the chair. Make sure that you also pull any extra staples out, but if however they won’t budge, just hammer them into place

and make them flat. If you’re working with a chair that has a removable bottom you

could remove that using screws and re-layer fabric over the top then screw back into place.

If you are looking to paint or re-spray the chair you may want to remove the bottom padding underneath the chair, things can get a little messy and you might want a full coverage.

2. Take a pen or pencil and layer the old fabric over the new fabric that you intend to use.

You should map out the size of the new fabric by drawing around and around the old fabric, leaving an inch to an inch and a half around the old fabric when mapping out can give you some extra leeway to mess around with your fabric. And you don’t want to worry about running out of fabric half way through.

Again if you label the fabric so you know where on the chair you are going to put them will help if you’re coming back later in the week to finish off.

Trendy LIVING

Upholster ing p age 7

9. You might want to use welt cording to finish up and clean the edges of

the chair. Either that or just some extra fabric to glue over the stables to give it a clean cut finish.

10. When that’s done you will want to seal off the bottom of the chair with

some fabric which should have been taken off if you wanted to paint the chair or you just wanted to replace it.

3. If you choose to re-paint any parts of the chair, you should do this now and

leave until it is completely dry. The last thing you want is getting paint all over your new fabric.

4. If you want to add more padding, use an extra layer of polly fibre fill and

cover with quilt batting for a nice even cushy feel. You will preferably need a stable gun to secure this in place properly.

5. Trim any excess batting off.

6.Now, when laying the fabric, if you’re working

with patterns it’s always great to start in the middle and especially with stripes so you can check that they’re even. When stapling the fabric down there should be a maximum of only a few centimetres in between each staple.

7. Take great care in pulling the fabric down and out as you go along

to make sure the fabric is tight and secure. If you’re new to this then wrinkles happen and it’s hard to get them all out but taking your time over this process is the best way to flatten out the wrinkles.

8. When stapling the fabric to the back of the chair you want to make

sure you staple top and bottom first to keep it straight, then take off the excesses fabric. Take the sponge backing and put it on top of the fabric then enclose with the other piece of fabric on the top. If you’re working with a certain pattern make sure it

Make sure you label each piece of fabric you take off the chair, where it came from and which end is the top and bottom, this can help later with measurements.

Top Tip:

The RSPCA now recommends that rabbits are kept indoors! At first,

you might find this an odd or even comical idea as traditionally rabbits are kept outside in a hutch. But this is actually very old fashioned and potentially harmful to your family pet.

Rabbits used to be locked away in small wooden hutches outside to be bred for meat.

The small hutches restricted their movements and fattened them up, and cheap and easily available wood was used to make these tiny hutches.

The poor animals often get forgotten about outside as they aren’t actively a part of the family home.

Bringing a bunny inside is a fantastic and fun thing to do for both you and your rabbit. It’s not

acceptable for a rabbit to live in a cage or hutch 24 hours a day, they need to be allowed to roam.

You can choose to have a designated playpen or roam

around your home as much as you are willing to offer, providing it is rabbit-proofed.

Rabbit proofing means hiding any exposed

wires as bunnies love to chew them. You don’t want

your wires chewing and you certainly don’t want an electrocuted bunny! It also means making sure they can’t escape or get at anything they shouldn’t, such as sharp objects or toxic items.

Remember that you need to look for something big enough and also consider whether you will let them roam freely or restrict them to a playpen.

From felines to Fish and canines to cockatoos, Pet Corner brings you and your pet a new design idea every month Pet Corner

Liv ing w i th : house bunn i e s

Adopt a bunny

Not just for Easter

Rabbits are

naturally clean

animals!

Hidious hutches are a thing of the past! Check out this white indoor cage from Pets At Home for $180.

H i d e o u s h u t c h e s a r e a t h i n g o f

t h e p a s t ! C h e c k o u t t h i s n i c e a n d

n e u t r a l h u t c h f r o m Pe t s At

H o m e f o r £ 1 8 0 .

Pet CornerThere are many indoor

housing options to choose from that work for you and your bunnies. But first you must consider

these absolute minimum requirements set out by the

RSPCA:

1. Stand up on their hind legs without their ears

touching the roof [For a medium sized rabbit this

behaviour requires a height of at least 75cm].

2. Lie fully outstretched in any direction.

3. Take an unhindered sequence of consecutive

hops.4. Turn around unimpeded.

As your rabbit won’t be grazing on grass as they naturally would, provide lots of clean and dry hay. This is so important as it should be 80% of their diet, along with pellets and vegetables. Eating hay keeps your rabbits teeth healthy and also replicates what they would do in the wild.

You need to make sure your bunny drinks enough water. Your options are a bowl or a non-drip bottle.

A bowl is great but you might want to ‘test the water’ with it as they tend to kick it over. You can buy non-drip water bottles from Ebay and Pets At Home for fairly cheap, and they work by gathering the water into a kind of mini bowl so they can sip rather than suck.

You might be thinking ‘but I don’t want one of those ugly cages in my house!’ and we hear you. We really can DIY anything here at Trendy Living, so let’s talk you through how to upcycle a rabbit hutch!

Start off with a big enough wooden hutch – if you can get one without that nasty felt on top, great! Make sure it’s clean and dust free, then take it outside and paint it with a non-toxic paint.

We think white looks best as it resembles a piece of furniture – kind of like a side board but with bunnies inside.

Alternatively paint a bright or cute pastel colour of your choice.

You can choose to paint inside if you wish or leave natural as you don’t really see inside that much until you bend down! Let it air out for at least 24 hours as you don’t want the bunnies breathing those nasty fumes in.

Almost like creating a mini bedroom, you can choose to give your hutch a new floor.

Some rabbits love hard floors and some like a cosy carpet. Tiles can also work well to give your bun somewhere

cool to lay in the summer. If you opt for something

hard, make sure to put down lots of hay or something soft for them lay on too. Tiles can be slippy so we don’t recommend that throughout.

Lino is the cheapest and waterproof solution that

comes in all sorts of colours and patterns! Make sure to stick it down with non-toxic super strength glue.

Lastly, you can put ornaments on top and treat it as a pretty piece of furniture, providing your rabbits don’t jump up there!

Your rabbits can now have the life they need, with the style that you deserve!

must do:

Pet co rner p age 9

Liv ing w i th : house bunn i e s

Trendy LIVING

The style that you

deserve

1. Only £3.99 this cushion would livin up anyones living room. The cushion complete a beautiful bird design is cheap and affordable for someone hoping to bring the great outdoors to the inside of their home.

Cushion Creations

2.This floral print features eye popping poppies sure to catch the eyes of any guest. Even more good news as its also extremely cheap at only £3.49.

3. This cushion we feel would complement wooden furnishings along with flooring. Even though it is more expensive £4.99 is still a bargain.

4. One of the more eccentric designs on our list this giraffe print is another cheap option at only £3.99. Not to everyones taste but for those on the funkier side it a definite for their home.

Top 5 bold print cushions. All from Dunelm Mill

Cut yourself a piece of fabric you wish to turn into your own cushion cover.

Also get hold of 3 pieces of paper. The first has to be the same size as your fabric.

The second should be the same width but only half of the height.

Finally the last piece should also be the same width but be sure to make it 3/4 of the first pieces height.

Make sure to iron your fabric before this step. First decide on which part of the fabric you would like for the front. Now attach the first piece of paper to the back of your fabric and cut around it.

Following this hem down the long edge on each side of your cushion. When finished iron over to make sure the fold

is secure.

For the final part begin by laying down your front piece with the right side facing downwards. Line up the unhemmed edge with the top of the first piece and repeat the same steps with the third piece.

Once this is done pin at the corners and pin once on each edge.

Finally backstitch all the way around the cushion roughly 10mm away from the edge and turn it inside out.

Then cut off each corner and turn the cushion right way around and insert the cushion pad.

DIY Cover in 3 simple stepsStep 1

Step 3

Step 2

Trendy LIVING

5. This cushion features a decorative spiral design. We feel the versatility of this cushion can really go with anything and with a price of £4.99 it’s difficult to say no.

Throughout our lives we’ll probably spend more than we’d like to on fancy vases - in the hope we’ll get bought flowers, sigh.

Turns out we can can transform our old throwaway glassware to create new and one-off pieces for around the home - including those much loved vases.

Here’s a couple of tips for you to turn your rubbish into works of art!

You know those horrible plastic cooking oil bottles? Yep, those things you hide away in the cupboard because they’re so ugly.

We’ve been crying out for one of those fancy bottles in the supermarket, but they’re so expensive.

So here at Trendy Living decided to make our own! Simply start to save your old glass bottles and jars. Spirit bottles come in some fantastic shapes! (Be careful to drink it resposibly and be patient for your new oil bottle).

Wash in warm soapy water rather than peel the label as it comes off so much more easily.

Let it air dry while you go get that plastic bottle of oil out of the cupbaord you’ve been hiding it in.

Buy a speedpourer - they use them in bars on their spirit bottles and are relatively cheap and often come in packs of 10.

Either use a funnel or very carefully pour your oil in, pop the speedpourer on top and find a spot on your kitchen worktop to display your new fancy oil bottle.

Sit back and wait for your friends and family to notice how sophisticated you look now.

Another way to upcycle those glass jars you saved is to paint them. You can turn them into a unique vase by barely spending a penny! You’ll just need

to buy some spray paint or enamel paint. If you choose to spray paint, do it outside or in well

ventilated room. Put lots of newspaper down too. Cover the glass in a light coat - too much too soon will cause big paint droplets. Two light coats should do the trick.

If you opt for enamel paint, remember to keep the lid on the paint open while you do this. Pour the enamel paint inside the jar - quite a lot and you can always tip the waste back in the paint jar. Swirl the paint around the jar, emptying the leftover paint back into the pot it came in.

You can choose to leave your new vase plain as it is, which looks lovely and minimalist, or decorate it. We’ve opted for a matching ribbon. Get crafty and send us in your creations on Twitter and Pinterest!

Trendy LIVING

upcycl ing PAGE 11

Upcycling Bottles