…listening to the new Jason Mraz single. Enjoy!

Lisa x

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Lisa x

I’m almost feeling normal again after the flu last week. And I’m spending some time with one of my forgotton crafts – crochet. In particular granny squares.

What crafts have you picked up again recently?

Lisa x

P.S. Check out Heart Handmade’s tutorial if you want to try making your own Granny Squares.

It’s February and officially the month of love. I know, I don’t know where January went either!

Do you remember that heart garland I posted about a couple of post ago? You can find it at On To Baby.Well, I loved it so much I decided to make my own version, and I thought I’d share it with you all as a DIY project. It is so easy to make and you need hardly any supplies at all.

You will need:

• Three 12″ x 12″ papers of your choice. (You can use more or less if you like, it just depends how long you would like your garland to be. )
• Paper Trimmer
• Stapler
• Hole Punch
• Ribbon

Instructions:

Cut your 12″ x 12″ papers into inch strips.

From each patterned paper, keep five strips at full length. Cut the next five to 9 inches. Cut the remaining 2 strips into 4 inch lengths. You will only need 5 of these pieces.

Fold your smaller lengths in half. When folded, punch a hole on the side nearest the fold. This will allow you to string your garland later.

Fold your medium and larger strips in half too. You will need to do this to create the bottom of the heart.

Take a medium strip and a larger strip and fold them around with the smaller length in the middle until you create a heart shape. It is easier to use the photos to work this step out than for me to try and describe it to you. Once you have all three of the strips held in place, fasten them together with a staple on the inside of the heart.

Repeat the last step for all your paper strips. You should end up with 15 hearts.

String them all onto your ribbon and hang.

A simple little DIY for Valentine’s Day, or any other occassion really.

Lisa x

This time last week we were enjoying our first evening in London. It is the first weekend away in months (if not years).

As huge vintage fans we decided to visit Portobello Road – John for the records and me for well, everything!

It was pretty much as I expected it. Absoutely packed and filled with lots of amazing stores and market stalls seling beautiful things. We bought a couple of things including some new artwork for the office and some records.

If we had more money we could have bought so much! There was one stall selling vintage printing blocks. He had hundreds and they were a great price too! There was a shop full of vintage cameras – only a tiny shop but the shelves were crammed from floor to ceiling. One of the clothes shops had an amazing floor to ceiling display of vintage singer sewing machines. Vintage plates and teacups were everywhere and there was a large vintage fashion and accessory market. I only looked at the jewellery and that was just gorgeous! It was like shopping on Etsy all in one place.

Lisa x

I’m sure you have seen lots of blogs around that are accepting paid sponsorship. For a small fee you have an a banner displayed in their sidebar for their readers to see.

I have decided to offer something similar, except my sponsorship won’t cost you a penny! I am offering to exchange links with other crafty people out there.

For one month (or more) I will display your banner over in the sidebar, and all you have to do is display my banner on your own blog. Pretty simple right?! Plus, each month I will be featuring the people who I have exchanged links with, whether that is a mini interview, or to talk about a new handmade product you have made or something similar.

If you are interested in exchanging links with me, please email me at info@alteredchic.com with a link to your blog.

To exchange links you will need a banner of 200 x 100 pixels.

Lisa x