Summers' Pressed Flower Collection.

As you may remember in this DIY post that I mentioned I have been pressing flowers and leaves for almost a year now. Obviously there are way more prettier flowers out in Summer but I definitely prefer doing it in the Autumn as everything turns colour and you get some amazing outcomes.

To press the flowers I keep then in a notebook until I get home where I either use a small flower press or use a DIY one using books and kitchen tissue. I leave them for about 3 weeks then i just use some washi tape or my cute kitty foil tape and stick them in a pretty sketchbook for my own personal amusement. 

So today I thought I'd share with you a few pages of some of the flowers I've pressed over the Summer: 

I'm super excited that Autumn is on its way and I can't wait to go out into nature on walks to find some awesome things to press! I've already started venturing out and have had some crazy-cool interactions with bugs and frogs which I will share with you shortly :)

Hope your week is going well - Friday is almost here!
X

The Craft Box Company - A Craft Box Review.

I have another craft kit for you to read about today! You may remember my last craft kit review, well here is a new one - a bit of a different concept.

The Craft Box Company specialize in single craft boxes - which make for awesome gifts as well as fun little projects. I was kindly sent the Pearl Earring Box to review - I have my ears pierced 3 times each side but when I was younger put them big old holes in 4 of them so now I only have room for 2 earrings and they happen to be on the same side :/ 

Anyway here is my review of the box:

Pearl Earring Box - The Craft Box Company
Priced at £3.50.

The kit contains: 

Pliers.

2 x Pearls 

2 x Jewellery Pins

2 x Earring Wires

2 x Jump Rings

Instructions.

I found that because the kit comes with the plier its is super easy and the instructions are super clear and very simple to follow. My only problem with the box was it was super fiddly - trying to connect the two little hoops together was a bloody nightmare for me! Anyway here is the finished product:

To the untrained eye it looks fine, but tbh I could have done way better if I didn't get myself into difficulty!

As you can see the earring was then battered about by Prince.

Have you ever tried a craft box? How did you get on?
X

Crafty Creatives - Happy 1st Birthday Box + Special Reader DIscount.

This is my first Crafty Creatives box I've had and I'm super please to say - IT RULES! 

Crafty Creatives Box 13.
1st Birthday Edition.

Basically this box was a little different to the usual boxes (which contain different crafty projects and arts under one theme) this box went back to the first box theme of Flowers and was all kit-based. 

This box gives you all you need (and instructions) to create:
A Felt Flower
Stocking Flower
French Beaded Flower
Paper Flower Hair Slide
Crepe Paper Flower Bunch

This week I've been working on the stocking flower but I'll post the completed flowers once I've finished.

I have a special treat for all my readers too! The first 10 people (UK only) who sign-up to a Crafty Creatives box will get 25% off their first order using the code: CRAFTYBISCUITS 

It's UK only and there is NO contract so you can cancel when you like and boxes are £10 (+ £2.45 p&p) - so it's only £7.50 with my code - barg!

Have you ever used Crafty Creatives before?

X

DIY Daria Badge Collar Clips - A guest post.

This is the first time I've ever had a guest poster on my blog before and what better way to start with a lady who I have followed since I first started blogging way back when in 2010!

I LOVE DIY and crafts but I am pretty useless at making stuff - the ideas are there but once I start do-ing - it all goes to pot!

Here is the lovely Sammy from The Cookie Button and her rad Daria collar tips:

Hi, I’m Sammy and welcome to my guest post on the lovely cowbiscuits blog :) 

I am a 20 something fashion and textiles student living on what feels like the biggest hill in Wiltshire. I constantly live in a creative bubble and find myself getting excited over the simple pleasures in life. As of March 2013, I am a fashion writer for IDOL Magazine discussing lots of lovely designers and promoting fabulous events. Despite getting caught up in my hectic lifestyle, I constantly remember my roots of being brought in a sleepy seaside town in Somerset running a B&b with my mum, her partner and their fluffy little friends - the hens.

My blog is a collection of all my crafty creations and things which put a smile on my face. It also varies from parts of my life that make me super happy as well as artist inspiration that needs to be shown to the world. I am starting to find what is really me in the way of my crafts and I am slowly developing this into my blog and shop.I very much enjoy finding little gems in charity shops and car boot sales which tend to inspire me for my creations. My friends and family play a big part in my creations too and help me in every way they can to make the best I possibly can of myself. 

Now lets get creative and make one of my all time favourite crafts - collar clips! 

               YOU WILL NEED

• Black chain
• Badges
• Silver spikes
• Small and large jump rings
• Craft cutting tool
• Craft pliers 

STEP 1

Using the cutting tool, cut a length of chain roughly 18 x 4cm (8 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches) in length. 

STEP 2

Attach four small jump rings to the chain using a pair of craft pliers. Make sure these are evenly spaced apart. 

STEP 3 

Once the small jump rings are in place, attach the spikes using the craft pliers. 

STEP 4

Add the large jump rings to either end of the chain. 

Finish off by attaching the badges to either end of the jump rings. Then TADA! You can now wear your DIY collar clips with pride and really stand out from the crowd! 

Sammy also has her own Etsy store where she sells her cute collar clips and other crafts : CookieButton

These glittery heart tips are from Sammy's Etsy store - I am in LOVE!

There you have it - how to make your own badge collar clips! So awesome - Thankyou Sammy!!
X

P.S - I am on the look-out for other crafty-guest posters so if you have any awesome ideas you'd like to share then email me: cowbiscuitsblog@gmail.com

Makin' Mushrooms.

Using the wonderful LucyKateCraft's tutorial - found HERE - I created my own little toadstool/mushroom thing!

First up is the stalk, I used a pink paisley print fabric scrap, turned it inside out and filled with stuffing and a small pebble in the bottom to keep balance.

Then I used some turquoise embroidery thread to compliment the pink and sewed up the bottom with a felt base.

To make the top I had to cut a hole in the bottom half of my fabric (I chose turquoise again) for the stalk to fit in.

I then used a blanket stitch to sew the top and bottom fabrics together and filled with stuffing.

I then attached the stalk to the top just using embroidery thread. It looks messy but thats because I have little patience when it comes to thick thread and a small needle!

Here it is! Obviously I'm going to make a few more to get some practice and hopefully it will end up looking as cute as LucyKateCrafts!

What cute things do you like making?

I had a bit of a spree today on my lunch break so expect a shopping post tomorrow!

Have a good night

x

Crafty Tuesday + Recipe.

As soon as I got in today, I popped on the oven and started baking. I recently made chocolate marshmallow muffins according to my Muffins + Cupcakes recipe - much to my dismay, they failed.

So this time I got a new recipe, which I must say worked - however, I can't taste a whole lot in the muffin! So if somebody wants to give me a pointer or if i should just get rid of this muffin pipe-dream and stick to a basic cupcake recipe - please let me know!

Here's what I did:

Mixed in: - 250g of Self-raising flour

- 50g Cocoa powder

-175g of Caster sugar

- 2 tsps Baking powder

- 100ml of Sunflower oil

- 175 ml Milk

- 2 drops of Vanilla extract

- Marshmallows and Choc chips.

Bake on 180* for 20 mins

Butter icing: - 170g of Butter

- 170g of Icing sugar

- use Cocoa powder as fit

Then covered with sprinkles.

The icing bit tastes amazing but the rest has no real taste! If any cake specialists out there wanna help me out that would be great!

I then made this little fabric toadstool-thing :)

Also been thinking once I hit 75 followers I'l do a giveaway of some little crafty things maybe? What do you guys think would be good?

x

P.s If anyone of my lovely followers could teach me how to use Bloglovin' I'd love you forever!

my email is: nfgchimp@hotmail.com

Pin Cushion + New Fabric.

My 't' button is still not working so this is going to have to be more of a 'picture' post. I will head over to the Apple Store tomorrow and pick up a new keyboard (goodbye sweet money!)

This week I've been on another eBay fabric binge and picked up these four charming fabrics:

The little Oriental kitties are just adorable and I love the bunnies in the cherry blossom.

So I decided to make a pin cushion:

Side 1. Mushroom fabric.

Side 2. Froggies and Apples.

Hope you like!

Again sorry for the short post but I will be back tomorrow with a new keyboard and a better post!

x

Bunting + New hair!

I recently bought a new sewing machine ( a Jenome Mini), and also a whole load of fabric, what better way to enjoy this by making some good ol' bunting!

It was really simple to make, I just cut triangles out of a floral fabric measured and marked to 15cm across and cut to a triangle point at 7.5cm. The same again for the denim (which I sacrificed an old pair of shorts for!)

To finish off I just pinned the pompom trimming to the fabric and sewed along.

My mum displayed it in our kitchen (I felt like a 5 year old who had just come home from school with a drawing) - Please note the photo of Gordon Ramsey is NOT mine!

Recently my hair has been feeling a little lifeless due to bleaching and straightening, so I drew some 'Hairspiration' from my idols - Deborah Harry, Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga, called up my lovely hairdresser Sophie and went for a full fringe chop!

This is it, I will probably tie is back most of the time like this until my layers mix in.

(via: creativereview)

Not quite so fabulous but I love it anyway!

Have a great Thursday!

x

New Fabric.

I recently ordered a bulk lot of fabric/remnants from Etsy seller sarahsquiltsncrafts.

The package came yesterday and wow what a wonderful package it was!

First of all look at the cute sender label:

Then look how beautifully it was all packaged up:

Inside the package was information about the importance of ordering from Etsy, which i couldn't agree with more. It's a personal experience and although you often do pay a little more than store bought, you get more unique items, often handmade, plus the sellers efforts (like my package) make it well worth the wait and prices.

Here are some of my favourite pieces of fabrics out of the lots that I was given (although it was hard to chose!):

Here is a close up of the cutest little panda printed fabric:

Go buy from sarahquiltsncrafts ! She sells wonderful, unique fabrics to make your crafts special!

Probably wont be posting over the weekend as I'm away (unless I can figure out how to queue posts).

Until then!

x

Urban Outfitters SALE!

Most shops around have the Summer Sales on. Nothing took my fancy in Bristol this weekend, until I got to Urban Outfitters.

Now anybody who knows me will know I can't resist anything with an Anchor on, I even have one tattooed on me, so how could I resist this beauty?!:

This super cute anchor Tee was £12.99 from £28. Bargain!

I love the little pocket and it fits like a dream.

Next up I spotted this wonderful Pink Flamingo Tee, remember me saying Tropical is in this season?:

It says 'I'm in Miami' and yes I did use Google Translator...

It wears as quite a long top but will be nice with shorts.

£13.99 from £28.00

I'm currently doing up an old table I got for FREE at a carboot sale (pics will be up when I've finished) - ready to be my new sewing box. I saw this and had to have:

It has a tape measure, needles, pins, 10 different colour threads, buttons and the colourful head pins pictured.

£4.99 from £15.00

Last but not least is my favourite buy - the Woodland Mushroom nightlight:

I really didn't expect it to light up as much as it does, its so bright! The picture doesn't do it justice.

£2.99 from £6.00

So there we have it, a successful summer sales shopping trip!

Hope you all had a good weekend.

x