Sticking your spade in the ground when it's getting towards zero out there is not the pleasantest of activities. That's where the terrcotta dish garden comes in. It's a little garden world all on its own and it allows you to get crafty and green fingered all at the same time.
The craftalicious Crafty Chica takes you through the easy process of turning a couple of cheap as chips terracotta pots into a tiny green oasis for your patio or anywhere in your home.
She also drops in a few suggestions such as tea lights, appliqué or stencilling for those of you who are less handy with a paintbrush.
See the full how to here to craft a castle for your cactus, build a bungalow for your begonias or design a domicile a domicile for your daisies.
You can be still pretty and green even with the ice age at your door.
I have to admit that I'm not exactly a squirrel fan. Having grown up in one of the greener London suburbs, I'm quite used to the 'joys' of co-existing with the toothy critters that I don't find them remotely cute - particularly after having once fought one off that had come in for another 'go' at nibbling our wires in my attic bedroom. Also, we'd be far less indulgent towards them if they didn't have the fluffy tails.
So imagine my joy (TM) when I glanced out at my carefully positioned bird feeder this morning and saw that it had been torn from its awnings, with its contents spilled all over the patio.
It didn't take me long to discover that the culprit was one of our fat, grey friends, which was quite unashamedly stuffing its jowls. Time to create a squirrel-proof bird feeder, methinks.
There are a few solutions to this problem, and you can find them after the jump.
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When Judith Needham's daughter wanted a playhouse, instead of buying her one of those plastic things from Argos that we all wanted as a child (I didn't have one, but I did have a play kitchen. Maybe that's when my obsession with food started...hmm...) she made one herself!I would have loved that when I was little, in fact, I probably wouldn't ever have come out.
Judith is a willow weaver by trade so I guess it wasn't very hard for her, but impressive nontheless, no? I'm not the only one who thinks so since it was a finalist in the 2007 Grand Designs Awards!
If you think your little one would like this (or you want to use it as your main residence - hey, mortgage rates are terrible right now) you can buy The Dreaming Spires Willow Playhouse for £1,500 plus delivery.
[Via Poppytalk]
Related: From shelving unit to my first kitchen | Terrifying monster car by Elmer Presslee
Check out these lovely cheerful, festive buntings. Viwed from a distance, they're a great way to brighten up any outdoor scene. But - oh dear - they're made from something that's far from pretty in its usual form: men's y-fronts! The pants have been decorated using brightly-coloured pains, and strung up on a length of twine.
I spotted the picture over on drgillybean's flickr stream and was very amused to see that this method of making decorations is fairly well-known among the bunting-making community, who refer to the end result as 'pantings'. What a charming and perfectly weird way to recycle!
Related: How to make festive buntings | How to make a knitted party bunting
You might have noticed a knitting sheep on your TV lately, which is a fabulous thing to see in general, but is also nice as this knitting sheep has a mission. Shaun the Sheep’s woolly mission is to help raise money for Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Foundation. And it is being done by people all across the nation sitting down in parks and playgrounds and knitting tasty goodies.
The UK Hand Knitting Association, Simply Knitting magazine and ICHF exhibitions are encouraging people all over to hold their very own PicKnits. They have been happening from one end of the land to the other with PicKnits in Brighton, London and Bristol to name a few.
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