Make a funky noticeboard

If you’re looking for a cheap and dead easy way to brighten up your kitchen, study or the kids’ bedrooms, you’ll find directions on how to make a great noticeboard on the Web site of Real Living magazine.

You can pick up a cork noticeboard from your local liquidation store, IKEA, or a department store such as Kmart or Target for just a few dollars and you can use up some of your fabric stash or hunt down some new fabric to co-ordinate with your existing room decor. You could also add your own embellishments such as braid, ribbon, beads, etc. to further personalise your creation.

You’ll also find a similar project on the IKEA Hacker blog, using an IKEA frame – the IKEA Hack blog has heaps of ways to repurpose IKEA furniture. (Via the Life Hacker blog)

Check out the IKEA Hacker blog for cool ways to transform IKEA products.

These two projects have to be just about the the easiest and cheapest way to give your tired old decor a quick pick me up. And the results are only limited by your imagination.

I plan to make a couple myself when I get a chance, so stay tuned.

Tags: decorating, Home decor, noticeboard

African violets . . . yes you can!

If you’ve been put off having a go at growing African violets because of their reputation for being finicky, it’s time to think again.

My Dad gets harder and harder to buy gifts for each year, but he is a keen gardener, so a couple of years ago, I went in search of something ‘gardeny’ to buy for him. As a semi-regular at the St Ives Heritage Craft Fair in Sydney, one of my favourite stalls is the one from Macquarie Valley Violets, so I bought Dad a violet with all the accessories from Macquarie’s always cheerful stallholder, Gai – who could fail to be cheery when surrounded by masses of gorgeous blooms.

Well, to say the violet was a big hit was an understatement! The next birthday, I bought him a propogation kit from Macquarie Violets, so he could grow his own. Here’s the result, and that’s only the half of it!

Once you start with African violets, it's hard to stop!

Now we’ve all got the bug – three generations of us.

Seriously, though, using the self-watering pots and nutrient mix from Macquarie Valley Violets makes growing African violets a snap – all you need it to keep the water mix up to them and find them a spot that gets plenty of light without direct sun. You can also propagate your own African violet plant as easy as wink – just cut off a leaf from an existing plant, stick it in a pot with African violet potting mix, and care for it as you would for your regular African violets. So, if you have any friends with African violets, why not swap a leaf or two to expand both collections.

Brighten up a room with these gorgeous blooms.

If you want to try your hand at growing African violets, go to the Macquarie Valley Violets Web site  and check out the amazing array of varieties on offer. You can place an order via email, snail mail or phone, and you can pay via cheque, money order or credit card (Visa, Bankcard and MasterCard) – no online shopping, I’m afraid. If you are located in Sydney, why not pop into the markets and visit Gai’s stall, or if you happen to find yourself  in Bathurst, you can drop into the nursery (see the site for opening hours).

Tags: African violets, Gardening, indoor plants, propagation

Sydney Craft Show

Having dabbled in all sorts of crafts over the years, I thought it was fitting to kick off this blog with a roundup of a new craft show, Craftfest, which will be setting up camp in most capital cities. I attended the Sydney show at Olympic Park on Sunday, March 8 with two of my crafty friends, all three of us veteran consumers on the craft show circuit – we even used it a great excuse to go on a girls’ weekend to Melbourne, because there would be different exhibitors there.

Craftfest show in Sydney

This show is a new addition to the circuit, stepping into the breach left by the long-running February Stitches and Craft show at Rosehill Race Course, which had to be abandoned last year due to the outbreak of Equine Flu in NSW. Craftfest was definitely smaller than the Rosehill show, but well worth the visit.

In coming posts, I’ll cover some of the exhibitors I bought stuff from.

You can sign up to the site for free. Members get access to cool, printable craft projects and discounts on show entry and selected purchases, plus you get a free bag to store all all the loot you buy on the day.

Click here to find out when there will be a show near you.

Tags: show