DIY // Hot Chocolate Gift Idea

We're back with another festive DIY idea! This time we've got the perfect stocking filler; a hot chocolate gift set. My favourite recipe for homemade hot chocolate has to be from Jamie Oliver's Drinks Tube (watch here). It's so thick and chocolatey and you can even make it with different flavoured chocolate - we've tried chocolate orange, peppermint and even chilli! Yum yum. This makes enough to fill a jar like this one here which makes lots of hot chocolate. You're best to watch the video to see how amazing it looks but here's a summary of the recipe.

You will need:

• 200g dark chocolate 
• 100g cocoa powder
• 100g icing sugar
• 50g cornflour
• 50g malted drink powder (like Horlicks)
• pinch of salt

Method:

1. Pop the chocolate in food processor and blitz until it becomes a fine powder.
2. Add remaining ingredients to food processor and pulse a few times until combined.
3. Pour mix into a lidded jar and you're done! Finish with twine and a festive gift tag.
4. To make into hot chocolate measure a mug of milk into a saucepan and add two heaped tablespoons of the mix. Whisk on a medium heat for 5 mins and it will become thick and smooth, ready for you to top with your favourite hot chocolate toppings!

This makes a lovely gift when given with a pretty mug and marshmallows, or how about including it in a mini hamper for chocolate lovers? You could make it even more special by having a personalised mug made to go with it, like ours (pictured above) available here.

I hope you like this gift idea! Do you make a lot of gifts at Christmas?

 

DIY // Advent Calendar

I'm so excited about this festive DIY post, especially since I took the photos for it almost a year ago! So last year myself and David decided we weren't going to do proper Christmas presents, instead we'd make each other an advent calendar filled with tiny goodies so we'd have something little and fun to open each morning on the run up to Christmas. 

Advent calendars are getting quite elaborate; speciality food ones, luxury candles and beauty products. They're also quite expensive and there's a chance you'll end up with a lot of random items that aren't to your taste. Creating an advent calendar means you can make it super personal. I really loved gathering all the bits for David's one and it was a lot of fun to wrap! There's so many ways of creating advent calendars like this, just take a look on Pinterest. I thought I'd share how I made my hanging one along with a free printable of the numbers I designed for it.

You will need:

• 24 tiny gifts (such as sweets, novelty stocking fillers, festive bits and pieces like our wee badges!, stationery, charity shop books, handmade vouchers for breakfast in bed etc... I think we kept ours to around £20)
• Tissue or wrapping paper
• Tape - Christmas washi tape is prettiest! (Try Iced Jems for some cute) ones
• Thick ribbon for hanging
• Mini pegs
• Thinner ribbon/twine
• Number stickers (printable download below or click here) or labels for drawing numbers on

There's not really any instructions for this one! All you need to do is decide what order you want the gifts in, mix it up so the sweets aren't all in a row etc, then wrap them up and make sure to stick the numbers on. Alternating colours of tissue paper with cute patterned tapes makes it look really effective. Next you just need to hang them up, depending on the size and shape of each parcel you might want to use twine and tie them up, a small piece of ribbon or just a peg - take a closer look at the photographs and you'll see what I mean. I had a couple of larger items which were too heavy to suspend so instead hid them and put a 'find me here' note in with the rest of the calendar! The overall effect is fun and mismatching so don't worry about anything being too perfect.

I've seen the hanging ones done with a branch to hold it all together which is really pretty and something I might try this year. Last time I used a thick tartan ribbon with fairy lights to finish off.

If you don't have space to put a hanging advent calendar like this then something like the one David made for me is a lovely alternative. He made his much simpler by filling a pretty basket with the parcels which did add a fun lucky dip element plus the basket was a nice bonus gift! 

Have you ever made an alternative advent calendar? I'd love to see pictures!

Fun Mini Filing Cabinet Makeover

Fun Mini Filing Cabinet Makeover

Lots of you have been asking about the filing cabinet featured in our last blog post and I promised a DIY tutorial so here it is! This is such an easy way of making a plain filing cabinet look fun which is perfect for studios and craft rooms where you want something less officey but still have documents to keep organised.

When I originally thought of giving our mini filing cabinet a makeover I'd thought about using decoupage but while browsing The Works the other day I came across these cute adhesive fabric packs which happened to be the perfect size and cheap too. I bought some hoping they would do the job with less mess and time than decoupage and they did!

You will need:

• A mini filing cabinet - ours was £25 from Ikea
• Adhesive fabrics - 2 packs of 4 pieces - a mixed pack of 4 was £2 in store but £3.99 online from The Works (I'm sure you could also use normal fabric or paper with glue but this is what I used and it was really easy)
• Printed labels for your drawers (or hand written if you like!)
• Scissors & a craft knife
• Screw driver
• Ruler & pen

Super easy DIY instructions:

1. Make sure your drawers are wiped clean from any dust etc so the adhesive fabric will stick smoothly and unscrew the handles.
2. Use your ruler & pen to measure out enough fabric to cover the drawer front and edges with about 1cm extra to tuck over. Cut out the fabric pieces.
3. Start from one side with a little bit peeled from the backing to keep in place and smooth over continuing to peel the backing as you move across to the other side (it's easier than it sounds but I wasn't able to photograph this stage as it involved both hands and David wasn't nearby at the time). Tuck around the edges and trim off any extra fabric.
4. Use a craft knife to make small crosses where the screw holes are and to carefully slit the fabric in the groove where the drawer label will go. This can then be tucked in neatly when you push your drawer label in.
5. Reattach the drawer handle and pop the label in. Step back and admire your pretty drawer then repeat for other drawers with whatever mix of fabrics you like. Don't worry about the order as you can faff about with this once you've finished them all and it's easier to see.

This corner of the studio always looked so plain to me before but now it's one of my favourites! The cute biscuit cushion is from Nikki McWilliams and we painted a secondhand chair with Autentico Rose chalk paint. A lovely lilac charity shop teapot filled with flowers on top of the mini filing cabinet finishes off the fun floral look. If you do decide to give your filing cabinet a makeover I'd love to see the results! 

Getting Organised Part 3 - 6 Tips for an Organised Studio

This post is a lot later than planned which isn't very organised of us but we've been spending a lot of time on behind the scenes work which hasn't left much time for blogging and social media. Better late than never though! Today we're sharing our top 6 tips for a cute and organised studio. I could have written a lot more than 6 tips and I know that these could be equally useful for a home office, craft room, study or whatever you like to call it - we call ours a studio so that's what it'll be in this blog post. 

1. Start a 'Focus Board'

At the end of last year I found Leonie Dawson and her wonderful Life + Biz workbook. After completing this we went on to make our dream board and wanted a place to keep all of our plans and goals to remind us to stay focussed each day. We started with a giant noticeboard and painted it white so it was a lovely big blank canvas then got pinning! The top left is where a monthly focus goes, at the moment this is a big mind map of ideas for 2015 but it's soon to be a mood board for our next collection launch. Beneath we have a top 3 tasks of the day post-it space, business cards from our favourite fellow indie businesses, then our weekly planner (which you can download here). In the middle we have our social media planner, customer information and monthly goals. Finally on the right we have our dream board of what we want 2015 to look like for JillyJilly to keep us inspired. We finished this space in the studio with fun fairy lights and cute JillyJilly patterned bunting (made by Barbara from RockingStitch, fabric from Spoonflower). This space is really important for keeping our goals organised plus it's super motivational to walk into the studio and see this first thing in the morning!

2. Choose Cute Storage

This might seem a bit obvious to be a tip but what I mean is, there are lots of cute storage options that might not be meant for the office and sometimes they can be cheaper too! One of the items I get asked about most often is this trolley which we use for our stationery and craft supplies, it's from Ikea and actually meant for the kitchen. I also love using this basket cake stand for packaging extras; we keep business cards in the top, chocolates in the middle and deco tapes in the bottom - perfect! Most of the furniture in our studio is second hand but with new pastel paint, the lilac desk was my Dad's old office desk and the pink shelves on the right used to be a CD shelf in my parent's living room.

3. Make a Desktop Organiser

This makes such a huge difference when you spend a lot of time on the computer, files are much easier to find and it can help keep personal and work stuff separate too. We split ours into business sections on the left and personal on the right, finished with a motivational quote and some JillyJilly pattern!

4.Labels are your friend

Last month I went a bit label mad after having our big New Year clear out. We kept losing things and bickering over where stuff belonged but now thanks to the magic of labels, everything has a place and there's no doubt over what goes where... apart from Misc. which is just another word for mess really. We got new folders too for keeping documents separate and easy to find, they fit perfectly along with our ready made stock tubs into this pastel pink Ikea Kallax unit. 

5. Filing Cabinets can be Fun

Well, they can look fun at least! You can see the DIY tutorial here because who doesn't want a pink floral filing cabinet? Although a traditionally boring but necessary office accessory I find it much easier to stay motivated to keep our accounts organised when the storage is this cute. Plain filing cabinet from Ikea. Biscuit cushion from Nikki McWilliams.

6. Keep a Daily Desk Planner

I don't know about you but I find myself easily distracted when I'm in the middle of working on one task then remember about something else which I then worry I'll forget so stop what I'm doing and so on. Keeping a daily desk planner means I can add last minute 'to dos' to the list, with sections for things to buy (whether it's envelopes for orders or milk for tea!), emails, social media and personal. I fill this out at the start of the day with my most important tasks then add other bits I might forget later on. You can download our planner here or below if you think it might be useful!

So there you have it, 6 of our tips for a cute and organised studio! I hope they've been some help. What are your top tips for getting organised?

Vintage Phone Découpage DIY

I've been meaning to do this blog post for absolutely ages since I did the actual project in February! I only just got around to finishing off the floral one though which is why it's been so delayed. This isn't really a proper 'how to' as my phone is by no means perfect and I'm sure there are better ways of doing this but I'll just explain what I did as I've had so many requests, especially since the phone below is the shop phone in Pebble and customers ask every day where it's from!

You will need: a vintage phone (or a modern phone in a similar style), tissue paper of some sort (I used a pack of 2 sheets of branded Decopatch paper but anything similar should do), a clear drying glue like PVA (again I used a branded Decopatch one but normal glues should work the same), a more hard wearing varnish, scissors and a paint brush

1. Make sure the phone is clean and there are no sticky bits or dust on it or the paper won't stick properly

2. Cut your patterned paper into small pieces, you'll need some thin strips as well as lots of squares to get into the nooks and crannies!

3. Glue them on! Paint glue straight onto the phone surface, pop a bit of paper on then more glue on top to smooth it out. You might need to cut some into funny shapes especially around the dialler. Cover the whole phone (or the bits you want covered).

4. Repeat step 3 to make a 2nd layer. Make sure there aren't any gaps and it's all smoothed out.

5. On my pink floral phone I left some bits uncovered as I wanted to paint them pink. I used an Autentico chalk paint and painted straight on and did two coats.

6. Once you're happy with the overall coverage of the decoupage paper, paint on a coat of varnish. Once that's dry you're done!

I did my pink floral phone first and I do think the one I did for my Mum below turned out a bit neater! This is the first thing I've decoupaged so I'm not great at explaining it, I hope this post has been some help though! 

If you do decide to give this a go I'd love to see how your phone turns out!

June DIY: A Quirky Kitchen Accessory

With just over a month until we move to our little cottage I've been looking out for unusual bits and pieces that will fit in. When I was staying at my Nanny and Grandad's in Fraserburgh earlier in the month I found this little spoon rack in a charity shop. It was a bit rickety but my Grandad helped sort that out with some nails then I decided to paint it with a pastel pink rose chalk paint. I ended up using it for my collection of cake forks with cute tea party themed tops. The cake topped ones are from Blond Amsterdam (the first time we stayed in Amsterdam our apartment was above one of their adorable shops and I couldn't resist buying some goodies to take home). These have been in a box hidden away for ages so it'll be nice to have them out on the wall even if it's a bit of an odd kitchen accessory! 

February DIY: Jewellery Cabinet (part 2)

Earlier this month my jewellery collection filled the best part of a built in cupboard and about 6 boxes that sat on the mantlepiece. As I'm moving later in the year I decided now is the time to downsize, I can only keep what I fit in this upcycled cabinet! After drilling in the screws for the adorable rose handles I got to work trying to sort through the masses of jewellery. In the end I have necklaces in the side sections - the hooks came on the cabinet already. Sentimental and precious jewellery is in the bottom, one drawer for earrings (stored in a compartment box from Home Bargains, the lid cut off) with a few of my favourite nail varnishes in the back, one for hair accessories and the top part for brooches, rings and pendants. Now it’s like browsing a shop when I decide what jewellery to wear in the morning and I can actually see everything at a glance! This is definitely encouraging me to wear different jewellery so I'll be sharing more accessories posts soon.