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?

Cupcakes by Jo Aberdeen

Cupcakes by Jo is another place I managed to visit when we were in Aberdeen before Christmas. Owned by the lovely Jo Gale, (who has been running the business for a while but only more recently opened her new shop) this cute wee cupcake shop is the perfect place to pop in for a treat! When you walk in it smells amazing and you'll be spoilt for choice with the cakes in the counter - if you're early enough! If you are planning a visit you should check out Jo's Facebook page where she shares the flavours of the day (and also sold out notices!). Jo's wee shop is so purple, sparkly and yummy, it's a good thing I'm not in Aberdeen now or I'd never stop eating cake. You'll find Cupcakes by Jo at 7a Crown Street... and if you need some legal advice you'll find my Dad next door at Jonathan Tait & Co!

Getting Organised Part 2

This week our Getting Organised series looks at home organisers. I'm sure lots of you are like us and come January want to get back into eating better. I find my worst habit is waiting until I'm hungry then deciding what to eat - usually something lazy and unhealthy so meal planning is a must for me! This rainbow planner features our new fruit and veg print in the background and has boxes for 3 meals a day 7 days a week and you can download it for free here or below - yay! Planning every meal every day might be a bit over the top but it's nice to have the option for when you want to with this planner. You may have also noticed the cute matching magnets in the photo above, these are brand new to our web shop and available here (also available in 'what's for tea?' and 'what's for supper?').

As well as planning meals we've gone and made ourselves a chore list. I know this sounds incredibly dull but for me having it pinned to the kitchen noticeboard makes trying to remember to clean one less thing to think about. It helps that it's in pastel colours with a touch of polkadot! I found lots of these on Pinterest with plenty designed to involve children but none right for us. It's a bit different since it's a pre-filled organiser but hopefully it will be useful as a starting point if anyone else is interested. You can download this here or below.

Next week is the last in our Getting Organised series (for now) and will look at organisation in the studio!

RockingStitch Sewing Studio

RockingStitch is run by the lovely Barbara who I got to know while we worked on her brand refresh and website last year. I designed a custom pattern for her which you can see in the background of the RockingStitch website, along with custom icons and some promotional design for print. Barbara opened the RockingStitch Sewing Studio in November and I managed to squeeze in a visit when we were back in Aberdeen for Christmas. Sadly not long enough to take part in a class as I'd love to get to know my sewing machine!

The studio is so beautiful, definitely worth popping in for some creative inspiration. Barbara has put so much thought into all the details, just look at the decorations on the Christmas tree! The space is so fresh and inviting with gorgeous homely touches. There's also an adorable selection of haberdashery for sale. Barbara runs a huge range of classes for all levels including dressmaking, classes for kids and classes where you can sew bunting, patchwork blankets, tea cosies, tote bags and more. The studio is located in Bead Pop at 19-21 St Andrews Street behind John Lewis. Bead Pop, owned by the wonderful Alex, is such a cheerful and crafty shop! Together they are hosting a Ladies Love Crafts Day which sounds like a lot of fun. It's on Valentine's day and includes a choice of 2 fabric/bead crafts, glass of prosecco and nibbles, tea and cupcakes and a free goody bag! For more info and for booking head to beadpop.co.uk.

Getting Organised Part 1

Happy new year! Ironically, this post is later than planned due to disorganisation for the first week or so of January... but hopefully we'll keep on top of things now thanks to our Getting Organised series this month. Before reopening the online shop after our Christmas break we went into full planning mode including a studio clear out, new stock take method, home organisation, a labelling frenzy and designing pretty, yet practical, printables.

This is our new weekly planner - it's perfect for us as some days are full lists and we want a blank column and other days we can add doodles and note bubbles as there are no restricting lines or time slots. The reason we chose not to include the weekend is that this planner goes up on the studio wall where we're trying to keep away from at weekends to make sure we get time off (which was an issue we had in 2014). Plus weekends are a time for relaxing and taking a break from lists!

If you'd like a copy of this planner you can download it for free as a pdf here. It's A4 size and perfect for printing off for busier weeks! We'd love to hear if you find it useful. Next week we'll be sharing some home organisers.

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

gingerbread house ornament - Asda

making decorations - sprinkle baubles, fimo candy canes and button garlands

finished with sparkles and ribbon!

handmade sprinkle bauble on the tree

ice cream bauble - Maisons du Monde

Gingerbread decoration - Miss Daisy Gifts

cupcake bauble - Maisons du Monde

snowman decoration - Fayre Earth Gift Shop

sweetie decoration - Maisons du Monde

pastel button book tree - Macbelles

candle - Pebble / vintage plate - Rural Reads & Threads

We have our first proper Christmas tree up! I'm so excited because I've been collecting things for months and had decided a while back that I wanted to go for a 'winter wonderland/sugarplum fairy' theme with lots of snow, pink, pastels and cute sweetie decorations. We got our snowy tree from Asda and a selection of cheap tinsels, bead strings and simple baubles from there too as well as B&M. We didn't have a big budget for Christmas decorations so doing that for the basics meant we could buy more special decorations from local shops and on holiday. We got lots in Maisons du Monde in Nice which go so perfectly and of course we finished the tree off with some handmade bits and pieces! I have to admit that I didn't stop at the living room and there is lots more in the house including our homemade advent calendars in the hall along with a mini tree, snowy lights in the windows and some other cute things but I've decided to split this post in two as I took way too many photos! Here is the end result...