Today I had the gift of seeing my designs come to life, imagination made real and for sale, I also had the even greater gift of being part of an amazing story. These scarves are useful and beautiful, and the people behind them are real and moving, we should all own one.
fashionABLE is an amazing company in Ethiopia, employing and empowering women in a sustainable business, creating designer scarves with integrity and style, and changing the lives of their employees, hopefully for ever. Buying a scarf is not an act of charity, you are supporting a business that helps vulnerable women create a new future for themselves and their families. Read their stories here, you will be inspired by their courage and hope as I am.
I am more than proud to be a tiny little part of this story, and to add my designs to the skills and moving stories of the weavers behind the product. As part of last years Alt Summit SLC I submitted many scarf designs in a fashionABLE competition and was extremely proud to have two of my designs in the final four. Today Barrett let me know that two of my designs have been adapted for this fall season. I drew on the Africa I know and love, the patterns and the textures, the repetitive rhythms of life, the women who are the nurturing heart and hope of the continent.I hope you love them as I do, I hope you buy them and wear them proudly, knowing that your purchase may change a future, save a family.
This is a product that is greater than its purchase price, it is hope, it is beauty, it is courage, it is compassion. Buy one for somebody you love today.
Scarves top - the Rita, and bottom - the Seble available now at fashionABLE
There is nothing I love more than fresh flowers, they just add life to any room, but they can be expensive. Real luxury is being able to pick your own flowers, on our farm I filled the whole house with roses from spring through summer. Every few days I went into the garden with a basket and came back with bunches to fill every vase in the house. Hopefully I will be able to do that again one day, but for now I will share a little trick to getting fresh flowers that last and last and take just minutes to arrange. That's my quick and easy solution in the photo below. Sound good? Do your own quick long lasting flowers:Flat bottomed basket + drip tray + 5 flower pots
Start with a flat bottomed basket or bowl that is about 15cm deep. This basket comes from Pond but keep an eye out at second hand stores for large silver bowls. I saw this lovely basket at Freedom the other day which would work well too.
Then pop out to your local garden centre and buy however many kalanchoe pots you need to fill your basket. You don't want to see the pots. The basket needs to be deep enough that the sides cover the pots from the side, and you need enough plants packed in so that the leaves cover the pots from the top. It should look like the basket is full of flowers. Take yours to the garden centre so you can test out just how many you need to get this effect.You will also need a plastic drip tray to stand in the basket and protect the base when you water the flowers. 
Kalanchoe are perfect for this outdoor basket or a sunny indoor spot. They are succulents with long lasting flowers that gradually change colour as they get older. Mine have been looking gorgeous for a few weeks now and have turned a pretty soft pink which I love against our black exterior walls. If you have your basket in a shaded spot they will need to be placed in the sun for a few days every few weeks to keep healthy and keep flowering.
Orchids are lovely too, use one larger pot in a deep vase. They can be expensive to buy but flower for ages and you can enjoy them again next year. My orchids love the shady spot at our front steps and have sent up a gorgeous spray of flowers which are just about to open. I may just leave them there and not bring them inside this year.
There you have it! Quick, easy to get a lovely look, and your flowers will last for weeks.
Ever dreamed of working with wood but been to scared to give it a try? Yep me too, but not any more! Put the Kreg pocket hole jig on your wish list and join me in a home diy wood work revolution! If I can do it you can too! How amazing is my first ever woodwork project (below)!!!
I have always liked the idea of woodwork but been to intimidated to try it. The big saws frighten me, so does the need to drill perfectly straight, and I don't have the tools or skills for biscuit joins. So when I saw my first Kreg pocket hole diy it seemed far to good to be true. I watched more tutorials, and more, and more. One diy project later I can confirm this little jig is as good as they say and should be your next diy tool acquisition. I used a Kreg K4 Master System, you can buy your own one at Carba-Tec®, either online or in store.
I decided a play stove was the perfect first project, small enough to get done fairly quickly, big enough to really test the jig, and the finish doesn't have to be perfect. I am delighted with the results, and so is Miss J. After testing the jig on left over pieces for a while I put the stove carcass together in about an hour. The square door frame took me about half an hour. In fact painting and hanging the door took much longer than building the stove. It was easy, yes easy! There are a few finishes I would like to improve on, but I doubt you can spot them. If you want to make one just like mine read on below. Otherwise hop onto the Kreg website and see what else you could make. Next up for me is a low bookshelf for the lounge, and benches for our table. perhaps a day bed for the playroom, I have big plans for my little Kreg jig.
What does the pocket drill do:The genius of this jig is it allows you to join two pieces of wood easily and quickly, while achieving good strength and hiding your joins. Briefly, to join pieces A and B, clamp piece A in the jig and drill pocket holes using the drill guide holes. Line up A & B where you want to join them, put the screw in the pocket hole, and screw into place. The drill guide & pocket make sure that drilling & screwing is perfectly straight every time.
Step 1:Take cutting list to the hardware and get them to cut the pieces you need for your project. I used laminated pine because it looked clean and straight and was very reasonably priced. To get a good finish all edges must be as straight as possible, so tell the cutting person you are using a pocket hole and need a very straight finish. My local Bunnings was very helpful when I explained what I was doing.
Step 2: Mark up the position of the pocket holes. Kreg recommends the first pocket hole is 5cm from the edge, then every 15cm after that. To make them less visible I have planned my pocket holes to be on the inside of the box sides and the bottom of the base & top. I found is easiest to balance the pieces together and then mark the position of the holes. Step 3:Clamp pieces into the jig and drill the pocket holes where you have marked. Make sure the wood is sitting flush with the base of the jig so that the wood and holes are straight.Step 4: Assemble the pieces and join with the pocket screws. Line up two pieces as you want them joined, put the screw in the pocket hole and drill to join the two pieces. Because the screw sits in the pocket and the driver bit is extra long the drill goes exactly where you want it too, you don't have to worry about drilling straight. Once you feel the drill catch on the tightened screw you are done.
This is the trickiest bit as you need to hold the pieces together as straight as possible while you are tightening the screws. Use clamps to hold the pieces stable if you have them. It also helps to push the pieces up against a straight edge. I found that as I drove the screw into the wood the two pieces pulled out of position just a little. Sometimes I was able to fix this when I did the next screw, and sometimes I had to sand out the difference. I am sure that practice will help make this better.
Does it sound easy? Yes? That's because it was. An hour and a half of happy tinkering later my carcass was done! Once the carcass is complete simply paint, hang door, attach casters & door knobs for decoration. For a great demo of the how the Kreg jig works in detail have a look at this post by DIY Diva. I was planning to show you how here but this post got to long.
It could not be easier. Watch this space!!! I am heading to the hardware soon for my next venture into Kreg diy territory. Go and check them out yourself online or in store at your local Carba-Tec®
PS this post was not sponsored, all opinions are entirely my own.
Our hallway storage was a mess. Hats and coats jostled for peg space, a messy jumble of shoes and a basket stuffed full of school and sports bags - not a good look at the front door. Time to make a change. What do you think of our solution?
The brief:- narrow space 140cm wide by 40cm deep- must store: shoes, coats, hats, school bags, handbag, sports bags, hats and keysThe solutionAfter an intensive few evenings studying the Ikea catalogue (a favourite pastime) I discovered that the PAX cupboard system comes in a narrow 37cm deep version - perfect depth. It is available in 50cm or 100cm widths. Our space is 140cm wide so using a 100cm cabinet left us 40cm over.I consulted the Voice of Reason who agreed we could make floating shelves for the left over space.
I decided to put two 50cm cabinets on either side with floating shelves in the middle. Having the shelves in the center gives the design a more bespoke feel. Inside you can see lots and lots of space for shoes, bags, hats and coats. Outside it would be minimal with baskets for texture and storage, and a display niche for art or flowers.
Installing the cabinetsSo far so good. Off to Ikea to buy the cabinets. Have you ever noticed that diy's never show how many trips you make to get supplies? I got all the cabinets but the shoe rack and coat hooks were out of stock. Another trip will have to be made soon.The hardest part of shopping for large items at Ikea is getting them onto your trolley and into the car. Thank you to the kind people who took pity on my feebleness and helped out.
Back home it took a day to assemble the cupboards. I removed the skirting boards and cut them down to size so that they could be fitted back in once the cabinets were installed. We attached the cabinets to the walls at the top for extra strength.
Attaching battens for the floating shelvesHere is where the Voice of Reason came up with a very clever trip. The problem with Ikea cabinets is they are made of cheap board, often as you screw into them the cabinets rip up a little, not good for build strength or looks. VOR decided not to screw the battens to the cabinet, but to bolt them to the side using a snap off screw. Snap off screws are used to attach door knobs to cabinets, available at and good hardware store.
This has several advantages:- drilling through the cabinet instead of screwing through it is less likely to split the cabinet board- threading the snap off screw from inside the cabinet leaves the flat head inside, smooth & neat- tightening the batten to the cabinet with a nut, creates a firm strong base for the shelf- no pointy bits left over as you snap off the excess screw whatever the thickness of your wood
Note that the battens are shorter than the cabinet width. They have been measured so that when the shelves are attached the front lip butts up to the cabinet front for a really built in look. To measure: width of cabinet - width of wood used for lip = length of batten.
Making the floating shelvesThe Voice of Reason made shelves to fit the space with a lip to create the floating effect. There are several ways you could do this but he joined the lip to the shelf with dowels and then filled and sanded the joints for a perfect finish. With paint the joins are totally invisible. I could have done this with pocket screws if I had had the Kreg jig (watch this space Kreg jig coming soon).
Finally we attached the shelves to the battens with small wood screws, stood back and admired our handiwork. I am so delighted with it, it looks custom and expensive and we did it ourselves!Most satisfying job we have done yet and certainly turned $600 of Ikea cabinetry into an expensive looking bespoke item that totally fills the brief. Once the interior fittings are back in stock I will be able to show you the soon to be amazingly organised interior, but even without them this project has made a huge difference. The hall is easy to keep tidy, I can always find my keys, and I spend far less time shouting at the family to tidy up.
Two lessons I am taking from Alt Summit are: - having guts to take risks pays off, and - design collaboration pushes your creative boundaries and can produce great results.
This struck a chord with me specifically because in the the last month I had two unexpected design successes. Both came from collaborations (from Alt Summit related contacts) and both were out of my comfort zone, both meant I had to take a chance and face possible rejection.
The first came out of a collaboration with Ashley Pahl, a wonderful blogger I met during an Alt Summit online lecture. Ashley needed submissions for her ezine, Snowed In and I worked on a few ideas. One was an embroidery DIY, I haven't done embroidery for years but I saw something quite basic in a high end children's design store and thought I could improve on it.Not only did Ashley accept the DIY for her magazine, but a few weeks ago my embroidery was picked up by Apartment Therapy! In the blog world this is big! I still can't quite believe it so I included a screen print just to make sure!!
The second collaboration came out of a competition run for 2013 Alt Summit SLC attendees by fashionABLE. FashionABLE is an inspiring organisation. A grassroots business creating a sustainable business in Ethiopia, empowering vulnerable women, helping them create new lives for themselves and their families. They weave and sell beautiful scarves and when you buy a scarf you are not making a donation, you are buying a desirable item and giving the woman who made it hope, a future, a purpose, dignity. Touchingly each scarf has a handwritten note from its creator, telling you simply what they are ABLE to do because you made this purchase. As I said before, very inspiring, go and have a look for yourself.The fashionABLE challenge was to design a scarf, the best designs to be woven in Ethiopia, presented at Alt SLC, and voted on by attendees. The winning scarf to be made for Mothers Day.I was inspired by the Africa I love, sketched madly at 3 in the morning and sent off multiple designs, and I was totally honoured to discover that two of my designs were not only created but chosen for the top four. The top two below are mine.
Ultimately neither won the contest (the beautiful black and white was the champion) but it was exhilarating to have something go from my imagination to reality. I really do feel I won the jackpot anyway. And there is a good chance the yellow design, called "A Prayer for Rain" will be made this year, I will certainly let you know!! Thats me below modelling them at Alt!
Hopefully the true winners will be the women whose lives and families are being changed forever. And I hope it is not the last time I collaborate with the fashionABLE organisation.
For me taking the plunge, pushing my creative limits, risking rejection, its been very worthwhile. I look forward to future collaborations, meeting incredible people who are taking on the world, to working on projects that will make me grow, its just a part of this wonderful journey that blogging is taking me on.
