Homemade Gifts

It's January which means it's exam time.

Luckily this year I only have one exam so I'm making the most of my time at home, taking the more chilled approach to revision...

I decided to use my time productively and with one of my closest friends birthdays just around the corner, I got creative. 

I've always been a fan of homemade presents, it's such a great way to save money and add a personal touch. Some things - cushions in particular are often nicer when made yourself as you can choose the material you like and add whatever you fancy.

Having never made one myself, I took on the challenge of making a cushion. 

Mum and I made use of material we already had, along with a selection of buttons which I decided to use to form a heart for the centre of the cushion. 

Putting my hand sewing skills to test, I sewed on each button individually - turns out secondary school textiles classes were useful after all.

And there we have it, a homemade present which looks just as good as anything shop-bought! 

Reasons to Believe

'For every reason to fear, there is a reason to hope. For every reason to give up or give in, there is a reason to dig deep and try harder. And for every reason to doubt, there are countless reasons to believe in a better tomorrow.'

Ultimately, the message behind Coca-Cola's new campaign 'Reasons to Believe' is that despite all the negative things that we see day-to-day, there is more good than bad. 

Coca-Cola's marketing has always been of interest to me:

The way in which they customise their products to each and every culture. 

The way in which they are have created such a recognisable brand image. 

The way in which they shaped the image of Santa Claus. 

This new campaign continues to follow the brands values - evoking happy memories. The bold, thought provoking advert can be related to and inspire all. 

University Preparations

Living in halls for the past year was so much fun and don't get me wrong I wouldn't have done it any other way. However, being in a boxy room whilst sharing toilets, showers and a kitchen between 20 girls wasn't quite so fun.

So as you can imagine, I am very much looking forward to moving into a house with 6 of my closest friends. Obviously when you're renting a house it's difficult to decorate the rooms as you're pretty restricted with what you can change. Wanting to make my bedroom my own, I decided that bunting would be a nice touch. 

Having never sewn before, I set myself the challenge of making my own bunting using a vintage tablecloth which we found on eBay. 

Cut out a series of triangles from the patterned fabric

Take two fabric triangles (I used an old bed sheet for the back of the bunting) and place them with their right sides facing inwards. Stitch them together leaving the top open. 

Trim the seam at the lower edge of the triangle point

Turn the right sides out and press with an iron

Now assemble the bunting. To make your binding fold a strip of cotton tape (2.5cm wide)  in half  lengthways and press with an iron

Place the top edge of each triangle inside the folded binding and sew through the binding and triangles

Make sure that the triangles are evenly spaced along the binding and you leave length at either end for hanging