Ceiling trapdoor TV

How's this for a neat way to hide the TV when it's not in use? Not to mention a sure fire way to keep those sticky fingers off your flatscreen.

This one is part of a bedroom remodelling carried out by Dijeau & Poage construction company in San Francisco. Reckon you could do it yourself with a bit of thought and careful DIY though. Just make sure it's really, really securely fixed up there...

(via Unplggd)

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Amigurumi cacti in crackle glaze pots

Julie over at Gleeful Things created these adorable amigurumi cacti for her mother and grandmother. I really should get round to making some myself - I've been thinking that a selection of ami cacti would make a great header.

Julie also did the crackle glazing on the pots - have a go yourself by following her tutorial.

If you fancy making your own ami cacti, there's a free pattern for a similar cactus over at Ana Paula's Amigurumi Patterns & Random Cuteness.

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Pixellated PacMan cufflinks

Novelty cufflinks are nothing new, but these pixellated lovelies are surely something else! I love the idea of geek-chic things like this, things that most people won't notice that you can wear safe in the knowledge of your own geek supremacy.

Perhaps Mr Crafty Cactus needs some of these for Fathers' Day. If you or your man want need some of these, amble over to BeauJangles' stall on Makers Market. The Space Invaders are pretty neat too.

(via Craft)

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Fabulous fireworks print chair revamp

I just love furniture revamps and here's one that features the lovely Fireworks print fabric by Jessica Jones (of How about orange...). This top job was carried out by Melissa Swanson - check out her blog post for the full details.

And don't forget to pop over to Jessica's blog while you're out and about - it's one of my RSS reader favourites.

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Minesweeper pillows with sound effects!

Everyone has wasted hours playing minesweeper when they're supposed to be doing something else more productive, but few people have gone to the effort of bringing the game into their real lives. Meet instructables member BritLive who crafted these fabulously geeky pillows.

What I like about these is that  inevitably some people who come round to your house wouldn't realise what they were. So, in effect these pillows would act as geek radar. And even the non-geeks would surely be amused by a bomb explosion upon sitting.

(via Craft)

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Omlet's beautiful Beehaus

I knew we could trust Omlet, the people behind the urban henhouse Eglu to come up with something equally cool for the wannabe bee keepers among us. And I just knew they'd give it a good name and they have not disappointed on that front - meet the Beehaus!

Now, I don't profess to know much, if anything, about keeping bees, but I was very surprised to learn that one Beehaus could produce 1,400kg of honey a year. That's a lot of sticky stuff. Omlet do suggest that you take honey instead of wine to dinner parties and with that volume to deal with, you'll definitely need to come up with some kind of plan to get shot of it.

Of course, you could sell it to help pay back the £500 plus start up cost. By my reckoning, you'll be laughing all the way to the bank once you've flogged 250 jars. And you'll still have 2,550 left to find homes for.

(via Wired magazine 06.10)

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Knitted antique chairs by Melanie Porter

Here's something that appeals to two of my favourite things at the same time - old furniture and fibre-art. Ex-knitwear designer Melanie Porter finds old chairs in auctions and markets across the UK and gives them a new lease of life through careful restoration and reupholstering before she covers them with handknitted panels.

I've chosen Henry (see left) to demonstrate Melanie's talents - a fine chair who's on-trend to boot. Alas, there are no prices on her website, so I suspect that means Henry won't be coming to live with me. But perhaps he or one of his friends could come over to your place? Melanie takes commissions too, if you've got an old Bergere that deserves a facelift.

(via guardian weekend magazine, 08.05.10)

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Lufdesign's leaf cable ties

How about this for a simple, yet brilliant idea? Cable ties with little leaves on the ends, making them both functional and attractive. With these babies on-hand you can prettify your copious cables and give up on the much harder task of hiding the messy buggers.

The Leaf Ties are the brainchild of Korea-based Lufdesign. They weren't originally planning to sell direct to the public, but because of the happy problem of lots of consumer interest they are shipping via airmail. If you're quick you might just grab some for yourself...

(via sub-studio)

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Someone might actually be reading this!

Perhaps because I am still stupidly chuffed about this and thus haven't quite got over it, it's taken me a whole 18 days to get round to reporting that Lauren mentioned my blog when she received the Uber Amazing Blog Award. This means that someone (ie Lauren) actually reads my blog and she isn't family or anything!

The rules of the Uber Amazing Blog award state:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (Check!)
2. Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing. (Check!)
   
3. Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog. (Will do)
4. Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from. (Likewise)

So, what are my fave reads? Before I name names, let me say that I am a Google Reader addict. I'm currently subscribed to a somewhat ridiculous 92 blogs (and I'm massively behind on my reading - 769 unread items to be precise!).

But of course I don't read them all religiously. Most of them get a quick scan before I'm on to the next post. But there are some that I always read and if time is tight, like it has been lately, I'll cherry-pick the following:

Lloyd and Lauren - the minutiae of their daily lives brighten up my breakfast every day.
The Hook and I - Amy is a crochet genius, blogging from the far reaches of Alaska and by all accounts, a mean cook too.
this mama makes stuff - tftcarrie refashions thrift-store finds with great style, often for her children who must be the coolest kids on the block.
laughing purple goldfish designs - more great crochet, with a thrifty-twist.
Today we are... - seamstress joleo hails from south-east England and her blog helps me feel less homesick.

So, there you have it. All of the blogs I love have one thing in common - personality. They are all written by people who tell you a little (or a lot) about their everyday lives and I like that. Craft and/or real people = happiness, at least for me.

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Pass the Pigs - crocheted!

Brigitte over at roman sock has made the most amazing crocheted version of Pass the Pigs, which she's named Pass the Piglets. Look at how detailed and cute it is:





Strangely, rather than spurring me on to make fab handmade Christmas gifts myself (as is my plan), it's thrown me into the doldrums. There's no way I could make anything that cute, dammit. And certainly not two things exactly the same - none of my booties have really been true matching pairs so far...

Hopefully Pass the Piglets has the opposite effect on you, so go and check it out for yourself now. I'd certainly love to receive something like this as a present: Brigitte's friends and family are lucky indeed.

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Book Review: Sew Everything Workshop

Although I am not a total novice when it comes to machine sewing, I am self-taught and have a tendancy to bodge things when I don't know how to do them properly. With this in mind, I decided it was about time I got myself a how-to book and S.E.W. Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp, came to the rescue.



And it's great! It's fun to read - I read the whole thing in one sitting, it's so engaging - and very easy to understand. The book also comes with 25 projects to do (and these are ones you will want to make, from clothing, to accessories and gifts), along with 10 paper patterns in a folder at the front. The whole book is ring-bound, which should make it hard-wearing.

The only downside to this book is that it inspired me to upgrade to an electronic sewing machine, which was a bit of a shock to my purse moths. The machine is a Singer 9940, discontinued now so I got a good deal on it. And it does practically everything except make tea!

But back to the book - I have already recommended it to my non-sewing best friend, who rushed out and bought it and is now hoping for her first sewing machine at Christmas. I'm planning to make some projects from it too, which I'll post here.

I had hoped that the author, Diana Rupp, had a blog, but it has the dreaded "under construction" message at the moment...

EDIT: I did find the SEW Flickr group, so you can check out some of the projects people have made from the group:

www.flickr.com

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How to tell someone you are batty about them

How? With a knitted bat of course!



Get your pattern from Mochimochi. I love the way their wings wrap around. I just wish I could knit: perhaps it's time to learn.

Via CRAFT Magazine.

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Halloween Bento

In the same vein as my Food Craft post about kids' bento boxes, here's a fun Halloween one made by kawaii crafter over at Zakka Life:



Gotta love the poison soy sauce bottle! VV is at least now eating food at six months, though it's still a long time before I can make him a bento box of his own...

Via Crafty Crafty.

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My Fave Blogs: Unclutterer

Welcome to this, the first in a series of introductions to the blogs that I read on a daily basis. I say daily, but what I really mean is whenever they make a post - I use Google Reader to subscribe to blogs that I like and check it out whenever I sit down for a minute with a nice cuppa (so that's pretty often...).

First up - Unclutterer. I am by nature a pack-rat extraordinaire. I love - or even live - to hoard. I am incapable of throwing anything away, either because "you never know when it might come in handy" or because throwing something that is not broken away is just too wasteful. I know where the former comes from (my family are pack-rats too), but I'm not sure about the latter.

My husband will no doubt attest to how annoying this is to put up with. When I moved to Finland I drove him mad by sorting and resorting of all my wordly possessions (he would substitute "crap" for "possessions") into different piles, to give to friends, recycle, sell on ebay etc etc. I stand by my "piling system", but I admit that it doesn't often do much to reduce the overall number of possessions that I own (and have thus dragged over here).

However, I think I have found the cure in Unclutterer. I have now made the first step by designating a Charity Box in which to place items that we do not want or need, which we take down to the nearest charity shop when it's full.

For some easy, beginner-unclutterer tips, try 10 tips to beat clutter in less than five minutes.

(For a more extreme uncluttering tale, have a read of the book, Bonfire Of The Brands: How I Learnt to Live Without Labels by Neil Boorman. Not strictly an uncluttering guide, but a very interesting book by a guy who decided to rid himself of all branded goods, which he then burned in a huge bonfire.)

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