Well, almost Wordless Wednesdays – click through for the link to how to make this beautiful leaf candle project...
Read MoreAutumn leaf bunting
Oh my... autumn leaf bunting. Hello new craft crush.
How gorgeous is this autumn leaf bunting from Sea Field and Tribe?
Crispy leaves in muted russet tones plus delicate stitching, and the wonderful expectedness of it all make for a massive hit in our book. We think blogger Chelsea might be a bit of a genius.
Pop over to Sea Field and Tribe to see how it's done.
Hand warmer DIY
Brrr... there's a definite chill in the air these days! Craft your own home-made heat pack to keep you cosy.
Fellow Fellow has come up with the perfect solution to stop our fingers getting chilly in the nippy autumn air. This super simple heat pack DIY will tuck into your coat pocket to warm you up in no time.
Great idea, right? We'll be honest, though - we were sold from the minute we spotted blogger Claire's beautiful choice of Liberty style fabric.
Pop over to the Fellow Fellow blog to find out how it's done (we for one were mega-surprised to find out what goes inside these little pouches!) plus oodles more crafty gorgeousness.
Alternative pumpkin decorating
BOO! Halloween is fast approaching. Time to get planning! Whether you're past your dressing-up years or not, it'd be wrong not to mark the occasion with a carved pumpkin or two. We've shunned traditional approaches and rounded up the coolest alternative pumpkin decorating DIYs on the web.
Kicking off our round-up is the very dedicated (and artistically blessed) Alisa Burke. We've never seen such a spectacle as Alisa's painted pumpkins. Not so much a DIY as a gaze-in-awe-and-don't-even-think-about-attempting-it, we'd be distraught when it was time to throw these away.
For a much more achievable take on the metallic on white design, click over to Paper'n'stitch. A little white paint and a Sharpie or two is all that's needed for these simple and chic metallic spotted pumpkins.
Ramping up the glam factor a notch is A Field Journal. This sparkly pumpkin DIY combines a pale base with a liberal sprinkling of glitter for an eerie shimmer.
Not dramatic enough for you? If you really want to make a statement, check out Monograms and Manicures. This chevron pumpkin comes in neon pink with a heap of gold glitter to boot. Pair with a green spotted design to really start your Halloween with a bang!
Craftivist Jigsaw Project
The Craftivist Jigsaw Project is an amazing new campaign from the Craftivist Collective.
The Craftivist Collective has launched their Jigsaw project in support of Save the Children's Race Against Hunger.
Some of the biggest names in UK craft have joined forces to try and get hunger at the top of the agenda at the next G8 meeting taking place in the UK next year.
This isn't any regular charity project. As you'd expect, to get involved you'll need to get your needle and thread out!
The Collective is asking crafters to stitch 3 jigsaw pieces with campaign messages. One will then be included in an art installation to raise awareness of of the problem. Another will go to your local MP to ask them to be the positive change they'd like to see in the world. The final piece is for you to keep for yourself, as a reminder to be part of the solution.
Visit the Craftivist Collective website to join the Jigsaw Project now - you can follow everyone's progress on Twitter (#imapiece).
Autumn cross stitch charts
The Making Spot is our first stop for cross stitch charts, crochet and knitting patterns.
Our latest Making spot finds are these vegetable and leaf cross stitch charts. A little stitched motif is a fab way of personalising something - simple and so versatile. Allow us to demonstrate with some ideas...
Off the top of our heads, we're thinking:
1. Birthday card for a green-fingered friend (mount on card)
2. Hand-made art for the kitchen (keep in the embroidery hoop, hang on wall)
3. Pretty personalised napkins (find plain napkins, embroider in corner)
See what we mean? Pop over to The Making spot to download the cross stitch charts and get inspired by a whole heap of other crafty projects while you're at it.
Gathered by Mollie Makes is here!
Gathered by Mollie Makes has finally arrived! We're a little giddy about getting our hands on this excellent new digital craft mag.
Gathered is a new weekly magazine for the iPad from the geniuses behind Mollie Makes.
There will be three new craft projects for you to feast your eyes on each week, plus interviews with your favourite designer-makers and plenty of interactive loveliness. Best of all, it means we now have much less time to wait to get our Mollie fix!
You can also keep updated with all the latest news through the Gathered Facebook page and Twitter feed.
We're a little biased, but we think this might just be the most exciting launch since our own.
The Simple Things Etsy lookbook
The Simple Things has curated an autumn lookbook for Etsy UK!
Etsy is where all the coolest and most talented indie makers and designers hang out. The Simple Things team are all massive fans, so we were honoured to be asked to curate an autumn lookbook for Etsy UK.
Want to see what we came up with? Click over to the Etsy UK Facebook page to see our pick of the best quirky, quaint and downright lovely products to in the cooler months in style.
Air freshener pouch DIY
This air freshener pouch tutorial from Sincerely, Kinsey is a cute way of making your home smell sweet.
Sincerely, Kinsey is always full of beautiful craft and DIY ideas, and none more so than this air freshener pouch DIY. The little cotton bags with retro stamped labels are surely the loveliest way to keep your rooms sweet-smelling.
We can't wait for festive season, when we can fill our pouches with cinnamon and spice and enjoy the aroma of Christmassyness all over the house!
Pop over to Sincerely, Kinsey for a photo how-to and more crafty inspiration.
WIN an iPad with Gathered by Mollie Makes (closed)
Our sister mag Mollie Makes is launching a weekly digital craft mag, Gathered, and giving you the chance to win an iPad!
Gathered by Mollie Makes is a brand new digital craft magazine exclusive to the iPad, coming soon. Each week, the Mollie Makes team will bring you an interactive mag full of inspiring crafts, interviews with designer-makers and new projects to inspire you to get crafting!
To mark this exciting occasion, they're offering you the chance to WIN a brand new iPad, and a whole year's subscription to Gathered along with it. To find out more and enter into the draw, visit the competition homepage.
Gathered will be hitting Apple Newsstand store later in October, so follow on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest news!
Postage stamp craft
Our friends at Oxfam got in touch last week in search of some crafty ideas to go with the bags of vintage stamps they're selling in the Oxfam online shop. We love a challenge, so here you go - a round-up of our tip-top postage stamp craft ideas...
First up is A Law Student's Journey, who's put her own twist on a well-established trend to create this postage stamp bunting. Very simple, quirky and somehow much more winter-appropriate than fabric bunting. We love.
Requiring a little more patience and dexterity are Just Something I Made's miniature stamp houses. Blogger Cathe has tucked a roll of stamps inside hers and made it into a stamp dispenser, and we think this would be a super-cute way to store stickers. Pop over to Just Something I Made for a free printable template.
Finally, we couldn't do a postage stamp craft round-up without a little découpage (they're already sticky on the back, for goodness sake!). Crafty blogs are awash with postage stamp découpage ideas, but our favourite is this dresser from The Next Stitch. A gorge display of stamps, dove grey paintwork and a little gold leaf. Perfectly imperfect and shabby-chic at its best.
For the best range of vintage stamps around, pop over to the Oxfam online shop (and check out their new Oxfam Shops Facebook page while you're at it!).
How to make origami cranes
How lovely are these little origami cranes?
This weekend, we'll be taking some time out to folding up a mini flock from mismatched papers, and stringing them up with some bright thread. So simple and so pretty.
Pop over to the Penelope and Pip website for a free paper crane printable.
Mollie Makes Christmas book - reader offer!
Have you heard? The Simple Things' big sister Mollie Makes has put together their very own Mollie Makes Christmas book!
Mollie Makes Christmas is filled with cute craft projects for the festive period, designed exclusively by regular Mollie Makes contributors especially for you. Whatever your craft of choice, there are ideas to decorate your home or give as gifts, all with the loveliness you'd expect from your fave craft mag!
Mollie Makes Christmas is out on 4th October in the UK, but pre-order now and enter code Mollieloves at the checkout to get your copy for just £7.00 (it's usually £9.99)!
Click here to pre-order your copy now.
Welly boot liner DIY
It's half-way through September now and we can't ignore it any more ... we've officially reached autumn.
We might be waving goodbye to the sunshine for a while, but it's definitely not all bad. Autumn means blackberries and apples, brightly coloured leaves and blustery strolls in the countryside.
Combat the nip in the air and the drizzly days with these welly boot liners from H is for Handmade. We especially like her clever scarf upcycling for the turnovers.
Do our readers have any ideas for autumn craft projects? We'd love to hear from you!
Printed umbrella DIY
Oh, it's been a bit of a drizzly summer, hasn't it? Luckily, Christine Wisnieski from Design for Mankind is here to save us from the rainy-day blues with her printed umbrella DIY.
You can use whatever colours and shapes you fancy, put personally we're big fans of Christine's day-glo orange / on-trend geometrics combo! After all, if the skies are grey, what's better than a little shocking neon to brighten things up? Check out Design for Mankind to see how she did it!
Book launch: Cupcakes and Cashmere
Today, we thought we'd take a little break from our Simple Things magazine excitement to let you know about another fab launch.
Cupcakes and Cashmere is now not only the title of one of our favourite blogs, but it's also the title of a fabulous book! Creator Emily Schuman's first book promises more of what she does best on her blog - cute and quirky fashion, unique interiors ideas and chilled out entertaining.
Have a rifle inside and hear what Emily's thoughts on the Cupcakes and Cashmere blog. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to see her simple ideas for home-made cards, too - we love.
Three best cushion customising ideas
Sometimes we want a room revamp when are purses are feeling a little empty. Luckily, we've discovered that all that's really needed to turn the plainest cushion into a thing of beauty is a little imagination and few craft supplies. Join us as we round up three of the best crafty cushion customising ideas ...
1. Print it
Grab some fabric paint or a marker and get back in touch with your artistic side. We love this dotty cushion design from Hello Milky on Etsy, which uses neon fabric paint to tap into this summer's trend for all things hi-vis. You don't just have to stick to circles either - those are designer-maker Jess' fun star cushions in our cover pic.
If you have something to get off your chest, use a stencil to scribble out your message, like Wit & Whistle's stencilled cushion tutorial. Take a tip from blogger Amanda and draft out your design in pencil first to avoid any spelling disasters!
2. Get colourful
Adding a pop of colour is a really easy way to inject some life into a neutral design. Made in Oxford has mixed up simple applique and contrast stitching in their adorable elephant cushions.
Alternatively, nip down to your local fabric shop to sift through their cute buttons and trims. And remember, if your cushion is plain you can get away with being a little crazy with your trims! Check out Bentley Bicycles' bright pom pom trim and coconut shell button combo if you don't believe us.
3. Add another dimension
If you want a total revamp, its time to crack out the sewing machine and add a little texture. Pay homage to the blooms in your back yard with a rose cushion from Burlap and Blue or go girlie with Say Yes to Hoboken's oversized bow pillow. We especially love that both bloggers have opted for a neutral fabric and decided to let the shape do all the talking.
Braided rug tutorial
We've just unearthed this braided rug tutorial on A Beautiful Mess and we're itching to get plaiting. This DIY requires no sewing whatsoever, just a little patience and a big scrap fabric stash (check, and check!).
It may not be rug weather at the moment, but we thought we'd give you a little heads up on this one as it looks like it's going to take a little time. We love Elsie's bright colour choices and the fact she's mixed up plain fabric with gingham for a laid back, shabby chic effect.
Papercraft heart bookmark tutorial
Reading in the sunshine with a big mug of tea is surely the best way to spend a stolen hour or two. Papercrafter Clara from Bloomize has come up with a sweet little paper heart bookmark tutorial to help her keep her place.
All you need is a square of pretty paper and some nifty fingers. Pop over to the Bloomize blog for a photo how-to, and get folding.
Upcycled paper bag basket tutorial
Do any of our readers remember weaving coloured paper into place mats at primary school? Ellinée has given our fave childhood craft project a grown-up twist with their woven basket tutorial, which uses brown paper bags for some rustic appeal.
We'll be following their lead and piling our baskets high with fresh fruit for people to dig into at a picnic lunch. Pop over to Ellinée for a photo guide to creating your own.