A piece of plain old fabric and some bright fabric paints is all your need to create your own, unique, one of a kind fabric.     It’s time for another Sustainable Craft Challenge, when I join some of my creative blogging friends and we all create a project with a sustainable twist. Something upcycled, recycled, stash busting, using an eco friendly product etc. Our theme for April’s challenge is VIBRANT so you might want to get your sunglasses out! Creating your own vibrant and colourful painted fabric Anyone who follows me on Instagram will have seen this idea to paint your own fab ..read more

    Welcome to another Handmade Monday, our weekly link up for all things handmade. This week I’ve been working on the experimental upcycling embroidery that I started last weekend at the Creative Crafts Show as and when time has allowed. This is such a fun technique, no rights or wrongs but it’s a little crazier than my normal style. Highly recommended though if you want to try something freestyle. I’m starting our Handmade Monday a little early this week, just because I’m actually away with friends for the weekend and so access to wifi is a little limited. We are visiting the Co ..read more

How to Refashion a Button Through Dress into a Stylish Jacket Do you have an old button through dress that you are never choosing to wear? If the style is simple enough it is easy to transform it into a lightweight jacket that is perfect for spring and summer. By repurposing your dress into a jacket, you not only save money but also contribute to sustainable fashion by reducing textile waste. It’s a win-win situation! It’s time for another Do It Over Designers Challenge, when I join a group of creative bloggers to bring a collection of craft projects where we all take something old and “do it ..read more

    Welcome to another Handmade Monday, our weekly link up for all things handmade. I’ve spent the day at the Creative Craft Show at the NEC Birmingham. Such a fun day with lots of creative workshops plus a little light craft supply shopping! I got to try out some beading, lino cutting, needle felting and freestyle embroidery which were all so enjoyable. Let’s take a look at the features from last week’s Handmade Monday: Click through on the photos to see the original posts. Remember if you want to pin any of these ideas please make sure you click through via the photo to the ori ..read more

    Welcome to another Handmade Monday, our weekly link up for all things handmade. It’s Mother’s Day here in the UK today. I always find it funny that it doesn’t fall on the same day all around the world, I’ve no idea why? Anyway, I’ve had a lovely day, the kids all came over with pizza, flowers, chocolates, cake and tea - perfect! Now let’s take a look at the features from last week’s Handmade Monday: Click through on the photos to see the original posts. Remember if you want to pin any of these ideas please make sure you click through via the photo to the original project. I ..read more

Decorate a plain ring binder with a rainbow of punched paper shapes. It’s time for another Sustainable Craft Challenge, when I join a group of my creative friends to bring fun craft ideas with an eye on sustainability. We reuse, reduce and recycle, we upcycle and we shop our stashes to avoid buying new in the hope you will be inspired to craft in a more sustainable and planet friendly way. This month our theme is RAINBOW, so I’ve used paper from old colourful envelopes to decorate a plain ring binder. I’ve mentioned it before, I keep ALL colourful envelopes, the ones that often come from greet ..read more

    Welcome to another Handmade Monday, our weekly link up for all things handmade. I was painting some more cork fairy houses this week (I sell them in my Etsy shop) and rather than sticking them on wooden skewers as plant pot decorations I tried them out with little screw eyes and ribbon as hanging ornaments. I’ve updated the tutorial showing how to make them too, you can find that here : How to upcycle corks into fairy houses Now let’s take a look at the features from last week’s Handmade Monday: Click through on the photos to see the original posts. Remember if you want to pi ..read more

Give a whole new look to a plain blouse with some really simple embroidery stitching. This is one of my most favourite craft projects of all time! If you read Sum of their Stories often you will know I say this quite often about lots of different projects but you know I always mean it, right? I get very excited when I’m trying out a new craft idea and the results are just what I was hoping for. This was one of these moments, the more I stitched the more I loved how it was coming out. Let me start by saying this is not a new idea that I’ve come up with myself. I first saw embroidery like this ..read more

    Welcome to another Handmade Monday, our weekly link up for all things handmade. I thought it might be fun to show some of the real life behind the magic here at Sum of their Stories! I was trying to sort out my scrap fabric box, one of those jobs where it all gets a lot worse before it gets better. The problem was I kept finding good stuff and having another idea of what to use it for! Now let’s take a look at the features from last week’s Handmade Monday: Click through on the photos to see the original posts. Remember if you want to pin any of these ideas please make sure yo ..read more

Update an old shopping tote bag with scraps of fabric to give it a pretty cornishware look. I love reusable shopping bags, I simultaneously have loads and never enough - how does that work? Sometimes we get lucky and are given promotional bags at open days and events and though it's nice to have another bag they are not always the prettiest things on the planet. To fix this I have a cunning plan and a stash of fabric scraps. Ideas to decorating a fabric tote with fabric scraps In the past I have just covered the fronts of promotional tote bags with a piece of fabric or two. See how the fabri ..read more