Hochanda

The lovely Melissa Waudby from Simply Vintage is back with us this week, so to give you a sneak peek of what's to come on her show, check out her Craft Inspiration Pack  Challenge . She'll be with us this Wednesday with tonnes of inspiration and demonstrations of how you can get the most from your gorgeous Craft Inspiration Pack at 10am! Here's her step-by-steps... This month I have been working on a little challenge - My Craft Inspiration Pack Challenge! To see how many craft projects I can make from just one of the Simply Vintage Mixed Craft Inspiration packs. The full results will be live on the show in Wednesday morning - but here is a couple of sneaky pics of just two mixed media projects I recently finished. From the kit I used: 1 sheet of music 1 piece of floral fabric 3 sheets of pages Buttons Lace pieces Ribbon Snap fasteners Postcard Just 10 elements …..from the 30 included! (and there are still parts of these left over!) ...

Exciting news Crafter's, we've got another inspiring supplier for you! Helen Johnson from the Decorating Store Online will be joining us on Sunday 31st July to demonstrate the fabulous Rust-Oleum range so we caught up with her before her shows for some sneak peeks and she even gave us her 5 top tips!  Upcycling has seen a huge surge in popularity over the last 18 months with more and more people looking to transform their old and worn furniture into something usable in their homes to save the cost of buying new! Not only do you get the satisfaction of the money you’ve saved but also knowing its something that you’ve created to be utilized in and around your home, or to be gifted or even sold for use by someone else. There are more and more products entering the upcycling market but our favourite here at Decorating Centre Online is the Rust-Oleum range – a global brand that specialises in ‘specialist coatings’ and with this breadth of knowledge and experien...

Back in May we gave you a sneak peek to an exciting new supplier that will be joining us, so before their first shows we thought we'd get together with the very talented Tracey Evans, the Powertex Guest so you can all get to know her just a little bit better!  Introduce yourself. I’m Tracey Evans. I’m a wife, mother, arts and crafts enthusiast, and Creative Director of Powertex UK. Tell us how you got into Powertex, was it something that you had always wanted to do? Arts and crafts have been a passion of mine for a long time. I love to create and experiment with a variety of methods and mediums…but when I discovered Powertex, everything else got left on the shelf. I couldn’t believe that this amazing product wasn’t more widely available. After that, events just seemed to unfold and before I knew it my husband Garry and I were journeying to Belgium to pitch our business proposal to the owner of Powertex International! When you are not creating, what else d...

Introduce yourself! Hello, my name is Bee Morrison.   I am a self employed artist, designer and art tutor living and working in Eccles, Manchester. Tell us how you got into the art industry, was it something that you had always wanted to do? Since leaving school, I had drifted into office work but I yearned to go to art school.   Then I saw someone on the television being accepted for art school and I knew that I had a lot more to offer.   So I immediately applied for Bolton foundation course and have never looked back. Four years later I had completed the design course with an honours degree in Art and Design. When you are not painting, what else do you like doing for fun? I love listening to classical music and gardening.   If I had not gone into art I would have been a gardener. What was your “first” when I grow up I want to be….? From the age of 8 I wanted to be a fabric designer and this stayed with me for a very long time.   ...

Feeling a little uninspired recently? Here are 5 different craft projects to take you out of your comfort zone, guaranteed to kill that boredom once and for all! Terrarium Difficulty level out of 5: ⅖ Tutorial: here A terrarium can be described quite simply as an abundance of small plants growing in a controlled environment, and that controlled environment is usually a clear container than can be sealed off or open. This means that not only will it look in great in your home, but it’s also a great way to grow succulents and other such plants. Items such as pebbles and soil are used for it’s base, and from there you can plant and top said base however you wish. One of the best things about these are that they can be planted in almost any clear container, from glass cups to lightbulbs, the possibilities are endless! Cork pinboard Difficulty level out of 5: ⅗ Tutorial: here This DIY project isn’t exactly challenging but it is time consuming, though regardless of those two things, t...

Six Penny Memories are back with their guest blog, keeping us up to date on everything they've been up to!   A big thank you to all of you who are sewing along, we are thrilled with the response! We are now three patterns in for our Florries Sampler Quilt, with three more to go! Do you remember on our last sewing lesson at the end of March, we concentrated on the two blocks on sampler 3, the Dresden Plate Block and the Pinwheel Block?  We brought 100% waddings to Hochanda for the first time in March, and they proved exceptionally popular, so of course more bolts have been ordered!  Another item was the 200 thread count calico which is good enough to incorporate in your quilts. We love it for doll making too (Florrie and Betty were created with this calico, they have been in and out of suitcases, on planes and trains and still look good as new!) and it's also perfect for stitcheries. Coming up in April we are bringing new fabrics and a great rotat...