Did you celebrate Valentine's Day with a bottle of bubbly?! If you're anything like me, you'll keep the cork as a momento, pop it somewhere 'safe', then find it two years later rolling around at the bottom of a drawer and have no idea where it came from or what special event you were celebrating!

Well hoarders rejoice, because this simple idea means you get to keep all your corks in one place – and they look really stylish too. At least, I think they do.

For my boyfriend's birthday last year, I bought him a personalised glass jar from ZeeCee Boutique to keep our champagne corks in. The inscription reads: M & M, Let's Celebrate – Pop, fizz, clink. Cute. It's only for champagne corks or for when we've had a really special bottle of fizz for an important occasion – because, let's face it, if I put in every cork from the bottles of prosecco we've drunk, the jar would be overflowing by now. In fact, I'd need five jars. Maybe 10.

To remember what we were celebrating & when, I got hold of some small brown gift tags & twine & attached a little note to each cork with the date, the special occasion & any other important details – an idea I got from a close friend who once asked me to write a little note & attach it to a prosecco cork when I was visiting.



Matt and I have corks from celebrating big birthdays, anniversaries, and toasting to lost loved ones. Call me soppy, but I like the idea of looking through them in a few years' time & reliving those memories.

If you like this idea, why not give it a try & let me know how you get on!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to take part in a sewing workshop hosted by pro-sewer Jenniffer Taylor – you might recognise her from series two of the Sewing Bee, but she now runs dressmaking workshops in Birmingham, has a book coming out in March, and is one of the presenters on Sewing Quarter, a TV shopping channel dedicated to all things crafty*!

Sewing is something I LOVE, but I have to admit, I'm no expert, so this simple flower project that Jenni talked us through was perfect for my skill level –beginner. And now I know how to make them, I can't stop – there are fabric flowers all over my house!



You will need
30x30cm fabric swatch per flower
Scissors
Needle and thread
Buttons
Optional: Glue gun, magnet, brooch pin, hair clip

1 Cut five circles from your fabric (use the base of a cup or a roll of Sellotape as a guide).
2 With the patterned side on the outside, fold one circle in half and then in half again (to make a quarter). This will become one petal.
3 Thread your needle double thickness and tie a knot in the end, leaving 2-3 inches of thread below the knot.


4 Use a running stitch to sew along the curved cut edge, and move it along the thread to the knot.
5 Fold your other circles in quarters, then sew these onto the same piece of thread.

6 Once they're attached, bunch up the quarters along the thread until they resemble petals.

7 Cut your thread, leaving 2-3 inches at the end. Tie the two thread ends together so the petals sit tightly together and look like a flower.


8 To finish, glue or sew a button to the centre of the flower. Then it's up to you how you use them.


They look pretty in a decorative bowl, or sewn onto pillow cases. Or you can glue a brooch pin, magnet or hair clip on the back.

To make circular petals


Follow the same guide but fold your fabric in half, instead of in quarters, and cut along the curved cut edge.

*Sewing Quarter is on Freeview 78.

You will need

1. Wash your cushion cover and leave it damp.
2. Wearing rubber gloves, dissolve one packet of dye in 500ml of water. Then fill up your basin with about six litres of warm water, and dissolve the salt in that.
3. Add half of the dissolved dye to the water and give it a good stir. Then submerge two thirds of the fabric into the water, securing the un-dyed third over the side of the bowl with stones or ramekins. Leave for 15-20 minutes.
4. Pull another third of the cover out of the water, so only one third is left submerged, and add the remaining dissolved dye. Leave in for another 15-20 minutes.
5. Remove the cushion from the basin and rinse with cold water. Then wash in warm water and allow to dry fully before using.


For the circle cushion

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 from the two-tone cushion.
2. With the cushion cover flat, pinch up from the centre and gather the material together, tying an elastic band about an inch from the middle. Then tie elastic bands at intervals along the cushion, until you reach the edge. The dye can’t penetrate the elastic bands, so this is where the white circles will appear.
3. Add all of the dissolved dye to the water and give it a stir. Then submerge the tied up cushion in the water and leave for 20-30 minutes. The longer you leave it, the darker the colour will be.
4. Drain the water and remove the elastic bands. Then follow step 5, above.
Ps, Cat's love the cushions, too…