How to Create Succulent art By PENNY SWIFT The vast array of succulents that grow in open gardens and pots provide an incredible opportunity for living art. So, if you’re looking to create something special for your patio or a … Read More
How To Do Macrame, the Art of Decorative Knotting by Penny Swift We show you how to do macrame with a handy YouTube video. Macrame is known as the art of decorating with knots, macramé has been in and out … Read More
Magic, Marvelous, Easy Wall Stenciling Stenciling is designed for you home decorators who want to Decorate Your Walls with Stenciling and create original schemes without taking the risks that accompany mural painting. With stencils, you can have some idea of … Read More
Get Confidence With Using Color Words by Penny Swift & Pictures by Janek Szymanowski © We show you how to get confidence with using color. Color is an enormously powerful medium and a major consideration in modern home decorating. It … Read More
Fabric Design Inspired by Life and Living Mariota Percival’s love of color, pattern, shapes and themes are combined into creations that use paint, collage, recycled scraps of fabric, applique embroidery. Her inspiration is derived from her travels and her view … Read More
Unique Cards and Book Illustrations by Mariota Percival Talented artist Mariota Percival specializes in unique beautiful cards and book illustrations. She has illustrated three children’s story books and provided a number of illustrations for Shuter & Shooter Publishers school … Read More
Mariota Percival Art – Artist of Many Talents Available for Commissions The Mariota Percival art paintings and designs are inspired by the environment in which she has lived and traveled. She grew up in a creative family, in the gentle … Read More
How to Make a Rug Cushion This sumptuous cushion stitched in dark muted shades looks great set against a luxurious, plain backdrop.The central canvas work panel is given its raised surface by using velvet stitch. When textured stitches, like the … Read More
All About Découpage Art Découpage art is a traditional craft in which paper motifs are stuck to objects and then layers of varnish are applied to produce a lacquer-like finish. By carefully arranging motifs, a simple box can be made … Read More
How To Make Sponged Flower Pots Applying the paint with a natural sponge to achieve the sponged patterned background that adds to the overall effect and is ideal for hiding any small blemishes if the pot is slightly imperfect in … Read More
Stencil Flowerpots – How To Make One Plain terracotta pots have a charm of their own but stenciled, each pot becomes an original item. Choose a new terracotta pot with smooth sides that has been water treated giving an unblemished, … Read More
How To Make Your Own Painted Tulip Napkins Painting motifs on to fabric, then working simple embroidery stitches over them is a pretty way of making your table napkins totally original. Use this tulip motif or choose a favorite flower … Read More
Floors, Furniture and Fabric Stencil Magic Stencil decoration on surfaces other than walls has a long history, and painted furniture, floors and even ceiling beams have brought color to traditional homes for centuries. Stencil Furniture Although you might never decorate … Read More
How To Stencil – Get Started This is how to stencil the easy way. For your first attempt at stenciling, choose a project that is small and unlikely to cause grief if it doesn’t turn out well, but will be … Read More
How To Decorate With BOLD Color Unless you are naturally daring with colors and willing to try decorating with bold color, it’s tempting to play safe by using white and pale tints as the basis of your home decorations. Such … Read More
Decorating With Paint Effects Most colorful paint effects, like sponging, dragging, ragging, stippling and color washing, have that marvelous hand-made quality which is ideal for the traditional country look. Their broken color gives a painted surface a unique richness and … Read More
Christmas Cakes Recipe Made Easy This traditional Christmas cakes fruit mix is baked in separate muffin or cupcake molds. These can then be served up during Christmas time, and the wonderful thing is that they are quick and easy to … Read More
How To Make a Pomander Historically a pomander was made of any aromatic bunch of flowers or herbs and spices to ward off bad smells. A present day pomander can be made by using an orange, or other fruit, and … Read More
Mural Art – Bringing Art Home Story by Penny Swift & Pictures by Janek Szymanowski © Mural art and the living use of color have been decorative features of architecture for many centuries, projecting both cultural traditions and man’s yearning … Read More
Classy Costume Jewelry Makes a Comeback Story by Penny Swift Back in the day when I was a child, my grandmother owned a costume jewelry store. It was a place I loved, with its glitzy diamanté; sparkling paste jewelry; polished, … Read More
Block Printing on Fabric Fabric printing has been practiced since antiquity, notably in India, Egypt, and China. Throughout the centuries it has evolved from a simple process of pressing inked wood blocks on cloth into modern high-speed textile printing by … Read More
A Craft Born of Frugality—Quilting and Patchwork The Start Of Quilting Quilting was carried to Europe in the Middle Ages by the Crusaders, who returned with quilting from the Middle East with padded linings for their armor—sandwiches of two layers … Read More
Spinning From Fiber to Yarn Today hand spinning—the drawing out and twisting of fiber—is still done in the way it was thousands of years ago. Material. Fleece is sold by the pound in three forms: unscoured, or “in the grease;” … Read More
Color and Design Understanding color White light is made up of light of different colors. Anyone who has seen a rainbow has seen white light divided into its component colors, the colors of the spectrum. See the color wheel below. … Read More
String Art is Symmetrical Art String art makes circles out of straight lines-and this is probably as close as we will ever get to squaring the circle. The art form originated early in the 20th century, when drawings were used … Read More
Collectable Brass Lamps Rotation creates beautiful one-of-a-kind brass lamps from repurposed collectables. Owned by sister’s Joanne (right) and Christina Pretorius (left), Rotation creates only brass lamps from unique items sourced on their travels around South Africa. Each lamp is diverse, … Read More
Fruit Preserves All The Basics Equipment and Supplies Needed for Fruit Preserves Any reasonably well equipped kitchen will have most of the utensils needed for preserving fruits. The only essential equipment that may be missing is a supply of mason … Read More
All About Bread Making At Home Early Days Of Bread Making Man has been making bread of some sort since the end of the last ice age. The earliest breads were undoubtedly crude, unleavened loaves baked on hot stones or … Read More
Sand Art – What is it? History of Glass and Sand Art Glass essentially is made from sand and is a combination of about 75% silicon dioxide (SiO2), sodium oxide (Na2O) from soda ash, lime (CaO). So it is quite … Read More
How to Train Bonsai Trees – a short DIY Bonsai Course to Get Started Above: This 55 year old Sequoia sempervirens (California Redwood or Coast Redwood) “Informal Upright” style bonsai tree from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, in New York City was photographed … Read More
Beautiful Jewelry Crafted from Wood Bangle Craft is a family business based in a lovely little town called Kleinmond on the southern Cape coast of South Africa. Reg Brand creates the elements, and his wife Dona (Pictured left) helps him … Read More
More Than a Plant: The Living Legacy of Bonsai Story by Penny Swift The word bonsai is Chinese for “trees in trays”, which makes it rather strange that the art of bonsai is primarily associated with Japan. But this is … Read More