The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

I’m really excited to introduce a very special guest contributor this week – Ashley Campbell, creator of the blog Under the Sycamore. Ashley is an incredible photographer and is also a photography teacher, and crafter, to name just a few of her talents.

If you are wondering where blog’s whimsical name comes from, in Ashley’s own words:

‘Under its large leaves is where we laugh, play, create, eat, rest, dream and live. It is where I watch little ones go from being swaddled on a blanket to wrestling in the grass. Under its shade is where I find time to get my hands messy making something and feeling the most me. It is also where we rest on blankets and stare into the clouds while learning a bit more about each other. In decades to come my mind will travel back to the lives we lived under its branches and I will be grateful for all the memories captured.’

Ashley has agreed to share with us a really neat project with which you can make your own wire frame lampshade out of little more than a basket… Over to you Ashley. – Cat

Ashley Campbell’s DIY Basket Lampshade

I love the wire look light fittings that are popular in shops like Anthropologie at the moment, and decided to buy a spool of wire and have a go at forming one for my kitchen…which didn’t end up working so well for me. In the midst of trying to decide how to get the wire to work I found myself rocking my daughter in her room. As we rocked I looked down and noticed the black wire basket holding her toys.  Bingo!
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Instead of our usual DIY this week, I thought I’d share a series of easy projects that I’m dying to make using the current craze sweeping the interiors world – Japanese Washi tape.

Washi tape is essentially masking tape turned on it’s head by the clever Japanese and now produced in an array of wonderful patterns and colours, they can be layered up, written on and torn – you can use them to decorate anything!

You can buy these in the UK  from Present and Correct, at Pretty Tape on Etsy and from a huge selection at Happy Tape which ships from the US but is such a worthwhile addition to your stationary stash!

I love this sweet entertaining idea below – plain coloured washi tape within a colour scheme is simply folded intermittently around string to create a striking alternative bunting effect. They are also used as the tops of tiny flags at place settings.
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I’m off to Brussels this weekend, just in time to stock up with chocolates for mothers day. To turn a pretty generic gift [even if it does taste good!]  into one that screams personality, I’ve decided to transform an old mobile phone box into a modern and fun chocolate box for my deserving mum.

It doesn’t matter what type or size of box you use, because with this DIY you make panels to fit the sides of the box, no matter the dimensions. You can also make dividers for the various layers of chocolates, and an insert for the bottom of the inside of the box – where you can leave any message you like for your mother as she indulges her way through the chocs inside.

I used some lettering I found on a flyer that came in a magazine, as I was drawn to the modern contrast of the pink, black, and white. But you can use any kind of writing cut out from a magazine or simply printed from the computer, use pictures, or family photos. You could even use monograms for your mother’s initial, like these free printable ones from Martha Stewart.

The great thing about the tissue paper layer is that, apart from giving the box a textured effect, it also covers any blemishes from cutting and sticking you designs on to the panels, giving it a much sleeker, and slightly mysterious, finish!

Not sure what I mean? Just give it a go and see for yourself!
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This week I’m handing over to the wonderfully talented Claire from Make Do Mend, for a simple yet beautiful DIY fabric corsage. For those who haven’t heard of them yet [pay attention!] Make Do Mend run clever craft workshops in pretty tea house venues all over London and the South East, which cover everything from knitting and basic sewing to experimental textile jewellery. What a great idea!

I think this corsage is so clever too – you can make it in your favourite colours and patterns and use it to adorn anything be it a bag, hair clip, to jazz up a cushion or just yourself! Anyway, enough from me and over to Claire…

Hi everyone! This is just one of the many simple yet stunningly effective patterns we demonstrate in our basic sewing workshop. You don’t need to have any previous sewing experience as all the sewing happens at the back of the corsage and so is hidden away. It also takes no time at all to make so it is unfussy, easy and quick – meaning there is no excuse not to make one!

You Will Need

A variety of fabric circles as wide in diameter as you want the corsage to be. The one I am working on here is 6cm in diameter. You will need at least 10 circles, but you can add as many as you need to make the corsage as full as you like.

Scissors or pinking shears, dependant on the edge you want to achieve.

Sewing needle and thread.

Safety pin or kilt pin, or hair slide, dependant on whether you want a brooch or hair-clip.
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Even though I’ve been living in my flat for over two years now, I can’t stop thinking about little projects to make it ever more my own.  My new years resolution was to stop thinking about these ideas and actually get on with doing them!

Little details can make the place feel so much more homely and I decided to kick start the year by transforming the last available inches of space in my teeny kitchen into something practical and fun – a chalk memo board.

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