Thursday 16 July 2015

Colour Inspiration #22: Rose Chafer Beetle

2015 July 01 Colour palette inspiration beetle photograph hazelfishercreationsI recently spotted this amazing beetle in my garden and thought that its colours were so beautiful I had to photograph it.  I loved its shiny, metallic appearance but how it was also fluffy around the sides! It was around 2cm long.  I looked it up and think it’s a rose chafer (cetonia aurata), apparently a very beneficial beetle to have in the garden because the larvae make good compost!

Tuesday 7 July 2015

3 Perfect Picnic DIY Ideas

2015 June 26 summer picnic spread photo diy for wayfair hazelfishercreations 2
Remember in my June review I said that I was working on an exciting, secret project?  Well, today I can reveal that I was creating some diy picnic ideas for the Wayfair website's inspiration page!  It was the first time that I had been asked to put together a tutorial for someone else and I loved making the 3 projects and setting up the picnic spread!

The 3 projects are perfect for dressing up a summer picnic or garden party.  By making a few diy pieces you can make an event extra special and create a coordinated look to suit any occasion.  My pieces are for a summer garden picnic with pretty floral, gingham and spotty patterns but you could adapt these ideas by choosing any colour scheme or theme you like!
You can see the instructions on how to make a decorated bottle caddy, picnic blanket and pinwheel cupcake toppers on their website here.

2015 June 26 summer picnic spread photo diy for wayfair hazelfishercreations1
2015 June 26 summer picnic spread photo diy for wayfair hazelfishercreations 3
The lovely people at Wayfair sent me a selection of items to use in the diy projects and to style the picnic.  I also created some new designs to use in the projects – patterned papers with strawberries, flowers, gingham and spots which I used on the bottle caddy, pinwheels and straw flags.  Here are some of the items I used…

2015 June 26 summer picnic products wayfair blog post diy hazelfishercreations 1

Wood folding Table – from Wayfair

Hiball Glasses – from Wayfair

Porcelain Cake Stand – from Wayfair

Summer Garden Printable Straw Flags – my own designs, available from hfcSupplies.Etsy

Paper Drinking Straws – from ebay

Fleece throw (used to make the picnic blanket) – from Wayfair

Duvet Cover set (used to make the picnic blanket) – from Wayfair

Kilner Bottle Caddy- from Wayfair

Wood box – from Wayfair

Summer Garden Printable Scrapbooking Papers – my own designs, available from hfcSupplies.Etsy

Disclosure – I received a selection of free items from Wayfair to use in the DIY projects and for styling the picnic.  The craft projects and styling ideas are my own.

Thursday 2 July 2015

Gift Ideas for Teachers and Printable Thank You Cards

2015 July 01 Printable thank you teacher appreciation sunflower card hazelfishercreations 1
The school year is nearly over and it will soon be the summer holidays (they have already started for some!), which means it’s the time of year for letting teachers know how much you appreciate them and all their hard work throughout the year.

My sister is a primary school teacher so I asked her for some help in putting together some ideas of gifts which teachers appreciate – it doesn’t have to be something expensive, often a thoughtful handmade card or gift made by one of the children is more appreciated.  Here are some more ideas…
  1. A bunch of pretty flowers
  2. A potted plant
  3. Chocolate or sweets
  4. Wine (if you know they drink it)
  5. Stationery is really useful such as pens, notebooks or post it notes
  6. Things for the classroom – like books
  7. Something handmade
  8. Gift cards or vouchers – you could club together with other parents for these
  9. Biscuits or cakes
  10. Canvas tote bag – useful for carrying all those school books to mark!
If you would like to give a teacher something handmade, but don't have the time or skill to make something yourself, there are lots of wonderful things to find on Etsy - I put together a few items in this Etsy treasury - find links to all the shop included here > Teacher Thank You Gifts

Handmade Teacher Gift Ideas Etsy treasury hazel fisher creations
What are your top ideas for teacher gifts (or ones to avoid!)?  Share your ideas in the comments below!

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You can find printable thank you cards for teachers, teaching assistants or tutors in my Etsy shop hfcSupplies.  I have a selection of colour in ones, which can be coloured by your child for a lovely personal thank you.  
Printable Colour in thank you teacher cards, send a personalised thank you to teachers, teaching assistants and tutors with a card coloured by your child. Hazel Fisher CreationsThere are also coloured designs which simply need to be printed, cut and folded.
2015 July 02 Printable thank you teacher cards hazelfishercreations

These digital cards are all available as instant download – which means you can download and print them as soon as your payment has cleared.  So they’re great if you need them in a hurry!  Find them all in my shop here: Thank you teacher printables

Wednesday 1 July 2015

June Review

As the year goes by I’m sure the months are passing faster - I can’t believe it is July already!  I spent a lot of June working on an exciting project which I was hoping I would be able to share with you by now, but unfortunately you will have to wait a little longer to find out what I have been up to.  Working on secret projects is one of the reasons why I failed to blog during June, but I have been planning more posts for the next few weeks.  Although I can’t show you everything I have been doing, here are some of the things I can tell you about…

New designs…
The summer weather and thoughts of picnics outside inspired the beginnings of a new collection of printables; so far I have created a set of scrapbooking papers, invitation and set of straw flags.  You can see the ‘Summer Garden’ collection in my shop here.

2015 June 30 monthly review printable summer garden printable invitation scrapbooking paper hazelfishercreations
I have added some new printable recipe cards to my Rule Britannia collection, the set contains 2 designs (one with a corgi and the other with a crown) plus a design with extra lines for printing on the backs.  They’re the first recipe cards I have designed but I am sure I will be making some more soon.  What do you think of them – are recipe cards something you like to use?

2015 June 30 monthly review printable recipe cards rule britannia hazelfishercreations

Social Media
I’m determined to learn how to use social media better, I think my main problem is I get stuck for something to say and end up being so inconsistent.  Goal 1 is to update things more regularly!  I’ve been pinning useful tips and articles to this board on Pinterest.  I have also been working my way through my Pinterest boards; updating cover photos, pinning new things and checking that all my boards have proper titles / descriptions.  Do you have any business tips for using social media?  Or just personally, what are your favourite social media sites? What do you like to see on them?

2015 June 30 monthly review pinterest hazelfishercreations

It’s a fairly short review this month, so I’ll end it with 5 of my favourite things from June
  • Strawberries picked from the garden (over 1kg so far and the biggest was 30g!)
2015 June 30 monthly review strawberries hazelfishercreations
  • Blue skies and long hours of daylight
  • Picking fresh herbs like basil which I have grown to use in salads and cooking
  • Planting marigolds in my garden - I love the smell of marigolds too.  Is that weird? I hear lots of people hate the smell!
  • Seeing adorable baby birds – like this family of partridges...
2015 June 30 monthly review partridge family birds hazelfishercreations
What were your favourite things in June?