#xoxkit

DIY: No sew fabric banner // Make time: 45mins // Skill level: Medium I have been itching to make a banner for my sons room. Our Thursdays are ‘Adventure days’ so I thought this design was perfect. I’ve tried to use materials from last DIY from last week (Clothes hanger). Give it a go...

You will need: • A drill and a 8mm drill bit (2mm and 4mm too if you’re prone to destroying dowel) • 25mm x 450mm of dowel • Black fabric 350mm x 500mm • A4 sheet of white felt • Glue (I used PVA, which worked - but a fabric glue would be better) • 1m length of 8mm rope • Fabric scissors • Printed design onto A4 paper (designs are in the next post) • Bull dog clips to hold felt to paper

Step one // Drill a hole on each end of the dowel 2.5cm in from the end. Remember, start with the 2mm drill bit and work your way up to 8mm (assuming you are using 8mm rope). Make sure the holes are facing the same direction.

Step two // Feed through your rope and play around with how long you want the banner to hang. I used 1m of rope and frayed the ends. If your rope is thinner than your drilled holes, tie knots in the ends.

Step three // Lay the A4 paper with the design on it on top of your sheet of white felt. Bull dog clip them together and cut through the felt and paper, slowly cutting out the letters. This is time consuming to get comfy - make a cuppa tea and put the telly on.

Step four // Cut the point on the end of your black fabric by folding the corners in and cutting along the fold (see photo). Once you’ve cut the point, wrap your black banner over the dowel and work out how long you want it to hang. Once you have it sitting right, put a little bit of glue on the back of the banner just under the dowel to hold the banner on.

Step five // Lay the banner down flat and place the letters on the banner. Once you are happy with the layout, glue each letter onto the banner. Leave to dry for an hour and wa la! Fancy new banner!

At XOXkit we believe in growth and development. Becoming a better person everyday - learning, listening and growing. So this week we thought we’d hit the topic of Balance. It’s there - in the back of our minds - ‘I haven’t eaten a vegetable in 3 days... oops. When was the last time I called Nana... When was the last time I did absolutely nothing?’

I was told not too long ago that you shouldn’t look at what your child has eaten today and think ‘oh no... he’s had all fruit and no veg or protein’. You should stand back, and look at what they’ve eaten this week. It balances out. Oh yeh, remember that day he only ate sausages? I believe life is balanced in the same way. Mind you, a few of you will be laughing as you’ve no doubt received emails and rambling messages from me saying how unbalanced I am. It’s true. You know why? It’s the pressure we put on ourselves. Has anyone actually said to you ‘when was the last time you blew bubbles with your child? Two weeks? Really? Oh you’re such a bad parent...’ ‘When was the last time you hit the gym? You don’t know? You slack tart!’ ‘Did you get that proof through on time? You did? A day early? That’s good - because I was going to tell you how unreliable you are.’

No. No one says that. I promise you, no one thinks that. Except you! Stop it. Be kind to yourself. That’s it. Be kind to yourself... be balanced. Be happy.

xox

DIY: Clothes Hanger // Make time: 45mins // Skill level: Low One big problem in our hour is space. We have a small home and everything has a place - except for my partners clothes which seem to be speed bumps on the way to the bathroom at 2am in the morning. So here is a DIY clothes hanger to get those clothes up off the floor.

You will need: • A drill and a drill bits (8mm, 6mm and 4mm) • 8mm thick cotton cord - I used 2.5m • Scissors • Protective gel dots if you want to protect your wall • A hook (if you are renting, a 3M hook might be best) • 1.2m long 25mm thick wooden dowel cut into two • Ruler or tape measure • Pencil

Mark 5cm in from each end of the dowel and drill a hole through with the smallest drill bit (4mm). Then drill a bigger hole with the 6mm and then with the 8mm. Once all your holes have been drilled you might want to run some sand paper over them if you’re feeling a little OCD. Take the rope which should have some tape on one end if it’s a new roll. If it’s not - wrap some tape around the end so it’s easier to feed through the holes. Feed the rope through all the holes and tie a knot at the end (leaving a little room for some tassels if you like). I suggest hanging your dowel and rope on the hook in your room and adjusting the rope to make sure your hanger sits evenly and doesn’t hang too low (read: low enough for the toddler to swing on). Once you are happy with the length, cut the rope and tie off the other end. Make tassels on the ends by unraveling the rope. If you want to protect your walls, add some protective sticky gels to the wall side of the dowel. And wa-la... a space saving clothes hanger!