Urban Jungle Bloggers is a little, but growing, movement started by Judith and Igor to inspire people to bring more greenery and nature into their homes. I’ve followed Judith’s infectious love for greenery intently on Instagram but it was only last week, two days before this month’s episode, that I realised that I could perhaps play along, too. And was greatly welcomed to! Thanks guys!! This month’s episode of UJB involved styling one plant three different ways, something I’d be meaning to have fun with for a long time since I bought several little cacti and succulents, embarrassingly, ages ago. I chose this more cactusy-looking little guy, I don’t even know his kind, my green thumb is still very fresh. He’s looking a little pruney at the moment, but I don’t water him, just a couple drops every now and then, so I’m hoping he’s just in need of some decent vitamin D, like all of us are here in Europe!

So, just in time for the close of February, here they are…

Number one - Moroccan-inspired reading spot

Or, "all-the-stuff-Mr-M-bought-back-from-his-trip-to-Morocco-thrown-up-against-the-wall" reading spot.
I really wanted to see if I could freestyle macramé a hanging planter. Originally I thought of doing one in neon cord and it being really modern and fresh but then I found this beautiful linen string in amongst my supplies and further digging brought up the wooden beads and I realised that they would tie all Mr M’s Moroccan souvenirs nicely together. I liked the idea of sitting there lost in a book and having a little green friend, hanging by your head, for company. The banner was originally going to read READ but as I was cutting out the letters I realised that I could rearrange them and add an M to make DREAM to hang in my bedroom afterwards and then I liked that better. A DIY tutorial for the planter will come shortly, I promise!

Number two - souvenir shelf

This was the idea that sparked buying some little plants in the first place and putting together this little post. I’d souvenired this little can after our trip to Cap Ferret, where you can go in the afternoons and eat freshly shucked oysters directly from the oyster farmers, but because they are not allowed to have kitchens to cook other food to offer they serve little jars of pâté to eat alongside your chilled white wine and oysters. It’s the weirdest thing, but somehow works and is utterly divine. It’s been my favourite holiday so far so I thought of housing the little guy in the can I lugged home alongside some other highly memorable things and souvenirs. The can obviously offers no drainage so I had to get heavy with a nail and hammer to make some holes at the bottom so soil stays properly dry.

Number three - geometric dresser

Oh, to have a minimalist, clean dresser. This is another project that I had going on in my head for a while and think will be how I pot my little succulents. Posca paints are just the best! I liked the idea of a little fresh green life to great you in the morning as you are getting ready for the day. The cute triangles just make me happy. I also threw in a cheeky second plant, my air plant, who I love so so much! I’m going to call her Ellen. I propped her in a napkin holder and just strung her up with some white nylon. After the jump I’ve included some pics on how I DIYed the painted pot.

Thank you to Igor and Judith for allowing me be included in this month’s Urban Jungle Bloggers party. It was fun!

xx

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series initiated by 2 bloggers: Igor (Happy Interior Blog) and Judith (JOELIX.com). Every month we share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks. You can find additional inspiration on our Urban Jungle Bloggers Pinterest board and keep up-to-date via our Facebook page. Want to join? Use #urbanjunglebloggers on twitter and instagram. Or let let Judith and Igor know you're keen and I'm sure they'll share all the details. Let's bring some green into our homes and blogs!

Tassel Gift Wrap DIY

Following on from my The Hive 14 inspiration post, here's a little DIY I put together for a gift I wrapped last year for a friend's birthday using a similar colour palette. Tassels may be my favourite things to craft. They are relatively simple, fun, and I like to think that each one has their own little personality. Make them mini, and like everything mini, their cuteness factor skyrockets! Also, once this gift is unwrapped the receiver also has a cute little garland to hang where they will!

Full instructions after the jump -->

DIY Mini Canotier Picnic Party Hats

Every good party needs a party hat. And attendance at any lake-side picnic requires sporting a canotier, or a boater, hat. My all-time favourite hat (I have a thing for hats as I am frequently susceptible to "bad hair days"), the canotier was first seen in public fashion towards the end of the 1880's and was worn by sporty-types, cyclists and recreational sailors - hence its name 'Boater' in English. It was immortalised by Renoir who painted happy, sun-loving Frenchies all wearing canotiers in his two paintings 'Le Moulin de la Galette' and then 'Déjeuner des canotiers'.

For last Sunday's picnic I combined the two to create party boater hats and then took along some supplies so my friends could make them, too!

DIY Mini Canotier Picnic Party hats

You'll need

 + One piece of yellow, straw-coloured scrapbooking card*
+ Scissors
+ A ruler
+ A compass
+ Sticky tape
+ Double-sided tape
+ Some brightly coloured or patterned washi tape for decorating
+ A headband or some ribbon

Full instructions after the jump... xx

Easter bonnet beanie DIY

Easter Sunday was going to be a very special day for me (as to why I shall be explaining in a later post) and to commemorate I wanted to craft myself a special straw 'Easter Bonnet' floral hat to wear all day. The only thing was that the forecasted temperature for last weekend wasn't going above 8°C. No exactly straw hat wearing weather.

So, using the wool fabric from a cardigan I thrifted that no longer fits due to my lack of laundry skills, some flowers picked up from a high street accessories store and a bit of tulle that had been knocking about for a while I put together an Easter bonnet (the French term for 'beanie') to sport all day and bring some bright to a still grey wintery Easter Sunday, and documented a DIY to share.

DIY Easter bonnet beanie
You'll need 

+ Wool fabric - I used a wool cardigan but a jumper will work as well. Or if you have a cut of fabric, even better. Of course you can use an existing beanie you'd like spruced up also.
+ Needle and thread
+ A beanie to use as a template
+ Tulle or netting
+ Flowers - my original plan was to use beautiful huge silk flowers on wire and weave them on, but as the store I go to for these flowers was closed Saturday I went and bought these super colourful hair clips which ended up working well as no sewing was involved.
+ Scissors

Prepare the fabric + sew your beanie

Snip the buttons off your cardigan and trim off the button holes.  Overlap the two edges just a little and lay the beanie on top. Make sure everything is straight and flat. Cut around the beanie leaving a one centimetre seam allowance. Leave the beanie to the side and using the needle and thread first stitch the two smaller halves together and then the back and front. If you want the beanie to have a turned up edge as with mine start your stitching about an inch from the bottom edge, then flip the rightway round and stitch from the edge to the start of the first round of stitching on the other side.

Decorate your bonnet

Take the tulle and gather at one end until you're happy with the amount of fabric ruched - mine came to about 20 centimetres. Measure out the width of the beanie (stretch it out a little) and cut off the tulle to this length. Thread your needle and tie the end. Put the two short ends together and looping the thread around itself at one end loosely stitch the two ends together. Push the tulle down the thread to ruch together until the width of the edge is the width of the upturned lip at the bottom of the beanie. Secure the loose end of the thread to the edge of the tulle then turn the tulle inside out and put the ruched edge against the back seam of the beanie and stitch on. Using the same loose stitching method ruch the sides and stitch to the beanie. Arrange your flowers as you like and either stitch on over the tulle if they are fabric or just clip on if they are hair clips.

Voila! A Spring fresh Easter Bonnet to wear when the air still chills.

xx

'Frenchie' decorated eggcups DIY

Somewhat late to the party here, but I've been dying to test the ol' 'Sharpie on porcelain' DIY for a while now, and as Mr M and I have way too many mugs - we kept receiving them as thank you gifts from staying guests! - I've been waiting for the opportunity to test it out on something else.
With Easter around the corner I thought I'd decorate some eggcups - something we didn't have - to use Sunday morning, but instead of drawing bunnies and little chickens (there will come a time for that kind of kiddie cuteness later!) I thought I'd decorate them to enjoy all year.

'Frenchie' decorated eggcups

You'll need;

+ Porcelain eggcups, washed and properly dried - I bought mine from the amazing Porcelaines M. P. Samie store in the 14e, details below.
+ Sharpies - these are actually very hard to find in Paris, my four-storey fail safe craft store in the 3e don't stock them. These I bought at the Virgin megastore at Grands Boulevards.
+ Paper & Pencil
+ Red wool felt fabric, about 20cm by 10 cm (previously used here)
+ Scissors
+ Needle and red thread
+ A fan-forced oven

Prepare the cups

Using the pencil draw an outline around one of the cups onto the paper. This is just to practise and perfect the illustration you'd like to use. Fill it in with your drawing; I drew a red scarf onto the boy cup and added blue stripes and lace-up shoes. For the girl cup I drew a black rose choker, red stripes and little ballerina flats (it's easier to draw the bow first and then the shoe around it). I ended up using only the Black, Red and Blue - I planned on decorating two of the cups with a fancy, contemporary pattern with the other colours, but I liked my little French characters so much I made friends for the first two.
Steady your eggcup on a flat surface and, starting from the lip, draw on the design you are most happy with.
When finished, place the eggcups upside down on a rack in the middle of the cold oven. Turn the temperate up to 180°C/ 350°F and once the thermostat clicks off to tell you it's reached this temp., set the timer then for 45 minutes.

Prepare the mini berets

While the eggcups are baking, cut two circles, about 8cm in diameter from the wool felt. Thread the needle, meet the ends together and make a knot. Trim the excess. Secure the thread to the edge of one circle - the start point - by making a knot or looping it through itself over the edge of the fabric. Make a loose running stitch around the outside, about 5mm from the edge, gathering the fabric as you go. When you reach the start point again, go past it a little way then close the gathered edge together to make a neat pouch with the opening wide enough to fit snug on an egg. To flatten the beret a little, make four stitches nipping the top of the beret close to the folded part, four times, making a square shape with the thread on the underside - see pic. Knot the thread and trim. Repeat with the other circle of fabric.
Cut two slim triangles from the scraps of the wool felt and secure these to the top of each beret.
Of course, if you'd like to make berets for all your eggs go ahead!

Prepare the eggs

Once the timer of the oven goes off, turn off the oven and open the oven door. Leave the eggcups inside to cool down with the oven.
Once cooled right down, boil up some eggs to your liking, pop on the berets and serve with a few solider toasts on the side.

Oh la la, indeed!

Porcelaines M. P. Samie
45, avenue du Général Leclerc, 14e
Website
This store is amazing. A three-level 'Ali Baba's den' of anything and everything made of porcelain. They have tea cups the size of your face down to the tiniest espresso mugs and some really beautiful ones rimmed in gold. Creamers in the shape of cows and platters and plates in every size imaginable. I'll be going back at the end of the year to stock up on their Christmas decorations. Worth a visit if you're in need of any understated dinnerware.

*Full admission here: This DIY is just for stereotypical cuteness, I know the French don't actually dress like this at all. Well, maybe unless you find yourself in the Basque region...
Also, this DIY might not be for everyone. From reading other reports on this DIY elsewhere it has worked marvellously and failed miserably. My eggcups went through two test bouts in the oven before I was ready to decorate them - the pen kept washing off. The final time I used my dishwand on them  the pen didn't budge - I didn't use a scourer (I can't see me needing to, anyway), nor do I have a dishwasher to test them out on. Personally I'd do a test run on the underside like I did first and change the DIY to suit your oven and the type of porcelain product your using.

xx

Cupcake Wrapper DIY

This DIY came about when I decided to "gift-wrap" the cupcake I bought for la petite enfante I am responsible for each afternoon of the week. It wouldn't have been very fair to visit Cat's cupcake shop on Valentine's Day and not have taken one emporter for her 4pm goûter. And like a good little French girl she absolutely loved the banana and Nutella creation.
Of course you can use this method, or a modification of the below, to wrap any baked goods meant as a gift.

Cupcake Wrapper DIY

You'll need
+ Two types of plain, thin paper, what ever you have lying around, really. I used red tissue paper and white wrapping paper which was about 60gsm.
+ Plain card/ thicker paper.
+ Pretty, decorated paper - I used gorgeous, floral Fifi Mandirac paper that I picked up at last year's Salon du Créations et Savoir-Faire.
+ Scissors
+ Fringing scissors, or ordinary scissors with a steady hand will work
+ Circle punch, or any fancy, pretty paper punch
+ Double-sided tape and regular sticky tape
+ 1 x Cupcake clam. Cat buys hers from Cake & Bake, a boutique baking store close to métro Republique, however they can be purchased online here.

1. Cut two strips 40cm long by 6cm wide from the thin, plain paper. Then take the one for the top and trim either side by 0.5cm - 1cm. The white strip in the pictures has been cut smaller but it is best to keep longer to ensure it fits around the case.
2. Fringe each side of each strip using the fringing scissors.
3. Take the circle punch, or scissors, and cut a circle out of the plain, thicker paper.
4. Using the circle punch again, punch a circle from the pretty, decorated paper. I then folded this circle in half and cut a half heart shape, to reference Valentine's Day, but any shape would suit - a square, a name plate, a flower, star...

5. Place a piece of double-sided tape in the middle of the shape and press onto to the middle of the circle.
6. Then take a piece of tape the width of the circle and press one side to the middle of the thinner fringed strip. Then stick on the circle.
7. Place a piece of double-sided tape in the middle of the wider fringed strip and stick the rest of the wrapper on top.

8. Place a small piece of double-sided tape on top of the cupcake case and then lightly press the wrapper on the top. Hold the case above your head to not ruin the cupcake frosting and using regular sticky tape close the two ends underneath - trim the wrapper if need be to close neatly.

Try not to ruin all your good wrapping work by ripping it apart and eating the cupcake before giving it as a gift!

xx