Make: Homemade reed diffuser

The roots of homespun alchemy lie in the play of childhood – sneaking bits and pieces from the garden and mixing them in jam jars, hoping for a magical scent. This kind of experimentation is no less fun as an adult, but with these recipes from Rachelle Blondel, author of Forgotten Ways for Modern Days, you’ll get far more satisfying results. Harnessing the natural power of the likes of beeswax, nuts, seeds and rosewater, these are great weekend projects that will reward you – or, in the case of the perfume, perhaps someone else – with some gentle, natural pampering throughout the working week.

To make a reed diffuser you will need:
5-6 thin bamboo skewers
50ml surgical spirit
50ml light oil (grapeseed, sweet almond or light olive oil) 
Narrow-necked vase or bottle 
30-40 drops of your favourite essential oil or blend

1 Remove the pointed ends of the wooden skewers with a pair of sharp scissors and put them to one side.
2 Place the surgical spirit and oil into the vase or bottle and swirl around to mix the two.
3 Add the essential oils and swirl again.
4 Place as many skewers into the bottle as will fit, but don’t over-fill as the skewers will need space to release the fragrance.
5 Leave for several hours, swirling the liquid every now and again, then flip the skewers so that the dry ends are in the liquid.
6 You can repeat the previous step until the wood is completely saturated with the oil and then flip the skewers every couple of days to keep the fragrance wafting. The volume of oil and surgical spirit can be increased according to the size of your vase or bottle, but keep the ratio 1:1. Essential oils can be added at 10 drops to 100ml of base oil: experiment with this volume for a stronger or weaker fragrance.

Taken from Forgotten ways for Modern Days: Kitchen cures and household lore for a natural home and garden by Rachelle Blondel (Kyle Books, £14.99). Photography by Catherine Gratwicke.

There are more homemade projects in June’s The Simple Things, available from all good newsagents, supermarkets and our official online store. Sold out? Download it from Apple Newsstand or subscribe now.

Make: Terrarium PLUS introducing the Urban Jungle Bloggers

Creative gardening need not be restricted to outdoors. Or, indeed, to off-the-shelf plant pots. Making a terrarium is a craftier way to display greenery and is a great project for anyone finding themselves low on either time or space. Building terraria is a revival of a past craze, which - hopefully much like your plants - has refused to die. Turn to page 106 of May's The Simple Things to find out how to make your own.

Got a taste for the green stuff? You're a born Urban Jungle Blogger.

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a mutual project initiated by Igor of Happy Interior Blog and Judith of JOELIX.com. They share a passion for plants and living with plants and decided to kick off a monthly blog series about living with plants, which soon turned into a thriving green community with almost 600 international bloggers joining in.

The Urban Jungle Bloggers team announces a monthly topic around styling with plants and informs the community through a monthly newsletter. Everyone who wants to can then join in and interpret the given theme according to their own style and home. There is no obligation to join in every month, so Urban Jungle Bloggers can pick whatever topic they like and share their green inspiration. Every blogger's efforts are then shared with the community on www.urbanjunglebloggers.com and on social media.

Don't have a blog? You can still join in. The team uses the hashtag #urbanjunglebloggers on Instagram which allows everyone to share and tag their green pics, with the images then shown in an interactive gallery on the Urban Jungle Bloggers website.

To join in, sign up for the monthly newsletter here. 

Find the terrarium make in May's The Simple Things. Buy, download or subscribe now.

Craftier and Craftier: White Rabbit & Cheshire Cat Masks

Celebrate the birthday of curious classic Alice in Wonderland with this easy make.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The world would be a considerably less curious place without the likes of the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. From 2 May to 1 November, the V&A Museum of Childhood in east London will be hosting a free display called ‘The Alice Look’, exploring how Alice has been a trendsetter over the years, or to mark the anniversary you could simply curl up with one of the beautiful editions of the book (see page 115 of April’s The Simple Things) and transport yourself to Wonderland.

You could also try your hand at a make or two, taken from Everything Alice, a whole book of Wonderland-inspired craft projects. The masks are perfect for parties and festivals, and should put a smile on your face worthy of the Cheshire Cat.

White Rabbit & Cheshire Cat Masks

You will need:
Templates - download cat or rabbit templates
PVA glue
White mosaic grout
Tile clippers
Hot glue gun

For the White Rabbit:
1 sheet of white A2 mount board 
10mm square mosaic tiles: approx 230 white, 100 cream, 90 pink
35cm length of 5mm dowelling rod, for the handle
White acrylic paint

For the Cheshire Cat:
1 sheet of black A3 mount board 
10mm square mosaic tiles: approx 120 black, 50 grey
35cm length of 5mm dowelling rod, for the handle
Black acrylic paint

1 Print out the templates and cut your selected mask shape from the mount board (or you could cut them out from sturdy card and decorate with crayons for an ultra-speedy make).
2 Paint your dowelling the corresponding mask colour – white for the rabbit and black for the cat – and allow to dry.
3 Cover your work surface with a protective sheet – mosaic work can be messy! Apply a small blob of PVA glue to the back of each mosaic tile and adhere to the first mask shape, leaving a 2mm space between each tile. Get creative and make up your own pattern. Trim away any overhanging tiles with the clippers. Allow to dry thoroughly for at least two hours. 
4 As an alternative to readymade 10mm mosaic tiles, you could make your own tiles from old pots and crockery. Wrap the crockery in sheets of newspaper, then place into a thick plastic bag. Put the bag on a durable surface before smashing the crockery with a hammer. Remove the pieces carefully – they’ll be sharp!
5 Mix the white mosaic grout to the manufacturer’s instructions in a jam jar or plastic container. Keep a bowl of water and a sponge nearby. Use your hand to spread the grout over the mosaic, working it into the spaces between each tile. Try to keep the surface of the grout as smooth as possible. Leave the mask on a flat surface and allow the grout to dry fully. It’s best to leave it overnight.
6 Once dry, wipe down the mosaic with a damp cloth to remove any excess grout. Allow to dry for a further few hours, then give it a final polish with a soft cloth.
7 With a hot-glue gun, stick the second mask shape onto the back of the tiled one, with the dowelling in the middle.

Make: Homemade salt scrub recipes

Seen our interview with David and Alison from the Anglesey Salt Company in the March issue of The Simple Things? They've been making Halen Mon (Welsh for Anglesey salt) for 17 years, and shared their wisdom with us. Turn to page 46 for Rachael Oakden's interview PLUS notes on salt from page 50.

Salt isn't just for cooking, though, and we've rounded up a few recipes for DIY salt scrubs for you to try.

Exfoliating salt hand scrub

An exfoliating hand scrub is just what weather-beaten paws need - try this recipe from The Kitchn.

Citrus Salt Scrub

Fresh and zingy, this citrus salt scrub from Offbeat & Inspired will wake you up.

Lavender vanilla salt scrub

After something a little more soothing? Lavender's natural relaxing properties should do the trick, with this recipe from Building our Story.

Salt and sugar scrub gift

Scrubs are simple to assemble but make great gifts. Try this set from the Gold Jellybean.

Not got your March copy of The Simple Things? Buy now,  subscribe or look inside

Make: Crochet carrots DIY tutorial

Heirloom veg are a favourite of The Simple Things, particularly when they come in all kinds of unusual colours. Take heirloom literally and crochet these beauties - they'll never go off.

Thanks to Lara of Messyla for allowing us to share her crochet carrots. Lara is a designer, stylist and photographer, living in a little cottage in Scotland. She loves baking and crocheting, living simply, collecting kitchen gadgets, wearing stripes and pottering in her greenhouse.

Head over to her blog for the pattern to make your own crochet carrots.

More makes from The Simple Things.

Not got your March issue of The Simple Things? Buy now,  subscribe or look inside now.

Jazz up your jumper

Try four no-sweat ways to put life back into an old but much-loved woolly jumper. Turn to page 109 of March's The Simple Things for the DIY Heart jumper tutorial above, or try one of these ideas. 

GET NIFTY WITH A NEEDLE

Embroidery doesn’t have to be limited to a sampler. A few colourful stitches can also brighten the neckline of a grey sweatshirt. This gorgeous embellishment was created by Donna Bramhall. There’s more fashion and fabric inspiration from around the world on her blog, Haute Culture, www.hauteculturefashion.wordpress.com.

ADD SPARKLE WITH SEQUINS

Give your poor, worn-out elbows a Strictly-style makeover with this tutorial from Cathy at the Trinkets in Bloom blog (a great source of fashionable DIYs). Sequined patches are a simple no-sew way to add a bit of sparkle to a sweater. Cathy’s blog is at www.trinketsinbloom.com.

PERK IT UP WITH PAINT

Why restrict your doodles to paper? Fabric paints and transfers mean you can proudly show off your talents on your sweater. Laura from Wrapped Up In Rainbows created herself a ‘lucky house-hunting jumper’. See her site at www.wrappedupinrainbows.blogspot.com. 

Learn a new skill with The Simple Things: make your own desert boots

Join other readers of The Simple Things for a special one-day shoemaking workshop with Green Shoes at its studio in Devon

The classic desert boot is ideal for beginners to tackle. Choose from a wide selection of leathers or vegan material and learn how to cut, stitch, shape and attach to the traditional crepe rubber sole. You’ll take home a pair of boots that are made-to-measure in the colour of your choice.

Green Shoes has been handmaking shoes since 1981 and uses the same low-tech methods as the original makers of this classic field boot. All their footwear can be resoled, ensuring they last for years.

The day starts with coffee and instruction. An experienced shoe-maker is on hand to help at all stages. The morning is about cutting and stitching. After lunch at a local cafe, you’ll learn how to shape them on a traditional last and they’ll be ready to wear home at the end of the day.

The course takes place on Saturday 21 March at the Green Shoes workshop in Moretonhampstead, Devon and costs £280 to include all materials, instruction, lunch and a pair of boots to take home.

How to book

There are just five places available for readers on the course. Travel to and from Green Shoes workshop is not included. To book, call 01647 440735 or email info@greenshoes.co.uk

Chef’s brights: DIY oven gloves and apron

Colourful kitchen kit you can create at home and wear proudly while you cook.

It’s a tough one to call: is it more gratifying to whip up something new on your sewing machine or in the kitchen? Well, no need to choose, because we’ve cracked the dilemma with these crafty projects: you can create something in the kitchen while modelling the new apron and oven gloves you’ve made for yourself.

These two colourful sewing projects by Chloë Owens are a reminder that even the most useful of items will benefit from a dash of pattern and fun. Don’t be put off by the number of steps – they both use straightforward sewing (and a bit of sticking), rather than anything too challenging.

Turn to page 106 for the project instructions and download the project templates.

Projects by Chloë Owens. Taken from the book All Sewn Up (Cico Books, £14.99). 

Natural Christmas

Make your table worthy of your Christmas feast by creating one of these last minute decorations using pickings from your garden, window box or hedgerows – simply gorgeous. Vases of larch cones, crab apples and winter berries are quick and easy to do

What you'll need: Jars; ribbon; natural decorations from the garden and hedgerows

1. Keep hold of empty jars in the run-up to Christmas as they can be

recycled into vases.

2. Tie some ribbon around the necks to add a festive touch and fill

with pickings from the garden and hedgerows. Evergreen herbs

such as rosemary and bay work well, providing a lovely aroma.

3. Add a few stems of hawthorn berries or pyracantha for a shot of

Christmassy colour.

4. Even more simple is to fill a few jars with larch cones and crab

apples. On crowded Christmas tables smaller decorations like this

work much more effectively, taking up less space, allowing guests

to chat without being obscured by plant material.

Plenty more festive ideas for gifts, food and fun in December's issue of The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe now. 

Recipe: Stollen with dark rum and lemon marzipan

Stollen is the German Christmas cake. Dip it in coffee or eat with a piece of Hafod cheese.

The original German Christmas cake was from Dresden. It was a moist heavy bread filled with fruit, and the first recorded mention of it was in 1474. This official stollen is produced by only 150 bakers in the city, is still sold at the local Christmas market and has a special seal. All very interesting, but we bet it doesn’t taste any better than this one.

Stollen with dark rum and lemon marzipan

50g dark rum
75g raisins
75g sour cherries or cranberries 

Vanilla butter:

100g butter
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Marzipan (or buy ready-made): 

100g ground almonds
35g icing sugar
10ml lemon juice
15ml dark rum
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1 large egg

Cake:

50g milk (room temperature)
250g strong white flour
5g quick yeast (7g fresh yeast)
25g caster sugar
5g fine sea salt
2 large eggs (room temperature) 
Chopped zest of 2 oranges and
2 lemons
5g ground spice – 50/50 cardamom/ cinnamon
100g butter, diced
Icing sugar to finish

1. Warm the rum and mix it with the dried fruit, cover and leave at room temp for 24 hours. To make vanilla butter, melt 100g butter and sprinkle with vanilla pod seeds; leave to infuse. 
2. The next day, make marzipan. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, cover tightly and place in the fridge.
3. Warm the milk, add 25g of the flour and all the yeast. Mix well with fingers and cover tightly. Leave for 45 mins.
4. Add the rest of the flour, sugar, salt and eggs and mix it with the foaming yeast. When all flour is incorporated, turn dough onto the table and knead for 4 mins, cover tightly and rest for 30 mins.
5. Uncover dough and press out into an oblong. Put zest and spice on top of the dough, along with the butter. With your fingers, massage it all together. It’s very loose at this stage – almost a batter. Massage until the dough becomes a consistent colour. Scrape together into a ball, cover well and leave to rest for 30 mins. Use a very small amount of flour on your hands and work surface while shaping if you need to.
6. Add soaked fruit and massage into dough to combine. Sprinkle some flour on the table, scrape up dough, place on the flour and top with another sprinkling of flour. Stretch dough to create four corners and fold them in on themselves. 7 Turn dough over, bottom side up, shape into a ball and put back in the bowl. Cover tightly and leave for 2.5 hours.
8. Scrape dough out onto a well floured surface. Halve dough and gently press down to create 2 oblongs, arranged with one of the longer sides towards you.
9. Divide marzipan into 2 and roll each half into a sausage shape. Place each in the middle of a dough oblong, leaving a 2cm gap at either end. Fold the side nearest you over the top of the marzipan and tuck in on the far side. Then fold the side farthest away over the top of the marzipan and gently press the seam in. Make sure the seam is totally sealed by pinching with your fingers if necessary. 
10. Lift stollen carefully onto a baking tray covered with baking parchment. Bend it slightly so you’re left with a semi circular shape. Leave for 90 mins.
11. Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/400F. Bake stollen for 25–28 mins, then remove from oven and leave to cool on tray for 30 mins.
12. Melt vanilla butter and pour evenly over the stollen. This will help to lock the moisture in when it cools down. Leave the stollen on the tray for 1 hour.
13. Cover stollen all over with a thick layer of icing sugar. Ideally place the stollen in a tin and leave until the next day to eat so the flavour can develop.

The stollen should last two weeks kept in a tin.

Turn to page 24 of December's The Simple Things for our baker, Alex Gooch's other Christmas recipes, including potato and onion bread with pickled chilli and Hafod cheese, and toasted hazelnut, apple and prune loaf. 

Buy, download or subscribe now.

Make: Bug hotel

Build a bug hotel for your garden. This multi-storey insect hotel will soon fill up with guests, from ladybirds to lacewings.

You will need:
24 old bricks
Some old curved roof tiles
10 short pieces of wood
Corrugated cardboard, bamboo canes, drinking straws, old pots, logs, egg boxes, pine cones, and dry leaves
A selection of hollow tubes, such as empty cardboard tubes, loo rolls, plastic pipes and bottles

1 Find a quiet, sheltered spot in the garden and make sure that the ground is flat. Lay two rows of bricks, two bricks long and two bricks high, so that they are the same width apart as the length of your pieces of wood.
2 Put a curved roof tile between the two rows as a shelter for toads and frogs.
3 Lay three pieces of wood, spaced evenly, across the lines of bricks. Add another one or two courses of bricks and some more wood to build up the storeys. 
4 On the top layer, add an extra piece of wood at the back of the stack to make the tiles sit at an angle, so the rain runs off. 
5 Roll up pieces of corrugated cardboard, slide them inside the cardboard tubes then put these inside the hotel. Fill the other tubes and plastic pipes with a selection of hollow stems like bamboo and drinking straws. These make perfect winter ‘rooms’ for small insects.
6 You could also drill holes in the ends of logs or add other materials such as egg boxes, pine cones, and dry leaves.
7 Place more tiles on top of the final layer to form the roof of the hotel.
8 Find a flat tile or piece of slate and write the name of your hotel on it with chalk.

How to make a pumpkin bird feeder

Don't ditch the Halloween pumpkin just yet... Give it a new lease of life in the garden as a pumpkin bird feeder. Pumpkins spend all summer ballooning into huge, majestic,super-squash, then come autumn, most are either made into soup or carved into a lantern at Hallowe’en. These heavyweights of the fruit world – they often reach 35kg – have a rigid shell that’s great for hacking into. This year, why not carve out a new purpose for your pumpkin, as a bird feeder?

Here’s how:

1. Cut a 2kg pumpkin in half across its equator, scoop out the seeds but leave behind a wall of pumpkin flesh, around 2cm thick.

2. Cut a 1.5cm deep groove in the rim, then push the pumpkin seeds into the rim, making an attractive and edible border.

3. Create perches for robins, blackbirds and sparrows, which like to sit and eat, rather than hang, off a feeder. Poke holes into the pumpkin skin using a skewer or sharp knife and push twigs and sticks into them for perches.

4. Knot two lengths of twine or string together in the centre, then tack the knot of both lengths to the bottom of the pumpkin feeder, using a drawing pin. This creates a hanging basket effect.

5. Fill with seed and watch your birdie friends tuck in.

Want more Halloween reads? Take our Wicca quiz and find out which witch you are, or preserve your pumpkins with pride.

Food on the face: natural skincare recipes

Our gardens and fridges provide skincare that’s healthier, cheaper and more natural than anything we could buy. Try these natural skincare recipes.

The beauty business is all about selling us “hope in a jar”, as Charles Revson, founder of Revlon once put it. If you’ve ever searched the cosmetic and beauty aisles of a department store, you’ll have noticed how expensive the promise of beauty, youth and freshness can be. Face masks from reputable skincare manufacturers cost up to £50 for a tiny jar; add in the price of cleansers, exfoliators, oils, serums and creams and you could spend upwards of several hundred pounds just for the privilege of plumping, de-stressing and adding some glow. Small wonder, really, that the global skin care industry is worth a staggering £25 billion per annum.

But there are plenty of natural skincare ingredients lurking in your kitchen. Try these homemade beauty recipes out for size.

Lavender Lemongrass Body Wash

Oats, rosemary and coconut oil make this body wash a culinary delight.

Recipe from Little Seed Farm.

Oat and Lavender Bath Soak

Pick lavender flowers from the garden for this relaxing bath soak.

Recipe by Always Order Dessert.

Vanilla Sugar Body Scrub

This effective body scrub uses just four ingredients.

Recipe by Freutcake.

Turn to page 84 of September's The Simple Things for more natural skincare ideas. Buy or download your copy now.

Recipe: Brazilian cake - Broa de Fuba

Tonight's the night! Let's celebrate the FIFA World Cup Final in a very British way. Tea and cake, anyone? Brazilian cake, of course! In a nod to the ubiquitous workshop of all things Brazilian, we’ve found a polenta sponge that’s a winner in our book.

Moreish, moist and not too sweet, this Brazilian take on polenta cake is a highly loveable sponge.

BROA DE FUBA (CORN BREAD) 250g butter, softened 230g caster sugar 4 large eggs, separated 150g polenta 190ml milk 150g self-raising flour Icing sugar, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Lightly grease a round 20cm springform cake tin and line with baking parchment. 2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add half the polenta, then half the milk, beating after each addition to combine; repeat. Sift in the flour and mix to combine. 3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir one large spoonful of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it. Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the remaining egg whites. 4. Spoon the batter into the lined tin, smoothing the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the bread comes out clean. Leave the bread in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with icing sugar.

Recipe taken from This is Brazil by Fernanda de Paula and Shelley Hepworth (Hardie Grant, £16.99)

Want more Brazil? This month, Andy Martin shows us round his home town, the hip Brazilian city, Sao Paulo. Turn to page 60 of July’s The Simple Things for food, football and (very) late nights from the Brazilian metropolis.

Not got July’s The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

Making: Upcycled jeans runner

Give an al fresco meal the stylish setting it deserves. Turn a picnic into an occasion with our upcycled jeans runner project. Ditch the saccharine sweeness of picnic pastels, and add a contemporary edge to your outdoor table instead. Just rummage for old jeans and begin. Make the denim runner to whatever size your table dictates.

Supplies

Old pair of jeans Fabric scissors Sewing machine Thread

1. Cut the legs off a pair of jeans (as far up towards the crotch as possible) using fabric scissors.

2. Cut down the inside-leg seam to open each leg out and then iron them.

3. Now hem each edge using your sewing machine.

4. Hem the cut edge at the end of one of the jean pieces, then hand-sew or machine-sew it on top of the other piece.

Project by interiors journalist, Heather Young, who blogs about her enviably stylish and crafty life at Growing Spaces.

For two more midsummer table makes, turn to page 40 of June's The Simple Things. Buy or download your copy now.

Recipe: Elderflower champagne

Read our feature on ‘posh squash’ on page 35 of June’s The Simple Things? Get picking elderflowers before the season’s out, and use them to make this simple elderflower ‘champagne’ from blogger, Emma Bradshaw. With elderflowers in full bloom, it seems a waste not to use them in the kitchen. Have a go at this recipe from blogger Emma Bradshaw, who says: 'I've tried lots of different ways to make elderflower champagne, but this is my favourite most tried and tested method.'

You will need:

About 30 elderflower heads, in full bloom (pick on a sunny day away from the roadside, making sure you don't strip a tree of all its flowers!) 2kg natural sugar 4 litres hot water + 2 litres cold Juice and zest of four lemons 1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar A pinch of dried yeast (although you may not need this)

Method:

1. Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (a preserving pan or spotlessly clean bucket is good) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water to 6 litres. 2. Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently. 3. Cover with a clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast. 4. Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four to five days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised glass bottles. 5. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for a further eight days before serving, chilled.

Makes around 20 bottles.

Recipe and images by Emma Bradshaw. Visit Emma's blog for more wild food recipes and outdoor adventures.

Not got June's The Simple Things yet? Buy or download your copy now.

More recipes from The Simple Things.

National Flower Arranging Day

Today is National Flower Arranging Day, not that we need an excuse to make up a beautiful bouquet of our favourite spring flowers

National Flower Arranging Day

If you fancy arranging a posy of blooms, why not make a second and join in with the Lonely Bouquet? Today, the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies will distribute 60,000 lonely bouquets - beautiful little bunches of flowers left in surprise locations for strangers to find and take home on National Flower Arranging Day.

What is the Lonely Bouquet?

The random act of kindness initiative dubbed the Lonely Bouquet was the brainchild of a young florist in Belgium named Emily Avenso, who blogged about the idea after leaving flowers for strangers two years ago. The idea went viral and Lonely Bouquets have been distributed across the globe ever since.

If you make or spot a Lonely Bouquet, take a picture and share with us on Facebook or Twitter.

What to plant this month for a flower cutting garden

More flower posts from The Simple Things

A project for the weekend

Peg out proudly with this burlap peg bag - made by you!

If you manage to even find your peg bag again after the winter, the chances are it's probably grown a bit of mould or acquired a rather unpleasant damp smell.  Before you go out and buy another one we've got the perfect project to get you ready for spring and that uplifting moment when you hang your washing outside for the first time. To make this stylish peg bag all you need is a coffee or peanut sack or rectangular section of a sack, some scissors, a ruler and sewing machine with a universal needle. Coffee sacks are available for rescue at most local roasteries, alternatively you could try garden centres or pet shops for peanut sacks. The result? A peg pag to be proud of and the great sense of satisfaction that comes from making something lovely (and useful!) from rescued material.

For full step-by-step instructions see Issue 21 of The Simple Things. For more similar projects check out Reinvention, Sewing with rescued materials by Maya Donefeld (Wiley). 

3 tips for small business success

You'll never guess number 3… Nick Cooper, the creative force behind successful small business Stamp Shoes, shares the top 3 things he's learned from setting up his own bespoke shoe workshop.

NICK COOPER, founder of Stamp Shoes, lives in Northampton and creates beautiful bespoke footwear from his own designs.

After my religious studies degree I tried admin at a charity in London but didn’t last long! I ended up moving back to my parents in Shropshire and shelf filling at a supermarket. At this point I asked myself, “What do I really want to do?” I arrived at ‘craft’. I ended up moving to the 'shoe capital' of Britain, Northampton, to learn about shoes. I wanted to create my own set-up as soon as I could, make the designs that I wanted to make and then work out how to generate money from it! Nothing happened for about a year, but then I found a workshop space at the Innovation Centre in Northampton University. I bought a little bit of machinery and some materials and started experimenting. It's all taken off from there.

3 THINGS SETTING UP STAMP SHOES HAS TAUGHT ME

1. Don’t give up your day job until you’re established. Go part-time if you can and develop your passion alongside your other work, or at the weekends. Start your business gradually and slowly scale back your hours of employment when you know you can.

2. I never set a goal of making even a single penny. It was daunting setting up a business so I set my goals fairly low. I just wanted to have a complete shoemaking workshop and create a collection of shoes I was happy with, with designs that I’d wear myself.

3. If you’ve never done it, go and stay in a monastery for at least a week, even if you’re sceptical of religious belief. Every summer I go and stay with some monks in the Burgundy countryside. It’s perhaps the only time when I feel completely safe and fully myself. The monks do ‘simple’ on a daily basis and in a way that enables people to experience a complete and lasting joy.

Read more about Nick in our regular series, Beyond The Nine-to-Five in issue 20 of The Simple Things.

www.stampshoes.com.