My new upcycled memo board

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a craft workshop that was run by Make, Thrift London. The aim of the workshop was to make a magnetic memo board from a piece of fabric and a biscuit tin lid. I didn't have a biscuit tin lid though so ended up bringing a baking tray a long instead (I had tested magnets on it before hand) and it worked out fine. As a keen upcycler I was so excited to be using up some of my charity shop vintage fabric that hadn't seen the light of day for years, into something useful that I could have on display all the time. 

In addition to the memo board we also made button magnets and I didn't stop there either. When I got home I also turned a tube of glitter into a tiny (test tube like) vase to put a flower in. It was so easy to make, just emptied the glitter from the tube, cleaned it and glued a magnet onto the side. I am so pleased with my finished magnetic memo board and throughly enjoyed the workshop. I am hoping to attend more workshops soon as they are such a nice way to meet fellow creative people and you get to take home a finished craft project you have made to.

Green and blue themed mail

Having over spent a little (o.k alot) on stationery earlier this month in the January sales, I have vowed to budget my stationery and craft spending for the rest of the year. One of the areas I plan to save on is letter writing sets. I am quite partial to a lovely letter set that has nicely designed writing paper but they can be expensive. So all of my letters for the next few months at least will be written on plain paper that I have hand decorated and embellished with items I already have in my craft supply stash. Here is a letter I have decorated with some bits and pieces I had tucked away in drawers.

All I used to decorate the outside of the letter is a paper doily, twine, buttons, paper clip, a couple of pictures cut out of magazines, a small piece of fabric and a used stamp. I am quite happy with how it looks considering it cost me nothing!

5 of my favourite things- January

I thought I would start a monthly feature called my 5 favourite things. I will share mainly stationery and craft supplies (as those are my favourite things) as well as anything else I am liking. So here is what I am loving so far this month.

1. First off is this turquiose organiser from Paperchase. I missed having a diary last year so have been enjoying writing in this one so far. I love the colour to. The great thing about these type of organisers is that you don't need to buy a new cover every year, just new diary papers. I can see why they are currently sold out, fortunately though the smaller pocket version is still available here.

2. I love getting a letter sealed with a wax seal. It feels so special and like I have been transported back in time. I plan on getting my own proper stamp with wax one day to seal my letters. Until then the next best thing are these pretend stick on seals from the TIGER shop for £2, click here to see if there is a store near you.

3. My favourite washi tapes this month include (from the top) this Dark Romance Pink Tape from Paperchase, Handmade with love tape from an Etsy shop, 3x Rob Ryan washi tape pack from the bookstore Waterstones (half price in some stores right now, reduced from £5 to £2.50) and the Pink Blue Floral Tape also from Paperchase.

4. I totally forgot I had this Typewriter Eco-Journal. It is such a lovely journal, the illustrations on the pages are really nice. I am debating whether to leave it as a journal or cut out the pages and use them as writing paper. 

5. I'm a big fan of inspirational quotes, in fact I have a Pinterest board dedicated to them. I couldn't resist getting this 'Today is Going to be a Great Day! Page a Day Calender' from Waterstones bookstore (also half price in some stores. I got it for £6 reduced from £12).

So those are my favourite things for January, what are some of your favourite things?

My plan to write more letters (52 Hellos) in 2015

One of my goals for 2015 is to write more letters. So when I came across Pip's (the creator of Meet Me at Mikes blog) challenge to write a letter every week for 52 weeks I thought I would join in. Pip has set herself the target of writing 52 hellos (starting in January) and has invited everyone else to join in to. She started the project as a way of motivating herself to write more letters, improve her handwriting, be more mindful and take more time out to make special hellos to others. 

In addition to her own letter writing she will also profile letters that she receives herself on her blog, so is requesting mail to be sent to her. If you are interested in sending Pip a letter she is very open to getting a variety of mail which can include a letter sharing memories, news, a poem, photos or drawings.

All you need to do to join in is either write 52 hellos in 2015 and/or write a letter to Pip. More information on the '52 Hellos' project as well as the address to send a letter to Pip can be found over on her blog in the 52 Hellos post.

This will be my first letter of the 52 hellos above. I decorated my writing paper with dollies and photos of deer figurines that I cut out of magazines. I plan on sharing most of my 52 hellos on Instagram (the hashtag for Pip's project is #52hellos) and some here to.

Happy 2015 wishes and a look back over last year on the blog

I can hardly believe it is 2015 already! Last year went by so fast for me. I am wishing everyone a wonderful new year, hoping it is filled with peace and joy for you. 

I thought I would look back over Rose Tinted Crafting's 2014 and share the most popular blog posts with you. So here were the top 5 most viewed posts of last year.

The most popular blog post I made by far was my first attempt at carving stamps out of erasers. I found making the stamps really enjoyable. There are so many uses for them. I like to use the stamps to personalise stationery, decorate wrapping paper and make cards. This year I plan on sharing more posts about other stamps I have made and how I use them.

A cake in the post came in at number 2, which was a sort of follow up to my sandwich in the post card I made. Both were a lot of fun to make.

A mail art kit to brighten a pen pals mail was also very popular and is actually my most liked photo on Instagram. I have made up a few of these kits for pen pals and am so excited to be putting one together to give away on this blog later this month, so watch this space.

I really enjoyed making every post, but my absolute favourite of 2014 was definitely the 'How to turn an envelope into a suitcase' post. It turned out exactly how I wanted and I was really pleased with it.

Finally, there was my 'How-to make bracelets out of ribbons' post. These bracelets were so quick and easy to make that I ended up making loads for family and friends. Such a great way to use up those lovely ribbons that you never use or that are perhaps to short to wrap a gift with.

So those were my 2014 blog highlights, I hope you have enjoyed visiting this little blog so far. Here are my blog goals for 2015:

• Regular blog posts. I have got so many ideas, it is time I started turning them into blog posts. So this will mean me sharing more of the things I enjoy, such as; mail art/ snail mail posts and diys.
• Share a bit more about myself on the blog.
• Stop being shy and connect more with you blogs readers and writers.
• Continually strive to do the best I can with each blog post. Creating the most interesting content I can that is visually appealing and clearly written.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog this last year.

Happy New Year everyone!