Last Minute Fathers Day Ideas

Father's Day is fast approaching (it's this sunday!), so we thought we'd compile a few ideas that may help provide you with some last minute inspiration to treat your lovely dads and grandads!

Cards

These lovely cards can be found on the wonderful 'not on the highstreet'...our go-to website for gifts and cards! But if you don't have the funds to buy these cards I hope they provide you with some inspiration when it comes to making your own! I really like the drink mat idea and the paper aeroplanes for something a little different!

Take a little look also at 'thehandcraftedcardcompany' who sell a brilliant fathers day range of silhouette cards (seen in the bottom right) with great, witty phrases.

Gifts 

1. 'Old Fossil' Chocolate. Hotel Chocolat 

2. Monthly subscription to the 'London Herb Garden'

3.'A day at the allotment' Tool Box 

4. 'Dad's Shed' Sign

5. 'Dad's Pad' Ipad/Tablet Leather Case

6. Anning's Fruit Cider 

If you fancy making something yourself, take a look at our glasses case tutorial here. Kate shows you how to turn an old tie into a nifty little glasses case- pretty cool hey!? 

We hope this helps! What will you be up to this Father's Day? How will you be treating your lovely Dads? Let us know! 

Lots of Love 

TWB 

xxx

Up-cycled Tie Glasses Case

 

Here is a quick and easy gift idea for Father's Day (which is on Sunday by the way)! Father's Day is always a tricky one, gift wise, and I find myself giving the same present year after year; his favourite chocolates! This year I've made this glasses case from an old tie. I particularly like this DIY as the outcome looks really sharp and no-one can see your dodgy sewing skills! You can tailor it to your Dad's favourite colour so he's sure to love it! I've have taken a few short cuts to make it nice and simple so you don't need to be a sewing goddess to make this. And it barely cost me anything! Hopefully this little make will inspire some of you to get crafting. After all everyone loves thoughtful handmade gifts.

All you'll need is a tie (I picked one up for £1.50 from a charity shop so I wouldn't make the mistake of picking out my Dad's favourite!), scissors, needle and thread (the stitching won't be seen so choose any colour), unpicker, some sort of fastener (I've gone for stick-on velcro spots but you could sew on a popper) and one last thing, that I've forgotten to include in the image above, superglue.

And here's how to make it...

1. Cut the tie 40cm from the lower point on the tie

2. Unpick any labels or loops on the tie.

3. Unpicking undid the original stitching up the tie so if this is the case for you too, grab a needle and thread and start stitching up the middle. Ensure you are not going all the way through the tie as this tube is where your glasses will sit.

4. Stitch half way along the length of the tie. Do not worry about sewing neatly as this will be covered by folding over the second half of the tie.

 5. Cut at the half way point the interlining fabric

6. At the cut end of the tie, fold it over and sew across. This will not be seen so again do not worry about neatness. 

7. Fold the second half of the tie back on itself covering the middle stitching. Secure down using superglue. This is a bit of a cheat but much less fiddly than sewing!! 

8. Finally use Velcro spots to stuck in the appropriate places for the glasses case to close. If the adhesive back on the velcro spots is not great, use a bit of superglue for a helping hand.

Job done!

Give it a go! Lets us know how you get on. We love hearing from you.

We have a few more Father's Day gift and card ideas appearing on the blog soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Lots of love 

Kate xxx

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

I love baking and haven't had the chance to bake in such a long time. Now the summer is here for us university students I had a perfect opportunity yesterday afternoon to make these delicious cookies!

My sister scouted out this recipe from the Independent website so if you'd like to get your hands on it click HERE. Its a really simple recipe, just chuck all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. No fuss and so quick to bake. The link gives you the method for a basic cookie mix so you could add what ever gems you wish. I'd definitely recommend the white chocolate and cranberries. They go so well together and its a nice change to the good old standard milk chocolate chip cookies. Father's day is coming up so you could add your Dad's favourite treat. This recipe is supposed to make 12, I clearly was quite generous and made 9 huge cookies! 

These cookies have gone down a treat in my house with only a couple left in the tin! I'll definitely be making these again, perhaps with raisins and dark chocolate chunks. Have you tried out any new recipes recently? Let us know, we love hearing from you!

Lots of love

Kate xxx

DIY: Lace Trimmed Socks

The TWB girls really do love it when we can find cheap alternatives to high-street buys, and this DIY is a really simple way of creating your own lace-trimmed socks. We've seen them around a lot recently on our little shopping trips in Leeds, and figured we could make them for a fraction of the price ourselves. So rather than forking out on a pair of these lovely socks, why not customise an old pair of your own!? They are so dainty and pretty and can really make an outfit! 

You will need:

A pair of socks 

Lace 

Pins 

Needle & thread (matching the colour of the lace)

A pint glass (or another circular container- like a jar)

Step 1: First you will need to cut the lace. Start by stretching the sock over the pint glass to the widest point. This will ensure that when you stretch the sock over your foot and ankle, the stitching wont break! Wrap the lace around the top of the sock and cut. 

Step 2: Roll over the top of the sock and pin the lace all the way around so that the lace is pinned to the inside of the sock. 

Step 3: Using a needle and thread, stitch on the lace. I followed the line of the elastic on the sock which made it easier! 

Step 4: Finally, stitch the two ends of the lace together where they meet. 

It's as easy as that! 

So pretty and so simple, so why not give them a go and save some pennies! 

Lots of love, Em xx

Leeds University Summer Ball: What We Wore

Graduation is creeping ever closer and we wanted to end in style at our University Summer Ball. Each year the University of Leeds transforms our campus and hosts the most opulent event of the summer. There were carousels and helter-skelters, roller discos and secret seasides, and best of all, big names including Rudimental and Greg James. We were so impressed with our boys, who well and truly got into the spirit of things by suiting up! Kate wore a navy blue flowery dress from Warehouse with black peep-toe midi heels. Em wore a mint green chiffon number from Zara with tan Topshop heels, and Ken wore a silver dress from Oh my love! with gold Topshop stilettos. This will probably be the last outfit post we do in our normal location, so we need to get hunting for new spots in all of our different home towns. Lots of people have asked us what we plan on doing about the blog soon as we are all going our different ways after university. 'Is it going to carry on? Will you all still be able to do it together?' And the answer is yes, TWB will continue as normal but just with a lot more Skyping! With us all living together for the past three years we have pretty much all merged into one person anyway, so creating things we all love seems to come pretty naturally to us.

xxx