Source

The upcoming bicycle ride dates are: Sunday 30 June, Sunday 21 July, Sunday 18 August, Sunday 15 September, Sunday 20 October and Sunday 24 November. Email hello@begbicycles.com to reserve a spot.

All bike types are included (so not just sit up and begs) and people can dip in and out of the rides as they wish. As soon as my poorly bike is all fixed up, I am going to be joining them for a Joy Ride. Look how cheery they all are despite the wind!

Image courtesy of Beg Bicycles

As you know from my previous posts this week, it’s Bike Week! So I thought I’d also share with you some competitions I found around the web to win a lovely bicycle of your own!

This Dawes Cycle is available to win here in conjunction with The Simple Things magazine (Facebook account required). Closes 27/06/2013.

Readers of Crafty Magazine can enter to win a State Bicycle Co fixie here by answering a question about a bike related craft project. Clue, it goes on the saddle! Closes 27/06/2013.

You can read the rest of my Bicycle themed blog posts here.

Happy Cycling!

This post is not sponsored by Beg Bicycles, I just wanted to share local cycling events for Bike Week.

A while back I discovered local organisation You Can Bike Too in Cambridge, who are the folks behind the festival. They offer cycling sessions for those new to riding a bike and help people with disabilities or those recovering from illness or injury. 

They are some really special bikes to try too and their disabled members have spoken on local radio about how learning to ride a bike has changed their lives. They even have special bicycles for those in wheelchairs to give it a go. Pretty inspiring really.

Source

So if you live locally to Cambridge, I would encourage you to visit the Cam Bike Fest which takes place at Milton Country park on Saturday 22 June. And if you do, see if you can spot my wheel in the treasure trail!

It’s thanks to Willow Wanderer that I became involved. Look at this wonderful knitted bike she made to promote the festival around the city.

Source

Do you know of any cycling festivals or events in your area? Have a look on the Bike Week website and you may discover some!

You can read the rest of my Bicycle themed blog posts here.

P.S. Thanks to Miss Chaela-Boo for her contribution to the bike wheel project. Cable ties are so much quicker than stitching crochet Do check out her posts on Bike Week too!

This is not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share local cycling events for Bike Week.

Bicycles in Cambridge / Claireabellemakes DIY Bike Basket Bunting

So what is Bike Week? It’s the biggest nationwide cycling event in the UK, encouraging over half a million people to join in events, rethink their everyday journeys and switch to cycling as the most convenient way to get around.

I LOVE cycling to work. Cambridge is flat as a pancake so my 3-speed dutch bike is perfect. I feel privileged to live in such a beautiful city ready made for cyclists with stunning views and routes. Cycling here makes me feel free and happy.

This weekend I want you to enjoy some amazing Bike themed finds on the internet that made me smile.

Source

This sound architecture piece in Amsterdam is made from 5,000 repurposed bicycle bells that ring gently in the wind. Stunning.

Source

Architects from Holland have designed this velodrome cafe and bike rental building in China. You could work off a slice of cake on the roof?!!

Source

This Bicycle art print by Brittany Slopey on Etsy will hopefully make a few people stop and think about the eco benefits of cycling. Is your city full of traffic?

Source: Pinterest (original unknown)

Sometimes I like to fill my bike basket with flowers from the market. Not quite like this though! I can’t find the original source to this Pin, so do help me out if you know!

Do you cycle? You can check out more bicycle themed finds on my Pinterest board here.

Miss Chaela-boo is also blogging about Bike Week, so pop on over here to check out her post!

Stephanie writes the blog with two friends Hayley and Cindy writing about their girls’ nights in together and crafty goings on in their lives. I knew the book would be perfect for them, so contacted Stephanie to see if she wanted to do a mail swap with me. 

This week, my package arrived all the way from Victoria, BC and to say I was excited to open it was an understatement. Each item was wrapped in brown paper with a yarn tie and had a clue for what was inside…..

Tammy seemed to like the handmade parcel (she is a craft cat of course!).

The card was utterly perfect. Scrabble tiles! SO me.

I am a huge fan of maple syrup so I spent a good few minutes staring at this maple bacon flavoured sea salt saying “on my word” over and over again. It sounds delicious and I can’t wait to put it on some ice cream!

And come on guys…that notebook could not be any more perfect for me. Mint AND bicycles…..love.

We agreed on one handmade item per package and I was super excited to see what the girls had enclosed. Stephanie had knitted me this beautiful beanie hat (or toque as the Canadians call it) in a gorgeous teal blue colour. The loose knit is great for Spring. Plus I was totally having a bad hair day Sunday and it was really windy so the hat had an outing.

When I visited Vancouver at Christmas I crammed my suitcase full of Davids Tea as they don’t ship to the UK. They girls had sent me a selection box which I cannot wait to get started on.

G laughs as our coffee cupboard is no more. Since I gave up caffeine it is filled with tea and now makes me look like an utter tea freak. Which I am.

I’m totally overwhelmed with my package from the Meet.Make.Laugh girls. Thank you SO SO much! I love making blogging friends across the water and am so grateful for all the support they give my blog. Thanks girls

Please make sure you stop by the Meet.Make.Laugh blog to see what I sent Stephanie, Cindy and Hayley!

Whilst in town I could feel myself being drawn to the colourful goodness of the Cambridge Satchel Company Store which opened on Rose Crescent on Saturday! To say I was a wee bit excited was an understatement. It was glorious.

For the opening they had neon bicycle cupcakes to match the satchels of course, and champagne and chocolates aplenty. We avoided these for the sake of weight watchers points and had a lovely chat with the embossing guy as he personalised two newly purchased satchels.

I swooned over the Chelsea Collection for a good while, especially the beautiful mint one. G made a mental note and mentioned birthdays etc……it’s the big 3-0 this year so maybe a minty satchel could be mine *dreams*.

The shop is light and fresh and stocks a whole range of colours including my classic red batchel. Staff were friendly and welcoming.

G and I talked about the Cambridge Satchel Company journey and how it went from small business to huge business. If you’re not aware of the story, check out this video – inspiring stuff. It’s great to see how bloggers have played a part in the success of the company.

We did some more shopping in Molton Brown and then headed home for email catch ups and tidying. I’m loving having a desk now in my new craft room which displays these beautiful Protea I got from my work colleagues.

What did you guys get up to this weekend?

*This is not a sponsored post.

Taking my pom pom clad bike out / Passing tulip covered greens on the way to work

Indulging in a round of golf with G / Amazing Wisteria on a thatched cottage in town

Hard work on the craft room makeover / Getting over excited about pastel sharpies

Finally finishing the Granny Square Blanket / Tammy enjoying the craft space

The Rainbow Cake I made for my sister / Trying my first bubble tea

Throwing G an Ice Cream Party for his birthday / Cat In a Bag

Wearing my hand stamped star ring / Launching my new cufflink line

Starting a mailing list for Claireabellemakes / My name necklace from Finest Imaginary

What did you guys get up to in May? You can follow me on Instagram here.

Cotton yarn spools from Texere and yarn in basket from Yves Town and Debbie Bliss.

Homemade candles from old wax using this tutorial.

Fabric flower pots (storage for scissors) made here and pin cushion kilner jar made here.

Georgina Giles Mini Monster and upcycled yarn wrapped jar made here.

My Great Grandmother’s button tin, filled with vintage buttons, some almost 100 years old.

My Nan’s pin cushion – brings back a lot of memories standing for fittings.

Bookcase with hand illustrated hanging heart decoration by Harriet Gray and ‘Giant Mug’ by Hook Line and Sink Her.

Custom Hand painted bicycle button by Miss Beatrix and a heart garland made here.

Love this door hanger I received from a friend and the doorstop was made here.

An old photo of G and I on holidays and that plant I will keep alive.

I’ve wanted to spruce up my Craft Room for a while now as it looked drab and uninspiring. Be warned, this is a picture heavy post, but I hope you will enjoy it.

The Craft Room housed our (horrid yellow) futon mattress, a stool acting as a little table and loads of craft stuff in various bags and boxes.

I had managed to get this tray storage unit for free a while back, as my work were throwing it out. Useful but ugly and very much like school classroom trays. I had one magazine rack and the rest were crammed in the corner amongst other things.

The small brown boxes on the floor would soon solve the magazine problem…

Now coming the ‘during’ shots. I wanted a table to sew and make accessories on so I scoured Gumtree and eBay and found this solid wooden one for £10. I searched for local sellers as I don’t have a car and a kind man delivered.

He was not so kind for bringing about a billion spiders with the table!! After G had saved me from the creepy crawly invasion, I washed, sanded and painted it with some leftovers our decorator left from the recent paint job on our house.

Then the brown boxes saw a little craft knife action (after Tammy had done helping) and became magazine holders to be spray painted later.

A chalkboard from Poundland got the washi tape treatment to tie in with the pale blue theme I had in mind for the room.

I spent hours spray painting wicker baskets in the garden, but failed to take before or during shots of these oops! The baskets were free as I’d been saving them each Christmas from the hamper G gets from work.

I also spray painted this sewing spool holder so it stood out more.

The horrid red drawers needed a pretty curtain to hide behind, so my Mum’s hubby fitted a rail for me from supplies he already had. I stitched a quick slide along curtain.

I decided to also make curtains for the window, but Tammy was not happy about me taking the old ones down and promptly sat on them. Next, I whipped up a crochet doily to sit underneath a plant pot.

Are you ready for the after shots?!!!! TA DA!!

The stool acting as a table also got painted and the Fabric Notice Board I made with my sister was finally hung.

I spray painted a letter rack I had already to hold all my Post Circle mail, important letters, new pastel sharpies and my hand embroidered WI badge.

Rachel and Harriet convinced me that I could keep a succulent alive (I always kill house plants) so I got this baby from Aldi!

My spray painting marathon turned brown wicker baskets cream and blue to hold all my yarn, washi tapes and notebooks.

The bookshelf area hasn’t changed much, except the spray painted boxes-now-magazine racks are housed on top and I have hung the “Dream” sign my Nan gave me.

I covered the nasty yellow futon with a cream throw I already had (you can see it in the first shot) and Tammy seemed to love that and curled up immediately. I hung some bunting I received in a craft swap and added my Granny Squares Blanket.

The majority of my budget went on fabric for curtains because I wanted Clarke and Clarke Dotty. I think it was worth it as it really changes the room and I was chuffed to find it for £7.99 a metre on eBay, Bargain!

I painted the tray storage so it matched the table and stool and switched around the layout of the room.

BEFORE AND AFTER!

I managed to stretch the budget and tried to make the most of what I already had. I do enjoy finding ways to make something old look totally new and I think I achieved that.

It’s definitely more organised so I hope I can be a tidy crafter now!

Here’s my spend for the challenge:

• Wooden Table from eBay – £10
• Clarke and Clarke Curtain Fabric – £27.45 with postage from eBay
• Plastikote Spray Paint (Cream) – £7.99 from Hobbycraft, already had the blue
• Cream Paint - already had
• Storage unit curtain fabric – already had
• Wicker Baskets – already had
• Small brown boxes – already had
• Succulent Plant & Pot – £2.99 from Aldi
• Chalkboard – £1 from Poundland

Total Spend: £49.43

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing some more details of my craft space up close, so don’t forget to come back! Sorry for going on about it, but it was a lot of hard work!

The online store has a wide selection of cufflinks and more recently have begun to support small business with cufflink ranges.

So if you are looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift, why not take a look at my range here. All cufflinks are shipped in a gift box with postage included in the price.

Grey Fabric Button Cufflinks

Wooden Scrabble Tile Initial Cufflinks

Black and White Checked Fabric Button Cufflinks

There will be more jewellery lines coming soon in my Etsy store, so be sure to sign up for the newsletter for sneak peeks and exclusive discount codes!

In my first Granny Squares class with NotSoGranny last year, I chose some pretty blue pastel colours in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn and decided that my first ever granny square would be included in the blanket.

Here are some in WIP photos….

Not only does this blanket include my first ever granny square, it has also travelled to Canada and back and kept me busy on a long-haul flight where the entertainment system failed. FYI – Air Canada allow hooks and small scissors on board, yay!

In the end I went for a different layout to this image and set the coloured squares out in strips. I joined them with double crochet (seemed to take forever!) and then edged with 1 round of dc and 3 rounds of htr (UK stitches).

There are definitely messy bits in the blanket, but revisiting it and finishing it off was great, as it highlighted just how much I have learnt in the last year.

It’s a lap blanket size so will keep me cosy in my craft room from now on.

Here it is complete!

If you fancy trying your own Crocheted Granny Square, you can find a free tutorial on Ravelry here.