Enjoy a more natural fragrance in your home.

The thing with aerosol and other shop-bought room fresheners is that they can have a rather ‘chemical’ aroma.

For a more natural and much more subtle way to add fragrance to your room, make and display your own pot pourri.

It’s incredibly simple to make, and you can chose your own petals and spices depending on the aromas that you prefer.

And the really great thing is you’ll know that no one else’s home will have exactly the same fragrance as yours.

Use the website inks below to get started:

Make Stuff

Save On Crafts

DIY Life

There are few more enjoyable ways of getting your hands really dirty than squidging, pummelling and squeezing sticky wet clay between your fingers.

Many adult education centres and course organisers offer free pottery taster classes to give you a feel for it before you plunge in.

Use the websites below to find a class or course near you.

Websites:

Hot Courses

Craft Tracker

Education & Learning

All you need is a scanner and a piece of software to create your own unique screensaver full of your favourite photos.

There is lots of photo screensaver software that you can download – many of which are free.

Use the websites below to find one that suits you and start your own personal screensaver this morning.

Websites:

My Photos Screensaver

Google Photos Screensaver

Grab your camera and head for a local beauty spot to see how artistic you are.

Photography, like art, is very much in the eye of the beholder. But there a some guidelines to follow while you’re snapping to ensure you get the best possible pictures you can.

You don’t need loads of expensive equipment to get started, in fact, you can take some surprisingly good images with a simple disposable camera. If you have a decent pixel level on your mobile phone (over 300 is best) you can use that too. There are a few websites listed below to help you get started.

Why not send us some of the pictures you take – we might be able to publish some of them here.

Helpful websites:

www.photographytips.com

www.photolinks.com/resources.html

Blogs:

digital-photography-school.com/blog/

Worth a browse: ‘How to Photograph Absolutely Everything: Successful Pictures from Your Digital Camera’, Tom Ang (Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd)

Don’t be put off by thoughts of grey-haired grannies, everyone’s doing it these days.

Clack-clickety-clack. The comforting sound of knitting needles as they stab, dip and loop, drawing the wool into another handmade, one-off original…

If you’ve never tried it, you might be surprised how enjoyable this craft can be.

Nip down to the haberdashery store, grab yourself a beginner’s level pattern and a pair of needles, choose your wool and off you go – come back and tell us how you get on – maybe send a picture of your first ever attempt!

Websites worth a look:
www.learn2knit.co.uk
http://learn-to-knit.com
www.knittinghelp.com

Blogs:
Yarn Harlot
The Knitting Den