Polka dot border tip

When I'm painting boxes I find they don't look finished until I've decorated the edge of the lid with dots. Here is my favourite technique: Tear a strip of newspaper (about 3x the thickness of the lid edge) and, using a simple office hole-punch, punch holes along it in as uniform a fashion as possible.

Place the strip along the edge and secure with masking tape. Because it is newspaper it is really flexible and you can crinkle it up inside the lid so it is extra secure.

I use a colour slightly lighter than the main colour of the box to dab over the stencil. It's good to use a really dry brush or sponge and a really small amount of paint. You can take the stencil off and re-use it but it goes soggy after a couple of uses so for a large box I make a couple of strips.

Free crochet pattern: coaster with cute border

I was messing about with some yarn, trying to make some doilies that lie flat (something I have trouble with no matter how mathematically sound the pattern is) and I came up with this quick pattern. It's simple but has a pretty last row. It's very quick to make as it consists of double/treble crochet (I learnt to crochet from an American book (Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller) so I'm more comfortable with the American stitch names despite being a Brit) and most of the stitches are worked into spaces.  The small circle in the photo was made using a 3mm hook and the larger one using a 4.5mm. For this to be used as a coaster a 3.5 or 4mm hook would probably be ideal.

Perfect for beginners.

coaster with cute border (US abbreviations)

ch6 join with sl st to 1st ch to make a ring.
Round 1: ch3, 15dc in ring, join with sl st to 3rd chain =16dc
Round 2: ch4, dc in next dc, ch1, *(dc in next dc, ch1) around. join with sl st to 3rd chain of beginning.
Round 3: sl st in 1st ch-1sp, ch3, dc in same space, ch1, *(2dc in next ch-1 space, ch1) around. join with sl st to top of beginning chain.
Round 4: sl st in 1st dc, sl st in first ch-1 space, ch3, dc in same space, ch2, *(2dc in next space ch2) around. join with sl st to top of beginning chain.
Round 5: sl st in dc, sl st in first ch-2 space, ch4, dc, ch1, dc all in same space, *(dc, ch1, dc, ch1, dc all in next space) around. join with sl st to 3rd ch of beginning. weave in ends.


coaster with cute border (UK abbreviations)

ch6 join with sc to 1st ch to make a ring.
Round 1: ch3, 15tr in ring =16tr
Round 2: ch4, tr in next tr, ch1, *(tr in next tr, ch1) around. join with sc to 3rd chain of beginning.
Round 3: sc in 1st ch-1sp, ch3, tr in same space, ch1, *(2tr in next ch-1 space, ch1) around. join with sc to top of beginning chain.
Round 4: sc in 1st tr, sc in first ch-1 space, ch3, tr in same space, ch2, *(2tr in next space ch2) around. join with sc to top of beginning chain.
Round 5: sc in tc, sc in first ch-2 space, ch4, tr, ch1, tr all in same space, *(tr, ch1, tr, ch1, tr all in next space) around. join with sc to 3rd ch of beginning. weave in ends.