Something different today, I have 2 beautiful books to give away. - UPDATE this giveaway is closed.

Maker: Home by designer-maker Tobias George and Maker: Garden by Kerry Allen from Kezzabeth were published on 5th March and are packed with projects, 15 in each book.

Maker: Home is mostly but not exclusively woodworking projects, the kind of things you could make for your own home but also things that would make amazing gifts. A wine glass holder, beautiful wooden chopping board, a sweet 3 legged milking stool and many more.

There are pages of step by step instructions and then variations and suggestions to tweak the idea to make it more advanced if you are a confident maker.

The Maker:Garden book has the same layout and again is mostly but not exclusively woodworking projects. It also has variations on each project so you can make it your own.

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of each and book and decided to give one of the projects a go.

I chose to decorate a plain door mat using a cardboard stencil. This project is in the Maker: Garden book. Kerry had made a stencil saying Hey!, she also has an example using stars. I thought I’d try a simple house shape - I like to keep it simple, especially when I’m trying something new! We had an old door mat that wasn’t being used so it was perfect for a little experimenting. I found some spray paint in the garage and we always have cardboard around the place so I was all set. This was a self isolating/lockdown project so I was limited to using what I had.

I cut a really this simple house shape with a heart. I simple drew it out on a piece of cardboard and then cut it with a craft knife.

Then I laid the card over the doormat and gave it 3 coats of spray paint. My paint was actually an all purpose primer, suitable for interior and exterior that can be used on all surfaces that I’d bought a while ago from a local DIY shop.

In the book Kerry uses bricks to hold the card down. I didn’t have any bricks to hand so I used pins to hold the card in place. It kind of worked but I should have used WAY more though, a little paint bled underneath the card. I suggest pushing a pin in every inch or so and maybe a little closer to the edge than I did - or use bricks like Kerry did!

I’m really happy with the new look for this old mat. This is a simple way to give a slightly tatty old mat a new lease of life. I’ll let you know how well it holds up being walked on in a month or two. UPDATE: It’s doing ok, the paint is standing up to everyday wear and tear pretty well. It has faded ever so slightly but that’s all.

* THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED *

Would you like to win a copy of each of these lovely books? Complete as many of the entries in the rafflecopter below as you like. The more entries you complete, the better your chance of winning of course!

Please remember the rafflecopter entries are a 2 step process.

• Do the thing

• Tell the rafflecopter that you have done the thing

These books have been provided by the publishers Welbeck.

Good Luck everyone!