It's a Creative World

12 months= 12 projects November/December 2009

Hello, Eleanor here, with preserves.

By November, there's not a lot going on at the allotment, but plenty happening in the kitchen, using the fruits of the year's labours, stashed carefully in sand or shed or freezer.

I've made an apron minibook, with all my preserves recipes:

 

Mango chutney

Raspberry conserve

 

Marmalade (OK so I don't grow oranges at the allotment, but I love an old fashioned marmalade)

Piccalilli

Strawberry jam

Lemon curd (made with eggs from a fellow allotmenteer)

Red cabbage

Green tomato chutney with the ones that just would not ripen

Chilli pepper relish (I fancied trying a bit of paper piecing lol)

Pickled onions (will be just ready for Boxing Day buffet)

Blackcurrant jam

Greengage jam

 

I had fun designing 12 different aprons, it's a bit of a tight squeeze in the tote though.

That's all for November, see you next month for the final project.

Hi from Caz!

I can't believe at the end of this month I will be doing my last Project 2009 layout. But the plus side is I have an album bursting with two years worth of memories.

November 2009

 

Dec 2008

This really has been an enjoyable journey and i've loved doing my layout each month. All my Project 2009 layouts can be found here.

I hope you've all managed to keep up with yours too!

haPPy dAy!!
IACW girls
xx
 

12 months= 12 projects October/November 2009

Hello, Eleanor here again with my latest monthly mini-book. This month I have used lots of random photos, the ones which don't really fit into any other categories, but which tell stories about family members, pets, our allotment, and dressing-up fun, and which document autumn/harvest time/Halloween, and so are ideal for this month's minibook..

This is my pumpkin mini-book, it's about 6 inches across:

and opens out into a pumpkin shape:

 

and even stands up on its own:

I painted, embossed, and inked the covers, but the pages inside are mostly quite simple, just patterned paper on cardstock, with a photo, but no embellishments. The reason for this is that sometimes I find a minibook incredibly time-consuming for its small size, and I've realised that I am trying to make each small page a miniature scrapbook layout. That is rarely necessary, and journalling isn't always essential either. Here I have just used the photos, interspersed with cutout pages, and I asked family members for short pithy comments/captions, which I then wrote on the pages. Exactly as they said it. Oh my, for some reason I found that hard! ;)

Five of the pages have a cut away section where I have used a die cut shape in keeping with the theme.

The tree:

 

The skeleton (the bat is a pipistrelle who flew into our kitchen one evening)

The owl (that's my dear little Buffy, who died suddenly recently)

The haunted house (my eldest with his tarantula, Dude)

and finally a spider on a web.

My favourite photo is that one of Richard with the first pumpkin he grew at the allotment. He was so proud. So was I!

The remainder of the pages (one has no caption, collective inspiration had run dry, but should you find it, it's Snowy  the cat, with Richard the tiger, now why I didn't put just that I have no idea):

 

 

My little paper pumpkin now joins the other minibooks inside the tote.

See you next month.

Hi from Caz!

I can't believe we are showing our month 10 work! The other day I sat and did my November and December 2008 layouts, all ready as the year gets busier. Although I wanted to start this project last year, I just didn't get around to it, but thankfully i've been able to do 2008 and 2009 side by side, and i'm really glad I did. I've put both years layouts into one album, that is all fat and lush and filled with some great memories.

Next year and hopefully the year after, and quite possibly the year after that I will be able to grow my library of yearly albums.

 
  
I'm not sure if i've mentioned before, I love this photo of my mum and Roz. Although i've never met Roz, i've heard so much about her and I know what she means to my mum, that she's kinda like part of my family. So it seemed very natural to include the photo of the two of them on this layout.

 

haPPy haLLowEEn!
Caz
xx

12 months = 12 projects September/October 2009

Hello, Eleanor here with September's allotment minibook. *creepy crawly warning*
I so enjoyed embroidering the birds in June, that when Richard and I decided to document all the insect life up at the lottie, I knew I had to stitch the little creatures.
We went to the library and borrowed a few books to aid identification, I drew the insects onto cotton curtain lining fabric, and then stitched away the hours. I backed the embroideries with thin quilt wadding, stitched a circle and trimmed.
A pair of cheap cotton gardening gloves from Tesco proved ideal as book covers, stitched together along the little fingers and with an embroidered title.

This is the cover:

Open up the gloved 'hands' to find a stack (13 altogether) of insects:

Here are six of them:

and the other seven:

When we find bugs, the first thing we do is look at them closely, so here are mine in close-up:

 

On that creepy note (oh, she's an enoplognatha ovata, by the way ^^), I'll be off, and see you next month, with October's minibook.

12 months = 12 projects August/September

Hello, Eleanor here again, with August's allotment minibook latest. Actually, it's a sack this month, a miniature hessian sack of spuds.

Our most important crop up at the lottie is potatoes. After years of trial and error, we have discovered that our favourite variety is Maris Piper. Delicious tiny and cold, dressed with mayonnaise or vinaigrette in a salad, or huge, baked and split with salt and butter, or mashed to fluffy heaven, or deep fried as crispy tender chips, or roasted crustily alongside the Sunday joint, they just can't be beaten.
I decided to make a little collection of fave potato recipes and make a potato sack to keep them in:

This little sack of spuds has joined all the other minibooks I've made so far this year, in the gardening tote:

It's getting full!

See you next month for Project 2009, with some more freestyle embroidery.

Hi from Caz

I can't believe it's already September, this year is moving far too quickly for me. But, it's lovely to see my yearly scrapbooks filling up! I am feeling a little frustrated with one thing though. My journalling.

Actually i'm finding it hard to be inspired to journal. And when I do, I don't like what or how i've journalled when I read back through the album. So the following pages are unjournalled. I will journal on a scrap of paper andpop it in behind the layout so I don't forget what happened, but I won't be journalling on my pages until I over come this issue!

 

 

haPPy dAy!!
Caz
xx

12 months = 12 projects July/August

Hello, Eleanor here again, with my minibook from July.
We wait patiently for produce to ripen, and as we recently bemoaned the fact that we don't grow enough fruit for our family, a seed was sown in my mind of a fun little 'minibook' of sorts for Richard. It will join all the others in the gardening tote, eventually, but here it is for now:

I'm calling it a cartelope (groan). It's a sort of wallet for postcards, like this:

The postcards feature fruits from around the world, which I found online, and printed off, and backed with postcard blanks, also found online. They fit nicely into the wallet pockets (well they would, I measured very carefully *grin*) :

I then found images of all the relevant postage stamps, resized them and printed, cut out and glued onto the postcards. All that remained was to research a typical first name and salutation in each country, and write a little message to Richard, trying to vary the handwriting. I then 'cancelled' the stamp using a franking rubber stamp, slotted them into the wallet and tied it up with string.

Here are the first 5 postcards (do you know what the fruits are, lol?):

And the messages on the backs (click to enlarge, see the stamps and read the messages):

And the rest of the postcards:

with their messages:

That last fruit has to be my favourite in terms of appearance - what a shame it doesn't taste so spectacular.
I really enjoy projects like this, made especially for my son.

Up at the allotment we are ripping out the tayberry, which was expensive and has never fruited, and the redcurrant which fruited but the birds got there first, and putting in a dozen raspberry canes instead.

We love raspberries, as you can tell from this month's recipe cards (moving house, mislaid corner rounder):

 

That's all from me, for now.

Hi from Caz

August 2008 was great. My mum was here, we had a trip to Scotland for the Edinburgh Tattoo. We stayed with our lovely friends, that I ADORE! We had a visit from one of Stuarts best friends, and it was joyful.

This year not so much! Work is hard, not the actual work I do but the new system we've had installed, that is not working so good and the other challenges I have faced this year, all coming to a head this month. And mum's trip has been postponed. The bad weather doesn't help :(

But one thing that I have found uplifting is making sure that I find a positive each month. A cause for celebration! And in July we had two. Our friends 40th and the birth of her baby girl, with just 12 days in between.

 

haPPy dAy!!
Caz
xx

12 Months = 12 Projects June/July

Hello, Eleanor here.

Another month has passed in a flash up at the allotment. As we netted the pond to protect the eggs/tadpoles/froglets and toadlets from predators until they mature, I was thinking about the different birds we have seen at the lottie. The one we have not seen in action is of course the mallard who slurped up all of our pondlife last year, he's too crafty to be seen when we are there, but the others, well, see for yourself in my latest minibook, a fabric one:

These pages were quite a labour of love, and are a work in progress, as there are many more birds to embroider over the coming months.

The way I do these is to find a suitable image, from one of Richard's books for example, and draw the bird outline lightly in pencil crayon onto cream fabric (cotton curtain lining).

Then I pull out some matching colours from this:

I do actually have many boxes of embroidery threads neatly wound onto bobbins, but I love using these, found for me, by my mum, at a jumble sale, together with their handmade rollup. 

I just thread my needle and see how the picture evolves:

 

 

 

 

 

Did the last bird surprise you? He certainly surprised us when we first spotted him perched in a tree, looking for all the world as though he had lived there all his life. He's moved on now, but was a welcome presence for several months.

I decided not to bind the squares, but enclose them in a soft folder, with room for expansion.

I printed some text onto paper for the covers, and copied this lightly in pencil crayon:

Then stitched over it:

 

I zigzag stitched all around, catching in a ribbon tie on either side, and added a hessian tape spine:

 

Trimmed the excess fabric, taking care not to chop off the ribbon:

 

Voila:

Enclosed my squares:

 

And that's June at the lottie.

Recipe cards this month are potato salad, and no-skin rice pudding.

 

See you next time.

Hi from Caz

June 09 for me has been about the garden, watching is spring to life all on it's own has been magical. I didn't have the time or cash this year to spend too much time working in it so the hard work done at the end of summer 08 has paid off :)

I've spent so much time out there that it seems fitting to dedicate Junes page to 'our garden'.

 

It's fun looking back at '08 to see how things have changed and little people have grown.

 

I hope i'm able to keep this project going to have a record of each year, it's just a pity I didn't start it years ago.

Thanks for visiting!
xx

12 MONTHS = 12 PROJECTS MAY/JUNE

Hello, Eleanor here, time for another minibook to pop into the allotment totebag. It's the stripy one at the back. Hmm, not sure there's room for another seven in there, I'll have to have them swinging from the handles.

This month I used the piano-hinge type of binding, but with fibres instead of wooden skewers.

Here are some of the pages, they are simple, using patterned paper, ribbons, rubons and strips:

 

As usual, I've also made 2 recipe cards to put in the tote pockets:

See you tomorrow with some instructions for a piano hinge minibook. Keep back some bamboo skewers from your sunny Sunday barbeque!

Oh and whilst our month of May Scrap Your Man has finished, we are still mindful of the charity Orchid and the need for raising awareness of men's cancers, and with Father's Day coming up we thought we'd remind you of this chappie:

Thank you so much to everyone at Dewdrop Craftz and isn't Jim perfect for a card for the man in your life on June 21st.

12 MONTHS = 12 PROJECTS APRIL/MAY

Hello, Eleanor here, with my latest minibook.
This time I used my Bind It All, and a little fanciful idea of what my ideal garden might include. I have long dreamt of a cottage in the country, with a picket fence and an old-fashioned garden full of wild flowers, chickens, visiting birds and a beehive or two.

For the cover I used acrylic paint and crackle glaze on strips of mount board to make a mock garden gate, complete with latch,

which opens up to show a small glimpse into my dream garden.

Last year I discovered drawing, thanks to IACW and the A - Z art journal, and so I decided to draw some of the flowers in my secret garden, using watercolour pencil crayons:

This months recipe cards, carrot and coriander soup and Sally's chocolate cake, (the garnish on the soup is actually flat leaf parsley, not coriander, as Penny (who is now a house rabbit) snaffled the fresh coriander, and Sally is my sister):

See you next time with another sort of minibook.

Hi from Caz!
As spring SPRINGS I am much more energetic and starting to enjoy doing my monthly layouts again. Winter and it's drearyness doesn't make for great photographs!!

My April 2009 page :)

 

And in preparation for May, here is my May '08 page.

 

Don't forget to email in your Scrap Your Man layouts to acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk. Also all comments this month will be entered into lucky dip draws to win some fab prizes!

Thanks for visiting!
xx

12 MONTHS = 12 PROJECTS MARCH/APRIL

17h25.... Well I can't possibly choose a winner so Sharon, Sarah and Katie, email me at acreativeworld@hotmail.com with your likes, dislikes and address, and i'll get a little something off to you in the next few days :)

Hello, Eleanor here as usual, with a minibook and an allotment update.
We had hoped to have started planting in March, but it's only just beginning to warm up in the North West, so we are behind our planned schedule, having to run with Nature's schedule, but, if you've ever sung this song (recorded by Pete Seeger, the Byrds and others)

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
etc

I wonder if you knew its origin?

Ecclesiastes 3. Probably written by King Solomon. Son of David and Bathsheba (she who is said to have bathed on the roof, her beauty overthrowing David, as fans of the recent xfactor/not so recent Leonard Cohen (and others) hit will know).

But much as I love these stories, I am straying from the point - which today is that the soil is ready when the time is right, no earlier. So we have waited.
Not idly though, for our choice of vegetables for planting has had to be rethought, following a recent new addition to our family. A girlie who particularly enjoys:

Spring greens
Spinach
Curly kale
Pak choi
None of which were in our original plan.

I made a hutch book to celebrate Penny's arrival:

 

 



 

The covers are painted with crackle glaze, and popped up on foam tape to leave a space for mesh and some hay.

The faux hinges are made entirely with cardstock, scored and scribbled around the edges and in the indented circles with a versamark pen, brown embossing powder sprinkled on and off and heat embossed for a rusty look.

It joins the first 2 minibooks in the handybag,

together with the recipes for March. I delved down in the freezer again, and this time I found bags of blackcurrants and Bramley apple pieces.
So here we have fritters and tart:

The fritters work well made with frozen apple, as the coating batter sticks easily to the ice-cold fruit, and the apple is not overcooked when the batter is well done. (Bramleys have a tendency to puree away and drizzle out of the batter if you cook them too long.)
The tart is very tart, needs lots of custard or cream. And cream, even.

Hi from Caz!

April 2008 was a sad one for us. Our neighbour and friend, Ron, passed away. He was 83, and had had a great life, he was our friend for a little over 3 years and had burrowed very deep in DHs heart. My heart was sore for his wife of over 60 years.

 

Nothing else of importance happened in April 2008.

March 2009 has been lovely. With the arrival of Spring and the garden coming to life. A visit from a very special little lady and the winning of the NLD cup for C's team.

 

Oh and of course the arrival of DHs beloved R1.

I've not journaled my layout yet, because sometimes I really need to think about what to write. It's odd how sometimes the words just don't come.

A final reminder that all comments left on this post by 5pm tonight will be entered into a draw to win a RAK. If you make a card using the sketch you double your chances and will be entered twice!

Thanks for visiting!
And haPPy creATing!!
IACW
XX

12 Months = 12 Projects, February/March

Well February is a short month and i'm sure, like me, the end has snuck up on you too!

Eleanor here with another allotment minibook.

Yes, not only is it a short month, February is a somewhat dull month at the allotment, not much going on apart from general maintenance and tidying, so our family talked about what we wanted to grow this year, before making the seed order. That gave me the idea of a seedpacket style tagbook.
The little colourings and paintings I've been doing this month were with that in mind, to fit on the front of 6in x 4in kraftcard tags shaped to look like open seed packets. The fronts lift open to reveal a little handwritten journalling about each vegetable. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the illustrations, and have managed to gain more confidence in using colour - watercolour pencils with a waterbrush.
So here is the seed packet tagbook, tied together with string:

A few cabbagey quotes

A pest problem

 

Not many left

Cornish savouries

No more about the theft, just some anagram fun

A long time coming

Big is beautiful

The idea was to fill in the blank squares with random letters and make a wordsearch, but I couldn't bring myself to for some peculiar reason :)

Of course there are 2 more recipe cards for the outer pockets of the minibook bag, this time Minestrone soup, a good February warmer, using up all the odds and ends of veg from the freezer, and carrot cake, even though we can't use our own carrots, with philadelphia cream cheese frosting.

 

See you in Spring!

Eleanor

Caz

Looking back at my yearly photo folders I think February for me has always been really quiet. It's cold and dull and I think it's my worst month. I don't think i've been out much and if I have it's not been for long or with much enthusiasm.

 

But I have been crafty and got loads of layouts done and knitted a shawl and a scarf. I've also got loads of enthusiasm to declutter and get the house organised and tidy. Must be nearly Spring Cleaning Time!

And here is March 2008s layout. You can see that as Spring Sprung, things came back to life and so did I, and with any luck the same will happen this year.

 

Thanks for visiting and haPPy March :)

IACW team
xx