It's a Creative World

Framed Advent Calendar

Hello! It's my turn today and our house is gearing up for Christmas in a big way! I have a small obsession with Advent Calendars - I love how they count down to the big day and often have chocolate in them too! So for this year's calendar I wanted to make one that was quick, easy and that could be made very cheaply by the whole family.

I bought a picture frame from a pound shop and removed the glass and mount board. The frame was covered in tissue tape (you may need to glue the edges down as by its very nature the tape won't stick to itself) and then I rubbed some Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges and then sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. The back of the frame (which normally hangs on the wall) was covered with paper (I used some Tim Holtz Seasonal Stash) and then I covered a small configurations box with paper and tissue tape and glued it to the back of the frame. on top of this box I added a pine tree (with paint as snow). 

I cut 13 tags in coordinating papers and decorated them with stamps, paint and punched birds. You will need 0 to 9 and 0 to 2 - for the 0 for the first days of December I used a picture of Santa with a little ribbon at the bottom. I made my tags pretty flat so that I could stack them all on two hitch fastners but you could make them as fancy as you like and store them in the little box where I popped some chocolate! 

I used some offcuts of paper for the word 'Advent' and a canvas snowman with a hand dyed ribbon (for instructions on hand dying ribbon - see my previous post!) This is such an esy and enjoyable project that it's something that was great fun to make with my children! Thank you for stopping by!

Gabrielle x

A Hearty Reminder

Hello! I am Gabrielle and I am very excited to be writing my first post for IACW - I'd like to thank the rest of the DT for inviting me along and for being so welcoming and I am really looking forward to getting to know you all so please do leave comments!

I wanted to be a little more orgainised in my new studio and to have a place for me to write reminders to myself so for my first project I have made just that! I covered one of Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts with some of Tim Holtz's Christmas Kraft Resist paper. I then used Picket Fence Distress Stain but you could use any colour - Fired Brick looks fabulous! I used a bookplate Art Part and again inked it with Picket Fence and then stamped it with a dotty stamp in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I edged them both in the Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

To the back of the bookplate I added some of the paper (but reversed!) and also stamped as before. The letters are Grungeboard Mixed Minis that I covered with Vintage Photo Distress Stain. I added two brads and glued it to the heart. I then made two holes for eyelets.

The leaves are another Art Part inked and stamped with one of Wendy's text stamps. The rose is made from left over paper, a Tattered Florals die and again edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink and adhered with Glossy Accents.

I inked the ribbon myself as I like the effect. Want to dye your own ribbon? My method is easy! Wet both sides of the ribbon (this one is pure cotton) and then drag an ink pad over it (you can use the Distress Stains too). While it's still wet crumple it up and then dry with a heat gun so the colour is uneven and the ribbon has wonderful creases.You do get inky fingers but that's part of the fun!

The sticky notes are from Paperchase and are just fabulous! Thank you for stopping by and I hope you found some inspiration today!

Gabrielle x

Weekend Workout 22 - Colour Palette

Hi everyone - Dolly here with a challenge for you all - a colour challenge this weekend.

As part of a class by Shimelle I was introduced to this amazing site

http://www.design-seeds.com/

 Design seeds has the most amazing colour combination cards and they are just so beautifully showcased.

Apart from making you want to scrap and giving you hand to do that – they are just beautiful to sit and drool over.

Have fun enjoying the site but the weekend workout challenge for you all is to use this colour card to inspire your creativity.

 

 It might be a page, a card, a home décor project. But let the colours inspire you to create.

I used the colours to make a clock for our newly decorated library.

The clock was one I had had for years, always meaning to decorate it. This was the perfect opportunity.

I painted the edges of the base board cream and then used a truly gorgeous piece of K and Co paper from the Blue Awning range (my favourite range ever!) Part of the paper is flocked and lightly glittered as you can see here.

 

 

I used some scraps of wallpaper samples (the paper that never made it to the decor in the room) to cut some butterflies and to add to inked and stamped papers I had made to match to make the flowers.

 

 
 

I also used scraps of the same sample wallpaper for the text (well it is in the library so it had to mention books). The paper has a gorgeous shiny stripe that looks lovely in real life.

 

I hope you can see how the colours in the sample inspired the piece of work.

 

 

I hope that the colours inspire you to create. Do leave us a link so we can see what you have come up with.

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Thanks Dolly, it's such a cool, restful palette, it was a pleasure to use. (and that site is a fab resource)
I chose taupe linen, and pale robin's egg stranded silk for rows of simple embroidery stitches, sampler style.
On top, I placed a photo of my grandson, on a vertical piece of cream mountboard for contrast, with pale jade ink sponged edges.
Placed in a thrifted frame, it gives me joy.

I miss him.

Eleanor

x

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 Hiya Claireliz here, with my attempt at this gorgeous colour palette.

I had a photo in mind for this as soon as I saw the colours, it's one of my friend Jo, taken at a friends wedding the other week. Jo is one of my closest friends, she is also very crafty, she gets just as excited over new stash & pretty things as I do, and we can giggle & eat cake for hours on end...

 

For the journaling I used a quote from Bernard Meltzer (although I changed the "he" to a "she" to make it fit.)

A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg, even though she knows you are slightly cracked.

A quote I feel sums up our friendship perfectly.

I loved working with this colour palette, & will be using it again, I also really enjoyed using a girly photo with colours that I would usually use for more masculine layouts. Thank you Dolly :D

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Weekend Workout 21 - Button It

Hello, my name is Eleanor, and I have a button drawer. :)

For weekend workout number 21, I challenge you to use buttons. Anywhere. Anyhow.

Here's my button love, it's a framed piece, or it will be when I find just the right frame (I know, I'm always saying that, lol) hopefully it will be framed before my pearl wedding anniversary in 2013.

Do you have plenty of buttons? Here are mine:

Do show us what you do with yours!

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Hiya it's Jayne here.

I am showing two things made using quite a few Buttons. I made a scrapbook layout a while back, I just love the texture of all the cream buttons on the moon... The little Alien was drawn by my youngest daughter.  :)

 

I also made this card for Christmas last year & it's great if you want to use up a lot of Buttons... I like the pastel colours but you could use more 'Traditional' colours if you liked. It is very simple but effective. I don't recommend posting it though as it is a little heavy !

 

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Nifty templates for scrapbook pages

Hiya Claireliz here with one of my favourite scrapbooking tricks.

I usually scrap in 12x12in size, but I have a thing for shaped pages in my albums, circles, scrolls, scalloped edges you name it, but I can't draw & my cutting machine will only cut A4 size, so whenever I see a die cut or shaped piece of paper or cardstock I buy it, regardless of pattern (if its a shape I haven't got) Then using the sheets of white cardstock or paper that usually come inside the page protectors of a new album I make templates of the shape by drawing round the bought piece of cardstock or paper, cutting the shape out with scissors & saving them for use later on, I have a large bag of these that always accompanies me to a crop and its known as "the bag of trusty templates"

I have lots of shaped pages in my scrapbook albums & feel they just add that extra bit of interest to my albums.

This is a page I recently made using my circular scalloped template...

I cut the patterned paper centre circle by drawing round a large pan lid (yup, I went into the kitchen :D)

Here are a few other ways I have used my templates... this one has a small scroll sat inside a larger one

 

By cutting inside the line you've drawn with the template you can make a template for a smaller scroll shape, here I have used the large & small templates to make a frame which I have mounted on 3d foam pads...

Or using a scalloped square, again I have cut a frame from this but the inside line was just cut freehand with a craft knife, again the frame was attached with 3d foam pads

Hmm it would appear I also have a thing from frames too.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at what I've made & I would love to see any shaped pages that you create too.

Thanks for stopping by to see us on IACW,

Take care & come back soon

Claireliz

x

Altered Mirror

In February I did a workshop with Tim Holtz, Suze Weinberg and Claudine Hellmuth

I made a decorated mirror using techniques taught by each of them.  My daughter really liked it and as I didn't want to part with the one I'd made at the class, I made her one inspired by what I'd learnt.

 

A close up of the rub on owl

Close up of gesso scribble

The mirror was great fun to make, why don't you try altering something to decorate your home with?

Lynne x

Scrapbooked Ornaments!

I've always enjoyed making little Christmas ornaments and keepsakes incorporating different photos of my son and family. In the past this has always been time consuming, involving glass and metal tape and soldering.

I know I'm way behind the times, but recently I went to a lovely craft store which is local to me, The Craft Den, and I picked up some of these lovely little frames.

I had a play with them today and they are fab - you just unhinge them, put your artwork inside and clip them up.  No burnishing, no soldering, nothing! They make the whole job so quick and easy.  Here's what you need to do if you want to have a go.

Make two layouts or pieces of artwork measuring approximately 1 3/4" x 1 3/4".  You could use favourite snaps of your children, your wedding, or just make a little collage. 

I cut two pieces of acetate measuring 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" from a 12" x 12" sheet of Stampin' Up! thick acetate and sandwiched my layouts between them, back to back.

Attach a lovely matching ribbon to the top and there you have it!

I love this idea.  Using these frames makes the whole process so quick and easy, and yet they make such wonderful, thoughtful and yet inexpensive presents.  They could be used as ornaments for Christmas or just as general keepsakes for decoration all year round.

I hope you like this idea and it gives you a bit more inspiration for your Christmas gifts!

TFL! Joanne x
 

Homemade Frames

I bought some frames from Ikea a while ago.  They were in packs of two and made from mulberry paper.  Very nice and very cheap, but a bit bland.

I have loads of buttons from scrapping and cardmaking and I thought it would be nice to jazz the frames up a bit using these buttons.  The colours I've used for this one match my lounge. 

You could use all sorts to decorate this type of frame - Prima flowers, beads, felt, material, glitter.  I think it would be a great idea to get some for the kids to decorate.  They would make great gifts for family members with their latest school photo in for Christmas. 

If you haven't got an Ikea nearby, you could always use Papier Mache frames which they sell at Hobbycraft and most other craft shops.

Have fun experimenting! TFL! Joanne x

Embossed Mirror

Hi there, it’s Angela here again with another messy project!

Northern Ireland has finally got it’s own Ikea, so when I was visiting the other day, I came across this fabulous mirror for only 99p! So of course I grabbed a couple of them.

First of all I used Model Magic, which is a modeling clay made by crayola, which is extremely lightweight. Using the swirled embossing folder in the cuttlebug, I flattened out some pieces of Model Magic in random shapes. If you do this remember to place the folder with the join going in first, as the clay does flatten and extend, and could break the join in your folder (Voice of experience speaking here).

This produced fantastic results! I layered these onto the mirror, wrapping some over the edges, and left it to dry for 24 hours.

Once it had dried, most of the clay had adhered itself to the mirror, but some pieces were still loose – I added a small amount of PVA glue to stick them down, and again left this to dry.

Next I painted the entire frame with turquoise Lumiere Paint.

Once this was totally dry, I painted over the top with a Dark Blue Lumiere Paint, and while this was still wet, rubbed it over with a baby wipe – this removed some of the dark paint from the raised areas on the frame.

To add a little more sparkle, I sprayed the frame with Frosty Night Glimmer Mist. This tended to pool in some areas, so I dabbed them dry, as they would have taken ages to dry, and would not have given the look I was wanting.

I then over-stamped this all with a script text using purple stazon.

Once this was all dry, I adhered some microbeads randomly using baby blue liquid pearls.

Finally, I rubbed over the edge of the mirror and some small areas with Pewter Treasure’s gold (a type of rub-on wax) and the buffed it up with a soft cloth.

I hope this has inspired you to try something different with some of the tools you might already have around the house.

~angela~