It's a Creative World

BLUE AND WHITE

Our creative girl Doda posted recently, here, about where to find inspiration, and that very post was where I found inspiration for this project. My eye was drawn to Doda's screenshot of her pinterest board, and down at the bottom were some blue and white porcelain hearts by, I think, Harriet Damave, which I fell in love with.

Here are mine:

They started life as a sheet of white shrink plastic, which I zendoodled with a fine blue Sharpie. I cut hearts approximately 2 inches across at the widest point, punched a hole on either side, and with the aid of a heat gun -

Here's another look at a finished heart, to see the thickness; I just love the miracle that is shrink plastic, seems I never grew up!

I used small silver jump rings to connect the hearts, using 7 in total to make a loose bracelet, with a silver tibetan clasp at the end:

Modelled by yours truly:

These are ready for necklaces and brooches:

Thank you Doda, that peep at your Pinterest board was just what I needed.

Eleanor

x

Happy Beading

Hi Lynne here

Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2012 brings you everything you could wish for.

 

Many of us are given book tokens as presents and I thought I'd share with you a fabulous beading book I have. It's well worth adding to your collection if you love making beaded jewelery, as I do.

It's called Beaded Allure by Kelly Wiese and it's fabulous.

The instructions are so easy to follow, as step by step pictures are included.

I've made the necklace on the front cover, using my own colour scheme.

I have a list of other projects I want to make in this book, I think it will keep me rather busy with my beading.

I hope you'll share with us if you make anything from this book.

Lynne x

Crocheted Brooch

Hello everybody - Kerry here with my very first post on here so please be gentle with me.

My project is an easy crocheted brooch. 

Terms are the US version of crochet because despite being English I learnt using the US terms.

You will need a few scraps of leftover yarn. The thickness is totally up to you.  I used chunky which I believe is called bulky in other countries. It gave me a brooch of approximately 3 inches in diameter. You could use thinner yarns doubled.

I used a 6mm crochet hook.

Directions:

Using the magic circle method (explained here) chain 3 and then do 10 double crochet (explained here) into the circle. Join with a slip stitch into the top of the chain 3.

It should look like this:

Chain 3 and then do 4 lots of double crochet into each double crochet from the previous round. Slip into the top of the chain 3. Weave in your ends and your crochet part of this is done. The 4 lots of double crochet makes it slightly ruffled. If you prefer it to be flatter then simply substitute the 4 double crochet for 3 double crochet.

It now looks like this (yes I was naughty and took the picture before I got rid of the ends):

Now comes the fun part. Grab some buttons and beads and let your creativity loose.  I used just ordinary sewing thread doubled for attaching the embellishments as some of the items I used were too small to fit yarn through. Invisible thread would be great for this part.

Sew a pin to the back and you are done.

There are numerous other ways of using this project. It would be great to dress up a bag, for fastening a scarf, as a hair accessory or on your papercrafting projects.

Thanks for taking the time to read my first ever post.

Kerry x

 

 

 

Not forgetting the Oldies :)

Ok we are not oldies but we have been on the DT for some time & are staying, These are the very Tallented ladies staying with us on IACW :) The ladies are lucky I was going to put a photo of them up but my emails are not working so they have been let off lightly (unless i add them later)

CAZ - Creating memories

DEBBIE- Rainbow Poppy

JAYNE- Paper Thoughtz

LYNNE- Lindyloo Crafts

KAREN- Dollys dreamings 

ELEANOR- Highland House Keeper

MANDY- ichthusfish

{image supplied by photobucket}

RETRO BRACELET

Hello, Eleanor here, with a technique I had forgotten about. I was prompted to revisit it by Jimjams on UKScrappers, when I saw a recent scrapbook layout of hers, with embossed, stamped tiles and letters. They look stunning and I immediately fancied a bracelet of 'tiles'.

Still in inchie mode from Lynne's weekend workout challenge, I cut some more one inch chipboard squares, dabbed the edges with a copper inkpad, coated the front surface with versamark, and triple heat embossed with Blonde Moments Festive Fern ultra thick embossing powder, before quickly stamping a retro pattern inked with the copper. I liked the stamps I used (old, but their first outing!) a retro set which which have quite a proud red rubber, so make a deep impression.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

The dilemma I faced next was the manner of linking the tiles to become a bracelet. I tried punching a hole before embossing, but the hole disappeared in the thickness of the ultra powder. I then tried punching through the hard surface, but it shattered, as it did when I tried drilling with the Dremel (as Jemma predicted!).

Hmm, this is what I tried next, hot glue gun and paperclips - it looks primitive but hey presto, it works:

I was able to connect each end of the paperclips with a small silver jumpring.

To conceal this rather unattractive backside, and stop it possibly rubbing on my skin, I cut one inch squares of felt and glued them onto the back:

Here's the finished bracelet, modelled by yours truly:

If you make something like this, I'd love to see it.

Thanks to Jemma and Lynne for the inspiration.

xx

Stitch Marker and Round Counter for Crochet Amigurumi style...

Hi, Mandy here again...

I love making toys and decorative items in a continuous crochet spiral,  BUT it's beyond important to use a stitch marker with this Amigurumi style crochet.  Recently I have been working on a pattern for a crochet egg (which is turning out to be harder than I first thought).  It's very easy to lose your place in a pattern and if you haven't marked the rounds then it's hard to go back and find where you were.  Really hard (I've learnt this the hard way with much gnashing of teeth).  So, up until recently I always tied a piece of contrasting cotton thread into the crochet as a stitch marker.  This worked OK but it takes time to tie it in and untie it every round.  I decided to make myself a  crochet stitch marker with a built-in round counter.  My dd had made the beadling bee for me a few years ago and decided to use it.  Next, I threaded some pretty glass beads and a round counter onto the bee's wire and connected a teeny silver lobster clasp which I got here at Yadanabeads on Etsy. 

However,  I got carried away making it cute and personal and lost sight of it's function as a stitch marker and that it would be attatched to the crochet while I worked.  The teeny lobster clasp held it's place wonderfully in the crochet and was quite quick to use BUT this cute new tool was so annoying to work with.  Back to the bead box I went and came across an old amber drop earing which I used to wear and love until I lost one.  The amber bead was lightweight, smooth and dangled freely.  I just added a small jump-ring and connected it straight to a lobster clasp.  A 30 second job and it works wonderfully!

 

 

I still use the round counter and the bee stops it rolling off the arm of the settee, so all's well.

 

I haven't given up on 'the ultimate crochet egg' and will share the pattern once I've worked out the kinks.

From Mandy.

 

Ladder Style Bracelet

Hi Lynne here

I'm intrigued by how changing shapes can alter the whole look of a project.

I'd wanted to try a twin needle project for a while and settled on a "ladder" style bracelet.

This one has bugle beads to form the ladder, they are twisted and have a rainbow coating so really glisten in the light.  This gives a delicate effect.

For this one I added 3 cube beads to form the ladder and swapped the outside beads to silver and used a black cube bead in the middle, which also has a rainbow coating.  This is a much chunkier bracelet.

They are very quick to make and you can ring the changes with the rainbow of beads available.

Do try making some yourself.

Lynne

A wooden bangle

I recently found some fabulous wooden bangle blanks ready for decorating and decided that my first one was going to be an inky one: 

 

I started by using a pale green distress ink over the outside and then a darker one:

 

I then laid Tim Holtz masks over the inked bangle and added more ink over the top. The next step was to add a darker brown ink along the edges and then tiny rhinestones in the middle of the masked flowers:

 
I think the next blank is going to be decorated with paper but I'm not sure yet LOL!

As always, thanks for visiting IACW!

Jo x

 

Crochet earings

Hi, Mandy here,

I really love to crochet and as a scrapbooker I can't remember the last page I made without a crochet flower or some trim on it.  However, I decided to have a change & try out an idea I had to make crochet earings.  It was my Gran, Daisy,  (who's 83 now) that taught me to crochet the traditional 'granny square' when I was a child. Since then I've always loved 'granny squares' but never really make any. So, I decided to make some earings inspired by granny squares and my own Gran.  These were the first pair that I gave to my daughter...

...here's a closer look...

I used a 0.75mm metal hook and crochet thread (I think it's size 8 cotton).  I made more in a variety of colours...

The photo below shows the size compared to a 1p

I did put a tiny dab of glue (Glossy Accents) on the metal findings where it touches the crochet, just to make them hang well and added beads to a couple of pairs but also left some plain.  It doesn't take long to make a pair!

Bye,

Mandy

Wavy Bracelet

Besides enjoying paper crafting I love beading.  I enjoy wire work and beads but my favourite is using thread and beads.

My daughter loves having matching jewelery for her outfits and will often flick through my books and magazines or sketch me an idea and say Mum, I'd like one of those in whatever colour she's wearing at the moment.  (Mainly blues and purples)

This is my latest offering:

The smallest beads are size 15 and the largest are size 6.

By changing the size of the beads you create a wave. (instructions for a similar bracelet can be found in Issue 12 of Bead magazine.  If you're looking for ideas of something new to try, pick up a copy and try some of the projects)

If you're anything like me you have a stash of beads in varying sizes and hues, get them out and have a play and see what you can create.

Lynne x