It's a Creative World

Use Your Hanky

Hello, Eleanor here. I’ve been tidying out cupboards (just a little, don’t let’s get all excited at the thought of a tidy cottage, it’s not happening) and found some vintage hankies I collected over a few car boot seasons. The sewing machine was out, threaded up and ready to play, so I refashioned my hankies into envelopes, and then I made a quick, clean and simple card to go inside.

Here is my hanky:

Step one of the transformation is to iron the hanky:

So very  easy to make, you  just fold hanky in half,

and stitch from the edge to the fold, fasten off,

and open out.

Bring in the third corner (I have already stitched from A to B, now I will stitch from A to C:

And stitch:

Shape and press,

and then measure to get the dimensions for your card.

This was a surprisingly quick project, the actual stitching is minimal, 2 straight lines, (didn't even need to use the sewing machine) and if you keep the card simple, the whole project is done in half an hour.

Bye for now

x

 

Paint Workshop

A couple of weeks ago a friend contacted me to say she had a migraine and would I like to take her place on a furniture painting workshop. Feeling very guilty I picked up her beautifully sanded piece of furniture and promised to do my very best to paint it a beautiful colour.

This is how it started out, it is a beautiful antque sewing table with the original lining still in tact!

We started with a base coat of Emulsion, I used Farrow and Ball Old White No 4, it provided a really good base colour.

After the first coat we used hair dryers to get the first layer completely dry before applying the second base coat.

Then came the scary part putting a wash over the furniture. We mixed one part acrylic paint with one part water and used a sponge to apply the wash in large sweeping movements until it started to dry and was blended in to a softer colour.

Once the wash was dry we used a really fine sandpaper which gave this unusual denim effect.

I'm not sure if this colour is right for the table, unfortunately they didnt have the colours in the workshop that I would have chosen but I have learnt a really interesting technique and would definitely spend the extra to use the Farrow and Ball emulsion paint.

Debbie x

What can I do with a broken salt cellar?

I've been staying inside today trying to keep cosy while wild winds have been whistling over most of Scotland. I found a nice relaxing little project to do and this is something that might inspire you to look in your cupboards and see what you can transform.

I own this pretty little silver salt cellar with cobalt glass insert and I will use it occasionally.  I also own another the same, but this one no longer has it's glass - not a whole lot of use. It is not worth getting an insert custom made for it,  so what do I do with it?

Make it into a cute little pin cushion, that's what.

I drew around the cellar and cut two bits of card a little smaller than my drawn lines. One bit of card I stuck into the bottom of the cellar to form a base which will hide any raw edges of fabric. Then I cut an oval of fabric for the top and a straight piece to go around the edges with a bit extra for gathering and turning under, and I stitched it wrong sides together. I turned it the right way around and stuffed it with dried lavender. Then I put the other oval of card on top of the stuffing and made a running stitch around the bottom edge of the fabric and gathered it together around the card and then popped it into the silver cellar. I could hot glue it in, but it is a firm fit so doesn't really need it, 

Every time I stick a pin into it I get a delightful aroma of lavender. I will really enjoy using this now instead of it being pointlessly stuck in a cupboard.

Perhaps you have some small dish or other small silver item that doesn't seem very useful at the moment. Why not turn it into a pretty little pin cushion to enjoy - or even give as a gift. Or if you don't own one but would like to, then keep your eyes open in the charity shops, you might just pick up the perfect thing.

I hope I inspired you today.

Happy crafting

 

BALLOONS

Back in July, I had been so inspired by our new DT member, Katherine's balloons, that I made a card for my grandson, (scroll down a little) as part of Claire's stamping challenge for a weekend workout.

I love the effect of the circles, and decided to use the technique in fabric, to liven up a plain (yes, predictable, I know!) charity shop linen skirt.

I bought a pack of 10 inch fabric squares, in reds and pinks, by Kaffe Fassett, from Cotton Patch , and cut lots (and lots) of circles. I layered them in threes, and stitched them down fairly randomly, with raw edges to allow fraying, stitching the base one around its edge, and the upper pair vertically through the centre.

Here's the 'before':

The 'after':

and here I am:

Now I need to make a scrapbook layout! Thanks for the inspiration Katherine, I just love these balloons.

I wonder where I can put them next - on the Christmas tree perhaps?

Bye for now.

 

light up your life...by alix

Hi there everyone...this is alix...i'm super excited to be joining this fun blog and getting to know all the other lovely creative types...and you!

For my first project I thought i'd share a lovely lantern project with you.  This is fairly easy to complete {although a little time consuming waiting for each side to dry} and makes a spectacular gift for someone you love if you take the time to match the colours to thier decor. :0)

After first cleaning the glass with Alcohol Ink Blending Solution to remove any grease, i stamped a variety of grass~like and butterfly images over the glass panels with Versamark and embossed them with a verdigris powder.  This has to be done one side at a time.  When the panels had cooled i coloured the whole glass panel with Sakura Jelly Roll Glaze pens, using dark blue at the bottom and for the butterflies and blending it to palest blue at the top.  This also has to be done one side at a time.  Finally I painted Rock Candy Crackle paint {which is clear} all over the panels to give the glass a *crazed* look.  And again this has to be done one side at a time and left to dry!

The photo above shows the lantern in all its daytime glory...but for me...lanterns are all about bringing a little warmth and a cozy glow in the evenings...which i hope you can see in the photo below:

I love how this lantern looks at night time hanging above the open fire and literally warming the cockles of my heart. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like this idea...and don't forget to pop back often and check out what all the other creative world girlies have created to share,

alix

AUTUMN LEAVES

Hello, Eleanor here.

I was given a skirt recently, and although it was just my size and a great length for me, and had some surface interest, I wanted to brighten it up a little.

It started out like this:

I cut lots of simple leaf shapes from felt, small, (1 inch long) medium, and large (2 inches long), selected some matching embroidery thread and stitched the leaves on, fairly randomly, over the main part of the skirt, and in heaps at the hem, like this:

and this:

then popped back outside (and wondered when looking at the photo afterwards, where my waist had gone, probably too many autumnal treats, like toffee apples, gingerbread and apple crumble - almost cropped it (the photo, not the waist - I wish) but hey, who am I kidding?) for a falling leaves photo:

This is a beautiful song. by someone who sadly never even saw the summer of her life, let alone the autumn.

See you soon.

E

xx

 

Bordering on

an obsession.

Hello, Eleanor here.

I've been hooked by the urge to crochet cotton trims on my skirts.

Sometimes a summer skirt is rather more lightweight than advisable, if it's likely a breeze may suddenly pick up. I have several skirts which are lovely and cool to wear when the weather is hot, but which have no substance. One even had a rather odd faux petticoat, which I tacked out of the way

before edging the skirt with a row of blanket stitch.

That gave me a foundation row to work into with pink cotton:

which I followed with green, in a scallop shape. (basically this was a 3 stitch pattern: single, [double treble double all into the same stitch], single, repeated on around the hem until back to start. (You can tell I'm not a real crocheter, my instructions are rubbish, but you get the idea, I hope)

I removed tacking stitch, trimmed off frightful petticoat and wore, perched on a squatted-in rabbit hutch:

And here we go again:

Oh goodness, the lengths some people will go to to make their photo a little bit more interesting.

I'm off to find another skirt to trim...

Cheerio.

 

BRIGHTER BUTTONS

I have a few very plain cardigans, which are wardrobe staples for certain occasions, but which I fancied livening but not permanently.

I'm no great shakes at crochet, but I can manage a couple of simple stitches, which is how I made these:

It's no secret that I love pink and green, so if I'm wearing a skirt or dress in those colours, I can button up with my black cardi and little toning button covers. (a white cardigan would look good too)

Spring on the way? This little hyacinth button slip-on is just the thing on this fine soft cardi.

And when autumn chill has me reaching for my brown cardigan, a cosy button wrap brings cheer. (I know it's a weird place for a button, it's always puzzled me, but it really is up there, honest...)

Light was fading, by the time I got undressed and dressed again for the third time, but you can get the idea I hope!

I used hook size 3, and King Cole Bamboo cotton for most of these, and as Mandy is the crochet queen around here, I won't even try to write proper instructions, but I began with a sliding loop, or magic circle, as it was important that the central hole could be cinched up to fit tightly around a button. There are lots of tutorials for the magic circle on youtube, but I learnt from a book, and then it was simply 12 trebles into the ring for round one, followed by a colour change and 2 trebles into each of the 12 spaces and fasten off. Any shape of motif would do, as long as it has a sliding loop centre. Mini granny squares would be sweet, or petalled flowers.

I'll be back another day with more button fanciments.

Eleanor

xx

 

Green and Black

Hello, Eleanor here, with a skirt in need of cheering up! 

I bought a lovely Next black linen skirt from an op shop for £1. It was too long, but with what I had in mind, that didn't matter.

First I shortened it, both at the hem and at the waist, to just below knee length, then I rootled about in my ribbon box and found almost a whole reel of green silk ribbon. I wanted something similar to a Boden skirt I saw a while back, so I pinned on the ribbon, tacked it and then hand-stitched it in place.

 

It's meant to be 'here and there', honest!

So now, here I am:

and there's a surprise at the back (and yes, I've remembered how linen creases so easily, but hey, never mind, these little strips of organza ribbon sparkle and make me smile):

 

That's all from me, till next time.

xx

CUSHY JUMPER

Hello from Eleanor up in the Highlands, where cotton jumpers are just NOT the thing, one of the reasons being this (and this was just 5 days ago):

Years ago I had a bit of a thing about jumpers from Jumper - the cotton cabled ones.

I wore them a lot. With a crisp white shirt underneath, a soft polo shirt, a skinnyrib poloneck sweater, or a silky scarf peeping out from the neck - I loved them.

But this little pile of sweaters have finally had their day, moving over for fleece, microfibre and more fleece (and maybe, just maybe, if I'm very lucky, some cashmere yarn to knit a soft cardigan), and so, what to do with them?

Well, I fancied a cabled cushion or two, having lost all our loose cushions to mildew (long story, damp storage whilst in housing transition).

So, I took the scissors and sewing machine to my jumpers and this is the result:

This sage green one is filled for now with a fleece blankie, just to show it off.

These below await their filling when I've been shopping for inners:

It was fun choosing buttons.

Have you got a jumper which could be a cushion?

Bye for now.

Edited to add - some of you are asking about the technique to prevent unravelling.

I turned the jumper inside out, laid it flat, pinned a length of cotton tape (but any strip of cotton fabric will do, just over an inch wide) from armhole to armhole and stitched along the tape and jumper together, using a long (4mm) straight stitch. Fold down the tape, and trim the jumper 1/4 inch from the stitching, but don't trim the tape, leave the approximately half inch free. Then, with the top part of the jumper gone, fold over the tape to enclose the raw edge, and stitch again.

I'll try to find another jumper to alter, and take photos next time!

xx