It's a Creative World

Going a bit dotty!!!

Hi folks from Di.

Yes I am going a bit dotty in my old age!!! I forget things and continually repeat mself!!!

Caz asked me for a pic wearing my Christmas hat and I could not resist scrapping it. I just used some 'dotty' patterned paper,  circles cut from scrap cardstock, some dotty ribbon and letters punched from my sizzix. I then added a few stars cut from foam and decorated with glitter glue and bling brads. I call this the "GERIATRIC fAiry".

Get those Christamas hats on and lets see your layouts.

As this is my last post before Christmas it brings my Christmas wishes to you:

I wish you creativity...

I wish you inspiration...

I wish that your wishes are granted...

Thank you for your support this year and may you be blessed over the festive season.

Finally a big thank you to the IACW design team who have been so amazing this year. They have supported and inspired me every day! Thank you girls for the lovely flowers I received for my big 60th birthday!!

Love from Di XXX

Coin holders

Hi from Caz!!

Today we are going to be looking at decorating coin holders :) Now as you all know I have this big basket of 'stuff' for altering and amongst it all, I had two bazzill coin holders, that I bought years ago.

The biggest problem I always have when sitting down to work on a project is choosing a theme. But of course having gotten married this year, gives me the best theme ever to use for loads of projects!!

The 'holes' are 1 and a half inches in diameter, so that is the size circle punch you'll need to cut your photos.

Some of the photos where slightly too big to be cut in a circle but that didn't stop me using them. I just stuck them on over a 'hole'.

I love the Making Memories metal accents, so used these along with the little lady birds that my florist had used to embellish the wedding flowers.

The felt flower was part of my advent gifts from the lovely Andrea :)

Coin holders are great to use for gifts, especially for grandparents! They make FAB brag books :)

You can buy coin holders at ScrapMagic, 3D Jean and Artbase.

Now we have a little something for the lovely ladies taking part in the A-Z project starting on the 5th January!! Your very own A-Z button :) All you need to do is click on the link and follow the instructions.

We also have a page dedicated to the A-Z Project so keep checking back for updates info :) Can you believe it starts in 18 sleeps!!

haPPy creATing!!
Caz
xx

Scrumptious and healthy muffins

Today I thought I would share with you our scrumptious and healthy muffins.  Of course I am not noted for my kitchen skills so I asked my mum to help me out.

You will need:

3 ripe bananas

5 tablespoons granulated sweetener

3 eggs

250g fine semolina (eg half a box of Whitworths)

1 x heaped teaspoon baking powder

1 x 250ml tub low fat fromage frais

1 x handful sultanas

1 tablespoon chopped walnuts (if liked)

1 x handful dried apricots, chopped

Or, add a punnet of blueberries or a handful of frozen blueberries

What to do:

Mash bananas with sugar/sweetener and whisk in the eggs and fromage frais.  Add semolina and baking powder and mix well.  Beat in dried fruit and nuts.  Spray a 12-cup silicone muffin tray with low cal spray oil and divide the mixture between the 12 cups.  Bake at 160 in a fan oven or 180 conventional oven for approx 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch.  After 5 minutes, remove from muffin tray and cool on a wire rack.  These buns keep perfectly in the freezer.  If the dried fruit and nuts are not included, and perhaps some vanilla extract and the blueberries are used, these muffins are suitable for Weight Watchers no-count plan.  They are not exactly like muffins, but if you are on a low fat diet, they taste delicious!!

Altering Giant Heidi Swapp Playing Cards

Hi, it's Joy here today, and I am showing a fabulously messy project that involves using colour washes, pearl ex powders, stencils, stamps and paints to create giant ATCs.

First, pick a few cards to alter. :0)  I chose two cards, and I used the hcart background of one as a feature, and I stamped into the second card. 

Second, spritz the cards with colour washes.  I used Adirondack's colour washes, which were great because they were easy to 'remove' in areas later.  I also added green pearl ex powders to the wet paint.  In the second card, I stamped into the wet paint (and left the stamp in it).  Then I left the cards to dry.

The cards dried like this:

Next, I used baby wipes to remove areas of paint, and I added more powders and other paint colours.  Again, I left these to dry.

Then I used Crafter's Workshop stencils.  I sprayed over them with colour washes, let them dry, and then repeated this process with the stencils and acrylic paints.

The cards ended up with layers of yummy paints and washes. 

I removed paint with baby wipes again to reveal the pink heart in the second card.

I hope you enjoy playing. :0)

x

Joy

Mince Pies

Today I have some festive mince pies for you, I know they are very cheap to buy ready made in the supermarket, but making your own can become part of your Pre Christmas Fun. I love to make (and eat unfortunately) pastry and have used a basic half fat to flour recipe for it, I did use ready-made supermarket mincemeat though, I do actually plan to make my own for next year. I cut the bottoms using normal large round cutter and a star cutter for the lids, with a light dusting of icing sugar they are ready to eat, my hubby and daughter love my home made mince pies so I always need to make at least 50 of them just for those two!!!

Have fun creating on this last full week before Christmas.

Trish xxx

Have a Magical Christmas!

Hello everyone! Joanne here.  Hope you're not getting too stressed in the Christmas rush!

Following on from my money card for a boy a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd have a go at doing one for a girl.  Here's what I came up with!

This idea could obviously be used for a Birthday card as well, so very versatile.  Also very quick to do which is essential at this time of year!

I took a ready made 15cm x 15cm card blank and attached to that a 14cm x 14cm square of patterned paper.  The paper is from the Colorbok Dena's Closet Retro Collection.

I folded the £10 note up and attached it to the card with silver thread.  I found it easier to punch the holes first with a paper piercer and then stitch the £10 in place.

I then freehand drew a star for the size I wanted, cut it out and decorated it with a flower and rhinestones.  I hand curled two pieces of thin wire and taped them to the back of the star for the fronds. This was then attached just above the £10 note with foam tape.

The sentiment was done on the computer using "Three Dates, One Night" font and cut out and attached to the card along with a few sequin stars.

All done! I'm sure my niece will be happy with it - I hope! Thanks for looking and I'll be back again real soon!

Joanne x

Last minute Christmas cards with Di....

Hi folks from Di. Happy in Hertfordshire!

OOPS!!!  Yes I have left some cards to the very last minute so have been frantically trying to finish them for my new friends in the lovely village of Great Wymondley, Hertfordshire where I am staying with DD Caz and her DH Stu!

I have been so inspired this Christmas by Trish's rag wreaths that I decided to make tiny ribbon wreaths and place them on a card. Mwah Trish!

This is what you will need:

• Thick cardboard
• Scraps of Patterned Paper and Cardstock
• Loads of bits of ribbon
• Buttons, brads and stamps (if required!!!!!)

I started with a load of ribbon. Then using a tumbler I cut a circle from heavy cardboard and cut out the centre. I then just tied the ribbon around the little mini wreath. Do you have FAT FINGERS like me? Oh dear was a littly fiddly for me but very therapeutic!

I then attached the little wreath to some PP then to a heavy duty card which actually contains a CD of Christmas music! A little PP, a few stamps and more ribbon and Voila we are done.

Waste not want not, and lets mess a little!!!

After trimming my little Christmas wreaths I was left with this gorgeous pile of little bits of ribbon! They looked like they could be used to create a mosaic or SOMETHING.

So I squiggled a Christmas tree shape on some black cardstock using a gold pen, the spread some glue inside the Christmas tree.

Then I just sprinkled and squashed the little pieces of ribbon on to the glue, cut out the tree shape, attached it to some Patterned Paper then to a card, added a few stars, and FINALLY added little dollops of glitter glue and here it is!

This was SIMPLE and FUN to make and just a little bit MESSY LOL.

We love to share our reader's creations: 

Jenga was a lucky prize winner during our October 'Scrap your Boobs extravaganza. This is a layout that she created with her prize:

Thank you so much Jenga for allowing IACW to share your work with our readers!!!

And finally a little TRIVIA...

The most fantastic explanation of the term, “Christmas carol”, originates from England. According to this English story, a young girl named Carol got lost in the streets of  London on a cold winter night. In an attempt to find her, her friends went from house to house similar to the way we do during Christmas, singing "Christmas Carols". After this episode, the term “Christmas Carol” became widespread.

Have fun folks, only 13 more sleeps to Christmas.

Love and Blessings from Di XXX

Handy little storage pot

Hi from Caz!!!

As a scrapper I find it very difficult to throw anything away and I have a basket full of stuff to alter, cover and decorate. When I needed something to keep all my hair clips in, this basket was my first stop. And I just happened to have an empty KI alpha soup container!

I found an off cut of patterned paper that I used to cover the pot, and added a strip of ribbon at the top and bottom edge to create an edge. I dymo'd a little label and glossy accented on a few flowers with bead centres to give it a little decoration.

Of course these make great gifts for little girls as they always need pretty containers to keep their treasures. And naturally if you don't like to part with your creations, these make handy holders for brads, eyelets and even buttons!

These also make great stocking fillers :)

haPPy creATing

Caz

xx

Christmas Hanging

To make a festive hanging like mine you'll need a wooden star for every letter of your chosen word, ribbon, patterned paper, chipboard letters, acrylic pain, walnut ink, chalk ink and a crackle medium.

I started by sanding the wooden stars all over to remove any rough edges and covered both sides wth the patterned paper.  I used a glue stick and put my roller to good use to make sure that I had no lumps and bumps in the glue.  I sanded the edges and both sides lightly to take the shine off the paper and make the star look more 'worn' and used the chalk ink lightly around the edges.

To make the letters I first painted them with red acrylic paint and when they were dry I sanded them lightly to make then smooth and take the shine off.  After this I dabbed walnut ink over the painted surface to make each letter look worn and old and then covered in a thick layer of Ranger crackle accents.  I left them overnight for the crackle medium to work it's magic.

 

The next day I glued the letters onto the stars using glossy accents glue (I trust this glue to keep my letters well and truly attached to the stars!) and joined them all together with the ribbon.

As always, if you feel inspired by our blog, leave us a link in the comment box so we can come and have a look

Love Andrea xxx

Place name holders

I am not a cook at all, thank goodness that my Mum is and that we are always invited to spend Christmas Day at her house! As I can't make any significant contribution to the table in terms of food, I thought this year I could try to make amends using paper instead.

I have been very inspired by some of the Christmas papercrafts I have seen this year and thought that I would have a go by making simple Christmas Tree place name holders. The design is made from three paper cones, each simply fits over the top of the other and they can be decorated in anyway you would like to match your own table decor.

I started by having a play on computer paper using a compass and drawing semi-circles, which I then cut out and rolled into cones. I just played around with the sizes until I was happy. I then used those as templates and even made one tree out of the white paper (one tree can be easily made from one A4 sized piece of paper). I have attached a file that you can download and print off with the templates for each cone to make things easier if you wish.

Download cone_templates.doc

I used a normal dry adhesive for the paper, but double-sided tape for the card versions. To slot the names in simply cut a slot of one or two centimetres in length down either side of the top of the tree.

As they are so quick and easy to make I am also planning on making some in different sizes to dot around the house, and am going to try out some different designs based on the cone shape such as this Santa!

Happy crafting (and eating!)

Charlotte x