It's a Creative World

Ribbon canvas

 

The blog hoppers among you may recognise the inspiration for my ribbon canvas.  Yes, the fabulously talented Keisha at A bit East created a beautiful ribbon canvas here.  I fell in love with Keisha's original  and decided that I had to make one of my own.

To make a similar canvas you will need the following.

Artist canvas or board

Lengths of ribbon - I used Making memories Boho chic in Lauren

Photo or photos

Cardstock or patterned  paper to mat your picture, if you wish.  I used a scrap from Making memories Boho chic in Lauren

Embellishments - I raided my junk box for the butterfly brooch and the pin.  The flowers are by Maya Road and I think the diamante buckles are Making memories.

Here's how

Cover the canvas or board with double sided tape and stick the lengths of ribbon down.

Attach your piccies and embellies and you're done.

As I am a messy worker I have used double sided tape to stick cardstock around the outside of the frame.  It covers up any loose ends and makes it a bit more secure.

This is the original canvas created by Keisha and I love the fresh colours and the trims that she has used.

I really must say a big thank you to Keisha for allowing me to pinch her idea.  Also thank you to you our reader for stopping by.

If you happen to pop by Keisha's blog don't forget to say hi.

As always we love to see your creations so please pop a link in the comments and we'll come and see you.

Toodle pip

Maria x

Ooh, don't forget that Caz launches her month in my life project tomorrow.

More Scrap Rooms.....

Hello again!
So a while ago i posted some pictures of some very amazing scrap rooms and everyone drooled over them.
Well i am back with some more and all are to die for.
I find that even though i have a room to myself(yes i know i am lucky) i fail to keep it tidy and this can sometimes put me off crafting cause i peek around the door and my heart sinks.
So keep your eye out for useful organisational ideas in these rooms ;-)

This is CSTolleys room. I love the fact that even though it has a huge amount in it that it doesn't look cluttered. The purpley pink colours mixed with green is just to die for(my perfect colours!)
She has loads of shelving and loads of paper storage so you can see exactly what you need, it isn't all hidden away. I also love the boards on the wall where she has scissors hanging and also a place for all her ribbon!

 

Now this is the very beautiful Scrap shed that belongs to Ally. how amazing to have your very own little home away from home! Doesn't it look idyllic!
Ally has a huge amount of deskspace which is very important. Although i have two desks they aren't together and so sometimes i end up working on the floor! Also she has used baskets under the desks to store things. I love the little racks on the walls for flower jar storage and all the little sets of miniature drawers on the shelves above the desk.

This is Kahluascraps room. This room is huge and one of my favourites. I love the simplicity of the decoration, plain white but with hints of red, it gives a feeling of space. i love the use of all the artbins and also little islands to hold equipment like the Bigshot. She has some amazing drawer units for paper. 

I hope you've enjoyed having a look around some other scrap rooms, keep watching for more in the future.

Cath x

12 x 12 Layout

Hello
Well you have me, Cath, all weekend this week you lucky people! Hahaha
Joking aside, i hope you're all going to be doing lots of crafting this weekend?!

Today i am showing you a quick and easy layout that you can do with using just one large picture or maybe one large and one small picture.

The photo i used is 8 1/2in by 6in so is quite big.
I started by matting it on co-ordinating cardstock and putting it bottom left(but any corner will do depending on where you want you title).
Next i used my Cricut to cut the word IHOP out and stuck this top right. Using my printer and cardstock i printed out 'In love with...' and placed on an angle top left.
I then put the smaller matted photograph underneath that.
I did some journalling on the same green Bazzill CS and matted on the same brown card. You can print your journalling if you like but always remember, in years to come, people will love to see there ancestors handwriting!
I printed out the little IHOP sign i downloaded from the net and stuck that under the journalling.
Lastly i was left with a gap below the title and was a bit stuck with what to put there so i decided to just do a little word cloud with words associated with breakfast at IHOP(International House of Pancakes).
Very simple and non time consuming!

On another note i just wanted to remind everyone of the 'A Month in my Life' project that starts next month.
If you're interested then go take a look at Cazs post here.
I have just completed my album for this wonderful project which is shown below.
I used corregated cardboard for the back and painted it red to give it a shabby chic look. The album is 5x5in.



Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Cath xx

Taking photographs of your work

Have you been disappointed when taking photographs of your artwork? I know I have!!!

Hi from MadDi

Today we have a few tips and techniques to hopefully help you present your work in the best way possible.

I want to show you some of my BEFORE and AFTER pics Aaaaaaghhhhh:

This is my before shot - cluttered, messy, and bad lighting:

And here is my after shot - no distractions:

Here is my before shot - distracted by the background:

Here is my after shot:

LOL a last before shot, bad lighting (which distorts the colours) and messy background:

And the after shot taken in afternoon sunlight:

So what did I do?

• Asked for advice  and listened to the advice.
• Took loads of shots.
• Found some places inside and outside the house which did NOT detract from my shots.
• Bought a great big sheet of mounting board that I can use as a backdrop for photographs of my work. A large canvas will also work or a great white wall!
• PRACTICED, PRACTICED, PRACTICED.

I hope this helps you improve the shots you take of your work!!!

Love from MadDi

Small Treasures

As a scrapbooker, I find myself in the role of the  family book-keeper, recording important events; the every day happenings; and the general meat and bones of our lives in the present, but sometimes feel concerned that in our busy day to day existence we are in danger of forgetting to record the past too, and all the small things that mean so much to us; the sentimental things, the kind of things that can so easily be discarded as so much clutter by others once  we have gone.

 

I’m sure you know the sort of things I’m talking about here…I guess you all have them tucked away in a safe place too, your mothers ring, your grandmother’s brooch, a coronation mug passed down to you as a child… things which may not have great monetary value on the surface, but which mean the world to us in a sentimental sense.

 

I made this mini book is to celebrate the countless small treasures  I have lying around - though it looks as though I will have to do a couple more as it isn’t quite big enough!

Because it is so small I decided to keep it fairly plain and simple, and focus on the really important stuff – the photo’s and the journaling. Putting a key on the front was my way of conveying the idea that it is the key to my house / my treasure box, and of course, my heart.

 

A beginner doodler...

Hi all from MadDi

Who says you can't Doodle??? We all do it all the time. Some of us call it SCRIBBLING...

I sat in a coffee bar a few weeks back 'scribbling' or perhaps 'doodling" and this became the inspration for today's cards:

Yes I was thinking about lollipops, love, music and the sixties!

This is what you will need:

• A piece of cardstock 6 by 12  for the card.
• A piece of cardstock 5 1/2 by 11 1/2 for the card.
• Scraps of cardstock
• A circle cutter
• Pens, pencils whatever you need to doodle!!!

Funny thing about creativity and doodling. I feel so free when I am scribbling; I work quickly and am almost always pleased with 'the idea' HOWEVER when I start to do the real thing that other logical side of my brain takes over and wants to be so neat and constrained!!!! And I often end up disappointed with the results.

This time I attempted to FOOL the brain so I worked quickly stuck things down IMMEDIATELY and quickly scribbled before my brain knew what was happening!

Step 1: Ivory card stock overlayed on black cardstock, 12 circles cut and STUCK down. (I attached them with textured side up to make the doodling more difficult for the LOGICAL side of my brain and to encourage my CREATIVE side.)

Step 2: Just scribble (or doodle). I 'pretended' to myself that I was using my 'real art journal' and I was just doing a 'design' LOL. The textured paper allowed me to be less careful and gave the finished card a much less contrived look. So this got me in the mood!

BUT it was still not RIGHT - not spontaneous enough, so I will try again!

So, BEWARE of that logical, organised, precise side of your brain who continually tries to stifle our creativity. FIGHT BACK!!!

AND whats more if have found that using "Paint"  (the software tool) I can be messy and am definately NOT in control. These are my first attempts LOL:

Thanks for visiting IACW and love always from MadDi XXX

Quick & Easy Elegant Card

I think this technique is quite well known, but I love it as it makes such brilliant cards - and we all love the Cuttlebug Embossing Folders!

I thought this card would be great for a wedding, anniversary, sympathy, birthday - just about anything really and it's so easy to do.  Here goes:

Take a piece of white cardstock measuring 13cm x 13cm and fold it in half.  Put it in your embossing folder like this and run it through your machine.  This is how it turns out:  

I think it looks really effective.  To make the card I just made a square 15cm x 15cm card blank using Stampin' Up! Mellow Moss cardstock, attached a piece of Mellow Moss tafetta ribbon around the centre and attached a white silk flower with a rhinestone brad.  That's it!  Couldn't be easier! They are so quick and easy you could make a batch to give to someone as a set of notelets.

I hope you like this technique and find it useful.  I'll see you again soon! Joanne xxx 

Sew Easy Cushions

 

Hi, today I am making cushion covers, very easy ones with no zips involved; I just can’t seam to get on with zips at all.

First of all you need to measure your cushion from corner to corner (straight not diagonal) and add 1 & half or 2 inches to that measurement, so if cushion 16 inches you use measurement of 18 inches.

If you are using a plain, checked, striped or pattern that has no specific way up you can use one long piece of fabric, so it is 18 inches wide by 2x 18 inches then whatever you want your fold over (envelope) to be, I would go for about half the original measurement so in this case 8 inches, hem top and bottom, the hem that will be inside I do quite narrow, about 1cm, the one on the outside I do wider, about 1 inch, I tend to have the envelope fold on the outside of the cushion.  You then need to fold the fabric, lay it on your table right side up then bring the top (wide hem) over 8 inches (using the measurements above) then fold the bottom up to almost meet the top, at this point your cushion should measure approximately 18x18 inches, pin the sides together and sew, turn it the right way out and iron, it will then be ready to put on your cushion.

If you are using a pattern that has a specific way up (Like my toile de jouy ones) then you will need to cut three pieces of the fabric, 2 pieces need to be 18x18 and one-piece 8x18.  You will need to hem one edge of the 8x18 piece and one edge of one of the 18x18 pieces, then, with right sides together pin the top (8x18) to the middle piece, then the bottom (18x18) to the other end of the middles piece, pin the sides and sew all round the edges, turn it the right way out and iron it in the same way as the one piece cover.

I hope I have inspired you to make you own covers for cushions today

Trish xxx

A month in my life project

I have been wanting to do this project since seeing it in Rebecca Sowers book Scrapbooking Life's Little Moments back in the Autumn of 2004. You can see it on page 62 if you have the book :) She made a little book using numbered index cards bound with book rings.

So I plan to Scrap July 2008. Each day I will record what I have done, snippets from the news, the temperature, if it rained or was sunny. Basically anything!

I have prepared my 'book', by collecting scraps from my ScrapRoom kit. The max page dimensions are 6x4.

I then punched each page with my bind it all and have them bound with a book ring. This is because each evening I will choose a 'page' and record my day on it. I don't want to put it together now, and then have to use the pages in the order i've chosen today. I also plan to put photos in, which will be punched and bound and included as pages in the book.

And now the question is WHO WILL JOIN ME? Come on you know you want to!

Kick off it the 1st of July and all you need to do is decide on a format and take 10 minutes out to make a visual record of your day, each day as it happens.

Photos of my pages will be posted in an album here and of course you are welcome to send in your photos to be included too. Email us at [email protected] :)

See you on the 1st for A Month In My Life kick off!
Caz
xx

M Pages - A to Z Journal

Can you believe we are half way through the alphabet already!

But of course that also means we are almost half way through the year. And the time of the solstice is upon us. For us in the Northern hemisphere it's like reaching the peak and now we face the long downhill to winter.

But for those in the southern hemisphere it's the turn towards summer and the long hot lazy days! "Woo Hoo" says MadDi from South Africa  "longer days for me!!!!"

Here are a few ideas for the letter M:

Book of me/you: Me, Mother, Mum, Mam, Moi, Mine, Myself, Mumble, Miserable, Miser (LOL), Magnanimous, Meek ...

Book of baby: Missy, Messy, Moaning, Mumps, Moping...

Book of everyday:  Mess, Miserable, Morning, Moaning. Magnificent, Muddled, Monstrous, Marvellous ...

Occasions/ Life:  Memorable, Memories, Mourn, Marriage, Moments, Magnificent, Marvellous...

Tools and Techniques: Matt, Measure  ...

Knitting: Measure, Mix, Muddle (LOL)...

Our regular guest Willow has created another Magnificent page. Thank you Willow!

"It is called, 'M' is for Maiden, Mother [and Crone] and is dedicated to the Triple Moon Goddess...waxing moon being the Maiden, Full Moon being the Mother and Waning moon being the Crone"

.

Lemon  - Growing Up

When i asked my daughter what music she liked i was surprised. I had only heard of one of the groups and I did not recognise any of the songs at all. I suppose in years to come they will become classics.

Di Book of my Life:

And another easy one for me today. The most important thing in my life is being a MOTHER. So here is my page called "Muddled Memories of being a Mother..."

Caz - BoM

Memories of You. My dad passed away when I was 20 and is constantly on my mind. I remember him every day and the great memories of growing up with him.

Have fun with letter M - We cannot wait to see your pages.

And just in case you have forgotten WHY you are doing an art journal  - HERE is a great link! And remember too, you are allowed to be MESSY!

"Starting an art journal is a powerful way to move beyond words in your daily writing practice. Not only does working with images access a different part of our brains than words, making art is a source of playfulness and creative joy."

Love from the Creative Girls XXX