It's a Creative World

Changing Faces

Hello, Eleanor here.
I love documenting how my children's appearance has changed through the years, and one way to do it is with a funny little folding paper 'toy'.
It only takes a piece of paper A4 size, either plain or patterned, and four photos sized to approx a quarter of the piece of paper.
I chose photos showing my youngest from toddler to nearly teenager for the slide show example,

but I have also done stages of my own life - through teens, twenties, thirties and forties, and my daughter at 4, 8, 12 and 16.

It's quite fun to practice folding and changing the faces, until you get really quick at it.
These are my daughter's faces:



These come out at A6 size, a nice size to pop into a birthday card, but I once made one even smaller for an ATC of ME swap at a retreat.



Have a go, it doesn't have to be faces, a building project or garden through the seasons is good.
cheerio

Card Toppers!

Hello Everybody!  Thought I'd show you a few card toppers that I made recently.  If ever I have a spare minute (which is rare!) I like to make some carde toppers.  I always like to have a spare stash as they are so handy to have.  Whether it be to make a last minute card to to send someone as a RAK or little gift, they always come in useful.  The best thing is they are great for using up your scraps!

 

This first set is made using various Stampin' Up! stamp sets.  The ones I used are Pocket Sillhouettes, Circle of Friendship and Sincere Salutations.  The colours I used for the cardstock, ink and ribbon combinations are Regal Rose, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip.  All Stampin' Up!

I know a few people who are due to have babies soon, so I decided to make some baby card toppers too.  We don't know whether they will be pink or blue yet, so I made these quite unisex!  The rubber stamp set is Nursery Necessities and the colours used are Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery and Pretty In Pink.  Again, everything Stampin' Up!

I hope you like this idea and I'll see you again soon!

TFL! Joanne x

Garden Time

And the winner is..... Soo!

Lol Love him!

Posted by: soojay | May 19, 2009 at 07:41 AM

Please email your details to [email protected] with DEWDROP CRAFTS WINNER in the subject line!

All comments added on Sundays, Yesterdays or todays post till 8pm tonight will be entered into a draw to win a prize from Dewdrop Craftz!

Hi from Caz!

Well I certainly didn't expect my garden to be as easy and do as well as it has this year. I guess it just goes to show that as a total novice gardener you can have a perennial garden if you do a little reseach and planning.

This photo is from the 13th of April

 

And the next 21 days later....

 

All I have had to do is keep the weeds at bay! Since then the lupins have started to flower and the dalphiniums have buds. There is very little soil showing now! The hedge is doing really well too.

And I have made some progress in the veggie patch too. You may remember the mess it was in back at the beginning of March.

 

Well a few things have changed! I have sweetpeas coming on nicely. My corgette and tomato plants are in and I have a few potatoes planted too. It was a hard job to turn the soil over and poor Stu had a mamoth task with the rotorvator as the ground is rock hard but I will continue to turn it over and rack to get it all broken up.

As you can see from the photo above we have an exciting garden construction project on the go! We're building a shed come chicken house! 

At the back are the nesting/roosting boxes and inside is a dividing wall. The side showing will be the shed and the plastic panels will hopefully let in enough light and warmth that I can use it as a greenhouse too. Although I have enjoyed having my seedlings on the window sills in the dining room and kitchen, they will need hardening off.
One the left of the shed as we are looking at it, will be the chicken run. They will have a ramp up to their 'house' where they will be locked away each night.
We're still a little way off getting them but it's such an exciting project, that I can deal with the wait!

My garden jounral is a bit bare though :( As much as I want to keep up with it, I seem to be running out of time each day to sit and write. I guess it's all about getting into the habit.

Until next time!

Thanks for visiting and haPPy grOWing!
IACW girls
xx

Don't forget we want you to Scrap your Man. It's all to raise awareness for a great cause and there are prizes to be won! 

Be inspired by challenges! Part 3

Don't forget all comments left on yesterdays, todays or tomorrows post will be entered into a draw to win a prize from Dewdrop Craftz!

Today is the last in my look at challenges set to inspire us. See part one and two.

A True Friend

Challenge 45 - Your Friends, Friend :) This blog is a must for those of us who love to scrap their pets! And I am certainly one of those people. I had forgotten all about these photos until I read the challenge and than just had to scrap them!

I hope you enjoy the challenges and inspiration on offer, I know I do!

Thanks for visiting!!
Caz
xx

Scrap your man ...... An update!!!

We would like to thank all of our readers and sponsors for their support in raising awareness of male cancer.

Today, we have a fabulous announcement from Dewdrop Craftz.

Thank you so much to everyone at Dewdrop Craftz and what a fab excuse to go shopping.  Don't forget that Fathers day is just around the corner and they would make a super card or tag.

We love receiving your layouts so be sure to send them to us at [email protected].  Here are a few for your delectation.

Sue Jones

Sarah B

Annette Taylor

 

And finally, be sure to email your layout or leave us a comment and you could win a fabulous prize from Dewdrop Craftz.

Thank you so much for helping us to raise money and awareness for Orchid    

Stamp storage

I have "quite a few" clear and rubber stamps and having decided that they're not all being used to their full potential thought that I needed to do something about it.

 

I bought a cheap storage box from "Bewise" and a few sets of 6" x 4" index cards. I also bought a set of dividers and have marked these all in various stamp themes including birthday sentiments, birthday images, Christmas sentiments, flowers, kid themed, butterflies and baby images.

 I'm now in the process of going through each CD case of stamps and stamping an image from each stamp on to a card and filed under the appropriate heading. Each CD case of stamps is numbered and stamped images also numbered to make them easier to find.

 

I'm hoping that by having all the images in one place I'll be able to see at a glance which stamp I need and they'll get used more! My only problem is that so far I've only indexed up to CD case 38 ao I have at least another 100 to go LOL!

If you have any better ideas for stamp storage/cataloguing we'd love to hear them!

Jo x

 

Don't forget we want you to Scrap your Man. It's all to raise awareness for a great cause and there are prizes to be won! 

Padded Heart Garland

First start by cutting and stuffing 7 small hearts as though you were doing them as plain key hangers (ie... cut, sew all the way round inside out, make a little slit and turn it the right way round through the hole. Then stuff with either toy stuffing, an old pillow insides, old clean tights etc)
Sew a button on both sides of the small cut hole covering up the hole completely.
To fasten the hearts into a garland you need to make a loop at one end of some jute or ribbons. 
You can either work your thread through the middle of the hearts or through a small section at the back. 
Fasten a knot just after the heart to stop it from moving and a little further down fasten another knot.  Layer co-ordinating buttons and stop these moving with another knot.
 Follow this pattern until you have the garland at the required length and finish off with another loop.  These loops make it easier to hang.

Enjoy
Debbie
x

Scrap Lift to inspiration!!!

I don't know how often I've sat with my pretty papers and my photos and just shoved them round and round without a clue what to do! Sometimes the scrapping spirit is strong but the mojo is weak!

 The other week some uber talented friends of mine came up with sketches to inspire and although I have often shied away from scrap lifting I just couldn't resist and I was very glad I played along!

First of all I tried Mafswife's layout. It was simpler than I usually do but I loved the addition of texture and it was perfect for this lovely picture of our new Beagle, Rowdy!

Ann's sketch and her layout:

And here's my version:

Andrea Gourley aka GeordieGirl came up with a really cute card sketch that I can see me using LOTS as it's so versatile. It's a great sketch that can be embellished or kept simple- just lovely!

and my version using the lovely Hero Arts stamps:

It's great when you do a scraplift and you use a design that you'd not thought of before. For example Kate Hadfield's Sketch used 5 photos on one layout which was perfect for me as I still have lots of holiday photos to scrap! Sitting down and resizing the photos in Photoshop Elements to a 2.5" x 3.5" made me see what a useful format this will be for those holiday photos. It's such a versatile layout that I'll be able to adapt it to many different photos without the layouts looking samey!

this is my non-digital version using 6 photos:

Oh and the title 'Lyme Jeebus' was what my children started calling Lyme Regis *grins*

Now Charlotte came up with a beautiful layout that was a little more intricate and required relearning an old technique! Years ago when I first started scrapping I learnt (thanks to Hot Off The Press) how to cut patterned papers so they peaked out around photos. Charlotte's lovely method took this technique to the next level. Shapes are cut from the top sheet of the layout and then mounted above a second sheet that is decorated and patterned papers are placed below the cut-outs so they show through!

Here's Charlotte's sketch and zingy layout:

Here's my go - yes it's Rowdy again!!

I was so glad that these ladies took the time to share their talent because by doing layouts and cards based on their sketches I learnt such a lot and I'll be using what I learnt again and again! It really got me thinking outside of my usual safe, scrapping box-  I found it really inspiring to see a layout through someone elses's eyes.

So I'm going to try regularly to have a scraplift ESPECIALLY when lacking mojo as it doesn't just get a layout completed it increased my scrapping horizons and was great fun!!

Thanks so much to Kate Hadfield, Charlotte, Mafswife and Andrea for allowing me to share their fabulous sketches and original artwork- you're the best!!

Happy Crafting

~love kt x

Be inspired by challenges! part 2

Following on from Part 1......We are visiting two more FAB inspiration blogs.

Mojo Holder

We're looking at Challenge 106 - Bernadette Henderson. As soon as I saw this sketch I knew I had found the perfect format for the front page of my wedding scrapbook! And I know it will be one I use many times more!w

 

Daring Card Makers

Now this blog is a must for card makers. It is the place to visit if you're out of inspiration! Just FAB. I'm SUPERSIZING with them today :) And this challenge fits in so nicely with my style as I love big flowers on my cards. I've also used an oversized 'h'.

Thanks for visiting!!
Caz
xx

And don't forget to send us your men for the Scrap Your Man Challenge. There are some great prizes to be won! Lets raise some awareness and protect our men!!

Mason Bee Houses

Hello.

We have been busy with carpentry tools, making nest boxes for some very small flying friends.

As spring arrived, you may have noticed something looking like a small dark bumblebee. This is a mason bee.

Unlike honey bees, they are solitary; every female is fertile and makes her own nest.
Solitary bees produce neither honey nor beeswax, but they are excellent pollinators, and since they have no honey to defend, will only sting if squeezed or stepped on. As such, they make excellent garden and allotment "pets", since they both pollinate the plants and are safe for children and pets.

The females like to nest in narrow holes or tubes, such as hollow twigs, but sometimes other similar spaces are used, including empty snail shells, old nail holes, or, as we have made for ours, bespoke mason bee nest boxes. A female might inspect several potential nests before settling in, and within minutes of putting ours up, there were several mason bees flying around and in and out of the holes.

Once mating has occurred, and suitable holes found, females then visit flowers to gather pollen and nectar, and it will take many trips to gather enough. Once sufficient, the bee backs into the hole and lays an egg on top of the mass. Then she creates a partition of "mud", which doubles as the back of the next cell. The process continues until she has filled the cavity. Female-destined eggs are laid in the back of the nest, and male eggs towards the front.

Once a bee has finished with a nest, she plugs the entrance to the tube, and then may seek out another nest location, so we've made sure there are plenty of choices up at our allotment.

We began with some plain old blocks of wood,

which Rick then drilled holes into. These were the first ones, and the first ever time using the drill.

These we screwed to the end of a compost bin on brackets.

But as his confidence grew, so did his ambition:

Until finally he was designing 'luxury' homes for our useful little friends:

A simple project, but fun, and worthwhile in terms of potential benefit to our crops. Within minutes of the first nest going up, we saw mason bees nosing around, and now we can see a lot of activity as they make their trips to and fro.

Bye for now,

Eleanor.