It's a Creative World

Pillowslip tote

Sometimes it's nice to give a special gift, such as perfume or undies, jewellery or a handmade garment, wrapped in tissue paper, in a special soft bag, which is re-usable or pass-on-able.
I am always on the lookout, in charity shops or at carboot sales, for pretty/striking/vintage pillowcases. They are usually 50 pence or less.
Here's a selection of recent finds:

I took one of these and opened it up along the side seams, including the flap so that I had one long piece of material.
Then I cut two approximate squares, as long as the fabric was wide.
I placed these WRONG sides together (right sides facing out) like this:

and stitched as follows:

I said it was tricky, but actually it's not that tricky, once you see what the corner should look like...

You can trim off the triangular corner now if you really want to, but my tote is going to have NO raw edges whatsoever. That little triangle will sit nicely in the bottom of the bag, not bothering anyone.

There goes Mango.

Leaving the bag still inside out, turn it around so that the opening is at the top.

Do this on both front and back, stitch along hem anchoring handles, and then stitch another line right at the top edge. Turn right way out.

I took a few bags into the garden to photograph like they do on all the best blogs, but there were no pieces of stunning antique furniture to display them on, only this...

It's an abandoned and derelict 2 tier rabbit residence, freecycled. Ripe for renovation.
WATCH THIS CRAFTY SPACE.

See you soon.
Eleanor

Finishing touches

I love fresh flowers in my house but don't have lots of spare cash to have massive bouquets in every room. BUT now that my garden is in full bloom there is no reason I can't have fresh cut flowers all around the house :)

In the winter time I usually buy a lovely big bunch of crysanthamums from either Sainsbury's or Waitrose (who often do 2 bunches for £5, which is a bargain!) And they brighten my kitchen even when the day outside is grey and miserable.

 

Sometimes when the bunch looks ready to go in the bin there are stillv a few flowers which look fresh. I can't throw them out, so I put them in a little bottle and often put it in the lounge next to my couch :)

Flowers are a great way to brighten a room and bring a smile to your face. And of course they smell lovely too!

Thanks for visiting!!
Caz
xx

A simple 'fun to make' card ...

Hi all from Di  in Jhannesburg South Africa

Don't you just know that I hoard all my bits and pieces of patterned paper thinking that just maybe they will be used one day. Well here you are a real simple card  - a girl scarecrow card - that even the kids can make..

This is what I started with - scraps of patterned paper and cardstock and of course my button box:

 

I then just cut out out a few simple shapes of clothes to dress my "Lady" scareccrow, I used a few  scraps of grungeboard for her hat and shoes..

 

The hat was assembled:

 

And her hair attached to the back of the hat:

 

Time to put it all together and I could not resist adding the brightly coloures freebie flowers with a piece of twine attached to the back:

I had such fun making this card. It reminded me of dressing up paper dolls which I did as a child. maybe you can get the kids involved. We would love to see your ideas so please leave us a message and a link.

Happy Scrappin' and Creatin'

Love from Di X

Soooo Simple...

Hi from Di who is really feeling the cold in a freezing (literally) Johannesburg South Africa

Looking through some old photos I found 7 shots of Caz all taken on the same day. She was on holiday with my mum and dad. I cropped them all to 3 1/2 inches by 3/12 inches and matted them with a tiny matt. 

 

In all but one photo she is holding a favourite teddy. I chose the cardstock to sort of co-ordinate with Caz's outfit. I started with a VERY rough layout - nothing stuck down!

 

Now my new favourite tool is my little Xyron - its kind of like a sausage machine - I pop the letters in in sequence and they come out the other end ready to stick down! And I am less likely to lose a letter LOL.

 

Well well everything changes just a little so here is my finished double layout of Caz on Holiday:

 

 

I have never really scrapped with more than 2 pics on a layout so this was quite a challenge for me. I like the VERY simple result!

Thanks for visiting and love from Di X

Happy Cupcakes!

It's been ages since I posted a card, and actually I got into a bit of a rut, and my cards have been very 'samey' for a while.

So imagine my surprise when I created this baby, way out of my comfort zone!

I had great fun playing with my watercolour pencils again!

I started by sketching my cupcake onto white card.

Not being too careful to stick to the pencil lines I used a black fineliner to draw in the detail. I then cut out the cupcake.

Carefully apply watercolour pencil to your drawing. I always make the colour darker around the edge and around the detail, in this case the lines on the cupcake case.

Then using a paintbrush and some water or a watercolour brush pen, gently blend the colour.

Little brightly coloured brads work great for hundreds and thousands and I painted a big brad red and added a layer of glossy accents to make it shiney and protect the paint from scratches.

 

Mount the cupcake onto a cardstock matt and then stick to your card. Using foam squares to adhere your cupcake to the matt will also add a bit of dimension.

As i'm on a mission to draw on all my work these days I used my black fineliner again to draw around all the edges of the matt and card :)

Of course cupcakes work for loads of occasions. Birthdays, weddings, retirements, thank you or just HELLO!

haPPy dAy!!
Caz
xx

Sketch Challenge

This month I thought a little sketch challenge might be fun. this one is very simple so it leaves plenty of options for you to either keep it simple or add more as you wish.

I for one love doing sketches and I find if my mojo has gone walk about a sketch is a good way to get back in the swing of things.

Anyway this is what I did with it.

As you will see I kept it pretty simple as I didn't want to detract from the photo.It is of my brother in law aged about 3 or 4 back in the early 1930's.

I have used cream bazzil cardstock and Basic Grey Boxer papers. I have added some buttons and lace.

The swirls,flower and title were all cut with my Making Memories Slice machine and I have to say that I am very pleased with it .

Anyway I hope you will join me and have ago at this sketch. Please link them back here if you do so we can all share.

 TFL Julia x

Dominoes

Hello, Eleanor here, with some altered dominoes.

Domino jewellery will always draw attention; many non-crafty people have never seen anything like it and are intrigued.

Here are the most recent ones I have done, all of these are pendants, but brooches are possible, keyfobs and bracelets too.

I start by deciding the purpose of the domino so that I know where to drill a hole or two. I use a Dremel for this.
Then I colour the plain surface of the domino with chalk ink which I heat set.
A suitable rubber stamp is inked up with stazon or another permanent dye ink and the image is stamped onto the domino, again heat set. Add colour if needed, and choose a suitable ribbon or length of thonging. It's fun to add a few beads.

As you can see in the next photo, I also added a slim design around the edges of some dominoes. This can be stamped, or, if liked (and a suitable font can be found to suit stamp) computer generated, as a 6 inch strip of dingbats sized to fit domino edge and glued around.

A layer of glossy accents or similar finishes off the domino, making it durable and adding an attractive shine.
On the pocket watch domino I only added glossy accents on the clock face, and used a silver Krylon to highlight.

The woman has a lace effect border stamp, the Native American a feather border, and the pocket watch has numbers.

These make great gifts, for example the donkey is a small token to enclose with donkey adoption paperwork, and the pocket watch works well as an embellishment on a retirement card.

Bye for now.

Stamping on Layouts!

It's not as violent as the title suggests- honestly! :)

Like most crafters, I have a lovely collection of stamps and to be honest they do get consigned to cardmaking and ATC's they do however look lovely used on layouts too!

Here are some examples where I've used my Bombshells Stamps, Stamper's Anonymous, Autumn Leaves and Hero Art stamps:

So don't limit your stamps to your cards- they make excellent colour co-ordinated backgrounds for your layouts and funky embellishments too!

Have fun!

GlitteryKatie x

haPPy homeMAking

Today we're still in the kitchen and we have three in one.

 

From left to right...

This fab sealable sugar container is perfect to store the birds peanuts in. It looks good enough to keep on the kitchen counter and it's right next to the back door so I have no excuse to make sure the birds don't go without!

And then there is my letter tray. I call it that cause really that's what it is. But I get very little mail so usually it's full of little bits that I need to have close at hand. And bits that wLike matches to light the tealights in the garden on a summers evening, and sunglasses for sitting out on a hot summers day and my essential Emma Bridgewater catalogue that I love to browse though.

And one of my most useful makes. The recycled glass jar twine dispenser! I use it all the time, from tying up plants to finishing off a gift just before walking out the door.

Thanks for visiting!
Caz
xx

Inspiration

Lost your mojo? I hear scrappers say that all the time. Anyone creative gets blocked at times. Sometimes the answer is to keep showing up at the blank page (or canvas or cardstock) and going through  the motions. Sometimes the answer is to get right away from your work and fill up your creative well out in the world. This activity works in both directions at once. You get to just play, without the pressure of a finished layout at the end, and you get to look outwards at the world, at what inspires you.


Mine hangs on my bedroom door and is one of the first things I see every morning. Sometimes I don't really notice it, other days it lifts my spirits and from time to time I notice some detail that I had forgotten. It reminds me of what I hold important and how I want to live.

1. Gather a stack of those magazines that you've been meaning to recycle, lend your sister, donate to the doctor's surgery, clip and file all those interesting articles... and haven't yet!
2. Make yourself a cup of whatever keeps your boat afloat and put some music on. I'm enjoying Brett Dennen lately - mellow, uplifting and catchy.
3. Flip through the magazines and rip out anything that speaks to you. Don't think too much, just rip rip rip. It can be words or pictures. It can be speak to the old you, the new you or the person you'd like to be someday. Or it can just be pretty. Don't edit yourself yet.
4. Get a big sheet of paper. You might have something lying around you can use (that crumpled brown paper they use as padding in packages, an old poster, probably not newspaper though).
5. Now shift through the stack of images and start trimming or tearing your favourites. You might start seeing themes and meaning. You might not.
6. Start gluing it down. Don't worry too much about it, this is play. Magic happens when you relax - your hand and your eye will do great things and sometimes show you something about yourself. Lots of stuff won't make it through this stage - that's okay, you can recycle it or give it to the kids for cutting and sticking.

I'll tell you a little about mine, but remember, I didn't have any of this in mind as I made it, I just let it flow. There are lots of women leaping and swinging, and a vegetable stall - I have been thinking alot about healthy living and have been trying to do more of it! There's a lot in there about living creatively and travelling - two big passions of mine. The waltzing couple (actually a cookie advert!) celebrate my marriage. The grey-haired woman symbolises my willingness to age gracefully and my hopes for a healthy, vibrant, active middle and old age. And I was at a point of transition where I was daring myself to get out there and show my art work and take courses and sell at fairs - and I was very shy about it, I seem to have put a lot of encouragement to myself in this. I don't know what all of it means, but it feels like me!