It's a Creative World

Looking back at early scrapping Part 1

I began scrapping in 2004, and don't feel I have ever really had a particular, identifiable style, as it is evolving all the time.

Just for fun, I'm looking back over the different scrapping phases I went through.

Now I don't mind if you laugh, I know some of these layouts will look really antiquated, but some elements are still valid, well, possibly. :)

I liked (and still like) foam stamps used with acrylic paint (yes, I liked short lengths of ribbon too):

Another idea I tried was the symmetrical, grid style 'cutting up the photo',

(and wooden lolly sticks to mimic the architecture of that fabulous Harrier Hide!):

I had a phase, way back in the early days before I bought any patterned paper, of photocopying items of clothing to use as background paper.

Here the piece in the middle is of the very cardigan my daughter was wearing in the photo (I still have it now!) with soft handmade paper either side (incidentally this was the very first layout I ever made, 6 years ago, notice the badly stitched scan when I didn't know what I was doing in photoshop):

Alphabeads and slidemounts! But you know, I wouldn't ever re-do it, it says as much about me as it does about my daughter.

More scanned clothing, here the jeans my eldest son was wearing:

And also a scan of his Beano club membership card,

and in the pocket:

his artwork aged about 9, on a tag complete with fibres from the first swap I joined.

I want to re-visit the idea of scanning and reducing my children's art and written work, and including it on a layout, before I drown in paintings, drawings and short stories.

Finally, I went through a phase of jaunty angles, but couldn't quite pull it off, as I felt compelled to make it symmetrical (oh here comes a slide mount again) :

And here's another similar layout:

no that's not journalling, it's the song lyrics - I hadn't mastered journalling back in 2005

(still don't find it easy, but I'm learning).

I hope you've enjoyed my blast from my scrapping past,

and not found the techniques and materials too excruciatingly winceworthy.

Eleanor

x

Duffs and Duds

You're bound to have some. We all have. The ones that lurk with curled edges in cardboard boxes, or sit on our hard drives because we haven't got round to deleting them. We have a vague hope that someone somewhere is going to produce a wonderful tool which will magically put that shot back in focus, delete the guy sitting on our friend's head, and recompose that view to show what we meant it to show if we hadn't realised we were running out of battery and just pressed the shutter quick. If you haven't any like this, then you need to be zipping out of here to create an online course and make your fortune. Sign me up: I have loads.

And they're not all old. The worst of it is, some are very recent. Not only that, they capture a moment which will never come again. Here's a case in point.

My grandson, blurry, out of focus, not looking at me, as I photographed the computer screen while we Skyped with his Dad and Mum. The nub of it was, there was a back story (as my journalistic DD calls it), and I really wanted to tell it. Yep, I thought, I could use a better one taken on a different occasion but that felt a little lacking in ... well, authenticity. Not very scrapbooker-ish. We use what's real, right? We don't artificially stage shots just to use that lovely new paper from Basic Grey, now do we? But I digress. With a mug of tea in hand, I thumbed through a magazine for distraction and/or inspiration. Then I saw a possibility. Don't focus on the photo: focus on the story. Keep the image as a kind of backdrop on which to hang the words. Literally. Start the story on the photo, and just keep going. Here's how it turned out ...

A few simple bits of colour and shapes taken from the photo, and positioned to guide the eye, and it was done. You'll have seen this typing-on-a-photo lots of times in glossy magazines. But it makes a not-very-good photo usable, and I will be adopting this technique again. It would be just as successful with stick-on letters or rub-ons. The extra lines of text would not be necessary; a good bold title would suffice. So if you have any old photos, or some duffs and duds ... Give it a try!

Hoping your day goes well, and thank-you for reading along with us here on It's a Creative World!

Shrugging it off

Hiya Claire here.

So here's the thing, I had planned to show you the fantastic little shrug I've been knitting from a pattern I found on Ravelry (a very cool knitting forum), the shrug was coming along really well, it was half knitted, until I realised I had my tension wrong... & I had to pull it all out & start all over again, however this means I have learnt a few things, keep your tension even & also how to correct a wrong stitch & pick up a dropped one, which is better than driving to mums whenever I have a knitting problem (yep, I'm looking for the silver lining).

So here is the shrug attempt 2...

 
so this is the cuff & a few inches of sleeve, I love teal so it had to be, besides it goes with my jeans.

Its a really easy pattern to follow using Rib stitch & its all knitted in one piece, even easier for a newbie knitter like me.

Well I'd better go & get some more knitted now, I'm hoping to have it finished very soon.

Thanks for stopping by & I'll post pics of the shrug when its finished.

See you soon

Claire

xx 

Tyger Tyger Burning Bright

Tyger Tyger Burning Bright

Hi .... Dolly here.

 

I know that there are a fair few digi scrappers who enjoy the creative inspiration that is on here every day. (And isn’t it amazing that there is inspiration of so many different kinds every single day!!!! I am so chuffed to be a part of the site where so many girls share their creativity. I for one have learnt so much.)

So, for the digi scrappers out there …. and for those who don’t digi scrap but would like to or those of you who would like to use a sketch for anything they want … this is a post for you.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to create a page in no time at all is to use a sketch and/or a template.

Papers scrappers out there, you will no doubt find sketches really useful when you want a bit of inspiration. It is a great way to kick start the old mojo and make a great page.

Digi scrappers can use sketches too, but they can take it one stage further and use a template. Templates are quick and simple to use and a lot of the ground work has been done for you so you just need to add your own papers and photos. Templates are usually psd files, as this one is, and make scrapping in limited time a real breeze.

There are lots of tutorials out there to help use learn how to use templates if you don’t already know – just google for them.

I created this template in Photoshop Elements and it is a quick easy one to use. I hope you have fun with it. Either download the template and use it digitally or just use the idea like a sketch and make a paper page.

 

You can download the template  HERE

 

This is a page I made using that same template.

 

 

The papers and elements I used are all by Dawn Inskip (apart from the journalling block)  from her store at Pickleberrypop and the gorgeous tiger, resting after a long photoshoot, is Tamir.

 

I hope you have fun using the template or the sketch and create some fast fun pages.

 

Dolly x

London Wall Art

First Happy Valentines Day everone, hope LOVE is in the air for you today.

But alas nothing valentines from me as thats all I've being doing all month :)

Today I thought I would share a project that I've done for my home.
I can count on one hand the amount of times I've being to London, and on my first trip there with my lovely man we went to Harrods and picked up a few toys. One of them being this

 

No one plays with it anymore, so I got out my hot glue gun and did this to it

 

and I love it, my own mini london wall art which also holds lots of memories :)

 

Thanks for looking, Deanne x

Altered Magazine Rack

Hi Debbie here with an ugly white plastic magazine rack that has been transformed. My friend Faye and I are organising a charity crop to raise funds for St Peters Hospice. We found some really horrible plastic magazine racks and thought we could alter them.

 

I knew it would be hard to completely cover the white plastic so I inked the edges with alcohol inks in purples and pinks, and then cut panels of pale purple bazzil to cover the main part of the rack including the sides.

I distressed the edges of the card with brown ink and then stamped a repeating pattern all over the card.

I cut out some chipboard vines with a sizzix die and painted them green.

I added little die cut birds and flowers with pearl dots. I have a custom made magazine rack that matches my decor perfectly.

Debbie x

It's Time to get back in the Garden!

I love this time of year! It's when my brain swings into action and I start to plan my summer garden :)

And to plan a garden you need a garden journal.

 

I've been back into the 'stuff cupboard'...

 

And found a Bazzil mini book! Crikey I must have bought it a hundred years ago :)

I've gone flowery because it is about the garden after all.

 

  

  

Now besides making a journal, it's a good time to start planning what you want to grow. And for me there are things that I do each year that I love to grow, so they are...

Courgettes
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Onions
Chillis
Beans (although 2009 was NOT a success)

These are going in the veggie patch along with my '2010 inspiration cutting garden!' I've always wanted to do a cutting garden and I think along the edge of the veggie patch will be a great place! Starting nice and small, I don't want to get ideas above my capabilities.

This year will be a little different in that I want to buy my veg plants rather than grow from seed. Although I love the process it is a hard task and this year I can't manage it. If I had a big greenhouse I would!

So we're going to meet here once a month, every second Friday, to show progress and discuss gardens and allotments. It would be great to see readers efforts so please do leave a link to your blog in the comments so we can come visit and also you know we love YOUR inspiration too!

haPPy dAy!!
Caz
xx

PINS AND NEEDLES

Hello, Eleanor here with a simple gift to stitch for Mum or Grandma.

Simply cut fabric hearts in pairs, stitch around, stuff and close gap. Attach 2 different sized hearts together by stitching all the way through to the back, and back to the front, several times, through matching buttons. The felt needle case is another fabric heart, stitched to a larger felt heart, and with some smaller felt hearts stitched down the centre.

Stick in some pearly pins, and fill the case with new needles

and give them away to a lady you love.

JAMMY HEARTS

Hello, Eleanor here with a sweet jammy treat to make with the children for Valentine's Day tea,

or to wrap and give to one you love.

 

I used a simple plain biscuit recipe,

225g plain flour, 150g butter, pinch salt, 100g sifted icing sugar, 1 beaten egg.

Mix in processor, form into ball and chill for half an hour.

Roll out, and cut into circles. Cut a heart out of half of them, and bake at 180C for 20 mins

or until fim and light golden brown.

Sprinkle the cut biscuits with icing sugar:

Dollop the plain biscuits with jam:

Place the cut biscuits onto the plain ones, and serve:

with love

xx

Keep it hidden

Hi – Dolly here

One of my favourite techniques to use on a page has to be lift up flaps that reveal hidden journaling.

 

 

On the surface the page just looks pretty, but under the flaps lurks the deep and meaningful thoughts that you don’t necessarily want on show to the whole world.

 

 

 

 

You might want to hide journaling because it is something very personal. You might want to hide it because you have an awful lot to say and the text would totally dominate the page. Whatever the reason it is a fun technique to use and really simple.

You need to mount your photo on cardstock as normal and then add two hinges.

You can cut hinges out in all sorts of fancy shapes but generally I make them out of small rectangles of the same cardstock just cut straight.  

In the photos I have just used scraps of card to show you what I mean – in reality you want the hinge and the mount to be the same cardstock.

 

You will need two rectangles approximately ½ “ x 1”  

 

Fold them in half so you have a 1” square doubled.

 

 

Stick one side onto the photo mount and then fix it firmly with an eyelet or brad.

 

 

 

 

Repeat with the other hinge.

Stick the other side of the hinge to the background and voila, you have your hinged flap.

Either make or use a ready bought tab or a scrap of ribbon to act as a pull to lift the flap up.

 

Depending on whether or not I want this to be really really hidden from everyone as the journaling is private or just hidden to make the page look prettier determines whether I cut the page protector or not. If I want people to read it I cut the page protector so the flap can be opened without taking the page out.

 

 

Have fun hiding your journaling.