It's a Creative World

Amineko (Crocheted Cat)

Kel here -- let me introduce someone who lives at my house. We call him 'the ambassador'.

I don't know when I first became aware of amigurumi - super cute crocheted animals in a Japanese style. I do know when I first made one though. When we went to Seattle in 2008, I went to one of my favourite places in the world - Kinokuniya, the big Japanese bookstore. I bought several of my favourite white journalling pens (another story for another day), some cute stationery and I couldn't resist a couple of Japanese craft books. I chose a felting book for the inspiration because I know enough about felting to follow the pictures without needing the written instructions. 

 

The second book I bought was not a sensible choice at all. I had no hope of following Japanese crochet instructions, but the pictures were just too cute to resist. Nekoyama (who has all copyrights for the pattern, the book and the images from the book), the author, gives all the instructions for crocheting and assembling these cute cats, but she has also filled the book with photos of the cats arranged in little scenarios (and yes, they are as posable as they look!)

 

Cats sharing an orange...

 
 Cats contemplating sushi...

 

Seeing them in all these adorable poses made me absolutely desperate to have one, if not twenty! In desperation, I worked out the instructions from the Japanese!!! If only I had known that the author has shared her instructions, including translation into English and diagrams too. She has asked that no-one link directly to them, so here is the index page, just look for "pattern of crocheted Cat with diagram (Amineko)" over on the right, near the top of the text.

If you fancy having a go at amigurumi, as well as this pattern, there are lots of great books around (and in English too, you'll be relieved to know. Here are some from the collections of my friends and I.

Enjoy!!!

Kel x

Simple Things Project 2010 March 'TIME'

Over the last month we have all been working on the latest word in our Simple Things project - TIME.

Over to Debbie

I decided to try some paint techniques for this months word Time. I used a mask and green acrylic paint and stamped some clocks over the top in a contrasting colour. I found a quote about time which reads:-

Time is free, but it's precious. You can't own it, but you can use it.

You can't keep it but you can spend it.

Once you've lost it you can never get it back.

I printed the pictures of clocks and Big Ben and then used acrylic gel medium to transfer the images onto the page. The clock on Big Ben is an old watch with the clock face distressed with brown ink (it was bright pink) and then covered with glossy accents to protect it.

The clock image is a stamp I made using a photograph of the astronomical clock in Prague. I have really enjoyed trying lots of techniques for this months entry. Thank you for stopping by to look.

Debbie x

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Hello, Eleanor here., I am working on 8 inch quilt squares, and with food on my mind, as usual,

came up with 'Tea Time'.

I appliqued a slice of battenburg, a chocolate swiss roll, an iced doughnut

some party ring biscuits

and a berry tart,

using cream cotton background, remnants of print fabrics, ric-rac braid and beads.

Tea anyone?

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Hi everyone - Dolly here.

 My simplicity journal is digital - although I am printing each page out as I make it.

I want to try and keep a sort of nature theme to the project and so when I thought of time I thought of a dandelion clock and the fun we all had as children blowing the clock to find the time.

 It seemed appropriate to have the dandelion merged with a real clock (it is actually a photo of my kitchen clock). It was actually a relaxing approach to  time - which is not my normal approach. I am totally and utterly driven by time. Being 'on time ' is not good enough for me .... I have to be early ... for everything. It drives everyone mad and irritates the heck out of me too, but time is, all too often, my master.

 

 

Time - whether we have too little or too much ..... it is one of the most precious things we have.

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Hey again,

Mandy here.

For my fabric page, I recycled an old pair of my daughter's jeans (well just one back pocket really) to hold a small pile of old photographs.  I was really focusing on the passage of time and embellished the jeans simply with some handsewn paper aeroplanes which appear to fly out of the jeans pocket.  I printed out my quote on some computer friendly canvas (£1 for two A4 sheets from The Range) and trimmed it to look like a clothes tag.  This was a fun page to do & really simple.

 

The quote was by Ralph Waldo Emerson and says...

 "The years teach much which the days never know."

I'm now pondering a page about HONESTY.

Bye everyone,

 Mandy.

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Hiya Claire here with my Time page

My whole Simple Things album is made out of pizza box... something I seem to be experimenting with a lot this year.

The pizza box has been distressed with Vintage Photo Distress ink & I'm using the Fancy Pants Whimsy papers throughout the project, as well as including dictionary definitions of our chosen word. A large Hybrid clock face was used on the page & a Jillibean journaling sprout was used for the journaling which reads, Time - there never seems to be enough, I wish I could bottle it for future use.

So thats my Simple Things page for this month, Only one thing is bothering me, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do for next months page - Honesty. Hope to see you then & thanks for stopping by to see what Simple Things make us tick.

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Our blog reader, Cal, from Clearing the Brambles, has found the time to make another page

in her loo roll book:

Lovely to have you keeping up with us Cal (and the bonus of crocuses, too!)

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Hello - Alexa here! The themes for our project are, as happens with wonderful serendipity, giving me a chance to reflect once a month on different aspects of my life right now, and this month's is, well, timely ... 

The blurry photo was taken by DH on holiday, but seems very appropriate here, and the rest of the work is digital. When I print it out, I will sand, scratch and fray the edges a little because - let's face it! - that's how I look these days. :) The journalling reads:

"In my childhood, there was no awareness of it. Just a long, lazy, endless present. And in my teens, a sense of living between two worlds and a growing urgency to make decisions. Then the twenties came: barely a
moment to think, as the days filled up and the years rushed by. The thirties settled into a pattern of meeting others’ needs, fitting in my own in the little gaps. With the forties, a sense of things loosening and coming apart, as the children moved out and away. Turning fifty, an unease: sand slipping through my fingers, days of life left now feeling as if they could be counted. How best to live? To be? Is there still a chance to grow, to become all I might be, yet embrace the caring role (willingly accepted) I know is inexorably coming my way? Now, more than ever, I need to think. To take account. To hone in on the essentials, and let go of the rest. Yes, it’s Time."

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WOW what an act to follow and finally its Simple Di from Durban South afriica. I am really enjoying using my fabscraps papers. Here is my interpretation of time

The papers all co-ordinate. It was "Just in time "that I discovered "Just for Today." For that I am grateful. I  never have enough time or I have too much time. If I live in Today  I have just enough time XXX

Love from Di

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Hi, Kel here, working in my tall art journal. 

This month I had to decide whether I was going to work through this book in order, or pick and choose the spread to match my ideas. I decided to go in order, working on whatever collaged background happens to be next. This spread had magazine images of sacking and a lake at dusk, some watercolour tie-dyed kitchen roll, notebook paper and the word live, all covered in buff paint. 

  I started by digging up all my clock stamps and grabbed a calendar stamp. I stamped the clocks and 'time' images onto some satiny first aid tape with pinked edges. Then I added the calendar stamp down in the corner. The rough painted kitchen roll didn't take the stamp very well, but I was able to tick the month and year and circle the date. I bought this stamp for art journalling, but haven't used it very often and I see it only goes up to 2010. It looked a bit bare, so I added a cluster of clockface stamps in the top right, and some old 7gypsies gaffer tape. 

In this journal, I'm trying to work very freely, not planning or designing my pages, just working intuitively. For me, it's a nice balance to the care I take in designing a scrapbook page. This page doesn't feel quite finished yet, so if I tweak it, I'll be sure to update the picture. All of the journalling is practically stream of consciousness, just me scribbling down my thoughts on the topic at the time. I've been thinking a lot lately about being present in the moment, putting aside our busy-minded habits. The journalling is all about what I want to have time to do, and what we do have time to do. Time is spacious.

Take some time for you today, just to be still and peaceful.

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Hi from Caz!

 

My Simple Things project is an art journal. And I'm really getting more and more excited with each page I do. I admire art journallers because I think this is a great way of expressing your art. I'm a beginner and i'm loving the learning process.

 

I'm also a 'wait until' kind of gal. Wait until I have a house of my own, wait until I lose the weight, wait until next week.......Time Waits For No Man. No sir.

 

My motto for 2010 is to live life now.

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So, now you have seen what the Creative Team have made for TIME, we'd love it if you find the time to show us how you interpret the word. Simple is good, after all, this IS the Simple Things project. Just leave us a comment and we'll come visiting, and, as you may have read, the word we are working on over the next month is

HONESTY.

Snug as a bug in a shrug

Hiya Claire here

I've finally finished knitting my shrug & I'm addicted to them so I'm going to be knitting more in all different colours as they are so cosy. I got the pattern from Ravelry & it was very easy to knit (well it would be for anyone who can knit better than me). I've been learning to knit & this was my first actual item of clothing instead of the countless hats & mitts that I've made.

 

 This is the view from the back,

I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out, its knitted on large needles using 2 balls of wool at the same time, which means it knits up quite quickly. The pattern can be found here.

So I'm off to the wool shop now for some Rowan baby soft, only question is... which colour shall I do next? 

See you soon, hopefully with another shrug... happy knitting

Claire

xx

More for not very much ...

Sometimes a photo just grabs me ... It might be quite a mundane, run-of-the-mill sort, and it takes me a while to work out why I want to use it. Once I've worked that out, there's the 'how' to contend with! On my browsings a few months ago, I came across the Before and After Magazine blog: really meant for designers, but with some great tips for scrapbookers like me who love to keep it simple. The idea was about taking one photo apart, selecting three sections, so it yielded three photos rather than just one. Being frugal (read 'mean', given my Scottish ancestry), this really appealed; not least, because it's often difficult to find suitable matching photos for the good one I have in mind. I'm not really a single-photo-layout kinda gal, though I hugely admire those who can do it so well. It also obviates the need for an embellishment - if a bit of a photo can act as one, well, what's not to like?

Here's what I ended up with: just a shot from behind of my DD and my Mum on a rare family holiday last year.

A title, a subtitle, and some thoughts (the journalling follows below), and there it was. All from one photo: a good big picture to catch the eye, a smaller one from the edges of the original that shows something of the surroundings and sets the main one in context, and a little one to provide some balance. There's an infinite variety of possible positions and configurations for the three photos, of course, so if you decide to try it sometime, there's lots to play around with. Hope it's a useful tip! Many thanks for joining us today, and this is Alexa heading for (you've guessed it) her usual cup of tea!

Journalling reads:

• "And I thought: Just who would ever have guessed that one day in the future ...

• we would all be back here in Donegal on holiday, our own original family expanded into four generations ...

• we’d be living across four countries, keeping in touch by pressing keys and buttons, invisible lifelines knitting us together ...

• you would be taller than both me and your Grandma. She used to hold your tiny hand so you didn’t fall, carry you around, show you her world. And now here you are, holding her tight, making sure she can still experience as much of the world as we can make possible for her ...

• and just who would ever have guessed that the future would ache so ...

Spring is in the air.

Hi Joy here,

I love this time of year when Spring is finally in the air. Crisp, sunny mornings and lighter evenings.  The snowdrops are poking their noses out.

Daffodils are bobbing their heads in the breeze.

and these little chaps are appearing in the shops.

I have decided to make some new Easter decorations for my house.  I started with an Easter wreath for the hallway.

I started with a 6" metal hoop that I picked up at my local craft store.

I then cut strips of calico and gingham ribbon to 4" long.  I looped them around the hoop.

 
   Push them up tight to bulk out the hoop.

Add a longer length of ribbon for hanging it up.  To go in the middle I embroidered a little felt egg.

You could substitute this with a shop bought Easter ornament.

The other thing I love about this time of year - Cadbury Mini Eggs. They are far too nice.

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine.

Happy Crafting Joy xxx
  

BROWN PAPER BAGS

Hello, Eleanor here with a brown paper bag book of a rather special holiday.

When the photos you have taken are of something or somewhere that is a 'one off', there's no need for too much fancy embellishment, so the small format, and simple fibres, ribbons, and silk flowers in this mini-book were just enough, without distracting from the memories of the trip. I tried to match them to the photos where possible, and let the pictures and simple titling tell the story.

Each bag was folded in half, and a photo on a tag inserted into each opening.

I also slit the gusset end of each bag to allow insertion of a second tag. The tags all have some means of pulling out.

 

The gussets lift to reveal a little more of each page, too.

I hope you enjoyed our trip of a lifetime, the eagle-eyed among blog readers will have noticed that the year was 1986. One thing's for sure - I'll never fit in that swimsuit again!

Cheerio.

Collaged layout

I had so many photos of the John Lennon wall that I decided to make a big collage. There is so much detail and so much to see I wanted to include as much detail as possible.

I planned my layout first until I was happy with all the positioning of the photographs.

 

I used an old book with french text to add a border around the layout. I used the edges of the page for my journalling strips so the colours matched perfectly.

Its the first time I have put so many photos on a page, but I quite like the effect.

Debbie x

Altered things

Last month my friend and I organised a fund raising day for a local hospice, to raise some extra money I altered some plastic boxes and lids into something useful.

I often find that I use the same recipes over and over again, they are always in different cookbooks, and if DH cooks, the pages are splattered with his culinary achievements, (a failsafe way to spot a good recipe in our house). I decided to make a wipe clean recipe book for those recipes we use time and time again.

The covers are plastic, they came from a large lid cut down into the right size, but plastic file folders or dividers would work just as well. The inside pages are printed and then laminated.

The box that my recipe book goes in has been covered with paint dabbers, and then I used a phone directory and decopatch glue to stick strips randomly on the front. I used a lime green paint dabber and a baby wipe to make a colour wash all over the cover once the glue was dry, and added a couple of embellishments and the word recipes.

The ribbon boxes had a clear see through lid, a friend suggested punching holes and after decorating I think it makes a rather nice ribbon holder.

The mini book has yet to be decorated, I used two sheets of plastic with holes punched in for the front and back cover and then cut half a sheet into squares to use as tabs on each page. A really simple idea but a good way of recycling.

I hope you will be inspired to alter things you might otherwise throw in the bin.

Debbie x

Another fabric flower

You may remember a couple of months ago when I posted a fabric flower embellishment that I made. I decided to have a go at another one by using a different technique and here's the result.

I started with a length of ribbon which I gathered by using a running stitch but didn't pull it completely tight and left a circular gap in the middle:

I then cut a length of white tulle in a shorter width to the ribbon and gathered this too before stitching it on the top of the gathered ribbon:

The next step was to make the flower centre. For this I used an offcut of the ribbon and sewed various beads on before placing it over a chipboard circle, padding it out and then pulling the excess ribbon to the back of the chipboard and sticking it down.

The next step was to place the centre on to the flower but before doing this I added a lace ruffle around the edge before finally adding some glittery highlights.

I have plans to use this on a scrapbook layout but it could just as easily be turned in to a brooch or even a wrist corsage.

Thanks for visiting IACW!!

Jo x

 

Garden Time

Hi from Caz!

The day after my last garden time post, my DH decided to get into the garden and double the size of my veggie patch. Do you think he wants me to grow twice as much veg? It was a snowy day, not ideal to be in the garden but the ground was soft which made the task pretty easy and now I can focus on clearing any rogue weeds in preparation to rotavate.

Also in last months post I talked about perhaps buying my plants this year, rather than growing from seed. I am still keen but my DH thinks I should grow from seed because it's always a success. Notice he didn't offer to do the growing!!

 

We used some soil to level out the ground on the LHS of the veggie patch to make mowing easier and make room to tip a few bags of compost in.

 

This is a great spot for veg, as it's sunny all day but the shade comes at the right time to water in the early evening.

Deanne here, Its March and finally time to get things ready for the allotment, due to all the frost and wet weather actually going up the allotment is a bit of a nightmare at the moment, but the green manure (mustard seeds) I planted in September have grown really well and it helps break the soil up so much, come April and I'll be chopping it down into the ground.
I have all my seeds ready in a box I altered some time ago.

Photo

How do you store yours :)

If you're a keen gardener and want to share you garden with us please leave a link to your blog/website so we can have a nosey :)

Caz
xx