It's a Creative World

Graffiti Style Canvas

Hi everyone, Carmen here doing a very nervous first post :)

My daughter turned 13 this month and had already had the best part of her present earlier in the year when we helped her part fund a laptop on the understanding that it was her main birthday present. I still wanted her to have something special to open on the day though but didn't want to go spending more mega bucks... we are trying to teach the girls the value of money ;)

I had this blank canvas that had been in my stash forever. I have also been doing a very fabulous online Alisa Burke class in graffiti techniques. I thought I would combine the two. I had a rummage through my photos on the pc and came up with one that was my daughter's current favorite. One that she had taken while messing around doing self portraits with her little sister. Gangsta stylee.

The techniques Alisa teaches in her class are all about layers, lots and lots of layers and making use of the stash you already have along with maybe not so conventional materials. Basically if you can get your hands on it... get it on your work. I have to say I am loving the thinking there.

So in the end this canvas was made up of a base of Elsie Flannigan doodle paper, red acrylic paint, lots and lots of fabric paint, the drips are gorgeous, shiny black nail varnish that never lost that thick gloopy texture as it dried. Various pens I just had laying on my desk - markers, some sparkly Copics I picked out the writing with... The photo was severely distressed and then raised on foam pads.
The flowers were from my stash, again been there an age, they were attacked with glitter glue, ink, nail varnish, loose glitter, Glossy Accents and attached with super glue as were the charms that, you've guessed it, have been in my stash for I don't know how long. I also stamped various words and images on the background using Stazon and some household metallic silver paint.

I was a bit worried that maybe the canvas was more to my style than my daughters - she has days where she is such a pink princess and days where she seems to be on the verge of going Emo or Goth lately so I wasn't at all sure of the reaction it would get...however I had wanted it to reflect the photo that she loves so much. I'm pleased to say she was over the moon with it and a big sigh of relief was had from me :)

Thanks very much for taking a peep :)

Carmen x

A little and a lot ...

Hello! Alexa, simple scrapbooker, here - and welcome!

I nearly missed it. If my camera hadn't been sitting on my parent's hall table, I would have done. As shots go, it's not pretty or attractive in the least. It's not even well lit, or nicely composed, and it's a tad out out focus due to the speed with which I pressed the shutter. But it captures a moment I nearly missed, and a story that would not have been told. And it's such an iconic one - I really want my children, and theirs, to know something of who their grandfather was. That three years after having broken his hip and having it replaced under an epidural, two years after having been back in surgery twice, one year after another medical emergency which saw him in intensive care, here he is on a ladder...

(Journalling reads:

“Can you give me a hand?”, you said. “I just want to sort out some books.” “Of course, Dad,”, I replied. “Where are they?” “Up in the loft”, you said. “Yep, I’ll bring them down”, I offered. “Well, actually”, you countered, looking over your shoulder and lowering your voice, “I think I’ll just have a look myself while your mother is making the lunch.” “YOU want to go up?” I asked, trying hard to keep the anxiety out of my voice. “Yes,” came the mild reply.“Might be a good moment, don’t you think?”. I swallowed hard, trying not to contemplate the possible consequences. “Of course. Understood”, I replied, reaching for the wooden pole to lower the ladder. ”I’ll need about twenty minutes”, you said. “Think you can keep your mother occupied in the kitchen?”. “Yep, no problem, Dad”. As I looked back, this is what I saw. Wow. Life at 86.")

Some simple background paper and letters, a column of journalling, and a short row of full stops along the top in the same squared-off font as the '@' (to balance the heavier squares behind the letters below) and it was done. Just an everyday layout that tells ... I was going to say, a story - but it can do more. This single photo and a clutch of words offers a glimpse of something of my Dad's character, my parents' relationship, and mine with each of them. No amount of artistically posed photos would have done that. So, don't forget the little moments, the seemingly inconsequential ones, the ones which encapsulate so much more than may at first be apparent. And add a little snapshot in words that says far more than any amount of heartfelt outpourings could convey.

Oh, and always make sure you have a camera sitting around!

Thank-you for visiting today. :)

Bird embellishments

Hello again, Mandy here.  I was at the NEC last month and bought a pack of transparent scrapbook embellishments by g.c.d.Studios.  This got me thinking about making my own.  Here's what I came up with... 

 
To begin with, I found a website called vintage printables with copyright free images.  I fiddled with & cropped loads of bird pictures in Photoshop Elements 5 to eventually end up with four sheets of A4 - large & small birds in both black & white and in colour. 

Below, you can see the colour version of large birds...

I printed the sheets of birds out onto acetate (from STAPLES) and played around with different ways to make them more 'arty' and personalised.

To make bird 1. (on the top photo)  I used silver glitter glue on the back of a large, coloured bird, just highlighting parts of the bird like it's wing & tail.  Then for bird 2. I chose another large, coloured bird & covered it's body with Glossy Accents then sprinkled on iridescent glitter.

For bird 3. I chose a large, black and white bird & used 'stonewash' blue alcohol ink on a felt applicator.  I wanted a see-through border around the bird image so to make sure I only inked the bird itself, I printed out the same sheet of birds onto scrap paper & made a mask of the bird I wanted.  I put the paper printout with the cut-out bird over the acetate bird...

After I covered the bird with blue alcohol ink I turned the bird over then stamped some text onto the non-inked side with 'teal' blue STAZON ink. 

Birds 4. and 5. were coloured birds with rub-ons applied to them.  I made another paper mask so the rub-ons would only be on the bird and not on the see-through border around the bird...

 

Finally, to make bird 6.  I used 'dusty concord' purple Distress ink, on a foam applicator, again using a mask of paper...

 
Once dry, I used the same text stamp with black STAZON ink over the top. 

One of the birds I really liked was sitting on a wire perch.  I decided not to have a see-through border on this bird & cut it out without one, but I made a paper mask to fit over the perch so the Distress ink wouldn't get on the perch...

Finally I close-cut one of the large birds and used it as a mask with some Glimmer Mist...

 

I've made a layered Photoshop document with black and white bird images, which can be used like brushes (stamps) on digital layouts.  Click to download...

Download Bird brushes black and white

Also, My blog has high-resolution pictures of the bird images (that I can't seem to post on here) so if anyone wants to print out their own set of birds to embellish and use on scrapbook layouts or cards, they can.  The images print out really well on paper too.  If you use the bird images, don't forget to let us know here at IACW and post a link of what you made so we can take a look!  Bye, for now,

Mandy.

Inspiration.

 

I've been very busy both at work,and doing a NVQ qualification from home,so sadly,i have had no time to myself to do any crafting for what seems like months!

I have however been browsing around the internet and finding all sorts of awe inspiring blogs to fire the coals of creativeness when I get a chance to play with paper again.

A veritable hoard of everything can be found on this wonderful blog

 

One Pretty Thing

 

 

 

 

which covers all kinds of crafts,from sewing to knitting,kids crafts and wedding crafts,papercrafts and jewellery making. 

  Ruffles and Stuff

 has some of the best put together tutorials for sewing and other projects.

 

Alisa Burke

 

this lady is a true multi-media artist,with a blog stuffed full of wonderful eye candy and ideas.I hope that you enjoy visiting the blogs and that you find something there to inspire you.

x.x.x.

 

 

Sentimental jewellery part 2

Following on from my charm bracelets I have seriously caught the jewellery making bug. And this time all i've done is add a heart charm to a bangle to make it into something completely different!

 

It seems that all jewellery stores and stands are selling these charm bangles. BUT it seems that they are also making them for barbies wrists! lol.

 

Just one warning! If you are going to put an expensive charm onto a bangle or bracelet, please SOLDER it on. There is nothing worse than loosing a piece of jewellery. I don't solder, and haven't tried yet but I have asked my DH to teach me and am happy to put a tutorial together if anyone needs me to.

Thanks for visiting :)
Caz
xx 

Getting creative with canvas

I saw a link on UKS where Mary Anne was using her cuttlebug embossing folders with acrylic paint in to emboss canvas.

Anyone who knows me would realise I wouldnt be capable of putting paint on my embossing folders lol, so I started thinking about different techniques I could try with canvas.

 

I cut out different flowers and embossed them.

I tried lots of ways to show the embossed image. These flowers have been gently rubbed with a cats eye chalk ink.

Brayering acrylic paint directly on works quite well too.

I am still experimenting with different inks and paints. But this is the Mother's Day card I made for my mum using some of these techniques.

 

The lovely thing about canvas is its so strong it adds a really nice 3D effect to flowers. You could use it for ATCs and embellies on a scrapbook page.

I'm still experimenting with canvas, hope you might buy a roll and experiment with it too.

Debbie x

Cheap and simple double layout

Hi all from Di. I am in Johannesburg for the weekend. What a few weeks I have had. I "LOST" everything on my computer. The ONLY good news is that I bought an apple! It is GORGEOUS but am still getting used to it. I have been struggling with photographs so today is my first attempt to use them!!!   

I taught a class a few weeks ago - real simple and economical! I used

2 sheets of cardstock for the base

2 different patterned papers

1 sheet of cardstock for matting

a few embellishments - buttons, brads and flowers

I started by cutting the first sheet of PP into 2 5" strips and 2 1" strips. The second sheet I cut into 3 4" strips. All strips are of course 12" long.

Then just position them so:

  

From the 3rd 4" strip, I used 9" and folded it in half to have a little pull out for journalling at the top of the right hand page.

This is the finished left hand page

and the right hand page

 

I just loved this patterned paper - My minds eye and even used the cut off strip! You can see that I used the very last 3" by 4" scrap of paper (top tight hand corner.

I also  tore and inked the two 4" strips. I hope you like my very simple design with NO left over patterned paper. What a win.

Thanks for visiting IACW and remember to share with us your creations!

Love from Di 

My new favourite toys are embossing powder and my heat gun so if it stands still it is embossed LOL.

Quilting Take 2- finished!!

OK so last time I'd sewn most of my top piece for my quilt (get me using quilt lingo!!) using Neptune fabric from the wonderful designer Tula Pink. I added an applique skull as per my Son's request! Simply I ironed some Bondaweb onto the light blue fabric then drew on the skull design and cut it out. The Bondaweb stops the fabric from fraying. I then used a zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine to sew the skull to the quilt top:

 

 I completed my back piece of the quilt - I wanted to add a patterned section into the large piece of fabric I was using. Next I had to lay out the back piece (face down) lay the wadding on top and then lay the top piece on top of that (face up).

 

I decided to lay out the quilt pieces on my bed this time rather than the floor- simply to save my poor old knees from all that scrabbling around! I pinned all the pieces to the mattress which seemed to work quite well!

 

 Then I used LONG tacking stitches and a nice bright coloured thread to tack the three layers together.

 

 

Then I started quilting, this time using my sewing machine!

 

I just worked my way up and down the quilt and even created a few patterns!

After the quilting I trimmed the edges of the quilt and attached the binding strip:

 

And I was finished!

Here is my son with his quilt- the back:

and the front:

I'm already planning quilt Nos 3 & 4!!

Happy crafting!

GlitteryKatie XxxX  
 
 
 
 

Scrap that!!

Come on.....hands up who keeps every scrap of paper or card until you have a very full file/drawer/box/cupboard/room of scraps?

When I filled 2 x 10 inch deep drawers with scraps I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns and do something. I had been saving them all to use for die-cutting but since I sold my manual die-cutters I don't use my scraps.

I started by going through and making the largest card possible in varying sizes including 6" x 4", 5" x 5", 4" x4", 5.5" x 3.5" and 3" x 3".

I then used the leftover "scrap scraps" to cut a pile of tags in varying sizes to use for scrapbook journalling, making mini tag books, using as card toppers or tags for presents. 

So far I have only been through the red, orange, yellow, green and blue in just one drawer so I still have a way to go LOL! 

Do you throw out your scraps or keep them? If you keep them do you ever use them?!

Thanks for visiting IACW!!

Jo x

PAPER DOLLS ON CARDS

Hello, Eleanor here.

Since I was old enough to use a pair of scissors, a pair like this:

I've loved cutting out paper dolls, trying hard to cut carefully, and not always succeeding

(that's why my blog is called "Still Cutting Off Tabs").

Some of my favourite stamps are the ancient foam mounted All Night Media sets.

I have 2 sets in particular, designed by Mary Engelbreit., which are of

dress up dollies and accessories. Here is Georgia:

and I also have Ann Estelle.

I enjoy using them to make all purpose girly cards, choosing colours, colouring in, and mixing and matching patterned papers, nothing too complicated, just having fun.

I have to say, though, I don't possess any nice modern colouring pens, just good old fashioned pencil crayons.

Enjoy your day!

Cheerio for now.