It's a Creative World

Scalloped Scrapbook Embellishments

Hey again, Mandy here.

I am on a roll making my own scrapbook embellishments.  I just love making a pile of embellies which I can reach for, rummage through, and find something suitable to add to a layout.  This is what I got up to recently...

First of all I created the circle wordart on my computer (using Microsoft Office Word).  It took some fiddling about to get exactly the right size so that when printed out, each circle of words fitted nicely inside my 2" circle punch.  This is what the sheets look like printed out on different cardstock...

 
Here is the pdf file to download and print them yourself.  Just check your printer doesn't helpfully  adjust the print size in any way!   Download Circular Word Art for 2 inch punch

Once I had my printed sheets I set to work punching out a pile of 2" circles with the wordart and an equal amount of  2.5" scallop circles.  I used dark brown chalk ink around the edges of the circles...

 
For the middles I used everything from buttons & brads to crochet flowers and stamping!   

 
In the photo below I used 'Saddle Brown' STAZON to stamp text onto a pink silk flower...

 
 

I really like layering when it comes to embellishments so I dug out a 1" circle punch and after stamping onto vintage bookpaper, punched this small circle to layer ontop.

 

 I also did some simple stitching with embroidery floss onto felt circles.  Here are some of my favourites...

 

The large yellow brad (on the top right below) has been stamped with brown STAZON and a text stamp...

If I decide I need a particular colour or specific words for a layout I'm making, then it wouldn't take too long to make up one particular scallop embellishment, but for now I have a pile to reach for!

Bye for now...

Mandy.
 
 
  

Dolly here and I am really thrilled to announce a wonderful project by a fabulous guest designer.

 

Domino Necklace by Lorraine Robertson

.

Hi there.  My name is Lorraine and I live in Lincolnshire near a very busy (and noisy) RAF base.  I am thrilled to be asked to do a guest spot here at IACW this week.

I used to hate crafting of any sort and never even thought I had a creative streak in me.  About six years ago, I gave up work to look after my mother full time and desperately needed a hobby that I could do indoors.

I made a card.  Then I made another one and then - I was hooked.

It didn’t take long before I tried everything there was.  Now, I make cards and scrapbook, I do parchment work, altering, book making and binding,  I make jewelery and I also work with Polymer and Silver clay.

I am on the design team for the I Love Promarkers challenge blog, I sell my jewelery, have had my LO’s published and have written and had published two articles in the Polymer Café magazine.

If you would like to see any more of my work, you can find me at  http://lorraines-place.blogspot.com/  and   http://www.lrdesigns.me.uk/

Today I’m going to show you how to make a necklace using a domino.

Step 1.  The first thing to do is carefully remove the spinner from the back of the domino.  I use my pokey tool to hook it out.

 

Step 2.   Measure about 1cm down the side of the domino and put a little mark with a permanent marker.

 

Step 3.  Now you need to drill a small hole where your mark is.  I use a Dremel to do this and you will need a tiny drill bit.  Be very careful when doing this.  Your bit is likely to slip before it gets hold and both the domino and drill bit will get hot.

 

Step 4.  Using alcohol inks, decorate your domino.  If you use the applicator tool, you may get fibres from the pad sticking to your dom.  When it’s dry, remove these by pulling them off.  If you don’t have alcohol inks, then you can use permanent markers, Krylon pens or even stick paper on.  You will need to seal your paper with Mod Podge, PVA or Diamond Glaze if you go this route though.

 

 

Step 5.  Stamp an image onto your domino.  First make sure your domino is properly dry and you have removed any fibres.  Swipe with an anti static pad and stamp using Versamark ink and fine detail black embossing powder then heat emboss.  Be careful again, the domino will get quite warm.   If you are not using a clear stamp it is easier to place your domino onto the stamp to help placement.

 

You don’t have to stamp an image.  You can decorate any way you choose.  You can do it as mentioned above or you can ink it and stick things to it.   This red domino uses good old sequin waste as a stencil with Memento Ink and a border stamp and the blue/green one has a real dried leaf stuck to it, it’s coated with Diamond Glaze and then tiny clear hole-less beads were added in places.

I am using the bearded man for this necklace and it’s from the Victoriana stamp plate by Lost Coast Designs.

 

Step 6.  When your domino is ready, then you need to choose your beads or whatever you have decided to use to string your necklace.  Lay them out until you find a design you are happy with.

 

Once you are happy with your design, string your necklace, add a clasp and wear your own, unique piece of jewelery with pride.

I think you will all agree that is a totally awesome project and such a beautiful necklace.

 

 

Thank you to Lorraine for her beautiful and inspiring tutorial and do go and visit her sites for more inspiration.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL

All occasions that is.

Eleanor here with some mini cards, 3 in by 3 in, in a little matching carry bag.

I was sorting through my rubber stamps the other day, thinking to myself that I would find what I was looking for, if I even knew I had it, and I really must make the effort to stamp each stamp onto white card.

I idly stamped a couple and remembered I had some matching papers for them, stamped a couple more and had the makings of some little all purpose cards.

Then, thank goodness for my yahoo bookmarks, I managed to find a good tutorial I spotted last year, for a little bag to put them in. It's here. I made 4 sets altogether, each one slightly different.

I stitched my stamped images (not coloured, these are meant to be quick and easy mini cards, the colour is on the envelope, well, that's my excuse) onto cardstock 3in by 6in, scored in the middle.

  The envelopes are made with a 5 in square of patterned paper, some of mine matched the stamp, some didn't.

I made a small pencil mark at 2 3/8in and 2 5/8in on each side and scored like so:

Next I cut little notches:

Added some narrow DST:

Peeled off the backing, folded it up and lastly added a tiny square of DST for the sender to seal with:

The little bag fits 4 cards with their envelopes just neatly.

Making 4 sets took little more than the time it would have taken to make one set, and now I have several little gifts for emergencies.

My rubber stamps are still in a mess, but that's a project for another day.

Bye for now.

Painted canvas.

 

I have recently become interested in using different paint techniques and decided to have a go at painting my own canvas. I just experimented with oil pastels water colours, acrylic paint, and gesso, things I already had at home.

This was the website that really inspired me to just 'have a go'. By looking at the videos I realised if I didnt like something I could tone it down and almost cover it and start again.

Once I had finished the base I decided it was a bit too bright.

 

A couple of coats of gesso toned it down enough to still see the pattern through, and then I hand painted some winter trees on top.

I hope I have inspired you to try just covering a canvas using what you have at home.

Debbie x

 

Crafty kit gifts

Hi from Caz!

We all know that we have far too much stash, right? Too much paper, too many embellishments, too much yarn, too much fabric, too many threads.....and the list goes on.

Well the other day when I was going through my stash looking for the perfect paper for a layout, I can across a 12x12 baggie with some paper and a tag book I bought years ago. Oh actually I had to have it! But still it sits in it's baggie never to be used because really it's just not my thing.

So instead of hanging onto it or putting it in the trash I decided to make up a crafty kit for my niece's birthday.

 

Papers, tag book, some ribbon, a set of stamps, alpha sticker sheet, and some embellies and Bobs your uncle, one gift :)

 

She'll love it and i'll love that she loves it, and her mom will love me for the hours of peace and quiet it bring, and we're all happy!

 

Give a crafty gift this year!

Thanks for visiting!!
Caz
xx  

The Devil's in the Detail.

I love scrapping vintage photographs. Recently I found an old negative and managed to scan it and create a lovely photo recording a wonderful moment from my Mother's family.

Here were four generations of the family altogether outside my Grandmother's house. This was only the second photo I'd ever seen of my Great-Grandmother which made the photo extra special!

 

I wanted to make a really feminine layout and started by deciding to use some of the gorgeous Webster's Pages paper with the classic red roses on. I kept with the red and cream colour scheme and the roses for my embellishments:

 

I used an 'old' technique on this yummy paper where I trimmed the pattern on the paper so it would form a frame around the photograph-it's very quick and easy to do with a craft knife and brings the paper onto the photograph:

 

I used paper roses in 2 sizes in red and cream (from Hobbycraft) as well as some pretty red lace to highlight to photograph and the journalling because the story was just as important :

Although you can't see it on the photograph of the layout the roses all had a little sparkle from adding Rock Candy Distress Glitter which is a vintage looking, clear glitter from Ranger.

Inspired by Tim Holtz I used some filmstrip as embellishment along with little metal tags and paper tags from Making memories. I wanted the embellishments for this layout to add to its meaning and partly tell the story:

 

So there you have it a layout with a vintage yet feminine feel that tells one of the stories from my family!

Happy Crafting!

GlitteryKatie XxXXxX

Lunch Time

Hello Joy here.

I have dusted down my sewing machine today and believe me, with a house in disruption with building work, it it needed a lot of dusting.

Months ago I bought some lovely oilcloth from the Cath Kidston outlet shop.  I bought it to make new lunchbags for my girls, who have long outgrown the character lunchbags which are generally available, and they wanted something more chic.

I have finally got busy and made the first one.  Grace will test drive it tomorrow!

They are surprisingly easy to make!

1. cut out a piece of oil cloth 17"  X 14" . I used pinking shears to give a neater edge.                            
2. With the right sides together stitch down the 14" edge.                                               
3. Mark the bottom centre and match with back seam.  Stitch seam.             
4. Shape the corners by pressing out a square shape in the bottom of the bag, as shown below.
5. Mark 1 1/2" in from corner and sew across. I went over the stitching twice to make it more secure. 
6. Cut off corner and repeat steps 5 & 6 on other corner.       
7. Turn the lunchbag the right way out.  You may need to get your fingers right into the corners to make sure they are neat.  Fill with lunch, roll up and add a clip (mine is from a set from Staples) Get ready for the admiring remarks.    

I have a feeling I will have to make a few of these.  I have certainly got lots more fabric.  I will bring you more ideas for oilcloth soon.

I hope you are having some sunshine and can get out and about with your lunchbags.

STITCHED PROFILE

Hello, Eleanor here.

I've been stitching up my youngest son. I took his photo, in profile, then on a piece of my trusty cream cotton curtain lining material, I lightly drew the outline in pencil, (very lightly, you can just about see in the photo) and stretched the fabric and a square of interfacing behind it, in a 7 inch embroidery hoop .

I chose one strand of dark brown embroidery thread, and simply followed the lines...

 

Wot no curls?

I freestyled the curls last of all.

 

I need to frame it now, so will be looking out for a suitable square frame in the charity shops and car boot sales, meanwhile, since my attempt at learning to use photoshop brushes failed miserably, here's a pretend frame.

Cheerio for now.

Why would you want to knit your own socks?

I have been asked that question so often recently, and often with a note of laughter in the tone too. Kel here, and a little lost for words for the answer. What can I say? 
Those that do knit their own socks seem to find it addictive.
There is so much beautiful yarn out there for sock knitters: self-striping, textured, colourchanging, lush and soft.
I've seen handknit socks that absolutely defy our idea of bunched up, chunky, uncomfortable handknit socks that we may have seen in our youth. 

So surely the question is why not knit socks?
Um, well, I've heard it's hard.
Four needles, are you kidding me? How do you even begin?
This heel turning business. It's hard. Everyone says so.

 

I'm taking a series of 3 classes to learn this skill (essential skill, surely?). I should have done two of the three lessons by now, but the volcanic ash held up the teacher from starting that first week, so we have only done one. The class is at The Make Lounge for those in London, but a skilled friend and a good pattern, or a search through the interwebs for videos and patterns will offer a good alternative. This method starts from the ankle ribbing and works down.

Let me reassure you that knitting with four needles is not as scary is it looks at all. At any given moment it is just like knitting with two needles and you just ignore the other two. My teacher suggests bamboo needles, as they grip a little better and don't slide out of your stitches as easily. This week we cast on, did the ribbing and started on the stockinette.

 
 This is my homework, to work it down as far as where the heel will be. Tomorrow we'll be turning the heel and then next week we'll shape the toe. I'll be sure and show you the finished product! 

PS I've already ordered wool for the next part.

xx

Crochet Flower Free Pattern

Hi, it's Mandy here again...

I love making crochet flowers and using them on scrapbook layouts and have used them on cards too in the past.  Recently I have started to design my own patterns. 

 I called this flower 'May Day'.

I used variegated blue & white cotton thread (I think it's size 10 but am not positive because it was in a bag of scraps that my Gran gave me.)  I used a 1.25mm metal hook and all the abbreviations are UK terms.  There are two special abbreviations...

2dtr bobble  (2 double treble bobble) =leaving last loop of each on hook, work 2dtr into ring, yo, pull through all 3 loops on hook.

3dtr bobble  (3 double treble bobble) =leaving last loop of each on hook, work 3dtr into ring, yo, pull through all 4 loops on hook.

'May Day' Pattern

Starting Ring:  Do 10 chain and join with sl,st.

Round 1:  4 ch, 2dtr bobble in ring. [6 ch, 3dtr bobble into ring] x7.  6 chain, sl, st to top of 1st bobble.

Round 2:  [1dc, 1htr, 2tr, 2dtr, 2tr, 1htr, 1dc into chain space below] x8. sl, st into1st dc of the round.Cast off.

Have a great bank Holiday week-end!

Mandy.