It's a Creative World

A no sew fabric project

Hi there! I have another Christmas make for you - a fabric tree with no sewing!  Please excuse some of the less than sharp pictures- I hope every year that santa will bring a DSLR! This project is made with pins but if you do have any young hands likely to touch then I'm sure a hot glue gun would be just as good. I've used pins so that I can add different fabric colours in years to come.Any way- this is what you need...
A selection of green fabric samples for the tree and yellow for the star. Department stores often have a sample service for fabrics- I've got a lovely selection of velvets for this! You will also need an oasis cone for florists, double sided tape and pins-lots!

Apply the DS tape along the edges of fabic and fold it over. Then cut little tabs of fabric approx 10mm wide.

 
These need to get smaller as you approach the top of the tree. Cut a longer strip of material and pin along the base of the cone to hide the oasis. Now start pinning on your fabric tabs. You can overlap or place side beside. As you work your way up you need to stagger them as if you were laying bricks(!?) This will hide the pin and give a random branchy look!

As you work upwards you can start to place the fabric more randomly. Before you reach the top, wrap a piece of fabric around the top. This will hide the oasis again, as you will run out of room to pin. It also gives a nice tip to add the star to.

Add DS tape to the yellow fabric, draw on a star and cut out. You can seal all the edges but leave a hole at the botton to stick on the tree. Give it another couple of pins and then it's finished.

A little cutie for you to stick on a shelf,or whever takes your fancy. Hope you have time to give it ago and that tomorrow bring you a fantastic December and Christmas! Have fun.

Laura xx

 

 

A beautiful autumn day

I am just trying to sneak in one more autumn layout before it gets too cold.

Inspired by bare trees and skeletal leaves, I decided to draw some oversize seed heads. I started with a pencil and drew in some bare bones. I went over the pencil marks with a fine pen, mine is a brown Sharpie.

I added some random brown spots using a marker pen, mine is an American Crafts Metallic Brown.

I added a small cluster on one side of the page for my title.

Next I added some chipboard frames ( yes, I still have loads, even after my last post!) and photos.

I made a flower arrangment inside one of the chipboard frame. I couldn't resist adding a little birdie too.

Lastly I wrote my journalling and added a few little things. A perfect page to the most beautiful day spent on my birthday.

by Ifa

Christmas fun with Origami

Hi,  Dolly here. It is an absolute pleasure to welcome an amazing guest designer to IACW today.

Jemma Sharrock does some amazing things and she often has tips, techniques and tutorials on her blog so make sure you check it out .... regularly.

I asked Jemma to tell us a little about herself.

My name is Jemma, but on scrapbook forums my ID is Jimjams which is often shortened to JJ.  I've been scrapping since the summer of 2006 when a Dutch friend took me along to an all day crop and shared her supplies with me.  Apart from pages about my three children, I love to record our holiday memories and scrap the stories from my own childhood so that they are not lost.  This year I took part in UKScrappers' Scrap Factor competition and I've been part of the creative team at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog - trying hard to make a dent in my mountain of paper and card!

She has a super project for us today with an oragami xmas tree - perfect to get making now ready to add that extra special Christmas flavour to your house this year.

  There are lots of Origami decorations to make at Christmas, but I was rather taken with this one which is quick and easy to make and has a variety of possible uses.  It is made from eight separate pieces of paper.

Basic Modular Wreath

1. Cut a rectangle of paper measuring 8cm x 4cm
2. Fold in half along the length so that the right side shows
3. Fold down both pairs of corners on the “open” edge
4. Fold in half width ways
5. Make 7 more shapes from 8cm x 4cm rectangles of paper

The picture below shows step 1, 2 3 and 4

Step 6  Fit the points of one shape inside the pockets of another and push together together

Step 7  Repeat with the other shapes to form a ring

 

Step 8  Adjust so that the centre hole is a regular octagon and apply a small dot of glue under each join to keep the pieces in place.  

 

Hanging Decorations: To make a hanging tree decoration punch a hole in one of the points and thread with string, ribbon or thread.  Add extra sparkle with glitter glue.  Brown parcel paper works well with red ribbons, or perhaps even use paper from a magazine or a newspaper.

 

Garland: To make a garland punch two holes in several wreath shapes and join with ribbon, string or thread.

Christmas Tree: To make a Christmas tree slot several wreaths in different sizes over a cone of card. 

 

I used wreaths made from 7 sets of rectangles measuring 10cm x 5cm, 9cm x 4½, 8cm x 4cm, 7cm x 3½cm, 6cm x 3cm, 5cm x 2½cm, and 4cm x 2cm. 

The cone was made from an A5 piece of card by drawing an arc with a compass set at 15cm from the mid point of the short edge.

 I made 1cm high loops of paper to help separate the wreaths on the cone.

The smallest top wreath was made with only seven segments in order to make it a snug fit at the top of the cone.



Such fabulous ideas from Jemma. I know I can't wait to try them. I can't wait to see what you all come up with. And remember to check out Jemma's blog for more ideas.

 

 

The advent equivalent of a rolodex...by alix

Hi everyone!

I couldn't resist posting an Advent idea today...it being nearly the 1st of December and all...and don't think it's too late to make one of these cuties either...its not a complex project and can be embellished as little or as much as you like :0)

A word to the wise...it's not just little kiddlies that like these...my BIL was totally fascinated by the one i made him last year and even wanted a personal tutorial!! 

From this angle I'm not sure you can even tell what it is...but I think you can get a glimpse of some of the mismatched Christmas embellishments I've used...as you only see one page at a time, there really is no excuse not to use up that stash of slightly less loved embellies that have been lurking for a few Christmases...and then of course you have a fabby excuse to buy all new ones for your next project. Yay!

I've used some pre~numbered cards for the day markers {i think these were Pink Paisley} and I've stamped all around the edge of the cards with Green Brilliance ink using the edge of a bird on holly stamp {by Personal Impressions} to create a holly border.  I've also swiped the inkpad around the edges to fill in any gaps.  Each day was simply decorated with a strip of scrap ribbon and a random embellishment.  

To create the stand i've covered a 15" x 3" strip of cardboard {from a pizza box} with Christmas themed paper {by Papermania}, folded it against a ruler to create triangle shape and used my Cropadile to punch holes in both the stand and the day markers so i could add the book rings.  I'm not sure this picture shows it clearly, but your stand will benefit from a wide bottom!! ;0)

So, that's my project for today...as always i hope it inspires you to go off and make something magical...and don't forget...only 27 crafting days left 'til Christmas! Yikes...

Crochet- the beginning!

HI all!
You may remember my post earlier in the month about Quick Knits well I've continued to knit and have even taught myself to crochet to a pattern!

First of all here's my little Gnome I was just starting last time. He knitted up really fast and came out a treat (my Sister is after him!). He was from a free pattern HERE and the only changes I made were to add some stitches tom make a nose and ears and I knitted the beard in garter stitch.

I then bought a lovely pattern online for a cute piggy who was knitted- love those hooge feet!!

If you search etsy.com there are hundreds of beautiful and varied patterns for you to knit and often less than $5

I then decided that it was about time I taught myself to crochet and follow a pattern as there were so MANY adorable amigurumi patterns free on the net!

I thought I'd look for a REALLY easy pattern and spotted this cute Happy Pill pattern on Ravelry.com (you need to sign up to use the site but you don't get any annoying emails and it's a HUGE resource!)

I had looked at instructions on how to crachet but it hadn't clicked but luckily I found this awesome tutorial on YouTube AMIGURUMI TUTORIAL and I was off!

I learnt how to decipher a crochet pattern, to increase and decrease in single crochet *beams*

So my next project was to crochet a cookie which I made up myself (get me!), followed by a cupcake from free pattern HERE and a coffee cup from HERE

I've learnt to use Slip Stitch, crochet into the front or the back of the stitch and to use HDC- half, double crochet!

Anytime I've been stuck I've resorted to Googling for the answer or heading to YouTube for a video tutorial- so easy!

As well as crocheting I've discovered 6mm black safety eyes which really give the look of an amigurumi!

So that's what I've been up to lately, I hope you enjoyed my yarn adventures and if you'd like to have a go then why not try some of these sites which have LOTS of free patterns to try!

Free Patterns:

Free Amigurumi Patterns

50 Free Adorable Amigurumi

Amigurumi Patterns.net

Ravelry.com  (requires sign up)

Amigurumi Video Tutorial

Complete Amigurumi Tutorial

 

Happy Crafting!

GlitteryKatie xXx

Framed Advent Calendar

Hello! It's my turn today and our house is gearing up for Christmas in a big way! I have a small obsession with Advent Calendars - I love how they count down to the big day and often have chocolate in them too! So for this year's calendar I wanted to make one that was quick, easy and that could be made very cheaply by the whole family.

I bought a picture frame from a pound shop and removed the glass and mount board. The frame was covered in tissue tape (you may need to glue the edges down as by its very nature the tape won't stick to itself) and then I rubbed some Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges and then sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. The back of the frame (which normally hangs on the wall) was covered with paper (I used some Tim Holtz Seasonal Stash) and then I covered a small configurations box with paper and tissue tape and glued it to the back of the frame. on top of this box I added a pine tree (with paint as snow). 

I cut 13 tags in coordinating papers and decorated them with stamps, paint and punched birds. You will need 0 to 9 and 0 to 2 - for the 0 for the first days of December I used a picture of Santa with a little ribbon at the bottom. I made my tags pretty flat so that I could stack them all on two hitch fastners but you could make them as fancy as you like and store them in the little box where I popped some chocolate! 

I used some offcuts of paper for the word 'Advent' and a canvas snowman with a hand dyed ribbon (for instructions on hand dying ribbon - see my previous post!) This is such an esy and enjoyable project that it's something that was great fun to make with my children! Thank you for stopping by!

Gabrielle x

Christmas Quilt...

Hi, Mandy here again. 

Last year I made two lap quilts to give to my neices as a special surprise Christmas present.  I posted about them in detail here and here on It's a Creative World.  I used Moda Basic Grey fabric called 'Fruitcake'.  Happily, once I'd finished those two quilts I had some leftover jellyroll strips and a few odd Layer Cake 10" by 10" squares, and quite a bit of plain red fabric.  I remember that time was running out and it was nearly Christmas but I stupidly optimistically decided to make our family a lap quilt too for Christmassy snuggles on the settee.  I did get as far as the final stage, the binding strips around the edge and ran out of time (and to be honest I was all quilted out by then).  Here's a photo of ds last year helping me baste the quilt sandwich before it's quilted...

 

The pattern in the centre is from the site Quiltville which I have consulted time and time again.  The pattern is called Streak of Sunshine and is really good fun to make because you use jellyroll strips, then sew them into a 'tube' and cut strips from the tube.  It's really fast but looks effective and is very easy when you read the tutorial (honest!).

I'm a self-taught quilter and find this site to be full of helpful tuts on patchwork and quilting.  I'll soon be consulting this tut on how to bind your quilt to get it finished in good time for Christmas this year.  I photographed it this morning so you can see the pretty Basic Grey fabric better (just ignore the creases because it's spent the last year in a bag!)

Quilting is very satisfying.  I've heard and read online many quilting nightmares (and have had a few of those myself... see this post from 2008  when I was making my first quilt... try not to laugh!) But I'd encourage anyone who has always wanted to make a quilt to buy a jellyroll and try this pattern.  A quilting ruler and rotary cutter although not essential makes life much easier and is worth the investment.  Saying that, I made my first quilt with kitchen scissors and a 30cm plastic ruler see the evidence on this very early quilting post.  Anyway, don't forget to link to us here at IACW if you do get brave and make a quilt... we always like to see what folks make.

See you in December,

Mandy.

 

 

It's all in a letter

I recently bought a gorgeous set of Stampin' Up alphas and tried to convince myself they were worth the outlay.

It wasn't that difficult, in fact they have hardly been back in their little clear box since I received them.

Today is my sisters birthday, so the card I made for her of course had to have my favourite stamps on them.

 

Some close up details

 

 

 

The alpha stamps are also perfect for adding extra details and personalisation to mini books and scrapbook pages, here is an envelope mini book I made  a couple of weeks ago with the same stamps.

 

 

And a card I made for my daughters 18th

 

 

Finally I have a quick and easy tag, I just love using my scraps up and feel virtuous when I can concoct something up out of virtually 'nothing', a couple of thin strips of patterned paper, a stray chippie number, a little piece if ribbon and my trusty alphas et voila !!!

 

So ! What are you waiting for ? Dig out those trusty alphabet stamps and start personalising all your christmas projects.

 

Happy crafting 

 

Tracey xxx

BALLOONS

Back in July, I had been so inspired by our new DT member, Katherine's balloons, that I made a card for my grandson, (scroll down a little) as part of Claire's stamping challenge for a weekend workout.

I love the effect of the circles, and decided to use the technique in fabric, to liven up a plain (yes, predictable, I know!) charity shop linen skirt.

I bought a pack of 10 inch fabric squares, in reds and pinks, by Kaffe Fassett, from Cotton Patch , and cut lots (and lots) of circles. I layered them in threes, and stitched them down fairly randomly, with raw edges to allow fraying, stitching the base one around its edge, and the upper pair vertically through the centre.

Here's the 'before':

The 'after':

and here I am:

Now I need to make a scrapbook layout! Thanks for the inspiration Katherine, I just love these balloons.

I wonder where I can put them next - on the Christmas tree perhaps?

Bye for now.

 

'Instant de bonheur' Layout

This is my last layout about autumn.

It’s a special layout with 2 small albums and a lot of 3-dimensional papers and chipboards.

I use the « Reflexions » Prima collection where I can find a lot of motives to cut and create new scenes.

Words are stamped on the chipboards with STAZON ink.

To make 3-dimensional paper scenes, you can use : pistol with glue or 3D sticker foams.

You can take advantage on this layout when you put it in a frame or on an easel.

Many thanks to share this moment of autumn with me !

Caroline