It's a Creative World

Pinwheels

Do you remember when Eleanor made mincemeat pinwheels? 

Dolly does - she went out the next day and bought the ingredients and has made them every Christmas since. She says hers never look as pretty as Eleanor's, but they taste lush. 

So, just in case you missed them back in 2009, here they are again, while the girls are on their jollies:

 

Hello, Eleanor here. Mincemeat isn't just for Christmas! I make my own using the ingredients I know the family like. Mine don't enjoy nuts in mincemeat, or suet, so I use any dried fruit I have in the cupboard:

such as raisins, sultanas, chopped dried apples, apricots, prunes and figs (but not too many!).

Then add dark brown sugar, grate over some nutmeg, and shake in some mixed spice and ground cinnamon:

Next I grate over a large cooking apple (and in the time it took to wash my sticky hands and take a photo, the apple was starting to brown, but you know, it doesn't really matter, as by the time this has matured, it will all be browner than brown):

 

Finally, pour over a good cup of alcohol - whatever comes to hand - I used Cognac, and give it a stir.

 

Now cover and leave for a week, stirring every day, then either use it or pot it up.

Of course, this batch is not ready in time for my pinwheels, so I've used the last jar from last November, and my, is it mature!

I used a block of defrosted frozen puff pastry, cut into 12 squares.

Roll each square out to about 5 or 6 inches, paint a milky border around the edges, dollop a spoon of mincemeat into the centre and use a knife to cut from each corner up to the fruit.

Now, one corner at a time, as if you were making a child's windmill, fold in and lightly press to seal.

Now slather on some more milk and bake at 180C for about 20 minutes, but keep an eye.

 

Leave to cool, and then make up some thin icing with a dribble of hot water and a big cup of icing sugar, drizzle over the top, making sure to include each arm of the windmill, as there is no fruit in there, so you need some lovely sweet icing on. And finally, half a maraschino cherry on each (juicy almond flavour cocktail cherries in a jar) and you're done.

 

Perfect with your morning coffee, your afternoon tea, for supper, or with your bedtime milky drink (or in our case, for breakfast).

 

Decorated box

Have you got a stash of kits hidden away, that you just had to have but have never put together?

I have and decided now is the time to start going through them and making those I still like and passing those on I don't.

The kit I've just made is by Handles Fabric Art. (I'm not sure if they're still trading but produced kits with self adhesive fabric and lace, along with beautiful variegated ribbons.)

Constructing the flower:

 
You use a simple running stitch and the ribbon is wired so you can "frill" the petals easily.

The completed flower:

 
the middle was made using stamens and seed beads.

Next I covered the box,

 

I then stuck the flower and laeves on the lid, white lace leaves were included but I decided to colour them with distress stains in Forest Moss and Peeled Paint.

Thanks for looking Lynne x

 

Felt Flowers Revisited And A Prize

Hi there Kerry here

I've decided to revisit my little post on making a felt flower from the recently blog hop we had. 

I originally offered a prize which is the last picture but the prize was never claimed so I am re-offering this and will pick a random commenter from this post to win on 17th July.

Here is the original tutorial. 

There are tons of tutorials around the interweb so I'm not taking any credit for the idea.

 Start with a strip of felt - any length over about 8 inches will do and I made mine approx 1.5 inches wide.

Place a line of glue along one of the long edges

fold the other long edge onto the glued edge

I've found that unless you use an extremely fast drying glue then it helps to fold the strip up a bit and hold it together with a couple of clothes pegs until it dries.

 Once dry unfold it and then make some cuts into the folded edge making sure you don't cut all the way through the glued edge.

 the next step is to start rolling it from one end adding a spot of glue as you go

keep rolling until you reach the end trying to keep the glued edge as level as possible.  You should end up with something a little like this - mine isn't as level as I would like but never mind.  Next put some more glue on the base and cut a small piece of felt large enough to cover the base.

Stick the piece of felt over the base and leave it all to dry.

Once it is dry trim off the excess from the base - it doesn't need to be exact but it finishes it off and gives you a surface to add sticky pads/tape/glue to adhere to your project.

 Last step is to turn it over and arrange the petals.  I find flattening it a bit with the palm of my hand helps.

The winner will be drawn at random on 17th July and the prize is this selection of flowers and embellishments

 

Thanks for looking :)

MJM CREATES re-visited

Back in 2010 we worked on the Simple Things project, a word each month to inspire, this is what MJM said:

Hi all Michelle here with my take on the word CREATE to add to my little treasure chest of Simple Things.

 Whenever I get 'stuck' with my creativity I look to my books, of which I have quite a few!!! As this is so often my point to spark creativity I thought about how I could condense this idea enough to fit inside my treasure chest of goodies and came up with a flash card idea. I use angel cards sometimes to answer questions and this is simply a pack of cards with messages on them and that seemed the perfect way to house my 'create' flash cards.

I made a card box and decorated it with an altered playing card and bits and pieces including a quote stamp from my pack of 'art quotes' invoke art stamps .... perfect for this project!

I then set about altering some more playing cards using my trusty mail file and alcohol inks. I added the music paper to continue the theme of the front of the card box.

On some of the cards I have used more of my art quote stamps.

And on others I have used black and white portraits of some of the artists that inspire me and added a coloured transparency of a piece of their work over the top, creating a layered collage. I then cold laminated each card to protect them and also to disguise them so I really don't know which card I am picking!

The result a pack of cards that I can turn to to kick off my creativity in the moments when the mojo won't play :)

Love M x

 

LOTTIE MINIBOOK re-visited

Hello, Eleanor here again, with a minibook I made over 3 years ago, as part of Project 2009, piano hinge style (for instructions, see my post here ).

I used fibres instead of bamboo skewers, but the principle is the same.

These are the pages, in no particular order:

The importance of compost:

Building a pond, for the frogs (in 7 years at the allotment, once we had a pond we didn't see a single slug or snail):

Hard work, frequent pauses to lean on a hoe:

Join the Allotment Association? You must be kidding (too much chin wagging, when time could be spent digging):

Saving water:

Trudging down the lane in all weathers:

We built it, glazed it, painted it, and sat on it - our shed:

Always digging to be done:

Inner peace:

Some of the happiest times in our lives were spent at the allotment.

Looking back on the making of this minibook, I realise how much I loved that 12 months of making one a month. I think it must be time for another 12 month project - I'd choose minibooks again in a heartbeat. If anyone knows of a similar challenge out there, please let me know.

Thanks for continuing to drop by, as we re-visit these archived posts, we hope to return soon with our creative batteries recharged.

 

 

 

Patchwork cushion re-visited

There's something about pink and green together which I find irresistable, maybe you do too? Here's a cushion made by Trish, another of our retired team-mates, back in 2008. Here's what she said: 

Hiya, I have been doing a lot of sewing lately and thought I would share my cushion with you, I bought a pattern (from buttonberry, who have taken a break from their online business to have babies!) and adjusted it a little so that I could use the fabric I had recently bought from pelennapatchworks.

The pattern was for a basic cushion with appliqué; the fabric I had was in fat quarters (quarter metre) so not large enough to make the whole cushion front from one piece, so I decided to make it patchwork.

I cut four squares to equal the size of the front piece; mine were 8 inches each, and sewed them together. The appliqué was done using a double sized amount of the background fabric, sewn together and turned the correct way after, it gives a much neater edge, I then used iron on interfacing on my chosen fabric for the heart before I cut it out, it stiffens and helps to prevent fraying.

I then ironed it onto the background fabric and hand blanket stitched all the way around. The appliquéd square was then sewn onto the cushion front and the buttons sewn on before putting the back and front of the cushion together.  When that was all finished I made the tabs, sewed them onto the back of the cushion before attaching them to the front using buttons.

Trish xxx

 

Wedding Favours Adaption re-visited

Did you miss this tiny little album in a box, the first time around? The box held mints, so was really dinky, but Dolly managed to fit such a lot into it...  this is what she said:

You know, by now, I love making mini books and I love 'recycling' packaging and this is another one of 'those' projects.

I made it quite a long time ago but it has never been shared and now is the time to share it. It's summer - and summer weddings seem to be all around.

The mini book was made in the wedding favour I was given on the day. The gorgeous little boxes were filled with mints on the table at each place setting.

It was too pretty not to be used as a mini wedding album and it was even more special because the tiny album was in the favour from the day.

The little album is simply cardstock folded into an accordian shape and I added pictures and quotes

It really is quite small as the picture with the rings shows

However, even in a book this size you can put an awful lot of memories of the day.

 

I kept the colours the same as those of their wedding, ivory, cream, bronze, gold and coffee, and kept the embellishments to a bare minimum, using a gold pen and computer generated quotes.

 Have fun creating!

Dolly x

 

Pocket card re-visited

Whilst the Creative Girls are having a little holiday, I thought we'd re-visit an oldie but goodie folded card you may not have seen first time around, made by Joanne, one of our retired team-mates.

This card is made from a single sheet of A4 double sided patterned paper and is folded to make two pockets which are perfect for little tags.  I have done mine as a girly thank you card, but it would be suitable for any occasion.

Here's how you do it:

First, take a sheet of double sided patterned paper measuring 8.5" x 11" and score and fold it in half horizontally and vertically. Then, with the paper facing you in portrait mode, cut the horizontal line from the left hand side just to the centre as shown.

Take the bottom right hand corner and fold it up to meet the centre vertical line. Crease well.

Next, take the top left and fold it down so it is 1.5" away from the centre vertical crease.

Fold the top left hand quarter over onto the top right hand quarter.  You've made your first pocket!

 

Fold the bottom left hand quarter behind the bottom right hand corner and then.......

.......fold the bottom sheet over the top sheet as shown.

 

You've made your pocket card!

 

Now have fun decorating the front of your pocket card and making tags to go inside.  You could add almost anything to the pockets - photos, memorabilia etc.

I hope you enjoy having a go at this, and I hope it's given you some inspiration if you are stuck for card.

Thanks for looking and I'll see you soon!  Joanne xxx

 

Teachers gifts.

Hi everyone, Erika here and it's that time again....the end of the summer term.  Up here in Scotland we have already had the first of our seven weeks off.  Yes you heard me right seven weeks off in the summer I can feel grey hairs sprouting!  I am hoping that we get some good weather as we live within walking distance of a beach, the kids would live down there if the weather is good and then they're tired at night.

Anyway what did I decided to make this year?  Mini canvasses for the teachers with these 6" frames from my local craft shop.

The frame I have painted with white acylic paint, sanded then added Vintage photo distress ink to give it a shabby chic finish.  The canvas is painted with Fired brick distress stain and then the gingham paper from Kanban is added.  The apple die is by sizzix and the words "Teachers cannot live by apples alone" are printed on my computer.  I have brought it all together with a bit more Vintage photo distressing.

Teachers that I know have told me that their favourite gift is a bottle of wine so I have also wrapped up a fine bottle of vino with a matching tag that says "Grapes are good too!"  Lets face it after a year teaching a class of 8 year olds a bottle of wine sounds like a good start to the holiday.

That's all from me today, have a great summer whatever you've got planned and lets hope for some sunshine.

Happy crafting,

Erika. 

Thanks Erika, and in fact that's it from all the Creative Girls for a little while; we are having a wee break to recharge our batteries and will be back soon with more creative inspiration for our readers.

IACW

x

 

ATeaC Swapping

Morning campers! Leanie here, hope that you are all having a good Monday and have survived the rather inclement weather we've had recently.  Did it make you want to huddle up with some crafty bits and a brew?  If so this may be JUST what you need :)

I've been so looking forward to sharing this post with you - because I know you'll all want one of these mini books!  At UKScrappers, a few of us started our own sharing circle between friends, and did an Alice-themed ATC swap. We knew many had gone before us, but all chose a character and sent them off, for Bex to bind into a little accordion book.

However, when we got them back, they were so much more than any of us were expecting - Bex had made covers that were so pretty and detailed, inside and out, and sent them all back in tea-time boxes with Mad Hatter hat favours filled with charms, along with sweets, tea and lots of love!

So, for your drooling pleasure, and to inspire your creativity, please find attached pictures.  I've also got more detailed ones going up on my blog so I can showcase the techniques everyone's used, and love that this can now be my little resource book:

Isn't that covered hat on the back cute?!

I hope this gets your mojo flowing - see you soon!

Leanne x

 

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