It's a Creative World

Hot air balloons

Hi Debbie here with my version of hot air balloons.

My original idea (before I realised how difficult it was going to be to make what was in my head) was hot air balloon type bunting, but its now a solitary balloon to hang!

I cut out about 40 balloon shapes from book paper. I folded them in half and glued the halves together.

I was frustrated that the sections weren't spaced evenly so I used a needle and beads to space the pages, however when I had finished I realised I didn't like the blue beads (this was the second time I had started again so decided to cover the beads.

I used a zig zag piece of paper and a hot glue gun to go around the balloon and cover the beads. I could then stick the paper roses around the outside.

 

The top of the balloon was covered with petals cut from book paper.

 

I covered the edges of the balloon with glitter glue of varying colours.

Thank you for stopping by It's A Creative World.

Debbie xxx

Do the shuffle!

Does anyone feel like a challenge to get your creative juices going??  I have a new on for you! Do the shuffle! Music is always an inspiration- many the layout I've created with a song in mind. But always my choice of song. No more!! Each week I am going to put my ipods songs on shuffle- first one up will be my inspiration. I'll use either the song title, lyrics or album artwork as my inspiration.

So here's my first! I'm mildly embarrassed that you discover Disney Great Musicals- Age of not believing by Angela Landsbury (!!) is my first song!! Bedknobs and Broomsticks I believe. But it doesn't mean I'm going all Disney on you (Appropriate though as I'm in Disneyland Paris as you read!!)

Anyway here's the proof- and here is my Shuffle inspired layout.....

 

 My son has almost reached that age. If he takes after me he will maintain Santa exists till 16 purely to get the stocking.My motto is "If you don't believe you don't recieve!"

So there's the challenge. Use my song if you like or your own. To give you more scope you can use the title, lyrics, album artwork or artist name. ( I do not anticipate any layout's titled Angela Landsbury- but you never can tell!!) 

Anyway I hope you play along , please do comment if you do and we'll visit and have a peek. I'm going to continue my weekly challenge on my own blog here. Maybe I'll see you there.

 

TFL

Laura xx

 

 

I can see clearly now

Honestly, a whole new world has been revealed to me since I got my glasses.

Eleanor here, and I have made myself a couple of soft specs cases to replace the big clunky, 'trap your fingers with its vicious closing mechanism' affair that NHS glasses come in.

I chose a cotton print, a piece of toning felt, also white felt and Bondaweb.

I couldn't decide between these 2 prints, so used both and made 2. The darker one was easy to cut symmetrically, not that it matters really. 

I measured my specs and cut 2 rectangles of white felt to the maximum length and width. I then cut my cotton print allowing an extra half inch all round for seam allowance. Using bondaweb, I attached the felt to the wrong side of the print:

I used machine sewing to accent the cotton print:

and also some hand embroidery, just adding little highlights:

Simple stitches - chain, and French knots among others:

More machining on the second fabric:

Right sides together, I stitched around 3 sides along the edge of the felt, long side, short side, long side; trimmed corners, folded in open edge, now set aside.

I cut a liner from toning felt, (same size as white felt, but in one whole piece folded), stitched around. Leave it wrong way out.

Turn your outer right way out, and slip the liner down inside; neaten open end, here I folded down a cuff and slipstitched it to outer on the outside:

whilst here I trimmed the felt liner to remain inside, and slipstitched it to the outer inside the open edge.

Simple soft cases, unlike anyone else's! 

See you soon.

x

Strip strap bracelet

Hello there, it's Eleanor here again. Most of us love an original jewellery item, the attention it draws, and the way it livens up an ordinary outfit. I am no exception (you'd not noticed?) and so when I saw a fabric bracelet by Pat Sloan on Sew Daily, I had to go and dig about in my fabric stash for some pretty strips. 

I still had some of the jelly roll I used for this mobius wrap , Moda OZ, and I broke open another Moda jellyroll FREEBIRD, for other strips.

The link above gives detailed instructions, so I won't, but once I had measured my wrist, I cut 7 strips (I actually cut 9, but ended up using 7) each one inch by seven and a half. These I pressed in half lengthways, opened out again and pressed each long side towards the fold, and finally folded in half along the fold. Topstitched, each strip looks like this:

closer:

Four small rectangles are needed for the cuffs, 2 measuring 2.5in by 3in, and 2 at 1.5in by 3in. I chose a toning print, and folded in and tacked a quarter inch around all four sides of each.

The 7 strips are laid out on a single piece of cuff and pinned in place like so:

Then I cut a slightly smaller piece of fleece, and trimmed a toning hair elastic:

Assemble like this:

and add top matching cuff piece:

Tack in place and repeat the process at the other end with the narrower cuff pieces, changing the order of the strips in a somewhat random fashion, and no elastic this time.

Here it is tacked, but with pins still in place, as I'm cautious like that, and prefer to stitch slowly, removing pins as I reach them:

Stitch carefully around each cuff, enclosing strips and elastic and adding a few lines of quilting if liked. Add a button on the narrow cuff, remove tacking, and take outside because the light is better; it may be minus 6 degrees but the sun is shining, hooray. :)

It's easier than I have made it sound, was fun, and Pat's tutorial on Sew Daily is great. Have a go!

Bye for now.

x

 

CRAFTernoon Tea, Anyone?

Well hello there, it's been a while since I last saw you- do come in and rest a while, perhaps a cup of tea? I've some lovely chocolates to go with it, in this cute little box I decorated...

Why thank you, you're too kind! It was just some strips and stickers from an old scrapbooking kit, great for for using up scraps of stash... Sorry? Yes, I know there's only one egg in it... It came like that, ok? ;)

Quick change of subject- Do you like crochet? I've been working on a couple of bunny motifs (I don't normally do cutesy, but these are the right side of kitsch for my taste):

My favourite is the first, but I can't find the pattern so am having to do it by eye- but the second has lots of free motif patterns on her blog... Plus, if i make it in brown and red, and add antlers, I could make a Rudolph garland for Christmas! Actually, for more inspiration on crochet motifs, there's an awesome little Pinterest board here worth a look too :)

Back to food, I have to get a wriggle on with my carrots for the kids... Yours don't like veg? Oh, don't worry, they'll love these (and isn't it cool how they're displayed?):

How do you make them? I'm glad you asked ;) You need some strong double sided tape, a paper crimper (not essential), a strip of green paper, and a rectangle of orange card or patterned paper...

First, lay double sided tape along both short ends and one long end of the orange rectangle, and remove all the backing- I know! Trust me :) Roll into a long tube, using the tape from the long side to secure the edge.
Next, flatten one end of the tube. The tape will hold it shut, but if you run about a centimetre/half inch of it through the paper crimper, it'll create a really good seal.
Fill about two thirds with goodies (not vegetables!), fringe your green paper, and keep ready for the next step.
Then, start to flatten the other end PERPENDICULAR to the first one i.e. the OPPOSITE way, so if you looked from above it would look like an X but before you have sealed it completely, insert the green fringed paper, to provide the carrot greenery, and run through the crimper again to seal.
Oh, you're welcome! They're just so quick and easy I thought you'd like to give them a go :) Great for children to make, or parties!

Well, I'd best be off, lots of Easter prep... I still have nest cakes to make, Simnel to sort, an Easter tree to decorate... And I'm sure you're busy too!

Oh, go on then, you can have that last egg... But only if you promise to come back later to meet a new teamie, and then drop in tomorrow and see the rest of the girls- They've really missed you! 

Pasg Hapus, cyfeillion!
(Happy Easter, friends! That's the Welsh in me)

See you soon,
Leanne

www.beautifulimpressions.co.uk
www.craftaholicleanie.co.uk

ALICE - IACW style

Hello, Eleanor here, introducing a series of posts with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. Over the next few weeks you will see many different styles and interpretations of Alice from the creative girls, and I hope there will be something you are keen to try. 

To start us off, I've made a domino triptych necklace.

I drilled through top and bottom of each domino, added images, diamond glaze and inked edges, before threading with waxed cord:

And you know me? Yes of course I made another one:

Back soon with some more Alice inspiration.

CYCLIN' SUNDAY skirt to bag

Hello, Eleanor here.

I can't resist patterned corduroy, whether straight off the bolt, or made up, so whenever I see a little girl's skirt at a car boot sale or charity shop, I snap it up (while wishing I was 40 years younger).

Here's my first before re-fashioning:

It had too much fullness, so I made tucks at the base, which, whilst reducing the width, kept a good capacity. The handle is a length of leather from an old belt, punched with a hole through which to attach buttons.

The skirt was lined, so I just had a few seams to stitch, closing up the bottom hems, a couple of buttons to sew on and it was done!

I had another skirt tucked away, a little more challenging:

but I love the pattern and the embroidery at the waist so much that I thought it was worth tackling.

I needed to take out the elastication, and construct a strap. I removed the bottom couple of inches, including the orange lace strip, and found some acid green broderie anglaise. I chose some matching buttons, and attached the strap

and magnetic closure before stitching the bottom edge (curving the corners), and adding a simple lining.

I love it:

I popped into a local charity shop recently and found this, for £1.25!

Watch this space.

Bye for now.

 

 

 

Saturday Sewing - It's in the Bag

"I love to go a wandering..."

Hello, Eleanor here with a Saturday special - a knapsack.

I found some great instructions which were just what I needed for some IKEA fabric I was hoarding:

Sew a Simple Backpack

and it really was a simple matter of measure, cut, sew, and add a pair of long white shoelaces (in a mixed pack from the poundshop).

So straightforward that I made another from a pretty babycord fabric:

And here's a kitty who doesn't want to be left behind:

"Val-de-ri, Val-de-ra..."

Birdhouse rock

Morning, Eleanor here with a dinky little swinging birdbox pendant.

An advert for Handcrafted Jewelery magazine popped into my inbox one morning and I just had to make what I saw on the cover. First I enlisted my husband to cut me some very small pieces of wood, not that I couldn't do it myself, you understand, of course I could, but I thought I'd give him something to do!  ;)

Here are the little pieces he produced for me, approx 1in by 1.5in, with a 5mm wide shallow hole drilled on one face of each block:

I then carefully drilled a fine hole down through the centre ridge,

into which I placed an eye pin (from a jewellery findings supplier, or you could cut an inch of wire and curl a loop at one end) (could have used a small eyelet screw, but even the smallest one from the hardware shop looked big and clumsy on top of my teeny house) just to test the fit:

I took the pin back out and put it to one side, glued a couple of squares of chipboard on to make a roof, then simply decorated each house with a selection of patterned paper scraps (I used pieces from 6in x 6in pads, as the print is smaller). I also stamped here and there, and gave the little entrance hole a quick lick of black paint, once I'd used the end of a pencil to press in the glue-soggy paper (I knew I'd never match a precut hole in my paper with the actual hole, I know my limitations!) . I then poked about with a long pin in approximately the centre of the roof ridge until I found the little hole I drilled earlier, dripped in a drop of glue, and popped in the eye pin. (I used superglue, the one drop easy applicator one.)

Finally I coated each one with 3 coats of Mod Podge, drying in between:

Added a chain, but might try a ribbon, or waxed cord, or a length of cotton string for a rustic look.

Big thanks to both the original designer, Heather Alexander, and also Cate Prato for her take on it, the same but different, as is mine, and as will yours be.

I fancy stripy beach huts next time.

See you soon.

x

 

 

 

A Crafty Phone case

I bought a white phone case for my IPhone & quickly stamped a Birdcage onto it with Permanent ink , I used Archive Ink & heat set it. I will post on here how long this image lasts at a later date. I've added a little bit of colour using permanent marker pens & 2 Buttons glued with Glossy Accents which worked quite well. I might also be daring & add text next & even try embossing on another cover ! :)

This was an experiment & took all of 10 mins but I love the results & hope you do, It was not difficult but a little scary when I had to stamp onto the case incase I smudged it seeing I had not ever stamped on this kind of fake leather before....but don't be scared, it was easy. :) I have also bought a Clear case so going to try & attempt a scrapbook layout but my phone is a little rounded so this might not look so good. If you have an Iphone 4 the case is completely flat & will work much better I would think. Remember it will have to be flat but you could stick a button or two to the outside of the clear case !

Jayne xxx