It's a Creative World

A Hand-Bag?

Leanne here - Happy Saturday!

Ok, so this post is more about the importance of being organised, rather than Earnest, but I hope you still find it useful :)

A couple of years ago, whilst rediscovering my passion for knitting, I was growing frustrated with my ball of yarn getting mucky, getting pulled by other needles and hooks in my bag, being chased by the cat, or tangling around someone's foot. I decided that a pair of bamboo bag handles (free with a magazine!) would sit nicely on my wrist, and found an intarsia pattern to use up scraps of dk and two-ply, along wth some unbleached cotton for a lining... Here it is in use with a lovely lace shawl (more on that another day...!):

What do you think? I can carry it around with me by folding it into a handbag, and knit standing, sitting, anywhere, with my stitch markers conveniently to hand and my pattern safe inside! I'll link to my Ravelry project here, for you to see.

Sometimes the best little inventions are borne of necessity, so have a think about a gap in your practical life that needs filling, and post us a pic or link when you're done-'We would love to see how our efforts free inspire you :)

That's all from me- Thanks for stopping by, and please do check out the other weekend posts for even more inspiration!

Leanne xxx

www.beautifulimpressions.co.uk

www.craftaholicleanie.co.uk

 

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An inspiration basket

Hi Debbie here with my version of a little basket I found on line. The original basket and instructions are here. I loved the sewing version but decided to make mine to sit on the side in my craft room with things I want to use.

 

 

I finished my basket with a decorative border and a little book paper rose.

My handles won't move as they are not attached with brads.

This was so quick and easy to put together and could be used for a variety of things, I am thinking of little gift boxes for birthdays and a Christmas version. I am also going to try different sizes, this works with 9" square card and 12" squares, you just have to divide your square into thirds.

Thanks for stopping by It's A Creative World.

Debbie x

 

Flutterby Butterfly Bag

Hello, Eleanor here with an easy way to fancy up a plain bag.

When I saw what Elise had done, here, with crochet flowers on a thrifted bag, I knew exactly what to do with the crochet I'd been addicted to since seeing these, by Marie.

My bag was a very basic black cotton canvas tote; it's no longer plain as you can see...

The butterflies are simply an eight petalled cotton crochet flower, folded, and in my case, with the two yarn ends stitched down to make antennae. I secured the butterflies to the bag fabric with stitches up and down the body, simple to do, just make sure to fasten off well inside.

Here are a few of my butterflies, I love the way their wings have double layers:

and my favourite:

Plain tote transformesd! I can think of lots of uses for these very easy, and very well taught by Marie, crochet butterflies. 

Back soon

x

Quick and easy gift bag

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing, crafty weekend.

Todays project is a quick and easy gift bag made from an A3 sheet of paper.

I much prefer to give a gift in a gift bag than wrap it in paper, mainly because they are reusable, which is why I never write on the tag, lol.

They can be quite expensive, so with a room full of stash I thought I would have a go at making one. There are quite a few templates on line, but the basic principle is that you need a front and back, sides, a strip to join and a bottom.
I used my A3 sheet landscape and made the back and front 5.5", the sides 2.5" and the joining strip 0.5". I then measured 2.5" from the bottom of the paper to make the width of the bottom of the bag. Score all the lines rather than drawing them with a pencil.

I scored a triangle and seam line on the side pieces so that it folds in. I used double sided tape to put it all together.
And that's the basic bag made. Now all that's left is to decorate and as always this is the fun part. If you're making a few to keep in the cupboard for emergencies you can just stick a sheet of patterned paper to the front with a tag, but if it's for a specific birthday you could even decorate the front like a birthday card to really personalise it.

I've done a little template, but please note that the drawing is NOT to scale, and the measurements are for an A3 sheet of paper. Download Gift bag template

I hope you have a go at making a few gift bags and please don't forget to link to your projects in the comments so we can go have a little look :)

Have a great day! Caz xx

Bags of fun with Spellbinder dies.

Hi folks, Erika here and today I want to share with you the bags I love to create with the Spellbinder grand dies.  First the picture...

For my project I have used Spellbinder grand die labels 23 together with Labels 30, 21 and 14.  The stamp is by Hero arts. 

First cut out your dies.

Then place a circle die to cut out the handle at the top of your large shape but you only put the top half of the circle through your calibur and then fold it back on itself inside thus creating a handle shape. 

The centre gusset can be as deep or wide as you wish, all you need remember is to allow 1/2" fold each side to attach to the die.  It also needs to run up each side so that it creates the bag effect.  It will basically be a U shape with tabs. 

 

Then cut a triangle where your folds meet so that it attaches easily to both of your large dies like so.

Add the other side and your box is complete.

Then you can decorate however you please. 

This one is a different colour combo.

The bags are quick and easy to create and much more personal for giving a gift of thanks also with the size of the grand dies you have a whole range of sizes upto the largest 8" dies.

I hope you are having a fine crafty weekend, I'm involved in a Craft retreat this weekend...so mine definitely will be. 

Happy crafting!

Erika

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..."

Easy peasy A4 paper gift bag

If you are looking for a nice easy solution for custom kids party bags look no further. I made these from an A4 bit of paper. All you have to do is print, make a few snips and add some double sided sticky tape...

I'll show you how ...

You can print the guidelines on the reverse of an A4 sized bit of patterned card, or onto plain paper, or you can print your own design on the reverse as I have with the Mad Hatter bag. For the instructions, I just used a piece of white printer paper. 

Here are the printable guidelines for you -  Download Giftbag

You need a sheet of paper onto which you print the folding guidelines. You will also need a pair of scissors and some double sided sticky tape.

Make folds along all the dotted lines. 

 Apply double sided sticky tape to the narrow long fold.

Join the bag together to form a tube.

snip the folds up to the crease - this will form the end flaps.

Apply tape along one of the wide flaps and stick the short flaps to it. Then stick two rows of tape the the other wide flap.

Trim the corners off to make a nice neat finish Then stick the flap down.

...and you are finished. Told you it was easy.

Now you can make it as plain or fancy as you like. 

If you would like to print the two sided Mad Hatter version,

you can get that here...  Download MAdHaTtEr

Hope this is useful for you.

Doda x

Sewing Inspiration

Hi there Kerry here

Around a year or so ago I found a fabulous place for sewing tutorials and inspiration called Moda Bake Shop. 

I hadn't been into sewing for very long but I had some jelly rolls I had a huge urge to use.  I found this pattern and followed the directions.  It wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination but I was so pleased that I had finally managed to create something from the jelly rolls that were shouting at me.

 

They have so many fantastic patterns on there that I could spend all day just looking.  I'm not really into making quilts or blankets  but the little projects like this bag are so inspirational.  They break them down into all the different packs you can buy with names like jelly rolls, charms, layer cakes.  All those names are explained here with links to patterns using those types of pack.

 

Something for everyone August 31st

Hiya Claireliz here, well Summer is coming to an end & Autumn is on it's way, so I felt it was time for one more bright layout & a bit of bunting...

 

I'd had this bright tea fabric for a while now & hadn't found a use for it until my crafty friend Jo ordered a pot of tea at a friends wedding & said "aren't you going to take a picture?" - that is why she's my best friend! The bunting is Maya Road chipboard bunting & is hung on bakers twine.

C xx

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Hi from Caz!

I love bunting, have I mentioned that before? The sun comes out and so does the bunting. It's strung around the garden for all to see and brings me such joy :)

Roll on winter and the sun goes to bed and so does the bunting. That is a very sad time. SO I decided to make some for the kitchen, where I get to enjoy it all the time. And it's Crochet too!

 
 
Can you see the bunting outside too!

 

The pattern is from the Nikki Trench, Cute & Easy Crochet book and was also shared in the summer in Country Homes and Interiors.

I loved this pattern so much that I had to make a string to hang up outside the shed too.

 

 

For anyone who thinks crochet is difficult, this book is for you. The patterns are well written and the illustrations are fab! Value for money too as there are loads of projects to choose from.

Mmmmm maybe I need a special Christmas set now too!!

Thanks for visiting, and haPPy dAy!
Caz
xx

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Hi Dolly here

I guess I am and always will be a paper scrapper first and foremost. I could never give up my glue and paper and tactile pleasure. But I do love digital scrapping and there is a really good cross over with hybrid scrapping. Apart from the obvious of printing photos and journaling on the computer, I love printing digital elements to use on pages and thought I would share a few examples.

There are loads and loads of things for free out there that you can use. This page uses some free journaling spots and embellishments that MaryAnne  from UKS designed for a crop held by Shimelle. Check out her blog HERE - not only loads of inspiration but also freebies available.

  

UKS offers freebies each month which are great for hybrid work. They print beautifully and are really good to use on your paper pages.

Sometimes you wants something to finish off a page and you don’t have it. One tip I use over and over is I google free clip art images, print them off and colour them to match the page, as I did with this tea set.

 

 

I wanted a bingo card for a layout to scraplift a page by Shimelle and didn’t have one with the right words for the page – easy …. Create it yourself on the computer and print it out.

 

And hybrid is great for cards too. I use a lot of Dawn Inskip’s kits and they are fab for cards. Print out the images, cut them out, layer them and they make wonderful cards. Here are a couple using Dawn's kits

 

 

 
 

and here are some using papers, stitching, tags, images ... you name it ... from Nitwits

 
 
 
And the beauty of hybrid - you never use up your stash - you always have it to use over and over and over.

Now that can't be bad!

Have fun x

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Here's Jayne!

 

I have just seen this site { DELIA CREATES } & thought I would share it with you. I have not made one of these but I plan to.

I am really into Recycling items & I hope you let me know how you get on if you try one of these bags. There are Step by Step Instructions & photos to help you, if you scroll down on the links page a little.

 I apologise if this project isn't as easy as it looks. You will have to tell me lol !

Jayne :)

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Hi GlitteryKatie here!

After doing some stamping the other day I decided I wanted a different look from from my usual Copic pens so I decided to have a play with my Distress Inks and waterbrush.

I filled my waterbrush with water and brushed it across the distress ink pad to load the brush with colour. I always test the colour first on a scrap of paper to see how deep the colour was- if I wanted it softer I would squeeze a bit more water through the waterbrush to dilute the colour.

I then filled in my stamped image.

Here's a Stampotique image:

 and the finished card:

 

and here on a Bombshell Butterfly:

Happy Crafting!

GlitteryKatie Xxx

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Let's go fly a kite, a card for the 'useful' box.

The grass is a wide strip of cotton broderie anglaise, recycled from a girl's dress and the kites are Unity stamps cut out and popped up on foam pads, with fibre streamer tails.

I hope you do 'enjoy your day'.

Eleanor

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Hi Debbie here with an altered thimble house.

I never thought I would be able to find things small enough to go in the little squares but with a bit of photo printing, button making, ear-rings, and lace I have altered this from a plain dark brown wooden box to this:

This is the before picture, but it looks much better covered with grey acrylic paint and a little pearl mist.

While I was decluttering a few weeks ago, I found some exercise books from years ago. I glued in all the inspirational pictures, a bit like a paper and version pinterest book. I found these pictures and realised I had used them for inspiration to make a quilt cover.

These are the actual images glued in my book (think it may have been a well known catalogue).

And this is the bed cover I made.

Its not exactly the same but I used lots of lovely Laura Ashley squares given to me by my mum, I dont think I quilted it properly either, but I still like it after 20 years.

Debbie x

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 The Creative girls are taking some time off to re-charge their crafty batteries, but feel free to browse the archives and revisit some older projects. Bye for now,

IACW team.