It's a Creative World

light up your life...by alix

Hi there everyone...this is alix...i'm super excited to be joining this fun blog and getting to know all the other lovely creative types...and you!

For my first project I thought i'd share a lovely lantern project with you.  This is fairly easy to complete {although a little time consuming waiting for each side to dry} and makes a spectacular gift for someone you love if you take the time to match the colours to thier decor. :0)

After first cleaning the glass with Alcohol Ink Blending Solution to remove any grease, i stamped a variety of grass~like and butterfly images over the glass panels with Versamark and embossed them with a verdigris powder.  This has to be done one side at a time.  When the panels had cooled i coloured the whole glass panel with Sakura Jelly Roll Glaze pens, using dark blue at the bottom and for the butterflies and blending it to palest blue at the top.  This also has to be done one side at a time.  Finally I painted Rock Candy Crackle paint {which is clear} all over the panels to give the glass a *crazed* look.  And again this has to be done one side at a time and left to dry!

The photo above shows the lantern in all its daytime glory...but for me...lanterns are all about bringing a little warmth and a cozy glow in the evenings...which i hope you can see in the photo below:

I love how this lantern looks at night time hanging above the open fire and literally warming the cockles of my heart. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like this idea...and don't forget to pop back often and check out what all the other creative world girlies have created to share,

alix

Transferring photos to fabric

I have recently finished this little journal for my daughter. It is for her photography ideas and inspirations and she requested some vintage photographs for the cover. It was a good inspiration for me as I have been wanting to try out this technique for a while now. Using an eco friendly orange household cleaner called Citra Solv, it is possible to transfer a toner ink based photocopy or print onto fabric and it will become permanent! Yes, permanent! 

I was really excited to try this for the first time. I'll give the short version here, but if you want more detail there are some helpful instructions here.

I used a scrap of cotton curtain lining which had a nice smooth feel and a tight weave. Using masking tape, I stuck - print side down- the toner print I wanted to use. (Remember to reverse your image before you print it- especially if you are using some text in your image.) I'm used a collage of old family photos for my first experiment.

 Underneath the fabric I placed a piece of cardboard and underneath that a few layers of fabric just to provide a little "give". 

The paper I used was the cheapest kind of printer paper you can buy -  I think mine came from Asdas.

Be sure not to have any masking tape over the area where your image is.

I used a pin to pierce a couple of holes in the foil on the top of the Citra Solv bottle and then poured a small amount into an old plastic lid. Using a flat natural bristled paint brush I brushed over the back of the paper using only just enough liquid to wet the paper but not oversaturate it. Once you do this you will be able to see right through the paper to your image.

Using the back of a tablespoon, I rubbed hard all over the image. Perhaps I could have rubbed even harder as my image didn't turn out quite as strong as I expected. I think another factor in this was that all my photos were quite small and perhaps a larger image would come out clearer. You will definitely lose some detail however you do it, but I love the aged vintage effect anyway so I didn't mind at all...

...and here is how it turned out.  I was quite pleased with the technique and will surely be using this again for many things ; homemade journals, pillows, sachets....wherever the inspiration takes me! The Citra Solv is not cheap, but a little goes a long way. Use it sparingly. It smells wonderful and is also super for removing stains and general household cleaning. I bought 4 little 8oz bottles all for craft use and am now down to my last one as I used the other 3 for cleaning. I am telling you...once you have smelt the stuff, you'll be hooked! 

I wonder if you'll give this a try...let me know if you do :-)

Have fun being creative !

Doda

 

 

Weekend Workout 16 - Russian Doll Inspired

Hiya Jayne here. 

One of my favourite possessions is my Russian Doll collection. I have old ones, new ones, dolls on bags, key chains & necklaces. My daughter has to put up with me, and has them on clothes anytime I see one. I am going to Prague soon so hopefully I will get another one for my collection.

Your Weekend Workout ...is to create a piece of craft inspired by Russian Dolls ...it could be something nesting in something, Perhaps just the folk style painting inspires you or the primary colours, or perhaps you too have a Russian Doll obsession :)

Today I have made a Scrapbook page (below) with a photo of some of my Dolls. I haven't got a huge collection but it's slowly growing. I have cut a Doll shape out of paper & the flowers have inspired me for embellishments, though these are very simple.

 

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Hello, Eleanor here.

I've made a set of 5 notebooks from small to large (7x7 inches), decorated with paper pieced Russian dolls on mount-board.

I drew the faces with fineliners and gave them rosy cheeks of Promarker, plus a little something in their hair. The inner pages are of assorted patterned scrapbook papers in a toning colour,

bound with the Bind It All .

These were fun to make, and are a little gift for a special someone.

Then again, I might just keep them as, like Jayne, I've had a thing about Russian dolls for years; you may remember my drawing a couple of years ago for the A to Z project:

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 Hi Debbie here with a fabric version of Russian Dolls.

One of my friends recently had a very important birthday, suffice to say it was a little over 21. I decided to make a bag and a pin cushion as she has just started sewing!

 

The fabric was printed using a normal printer. I just stuck the fabric to some card using re positionable adhesive spray and ironed the image to fix the image.

I hope she will find the matching pin-cushion useful.

Debbie

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Hi Claireliz here.

I had a tiny scrap of russian doll fabric that I wanted to use, but didn't know what I could use it on, then in a flash of inspiration I decided to cover a little notebook (ok, I'm lying about the flash of inspiration, the fabric was on my table, next to a small notebook  when I realised the fabric was the perfect size to cover the notebook lol)

 

I used Gel Medium to glue the fabric to the front of the book & a couple of post it notes to protect the pages as I have a tendency to get carried away when using Gel Medium...

 

I then spent an hour trying to find my book binding tape so I could cover the frayed edge at the top of the notebook, but I couldn't find the tape & its whereabouts is still a mystery so I used some self adhesive ribbon instead...

 

I stitched a little glittery button onto the the elastic closure & now I have a cute little notebook.

C xx

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Crochet gift bag

I recently bought my work colleague a silver bangle for her birthday, and was so disappointed in the bag it came in. I found this odd as recently I felt stores had stepped up jewellery presentation. I felt it only right to make a special one as unfortunately this was our last birthday celebration before I moved to a new job.

So I got out a half used ball of rowan hand knit cotton and crochet hook and set about.

The pattern is dead easy! Start with 4 chain and slip into first one to make a tiny ring. Chain 3 which counts as first treble and continue with 11 treble into the ring. Join with a ss into the third chain of 'first treble'. You have 12 stitches. Chain 3 which counts as first treble of round 2. 1 treble into the base of the chain, then do 2 treble into each treble from first round. Join at end with ss. You now have 24 stitches.

The size of you base will depend on the size gift going inside.

chain 3, which counts as first stitch. Then treble into the base of the chain. *One treble into the next treble from the previous round. Then 2 into the next and repeat * . Slip stitch into the third chain. You now have 36 stitches. This should be a good size for a gift bag.

For round 4 start with 3 chain which counts as your first stitch then do 1 treble into the top of each treble from the previous round. Join with ss. And continue until your bag is the required hight. Bind off and weave in the ends. Thread some ribbon through the stitches to tie your bag closed. Decorate with a charm or gift tag.

Of course the bag is reusable so it's two gifts in one.

Make it a little bigger to use as a bag for nights out, you only need it big enough for some money and lippy!! They are great gifts for little girls too and you can make one to match every outfit.

A 5 round base and 12 rounds hight bag, using a 5mm hook will use up one ball of rowan hand knit cotton, leaving just enough to crochet a 'ribbon'.

Please excuse my bad light photo but due to Internet issues I am having to create this post on my phone and my good photos are on the pc! Typical as I left it till 11pm the night before to type up my post!! Call me last minute caz :o

Take care x

A little something to take away

Having recently help host a 190 guest Royal Wedding (in my village!) I wanted to share our little decor and keepsake inspiration.

Hi from Caz :)

 

On the 29th we helped celebrate the wedding of William and Catherine on our village green, and working to a tight budget we needed some decor that was practical and something that could be taken away as a little keepsake of the day. Oh and we wanted a little eco friendly thrown in too. This was the idea.

A recycled jam jar for each table of 6, with napkins, cutlery and straws, tied with a custom made ribbon.

 

When the wind finally died down a bit we popped in a waving flag too. The tables looked awesome and as most guests dressed in red, white and blue the whole day was very British!

I am using my jar as a vase for my Peonies which are just flowering and too beautiful to be left outside in the rain.

I'll definatly use this idea again, even if it's not a take away keepsake it's a great use of old jam jars and keeps everything neat and tidy on the BBQ table.

As always thanks for visiting and have a good week!
Caz
xx

It's a sign

No, really it is....

Hiya Claireliz here.

One of my friends is expecting a baby, in fact her baby is due to arrive today (I said it was a sign lol). She asked me where she could get a sign made for her baby's room, she wanted one with the wooden letters, but we couldn't buy one with the spelling of the name she wanted & to buy the individual wooden letters & alter them would have cost a bit too much, so she decided to leave it at that, I on the other hand refused to be beaten so I went online shopping & found these little beauties...

 

Plain, ready assembled sturdy boxes, at which point I thought "building blocks" so I sprayed them all with Juneberry Wine Glimmer Mist, then using my Sizzix & a scalloped square Quickutz Cookie Cutter die I cut 64 scalloped squares from Prima Fairy Fauna paper (one for each face of the boxes)...

 

The pink looked a bit dark at this point but I had to go on & have faith, so I did, my next move was to glue all the scalloped squares to the boxes...

 

which started to look a bit better at this point ...phew!

Her baby will be called Kourtney. I had some large chipboard letters that I'd never used but didn't have an "o" so I used the "q" & cut the curly bit off...

 

as you can see the colours were all wrong so I covered them in the paper they are sat on by gluing them face down then cutting around them...

 

I then stuck them to the boxes & coated with Matte Mod Podge & hey presto!

 

as each box is 3inches the whole thing is 2 foot long, so it's a bit tricky to photograph, so here are another couple of photos of the finished thing...

 
 

and a bit more of a close up...

 

I hope she likes them as she doesn't know I've made them & have had to be sneaky about finding our her nursery colour scheme.

Well, that's all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop in & see us here at Its A Creative World, it's always a pleasure to see you.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Mug Hugs

When my daughter got a beautiful white cup covered with a red cabled mug hug, I thought how hard can it be to knit one?

You can knit or crochet with basic stitches and add buttons to join them.

I am really surprised that I could manage a cable pattern, they always looked so complicated I never thought I would be able to knit them.

There is a fantastic book that I bought with wonderful inspiration called Mug Hugs by Alison Howard.The flower pattern on the mug hug was from a book 100 flowers to knit and crochet by Lesley Stanfield.

If you would like a pattern online to have a go, these are some of the links I have found.

http://www.allcrafts.net/crochet/cozies.htm
http://www.dailyknitter.com/patternsdetail.php?type=MS
http://www.straw.com/cpy/free_patterns.html
http://knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/cozies.php
http://permissiontounwind.blogspot.c...itted-mug.html

I hope you might knit a mug hug, they are really practical and can be thrown in the washing machine if they get dirty. Could make an ideal Mother's Day pressie with a few chocolates tucked inside.

Debbie x

 

Mini Envelopes

Hiya Claireliz here

I have a fondness for envelopes & pockets on my scrapbook pages & earlier this week I was making a layout which called for some hidden journaling, I had a look through my collection of little envelopes but couldn't find one that would suit the project I was working on so I decided to make my own...

 

I cut a piece of paper small enough for the envelope but large enough to fold the edges over, this one was 7inches wide, then fold both side into the middle so they overlap slightly (so you can stick them together with double sided sticky tape later on)

 

it should look like this...

 

let the flaps fall back & fold up the bottom edge about 1cm & stick double sided tape on the edge...

 

fold over one of the folded sides so it sticks to the tape on the bottom & put some double sided tape on the outside edge of the piece you have just stuck down...

 

fold over the remaining flap & press down, you should now have a little packet...

 

cut a small rectangle the same with as the folded packet & fold over one edge - this will make the flap to attach to the envelope...

 

I cut a fancy edge on the flap to give it a bit of shape & added a brad to both the flap & the packet to use as a fastening...

 

put some double sided tape on the inside of the fold on the flap...

 

 and attach to the envelope....

 

I've tied some string around the brads &  added a bead too, all you need to do now is stick it to your project.

Have fun making mini envelopes & always having the right one for your project.

Thanks for stopping by & hope to see you soon

C

xx

 

 

Simple Mini Book Gifts

Hi, Dolly here and a belated Happy new Year to you all.

 

I love simple things – things that are quick and easy to make but which look very effective. This is one of those things. You only need one sheet of cardstock for a 6 page, 12 sided book but you can use two sheets and make a bigger book with more pages. You also need some scraps of patterned papers and some pretty ribbons, plus any other embellies you want for the project.

It is a very simple mini book to make and can be adapted to any use at all.

 

You cut the 12 x 12 cardstock into 3 strips each 4” wide.

You then cut each 4” strip into two pieces which measure 4” x 4 ½ “ and you score it at 4”. The half inch makes the spine where you punch the holes. Score all the pages and then start work on them. I never make it into a book until the very end as it is easier to work on individual pages.

 

I usually round the corners of the pages, but not the spine. So just round the non scored corners.

I often like to cover the pages with a smaller piece of patterned paper. If you do both sides of the page you can sew the papers into place and one row of stitching anchors both sides. I LOVE it when one job achieves two tasks.

All you need to do then is add the pictures and the quotes or journaling you are using and then pretty it up with whatever embellies you like.

I have a very close friend who is leaving everything behind and travelling off to be a missionary and I wanted to make her something small to take with her but that would hopefully remind her of us and be an inspiration. Hers, made for Christmas, included bible passages that were relevant and will hopefully inspire her.

 

This one was a light-hearted giggle book on friendship for a friend of mine.

 

 

This was one for a friend who loved her Disney parades.

 

And you knew there was going to be a cat book - right!!!

 
 

 

I hope you have fun with the mini books.

DIY Calendar

 First of all we'd like to wish you a very Happy New Year and hope that 2011 brings you everything you wish it to be.

 

For Christmas I was given a Calendar with open dates (so you could use it for any year).  I have had great fun designing Januarys picture.

One of my favourite things on the run up to Christmas for the last 2 years has been Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas.  He shares so many wonderful techniques and ideas. (Just click on the link above and there are links to each tag for 2010 on the right handside)

Each year I plan to make the tags, but haven't finished one yet:( 

I decided to use some of the ideas for my calendar.

I blended distress inks in dusty concord and milled lavender under the photo. Touches of pumice stone were added in places to soften the colour.

 
 

The little bird above was stencilled onto canvas using viva ferro paste in Blackberry.  I saw Leandra

of Paperartsy demonstrating this paste and loved the effect.  I've also discovered Beadazzles!  (They were a Christmas present from a crafty friend along with some other goodies I hope to share with you.)  I thought glitter was wonderful but Beadazzles give glitz another dimension.

 The flower above was punched out of a piece of glossy cardstock that had been alcohol inked. I used stream, wild plum and raspberry with some touches of metallic mixative silver.  (If you go to Tims' blog there are links to videos on how to use alcohol inks)
 

I just love the effect of Beadazzles so rather than adding a gem to the centre of the snowflakes on the patterned paper I added a drop of glossy accents and then poured Bedazzles over it.

This has been so much fun that I plan to buy a few more of these Calendars and give them as presents at Christmas.  It's a great way to share what you have been up to during the year.

 

Happy New Year

Lynne x