It's a Creative World

Girly Ruffles

Hi Dolly here and a quick post today about making girly pages – you know those pretty pastel pages with the floaty feminine feel.

I scrap little girls a lot –we haven’t got many little boys in the family but we have little girls a plenty.

I want to share a page today which has a couple of techniques which emphasise the feminine feel.

 

 

Obviously the colour is feminine in soft pinks, but looking beyond that there are other things that give the page a softer feel.

The main mats on the page are roughed up at the edges to soften the hard lines.

I find the easiest way to do this without ripping the paper is to damp the edges just with a clean paintbrush and plain old water. Once the edges are softened the paper is easy to bend and roll. The occasional tear doesn’t matter, but you don’t want too many.

I also inked the edges lightly to emphasis the shabbiness.

 

The other thing that I feel really softens a page is the use of stitched ruffles.

To make the ruffles cut strips of patterned paper and beat up the edges first as above. Then you fold it so it looks pleated. Don’t make them too even or regular as you want it to look soft and free flowing.

Once you are happy with how it looks (and you may want to use a couple of dabs of adhesive in places) run it through the sewing machine on a simple running stitch.

Once it is sewn you can then be a little rough with it to give it more of a soft distressed look at the edges and then add it to the page.

The same technique works really well for heritage pages too.

Have fun with creating your ruffles and making those feminine pages.

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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Fabric Diary Cover

My colleague at work was really disappointed when her new diary arrived, instead of a bright purple she had a very dingy green.

I decided to have a go at making a fabric cover, and this should last for ages as it can go from diary to diary every year.

I found some dusky pink/purple fabric and roughly laid it around the diary leaving a flap for both insides of the diary.

I hemmed the sides, although if I did one again I would hem all the edges first, (this was very much a first attempt)

 

I stamped her name on and a few images with Stazon and then stitched the panel to the front of the cover. I used pins to mark where the front cover would be.

Once you have your seams correct you can turn it inside out and sew the long seams.

I had to go back and sew the top seam but I would do this first next time.

I used pro-markers to colour in one of the dogs and fixed it (just in case) with an iron.

This is the finished diary ( I hope she likes it)

Debbie x

LOVE BIRDS?

Morning, Eleanor here. Spring meant lots of pairs of birds around and about, first the chasing and the wooing, then the homemaking and finally the chick rearing. I made bunting to celebrate these loveydoving couples.

A long length...

i think it would be lovely to decorate an outdoor wedding venue, using the bride's choice of colours, I just happened to have chocolate and teal fabric I love. (My own wedding colours were cream and peach - now that dates me doesn't it?)

Then i made a wedding card:

Cheerio for now.

x

Handbag organiser

Hi Debbie here with an easy to make handbag organiser.

I was fed up with rummaging through my bag and constantly getting to my phone too late to answer it, finding my keys etc. There are lots of free patterns on the internet, lots of them have handles and are stiffened with card but I wanted mine to be able to go straight into the washing machine if it got dirty.

There is a pattern for a slightly different organiser here and plenty more if you search on line. I decided to make my own so I could change it from bag to bag and the size wouldn't matter, I would just roll or fold it differently.

I cut two pieces of the striped fabric, 5" by 30" and one piece of the house fabric 4" by 40". This fabric needs to be longer to create the pockets.

I sewed the stripey fabric long end together. I pinned the pockets to the front planning where I would create each pocket. I turned the fabric rights sides together again and sewed the sides so that the pockets had a neat edge.

I sewed each pocked and then pinned a tuck at the bottom so there would be space in each pocket.

I put the fabric right sides together again and sewed the bottom seam leaving a small space to turn the organiser the right way round again. 

I top stitched the bottom seam making sure I closed the open seam.

I still have some spare pockets but I'm sure I'll fill them very soon.

This is how it looks in my handbag.

Thanks for stopping by Its a Creative World.

 

Debbie x

 

Shopper Bag ~ By jayne Loughlin

 

Morning IACW Jayne here.

Thanks to a friend I have got into sewing ou how to sew a simple shopping bag that is lined. & have made a few bags that I actually use !!!! The Beauty of this is you can Recycle and use old fabrics, clothes, curtains and sheets anything you wish that is big enough.

Today I am going to show you a simple lined shopping bag. If you knew me you would know i'm not a sewer so if I can do it anyone can :)

You'll need:  1/2m fabric for the bag & 1/2m for the lining, 22cms ribbon, sewing machine, cotton, scissors, ruler, needle, pins & button.

Instructions: 1. Cut a piece of fabric for the outside of the bag 1m x 35cms wide (you could make this a little wider)

2. Cut two strips from the short edge for handles 8cms x 35cms.

 

3. Cut the remainder of the fabric exactly in half. You should have 2 large bag sized rectangles and two strips for the handles.

4. REPEAT steps 1 - 3 in lining fabric. So thats 8 pieces in all.

5. Place the 2 outer pieces right sides facing and sew 3 sides leaving the top side open.

 
 REPEAT this with the lining BUT leave approx 10cm gap in the middle at the bottom edge so you can turn bag inside out.(SEE ABOVE)

6. Turn the outside piece youve sewn in the right way add a button to the front 10cms down from open top edge in the middle of one side of the fabric.

 

7. Make handles: By placing one piece of outer fabric and one lining right sides facing together. Pin & sew along two long edges leaving top & bottoms free (creating a tube) Do the same with other handle. Pull handles so they are the right way out. Iron handles flat.

8. Sew along longer edges close to the edge as you can without going off.

 

9. Tuck the outer fabric you sewed earlier into the lining you sewed. RIGHT sides facing together. (SEE ABOVE)

10. Tuck the handles inside the linings and the outer fabric at the top leaving 1cm or so poking out the top for straingth (the outer fabric should be facing together too) Pin when happy with placement. also add the loop of ribbon between the handles on the back side of the bag inbetween the lining and outer fabric poking out 1cm for strength ..

11. Pin and sew all around the top of the bagover the handles and ribbon all the way around the top.

12. Reach into bag and pull the bag through the right way through the gap you left unsewn before. Iron the edge and thn sew around the top approx 2cms down for reinforcement and it helps with the shaping.

13. Sew the gap in the lining by hand.

You can experiment with colours or sizes very easily.... Enjoy :)

 

Weekend Workout 7 - 1234

Hi Lynne here with my challenge for a weekend workout.

I've chosen a 1, 2, 3, 4 challenge.

You need to use

1 Ribbon

2 Buttons~~

3 Flowers~~

4 Patterned papers

I really like seeing several patterned papers on a layout but find it hard to do myself, so that's why I came up with this challenge.~

 
and here's a close up of the flowers

 

The photos were taken on the Isle of Man last year, when I went over for the TT.

I do hope you'll join in with me, it would be lovely to see how you interpret the challenge.

Have a fun weekend.

Lynne x

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For this challenge I decided to use fabric. I sewed four different fabrics onto a calico background.

For the flowers I have been experimenting with printing on fabric, so I scanned some flower stamps from my old stamp collection and printed them out.

I added some lace, stitched on my buttons and added a few cross stitches. I think I am going to use this panel on a hand-made handbag.

Debbie x

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Hello, Eleanor here with a layout based on Lynne's 1234 challenge. And yes, I'm STILL stuck on lyrics and song titles since Ali's challenge a few weeks ago.
I also followed a sketch by Maggie Holmes, thank you :)
So, I have one ribbon in amongst the 4 patterned paper strips, 2 buttons, and 3 flowers I cut from iron-on interfacing, folded in half and machine stitched across for clouds. The frame is acrylic gesso on chipboard.

The journalling reads:

"A simple matter of picking you up and lifting you over a fence to be re-united with your mum, but I couldn't resist holding you a little longer than necessary;

'HOLD ME CLOSE don't let me go, oh no.
I, yes I love you, and I think that you know, do you know?'

but now mum was getting anxious and so I had to relinquish you and set about finding the hole and mending the fence."

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Hi Claireliz here with my take on Lynne's 1234 Challenge, I decided to make a card...

 

 now it looks like I've only used 3 patterned papers but...

 

There is a 4th patterned paper on the insde of the card that peeks out around the scalloped edge on the front of the card...

 

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UP MY STREET

Hello, Eleanor here, following on from Debbie's doodled layout on Tuesday, with something that might be just up your street too, for it's more houses!

I fancied another bunting adventure, so I doodled a few different styles of house in my notebook, selected 10 different ones and got out the sewing machine.

I used some old white cotton damask, a tablecloth in its former life, on either side, with some low loft batting in between (that's a very thin layer of wadding, you could use a layer of fleece). Originally I wanted to try out the quilting foot on my machine, but it didn't want to play, so I just used the normal foot and slowed down around the bends, including a loop or 2 of twill tape on each one to hang it by. I cut them out after stitching, but was careful to mind the tabs.

Here are the first 3:

Another 4:

And 3 more:

And here's the final street, houses rather close together so that they'd fit in the photo, but they are easy to slide along, take off, change around, or even hang individually if you fancy:

I didn't draw on the fabric, I just winged it around with the sewing machine on slow, with the occasional glance at my notebook, but if you wanted to, you could pencil your designs onto the fabric, and let the children colour them in with crayons before you stitch. I was careful to neaten off my threads so that the back is exactly the same as the front so they can hang from the ceiling and not have a 'right side'.

One last look down my street:

Cheerio for now. 

xx

A bit of stitching

Hi Joy here,

what a beautiful Spring day we have had today.  I hope the sun has shone for you too, wherever you are in 
the world.

I have had time to do a little scrapbooking in the last week and I have been sorting out my sewing basket and I decided to combine the two.

I bought this template some time ago as I thought it was going to be very useful. However I hadn't even got it out the packet.

 

It is very easy to use and only requires you to pierce holes where you would like to have circles. I was impressed with the number of sizes you could use.

 

I applied repositionable to the back of the template to keep it still while I pierced the holes.

 

Backstitch gives a nice smooth look.  Do not tie knots in the embroidery thread because they will make a bump in your card or paper when it has been pressed inside your album. I stick down the ends with photo tabs.

 

The finished page. The papers were from Echo Park - which I am so in love with.

 

This is also done with Echo Park - I love the journaling cards and the title blocks.

I now have a two week holiday coming up. One of the joys of working in a school. I have lots of crafting plans. I will share with you soon.  I have just discovered the joys of Promarkers.  There is lots of colouring- in going on in my house.

Take care xxx

Stitching Stamps again!!

Last year I stamped my Bombshell Mermaid stamp onto fabric and coloured her in with Copic markers. I made a quilted surround from sea themed fabrics:

Well this time I wanted to use the same stamp but EMBROIDER the mermaid stamp this time!

I also wanted to include some fabric for the mermaid's tail and bikini top so I bonded some Bondaweb (to prevent fraying) onto the back of my chosen fabric and stamped the Mermaid's tail and top onto this fabric:

I then carefully cut it out the tail and bikini top from the fabric.

I stamped my Mermaid onto a piece of cream fabric using Staz-On ink and put the fabric into an embroidery hoop.

I took the fabric tail and bikini top I had cut out and used some clear glue to place it onto the mermaid:

I then used a combination of back stitch and satin stitch to outline and fill in the mermaid's image.

I also outlined the fabric tail and bikini top with back stitch.

Once the embroidery was complete I finished the mermaid by attaching her to a collaged and stitched fabric background to make a hanging!

I rubbed a little Rock Candy Stickles over the fabric tail and top to give the mermaid some sparkle!

Hope you enjoyed this project remember stamps make excellent subjects for embroidery!

Happy crafting!

GlitteryKatie xxxx