Saturday, June 02, 2007

Felt bags...

I'm so excited! It is my turn to inspire your Saturday morning and I'm going to show you how to make my felt Bitty Bags, hope you have fun love from Andrea xx
These little felt bags are very easy to make and only need 1 square of felt for the main bag and scraps of felt for decoration. They could be used as gift bags for presents or you could make a mini album and tuck it inside the bag to give as a special gift or you could just use it to pop your pennies in when you go to the shop!
1) Cut the felt square into 3 pieces roughly 14cms, 4 cms, 4cms wide.

2) Make a template of a scalloped edge and trace round it onto a contrasting colour of felt. I used my EK Success corner rounder punch to cut the scallops to make my template.

3) Cut out the scalloped edge and cut two strips of the contrasting felt about 4cms deep.

4) To make the handles, fold one of the narrow pieces of felt in half lengthways and stitch along both long sides, repeat for the second handle.

5) Place the scalloped edge on top of the wide piece of felt along one of the short edges. Stitch along the top catching in the handles as you go. Trim the scalloped edge to fit your bag.

6) Repeat the prcocess for the other short edge and you will end up with an almost finished bag.
7) Fold your bag in half and stitch down both edges and along the bottom.
8) Decorate your bag with running stitches along the scalloped edge using embroidery cotton and add a felt flower and button for decoration.
I'd love to see your felt bag creations so please leave a link in the comments section if you make one.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Welcome......

to it's a creative world, our little place of inspiration and good living on the world wide web! We hope you will make yourselves at home and join us as we learn, explore and grow as people and as creators!! LEARN, everyday right here at it's a creative world, as we EXPLORE all crafts from scrapping to knitting, crochet to altering and GROW as we set out on the journey to live the good life, everyday!
Please let me introduce you to the team........Andrea is a true inspiration, her keen eye for colour and the wonderful scrapping pages she creates to the magical creatures she sews and incredible eye for detail. If you want to record days or months in your life you gotta keep you eye on this lady cause she has the most amazing layout ideas! Andrea has used a plain watering can from IKEA to create this wonderful decorative piece that would fill any garden with such joy!
Maria is our creative goddess especially when it comes to anything girly! She loves to make pretty things for both her home and her girlies wendy house. Her love of all things creative makes Maria a lady to keep in your sights, if your life is in need of a little creative spark watch this space!!
Cath has got the most amazing scrapping style, she really has an awesome talent and if you have not yet seen her work, don't go far cause this lady will knock your socks off and get you scrapping right from the heart! Cath has created this recipe card holder using an empty surf washing powder box, YUP folks you read it right, a washing powder box!! So COOL and I tell you I am waiting for the step by step for this one cause this is just inspired!
Di lives in the sunny city of Cape Town in South Africa and has been scrapbooking all her life, using the old sugar paper scrapbooks to preserve memories of 'haPPy daYs' gone by. She knits, crochets and sews anything and everything from table mats to blankets, cushion covers to ponchos. Her exceptional green fingers ensure she always has a beautiful garden full of bloom and lots of wildlife! Di has trasformed a plain wooden case into this funky, gotta take it everywhere little handbag!
Joy is a treasure and one of the original inky girls! Her talent stretches far beyond scrapbooking into the realms of all things altered and if you've not tried altering before let Joy be your inspiration!
Joy says "I am calling it a pocket full of hearts because that if what it feels like to me...The hearts will become part of something bigger - just not sure what form they will take... I like to see pieces evolve, change, get integrated.... I made the hearts with lots of embossing powders and glue and gold mica as outlined in Beryl Taylor's book (and also demonstrated to me locally by Magpie Crafts). The felt burns into gorgeous lacey forms..."
And Caz, a scrapper, photographer, knitter and lover of all things arty! She was recently picked as a top 50 finalist in this years MM idol competition, by the awesome making memories design team. In the summer months indoor crafting takes second place behind her new found love of gardening and she says, "I never imagined that I would enjoy spending my time 'elbow' deep in compost this much". Caz created this cute 'box' to hold her engagement ring, when working out in the garden, from an old kiddies board book! With just a craft knife, some glue and a little imagination :D
Each day this team of wonderful ladies will bring you new inspiration and ideas to fill your life with good living. We also have some wonderful prizes to be won and lots of special offers!
Starting with a gift voucher donated by Mel and Jill at A Trip Down Memory Lane! All names from comments posted on this blog today will be put into a hat and Marias girlies will pick one! Winner will be announce this Sunday!
Thanks for visiting and enjoy the ride!