Christmas Sewing

Hi again, today we are bringing you ideas for handmade Christmas fabric items; we hope you get some ideas and inspiration. Trish xxx I will start with my Christmas pinny. I bought this gorgeous holly fabric from my local fabric shop and got a bit of a bargain, as there was a pattern miss so ended up with more than I had wanted, which was ideal. I put the fabric on the floor and laid my full length pinny on the top, gave myself a 1 inch allowance and cut round the shape, hemmed it all the way round, cut a medium sized rectangle, hemmed it and stitched it on for a pocket and used ribbon for the ties. As I had some fabric left I decided to make a hot pad for getting the dinner out of the oven, I just cut 2 squares approx 9x9 inches of the patterned fabric, the same from slightly thicker plain cotton fabric, and the same again from wadding (doubled up), pinned it all together then used my sewing machine to stitch diagonally across to form a criss cross pattern, then edged it with bias binding, very quick and simple to do. I still had a few scraps of the fabric left over, but not really enough to sew anything, so after hunting round the internet I came up with a great idea, A rag wreath, I made the circle with jewellery wire, it took quite a lot of wire to make it relatively sturdy, but you could always use an embroidery ring instead, I tore the fabric into strips approx 1 inch wide and 3 inches long, and tied it on the wire until it was full, I then tore a plain red fabric into slightly smaller strips, about half and inch wide and 2 and a half inches long and tied them in between, this wreath will hang inside my kitchen door. Di has done a lovely pinny/sack/shopping bag using fat quarters and calico.

I bought about 5 "Fat quarters " in a little shop in Hitchin. Cut then into 6 inch srips and stiched them together. (about 5 feet of strips) Then backed them with calico so that the whole thing would be lined, turned the whole lot inside out and the top stiched. Almost too late added the smiley face buttons using embroidery cotton . i should have added them before attaching the lining so that the stiching would be concealed. I then made the ties, turned them inside out and attached them to the side of the SACK. VOILA I had a Christmas sack, a pinny with a BIG pocket, and a xmas shopper!!!! It is robust washable and I think quite Joyful.

Yankee Whipped Cream Cake

Hi, it's Joy here, with my all time favourite cake! :) This is a fun one to make for the autumn and winter.

My Nana (from Maine) taught my mother (who has taught me) to make this cake, which she made as often as she could in Texas. (You need to be in a cool climate to whip the cream!)

Whipped cream cake is easy to make - another great project for kids - but the ingredients require some creativity.

You will need graham crackers (try ebay or UK-US online food stores), Hershey's chocolate syrup (ebay or UK-US food distributors), icing sugar, and double cream. You could substitute digestive biscuits for graham crackers, but if you can find them, the graham crackers do make the cake amazing!

The ratio rule of thumb is 1/4 cup (@57 grams) powdered (confectioner's) sugar to 1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream. A medium cake that would serve 16 or more people (sliced lengthwise, then crosswise) would probably require two pints of cream, one cup (@227 grams) of icing sugar (powdered sugar for any US folks) sugar, and maybe two portions of a three portion box of graham crackers. The only other ingredient is Hershey's syrup. This is a no-bake cake. You whip the cream and syrup and build up layers with the graham crackers. The secrets are: do not to pack down the sugar when measuring, do not build the cake too high (it will slide sideways), and use plenty of cream between cracker layers . Another tip: too much chocolate syrup will make it too sweet to eat. For a medium bowl of whipped cream, a couple of squirts of Hershey's will do. Taste-test it and adjust as you wish. The colour should be barely beige. Whip cream and sugar until the mix is fluffy and stiff enough to frost the crackers. This takes about seven minutes for a big bowl. Add Hershey's chocolate syrup and mix a little more. It helps to put a little whipped cream on your platter before placing the graham crackers to build the cake. It helps the crackers stay in place. I usually use a three-cracker base, layer it with the cream, add three more crackers, layer with cream, and continue layering to desired height (probably no more than five inches). Cover sides of the cake with cream. I use a generous amount between layers. Refrigerate overnight. Easy! Enjoy the next day. xxx Joy

In the pink

We've had some fantastic entries into our scrap your boobs challenge - thank you to everyone who has entered the challenge or donated via our just giving page, as has been said before every penny counts and you have until the end of this month to join in with the scrap your boobs challenge.

In honour of our 'Pink October' campaign today's card is 'in the pink!'

I used digital papers printed on my home printer from The Shabby Princess Compassion kit and Bella Collection and Pink Petticoat Doodlicious rainbow kit. I drew one of the wings onto a piece of card, cut it out and used it as a template for the other side, drew a freehand heart on the back of the spotty paper and cut it out and the 'Love You' sentiment was stamped using Making Memories magnetic alphabet stamps and black staz-on.

I sent my 'Love You' card to my Mam when I came back off my recent weekend retreat xx

Andrea x

Jiggling through October

More than 1,000 women die every month from breast cancer in the UK. Breakthrough Breast Cancer is committed to fighting this devastating disease through research and awareness, and has established the UK's first dedicated breast cancer research centre, in partnership with the Institute of Cancer Research. Charity Registration No 1062636

This is why we at It's a creative world want to do our bit to help. But, it wouldn't be us if there wasn't a little bit of fun along the way.

We are challenging you to SCRAP YOUR BOSOMS be they big or small, pert or not so perky, wrinkly or smooth. We want you to be proud of them and the fact that you have them. Obviously, there may be survivors of this awful disease reading our bloggie blog and we would be honoured if you were to share your story with us.

And now for a little surprise. To say thank you to the lovely ladies who have shared their bosoms and/or donated so far we thought that a prize was in order. So, we had a lucky dipper for a 12x12 pink album and the lucky winner owns these very impressive bosoms. If you recognise those bosoms and that sexy rexy tattoo please email your details to acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk.

We have set up our very own Just giving page and every donation no matter how big or small is truly appreciated. It really is a case of every penny counts so please don't feel that you have to donate a huge amount to make a difference. You can increase your donation if you confirm that you are a UK tax payer yep the Government coughs up a bit to help out.

You have until the end of October to email your bosoms to us. We will have a lucky dipper at the end of the month for a rather fabulous prize.

Our Just giving page is open until the end of the year but we will have a lucky dipper at the end of the month for another fabulous prize.

There will also be a few random prizes along the way but you've got to be in it to win it.

We would like to say a huge thank you to the following lovely people who have provided prizes.

3D Jean

A string of beads

A trip down memory lane

Angel Crafts

Craft Obsessions

Forgetmenot Paper crafts

Kirsty Wiseman

Papermaze

Scrap Magic

The design collective

This list is being added to all the time and we would love to receive more donations if you are feeling generous.

The Creative world team have also donated goodies including a handmade bracelet, Claudine Hellmuth stamps, 12x12 album, gift vouchers and childrens art stuff to name a few. And, we have a fabulous hybrid/digi give away coming soon from the fabulous Kate Hadfield.

There will be another fabulous give away this weekend so keep 'em peeled.

Thank you so much to all of our readers.

Size matters :)

A big Tuesday morning hello to you all from Caz!!

Today on IACW we are going to be looking at 6x12 layouts. And hopefully once you get to the end you'll be itching, if you've not tried it yet, to have a go :)

We also have some wonderful layouts to share from the very talented Anna, thanks so much Anna for sharing these with the IACW readers.

Now the biggest advantage for me to scrap this size is I get to use some of my photos that I love but aren't very good.

For example, the photos in the two LOs below, cats in boxes, had so much other stuff surrounding the subject of the photograph, the cats, that they got a bit lost. So I just cropped them in and they were perfect for this smaller format but unlike 6x6 layouts it also meant that I had room to add some embelishments and their names. Like wise I totally love this photo of my sister playing 'tennis' in the park years ago, but it was such an awful photo with so much wasted space all around my subject. I chose to only crop the top and bottom as I wanted to keep a certain amount of movement to the photo. And now this special memory is scrapped and safe in an album :)

Of course another huge advantage is you can get two pages out of one 12x12 sheet of cardstock! And what a great way of using up your scraps.

And finally here is a page that Di has done which shows a great example of a themed album idea. You could fill up an album with seasons, or even a page a month for a year, using tiny photos that you have taken each month.

The possibilities are endless!

haPPy creATing

and lots of love

Caz

xx

PS I am typing the post on Monday evening and we have reached 50% of the amount we wish to raise for breakthrough Cancer research. Thank you so much for all your donations and support of this worthy cause! Don't forget every penny counts so £1 and £2 donations are most welcome. And of course you get yourself entered into a lucky dipper prize draw for donating this month :)

Because of you - Just a design...

Hi all from Di. In support of breast cancer awareness month I have a very simple project dedicated to the special women in my life, and to ME; because of them, I am who I am. This design is dedicated to Caz, Linda and Mags “Caroline (CAZ)” is my dearest darling daughter. She is my reason for being. She is beautiful. She is funny, creative, adorable, loving, gentle wise and kind. She is everything I could have hoped for. I am soooo proud of her. Linda is my sister. She is my wings and the wind beneath them. She is a jewel. She glows from an inner beauty. She brings laughter to my life. She inspires and encourages me to reach for the sky and soar. ‘Mags’ is my mother. She was spontaneous, impulsive, generous, loving, inspiring and creative. She has been my inspiration for almost 60 years. I love this photograph taken having tea at the Mount Nelson hotel in Cape Town. It was her best treat whenever she visited me. We had a glorious happy day together. She died of a cancerous brain tumour over 2 years ago and I miss her every day. The design uses cardstock and a little patterned paper. Photographs are inked with charcoal and matted onto plain black cardstock. Add a few embellishments and the title and you are done. So, go on find the special people that have made YOU what YOU are and celebrate their life!!!

Don't forget our scrap your boobs challenge and just a little encouragement from me:

Thanks for visiting us. And just a reminder that you can make a donation to breast cancer awareness on our Just Giving page. Your donations are so appreciated :D. Love always from Di XXX

Christmas cards

Continuing with our Christmas theme this weekend. Ok, so it's only October but it will soon be here. We thought that we would share some of the cards we will be sending this year.

Andrea created these yummy Star and Christmas tree cars using Blonde Moments Festive Feast 6x6 paper pad, gold ric rac, black chalk ink, Kayleigh font.

You could also be *Rocking around the Christmas tree* with Blonde Moments Festive Feast 6x6 paper pad, black chalk ink and using Kayleigh font.

Caz created these wonderful Christmas tree cards with very festive colours.

Charlotte created these stunning snowflake cards. These are great for when you have a tonne of cards to make and need to get a production line going, just need a few stamps, one ink pad, varying pressure and you're off! The stamps are The English Stamp Company and Anita's, ink is a versacube, then some fine glitter and then Hero Arts and Doodlebug bling!

And finally, something for the little ones. Maria passed the job over to her seven year old daughter. Amelia picked through the *scraps box* and decided on Basic Grey. She originally wanted to send all of her friends a card with a stamped image. Like her Mum she soon decided that this was too much like hard work and swapped to an easier style.

We really hope that you enjoyed seeing the cards made by our big girls and small girl. We would love to see any cards that you make so please don't forget to let us have a linkie dink.

Thank you so much to everyone who has entered our *Scrap your bosoms* challenge and or donated to our Just giving page. There are some super prizes to be wond this month but we can't forget the real reason we are doing this. Be safe ladies xxx