Somebunny Loves Me...

The winner of the Buttonberry kit was Sarah. We've left you a comment on your blog and if you email us we'll pass your address to the girls at Buttonberry.

If you are looking for an extra special gift that you can really put a lot of love into this Christmas - or anytime of year - we think we have found the perfect idea, read on to find details of this weekends super prize draw!!

Buttonberry are an online store owned by Emma and Lisa, selling fabric and patchwork goods and stock a vast array of patterns including the rather adorable Pocket and Floss bunnies by Australian designers Melly & Me.

Andrea discovered Buttonberry earlier in the year and has bought several of their lovely patterns including the Pocket and Floss pattern. As she says "After making 17 of these lovely bunnies over the past couple of months I still haven't got bored of creating them and although each one is made from the same simple pattern, they all have their own little characteristics and personality. They make gorgeous hanging decorations in a room and are the perfect gift to celebrate the arrival of a new baby, a birthday or just to show your love for someone."

Andrea's latest bunnies were a gift to celebrate the arrival of baby Luca and a special Christmas gift for a little girl up in Scotland, with the addition of a little embroidered pinny to keep her frock clean during all the Christmas preparations!

The Pocket and Floss pattern is very easy to follow with simple step by step instructions and Buttonberry carry a vast array of fabrics for making your own bunny, why not visit their online store and check out their latest fabric finds, we love their Christmas fabric ranges and we can't imagine anything nicer than giving a special Christmas gift created with love that will last forever.

The girls at Buttonberry have very kindly donated a Pocket and Floss kit to make your very own bunny as a prize for all comments left on our blog during this weekend (we will draw the winner at 9:00pm on Sunday evening). Please leave some way of contacting you with your comment (blog link, email address or forum username etc.) so that we can track you down and send you your wonderful prize.

If you feel inspired to make your own Pocket and Floss bunnies please leave us a link when you finish them so we can all come and take a peep!

Have fun crafting this weekend and don't forget to leave us a comment to be entered into the prize draw.

Love from the IACW and Buttonberry girls

xxxxxxxxxx

Scrapping - keeping it simple!

I am a big fan of embellishments, and like adding twiddly bits to my layouts and other projects, but just occasionally I like to keep it simple. I am also trying to use up scrapping stash that I've had for a L-O-N-G time, as I've got to the stage where I don't want to buy any more until I've made a significant inroad into the stash mountain!! Both of these layouts use photos taken around Bonfire Night this year, and use minimal embellishments with the focus remaining firmly on the photos and journalling. For this first layout I've used: Doodlebug cardstock, lily white, beetle black MM white rub-ons, Heidi, Providence, Destination Adrienne Looman buttons Ki Memories patterned paper, 'Kiss Me' ribbon stripe (frosty paper) And for the second layout: Doodlebug cardstock, lily white, grasshopper MM black rub-ons, Heidi, Providence, Destination, Rummage Adrienne Looman buttons Sakura white Gelly Roll pen Hope you've enjoyed reading today's post. If you're scrapping or crafting this weekend, and even if you're not, have a great one!!

Another Acetate Card!

Hello Everybody! Joanne here with another acetate card! I'm really enjoying making these at the minute and they get lots of good comments. People find them really effective and they are very easy to do. Here's the one I've done for today. Sorry there's only the one picture, but my camera batteries are dying and I've no spare!

First of all cut a piece of acetate 21cm x 15cm. Fold in half. Add a piece of black card measuring 15cm x 8cm to each end of the acetate (this measurement includes a bit of overlap) to make a 15cm x 15cm card. The patterned paper I have used is by Imaginisce from their Black Tie Optional range. The paper is called Black and White Bash. Cut a small band and attach to middle to cover the join between the black card and the acetate. Cut circles from the patterned paper and attach to the acetate as shown. Stamp a sentiment into a small tag and attach to the front using a brad. I hope you enjoy making this card and I'll be back soon! Joanne x

an easy gift

A very good day to you all :)

Today we are going to make a gift.

It's quick, inexpensive and pretty!!

PERFECT!!

Firstly you need to choose a few different bits of fabric (off cuts work well!).

Then you need to decide what shape you are going to use. I have chosen birds! Which I down loaded from a cool site called Kiddley!

I cut 2 birds from 3 different co-ordinating fabrics (ie 12 sides, 6 birds) using my pinking shears.

Next I pinned them together with wadding in the middle for stuffing. Oh and added a bit of lavender in each bird too :) This is particularly good if giving this to someone who likes nice smelly things! (like me!!)

I used button thread, which is nice and strong, to stitch them up, making sure I added the ribbon as I went. The top piece of ribbon is looped. For the eyes I used gold beads which I chose to stitch on afterwards and pulled them tight to give the bird a little bit of shape. In all it took about 3 hours to make, including the time on the internet looking for the bird shape. Of course this is a great project to do with the kids! You can cut the shapes out of foam or felt and decorate before stringing them together with twill, ribbon or wool!! haPPy creATing Caz xx

baby it's cold outside.....

.......what you need is a bowl of hot soup!!

Soup certainly warms you up and is so easy to make. A massive pot full can be split into portions and popped into the freezer for those cold frosty days when you don't feel like slaving over a hot stove making dinner.

My favourite soup is Fasolatha, or as it was more affectionatly known i my house, POOP SOUP. It sure helped keep the bed warm at night ;)

Greek Bean Soup (Fasolatha) Fasolatha is one of the heartiest dishes on the Greek vegetarian table, and one of the mainstays of Lent. Ingredients

1 cup Krinos extra-virgin olive oil

2 large onions, peeled, halved, and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

2 celery ribs, trimmed and sliced thin

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1/2 pound great northern or other small white beans, soaked overnight according to package directions

1 cup chopped plum tomatoes

1 fresh hot pepper (optional)

8 cups water

Salt, pepper to taste

Fresh strained juice of 1/2 lemon or 2-3 tablespoons Krinos red-wine vinegar

1. Heat 1/2 the olive oil in a large soup pot and saute the onions until wilted.

2. Add the carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until soft. Add the beans and toss gently to coat with oil. Add the tomatoes, hot pepper, and water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer soup uncovered, for 1 1/2-2 hours, or until the beans are very tender.

3. Just before removing from heat, adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and lemon juice or vinegar.

Yield: 6 servings Recipe courtesy of Krinos Foods

My wonderful DH made a pot of thick chicken soup on Sunday and it's filled the house with the most wonderful aroma :) Now I always need a recipe to cook but Stuart has just put this together out his head!!

What he did was boil one whole chicken to make the stock.

Then he peeled and chopped 3 large potatoes and 1 onion which he added to the pot with some salt and left it to simmer.

He soaked a packed of Sainsburys dried soup mix, Country soup in water till soft and added it to the soup and again left it to simmer.

Potatoes have a tendancy to absorb all the salt so you may need to add a bit more close to the time of serving.

For more soup recipes have a wonder over to this site!

haPPy coOKing!!

Caz

xx

Don't forget to sign up for the 2008 Art Journal Project :)

It's going to be such fun!!

A South African Pinny

Morning all and a big South African welcome from Di.

I have been so busy sewing for the past week and could not resist making a South African apron for my dear son in law Stu who lives in England and has lots of barbecues or as we call them "Braais'. What makes the apron special to me is that it was made from fabric that belonged to Stu's Mum which I was given when she passed away a few years back. Thanks Undine!!!!

Now barbecue is messy so I thought a big pinny would be useful.

I cut my pattern from my crafty apron making it a little larger to allow for binding the edges.

I bound the edges with wide red bias binding.

I then added a large pocket to hold tools etc. and a small one to hold the mobile phone.

I then added some tags to the sides and a loop to go over Stu's head. And now for the South African bit.

I added a "Jammer Lappie" which translated means a "Sorry cloth". Typically it's an old tea towel that really should be thrown in the bin but is used to wipe hands, tools etc when doing the braai. Well I am so sorry I do not have any "sorry cloths" so I made Stu a nice clean one and pinned it on with a big safety pin.

That's it for me for today. I hope that Stu enjoys his Christmas apron!!!

Love from all of us at IACW.

Alternative Christmas Pressie Wrapping

And a big hello from a few of us today! Wonder if you too get tired of normal Xmas wrapping paper and ribbons. Today we have a few ideas to make your gift a little more special by doing something different.

Caz has used Felt:

I was inspired by the cute little felt bag Andrea made back in June :) and the Christmas bunting I made in October.

The bag is made up of two sheets of red felt sewn together by hand with embroidery thread.

I had great fun making these and I can't wait to fill them with gifts :)

and a close up.....

Di has used fabric:

All of my gift bags are made from calico and left over fabric. They are easy peasy and quick to make!!! They are RAG bags and were inspired by Trish's lovely rag wreath and Caz's Christmas bunting.

This bag is made to look like a parcel and has draw strings.

Again I have frayed ends and something that hopefully looks like a Xmas tree on the front.

These little bags made from calico with a little lace and tied with ribbon. I thought they might be nice for my great neighbours to hold some special soap or smellies.

This is my favourite. A smallish draw string bag with a little Xmas rag wreath just pinned on.

Finally one last bag with a xmas stocking theme:

Trish has also used fabric and felt. Trish's drawstring bag is just GORGEOUS. The shapes are so simple yet effective. Trish used heavy cotton, felt and bondaweb to attach the felt to the cotton. She used white acrylic paint to 'frost' the tree and gold to highlight the bird .

And just a few more ideas. How about using: Normal brown paper and stamping it using potato stamps with red paint and glitter glue?String , garden twine and sisal instead of ribbon?

OK now all you have to do is finish that Christmas shopping and get Cracking with the Wrapping!!!

Love from us at IACW xx