It's a Creative World

We have moved!!

2008-01-01T18:14:00.000Z

YAY!!

We have moved to our NEW HOME :)

And to celeBRate the move we have a prIZe givEAway.

All comments received on the new typepad blog on Friday the 30th of November and Saturday the 1st of December, will be entered into a lucky dipper draw!!

And there is more :)

Loads of you have asked for a 'button' to put on your own blogs, and here it is!!

A massive thanks to Di! who has co-ordinated this move and worked out how to bring all our old posts with us! And of couse all our readers, who make IACW the place it is!! You ladies are too cool!!

See you soon!! The creAtive girls! xx

Money Card!

2007-11-29T01:00:00.000Z

Hello everybody! Joanne here again. Like many teenagers, my 14 year old nephew has asked for money for Christmas to save up and buy the latest computer games. With this in mind I thought I would challenge myself to come up with a card, suitable for a teenage boy, incorporating money in some way. This is what I came up with:

Not very Christmassy, I grant you. But perfect for a skate mad teenage boy, I think!

The card itself is very simple to do. I took a 15cm x 15cm ready made black card blank and onto that attached a 14cm x 14cm piece of Basic Grey Skate Shoppe "Kickflip" patterned paper, having inked all the edges in charcoal chalk ink first.

The actual skull and cross bones were freehand drawn onto white card and cut out. I then crumpled them up and distressed them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Weathered Wood and again, inked the edges with charcoal chalk ink.

Co-ordinating embroidery floss was used to attach to metal buttons onto the skull and also to tie the £5 notes onto the bones.

The skull and cross bones were then attached to the card and it was done!

This design could obviously be used for a birthday card and I think is more fun than just sticking the money inside the card (plus with the money being actually attached to the card less chance of it getting lost!)

I hope you enjoy this card and I'll see you soon!

Joanne xxx

Faux mini canvas

2007-11-28T22:32:00.000Z

We are so very excited to welcome the fabulously talented Lousette Ashton back to It's a creative world. I shall hand you over to Lousette and let her weave her magic.

A long time ago I bought several packs of small, very cheap IKEA photo frames, you know the ones that are 3 for £1 or something silly like that. I had grandiose ideas for them, but nothing ever came of it and they sat in a box under my bed for years (literally).

Then one day I saw a beautiful photo printed onto a canvas in a restaurant, and decided to have a go at making my own mini photo canvas using cotton printable fabric from Crafty Computer papers. These little faux canvasses are cute as gifts, and also great for photos that are maybe not good enough for normal printing as the texture of the cotton disguises grain or other flaws.

You will need: Small wooden picture frame Plain white cardstock Spray mount or Photo mount Printable cotton sheet Double sided tape Tacky, PVA or other wet glue Scissors and craft knife

Step 1

Remove the glass form the photo frame. If you have a very dark coloured frame you might want to give it a quick coat with white acrylic paint.

Step 2 Measure the outside dimensions of the frame. Crop a photo to these exact dimensions and print out onto cotton paper. I find it sometimes help to adhere the cotton to a sheet of ordinary printer paper using removable adhesive. Although the cotton has a backing sheet attached to it, it is still quite thin and my printer couldn’t feed the sheet properly on its own.

Step 3 Use double sided tape to cover the front of the frame with plain white cardstock. Trim the cardstock to size. (I always use a bigger piece of card and then trim afterwards using my craft knife instead of cutting the cardstock to size first).

Step 4 & 5 Spray the cardstock with photo mount, remove the backing sheet from the cotton and drape over the frame. The photo mount gives you the chance to reposition the image until it is perfectly placed. Press down gently to make sure the cotton adheres to the cardstock.

Step 6 Cover the sides of the frame with double sided tape and fold the cotton over. Make sure it is nice and taut. Fold each side over onto the back of the frame, mark with a pencil and trim off the excess cotton.

Step 7 & 8 Use double sided tape to finally glue the remaining cotton onto the back of the frame, making sure the corners are tucked neatly on the sides. Glue the excess fabric of the corners down onto the back with tacky glue. Hold for a few seconds until the fabric stays in place.

Decorate the front with embellishments or rub-ons if you wish, or simply leave as is.

Thank you so much Lousette and what a fantastic gift for the children to give relatives at Christmas.

If, like us, you've been inspired by Lousette please let us know. We love to see all your creations. And just a reminder: We will be off line on Friday the 30th November for our move over to typepad!! Please be sure to pop back on Saturday the 1st December for the link to our new home.

Christmas Crafts Blog Roundup

2007-11-27T12:01:00.000Z

I love looking for inspiration on the web and have a growing list of blogs that I visit - some daily and others randomly. Whilst on my blog travels I have come across some really inspirational Christmas crafts and thought I would share them with you today. It is always nice to hear that other people appreciate what you're crafting so if you do visit these blogs why not leave a comment on the blogs and brighten someones day.

Christmas Wreath by Christine Middlecamp

Snow Family Shaker Ornament by Debbie Olson

Paper tree by Melissa Francis

Advent Calender by StoneyBrook

Button Tree by Tia Bennett If you feel inspired to get crafty for Christmas, leave us a comment with a link to your work so we can all come and take a peek!!

Love from Andrea xx

Today we also say a big haPPy birTHday to our very own Di!! from all the creAtive girls :) xx

Are these still in fashion? Who Cares!

2007-11-26T02:50:00.000Z

Hi from Di on moving day. Yes today is the day my packers move in to pack up my home. Woo Hoo.

So what would you rather be cold or cosy??? Me, I prefer cosy, and believe some things that seem to go in and out of fashion can be worn fashionably and are ALWAYS cosy.

I made this poncho for Caz a few years back and decided this year to make another for me for my trip to England.

All you need is a big pile of double knitting wool. Yes bigger than this. And get yourself a 4.0 mm crochet hook.

For an adult we start with 96 chain then slip stich into the first chain to form a circle.

Then into the same slip stich make 3 DC (double crochet) 2 CH (chain) and 3 DC to form the first corner.

Then skip 2 chain and 3 DC into the next chain and repeat 6 times. Now make the SECOND corner skip 2 chain and 3DC 2 CH and 3 DC into the next chain. Then skip 2 chain and 3 DC into the next chain and repeat 6 times. Now make the THIRD corner skip 2 chain and 3DC 2 CH and 3 DC into the next chain. Then skip 2 chain and 3 DC into the next chain and repeat 6 times. Now make the FOURTH corner skip 2 chain and 3DC 2 CH and 3 DC into the next chain.Then skip 2 chain and 3 DC into the next chain and repeat 6 times. You should now be back t the FIRST corner!!! Slip stitch into the top of the 1st DC and across the next 2 DCs.

WOW you have completed the first round!!! Then just carry on going round and round keeping your corners in the right place and changing colours whenever you feel like it!!!

I do hope you can learn to crochet!!!! If you need any help I will be in England from the 11th of December 2007 and would so like to meet you and help you get started!!! And just a reminder:

We will be off line on Friday the 30th November for our move over to typepad!! Please be sure to pop back on Saturday the 1st December for the link to our new home.

Take care and love from Di XXX

Christmas Candles

2007-11-25T12:09:00.000Z

Hi Everyone! It’s Angela here! Continuing on our Christmas theme, today we have some Candles that we have decorated to show you. First are Andrea’s beautiful Candles: "Very, very simple for these, I just removed the label from my Yankee candle jars, cleaned off the glue and applied some festive rubons around the jar. As the candle burns down, it shines its light through the rubons." Here are the ones that I made: I embedded the stamped image into the candle – this was surprisingly easy to do. I stamped a Christmas themed image onto a piece of white tissue paper using Brilliance Inks, and heated this just to make it set, then trimmed around the image quite closely. Once I had done this I used a glue stick to adhere the tissue to the candle, just to hold it in place, and then heated the candle using a heat gun. As the candle is heated, the wax melts and covers over the image, incasing it in the wax. You need to be careful doing this as it can get very hot. Then while the candle was hot I rolled it on a non-stick craft sheet to try to smooth out any bumps in the candle caused by the wax dripping. It is awkward to do this and it never looks as smooth as it did when you started out! Once the candle had cooled, I wrapped wire around one of the candles, and then wrapped ribbon around this wire. I then punched out 2 tags in contrasting colours and doodled on it. On the other candles I punched out some Christmas trees and adhered them on (these will obviously need to be removed if you are lighting the candles!) and decorated another tag.

Jo has used a variety of candles on her Christmas table, including tea lights and small church candles with gold-sprayed mini wreaths at the base, and has created a very simple but effective table decoration using a glass bowl filled with satsumas, gold baubles, walnuts and Christmas holly sprigs.

I hope this inspires you to have a go at making your own table decorations for Christmas, to make your table look unique! ~angela~

Christmas Wreath

2007-11-24T19:46:00.000Z

As Christmas fast approaches, I start to get all the decorations out and sorted ready to go up on the first Saturday of December. Which by the way is in 7 days time!!!!!

I love to have some sort of decoration on my front door and in the past it has been a small token out of my tree decoration box.

But this year I wanted something a little bigger and of course I had to down the 'do it myself' route too!!

I found a plain wreath in a sale held at work (but you can buy them in stores like HobbyCraft).

The cute little pine cone clusters were found on a tree in the countryside around my home. These were dead easy to attach.

The holly decorations I bought in HobbyCraft, I went with two different kinds.

And the little birdies I made myself.

And a couple of close ups.

And Di has also been busy, inspired by Trish's rag wreath. "I cut a ring from thick cardboard using a dinner plate as the template. Then just tied on strips of fabric, red felt and green ribbon."

Then I used some left over 'tartan' fat quarters and calico for a more traditional look!

Thanks for visiting

haPPy creATing

Caz

A bit of news!!

We will be off line on Friday the 30th November for our move over to typepad!!

Please be sure to pop back on Saturday the 1st December for the link to our new home.

And to celebrate the move we will be offering a lucky dipper prize for comments left on the new blog all day Saturday.

Don't miss it!!

Winter warmers - three gloopy soups!

2007-11-23T00:01:00.000Z

As a family, we eat LOADS of soup at this time of year, both for warmth AND comfort! I find it quick, easy and convenient to throw some veggies into a pot with some stock, turn up the heat, and leave the veg to soften before blitzing the lot with my hand blender. I never follow a recipe for these soups, but they're always delicious, and really filling - even better when accompanied by some home made bread, fresh and still warm. Here are three quick and very easy recipes for soups using only seasonal veg - these all came from this week's veg box. Jo's leek & potato soup a dash of olive oil an onion four or five good sized leeks - nothing too short or skinny! two fist-sized potatoes vegetable stock Put a heavy-bottomed pan over a medium heat and add a dash of olive oil (or other oil or butter, as you prefer). Finely chop an onion and add it to the oil in the pan, and let the onions sweat until soft. Peel and dice the potatoes, and add to the onions in the pan. Thoroughly clean and roughly chop the leeks - cleaning the leeks is really important as there will often be the odd bit of mud lurking somewhere beneath the layers. Add the leeks to the onion and potato in the pan, and let this mixture sweat for about five minutes to soften the veg a little, before adding about half a pint of stock. I usually make up a pint of stock, and add more as necessary, sometimes after the whole lot has been blended. Turn the heat down under the pan, cover and leave to simmer until all of the vegetables have softened enough to blitz! Once softened, the whole lot can be blended either in a liquidizer, or using a hand blender, which is what I normally do. Taste, and add pepper and salt to season, and serve with a swirl of cream and some fresh bread! The same method can be followed for both the carrot & parsnip and the broccoli & sweet potato soups. With the carrot & parsnip I use equal quantities of each veg, and I use one medium-sized sweet potato for each head of broccoli. All of these soups can be very thick and gloopy, depending on the amount of stock you use. I like them like this, but if you find that they're too thick, add some more stock, or some skimmed milk. My children love these soups, and they're a great way of getting veggies into reluctant veg eaters. Enjoy!

Jingling Reindeer Cards...

2007-11-22T12:01:00.000Z

There is nothing like the sound of jingling bells to get you in the mood for Christmas so why not spread the feeling and use them on some of your special Christmas cards.

Step 1

Gather together your materials

(Papers from Dovecraft and Crafts By Carolyn, reindeer by Crafts for Christmas)

Step 2

Trim patterned paper to fit your card blank, edge with black chalk ink and adhere to card.

Step 3

Trim white cardstock to fit your reindeer, edge with black chalk ink and mat onto black gingham paper. Trim this and edge again using the black chalk ink.

Step 4

Attach your reindeer to the card mat using strong glue (I used my trusty sticks everything glossy accents)

Step 5

Use foam pads to raise your reindeer from the card to give added dimension.

Step 6

Tie a co-ordinating ribbon around your card and thread two silver bells on before securing the knot

I hope you and your family enjoy making and receiving this little jingling reindeer - We always like to see what you have been making so please leave a link in the comments box

Love Andrea xx

Advent gift box

2007-11-21T17:19:00.000Z

Hi, it's Maria here with an idea for an alternative advent calender. We used to have the cardboard calenders but they often get forgotten about or they fall apart before Christmas.

And, if they contain choccie it's a fight to get there before our dog Lucy. She's not allowed choccie, obviously, but she's a bit of a sneaky pup.

Anyhoo, I now put together an advent gift box for the girlie wirlies. I love choosing a selection of little goodies and wrapping them up prettily. The look on the girlie wirlies' faces is a picture when they get their box of goodies.

You will need

* A festive gift box - I use a Christmas biscuit tin for each girlie

* Tissue paper for wrapping

* Ribbon

* 24 small gifts/sweeties

I have shown a small selection of the goodies that will be going in our tins and I will pad it out with other bits and bobs. Sweeties like Love hearts are a special treat in our house so I'll wrap a pack of them. Some small bars of choccie will go in all nicely wrapped. I'll split a packet of gel pens and wrap them up individually. Anything from Claire's is a winner so a little shoppie shop there is required.

You really don't have to spend a fortune on goodies and could just fill the tin with a sweetie for each day.

I tend to keep our box as a lucky dipper but you could number the pressies. You don't even have to put 24 goodies in and could make it last for as many days as you wanted. You really can make it however you fancy and according to your budget.

I quite fancy doing one for the run up to a special birthday. You could give a gift and a clue about the real pressie that is in the tin for the big day. Mind you, if I received it I'd be very tempted to have a sneeky peek.

I hope that you like my advent box and I'd love to know about any Christmas traditions in your home. You never know the advent gift box could become a new tradition for your family.

Ooh, before I go I must say *WOW* love those glitter mists Angela. I think I shall have to partake of some of those.

Ooh, ooh, don't forget that we are still collecting for breast cancer awareness and will have a few more giveaways for those that donate.

Toodle pip

Playing With Glimmer Mists

2007-11-20T12:05:00.000Z

Hi there, its Angela here again!!! Today I want to show you some techniques using one of the hottest new mediums in the craft/altering world at the moment – Glimmer Mists. I have 3 colours at the moment, but after all this playing I have ordered some more :) Glimmer Mists are made by Tattered Angels, and they come in a spray bottle, a bit like glittery Colour washes. They are primarily for use on paper, but they can be used with caution on some other mediums. They can be very messy, so if you are particular about your work area, it is probably best to cover it! You need to shake the Glimmer Mists really well before each use, as the Shimmery part settles on the base of the bottle, and when you spray, hold it about 10 inches away from your project to get a good over all cover. First I sprayed the three colours randomly onto a piece of white cardstock, while this was still wet, I placed a piece of clingfilm on top and moved this around to create a texture and left the piece to dry. When it was dry the texture looked like this: These would make great backgrounds for cards. Next I tried a resist technique by embossing a stamped image with clear embossing powder and them spraying the mists over this. The colours pooled on top of the embossed area and I wiped this off carefully using a baby wipe. I love the effect this gave. I then sprayed a variety of surfaces to see how well it works on them. First I used a wooden Christmas Decoration, it worked well on this and you can see the shimmer well on it. I also used a paper bloom, which had been a very pale green and spritzed the colours. This is a beautiful effect and ties in wonderfuly with some of the new Blonde Moments Scrapbook papers! I then tried Model Magic, which is a modelling clay that is like spongy foam when it dries (this enables you to sew through it). I cut a christmas tree out with a cookie cutter and then stamped a snowflake image into it. When it was dry I then sprayed it with the Colour Mists. Finally, I used the colour mists to try the “Faux Watercolour” Technique that Tim Holtz uses in his first DVD. Spray the mists onto your stamp, and then place the stamp onto a piece of card. Here are 3 images I tried. A word of warning though, this does stain the wood on wooden stamps, so if you are concerned about this, you could just use unmounted ones. Now I have 4 beautifully coloured wooden blocks! :) I hope that this will encourage you to do some more experimenting ! ~angela~

From start to finish

2007-11-19T00:00:00.000Z

Mid month Monday and the final crochet blanket update!!

For our new readers, the full story is here.

But why don't I recap anyway :)

In the summer I decided to crochet blankets for my nieces for Christmas.

They started out as beautiful coloured balls of wool, all sitting in a big basket.

My first lesson....a 3x3 square 'blanket', that's mine on the right!

It was fun working out all the different colour combinations and how many of each I would need.

224 squares per blanket!!

Putting them together for me was the tough bit but it was also exciting to see how the finished product would look!

224 squares being laid out on a piece of calico.

224 squares pinned to a piece of calico.

448 squares make two very pretty blankets!!

Washed and wrapped ready to go under the tree :)

Oh and of course I am a sucker for punishment so blanket number 3 is underway!!!!

lol, it's addictive!!

This one is slightly different, each square is made up of 6 rows not 4. And i'm also substituting the pink for red :)

For me, this was a HUGE achievement because I am a great starter of projects but not a great finisher.

My DH didn't think I would pull it off, but has since told me how proud he is of me. That kinda makes it even more special!!

If you've not tried crochet yet, it's a must.

Oh and before I forget, I must show off this beautiful blanket made by such a lovely lady whose blog I love to read!!

It's so easy and really, if I can do this anyone can :)

haPPy monDAy!!

haPPy creATing!!

Caz

PS To sign up for the A-Z Project pop us an email acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk

Christmas Gift tags

2007-11-18T00:00:00.000Z

Good day to you all!!

Today we are going to be looking at homemade gift tags.

As crafters we enjoy making gifts and taking extra time in creating unusual wrapping. So, to top off a gift, you need a hand made tag.

And these can be as simple as a stamped, coloured in image like the ones below......

Or something a little more like these gorgeous tags made by Andrea!

And Di has made some 'shabby' tags to use with her rag bags.

I started with some heavy cardboard, paint, glitter glue ribbon and brads. I cut the cardboard into 'tag size' bits, painted and sanded them. Then added some glitter glue and attached some ribbon with a brad.

I then made tiny 'bags' for the tags from calico and ribbon. Popped the tags in and Voila.

The tags looks so cute on matching 'rag' gift bags again made from calico and ribbon.

Thanks for visiting and have a great Sunday!! Caz xx

Don't forget to sign up to the A-Z Project which kicks off on the 5th January! That's just 7 weeks away. For full details see here

Oh and be sure to leave us a comment if you want to stand in line to win a Pocket and Floss kit. The draw will take place at 9.00pm tonight!

Somebunny Loves Me...

2007-11-17T12:01:00.000Z

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!

2007-11-16T00:01:00.000Z

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!

2007-11-15T09:45:00.000Z

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

2007-11-14T00:00:00.000Z

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.....

2007-11-13T00:00:00.000Z

.......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

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

It's going to be such fun!!

A South African Pinny

2007-11-12T08:39:00.000Z

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

2007-11-11T08:40:00.000Z

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

Sign up today!!

2007-11-10T00:00:00.000Z

We at It's a Creative World love to experiment and dabble in all forms of Art and Creating.

And today we are so excited to be launching a project that we know you'll love!

On the 5th January 2008 we will be off on a year long journey.

A journey that will take us from A to Z.

We want you all to come with us as we learn about new medias, and discover ourselves.

So the plan is!

On the 5th January and every two weeks following, we will post a prompt starting with the letter A.

That prompt can be interpreted in any way you like.

The Creative World Girls have chosen their themes and here is the list of ones we have come up with...

1. A to Z Book of Me - e.g. A for Artistic

2. A to Z Crafters Journal - by products and techniques e.g. A for acetate

3. A-Z of Everyday, a sort of catalogue of ones day if you like

4. A-Z Crafters Journal - by theme e.g. A for Angel

5. A-Z Altered Art Journal

6. A-Z of Us

7. A-Z of Life e.g. A-Anniversary, B-Birthday C-Cooking H-Housework S-Shopping

8. A-Z of Baby e.g. C-Crying, T-Teething, L-Laughing, P-Playing

9. A- Z Occasions e.g. A-Autumn, B-Birthdays, C-Children

10 A-Z Book of You, could be for your children or husband

But of course you can choose a different theme for each letter too!

Lets talk about format!!

Art Journals.

Buy a sketch book from any good art supply shop, decorate the front and back covers, and art journal each letter on a new page. You will also have lots of pages to journal. And if this is going to be a BoM, life or everyday journal you will need the space!

Or in a Scrapbook Albums.

You can choose 6x6, 8x8, 8.5x11 or 12x12. You will need to decide how much information

How about an ATC for each letter.

ATC are cute and if you haven't got time to do large format this will be perfect.

Or tags, that can be bound together at the end.

Tag books are fun and easy to make, start by cutting out a tag for each letter so on prompt day you can just sit down and create!

However you choose to create your pages or whatever theme you choose, we want you to come and play, so email us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk with A-Z as your subject to sign up :)

There will be spot prizes through out the year for the girls taking part and sharing their work. Pages emailed to us will be uploaded to a flickr album :)

And the best bit....it's FREE!!!

Here are a few examples of the books the Creative World Girls have made

Charlotte

I am going to make an "Everyday" journal which I hope will turn out to be a mini catalogue of our life right now, warts and all! When I look at photos of me when I was much younger I always find myself looking in the background - what was our furniture like, what our telly looked like etc. I find the everyday bits and bobs fascinating so I would like to have a record of 2008 life so we can look back with interest and a giggle in 30 years time.

To make the journal I cut out 4 sheets of card (the plain stiffener bits I keep from packs of patterned paper or cereal box card is a similar weight) and covered them with patterned paper (front and back of the front cover and front and back of the back cover). Once the card was covered I punched holes using my bind-it-all carefully ensuring that they lined up with each other when the front and backs of each cover were joined together. I then sandwiched two lengths of ribbon between the two sets of covers so that when the journal is completed and bound I can tie it shut if it's quite bulky.

I am going to use a double page for each letter and I think they will be mainly photos and journalling, then I will pick similar embellishments (in terms of type, colour etc.) for each page to carry some flow through the journal.

Joy

Making your art journal cover is about doing something that shows a little bit of your soul. Find your favourite stamps, beads, paints, little pieces from other projects, embellishments.... anything goes!

On my art journal cover, I sprayed the covers with Ranger colour washes. I then build up layers of stamped images and bondaweb. I used the bondaweb to hold layers of tulle.

I used stamps from Tin Can Moon and Stampers Anonymous to stamp images on tissue paper. I added in painted and burned felt hearts and stars, little mirros, beads, pocket watches, and stained glass tiles.

I created paper casts of Claudine Hellmuth's stamps to make the hand, and I added pearl mica and gold leafing pens to the cover.

I added more burned felt tags, a pocket watch of seed beads, and small bead embellishments to the journal rings. I repeated the same process with the back, following similar techniques for consistency.

And now all that is left, is for you to decide if you want to do a themed album and what format you will work on.

There are 8 weeks till the first prompt, so plenty time to sign up and get ready :)

Come on you know you want to play!!

haPPy creATing!!

The Creative World Girls

Easy Art Journal Pages and Inspiration

2007-11-09T07:55:00.000Z

Easy Art Journal Pages

When I need some inspiration, or if I'm struggling with something, or if I want to try out a new technique, I start a page for my art journal.

1. Shiva Paint Sticks

This is a page using Shiva paint sticks - a little project that takes about 20 minutes.

There are 2 pics of the final product, one using a scanner and one using a camera, at the start and end of this post. This shows the variation as embossed images can be tricky to photograph due to light reflecting.) Step 1: Grab some paper and shiva paint sticks. You have to peel the skin off the paint sticks to start the paint flowing. I used red and purple for my background.

Step 2: Build up layers of colour. I added blue, pink, peach, and green.

Step 3: Use a baby wipe to blend and remove colours. Add additional colours as you feel they fit.

Step 4: Pick a stamp. I used a magenta one below. Stamp in archival ink and emboss with clear embossing powder.

Step 5: Build up colours....... Just go in any direction you want.

Creating art journal pages lets you have free expression - something to create without a set of precise instructions and something based on how you feel at that moment....... a good time to try out new and crazy things, too.

2. Angel Page

I made this page, again, when I was thinking over things... Art journals are good for working through feelings and situations.

I painted the background black, and then I blended in water soluble oil paints to colour the background. I left them to dry overnight.

I then stamped the angel wings (Stampers Anonymous) and the letters (Making Memories) white white brilliance ink. I blasted it with the heat gun to set it. Inspiration for Art Jouralling Here are some links for some great inspriration for your art journals.

Lynne Perrella http://www.lkperrella.com/ Alphabetica http://www.amazon.com/Alphabetica-Z-Creativity-Collage-Artists/dp/1592531768/sr=1-1/qid=1170036501/ref=sr_1_1/102-2398784-3728133?ie=UTF8&s=books

Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Journals-Sketchbooks-Exploring-Creating/dp/1592530192/sr=8-2/qid=1170036403/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-2398784-3728133?ie=UTF8&s=books

Beryl Taylor

http://www.beryltaylor.com/

Mixed Media Explorations

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A267435&page=1

Maggie Grey http://www.workshopontheweb.com/

Paper, Metal, Stitch

Raising the Surface

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b/026-1458728-2363625?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=maggie+grey

Techniques and Blog Eye Candy - More Inspiration

http://tryittuesdays.wordpress.com/

Claudine Hellmuth Cloth Paper Scissors

Quilting Arts Art by Laurence Menhinick - felt bags, felt beads, textile manipulation, mixed media( Laurence Moni)

Assemblog of Michael deMeng michelle ward

be crafty be happy Etsy Labs magstitch Purple Missus Tejae's Art http://20six.fr/anne/cat/211512/0/Mixed_Media The Artful Mama Stamping-Art

[i] LoveLife Nina Bagley

Aisling

Keeping an Art Journal

If you are interesting in starting an Art Journal or just looking for a project for 2008, be sure to pop back tomorrow. We have something planned that is so exciting!!!!!

Joy!!

HELP!!!

We are desperately trying to locate "Heather from Scotland" and "Sharon Peters" who both won prizes during our October Boobs campaign. Please send your addies to acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk and we will send your prizes to you. If anyone knows these girls we would appreciate your help in contacting them

And just a reminder that our Just Giving Page is still open!!! Thanks for your generousity!!!

Funky Christmas Cards

2007-11-08T12:01:00.000Z

This week I have been playing with a really funky and modern Christmas Digital Kit and making some hybrid cards. There are hundreds of digital kits available to buy and download from the Internet and by printing the papers and elements on your home printer you can make fantastic cards and even better - because it's a kit everything matches so no need to spend hours searching through your stash for a piece of paper to go with the other elements.

I bought the Funky Fa La La kit from The DigiChick and I added some Doodlebug paperfrills, my favourite 'can't make a card without it' black and white striped paper from Pink Petticoat, charcoal chalk ink and a black pen for my doodled edges.

Once I'd paid for, downloaded and unzipped the files all I had to do was print, cut out and glue down to make my cards. I used my charcoal chalk ink to ink around the edges and to give some added detail and stop them looking too plain I used my pen to quickly doodle a line all around the edge of the card blank. It's not really straight but that just adds to it's charm!

I challenge you to use a digital kit to make some cards this week!

Love from Andrea xx

CD case desk calendar - great for Christmas!

2007-11-07T00:01:00.000Z

I'm not claiming this as an original idea - my DH was given a promotional calendar last year, and the cards were housed in an empty CD case, so I thought I'd give it a go and see how easy (and quick) it would be to make one myself. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and can almost guarantee that a number of our relatives will be getting one for Christmas! You will need: empty CD case (the kind that will fold back so that the lid will sit on your desk) sheets of A4 photo paper or cardstock paper trimmer ruler Measure the CD case - the paper inserts will need to fit inside (mine are 11.6cm x 13.5cm). I made my inserts by drawing a text box in Publisher the exact size that I wanted the finished cards to be, then filling the box with the calendar for each month, a photo and an image to finish it off. Once you get into the swing of it, it's really easy to cut and paste from one month to the next. Publisher has a variety of calendar styles you can use and manipulate, or you can create tables in Word for the calendar part, if you have a 2008 calendar to hand (Google can help with this!) I decided to use fairly random photos of my girls for the calendar I made, but you could match the theme of your photos to each particular month, so wintry photos for December, January, and February, fresher, greener photos for the spring months, ice-cream and holidays for the summer months, and beautiful autumn hues for September, October and November. I also found that I had gaps to fill, and used a lovely dingbat font by David Walker to add the fun images. Once I was happy with the layout for each month, I printed them off onto photo paper - cardstock would work just as well, you just need to ensure that you use something thick enough so that the cards will stand rigid in the CD case. Once I'd printed them off, I trimmed the months to size, following the thick black line I'd put around the text box. This is when it starts to come together. Put your months into the right order, et voila! A fairly quick and really straightforward gift. Once the calendar pages are in the closed CD case, tie the case with a brightly coloured ribbon, and add a handmade gift tag. If you wanted to make these as teacher gifts for Christmas you could use inspirational quotes, or seasonal stock photos instead of family snaps, or you could scan children's drawings and use those as your images. Enjoy!

Fabric coasters

2007-11-06T06:27:00.000Z

Do you have a little space just for you to create? Here is a way to personalise it with some little altered *fabric* coasters - perfect to hold your refreshments for an art party! Alternatively, you can create the fabric and use it for any other project (ATC, altered bag, etc).

Materials: muslin, paint, expanding paint, heat gun, transparency, adhesive, embossing powders, scissors, coaster Step 1 - Paint muslin. I've used pearlescent paints here to give a shiny effect.

Step 2 - Stamp an image using expanding paint (paint that expands with heat). I used a Stampers Anonymous harlequinn stamp. Then I added embossing powders into the paint.

Step 3: Heat. The paint will puff up, giving a great texture to the piece.

Step 4: Add paints as desired. Step 5: Trim to size for your coaster.

Step 6: Cut a transparency to wrap around the coaster. This will protect the fabric from spills. Step 7: Use a strong adhesive to glue to the back of the coaster. Weight the transparency down for 1-2 days to ensure it adheres.

Step 8: Enjoy! :)

x Joy

More Christmas Decorations

2007-11-05T20:10:00.000Z

And a happy Monday to you all from Di.

I am the queen of easy peasy so I hve another simple project today that will be fun for the children to get involved in. It's some jolly star 'bunting'

I started with a simple star shape and some red raffia ribbon which I unrolled.

I cut out 9 star shapes from foam squares.

I then attatched the stars to the raffia ribbon with bling brads added a few smaller stars and finally messed some gold and silver glitter glue over the stars. Between the stars I tied a little raffia bow And Voila Viola we are done!!! Have a great week everyone. Thank You for visiting IACW

Holiday memories with Lousette

2007-11-04T20:02:00.000Z

We are so excited to have Lousette Ashton join us today. Lousette is the most fabulously talented scrapbooker and cardmaker. So, while the weather outside might be frightful stay here where it really is delightful. Lousette's amazing holiday album will certainly put a spring in your step. Over to Lousette .......................

A big thanks to Maria for inviting me to do a guest spot on the blog.

This is a 6x6 themed album I did using some of the holiday pictures from a trip to South Africa. Whenever we go away on holiday we always come back with hundreds of photos (of course, who doesn’t).

Sadly though, most of our holiday shots just stay on the pc, along with all the other thousands of photos we have taken over the last few years. I vowed this year I was going to make a change and actually scrap a holiday from start to finish instead of just the odd page here and there.

I started with a 6x6 Heidi Swapp album 100 6x4 prints Some Scenic Route papers (Laurel range) Various embellies and rub-ons A heap of enthusiasm

The biggest challenge was to get as many photos into one little album as possible, have some journaling so that we could remember what happened etc., use up some of my embellishments that are piled high in my craft room, and still not have it all look too cluttered. In the end I managed to use 86 photos in a 20 page album (so a total of 40 6x6 single layouts). That might not sound like all that much, but as a generally simple, uncluttered scrapper I really felt as if I had achieved something. I am very happy with the results too and hopefully I can keep this up and document all of our big holidays.

Here are some tips I picked up along the way and would like to share with you: 1. Crop, crop and then crop some more. I left some photos large, but I cropped others down to quite small. At first this kind of freaked me out, but once I got chopping I really enjoying cutting the pictures into manageable chunks. 2. Forget about matting photos and just stick them down as is (add a bit of ink to the edges if you need some definition). 3. Create edge to edge photo collages. Some of the pages consist of only photos, a great way to incorporate a lot in a little space. 4. Use one range of papers. I used the Scenic Route papers, with just a little Basic Grey green and orange here and there. This way all of the pages co-ordinate, but they still each have their own identities and I only had to choose papers once. 5. Have fun, and don’t get stressed over time. This album took me a few weeks to complete, I did a page or three whenever I had a minute to spare.

These are a few pages from my album, I hope this will give you some inspiration for scrapping your holiday photos.

Wow!!! Thank you so much Lou for sharing your fabulous album with us. You've certainly got me revved up to finish our last holiday album. I started it in June and it's not been touched since.

*~*~*~*~*~* Oooh, don't forget that you can still download the fabbie doodles designed EXCLUSIVELY for us. Just help yourself and if you get a mo let us see what you've created with them.

You can find them here and here.

New Home Gift

2007-11-03T00:00:00.000Z

Good morning to you!!

Today we have another great idea that is quick and easy but fun to make :)

I made these new address cards for my brother and his girlfriend who finally moved out of our spare room and into their own home.

They took about 25 minutes to make and are printed onto white 6 x 4 postcards that I bought in our local office supplies shop for about £1.00 a pack.

I created a new file in photoshop and used the doodled house from the font 2Peas GGs Love Me (downloaded from 2peas) to create a border of sweet little houses. I increased the size of the middle house to make it stand out and added colour with the paint bucket tool. I saved the image as a j-peg. Create a new document that is 6" x 4" in your word processing programme and import the house image to create a border along the bottom of your document. Add the text and print out. I doodled a red border with felt tip around the edges.

Stack the cards onto white envelopes, tie up with red gingham ribbon and a white wooden heart and you have a sweet and very individual present that looks like it took hours to make but in reality took less than half and hour

Andrea

And if you thought the giving was over you are mistaken!!

The lovely Kate Hadfield has made these In the Pink Journalers especially for you!!!

http://www.4shared.com/file/27772660/81834491/khadfield_inthepink.html

Matching Home Decor Accessories

2007-11-02T08:22:00.000Z

Well, I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to buy accessories for my home in the right colour scheme, with matching items for a reasonable price, today I have made a couple of small items using 2 sheets of patterned paper, 1 sheet of cardstock, ribbons, lace and small embellishments that we all have lying around in our stash.

First, the box, it is an MDF given to me by a friend, I sanded it all to give a key, and then painted it with a deep red acrylic paint, it needed two coats to cover it nicely. I cut and inked patterned paper to cover the top and all four sides and used permanent spray adhesive to stick it to the box. I then used lace and ribbon, a button and a couple of metal embellishments and fiddled until I was happy with the result. I used a gold marker to go round all the edges of the box to give it a bit of a lift. The candles were taken from a class in a cyber crop a couple of years ago by Debbie I used the same patterned paper and card to match to wrap the candles, and used brads to secure the paper and card at the back. I used the same ribbon and lace to tie round the centre to finish them off. These all sit in my living room and do get commented on by friends and family. I hope you have enjoyed today’s post and will get some inspiration from it. Trish xxx

And we almost forgot the winner from our last October lucky dipper is Sharon Peters. Please send your address to us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk and we will get your prize to you!

And sorry about confusion yesterday I did not realise that we had THREE Janes who contributed layouts so the winner of Andrea's beautiful pink collection for the scrap your boobs layout is JANE with her LO titled "Big, Small, Men an' all"!!!!

And our bosoms extravaganza draws to a close

2007-11-01T20:44:00.000Z

When we first discussed the idea of raising money and awareness for breast cancer month we had no idea how you, our readers, would take it. Would you read it and move on to the next blog or join us? We truly hoped that you would join us but had no idea how it would pan out.

Well, what can we say? It's not enough to say that you joined in as you picked it up and ran with it. We hoped to raise £310 but had no idea if we would manage it. We beat our target and are hoping to go on and double it before the end of the year. Call us optimistic but we really believe that with your support we can do it.

But, it's not just about raising money it's about Women standing together and supporting each other. So many of us have been touched by this dreadful disease in some shape or form but we won't bow down to it. To show her support Di has put together this tribute for all women.

Today we want to remember survivors and those that lost the fight. Not just to this disease but to all forms of cancer.

Angela would like to say a few words about Auntie Margaret

My DH's dear Auntie Margaret survived Breast cancer in the early 90's, long before I knew her. Sadly while I was pregnant, she discovered that the cancer had returned and spread throughout her body. She fought very bravely through what was a terrible illness.

Auntie Margaret passed away 3 weeks before my son was born. I will always be sad that Daniel never got to meet his Auntie Margaret, but we tell him about her all the time, and have a little jumper that she knitted for him. She went out of her way to make me feel like family from the very beginning.

She was such a lovely, amazing lady, who always tried to make everyone feel welcome, I will never forget her encouraging smiles at large family events when she knew I was nervous, and how she had a hug and a kind word for everyone.

I hope that what we have done this month will help people to be more aware about breast cancer, and that through early detection hopefully a much more positive outcome for everyone.

Di would like to remember her Mum, Caz's Gram.

My mum was a legend in her own lifetime. When she was diagnosed with a rogue cancerous brain tumour we her family were devastated but inspired by her courage. She underwent radio therapy and died in my sister's arms just after undergoing her last treatment. We were blessed during the last 3 months of her life in that we all got to see her and spend time with her. She is a hard act to follow and still inspires us. She was Mum, Gram and friend. This is the last photograph I have of her and it was taken by my niece Danni. She had begun to lose her hair and wore this lovely hat!

We loved all of your bosom layouts and could never pick a favourite to showcase. But, a special place in all of hearts is now taken up by Kat's Mum. Kat's layout is so inspiring and we wish her Mum all the best for the future.

To celebrate the end of our *Bosoms extravaganza* the fabulously talented Kate Hadfield has designed two sets of pink digi doodles exclusively for It's a creative world.

You can download the first set here and the second set will be available this weekend.

And what a difficut draw this morning coming from donations, layouts and comments. But the winner is Diz who wins the goodie bag from Scrapbook Inspirations!!!! Please email your addy to acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk and we will get you prize to you!!!

We have lots of prizes today so keep coming back to us! We have prizes for donations, layouts and comments . We will be announcing the Scrap your Boobs layout winner at about 9.00am this morning.

Thank you all so much for making October a memorable month! Your layouts, donations and comments have been AWESOME!!!

9.00am prize winners!!!

And the winner of Andrea's beautiful pink collection for the scrap your boobs layout is JANE with her LO titled "Big, Small men an' all"!!!!

The winner of the donations prize is Jackie! well done. You have won from A trip down memory lane - Pink craft mate tote.

1.00pm prize winners!!!

The prize for layouts, donated by Caz, a Pink pamper kit goes to Karen with a layout titled TLC

The prize for doantions, sponsored by Papermaze goes to Lesley Susan Pearcey

5.00 pm prize winners!!!

The prize for layouts, sponsored by Design Collective, a months membership, goes to Natalie and her *learning to love my skin* LO

The prize for donations, sponsored by Scrap Magic, a colelction of PINK bazzill, goes to Ceruleanblue!!!!!!

9.00pm prize winners!!!

Teresa Mitchell is the Layout winner, she wins a months subscription to the Design Collective!!

And the winner of a £10 donation by Di in their name is Charlene Marie Lee!!

Please email your addies to us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk and your prizes will be on the way!!!

With love and thanks from IACW XXX

And, as an extra thank you there will be a lucky dipper for all the comments left today. The winner will receive a months free membership to the design collective. The winner will be published tomorrow.

Messy hands at Halloween!

2007-10-31T00:01:00.000Z

We have another Winner!!!!! JENGA wins the Scrapping Angels kit donated by Anna @ Scrapping Angels.Please email your addy to acreativeworld@hotmail.co.ukThank you to everyone who left a comment :)And of course the fun is not over yet! Everyone who has donated, sent in a LO up to the end of today and leaves a comment on todays post will go into a big lucky dipper prize draw to win a goodie bag from Scrapbook Inspirations!!!! My children like nothing better than getting their hands dirty, so I thought I would give them a couple of opportunities to really get stuck in and get creative on a Halloween theme. First on the agenda – Halloween shortbread. We used a very straightforward shortbread recipe: 225g butter 125g caster sugar 350g plain flour, plus extra flour for dusting a pinch of salt Cream the butter and the sugar together in a large bowl. I let the children take turns at doing this, before giving it a final go myself. Sieve the flour and a pinch of salt into the creamed mixture, and combine the ingredients to make a doughy mixture. Again, rubbing the flour into the fat and sugar is wonderfully messy and this is the part where we usually have arguments as to who has had the longest turn!! When all of the ingredients have been completely rubbed in together, gently knead the doughy mixture for a few moments, and form it into a smooth ball. Wrap it in clingfilm, and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4, 180 degrees C, 350 degrees F, and grease a couple of large baking sheets. When the biscuit mix is ready to come out of the fridge, sprinkle some flour onto your work surface, and your rolling pin, and gently roll out the mixture to about a 1cm thickness. We used Halloween cookie cutters bought this year and last year at Tesco, and took it in turns to cut shapes from the dough. Keep reforming the dough ball and rolling out until all the mixture has been used up. The biscuits need to go into the oven for 15 minutes, but check them at around 12 minutes because if your oven is on the hot side, they'll probably be done! They just need to be golden, and more on the golden side than the brown side (I write from experience on this one!!!) When the biscuits are cooked, take them out of the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack for as long as they need to cool down. This is the part where you might want to have something else to occupy the children, as mine wanted to decorate the biscuits as soon as they were cooked, and they really do need time to cool otherwise the icing won't stick properly. I had my dear husband, a very large pumpkin, and a pumpkin carving kit at the ready, and while the biscuits were cooling, the girls helped their dad to prepare the pumpkin ready for him to carve - another extremely messy job!! The girls had great fun scooping out the stringy bits and seeds, and it took just long enough for the biscuits to have time to cool. I bought a four-pack of writing icing, and let them do their own thing. Here are the finished biscuits - we still have a few left to enjoy today! And the results of the pumpkin carving? Using the Tesco pumpkin carving templates, a friendly ghost on one side, and a fiendish face on the other: We also found time to make these orange chocolate lollies using this Supercook kit. H*A*P*P*Y H*A*L*L*O*W*E*E*N to all our readers! Don't get spOOked!

Mix it up!!

2007-10-30T17:40:00.000Z

Hi Folks!!!

And we have another lucky dipper prize today for our Scrap Your Boobs campaign. Its an A4 sheet of Zettiology rubber stamps donated by 3D Jean and the winner is Hazel Harris. Please email us your address at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk and we will get your prize to you!!! And a big thanks to our very generous sponsor!!!

Woo Hoo we are giving away another prize today. It's a Scrapping Angels kit donated by the lovely Anna @ scrapping angels! There will be a draw tomorrow so leave us a comment to be eligible for the prize!!!

It's Tuesday again and today we are bringing you the last in a series of LO classes!!

Mixing patterned papers :)

We are so lucky to be joined once again by the very talented ~Angie~ who has created these fab LOs as examples of mixing different patterned paper line on a LO.

Crocs Rock I've been trying to scrap this photo since I got my first pair or Crocs earlier this year. When I started to think about how I could use a mixture of papers from different manufacturers, I went straight to my box of scraps. This seemed to be a great place to search through for papers that might go together. Having found a few different patterns I cut the pieces into strips,inked the edges, and lay them across the cardstock base. I like the way the different papers create a bold interesting background. Usually this would overwhelm a photo, but as the subject is only a pair of shoes I feel it doesn't matter in this case. The finished layout is quite layered....I used some Hambly overlay, and Heidi Swapp Ghost letters so all the time the papers can be seen through from underneath.

You Spin Me Right Round On this layout I didn't want to overdo the paper,I wanted quite a clean look, so I found 3 papers with a similar feel to them. Two of them I simply placed in opposite corners, and the third I used for the arrow and to mat one of the photos.

Sweetie Pie This time I wanted to create a vivid fun layout, using lots of bright colours and patterns. I started with the Doodlebug flowery paper, then found other papers that co-ordinated with it. I wanted to use quite large pieces which I layered under the photo. A spot of doodling around the edges of it all adds another fun element. I love this layout- so bold, and it was great fun to put together. I don't think I'll ever be afraid of mixing papers again! And Di has used different patterned papers to create this fab LO!! I hope this will inspire you to get out your scraps and start mixing papers!!

haPPy creATing!!

Caz

Just old fashioned scrapping...

2007-10-29T02:09:00.000Z

A BIG "Hi" to you all from Di (in Sunny Johannesburg, South Africa this weekend).

This morning we have a prize winner and its Heather from Scotland!!! Please contact us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk provide us with your address and your prize will be on it's way to you!!!

Do I have to remind you that I am an 'old fashioned' scrapper? I used to make scrap books using post cards, menus and loads of stuff cut out from magazines. Well, guess what, I still like to do that!!!!

Recently I spent a week in a beautiful place called Hermanus watching the whales. I was there with my niece Joanne and her boyfriend Richard. Jo asked me to help her make a little momento of the holiday for Richard (who lives in Wales). Now Jo has never scrapped before so we reverted to the old fashioned style!

This is what we made for Richard:

And this is what we started with:

For the pages: cut 2 pieces of cardstock into 6 by 6inch squares.

For the back cover: cut a 6 by 6 inch square of cardboard.

Fot the front cover: cut a 6 by 6 inch square of corrugated cardboard and peeled away some of the brown paper to reveal the corrugated bit.

We used brown ink for the cardboard and green pages and black ink for the red pages. This is what we collected to fill the album:

We collected brochures, menus, bills, and of course photographs!! We cut WORDS from old magazines.

The Front cover

The back cover:

Some of the pages:

We had lots of fun and it did not take long! I have decided that I am going to make an old fashioned scrapbook of IDEAS, using stuff torn from magazines! I think it will be great fun, simple and therapeutic .

Oh and just a reminder that you still have time to scrap your boobs!

And another reminder to keep those donations pouring in. You have been so generous and every single pound helps.

Thanks for visiting us at IACW with love from Di XXX

Children's Christmas crafts

2007-10-28T00:05:00.000Z

One of the most Special ways to remember Christmas is to make something each year with a child. :0) Here are a few ideas from Joy and Angela. Sweet Stockings

Materials: Stockings cut from paper (one normal, and one negative image), more patterned paper, adhesive, hole punch, ribbon, lace

Step 1: Cut the Stockings with a die-cutting machine or with scissors, using a pattern. Note - the second side should be the reverse image so that when you lay them together, the edges line up. (The brightly painted table is my messy play table!)

Step 2: Punch Holes along the edges of the stocking (both sides touching).

Step 3: Tie a bit of the end of Ribbon at one end of the stocking. A child can lace it through the holes.

Step 4: Add a patterned paper top to the stocking, and then glue on a lace fringe.

The stockings can be used as ornaments or to hold small items (like candy canes). Or, you can make a larger version to hang up. :0)

Joy xxxx

Hand Print Christmas Trees This year is the first year I have been able to make something for Christmas with DS, and we had lots of fun getting paint and glue everywhere! He is 18 months, so just shows you can do crafts with Children from an early age! We covered his hands in various shades of green paint and made 24 hand prints on some light weight cardstock. While we waited for these to dry, DS painted himself and a sheet of card in gold and painted some red in a triangle to make a base for the Chrismas tree. When everything was dry, I cut around the handprints and then we stuck them down with glue in the shape of a christmas tree. DS then painted "Baubles" on the tree by dabbing a paint dauber over the paper. I cut a star shape out of the gold painted card and we stuck this on top. Finally we added a piece of multicoloured wool as tinsel. We had great fun making this and getting messy! ~angela~

We really hope that you enjoyed the creations we made with our children. We would love to see what your children come up with.

**~~**~~**~~**~~**

The winner of the kit supplied by Kirsty Wiseman is Rach. Please email us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk with your address. Thank you so much to Kirsty for putting this kit together with her own fair hands.

Today we are offering a fabulous handmade bracelet created by our very own Trish. Everyone who has made a donation to our Just giving prize up until the end of today will go in the lucky dipper.

Christmas Tree Decorations.

2007-10-27T13:55:00.000Z

Today Caz and I are doing fabric Christmas tree decorations, I love Christmas and find bits and bobs to do all year round so its not a last minute rush. These birds I made back in July for my tree, I love felt as it is so versatile and doesn’t fray, I used red felt, gold thread, gold sequins, green thread and polyester toy stuffing. The candy canes are for hanging in my kitchen, which is having a Christmas foodie theme. They are very easy and quick to make, all you need is two pipe cleaners, I used red and white, twist them together and bend the top round to form the hook. Caz has made these gorgeous lavender filled tartan hearts for her tree; she used pinking shears to help stop the edges from fraying. These will smell and look gorgeous on her beautifully decorated and lit tree. I hope you have enjoyed today’s post; don’t forget to email us with any pictures of the items we have featured here. Today we are also doing a prize drawer to win a fab kit from Kirsty Wiseman just leave us a comment on today’s post and we will draw a winner on Sunday. We have exceeded the target for donations that we had set ourselves and are really grateful to all of you that have donated on our just giving page, Thank you, and a HUGE thank you too to all you lovely brave ladies that have scrapped your boobs and sent us the pictures. Trish xxx

Quick & Easy Buttons!

2007-10-26T20:22:00.000Z

I love buttons, all sorts, mostly I seem to collect them (well, they do look so pretty in glass jars on my shelf!) but sometimes I actually use them too! The ones I use the most are actually the ones I have made myself, that way you can get a perfect match to your layout, and it's very easy and cheap to do. I have included a couple of examples here to help inspire you, I really hope you have a go because it is a great way to use up scraps and a nice little crafty thing to make up on one of those evenings when you don't have much time to spare but still want to get creative.

In this layout I made buttons to perfectly co-ordinate with the patterned paper using clear page pebbles. I bought a few packets of these when I started scrapping years ago but never used them, then I realised they could be used to make fake epoxy buttons! Just stick your page pebble directly on to your patterned paper, burnish the back of the paper with a rub-on stick to make sure it is stuck down properly and then carefully cut out the pebble.

To mark the holes it is easiest to draw round your shape on a piece of scrap paper and cut that out, then fold that template into quarters to give you some guidelines. If you then punch circles out of the template you can check if you like their position and go ahead and mark them onto the back of your button.

You can punch the holes with a cropadile or a normal eyelet punch, it's much easier than you think! I made this pile of buttons in less than half an hour, they are now all ready for me to start scrapping! I bought a pack of Basic Grey papers ready to scrap last years Christmas photos, and it came with a sheet of tags which knew I wouldn't use, so I cut up the tags and covered some Bazzill chips with them to make co-ordinating buttons. You could just as easily cut your own shapes out of cardboard, or use one of the larger die-cut machines like a Big Shot. To finish them off I sanded the edges which went well with the vintage papers, but inking them also looks really effective. You can also set eyelets into the button holes for a really clean look.

In this layout I used Bazzill chips again but painted them with acrylic to give a perfect match to the cardstock I used and then drew on some simple detail using a white marker pen.

I really hope you have a go at this, a great way to add some fun to your layouts and use up those scraps :)

Charlotte x

Need Inspiration?

2007-10-25T22:01:00.000Z

The girls at It's A Creative World are so thrilled by the number of entries into our 'Scrap your Boobs' challenge and all the donations to our Just Giving Page. It's not too late to contribute to either, you have until the end of October.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cardmaking but lacking in inspiration?

Sometimes we all need a push in the right direction and challenge blogs might be just the thing to get you motivated and raring to go. I checked out 3 blogs this week and had a fab time joining in the challenges.

Daring Card Makers:

The current challenge is a sketch to base your card on.

I've had a new set of mini Cuttlebug embossing folders sitting on my desk for three weeks whilst I work out what to do with them and as soon as I saw this sketch I new exactly how to use them! I used some shiny silver mirror card that I've had for a few years and never use and the embossing folders worked a treat.

CPS:

I love the sketches you get from CPS as they are so adaptable.

I changed the sketch slightly by increasing the size of my card but basically kept everything else in.

Sketch This (cards):

The challenge was another sketch, really simple and multi-use, it could be used for every possible occasion that you can think of.

I had loads of fun punching circles and then inking and gluing and managed to squeeze four different patterned papers from Craftwork Cards and chipboard letters from Scenic Route onto my card.

So, I challenge you to pick a challenge blog and join in with the fun and of course link us to your creations so we can see what you've all been up to :)

Happy Crafting love Andrea xx

Making Embellishments from Fun Foam.

2007-10-24T12:05:00.000Z

Hi there, it’s Angela here with another altered art type project. It is handy to be able to make your own embellishments, especially when it is from a cheap material. For this you will need: A heat gun 1 A5 sheet of Fun Foam rubber stamp shimmery paints (eg Twinkling H2O’s, Stewart Gill paints, Daler-Rowney’s Irridescent Mediums) Paint brush Metallic rub-on wax Cut your piece of foam slightly bigger than the stamp that you want to use to make your embellishment. Place this on a heat resistant surface, and heat with the heat gun until the edges of the foam start to curl up (this should only take a few seconds). Stamp your rubber stamp on top of the foam, pushing down firmly for a few seconds. When you lift up your stamp you should see an impression of the stamp on the foam. Now to make this stand out, I painted it, using a dry brush and some Irridescent medium, sweeping the brush over the image, not being too careful about it. This gives it a more rustic look. I then highlighted some areas with gold irridescent medium, and used some metallic wax to make the image stand out more. I then cut around the image, but you can leave it as it is. Here is another example: Fun foam can be sewn on or attached using your regular choice of adhesive. There are many different things you can do with this, making an impression with random textured things that are around your house. Have fun experimenting!!! ~angela~

And a BIG Woo Hoo for our prize winner "queenofstash (Debra) ". If you could email to us your address your prize wil be on its way to you! (acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk) .

Debra won a pair of gorgeous earrings kindly donated by Jaq at A String of Beads

Working from a sketch

2007-10-23T00:00:00.000Z

Welcome to another Octobers Tuesday LO class!

Today we are going to be looking as scrapping from a sketch.

Sketches are very versatile because you can use as much, or as little, of the elements on your page, or turn it any which way you want.

The IT place to find sketches is Pencil Lines. An inspirational blog run by a FAB group of ladies who create the most awesome work every week to inspire their readers.

And here at It's a Creative World we are very honoured to have been given an exclusive sketch for our class by the lovely Anna!!

Hi , my name is Anna Bowkis, I live in a small village in Cambridgeshire with my hubby and two girls. I have a very fond love for sketches and a year ago I came up with the concept of Pencil Lines, the sketch challenge blog. Every week we have a new sketch for our readers and a guest designer. Our readers gallery is very popular, and one lucky reader each month recives a RAK form one of our sponsers. This month is our first anniversary, and we have lots of sketches, prizes and RAK’s to give away. I have made this sketch especially for “It’s a creative world” readers and hope you enjoy creating. Thanks for having me as a guest this week, its been such fun! Hugs Anna x

And this is what we have done with it.........

Charlotte!

Andrea!

Angela! Caz!

And here are a few more examples of LOs using PL sketches from the lovely Joy!

And of course it wouldn't be IACW without a great prize giveaway! Today we are offering you a gift from the amazing collection over at A String Of Beads. All you have to do is leave us a comment before midnight tonight and we will do the prize draw tomorrow :)

haPPy creATing!!

Caz

Thanks for visiting!!

WOO HOO, we have reached our fundraising target!!!!! You ladies are just awesome and the support you have shown for a great cause is just amazing. Keep those donations coming in and get you BOOBIES SCRAPPED!!!!!!

There are still loads of prizes to be won this month so visit often :)

In the Doldrums ???

2007-10-22T08:29:00.000Z

Hi again from Di with another idea to get the creative juices going.

I have been through a real “mojo less” period, and sometimes I just want to play. Because I am retired, I am on a pension, and therefore a BUDGET. Like you I have stash that I have actually FORGOTTEN about. So this is also an oopportunity to "Use Your Stash". Cheap and Cheerful Décor: Sometimes I just want to sit down and play, with no expectations of what I am creating. That’s when I create stuff to adorn my “studio”. So get some old cardboard, patterned paper, as many embellishments as you feel like and play. My Studio Just some patterned paper, paint, chipboard letters brads and ribbon.

About me:

And more just about me!!! And finally a little "welcome" I treat these as ’throwaways”. If they adorn “My space”for a few months, that’s fine. But they are in my face reminding me of who and what I am. They contain some positive thoughts that I can focus on whilst working. I used some paper that I have loved for a long time but have probably “over scrapped” LOL. You will find that you are not inhibited by the colours of photographs. (If you decide to include a few photographs, print them in black and white, sepia or antique.) This works for me. We would love to hear how YOU approach kindling your inspiration (We hope you come to IACW!!!! LOL.) a BIG Thanks for your very generous donations to our breast cancer awareness campaign. A special thanks to the folks who accepted my little challenge and donated this weekend. You will see that we have almost reached our target!!! And a reminder to get your "Scrap your Boobs" layouts in before the 31st October. Please email them to us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk THANKS!!! Thanks for visiting and love from Di XXX

Christmas Ornaments

2007-10-21T08:23:00.000Z

Making your own Christmas ornaments gives a personal touch to your tree, and it is something you can do with children, too.

Here are just a few samples of ornaments from the IACW team:

Andrea

A fabric and felt gingerbread man that requires no sewing.

Ingredients:

Brown felt, gingerbread coloured fabric, bondaweb or similar, thin ribbon, dimension paint, sharp scissors and very fine black and brown pens, makeup blusher.

Cut a two squares of fabric and iron bondaweb onto the back following the manufacturers instructions. Make a template of a gingerbread man shape on thin card and draw around it onto the reverse of the fabric, directly onto the bondaweb

Cut the two shapes out using sharp scissors to keep the edges sharp and neat

Place one of the shapes bondaweb side down onto the felt and iron to adhere, when you iron his head sandwich the ends of a loop of ribbon between the fabric and felt

Cut out the gingerbread man shape leaving a border of a couple of millimetres

Turn the gingerbread man over so the felt is uppermost and iron on the second fabric shape

Use dimensional white fabric paint to 'ice' wiggly stripes onto his hands and feet and also to add his buttons onto his tummy

Use the very thin black pen to draw a smile and two eyes and the brown pen to dot his freckles. Make rosy cheeks by dabbing a cotton bud into your blusher makeup and then dabbing lightly onto his cheeks

Hey presto you have a sweet little gingerbread man to hang in your home over the festive period, he takes next to no time to make and he's even low fat and oh so healthy :)

Joy

Seaglass ornament

I drilled the sea glass (barely under water) to make a neat hold in the glass. I then stamped it with a Green Pepper Press stamp. I put in in the melting pot, and I sprinkled UTEE on it to make the image pop. I then outlined it with a gold Krylon pen.

Ranger glass slides I took a pictures of my son stamping and colouring. I then cut the artwork to fit in the slides, and I added his photograph of him making the picture. I put a wire loop in between the pictures. I added gold tape around the edges (a Ranger technique and also demonstrated to me at Magpie Crafts).

Shrink plastic ornament

I stamped onto shrink plastic, puched a hole at the top, and coloured the bear and stars. (The plastic is actually clear, and the bear is coloured white, but it is difficult to tell in the image.) I shrunk it (with a heat gun) and added a white ribbon. This is a great project to do with kids. Angela

UTEE and Cookie Cutter Ornaments

These Ornaments were made using Christmas themed Cookie cutters and some UTEE. First of all I heated Clear UTEE in a melting pot, then added some Opals Embossing Enamels (an Australian made version of UTEE) in various colours, and a tiny amount of UTEE flex. Once this was all melted, I poured it out onto a non-stick craft sheet and set the cookie cutter into the UTEE .The cookie cutter should be inked with some versamark or other release agent to remove it from the utee when it has set. Leave the utee to cool. Be very Careful! This stuff really burns! I left mine for around 10 minutes and then very carefully pressed out the shape. If you are very careful you can have the positive and negative shapes, the negative would make a nice frame. Now it is ready to be stamped on using Stazon ink, I then doodled around the stamped images using Sakura Souffle pens to make them stand out more.

Love from us at IACW XXX

And Just a reminder from Di!!!

For every 1 pound that you donate to IACW Just Giving page I will donate 1 pound. This challenge is open until Sunday midnight 21st October!!! So come on girls just 1 pound from each of you! And why would I do this? Because cancer took my mum. Here she is....

Because of her I have a mother,I am a daughter, and I am blessed.

Love from Di

Delightful terracotta candle pots

2007-10-20T15:23:00.000Z

Hey there everyone! A big HI to you all today from Caz!

Today I am bringing you a very quick easy project that has no limits :) but in the spirit of Chistmas.

I found these beautiful church candles at John Lewis for £2 each! Yes that's right £2, and that was for the big ones, the smaller size were only £1 each (Wish I had bought more!). But my problem was I didn't have candle holders for them! That was until I stumbled across these cheap but very cute terracotta pots at my local garden centre and I just knew they would work! All I did was give the pots and wipe down to get rid of any water marks and cob webs (!) and tied some raffia around the rim to give them a country look.

The pots cost 39p and 59p for the larger ones!!!!

It was that easy and they look so pretty!

Now obviously we like to be able to adapt our projects to use for lots of different occasions, so some other ideas:

How about painting the pots orange and having them out in the garden for halloween.

How about using them as a centre piece when you have a fancy dinner party, a bit of black velvet ribbon around the rim would really snazzy them up!

Or you could paint them loads of different bright colours and have them on your outside table when you have a bbq.

And finally give them as a gift, if you buy the teeny weeny pots you could give 3 with a bag of tea lights to someone who enjoys having candles around the house. The teeny pots cost about 29p each!

I hope todays post has inspired you to add a little light into your life.

Caz xxx

And Hi from Di the MDD (Mad Dear Mother) of Caz. I have a little challenge for you today!!!

Because of her I have a mother,I am a daughter, and I am blessed.

Love from Di

Beeswax Canvas

2007-10-19T12:05:00.000Z

Hi Everyone! It’s Angela here again, with an altered art project. Today I want to show you a canvas that I made using beeswax, stamps, crayons and Tim Holtz distress inks. To start I took a blank canvas board and rubbed various distress inks over it. I then took a piece of cut and dry foam, damped it with some water and rubbed this over the inks to blend them together. I then stamped a large Stamper’s Anonymous Vogue stamp onto white tissue paper. I tore around this roughly. For the beeswax I used a melting pot and some beeswax pellets. I brushed the whole canvas with beeswax and then adhered the tissue paper, and then covered this with more beeswax. Be careful when using beeswax as it is very hot. Once it is applied to the canvas it will cool and harden quite quickly, so you will need to know where you want to put each embellishment before applying the wax. The wax can be melted again on the canvas using a heat gun if you need to. I then stamped some french postmarks onto tissue paper and adhered them in the same manner, along with a strip of scrapbook paper (measuring tape). The handbag and shoe was also stamped onto tissue. I then melted a red crayola crayon in the meltpot, and used a brush to put it on the edge of the canvas, and heated this with the heat gun to help it blend in a bit better with the rest of the content. The manequin was from a collage sheet, again it was adhered using beeswax, and the various embellishments were set into warm wax. Finally I did a packing tape transfer from a dictionary – definition of “fashion”. Packing Tape Transfers are the most simple way of doing an image transfer. Simply use clear tape or contact film/clear sticky-backed plastic if it is a large image, put this over the image or text you want to transfer, rub with a bone folder to make sure that the tape is well stuck down. Then wet the paper and begin to rub the paper off until you can see the image/text. You can then stick it down on your prepared surface. Remember not to place a beeswax collage near a heat source, or the elements may fall off! Hope this inspires you to try something different! ~angela~ ****************** We now have the winner from Yesterday's Heat Gun giveaway, which was kindly donated by Forgetmenot Papercrafts. SuzyB :) Can you contact us please so that we can get your lovely pink heat gun sent off to you :) Congratulations!!!

Acetate Cards!

2007-10-17T19:00:00.000Z

Hello everybody! Joanne here again. As you may have seen acetate cards have become very trendy recently and I for one am no exception to this trend. I love making this type of card as they look so unusual and effective. I've made one for this weeks' card. Very straightforward and quite quick to make. Here goes!

The basic ingredients for this card are an A5 sheet of acetate (I got mine from a pack used for glass painting), cardstock and rub ons (I used Hambly). The bits of embellishment I used were a piece of lace and ric-rac, safety pin, small label and small rhinestones.

Step 1

Fold your acetate in half to form your card. Cut two identical hearts from the red cardstock.

Step 2

Decide where you are going to place your rub ons and heart on the outside. Stick one heart inside the card exactly where the one on the outside will be (this is so you can write your message on it!).

Step 3

Decorate your heart for the outside if desired. I tied round some ric-rac and lace and added a safety pin and small label. Attach to the front of your card directly over the heart which is on the inside.

Step 4

Apply rub on to the front of your card and embellish with rhinestones if desired. I hope you enjoy making this card as much as I did. Look out for more acetate cards in the future!

TFL! Joanne x *************************************************** As part of our Breast Cancer awareness month, today we are giving away a beautiful Pink Heat gun, which has been very kindly donated to us by Stephanie at Forgetmenot Papercrafts in Belfast. All you need to do is either: donate some money to our Just Giving Page, Scrap your Bosoms or leave a comment. Remember if you do all 3, you'll get 3 chances at the prize!!! Goodluck!

Nude words....inside and out!

2007-10-17T00:00:00.000Z

Ooh doesn't that title sound a bit naughty {lol}

Today we are looking at decorating wooden letters and I want to extend a huge IACW welcome to the lovely SCRAPDOLLY who is sharing her stunning project with us today.

Karen has decorated the word TRAVEL beautifully using themed paper and embellishments.

And a little detail...

My project is a little different...

I have used the Creative Imaginations bare elements word CREATE and have decided to start off decorating the NEGATIVE or OUTSIDE part first. (the insides are still waiting for their turn!!}

Firstly I painted the whole thing blue, including the inside bits for the R and A.

Once dry I used a sanding block to give it a shabby worn out look.

A few bits of ribbon and a clear jewel were the only decoration I wanted.

For the backing I used Cosmo Cricket, Dutch Girl: Audrey paper attached with modge podge.

And a little detail...

A huge thanks to the lovely Scrapdolly for sharing her work with IACW readers

and as always...

haPPy creATing

Caz

Stitch mania

2007-10-16T00:00:00.000Z

Good morning to you all!! Caz here, with another LO class :) And we are so honoured to have the lovely ~Angie~ as a guest DT member today!!

Stitching on layouts, whether by machine or hand, seems to come into fashion so often and it is one of the most effective ways to add dimension to a LO. In the layout below Angie has even added some hand stitched doodling which looks great and of course you can make up your own designs. She has also stitched around each square of patterned paper which gives the LO a quilt effect and around the photograph which frames Emily beautifully :)

~Angie~ says.....

I have been scrapbooking for nearly 2 years now. My children Emily and Adam are the main things that inspire me to scrap....I love to capture moments in my photos and on my layouts that otherwise may get forgotten. To capture little details of everyday life, to keep to look back on in the years to come. They love it when Mummy has made yet another page about them- I'm not so sure they'll see it the same way when as teenagers they look back at layouts with them having a strop! Currently I'm going through quite an experimental stage with my scrapping. I don't think I really have a style as some scrappers seem to do, but there are various elements and techniques that I use over and over again, and nearly all my layouts have some if not all of these included. What do I like? Chipboard alphabets, inked edges, buttons, ribbons, stitching- mainly by machine (as I'm generally too lazy to hand sew!! lol) I had great fun creating these two layouts, I find stitching adds great extra depth and texture.

Machine sewing around the edges of your cardstock also frames the LO, and I just love how Angie has stitched around each felt flower.

Our own lovely Joy has also contributed to this project with a totally different style of stitching. Joys stitches are randomly placed and hand done, she has also used fabric, ribbon and bits of a real pattern to match the theme of her 'handmade with Love' LO.

Aren't these just the MOST beautiful photographs!!

A massive thanks to both Angie and Joy for sharing their stunning work with IACW today.

And remember we love to see our readers layouts so please leave us a link to your gallery/blog so we can drool, lol.

haPPy creATing

Caz

Crochet update!!

2007-10-15T00:00:00.000Z

It's mid month Monday and that means I get to tell you how far I am with blanket number 2!!

For new readers to IACW, you can catch up with the CROCHET STORY HERE :)

With only 10 weeks left till Christmas I am just over half way through the 224 squares, which means I need to average 16 squares a week, to leave me enough time to put the blanket together, get all the ends trimmed and washed, dried and beautifully wrapped!!

EASY PEASY!! {lol}

Di {my DMM (dear mad mum)} has taken up the crochet challenge and this is seriously an awesome blanket she's made. It's very different to the girls blankets, as I am using one colour to surround each square, put it together and crochet around the whole blanket.

BUT it just goes to show how totally flexible and imaginative you can be with crochet.

Di says..............10 colours, 224 DIFFERENT {ie 224 unique} squares. It took me 2 weeks to make the squares then another week to crochet them together and crochet round the edges.

If you are an avid crochet'er we would love to see your work, so please pop a link in the comments :)

The lovely CHRIS is supporting out breast cancer fund raising efforts with another CHALLENGE!!! Chris says:

"I am asking you to take part in my little challenge to be included in the draw to win lovely blog candy and I will be making a £10 donation to the Just Giving page for the winner also... who will then be eligible to win some of the goodies IACW are offering too :D"

Please visit CHRIS to see the GREAT challenge she has put together!!!

haPPy creATing!! Caz xx

Christmas bunting

2007-10-14T00:01:00.000Z

Very warm Sunday greetings to you all from Caz and Angela!!

Today we are bring you a little more Christmas inspiration to get those creative juices flowing :)

Buntings have been around for years, but i've noticed this year that they seem to have been a very popular decoration!

So we are bringing buntings indoors and using up those bits of Christmas fabric to make great decorations for the home :)

Caz

For my bunting I have cut triangle shapes from fat quarters using pinking shears, this meant I didn't have to stitch around each one {lol}.

I folded the tops of each triangle over a length of twine and hand stitched using thick green thread. I didn't want my triangles moving around on the twine so I popped a couple of stitches through the top to hold them in place.

I cut green felt in the shape of holly and stiched it to a couple of the triangles using red buttons and ribbons for the berries.

And on a couple more I again cut green felt into strips {3 different lengths} and attached in the shape of a Christmas tree. Brown velvet ribbon did the trick for the trunk and these gorgeous little yellow star buttons were perfect for the tree tops!

Angela

I have made some Christmas bunting that I would like to share with you.

I made it from 3 different fabrics, 2 Christmas decorative fabrics and gold satin to finish off the back. I cut the fabrics into triangles, using a template I had cut out of paper. I also cut out some Pelmet Vilene triangles to use as a support for the bunting. I sewed 14 triangles, 7 in white and 7 in green to the Pelmet Vilene and then I covered a large piece of cream felt with Versamark ink, and sprinkled gold embossing powder on it. I then heated this with a heat gun and let the embossing powder melt. I repeated this process twice. This left a beautiful gold felt :)

I then drew around some Heidi Swapp Ghost Letters onto the embossed felt to read "Merry Christmas" and cut these out. I then cut some gold fibre paper out in squares the same size as the letters and sewed the letters to the bunting.

I used gold cord to join the flags together and sewed these in place, attaching gold satin fabric to the back of the flags. Finally, I embossed some cream buttons with matching embossing powder and attached these to the cord using ribbon.

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to SCRAP YOUR BOOBIES for a great cause! All entries received at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk will be entered into a prize draw at the end of October. The lucky winner will receive a gorgeous collection of PINK embellishments.

There are also spot prizes through the month for anyone who donates through our JUST GIVING page!! Don't forget every penny counts.

haPPy creATing

Caz and Angela

Christmas Sewing

2007-10-13T08:57:00.000Z

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

2007-10-12T07:00:00.000Z

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

2007-10-11T12:01:00.000Z

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

2007-10-10T16:13:00.000Z

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 :)

2007-10-09T18:00:00.000Z

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

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...

2007-10-08T04:12:00.000Z

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

2007-10-07T15:14:00.000Z

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

Christmas Planners

2007-10-06T08:24:00.000Z

Christmas is less than three months away so we are starting our Christmas posts this month to hopefully have you all organised and ready for Christmas 2007. I started to use my first planner for Christmas 2 years ago, just a covered notebook with lists in, this year I have totally upgraded to an A4 binder with printouts from An Organised Christmas there are loads of different ones to pick and choose from, you just tailor it to your needs. I am also using the Holiday Grand Plan for cleaning Holiday Grand Plan Lists again I have tailored it to fit my home and family. I haven’t got a picture of mine to show you as (the shame of it) I haven’t decorated my binder, but here are some links to some gorgeous ones Holiday Notebook Tours, I found this blog last year while blog hopping, this lady, Kristin, has a wonderful notebook here Artfullyinking Blog and this one I found on Twopeasinabucket . Caz has also done a gorgeous notebook this year, and has decorated it beautifully.

I have also added a Birthday calendar and gift box list to the back of mine as I buy things all year round for Christmas and Birthdays so need to know what is in the box at any time, it does make life that little bit easier. I hope I have inspired you to start a Christmas planner, even if its for next year, have fun and don’t forget to let us have links to any planners you have done Trish xxx

Shiva Batik ATCs

2007-10-05T07:48:00.000Z

Shiva paint sticks are beautiful, and they dry quickly. This is a quick and easy project that anyone can do.

Materials - Shiva paint sticks, cardstock, black paint, UTEE, melting pot & tools, paints

Step 1: Take skin off of shiva paint sticks. (Peel off the top layer.) Colour and doodle on card (colour of your choice.)

Step 2: Cover in black paint, as if you were doing crayon batik, and then wipe off excess paint.

Step 3: Add colour back in with more paint sticks and paints. Step 4: Cut into ATCs. This is the ATC I made for our team post on 1st October. I painted the pink ribbon and then placed the ATC face down (paint still wet) into the melting pot with hot UTEE. Here are two other ATCs after adding UTEE.

xxx

Joy

Birthday Girl Card!

2007-10-04T07:00:00.000Z

Hello Everybody! Joanne here! In honour of this being our Breast Cancer Awareness Month I thought I'd do a card that was quite pink and girly! I also wanted to have a go with some new Jill Penney/Daniel Torrente stamps I have just bought! Here's what I came up with:

And here's how you go about making it. The ingredients I used were a premade fuschia pink card, two sheets of BG Lollipop Shoppe and Lollipop Shoppe letter stickers. The chipboard star was American Crafts and a few rhinestones.

Step One

Begin by stamping your image and colouring her in.

Step Two

Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller than the front of the card, ink around the edges and stick to the card. Add the stamped image to the left hand side.

Step Three

Cut a free hand heart out of the pink paper and ink around the edges. Type the word "Birthday" onto a piece of white card and ink that too.

Step Four

Arrange on card as shown, attach letter stickers, chipboard heart and bling for a bit of sparkle!

Hope you enjoy making this card! Have a great day and I'll see you soon! Joanne xx

Get ready to use that patterned paper

2007-10-03T12:21:00.000Z

We at It's a creative world are so pleased to have a very special guest designer join us today.

A huge fanfare please for the uber-talented Paula Sealey. Paula has a fantastic eye for colour and her ability to put patterned papers together is amazing. So, without further adoo I shall hand you over to Paula.

*Hello, and thanks to the ladies at Creative World for asking me to be a guest here.

I have been scrapbooking for around 4 years now, and love the way I can express myself on a page using paper and embellishments. I adore patterned paper, and have managed to amass quite a large collection of it during my scrapping years! Sadly for my bank balance, there is hardly a sheet available that I don't like! I love mixing up different patterns and colours on my layouts, so they tend to be quite bright and vibrant.*

I hope you enjoy them!

Thank you so much for coming to play Paula. Fabulous layouts as always.

Todays post has been sponsored by Jaq at A string of beads. Jaq has donated to the ever growing prize pot for our *Scrap your bosoms* challenge.

Jaq's aunt set up the Crazy hats breast cancer appeal and has raised an amazing £450,000 so far. Some of the *old timers* on UKS may recall colouring in some stamped images to help.

Please have a dig around the back of your sofa or the bottom of your handbag and donate to our Just giving site. It is a fabulous cause and every bit helps. Also, you will be entered into our lucky dipper and could win a fabulous prize.

Toodle pip

Tipsy raisins for Christmas...

2007-10-02T09:17:00.000Z

Hi from Di.

TodayI bring you an easy peasy idea for Christmas. These are DELICIOUS! (and I do not touch brandy normally.) You can make them for home or for gifts and believe me with ICE CREAM they are delish!!!

Lets start with what you will need:

750 gm seedless raisins

1 litre of inexpensive brandy

2 jars ( I used empty coffee jars)

some fabric and ribbon for decoration

Day 1 Put the raisins in your jars and top up with brandy as shown Day 2: The raisins will have begun to "sup" up the brandy so mix up the raisins with a spoon and top up to cover with the brandy.

Day 3: The raisins are still "supping" up the brandy so again, mix up the raisins with a spoon and top up to cover the raisins with the brandy.

This is how much brandy you should have left. Now just leave then in a nice cool place to FERMENT LOL.

OK you cannot leave them too long they will last FOREVER.

But eventually decorate and give them away (boo hoo) or use them youself!!! I dipped two circles of cream fabric into a bowl of hot coffee, rinsed the fabric, let it dry then made a lid and tied with ribbon.

I decided to make just two gifts but you could easily decant the raisins into smaller jars and have about 4 or 6 gifts!!!

Eat them out the jar, pour them on ice cream, or serve with Xmas pudding. They will warm the cockles of your heart.

PS. Don't forget to to visit our Just Giving page where you can make make a donation to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Woo Hoo as of this morning you have donated 100 Pounds!!! Great stuff Folks and THANK YOU!!!

Love from Di and thanks for visiting!!!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month - the boobs are out!!

2007-10-01T00:01:00.000Z

Hello everyone, and welcome to another month here at It's A Creative World. October 2007 is breast cancer awareness month in the UK, and with that in mind, the team at It's A Creative World have been busy getting creative with their boobs! We wanted to do our bit to raise the profile of breast cancer awareness month, and, in addition to our creative efforts, we have set up a Just Giving page where our readers can make a donation to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, one of the UK's leading breast cancer charities. We've set our target at £310 - that's £10 every day throughout October - if we could exceed that amount we'd be absolutely delighted. The donation page will remain active for 3 months until the end of December, and you can donate at any time up until then. Anyone who donates online between October 1st and October 31st will be eligible to win a prize in our draw, which will take place at the beginning of November, to give as many people as possible the chance to donate in October. We already have some fantastic prizes on offer, including a pink scrapbook album, a pink bracelet, an A4 sheet of Zettiology stamps, a £10 M&S voucher, and a £10 NEXT voucher. Further prize details will full details of donors will be added during October. All of us know someone who, at some time or other, has been affected by breast cancer. Breast awareness means knowing what your breasts look and feel like normally, so you can be aware of any changes and check them out with your doctor as soon as possible. If cancer is diagnosed, prompt treatment offers the best chance of a successful outcome. The message from Breakthrough is this: show your breasts some TLC - Touch, Look, Check. Before I go any further, a little announcement - we are very proud to welcome yet another FAB lady to the It's a Creative World team today! The fabulous Charlotte!! This lady does the most beautiful monochromatic pages and her use of loads of photos on one LO is just inspiring! Of course having the cutest little boy as the subject for her LOs is a bonus. Keep an eye on this lady cause she just oozes inspiration! So, on to the main event - the Creative World girls get their boobs out!! We allowed ourselves a completely free rein with our different interpretations of this challenge - I suggested that everyone should scrap their boobs, and the girls have risen admirably to this. Without further delay, I am delighted to present a feast of bosom!! Andrea A beautiful tag in Andrea's instantly recognisable style. Angela Angela's innovative and inspirational fabric journal. Caz A vibrant and evocative layout from Caz, with some of the finer detail shown here: Charlotte A gorgeously pink and girly layout from Charlotte. Diana Our very own Calendar Girl, looking very much at home! Joanna Lovin' her boobs, and lovin' life!! Joy Yet more gorgeousness from our Queen of all things altered, and a beautiful ATC. Maria A very sweet and simple ATC, taking its place amongst Maria's Momiji collection! Trish Very pinky, very perky, Trish's striking layout. And so, loyal readers and new friends, we throw down the gauntlet to you all, and ask you to make October the month that you SCRAP YOUR BOOBS!!! If you're feeling brave enough, email a photo of your interpretation of our challenge to us at: acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk, and we will add any photos submitted to our flickr slideshow. As an added incentive, anyone who submits a photo of their project will have their name entered into a draw for a fabulous prize, this gorgeous selection of pink scrapping loveliness put together by our very own Andrea. We also hope to be able to offer a few spot prizes throughout October, so please keep checking back, and please help us raise some money for an extremely worthwhile cause. If you have anything you'd like to offer for our prize draw, please email us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk - we'd love to hear from you. xxx THANK YOU xxx

Hand Sewn Fabric Book.

2007-09-30T10:09:00.000Z

Hi Everyone! It’s Angela here and this is my first post as part of the Design Team! Today I am going to show you a fabric book that I have been working on for the last month. As I have been trying to improve my sewing skills and experimenting a lot, I thought a fabric book would be a good way of storing my mixed media experiments that were just sitting around! I was inspired by a fabric book that Beryl Taylor shows in her book “Mixed Media Explorations”. For this project I used: Habotai 8 medium silk, Various dylon Dyes, Felt, Pelmet Vilene, Embroidery thread in different colours, Mixture of beads, Tiny Square mirrors, Wire, Tyvek, Acrylic Paints, Shrink Plastic, Stazon Ink, Sequin waste, Sea glass, UTEE, Various types of Lace, Metal Sheet, Clingfilm. First I dyed all the silk using Dylon dyes, in blue, green and pink. Then I cut them to size, and sewed them to felt to use as a support, while I sewed. Then I decorated each page separately. Page 1: Sewed beads in the pattern as shown and then added some running stitch using the pink glittery embroidery thread, incorporating random seed beads.. Page 2: This was a couple of experiments that I had tried using tyvek. I painted the tyvek with purple/pink acrylic paints and while still wet dropped in some embossing powder. Once this had dried, I sewed it, using random running stitch, to another piece of silk which had been dyed a darker shade of pink. Then heated it and the Tyvek shrinks and bubbles, pulling the fabric up with it. This was sewed onto the main fabric page. I added two metal wings to this. I also tried some Tyvek beads – using some more painted tyvek, cut this into an elongated triangle and wrap around a skewer, then wrap some wire around to hold it in place. Heat this using a heat gun. The tyvek will melt and stick together, leaving some interesting patterns. Don’t heat too much or it will stick to the skewer! These were attached to the page and then I did some random small stitches. Page 3: I stamped a butterfly stamp onto the fabric, attached some long beads that came from a bracelet to the centre and attached some bronze seed beads to the edge. Page 4: I took a piece of felt, covered with versamark and sprinkled embossing powder onto it, I heated this and then applied another layer of embossing powder and while this was still hot, stamped a wings stamp into it. Sewed this onto the page and then added some amber beads to the edges. Page 5: This was made using the leftover cling film from an experiment, it was covered in acrylic interference paints. Once this was dry, I stamped 2 dragonfly stamps using purple Stazon and left this to dry. I then embellished this with some seed beads, and sewed it onto the fabric. Page 6: I stamped a butterfly image onto metal sheet and drew over it with an embossing tool, then turned it over and highlighted areas with some stazon ink. I punched some holes into this and then sewed it on. I wrapped wire around 3 little square mirrors and then attached them too. A variety of beads was used to edge the page. Page7: I sewed a piece of sequin waste to the fabric, and then attached a piece of seaglass which had been stamped on with a bee stamp and then covered in hot UTEE. Page 8: Another piece of painted tyvek was used here, this was a thinner type and has a different texture to it. I sewed this in, then stamped an image of a nymph onto some shrink plastic and heated this. I then attached her using Glossy accents. Further embellished with beads. Page 9: More Tyvek beads used here, plus a swirly stamp experiment, again with painted Tyvek. Using a rubber stamp with the wood side down, place the tyvek on top and then place a piece of non-stick paper on top of this. Then using an iron, rub over the top of the stamp, just for a few seconds. When you lift off the paper, the image of the stamp is etched into the tyvek. Page 10: Similar to the front page, with embellished pipe cleaners added , here I have wrapped pretty threads/fibres around pipe cleaners. The whole thing was sewn together with some pelmet vilene and lace between the pages to help support it more and to make the edges look pretty. Thanks for looking, I hope that I have given you some ideas for experiments of your own! ~angela~ ************************** Don't forget that this weekend, we have 6 Bella stamps to give away (hitchedabellafella, gardenbella, winobella, huggybellas, puppybella and emmybella). If you would like to be included in our prize draw to win these lovely Bella stamps from Papercrafts then please leave a comment in yesterday's message box with a way of contacting you. See the post below for more details!

An Extra Special Prize Draw

2007-09-29T12:01:00.000Z

********Prize Draw Winners********

Smile - hitchedabellafella & puppybella

Tammy James - winobella & gardenbella

Jo(UpseyDaisy) - huggybellas & emmybella

Please email us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk with your address so we can post your Bella stamps to you.

*********

Today we have a real treat for readers of It's A Creative World. The very generous Papercrafts shop in Elgin, Scotland have kindly donated a selection of Bella rubber stamps to give away as a prize draw for anyone who leaves a comment on this post today or tomorrow.

Bella stamps have been taking the cardmaking community in America by storm and they've recently landed on our shores, courtesy of Papercrafts and are having the same effect on British cardmakers. Perfect for girly/teenage/female cards, gifts, altered items etc. the 'Bellas' and of course her 'fella' are depicted in various occupations and with cakes, babies, flowers, presents - if you can think of an occasion when you would need a card there will be a Bella stamp just perfect for the job. Contact Papercrafts vis email at kmaciver@aol.com to learn more about the Bella stamps.

Always up for any kind of a challenge some of the girls at IACW have been playing with the Bella stamps and this is what they have come up with.

******

Pretty in Pink Bella ATC - Joy

I coloured Bella with pink coloured pencils, trimmed the image, and glued it to pink blonde moments papers. I inked the ATC with black stazon ink. I then repeatedly dipped the ATC in UTEE, adding pink embossing powder and beadazzles.

**********

Happy Birthday, For the Bride and Hi cards by Caz

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We have 6 Bella stamps to give away (hitchedabellafella, gardenbella, winobella, huggybellas, puppybella and emmybella). If you would like to be included in our prize draw to win these lovely Bella stamps from Papercrafts then please leave a comment in the message box with a way of contacting you - blog link, email address, UKS forum user name etc. Unfortunately if you don't leave a way of contacting you we can't include you in our draw.

Of course, if you aren't lucky enough to win some of these beauties you could always email Papercrafts (kmaciver@aol.com) and invest in a 2 or 3 .............. or 6 or 7 ........ or 9 or 10!!!!!

We really hope you are inspired by todays post and would love to see your creations.

Mini Book Challenge

2007-09-28T12:01:00.000Z

Today we are challenging you to make a mini book. It could be in any style for any occasion, it just needs to be some sort of book.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I am put off from making a mini book as I 'think' it will be very time and labour intensive. But of course it doesn't have to be.

A few of the girls at IACW have been playing and have come up with a few ideas for mini books that are relatively quick and simple.

The first is Andrea's book - a gift for her friend. It was made to keep a record of her little girls' birthdays, from her 1st to her 18th so each page has a numbered tab with the age on and in 18 years when Ela is all grown up and beginning life as an adult Donna can look back at a lifetime of birthday memories.

Andrea's book started out life as a 'little pink pig' wire bound journal. She removed the wires, covered the front and back with the candy striped paper, covered the front and back inside covers with a plain pink paper, cut a strip of pink paper and attached to the front and added a chipboard flower and letter.

Andrea made the tabs by cutting small rectangles of patterned paper from the offcuts used to cover the book, folding in half and attaching to the pages with an office stapler, she used number stamps to label each tab. Andrea used different patterns of pink ribbons and teeny tiny paper tags to decorate the wire binding and her book was finished in a couple of hours.

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Caz also took up the mini book challenge and she has made a fantastic birthday book to record all the important birthdays in her family month by month. Just like Andrea, Caz has used patterned paper to cover the front and back of her book and used die cut letters to spell out the title.

Caz added tabs to the top and side of each page to distinguish each of the months so she can easily keep up to date with upcoming birthdays.

To decorate and disguise the wire binding Caz used a variety of different ribbons and tied small charms that dangle down the spine.

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Trish was inspired by the arrival of Snuggles, a new family pet and made a mini book to record it's arrival. She used Basic Grey papers and various tags, rub ons and embellishments to create this sweet little book.

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We hope that you've been inspired by our mini-books and we want to see your creations so please leave a link back to your gallery in the message box and remember to check back on Saturday for details of our exciting prize draw.

Baby Card

2007-09-27T12:01:00.000Z

Hello, I've made a baby boy card today to share with you but it could easily be changed to a baby girl card by using different coloured papers.

The instructions are in three stages - the round topper, 'baby' letters and the card assembly.

The round topper:

Step 1:

Stamp a suitable baby image with black stazon onto white card.

Step 2:

Use a circle punch to punch the stamped image, turn the punch over so you can see where to cut the circle.

Step 3:

Use watercolour pencils to colour the image.

Step 4:

Ink around the edges of your stamped image with charcoal chalk ink and layer onto a slightly larger blue circle using foam pads to give dimension and chalk around the edges again.

Step 5:

Punch a scalloped circle from white card using a large punch, doodle and ink the edges

Step 6:

Glue the white circle onto a slightly larger blue circle and ink around the edges.

Step 7:

Mat the stamped image onto the scalloped circle using foam pads.

The 'baby' letters

Step 1:

Cut letters from blue cardstock using a die cutting machine, electronic cutting machine or with scissors.

Step 2:

Doodle around the edges with a fine black pen

Step 3:

Use a cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the letters

Assembling the card:

Step 1:

Cover a square card blank with patterned paper and ink around the edges with charcoal chalk ink.

Step 2:

Glue a strip of white ric rac across your card.

Step 3:

Use foam pads to attach your topper over the strip of ric rac.

Step 4:

Glue the 'baby' letters under the topper.

I specifically chose patterned paper that looked like it had lots of strips of ribbon running across it and added the ric rac to give extra detail to the card.

(Patterned paper by Flair Designs, ric rac from Fenwicks, punches by Dovecraft and EK Success, rubber stamp by Studio G, font for 'baby' letters stovetop, Cuttlebug embossing folder)

You could easily make this into a girl card by substituting the blue paper for pink paper and if you aren't sure of the sex of the new baby try something that isn't the typical blue or pink.

Have fun and don't forget to check back on Saturday for details of our fabulous prize draw. Andrea xx

Clay Creations

2007-09-26T07:33:00.000Z

This is a little project that is great to get your mojo going - and even something you can do with your kids.

Materials: Air dry clay

and (vary as you like) - angelina fibers, paints, stamps, other molds/icetrays/items to make impressions, heat gun, embossing powder, stylus/pin (for carving), glossy accents

For the beads, shape as desired. I used an embossing stylus to carve some designs into the clay.

I used a silicone ice tray to shape the heart, and I carved, "sweet," into the clay with the embossing stylus. For "friend," I used a Heidi Swapp stam to stamp directly into the clay, and I added Stewart Gill Byzantia chips (pressing them into the clay). For the star, I used another silicone ice cube tray to shape the clay, and I carved, "dream," into the clay.

For the shell, I pressed the clay onto a seashell, and gently lifted it off. For the moon stamp (tin can press), I stamped directly into the clay. I freeformed the small heart and wrapped it with heated angelina fibers (zapping it again with the heat gun).

Next, I added gold interference paint to the small heart.

At the same time, I stamped Stampers Anonymous wings into the clay, embossed them, and added angelina fibers. I zapped them with the heat gun immediately.

At this stage, I left all pieces to dry for several hours. I returned to work on them (not fully dry, but dry enough to add paint and other materials).

I painted the beads with lumiere paints and colour washes, finishing them with highlights from a krylon pen.

I added told interference paint and more gilding chips to the friend embellishment.

I used gold interference paint on the shell.

I painted the star with Stewart Gill alchemy paints. I added glossy accents to make it shine.

I used red lumiere paints and iridescent medium on the heart.

I painted a plastic box, added ribbons and beads, and then framed it.

Finally, for the moon, I made a shadow box from a 7gypsies tin. I spray painted the tin black and gold. I added the moon and angelina fibers (heated with a heat gun.) Next, I added previously made UTEE stars, and I glued on beads and coloured, shrunken plastic.

I hope this gives you some ideas for clay embellishments and projects.

xxx

Joy

Fabulous cards

2007-09-25T22:19:00.000Z

We are so excited to have another guest visit us at It's a creative world. Today we have some fabulous cards created by the uber-talented Claire Hamer aka Ginger.

Ginger is regularly published and has made these cards to share with you. If you look carefully you can see who the lucky recipient of one of them is.

Ginger said *I sometimes struggle to use my "best" stash. You know the stuff that you really love but I challenged myself to see how many letters I could use out of these gorgeous spotty pink Bazzil letters*.

Well, the girlies here at It's a creative world are certainly pleased that you cracked open your best stash to share with us.

Thank you so much for taking the time to come and play Ginger.

Back to Basics!!!

2007-09-24T00:02:00.000Z

Hi all from Di in Cape Town. Every now and again when I look at my stash, I feel completely overwhelmed by all the stuff and cannot even begin to scrap. No inspiration!!! It’s then that I need to do something really SIMPLE and get BACK to BASICS. Simple for me is often ‘small’, so I revert to my ‘old scrapbooking’ techniques and just use cardstock, patterned paper, some photographs and MY MEMORIES. So today an “easy peasy”, quick to make little mini album designed to let you complete something really quickly, and hopefully get the creative juices going again.

When I was on holiday in England in August I took lots of pics of Caz's garden and the allottments. I was so moved by the bounty of beautiful vegetables!!! That's the theme for my "easy peasy" mini album: SIMPLE ABUNDANCE

Supplies 1 sheet BasicGrey Fruitcake Berry branch / Maraschino cherry 1 sheet Bazzill cardstock Black 1 sheet Bazzill cardstock Pickle A few brads Preparation Print 8 themed photographs wallet size . Cut the ‘Fruitcake into 9 4 by 4 inch squares (for the 9 pages of the album) Cut the black cardstock to matt the photographs . (I cut mine 3 1/4 X 2 1/2 inches) Cut 1 piece of pickle card stock 4 by 5 ½ inches ( for the back cover) Score each of the pages ¼ inch from the left most edge. (so the album opens easily) Ink all edges (I used red) Score the pickle cardstock at 4 1/4 " and 4 1/2 " from the left most edge and ink all edges Ink photographs and matt onto the black cardstock Now attach photographs to the pages of the mini album.

Cut 7 circles from the pickle cardstock. Then we will use the ‘holes as well! Attach the circles to the back of the “fruitcake”, and journal in the circles. Now put the album together with brads or ribbon – I used 3 brads. Finally attach the back cover using double sided tape or your preferred adhesive! And we are DONE!!! This project takes about 1 hour and at the end you have something quite simple but it’s FINISHED. Woo Hoo, watch this space for a special prize next weekend for anyone who likes something "girly". Guess that eliminates NONE of us LOL. More news during the week!!! Thanks for visiting and love from Di XXX Today we are extending a HUGE Creative World welcome to a new member of our Design Team!! Welcome to the fabulous Angela :) Angela has been a guest designer here at IACW, with her fabulous fabric baby wall hanging and I for one can't wait to see what exciting projects she has up her sleeve for us all. Angela will join Joy in WOWing you all with her altered style and awesome imagination :)

And now for something Different...

2007-09-23T03:51:00.000Z

And it's a big IACW welcome to our guest designer "Lemon" who has something up to date and very special for you today. Over to you darling!!!

Hi and good morning from "Lemon". Today we will make an acrylic album.

Supplies: Acetate and transparencies for printing on Papers BG Periphery zinfandel BG Periphery Chablis BG Periphery petit BG Periphery die cut sheet BG Periphery contact sheet from the front of the pack BG Periphery sugar alphabet stickers Rub-ons BG paisley border BG japans style 7 Gypsies baby girl 7 Gypsies elements architecture

Tools and odds and ends! Herma, dst, or any dry adhesive Scallop scissors Circle punch Sand paper Diamante ring Lace Stick on gems – clear and aqua blue Stamps and ink Flourish stamps Corner stamp Circle stamp Circle journal stamps Sentiment stamp Stazon ink – black Chalk ink – charcoal Cleaning supplies Cotton wool buds Herma label off or undo Alcohol blending solution

(You will need the cleaning supplies if you get any dirty smudges off you fingers from the ink or from the adhesive that you use. )

Preparation: First cut your pages from the acetate. Mine are 9.5cm long x 21cm wide. To make a replica of this book, you will need to cut 8 pages. Then punch the holes at one side. I used a square punch and a wire ring but you could you use book rings or ribbon. I printed all my photos out at 2.5 x 3.5 inches and then just trimmed them a little. We are going to make this album backwards to help with the placement of the items….don’t stick anything down until you are sure of the placement of them.

Page 8: Cut a piece of the petit green paper 7.5 x 15.5 cm and take the die cut from the sheet and ink the edges of both. Centre the green paper and adhere it to the page and then centre the die cut…..don’t put any glue near the top as you will need to slightly lift it when using the rub on. Using one of the paisley rubons rub them onto the page…I had to cut mine in the middle to keep the line straight and get the swirls in both top corners. Adhere the photo and add the blue gems.

Page 7:

Cut a piece of the zinfandel blue paper 9 x 12 cm and cut a piece contact sheet…I used cork. Now cut a scallop border along the edge of the cork paper. Ink all edges of both the papers. Adhere the cork paper to the blue paper and adhere your photo towards the right hand side. Place your alphabet stickers on the left and adhere the clear gems to the scallops. Adhere the piece of lace under the blue paper on the right, and then adhere to the acetate. Page 6:

We are going to use the natural frames on the Chablis cream paper to frame our photos so be careful where you cut! On this page we are going to use the frame in the top left corner of the sheet. You need to measure 9cm across the top and cut down 12cm. Check the example (pg 6) to see what I mean. Ink the paper. Attach your photo to the paper - at this point it will stick out over the top. Take one of the die cuts and ink it. Cut a piece off the contact sheet, I used olive. Ink the edges and stamp a sentiment onto it. Adhere the cream paper to the acetate on the left hand side 0.5cm from the holes. Now adhere the sentiment and the swirl and add a blue gem to the swirl. Trim the top of the photo off. Page 5:

This is where you are going to print on your transparencies. I used an overlay from http://www.polkadotpotatoe.com/ for this page and I used a digital brush from http://www.designerdigitals.com/ for page 4. There are plenty of freebies out there, or you could use pre-printed ones, or even a flourish stamp and stazon ink, the choice is yours. I just printed the overlay and cut it to size. Page done. Page 4:

Cut a piece of the Chablis cream paper. You need to cut a piece 8 x 17.5 cm. Cut it so from the right hand side along the bottom line of the box so that you leave intact the word “Paris”……and ink it. See the picture. Cut from the contact sheet the vineyard paper and scallop one edge. I used a circle stamp for the journaling and punched it out. Print your digital image onto transparency and adhere it to the underside of the vineyard paper as above. Adhere these to the cream paper and then your photo. I then added the journaling block, and rubbed on two of the flowers from the Japanese style rub ons. Then adhere clear gems to the scallops. Page 3:

Using the flower die cut sand all the edges and keep the little bits from the inside for later. Adhere it to the bottom right hand corner of the acetate and add the blue gems. Cut from the contact sheet a block of three papers. I used the block that included cabernet, petit and zinfandel, ink the edges. Adhere to the acetate butting up to the flower. Adhere the photo. Ink the edges of one of the swirls from the die cuts and adhere slightly over the photo. Ink the edges of the left over flower bits and adhere to the edge of the paper and place a blue gem in the middle. Page 2:

This is the tricky bit. I used a mat that has a grid on it so it makes the next bit quite easy. If you don’t have one, then mark a cross on a blank piece of paper and use that. Place the acetate over page 3 and line the edges up. Then taking note of where the centre of the flower is, remove page 3 from underneath keeping the acetate in place. Then using a circle stamp or a circle rubon, centre it and stamp using stazon. Cut a piece of petit 11 x7 cm and ink the edges and stamp using the corner stamp. Ink the edges of the blue diecut. Adhere the petit, the die cut and then the photo placing them as above. Add 3 clear gems to the corner of petit. Page 1:

Cut the Chablis 8 x 17.5cm… note you should have the word “Paris” in the top right corner, and ink it. From the contact sheet cut the verdot and ink the edges. Ink the edges of the green die cut and a blue swirl. Punch out a circle and ink the edges then apply a rubon from the architecture sheet. Adhere both of these overlapping the frame on the paper. Place the acetate over page 2 and adhere the verdot so that you can’t see the circle below it, then add the swirl to the top of it, only part of it will show. Adhere the photo inside the natural frame. Add the blue gems to the circles of the frame and a clear gem to the bird’s eye. Album cover:

Using a flourish stamp and stazon ink, stamp to the left hand side near the holes. Ink the edges of the two die cuts. Add a small crown rub on to the small die cut and the diamante circle or a circle of clear gems. Place page 1 underneath and line up the large one so it is over the photo and so that the small one covers the rub on on the circle, then adhere them to the acetate. Add your title to the large die cut using the alphabet stickers and then add three blue gems to the flourish. And the album’s now complete! Hope you enjoy making it!

Thanks for visiting and love from "Lemon" XXX

Scrummy Yummy Easy Chocolate Cake

2007-09-22T00:01:00.000Z

This is my easy-peasy recipe for scrumptious chocolate cake. I am not known for being a Nigella Lawson so, if I can make this anyone can!!

Ingredients:

Cake:

8oz self raising flour

8oz caster sugar

8oz butter

4 eggs

2 heaped dessert spoons of cocoa powder

Dribble of milk

Filling:

4 oz Icing Sugar

2oz Butter

1 dessert spoon of cocoa

Drop of milk if needed

Big bar of cadburys chocolate

Baking Parchment or greaseproof paper

2 x 7" sandwich tins

Directions:

Mix the sugar and the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy.

Mix the cocoa into the flour and alternate a spoonful of flour mixture and some beaten egg into the sugar and butter mixture until you've added it all.

If the mixture does not drop easily from a spoon add a dribble of milk.

Grease and line the base of the sandwich cake tins with a circle of greaseproof paper or baking parchment and divide the mixture between the two tins (leave enough mixture in the bottom of the bowl for licking!!)

Place in a preheated oven at 160 degrees in a fan oven (or equivalent) for approximately 25 minutes. When pressed with a finger the cakes should spring back when they are cooked.

Cool in their tins and then turn out on to a cooling rack.

To make the butter cream filling, cream the butter until soft and fluffy and gradually mix in the icing sugar and a dessert spoon of cocoa. Add a drop of milk if the mixture is too thick.

Remove the paper from the cakes and place one upside down on a plate. Spread the butter cream over the cake and place the second cake on top.

Over a pan of simmering water melt the chocolate in a bowl (making sure you've left a couple of squares for the cook!) and then spread over the top of the cake and decorate with icing sugar flowers, halved walnuts or smarties - or all three if you are extra hungry!

Try to wait for the chocolate to set before munching!!

Simple Canvases

2007-09-21T07:15:00.000Z

This is a canvas you can make in a few hours (including drying time).

Materials - photograph, mica tiles, gold leaf (or other sparkly material), text (stickers, printed text, etc), tiles (or other embellishments), paint, glue

Step 1: Paint the canvas background with gesso and other acrylic paints. Leave to dry.

Step 2: Add your photograph (mounted, or edge with paint or a Krylon pen - example below).

Step 3: Add your background text. I used baby-oriented stickers. You can see that I also painted over them, so some of the words are clear, and others are semi-transparent. Then I added some gold leaf on top.

Step 4: Add your mosaic tiles or other embellishments to the edge of the canvas.

Step 5: Add accents as you wish. (I added a heart at the top, and I edged it with white paint.)

Step 6: Peel mica tiles into corners to make a frame for your photograph. Layer them gently around the photograph.

Enjoy. :0)

xxxx

Joy

Quick and Easy Card

2007-09-20T09:16:00.000Z

Hello Everybody! Joanne here! This is my first post and I'm a bit nervous! From now on I'll be sharing the Thursday card slot with Andrea and today it's my turn. Here's the card I've got for you, super quick and easy and even better - it only takes one sheet of patterned paper!

The secret to one sheet of paper is to use the wonderful Scenic Route Scrap Strips. The one I have used for this card is Sumner Scrap Strip 1. So, here goes:

Here are all the elements you need. One sheet of cardstock to make your card (or you could use a blank ready made card), one sheet of Scrap Strips, a few American Crafts felt flowers, small chipboard frame or similar and two buttons.

Step 1

Cut your cardstock to 15cm x 22 cm and fold in half for a landscape card. Cut two strips of the patterned paper 5 1/2cm x 15cm and cut a smaller strip to go across the middle. Ink the edge of the smaller, middle strip for a little definition. Arrange on your card like so:

Step 2

Arrange flowers and stitch together with a button. Stamp a sentiment onto a scrap of the cream cardstock and attach to chipboad frame as shown. Ink the edges for a little definition:

Step 3

Arrange the flowers and sentiment on the card and stick down. There you have it! Super quick and easy card!

I hope you liked this card and have fun making it.

See you soon! Joanne x

2007-09-19T00:01:00.000Z

Good morning!!

It's a Caz here with a scrapping class and a side to scrapping that I find very important :)

I started scrapping in 2003 and not having had all my childhood photos scrapped, it is something that I am doing along with photos of my parents as children and the photos that I take now.

Often there is no story behind an old photograph, it's random.

BUT every now and again you will look at a photograph and memories will flood your mind, and this can often relate to the 'other things' in the photo!

In the photograph on the LO below, I am sitting on the grass, holding my poor dog around the neck with a patio suite in the background. Now I have no idea why this photo was taken, what date it was taken and who it was taken by, but what I do know is........

Memories flood my mind when I look at this photograph. That outside table and chair unit was so uncomfortable, the chairs where a silly angle so when you sat, it was like sitting downhill - backwards! And if you did not have a seat cover on, you got a waffle pattern on your butt, lol!!Tiger, who I am holding around the neck, came to live with us from grandma and grandpa. He was old and not so playful but I loved him and evidently he didn't mind having a cuddle!

At the time we lived in a house with yellow garage doors, a large garden, and a swimming pool. I remember it so clearly even though we left there over 25 years ago.

The second LO is slightly different. I actually went out and took this photo to go with a memory, that I have no photographs for.

Way back in 1986 when we lived in Kloof dad decided to keep chickens! He built them a really cool coop with a sheltered bit at the back for them to sleep and lay eggs in. Occasionally we would let them out to walk about the garden and surprisingly the cats, of which we had 6, never bothered with thm. Maybe one day we can have some again!!

When I found out one of our neighbours had chickens it triggered the memory and I knew it was something I had to document :)

Sometimes when a photograph seems to have no place in any of your albums, take a look at the surroundings and stop focusing on the subject. You may just find some memories tucked away!!

Thanks as always for visiting It's a Creative World, and a big TOOT TOOT from me to the rest of the design team for the continued inspiration :) haPPy creATing :) Caz xx

Slow cooking with Maria

2007-09-18T19:15:00.000Z

Hi, it's Maria here once again. Thank you so much to Di for yesterdays post I certainly learnt something new there.

As the nights are starting to draw in and there is a nip in the air I start to look forward to some comfort food. But, I don't always have the time or the inclination to be slaving over a hot stove and on days like that my slow cooker comes to the rescue. I love my slow cooker and it has paid for itself many times over so I thought that I would share a few of my favourite recipes with you.

Today I have two variations of my girlie wirlies favourite, cowboy stew. They love this and even asked for it during the summer. Mind you there were days when you needed to eat some stodge to warm you up.

Ingredients

Beef stew meat

Potatoes cut into cubes - I prefer to leave the skin on

Half a chopped onion

1 can of BBQ baked beans

1 can of baked beans

A big ole splosh of Worcestershire sauce

Method

Bung it all in the slow cooker, stir and leave for about four hours or until beef is tender. My cooker doesn't have a high or low setting so you will need to check your own cooker for timings.

I also have a skint student or store cupboard standby version for you.

Ingredients

Tinned stewing steak Tinned new potatoes Half a chopped onion 1 can of BBQ baked beans 1 can of baked beans

A big ole splosh of Worcestershire sauce Method Bung it all in the slow cooker, stir and leave for about two hours.

These recipes easily transfer to a crock pot in the normal oven and can be stretched a bit further with some crusty bread.

I have a fair few slow cooker recipes so let me know if you fancy anymore.

Toodle pip

So you think you CANNOT draw ???

2007-09-17T07:48:00.000Z

Hi again from Di.

Now you have heard me say before that I am NOT an artist, but, thanks to some great techniques I CAN actually draw and paint when I choose. And how do I choose? I do a brain switch. So if you too think you CANNOT draw here are a few techniques that just may change your mind.

I discovered this book in 1983 (I know because my name and the year are on the inside cover!!!)

It changed my ability to draw dramatically!

If you know anything about the brain you will know that it consists of 2 hemispheres, the right and the left hand sides of the brain. The left side is the ‘logical’ side and the right side is the 'artistic' side. Many of us work using the ‘logical side’. Now I am not going to rewrite the book, just point out a few of the techniques that the book describes.

Technique number 1: Vases and Faces

Whenever I sit down to draw I do this exercise. It makes me physically feel and experience the switch from the left to the right side of the brain. First draw a profile of a face, as simple as possible. Now lift your pencil and create a mirror copy of the profile. This time you should experience the switch to the right side of the brain. You will find yourself drawing lines and angles that hopefully match the original profile. and you will not be drawing eyes and a nose and a mouth. Did you experience the shift?

Now try again this time drawing a really grotesque witch like profile. Same again copy the profile.

Technique number 2: Upside Down drawing

I love this exercise because I manage to copy something that in my wildest dreams I would NEVER have been able to reproduce. OK I was tasked to copy this!!

As you can see the picture in the book is actually upside down so you copy it using the same technique as we used with the vase, we copy the lines and the angles. When the picture is upside down you are less aware of noses and ears and ties and chairs, all you see are lines and angles!!!

And this is how mine turned out!!! OK he is a bit BIGGER in my drawing but there is no disputing the likeness.

Just recently I rediscovered the book and decided to try to paint with oils!!! Cezanne is one of the artists I admire so I decided to copy one of his pieces. I use a book to do the copy.

OK this is still a work in progress, but for someone who CANNOT paint or draw, I am quite pleased with it so far! There are lots of techniques in the book and it is well presented and easy to read. I hope that this helps you discover and extends your hidden and creative talents! Oh and one last thing I have taken up Caz's challenge and have started a new blanket. Am determined to be finished by Christmas!!! Thanks for visiting and love from Di XXX