• Freebies,  Projects

    Create your own Magnetic Art Kit

    I have dabbled with magnetic art in the past (see one of my early posts for junk magnetic art) – I love the simplicity, flexibility and infinite possibilities of magnetic art, and it is so easy to make your own unique sets at home. For this project I used my stash of painted papers, and purchased some thin self-adhesive magnetic sheets, which can be cut quite easily with sharp scissors. As an alternative to painted paper you could recycle some decorative wrapping paper, or images and textures from magazines. All that was required was to stick the sheets of paper onto the magnetic sheets and cut out whatever shapes I wanted. It’s also worth…

  • creative inspiration board
    Projects

    DIY Creative Inspiration Board

    I think this has to be my all time record for neglecting this blog, as I see nothing has been posted since the end of last summer – eek! Life just has a habit of getting in the way. So I thought it was about time I shared this project for a Creative Inspiration Board. Initially I was planning on making some form of standard pin or clipboard for the purpose, but on wandering round the local DIY store for something suitable, I spotted some louvred doors. I actually find I quite enjoy browsing DIY and hardware stores – in fact almost as much as art and craft supply shops,…

  • Projects

    Personalise some Arty Pencils

    It’s been a long time since I last added something to this site – life has simply got in the way, with moving home, school holidays, and lots of other things going on.  Although there are lots of other potential events on my horizon which might further disrupt attempts to get back to business as usual here, with the kids back at school again, I thought it was about time to give it some attention and make time for creative activities once more. With this in mind, and the usual back to school stocking up with stationery, I’ve been creating some personalised pencils. These are a lovely low-cost gift to…

  • Projects

    Get Creative with QR Codes

    I’ve been adding QR codes recently to some of our business stationery and marketing materials, and being struck by their creative potential for hidden ‘secret’ messages and creativity, decided to experiment a bit. QR codes are very easy to create and download, and you can have them link to a webpage, a special photograph or piece of artwork you have uploaded somewhere, or simply reveal a line of text when scanned. When it comes to text, the shorter and simpler the information, the simpler and bolder the QR code created will be. I found that when printed at a reasonable size, the QR code becomes a piece of artwork –…

  • Projects

    DIY Sketchbook Bandoliers

    Its been a long time since I last had my sewing machine out – I used to do a lot of sewing pre-kids, but it’s been gathering dust a bit since I’ve had the 2 boys. Amongst all the many and varied interests I have and would like to devote my time to, something has to give, and textile crafts such as sewing, knitting, hand-spinning, quilting, embroidery, etc. etc. all of which I once enjoyed, is one major area of interest that has on the whole been sacrificed since children came along. So it was nice to know that I hadn’t actually forgotten how to thread the machine, and to…