Never too soon for Christmas

Ok you know how addicted i am to the candle jars now so this will come as no surprise lol. Bought this jar yesterday from the £1 shop so can't grumble at that and already had plans :)

I used the handmade paper (reasonable for a large sheet at Hobbycraft) and measured out the dimensions.Ripped all the edges and added small amounts of glue along the edge and then glittered them.

The decoupage is Paper Nation and coincidentally i had already pieced most of these together so was able to apply them to the jar with silicone glue.

All the way round i added elements of Christmas. Mary with the angel, a snowman, Christmas tree and lastly to finish off the back a robin.I added festive rub-ons above each decoupage design and then added some clear sliver sparkly snowflakes, spots for snow. To the lid i applied some more handmade paper also ripped and glittered and then a peice of white sparkly decorative trim.

So what do you think, got you in the mood. A little early i know but it's never too soon for Christmas and this is the time to get a head start :)

Earth Day continuation

If you're still hopping pop down one post, this is my continuation post :)

Hello, here we are on the continuation of my Blog Hop inspired creations. This is my fourth creation of this kind. This is the largest jar i recycled and on it is Michelle's Sleepy Time Angel. I had two of these images left over from another craft session where due to the ink running out the colour had changed and so i didn't use them. I applied the handmade white paper to the jar and finished off the edges with the glitter strips i was sent in my docrafts goodie bag, kept them white as i felt it fitted with the theme. I cut out both angels and mounted them on top of each other and then onto the jar.I addeds some pink and yellow star buttons to the jar with some silicone glue, some smaller coloured plastic moons. I had some soft letters in pink so added the word Dream under the angel and added a little more glitter strip with the star from the angel above her rather than under her. 

I painted what was a brown coffee lid with white acrylic paint and added a piece of the white hand made paper on top and sealed it all with some pva glue. To finish of the lid i added a matching star button.

I have found this such fun to do and plan to make more. There are two others my original much simpler version with OWLS :) and another which is a gift for a friend hence the lack of pictures. Fun fun fun. 

Happy Earth Day 

Earth Day Blog Hop

So here we are on the  Earth Day Blog Hop set up by Michelle Perkett which is where you started from assuming you started at the beginning. 

This is the spec for this hop 'Create something using only recycled material (other than ink and markers/paint) cards are fine but lets get creative with your recycled plastic, paper, cardboard and whatever you like, as long as its recycled!!:)

Also, there must be some green in your design as well!

Ok so this snowballed for me. I got some inspiration from one or two creative friends and this is what happened. My recycled item started and pretty much ended with a jam jar lol. This one i already had in my craft room housing a load of marbles. I took some handmade paper and some mesh material and glued it onto the jam jar. I took a Lilly of the Valley fairy, now i have had these fairies for some long time they came coloured but i glittered them and clear embossed some but never got around to using them so in a sense i recyled them :) Just to finished things off i added some yellow paper flowers with GREEN leaves lol and some half pearl embelishments which i have also had forever and never really found a use for and decorated the jar with them. I decorated the lid with the same handmade paper, mesh paper some gold trim and pearls. I appreciate that not everything i used was recyled but i felt so chuffed to have taken a plain jam jar and turned it into a work of art and something useful and made use of one or two things that have done little more than sit around for some long while...

So placed inside this jam jar is a little tea light candle which as you can see shines beautifully through the handmade paper/mesh and therefore makes a beautiful, in my opinion decorative candle holder, when not in use the lid can go on and prevents little fingers getting hold of candles. Once the tea light is finished you can tip it out and simply replace it with another one or anything similar. Providing the candle is encased as tealights are your jar should stay relatively clean and continue to be used for some long time, you can use scented tealights too :)

This was my second one of these candle jars and i have since made another one and whilst i type this (bearing in mind it's the 19th) i may have more made by the time the hop starts. You know me when i get an idea in my head and this one has been so successful so far. So when your washing out your pots and jars give some thought to what else they can be used for. This jar was a well known coffee jar and could equally be painted using glass paints and used for storing coffee, teabags, sugar, flour or any number of things. Anyway enjoy the journey ahead and Happy Earth Day. Oh yes and while i'm sitting by candlelight i'm saving money and energy too.

 Please don't leave candles unattended!!!

If you came here from Lynnes blog here the next stop on your journey should be Jennifers blog found here 

Enjoy your hop :)

Silly little works of art Spring Giveaway

Hello everyone. The sun is shining and i have been doodling and i thought i'd have a little giveaway. These are my inspirational trees. Firstly we have Love after all according to the Beatles that's 'All we need!'
Secondly we have Joy and who doesn't need a bit of that in their lives. Lastly we have B Happy and on the back a little affirmation which reads 'Lets the seeds of change transform you B Happy' :)


So in order to be entered into this giveaway you either have to be a follower of Constellations Blog  or a Fan of Ivys Attic  or be following me on Twitter if your doing all three then i will enter you three times and so on and so forth. Hope you like my little doodles and i look forward to picking out your name. Please leave a comment to say you've stopped by and i will draw the name on May 3rd Spring Bank Holiday. Good luck :)
The winner will win all three!

Branching Out - Sketches

This is one/or two of my latest sketches. Last week i doodled the pencil sketch of a doodle tree, the words 'Branching out' came to me while i was doing it. I guess that's me continually trying to branch out not exactly sure which direction i should go in. This afternoon i took my sketch and tried to recapture it on black with a white gel pen, i love the contrast of this combination. I love the doodled flowers and there are even some doodle birds. I think this maybe something i work on. I know i have seen similar to this idea here. I follow this lady but it's a little while since i have seen anything she has done. It's good to explore and expand on what seems obvious when it comes to creativity or even back track as i read recently i my Awe Manac, i do love that book :)

An abundance of creative time

Here are the remaining six cards i made today, the three hama bead cards are listed in my Esty Store Ivys Attic and the remaining Owls will follow. Much fun had today, full of greatness :)

Owl what a lovely day :)

I have had a lovely crafty day today this is one of six cards i made, one of three using this stamp. You know me and my love of Owls. This is a docrafts stamp. I am entering this in the challenge over at Pollycraft Mondays.The challenge this week is 'Anything goes' so i figure this works. So enjoyed my craft time today :)

Get Sketchy 32

This is my Challenge 32 card for Get Sketchy. Boy has it been fun trying to put this together with our son coughing his guts up all afternoon, nothing seems to be working. Anyway the challenge was to use the sketch and over at Christmas Cards all year round the challenge was to use a pastel colour so this is my 'baby blue' medallion stamp and also coordinating ribbon. I plan to make more but am pleased to have got this finished :)