WIN this fabulous Purple Diamante Louis Chair worth £140!

WIN this fabulous Purple Diamante Louis Chair worth £140!

This louis chair is covered in soft purple velvet with metallic silver trim and finished with sparkling diamante button back.

Home Kandi is a Welsh furniture store offering quality reproduction furniture and home accessories at prices affordable to any home.

To be in with a chance to win this gorgeous creation visit the Home Kandi website at:

www.homekandi.com

and find the answer to this question:

Name two of Home Kandi's Furniture Collections.

Email your answers to: competitions@homekandi.com

Entries close at midnight on 20th September 2013

Due to the size of the chair and delivery methods this competition is only open to UK residents.

Please note that all competition entries go directly to Home Kandi Creative Crafting have no direct involvement with the competition.

Making Sidewalk Chalk Paint - Martha Stewarts Kid's Crafts

Making Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Martha Stewarts Kid's Crafts

Rachel Woodham has worked as an editor for a number of magazines since graduating with a degree in journalism. Now, a full-time mom and wife, Rachel spends her days as a finger-painter extraordinaire, impromptu casserole maker and toy re-constructor.
When life gives her a breather, Rachel works with the great team of people over at Martha Stewarts, where you can find out everything from how to prepare the perfect Summer Corn to the perfect crafts for kids.

While traditional sidewalk chalk definitely had its time in the spot light, innovation has given birth to several new ways for children to enjoy this same activity only with a new twist.  Instead of struggling with those ever-breaking sticks try your hand at this great recipe for sidewalk chalk paint!  While you can of course head on down to your local craft store and spend $15 (roughly £10) or more on a name brand variety, creating your own takes no more than a few minutes and a lot less money.
I’ve personally used this recipe several times over the years and each time, my children and their friends continue to surprise me with some of the creative and colorful creations that they paint out on the sidewalk and driveway.  If you’re worried about mess don’t be! 

This recipe of sidewalk chalk paint washes off with a quick splash of water, a hose or a good rainstorm.  So drop what you’re doing, round up some ingredients and let’s get started.

To begin you will need to locate the following items:
Several small bowls (cheap Tupperware works great as do cupcake tins)
¼ a cup of regular old cornstarch (no need for anything fancy)
¼ a cup of cold water
A box of food coloring
Several inexpensive brushes

Instructions:

Step 1. First thing you will want to do is place the cornstarch in the bowls, Tupperware or cupcake tin.  Once each bowl of tin has the appropriate amount of cornstarch in it, proceed to slowly stir in the cold water.

Step 2. As you begin to stir this water into the corn starch, the water will begin to thicken.  A good rule of thumb for thickness is a consistency that isn’t quite as thick as paint but more viscous than water. Chalk paint that is too thin won’t adhere to the sidewalk while chalk paint that is too thick has a difficult time being manipulated by little hands.

Step 3. After you feel you have achieved the perfect level of thickness, go ahead and add in a little bit of food coloring to the mixture.  Begin by adding about 4 drops for a lighter, color and about 6 or 7 a bolder tone.
Once you have completed the first color, repeat the process for the remaining bowls, choosing a good color palette for your children to experiment with.
Step 4. Upon mixing all of the colors, you will want to place a brush in each container and remind the painters to use one brush for one color as to avoid any blending and unsightly color combinations.

Step 5. Now, you are free to make your masterpieces. I like to give a little direction to my kids when we start painting, I found that without a little prompt, the painting can quickly devolve into a hodge-podge of color and lines.  Instead, suggest drawing their favorite fruit, animal or a picture of themselves.

When your artwork is complete, snap a picture show your DIY Rembrandts and Picassos off on your social media.
Sidewalk chalk paint made this way can be saved for quite a while, just make sure to quickly stir the mixture before using it again!

http://inspirationlaboratories.com/playing-outside-chalk/

Welcome to the First Creative Crafting BLOG TOUR!

Welcome to the First Creative Crafting BLOG TOUR!

Join us every day to visit a different Crafty Blog who has organised a special Blog Stop post just for you. Learn new things, enter competitions, giveaways and much more.

Mind the doors, grab your seat and we’ll be off to our first stop!

Don’t forget that our special Blog Post will not be live until the due date for the stop.

Below you will find the dates and where you can find each blog post.

1st August - Sharon from The Old Button www.theoldbutton.blogspot.co.uk
2nd August - Jane from Loopy’s Place www.loopysplace.co.uk/blog.html
3rd August - Susanne from Sussesspindehyrne www.sussesspindehjrne.blogspot.dk
4th August - Vicky from Vicky Myers Creations www.vickymyerscreations.wordpress.com
5th August - Gaynor from Stitchers Anon www.stitchersanon.blogspot.ie
6th August - Tracy from Glasspirations www.glasspirations.co.uk/glasspirations-blog.php
7th August - Arlene from Arlene's Crafts www.arlenes-crafts.blogspot.com
8th August - Gill from Personal Space Interiors www.personal-space-interiors.blogspot.co.uk
9th August - Joy from Beaded Bazaar www.beadedbazaar.weebly.com/blog.html
10th August - Lilian from Berry Bakewell www.berrybakewell.blogspot.co.uk
11th August - Kristin from Pastelesta www.pastelesta.wordpress.com
12th August - Patricia from Lilly My Cat www.lillymycat.blogspot.com
13th August - Amanda from Amanda Addison www.amandaaddison.com/creative-crafting-blog-stop-2013.html
14th August - Cassie from Cassie Fairy www.cassiefairy.com
15th August - Karen from Bridgit's Bell www.bridgitsbell.blogspot.com
16th August - Kirsty from Silent Companions www.silentcompanions.blogspot.co.uk

You can find a full list of Blog Stops on our website during the event.
www.creative-crafting.com

Don’t forget that you will need to visit each blog on the specified Blog Stop Day to see the official Creative Crafting Blog Tour Post.

Look out for the
Blog Stop Badges

More from our August 2013 Issue, Number 24

Our August 2013 includes articles from:

Millie-Mae, Toby & Mummy makes... Eton Mess

This month’s make fell into place when the children asked to go strawberry picking on a very hot Saturday afternoon. So our challenge started with finding and picking a lovely large basket of strawberries. But what to do with them all having paid for them? Well, I thought it would be nice for Mummy (me) to take a step back this month and let the children (Millie-Mae and Toby) take total control. As they are young, it had to be kept simple, and yes Eton Mess is really simple – but it’s delicious and just perfect for two under 7s to rustle up on their own!


To read the full article you can purchase issue 24 from our website here

Gluten Free & Dairy Free Recipes
Forgiving, quick and easy recipes free from gluten and dairy products by Elderberry Arts.
Recipes for:

Grilled Pineapple and Coconut
Banana Ice cream
Avocado chocolate pudding



To read the full article you can purchase issue 24 from our website here

Crafting on a Budget

In theory the weather is usually nice atthis time of year, but as we all know it’s definitely hit and miss so far in 2013. I’m sure we all love to be outside when the sun is shining, and with the limited sunny days we’ve had so far it’s nice to seize them as they land.

I don’t know about the rest of you but the sunshine certainly throws my creative drift into overdrive, and if I can take my crafting outside it’s even better. Just recently Yorkshire has been blessed with masses of sunshine and with it came an abundance of inspiration, not only for some new products but for my next Crafting on a Budget article.

Whilst playing in the garden with my young niece I discovered some old terracotta pots that had been cast aside. They were crying out for a good reinvention!

To read the full article by SmallSurprisesBoutique you can purchase issue 24 from our website here

Create a Salt Patterned Silk Scarf

Make your own gorgeous intricately patterned silk scarf to wear in this fabulous summer weather!

To read the full article by Jane Cameron you can purchase issue 24 from our website here





Damoiselle Designs

I got hooked on crafting when I was little - I was always borrowing fabric or buttons from my mum and ‘making’ something that would inevitably look strange and fall apart a few minutes later. I started crafting a bit better when I was about ten - I set up a mini business decorating and selling hair bands to friends, but when I got to comprehensive school  making your own things became ‘uncool’ and I slowly drifted into other hobbies. But now here I am a few years later at fifteen with an admittedly slightly bigger business set up!
My mum’s been selling her crafts online for a while now, and when she realised my interest in practicing some of the techniques from my Textiles GCSE class, she suggested that we buy the equipment needed and make a few things to sell. And so Damoiselle Designs was born.

To read the full article you can purchase issue 24 from our website here

Don't miss out on:

The British Love Affair with the Beach Hut

Tina in the Garden

Time for Tea - Two tea related projects

and much more!

Snippets from our August 2013 Issue

Here is a selection of the articles that you can find in our 1st August 2013 Issue, No 24.

An Interview with Rowanberry Designs

We love your beautiful creations but tell us a bit about the lady
behind them.
I’m Claire and I live in Staffordshire with my lovely husband Tony and my fantastic (and very demanding) cats, aka “Fur kids”. I'm lucky enough to be a full time glass artist and jewellery designer.  I'm currently living in a built up area at the moment but I am country girl at heart, being brought up in Kent, then onto live in Wales before I came to Staffordshire. I love getting out and about in the UK and ‘experiencing’ and connecting to the landscape. It may be hard doing this living in an urban setting, but we are at least very lucky to live only a short trip from the Peak District, Cheshire and North Wales, so we try to get ‘out there’ as much as we practically can. I'm also a Pagan and environmentalist and this is central to my creativity as well as my everyday life. My spirituality, pantheist beliefs, and love of nature and the earth play a big part in my inspiration.

Have you always been creative or did your talent evolve over time?
I've always been involved with arts and crafts, and as a child I was always drawing pictures or doing something creative. This carried on through my whole education and after school I went on to study Fine Arts along with English at university.
   
I became a full time jewellery designer 10 years ago, including designing jewellery for a high street store for a while. I got into making glass beads in 2006 so I could use them in my handmade jewellery, however the love for making them overtook my life so I just focused on glass and that is when Rowanberry Glass Art was born. In the past 2 years my love for making jewellery has been rekindled, this time using etched copper and metal clays, so I changed my name to Rowanberry Designs to reflect this new direction. My style has always been pretty much the same whatever medium I have worked with, mixing a love for nature with a love for figurative detail. My biggest change in my creativity was the change from making glass beads purely for people to make jewellery with towards making a bead as a collectable piece of art as itself. Now I approach each bead as if it was a wearable painting or sculpture.

To read the full interview you can purchase our August 2013 Issue here

ThrasionTM - Carved Couture

Ever since the late 80's I have been saving our skateboard decks. Being a skater I know that a skateboard is not just a toy, it holds history and a huge amount of meaning to a skater from the start of the relationship until it breaks. The beauty of my jewellery and accessories is in the thrashed state of the board as every scratch or ding is important.

I am currently supplied with our skateboard decks from skateshops, skateparks, skate companies, pro skaters and friends and family. I only use broken or used skateboards and where the board has come from is part of each product. The decks and wheels are used in their original state and apart from being cut, sanded and finished materials and waste is kept to a minimum.




To read the full article you can purchase our August 2013 Issue here

Gone Fishing!

We often hear people say it when they want to get away from it all. To sit quietly by a riverbank, flask of coffee by your side, sandwiches, crisps and maggots at hand.  Birds singing their sweet songs and dragonflies, dipping and diving across the surface of the water, bliss!
Well, just recently, I have taken up a bit of fishing too.  Not quite the fishing as described above but certainly a kind of fishing.
Lamp work Fishing!
So here I will tell you about a typical lamp work fish production session in The Bead Bounty studio.


To read the full article you can purchase our August 2013 Issue here 

An Interview with Styles of Sonia

Add a little eastern promise to your life with the beautiful creations of Sonia Subash from Styles of Sonia.
Creating from her home in Malaysia Sonia hopes to make the entire world sparkle just that little bit more.
Tell us about yourself Sonia.
I am a proud mother of two boys; one aged thirteen and the second, just about four months old. I have been addicted to making jewelry since a couple of years ago. And it has allowed me to work from home. I am also pursuing a business degree so needless to say, my hands are certainly full and I love it!     

To read the full interview you can purchase our August 2013 Issue here