The 'Original' Creative Crafting Magazine written by Crafters, for Crafters

Creative Crafting magazine began in August/September 2009, when a group of crafting friends on the Creative Connections network decided that it would be a good idea to raise awareness of the crafting community. From this point they started work and the first issue of Creative Crafting was published in October 2009 and the last was June 2014.
Now we are bringing you everything crafty from the home and beyond.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Christmas Candy Bark



Christmas Candy Bark     written by Claire from Elderberry Arts
 


This is a very simple recipe that can be made by children of all ages with minimal help. It is delicious as a treat or prefect to wrap up and give as gifts. The recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled to make larger amounts, just make sure you have a baking tray or other similar surface to spread the chocolate on once melted. 

Feel free to choose your favourite brand of chocolate and milk and dark chocolate work just as well. The finished bark can be varied greatly by adding or omitting ingredients to suit your own personal tastes and an attractive marbled bark can be made by spreading the milk chocolate and then swirling in some melted milk chocolate.

For a more grown up version dark chocolate with dried cranberries and flaked almonds or white chocolate with dried cranberries and hazelnuts are delicious. 



200g milk chocolate
100g of Christmas themed sweets such as chocolate coins, jelly beans, shape jellies etc.

  1. Line a baking tray with cling film or greaseproof paper.
  2. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place into a bowl. Melt the chocolate in short bursts in a microwave oven or over a pan of boiling water.  
  3. Once the chocolate has melted spread it over the covered tray. It should be only around five millimetres thick.
  4. Add your sweets as toppings, gently pressing them into the chocolate.
  5. Leave the chocolate until completely cool and hardened and then snap into pieces. 
 


Monday 2 December 2013

Grab your issue now! Discounts galore!

Grab your copy of our Christmas Issue for only £1.99 (digital version) from our website NOW!



As an extra treat you can now pick up our August and October Issues for only £1 each!





Issues can also be ordered as luscious printed copies.
If you would like to contribute to one of our publications please email us at articles@creative-crafting.com

Friday 29 November 2013

Project: Silk Stocking Christmas Tree Ornament Tutorial

To get a copy of our full issue please visit our site



You will need:
Hand painted silk or fancy fabrics of your
choice
Needle and thread or sewing machine
Iron on interfacing
Ribbon for hanging
Scissors
Gold iron fix outliner for decoration (or
beads / buttons / sequins)

Step 1. Choose your fabric, with a
small enough pattern that it will look
good on the stocking. Choose a
contrasting or coordinating piece for
the top. You could also make a piece
of patchwork.







Step 2. Select a piece big enough
to make two stocking pieces, and
back it with iron-on interfacing. This
makes it more rigid and helps it to
be a more robust tree ornament.
(The interfacing is optional if you are using heavy / upholstery fabric.)








Step 3. Cut out two stockings,
leaving room around them for
seams. Remember you need one
facing each way, so you may want
to do this by folding your fabric in
half.

Interview: Felting Dreams


To get a copy of our full issue please visit our site

We interview

Felting Dreams By Johana Molina


Tell us about the lady behind Felting Dreams
Johana Molina. I’m 24 years old and live in Calera de Tango, a rural town in
Santiago of Chile where I have lived my whole life with my family and my
future husband too. I am a self-taught artist, writer, doll artist and
illustrator. I’m a shy person who enjoys the simple things of life. I love the
beauty, little details that can be magical if you can appreciate with the heart
eyes.




When did you first begin creating your designs, and why?
A bit more than two years ago, when I started felting, I realized that all was possible with this wonderful technique. Then I started to try to make all of the little friends that I had always imagined.



Feature: We Love Markets, We Love Christmas


Around this time last year, I was in what could really be described as a Crafty-Christmas-Paradise; Germany in December is literally a dreamland for lovers of Christmas, crafts, and above all things, MARKETS. It’s with this wonderland of an inspiration in mind that, although back in Blighty, the I Love Markets team were determined to create some truly festive marketplaces for all you artists, designers, seamstresses and scissorsmiths this winter.

Markets, crafts and Christmas form three points of a beautifully constructed love triangle, and I LoveMarkets are very keen to be the string which holds that triangle together. Whilst we don’t have the Gluhwein like our German mates, we do have plenty of glue!

Portobello Rocks!
December 7th, 10am-5pm
Portobello Green Market, Under the Westway, London W10 5XL
Entry: Free! 









Portobello Market is quite possibly one of the most iconic marketplaces that the UK has the pleasure of nurturing, and the home to not just ridiculous amounts of budding arts and craft businesses, but also a haven for unique fashion and food.
My mum, who grew up in the area, always tells me how atmospheric the market gets in the run up to Advent, with aromas of patchouli and fresh tangerines warming the spirits of stallholders who brave the cold from early hours. The I Love Markets team are unsurprisingly excited to be bringing our regular pop-up which we host at Portobello Green into the Christmas months, with an array of talented crafters brightening up our stalls.

Thursday 17 October 2013

Basket-Making – Tips to get you started by Louise McLean



Author Bio: Louise McLean is an avid crafts women and basket-maker. She runs basket making workshops through Activity Breaks which specialises in organising adventure holidays around the UK. Activities range from arts and crafts, water-sports, land-based adventure, walking and tours, gardening, cookery, flying and even bee-keeping!
 
Basket-Making – Tips to get you started

The best way to get a feel for making baskets is to find an experienced basket-maker whose work you admire and go on a course. Nothing can really replace getting guidance from someone who knows what they’re doing. It gives you a chance to try out different techniques and also gets you used to the idea that everyone’s basket will turn out differently, despite you all having followed the same instructions (and everyone else’s basket will look better than yours, but that’s just normal paranoia!). And get a good book on basketry, such as The Complete Book of Basketry Techniques that will remind you of what you did in the class when you try it at home –if nothing else, the class should give you enough experience to be able to decipher the instructions in the book!

Learning the Lingo

Basketry has its own strange language: pairing, waling, randing, upsetts, slathes and scalloms to name a few. Don’t worry about those for now – you’ll pick them up as you go along. There are also lots of strange, traditional tools (cleaves, shaves and grease horns etc.), but all you need to get started is something to cut your material (a sharp pair of secateurs and a knife). It’s also useful to have a bodkin (a tapered metal tool for creating spaces in the weaving), but a screwdriver or large knitting needle will do. And plenty of string!

Strip the Willow

Although most commercial baskets are made from willow, you can make a basket from any material that will bend into a circle without breaking, from colourful stems of dogwood to bramble or dog rose (you can remove the thorns by putting on a thick pair of gardening gloves and pulling them through your hands). It’s best to cut this material in the winter when it’s lost its leaves and the sap is down. It will be usable for a couple of months after it’s cut, if you store it somewhere cool (for example, under a hedge).

Green (fresh cut) material will usually shrink as it dries out, which often loosens the weaving in the basket, so most basket-makers use willow that has been dried and then re-soaked to make it pliable. Brown willow (willow with its bark still on) generally needs to be soaked for a day per foot (so 3ft willow will take about 3 days to soak). Buff willow (willow which has had its bark removed) takes much less time to prepare but dries out faster, so it’s harder to work with when you’re starting. If you’re going to soak your own willow, then you probably want to get a large water tank (unless your family are going to be happy with you taking over the bath for several days!).

Organisation and Patience

It’s worth taking time to sort your materials before you start to try and pick rods that are similar lengths and thicknesses. The better matched your materials, the neater your final basket will be. As you get more experienced, you’ll find you learn to relax and work with the material but don’t be surprised if you find it physically tiring when you first start. You’ll find you need at least four hands for most baskets, although feet, elbows, furniture and neighbours can also be called in to help, especially when the phone rings at a crucial moment – did I mention how useful string is? There are a set of standard swear words for the moment you let go of the wrong rod and the basket unravels, or when you drop the bodkin on your toe. Feel free to also invent your own.

Like all things, making a good basket takes practice. If you have the patience it’s worth repeating each stage until you’re happy with the result and confident of repeating it before moving on to the next. But most of the time, the lure of completing a basket is too strong. Be warned - it’s addictive. Basketry is both art and craft – you can learn to make beautiful but functional baskets and be part of a long heritage of craftsmen and women. You can also follow your own inspiration, taking basketry techniques and incorporating other materials and techniques to create your own unique pieces. You’re only constrained by your imagination!