Handmade Earthly Creative Swap

After receiving such an enthusiastic response about who would like to be involved in an Handmade Earthly Creative Swap we have decided to get the ball rolling and post up a little bit of information about the proposed swap. A few people are curious as to how the whole swap works so hopefully I can answer those questions here.

Basically we are hoping to get as many people involved as possible, the more the merrier after all! And it comes down to the concept of hand making something for another person, who you may not necessarily know, but making that item full of love to send to your partner and you in return will also receive a hand made gift made from love. I have taken part in a few of these swaps and they have been very successful. Obviously the success of the swap rests upon the concept that all participants make a thoughtful gift, sending it to their partner and in turn receive a parcel. If some one takes part but does not send their parcel off before the due date, then that action in turn will cause someone elses unhappiness, and nobody wants that!

So the concept of this very first Earthly swap is to create a care package that creates a smile... care packages are made up of beautiful things that are sent to those that need a little bit of comfort, but sometimes in our busy lives we all need a little care. It doesn't need to be a lot of things, more so thoughtful, made with love and sent to your partner. I am thinking some sort of box, something that everyone can access to fill with a few goodies and post. I thought of a shoe box, however was not sure if that was too big, so was thinking of another idea... would love suggestions and find out what you think!

'Handmade' will include ALL types of handmade, so not just sewing. This may be handmade jewelry or a set of handmade tealight candles or perhaps handmade wooden lettering. I just wanted to let you know that you don't need to be able to sew something to be involved, all styles of handmade are most welcome!!

Now for the Earthly twist, as we are committed to supporting the environment where possible, using recycled or organic materials, so this theme will be central to the swap. All this means is you need to include an eco aspect to your care package. This might be some organic filling in a softie, or an item made from materials of a pre-loved piece of clothing or buttons from an old bag. It doesn't all need to necessarily be organic or recycled, but does need to be incorporated in some way. Lets get creative and see what we can come up with!

Ok, before this post becomes an essay, I will leave it there. Still gathering interest, anyone is welcome to participate so talk to your friends, invite them over (or to the Earthly facebook page). The next swap post will give more detailed information, including an email address to send in your name, to be part of the swap and some questions for you to give your partner a little heads up about yourself :)

Please please, I would love for you to comment on this post, let me know your thoughts and ideas!

xx
Bec ~The Earthly Creative

Bon Appétit!

Now that I am back in the swing of things, I decided to do a bit of baking today. On the menu today was old fashioned scones with strawberry jam and vanilla cream. Rather happy with how they turned out and even the hubby scored them a 10 out of 10, so can't argue with that! :) My batch made 14 plus a little ball of scone (yum!) & only 8 survived tea time!

Here is the recipe I used to make my scones (feel free to use it, if you need a quick reference).

Ingredients:

3 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoons salt
4-5 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Sift flour & salt into a bowl.
3. Rub in Butter with tips of fingers until mixture is a fine soft crumble.
4. Make a well in the centre of bowl & stir in milk with a knife to form a soft dough.
5. Turn onto a floured surface & knead lightly.
6. Pat dough gently to a 2cm thickness & cut out with a floured scone cutter (or floured rim of drinking glass, works just as well).
7. Place on a ungreased scone tray & brush scones lightly with milk.
8. Bake at 200C for 15-20 min
9. Turn out into a tea towel lined dish & cover & wrap with another tea towel.
10. Leave for 5 mins or until cold.
11. Serve with jam & cream or butter if preferred.

Tips:

If you like your scones to rise higher, you can add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the recipe.
Place your scones on to the tray next to each other, so that they can use each other to rise.

Bon Appétit!


In the next couple of days I will have some new products to share with everyone. Currently working through orders and then making up new stock for my first 2011 market (details to be announced). Don't forget to share your masterpiece with us by hanging it on the Earthly facebook wall:

http://www.facebook.com/TheEarthlyCreative

Let me know if you or your little ones enjoyed the colouring in & I will put up another :)

xx
Bec ~The Earthly Creative

Something for Nothing :)

After working on a bright and colourful logo for a client I am in a very creative mood. So I have just created a colouring-in-sheet that little ones can enjoy. If you would like to try it, simply click on the image and then print the PDF at A4 size.

As I have not been working on my blog a lot, I only have 3 followers, if you would love to keep these 3 lovely people company & keep an eye out for more earthly creations feel free to follow my blog too :)

Hope your little ones enjoy trying out my very first colouring sheet.
Let me know how it goes. I would love to see any of your little one's masterpieces, you can upload them to ...

http://www.facebook.com/TheEarthlyCreative

:)

Still breathing :)

I have to apologise for having been MIA for quiet some time now. I almost forgot I had a blog *yikes* However I am back now, and promise to be more dedicated to keeping my blog up-to-date. So much has happened since my last posts and I have learnt so much! I will have to do a recap post later...

After a very special day on the 9th of January 2011, the day I got to marry my best friend, we enjoyed an amazing time in The Maldives for our honeymoon and a stop over in Singapore full of wonderful cultures, scents & tastes!!


I am looking forward to developing some new products this year for myself, my markets and online. I will get my website off the ground and will be using even more eco friendly, recycled, sustainable materials!

xx

PROJECT 2: Tie-Dyed Baby Onesies & Vests

The second project that I have undertaken is hand tie-dying. This is something I have wanted to do for such a long time and I finally decided I must do it. It was so much fun and already can not wait to do it again. I will have to be careful or I will end up not having one white thing in my home :P

So as for materials for tie-dying I chose to use baby onesies and baby vests in an assortment of sizes. I used 100% cotton material which is perfect for the dye I got. In terms of colours I had: a beautiful Blue, a rich Red and a vibrant Yellow. Three primary colours with which I could mix to create a Purple, an Orange and a Green, other colours also resulted such as Pink which works perfectly for baby girls clothing. I am looking forward to experimenting further with the colours but I am thrilled with how they turned out this time!! I also did a lot of research into different types of dye and different tie-dying techniques before I began and this resulted in a vast array of effects to show.

I have taken an assortment of process pictures to show on my blog to give an insight behind the project. Personally I always find it extremely interesting to see photos of different stages of a person's project. So I intend to share the same.

The picture above shows various different tie's to create different end results, this part was really fun, deciding what effects I wanted to create. It also gave a little anticipation as to exactly how each technique would turn out!!

The next picture shows my set up and dye's used for this project. Note that there was also mixing to create a broader colour range.

The next sequence of photos show the dye applied and wet before resting and washing. Colours are much darker than once the dye has taken to the fabric and then been rinsed and washed.

So that summarises the process pretty well. It really was a lot of fun and all pretty straight forward. I am really just looking forward to more experimentation!! Here are a few picks of the final results. They make me smile every time I look at them, so what more can you ask for?! :)

Some detailed pictures of the results below: this includes both onesies and vests. They are not quiet dry at this stage, but almost. Just a little damp still.

Please feel free to comment on this post if you have any feedback or would like some further information. I would love to hear from you!!

PROJECT 1: Hand Appliqué Baby Onesies

My very first project for The Earthly Creative is hand appliqué baby onesies. I find onesies absolutely adorable so they make the perfect canvas for this project! They also offer so many different options to do with colour and theme. I have begun with an animal theme in particular different breeds of dogs and cats.

So I begin with a 100% cotton white onesies and an assortment of brightly coloured fabric in lots of different patterns. Bolder patterns tend to work better on less detailed shapes and smaller patterns for more detailed shapes, so that the pattern does not get lost in the detail. Below are my first four designs, two cats and two dogs. The first shows the design just before I have finished the hand-sewn blanket stitch around the edges.

All of the material plus onesies are pre-washed to avoid shrinkage and create colour-fast garments. The additional fabric is shaped and attached to the onesies with a product called Trans-web which is a type of adhesive which becomes fusible when heated. Each design is then hand-sewn around the edges to ensure it is tightly secured to the garment and reduce fraying of edges. All these designs will be available for purchase in my two online stores (one Australian and one American).

You can find the Earthly Creative Stores at:

• http://www.madeit.com.au/TheEarthlyCreative

This is the part of the Australian online, handmade market called madeit.com.au Only Australian residents can purchase items from madeit, if you are from another country please refer to the link below for my Etsy store.

• http://www.TheEarthlyCreative.etsy.com

This is part of the American online, handmade market called etsy.com People from America as well as other countries can purchase from Etsy.com

All the items I will have for purchase are created in a friendly, smoke-free and clean environment. All garments have been pre-washed, however it is advised to wash items before wear and to wash with similar colours :)

With the designs applied to the baby onesies I am hoping to be able to set up a system to offer a customised service where you will be able to request a particular breed of dog or cat (or any other animal) and a colour theme preference with the fabric and I will create your own one-of-a-kind garment which would be adorable to tie in with your very own family pets or those of a friend for a gift! At this stage email or comment if you have any requests!!

* I am also experimenting with this concept on bibs, I will post a picture of stage one on that concept below. Shown below is a Dachshund design on a baby bib, before hand stitching around edges is complete. This design matches one of the 'Dachshund' dog onesie design above.

Please feel free to comment on this post if you have any feedback or would like some further information.

The First Step...

To explain a little about this blog...my intention is to use this space to record details about my creative projects connected to "THE EARTHLY CREATIVE".

The Earthly Creative is a business I am starting as an outlet for all my artistic and creative projects and ideas. I have begun by creating an email account for this called the.earthly.creative@gmail.com if you have any questions or feedback then just send me a note and I would love to hear from you!!

Next I have created two online shops in which to start selling my products.

• I have one with the Australian handmade market called madeit (www.madeit.com.au) the address for my store on madeit is http://www.madeit.com.au/TheEarthlyCreative feel free to check it out...I hope to have items listed in the store asap and begin selling!!
• The second online store is with the American handmade and vintage online market called Etsy (www.etsy.com). The address for my store in Etsy is http://www.TheEarthlyCreative.etsy.com again please feel free to come and have a look around, let me know what you think and browse through the items for sale as soon as they are listed!!

A little about myself...

My name is Bec and I am 21. I live in Sydney with my gorgeous finance Mike and my awesome black cat called Jazz. I have completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Graphic Design and New Media with a minor in Media Arts. I am now also studying with Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy in Paddington, which is another great creative outlet for me.

The items for purchase on my two online stores will be of a creative theme, eco-friendly where possible (I am hoping to increase this aspect once I get going), hopefully they will just be something that makes you smile. If you have any feedback then you can email me or comment on my blog, I would really love to hear from you!! Thanks for stopping by!!