Bouquets with a difference

Isn't this just the coolest thing you've ever seen in your LIFE!

They are made by a Princess Lasertron and it is how she makes her living. I want to be her!

Check out her amazingly creative blog here.

Day 354: Vegan with a Vengeance

In order to get all my big assessments completed for final Degree hand-ins, I have found it best to treat myself to a spot of creativity AFTER I've done some work. That way, I have something to look forward to as I slog away.

So yesterday, for example I decided to make some 'Big Crunchy Peanut Butter - Oatmeal Cookies' from my new Vegan cookbook. I am not actually a vegan, but my boyfriends is, so if I can make something that will please his tummy, I'm up for it!

The thing with baking is, well, it's a bit of a trail and error game really. The cookies tasted great, but the first tray spread into each other and they came out looking more like slices of granary bread than cookies! The second batch I made smaller and left them in for longer, but then I couldn't get them off the tray which resulted in some bloody fingers come the end!

But, I had fun (apart from the cut fingers) and now have some pretty tasty cookies to eat for the next essay writing session. All the things I've learnt NOT to do, I've written on a sticky note and put on the page.

Next time I might add chocolate chips too. If you can't fit chocolate into it, it's often not worth eating as far as I'm concerned! But first I MUST do some more essay writing...

How will you treat your creative side on the final slog?

Day 352: My Guerilla Knitting Experience

For those of you who don't know what guerilla knitting is, it's basically anonymous knitting left in public spaces. So, people will do a bunch of knitted patches and then cover a tree or a lamp post in it.

Being into knitting I thought it was about time I got involved in a bit of knitting graffiti, so when the opportunity came up on campus, obviously I jumped at the chance.

This particular guerilla knitting is in aid of the 'Red Thread' exhibition going on at Bath Spa campus this Saturday, 28th May 2011.

Here's me preparing next to the lake on campus. Oh, the concentration...

Then I headed over to the site where guerilla knitting would commence and off we went. Now I have to tell you that it was guerilla knitting, but we weaved them into the installation with bits of fabric and wool and pom-poms...

The red knitted bit in the middle is my handy work!

Check out some more guerilla knitting on Google. It's amazing! How could you use your skills to have some fun and help a good cause...?

Day 348: Pixie Play

Isn't this just the coolest hut you've ever seen? I found it in a little connecting garden in Bath near the newly renovated Holborne Museum.

It's amazing what you can make from a few reeds and some patterned material. Who do you think made it and what for? I sat in it for a while and you can see through the material. I felt like some kind of pixie or something...

What could you make today?

Day 329: Sewing, here we come...

On Saturday, I put up a picture of my unopened presents, which is pretty and all, but it's a bit mean if I don't share what's actually under the wrapping paper. There were a few creative gems in there, one being the massive one at the back (scroll down to take a look). My lovely Mum, Step Dad Mark and grandparents gave me a sewing machine!

I am so excited. My creative enthusiasm hasn't been let loose on one of those since I made a Mickey Mouse Apron in Year 8 (which was awesome, of course.) I can use the Meet me at Mikes Book (see Day ...) I got for Christmas to sew toys, coasters, skirts...pretty much anything really. What would you make?

I have banned myself from even getting it out of the box until after Uni. Final slog now. Knitting is destracting enough without a new creative toy to play with.

If you know any good sewing websites/blogs, leave a comment below. Best to help each other out with all this creative stuff, right?

Day 319: Royal Wedding Creative Competition!

As it gets closer and closer to the Royal Wedding the whole country seems to be getting in the patriotic spirit. Everyone's flying their Union Jack to show their support for Will and his wife-to-be, Kate.

This got me thinking about our flag and how it's used all over the place. You can get posters, t-shirts, mugs, cushions, I've even seen a sofa covered with it! Sometimes its in different colours or using textures. Sometimes there's flowers added or that worn leather look...It's been used over and over again, but the all the creative ways in which its changed astounds me. For a flag, it's a pretty elaborate anyway, so to use that as a base it a difficult one I reckon.

What would you do with it? How would you change it to make it unique? Have a think and a play, then send me your creative flag pictures and your name to emma.fowler@bathspa.org by 28th April 2011. I'll put the best one on my blog on the day of the Royal Wedding to celebrate. Have a go at getting creative and share it with the whole world at the wedding!

Day 281: Damien Hurst's Bike

For all you Art fans out there, I have found a really cool website which tells you whats going on each week around the world in Art. There's loads of pictures of artist's exhibitions, news and an entire archive of activities. If you're after some visual inspirations for your creative projects, mocoloco.com is the place to go.

See what you can find...

Ps, this bike is Damien Hurst's latest creative project...what's yours?

Day 274: My Grandparents

Today's blog is dedicated to my Nanny and Granddad, Doreen and Malcolm.

Nanny is a talented and wonderfully creative lady. Even though she's retired, she isn't just sitting around in the garden, she's even busier than she was when she worked!

This morning she sent me an email at 7:40 in the morning to show me these:

She's made them out of paper! How cool! It beats my origami 'flower' any day.

It's not just animals she makes out of paper. My Nan makes the most beautiful cards which she sells at craft fairs all over the country. She also knits amazingly complicated scarfs, she cooks and wears really funky clothes. She even paints her nails every week! I mean, what a cool Nan!

If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be such an enthusiastic knitter!

As, for Grandad, well he is the most enthusiastic reader I've ever met. He's always got his nose stuck in a book and they've got the most amazing wall in their house, completely covered in book shelves. He used to be a type setter (organised book's layout) and after that he was a proof reader, so naturally he's getting involved in my writing competition/anthology project!

There is a lot to learn from grandparents, so don't rule them out. What could you learn from yours?

Day 264: Creative Kids

This week I've been helping out with a kids club, it being half term and all. It has been so much fun, singing songs with actions, colouring, sticking, and all other creative things. Don't you think kid's creative stuff is so much cooler than ours, well, sort of?

Anyway, on Thursday, the 4/5 year olds blew me away. (Not literally, they've only got little lungs!) We did this craft thing where they made a little field with sheep in. The sheep were made out of plasticine and I thought, 'man, they are gonna struggle with this. Maybe I'll encourage them to just make one big sheep instead of three little sheep. It's too fiddly.'

But, you know what, their sheep were amazing! They were probably better than any sheep I could make. And they loved it.

I think sometimes I really underestimate exactly how much a 5 year old can actually achieve. Children are so creative. I'm pretty sure that, given the choice, most of them would spend all their time being creative if they could. I know I would of. (Well, I still would now!)

What fun it is to be young, eh? (Man, I sound old!) How could YOU use your creative talents to help kiddies? Why not get involved in a local club for kids and get them creative. It's more fun than you think!

Day 259: Annoying Knitting!

For the past two weeks I have been using every spare moment I have knitting. I've been working on a (pretty complicated) hat for my sister and I wanted to get it done quick so I can send it to her. But when I got to the end the depressing truth became all too obvious. It's way too small!

Don't be fooled by its pretty appearance! I don't know how many hours I've spent on this hat and now what am I going to do with it? I've got to start all over again to make a bigger one, which will take even longer!

Sometimes being creatively ambitious can be so annoying! You know what I mean? Does this mean we shouldn't bother?

No! I will damn well carry on and make a better (bigger) hat for my sister and she will love it!

Day 217: Wooly Winters

Good News Folks! I found out from BBC this morning that wool is on the up. More people are buying knitted stuff. More people are knitting. Which means, British wool is making money for our country, yay!

You wanna know why I'm banging on about this, don't you?

Well, the truth is guys, knitting is cool! Creating your own bags, clothes, toys...is the way forward.

So get out there and start creating. There's never been a better time to support our country's economy. Plus, it's real good for the environment too. Hardly any fossil fuels needs to be used to produce yarn and British wool is being sold all over the world.

If you need an excuse to get creative with wool, here it is. No more excuses people. It's time to be inspired by sheep!

Day 216: Charlieissocoollike

Every so often I take a peek at Charlieissocoollike on You Tube and watch one of his videos. Since September I haven't seen any because I've been super busy with my degree, but yesterday I thought, I'm gonna take a look...

I found this video called, Bread. I think it's really creative and clever. Singing, animation, story...it's swell!



For me the sad ending really makes it. Funny fairytale-like stories like this usually have happy ending. I think this one is unique. Charlie, you certainly are a creative guy!

I hope this inspires you in your creative endeavours. It certainly does with mine.

Happy creating!

Day 212: Make your own thank you cards

There's always people you get pressies from at Christmas who you don't see to say, thank you too. So you need some cards, right? Well, try these ones out.

I spent a few hours making them yesterday and, as they're creative, I thought I'd tell you about them. It's super easy to make them, so get involved if you want to save some cash and make your own funky thank you cards.

All I did was get some old magazines and cut out patterns, colours and textures I liked. Then I cut each bit into a letter and stuck them on the card! Easy.

Here's some tips;

• Chose your card colour before you start cutting. I did mine on black, but had loads of black/dark patterns which I couldn't use. Equally, if you do it with white, you don't want anything too light.
• Work out roughly how big you want each letter, so they fit on your card.
• You could use different magazines for different people. If you're doing one for a boy, maybe use a boys' mag. If you're doing one for a kid, use a kids' mag...it's up to your creative slant, of course!

So, have a go at creating your own cards this year. They make pretty good birthday cards too...

207: Creative New Year's Resolutions

The question comes up every year; what is your New Year's resolution? To be honest, I hate this question. I can never think of anything I could keep up. I should really say things like, 'well, I'll write every day' or, 'I'll call my family more often.' But from past experience I know these just won't be kept up (rubbish I know). I really need another one on top of these ones.

So this year, I am going to set myself a creative New Year's resolution. Maybe I'll set myself a knitting challenge, like knit something for each member of my family by next Christmas. Or I could make a photo album of my year with my new camera! Or volunteer with a creative charity. Finishing my novel would be a really good one...

Let's do it together! I'll have a creative New Year's resolution if you have one too. Get your thinking caps on people. What creative skill do you have? How could you use it this year?

Write it down, stick it on your wall and get it in motion!

Day 203: Decopatch

Do you like my hearts? Well, actually, mine is the middle one and the other two were decorated by my sisters. Amongst Boxing day's festivities, we took time out to do some Decopatch.

What the heck's Decopatch, I hear you ask? Well, basically, it is covering stuff in little patches of tissue paper to jazz them up. Find out more on their website.

It's proper easy, so if there's a scuzzy old ornament you need to sparkle up, why not try to Decopatch it? You can do it on anything; lampshades, boxes, bowls, chairs...

Chose your colours, patterns, shapes, sizes...see how creative YOU can be...

Day 202: Boxing Day

A very Merry Boxing Day to everyone this afternoon!

I thought it only appropriate to talk about presents! All of us will have opened at least some present yesterday. Did you get anything creative? I thought I'd share a creative present or two...

This is a super cool crafty book I got from Steve, my Boyfriend's Dad (thanks Steve) called Meet Me at Mike's. It's full of 26 things you can make like this:

A notepad cover. I mean, who doesn't need one of these? It's full of instructions and stencils for making...I can't WAIT to get started!

And...I got a camera too (hence the sparkly new pictures from my camera) which means if I see something creative, all I need to do now is whip out my camera and walla (I'm not sure how you spell that, but you get the point), I can share it with you all right here...

Watch this space for more creative inspiration!

Day 200 : Creative Christmas Eve!

As Christmas Day fast approaches, I thought it best to have a little think about what creative things we can do with all the tons of wraping paper that's left at the end of it all. Instead of just chucking it in the bin this year, be creative instead...

Emma's top ten creative ideas to re-use wrapping paper:

Origami - Christmas themed, I guess, but use your creative skills to be original.

Papier Mache - cut it all up, add wall paper paste and start creating whatever you need.

Mummies - turn an annoying younger sibling or cousin into a mummy but covering them in wrapping paper and sticking them in a cupboard. It'll get them out of your hair for a while at least.

Cards - use the beutiful paper to create next years Christmas cards, thank you cards

Advent calender - recycle your left overs into a advent calender. Try and find 24 different peices for each door!

Textbook - cover your school/college books for the new year...how about patchwork?

Collage - make a winter scene or a funky colour chart.

Scrapbook - start and patterns and textile scrap book with all the scraps you love. You never know when they'll come in handy.

Shred it - use it to line gift boxes for the rest of the year.

Wrap it - Use it to cover a shoebox and you've got a new storage box for you room.

So, if you're bored on Boxing Day or need to amuse yourself until school/college starts again, use what you got and make Christmas last a bit longer

Day 199: Crafty Christmas Fun

Christms Eve Eve...No one really knows what to do on this day, so here's a few creative Christmas ideas to fill the day! All you need is a pine cone. Click on the link to find out more...

Try me out

Christmas Wreath

Pine cone girls

...or this one

Enjoy...

Day 195: Pom-poms on the Catwalk

Last night I spent the evening making a pom-pom to put on a pair of slippers I’ve made for Christmas. (I won’t say who for, they might be reading!)
They are so easy to make and look pretty cool too. I mean, they're even on the catwalk. So here are instructions to create your own pom-poms:
1. Cut 2 circles out of cardboard (draw round a jar/tin). Then cut a smaller circle in the middle (so it looks like a donut).

2. Put the 2 pieces of card together and start looping wool around them, through the hole and around the outside. Once you’ve finished with one length of wool, start another.

3. Keep going until the hole in the middle is non-existent. Use a needle when you can’t fit your fingers through anymore.

4. Get some sharp scissors and cut in between the 2 bits of cardboard on the outside of your circle.

5. Carefully wrap a piece of wool in between the two pieces of cardboard, and tie it tightly around the wool in the centre of your donut shape.

6. Cut the cardboard off and fluff up your pom-pom. Cut any loose ends off and admire your handy work.

Why not use different coloured wool as you go round? Make big ones, small ones, put them on slippers, hats, make a necklace, earrings...be as inventive as you like!

Merry making!

Day 193: Holidays are comin'

So today is the last day of my term and I have to say, I have never looked forward to going home as much as I do now. Christmas is a time for rest, eating, family...

...but what about creating? Do you guys have any creative plans for this festive season?

Let's decide together to put our hands/ears/eyes/mouths to something creative over the next 3(ish) weeks, people!

I am going to do some knitting, maybe even on Christmas day!
I'm going to read lots of good books...and maybe some writing too(?)
I'm going to do some colouring with my littlest sister, Olivia.
I'm going to do some baking...maybe decorate a gingerbread house in sweets and icing (yummmmm)!

What will  you do this holiday season to keep your creative side full this Christmas. Have a think, make a list and check it twice...