Pinspired Project - LOVE inspired

My Pinterest projects this week are celebrating love.

I love showing people how much I care about them but rather than head to the shops, I prefer to go DIY.

I LOVE baking (and my hubby loves eating = perfect match)

 so when I came across this pin from Bake it in a Cake...

 I was so keen to try it.  Step-by-step instuctions here.



Here's my finished product...

Not quite like the original, but if you squint you can kinda tell what it's meant to be... and if you can't at least it tastes yummy.


Basic Steps

• I used a basic packet cake mix, mix it up as per instructions (of course you can make one from scratch) and divide mixture into half.
• colour one half of the mixture (I chose red for one half, and left the other half plain).
• Pour the mixture you want the hearts to be into a small cake pan or slice tray and bake (being careful not to overcook).
• Wait until cooled completely and use cookie cutter to cut out shapes.
• Pour mixture into cupcake liners then place shapes into batter.
• Spoon mixture over hearts and cook.

Lessons learned along the way...

•  Wait until the coloured cake has cooled completely before you cut out the shapes.  I was a bit impatient and I think that's why it was a bit crumbly when I cut out the hearts.  Maybe I should have put it in the fridge?

• I'm not quite sure what happened but a couple of my hearts floated to the top!  Perhaps I didn't cover them with enough batter??  I did catch some early though and managed to push them back in so if you are giving it a go - maybe check them after a couple a minutes to make sure they haven't floated to the top.  Or you can just leave it as a design feature??

• Make sure you put a mark on the cupcake liner where to cut otherwise it will turn into a guessing game and you may end up with a rectangle instead of a heart - lesson learned.

•  I think my hearts were too big for the cupcake liners, next time I will try a smaller cutter or cut them out freehand.

• You can cover up just about any cupcake mishap with icing!

Other DIY inspiration
I'm being treated to a night off cooking (chinese take-away) this Valentine's Day so I thought I might make these cute little felt fortune cookies from the curly birds blog...

...and fill with messages of love or cute little love quotes (the blog has really clear instructions and they look really easy to make - only takes a circle of felt and 3 stitches).


*PROJECT UPDATE
Here's what I ended up making...

I also LOVE this idea that was shared by Katie on the Moorea Seal blog.

...you make little fabric hearts and hide them in all sorts of secret places and when the person finds them they put them in a jar and are reminded of how much you love them. So cute!

Hope your day has been filled with love!

My 20 favourite love quotes.

 I thought I would dedicate the month of February to celebrate all things love.  To kick it off here are some of my favourite quotes about love.




Out of the mouth of babes...
Kids say the sweetest things (most of the time) - I just love these explanations of love.  These kids quotes probably explain it better than I ever could.


'Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired..'    Terri - age 4


'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'  Mary Ann - age 4



'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.'  Karen - age 7



'You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'  Jessica - age 8



'Love is when my Grandmother couldn’t make her nails beautiful, because she had Arthritis, but Grandpa did them for her, even though he had Arthritis, too.'  Rebecca - age 8



'Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'  Bobby - age 7




Winnie the Pooh Quotes
There's something about Winnie the Pooh logic that just makes so much sense...

 
'Sometimes', said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.' -  Winnie the Pooh  (A. A. Milne)



'If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember.  You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.  But the most important thing is, even if we're apart.  I'll always be with you.'  - Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)



'Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would I'd never leave.' - Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)



'Some people care too much.  I think it's called love.' - Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)
 


'How do you spell 'love'?' - Piglet
'You don't spell it...you feel it.' -  Winnie the Pooh  (A.A. Milne)
 




Movie Quotes
I must warn you that some of the following may be a little cheesy... but I kinda like that.


'It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together.' - Sleepless In Seattle



'Don't forget I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.' - Notting Hill




'The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.  And that's what you've given me.' - The Notebook



'I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.' - City of Angels


 

'Death cannot stop true love.  All it can do is delay it for a while' - The Princess Bride



'If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.' - Love actually

If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around. - See more at: http://www.romancestuck.com/quotes/movie-quotes.htm#sthash.zao9JO2y.dpuf

I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.

-- City of Angels

- See more at: http://www.romancestuck.com/quotes/movie-quotes.htm#sthash.zao9JO2y.dpuf

If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around. - See more at: http://www.romancestuck.com/quotes/movie-quotes.htm#sthash.zao9JO2y.dpuf

 

 

More Love Quotes

Do you have a favourite love inspired quote?? 

Feel free to share it with us in the comments.

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment  :)





Seeing there are only a small number of comments, I'm not going to worry about drawing a single winner and have decided that EVERYONE who left a comment is a winner!

So Shazz, Grace, Crece, Wendy and Leanne could you please send me an email (nic.creates@gmail.com) and let me know your favourite colour/s, if you would like an initial added and your postal address so I can send it off to you.

Thanks again lovelies and have a great week!

Pinspired Project - back to school

I LOVE Pinterest.

This site has so many beautiful things and great tutorials I've been wanting to try for ages so this year I am committing to making one Pinterest-inspired (Pinspired) project every month. 

For my January project I thought I would search for some back to school inspiration.

I came across these gorgeous fabric keychains from Craftiness is not Optional that would be perfect for the boys new school bags.

Awesome! I could use up some of my fabric scraps and the lovely Jessica from Craftiness is not Optional even included a step by step tutorial.

So here is my finished project...

Lessons learned along the way...

• I used the first circular object I came across in the house but you can use any shape you choose.

• I didn't have any Peltex (and didn't really want to go and buy some) so I used felt in between the two fabric layers.

•  If you are adding an initial, it's better to trace it in reverse on the back of the fabric or trace with an erasable pen so you don't have to worry about rubbing out lines.

• If you are pinking around the outside of your keyring do it BEFORE you sew on the keychain.

I also searched for school lunchbox notes to add to lunchboxes for some encouragement during the day.

There were heaps of ready made printables but I decided to print and laminate my own.

There are so many things I could add...lunchbox ideas, organisation etc...

Now I think a RAK to kick off the new year is in order.  (Random Act of Kindness for those who don't know).

I will be making a fabric keychain to give away to one of you lovely people.  If you would like to be in the running to receive this, leave a comment below.  I will draw a name using random.org on Monday night 4th Feb. (prob around 8pm or whenever I can get the kids to bed).  I will post the lucky person's name here and also link it to my facebook page, so keep an eye out.

Happy Handmade New Year!!

nic creates... a little about myself.

I thought it's well overdue that I introduce myself.

Who am I?
Hi.  My name is Nicky (nic for short).

I am mum to 3 gorgeous kids and wife to 1 sweet husband.  We live on the Far North Coast of NSW and I love to make stuff.

I grew up locally with fond memories of watching my mum at the sewing machine and my nan doing embroidery at night.  Most of the clothes my sister and I wore were made by mum.  

Over the years I have enjoyed a few different creative endeavours... sewing, card making, mosaics, screen-printing, crochet, painting, sketching, scrapbooking, mixed media, decorating cakes...

Ultimately I love making stuff with my hands.  Handmade to me speaks of time, effort and love.


What's in a name?
Why 'nic creates'?

Well it's probably quite obvious but basically, a few years ago my creative friends were starting blogs to share their crafty projects with the world so I thought why not - I'd give it a go.  I signed up for a blog but had to think of a name.  ???  Mind blank.  What would I call it?  Nothing outstandingly clever came to mind so I thought maybe the name should describe what I do?

So what do I do?   I make stuff.

and hence nic creates came to be.


Then What??
Through the encouragement of family and friends I started to sell my creations, jumped on facebook and then moved on to stalls at a few local markets.  I'm a SAHM and usually work around my family commitments and get stuck into creating while the kids are tucked into bed at night.

I've been fortunate to be published a few times in the 'Scrapbooking Memories' magazine and have been on a couple of design teams over the years.  I am currently on the lovely Chelley Bean Designs creative team.


What's next??
There is one main area I want to focus on this year both in life and in business...

 

I really want to live a generous life and encourage others.  So you will see a bunch of new tutorials and step-by-steps.


There are some business-y things I will be working on this year:

• Keeping in contact with all you lovely people.
• committing to regular posts (I was a bit slack in this department last year - sorry).

• Online presence.
•  looking into website design and shop options.

• Organising my space     
•  I am getting my own creative area... YAY!!! 
•  review of product lines

Well that's a little bit about me, I hope you can join me on this creative journey. 

 Leave a comment and let me know what kind of tutorials would you like to see??  Maybe cards? Kids crafts? Home projects? Anything?

Teacher gifts and Post-It-Note Holder tutorial

I'm in the process of sorting out my teacher gifts for this year, and realised I haven't shared the gifts I made for the kids teachers last year.

So here they are...

For Sebastian's teacher, I made a personalised notebook cover.

With a hand-written note inside...

For Nathaniel's pre-school teachers, I made some cookies in a jar.

and for his Early Intervention teacher, I made some note holders...

I've made a few of the Post-It-Note Holders for the kids teachers this year and thought I'd share a how to...

Post-It-Note Holder tutorial

Step 1.  Cut cardstock and patterned papers.
(I've used co-ordinating patterned papers for this holder but you can use a photo, get your child to draw a picture or write a note...)

• Cardstock - 3¼  x 7 inches.
• Patterned paper front - 3 x 3 inches
• Patterned paper inside - 3 x 3 inches

Step 2.   Score (fold the cardstock) at 3¼ and 3¾ inches.  This creates the centre spine.
 

Step 3.  Attach the front patterned paper to... well the front of the holder.  I used double-sided tape but you could use whatever adhesive you have on hand.

Step 4.  Flip over to the inside of the holder and attach the second patterned paper.

 

Step 5.  Attach the Post-It-Note stack to the bottom part of the holder.

Step 6.  Attach a ribbon (or string).  The length I used was approx. 17 inches but just estimate. I've added some double-sided tape to the ribbon where it touches the inside of the holder to make sure it doesn't slip off.

Wrap and secure with a knot then tie a bow and trim ends.

You can leave it like this or you can...

Step 7.  Attach a sentiment to the front. 

All done!!  Let me know if you have any questions.


I've got some other things I'm making which I'll share as soon as they have been given to their teachers. 
Happy creating!!

Do you give teacher gifts??  Any good ideas you'd like to share?

Chelley Bean Designs Map Flowers

I have been playing with some of the gorgeous new Chelley Bean Designs  Map Flowers.  Michelle has made these flowers from recycled Atlases and they look great on a whole range of projects.

I decided to make a mini card and a gift tag going along with the travel theme of the flowers.

The mini card.....

a close-up...

and the gift tag...

The Map Flowers (and lots more goodies) are available in the Chelley Bean Designs etsy store.