Tip of the month

On February 14th give someone special a fun little gift with these Valentine's Day badges/magnets.

What you'll need:

1. Plaster of paris
2. Water
3. Measuring cup with a pour spout
4. Mixing spoon
5. Heart shaped plastic ice cube or chocolate mold
6. Broach backs or magnets
7. Paint
8. Paintbrushes
9. Clear glaze or clear spray paint

How to make it:

1. Mix the plaster of paris in a small bowl per instructions on the container.
2. Place the plaster into the molds; be careful not to overfill the molds
3. Let them stand for a minute or two, then gently press/place pin back (or magnet) into the plaster.
4. Let dry completely (a minimum of 30 minutes, longer is better).
5. Pop plaster out of molds.
6. Paint hearts however you like and let dry.
7. Spray with acrylic sealer or glaze. 

Tips:

• Create polka dots by dipping the handle end of a paintbrush into paint.
• Dip an old toothbrush into some paint thinned with a little water then rub your thumb across the bristles (pointing downward) to create a splatter affect.

There are loads of creative things you can do in the snow or even just very cold weather this is one of my favorites.

To make the lanterns you will need:

• Two buckets, one much smaller than the other.
• Fill the buckets with water and place the smaller one into the bigger. Make sure that it doesn’t reach the bottom. I rest mine on a small stone; this is helpful later on when you need to make the hole. 
• Leave the buckets outdoors (or put them in the freezer if we have a sudden thaw!)) and wait for the water to become ice.
• When all the water is frozen, then you have to get the smaller bucket out and turn the bigger bucket over to get the ice barrel. If the ice doesn’t want to get out of the bucket you can warm it up a bit, indoors or in the water.
• You will now have a hollow barrel of ice. Turn it upside-down and make a hole through the top. (This is when the stone will help start you off)
• Place it on the ground, with a lit candle inside.

Beautiful!

The gift is these wise words to take into the new decade.

I could have chosen a million quotes by those far more articulate and wise than I could ever dream of being, but these two seem to say something of how I feel about the work of re:create

~ There is no delight in owning anything unshared. ~

Seneca

AND......

ALBERT EINSTEIN said

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.

re:create came into being to offer a place to share and gain creative knowledge. There can be no better gift.

We wish you…………Merry Christmas and a creative New Year.

Christmas is heading our way at top speed. If you would like to make homemade gifts, and why wouldn’t you! (they are cheaper and I think nicer both to give and receive) then you need to start now.

Homemade Sweets

One of the easiest things to do is homemade sweets. This is a lovely fudge receipe.

300g granulated sugar
150ml Evaporated Milk
30g butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
60g walnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line 8-inch-square baking pan with foil.
2. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in medium, heavy-duty saucepan.
3. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in nuts and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously for 1 minute.
5. Pour into prepared baking pan; refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut into 48 pieces.

Then pop them into a homemade gift bag. I make mine out of old sheet music and they look so sweet.

Homemade Bags

What you'll need:
Empty boxes
Old sheet music/wallpaper/magazines etc
Sticky Tape
Hole punch
Ribbon or cord
Double sided tape
Scissors
Cardboard

1. First locate a box that will be the correct size for your gift.
2. Cut your wrapping paper the height you would like your bag to be, plus 3 inches for the top, and enough at the bottom to wrap the bottom of the box. (Similar to wrapping a box)
3. Fold down the top of the paper over 3 inches to the inside. Crease.
4. Wrap around the box and turn the outside edge over about 1/2" and use double sided tape to seal.
5. Fold in the ends of the bag over the box as you would if wrapping a present. Seal using the double sided tape.
6. Slide the bag off the box. Hole punch 2 holes in opposite sides of the bag about an inch from the top.
7. Cut a piece of ribbon and put one end through a hole to the inside of the bag. Knot. Put the other end of the cording through the other hole on the same side of the bag. Knot. (Note: The length depends on whether you add a lot of tall tissue paper or if you want the ribbon to be shorter.)
8. Repeat on other side of the bag.
9. Cut a piece of cardboard to fit snugly in the bottom of the bag. This gives the gift bag some stability.
10. Add tissue paper and the gift!

Halloween is a time when you can find yourself spending money on decorations quite unnecessarily. I use old bags (bin liners in particular) for most of mine. You can make a great spider out of a black bin bag or Waterstone’s bag.

1. Start with a pair of doughnuts made out of an old cereal box.  The bigger the doughnut the bigger the spider. 
2. Cut the plastic bag into strips about  2cm wide.  Wrap the strips round the doughnuts passing them through the middle each time.  Keep going until you can’t fit the end through the middle.
3. Carefully snip round the doughnut edge.  To secure wrap another strip around and tie off.
4. I use old wire from electrical bits and pieces to make the legs.  If you don’t have any you can use pipe cleaners or the ties for frozen food bags.
5. Finish off with googly eyes.

We have so many talented folk who come and draw or sew or make all sorts of amazingly creative projects.  They are far to good to keep to ourselves so we have joined up with Herts Visual Arts Forum to take part in their Open Studio Scheme.

re:create will be open on:
Friday 2nd October from 6pm to 9pm and on
Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October from 10am to 5pm

Find out more about this on our Herts Open Studio page.

It is a great opportunity to see what we do hear and meet other creative people. I do hope you can pop in. Enjoy

We don’t just make stuff at re:create. When we are out and about on our holidays we still have fun being creative.

There are loads of creative things to do on the beach. Sandcastles are the obvious one.  Don’t just stop at the castle make the whole city.  Paint pebbles,  or take a plaster cast mold of your families foot prints. 

One of my favourite games is making a scarecrow.

• If you pick  a spot at the back of the beach you can often find a handy fence post to give you a structure otherwise just dig a spade in.
• Hang a bucket upside down to make a head.
• Make hair from seaweed.
• Wrap a towel around or use some spare clothes to give your scarecrow an outfit.
• They look particularly good if you add shoes or build up the sand to make funny feet.

Have a go and send us your pictures. Enjoy

We are full of ideas at re: create and we are often asked where they come from. The answer is everywhere. We are inspired by what we see in nature, in magazines, on TV and sometimes just our mad minds send us off on a creative flight of fancy. One of our biggest sources of inspiration is the internet. There are loads of crafty sites and youtube has some great videos of arty crafty types doing their thing. This is particularly useful when you just can’t picture how something is done. I watched a few plastic bag bonding clips and picked up some great tips.

Here are a few of our favourite websites and video clips

www.etsy.com
www.mymishmosh.com/jewelry
craftblog.stitchingthenightaway.com
www.craftbits.com
www.cutoutandkeep.net

One of the best things to keep the little ones quite for a while is playdough.  We use it all the time at re:create and it never fails to please.  It is expensive to buy so we make it ourselves.  It is so easy.
There are loads of recipes but this is the one that works for us.  If you are feeling brave why not let the kids help make it.

Kids can get the ingredients measured, but parents may want to do the stirring over the heat.

What you'll need:

1 cup of flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tsp. food coloring
2 tsp. oil

What to do:

Step 1 Show kids how to measure out the first three ingredients and let them stir these together in a medium-sized saucepan.

Step 2 Gradually stir in 1 cup of water, mixed with 1 teaspoon of food coloring, and 2 teaspoons of oil.

Step 3 Cook over medium heat, stirring continually, until the mixture forms into a sticky, gooey ball. Keep stirring! The mixture will burn on the bottom if you aren't careful.

Step 4 Remove the pan from the heat.

Step 5 Let the dough cool for 15-30 minutes before your kids play with it. Keep the dough in an air-tight plastic bowl when not in use.

Enjoy!

Recreate is committed to helping the environment by recycling wherever and whatever we can.  Often we come up with a great idea for something we hate throwing away.  I was particularly pleased with a purse I made from a fruit juice carton. I couldn’t do with out other people collecting stuff for me and the best collectors of all are at WRAP

WRAP stands for Watford Recycling Art Project and is based next to the tip in Watford. WRAP aims to provide individuals, groups and educational organisations with access to recycled art materials.

An annual membership ensures freedom to browse and collect:

• Individual membership £13.00;
• Various groups £28.00;
• Schools/Colleges £80.00.

The facility is run by volunteers and more help is always needed. WRAP supports equal opportunities. WRAP is available for workshops.

Opening times:
Tuesday 2.00pm-4.30pm;
Wednesday 10.30am-12.30pm;
Thursday 2.00pm-4.30pm;
Saturday 10.30am-12.30pm.

Contact:
Mr Richard Ahrens
WRAP
Wiggenhall Depot
Wiggenhall Road
Watford
Hertfordshire
WD18 0FB
Phone(s): 01923 231395
email: richardah@ukgateway.net