A Magnolia Christmas

My poor old blog has been a bit neglected this last month. Actually all areas of my online life have been suffering, I've just not found the time to spend anytime on Craft Supplies or any of the other crafty sites that I skip through, my webmail is also suffering but I had to sacrifice the time as I have recently gone back to work (albeit part time) and I'm also involved in organising the Galway Breastfeeding conference in October, which is being held in Gort this year. (See www.breastmates.blogspot.com for more info).
I've been playing with some fabulous new stamps as well, from Magnolia - a Swedish rubber stamp company. I cannot praise them highly enough. They are EZ mounted and have the most wonderful fine line images with shading and depth.(Do you think I like them? NO - I love 'em!) And the characters are sooooo cute too, my fave has to be Tilda with the frog, I thought it would make a fabulously tongue in cheek, "Well his did bulge a bit" card or "I told you he was slimy" card, for when your girlfriends get dumped.....
I've been trying to "go digi" as well and managed a single framed LO of dd with her name on it - thought it looked a bit flat though and added a few odds n ends and a couple of jewels to give it a bit of bling. I have to say I found the digi really challenging, not because the actual format of it is hard but because I kept trying to produce something that simply wasn't me - then I realised, just because the media is different it doesn't mean my style has to be. So I went back to the beginning and stopped trying so hard and a page done in 15 mins!(OK it wont win any prizes but it achieved it's purpose - I've done digital!

bit of this bit of that

and suddenly weeks have passed by. DD is one this week - where did the year go to? She is such a joy to be around at the moment (teeth and tantrums not withstanding) - her inquisitiveness, spontaneity and general zest for everything is a daily delight. Sloppy kisses and toothy grins fill my days and paper scraps fill my evenings! I'm working on the projects for my upcoming workshops, I can't wait to get started, I'll be soooo nervous but I love showing people how to create things from little bits of paper and ribbon. Watch out publicans I'll be looking for yet more beermats - they are my favourite thing to alter and make mini books and cards from. I've also had confirmation that my new zutter bind - it - all is going to be shipped this week, so there'll definitely be a workshop on Christmas giftbooks - I can hardly wait.... although before I can make anything, my craft room is still in dire need of a "good bottoming". My sister is coming tomorrow for a visit, along with my mum, younger sis and 2 nephews - so I'll have my hands and days full but my sister has sworn that she will get my space organised (apparently all it takes is small boxes and sticky labels - little does she know), so watch this space for pics of my amazingly tidy, clean and organised craft room soon!
The lovely girls over at Crazy Crafts in Ennis have asked me to do a monthly teen workshop as well. I'm so excited that they a) liked my stuff b)want me to play with paper and c)are going to let me sell some cards there.
Oh and I got chosen to be a demonstrator for Do-Crafts as well, so hopefully I'll be at a craft shop near you soon!
I'll be a busy, busy girl. I have made some cards this week - mostly cutie lil baby ones but don't think to take photos nad now it's too late. Will update soon with photos!

DD Birthday Card

Here's my dd's first birthday card - something girly rather than baby. I love making these little dresses with vellum cardigans, it is so simple but looks quite effective I think. The little figure is made from Fimo. I plan to use this as one of the workshops I'm doing in September along with the baby vest in the little stork wallet - although I got the storks from a pal on the CS site, so perhaps will be altered a little.
The other pics were my entries for the Craft Supplies July Challenges - congrats to Elisa for a fabulous winning Layout and to Sandidune for her card. I've set the challenge for this month and it is to make a friend card and incorporate a cd or part of cd into your design and Elisa has me pondering over her challenge for a monochromatic layout with contrasting embellishment and some hand cutting, I can't settle on a colour to start with! Check out www.cratsupplies.ie to join in - there's a €20 gift voucher up for grabs in both categories.

catching up

I've no idea where the time is going to. DD will be ONE at the end of the month and it has just passed in a blur - I've already made her birthday card, simply because if I left it to the last minute, I'd end up buying one! Although I have 6 others on my "Must Do" list, 3 birhdays, 2 Anniversaries and 2 weddings. So I must discipline myself and get cracking. I find I'm always leaving projects and ideas half finished -or going off at tangents, I'd love to be one of these think it. make it. give it away, start again crafters - instead I have a room packed to the gunwhales with ideas, papers, more papers and guess what - papers, plus all my other crafting essentials and general craft emphemera... it's overflowing into all areas of my life now - around the computer and in the spare room. I think I need to invest in some decent storage and start to use some of the darn stuff up!
I've been playing with my Lola Rose downloads again and made 2 cute mommy to be sets - one has a handbag box to store all those little momentoes in and a card - the other has a mini "pregnancy" album, scan photo wallet and little box to store it all away in. I thought it would be a cute thing to fill in and then hide away for when your child is all grown up or to remind yourself exactly how your pregnancy was (I know you soon forget!)... an easy way to record the little details, names, cravings etc - (I ate gallons of ice cream and was sure we were having a baby Michael!When she was a girl, I wanted Charlotte and he wanted Michelle, so dd was nameless for several days), it can be filled in an afternoon and wont take up much room in a memory box.
The last card is for the pink petticoat competition over on there website. I really enjoyed making this and it has a lot of layers that don't really show up on the photo.
tfl

day at the beach

just to prove it's not all craft - pics of the little pickle on her first trip to the beach. She was not very impressed and spent her time trying to eat sand, much to the concern of her doting dad (good job he works full time - if he saw what she puts in her mouth on a daily basis she would be wearing one of those leather bite restraints a la Hannibal Lecter). Sand as is its nature got everywhere... this was a week ago and it's still appearing in little dunes across the hall.
When we got to the beach there was a sign saying NO Dogs between 11am and 6pm - and 2 life guards on duty, who said "yes - the rule is no dogs" - so I took the mutt back to the car and left him in the back with the window half open and the doors unlocked (in case anyone wanted to steal him!). Headed back to the beach to find a Pug bounding up the steps, a collie enjoying the waves and a girl with a pup going in front of me. Slightly irate, I asked the 2 lifeguards in their little hut why was my dog stuck in the car and yet the others had the dogs on the beach, not even on leads. So they told me it was their job to protect the swimmers not enforce the county council beach rules.... surely swimmers could be potentially at risk from free roamimg dogs... I wonder would they also say he was waving not drowning....

Lola and Lilli

I got these absolutely fabulous little downloads from www.pinkpetticoat.co.uk - they are the most adorable pair of little girls that you buy in a zip file. They come with or sans sentiments and there are oodles of different ones in each download. There are some really cute free downloads - this month there are really girly lavender background papers. I had a really enjoyable evening colouring them in, they are so adorable they really don't need much doing to them.
My teenage sister is always getting told to clean her room, so I've made her the "Clean your Room" door hanger card - it is just tied on with a piece of ribbon. On the reverse is a Lola Rose image with "Because I'm Your Mother, that's why" .... I'd say my mum will have it permanently hung on her door!
I stuck to a lavendar theme for all of these - the next one is a little single card in a wallet, in my favourite colour combo of the moment lavender and lime green. Added a few flower beads that I wired up to the front.
The handbag is for a friend of mine who is having a baby - inside is a little handmade note book for writing hospital appointments or thoughts on her pregnancy in and a little wallet card to keep scan photos in. The matching card has Lola Rose Baby Joy on the front and decorated with a bit of lace.

baby clothes

A few weeks ago Jeanjeany sent me a lovely baby romper suit cut with her cuttlebug (although she has upgraded already to a cuttlebug expressions - which from what I can glean is the BMW with leather interior of shape cutting machines. the choice and arry of which grows almost daily - but I digress.... I loved the idea of it is a shape card but I'm not likely to be getting any kind of die cutting machine any time soon, so decided to have a go at my own. I used a folded piece of Basic Grey Oh Baby!, Larkspur and this was big enough to cut out 3 cards - and put the template across the folded edge to give me a join across the top. I then shaped a neckline in the centre of the top of fold. I layered some blue gingham card inside the back of the vest shape to give some contrast and shaded the edges of the shape with a light blue pencil, then added faux stitching with a darker blue to give it some depth. Two Making Memories brads made the poppers on the bottom and the gingham fabric heart was layered onto a freehand heart cut from card and again with some stitched detail.It's actually a quick card to make - the patterned card does a lot of the "work" for you, all it needs is dressing up.

trifold card

thanks to Kiki on Craft Supplies for a link to the fabulous split coast stampers - I haven't had time to look around the site yet but it is HUGE with a members gallery I'd never get through, feturing every possible rubber stamp and rubber stamping technique. I'll definitely be giving it a closer look.
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/triangletrifold.php. Spent a couple of hours doing this little trifold card - I've adapted slightly and used a cigar band fastening rather than ribbon and used brads to hold the folds back on the front. But this is a really cute card and a lot of fun to make - I'm still in love with the gingham card from Crazy Crafts and my little cat stamp is just delicious, I made him a marmalade cat this time!

Uplifting

The postman lifted my day when he delivered this little stamp from Penny BLack, called "Uplifting Occasion". It has been around for a few years now and every time I saw it, I liked it - so now with my new found passion for all things rubber I decided I had to have it. Although there are so many fabulous rubber stamps out there it is so hard to decide what to have.
The photo isn't very good - but I've layered the bra with lilac gingham card and inserted a scrap of lilac lace behind each cup and also on the top of the knickers. I also added some pastel green Papermania gems and a little bead flower. The base image was stamped in black staz-on and just pencil coloured. I'm really happy with this - it is so cute, the only thing I'd criticise is I need to improve the colouring on the cat's fur, not very good at getting a layered coloured look and was afraid if I added more colour I'd make a mess of it. So this is one stamp that I think will be well used!

paper piecing

I've actually been quite productive this week and made a few cards but I can't post any of them up here just yet. Two were for the summer card challenge over on CS - hosted by the talented Sabrina and the other was for the monthly card challenge, set by Jackie, the theme this month is "dressed up" - although with the weather we have been having "washed out" might have been more appropriate!
Using a lot of gingham at the moment it is just so cute and makes all my cards look really girly and sweet. The slippers came about after a visit to Debbie's blog - she had some lovely stamped and layered ones on a card. Mine are just cut freehand with some textured paper to add a bit of depth and interest - a really simple card that took no time. I find I'm going back to basics with a lot of my cardmaking recently - back to childhood days of colouring in. I'm going to cave soon and treat myself to some Marvy Uchida markers - the only problem is that are so many and I just can't afford them all and it is so difficult to decide which set I'd get most use out of. Stamping and colouring with pencil is fine for soft and subtle effects but some stamps need a bit more colour impact.
The fishing bag was more paper piecing and was my entry on Craft Supplies for the Father's day challenge. It is based loosely on the Georgee handbag design from Arty Farty Design and just layered up with foam pads, the strap is a bit of leather effect "stuff" I picked up last year - I find a use for everything eventually!

rubber fetish

Well after a long long time of resisting the temptation, I have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with rubber. I tried stamping when I first started making cards and was never happy with the results but now rubber stamps seem to be easier to use, the inks less messy and the results are fabulous! I ordered the Stampendous Bee Trio stamp at the weekend, it arrived on Tuesday but I have been having a new kitchen fitted, so this evening was the first time I got to play with it. I bought a heart stamp by Stampendous as well and I have to say, their stamps are so well defined and detailed. The rubber is deep etched and well mounted, it inks and stamps like a dream. I think this was part of my initial stamp phobia - the stamps I had were not great and I had fuzzy ink pads that put ink everywhere!
I've stamped and coloured loads of little bee pictures but only have one card to show for it so far but more will follow I'm sure and I think I need more of this set too! I used my watercolour pencils again but this time left them dry as I stamped the image with black staz - on onto white linen card because I love the cross hatch look the paper gives to the pencils.
I was also looking for a stamp by Duo Designs, it was on the Joanna Sheene site at one time and is of a little girl looking up but a google search and E bay trawl have proved fruitless - I can't even find the company. Has anyone heard of them?
Online I have been hanging out at www.savvynsassy.com - based in Canada, these girls have the most fabulous ribbon kits and lace and everything ribbon like. There are also the most cute ribbon irons you could imagine, although I'd want to start ironing clothes first! There's also a Guest Design spot up for grabs each month, some really friendly people and great inspiration in the gallery.... We are going to Canada on hols next year (have not managed this year's yet but already planning next years!) - He wants fishing and I want a hotel with a toddler club and a crop nearby, oh and a Dollarama store, my sister went on a fly drive for her honeymoon and came home with a case full of embossed wrapping paper for her cardmaking....
I was in Ennis last week and picked up some too cute pink gingham card out of the pay per box - I was very restrained and only had a €5 wallet but guess what? I'm trying to see if I can get back there tomorrow for some more! I made the little double paged card with tags from it. I haven't finished it because it is too cute to give away just yet. lol.

water colour pencils.

Inspired by Linda's wonderful cards on her blog, I decided to have a go at using water colour pencils but hadn't any stamps suitable for layering and colouring. Instead I drew a freehand petal shape, coloured it in with the pencils then added the water over the top with a brush. When it was dry I added black veining and then outlined all the pieces with a black pen.(I don't think I added enough water but I didn't want the colours to lose too much of their vibrancy - I guess it will be trial and error). I layered the petals into a flower shape and added a centre. Once mounted on the card I just doodled some stylised leaves and some faux stamens.
I really enjoyed making this - made me feel almost like a proper artist playing with brushes ( I must get some of the water filled brushes) and I think I'll be buying some stamps soon to try some more watercoluring with.

bless me

darn hay fever season....

believe

these cards have come about after a thread on www.craftsupplies.ie, where someone posted about using a ribbon as a letter. I'll have some for sale at the craft fair on Sunday and more to buy via snail mail - they cost €4.80 each including envelope for sending and cost of posting and packaging. I'll be donating a euro from each one to a local cancer charity. Or if you want something different or male orientated, I'd be happy to make one.
Then just for fun I made myself this little notebook - covered in crackle effect paper and stamped with a small square medallion stamp using some clear embossing powder and mounted up in the centre - then some Tim Holtz peeled paint distressed embossing powder, stamped directly onto the paper. Some fibres and ribbon around the spine and the spiral binding, with a mountboard clasp, covered with paper and secured with hook and loop tape. Since I took the photo, I added the words "DO" along the top right hand edge, so now I need never hunt for a scrap of paper with something "VIP" on it..... hmmmm we'll see. By next week, I 'll be reporting on massive hunt for missing book and how nothing can be done without it!

Arty Farty

the Arty Farty templates have been taking the UK and Irish craft market by storm, thanks to the shopping channels. I finally got around to making the cot, although by the time I had finished the cot, I hadn't the time or enthusiasm to add the mobile and box - which needs A3 card anyway but only have black card that big.
I used my Making Memories papers, which I think are just so cute - I'm altering a dressing table for the little pickle and want to incorporate them on the somehow. There just aren't enough hours in the day at the minute.
I'm also doing a craft fair on Sunday at the Ballyline Bar and Restaurant - on the road outside Crusheen, between Gort and Ennis. I'll have some demo pieces for personalised pieces that can be ordered - framed pieces, scrapbook pages, mini books, clocks, boxed cards etc. Some wedding invitation samples, personalised photo keyrings and bracelets and picture candles. a bit of anything and everything really, along with some fabby scrapbooking papers from Cherry Arte, Center City Designs, Sassafrass Lass and Imagination Projects, rub offs and chipboards. For cardmakers I'll also be selling sets of 6 ultra fine glitters, peel offs, charms, prima daisies and more bits n bobs.
I'll also be taking details of anyone interested in taking cardmaking classes - starting in September - sp if anyone is passing pop and say "Hi"... I'll be the one with inky fingers and glue spots on my trousers!

life in the old dog....

My dog is starting to look like an old man. Not only has he got grey jowls and grey head, now he has started going bald again. Every summer he gets really itchy and hot, sore patches on his skin and face with itchy eyes. Have tried countless pills, potions, lotions, injections, blood tests etc but to no avail - every summer for the past 3 years has led to vet bills galore, until the vet finally put it down to general "atrophy". He has been suffering more since people have started cutting their grass, so have decided to try a course of homeopathy tablets on him.... fingers crossed it will help.
Anyway, I realised that although I've been taking the odd photo of him, I haven't done any scrapbook layouts or pictures of him for ages. So I snapped this as he was trying to get me to give him an extra biscuit and now it's up on my hall wall. I love my old mutt.

life without you....

I've been offline for nearly a month. My broadband went a bit wonky and with having things done to the house, i neglected to fix it and then when I tried, I failed and then had to wait for some techy type support.
Anyway, up and running again now. Although I've been neglecting my crafting as well, although I have done some invitations but they are for a suprise party - so I'd better keep them under my hat!
The little pickle is growing so fast and her poor gums are seriously sore - there are quite a few teeth on the verge of "popping" through and making her very grizzly at times. But she is still the cutest baby ever (biased? Nah....)
The local post office has also taken 10 Father's Day cards to try and sell them. All of my profit from them will go towards sponsoring a little girl "Nourka" from Mauritania, through Worldvision and 20% of any other profit I make from any other craft and cardmaking projects in future. I can;t change the whole world, as much as I'd like to but I can change the future of one little girl and that's her whole world. If we all could change things for the better for just one person in life, we can do huge things in the world.

second attempt

Ok - this is my second attempt at the blogging malarkey.... The 1st one was great for 2 posts and then I forgot my password and have been trying ever since to get into the darn thing! So back to the beginning....

Doing a customised silver plated charm bracelet for an Auction to be held in aid of ANVIL - they campaign for much needed animal welfare legislation in Europe. I have made a "prototype" but the winning bidder will have a bracelet made especially for them, featuring their photos as little charms, silver plate charms, beads and semi precious stones. I'd be delighted to take any reserve bids if anyone would like to support this worthwhile cause. There will be a host of other crafty and non craft goodies up for auction as well and I'll post details as and when I know more.

The little keyring charms are my latest project - I have a limited number available for sale. Each is handmade using your photos and any text you might want and then attached to a keyring with bead and charm accents. Each one comes gift wrapped and in a little organza gift bag. Price per keyring is just €5. Also commissions for charm bracelets as well - you can basically design your own or just send photos, it's up to you!