My Crafty Bits

A few cards

2010-07-03T00:24:00.002+01:00

Well despite my good intentions it's been quite a while since I posted. Still haven't got back into the swing of crafting. Most of what I've done has been stuff I've had to do, and usually in a hurry too. It seems like the last month or so I just been chasing my tail. You know when you're really busy but you have nothing to show for it. I suppose I did start a new job at the beginning of June but I don't think I can really use that as an excuse. Hopefully now that I have my summer holidays I'll get back into it. Still haven't printed off any photos from the travels but I suppose once I do I'll have a reason to get scrapping again. Speaking of photos I booked a photographer for the wedding today (well we booked but you know what I mean, I decided and he paid lol). Here's his blog . I love his style of photography. He's really passionate about capturing the day naturally and moments as they happen rather than staged shots. I love the idea of that.

Anyway here's some of what I've been up to in the craftroom.

Here's a get well card I did just the other day

I reckon it's the first time I've used that swirly stamp in the 3 or so years I've had it.

This card is for my niece who's 1 tomorrow, and guess what I just realised as I was doing this card - She's given me something to use my 'z's for. Now I just need to know someone with an 'x' in their name.

This is a birthday card I did for my granny. The ink is metallic so that's why you can't see some of the greeting. It's all there really.

Here is one I did for the principal inn the school I used to work in. He retired recently. The logo on the front is the school crest. They're not actually the school colours, but they're the colours of the school teams, so I don't think he'll mind. Designed it myself on the craftrobo. Impressed myself with that. Usually I just download templates or merge shapes.

I made this for a boy I used to babysit.Obviously enough it was for his First Communion. You can't see but the white background behind the cross is embossed with swiss dots.

There have been a few other but I can't remember if I took photos of them and if I did I certainly can't find them on any memory stick! Oh well!

TFL, Jan

Recipe Box and Wedding Card

2010-04-26T23:56:00.005+01:00

While we were in Australia I managed to find a scrapbook store and picked up a few bits. I came across an Australian company called Kaiser Craft that do a cool range of alterable stuff, amongst other things. This recipe box came in a flat pack. It's made from chipboard ( the wooden stuff not the scrapping stuff) and it probably cost more to post home than to actually buy. I decorated it using BG Gypsy paper, some cardstock, of course my scallop border punch and some acrylic paint. Quite happy with the end result.

Thanks to the girls over on CraftSupplies who helped
me with the quotes.

Now all I need to do is fill it with delicious recipes.

I made this wedding card for my friend's wedding last week. I made the whole template myself in Design Master for the CraftRobo. It took me quite a while to start to get to grips with it again but I was delighted with the result. I actually really like this card.

P.S. I know it looks a bit warped in places but it wasn't IRL.

TFL, Jan

Been a long. long time.

2010-04-11T19:06:00.004+01:00

Well it's been quite a while since I've posted on here. The main reason is that I was away for a year. But I'll have to admit that I'm home since just before Christmas and it took me ages to get back crafting. First off my craftroom was used as a dumping ground while I was away so I had to tidy it up. It was nice to rediscover all my stuff again thoough. Then to be honest my mojo was AWOL, completely. I only did a few cards here and there and they were all last minute rush jobs. I'm on Easter holidays now though and I decided to make a concentrated effort to get back crafting and I think I'm getting back into the swing of it. It's been all cardmaking and no scrapping. I reckon it will take an age to go through all the photos from travelling and when I do I'd probably have to give up my day job to get them all scrapped (wishful thinking).

Anyway so here are a few of the bits and pieces I have managed to do.

Way back in December Jackie very kindly put one of her workshop kits up for grabs and I was lucky enough to win it. It arrived just in time for me to make this card.

Thanks Jackie!

Anyway as you might guess from the card, I got engaged. A few friends have followed suit so I've been doing quite a few Engagement cards. Only remembered to take pictures of these 2 though.

Then my aunt asked me to make this Wedding card for her.

Since I'm on a lovey-dovey theme this is the Valentine's card I did for BF.

I've done a few birthday cards for the too, most of them for the birthday club over on Craftsupplies, but these are the only ones I photographed.

I didn't make any Easter cards, but I did bake this Rice Krispie Nest for BF for Easter. You can really see but the inside is lined with Maltesers and Minstrels with a few mini marshallows for good measure.

You might have notice that I'm after getting 2 new scalloped border punches. I'm so addicted and using them on everything at the moment.

Anyway that's about all I've done in a while. Have one other little thing on the go so will post up a few pics once it's done (hopefully not too long).

TFL, Please leave a comment and link to your own blog so I can try and catch up a bit more, Jan

Some LO's and Christmas cards.

2008-11-23T17:08:00.016Z

I've gotten a few LO's done since I've been to Caroline's crop last weekend. I got the class LO done but must find a picture to put into it. I know what picture but must try to root it out. I'm going to do an album for my mum for Christmas so I want to put in a picture of her and her sister when they were young and I know we have the picture in a frame somewhere but we're painting downstairs so everything is dumped in one room and I haven't managed to root it out yet. I also got another 2 done for the album, one at the crop and one today but I must ask my Nan for some details for journalling and titles so I haven't taken pictures of them yet.

This is the other one I got done at the crop. It's my nephew Matthew (surprise, surprise!) having a little snooze. The papers are October Afternoon I think, they're from one of the Scraproom kits.

Here's another one of the little man, using papers from another Scraproom kit, this months one I think.

Ok yet another. This was his first time wearing his munster kit. I must find out about the match that was on that day so I can do some journalling on it.

This is one I did a good while ago. Thought I took a picture of it for the last post but I hadn't so here it is. The papers are Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl. I love these papers so much. It's the one collection pack I've probably used the most.

This card is one of those tri fold triangle ones, and I used the word circle tutorial posted over on CS. Used the craftrobo to cut out the cricles and scallops. BTW, Its straight IRL.

I did this Tilda for a challenge. I wanted to do something a bit different with Tilda. I sent it to Kiki for her birthday.

I've been making some Christmas cards over the last while too.

Think this one could be a bit plain.

Think this is missing something.

So that's about all I have to show,

TFL, Jan

2008-11-13T18:39:00.006Z

Can't believe its been over amonth since I blogged.

Although actually maybe I can. I've been so busy with stuff the last while. I thought I'd have loads of time over the mid-term but you know when you have time off and you plan things and when you back to work you're nearly worse off than before the break. Today i felt like i was chasing my tail all day and tomorrow is going to be busy too. But at least I've Caroline's crop on Sunday. Really looking forward to it because I missed the last two.

Anyway I've done a few cards and layouts in between the busyness.

These two baby ones were for an order.

This one was using a sketch that was posted over on Craftsupplies.

This is a card I made for my BF's aunt. She has Down's Syndrome and goes to a group called CASA. They meet every week and her 'boyfriend' there makes cards for her every so often. My BF's mum asked me to make some for her to give to him the next time so this is one I did

I've done a few LO's too but this seems to be the only one I've taken a photo of.

Will try to photograph the rest and post them, shortly hopefully.

TFL, Jan

2008-10-11T20:15:00.007+01:00

Even though I haven't blogged in a few weeks I have been doing some crafting.
I got an order for these 2 wedding cards (I know they're both almost the same but the couples don't know each other)

This Christmas card was part of the same order.
I like how it turned out, but can't believe I've made a Christmas card this early.

October is busy in our house because both of my brothers and I have our birthdays and Mum and Dad's Anniversary is coming up too. Here are the cards I made for the two boys.

I did this photo frame/LO type thing for my oldest brother too.
It's in one of those 'frameless' glass frames IYKWIM.
Have done a little bit of scrapping too.
I've been wanting to scrap this photo for ages and finally got it done. I like the LO but not 100% happy with the journalling. It's stuck on with repositionable Herma though so i might change it yet.
I had this LO almost done when I saw Sketch 20 over on Creative Scrappers. It really fits the Sketch so I must post it over there too.
Have another LO done too but no journalling on it yet so I'll hold up on posting it 'til it's all done.

TFL, Jan

A few bits

2008-09-27T02:25:00.005+01:00

Got absolutely no crafting done this week but here's a few bits I did manage to do over last weekend.

This is a LO I did using some papers from a 3Bugs Kit.

I think this picture is just so cute.

Then I did one using these papers from September's Scrap-Room kit. I was trying to go with 'white space' but i think it may look a bit bare. Not sure what I should add to it.

I've did a batch of 50 of these cards and I'm just waiting on more card blanks to come in so I can do around 30 more. The blue is a bit more vivid IRL, especially in the stamped bits and the picture is whiter than it looks here.

Then it was my BF's birthday during the week so I made this card for him using leftovers from the Prima papers I used for the LO in the last post.

So that's about all at the moment,
TFL, Jan

2 LO's

2008-09-16T18:17:00.004+01:00

I managed to get 2 LO's done this weekend.

I just love this picture and am so glad I got it scrapped. I think the papers are Prima, they're from a kit from one of Caroline's crops.

This might just be my favourite LO of all the LO's I've ever done. I'm just so pleased with how it all came together. The photos are of my nephew and th PP were in last months ScrapRoom kit.

On Friday Neasa organised some Scrappy Bingo over on the CS forum. Myself and two other girls won prizes. I got my prize in the post today and I'm only just thinking I should have taken a picture of it. Ooops! Will take one later coz I'm too lazy now. Anyway I got some lovely glitter paper and 2 other lovely sheets of paper, some stickers and stamped images (i'm ignoring the theme of them for a while). Thanks Neasa.

TFL, Jan

Thanks Lynn

2008-09-09T15:50:00.003+01:00

It was so nice to home to this lovely package after work today.

It was the RAK that I won on Lynn's blog. It had 2 magazines, a BG Rub On Roller and Precision File Set, Papermania Sweet Nothings 6x6 paper pack (which I was admiring in CAS this weekend) and matching chipboard embellishments, a Versamark pen, a gorgeous set of vintage style stamps and some EZ Mount (I was thinking of getting some of this last week when I was stamping with my Bella's so I'm delighted with that)

Thanks so much Lynn,you've made my day.

A Quick Post

2008-09-08T17:22:00.002+01:00

I did this card last night for my BF because we're together 8 years today. So sort of an anniversary card I suppose. Not my usual style and I think there's something missing but whatever it is it's not in my stash coz I've tried a few bits and nothing seems quite right with it. Did this LO yesterday as well. It's kinda based on the bonus sketch here
I couldn't think of any title but I actually think I like it without one.

TFL, Jan

A few Cards.

2008-09-05T17:43:00.008+01:00

I've made a few cards in the last couple of days.
Another Coredinations one.

I did this one using some Basic Grey PP and a Papermania flower (from a pack that I've had for ages and had yet to use)

I decided I'd better get some use from my Bella's too. I've them a couple of months and only ever stamped them to see what they were like when I got them. SO the other night I stamped a few and coloured them in while watching Prison Break.
These are the cards I did with them.

Made 4 of each of them.
Must use the other few now.

Lastly, thanks a million to Lynn decided to share some of her CardnScrapz prize as a RAK and chose me. Yaaay. I'm thrilled. Thanks Lynn

TFL, Jan

Cork Crop and Few More 'finished off' LO's

2008-08-30T11:37:00.005+01:00

Well Caroline had her August crop last weekend and I managed to get a good bit done. I started off with my Scraproom kit and I did this LO of my nephews Christening. I think the papers are all Making Memories. Then I did this canvas as a present for my BF's mum. The paper and tags are 3Bugs.

Then we had the class itself. Caroline did a fab Lo using Heidi Grace papers. It really suited her sepia picture but because I didn't have that style of picture I used the reverse of some of the papers and a different sheet of cardstock to make a brighter LO.

Then I 'finished off' this LO. I had the background part done (the paper on the cardstock) from a previous crop but never had a photo to suit. So i added this photo, the title, journalling and embellishement to finish it.

When I came home I finished this off. I had it almost all done but I had no title or journalling so I just added those.

This is another LO I did at one of the crops but my journalling stamp went MIA for a while so i had never added the jornalling til recently.

Then I came across this LO that had no photo (again). It was from a crop that Lora did AGES ago but I'd never had a photo to suit. I took this one of my BF when I was doing CJ's Painting with Light photography course a few months ago.

I got my hands on some of the Coredinations cardstock form Cork Art Supplies recently and had to test it out. Here are two cards I did with it. I embossed it with Cuttlebug folders and sanded it to show the core colour

That's about all for now.

TFL, Jan

Been Busy

2008-07-31T17:23:00.003+01:00

Well first off is a first birthday cardI did for my BF's nephew. It was a bit of a quickie. The PP is BG Cupcake (again) and the text was cut on Craft Robo

I've finally managed to getting some LO's of my own nephew done too. I bought a lovely little baby boy album in CAS and I was determined to fill it. So far I've gotten four done, so I'm happy with that.

This one is a scraplift of one that Kate posted on CraftSupplies. I used BG 2 Scoops for this. I even hand cut the flourish on the side, which is a big deal for me. I hate hand cutting anything fiddly.

Next up is one using KI Memories that were left over from Amber's class at Crafteire

Then I did this one, which probably turned out a littlebit girly but I went with the colours in the photo so i can't be blamed. I have no idea what the PP is.I've had it for AGES. It was some of the first PP i bought and I think I gotit on ebay. I used a sketch from Creative Scrappers SketchFest.Kate posted a link overon CS and its a fab blog, definitely worth a peek.

Then I did this LO, very roughly based on Sketch 93 Pencillines

I cut the bubbly bit on Craft Robo and even designed it myself.

Lastly, this is one ofme and BF in Lanzarote last year. I started this ages ago but my white pen ran out and it tookmy a while to source a new one. I finished it a few weeks ago.

I think I'll leave it at that for this post, TFL, Jan

End of Year Presents.

2008-06-29T21:34:00.004+01:00

Well I've seen lots of gorgeous end of year presents on some forums, and being a teacher you'd think I'd be receiving them not giving. But I did one for a friend of mine whose going to a different school and a card for another teacher in the school who was especially good to me and my class during the year.

This is a canvas that a painted with acrylic daubers and the sanded so the texture of the canvas showed through. Papers are 3 Bugs. It was a bit of a quickie but the receipient liked it.

Used BG cupcake papers for this and a stamp Petra kindly sent on to me. The writing is rub-ons.

I made about 10 cards for one order and I was convinced I took photo's of them but they're not on the camera.
Speaking of which my camera has died. Completely not working anymore. I'm so sad about it coz I loved it, and because I'm going to have to fork out for a new one now. I have ordered a new battery on ebay just in case that's the problem but I don't think so coz when i but the battery in to the charger the charger lights up and tells me when the battery's charged. :(
TFl, Jan

Ooops...left it a bit long again

2008-06-21T14:34:00.030+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted but I've had such a hectic month since my last post.

Started off with a trip to Cardiff for the Heineken cup final. What a brilliant weekend. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like the atmosphere that was over there. It was something else altogether.

Crowds outside the Millenium Stadium

Some of our group.

It was great that they got the win but we would have enjoyed it even if they didn't there was such banter and shenanigans going on. Our ferry was delayed on the way back so we didn't get home until 3 0'clock on the Monday morning and then I had to go to work :( Didn't mind it so much though because we had the Sciath na Scol Final (a schools hurling competition) which we won. I think it might have topped Cardiff. It was a huge deal in our school and obviously the win had to be celebrated that night.

Spent the week putting finishing touches on outfits for a fancy dress that weekend. Myself and BF went as Dorothy and the Tinman (thanks Jackie for the suggestion) I made both of the costumes.

I got the shoes in Penney's for €12 and they had these awful gold buckles on the front. I intended to sparkle them up with stickles but when I took of the buckles and put on little red bows they were quite cut so I left them alone. I wear them out now the whole time and I've never received so much compliment on a pair of shoes. Typical.

My Mum and Dad went as Mike and Sully from Mosters Inc. - his name is Mike and Mum's maiden name is O' Sullivan so some people would call her Sully. I made their costumes too.

Here's the card I made for the birthday girl.

The following day was my Nana's 85th birthday so I drove up to Kerry for that. I made her a very similar card.

(Ooops -glue was still wet under some of the gems when I took the photo)

The following Tuesday this little guy arrived.

This is my nephew Matthew, who was born on the 3rd of June, weighing in at 9lbs 4. He's the first child on both sides of the family so we're all chuffed to bits with him.

I was inspired by Mella to make a star card for him, except my star only has 4 points so its more like a square card :) And obviously I don't have her drawing/painting talent so I cut shapes on my CraftRobo instead.

I also made this album of some of the photo's I took of him on his first day. I got it from Linny's shop at Crafteire. She did a fab class with it which I missed unfortunately but I bought the blank book and she was kind enough to email me the instructions. I used Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl papers beacuse the journalling cards were just right. I wasn't 100% happy with cover - I think it's lacking something but I was pleased with the rest of it.

I made this Thank You card for a TY student I had helping out in my classroom during the year. Its using Basic Grey Cupcake papers, from a 6x6 pad I bought in Cork Art Supplies

Had to do a birthday card for my BF's golf mad dad. Used the same papers and the golfafella stamp from Stamping Bella.

And a wedding card that I totally card lifted from Kate.

Did this card for my Dad for Father's Day. He's big into Sudoku.

Tfl, Jan

2 'finished off' LO's, some photos and Geocaching

2008-05-18T13:41:00.013+01:00

I finally decided to put the finishing touches to some Lo's that I've had lying around for a while that weren't quite done. Most were just missing a title or journalling so it wasn't too hard to do.

The first is a LO I've had done for quite a while and I wanted to finish it off at Crafteire by adding the journalling spot but I lost my stamps so I had to order new ones and wait for them.

The second one started off a challenge for Crafteire but when I came home I changed it a bit but never added a title so now I think it's finished.

I've been busy taking photo's for Cj's Painting with Light course too. I'm really enjoying it and learning loads, even if some weeks it's hard to get the time to really play around with the camera. Anyway here are some of my shots from the last 3 modules.

These are shots of BF's aunt. I was so pleased to get some nice pictures of her. She has Down's Syndrome and whenever she know's her photo is being taken she tilts her chin right up and 'smiles' which means her whole face is scrunched up. I thought these turned out well.

We had to try some silhouettes last week. I'm not sure about the sun flare in the first one but i love the shot other than that. Its my BF pucking around with his hurley and sliothar. Had to give him something to do coz he was so uncomfortable just standing there having his photo taken. Last is a shot of Drake's Pool on the Owenabue River near Crosshaven for anyone who knows my neck of the woods.

We had to take some people shots this week and this is what I came up with.

BF and BF's mum.

This morning I went Geocaching with my dad. We were looking for a cache down in Currabinny Woods. For anyone who doesn't know the woods there's two entrance points and the satnav was guiding us towards the 'back' entrance. So we parked up there and ended up walking beyond the co-ordinates IYKWIM. So we decided to leave the trail and trek through the trees. When we got to the co-ordinates we had great fun rooting around lloking for cahce and were delighted when we found it.

Have earmaked a few more that are nearby so hopefully we'll get out to them soon enough.

TFL, Jan

DCM, Tigger's 40th, Caroline Crop, Some Cards and Some Photos

2008-04-28T22:11:00.019+01:00

Well I've been busy since I've last been on. Have gotten 2 DCM dares done, been to Tigger's 'surprise' 40th birthday party, went to Caroline's crop, taken loads of photos for CJ's Painting with Light course, made some cards and bought a few stamps online too.

I'll start with the DCM dares. This weeks one was 'Most Distressing.'

Hi it's Keryn here and it's my turn to Distress you all, or at least your cards with this weeks dare. You can make a card for any season, any holiday, any occaision but you need to use either a fingernail, curled edges, sandpaper, tearing, anything you like really as long as looks like it's had a fair bit or wear and tear.

I made two cards for this (well really 2 versions of the exact same card) and another almost identical one that has no distressing because it just didn't suit the colours.

The lighthouse is one of the stamps I bought in my little shopping spree.

I also tried out Lythan's doodling tutorial and I have to say I love it. Thanks so much Lythan. Here are the two doodled cards I did.

On Friday night it was Tigger's 'surprise' 40th birthday. We were all asked to wear black and orange out of respect for her tiggerness. I had nothing black or orange so I bought a €3 top in Penney's and altered it with some felt and fur.

Here's a group shot of all the crafter's . I'm second from the left.

Me and Caroline - thanks for the seat for the night Caroline : )

Eva and Tigger admiring the birthday LO's.

More admiring.

Then on Sunday I went to Caroline's crop. Another great day with a fab class. There was an option of either a mini book or a LO with the kit, which was REALLY generous.
The mini-album was absolutely gorgeous, I loved how it was bound but I though I have quite a few that have never had any photo's in the yet, and I had a picture that suited the LO so I took the easier/lazier option and went with the LO.

The green cardstock with the picture on it is a flap that lifts up to reveal a space where there should/will be jouranlling at some stage.The photo is my mum and granny taken at my Mum's 50th last year.

Then I did this LO all by myself using Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl papers from a pack I got in the US last October that had never been opened. I'm really happy with how it turned out and that its finished with nothing else to be added (for a change.)

The photo was taken the same night as the one in the other LO, when we were all together for Mum's birthday.

I also made some cards. I bought a flowerpot shaped punch from Meg - well it was half price so I had to. Made a few variations of the same kind of card.

Also made some cards using my new Magnolia Tilda stamps and a sketch from My Paper World.

This cake and candles stamp is a Magnolia one too.

Cut the scallop circle and inner circle for this on my CraftRobo.

Oh and the pictures I took for CJ's course last week.

Well its taken me ages to load up everything for this post, so if you are taking a peek please leave a comment, if only just to say hello.

TFL, Jan

Some cards and photos

2008-04-16T19:23:00.006+01:00

Well since we've gone back to school after Easter I've been hectic. I don't have a minute to myself and really I'm only crafting as is necessary - basically birthday cards that are due.

Here's some I've done recently

Got the idea for this one from Jackie's tutorial on Scrapwest. Thanks for sharing it Jackie.

Used the CraftRobo for this one. Can't take credit for the boot template though. I'd never have had the time to come up with it myself so thanks to 'Sugar and Spice' over on UKS for putting it up.

Again Thank You here was cut on the Robo. (Apologies for rubbish photo. It was a really 'get it in the post asap' so photo was taken at night in my craftroom)

I haven't had time to keep up with any of the recent dares over on DCM, but have a look at this weeks Little Extra. It's a FAB tutorial from Lythan that I can so see myself using loads. Its brilliant. Definitely worth a peek!

I've been busy keeping up with CJ's Painting With Light photography course too. It's only the second module but I'm loving it.

Here are the 3 photo's I submitted last week.

First is a picture of our washing line - well Mum's really. I'll be perfectly honest and say I never really have much to do with it.

Then this is obviously a swan. Taken at the Lough in Cork for anyone who knows it.

Last one is the arm of a rocking chair we have. I don't know what it is about this one but I really like it.

Here are the ones that nearly made the cut.

View into our garden from the gate.

Another swan.

TFL, Jan

DCM Shrink to Fit

2008-04-07T16:56:00.005+01:00

Kathy set the challenge this week, it was a bit tough but I enjoyed it.

Shrink to Fit
I used to be able to make cards with lots of "white space" around the designs, but lately when I've tried to do this my cards just look sooooo naked!
So this week I'd like you to think small - not small cards, but small spaces of embellishment on regular sized cards.
You are allowed to cover no more than a 5x5cms area of your card with paper or embellishment - the rest of the card must be left plain.
How you use those valuable cms is up to you. So you may choose to split up those cms to use around your card, or use them in a block or a line. It might help to cut a few 5x5cm squares then cut those up to work out good ways of using your allotment. Making your whole card a miniscule 5x5cms is NOT an option!! Lets have no cheating (I know what you lot are like.....),but because I'm feeling generous, I'm going to let you add a SIMPLE greeting as extra to your 5x5 allowance! :-)

The greens match better IRL.

I also made a birthday card for someone I work with. I think the patterned papers are 3 Bugs and the greeting is cut on Craftrobo.

We got our first assignment for Cheryl Johnson's Painting With Light photography course so I was out snapping over the weekend. Some of the other doing the course have produce some fab pictures. Here's one that I took, don't think it's going to be in the top 3 but we'll have to see.

TFL, Jan

DCM Pretty Pastels and a bit more

2008-04-04T20:17:00.007+01:00

The theme is Pretty Pastels, I think Jane was feeling all springlike and summery when she came up with this one!!! And you know what she was right - they do look scrummy all lined up on the blog don't they. We would love to see what you make of this theme!

I'm a bit late with posting this. I'm back to work after the Easter Holidays and for some reaon I seem to have less time for crafting and blogging LOL. I actually did this challenge on the day it was set but haven't had time to upload it. Had 3 cards to do for the one lady so it was great to get a bit of a push. I embossed some white card with the Paisley Cuttlebug embossing folder and chalked it in pastel colours. The greeting is computer printed because it was a personalised card and I didn't have time to stamp the whole greeting with individual letters. Here are the other two i made for her.

The photo's are poor because as usual they were taken in a rush before I had to give them away.

Last weekend I went to the Cork Croppers Crop and had a great day. This is the LO we did. Caroline had done hers with loads of pictures of 'Me Trough the Years' but I couldn't arrange my pictures in a way that I liked so i took the easy option and just put in one picture. Its my mum and me at my brother's wedding last year.

I did get another LO (almost) done. I just need to add the journalling. I'm waiting to use a journalling stamp that I have ordered. Hopefully it'll arrive this week and I can get the LO done, I even know what I want to say!

Must say thanks a million to Joanne who gave me a little storage box. Can't believe she was giving it away. I have about 7or 8 of them, I find them so handy. Thanks to Ber too who brought stamps and loads of papers that she didn't want anymore. Actually I used some for the right hand birthday card above. She also gave me some baby rub ons because my brother (the one who got married last June) is going to a Daddy soon (wow that's wierd) so I'm hoping I'll have loads of pictures to scrap.

Anyway, TFL, Jan

Flowers that bloom in Spring and Painting With Light

2008-03-26T23:06:00.004Z

DCM Little Extra this week as set by Sue again

Our midweek Little Extra is titled ‘The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring’ and we would like you to create a card with flowers. Simple? Aww but hold on…….there’s a little twist because we don’t want to make it too easy for you. We want your cards to have flowers on but we don’t want to see any Prima’s or shop brought blooms. The idea of this dare is for you create your flowers yourself, so let’s see what you can come up with.

I stamped a flower image, coloured in with Twinkling H2O's, and the small little flower charm on the ribbon was punched from Shrink Plastic, inked with StazOn, sanded and then shrunk.Unfortunately, I can't find my set of greeting stamps anywhere. I had this cool little MSE set with loads of greetings that were great for cards and I can't find them anywhere. I think I lost them at Crafteire. So i had to handwrite the greeting and I don't really like it.

I've just started Cheryl Johnson's Painting With Light course. Part of our first assignment was to take a self portrait to include our name. Here's mine.

TFL, Jan

DCM Its all in the Game

2008-03-23T13:57:00.004Z

Sue set the dare this week.

Tiddlywinks, playing cards, dominos, jig saw pieces…….the list goes on and I’m sure that most of us have a drawer somewhere that has the odd one or two of these lying around in.Well now’s your chance to use them because I dare you to make a card using some of those pieces.Oh and no, you don’t need to throw a double six to start playing.

So this is what is what I did.

This was a card I needed to make in a hurry. The Happy Birthday was cut on CraftRobo. The PP is BG Hang 10 and I was delighted that Jane's card reminded me of the Scrabble type letter tiles I have.

BTW Jane, I totally beat your score!!!

TFL, Jan

DCM Teen Spirit Little Extra + a few cards

2008-03-18T12:55:00.007Z

The Little extra over on DCM last Friday was Teen Spirit ste by Rachel

"Well I thought we have had plenty of flowers and hearts and girly things so I would like some cards with some teen spirit please."

When I saw the title of the dare the first thing that came to my head was the NIrvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit. I googled the song lyrics and images and was inspired by the Nirvana Smiley/Stoned face logo like this

So I went with the black and yellow theme (which is waaaay out of my comfort zone - I'm more pretty pink and pastels).

I stamped a swirly image over and over and embossed it with yellow embossing powder for the background. Mounted this on yellow and stuck it on the card. The star in the centre was doen on the craftrobo. Stuck this on black cardstock and wrapped the ribbon around it. I was a bit stuck for a greeting. The only one I had that would fit in the space was 'birthday wishes' in a lovely script font that I didn't really think matched the feel of the card. So i cut the celebrate out on the robo too. Great that I'm getting the use from it.

I've done a few other cards in the last few days too.

The first two are for my BF's aunt

The red and white one is a cardlift of some cards that Littlebit (on Craftsupplies) did for the birthday club this month. I loved the design and wanted to try it myself (with her permission of course)

The next is a trifold card (tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers) that I've been dying to try out for ages. the flower embellsihment in the centre was done using the paper clay technique that Jane Dean taught at Crafteire.

The last one is another birthday card. The background on this was done using versamark and chalks. It was a demo Jackie did at one of Lainey's crops ages ago.

Have to say This is one of my favourite cards. I just adore the colours in it. I nearly don't want to give it away.

Anyway, TFL, Jan

DCM My Favorite Things

2008-03-12T16:54:00.005Z

This weeks DCM challenge was set by Mel

What you need to do is use one of Mel's favourite things on your card (embroidery cotton/thread, buttons, felt or fabric) and combine it with one of your favourite things

One of Mel's favourite things I used was buttons.
Of my own favorite things to use on cards, I couldn't narrow it down to one. I'm loving Cuttlebug embossing folders at the moment so you can see the centre of the flower is embossed with the D'vine Swirls folder. I love it.
I'm really liking scalloped circles too and I used a template that Shanaravery kindly posted over on the UKS Craftrobo forum as the flower. What a fab template.
You can see the edges of the patterned paper and the circle in the centre of the flower are inked. You'll find inked edges in almost all my cards, I really like the effect.
And last but not least I love ribbon and had to include it somewhere in the card, so I used it for the stem and leaves of the flower.
So there you go, just a few of my favourite (cardmaking) things.

TFL, Jan

Blog Makeover, Crafteire and a few unfinished LO's

2008-03-10T16:53:00.019Z

Since my last post you may have noticed I've given the blog a bit of a makeover. Well really I just chose another template but I did create the new banner myself. Hope you like it. Pink is just so much more me. : )

I was at Crafteire the weekend before last and had a brilliant time thanks to KateG and Mireille who did a fab job of organising it yet again. Myself and Orla drove up on the Friday, after spending about 45 minutes trying to get into Cork city to drop Matthew off for a class we eventually abandoned him so we could get on the road to Tullamore. We arrived up just in time to drop our bags off in the crop room and order dinner. Tigger had organised dinner again this year and loads of the girls were there. It was great to meet all the old faces again and put faces to some of the new names on the forums. After dinner we spent the evening scrapping away until the early hours. Kate and Mireille had set a challenge to create a LO using only 3 sheets of Sassafrass Lass pp which we had been given, a photo, adhesive and pens. This is what I came up with.

I did add pink cardstock for the journalling afterwards. I had a title too but I didn't like it. The photo really isn't all that significant. Its just of me standing in my Granny's kitchen and the journalling is just all about things I remember/like about her house. Any ideas on a title???

Anyway myself and Orla toddled back to our B&B, the Dinnis Cottage, at around 1am and we conked for the night. Up early enough the following morning. I had Beckie's Rusty Pickle class at 11.30. Won't post a picture coz I haven't added any photo's but we did an accordian album using RP Heirloom papers I think. The album turned out lovely and I must try to get some photo's into it soon. Might even try another one if I can get my hands on it. They really are fab. All prescored and put together for you almost.

Had Amber Jane's Fancy Pants class after lucnh and it was really great. We got gorgeous kits with lovely papers, die cuts and rub-ons. Here's what I made in the class.

Slightly different from Amber's but I think it suits my photo better. This one is off my Granny and again I haven't put in the title, will probably go the boring route and stick with My Granny or Nana Betty if I an fit it in somewhere. Don't really want to cover over the lovley rub-ons.

After Amber's class it was straight on to Eva's class where we used Sassafrass Lass Felicity papers to make a LO where we focused on the photo. I have to say I really enjoyed this class because it wouldn't be my style usually and it was nice to try something different and I really like Eva's style.

Here's the LO I did and again it was slightly different from Eva's. I used plain cardstock as the base rather that patterned paper.

Have to say I love how it turned out (probably because I actually finished it). Thanks Eva.

I managed to get a spare (well almost spare) place in Amber's othe class., Hey Sunhine using KI Memories pop culture papers. It was a fantastic class and again the kit was brilliant. Don't have a photo of what we did because i haven't yet added photo's to the LO. Thanks to Tigger and Mireille for squeezing me in to this class and sorry for upsetting the applecart.

Saturday eveing we did Jane Dean's master class in the crop room. What a class. I don't know how this lady come up with her ideas. We were each given a sheet of Efa Plast , which is a sort of air drying paper clay. Well we rolled out the clay, stamped into it to create an image/texture and let it dry for the night. This gave us lovely tiles to paint and decorate. We used them to embellish the lid of a little box we were given.

Again there was a few scrapped into the early hours of the morning. I managed to get 2 non-class LO's done over the weekend. Well actually one was a class from last year's Crafteire that I only put together this year.

It was using the kit and most of the instructions from Amber's class last year with a few of my own variatons.

Again no title, again no ideas. Suggestions anyone???

Here's the other one I did. And this was all my own work. Not 100% done but very close.Have to say I was delighted to get so many LO's done (or thereabouts anyway). Usually I don't have photo's that suit.

On Sunday morning we finished off Jane's master class by making a piano hinged mini book to put in the box we had decorated. I didn't finish this off but I loved the idea of it. So different.

Overall this year's Crafteire was really brilliant. Different from the previous two years but just as good. I liked how there were no classes on the Sunday apart from Jane's one in the morning, which gave you plenty of time to finish off things you had started yourself or in classes. Initially I only booked for 3 classes and the masterclass so I would have this time. If I had realised it i would definitely have tried to get into Linny's class. She did the most beautiful chipboard and acetate mini album. All the one's I was turned out fab. Her make and take was fab too. Made a beautiful actetate keyring/photoframe. It was really lovely. The other make and takes were fab too. Beckie's Rusty Pickle mini album was so cute and I had great fun with the Grungeboard that Crafteire provided too. It was a pity I didn't get a chance to play with the Bind-It-All Annamarie had but I figure Orla will let me play with the one she bought.

Other than Crafteire I got some crafting in at Caroline's last crop. One is totally finished, surprisingly enough.

The other one needs a title and jornalling.

Her next crop is on the 30th of March and I'm looking forward to it already.

On the card making side, my friend ahd a baby boy last week and this is the card i made for her. Not the greatest photo but it was taken in a hurry before I gave it away. The card and the baby were cut on the CraftRobo. The 'It's a Boy' bit at the end is ribbon.

So that's all. Must be my longest post by a longshot,

TFL, Jan.

Valentine's Cards

2008-02-17T20:28:00.003Z

Well I was away skiing for Valentine's Day but had been asked to make a crad for a friend for her BF.
I made this on the CR.

Its hard to see (because its such a bad photo) but its kind of 3d. The front of the card folds back onto itself and the hearts kind of pop out of it IYKWIM. The red bit on the left hand side is fabric from an old book of samples I got in a shop while I was shopping for curtain material. The 3 hearts have Truly Madly Deeply stamped onto them (from a Heidi Swapp roller stamp)

This is the one I did for my BF. A bit of a quick one really since I only realised I'd be away for Valentine's Day the day before we left and so i had to make one in a bit of a hurry to bring with me.

I like the way it turned out, its kind of rustic or natural or something.

Anyway TFL, Jan

Really Bad Blogger

2008-01-26T22:58:00.000Z

Ok so i've been a terrible blogger. After all the Christmas cards i made i was kind of allergic to crafting for a while. Did get a few bits done mostly cards though, which were done under pressure and i don't think i photographed any. They were just about done in time to give to people, never mind showing them here. The last few weeks since I've gone back to work have been hectic too.

Christmas went really well, if not too fast. I got a CraftRobo from my BF and his family and i have to say I love it. Still haven't explored half of the drawing/design capability but I'm getting there thanks to the wonderful girls on UKS

Last week the camogie club had a dinner dance/awards ceremony. It was really only an awards night for the U-16's since the Senior team didn't win anything. Anyway, there was a bit of running around done in the lead up to that.

I got an award for Senior Personality of the Year which I was really thrilled with. I did put a lot of effort into the club and training this year and it was really nice that i was noticed and recognised in this way.

I'm also trying to do my room up at the moment. I've picked cream and pine furniture like here. I'm after choosing very plain duck-egg blue/turquoise colour curtains with a subtle pattern and i'm hoping to get some nice bed-clothes in that kind of colour too. A lot of my spare evenings have been spent looking around fabric and carpet shops. I had lookled in loads of fabric shops and had decided on the fabric for the curtains but when i was looking for a carpet I came across another fabric that Iliked better so I changed my mind (I'm very indecisive) SO i'm now driven made looking for a carpet. I was thinking of trying to get something to match the curtains but then I'd be really tied to that colour scheme, then Mum suggested a cream colour but i'm afraid it would be a)to bland with the cream furniture and b)I'd have it ruined within a week because its such a plae colour. Any suggestions on a postcard please!!!My Dad is now trying to get me to pick a colour for the walls which i haven't even begun to think about ARGGGHHHH! I'm beginning to wish I'd just left it as it was.

Ok so I know i said this blog would just be for my crafting stuff but I just thought I'd fill you in so you'd know I do have an excuse for not blogging.

So back to the crafting

Here's a LO I did recently enough using BG Mellow. Its of my dog Minor.
Just this week I made a card for a woman I work with. Her niece won a state science fair in California and she wanted a card that had something to do with that in it. I cut out the California shape and LAcey on my CraftRobo and i design the science flask type things on it and cut them too. I have to say I was happy with how it turned out and thanks to the girls on CraftSupplies for their great ideas which really helped.

Oh and here's a wedding card I did over Christmas

I actually cut up the wedding invite for the gold (there was a spare page at the back of it) and the black was lovely velvet card that was from our Christmas crackers, and the beads too. So it was an almost completely recycled card.

Oh and Dad got a Canon EOS400D as a retirement present in November and as part of the package there was a free training course which I went on today because he didn't think he'd follow it. He sent me in the hopes that I would and now he has no reason to know how to use the camera he'll just have to ask me everytime he wants to take a photo LOL. In fairness to him though he is starting a photography night class soon and hopefully it'll be a good one or else i'd say we'll come to blows over him asking me the same thing over and over and me not showing him properly or going too fast.

So anyway that's really it for now. Hope to be back soon,

TFL, Jan

Craft Fair

2007-12-02T22:51:00.000Z

So the craft fair was this weeken, both Saturday and Sunday. It went really well. In the end i brought about 180 cards i'd say (around 130 christmas ones) and i only had 50 left. Was thrilled to bits.
Thanks a million to Tigger for popping in to say hello too.
Jan

Santa's Little Extra Helper no 5: Baubles, Bells & Bows

2007-11-22T19:54:00.000Z

I've had these baubles done for a while. I punched out circles, drew designs with and embossing pen and embossing them with silver EP. I was lacking inspiration with what to do with them though. This weeks DCM Little Extra gave me the push i needed to do something with them and here's what I did.

TFL, Jan

Christmas Cards

2007-11-19T19:15:00.000Z

Well I've been busy busy busy making Christmas cards. Have done about 70 so far. here are soem of the designs I've come up with. I'm going for quick and easy but still with a handmade look iykwim. Anyway. There's no greetings or sentiments or anything on any of them. It's really obvious on some, but what i'm hoping is to semi-personalise them at the craft fair. I'm going to print out loads of greeting (To a Special Friend, To a wonderful Aunt etc etc) and put them on as people buy the cards. If anyone does buy them...

The dove in this is mounted on to silver cardstock where it looks kind of black.

And here is my DCM card for this weeks challenge 'Golden Highlights'

So this week I'd like you to make a card for any season or occasion but must include gold somewhere. It could be a brad, metallic card, heat embossing, ribbon, anything at all as long as it's gold

TFL, Jan.

DCM Corrugated Card Challenge

2007-11-13T20:13:00.000Z

This weeks DCM challenge is ...

My dare this week is to use some corrugated card on your card - it could be corrugated craft card or an old box etc. taken to pieces :) You could make the card blank from it or die cut shapes etc...

So here's what I did. Nothing too fancy as i'm trying to make in bulk for a Christmas fair i'm doing soon. Made about 10 of these.
As per usual pic is terrible - I had to scan it coz i don't know where my camera is. The trees and stars around the edge are sequin type thingies.

2007-11-10T11:46:00.001Z

Well again it's been a bit of a while since my last post.
I've been to NY, and while I didn't get to vist Michael's i had ordered a lot of stuff from the internet and it was waiting for me when I arrived to the hotel.

So here's some pics of my new stash

Alphabets etc.

Stamps

Cuttlebug dies, embossing folders and punches

Inks and embossing powders

Lots of flowers

Some more stamps, MM paints, Rub ons, Tin for altering, buttons.

Brads and eyelets

Ribbon

AMM Tote-Ally Cool 2

Paper packs

So i suppose i probably didn't need to go to Michael's at all.

I've been busy making Christmas cards too recently. I'm hoping to do a Christmas Fair, but TBH I'm a bit nervous about it. Anyway I'll post pics of teh cards shortly (hopefully)

TFL, Jan

Bad Blogger

2007-10-25T20:21:00.000+01:00

Ok so I've been an absolutely terrible blogger but i have been crafting.

October is a busy month for me because its my two brothers birthdays, my parents anniversary and theres a few birthdays due from the birthday club I'm in on CraftSupplies . Then the shop that i sell my cards in needed another order and all in all i've been hectic.

I'll try to put some of the pics up here shortly

This is the card order I made. I also decorated the stand.

This is a wedding card i did for my cousins wedding.

A Christening Card for my BF's cousin's child.

And lastly for this post, a 60th card i did for my mum's cousin.

TFL, Jan

PS I hope it won't be as long until my next post.

2007-10-05T15:35:00.000+01:00

well Caroline has tagged me so here goes
4 Places I Have Worked:
SuperValu
7th Wave Bar (in Toronto)
Local Sports Shop
Dept of Education (I'm a teacher)
4 Places I Have Lived:
Carrigaline (My Home)
Toronto (spent a summer there)
Limerick (went to college there)
Cape Clear (Irsih College for 3 weeks)
4 Places I Have Visited:
Crete(Leaving Cert Holiday)
Rochester, NY (School Exchange)
Livigno, Italy (Skiing)
Benalmadena (Sun Holiday)
4 Favourite Foods:
Only four - that makes it hard
Potatoes (absolutely not floury) with real butter
Paella
Garlic Mushrooms
Garlic Mussels (always such a hard decision to make when both of these are on the menu)
4 Places I Would Rather Be:
On a plane with my BF whose going away for the weekend to watch the rugby
Bora Bora (saw it on a travel programme a few years ago and its been on my wish list ever since)
On a massage table in a very posh spa resort being pampered to the hilt
In my bed (this is probably my favourite place in the whole world - i love being all snuggled up and snoozing)
So there you have it.

DCM In The Frame

2007-10-01T15:25:00.000+01:00

This weeks challenge was to use a frame or frame something somewhere on your card.

This week I’d like you to use a FRAME or FRAMES on your card. You can use any type of frame you so wish. How about a die cut frame or a hand cut frame. You can frame your card with brackets or flowers or how about some doodling - the choice is yours.

I made two over the weekend that fit the bill.

In the first one the sentiment is framed by the flowers and in the second teh jigsaw pieces create a frame around the card.

I was really busy card making this weekend and i produced a grand total of 54 cards

I was really pleased with myself.

The design for the fornt centre one isn't my own though. Its one from Jackie's class at Crafteire

TFL, Jan

DCM Golden and OpShop

2007-09-26T16:52:00.000+01:00

Last week's Little Extra on DCM was left quite open really. It was simply 'Golden'

This is the card I made for it.

The background paper is far more golden IRL.

For the OpShop challenge i bought this Hawaiian flower chain thingy. Its was all they had. There was no bits'n'bobs at all.

Then this is what i did with it.

TFL, Jan

DCM Big and Little Challenge

2007-09-16T15:21:00.000+01:00

Here's what was asked

Big & Little We'd like you to use items in pairs of Big and Little - so you need to have both sizes on your card ie big & little buttons, big & little die cuts, big & little hearts, big & little circles etc The theme of your card can be whatever you like this time, so that's nice of us, isn't it?

And here's what I did.

I used big and little sizzix hearts, prima flowers, eyelets and buttons. I wonder does the two different size fonts count too or am I just pushing it??

Pencillines Sketch #49

2007-09-15T21:28:00.000+01:00

This is my take on this weeks pencillines sketch. This is a pic of me and my BF taken at my 21st bday a few years ago. (sorry for the poor pic but its nighttime and i took it indoors)

By now you've probably guessed that i like using sketches and i find that pencillines is really getting my mojo up and going. I suppose i reckon that if i keep up with the sketches i'm at least getting one LO a week done.

TFL, Jan

BTW for anyone who hasn't seen Scrapwest are doing a cybercrop shortly to celebrate their 1st anniversary. Sholud be great coz all the girls on their DT are fab.

Pencillines Sketch #48

2007-09-09T22:37:00.000+01:00

This was another great sketch and I loved working with it. I really like how my LO turned out . The only thing missing is journalling. I might add a journalling spot in the bottom right corner of the LO but to be honest I don't really have much to say about the photo. I don't know when it was taken or who took it - I just like it.

TFL, Jan

Pencillines Sketch #47

2007-09-05T18:23:00.000+01:00

This is my take on the pencillines sketch for last week
Really liked this sketch coz it suits my style - I tend to use straight clean lines. I really have to push myself anytime I want to try anything different.

Was kinda stuck with the title for a while coz I didn't want to write on photo - haven't done it before and I was a bit scared but gave it a bash anyway.

This is one I finished off last night. Started it ages ago but didn't have the smaller photo and it was just missing something.

TFL, Jan

Scrapwest Sketch

2007-09-03T23:04:00.000+01:00

Audrey put this sketch up on her blog (http://faeriewingscraft.blogspot.com/) for ScrapWest last week

- she got it from SusieQScrapbook.

And this is what I did with it.

I love these papers and have had them for ages and never gotten a chance to use them. I actually have loads of pink papers but never had a photo that suited until now so I'm delighted to finally be able to do something with them and I loved using this sketch. Its simple but I think its really effective.

Also did this card. It was quite simple really but i like how it turned out.

TFL, Jan

A Trio of Welsh Barbers ...

2007-09-02T12:31:00.001+01:00

... This is the challenge for Daring Card Makers this week and here's the explanation

( Dai is a common Welsh nickname for David and as there are a lot of Dai's around they are known by their jobs so a Welsh barber would be known as Dai Cuts.)

So this is what i came up with.

I used three different dies - the butterfly is one, the second is the banners and then all those flowers at the end are from a third die.
TFL.
Jan

My First Post

2007-08-31T18:55:00.000+01:00

Well I have finally decided to set up a blog. I was inspired by the Scrapwest theme this week celebrating blogs. I was also prompted because sometimes I like to keep up with some crafty challenge/sketch blogs like Pencillines and Daring Card Makers and I never had my own blog to post a link to my own stuff.
So basically my blog is just intended to be a place where I can post pics of some of the stuff I do and not really for any personal life purpose. Don't really have a clue what I'm doing BTW so hopefully this willall work out.
Jan