Happy Halloween!

Hi all and Happy Halloween! This is the last post from us here on the blog so one last time thank you all so much for your readership over the years, we appreciate every step of this journey you have taken with us. Have a great Halloween and above all happy crafting!!

 

Signing off for the final time,

The Crafting Ireland Team – Nicole and Timi

PS: We will miss you guys!!

Design Team Good Bye!

Hi all!

You know we love doing recaps on what our team has been up to and showing off their super talents. Since this is the last time we get to do so we decided to do it a little bit differently. We asked the team to pick one project that was their favorite out of all the projects they worked on in their time on the team. It is a big ask to limit it down to one project but some of our team gave it a shot and some we had to pick for them! So here it is, our final design team shout out….

Aideen – www.piecesbyaideen.com

YouTube channel

Aideen has such a fun style and personality, she is quirky and unique and loves a creative project. What could be more creative than turning an Impala head into a beautiful piece of art? She feels the piece she loved working on the most was turning this from this…

To this…..

We love the unexpectedness of this piece, it is so fun yet classy! You can see the complete tutorial for it HERE. Thank you Aideen, your projects have been amazing and we have loved working with you!

Abby – scrappin-abby.blogspot.ie

Youtube channel

Abby always has gorgeous creations on her blog and these is in big demand on design teams. She has a gorgeous shabby chic style and we love her love for the colour purple! One of our favorite projects from Abby was this stunning muslin gift bags. It was such a simple yet stunning way to present a gift card to someone! You can see the full creative process for this bag HERE. Thank you Abby, we love your creative works!

 

Andrea – sapimano.blogspot.hu

Tutorial inspiration pages here.

Andrea is on the Sizzix Blog design team and she has such a fantastic eye for colour and detail. We love her style and how she uses those dies! This mixed media layers layout really showcases her eye for colour and pattern and it is one of our favorite creations of hers. You can see how she created it HERE. Thank you Andrea, your colour use has been inspiring!

Katya – madewithlovebykatya.blogspot.ie

Facebook page here.

Katya has a beautiful way of mixing colours, patterns and papers into wonderful creations. She really takes papers and brings out the best in them and creates beautiful and unique things with them! This super adorable envelope mini album is a lovely example of her work, it is such a cute and whimsical creation. You can see how she created this HERE. Thank you for all your projects Katya, you have been inspiring!

We hope you enjoyed this look at what the team enjoyed working on the most while here. We are sure that you will agree they are super talented ladies and we wish them all the best in all their future crafting endeavors. Thank you all ladies, it has been so fun!!

Happy Crafting,

The Crafting Ireland Team.

Thanksgiving card & Halloween Decor – Aideen Fallon

Hi everyone,

Today we have a big treat for you – Aideen is going to share a super cute Thanksgiving paper piecing project with you all with a video….AND you get a bonus Halloween decor video too! Take it away Aideen…..

Project 1 – Thanksgiving

Hi guys,

Today I have a super easy peasy project that looks really cute when you have it all done up!

It’s paper piecing which you may or may not have tried before-such a great way to use up your scraps of papers and create a card set for any occasion which is handy to have on hand.

I have a video sharing all the details so please take a peep HERE or watch below.

Project 2 – Halloween

I have a fun Halloween decoration to share today and also a video to show how I put it together!!

The stamp I used is by Julie Nutting and is perfect for my rosette decoration. The other decorative pieces are all just from my stash.

 You can see how I created these HERE or watch below.

Thanks for reading and watching,

Aideen x

End of an era!

Hi all,

It is with great sadness we are blogging today to tell you all that as of the end of this month we will not be continuing the Crafting Ireland blog.

You may know that we had discontinued the magazine format at the start of the year as it was taking too much time and cost for something we run as a fun hobby. We had hoped that by reducing the amount of workload we would be able to keep going for longer. But unfortunately we have had to make the difficult decision to wrap up the blog. For both Timi and myself life has just gotten too hectic with work, family and other stuff going on – you all know how it is. So rather than decrease on the quality on the blog and produce something we are not happy with, we have decided to wrap it all up.

We are very sad to see it come to this stage, we will miss working with our amazing design team on the blog posts every month, and seeing creations inspired by their work. We could not have gotten this far without them so from the bottom of our hearts we want to say a huge thank you to our design team members (both past and present) that made Crafting Ireland a reality. You ladies are all so talented and we know we will keep seeing you in the crafting world!!

As for our readers- we would not have come this far without you guys. Your constant readership and support are what have kept us going for so long. We intend to leave the blog, the Pinterest and the website up as archives of all the tutorials produced over the two years we have been working on this. You will be able to view all the content and see instructions on any projects you choose. In a few weeks we will turn off commenting however just so we don’t keep getting notifications to admin them.

We have a few posts lined up over the next few days to wrap up the month with so we will say good bye properly before the end of the month. But for now thank you all for being so amazing,

Happy crafting,

Nicole & Timi

Halloween Wall Hanging – Nicole

Hi all, Nicole here with a fun Halloween wall hanging with you all. I used the super fun and handy diecut frame from Crafty Cutting.

Step 1

I covered the frame with some fabulous Halloween papers. I traced the frame onto the paper to get the size and cut it out, including cutting out the middle of the frame.

Step 2

I cut a piece of paper to fit inside the opening of the frame. I used this fun harlequin pattern in black and orange. Step 3

I sanded off the edges of the paper to get a smooth edge on the paper and then inked up the edges with black soot distress ink. Step 4

I inked up a bat from the crafty catting range and then inked over it in black embossing powder to give a lovely shine. Step 5

I added some twine in between the two pieces to have something to hang the frame by. Step 6

I added some glow in the dark paint on some parts of the paper. This dries clear but gives a cool glow when its dark!I glued the bat on the frame and called it done! I love the 3d effect and dimension these frames give without being too bulky!

 

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you enjoyed this project!

Halloween Card & Treat Bag

Hi all, we have another treat from Waltzingmouse Stamps DT member Sandie Dunne. She has created this really fantastic Halloween Card and Treat Bag…. enjoy!!

Hi! It’s Sandie here and today I am sharing a Halloween Card and Treat Bag set I made featuring  Waltzingmouse Stamps Boo and Friends & Peek a Boo Sentiments

The card measures 4.25″ x 5.5″ and the papers I’ve used are ‘Enchanted’ by Authentique. I’ve matted them with black and orange cardstock. I cut the spiderweb circle with nestabilities and mounted my ghost on 3D foam. I added some Spiderweb corners and some Eerie bats to embellish.

Copics markers used – C3, D5,C7, C9

The treat bag is simply a cellophane bag cut down to size. I used the same patterned papers as on the card. I cut a strip of stripey paper about 2″ deep, folded it in half, slipped it over the top of the bag and stapled it closed. Then I used nestabilities scalloped circles and classic circles for the sentiment. I adhered the sentiment, from Peek-a-Boo Sentiments with 3D foam and added a bat to tie it in with the card.

Waltzingmouse Stamps products used – 

Boo and Friends

Peek a Boo Sentiments

Other products used –

Dies – Eerie Bats & Spiderweb Corners

Orange & Black cardstock

Authentique “Enchanted” 6×6 paper pad

Sandie

xXx

Fabric cover for your notes – Katya Ivanova

Hi everyone,

Today Katya is sharing a quick tutorial on how  to make a fabric cover for a sticky note block. I had a few small strips of fabric left over from making some albums and I decided to use up the fabric scraps. A quick present idea for schoolkids, students, office workers or teachers.

What you will need:
fabric
fleece
cardstock
brads
scrap paper
sticky note block
embelishments- buttons, brads, flowers -whatever you like.

Step 1

Get the base ready- cut out 2 pieces of cardstock measuring 8cm by 8 cm and one measuring 1cm by 8 cm. Iron the fabric

Step 2

Lay the cardstock on top of the fleece, leaving a small gap between pieces of cardstock

Step 3

Moving onto the cover, first glue the corners and then the sides. Before we cover the inside of the block with papers, we need to decorate the cover.

Step 4

To decorate the cover I added a small scrap of paper so that I could hide the ribbon under it. And then I added some brads, make sure you are using embellishments which wont easily come off.

Step 5

Final touch cover the inside with coordinating papers

 

we hope you liked this very cute idea and will try it out too.

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team

Book Review: The Irish Countrywomen’s Association Book of Craft

We recently got a review copy of the The Irish Countrywomen’s Association Book of Crafts. The book is a beautiful piece of work and contains 40 projects that you can work on at home. They range from simple beginner level to more advanced.  The instructions are perfect and very easy to follow. The images in the book are perfect also. You get a beautiful inspiration image and then lovely step by step photos for along the way.

The book is broken into four sections; Stitch and Show, Make and Wear, Store and Keep and Celebrate. This is a great range of categories with something for everyone in each section. The projects are beautiful and modern twists on techniques. I love this card made using the Iris folding technique. I found the instructions really easy to follow and made my own project very happily! There are so many things in the book I want to try, I will be working through this for quite some time!

 

The Irish Countrywomen’s Association was founded in 1910, and celebrated its centenary in 2010. With over 11,000 members, 27 Federations (or County Committees) and 553 Guilds around the country, the ICA has played a pivotal role in supporting Irish craft and keeping traditional skills alive.

This book is a beautiful example of the wonderful works they do!

‘The Irish Countrywomen’s Association Book of Crafts: 40 projects to make at home is published in hardback at €22.99 and is also available in eBook format from all the major outlets.’

Disclaimer: We were sent a free copy of the book to review, but all opinions are purely our own and we have received no compensation for this review.

Autumn Glory Mixed Media Canvas

Hi everyone,

Today we have another fantastic guest blogger, Debbie von Grabler-Crozier at The Folk Art Factory. Please visit Debbie’s blog to see more of her fabulous creations.

Gather These Supplies:

• 1 canvas 20cm x 37cm
• DecoArt Decoupage glue/sealer: antique
• DecoArt Dimensional Effects paste
• Stylus
• Palette knife
• DecoArt Traditions Brushes: ¾ flat brush.
• Old book pages
• Matte black paper
• Neutral coloured paper scraps
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: barn door, rusty hinge, spiced marmalade, walnut stain, peeled paint
• Ink Applicator tool
• Ranger Archival ink: jet black
• DecoArt Acrylic Paints: soft black
• DecoArt dazzling Metallics: champagne gold
• Alphabet stamp set
• Sea sponge
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Tim Holtz Alterations dies: Tattered Leaves, Raven and Scaredy Cat

Here is how:

Use the ¾ flat brush and the decoupage sealer to coat the canvas with the book pages.

When this is dry, make a small area of Dimensional Effects paste in the top right hand side of the canvas. Spread this out with the palette knife just like putting butter on bread. Do not make it too thin in the middle but blend it towards the edges so that it is thin and disappears into the book pages.

TIP: wet your finger and use that to really smooth the edges.

Use the stylus to scratch a spider web design into the paste before it dries.

Allow this to dry and then paint it champagne gold. Allow this to dry and then sponge (with the dampened sea sponge) soft black over the top so that a silver cobweb is visible.

 

Extend the soft black sponging right around the edge of the canvas, blending softly.

Use the Big Shot and the leaf die with some of the neutral paper to make a few Autumn leaves. Use the applicator tool to shade them with the distress inks. Begin with peeled paint then add some rusty hinge and spiced marmalade. Finally, burnish with barn door and walnut stain.

TIP: for full instructions step-by-step plus some other colour options refer to my blog

http://sallyandcraftyvamp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/making-fall-leaves-from-paper-as.html

Take the alphabet stamp and the neutral paper and write the words ‘seek’, ‘Autumn’ and ‘wonder’ with the jet black ink. Cut the labels down and ink the edges with walnut stain. Cut a raven and a cat from the matter black paper using the die.

Assemble the rest of the canvas with the words stacked on top of each other on the left hand side. The raven goes on the bottom left hand corner and the cat perches on the top label as you see in the main photo. Scatter the leaves around the other images at random.

TIP: it looks better to have some of the elements overlapping so put a leaf partly under or over a word and group some together. This takes planning so lay it all out before you start gluing. Never be afraid to add another leaf or leave one out depending on what appeals to you.

TIP: cut some of the leaves in half and lay them half off the canvas. This also looks stylistically better than everything in the middle of the canvas.

Adhere all of these elements with the decoupage sealer and ¾ flat brush.

© Debbie von Grabler-Crozier 2014

We hope you liked this fantastic mixed media canvas project. Why don’t you give it a go and get your house ready for Halloween!!

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team

Guest Post with Sandie Dunne – Waltzingmouse Stamps

Hi all, we have another gorgeous guest post for you today, from Sandie Dunne of Waltzingmouse Stamps. She is here to show us how she created .some adorable and fun Halloween treat bags!

Halloween Treat Bags

Supplies:

White paper bags – 6″ x 5″

Halloween themed patterned papers

Waltzingmouse Stamps Midnight Feast stamp set

Orange & Black ink

Midnight Feast Cut Files or Classic Circle Nestabilies

Stapler

Double sided tapeHow To: 

1. On each bag, in the bottom right hand corner, stamp the ‘Eat It’ sentiment. Set bags aside

2. Taking Peeled Orange Distress Ink stamp the circular sentiments onto white card and cut them out using Classic Circle Nestabilies, or using the coordinating Midnight Feast Cut Files

3. Cut patterned papers into 1″ wide x 3.5″ long strips and scissor cut the bottom at an angle to make pennants. Staple 2 pennants together, at the top, and adhere to the back of the circular sentiment

4. Once you have your candy/treats in the bag, twice fold the top down about 1″. Remove the backing from the double sided tape and adhere the bag closed.

 We love these adorable treat bags that Sandie has made. They would be great for parties or even for giving out at the door – depending on how many visitors you get that is!