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

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

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

Autumn Easel Card – Katya Ivanova

Hi everyone,

Today it is Katya who is going to share an Autumn themed easel card with you.

What you will need:

• cardstock
• scrapbooking papers
• raffia
• twine
• flowers
• chipboard
• cheesecloth
• leaves or leaf punch
• sentiment

Step 1

Take card base, my was 13cm by 13cm and score one side of the card at 6.5cm and fold it inwards. And we also need a second piece of cardstock, also measuring 13cm by 13cm.

Step 2

Choose your papers- since I was going with an autumn theme, I picked wooden print, maroon and orange. Distress the edges with some ink

Step 3

Decorate the inside of the card. Place the die cut near the top so it wont be visible when you fold the card. Also cover the front of the card with papers

Step 4

Decorate the front of the card. I used flowers,  cheesecloth, leaves, berries, twine and a chipboard bird

Step 5

To stop the card from sliding down and closing, add something to the lower part of the card. In my case I used a wooden circle with the words I love fall

Step 6

Final touch- add some glossy accent to imitate rain drops

 

This is how the final project looks like!

 

We hope you like this card and we inspired you to create something with autumn colours.

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team

Glossy Accents

Hi everyone,

Hi everyone,

It is Timi here and today we are going to show two ideas with Glossy Accents, the adhesive that we all love!! Nicole and I decided to create something that uses glossy accents and here is how we used it on our projects.

Timi – Custom Title

I few weeks ago you saw a layout I made that was called Stop & Stare. Sometimes I want to use a custom title that could be a few word of a song or a catchphrase.

Since I got my Cameo there are no limits in creating titles for my scrapbook pages. This time I mixed a few techniques together.

Step 1

Cut out the title from white cardstock.

Step 2

Using some Gelatos create watercolour effect on the background of the title.

Step 3

Glue down the letters to complete the title.

Step 4

Add Glossy Accents to the white letter to create interest and dimension.

 

Nicole – Custom background

I love making custom backgrounds on projects. It allows me to have them perfectly co-ordinated with the rest of my project. It also allows me to have fun creating them and thinking up of new ways. On this tag I used glossy accents to help dress up a strip of grey paper and also decorate a chipboard shape!

Step 1

I added drops of glossy accents to a strip of grey card stock and let it dry.
Step 2

I also added glitter to a coloured butterfly and coated this with glossy accents.

 

 

Step 3

When my dots of glue were dry I inked over the card stock with black ink. The glossy accents acts as a resist to the ink and gives a fun pattern.

 

I put this all together and made a little tag with it.

 

 

These were the project that we created for this private challenge!

We hope you liked them,

Happy Crafting,

Timi and Nicole

Stop and Stare Layout – Timi Konya

Hi everyone,

 

It is Timi here a quick Scrapbook page.

What you will need:

White cardstock

Stencil

Spray ink

patterned paper

embellishments

 

Step 1

Using a stencil spray some ink on the white card stock to create a background.

Step 2

Add some splashes with the same ink on the page.

Step 3

Add a second colour for more interest.

Step 4

Cut patterned paper to the same height as you photo. You don’t need to use a paper trimmer. Just eye ball it and use your scissors.

 

Step 5

Start layering a piece of glassine envelope, journalling card and the photo with the patterned paper. You can add the title too.

 

Step 6

Cut a very narrow strip of paper to place on the top of the page and another one or two to the bottom.

Step 7

Add embellishments to your page and finish it with journalling.

Some close ups:

 

If you would like to know how I created the custom title watch this space, we will be back with some fun techniques next week!

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team

 

 

Autumn Door Decoration – Andrea Kovacs

Hi everyone,

Today we are back with an Autumn Decor idea by Andrea Kovacs. Andrea is going to show you how she created this fabulous door decor piece.

What you will need:

• Bo Bunny scrapbook paper
• chipboard
• big chipboard letters
• fall felt leaves
• yellow, orange, beige paper roses
• other paper flowers
• rose leaves
• rhinestones
• gold acrylic paint
• yarn

Step 1

Cut out 3 chipboard rectangles or as many as you need for your word. In Hungarian autumn is only 3 letters so that’s why I’m working with three here.

Cover the chipboard rectangles with patterned paper.

Step 2

Apply acrylic paint on the letters. You could apply thinker layers for more texture.

 

Step 3

When everything is dry, it is time to adhere the letters to the chipboard backgrounds and decorate them.

 

 

Step 4

Arrange paper and felt flowers around the letters in nice bulky clusters.

 

You could add some stamping on the letters if you like, or some rhinestones, enamel dots.

Step 5

Using some yarn or twine attach the pieces and hang them up on your door.

Project Life – Week 29 – Timi Konya

Hi everyone,

It is Timi back with another quick Project Life page.

Recently I discovered a blog with lots of label print and cut files. I love adding labels to my PL pages, so I was delighted when I found this blog.

I use my Silhouette Cameo to print and cut out all the labels and it really only takes a couple of minutes to have lots of different labels.

As always  I started with placing my photos on my desk.

Then I filled the gaps with some Project Life cards. Most of the card are from the Dear LizzyDaydreamer Collection.

The next step was to place some of the labels on the photos. I like to place some of the label a little bit off the page to add a bit more interest.

Labels are great to use when you have lots of photos in a spread and you don’t really have space left for journalling.

Photography tip: There are lots of colourful walls, doors and gates in Dublin. I like to use them as background in my portrait photos.

I also added some woodveener shapes.

The next step is then to add some letterstickers, rub-ons and some more embellishments.

Some close ups:

You can use the labels to anchor a page element, so that those elements don’t just float on the page. I used two labels and place under my title.

 

If you use a piece of memorabilia (like I did with this screen-print) don’t be afraid to add some decoration to it. Here I added one label sticker that already had some text on it, and I drew some lines with a ruler for my journalling.

 

You could also add stamping details to journalling card that has a title already printed on it.

This is my final Project Life spread for Week 29

 

I hope you liked these pages and found some inspiration in them.

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team

 

Art Journal Page – Andrea Kovacs

Hi everyone,

Today Andrea is bringing an art journal page where she used lots of her border punches and dies.

What you will need:

old book to turn into an art journal

gesso

acrylic paint

border punches and dies

flowers and other embellishments

 

First, apply gesso with a pallet knife. Try to add texture with lots of gesso.

When the layer of gesso is dry then you can start adding layers of acrylic paint. let it dry.

And now comes the fun part.

Andrea tried to use only card stock to punch and die cut different broders.

She built these fantastic layers with just using white and orange cardstock. On the top of the layers of borders she added the title and some bulkier embellishments, like the paper flowers.

On one side she left space for a quote and on the other side for a photo. To make sure that you incorporate the quote or the photo in the composition, you have tp treat it as one of the layers and preferably add one more layer on the top. This could be a frame or some butterflies on the side of the photo.

It is nice to keep the two pages in balance with each other, this way they will create a composition together.

This is the finished art journal spread.

We hope you like the idea of using those border punches again!

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team

Craft room Tour – Gill Comerford

Hi everyone,

We are back today with a peak into one of our readers, Gill’s craft room. Gill lives in a small town near Dublin and we are delighted that she si going to show us her very own, creative space

Gill:

This is my little crafting haven!  It was originally a very small bedroom, but with some careful planning and numerous trips to IKEA, I managed to make the most out of the small space.

 

I have (almost) completely converted over to pocket scrapbooking so my room layout is set up with that in mind.

 

My most recent purchase is the Raskog cart.  I use the first two shelves for storing Project Life cards.  I have a segregated storage box in the top one which was a lucky find in TK Maxx, and I used pieces of chipboard to make dividers/labels.  The second shelf has an IKEA Antonius insert which stores 3×4 and 4×6 cards perfectly.  I keep the cart beside my work desk so I have easy access to my Project Life cards.  This would also be a good storage solution for anyone who doesn’t have a room specifically for crafting, as it has coasters for moving it around from one room to another.

 

The Antonius insert is also a handy storage system for small crafting items like washi tape, embellishments, adhesives etc.  I have two of them at the end of my main desk and I love them as I have all the items I need close at hand and nicely organised.

 

 

I keep my collection of Project Life page protectors stacked in a large box at the other end of my main desk. This way they are easy to flick through to find the layout I need.

 

On the opposite wall, I have an Expedit Unit from IKEA in the 2×2 format.  The sections are perfect size for storing albums (both Project Life and traditional). 

In the top right section I have a Kvissle Letter Tray It is actually designed to hold A4 sized paper but I use it for 12×12 scrapbooking paper – the trays pull out so I have them all pulled out slightly from the holder so that the bigger sized paper will fit. It works perfectly for keeping my papers in some sort of order. I have a fairly big collection of paper/cardstock and I find this unit great for sorting the different patterns in loose categories (floral/stripes/multi-colour etc)

 

Beside the Expedit Unit is a Norbo Table which is a drop-leaf design.   It works well in the small room as it can be lowered against the wall to open up the space if necessary.

 

The organisers on the wall with the baskets and holders are from the IKEA Bygel range. They have two different lengths of bars which you mount on the wall and then a selection of different attachments for them. It’s a really great way of getting storage into a small space without using up vital workspace on the desk. I also have a few of them hanging on the sides of the Raskog cart.

 

Bygel Rail
Bygel Basket
Bygel Container

 

The thick shelves on either wall are from the Lack series and the cute glass jars are yet another IKEA bargain perfect for storing small embellishments!

 

So, in short, my solution for craft storage in a small room is a trip (or two!) to IKEA  🙂

This is fantastic!! We love the great space saving ideas in this beautiful craftroom. We love IKEA for all the great storage solution and of course their prices range is affordable which is an added plus.

Big Thank you to Gill, who let us into her crafting haven!

Crafting Ireland Team