Best Wishes Card

Hello and hope your Friday is going well. Over at Craft for the Craic this month, the challenge is "Wings". 

Today I am showing a card I made with a combination of stamps, dies, papers, embellishments and an embossing folder!

I die cut a heart out of some Kraft card, and then embossed the rest of the sheet of card. This was layered onto some beautiful My Minds Eye "Oliver" glittery paper.

I used the house, windows and doors from the Simon Says Stamp "Where the Heart is" collection. I used some Promarkers to colour them in to add some colour that would co-ordinate with the rest of the card. (I only recently bought some Promarkers, so this is my first project to colour with them yet...!!)

I used some blue and cream embellishments - a butterfly bead (Wings), flat backed pearls, buttons, beads to add some detail on the embossed card.

I then die cut a frame from some more My Minds Eye "Oliver" paper, and also cut the banner. I used a stamp set I got free with a magazine for the sentiment and used a wooden veneer heart for the right hand side.

This card is for some friends who recently moved house. If you are crafting and it matches the theme for Craft for the Craic, why not give the challenge a go?!
I am going to enter the card into the following challenges -
Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge SSS Brand Product (The house stamp is from the "Where the Heart is" set)
Wags 'n' Whiskers - Lots of Layers
Creative Card Crew - Embossing
Whimsy Images - Colour an Image

Thanks for Stopping by,
Hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Eithne :)

Die-ing for Spring challenge CFTC

Hello :) I am still here, and only now getting back to blogging! I've been blogging over on my challenge blog, Craft for the Craic. Been a crazy few months, but now hopefully things are calming down.

Over at Craft for the Craic this month, the challenge is "Die-ing for Spring or an Easter theme". Here is the card I made for the challenge:

 I used a Bigz lace die, a tag die and the Happy Birthday tag die. I also used a doily lace cut out in lime green, in the background.

 Also used some vellum, and stamped the music notes onto it, and used the music washi tape. (Every project seems to need washi tape ;) ) 

 I cut out the age, 11,  with some glitter foam and used a butterfly charm tied on with bakers twine. I also used some green thread to add some texture by sewing.

 Layering some flowers, and using a gem as the centre piece really makes it pop! The cerise pink paper in the background was embossed and torn to create a non uniform backdrop.

Of course I couldn't resist adding some embellishments and buttons for a bit of dimension!

Hope you have a wonderful Friday, and thanks so much for popping by. If you are doing some crafting and it meets the challenge theme, why not give it a go?

Happy Crafty Friday!

Eithne

Decorated Pegs Tutorial

 Hello and hope your first Thursday in December is going well :) Can you believe it is Christmas month, woohooo!!! Time to go mad and do LOTS of Christmas crafting ;)

Lately I am a bit addicted to decorating pegs. My local hardware shop are probably wondering why I'm buying so many clothes pegs (pins) in this weather!! ;) Today I am guest posting over at my sister Emily's blog The Nest, as part of a Craft Advent. Here is a step by step tutorial of some decorated pegs (pins), it is a photo heavy post. Be warned!!

What you will need

For dying the pegs
Clothes pegs (pins)
Food colouring (the liquid one is best)
Vinegar
Boiling water
An old jar or container to withstand boiling water
GLOVES! (especially if you do not like the inked finger-nail look ;) )

For decorating the pegs
Hot glue gun
Decorating embellishments or buttons, glitter, ribbon, washi tape etc.





Step 1
Take apart all the pegs (pins).

Step 2

Make sure you are working on an old work surface, or else cover up the counter. Place one tablespoon of vinegar and 2-3 tablespoons of food colouring into the jar, give it a stir and then add boiling water.

Step 3

Carefully place all your pegs into the jars, any splashes can stain your or your furniture and burn, so beware!!

Step 4

After a few hours (or a few minutes depending on how well the colour took to your pegs!) place the pegs to dry on some kitchen paper.

It is worth noting that the food colour does not always take well to the peg, or come out the colour it is supposed to. The sample of pegs drying above was (left) brown and (right)  purple. They ended up as green (left) and pink (right). If you are not too concerned for the colours, it is a bit of fun waiting to see what colour they turn out. Also note that when the pegs are dry the colour may be slightly different.

This is how the red food colouring turned out.

Step 5

When your pegs are dry, if you like, match them up to a similar colour shaded peg. Assemble the peg back together, mind your fingers and nails!! ;)

The spring in the picture below was stretched too much when taking it apart, so to remedy it you can switch sides for the 'arms' of the spring, so it will be a tighter fit.

Step 6

Be prepared! Heat your glue gun and have as much of your embellishment in place.

Step 7

For my felt star, I was able to place the glue in the middle and it stuck the star and teddy bear. Press down on your embellishment for a few minutes, to ensure it is stuck!

Step 8

Voila! 

Step 9

Now you need to make an army of them ;)

Step 10

I designed and printed some slips to attach them to and placed them in a cellophane bag - perfect for gifting someone this Christmas!

Enjoy :)

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and give it a go yourself! It is great fun and very easy to do. Please leave a link in the comment if you get to do them this winter, I would love to see how they turned out!!

Why not pop over and see what other craft projects have happened so far this advent?! Have a wonderful day :)

Eithne 

Christmas but not a card - Eclectic Ellapu

Hello! Can you believe it is December already? Woohoo!!! This year I am hoping to create a scrapbook on a daily basis for December. I will keep you posted on my progress. We are decorating our tree today, and can't wait for all the lights to sparkle! :)

Today I am showing a decorated peg I have recently become addicted to. I will have a tutorial later in the week, so please stop by. For now here are some photos for my project for the challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu. The theme this month is 'Christmas but not a card'.

Having liked this little fella so much I decided to make an army!!

If you are crafting something Christmassy (but not a card!) why not pop over and enter the challenge?

Hope you are having a wonderful day and enjoying the first day of December.

Happy Crafting,

Eithne

Something suitable for a child

Hello! Hope your Friday is going well :) I've been very busy lately with Birthdays! My youngest daughter will be 3 next week, so just one more birthday hurdle to go ;) For my eldest girls birthday, she wanted to decorate the cake - so after a morning of roll out icing shaping, this was the finished look!

Don't you just love when kiddies help decorating?!!!??!?!?!!! It tasted delicious, we are especially partial to cream and jam sponge! Yum yum!


Anyway, enough thinking of cakes! ;) This week over at Craft for the Craic I am posting for the mid month inspiration. This is my card:

 I was commissioned a while back to make a card for an 8 year old girl, this is what I came up with. The girl loved it, and she particularly loved the fairy, as she got a fairy door as a birthday present.

I used a series of punching, embossing, die cutting, and sticking down some embellishments along with my favourite embellishment - WASHI tape! I am in love with washi tape, if you haven't noticed from my previous projects ;) :)

Why not pop over and give the challenge a go? Don't forget about our wonderful GIVEAWAY sponsored by Mixed Media Place - "Early Fall" kit. Look at that fabulous kit. You can enter here to be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize.

Have a wonderful Friday, and if you have a Bank Holiday I hope you enjoy it also.

Thanks for stopping by,

Happy crafting,

Eithne ;)

Eats Shoots and Leaves

Hello, hope your Friday is going well. Today I am sharing a card I made to take part in the Unstampabelles Challenge. When I came upon this challenge, I loved the fact it had to have a bit of humour and I LOVED the paper craft challenge of no stamping.

Lately, I have been crafting primarily in one or two colour schemes. This card, fits into my love of grey and lime green combo phase. Using some silvery grey card, I scored to make it an A5 card.

I had no embossing folder that suited the panda, so I creased lines in the vellum every .25" mark. I die cut a doily with two types of card, and with the darker board I die cut out a circle within the doily. Hence giving me a frame.

The panda is the lovely tattered lace die, and I cut him out on a few different papers and assembled him. I couldn't find paper in the right tone for the shoots and leaves, so I inked him up with some ink. ('Bamboo Leaves' coincidently!! ;) )

I had some Tim Holtz stickers that I put on a die cut from Memory Box to make up the sentiment - "Eats Shoots and Leaves". It reminds me of a book by Lynne Truss comically illustrating how commas can make a difference!!

I am entering this card in the following challenges -
Unstampabelles Challenge - #39 Be Funny with a twist of 'frame it'.
Simon Says Challenge Blo - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls challenge - Anything Goes 

Cute Card Thursday - Dies and punches
Card Mania - Doily (die cut doily) 

Hope you are having a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting :)
Eithne

Birthday for a Lady :)

Good morning! Wow the beginning of September. I can't believe it!! September always reminds me of school, and would have been the most depressing month, only for my birthday at the end of it!! Since having children, between both sides of our families we have 8 birthdays within 6 weeks. Needless to say it is the busiest 'season' in our house!

I chose the theme over at Eclectic Ellapu this week for the purple team. I am not an organised person, but I do try, so thought if I chose the theme I would be one card up!!

I made this card for a lady - I will have a choice of three birthdays to use it for. Only 7 more cards to go!! I used a combo of dies on silver card and on vellum. The black and white colour combo is complemented with the splash of red.

I heat embossed with some kaleidoscope embossing powder, I love the stuff! It is so unpredictable to use. I also used my old reliable washi tape. If you haven't guessed by now from my previous creations, I have a slight weakness for washi tape. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the stuff!! ;) Enough of my ramblings, have to get my eldest ready for her first Monday in primary school! 

Hope you have a great Monday and pop over and check out the new monthly challenge.
Have a great day,
Happy Crafting,
Eithne :)