Issue 2 Crafting ireland by Crafting Ireland

Issue 2 June 2011

I r elan d’ s f irst on lin e craf t mag azine. . ..

nI s id e th is is s ue  Tut o r i al s  I ns p i r at i o n  C hal l e nge s And muc h mo r e !

Techniques

Pai nt Fusio n Spotlight Julie Maloney

WELCOME to Issue 2 of Crafting Ireland!

Issue 1 was a huge success, with people viewing it from all over the world. Thank you very much for the kind words and comments you all left for us. We were pleased to see so many of you submit-

Nicole

ting your work and entering the issue 1 challenge. Keep up the good work sharing your projects with us!! We are delighted to have you on board with us on this exciting craft filled journeyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;we hope we keep you inspired along the way!!

Submit your work at Craftingireland.wordpress.com

Timi

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget, in each issues we will be looking at the following areas....

Card maki ng

Techniques Scrapbooking

s t c u d o r p e s u o t How Altered Art Spotlight on Irish crafter s r e t f a r c r o f s e g Chal en Crafting on a budget We will be writing about products, techniques, styles and much more. We will also be looking for your input to the magazine. Submit your work to be spotlighted in the magazine. This is your magazine and your resource and we hope you enjoy it!! Happy crafting,

Nicole & Timi

Editors note........p2 D i s t r e s s S t a i n Tu t o r i a l . . . . . . . . p 6 Product feature â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Paint Fusion........p12 Submissions........p18 Classes and crops........p24 Playing with stencils........p26 Childhood treasure box........p29 Spotlight on........p32

Paint Fusion. . . p6 4

Crafting on a budget........p36 Citrasolv tutorial........p36 Getting the most out of your dies........p40 Altered tiles........p44

Ci tr asolv Tutorial. . p36 Featured website........p45 Where to shop........p47 Challenge........p48 R e a d e r g i v e a w a y. . . . . . . . p 5 2

Reader Giv eaway.. .p 52

In this project I am going to show you a few techniques using Distress Stains from Ranger and with these techniques we are going to build a scrapbook layout. You will need:

 Distress Stains (I used three colours)  Kraft cardstock  Tissue paper  Sticky back canvas  Grunge paper  Foam stamp  Embossing folder/ texture fades  Punchinella /sequins waste or any other stencils which is very thin  White flowers to customise  Heat tool  Craft sheet Background First draw a rectangle or a square with your chosen Distress Stain. It is very easy to apply the stain with this bottle and the colour is very intense, but still has a distressed feel.

Take your sequin waste stencil and place it onto the rectangle. Very gently apply some stain colour. Be careful not to apply to much, because if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too wet it can go under your stencil and will not get the same result.

Apply some stain onto the foam stamp and stamp the image on the rectangle. The foam stamp takes the stain very well; it gives a nice distressed stamped image.

Draw a heart (or a shape you like) on the craft sheet with one of the stains. Try to make nice puddles of colour. Then turn your cardstock face down and press it into the stain shape. Repeat this until you get a result you like. Don’t worry too much about being perfect with your shape.

Photo-mat with sticky back Take the sticky back canvas and cut a little bigger rectangle than your photo. My photo was approximately 4”x5” so I cut my canvas to 4 ½ “x 5 ½ “. I coloured the edges with distress stain and then distressed with a distressing tool.

Tissue paper flower Colour layers of tissue paper with distress stains. Then die cut flower shapes. Layer the flowers, secure with a brad and then scrunch up

Grungepaper Put a piece of grungepaper through your die cutting machine with your chosen embossing folder. Colour it all over with one of the stains. Then apply a different colour stain onto your craft sheet and gently pull your piece over the stain puddles. The raised areas will be stained. Tissue paper Tear a rectangle shaped piece of tissue paper and colour it with one or two colours of the stains.

Flowers coloured with Stains Take the white flowers and simply colour them with the stains. I like to keep them messy, but if you prefer a nice cover on the flowers you can certainly do that.

Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to assemble all the elements that we were creating. I have placed the piece of tissue paper on the grungepaper, adhered with some hot glue to achieve a dimensional look. I used some foam dots to adhere the photo on the photo mat for the same dimensional look. I like to enhance my photos with some white acrylic paint (or gesso) swiped along the edge. I placed the flowers around the corner of the photo and finished the layout with some details: hand drawn white and black hearts around the stained heart shape, title, date and journaling.

www.craftyalley.com Ireland's Newest Online Craft Shop

Paint Fusion is a brand new concept brought to you by designer Sheena Douglass

Sheena Douglass

Below Katie Brett—a member of Sheena Douglas’ss design team tells us all about Paint Fusion and gives us a small taster of how its done! “So, who are you, what on earth are you talking about, and what is this Paint Fusion malarkey anyway?” My name is Katie Brett, and I am currently a member of Sheena Douglass’ Design Team. Paint Fusion is unlike anything else currently available on the crafting market. It is the brainchild of designer Sheena Douglass, who has been working on developing this system for many years. It takes traditional folk painting applications, and combines them with rubber stamping to make a painting technique that is both attainable, and easy to learn, even for the most inexperienced painter.

“What?! No way, isn’t folk art really complicated? There’s no way that I could ever be a painter…” That is where you are wrong. All the things that made folk painting difficult to learn have been removed, for example the 180 degree rotations and trickiest brush strokes. The entire process has been simplified and made less stylised, in order to attain a more modern take on the style, with results that look stunning and natural. I have taught children this technique with extremely successful outcomes. “OK, so tell me more. How does it work, and what do I need?” What is important to recognise is that this is a complete painting system, not just a set of rubber stamps. Of course, you can use the stamps with any medium that you like, such as watercolours, Promarkers, Copics, etc, but they give the best results when combined with the right background materials, paints, and brushes. The basic concept is that you prepare a background, use the stamps to build your design, and then use painting techniques to complete your artwork. Thankfully Sheena has also prepared a 3 hour DVD with step by step tutorials on everything you could ever need to know! “Can I use the brushes and paints that I already have?” Of course! What I normally recommend is that if you have materials that you want to use, go ahead and try them out. However, the paint consistency and brush is crucial to get a decent result. We recommend the Pebeo Mat Acrylic Paints, as they have high

pigmentation, vibrant colours and a flow formula, which is essential, as well as being inexpensive. Buying brushes can be daunting – fortunately Sheena has trawled through hundreds of brushes to find the perfect ones for this technique. The even better news is that they are also extremely cheap! You can find the Royal and Langnickel brush set on Sheena’s website (www.sheena.tv). “Sounds good so far, so what can I paint on?” Don’t you mean what CAN’T I paint on? The simple answer is almost anything. Sheena’s mount board shapes work very well for cards and wall hangings. I’ve also painted on watercolour paper, picture frames, terracotta pots, even the garden gate! The sky is the limit – it just needs to have a porous surface.

Paint Fusion Daisy Tutorial Colours required (Pebeo Deco):  White (number 41)  Mango (number 81)  Bermuda (number 103)  Greengold (number 66)  Forest Green (number 49)  Burnt Umber (number 74)

Brushes required (Royal and Langnickel):  ½ inch flat  Number 3 round tipped  Stencil Brush / scruffy brush

Step 1 Stamp your flower arrangement onto a preprepared background. I find the easiest way to mount and stamp with these stamps is with Crafter’s Companion’s ‘Rock-A-Blocks’, and their temporary mounting adhesive, ‘Stick and Spray’. I always use black Stazon ink. Step 2 Paint petals in blue using the chisel of the flat brush in a downward motion, applying slightly more pressure as you approach the centre of the petal, and lifting slightly as you reach the daisy centre.

Step 3 Once dry, repeat using white. The pressure of the brush will cause some areas of the petals to be more translucent than others, allowing the blue to shine through and give a more realistic petal. Step 4 Using a stencil brush / scruffy brush, stipple some yellow paint into the centres, and then some brown in one corner to add depth and shadow. Then add some tiny dots in yellow and brown around the centre of the daisy.

Step 5 Finally, using the double loading brush technique (as explained on the Paint Fusion DVD), paint in the leaves and stems. When painting the stems, water the paint down slightly.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it - told you it was easy!!

All stamps, paints, brushes, Rock a Blocks and sprays are available from either:

www.sheena.tv or www.crafterscompanion.co.uk You can also see more of Katieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s amazing Paint Fusion projects on her blog:

http://chantillyrosecrafts.blogspot.com

Katie Brett, Paint Fusioner extraordinaire!

Call for submissions….Calling ALL crafters – we want to publish you!! For each issue we will give you a list of themes to work with. We would love to see what you create inspired by these themes. When you submit an image of your project, please make sure it is clearly photographed straight-on with a neutral background or scanned. Please make sure you only submit projects that have never appeared online or on a blog before, and it can not have been published previously. Thank you to every one who submitted for issue two. The themes were Beach and Clean and Simple.

Beach

Kimberly Dylewicz— onthefence-kim.blogspot.com 18

Jamie Algood

Clean and Simple

Kirsty Browne

Joanna King http://underacreativespell.blogspot.com

Doreen Scharwinski http://kreativ-sucht.blogspot.com

Geraldine Reardon http://littlesnippetsblog.blogspot.com/ 21

Jessica Meyer http://jesscraftybits.blogspot.com/ Issue 3 Submission themes For issue 3 we have two themes for you to work with. Again you can submit cards, layouts or altered art projects. The themes are:

Colour challengeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; blue, yellow and green. We want to see your work using shades of blues, yellows and greens. Summer funâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;show us your projects that reflect summer time fun! Please email your entries along with your name and blog address to

craftingireland@gmail.com 22

We would love to publish your classes and crops here. Whether you are a shop running crops and classes or just a group of crafty people looking for like minded people let us know. Email your details to craftingireland@gmail.com Card Art Kilcoole Next Full day Workshop is Saturday the 13th of August At the Bridge Centre, Loughboy, Kilkenny Time 10.00 to 6.00 The theme will be Monochrome with a hint of Elegance. Beautiful Black and white cards, with a touch of colour and a romantic twist. This time we will make 4 cards, on the day, but you will receive 2 extra kits to make at home with full instructions, which I will demonstrate at the end of the class. Full details can be found at http://cardarteventskilcoole.blogspot.com/ Scrap n Yap 24th July—’Flower child’ workshop taught by Róisin Garvey. Using Bo Bunny Flower Child Papers. Check them out on Facebook for more information on Scrap n Yap Scrapbook Store 28th July at Whitehall Parish Centre starting 7 o’clock. It’s a fun night with scrapbooking and card making challenges and prizes. More info on the website http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie/workshops.php or contact Annamarie at workshops@thescrapbookstore.ie Kildare Craft Club July Class – Saturday, 16th July from 12pm to 4pm in Osprey Hotel, Naas. For more info www.craftyangels.ie or email Laura at laura.carolan@craftyangels.ie

Stencils and masks are very popular tools to use nowadays building a very distinctive background for your scrapbook layout or card projects. They can be bought or found lying around in your house. You can use them with paints, sprays and other many art/craft media. What you will need:  Stencils  Acrylic paints  Cardstock  Tissue paper  Spray mist  Gel medium (Liquitex Fluid Medium)  Chipboard or grungeboard letters Step 1 To start off I used black cardstock, put my stencil down and sponged white acrylic very messily with the Cut’n’Dry foam.

Step 2 To build some texture I brushed some fluid gel medium over the cardstock and then laid the tissue paper over it and crumpled it.

Step 3 I took Punchinella and sponged some green acrylic on the bottom of the page and some blue on the top.

Tip - Punchinella is a thin metal stencil with small holes in it

Step 4 To decorate the page I sprayed some green Colourwash on tissue paper through the punchinella and tore into strips. I twisted the tissue paper into long strips.

Step 5 I gathered all the elements and started to put the page together. I adhered the long tissue paper strips on the bottom, placed the photo, flowers and the title.

Tip: Using lots of dimensional elements and textures makes the layout very interesting.

Do you keep all those little bits and pieces from your childhood? Or do you want to keep them for your children? I have a whole box of game pieces and other little toys that I like and can’t be so cruel to bin them. Crate Paper came out with a beautifully distressed paper-line called Restoration. Here is a two part tutorial on how to make a little box for all your Childhood treasures. What you will need:  Paper maché box  Acrylic paints (light brown)  Distress Inks (brushed corduroy, walnut stain)  Gel medium in matte  Wood effect patterned paper  Embellishments

Step 1 Take off the closure of the box if there is any. Start inking and painting the edges - try to make it very distressed looking with some sanding and inking with a darker brown colour. It takes a while to you get the effect you want. Many layers of ink build up to give depth.

Step 2 Measure the box and cut piece of the patterned paper to cover the sides of the box. Ink the edges of the paper too.

Step 3 When the whole box is covered with the patterned paper, go over with the inks again. Let it dry completely. Then cover the box with gel medium and let it air-dry and then give a second coat of gel medium. Now the surface should be sealed.

Step 4 Gather some flowers and other embellishment (like old buttons) and start to layer them on the top of the box. Put the flat ones down first and then the more dimensional ones. I used many different colours to achieve the effect of gathering my childhood treasures. 30

Step 5 Colour the chipboard letters with inks or stains, I have also used crackle paint (Rock Candy) and when it dried inked them with some brown ink again to get and aged effect.

Tipâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Use hot glue to adhere the dimensional embellishments for the best hold.

In Part 2 of this tutorial I am going to show you how to decorate the inside of the treasure chest. I will also make a mini album which fits into the box for keeping some of your photos in a safe place. To be continued in Issue 3..

Julie Maloney In every issue we will be spotlighting the work of an Irish based crafter. We will look at paper crafters, scrapbookers, and altered art aficionados. If you think you know someone who you think sound be spotlighted let us know at craftingireland@gmail.com. Our second issue spotlight is shining on Julie Maloney. Here is Julie to tell us a bit about herself and her work.... I live in Dublin with my husband and two children. I’m from Northern Ireland originally, although I’ve also lived in Donegal and Sligo . I work as a primary school secretary, which is brilliant – lots of holidays!!

When and ho w di d you get i nv ol v ed w i th paper cr a f t ing? I’ve been involved in all types of crafting for most of my life whether it was cross stitching, knitting, etc.. but I’ve stuck with card making now since 2008. I’ve also tried scrapbooking a couple of times and was quite pleased with the results!

What is your fav our i te as p ect of pap er cr af ti ng? I love combining different patterns and colours and seeing how they come together. And I love rubber stamping – have dabbled with digi stamps but nothing beats rubber! What are th e techni qu es th at you use m ost of the ti m e? Distressing, computer generated sentiments and hand-stitching feature on pretty much all of my projects.

What are y ou r "can't do w i thout" pr oduc ts? Tim Holtz Distress Inks, for sure! And my needle and coloured threads! And ribbons! Tell us about your inspiration I use sketches, especially when I’m a bit stuck. I’m inspired by loads of talented crafters that I see in blogland. But my biggest inspiration is the colours and patterns of the papers that I use. My favourite paper companies are Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon. How do you d escr i be y our styl e? Although I use distressing a lot, I don’t pile on the embellishments – so I think my style is relatively clean and “graphic”. I use strong and sometimes slightly unusual colour combinations, and nearly always use coloured cardstock for my card bases. I put a lot of time into each card, from two to six hours each – I’ll not be making a fortune out of this!!

Do you blog? My blog is http://julie-oh-well.blogspot.com/ – I love to keep a record of my work (and snippets of life as well!) through blogging. I’m a long-time DT member of PaperPlay Challenges, and have also guest designed for Basic Grey Challenges.

Hav e you any pl ans for the future? I’m always interested to see new techniques and learn new things. I would love to get into using Copic markers, but need to save up a bit first. I like doing the odd bit of guest designing, but I can’t take on too much, what with work, family and my ultra-slow crafting, it’s easy to get overloaded!

Edi t o rs pi cks The editors each picked one of their favourite projects from Julieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work to share with you below..

Ti m i says. . I like that the ribbon matches the patterned paper and that the image has been coloured to match. The stitching and the little tag embellishment are adorable and really add to the card.

Nicol e says. . I love the stamping on this card, and love the papers used. They are wonderfully distressed. I love the colours used on the card and the rustic touches such as the twine and corrugated cardâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; they go fantastically with the colours!!

Welcome to our Crafting on a Budget section. For this issue I will be taking a look at a product and simple technique that gives wonderful image transfer. I will also be looking at getting the best value from your existing dies. We will also take a look at using some cheap supplies to create some lovely home décor pieces.

Citrasolv tutorial Citrasolv is a super-concentrated natural and environmentally friendly cleaning product that uses orange extracts to work. It will cut through virtually every type of grease and grime. It has hundreds of uses at various dilutions, from cleaning your counters and floors through to removing tar stains from carpets. The use we are going to take a look at is using it to transfer printed images onto fabric surfaces.. This technique is becoming very popular lately. Once I tried it for myself I can understand why! Citrasolv is widely available in the USA & Canada. Not so much in Ireland however. I got around this by purchasing a bottle from amazon.co.uk. The bottle cost approximately €12 including delivery. It goes a long way as you don't need to use much so it is quite good value. What you will need: Citra-Solv® Cotton ball/paint brush Metal spoon Non-porous smooth surface to work on Masking tape Fabric or paper of your choice Photocopy of an image to transfer 36

Step 1 Get your work area set up. I used a tray with some newspaper on it. I also used a small dish to put some citrasolv into so that I could use a paint brush to apply my citrasolv. Step 2 Get your image ready. I printed the image I wanted to use and made sure to make it a mirror image. Remember if there is text or detail in your image if you don't mirror the image before printing when you transfer it then your image will appear backwards on your fabric! Step 3 Place your image printed side down onto your fabric. It is a good idea to tape the image in place so that it does not move. Take your paint brush or cotton ball and apply a small amount of citrasolv onto the back of the paper. Rub it onto the paper until you see the ink appear. Make sure not to apply too muchâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;just enough to dampen the paper.

Step 4 When all your image has been covered with the citrasolv you then need to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;brayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the image to transfer the ink from the paper. For this you use the back of the metal spoon. You need to rub the image all over with the spoon. Make sure to use a lot of pressure to make sure to get the image all transferred. Take a peek under the paper to make sure the image is all transferred. If it needs to be brayed more then rub over the areas that need it. If you are happy with the transfer then lift the paper off. The paper should go into the bin when you are finished with it. The image on the left is the finished product. I transferred the image onto a place mat from Ikea. When the transfer is finished you need to make sure to let the fabric completely dry . When its dry I then iron it to make sure all the citrasolv is evaporated off. Tip for printing your images: I originally tried this technique using a photocopied image. However it did not work. The images I have used in this tutorial were printed by a HP laser jet printer. The best way to make sure your transfer will work is to test the print 38

out first. To do this I take a small piece of cotton wool dipped into some citrasolv and wipe it over the print out. I found that if the ink smears then it will transfer. If the ink does not budge then it wont work! As well as trying this technique on tea towels and place mats I also tried it on a lamp shade. It was a bit more tricky than the flat items. Make sure you have your image well taped down. However once you put something in behind the shade when you get to the braying stage then it should work out

fine for you. It is a very effective way to jazz up a cheap lampshade! Tip

ď &#x20AC; If you are using this technique on

ď &#x20AC; ď &#x20AC;

tea towels or other items that you intend to use make sure to give them a wash first to make sure all citrasolv residue is gone. Make sure to wear gloves and use in a well ventilated space. As a general rule the tighter the weave on the fabric the better the transfer will work. Looser weave fabrics tend to make the ink bleed a bit too much.

Getting the most from your dies!! I am sure most of us paper crafters out there love our dies and die cut machines. There are always new dies out that we want and we always covet dies our friends have! In this tutorial I want to show you a way to get the best value from your existing dies. I am sure you have some dies sitting at the back of a shelf that you have perhaps fallen a little out of love with. I am going to show you how to look at these dies in a whole new light!!

DISCLAIMER The following tutorial involved using dies and die cutting machines in a way that may not have been intended by the manufacturer. The ‘sandwich’ I created in order to use the following technique involved a lot of trial and error. Once I found the right ‘sandwich’ it worked perfectly each time. However it is not a manufacturer recommended set up and may result in damage to your die cutting machine, cutting plates or platform. Crafting Ireland accepts no responsibility for damage caused by trying this technique. We recommend you always follow manufacturers guidelines when using equipment to ensure no damage is caused.

Ok, so with that warning out of the way, lets have some fun with our dies! This idea came about after deciding I would love to be able to emboss or deboss some of my dies into paper and not just die cut the images. Step 1 Choose a small die that will cut through chip board/mount board. I use mount board purchased from a art shop. You get a large A1 or A2 sheet of mount board for around €3. I used a Tim Holtz Hardware Findings die to cut out a key.

Step 2 I placed the die cut key on the bottom of my Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine with tab 1 and tab 2 open. Step 3 I then placed a small tag over the key die cut. I then placed two tan embossing mats on top of the tag. Place your cutting plates on top of these tan embossing mats and run through the die cutting machine.

Step 4 Remove the plates and have a look at your tagâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the key will now be embossed into it. Now comes the fun partâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;decorating it! Step 5 I die cut the key again but just in normal paper. Any colour will doâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you are only going to use it as a mask. First I inked over the top of the tag, concentrating on the raised key part.

Think outside the box!!

I placed the paper mask over the key. I then stamped over the top of the tag with a script stamp. Step 6 Remove the maskâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you will see the key is untouched and the script stamp goes right up to the edges of the embossed key but not over it. Embellish your tag as you wish.! Versatile technique I created a card using this technique and this time I used the debossed side of the die cut embossing

I again created a mask to keep the debossed area clear and inked the background and stamped over it. I then just embellished the debossed area.

Stepping it up I stepped this technique up a notch by creating a full A6 size ‘embossing folder’. To do this I took the Tim Holtz ‘Cogs’ die and again using mount board die cut all 3 cogs a few times. I then got a thin sheet of card cut to A6 size. I laid the cogs out in a pattern I liked. Make sure to let the cogs go right out to the edge of the card so that it will go right to the edges when embossed. When happy with the layout glue the pieces down to the card. To emboss with this embossing ‘folder’ you follow the same steps laid out for the tag with the key. When it is embossed it should look like in the picture below.

Ink and embellish as you wish and voila—home made embossing folders from your existing dies!!

Altered Tiles - 2 Minute Makeover Step 1 Get a tile from the sample section in your local hardware store. Using a medium of your choice distress the tile. In my case I took a cream tile and distressed it with ink to give it an aged look. Step 2 Take a stamp and stamp on the tile. Make sure to use stayz on or archival ink. I used a script stamp for the background. I also inked the stamp up and then stamped off on a scrap of paper before stamping on the tile to give a more faded and distressed look. Step 3 Choose a stamp to use as a focal point for the tile. I used a Tim Holtz Eiffel Tower stamp. Step 4 Add some felt pads to the underneath of the tile if you want to use it as a coaster. Make sure to let your ink fully dry and then seal the tile with a sealant of your choice. I use ModPodge.

Welcome to this issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s featured websiteâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Create with TLC. If you are looking for adorable images and fabulous sentiments and clip art Create With TLC is the place to look. Paulette creates amazing work and is also super generous with her work. She generously has numerous free images and sentiments on her blog for people to use. Here is what Paulette has to say about herself and her work:

My name is Paulette, and I am a Paper Crafting Addict! I have been crafting digitally for over 15 years. I love combining the technical aspect of computers with the creativity of the mind and coming up with something fun or inspiring or just plain thought provoking. I get bored really easily, so I am constantly challenging myself to think of new creative things and ideas and sayings to share with all my followers. My Store is Create with TLC and my blog is Create with TLC. I love sharing lots and lots of freebies, so everyone can pass on a little TLC~!.

For some of these amazing freebies visit the Create With TLC blog here!!

If you would like to advertise in Crafting Ireland email us at craftingireland@gmail.com with advertising in the subject line for more information. Below are a list of some shops that we shopaholics like to order all those essential supplies from. All these stores are either located in Ireland, or else ship to Ireland with reasonable rates.

Ireland

United Kingdom

Cardz’n’Scraps – Cork Art Supplies

Artist Trading Post http://www.artisttradingpost.com/

http://cardznscrapz.com/

Artistic Stamper Scrapbook Store

http://www.theartisticstamper.com/

http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie

Craft Barn Crafty Alley

http://www.thecraftbarn.co.uk/

https://craftyalley.com/

Crafty Angels

Craft Emporium http://www.craft-emporium.co.uk

http://www.craftyangels.ie/store/

Scrapbook Store

WOW Embossing Powders

http://www.wowembossingpowder.co.uk/

http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie

An Siopa Bui – The Yellow Shop http://www.ansiopabui.ie/

Wild Orchid Crafts www.wildorchidcrafts.com

In every issue of Crafting Ireland we will have a crafty challenge to help you all get your creative juices flowing. We will select two winners from each challenge. We will then publish the two winners projects in the next issue.

Our generous sponsor for this challenge is Teddy Bo & Co速 Teddy Bo & Co速 comes from the imagination of Scottish artist Gayle Cook who also goes by the pseudonym 'Fairydoodler'. Gayle returned to drawing 6 years ago and has enjoyed reconnecting with her childhood passion. Teddy Bo & Bea became part of her extended 'family' during a Christmas break from work in 2010 and have become regular visitors to 'Blogland' More and more friends will be joining them soon and already Olifant (an adorable little elephant) has appeared. With their instantly recognisable hats these bears are the smartest in town. Why don't you pop along to our website at www.teddybo.com to find out more about these cute little bears and their friends who will also soon be available in rubber.

Challenge THEME—Celebration!! Our challenge for you this issue to create a project that shows celebration. It can be a celebration of any event once we can see the theme celebration in the project. You can make a card, scrapbook layout or even altered item that fits the theme. To get you started with some inspiration we have created a few projects to show how you how we celebrate!!.

Challenge Prize!! We will be picking two winners from the entries to win the prize donated by Teddy Bo—two €25 vouchers to spend in the Teddy Bo store! To submit your entries please email a photo of it to craftingireland@gmail.com

Please use Issue 2 Challenge submission in the subject line. Make sure to include your name, project and blog address in your email to us. Happy crafting!!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Issue 1 sketch challenge. There were all fantastic entries and it was very difficult choosing our two winners. A big congratulations goes to the winners;

Micki Harper

Katie Brett We would like to say a big thank you to Kerry from An SĂopa BĂşi in Galway for sponsoring our first challenge. Here is a photo of the wonderful prize she has offered. Both of the winners will get one of these fantastic prize packs each.