Crafting Ireland Issue 3

Issue 3 August 2011

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

sI n id e t hi s i ss ue

 Tut o r i al s  G i ve awa y s  C hal l e nge s And muc h mo r e !

Cl a udi n e Hel l m ut h wal l hangin g Reader Giveaways

WELCOME to Issue 3 of Crafting Ireland!

Hi everyone and welcome to issue 3. How time flies—issue 3 already!

We just want to say a huge THANK YOU to every one of you that has left kind words for us over the last few issues and wished us well. We really appreciate your support and are delighted you are all loving the magazine.

Remember though, the magazine would be nothing without all of you.

Make sure you keep sending in submissions, enter the challenge and reader giveaways or even just send us feedback letting us know what you would like to see more of in the magazine. We want to make sure we are creating a magazine you all want to read!!

All feedback is appreciated and you can contact us here.

All feedback we have received so far has been taken on board and we are

Submit your work, find out more at Craftingireland.wordpress.com

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working towards incorporating it all into the magazine.

We have lots of reader giveaways in this issue, make sure you enter them all as there are some fantastic prizes up on offer.

A big thank you to all those who submitted or contributed to this issue and

Personal Note from the Editors

This has been a fantastic experience to date, and I cant believe it is issue 3 already!

It has been fantastic getting to know all you crafters and to see the crafting community coming together in our little magazine. I am really looking forward to working along side you all in future issues!

Nicol e

I am so pleased and amazed by all the fantastic feedback we are getting. I love that people say that the tutorials we provide are interesting and really useful.

I am really looking forward to many more issues to come. I hope that we meet some of you in the events taking place in Ireland.

Timi

Editors note........p2 C l a u d i n e H e l l m u t h Wa l l h a n g i n g . . . . . . . . p 6 Fabric purse........p12 P r o d u c t r e v i e w — S p e c t r u m N o i r. . . . . . . . p 1 6 Submissions........p20 Classes and crops........p28 Hard cover mini album tutorial........p30 Childhood treasure box........p34 Yo y o f l o w e r t u t o r i a l . . . . . . . . p 3 8

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Spotlight on........p40 Home made flowers........p44 Crafting on a budget........p50 Citrasolv tutorial part 2........p50 Patterned paper from scraps........p52 Clay embellishments........p54 Featured website........p60 Where to shop........p63 Challenge........p66 R e a d e r g i v e a w a y. . . . . . . . p 7 0

This is a fun little project that combines a Sticky Back Canvas transfer with a quick and easy photo tinting technique. Imagine a whole wall of these with all your family photos!

Claudine Hellmuth

You will need:

 Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky Back      

Canvas Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paints Claudine Hellmuth Studio Extra Time Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint brushes Scrapbook paper Embroidery hoop Step 1 You’ll need a piece of Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky Back Canvas and also an embroidery hoop. I am using a 7” wooden one. Look around at the craft store and find the cheapest ones possible. This one was about $1.50

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Step 2 I’m going to transfer this piece of music scrapbook paper to the back of the Sticky Back Canvas.

Step 3 Stick the music side of the scrapbook paper face down into to the “sticky” side of the canvas.

Step 4 Burnish the paper down well.

Step 5 Wet the back of the paper and then rub off the pulp, this will reveal a transferred image!

Step 6 When you have finished the transfer wrap it around the hoop and then trim off the excess.

TIP: do this while the sticky back canvas is still damp and then it will stretch tightly as it dries.

Step 7 Here I printed out an image of my grandma onto photo inkjet gloss paper. Using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic paints and Claudine Hellmuth Studio Extra Time, Place a dab of each 8

onto a craft sheet and mix together with a brush. Then paint onto your photo give a photo tined look.

Here’s a close-up of the color tinting in process:

Step 8 Cut out the image when you have finished photo tinting.

Step 9 Glue your photo to the Embroidery hoop using Multi Medium, hang on a wall and you’re done!

Claudine Hellmuth is a internationally recognised collage artist, author and illustrator. She combines photos, paint, paper and pen into quirky, whimsicalretro collages. Her artworks have been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine, The New York Times, on HGTV's "I Want That!" and on the DIY Network's program, "Craft Lab." In addition to creating her artwork full-time, Claudine has developed a product line with Ranger Inc. under the brand name of "Claudine Hellmuth Stu dio", she licenses her illustrations to the gift and craft markets. Claudine also teaches collage workshops in the US & Canada, and she has written 3 books and 3 DVDs about her techniques.

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I have always loved computers and printers ever since I was a child. I Szabina Korsós remember when we first bought a printer I labelled and decorated everything in my room with printed images and drawings. That is probably why I fell in love with hybrid techniques immediately after I learnt about scrapbooking.

I figured if I have a printer and iron on tranfer sheet I can make anything with my own designs. So that is how I made my first pencil case and here I will show you how you can easily make one for yourself!

You will need:  Image editing software  Digi scrapbook kit  2 21x22cm piece of fabric (muslin or similar)  1 Iron on transfer paper (for light colours)  Scissors, pins, thread  20cm zip  Sewing machine (you could easily hand stich it too) Step 1 Open an A4 canvas in the image editing software and select a 21x22cm area. This will be the base where you will make your own design. When making your design try to place your more important elements towards the 12

centre, so if you cut into it when assembling you will still see them. I used my new kit: Believe in Yourself.

Step 2 When you are ready with the design, it is time to print it. You have to make sure that the image direction is right. If you have a setting on your printer for iron-on transfer, you will need to turn on.

If you don’t then you need to mirror your image vertically. This will print the image backwards so when printed and ironed on the fabric, your text and image will be in the right direction. Try to print it in matte photo setting.

Top Tip: Make sure you put the transfer paper right side up into the printer.

Follow the transfer paper’s instructions on this.

Step 3 After printing the image on the transfer paper, it’s time to iron it onto the fabric. Read the instructions on the packaging of your paper.

If you don’t have the instructions for your paper then do it this way: set your iron onto medium heat. Iron the transfer sheet for 10 minutes. Try to

peel the transfer paper backing paper off at the corners. If it’s not ready yet then iron for another few minutes. Then peel the backing off.

Step 4 Now you have nice patterned fabric that you need to cut into half.

Step 5 Pin the fabric onto the zip from the inside, and stich the fabrics together at the bottom and at the zip as well.

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Step 6 Turn it inside out, the patterned side should be inside. Pin everything down the pieces can’t move. And now stitch it all around.

Step 7 Turn it right side out and you’re ready. It was very easy wasn’t it?

We say: Thank you to Szabina for sharing this fantastic tutorial with us! We have listed all the places you can see more of Szabina’s fantastic work and digital kits below....

Blog: http://sabee24.blogspot.com/ Shop: http://www.catscrap.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php? manufacturerid=64 The kit featured in this article: Believe in Yourself by Sabee’s Creative World http://www.catscrap.com/shoppe/product.php?productid=19035&cat=249

A review on the new alcohol pen brought to you by Crafter’s Companion – from the perspective of a newbie!

Katie Brett

Spectrum Noir is the new alcohol ink based marker pen developed and brought to you by Crafter’s Companion. Unlike other alcohol ink pens that are currently available on the market that have been designed for graphic artists. Spectrum Noir, or ‘Speccies’, as they have been affectionately named, have been developed specifically for the needs of paper crafters. Each pen is double ended, with a broad chisel nib for covering large areas, and a fine bullet tip to get into all those nooks and crannies.

There are 168 colours in total, with 12 colour-themed packs of 6 (each containing 3 warm and 3 cool tones), and 4 box sets of 24, which complete your collection with a selection of Lights, Darks, Pastels and Brights. There is zero duplication in the packs which makes these markers great value for money.

To be completely honest, before I used Spectrum Noir, I was completely new to using alcohol-based markers, so I am writing this from the perspective of a beginner. I had tried a different brand a couple of times before, 16

but could never really get my head around it, and always found myself reaching back to my trusty old Daler Rowney watercolours. I was totally unwilling to step out of my comfort zone! I have to say though, that I am completely converted! It took me a while to realise that it wasn’t going to look like a watercolour painting, but once I had got past that hurdle, it was plain sailing!

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced crafter, the way that these sets have been put together make it so easy. The 12 main packs have been tonally selected to work together, so all the thinking has been done for you and you don’t have to sit there for hours trying to figure out which colours blend together perfectly. Once you have mastered colouring with the basic sets, there are then the large box sets to complete your colour palette and enable you to create every effect under the sun!

The recommended card to use with the Spectrum Noirs is the Neenah Classic Crescent Card, and when using this card I experienced no ink bleeding whatsoever.

The ink flows very smoothly out of the nibs and you need just a few light strokes to achieve great coverage and blending. The pens are also refillable, and you can also buy new nibs – making this colouring system even better value for money and also more ‘green’ – we all like to do our little bit for the environment! Being the messiest crafter in the world, another great plus for me was that the pens are square, meaning they don’t roll off the table!

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The colours and numbers are also printed on both ends of the pen, making it easy to locate the colour you are looking for. They also have a grey line going around one end of the pen, making it easy to identify which end is the chisel, and which end is the bullet tip, as there is nothing more frustrating that constantly opening up the wrong end! They also seem to dry very quickly and to a very smooth finish.

Overall I find the system easy to use and very effective – it only took me about an hour of playing and I had got the hang of it!

Reader giveaway To celebrate the launch of this awesome system Crafters Companion has given us FIVE sets of the Essentials pens to give away to five lucky readers!!

If you would like to win a set then all you need to do is go to the Crafters Companion Facebook page and ‘like’ them and tell them that Crafting Ireland sent you— how simple is that!

So simply head on over to http://www.facebook.com/ CraftersCompanion and tell them we sent you to be in with the chance to win!!

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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 for this issue were :  Summer Fun  Colour challenge—blue, yellow and green

Summer Fun

Helen van der Gaag http://creamieke.blogspot.com 20

Natasha Beasley http://milliesmagicalmoments.blogspot.com/

Kim Dylewicz onthefence-kim.blogspot.com

Stacy Morgan www.twinshappy.blogsp ot.com

Colour Challenge

Kim Dylewicz onthefence-kim.blogspot.com

Micki Harper—http://artfulxpressions.net/

Anna Clyburn - Victoria, B.C

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Pam Blood craftcreationsbypam.blogspot.com

Celina Anthony - Shepherd, MT

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Wendy Rudd-Colledge - www.Wendymade.blogspot.com

Sarah Longmore - sarahlongmore.blogspot.com

Aideen Fallon - www.piecesbyaideen.com Issue 4 Submission themes For issue 4 we have two themes for you to work with. Again you can submit cards, layouts or altered art projects. The themes are:

ď € Inspired by Halloween - Show us your work inspired by this spooky time of year! ď € Autumn Days - We want to see your work inspired by autumn, use the colours and common themes of autumn, such as leaves to create a project that reflects autumn days.

Please email your entries along with your name and blog address to

craftingireland@gmail.com 26

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. Simply 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/ Crafty Angels We have a kids card making class in store, on the 10th August from 11-1pm.

Kits included, and cost of class is €15.00.

The adult class is on the 20th August in the Osprey Hotel, Naas from 12-4pm.

Kits and free tea/coffee inc, cost of class is €25.00. A We are having a weekly "crop", starting on the 23rd August from 7-10pm, cost is €5, which includes free tea/coffee. It is a general girls get-together, doing your own thing, and getting hints, tips, getting your own projects/cards finished etc.

All places must be booked in advance. Crafty Angels, Cutlery Rd, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Ph : 045-446678.

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Scrapbook Store Our next crop is on 25th August at Whitehall Parish Centre starting 7 o’clock.

It’s a fun night with scrapbooking and card making challenges .

We also have our next workshop on the 29th September.

More info can be found on the website http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie/ workshops.php or contact Annamarie at workshops@thescrapbookstore.ie Jackies Cardmaking Workshops - 21st August—http:// jackiesworkshops.blogspot.com/ Crafty Alley 17th September—Top Down Seamless Knitting with Carol Feller. Learn to knit a garment from the top down in one piece.

24th September—Card making with Claire Buswell.

Weaving workshop with Carol Feller Oil Painting with Tina Reed www.craftyalley.com Scrap n Yap 21st August—Check out Scrap n Yap on Facebook for more information.

An Siopa Buí 20th August—Felting & Jewellery making with Kin O’Donoghue 27th August—Wedding Class 10th September—Free Christmas card demo Crops—11th August, 30th August and 13th September

Great Big Craft Extravaganza: 30th September— 2nd October, Athlone Springs Hotel, Athlone.

The 3rd annual Great Big Craft Extravaganza will be taking place in Athlone again this year. It is a fantastic event for all crafters full of classes, crops, demos, tutorials, shops, competitions and challenges. The event is free in and you only pay for the classes you attend. You can book onto the show through www.ansiopabui.ie 29

Eve Louw This is a Mini album with a ton of space for photographs and embellishments.

What you will need:  (2) 12”x12” Cardstock  (2) 4.5” x 7” chipboard  (1) 2” x 7” chipboard  (1) 12”x8” Pattern Paper (This will be your Cover)  (1) 6” x 9.5” Pattern Paper (This will be for the inside of your cover)  (16) 5¾” x 3¾” Pattern paper (This is for matting your mini album, if you want to build your mini with pattern paper and not card stock you will not need this) Creating your Cover Step 1 Place your 12”x8” pattern paper face down and stick your chipboard pieces down.

There will be a border of pattern paper around your chipboard that is perfect as you will be folding that over.

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Make sure to place enough adhesive as you do not want your project to fall apart in a week’s time.

NOTE: leave enough space in between the pieces as your book needs to fold. I would leave a space double the thickness of the chipboard that you are using.

Step 2 Fold your pages and make sure it folds properly.

Step 3 Place double sided tape on all the edges of the chipboard, Fold over the corners. This will create a nice and clean cover, once you have done all 4 corners you can fold over the rest of the pattern paper, this will cover the chipboard completely and will not leave a raw edge.

Step 4 Place more tape to stick your inner page down.

NOTE: I placed my adhesive on the pattern paper and not in the chipboard, as I don’t want glue exposed.

Again Fold your Cover to make sure it folds properly. That is the cover done.

The Mini Album Step 5 Cut all your Card Stock to 6”x12”, so you will have 4 strips. Score and fold them all at 4” and 8”. Fold your pages so they create a Z shape.

Step 6 Attach A to E. Remember only glue in a U shape, as that will create your pocket. Do this to all 4 of your pages.

Step 7 Attach your mini pages to your cover. Place adhesive on your last page and stick down to the back of your cover.

This will create a lot of space to embellish the inside.

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That is your mini done and dusted all you need is some photos to put inside!

This tutorial was presented by Eve Louw from the Crafty Queens. www.craftyqueens.ie

Reader give away!!

The Crafty Queens are giving this album away to a lucky Crafting Ireland reader. All you need to do is go to The Crafty Queens on Facebook and ‘like’ us and leave a comment saying what is your favorite paper line.

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In issue 2 we looked at altering a paper maché box in order to house a mini album and some treasured childhood memories. In this part of the tutorial I will show you how to finish off altering the box.

What you will need:  Woodgrain patterned paper  Multi-medium in matte  Walnut stain Distress Ink  Chipboard  Patterned paper  Game pieces  Other random pieces (bus ticket, bow, bottle cap)  Embellishments Step 1 Cover the inside of the box with patterned paper, use multi medium to adhere the paper. Ink it well to give an aged look.

Step 2 Gather all your game pieces and let your hot glue gun heat up.

We will use the inside of the lid as a shadow box.

Adhere all the game and random pieces to the inside of the lid. Try not to flatten the piece to keep the 3D look. For example: only put hot glue on two op-

posite corners of the ticket, so it is not completely adhered to the lid. Try to use the edges of the box to adhere things to it.

The Mini Album Step 1 Cut the chipboard into pages that will fit into the box. Cover them with patterned paper.

Ink the edges to give an aged look.

Step 2 Arrange them into order as you like and punch holes on the left hand side. You can measure the holes on the first page and use this one as a template when punching the holes on the other pages.

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Step 3 I used rings to bind the pages.

Decorate the front and other pages as you like.

When ready place the mini album into the box and you’re ready!!

The paper used in this project is the Crate Paper Restoration line.

You can find this line in a few online Irish craft stores—Cardz n Scrapz, and The Scrapbook Store.

Yoyo Flowers using Clover Templates

Timi Konya

I came across these yoyo flower templates on the internet and found very useful. For somebody who doesn't know how to sew properly like myself it is a great help.

In this project I also tried the Citrasolv technique from Issue 1. This time I used it with coloured prints. I have to say it worked well. The colours do not come out as bright, but if you are going for an aged distressed look you would be pleased with the result.

Place your fabric into the template.

Trim the excess fabric from around the template.

Stitch around the holes with thread and needle. Then take the fabric out of the template and gather it with pulling the thread.

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Now you need to tuck in the edges, I usually use the end of my tweezers or small brush. Flatten your flower and stitch a button on the centre if you like. It's great because the folds are even, so the flower looks much better than when you free hand stitch.

This little template is very easy to use once you get the idea. I got my templates from Ebay, simply do a search for YoYo flower templates.

Elisa Nishimura 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 third issue spotlight is shining on Elisa Nishimura. Here is Elisa to tell us a bit about herself and her work....

I am Elisa Nishimura, a Brazilian living in Dublin. I met my husband in England. He is Irish and after we got married we moved to Ireland, where I have been for the last 16 years. We have two children, a 9 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. I am a stay at home mum but used to work in IT in a former life.

When and ho w di d you get i nv ol v ed w i th paper cr af ti ng?

I always liked paper crafting but I got into scrapbooking about 6 years ago, as a way to document my daughter’s life and also to stop me getting stressed waiting to adopt our second child.

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Later, since I am unable to throw away the tiniest bit of scrap paper, I decided to start card making as a way to use up the scraps. However, I still have a pile of paper scraps and often my nearest and dearest get a shop bought card.

Shame on me!

What is your fav our i te as p ect of pap er cr af ti ng?

It is definitely the creative aspect. Paper crafting is a way to unwind and get my imagination going.

What are th e techni qu es th at you use m ost of the ti m e?

I had to think about this question. I don’t think I have techniques as such but some things appear often in what I do, I guess it is part of my “style”. Like the title just above the photo, straight lines (I don’t do slanted often) and having a border around the layout. In cards I often use ribbons or a thin strip of paper going over the whole length of the card.

What are y ou r "can't do w i thout" pr oduc ts?

White and Kraft cardstock, punches and most of all my laptop and printer!

What inspires you?

My favourite subjects for scrapbooking are definitely my children. As for the design, I often get inspiration from other crafters, interior design magazines and recently Pinterest.

How do you d escr i be y our styl e?

Clean and simple.

Do you blog?

Yes, I have a blog where I display my scrapbook layout and other projects http://hybridalien.blogspot.com , and one where I showcase my digital i m a g e s h t t p : / / mamidoodles.blogspot.com Where ca n w e see your w or k ? A r e you on any desi g n teams?

I don’t belong to to any DT at the moment. Besides my blogs, the only gallery I update regularly is Studio Calico’s one (http://www.studiocalico.com ) Hav e you any pl ans for the futur e?

I came to the conclusion that I am not DT material – I am way too slow.

I would like to improve my photographic skills and redecorate my home.

At the moment there’s hardly any evidence around the house that shows how much I care about arts and crafts. I want to change that.

I also would like to participate in cardmaking challenges.

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Edi t o rs pi cks The editors each picked one of their favourite projects from Elisa’s work to share with you below..

Ti m i says. .

I love the white space on this bold and bright layout. The circles and the stitching are just fantastic. I adore the typed journaling, this is my favourite way to journal on layouts and it works fantastically on this page!

Nicol e says. .

I love the layout of this page. I love how simple card stock has been used and how fun it has been made by stencilling on the paper and the fun stitching and embellishments all around the photos.

By Elisa Nishimura There are tons of paper flower making tutorials in the web and here is my own twist.

I am taking the lazy approach and making flowers out of existing ones! If you are card making or scrapbooking as long as I am, you must have gone through a Prima daisies shopping frenzy. Do you remember the pretty flowers that came in pretty glass jars? Like these I used plenty of them, but still have lots left and hardly use them anymore because while I still love them, they look a bit... let's say... out of fashion. So I tried a flower makeover and here are some of my results...

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Pink chrysanthemum: To make the pink chrysanthemum, I used 2 dark daisies, 3 pink ones and a smaller yellow one.

I glued one dark one on top of the other one.

Then I folded the pink ones in the middle, back to back. I put a dot of glue so that they'd stay that way.

Then folded them again, and glued to keep in place.

Now put glue in the centre of the dark one.

Now cover the dark daisies with the folded pink ones.

Now scrunch the yellow daisy like in the image below. You need to fold back to back, so that the petal tips go inwards.

Glue the yellow daisy into the middle of the larger flower and you get this beautiful chrysanthemum...

For a variation on this flower I took 5 yellow flowers and coloured the centres with a Promarker. I then assembled the flower as in the previous steps

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Coloured petals with Promarkers.

Completed flower.

The blue one has a fuller centre - I simply used two yellow daisies to achieve this fuller centre.

Red Rose: This is very similar to the chrysanthemum but produces a lovely rose.

This is what I started with..

Put a bit of wet glue on the back of two of dark flowers.

Make sure it is on the backs of the flowers!!

On the left is the glue on the back of two of the red flowers.

Below shows the two flowers then folded in half, back to back.

A some glue on the third larger flower.

Place one of the folded ones over it.

Then the other one, on the other half.

Put a bit of glue on the back of the petals of the remaining two.

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Scrunch the small one up, petals against petals.

Then wrap the second flower with glue on it around the scrunched up flower.

Glue it in the centre of the other ones and you're done!

We say This is a fantastic way to jazz up those plain flowers that may be feeling slightly neglected in the bottom of a drawer in your craft room. It is a super way to create lovely new flowers without spending much money!!

Nicole Mullen Welcome to our Crafting on a Budget section. Here we will be looking at a previous technique, the Citrasolv transfer, as well as a few other budget crafts!

Citrasolv tutorial part two—Colour image transfer In Issue 2 I showed you a transfer technique using Citrasolv. Using this techniques I showed you how to transfer printed images onto fabric and other mediums.

I just wanted to show you a bit more on what Citrasolv can do. What is that you ask? Colour transfer !!

I tried the Citrasolv out on coloured print outs and got some fantastic results. The technique was the same as laid out in issue 2—but with one difference....a lot more elbow grease was required at the braying stage!!

But the results are worth the effort....

I took a plain white pillow case and a peacock image from the Graphics Fairy. I reduced the image and printed it of as needed for the transfer technique. I then chose my placement for it on the pillow case and got working on it!! In the image

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here I have placed the original image on the left of the pillow case and the image on the right is the pillowcase finished. The resulting image is not as bright and vibrant as the original image but it does give a lovely vintage image effect.

The image below is of the same image transferred onto a plain cushion cover. Again the image is not as strikingly vibrant as on the print out, however it does look lovely when finished.

The colour citra solv technique was also used on the fabric in the YoYo flowers tutorial on page 38 of this issue....

I am delighted with how the colour transfer worked out, it certainly makes a striking impact on a plain pillowcase or cushion!

This is a quick and easy tutorial to help you to get some of those pesky scraps we all seem to end up with off our craft desks! I always tend to have a huge scrap pile and never seem to manage to decrease the size of it, no matter how much I work on using them up.

I find that this simple technique works wonders on those small scraps that fall into the ‘too big to throw out and yet too small to use properly category’!

Step 1 Select a bunch of scraps that complement each other colour wise. I chose a selection of pinks and purples. One of my scraps was even embossed and stamped on already!

Step 2 Take a piece of white card. I used a A5 sized piece. I then cut all my scrap strips down into straight edged strips. Some were 2inches, some were 1 inch and some were 3 inch. The important thing is that they all have straight edges so that they all line up next to one another neatly.

I laid the strips out on the A5 card into a pattern that I liked.

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Step 3 When you have the papers all laid out as you like them then glue them down to the A5 card. Now you have a A5 sheet of custom design paper!

Step 4 I then mounted this A5 custom paper onto a card blank.

Step 5 I repeated the process of laying out scraps and gluing them down. These scraps were smaller however. But they were just big enough for me to die cut butterflies out of....

Step 6 I then embellished the butterflies and mounted them to the front of the card. I also use the pre embossed and stamped scrap that I had and used that for my card sentiment.

The resulting card looks great and more importantly uses up lots of scraps, and that is always a great thing in my book, crafty and good for the environment!!

Top Tip You can create large sheets of this ‘scrap paper’ and die cut lots of shapes from them to give unique finishes to your cards and scrapbook layouts with unique ‘paper’ that no one else will have!!

I love embellishments. Who doesn't? What I don't love about embellishments is the price of them. So I had a look around and decided to try using clay to make my own. I purchased some clay and some moulds and started playing around with ways to create embellishments. And guess what—its is so easy!

You need very little equipment and very little skill level to make some pretty darn cute embellies!! I will take you through the various ways I created mine.

What you will need  Clay  Pencil & wooden slips  Embossing folder  Cookie cutter  Stamp  Moulds Priming your clay I used some Fimo oven bake clay that I got in my local art shop. My clay only cost €2.10 and I found it goes quite a long way. The first thing you will need to do is break off a block of the clay. Some of my clay came in handy pre scored pieces which made breaking them off easier. For others that were a solid block I simply used a butter knife to cut some off.

The clay will be very hard so needs to be primed— this means softening it to be more malleable so that you can work with it. To do this take your small piece of clay between the palm of your hands.

Roll the clay between your palms to soften the clay out. It will turn into a sausage shape when it is rolled.

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Roll this into a ball shape as this is the easiest way to start with the clay. Your clay is now primed and ready to use.

Cookie cutter embellishments Step 1 Place your ball of clay on a non stick craft mat and flatten it out roughly with the palm of your hand.

Step 2 Take two small slips of wood and place on either side of the clay. These must both be the same height—these will help you roll your clay out to be level. Use a pencil to roll the clay out thinly. You can use whatever you want to roll the clay out but I find a pencil works and is cheap :) Step 3 Take a cookie cutter of your choice and press it into the clay. Lift the cookie cutter off and remove the cut out shape, in my case a heart shape.

Step 4 To embellish your shape you can use things like embossing folders or stamps. For the embossing folder simply open the embossing folder of your choice and press it into your clay shape. You will need to get the pressure right—too hard and the clay will stick into the embossing folder. Too lightly wont give a good impression. You will end up with a lovely embossed/debossed shape.

Be careful handling it at this stage though as the clay will be soft until you bake it and you don't want to ruin the lovely piece you have just created.

You can also use stamps to emboss your clay shapes.

You simply place a stamp of your choice on a block and press the stamp into the clay.

You can take this technique a step further by inking up the stamp before pressing it into the clay. Make sure to use a ink that contrasts with your clay colour. In my case I used black ink on white clay.

Mould made embellishments So lets step up our embellishments. We can only do so much with cookie cutters. Using moulds allows us to create some stunning embellishments with very little effort. More importantly for very little money. All the moulds I used were bought on eBay for €4-€6 euro each. And considering you can use them over and over this is not a bad price at all! All the moulds I used are silicone moulds.

Using silicone moulds Step 1 Get a small ball of clay ready. The piece of clay should be slightly smaller than the shape of the mould you are using. This mould creates four different size roses. This mould was €7 so great value. Place your ball of clay into the section of the mould you want to use.

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Step 2 Press the clay into the mould. Make sure to press down firmly so that the clay gets into every crevasse of the mould.

Step 3 Make sure to have the clay pressed right up to the edges.

Step 4 To make sure the back of the clay rose is totally flat you can take a pencil and roll it over the back. You want as smooth a finish as possible on the back so that if you are gluing the flower onto anything it will stick well.

Step 5 Once you are happy that your clay in in the mould fully it is then time to remove the clay flower. Because the silicone mould is so flexible this is actually quite easy. You simply need to bend the mould back and you will see it pull away from the clay. I usually turn the mould upside down over a craft mat and then pop the clay flower out.

Again be very careful with the resulting flower at this stage as it will still be soft until baked.

Creating two toned clay Clay comes in many different colours. However sometimes you may want to mix the clay to get a two toned effect on an embellishment. This is quite an easy process.

Step 1 Take two different colour clays and roll a roughly even amount of each out into a ‘sausage’ shaped strip.

Step 2 Take these two strips and pinch them together at one end.

Step 3 Twist the strips around one another. Until they are both fully entwined.

Step 3 Fold the two ends together for form a circle. Then roll this circle into a rounded ball of clay. Roll this ball out into a ‘sausage’ shape. You will end up with a lovely marbled clay. This will give you a lovely effect on the embellishments you make!

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Layering Embellishments A very effective way of creating more detailed embellishments is to layer up different embellishments. A nice simple way to do this is to cut a shape out with a cookie cutter and layer a clay moulded item on top.

You can take this embellishment even one step further. Take an awl or paper punch and make a hole in the cookie cutter shape. You will need to make the hold from the front and the back to make sure it is big enough to get a ribbon or jump ring through. You can then use it as a charm or even a necklace.

Baking your Embellishments Your clay needs to be baked as per the manufactures instructions in order to cure (set) it.

Once it has been baked it will be solid and ready to use. You can get air drying clay but you have to work a bit faster with it as it starts to cure as soon as it is exposed to air.

Decorating your Embellishments The thing I love most about this clay is that after it is baked you

can further decorate it if you want. For my embellishments I painted some with acrylic paint and others with perfect pearls.

Perfect Pearls

Acrylic paint

So let your imagination run wild. Remember if you make a mistake you can simply roll the clay back up and start all over again. It is a very forgiving process so don't be afraid to try things out and most importantly have fun!!

This is a small selection of some of the things I made with my clay. The flowers and wings are from a mould, the heart are cookie cutter cut and embossed with a stamp and an embossing folder. The top shape was a small excess piece of clay that I just flattened and stamped my initial into with a inked up stamp to get a seal effect.

Make sure to check back in issue 4 where I will look at some more things we can do with the clay and moulds.

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Welcome to this issue’s featured website—Raindrop Echo Designs. Raindrop Echo is run by the wonderful Ann Vento. Ann is a talented designer who currently designs rubber, digital and custom stamps, dies and digi paper for Tickled Pink Stamps, Whiff of Joy and Whimsy Stamps.

Ann also runs a challenge blog—Sentimental Sundays. She offers weekly freebie sentiments on this challenge blog, along with the amazing digi stamp prizes on offer.

On the Raindrop Echo website Ann offers some amazing resources for those of us who work with digital images—tutorials!! She has some fantastic tutorials on dealing with digital images, with advice on how to add watermarks, resizing images, using multiple images and much more. She also offers tutorials on colouring images, and other techniques.

We love Ann’s work and the sentiments and tutorials she generously offers to all of us crafters, and we highly recommend that you check her out!

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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

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The Crafty Alley Shop is Co. Kerry's largest art and craft supplies shop although through our wide network of customers and through online marketing, we sell both nationally and internationally.

We stock more than 12000 products in our Killarney shop which we hope to add to our online shop in the coming months.

Classes at The Crafty Alley 17th September—Top Down Seamless Knitting with Carol Feller. Learn to knit a garment from the top down in one piece.

24th September—Card making with Claire Buswell.

Weaving workshop with Carol Feller Oil Painting with Tina Reed Visit the Crafty Alley website for more information and bookings www.craftyalley.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 The Crafty Alley The Crafty Alley Shop is Co. Kerry's largest art and craft supplies shop although through our wide network of customers and through online marketing, we sell both nationally and internationally. We stock more than 12000 products in our Killarney shop which we hope to add to our online shop in the coming months.

The Crafty Alley Shop was opened to provide a high quality and good range of art and craft supplies to the artist, the crafter, the local schools and art clubs and of course the hobbyist. The Crafty Alley Shop now offers workshops and classes to adults and juniors in a variety of art and craft skills.

In March 2009, we moved to a newer premises in Killarney with a purpose built workshop room which enabled us to offer a wider range of stock and workshops. Our aim is to provide a wide range of quality products and competitive prices as well as enhance and promote the learning experience of art and crafts to all ages. All our staff are art and craft enthusiasts who are delighted to help you find the right product or answer any question you may have.

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Challenge THEME—Photo Inspiration!!

Our challenge for you this issue to create a project that Is inspired by the photo below. You can let the colours, textures or composition and shapes of the picture inspire your work. Just let us know what inspired you and how you reflected it in your work!

Photo by Timi Konya. A traditional Irish cottage located in the beautiful county of Kerry, Ireland.

Challenge Prize!!

We will be picking two winners from all the entries to win the prize donated by The Crafty Alley, two sets of fabulous papers—one set of 7 Gyspies Conservatory and one set of My Minds Eye Lost and found!!

To submit your entries please email a photo of it to craftingireland@gmail.com by the 12th September.

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.

Thank you to everyone who entered our Issue 2 challenge. There were all fantastic entries and it was very difficult choosing our two winners. A big congratulations goes to the winners;

Elke Eckel

Patricia O’Hagan

We would like to say a big thank you to Gail from Teddy Bo and Co for sponsoring our Issue 2 challenge. Both of the winners will each get a â‚Ź25 voucher to spend in the Teddy Bo store!

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Our issue 2 reader give away was sponsored by Cork Art Supplies, also known as Cards and Scrapz. The prize is a fantastic collection pack of the Hello Luscious Basic Grey papers.

We gave each entry a number and used random.org to select a winner from all the entries. The lucky winner was number 19—Weenie Thomas. Enjoy the prize Weenie!!

Thank you to everyone who entered, and make sure to flip on over to page 70 for this issues sponsored reader giveaway!

Sponsored by

Do you like lace and trim?

Want to win 9 types of it? That’s over 4.5 metres!!

Enter the Reader Give Away!

All you need to do is:

 Become a friend of The Crafty Alley on Facebook  Leave a comment on their wall telling them that Crafting Ireland sent you.

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out on 19th September For the next issue we would love to see more of your work. Remember the submission themes are:

ď € Inspired by Halloween - Show us your work inspired by this spooky time of year! ď € Autumn Days - We want to see your work inspired by autumn, use the colours and common themes of autumn, such as leaves to create a project that reflects autumn days.

S u b m i s s i on d e a d l in e i s 1 2 t h S e pt e m b e r

Article submission If you have an article or tutorial you would like to get published please email us about it at craftingireland@gmail.com.

Make sure to check out craftingireland.wordpress.com for more information on future issues