Issue 9 - 16 April 2012
I r ela n d ’ s f i rs t on lin e cra f t ma g a z in e....
In si de t h is issu e
s k c i r T g n i s s Embo
S i ngl e L a y e re d Ca r ds
Altered Canvas
WELCOME to Issue 9 of Crafting Ireland! As always we have a fun tutorial packed issue for you all. We have another guest contributor窶認rances Peets. If you would like to submit to be a guest contributor send us an email with an outline of your proposed tutorial. We have exciting news in this issue. We are organising a Crafting Ireland crop on the 26th May, in Athlone. We want to get all our readers together for a fun and crafty day out. Best of all it is super adorable at only 竄ｬ5 for entry for the whole day. There will be a raffle for crafty prizes as well as demos and snacks throughout the day. Visit our website here for details and booking! We also have our new submissions email address which is
Submit your work - find out more at www.craftingirelandonline.ie
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submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie. Don’t forget you can keep up to date with us on our BLOG WEBSITE and FACEBOOK page. Special Contributors Frances Peets Felicia Thomas
Ni c ol e
Timi 3
Editors note........p2 D e s i g n Te a m C a l l . . . . . . . . p 6 About Us........p8 Faux Leather Photo Corners........p12 R e a d e r G i v e a w a y. . . . . . . . p 1 4 P r o d u c t r e v i e w. . . . . . . . p 1 6 Single Layered Cards........p22 Submissions ........p27 A l t e r i n g W i t h E m b o s s i n g P o w d e r. . . . . . . . p 3 0 Altered Address Cards........p34 M e m o r y J a r. . . . . . . . p 3 7 4
Classes and Crops........p40 Altered Canvas .......p42 S p o t l i g h t o n K a t e Wa l s h . . . . . . . . p 4 6 Crafty Storage Ideas........p55 Crafting on a Budget........p58 Hatbox ........p66 F e a t u r e d We b s i t e . . . . . . . . p 6 9 Back to Basics........p74 Processing Photos for Bloggers........p78 Scrapzville Swap ........p84 C h a l l e n g e W i n n e r. . . . . . . . p 8 6
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Design Team Call Crafting Ireland is looking for enthusiastic crafters who have a passion for paper crafting and would like to share their own tutorials and ideas. What we are looking for: Two projects every six weeks with step by step photo or video tutorials Good photography skills for suitable images for publication in the magazine We are looking for card makers, scrapbookers, altered art creators and any other type of paper crafters out there! Keep your personal blog up to date Active participation on Social Media sites, including Crafting Ireland’s Facebook page and blog The term is for five issues of the magazine, starting in Issue 11 In return you will be published in the magazine 6
and featured as a regular contributor. You will also have a feature on our website, including a link to your personal blog. You may also receive occasional items from sponsors. To enter: Submit photos of five of your favourite projects that highlight your style and skills Try to include one project, or link to a blog post/project that shows your ability to write a crafty tutorial Write a short biography about yourself and tell us why you would fit on our design team Entry is open to everyone, regardless of geographic location Email your submission to submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie
Submission deadline: 14th May Date of Announcement: 28th May 7
We decided it was about time to introduce ourselves fully to our readers as we have not done this before. We want to tell you’re a little bit about ourselves and why we set up the magazine.
Nicole Mullen Hi everyone! So where to begin? I am from Dublin, Ireland. I am Chief Editor of Crafting Ireland. What does this mean? Mostly that I correct Timi’s grammar :) Her English is fantastic and definetly much better than my Hungarian, so luckily she does not give me too much work to do! I have always been crafty, I used to paint a lot and then progressed into paper crafting a few years ago. I love anything crafty, even DIY on my house, but particularily card making. I love the fact that it is so quick to get a project fully finished, where mini albums etc take much more time. I have recently started to get into Art Journalling and I am hooked. I am not the greatest artist, but it allows me to throw paint 8
and colour onto pages, doodle and just let my imagination go free. It is very liberating and great to fit in to a spare 15 minutes in the the evenings! I work full time as a Training Officer for a Irish charity, so my spare time gets filled with crafty fun. When I first got the idea to start the magazine it was because I was getting frustrated with the UK and American magazines. They all had fantastic tips and tutorials. But I found that I had to spend a fortune on supplies to create most of the projects. In the case of the American magazines, half the time you could not even get the required supplies here in Ireland. So I approached Timi about creating a magazine that would work for the Irish market. We use supplies that are available in Ireland, or can be obtained with reasonable shipping. We also try to get a lot of use out of our existing supplies because, like everyone, recession has hit us too! We do make sure the magazine has appeal to everyone across the world though. Our readership figures show readers from places like Ireland, the UK, Europe, Russia, America, South America, Brazil, India, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and as far afield as Trinidad and Tobago just to name a few. It is really great to see we have such a world wide appeal. I find inspiration from hopping around blogs, Pinterest and then just random ideas that pop into my head! I dont have a set style, it really depends what mood I am in. I perhaps go with vintage and clean and simple the most. For me though, anything goes in crafting! 9
I am lucky that I have taken over a bedroom in our house for my craft studio. I have tried to keep to one corner of it. I don’t know how long that will last for though. In my defense my husband has another bedroom for his office, so I reckon I am allowed to take over a room! I love to retreat to my space and put the radio on and get crafty. I can be found in there most evenings, and very early on weekend mornings, usually with my pair of rabbits snuggled at my feet. If I am not crafting then I am on the internet, usually blogging! You can find my blog here. Ok, that is enough about me now. I hope you have gotten an insight as to why we set up the magazine and why we craft. I look forward to meeting more of you all throughout the year at all the various crafty events. Happy crafting!
Timi Konya Hi All, my name is Timi as you all know and I am one of the editors of Crafting Ireland. This article is to introduce us working behind the scenes, so let me start with my background. I am from Hungary, but I have lived in Ireland for 4 years now. And I like it, despite the weather. My full time job is a Health Care Support Worker, so most of my days are not about creating, unfortunately. I have always been very interested in different crafts like pottery, silk painting, batic etc... But when I found papercrafts and scrapbooking I knew that this is what I really want to spend my time with. As you may already have seen I like to create mini albums and scrapbook pages. I am not a real card maker, but 10
sometimes I do cards too. I also started art journalling a while ago, but haven’t really had a chance to show any of the pages I made. It is fun for me to think about new ways to create a mini album or to alter something to make a mini album from it. One day I will fill my minis with pictures, but at this moment I just haven’t got the time to do so. My inspiration comes from great mixed media artists like Donna Downey, Dina Wakley, Julie Fei-Fen Balzer and Claudine Hellmuth. That is why my scrapbook pages are a bit more of a mixed media style.On my pages I like to use lots of art media and dimension. Texture is something I really love. As a result it is really hard sometimes to fit my pages into page protectors! I try something new (for me) all the time, new products, new art media, new techniques. My biggest crafty dream is to have a seperate studio with a sewing machine in it, where I can hide from the world and leave my mess on the table. Most of the time I scrapbook about my travels and about my cat, Mitzee. I have a blog, but I am not going to bore you with it, because I am the worst blogger of all. That is all about me for now. I hope you learnt a bit more about me. I also hope that I will meet some of you at crafty events here in Ireland.
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This is a guest tutorial provided by Frances Peets. Frances is a crafter from Toronto, Canada. She is a regular reader of Crafting Ireland and is always entering the challenge too. She has provided this very useful method to create faux leather photo corners....
Frances Peets
What you will need Large self adhesive photo corner by 3M Embossing Ink - Versa Mark Embossing Powder Heat gun/tool Sponge Tweezers Step 1 Using Versa Mark embossing ink, lightly saturate sponge. Spread ink evenly across clear plastic photo corner. Step 2 Generously spread embossing powder evenly over inked photo corner surface. Repeat with a second coat of powder if necessary to cover entire surface. Strep 3 Hold the photo corner with tweezers. Using a heat gun 12
(not too close as plastic will melt), dry the powder and ink by steadily moving up and across powdered covered surface. Tip: Try to be steady and slow, moving the heat tool and not shaking it around. This technique with the heating tool is faster and more effective than shaking it. As you move the heating tool at a steady pace and slant the item you are embossing you can better see when the entire surface is embossed smoothly and completed. Step 4 Adhere the photo corner to your layout or card and fill it with whatever suitable embellishment and you’re done! Here I used punched out heart shapes in green patterned paper but I could see tucking a tag or journaled note-card. If you have melted your embossed photo corner in areas just cover the melted spots up with buttons and/ or other embellishments for a clustered corner effect. Every “mistake” is meant to further creative exploration. Never discard something that isn’t “perfect” but rather change it, alter it, improve it and create something you didn’t expect. 13
Prize Giveaway Store printed photos safely and in style while on vacation or when going to a crop. Made out of an upcycled cereal box covered in beautiful Japanese paper. The inside flap can be stamped and decorated or you can use it to make a list of the photos and places you visited in preparation for scrapping when you return home. Handcrafted especially for you by Frances Peets. This beautiful photo keeper will be mailed to one lucky winner. To be in with the chance to win simply email Frances at fpeets@me.com and she will pick a winner randomly!
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Portfolio Series Water Soluble Oil Pastels I recently came across this product and thought it sounded too good to be true. However a very forgiving price made me buy a pack to try out. At ÂŁ14.95 they were about â‚Ź18. This was a very decent price for a pack of 24 colours! The box they come in is very clever and a handy way to store them. I used to use oil pastels a lot back in my traditional art days. I love how smooth they are to draw and colour with and love the texture. However I hate the mess they can leave. Oil pastels are obviously oil based. The oil in them never completely dries so anything done with oils can be difficult to fix and preserve. So what makes these pastels so special? Well these pastels can be used as tra16
Nicole Mullen
ditional pastels. Or you can use water to blend or wash the colour out. If you combine this with a fantastic range of colours that comes in the pack you have a very fun and versatile product. Art Journaling To show how easy these pastels are to work with I did up a quick art journal page. I started by drawing a rough outline on a journal page of a pattern I wanted. I then coloured in each section in a colour of my choice.
To blend the colour out you can use your finger. If you need to be more precise or don't want to get your fingers messy you can use a paper stump instead. OR—Brush over the pastel with a wet paint brush and watch the colour blend! Be careful not to use too much water or the colour will bleed everywhere.
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The beauty behind being able to blend with water is that you can literally scribble down colour with the pastels and wash it into a lovely ‘painted’ area.
You can also dip the pastels directly into water and apply them wet to your page. This gives a similar washed effect. The blue on the bottom half was applied with the wet pastel, the blue on the top was applied with the dry pastel. The completed page can be seen on the right. Now comes the cool part! Normally with oil pastels your page is going to feel slick and oily. With these pastels when you wash them with water this oily feeling will fade a bit but will still be there. HOWEVER—with these pastels you can heat set them using a heat tool. This has two purposes . Firstly it will dry your page. 18
But secondly it will sink the oil down into your paper. This means no oil pastel will smear after its been set. It also means you will be able to draw over the top of them, something not possible with traditional oils. Tip: you will have to use a marker or similar, pencils wont work as well as inks or markers will. This journal page took about 10mins to create from start to finish. I love the ability to lay down lots of colour really fast! Tags I wanted to see the versatility of the pastels so I created a tag using them with no water washing involved. I scribbled on some colour and blended it out using my finger. Again you can use the paper stumps if you wish. Tip: A paper stump is a rolled paper tool that allows you to blend inks/ oils etc. It has a tip on it that allows you to precisely blend. When your stump gets dirty you can simply pare it back to a clean section again. 19
I scribbled on another colour and blended it again with my finger. I then scribbled another colour on and blended again. I started with my darkest colours on the outside and worked in wards with gradually lighter colours.
Before you can do anything further with the tag you need to again set the oils down into the paper.
Tip: When you heat the tag with your heat tool you will see a faint sheen appear across the paper and then disappear. This is the oil heating and then setting into the paper. When this step is done you can now stamp on the tag and embellish as you wish. I created another quick tag using the same technique but this time embossed the tag instead of stamping on it. 20
Conclusion Overall I really think these pastels are a fantastic product. I love how easy they are to work with and how versatile they can be. The selection of colours is great and allows for a lot of creativity. The price for a set of 24 colours is hard to beat too, which always helps! I don’t think the pastels will ever replace my distress inks, but for quick and fun craftiness I adore them. I bought mine from Paper Artsy online. There are lots of tutorials available online using the pastels, but they are so simple and fun to use I feel that they allow creativity without needing instructions! 21
Normally I don’t really do cards. However there are Timi Konya times when I need to do some for family or friends. In these cases I like to take the quick and easy way to do so. Here I am going to show you a few ideas on how to make some quick and simple cards with only one layer without using any patterned paper. What you will need Card base Watercolours or Inktense blocks Heat tool Doily paper Distress Inks Sentiment Stamps Stencil Card #1 Step 1 Pick three colours that you want to work with. Take the first colour and water it down on the craft sheet. With a wider brush apply some colour to the top corner of the card base and let the paint flow on the paper. Dry it with the heat tool. Step 2 Repeat ‘Step 1’ with the second colour., and again with the third colour.
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Step 4 When all the layers are dry stamp a sentiment on to the card.
Card #2 Step 1 Take a card base and a paper doily. Use the doily as a stencil.
Step 2 Place the doily on the card.
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Step 3 Apply Distress Inks with a Blending Tool. Use at least two or three colours.
Make sure that you hold the doily down very well to create a crisp image. Step 4 Stamp a sentiment and some flower details.
Card #3 Step 1 Take a stencil and sponge daubers.
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Step 2 Place the stencil on the card base and start to add colour with the dauber randomly over the stencil. Step 3 Take the second colour and continue colouring in. Try to leave space for the sentiment.
Step 4 When there is only few circles left change to a contrasting colour and colour the rest of the circles in.
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Step 5 Stamp the sentiment in the line where you didn’t colour in with the inks.
I hope you found some inspiration in these quick and easy single layer cards.
Would you like to advertise in Crafting Ireland? We offer very competitive prices and a readership of over 50,000 per issue. Contact us at info@craftingirelandonline.ie for advertising rates. 26
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. The themes for this issue were:
Birthday Celebration
Jessica Fitzhenry— jessicafitzhenry.blogspot.com
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Geraldine Mullarkey
Weenie Thomas— Dublin, Ireland 28
Issue 10 Submission themes For issue 10 we have one theme for you to work with. Again you can submit cards, layouts or altered art projects. The theme is:
ď € Summer Fun—show us projects which reflect summer fun! Please email your entries along with your name and blog address to: submission@craftingirelandonline.ie by the 14th May Remember your submitted projects can not have been published online or in any other publication before it is featured with us. You can find guidelines for submitting your work on
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In Issue 8 Timi did a tutorial showing how to alter a tin to create an altered vintage tin. I am going to do a tutorial altering a sweet tin also, but I will be altering mine using embossing powder.
Nicole Mullen
What you will need Metal sweet tin Gesso Versamark Embossing powder and heat gun Card stock, DP and embellishments of your choice Step 1 Paint the tin with a layer of gesso. I paint it with gesso because it is a easier surface for the versamark to stick to. It also means if I miss any patches with the embossing powder the white will show up and point this out to me! Step 2 Apply a very good coat of versamark to the tin. Starting on the lid is easiest. Make sure you get a good coverage of versamark.
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Step 3 Cover the versamark with embossing powder. I used a verdigris colour, this is a antiqued green with copper and gold in it, it gives a lovely vintage effect. Make sure to work over a sheet of paper to capture all the loose embossing powder. Step 4 Heat the embossing powder with a heat tool. Make sure not to hold the tin when you are heating it as it will get very hot!
Step 5 Before you can emboss the sides of the tin you will need to put the lid on the tin and mark a line of where it sits on the base of the tin. Do not emboss above this line. If we emboss above this line the lid also wont close correctly.
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Step 6 Emboss all around the side of the tin. Work in small sections so that you can get good coverage on the tin. Again dont hold it while you are melting the embossing powder! Step 7 Wipe off the excess gesso off from above your embossed line to make the tin look neater. Step 8 I created a set of small note cards to put inside my tin. To create them I die cut eight circle shaped cards and also eight circles of DP to mount on the top of them. I glued the circles of DP to the front of the circle card blanks. I then created sentiment toppers with a selection of sentiments on them, suitable for numerous occasions. 32
Step 9 Place the notecards inside the tin. Embellish the tin as you wish. I kept my tin lid fairly simple as the embossing powder gives such a stunning effect in person.
Enjoy recycling any little tins you may have around your house!!
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I love stationary shops and everything that you can Timi Konya buy in them. I also love making lists of things I like or do. This gave me the idea to alter a packet of address cards. This little register can be used to hold photos or inspirational quotes or for example a list of ”why I love you”. This project is great for when you are left with small pieces of patterned paper that you wouldn’t be able to use on a bigger project like a mini album. What you will need: Address Cards Cardboard box to put the cards in Patterned Paper Embellishments Metal label holder Perfect Pearls and Perfect Medium Step 1 Cut the papers to the size of the address cards. Ink all the edges and adhere them to the cards.
Step 2 Decorate the cards with some flowers and chipboard elements. 34
Try to place the embellishments in an alternating pattern - on one page fix them to the left and on the next page fix to the right. This will make sure that the cards are nice and evenly spaced when you put them into the box. Step 3 Cover the sides of the box with patterned paper and again ink all the edges to give it an aged look. Step 4 Take a metal label holder and cover it with brown acrylic paint. Dry it with the heat tool. Step 5 Apply some of the Perfect Medium on the label holder and brush some Perfect Pearls on it. Spritz it with water to make the powder permanent. This will make the labelholder look weathered.
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Step 6 Place the laber holder on the front of the box and secure it with some brads. Embellish it with some flowers and leaves. Step 7 Place all the cards in the box and now you just have to put photos or quotes in it and it’s done!
If you try this project share it with us on our Facebook page.
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I find that I end up with a lot of glass jars to recycle in my house. I got fed up of just washing them out and putting them in the recycling bin so I started looking for things to do with them.
Nicole Mullen
They can be handy for storing craft supplies. But for this tutorial I decided to do something a little bit different. I used a photo and some mementos from a recent trip to create a memory jar. This is like a dimensional mini scrapbook page. What you will need Clean glass jar Acrylic paint Photo or mementos you want to display Embellishments of your choice Step 1 Make sure your jar is fully clean! I cut a piece of patterned acetate to fit in the back of my jar. To get the size for your acetate place your jar on the acetate and mark on it where the back of the jar starts to curve on each side. Then measure the height of your jar, just up to the point of the jar where it starts to curve at the top. You should end up with a piece cut that fits just nicely into the back of the jar and doesn't need any adhesive to stay in place. 37
TIP: The reason for this piece of acetate was just to make my jar look nice from the back with the gold pattern on the acetate showing up. You could of course use patterned paper instead. Step 2 Gather your photo/embellishments of choice. I like to gather a few things to try them all out, so I wont necessarily use everything I gather for the project. I cut my photo down to a similar size as the acetate. Step 3 Place your photo inside the jar. To help keep it in place I used a few pebbles gathered from a river from the same trip that I took the photo on. Tip: If you don't want to use stones you could use something like bunched up fabric, raffia, shredded paper or sand and shells. You could always glue the photo into place if you don’t want to fill the bottom of the jar with anything.
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Step 4 Add your embellishments into the jar. The embellishments can be anything that relate to the photo you put in the jar, feathers, shells, stones, ornaments, small toys—you are limited only by your jar size. For my jar I simply put in a small die cut bird—we spent a lot of time on the trip watching birds so it related well to the photo. Step 5 Decorate your jar lid. I simply painted mine with acrylic paint. You could cover it in paper, ink etc. You can go as simple or as detailed as you like on this project. Enjoy preserving your memories! 39
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 submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie
Card Art Kilcoole http://cardarteventskilcoole.blogspot.com/ Crafty Angels All places must be booked in advance. Crafty Angels, Cutlery Rd, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Ph : 045-446678. http://www.craftyangels.ie
Scrapbook Store More info can be found on the website http:// www.thescrapbookstore.ie/workshops.php or contact Annamarie at workshops@thescrapbookstore.ie
Jackies Cardmaking Workshops http://jackiesworkshops.blogspot.com/
Scrap n Yap Check out Scrap n Yap on Facebook for more information.
An Siopa Buà Check out An Siopa Bui’s website for all class information.
Inspiring Ideas Visit http://www.inspiringideas.com/ for more information. 40
Archangels craft club Archangels Craft Club - we meet in St. Gabriels Clontarf every Tuesday 7.30 - 9.30pm and do all sorts of crafts - knitting, cross stitch, card making, beading and scrapping etc. We are in our 9th year - all very informal but it’s a place to craft with like minded individuals. We are always on the lookout for demonstrators and enjoy the social aspect of crafting (along with the tea and cake!) If anyone is interested in coming along to join us, or maybe there is another club out there who would be interested in doing a Christmas craft day together please do contact me. Contact Christine at christinehelenokelly@gmail.com or on 0857151759
Create With Kate Workshops in card making, scrapbooking and mixed media. We also are a mobile craft supplies shop. Visit createwithkate.com for more information or phone 087 984 1196.
Scrapbooking Limerick Create beautiful scrapbook pages & crafts at our Easter crop & class Date: 1st April, 11am - 4pm Theme: Little Chick Costs: €25 includes full kit, refreshments & prizes Bookings: 086 3817677 www.facebook.com/scrapbookinglimerick
The Polka Dot Craft Club Cardmaking and scrapbooking workshop Sunday 22nd April, 12.00– 16.00 The Street Café, Scotts Street, Killarney The Polka Dot Craft Club Facebook page
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Using quotes on your piece of art is very popular lately. I found this quote from Albert Einstein and thought it was a great one to use on a steampunk inspired canvas piece.
Timi Konya
Here I am going to lead you through how to make your own altered canvas. What you will need: Streched canvas Chipboard pieces Metal Clock Face Metal gears Flower trims Baby wipes Kraft Glassine Doily Old Book Paper/Filmstrip ribbon Step 1 Take the canvas and gather the pieces that you want to use on the project. Step 2 Start with adhering the doily, kraft glassine, piece of baby wipe and the old book paper. Use gel medium for this. I used an old baby wipe that I had previously used for cleaning my craft sheet. 42
Step 3 Arrange the chipboard pieces and glue them down. Try to make it dimensional. Add the lace and flower trim as well. Don’t worry about the elements not being the same colour. It doesn’t matter at this stage. Step 4 Put some gesso on the craft sheet and add some water to it. Paint everything on the canvas with gesso. Let it dry, preferably over night.
Step 5 Pick the colours that you want to work with. You will need to colour the canvas using the lightest colour first and then the darker colours. The colours I used were: Bleached Sand (Americana) Bahama Blue (Americana) Gold (Adirondack) Hazelnut (Adirondack) Espresso (Adirondack) Stream (Adirondack) 43
Step 6 Cover most of the canvas with the Bleached Sand. Then start adding a little bit of the Bahama Blue. Use a brush to apply the colour closer to the edges and a baby wipe to spread it towards the centre. Try to keep the centre a lighter colourbecause that is where you will need to write the quote. Tip: Dry the canvas between each colour to make the layers show nicely.
Step 7 Cover the chipboard elements with the browns so they will pop up from the background.
Step 8 Add gold paint with your finger or with baby wipes to the chipboard elements and to the edges of the canvas. 44
Here are the details up closer:
Step 9 When everything is dried you can start to glue down the metal pieces. I added some of the filmstip ribbon and a Tim Holtz Salvage ticket too. Step 10 Write the quote with a pencil first. Make sure the the spelling is right. Don’t worry too much about the lines being straight or not. This is a handmade piece of art, it only gives interest if it is not perfect.
And there you have it! An altered canvas with a quote. It can be a lovely present or a home decor piece .
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Kate Walsh 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 info@craftingirelandonline.ie This issues spotlight is shining on Kate Walsh. Here is Kate to tell us a bit about herself and her work.... I was born Catherine, nicknamed Caff /Cathy and now go by Kate lol! I grew up in Athlone, spent a few years each in Galway, Cork and Dublin and finished up settling in County Mayo, where I live with my husband (of 11 years and best friend of 19 years) my 3.75 year old son (the .75 bit is very important), two West Highland Terriers, 3 cats, 12 cows, 14 sheep and 4 lambs (so far!). We live in a rural but very beautiful part of Mayo on the shores of Lough Mask about 25 minutes drive from Castlebar or Westport. I am primarily a stay at home mum (although I don’t do the housewifey stuff very well) but I have been teaching papercraft classes for the last few years. Recently I just set up an online shop selling my favourite papercraft goodies http:// createwithkate.com. 46
When and h o w di d y ou g e t i nvol ve d w ith paper cr af ti n g? When I got married in December 2000, I made my own wedding stationery and hey I was addicted lol!. Shortly after sending out our invites I started getting commissions, so I quit my job as a microbiologist and Infinity Design Wedding Stationery was born. I designed and produced wedding stationery for 7 years until 2008 when I became a full time sahm. I started scrapbooking and making mini books around the same time, as I still HAD to play with paper. I also started teaching on a part time basis and I set up the Mayo Papercrafting Club and this led to http://CreatewithKate.com What i s your f av our i te asp ec t of paper cr af ti n g? There are several things I love about papercrafting like playing with pattern, colour and dimension but probably the driving force behind my addiction is the social side of crafting. It’s such a wonderful community both on and off line. The fact that you can form great friendships at home and anywhere in the world all because of paper and stamps, it’s fantastic! It’s a crafting revolution lol! W hat ar e th e t ech ni que s that y ou u s e m ost of th e ti m e? I always have my stamps at hand as I find I use them in practically every project. I do love to make my own patterned paper so this is a technique I use a lot, and I always add dimension, so distressing or inking the 47
edges comes second nature. I also love working with UTEE, die cuts and ribbon/ trim. W hat ar e y our " c an' t d o w it hou t" pr odu c ts? Where do I start lol! First my stamps and you have to have inks, so my distress and chalk inks are a must. After that glossy accents, I find I use it instead of double sided tape. Mustn’t forget my big shot, oh and paper, Have I mentioned that I’m addicted to paper! W hat i nspi r e s y ou? I live in a beautiful part of the world (even when it’s raining!), and without sounding clichéd, I find inspiration in where I live, who I live with and who I craft with. I think inspiration can’t be acted upon until you are in a happy place and believe me there are plenty of times when I need to pick up my magazines or go to the internet to give my mojo a good kick up the rear lol! How do style?
you
describe
your
I’m not sure if I have a particular style when it comes to papercrafting. I like to keep challenging myself, creating different things, trying new products and techniques. My wedding stationery designs always have a clean cut symmetry, where less is more and sometimes you can see this carry over into my other craft projects. 48
Do y ou blog? I do, and I love it! I have a wordpress blog, http://createwithkate.wordpress.com. I find blogging is a great way of expressing your human self as well as your crafting self. It takes me over an hour to write a post though! Where c an w e s e e y our w or k ? Ar e y ou on any d esi gn t eam s? You can see some of it on my blog, http:// createwithkate.wordpress.com. I’m not on a design team, I just like to play and sometimes it’s a mess and sometimes I do create something beautiful, it’s the fun of the creative journey for me! Hav e y ou any pl ans f or t he f utur e ? I have lots of plans just not sure yet what they are lol! Joking aside, I do want to develop my web store so that’s where my focus will be. I am going to the CHA Summer 2012 show again this year and would love to do another workshop with Dyan Reaveley (Dylusions). Other than that, I aim to be creative every day, whether it’s creating a masterpiece or baking cookies with my 3.75 year old! Kate x 49
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I have a lot of paper bags in my crafty stash, yet I never seem to make any mini albums with them. This is despite purchasing them just for that purpose! So I decided to create a kind of keepsake journal with them.
Nicole Mullen
What you will need Paper bags Acrylic paint or distress stains Picket fence distress stain or watered down gesso Embellishments Step 1 To colour the paper bags you can use distress stains in a colour of your choice. I didn't have any distress stains so I created my own. I filled a cup with some water and added in some acrylic paint. I used a squeezy tube of acrylic and added in about 1 part paint to 3 parts water. Mix it well and you can brush it onto the bags. It will work just like distress stains—except it will be much messier!!
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Keep going until you have the bags all covered. Tip: Don’t worry about getting a perfect coverage on the bags. The mottled patchy effect gives a nice distressed look. Step 2 The bottom flap of the bags will need to be glued down to c r e a t e a p o c ke t . I s i m p l y a d d e d a t h i n s t r i p o f g l o s s y a c cents on either side of the flap.
Step 3 I punched holes and set eyelets into the sides of t h e b a g s t o t a ke b i n d i n g r i n g s . Yo u c o u l d a l s o b i n d it with a bind it all if you wanted. T i p : Tr y t o c o - o r d i n a t e your eyelets to your project colours! 52
Step 4 Now its time to decorate your bags. For my cover I used a stencil. On all my other pages I used a bubble wrap effect stamp and distress inks to stamp with.
Step 5 I put all the bags together so that the cover p a g e ’s p o c ke t i s o n t h e i n s i d e c o v e r. A l l o t h e r pages then have the p o c ke t s s h o w i n g f a c e up. O n t h e n o n p o c ke t p a g e s I u s e d t h e p i c ke t fence distress stain to mark out an area that I can journal on. 53
Step 6 O n c e a l l y o u r b a g s a r e t o g e t h e r y o u c a n f i l l w i t h t i c ke t s , tags and other mementos you may want to journal about. The paper bags allow you to slide things inside them from t h e t o p . Yo u c a n f i t q u i t e a l o t i n t o t h e b a g s .
With the journaling sect i o n s , t h e m i n i p o c ke t s a n d t h e l a r g e p o c ke t s from the bags this is a quick and easy way to c r e a t e a ke e p s a ke j o u r nal. I t c a n h e l p y o u ke e p a l l t h o s e l i t t l e m e m e n t o s l i ke c o n c e r t t i c ke t s , t a g s , n o t e s a n d l e t t e r s All in one place! 54
In this new series we would like to collect and share ideas on how to store craft supplies. In the first part I am going to show you my craft corner.
Timi Konya
As I live in a small apartment I don’t have a lot of space or even a separate craft room. Therefore I have to be creative on using the space I have. As a big fan of IKEA I bought most of my storage units there. I use two tables, arranged in an ‘L’ shape for creating. These are the VIKA tables. In IKEA you can buy these trays that fix onto the legs. I use these to keep my adhesives in. They folds away nicely under the table top, so are always easy to reach.
Above the table I have three RIBBA picture ledges holding all my paints and inks. The bottom one is fixed on the wall upside down. This makes it perfect to hold all my ink pads. I always found it difficult to store ink pads. When I had them in drawers I always wanted the one on the bottom. As a result I ended up keeping them on the top of table and it was always a 55
mess. I screwed the lids of the little jars onto the bottom of the ledge. This means that they don’t take up space on a shelf. Under the picture ledges the BYGEL rails and containers hold my scissors, brushes, Cropadile and other smaller tools. Across from the tables I have three EXPEDIT units. In these I can store lots of supplies; from 12x12 papers to bulky fabrics and boxes full of lace and alterable items. I found that paper boxes from MUJI are great for 12x12 paper pack and sheets. For 6x6 pads and loose sheets I use these white boxes (image bottom right) from IKEA. They are called Rationell Variera.
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Helmer drawer units by IKEA are superb to house all the little bits and pieces, such as flowers, bling, punches, envelopes, paper doilies etc. I keep these drawer units under the table and they fit perfectly.
This was a little tour of my craft corner; I hope you found some ideas. In this series we would like you to show off your craft space! Email us at submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie with some pictures and description to be featured in the magazine!!
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Nicole Mullen I am sure most of you out there have the habit of bringing bags to the shops to put your purchase in. Here in Ireland since the plastic bag charge was brought in a few years ago we all tend to carry shopping bags. My problem with shopping bags is that they don’t looks so stylish. You can get some fun and funky tote bags, but they tend to be on the pricy side. So I decided to create my own fun bags at a fraction of the price! What you will need Plain shopping totes—I purchased mine on eBay for around €3 for six of them. Stencil & acrylic or fabric paint Painters tape Citra solv, paint brush and images suitable for citrasolving Sheet of cardboard sized to fit inside your bag Bag 1—Stencilled Bag Step 1 Place your cardboard inside your bag. This is going to stop the paint bleeding through the other side of the bag. Step 2 Place your stencil on the front of your bag. Make sure you position it exactly where you want it to be. Tape it in place with the painters tape. You need to work on a flat surface. I used the ground and taped my bag to the ground for extra stability. 58
Step 3 Dip a round headed paintbrush or a stencil brush into some paint. Dab the paint off onto a piece of paper towel to get your brush as dry as possible. Too much paint on your brush will mean that paint will bleed under your stencil. Keep going until all the stencil is filled in.
Step 4 Let the paint dry fully. When it is dry you can add highlights to your stencil if you wish. I did this by adding a pearlescent accent to the centre of the cherry blossoms, and a gold centre to them again. The birds on my stencil got a dusting of gold paint. 59
Step 5 Carefully remove your stencil when the paint is dry. You want to make sure to not smear your paint. Now enjoy your new bag.... Tip: If you don’t use fabric paint you can buy a fabric fixative in a good fabric and sewing shop to fix your acrylic paint.
Bag 2 –Citrasolv image Step 1 Prepare your bag as in step one of the stencilled bag. I use a towel on top of the cardboard just to make sure no citrasolv soaks through the cardboard to the other side. Step 2 Pick your images you want to use. Remember it must be printed on a laser jet printer or on a photocopier in order for the citrasolv to work. Trim the image to fit the area you want to place them. Make sure not to trim them too close to the image. You have some paper left to tape the image down by! 60
Step 3 Place the image on the bag and tape into place. Citrasolv the image onto the bag. I like to do all the images separately, it is easier to work with. I did my large image first—a vintage bee hive. I then added in the bees afterwards.
Step 4 Let your bag dry. Then place a towel over it and iron it to evaporate the citrasolv off. This just stops the bag from smelling like citrasolv. My citrasolv is lemon scented so I don't mind the smell too much! Enjoy your fun new custom bags!
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I love having charms and cute keyrings hanging off bags. But as usual they tend to be expensive for the really nice ones. I want to show you how easy it is to make a cute, custom keyring charm. What you will need Charms Jewellry chain Jump rings Fine needle nose Pliers Metal snips Keyring clips and rings—I purchased mine from Etsy for about €2 for a pack of 6 Step 1 Plan what you want on your keyring charm. I tend to buy some charms and also take ones off of old jewellery. Some of the charms needed to have some chain added onto them. Step 2 To do this cut a piece of chain to the length you want. Be careful with the snips, as when you cut the chain small pieces of it can fly off. Watch your eyes! Step 3 To get the layout of your keyring it can help to lay all the parts out on your desk separate first. 62
This gives you an idea of how long to cut chain, and if certain charms work along side one another. Step 4 To connect the charms to the chain you will need to use the jump rings. To open a jump ring hold it with your pliers to one side of the opening of it. Using either your fingers or a second pliers pull the two sides in the opposite direction from one another.
Step 5 Hook your charm and the length of chain on the jump ring. Then close the jump ring the way you opened it. Tip: It can be a lot easier to open and close jump rings with two pliers rather than just one pliers and your fingers!
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Step 6 You should now have all your charms on the end of their chains. Lay it out once more to make sure the lengths are all ok. If you are happy with the lengths thread them all onto the keyring ring. You will also need to thread the keyring ring onto the keyring clip.
Step 7 Enjoy your completed charm keyring! Colouring Charms I also created a second charm keyring. I used charms that were silver. I used Alcohol inks to change the colour of them to look better on my bag. I followed all the same steps to complete this keyring then. I laid all the pieces out into my intended placement and connected them all up with jump rings. 64
You can have great fun making these quick and simple charm keyrings. I love clipping these onto handbag or tote bag handles for that extra touch! You are only limited by your imagination, and possibly your charm stash when creating these. You can even use fabric scraps die cut into shapes, or feathers as part of the charms. If you create some charms of your own make sure to share your work on our Facebook wall!!
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Everytime I find a round shaped box I want to decorate it in a hatbox style and use it to hold some of my little bits that I gather. This is a very easy but still an interesting way to alter a box.
Timi Konya
What you will need: Paper maché box Patterned paper Grunge paper Tim Holtz Hitch Fasteners
Step 1 Cover the side and the top of the box with patterned paper. To make it pretty you could cover the edge of the lid with some lace in a matching colour. Step 2 Take a ½” wide piece of grunge paper and colour it an aged leather colour. I used Distress Stains in different brown colours to get this effect.
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Step 3 Add an eyelet to each end of the grunge paper strip and round the ends as shown in the picture below.
Step 4 Using hot glue adhere the strip onto the box as if it was a handle on it.
Step 5 Place four of Tim Holtz Hitch Fasteners on the side of the box. These will act as the legs of the hatbox.
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Step 6 To finish it off you could place a flower (or any embellishments of your choice) on the top of the lid.
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A bit more Etsy……
about
Felicia Thomas
I have admired the decorative banners that other Etsy sellers have and often thought about adding one, but, honestly I didn’t know how to so my shop was looking a little plain. It turned out to be simple; the hardest thing was choosing a design. You can use a photo that you already have, but none of mine looked right once they had been resized, (the image needs to be 760x100 pixels) so I went in search of a one online. I did a Google search for “Free Etsy banners” and had a huge selection to choose from – I eventually chose one from www.sweetlyscrappdart.blogspot.com there is a great choice there and Emily (the designer) only asks that you display her button on your blog if you take one of her designs. The banner was blank so that I could add my own title, the first thing I did was click on the banner I had chosen, and saved it to “my pictures” as a .jpeg file. Then I opened Photoshop and added the text. You do this by clicking “file”, “open” and then browsing for the image you have saved. 69
On the left click the “T” and draw a text box on your banner. You can choose your font style and size at the top of the page. When you are happy with your text save it as a jpeg file.
Now, open your Etsy shop and click “your shop” at the top and then “info & appearance”. This will bring you to this page click “browse” and select your banner picture. At the bottom of that page you must click “save changes”
Click back to your shop and after a minute of two your banner will appear!
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Etsy Community There are all sorts of Etsy Teams; these are groups of people who are connected by what they sell, geographically, or similar interests. The advantage of joining a team is that it makes it easier for people to collaborate and make everyone’s shop more prominent. I belong to “The Crafty Ireland team”, they keep a blog at etsyireland.blogspot.com Currently the team has over 8,000 products for sale on Etsy, what a creative bunch! There are plenty of team jobs to do, all of which get your name known to the readers which leads to more shop views and hopefully more sales. My job on the team is the “Tea & Chat” spot – I interview members of the Crafty Ireland team, I give them a list of informal questions and then they send me the answers and some photos of their work. It gets published on the blog every second Saturday. If you are a member of the team I’d love to interview you, drop me a line!! The other team blog writers cover topics from introducing new members, “How to Tuesdays” which has great little tutorials and “Crafty News” which has all the details of upcoming fairs and exhibitions. You also have a “circle” on your page; this is a way of keeping up to date with friends or sellers you like. If anyone likes something new it shows up on your page, I am more inclined to buy gifts from people in my circle then
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trawl through the whole of Etsy – so for this reason it’s good to keep adding to your circle. If you have a blog then you can mention that you have added new items to your shop, the same goes for Facebook and Twitter – that is probably the easiest and most effective way of advertising, Don’t forget to add a link to your shop on your blog. So, now you know all about selling on Etsy – be warned it may not be an overnight success but you never know when someone will find exactly what they’re looking for on your shop and you make a sale! Best of luck!
http://www.etsy.com/
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If you would like to advertise in Crafting Ireland email us at info@craftingirelandonline.ie 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
LillyPad Craft Supplies http://www.lilypadcraftsupplies.ie/
Cardz’n’Scraps – Cork Art Supplies http://cardznscrapz.com/
Crafty Cutting www.craftycutting.com
Scrapbook Store http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie
United Kingdom
Crafty Angels http://www.craftyangels.ie/store/
Artist Trading Post http://www.artisttradingpost.com/
Scrapbook Store http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie
Artistic Stamper http://www.theartisticstamper.com/
An Siopa Bui – The Yellow Shop http://www.ansiopabui.ie/
Craft Barn http://www.thecraftbarn.co.uk/
Create With Kate www.createwithkate.com
Craft Emporium http://www.craft-emporium.co.uk WOW Embossing Powders http:// www.wowembossingpowder.co.uk/
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Wild Orchid Crafts www.wildorchidcrafts.com
Timi Konya In the last part of our ’Advanced took kit’ series we are going to discuss electronic cutting machines. These electronic cutting machines are on the more expensive end of die cutting machines. It can be difficult to decide which machine suits your needs. One of the smallest machines that you can buy is the Making Memories Slice. With its built-in handle and light weight it is extremely easy to bring along to crops and classes if needed. It is made for scrapbookers and cardmakers and it is limited in the materials that you can cut. It is made to cut paper, vinyl and vellum. It can draw patterns and emboss as well, which is great for a little machine like this. The next machine we looked at is the Sizzix Eclips. This machine can work independently from the computer, however it needs cartiges which make it fairly expensive. Especially if you want to own a lot of designs. It is not as lightweight as the Slice but the handles on it help with portability. It will cut only lightweight materials like cardstock and vinyl, but since it is possible to adjust the blade pressure it will work with some lighter chipboard as well.
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The Silhouette CAMEO is next on our list. This machine is able to cut paper, cardstock and vinyl but won’t pierce, engrave or emboss metal. It is a great machine for paper crafters who do not wish to cut a whole range of materials other than paper. It cuts really nicely and also is able to draw. It hasn’t got handles on it, so it can be a little bit tricky when you want to bring it out of the house. You can however buy a wheeled tote to help you carry it to classes and crops. It comes with computer software and it is easy to create your own designs on it.
The Cricut Expression machine has a large 12”x24” cutting mat which allows you to create large projects. It can work independently from the computer, but even when you use it with computer you have to insert a cartrige into it. The designing possiblitites are a little limited, but there are plenty of designs available on the different cartriges. It is not a very portable machine, weighs 21 pounds and has no handles to help you carry it around. Cricut Expression will cut a number of materials such as cardstock, chipboard, foam, felt, balsa wood, vellum, fabric and more.
The Craftwell eCraft die cutting machine features a ’mat free cutting’ technology, so you don’t have to spend money on buying new cutting mats when they get old. The eCraft can be used with or without the computer. There are lots of 75
designs on SD cards that are inserted in the machine . You can create your own designs using its software. The blade pressure is easy to adjust and there are plenty of materials that you can cut with the eCraft: chipboard, cardstock, magnet sheets, rubber, blasa wood, vinyl and even thin metal and leather. This machine is designed to cut, it is not able to emboss or engrave.
If you want to learn more about the eCraft or see how it works in real life join us on our Fun Crop on 26th May in Athlone, Co. Westmeath. More information can be found on our website. The Black Cat Cougar is one of the most expenive electronic die cutting machines that you can buy today. It comes with a software that you can use to create your own designs. It is able to cut many material. The usual cardstock and vinyl are not a problem for it, it can also cut rubber, leather, sponge, and even faux fur. It is also able to draw, emboss and egrave into several materials. It can also punch holes or distress items. All these capabilities will give you endless possiblities!
I hope that we have given you a little insight into the world of electronic diecutting machines. If you are just about to purchase one hope this gave you a bit of a help to make the perfect decision! In the next issue: Inks and spray inks
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In issue 7 I looked at photography for bloggers. In Nicole Mullen this article I want to show you some very easy ways to process your photos. Sometimes you may feel that your images need just a few tweaks to be just right. Luckily you don’t need to be a Photoshop master to get your photos touched up. Below I am going to introduce you to a free photo storage and editing software— Picasa. You can download Picasa totally free here. Picasa allows you to make a lot of tweaks to your photo. These range from photo touch up’s to fun photo effects, such as making your image look like a sketch, poster or a polaroid. When you open Picasa you can get it to import all your photos on your computer. You can then see them all listed in folders and organised by date. You will need to find the folder of the images you want to process.
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Double click on the image you want to process to open it up in edit mode. You will see a task pane on the left of the screen. On here there is five tabs of processing options. By default you will be on the first one, the ‘commonly needed fixes’ tab. In here you can crop and straighten your image, fix the image colours and even reduce red eye in photos.
There is also a retouch option in here and it is very user friendly and useful! This will allow you to clean up any dust, dirt or scratches on your images. More importantly it will allow you to remove things from your photos. In my picture there is a pin lying on the craft mat. You can see it on the right of the image just at the base of the paper bag. I should have moved it before taking a photo but didn't notice it. 79
When you click on the re-touch button you will see the screen below.
Here you can pick your brush size. The brush size needs to be big enough to cover the blemish you want to remove, but not too big. Simply drag the slider to the left for smaller and to the right for larger. If you then move your mouse over to your image you will see the cursor is now a circle. To use the retouch feature; Single left click on the area you want to retouch—this will select the area to be repaired. Then move your cursor to another area on your screen—you will want to pick an area that matches the area you are trying to replace. In my case I selected a part of my craft mat that would hide the pin!
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When you move your cursor you will see it previews what the repair will look like. If you are happy with your choice then single left click again to fix the area.
Select area to fix
Click area to copy
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The pin is now gone!
When you are happy with the repair then click the Apply button to set it. The other tabs in the pane are filled with more processing options. On the second tab you will find option to finely tune the lighting and colour on your image. You can adjust the fill light, highlights, shadows and colour temperature of the image. The easiest way of seeing what each of these do the best thing to do is to move the sliders one by one to see the effect it has on your image. If you don’t like the effect you can undo it or drag the slider back to where it was previously. 82
The remaining tabs contain fun and useful image processing features!
Again the best way to explore these all is to simply click on each of them to see what effect it has on your image. When you are done with your processing make sure to save your image as a copy. Click on File/Save As and give your file a new name. This will make sure you don't over write the original image. Have fun processing your images!
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We have decided to replace our regular challenge with a Swap instead. The wonderful Felicia of Scrapzville has kindly agreed to host the swap. Some of you may know that Felicia used to run Scrapzville Swap. Well we can happily say that Scrapzville Swap is back in conjunction with Crafting Ireland!! For the swap you will be assigned a partner and a theme to follow. You then create a mini album to send to your partner, and you will receive one in return. We will start off on mini albums first and will look at other projects shortly. The rules for the swap are quite simple;
The album should be no bigger than 6"x6" It should have at least 6 pages including the front and back covers. Please remember that your swap partner (probably) doesn't know you and the work you send will be their first impression of you - so make sure that you are proud of your work and would be happy to receive something similar.
Please do not sign up for this swap unless you can complete the swap, your partner may be overseas and you are responsible for postage fees.
You must have an email address to enter - this means you can contact your swap partner to discuss favourite colours etc.
Sometimes people send extra goodies with an album, this is a lovely gesture but NOT compulsory, therefore is up to you. Please do not expect to receive extras!
The last and most important rule is.... Enjoy creating!! 84
it
To join the swap you will need to email your details to Felicia at; felicia@craftingirelandonline.ie
How to join in Issue 9 Swap Theme—Summer Colours Sign up deadline—Sunday the 22nd April by 1pm GMT. You must have emailed Felicia your details by this date and time to be included in the swap. Swap partners announced—Monday the 23rd April. You will be told who your swap partner is, and given their email address so that you can get in contact to exchange postal addresses, style preference, etc Albums must be in the post by— Monday the 21st May (or sooner). Try to get the album posted as soon as you can so that your partner can hopefully receive it before the next swap is announced! The swap is open to everyone, no matter where you live. When you have finished your album consider taking a photo of it before posting it, and email this photo to Felicia. We will then publish these photos along side the next swap announcement. We will publish them without names just in case your partner has not yet received your album—we wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!! We will set up an Inlinks on our blog where you can post up your album details once your partner had confirmed they have received it. This way we can all see the fantastic work being swapped! 85
According to random.org the winner of Issue 8’s sketch challenge is Val Thorpe—congratulations Val! Val’s beautiful layout using the sketch is below. It is an adorable layout with super adorable dogs, we love it! We will be in touch to organise getting your prize to you.
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out on 28th May.. . For the next issue we would love to see more of your work. Remember the submission theme is:
Summer Fun S u bm i s si o n de adlin e i s 14th M ay Article submission If you have an article or tutorial you would like to get published please email us about it at submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie
Make sure to check out www.craftingirelandonline.ie for more information on future issues 87