Mo Mhadra Beag

I totally outdid myself with the scrunching on this layout - even the background paper is scrunched!  I love the effect it creates - it often looks like fabric instead of paper.  

I was clearing out Saoirse's wardrobe and one of my favourite dresses had a girl and dog motif and so I just HAD to cut them out and use them.  It was a wool dress and had a little hole in it so I did not feel too bad about not passing it on to someone.  I'm very sentimental and love the idea of using motifs or pieces from our childrens' outgrown clothes on layouts or quilts, etc.

I then came across this photo of Saoirse at 6 and Noodle at 6 months old and decided to put them all together and here is the completed layout.  

By the way, my children are Irish speakers and so the title is in Irish and means "my little dog".

Check out the super cool dog bone paper clips given to me by a friend Irene!  Thanks Irene, they are so very cute!

Workshop Tutor

I was really delighted to be asked by Annamarie of The Scrapbook Store to design and tutor a workshop in May using the Webster's Pages Sunday Picnic collection.  

I was given 2 each of the Sunday Picnic die cut scallop, Blanket of Poppies and Rainbow Sky papers and 2 fabric tickets.

A very cheap way to add embellishments to layouts is to use doilies, scanned images and free printables (printed on acid free cardstock of course!).  I scanned a vintage envelope from my stash and found beautiful  rose themed free printables on Pinterest (check out my Printables board on Pinterest).  I also raided my ribbon, button and flower stash and came up with the following 3 layouts and a card made up from the leftover scraps.

The workshop was full and on the night everyone seemed to like the layouts so it was off to a good start.  Tutoring was great fun!  It was very busy with lots of fussy cutting, distressing, inking and scrunching.  Practically everyone went home with two layouts completed and the third to complete at home.  It was great to see the photos used and to hear the stories behind them and the ladies all seemed pleased with their layouts.  I was so excited when I first discovered free printables online and it was wonderful to be able to pass this information on to others at the workshop.  

The duplicate of each of the pages was used to cut out the flowers and rainbow, scrunch and layer on top of the original to create texture and depth.  The leftover paper was used to create tags, clouds, kite and for matting and layering - so there was no waste.  

I used my McGill 3" file tab punch, Tim Holtz's distresser tool and Carnivale die cut alphabet, Simple Stories alphabet stickers, Fiskars cloud punches, Martha Stewart's doily lace punch and one of my two favourite inks VersaColor Bamboo.

All Boy

Hello friends!  I'm back in the land of blog.  I know a few of you have been checking for updates and have quite rightly given out to me for not blogging.  Thank you so much for your interest in my little projects.

I completed this layout today at our monthly crop.  I love this photo of Oisin with his hands in his pockets, it is so him and all boy.

I used Simple Stories Awesome collection, star Nestabilities, Tim Holtz filmstrip ribbon, Sizzix Tim Holtz on the edge file tabs, Fiskars notebook border punch, American Crafts Thickers Darling chipboard letter stickers, vintage photo distress ink, corrugated card, twine, buttons, kraft paper and lots of 3D foam.

Ons Familie

I lived in South Africa for 10 years, where I met and married my South African husband.  We now live in my home country Ireland and love going back to South Africa to see our "SA family". 

On one of our trips home to SA we decided it would be a great idea to have a family portrait taken.  The photography session started off well, the children were photographed together and with their Ouma (Grandmother), however, it all started to unravel!  It became too much for my daughter and she started crying and my son's eczema started to flare up with the heat of the studio and we had to hold his hands to prevent him from scratching. 

I think they both did really well considering all the travelling, new faces and places and especially the heat!  So, for my "SA family" - remember this...?

Our Family

The flower lifts to unfold the journaling tag.

Mayhem!  My husband and I are holding a very distressed daughter, my brother-in-law is holding my son and trying to prevent him from scratching, my sister-in-law is holding her daughter who is looking at mine and also looking a little fed up and all the while everyone else smiles for the camera!

A very proud Ouma with her grandchildren!



My husband with his Mum and sister.

Just love our son's two bottom teeth!

Such a happy photo!

Our nieces Cassidy and Delaney known jointly as "Casilane"!

Our curly head!

I can't for the life of me remember the brand name of the patterned paper!  For continuity the muted patterned paper is to the left and very patterned paper to the right.  I used vintage postcards, flowers buttons,, ribbons and stamped tags throughout the mini-album and finished it off with lots of distressing!

The parenthesis chipboard album is from Docrafts Papermania.  I used Tim Holtz's Sizzix Tattered Florals to die cut the flowers and covered them (and the curled tags behind the photos) using the Crisp, Crude and Happy collections from Basic Grey.  The brads are from Docrafts V&A Hanoverian.  The vintage postcards are from Cavallini & Co.  The scrap-a-holic stamp is from Kaisercraft and the scroll stamp is from Blade Rubber.



Tender Moment

It's not always easy being a stay at home Mum but there are days when a fleeting tender moment between my children makes it all worthwhile!

While our children had THEIR play date a friend introduced me to needle felting at her kitchen table over a cup of tea and home made scones.  It was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed OUR play date!   Isn't it so nice to make our own embellishments for our layouts?  Not only is this layout about my children, but when I look at the felt mushrooms, clouds and the little felt flower my friend made, it is a reminder of a lovely afternoon learning something new.  Thank you Emma!

The mushroom patterned paper and chipboard elements are from DCWV's The Green Stack collection.  The yellow polka dot paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird collection.  I used Tim Holtz's Sizzix Carnivale Vintage Market alphabet to die cut the title, Fiskars' postal stamp border punch and McGill's 3" file tab punch.

I Can Sometimes Resist Temptation, BUT NEVER MISCHIEF!

My son Oisin can sleep anywhere - on the stairs, floor, between two chairs, on the toilet and at the table as he chats away to me!  I love being there with him to capture these everyday moments!

I love Kraft cardstock for layouts as the colours just seem to pop.  The patterned paper, envelope, chipboard and stamps used in this layout are from Kaisercraft's Up, Up and Away collection.  I also used  cloud squeeze punches from Fiskars, Tim Holtz's Idea-ology filmstrip ribbon and mini safety pin, East of India's  tape measure and the quotes on vellum are from DCWV's Quote Stack Boy.

If We Were Meant To Pop Out Of Bed, We'd All Sleep in Toasters

Saoirse is not always a ray of sunshine in the mornings and sometimes I feel a little sorry for Oisin when he awakes excited to see her, runs to hug her and she very reluctantly hugs him back!

This layout is on the reverse side of the layout on my previous post.  I love the paper and just had to create a back to back layout which works for me as the photos are in chronological order. 

The crochet flowers in the layout have inspired me to learn how to crochet this year and my good friend Irene gave me, for even more inspiration, a fabulous book of 100 flowers to knit and crochet.