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.

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.

You Are My Sonshine

What mother doesn't love to sing to their child? Unfortunately for me, my son Oisin did not enjoy my singing at all!  He was almost 4 before he would let me sing to him and his favourite request was "you are my sonshine, my only sonshine, you make me happy when skies are blue, you are my sonshine, my only sonshine, please don't take my sonshine away". 

 

I used Crate Paper's Brook collection for this layout.  I also used the Sizzix Hollywood '61 alphabet to die cut the title words "you are my" and the Basic Grey curio mini mono stickers for the title word "sonshine".  The clouds were punched with large and small cloud punches from Fiskars and embossed using a Docrafts dotted embossing folder.  As usual, my McGill 3" file tab punch came in handy!  Although I distressed everything, unusually for me I inked nothing and only used one button!  Of course, almost everything is stuck down with 3D foam tape.