Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Countdown to new year

We have had such a relaxing week between Christmas and New Year...as usual too much eating and drinking but nothing to do but taking it easy. I've managed to scrap a little as I've been neglecting my craftroom in the run up to Christmas so I made these layouts based on the December sketches for the Creative Scrappers gallery...





Friday, December 26, 2008

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas...



It was a great Christmas day for us - a reasonably late start (ie 7.30am! thank you kids!) and the excited checking to see if Santa had filled their stockings. Squeels of delight as they spilled everything out onto the floor. Then we took them downstairs to see what the big man left under the tree for them. This photo says it all - total amazement when they ran through the door...They didn't even see the bikes that santa had left as they were so mesmerized by everything in front of them...



After a big breakfast we went to Church where Lucy played the part of Mary in their second nativity play. She was so sweet! Afterwards we came home and got the dinner underway. This year my parents decided for the first time in 40 years marriage to have their Christmas away from home and so I was honoured to have their company! No pressure LOL! Anyway despite the turkey being a litte overdone..some would say cremated!... we had a lovely afternoon and as tradition holds...we all fell asleep on the sofa while the kids played with their toys...







So Happy Christmas to everyone in bloggerland...hope all your dreams come true in 2009 and thanks for stopping by my blog during the year.

XX

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

T'was the night before Christmas...

Christmas Eve was as traditional for us as always in terms of a little trip into 'Saussie town' (Stephen's green for a big breakfast)and then a wander around Grafton St to take in the atmosphere of the carol singers and finally a trip to Stephen's green to feed the ducks... I love our little routine and it feels like Christmas when we do this...







I felt sorry for these poor ladies standing in next to nothing in the cold promoting 3G - they got a lot of attention!!!!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Farmleigh at Christmas...
We spent a fabulous few hours at Farmleigh today where they had some seasonal celebrations on offer to the public... There was a great storyteller called Niall De Burca who was fantastic at relating his stories and he enthralled a room full of children for 45 minutes....



Then there was a puppet show with the Lambert puppet theatre which was nosiy to say the least! Lots of 'he's behind you!!!!'...


The kids enjoyed sending their letters to Santa and meeting the big man in red himself!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Baby Mia Holly
I finally met the little munchkin yesterday and she is just so exquisitely beautiful. There's plenty of photos over here on my photography blog..




Got some good news yesterday in the post. Fiskars sent me a fab new pair of craft scissors to celebrate the fact that I am now a FISKARETTE! Whoo hoo! If you would like to know more about being a Fiskarette check out their blog...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

What a day!
Yesterday we had the annual Christmas scrapbooking party at Le Cheile. It was a busy and fun day with over 45 people there to get into the festive cheer. This was my double layout entitled 'Deck the Halls' and we used the latest Basic Grey 'Wassail' papers...





Isobel offered her elf services for Kris Kindle amd it was fun to get a secret santa pressie...



I was delighted to be involved in Audrey's tiled art piece which we presented for her wedding day which is happening on Mon 22nd Dec. Some of her forum friends contributed a few tiles each which was beautifully compliled by Carrie. Audrey was thrilled with her presentation!



Check out Annamarie's blog here for some more photos of the day....



Then today we had the annual nativity Christmas service where Lucy had a starring role as an angel...

...then in the afternoon Eva had her first recital with her school of music and she played a little violin solo 'Ode to Joy' ...proud mammy moments!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Welcome Baby Mia Holly!
Christmas came early for my sister yesterday as she gave birth by elective section to her third daughter Mia Holly, 8lbs 12oz. Isn't she beautiful...

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Oh it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....



Letters have been written to Santa and the plans are in place...the tree has been chosen and the decorations have been picked out...you can just feel it in the air....

Friday, December 05, 2008

Christmas Class in Le Cheile Sat 13th Dec 10am - 4pm

Hope you can join myself and Annamarie for some festive fun. We are holding a double class event with two bumper kits, Kris Kindle, lots of mince pies to help you get into the Christmas spirit.

Here's some sneaky peaks at my DLO and we will be using Basic Grey's festive Wassail papers...


Monday, December 01, 2008

Kit 'n Kaboodle

For the past three months the postie has been bringing me the most delicious kits in the post from Kit'n Kaboodle. There's something a little different about these kits - great embellies to tie it all together and the best thing is you get nearly 2 of everything to stop you hoarding them for special occassions! I have to say hats off to Geri Anne the owner who provides second to none customer service -which I discovered recently when I had a problem with one of my orders. Don't ya just love good customer service :-)...

Sep'08 Kit


Oct'08 Kit


Nov '08 kit

Friday, November 28, 2008

It's official...Christmas has begun!

We are all set to snuggle up on the couch together to watch The LATE LATE TOY SHOW. The kids have been excited - more like wired really since this morning. Lucy got into her PJ's at 5pm and keeps asking me 'how many more minutes mum'.

So to get the festive mood started I'm going to post up a class for the Craft Supplies Christmas party which is being organised by Tigger. I taught this interactive DLO class at Craftzone last September and it can be adapted to any theme particularly Christmas...so get those precious uncut papers out and start snipping ladies! Post a comment with a link to your take on my class and I will pick a winner next Friday 5th Dec. The prize is one of my handmade necklaces ;-)


Free Online Scrapbooking Class

Class: ‘Holiday Memories/Magical’

Designed by Elaine Watters




Description: Holiday Memories (Magical)
This is a fun and interactive double layout using colourful papers (Chatterbox range) to showcase your holiday photos. In this layout I will show you how to display lots of photos in hidden places so all of your holiday memories are kept together. You will need 1 large photo 5x7 (portrait format) and a 5x7 (landscape format)-which you are prepared to trim!). Other photos can be added in later.

Kit:
-2 sheets black cardstock /bazzil
-1 sheet of pink cardstock/bazzil
-1 sheet of double sided orange dotty paper (Scrapbook Walls Tangerine Dots)
-1 sheet of double sided pink dotty paper (Chatterbox-Rosey Villa Dots)
-1 sheet of pink/orange striped paper (Chatterbox big Villa stripe)
-1 sheet of orange swirls/orange dotty of reverse (Chatterbox -Villa Swirls)
-1 packet of Basic Grey alphabets ( Wilma)
-1 packet of orange swirly rub-ons ( Hambly )

Tools Required:
You will also need;
- 12 ''trimmer
- 9 inch plate to draw the template
- 1'' circular punch and a 2'' and 3’’ circular punch (or a glass will do!)
- Sharp fine scissors , double sided tape or tacky tape
- White acrylic paint to distress the photo on the lift up piece (optional)
- Pink acrylic paint to colour chipboard alphabets– I used Anita’s metallic pink
- Inks to distress edges of patterned paper
- Black Dymo tape for journaling (optional)


Layout A (Left Hand Side LHS)


Layout B (Right Hand Side RHS)






Instructions: Layout A (LHS)

Step 1- Lets start by cutting the papers up - these will be for both Layouts so create a pile (A and B)
• Using the black cardstock as a base sheet, trim the following sheets of patterned paper;
o Pink dots 2’’x10’’ (A)
o Orange dots 12’’x10’’(A)
o Orange swirls 12’’x6’’ (B)
o Pink and orange candy stripes 9’’x10’’ (A)
o Adhere the paper as shown in Diag A1


Diag A1



Step 2-
o Add a photo (5x7) as in Diag A2 – ONLY use double sided tape on 3 sides (top, left and bottom). Journal tag will slide in under right side of photo.

Diag A2


o Trim a piece of pink bazzill (4’’x6’’) and punch out a 2’’ circle of orange swirls with leftover swirl piece and adhere behind the pink bazzil. This is ready to decorate with rub-ons and journaling as a pull out tag behind the photo (diag 3).

Diag A3



Instructions: Layout B (RHS)
Step 1 –
• Using the orange swirly paper ( Villa swirls) take the half sheet you have cut for the above layout and using a 9’’plate, trace a little over a half circle on the LHS of the sheet. (diagram B1). My widest part of the semi circle was 5.5’’.


Diag B1





• Add a 5x7 landscape photo and adhere to paper exactly in the centre of the semi circle and then trim to follow the lines (tip: turn over and trim for neater edge).




• Optional distressing –if you have white acrylic paint and a sponge drag an edge of white paint around the photo border (diag B4)

Step 2 –
• Using the pink bazzil sheet, trim it 12’’x5’’ and adhere down on the black cardstock exactly in the centre of the sheet.



• Using a 2’’ circle punch (or a small glass/cup) create 3 circles using your patterned paper scraps. These small circles will be the hinges for your lift up semi circle so you are not using double sided paper, you may need to add these to chipboard or bazzill circles for strength.


• Bend them in half and adhere both sides underneath with tape and use as hinges to stick the semi circle to the black cardstock. Line up the lift up panel so the photo and the pink cardstock are layered exactly on top of each other.




How to make the hidden swirl






Punch out 2 circles of patterned paper and (all approx 3’’ circles – tip use a cup or glass if punch not available;-) ). Stick both circles back to back with DS tape- with design showing on the outside. With a fine scissors start by cutting into the circle and continuing round until you create a spiral – leave enough at the end (approx 1cm) to put double sided /tacky tape behind it. To stick down the spiral put tacky tape on only the centre piece (underneath) and the start point (on top side). Tip is to stick down to the base first and then close the flap to find the right placement. Then apply photos and embellish.

That's it - hope you had fun! Leave a link to your gallery or blog so we can see what you came up with. Thanks for taking part.

Lainey
XX