I always knew I was blessed with good friends, but I’m amazed at how many of you have left messages of support.
Really, really thank you everyone, i’m surprising myself with what I can dowith my left hand, not that my family are letting me do much!
This is just a blip, i’ll be back. I have always thought that things happen for a reason………. I have no idea what the reason is, but its happened so lets get on with it!
Thank you again my friends,
F xx
Well, if you are a facebook friend then you will probably know that in a moment of utter stupidity I managed to seriously injure myself last Saturday…..
The bad news is I am now missing two fingers on my right hand (yes, i’m right handed!) and I have badly broken the two that are left……. sorry, I hope I haven’t made you feel queesy!
The good news is, I still have my index finger and thumb, so when its healed I can still hold things (like paint brushes!) and my lovely Fella was researching bionic prosthethic fingers before we even left the hospital!
So, the next 6 weeks will be spent in a cast, trying to learn to use my left hand more. Then we will see what happens. For someone who lives an arty life this isn’t the best news, but Iam very calm and positive about it – so far anyway!
I will be at home, so pop by if you’re local, or send an email if not……. I will be very glad of the company!
love,
Felicia x
I need to practise filming to make it less shakey!!
Once upon a time when there was no more space in my house and everyone was sick of having to climb over the piles of crafting stash, it was decided… “We will build a room!”
There was a small patio area at the back of the sitting room that was hardly ever used, it was where the basket ball hoop and the dustbins lived. We did a lot of research and price costings, saved up, organised a building party (this consisted of Tim, Joe, Christy, and another Tim who worked their behinds off every cold, wet Saturday and were happy to do it for homemade soup and cake – they are really great friends!!)
So, this was the day, way back last October when the base was laid……..
A timber structure went up….
It was clad and roofed and insulated, seriously insulated! That window was taken out and the hole made into a door way from the sitting room, and then the window was replaced into the new wall.
there is that insulation I was telling you about.
The roof has two Velux windows to let in lots of light.
So, all of that took from October to February, it was slow but steady progress (the weather didn’t help much!) Eventually we had a plasterer come and finish the inside, he and the roofer were the only tradesmen we had to hire (I know i’ve said this before, but Tim can fix everything!!) Then we had to wait for that to dry out before we could paint the walls and lay the floor.
I chose white for the walls and ceiling to reflect as much light as possible, the room is 8x10ft which strangely looks bigger finished then when it was being built!
Finally, at the beginning of this month the planning for furniture was done and we took off to Ikea (again-my house is starting to look like an advert for them!)
A friend of mine had given me an old dining table that she was throwing out – I wanted two desks one for the computer and one for crafting on, so I had it cut in half length ways. This gave me long thin desks with only two legs each, but painted them and Tim fixed them to the wall so they are perfect!
When the new furniture was put together I started the long job of moving in….. It took a full week between going to work and sorting through every box and drawer but here it is, the finished craft room!
I am extremely grateful and happy to have this space, Its my birthday next month and Tim asked me what I wanted, I think all the work he has done here will cover birthdays and Christmas gifts forever!!
This is the view when you open the door, I will do a video to show you more detail one of these days!
My brother made this dresser for me, its perfect for a sewing table.
This is the work desk, it looks out onto the deck.
This is the other half of the table, Toby thinks the spotty chair is his!
And this is the other wall, I wanted a high counter for die cutting, so this unit was perfect.
Thats it – you are all very welcome to come over and craft with me now I have space!
Felicia xx
I’m still computerless….. this is being typed on a borrowed machine, but hopefully it’ll be fixed soon…. Anyhoo, I just wanted to say congratulations and welcome to all the new DT members of Crafting Ireland – hop over and say hello to them if you get a chance!
Here is the link to the post
I apologise for this shoddy welcome ladies, as soon as i’m up and running again I will come and say hello to everyone!!
My computer is being fixed because it wouldn’t let me open blog pages – the cheek of it!!!
So, I will be back with a new post with pictures very soon!
I’m almost ready to show you “the new room” as its become known (its needs a better name, art room? studio? Mums room? – suggestions please!!)
My friend Caroline lives in an amazing house, its like something out of a fairytale – a technicoloured fairytale, and she is also really good at bringing people together. For a long time she had wanted to run a “retreat” for want of a better description, where women would come and have their minds, bodies and souls nourished with good food, arts, crafts and have a chance to just relax and go home renewed.
Last Saturday was a trial run, she had asked me to come up with some craft projects, my Mum was put in charge of the kitchen and eight ladies came to play.
I made name badges for everyone, here they are being modelled by Miss Mannequin!
The kitchen table comfortable sits 12 so there was room for everyone to spread out. It as surprising how quitet everyone was while they worked, there were tonnes of supplies to use and the work at the end was gorgeous. Some people were crafters and some had never tried anything arty before, some people talked about why they were making certain things, the reasons for choosing certain materials and some just quietly worked away. It was an odd day for me because it wasn’t a craft class as such, I couldn’t put a time limit on things, I actually had three projects prepared but we only completed one, but there was a nice flow to the day all the same.
Its hard to find a project that challenges everyone with out being too easy for some or seeming too scary to others, I was delighted with what everyone made, and more importantly they seemed to be too!
It was a long weekend getting everything ready, and here is my Mum at the end of the day actually sitting down…..(the first time all day) she did an amazing job, she made two kinds of soup, three kinds of salads, scones, carrot cupcakes, apple pie and kept the tea and coffee coming all day!
and here are Caroline and Myself, still smiling, fit for nothing except a glass of wine!
This weekend was full of early starts, many miles and great company. It started with the ladies in Ballinameela, Dungarvan. We were so busy that I didn’t take any photos of them, but these are some of the cards that we made from Cosmo Cricket “Tea for Two” 6×6″ papers. I’m not a card maker, so the creations the ladies made were similar to these but much better!! they added lace and buttons and bows, I really wish i’d taken some photos!
Then Sunday I went to Cork to meet the Scrap n Yap ladies, remember that paper I was raving about recently, well this is what we did with it. We altered diaries, notebooks and address books, here is everyone with their finished books…..
and here is a close up of my diary, the cover is just all of the left over scraps layered on top of each other.
Inside there are two tag holders and a pocket, I’m going to put photos on the tags eventually!
and at the back there is a gusset style pocket for keeping important receipts and things.
The back has more left overs, the grungeboard circles set in with eyelets make really good closures. I painted them with a pearl dabber and then stamped over it with a script stamp and archival ink.
I liked this project so much that i’m doing it again on Thursday night here in Killarney, I think i’ll alter an address book this time – come and join us if your anywhere near!!
Some of you have seen this mess craft space before… if you search a way back on this blog you will see a quick video of when it was first built (if I was any good i’d link it for you, but i’m not…) and I must tell you that I love this space! before this I worked on the kitchen table and we all know what thats like.
So, this desk and these shelves were built on the landing which was the only unused space in the whole house. They have served me very well, but as you can see things have gotten a little out of hand!
As bad as it looks, I do know where everything is – if you needed some alpha stickers you go to the pink box on the bottom shelf on the right, or double sided tape? thats on the middle shelf above the desk. Anyhoo, Himself decided enough was enough and the only way to create a craft room was to build on a tiny extension. Wasn’t that nice of him? ( he wants this desk for his own “stuff”, but still its nice of him!)
Last October the foundation was layed, its tiny as I said, about 10x8ft, but it’ll be MINE!! today as I write this there are workmen in the garden putting up soffits and wotnot (i’m sure what soffits do, but we need them apparently) We did almost all the work ourselves, foundation, frame, walls, insulation, panelling, wiring – we only got tradesmen for the roof and the bit they are doing today and a plasterer for inside.
I will put up all the “step-by-step” photos soon, but its not ready yet. On Friday we will lay the floor, the walls are painted (white walls and ceiling, wooden floor) and then the great move begins!! I am scouring the Ikea catalogue trying to decide what I need – drawers or shelves? lots of baskets is the only decision so far, and an arm chair for Tim to sit in when I invite him in for a visit (He fears he will never see me again once its livable!)
My inspiration so far is this photo from Pinterest, it was put up by this lady, I think i’ll have to stalk her blog to see what other ideas she has!
If anyone has any storage tips please pass them on, i’m off back to my measuring tape and Ikea catalogue!!
Bye!!! xx
p.s. There is one kit left for Saturday in Waterford if you’d like it?
Last year my Mum was on holiday in Kent and brought me home a colour chart for Annie Sloan Paints. The chart was actual blobs of paint so you could feel the texture, it is a chalk paint so it has that smooth but super mat texture to it, and it paints onto anything, wood, metal, concrete, plastic with NO UNDERCOAT!!!
Anyhoo, off I went Googling distributors in Ireland, there are quite a few, the problem was that paint is heavy so the delivery charges were mad so I gave up on this idea for a while……..
Then last week it was Himselfs birthday so we went on a bit of an adventure to Clonmel. I’d never been there before, so I did my usual tour of a new town scouting out the coffee shops, book shops and what I call “quirky” shops.
I was stopped in my tracts by a beautiful pale blue bicycle with flowers in the basket parked outside Forget-Me-Nots it was indeed quirky! and guess what they sell? (amongst other lovely gifty bits) Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!
Although I had spent much time drooling over the colour chart I couldn’t choose a colour. After much deliberation I chose Louis Blue….. only to discover they were out of it so I chose Provence instead. (its a lovely bluey green, where as Louis blue was more bluey grey)
I can’t believe I didn’t take a before picture! This chair was my Nanas, it is solid mahogany and had a hideous gold seat (thats it thrown in the dogs bed there!) I thought for ages about painting it because I really didn’t like it as it was, but its really old, in the end finding the paint was enough to persuade me!
So here it is after 2 coats of chalk paint.
I gave it a coat of spray on wax and then a good coating of soft Briwax to protect the paint.Then I got a remnant of Cath Kidston fabric from my stash and went to work with a staple gun….
As you can see Toby likes it!
So that is my chair, I’m not sure my Nana would like it but I will enjoy it much more!!
