Felicia the Artist

                                                                
                                                                      Wings!!!!

                                                                        I love it!!!

 I caught up with Kate yesterday in Athlone for Create with Kates, Christmas in July. We (Tim, myself and some other climbing friends ) were camping in Doolin Co. Clare so it was a bit of a drive ( in theory much closer than driving from Kerry, but it was like a roller coaster most of the way!) but very worth it! Caught up with lots of lovely crafters, ( Karen, Eve, Sandie, Helen, Caroline, Pat to name a few) met some new friends ( Martina!) I picked up everything we need for the Tim Holtz altered clock class…… all I can say is I loved making this!!

 This was the journal we made in Ballinameela two weeks ago. I got a hold of some genuine vintage music manuscripts, some of them are dated to 1904 – beautiful papers just asking to be made into something pretty!

The tuesday morning classes are fun, not huge but I love having the ladies over to play! Last week was so hot we couldn’t go into the garden to work, in fact we could hardly do a thing (we are not used to the heat at all!) so we managed to make some altered pegs… believe me, it was an effort to do this much!

 Last weekend we went to Caherdaniel, West Kerry. This place is close to heaven! We camped, kayaked, walked a bit of the Kerry Way and felt like we were on holidays an hour from home.

 Look at the kayak park! just dump them here, take your paddle and remember which one is yours!

 Some Kerry humour……..!

 Look at the colour of that water!!! blue, green, clear!

 What else?
We have been invited to two weddings in two weeks – but they are miles apart so I can wear the same dress! I spent ages looking for one, found this one and then Molly was going to Ladies Day at the races and had nothing to wear (Ha! she has loads of clothes, she meant she had nothing NEW to wear!) so she ended up wearing my dress.  She is much taller than me so it isn’t this short, its just above my knee. |It was her19th birthday, isn’t she fab? (I know i’m biased!)

                               Everyone finished their project and they all looked different!

 Then it was on to Mayo….. the other end of the country, but one good thing that came from the Celtic Tiger was great roads so it didn’t take long at all.
We chose a great weekend to be there as the Westport Music Festival was on and the place was jumping!
We had dinner in the Helm Restaurant – if you’re ever in Westport eat there, it was beyond delicious!!
Here I am with Kate and Kerry after devouring pineapple and lemon cheesecake (yum!)

 the following day Tim and I took to the hills, the Partry Mountains to be exact – that took care of the cheesecake – Mayo really is a beautiful place.

 Then it was time for the Castlebar class on Monday evening, again a big thank you to everyone who came – you really are a lovely bunch!!

 Here is Helen…

 and Jane….

 and Louise with their finished projects. It was lovely to meet Louise, we’ve been friends in the blog world for a while, so it was nice to actually meet!

Then it was into the car to drive home – we got back at 1.30am, we really enjoyed the weekend. I hadn’t been there before but I will definately be back!!!

Ok, so for Saturdays class  
you need to bring:

All the usual things such as:
pencil
ruler
scissors
distress ink and tool / sponge
wet glue
tape
cutting mat and knife
an apron (if you get as messy as me!)
nail file for sanding

plus (if you don’t have these things don’t worry)

Hot glue gun
Heat tool
Acrylic paint and small paintbrush (or Dabbers or Distress Paint Dabbers) in any pastel colour and gold.
If you want to add photos on the day they need to be printed at passport size or slightly larger.

Again don’t worry if you don’t have them, its just to save time on the day.

I’m really looking forward to seeing you all!! xxx

A long time ago, like last October I was handed an envelope full of photos and asked to make a wedding album from it.
The brief was “something unusual”……..
and then the fateful words….”there’s no hurry”

A word of warning people, you should NEVER tell me there is no hurry, give me a deadline and 99% of the time I will make it , but I am brilliant at putting things off!

The people in the photo are Michael and Miriam, they married in 2005 so obviously they weren’t in too much of a hurry to get an album & in my defence I had it made with the exception of the front cover in March, but you know what happened then……..

So, they had loads of photos , I made 8 inner pages from black card (it is A4 sized) and bound it with the “stack the deck” system, but I had to modify it to make it strong enough.
Then I made a front and back cover from chipboard, covered it in modpodge and layed tissue paper over the top. This made a lovely crinkled effect. When it dried I sprayed it with Tim Holtz Colorwash in Eggplant, and then made a spray from Luminart Blushing Rose which gave it a lovely pink shimmer ( the colourwash looks a little dull by itself)

I cut the aperture before I sprayed the cover then added the photo – the inside is covered with black card so it all looks tidy. Then I made some paper flowers (which also got sprayed to match) and added some bling, music note paperclips (Miriam is a musician) and a book plate with their wedding date. I used Tim Holtz corners to finish it off and a hitch fastener and black crinkled seam binding as a closure.

I will deliver it today which means 8 years and 4 months after their wedding they will be to show people their wedding photos!!

F xx

 Hello!
Are you all enjoying the summer? it was absolutely gorgeous last week but today is raining, blowing a gale and i’m debating lighting the stove at 11.50 am!!!
Having said that, its a great day for a bit of crafting. I have lots of projects on the go…. typical of me I can’t just work on one thing till its finished! and yesterday I was tempted to take out some knitting. This happens every summer – I have no idea why, its supposed to be a cosy winter kind of thing, but I always get an urge to knit in the summer!(I have yet to see if I can knit after “That Fateful day” it might be a bit tricky!)

Anyhoo, let me tell you what is coming up in the next while…….

First the Tuesday morning 12×12 Layout classes are great fun! such a lovely group of Ladies, there is always room for another one if you want to come along.

Then, on Saturday 29th June I will be at the South Court Hotel in Limerick. We will be making a “Birdcage” mini album – it will look something like this, but i’m having a hard time choosing the paperline (too many pretty ones you see!) so that will be a surprise on the day!

The best bit about the day will be Kates shop” CREATE WITH KATE”  – a treasure trove of crafting goodness!! we are there from 10-5pm and the cost is €30.
You can book a space by emailing Me or Kate.

Then i’m off to Ballinameela School in Waterford on 6th July for a mixed media class, thats a 10-4pm class and the cost is €30. This is a great venue, it has tonnes of space and all you need to bring is an apron and lunch!

There are two more events before the end of July – CHRISTMAS IN JULY which Kate is hosting in Athlone and  the ARDMORE PATTERN FESTIVAL in co. Waterford – I will get back to you with those details as soon as I have them!

Have a luffly weekend,

Byeeeee! x

 Karen claims she doesn’t do “outside” but here is proof that it happened!

 Mr. Toby got in on the fun too…..

 On Thursday night my tiny sitting room was transformed into an Alladins cave – this is only a small amunt of the stock that Kate carries at Create with Kate. People came, shopped, drank tea, ate cake and some even did the class!

It was good fun, i’d love to have all that stock on display all the time – we’d just need to build another extension! I did keep some lovely papers, dies and stamps so there will be a tiny shop at the new classes.

New classes? why yes, as from tomorrow I will be running a regular Tuesday morning class at home. We are going back to 12×12 layouts….. I’ve been tempted recently to get back to them, so now I will have company doing it! Tomorrows class is full but let me know if you’d like to come any other week – you will get a kit, tea, cake and good company for €10, its on from 11-1pm  (email me for directions)

                 Here is a sneek peek of tomorrows layout – yummy Prima Romance Novel!!

I blogged about the first Purple House day here , and now its time for the next one! We hope to make this a bi-monthly occurance – if you have any questions give me a call or send an email.

I’m looking forward to it soooo much!! x