Some of the cards from Saturday's demo at Donegal Stationery, Letterkenny

 Good morning :) These are some of the cards which I made on Saturday at my demo in Donegal Stationery, Letterkenny, using lots of different Dovecraft and Trimcraft papers and embellishments. I'll be remaking at least one of the ones which I haven't posted on here as I had passed the finished card around before the glue was properly dried and it didn't look at its best by the time I was taking photos at the end of the day.

Donegal Stationery today - thanks !!

Look at all those happy faces!! Thanks a million to everyone for making it such a great day :)

I was so happy to see every single one of you and really happy to be back with Bernie and the staff.

Deirdre took the top photo just before lunch and you can still just about see the table. 

Thanks, too, to all the others who joined us in the afternoon. I hope you all enjoyed the day and also all the lovely things you bought :)

Having a good look through the boxes of sample cards.

We had a surprise visit from two lovely ladies (Eileen and Ita)  - who both recently retired from working in the shop - and I was so glad to see them again :)

 Lisa

 Mark and Aisling

Bernie - thanks for having me back :)

Twist and Pop Tea Party card - Trimcraft

 I'm all packed up and ready to head off to Donegal to demo in the morning (Donegal Stationery, Letterkenny) but I've been busy making samples today with lots of new Trimcraft dies and papers. This is one of them - another "Twist and Pop" card. I don't know who came up with this shape of card to start with but it's very addictive and also very difficult to leave the finished card alone! 

I've just realised that I took the photos before I added some gems  :(

I've used dies from the Party and Tea Party sets 

Glad to know the card passed quality control inspection!!

Folk Art Barnwood Painted Finish from Plaid

I've had another chance to use the Barnwood painted finish from Plaid which I first shared HERE and this time I used the same Glacier and White Adirondack Chalk Paint with the same stencil to create a matching set.

Couture du Jour pocket card (Trimcraft)

 Good morning - this morning's card is another made with the Dovecraft "Couture du Jour" collection by Trimcraft - I've used the papers, pearls, 8x8 decoupage pad, embossing folder and dies. If you've ever been at one of my demos, you'll know how I love a pocket card! 

Demo at Donegal Stationery, Letterkenny on Sat 29th October

Just a little reminder that I''ll be demoing at Donegal Stationery in Letterkenny on Saturday (29th October) - this is one of the cards I'll be making using Trimcraft's Christmas Promise papers and Nativity dies. Hoping to see some of you there :)

Dovecraft Couture du Jour card - Trimcraft

 Good morning, this is another of the Couture du Jour cards I made a few weeks ago. You can see from the photos below that it's a "tube" type card which folds flat for postage. I've used the 8x8 decoupage pad, 8x8 papers, dies, pearls and buttons. I know lots of friends who will love this new collection :)

Quick and simple Christmas card - Tonic Studios

It's always good to be able to make a few quick cards in the run up to Christmas and they don't come much simpler than this. I used the Tonic Studios 8x8 Simple Stripes embossing folder ( you can emboss the whole 8x8 piece of card, cut it into strips and make several from the one piece), Fern Leaf die, White Poinsettia, Key Lime Jewel Drops and Ruby Slippers Crystal Drops. 

Breast Cancer Awareness month - please take a minute to read

As it's breast cancer awareness month, I'd like to gently remind you to think about having yourself checked out. As you've probably gathered, I don't post much of my personal life on here - just some family photos and demo things. I don't talk much about this outside my family and close friends but I think most of you are aware that I wasn't well last year and had to take some time out.

The short story is that when the appointment came to go for a mammogram, I was too busy and was going to cancel as I had no symptoms whatsoever. However, David persuaded me to make the time and go along. It came as a complete shock to be called back and told that I had indeed got breast cancer. This post is not about me - it's for your benefit. I'm not looking for sympathy or pats on the back, I just want to make more women aware. The outcome so far is that I had surgery to remove the cancer in July 2015 and a course of radiotherapy throughout October last year. As you can see I'm now out and about demoing again even though I've been taking on less travelling because of the fatigue - but it could have been so different if I'd cancelled that appointment.

I thank God every day for the the care I received from everyone involved along the way.

Please think about making an appointment :)

Big 50 - Tonic Studios card

 Hi :) I made a card for a friend who has just turned 50. I used the Tonic Studios Kings Cross die set but only used the front part and added it to the card with 3D foam squares. The background dies are from  the Swirling Frame set. 

Win and Tonic October challenge

Time for another challenge at the Win and Tonic Challenge Blog.

This month it's another easy one - Anything goes!

On my Design Team card I've used Tonic Studios Oval Layering dies, Rococo Celebration Lucky Horseshoe (bow) and Birthday Bundle dies (bunting and cupcake).

Make sure you pop over to the W&T blog to see the other cards and then join in as you could win the lovely prize....

Dovecraft "Couture du Jour" card tutorial - Trimcraft

The Dovecraft "Couture du Jour" collection by Trimcraft consists of patterned papers in 3 sizes and lots of gorgeous embellishments which coordinate with the colours and images. It's a really "girly" collection and is perfect for your stylish female friends!

I've shown the steps below in making this card and I hope you'll try it for yourself :)

You will need:

 Dovecraft Couture du Jour 6x6 paper pack

 Dovecraft Couture du Jour 8x8 Glittered Decoupage pad

 Dovecraft Couture du Jour Cutting dies

 Dovecraft Couture du Jour Adhesive Pearls

 Dovecraft Couture du Jour Plastic Buttons

Dovecraft Premium A4 white card

double sided tape

Dovecraft Crafts Glue

Dovecraft 3D foam squares

die cutting machine

How to make it:

1. Score an A4 piece of white card at 7.5cm and 15cm along the long side and fold as shown. Cut off on the shorter side at 15cm. 

2. Cut the patterned paper from the 6x6 paper pad to the sizes shown in the photo above.

3.  Layer and attach the pieces to  the card as shown using double sided tape.

4. Snip off the piece of card above the top fold. Then cut a strip 1.5cm wide from this piece.

5. Glue the bottom 5.5cm of the long piece to  the centre of the bottom of the card and fold  the other piece over the top of the card.

6. Glue the small strip to the back of the card so  that the flap which folds over the top fits inside it.

7. Make up the decoupage image using 3D foam squares between each layer and glue to  the centre of the card.

8. Die cut the mannequin, "with love" and the butterfly from white card and glue to the card as shown. Die cut the butterfly from green paper and glue the centre to  the top of the white butterfly. Add a pearl in the centre.

Glue 3 buttons to the bottom right of the centre panel.

Folk Art Painted Finish - Rust - by Plaid

I just thought I'd show you some tags which I decorated with Plaid Chalk Paint, Mod Melts and Rust Finish. I love the texture of the Rust Finish and have been using it in different projects. The tags are part of a canvas which I made but I'll show the whole canvas later :)

Demo at Donegal Stationery, Letterkenny on October 29th

 My next demo is at Donegal Stationery, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal on October 29th and I'll be using the beautiful new Dovecraft Couture du Jour collection from Trimcraft as well as lots of Christmas bits and pieces and also some Plaid Mod Podge Sheer Paints etc.

I've been up there lots of times before and always look forward to seeing the Donegal folks again :)

I hope some of you can join me there.

 A little bit of origami  - couldn't resist it!

Afternoon at Castlewellan, Co. Down

 A wee trip to Castlewellan this afternoon for a long walk around the lake. A beautiful autumn afternoon :)

Some of the birds - boy, were they noisy!

Andrew

The Mourne Mountains