We are Moving!!! www.createwithkate.com

This is both a sad and happy post!  Sad because this is the last post on this blog but the happy news is that we are moving to a new site under a new name with a new purpose, with out further ado can  I now introduce you  to DA Da DAh (fanfare)
WWW.CREATEWITHKATE.COM
this is so exciting!, a new adventure full of fun.

Thanks for following,  happy crafting and see you at www.createwithkate.com.
xxKate

A great weekend!

Hello to all you fabulous crafters that i met over the brilliant weekend in Athlone at the GBCE (thank you Kerri for organising it yet again!).
We are still in Athlone as while we were busy with classes, cards and demos my sister and her four year old were busy entertaining our three year old so we stayed over and gave her the night off. So at the moment i am blogging while i have two boys noisily playing fire man Sam around the floor of the kitchen.
We will shorthly be leaving for home in Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo to collect our two westie dogs and unpack all the left over goodies from the weekend (as well as some I picked up from the other stalls..yahoo, although I ran out of time to do a proper shop).

A big thank you for all the words of encouragement and support that you gave us over the weekend and after.  Anne, Mike and myself had a great weekend and even though we are wrecked it's a happy wrecked from the great buzz that all of you very creative people generated at the show. 

In a couple of days we will be switching  our blog over to the new site www.createwithkate.com but in the mean time check back for some pics.

We will also be contacting the lucky winner of our draw (we had great fun doing it yesterday) so watch this space!!

Chat again soon and thanks for stopping by,
Happy crafting
Cathy.

Sept 11th

As you all know it was the10th anniversary of Sept 11 yesterday and I would say that everyone, like myself, was thinking back to where they were when it happened.  I was on the Italian / French border in a little craft shop when the shop keeper showed me the tail end of an Italian news broadcast on a tiny portable tv.  I came away thinking there had been a horrific plane crash at JFK airport, I only found out the terrible truth later.
The whole world changed that day.

'To get through the hardest journey, we need only take one step at a time;
but we must keep on stepping'

Keep stepping.
xxCathy.

Another 'Pretty in Pink Card'

Hi again from the West of Ireland, South County Mayo to be exact:  It's a beautiful morning here, I am sitting at my kitchen table with the sun shining in; and yes for those doubting thomas's, the sun does shine in Ireland - I might even do a weather report everyday to prove it LOL!!

On another note my little boy started Naoinra (gaelic name for playschool, pronounced neen-a-ra / neen-ra) yesterday and ran the whole way in.  I think I was the only mother who was left behind, feeling very unloved and unneeded, Boo Hoo! But it was great to see him so happy and content playing with his friends.  He had a big 'slán' (pronounced slawn; gaelic for goodbye) and off he went - a scrapbook pag. e in the making!!

I have another pretty in pink card (last of my trio) to show today and I am also going to enter it into the challenges below.
1. http://craftybootschallenges.blogspot.com/2011/09/anything-goes.html
2. http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/2011/09/make-it-monday-53-birthday-blog-hop.html
3. http://craftingwhenwecanchallenges.blogspot.com/2011/09/challenge-1.html

Thanks for dropping by and have a sunny Day
Cathy x

Pretty in Pink Cards!

I don't know where you are living but if you are like me and living  in the very beautiful west of Ireland you will be a little fed up today.  It started off a lovely morning, so much so that I hung out a line of washing to dry, when two hours later i had to brave the wind and the driving rain to take them in and hang them on the clotheshorse ( why do we bother with clothes lines - I will have to take a leaf out of an american friend of mine's book and start using the dryer!)


Anyway, it hasn't stopped raining all day so I decided to buck the trend and blog about the weather only joking;  so 'pretty in pink' cards it is!
I was lucky enough to attend a workshop by a very very talented lady,  Dyan Reavley  http://www.dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com/ a couple of years ago (have been a fan ever since) and I was introduced to Blonde Moments and instantly loved their Sugar Dumpling collection http://www.blondemoments.org/sugarDumpling.html  and have been stocking it ever since. I made these cards using that collection and stamps and embossing powders, as well as some other products from our store;

Thanks for dropping by and great if you leave a comment,
chat tomorrow
Cathy.

I love Butterflies!

I am coming to the end of my thursday, the first day of Sept (can you believe it's September already!!  I am winding down and am just going to post some pics of some cards I made while crafting into the early wee hours of the morning this morning.  Got together with my crafting buddy Anne last night and started off with a specific plan in mind and ended up doing something completely different which is not unusual for me, I tend to jump from one different project to another depending on where my creativity brings me (which is probably why I have a few unfinished items on my shelves - ready to be picked up for the next creative step).  Anyway, i started out with a scrapbook album and ended up making some cards (pics below - also entered into this week's paperplay challenge http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com/ and the challenge at http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/) using some stash I had in my tote bag and I also did some sketches for a project that I have in mind.

Thanks for dropping in and saying hello.
Happy Crafting, Cathy

CHA pictures

Another fine dry day here in South Mayo, I went for a lovely walk in Tourmakeady Woods this morning with my three year old pirate (busy looking for treasure under every tree root), his two pirate buddies and their Mommy.  We had a lovely picnic at the waterfall and lots of buried treasure to bring home with us.  Having a crafting night tonight (yippee!!) so will have some pics to show tomorrow.
For now I am posting some I took at the CHA show in Chicago in July at the Clear Scraps stall and it will give you an idea of the kind of kit that is in the christmas scrapbook album (sneak peak will follow at end of the week, I promise).

Happy viewing and thanks for stopping by
Cathy.

Getting Published!

BIG NEWS!! The wonderful Anne Mullan of the Mayo Paper craft club is being published in the next issue of the Craft Stamper magazine: (Congratulations Anne!!)
Here is a sneak peak of her beautiful project!

  

Class Alert!

Hi all,
Just a short entry this time to share our class details for the upcoming GBCE.
Christmas Ornaments with Anne Mullan of The Mayo Papercraft Club

In Anne’s class you will get to make fabulous Christmas ornaments (to use for home décor or card making), using alcohol inks, distress inks, stamping, dry embossing, Ultra thick embossing enamel (UTEE) and acrylic paints.  A fantastic kit to make 10 beautiful ornaments consisting of Acetate and Chipboard Shapes, patterned papers, a stamp and some fabulous acrylic paint.  This would be a technique based class and therefore suitable for all levels from beginners to masters of their craft!

 
Anne Mullan is a fantastic crafter and mixed media artist who has exhibited in the Knit and Stitch show in Dublin and is due to be published in the Craft Stamper magazine soon. She is also secretary of the Connaught Textile Crafters.  She has been card making, papercrafting and creating beautiful mixed media art for several years and specialises in learning and perfecting techniques.  If you want to know which is the best ink for stamping onto glossy or plain card, how to perfect your stamping; get the most out of your alcohol or distress inks, this lady has the knowledge.

‘Off the Page Scrapbooking’ with Cathy Walsh of The Mayo Papercraft Club

Create a Fabulous Photo Album using Clear Scraps Mixables Christmas album with paint, inks, stamps, papers, ribbons and chipboard embellishments creating a beautiful scrapbook album to treasure your memories at Christmas. This would also be a fabulous christmas gift to give to a loved one.  The kit includes everything you will need to complete the album ready to add your photos at Christmas.

Check out http://clearscraps.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/08/early-christmas.html for some examples and inspiration and keep a lookout here at www.mayopapercraftclub.blogspot.com  for a sneak peak coming soon. (don't want to overload the visual sensory system in one go!)

Cathy Walsh (that's me!!) set up her wedding stationery business (infinitydesign.ie) in 2001 and has been playing with paper ever since.  A card maker and scrapbooker she recently attended the CHA summer show in Chicago, AMAZING.  Her favourite crafty bits are paper, paper; oh and more paper not to mention stamps, paint and UTEE (she never goes anywhere without it). This is her third GBCE show and this time she is teaching a scrapbook class with a difference, inspired by the visual feast she saw at the CHA this summer.

WOW!!  I highly recommend that everyone sits down and writes a Bio, it is an uplifting experience that can break the shackles of Humbleness!! It's wonderful! No really it is, it's going to be another resolution of mine..to sit down a couple of times a year and write out all the things that i am good at, Positive Reinforcement!

So much for the short post;  don't forget to check out the classes at the GBCE site 

http://greatbigcraftextravaganza.wordpress.com/ and if you have any questions about our two classes you can email me or leave a comment and we'll get back asap.

Happy Crafting,

Cathy.

Blogging Again!

Can't believe it's been a year since I blogged last, not sure why but have made an Autumn resolution to blog at least twice a week starting today. Of course it's now the countdown to GBCE http://greatbigcraftextravaganza.wordpress.com/. For those who haven't heard it's the biggest papercrafting event of the year in Ireland, organised by the fabulous Kerri over at An Siopa Bui - mark your calendar 30th Sept to 1st Oct. I spent all day yesterday having fun with my very talented crafting friend Anne Mullen, we were getting in training for the show as we are both doing classes and want to make sure we are Crafting Fit!! Loads of fun, I didn't get home till 10.30 to a very quiet house, both my boys (40 and 3) were fast asleep, bless them!

I was playing with stamps, archival ink, rub ons and gems; while Anne was having great fun with promarkers and shrink plastic! Here are some of our efforts!