A quick round up of the last few days

Hi all,

I hope you are still enjoying the sunshine? It seems to put everybody in a better mood and I hope it continues. It has been a terrible week for all of those stuck in their travel arrangements due to the volcano and I really hope that everybody arrives to their destinations as soon and as safe as possible, be it by boat, car, train or camel!

This week I took part in the RTE Radio 1 show The Business with John Murray.

We took part in a Mad Knitters Tea Party and it was both fun and extremely interesting. I have to say my favourite bit was meeting fellow entrepreneurs in the textile field as sometimes when you are running a business you are so busy you never get to meet others. Everybody was lovely and it was enlightening to see people building businesses around textiles in Ireland.

I have been researching the web a lot this week and I am always on the look out for fabulous creative resources so here is a few of my favourites I have found.

• Sister Diane and her Crafty Pod -http://www.craftypod.com/ (Thanks Claudine for sharing this one)
• Where Women Create -http://www.wherewomencreate.com/ (I would love to get my hands on that magazine if anybody knows a source for Ireland?)
• To all you knitters and stitchers out there I wanted to mention Ravelry again which has to be the single best resource on the net for knitting and crochet. Great way to find the newest patters, meet fellow stitcher's and join an amazing community
• I have also recently signed up to Milliandes community as I was trying to find a community that encompassed my favourite types of art forms including Mandalas and Art Journal and this one does it all. An amazing community for creative women and well worth a visit. 

I noticed as well that all of these people have Facebook Fan pages which is great as it means I get their updates regularly through my Facebook Page. On that note I also set up a Facebook page this week to bring all of us knitter and crocheters together. You can check it out here 

There are literally hundreds more but I don't want to bombard you so I will share a few every week! Also have yo any cool creative resources you can share back?

The sunshine always makes me want to sit outside and draw and paint. Lots of people have been asking me how to improve their drawing so here some drawing challenges over at on the network. Join in!

Happy crafting in the sun guys!

Cathy

Next Workshops Date 7th June 2008

Well todays (Saturday 24th May) workshops were a great success and thanks to everybody who attended.

We started off with card making this morning and made two beautiful cards - a castle design and a free design where the children got to choose what they wanted to design. We learned about punching, stamping and embellishing the cards and the cars turned out fantastic. I will put up pics of the demo cards we used next week and a step by step guide on how we made them.

Felicia's jewellery making class followed with everybody creating a beautiful bracelet and set of earrings using a range of beading techniques. Everybody got to choose their own beads and left with some amazing designs.

Finally our workshops finished off with glass painting. We got the chance to design our very own mirrors and used the Marabu glass painters to create some funky designs. We added that very special touch to our mirrors at the end by sticking on some glass jewels and buttons.

Everybody had lots of fun and our next workshops are already filling up. Details are as follows.

NEXT WORKSHOP DATE - Saturday 7th June

Children's Card Making at 10AM. We will be designing twisted pyramid cards from a brand new range that is new and exclusive to The Crafty Alley Shop. (Details and pictures will go up during the week).

Adult Jewelery Making at 12PM. Details to follow.

Children's Ceramic Painting at 2pm. Paint your very own mug!

As usual please email me at cathy@craftyalley.com or ring the shop on 06430800 to put your name down for a workshop.

Finally, we still have a couple of places left at our drawing class on a Monday evening. The watercolour class which starts on Thursday the 5th June is almost full so make sure you put down your 50% deposit (€30) to secure your place. We are currently taking names for acrylic and oil painting which will also start in early June.

See you soon

Cathy ;-)

Thanks

Well the opening was a great success and lots of fun was had by all. From the face painting to the jewelery making workshops there was something for everybody to do. Thanks to The Kerryman which did a great feature on us.

Thanks to the girls from Cork Croppers and Craft Eire for visiting too.

We are still working away on the website which will hopefully be up within the next week or two at the latest. In the meantime to give a taste of what we have in the shop I will be putting up some product information on the blog.

The workshops were also a great success and we are going to be advertising the programme of workshops from now til September over the coming days.

For now I can confirm that drawing takes place every Monday evening in the shop from 7pm to 8.30pm and jewelery making will be held in the shop the first Sat of every Month from 12pm to 1.30pm.

Other workshops coming up include

Scrapbooking
Cardmaking
Watercolour Painting
Oil Painting
Acrylic Painting

Please email me if you are interested in any of the classes and places are limited.

Thanks

Workshops on Sat 10th May

Hi all,

I promised to put up details of the workshops taking place this Saturday, 10th May for the official opening of The Crafty Alley Shop, Killarney.

The times are as follows.

10. 30AM Wedding Stationery Workshop with Lynette

12.00PM Jewelery Making Workshop with Felicia

16.00PM Scrapbooking with Robin

There will also be free face painting and balloon modelling for children 12pm to 4pm and many other demonstrations of products and ideas throughout the day.

Also look out for The Kerryman this week who are doing a special feature on the shop.

Phone me on 064 30 800 to register for the workshops or just email me.

See you Sat!

Drawing Workshops with Deborah O'Keefe

I am delighted to be able to put up details of our first workshop.

Drawing classes will take place in the Crafty Alley Shop every Monday evening from 7pm to 8.30pm. The workshops are ideal for beginners and for those with some experience.

Places are limited and the class is almost full. If you are interested in coming along - please email me at cathy@craftyalley.com.

Cost is €10 per person per class. Discount are given for any materials you wish to purchase for the class.

Classes start Monday 28th April.