Creativity - food for the soul

1 week to go!!!

2008-12-17T12:37:00.000Z

Only a week to go until the big man comes to our house. I think the kids will make themselves sick with excitement!!A crazy week this week with Anna's injections in School :-( , Emily's check up, 2 school concerts, ballet performance and Tae Kwon Do grading not to mention my cousins wedding on Saturday, a birthday party on Sunday and preparations for Emily's Christening next week.Roll on January :-)

Creativity....what...??

2008-12-07T00:00:00.003Z

Can't believe I haven't done a layout of any kind for soooo long! Not even of the newest arrival. Life seems to be one big circus at the moment and the papercrafting side has taken a major hit. Sorry to say I haven't even made my own Christmas cards this year BUT T&A did drawings in school which were incorporated into School Cards so there will be some family creativity going out there!!! The Christmas decorations will be making an appearance this weekend. The kids are beside themselves. Santa arrived here today in Cobh off a boat down at the pier!!!We have the baba's Chrsitening over Christmas too so really looking forward to the whole season. Hopefully 2009 will see me back in the swing of things and making things again.

Baby EMILY CLARE

2008-09-24T22:48:00.003+01:00

She has arrived - 10 days early!!! Born on 19th September at 6.25pm weighing 7lbs 5oz. We are all thrilled and Anna can't contain her excitement at being a BIG SISTER. She is a real little dolly and we had to buy new babygros for her as all Anna's stuff is too big for her! She has been a super star since she came home sleeping feeding sleeping feeding........

5 now in the family and we are loving it. Tom says we are really like the Simpsons now.Does that mean I have to dye my hair blue like Marge?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shameful!!!!

2008-08-10T20:35:00.002+01:00

Big slaps all around. Bad bad blogger! Have been making stuff and photographing. Just have to upload from the camera............Enjoying the rainy summer- not! On the countdown for the smallie to arrive.About 7 weeks to go and feeling every bit of it. Nursery all ready and bag packed... in case. Everything ready for school for T&A. I can't believe they are back so soon.
Have to get cracking - 3 orders of 260 cards waiting to be done........................................

Tooth fairy is coming tonight!!!

2008-06-17T22:29:00.003+01:00

T arrived in to me today all excited as he had bitten in to an apple and he felt what he thought was a pip in his mouth but when he checked it was his first tooth!!!!! It was wobbling for the last few days and one had started to grow up behind it.Oh my BIG BOY. He was so delighted. His sister was crying because all she saw was the blood. I grabbed the camera and got a few pics so can't wait to get cracking on a L.O. Might get one done this weekend in Dublin while I am up for the Mid Summer Scrapaganza. Can't wait.
Must dash - we all have to be asleep in our beds early so the tooth fairy won't be afraid to come in!!!

Busy Month of May.

2008-06-04T22:54:00.008+01:00

So much happened last month this post will be long. Naturally I should have updated all along but ...... !!!!!! First baby Fionn was born on his due date- huge congrats to Breda and Dave.He's the image of his Dad - what's new in the world of new babies - poor Mums don't get a look in! Then my wonderful friend Cathy and Paul got married in beautiful Ballintubber Abbey in Mayo. What a romantic place. We all had a fab weekend up there. Then we had that amazing match Munster v Toulouse. Hubby took off on Friday morning with his friend and flew Cork - Belfast. That evening they flew Belfast - Manchester and stayed with his parents. On Saturday they took a train to Cardiff and celebrated with the rest of the victorious supporters. They took a train to Swansea and stayed the night there and got on the train again next day back to Cardiff to get bus to Fishguard and the overnight ferry to Rosslare. Luckily they met a neighbour of ours on board to get a spin in a car from Rosslare to Cork instead of the bus.Phew- what a weekend. Even crazier for me as you can imagine with my 2 monkeys and no helping hands!!!!! Don't worry.My retaliation is planned as I am heading to the Midsummer Megascrap in Dublin on the 21st June organised by Lainey and Annamarie.So we had to think of lots of activities to keep T& A busy for the few days while Daddy was away. Anna baked cookies and loved decorating them with pink of course.............but she wasn't so keen on the washing up part which I kept telling her was the most important part of baking ( God i sound like my mother!!!)

Here's a few cards I squeezed in-

The weather was so fab recently so Anna managed to crack the art of hopscotch with her buddy Sarah and
Tom managed to learn to ride his bike without stabilisers!!!!Hooray!!
He went on his school tour to Fota Wildlife Park(which is actually only 5 mins from where we live) and the highlight of the tour was the full pack of fruit pastilles I put in for his treat. God love us!!

Here's hoping the weather holds out in June as they love being outside with all the friends and are exhausted in the evenings giving me early nights to get crafting.

24 weeks now so only 16 to go to the new arrival - time is FLYING by.

A little help from my "but I'm nearly 4" year old !!

2008-04-30T21:09:00.008+01:00

I keep saying when I have a load of cards to do especially repeats,that I need a production line to get through them.Anna stepped in today and helped with foam pads ,glue and even paper in the cuttlebug folders through the Big Shot! She didn't lick it off the ground you know!!! I wonder will I have her beside me at crops in years to come - taking all my stash and rummaging through my purse to buy more??!!
Did you take a peek at Scrapwest last week? Here's my LO for last week- material based.

I was at Caroline's crop last Sunday and had a lovely peaceful productive day. I bought the stamp above and am delighted with how it turned out. There are so many ways in which you could use it- cut out pots, colour in, mount on matching colour card, emboss the flowers- or for a quickie card like above stick on flowers, brads buttons.... I love this stamp!

Here's a few more I got finished after a burst of creativity!

Works in progress...

2008-04-24T20:21:00.003+01:00

We think the PC is OK now!!! Still have to get the photos sorted but have managed to upload a few. All well on the crafting front. Just trying to find time to myself to get stuff done!Thankfully one of Carolines wonderful crops is on this Sunday in Cork so some crafting time for meeeee!!

Don't forget to pop into SCRAPWEST tomorrow evening - it's my week!!! and I'm doing something which tries not to use paper !!

I should be shot....

2008-04-17T20:10:00.002+01:00

It's so long since I blogged. Firstly my home PC became infected with dreadful viruses and my husband blamed me with all my surfing of crafty sites etc etc.Secondly I deserve a major ranting to as I have NEVER downloaded any of my photos over the last 6 years off the computer so they are hopefully still there while I get something to download them. DH's friend is trying to fix the PC so the upshot is I haven't been able to upload pics to the home pc which has all the soft ware blah blah so no updating with all my creations!! Luckily I have the lap top to surf.
And then we discovered we are expecting number 3 in this house in September so there has been fierce excitement for the last few months. We are thrilled. While I can see more scrapping opportunities opening up I wonder will I have the time!!! Hope to have a few pics when all the techy issues are sorted out.xx

A rainy day update!

2008-02-25T15:21:00.010Z

It's LASHING rain outside here today so the only thing is to get on with the housework or else get out the craft bits and get busy!!! In case you didn't see SCRAPWEST last Friday I did a class and the Layout is above. All the instructions are on the Scrapwest blog . I bet you'll enjoy the hammering! I really like the effect of punching the holes and layering the cardstock.

I spent another wonderful day in the company of the Munster gals at Caroline's Crop where we made the most delicious EXPLOSION BOX. I never made one of these before as I always thought they looked so complicated but Caroline took all the fear out of it and i will defo be doing one again. I will fill this one for my MIL with pics of the kids for Mother's Day.

I managed to get 1 layout and 2 cards made in the rest of the time I was there!!!!! Far too much yapping with Jean,Junie, Noreen and Stacey but learned loads and can't wait to get my hands on the new Cuttlebug folders from Jeanjeany. Take a look there if you dare!!!!

Just managed to delete the two cards I did (grrrr) and if I re insert it will put them to the top of my post and mess up EVERYTHING so until the next time..........................Adios!

Mum can we get a dog????

2008-01-31T21:56:00.000Z

I've been tagged!!“You Make My Day Award” I have been tagged by Jackie, Jeanjeany and Noelle for this ( Thanks Girls ), and the rules are…..Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!So, to narrow it down to ten….I tag just 3 ...Lainey,Tigger and Caroline!

Talking of Caroline what a wonderful day I had last Sunday at her Cork crop. I had a really productive day and the LO above is the one we did in Caroline's class. A super LO for storing a series of photos under the layers at the top. Shared hints and tips for the Cricut with Jean and had great craic with all the girls. It is so refreshing to have a full day to crop and chat without real life taking over.

Here's a few of the cards I have been making recently.I still love Lola Rose as you can see!

This is where the "can we get a dog" saga starts!!! Isn't she soooo cute......

ANNA & ASHA

She has been asking me this ever since she could speak!!! I have always turned her down listing the usual - poops to be cleaned up,walks to be done,Doggy needs company and Mummy has to work some days etc etc.Reality doesn't sink in until it is experienced!! Last week my Mum got a Guide dog puppy for the disabled to mind for a few weeks until a home is found for her to be trained in(Mum did this before ). Anna was so excited about the 8 week old puppy. Her name is ASHA.

So - having spent a few days in her company - been jumped on,toys snatched,biscuits swiped,tights paw marked, her Gran otherwise engaged with another to shower her affection on!!!! - she has decided she doesn't want a dog - Halleliuiah!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2008-01-14T20:18:00.000Z

Oh God - it's been a month since I blogged!!! It was so crazy coming up to Christmas when Christmas came I went into crafting meltdown!!!! Have done a spruce up of the loft and and sorted out my stash and filed in order the requests for cards I have received so am up and running again - my mojo is back - YIPPEE.

We had a fab Christmas - visited my parents in the morning for Kris Kindle(i got gorgeous JO MALONE amber and lavender body lotion - I LOVE JO MALONE) and then Shane and I cooked the works for Christmas dinner including the most delicious Brussel sprouts in cream,bacon bits and breadcrumbs with parmesan cheese........ yuuuuuuuuuuuum.

Over Christmas we drove to IKEA in Belfast - 950km round trip and we stocked my wonderful PICASSO with furniture for the playroom , Anna's bedroom, light fittings and other miscellaneous stuff. I could have filled the car 10 times over. We'll just have to do it again! We drove on a Saturday and came home on a Sunday and shared the driving so it wasn't bad. One of the store managers thought we were nuts . He said " you know we deliver to Cork???" but I told him I HAD to actually shop there as I love it and you always pick up extra stuff that you may not see in the catalogue.

So here's to a healthy and happy 2008. Babies on the way for my friends Breda and Aoife and a wedding in May for Cathy and Paul. What a great start xxxx

My Cricut has arrived!!!

2007-12-12T20:25:00.000Z

...and I can't stop cutting stuff!! I love trying out all the cartridges and seeing the shapes and fonts and tricks and shadows ....... it is a FANTASTIC piece of equipment! Here are some of the cards I have finished. I have used the left over bit to make this card and I really like the effect.

I think the birthday presents look nicer here than if the actual shapes had been mounted.

Then I did some with my Cuttlebug embossers which are still in my favourite pile too. Very simple but gorgeous images.

I have to get some Mass Booklets out of the way this evening and get started on making my own Christmas Cards - wouldn't do to send out shop ones !!! Then I am making lovely labels for the Christmas presents we are giving. Of course I am using my beloved Cricut ...fun fun fun.

Been busy!

2007-12-07T20:56:00.000Z

Been such a long time since I was on here! In between a mad few days making cards and doing Layouts we went to Manchester to visit relations and I went to London with my Mum and sister to sing in the Albert Hall! What a blast we had. We sang among thousands in the MESSIAH for all last Sunday. It was spectacular. We have sung in Messiahs in the past few years but the venue this year was amazing and it was incredible to be one amongst so many singers.My brother took pics so I must post them when he sends them on.

So another batch of Christmas cards have been completed and another batch await putting together!

I finished some baby Thank you cards for the beautiful Ellie(in the first LO).

Some baby and mommy cards....

My LO for SCRAPWEST this week . Picture quality is grainy - I must review the settings on my camera but the amazing thing about this LO is I have included my FIRST cuts from my CRICUT which arrived this evening from the US thanks to my wonderful and thoughtful darling husband. It is totally brilliant. I have 4 cartridges and have been experimenting and am off to find out more about this most wonderful piece of equipment. I am in LOVE all over again....!!!!

Christmas Challenge

2007-11-27T21:06:00.000Z

Early in November I decided to participate in a Christmas card challenge on the chat forum on Craftsupplies . We had to put together 5 or more pieces of material and make a card and then send 2 kits of the same materials to a co ordinator(Thanks Sabrina!) who sent them out to different people so they could make a card from your materials! We then had to send pics of the completed cards to Sabrina and today she has posted them on a picture trail album on the form. Magnificent cards and so many different ideas even with the same materials.
Above is my card from Julie's materials and below is my card with Petra's materials. All materials were sent anonymously so we only found out this evening who sent what!

Here are the materials I sent - I really like this stamp from Craftsupplies..............

........and this is the card I made. I stamped with Stazon and coloured with watercolours.Di and Kiki made gorgeous cards with this kit.

The theme last week for SCRAPWEST was books. T got his first book home last week for homework. He will get a new book home every night and we had to record whether he liked it :)

didn't like it :( or didn't think much of it :I

I put the names of his interests at the moment down the spines of the books as I know over the years this will change and I want him to have a record of what he was into at 5.

Nearly December!!

2007-11-19T22:17:00.000Z

If the kids ask me once more when Santa is coming.....Aaaaagh!!! We had it all worked out that it was T's birthday and then our trip to Manchester and then Granny's birthday and then Grandad's birthday and then it would be December and we could write to Santa and then put up the decorations and then make the reindeer food and THEN Santa would be coming!!!! Will it ever come!

In the meantime I am pacifying myself by making....Christmas cards. Here's one I made using a gorgeous old fashioned stamp from Craftsupplies . I really like the simple excitment you can feel jumping out at you.

Here is my contribution to Scrapwest last for last Friday. I love these funky papers and have loads left for more projects.

We had T's 5th Birthday Party at the weekend and there was a big dilemma over whether we could bring a cake,serve a cake, eat a cake blah blah in the indoor play centre where we went and at the 11th hour we got a call to say we could bring and serve and eat the cake.So we made a 5 cake and himself and his sister made a fine job of the stirring. It was devoured by everyone - children and adults. Not a crumb left over!! Thats to Orla for the recipe - 5 MARS bars and 5 oz butter melted and rice crispies added in - delicious.

Tis nearly the season to be jolly!!

2007-11-13T22:30:00.000Z

The poem above has been written by an EXTREMELY talented lady. Yvonne O'Connor is her pen name. She is a mother of 9 and grandmother of 14. She began her story writing and poetry career after her last children -twins started school. She is the proud posessor of 4 I.C.A art awards and 13 Brannaras for proficiency in crafts - Knitting,Crochet,Hand Sewing,Embroidery,Patchwork, Lace MAking, Mountmellick Lace, Machine Knitting,Dress Making, Cake MAking, Floral Displays and Gardening!! TAlk about making me feel TOTALLY inadequate!
I am delighted to have designed cards for her on different occassions for different poems she has composed and each and every poem is wonderfully descriptive and evocative. She posted me the poem CHRISTMAS RENDEVOUS last week and I love it.

These are some other cards I have done for the Season. Some decoupage for a change and I really enjoyed doing these.

And finally a sneaky peak at my Layout for Scrapwest this Friday. I used fabby new papers I got from Annamarie in the Scrapbook Store. They are from the OOdles of Doodles collection.Why not give it a shot and copy a link into your comment on Friday? Go on.....

Challenge winner!!

2007-11-06T21:52:00.000Z

I found out today that I won the Layout challenge on Craftsupplies ! Yippee!! The theme was monochrome with a complimentary colour and something handcut. I used my scraps of bazzil left over from other Layouts and and their fabby letter stamps from craftsupplies .
I've been a bad blogger but am up to it making cards for people so will get my posting act together soon and take pics.

Christmas cards !!

2007-10-26T19:47:00.000+01:00

Firstly can I encourage you to pop over to SCRAPWEST and take a look at the lovely creations for this weeks theme " Focus on the photo". I tried to add as little as possible and make the photo stand out by double matting it.

Secondly I have started making my Christmas cards - well it is nearly November and I know time will fly by. This is a Santa Silhouette with Glistening snow on the text.

I love this stamp of the Feathered Friends . I have coloured with watercolours and added glistening snow(can't you tell I like it!!!) under the robins as well.

This is a fabby design for a stamp. I love the way the Christmas Words shape the tree. I have stamped in OPALITE and added platinum liquid pearls for the decorations and a silver bow to finish it off.

These Furry Friends are looking very festive in their Christmas attire and the hats have tiny little furry pom poms on them too!!

A gold version of the Christmas word tree.

Here are the feathered friends again but with out the personalised name - just a Christmas greeting.

Finally I have included a picture of a card of which I have done a few for a very kind hearted lady who is raising funds for the Irish Cancer Society and has asked a few of us card makers to design and donate some cards for this very worthy cause.

Scrapwest & Cork Croppers

2007-10-21T17:51:00.000+01:00

What a super day!! I headed off this morning to Carolines Cork Croppers Crop and spent the day in crafting heaven. I had 2 kits from the Scrapwest online crop with me so I got stuck in. There were a few people at the crop who had kits for my class and they did lovely layouts. I love the LO that KAte and Mireille from Crafteire did . A very elegant LO and one I will definitely do again. Thanks girls. The rub on is really stunning and the overlapping hearts are gorgeous.

I had great fun doing Eva's class. A very creative LO and beautiful papers. I just love the way the flap lifts up to reveal the full photo and the story behind it. Thanks for this Eva.

And then we had Caroline's Crop class and we used beautiful Daisy D's papers. I wouldn't normally use such bold colours but I really like the way this turned out. Caroline has such a great way with detail in her LOs and this is one to treasure. I think this picture will go in the photo albums of all my family as it is such a special moment shared between the generations.
I still have more classes to catch up on . It has been a very busy day. Make sure you check out the classes over on SCRAPWEST for wonderful inspiration.

Scrapwest - my class!

2007-10-18T21:45:00.000+01:00

ONLY 3 more sleeps to Sunday and SCRAPWEST online crop on Sunday!
I will be using the Gretel papers but if you haven't got the kit or these papers what you can use are -
1 x sheet coloured cardstock of your choice
3 x sheets of contrasting patterned papers( the Gretel papers are double sided so you may need to add scraps of plain paper from your stash - something everyone has!!)
1 metre embroidery thread- colour of choice
Needle for stitching
Ink for distressing paper
White pen for doodling
Button x 1
Glossy accents - if you have great - if not - no worries!

The photo I used is a black & White landscape photo.
Hope you will join in.

Picasa to blogger

2007-10-16T21:45:00.000+01:00

I've been playing around with my Picasa photo editing programme and have just discovered how to upload pictures to blogger directly from Picasa. This is a trial post...let's see...

A stitch in time

2007-10-14T20:38:00.000+01:00

You have to visit SCRAPWEST this week to see some fabulous creations incorporating stitches. Some very unique takes on it. There are still kits available for our SCRAPWEST 1st Birthday online crop next weekend. It will be a great day for getting inspiration as well as sharing your progress online on some of the crafting forums.I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's work and participating in the classes.

Catching up...

2007-10-10T22:24:00.000+01:00

Ooh Bad Blogger. I had a ball last weekend at SCRAPFEST. Great company with Audrey, Elaine and Linda staying here for the weekend and great uninterrupted hours of glorious scrapping with super classes. I made amazing LOs under the tutelage of Lainey, Beckie and Annamarie but have yet to get photos to put into them to take pics and show you them!!!! Will get my act in gear for the next post.
I do have a great pic of the kids with a New BEST FRIEND in this house - Audrey!!
She's still talking about you Auds!!!!
My parents came home from a trip abroad and brought their Princess crazy grandaughter these sugar characters. I had to take pictures of them as she ripped into them and decapitated them with delight.
How could she - they are sooo cute. Crying out to be included in a LO.

Eventhough I haven't posted my LOs from SCRAPFEST I have shamelessly lifted the one we did in one of Beckie's classes for a LO I had to do for someone. I will be using this design a lot! Thanks Beckie!

Today we visited my Granny, the kids Great Granny, who had a stroke at the beginning of the year. What a woman. She walked out to the front door to greet us and later proceeded to walk up the yard and into the milking parlour with her Zimmer Frame which is half on wheels!!She'll be 88 at the weekend. I love the picture below of Great Granny and Great Grandaughter.A keeper.

Looking forward..

2007-10-01T21:38:00.000+01:00

Last week's SCRAPWEST was Shopping. What girl could say no to a day of shopping!! My little girl certainly can't and the pic in my LO was taken on St Stephen's Day 2005 when she was 17 months old and she took off with her new handbag from her Gran. A real little lady hitting the sales. There are some beautiful Layouts and cards over on the Scrapwest blog so don't forget to take a look.

I have been busy making cards for the last week and am in the middle of Wedding invitations for a great couple Fiona and Kieran who are having a Christmas wedding in Schull in Cork. Will post up the invites when the couple have posted them!!
So many things to look forward to at the moment. SCRAPFEST by the LEE is taking place in Cork next Saturday and there will be some amazing tutors there with fabulous classes for crafters.Make sure you book your place. I'm looking forward to the "Dubs" coming down to stay with me for the weekend!!!!
On the 21st October not only is Caroline's crop on in the Commons Inn in Cork( book your place here too - a treat of a day!!) but also the Scrapwest Online crop is on. You can folow all the classes on the blog on the day and you can even purchase kits to make the LOs if you wish. More information is on www.craftsupplies.ie on the chat forum . Kits are available from www.crafteire.com and www.craftsupplies.com and www.thescrapbookstore.ie
Here's a sneaky peak for my class.Gorgeous papers from the PIGGY TALES Gretel Collection. You will need a 5"x7" landscape photo. Mine is in B&W.I have tried to keep it simple and have included stitching,staining,cutting and doodling. Hope you want to give it a shot.

Cork Crop

2007-09-23T23:17:00.000+01:00

What a wonderful day I had today.I headed to the Commons Inn on the Mallow road for a Class&Crop with Caroline. It was a super venue and there was a great set up. Mireille from www.crafteire.com was there with her lucious shop and there were lots of crafters I knew and lots I didn't.We had a fabby class with Caroline and we did the Layout above. Lots of cutting in it with lovely effect.I was sitting beside Val who is in the process of doing an album for her Mum for her next birthday when she will be 102!!!!!! She has loads of amazing photos to scrap as her Mum grew up in India and they had a camera at the time. Can't wait for the next crop on the 21st October.

I sent this card to my Best Buddy Tracey who is due her baby this week and it can't come about quick enough for her!! Hang in there buddy.I love the Lola Rose images from Pink Petticoat and this one is perfect for the occasion.

I forgot to post up my Scrapwest for last Friday - the theme was GOING DOTTY and I did a card for a change. Don't forget to see the wonderful creations over there.

I had a few birthdays this week and I did the SARAH card in less than a minute as DD was rushing out the door to the party!! Thank God for the fabby clear alphabet stamps I got from www.craftsupplies.ie

Lola Rose got out for another card and I did a Wedding card for a couple too. I just love the clear stamps which adhere to the blocks. So easy to use and so precise.

Lastly a LO I did for someone who is giving it as a gift. I love doing Baby LOs.Always a pleasure.

Must get some Christmas designs together one of these dark evenings - people are asking already!!!

Angry dinosaurs!!

2007-09-15T16:20:00.000+01:00

This week's SCRAPWEST theme is 7 DEADLY SINS. So many to choose from but one very relevant to my darling sweet daughter - ANGER!!!! What a temper in one little girl. I took pictures along the way to show her how she looked when she didn't get her own way in case she wouldn't believe me in later years!! Rotten mother!

A good friend of mine has often asked me to do layouts for her to give to other people and last week she asked me to do one of her son with a dinosaur theme!! I got the most fabulous papers and rub ons from Annamarie in the SCRAPBOOK STORE.I also got the school papers from last weeks SCRAPWEST from her too. I love Karen Foster papers.

Sugar and Spice.....

2007-09-07T22:25:00.000+01:00

Baby fever these days - oooh one could get very clucky down here at the moment.Welcome babies Sam, Clara,Sarah and Gertie's nephew Matthew.

Time enough for that now!!!! Here is my LO for Scrapwest this week.This really is one for the Memory Box.I wonder will he remember it all. There are some super LOs on Scrapwest with some great ideas this week so take a peak.

I'm actually just back from the super duper new maternity hospital here in Cork visiting little Clara. What a pet. Titchy fingers and ears and tiny little eyes.A little angel.

We had great fun tearing up little pieces of paper with all the names of the people who left lovely comments last week and my little girl proudly drew out......drum roll............................... COCO
Well done Coco - can you pm me on a forum or email me on handycardz@gmail.com

Stitching......!!

2007-09-05T23:47:00.000+01:00

Big Day in this house this week as the baby of the family started Playschool. All well so far.Years of wonderful education ahead of you my Princess.

Thanks all so much for your lovely comments on the blog.I'm delighted with the acknowledgement of my beautiful stitching which I spent hours doing - NOT. I got lovely Hot Off the Press stitch stamps on the last Craft Day on QVC and I LOVE them. So easy to use and 16 different styles of stitching.Now I'm exposed!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed "blog hopping" last Friday and over the weekend. I had a ball and have added all the ideas to my little notebook for future reference. Does everyone keep a notebook of ideas they like??
Back to the grindstone. I have another 98 baby cards to make for a little shop which sells my cards and I have a very special baby card to make for my Fabby Friend Grainne and her husband Derek as their little girl arrived today and I can just imagine she is being doted on by her 2 big brothers.

Scrapwest Blog Celebration

2007-08-31T12:30:00.000+01:00

Today is SCRAPWEST Blog celebration day. For me it's a celebration of inspiration which comes from a wide range of sources. From fantastic materials which I see in Craftshops, online Craftshops and in other peoples work to priceless photography, delicious designs and captive creations by other crafters- I AM INSPIRED!!!Check out the rest of the SCRAPWESTIES at the link ........................over here!

I have done a LAYOUT for this week and I have tried to incorporate a range of techniques and tricks I have gleaned in my time Scrapbooking - cutting,stamping,staining,ribbons, buttons, brads,doodling,distressing,printing and matting.

Below is a selection of goodies for you to try and utilise as many different styles as you can on a LO.It's up for grabs so if you post a comment I'll draw a name on Friday 7th. Happy Crafting.

Raindrops on Roses....

2007-08-29T14:49:00.000+01:00

2 years ago I did this Layout of my little boy on his first day at Playschool. Today he started BIG school. He bounded in and can't wait to go back tomorrow. The start of a fabulous new world for him. I'll have to do another LO of the picture of him today!!
I managed to make it to the Post Office to send off some Wedding invites.When I get a chance I like to decorate the boxes they are going in as I think it adds to the excitement for the Bride.
She went for a simple layered style with co ordinating ribbons and cardstock.
Here's a Weding Congratulations card I did for somebody. Most people like to get a Personalised card for the couple if they are going to the trouble of getting a handmade card ,in my experience.

I have done quite a few Layouts by now but some of the ones below remain firm favourites of mine. Scrapbooking photos lets me put memories in a bubble to treasure. What did I do with my life before I started Scrapbooking!!!!!!

Memorable moments

2007-08-25T16:10:00.001+01:00

I have had many memorable moments in my life so far but for this weeks SCRAPWEST challenge I chose this picture which is one of my favourite wedding pictures(shhh don't tell Shane!!). It was taken just before myself and my Dad walked down the aisle on March 1st 2001 I love it.

Cards and building

2007-08-23T21:02:00.000+01:00

The summer has arrived at last!!!What beautiful weather over the last 2 days. Pity I was working :(
My wonderful husband has been busy building storage for me and all my bits and pieces in the loft here.He has moved the desk so the PC and printer are next to my new units. Happy Days. It has led to me being very tidy in my creativity and I have been putting things back in their places - lets see how long that lasts!! I'll post some pics when he has finished completely. In the meantime here are some cards I did for someone today.

Better pics

2007-08-20T20:34:00.000+01:00

Found a picture of the lovely lace I was talking about yesterday. Isn't it amazing for two young girls?! Talking of pictures I have taken the bull by the horns and signed up for a 10 week online photography course with Cheryl Johnson of www.feelgoodphotos.com ( have to learn to insert links!) to improve the quality of my shots(LOTS of work to be done there!!!!). Here's part of my 1st assignment - self portrait including my name. Anna was not impressed to see her bath letters on my mirror!! LOL!!

Thanks for all your lovely messages. xx

Where it all started

2007-08-19T23:18:00.000+01:00

Mum found this the other day when she was tidying. I made this denim and patchwork bag when I was 11 and it won a Highly Commended in the Cork Summer Show!!!Every single bit is handstitched and I remember clearly making it in school.I am delighted to have this to show to my kids. My great grandmother was from Kenmare and she was one of the famous lacemakers from there. A piece of lace( Tabernacle veil of Kenmare lace) that herself and her sister created is in the National Museum in Dublin.The description says -Needlepoint lace designed by one of the nuns and worked by the Misses Mary and Jane Leahy in 1911. I can feel a Layout coming on!!!!!
I sent the card below to a fab couple celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary - Orla and Brian.

First post

2007-08-17T19:35:00.000+01:00

Hi and welcome to my first post!!!!!!!!!!!!! Decided it was time to join bloggerdom to keep me on my toes and have somewhere to keep my handcrafted bits n' pieces. I have the best of intentions to update my blog regularly so watch this space!!!!!!!!!!! Here's a card which is part of a wedding invitation order I have just completed. A simple embossed raised image.Quite sophis if I may say so!!

Here's my contribution to SCRAPWEST this week. We had to create a work of art to hang on the wall. This is my Mum at her first official photo sitting in 1946 at the grand age of 1 year. A gorgeous picture of her too.