Pink October

By now everyone knows that October is know as Breast Cancer Awareness Month or Pink Ribbon Month. Personally, as a family, we have not been touched by this cancer but I do know how it has affected others around me.
I do believe that because of the high media coverage, that breast cancer has gotten during October and because of all the monies raised from selling Pink Ribbons and merchandising the brand, the number of people, female AND male surviving this cancer has risen enormously.
This is good.

I  have a friend who has been just given the all clear from this awful disease. It was such a relief to hear and in part of celebration I sent her this card.

The backing papers were freebies that I got from a magazine a short time ago. I also used another card from this magazine as inspiration for the layout.
The image, is also a freebie that I have for ages it came in a pack of "Lili of the Valley" ready stamped images all I had to do was to colour it it.

I used pencils to colour the image, I blended the colours with some baby oil to soften the strokes. I used sukara pens to add sparkle to her dress and pearls.

Recipe:
Backing papers: Freebies from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazines.
Image: Freebie - "Lili of the Valley" pack.
Colour medium: Pencils and Sukara pen.
Ribbons: Papermania capsule collection.

Hope you like,

Blue and white

There are some colours that just go together like; brown and gold, green and yellow, black and white, navy and cream, well you get where I am coming from, but there is one colourway that reminds me of warm weather, Mediterranean holidays especially Greece.  It just gives the impression of been crisp and clean and that is...........

 Blue and White.

This is a card I made with out any images just relied on the colour scheme to give it -  oomph!

I embossed the card with cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder. As the card is slightly bigger than the folder I used an edging punch along the bottom, put in a blue ribbon in between to finish the edge.  The blue and white die-cut panel came with the glittery blue border and the blue dots all I had to do was add the flowers and butterflies. Voilá, one crisp card.

Recipe:
Die-Cut: Papermania - Capsule Collection
Embossing: Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots
Flowers: Blue - Capsule Collection, Silver flowers from stash
Ribbon - Local haberdashery
Butterflies: Stash


Hope you like,

A sad one this time,

I got word last Friday that a friend on the PCP Site had suddenly pass away. It was a shock to say the least. I had never met Cathie, in real life, but as I read her posts, her comments, received mail from her and joined in swaps with her, I got to know her.

What is a friend? Do you have to have physical contact to be friends?
I don't think so.
I think friends are people you have a connection with, you have commonalities with, share a sense of humour maybe. It is someone you choose to spend time with, in this case on the computer, spending time making something special for them, "speaking" to them, taking time out of your life to read what they have to say and telling them whats going on in your life.
OK, you cannot run over for a cut of tea and a chat, you cannot be a shoulder for them to cry on or someone to give a hug of congratulations when something wonderful happens for them but with the advent of the Internet and skype it makes meeting people from all over easier. Also makes life a little more interesting.

But I digress.

As last Saturday was International Card Making day, I decided to make a card in Cathie's memory.

 

I used Kraft card for the base and Graphic 45 paper as the designer paper. Cathie had just started a discussion group on PCP for Graphic 45  as she really liked it. I agree, it is very nice paper, the quality is great and the colours are vibrant and easy to work with.

The image is an original by Cathie, herself.

 

The teddy is setting on a "cushion" reading his book. When I was attaching the teddy to the backing paper, it just looked as it was floating in mid air, it need to be grounded, could not figure out how to do this for ages, I did not want to use ribbon as I wanted to keep the card a masculine card, the bakers twine did not suit. I did not have any chair images that he could sit in.  I was looking around my craft room for some inspiration when I spotted Tiny's bed that he had chowed on while board one day and some of it contents lay on the floor. Light bulb moment, a cushion, Teddy could sit on a nice soft fluffy cushion. That's what he is sitting on, some of Tiny's bed. Sorted!

 

The card fold, is like a smaller card within a larger card, hopefully this image will show it better.

Sonny saw the card on Sunday and his comment was, "its a nice card but a bit plain" and I agreed at the time, it was missing something, but I always use glitter or ribbon on my cards but I think that the vibrancy of the colours of this paper makes up for that.

 

Recipe:
Card: Anitas Kraft card blank.
Designer Paper: Graphic 45 - Domestic Goddess.
Image: Cathie.
Colour medium: ProMarkers.
Cushion: Tiny's bed.

Cathie, my friend, you will be missed, may you Rest in Peace.

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”*

October has arrived with it's new colours and smells, colours of green, gold and orange of the leaves, and the smells of home fires burning and wet rotting foliage.

Hubby and I went on a trip last Monday, not too far just a few hours away and it really brought home that the land is preparing for winter. The trees were every colour, from deep deep green of the evergreen hedges to the pale yellow of dieing foliage on the trees. I was mesmerised by all this because as we live by the sea we don't have large clusters of trees to view the different colours. So it was lovely to see.

Mind you it also reminded us that winter is bearing down on us and is time to light fires and turn on the heating. It is time of shortening days and longer nights. It is not time to bring out the winter clothes or put away the summer ones, as the weather over summer was so wet and cold at times that we were wearing both sets over the last few months.

With summer over and school back, Tiny and I have now gone back to walking the beach in the mornings again. Tiny loves it, he jumps out of the car and does not stop running until we are back in the car again, then he sleeps all day. lol

My sister contacted me a few weeks ago to ask me if I would make a wedding card for her to give to her DIL brother who was getting married soon. I had no problem with it, I asked when did she want it - "no rush", was her answer, "it's not for a few weeks yet". She rang me back a few days later, to enquire about the card, "the wedding is in Spain and they are flying out next Tuesday, so will need the card by Monday". No problem I will have it in the post by Friday to you, (we don't have post on Sat here). "Grand" she says. A few minutes later she rang back, - now I should say that this is late Wednesday afternoon, and I had work later in the evening. "I won't be here on Monday or Tuesday so I need the card by Friday" So the card that I had to make went from "no rush" to a few hours! That means I only had Thursday morning to make the card as the post here goes about 2.15pm for next day delivery. No pressure!

This is what I came up with:

Quick and simple. I had the cream and gold paper for ages, in fact I had forgotten about it. I just attached it to the front of the card.  The little diamante heart is something else I had for a long time. The ribbon was in my ribbon box so I had everything for a quick card. It took me some time to get the name and date printed out on the card where I wanted it and in the colour and font size. It was all done and dusted in a few hours. But then I decided to do the inside of the card.

I know the groom and I knew they would have a great fun wedding so this is what I did in the inside.

 

 

In fact this is what I wanted to do for the front of the card, but due to time constraints I wanted to have something that would have been "good to go" in time but I had some time to spare so I continued with the inside and if I did run out of time, then the inside could have just stayed plain.
The image is a Kenny K digi image. I printed it off and coloured with proMarkers. The sentiment is also computer generated. The backing layer was cut out using an X-cut die cut.

Recipe:
Front -
Designer Paper: Mulbery Tissue Paper (I think) I have it so long I have forgotten exactly what it is.
Ribbon: Stash
Embellishment: Diamante Heart Buckle from Cara Craft Supplies
Greeting: Computer generated.

Inside -
Backing paper: Core'dinations  
Die cut: X-cut nesting die set.
Image: Kenny K "Wedding Dance" 
Colouring Medium: ProMarkers

Hope you like,

*Post title is a quote from L.M. Montgomery.

More to show

Must say, my post titles are so unimaginative, they are ridiculious.

Life has gotten back to routine after the summer holidays. Sonny has settled very well into his new school. Hubby is working away, night and day. Day in his daytime job and night (well evening time) making his timber creations. He has decided to show his work at a craft show in Dublin (Ire) in December, so he has a lot to do for that, not just making his usual products but making new products. He also has to source gift boxes and packaging for some of his products. He is also creating a new brand for himself so he has all that to deal with. It is an interesting transition moving from hobby to semi-professional. I have also started a part-time weekend job, so it is all going on here in, Tigh O Connor.

Between all that, I still gotten some time to visit other blogs and take part in a swap or two and also sent out some secret cards.

Here is just a sample of what I have been up to.

 

I took part in a tea swap hosted on PCP, the theme of this swap was ATCs, we had to include two ATCs in this swap along with some tea.
The background is a freebie from a magazine, as are the papers I used on the left ATC. I stuck the backing paper onto a card blank and then edged the bottom of the card using Martha Stewart edging punch. I make a little pocket on the front of the card using acetate to hold the ATCs I used ribbon to edge this and little flower brads to decorate the corners. The middle flower is made from 3 paper prima flowers held together using another flower brad, this is then stuck onto the front of the card to separate the ATCs.

The ATC on the left as I explained is made from some freebies from a magazine. The green glittery band in the middle is made by shaking and pressing glitter onto double sided tape. The sentiment comes from a stamp set called "Coffee Cafe" from TPC Studio.

The second ATC was made, altogether, differently. 
I dabbed some distressed inks on a mat and while they were wet I "smooched" the ATC in the ink. I know, a very technical explanation! Are there technical words for this technique? lol
I then sprayed some Smooch Spritz on to the ATC.
When it was dry, I heat embossed the flower image using gold embossing powder. I added a spry of flowers and attached a ribbon with two butterfly heart buttons just to finish it off.

I attached the tea samples to the inside of the card.

Recipe:
Backing papers: Freebies from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine
Inks: Rangers Distressed Inks - Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint
Splitz: Smooch Spritz - Sun Sugar
Ribbon: Stash and local haberdashery
Stamps: TPC - Coffee Craft, and Docrafts - Victoria and Albert Museum clear stamps collection Potpourri
Embellishments: Stash.


Hope you like,

Tea Swap part deux

Sometime a go I post about a Tea Swap that I took part in, on PCP, here is the original post. I posted a photo of the swap that I received but had forgotten to take a photo of the swap that I sent. I had promised that I would post a photo once I got one.

Here it is;

I got the idea, template and instruction from Doreen Tremble but I did change it a little as I made it into a 3D pot where I could put the tea into the pot!  I used Pink Petticoat digital paper for the pot and inked the edges with distressed ink.

I wrapped the tea bags in parchment paper and then in designer paper and added a label telling the recipient what type of tea is included and inserted them into the pot.

Recipe:
Paper: Pink Pettioat, DCWV - Hippie Chic
Ink: Ranger Distressed ink - Broken China
Embellishments: Pearls, stash
Sentiment: Digital download from Cardmaking Downloads


Hope you like,

Shoe.......

This is something that I have been making this week, along with finishing other things - all secrets but will show when they have arrived at their destinations.

Am not going to say much about it just that I love how it turned out except for the box, one side is a little "bumpy" will have to fix this problem in the next one I try. I find it frustrating working with acetate as I get finger marks all over it and no matter if I wash my hands before working with it or using an anti-static bag it still shows finger marks. If anyone has any ideas on how NOT to get finger marks on it please share.

 

I downloaded a template for the shoe and then cut it out, I've had it for some time, I have no idea where I got it from, if anyone knows please let me know so I can mention them.  I am not a very tidy "cutter-outer" but this was a very forgiving template lots of straight-ish lines and most of the curved lines were hidden once the shoe was put together.

The paper is an Andrea Jayne paper pack "Hot Diggity Dog" for the shoe. The Flower on front is one from a set of Prima flowers that I have had for an age but am slowly getting through them. I really like them so I tend not to use them often! :)

 

The Box I made myself, the front is made from acetate and the back and top is a digital download from Pink Petticoat as is the paper I used for edging, this I punched using a Martha Stewart Scallop Dot punch. I used some white ribbon to finish. I used Fancy Tags Shapeabilities for the shoe "label" which reads "Happy Birthday"

 

 

Recipe:

Shoe

Designer Paper: Andrea Jayne -"hot diggity dog"

Flower: Prima Flowers

Bow: Papermania Capsule Collection

Label: Spellbinders "Fancy Tags" Shapeability

 

Box

Designer Paper: Pink Petticoat.

Punch: Martha Stewart Scallop Dot

Ribbon: White from Local Haberdashery

 

Hope you like,

 

More to show..........

My poor computer is so slow at the moment, it will probably take me all day to write this post and upload some photos, so please bear with me. :)

Well, Autumn is well and truly here, morning and evenings have that slight touch of "burr" in the air and even when the days are bright and sunny, the sun is not as hot as it would have been just a month ago. Ah! well, time moves on. :)

The Dingle Marathon was held last Saturday and it was a great day. This is not just a straight forward marathon, it includes 4 races; the usual 26.2 miles - full marathon, 13.1 half marathon (running) 13.1 half marathon (walking) and then the Ultra Marathon this was 50 miles.

Over the past few years I have just kept out of Dingle on the day but this year I decided to volunteer.

I was on the last water station along with some 4th year students (Transition year), there was also 2 Civil Defence (First Aid) Personnel and 2 Search and Rescue Personnel, they were there to help with road closures. We even had our own "dunny"!

But what made the day were the runners themselves.

Our water station was the last before the finish line, the runners still had just over 3 mile to go, but it was at the top of a really steep climb and still they had a smile and a joke to share with us as they sweated, drank and left a line of part empty bottles in their wake.

I suppose what gave me the incentive to volunteer was that my sister and some of her friends walked the 13.1miles, I also had a nephew and BIL run the half marathon.

 

I will certainly be helping again next year if I am free.

 

*******************

 

Now onto what this blog is mainly about - Paper Crafting.

 

This is a card I made this card for a friend in Germany just because I wanted too. lol

 

Most of the papers I used came with a magazine I purchased some time ago. I knew that Maria liked butterflies so this paper suited her. The center butterfly is a spellbinders die, inked using distressed inks and then "blinged" up with glitter and some adhesive gems. I also added gems to the holes in the edging around the "V" on the card. The sentiment is computer generated and cut out using another spellbinder die and again inked with distressed ink. The sentiment reads "{Hugs}".

Recipe:

Designer paper: Freebie with magazine

Punch: Martha Stewart, Scallop

Ink: Ranger Distressed Inks

Bling: Adhesive gems.

Butterfly: Spellbinders Butterfly 2 shapeability

 

 

Hope you like,

What a month....

Hi all,

Where do I start? Not a lot has happened since I was last here, but time has just zoomed by. Here I am near the last days of August and not much to show for it. I have been busy working and then Sonny and I went visiting family for a week. I have also been crafting but cannot show all as it is a secret!

Here are some things that I can show. First up is a wedding card, I started this sometime in July but finished it in August.

 

I embossed some cream linen effect card and distressed it with Antique Linen distress ink, wrapped some green ribbon on the bottom, then mounted it onto gold card which I have edged with Martha Stewart Scallop dots punch. I mounted all this on to a square kraft card base. The image I used was a Pink Petticoat image, I left this plain except for highlighting the flowers with pink and green pencil and pink Sukura pen, I mounted this at an angle onto the card, just for effect.

Recipe:
Card base: KraserKraft square base 13.5x13.5cm (5.31"x5.13")
Gold card: Stash
Ribbon: Lidle's Christmas Ribbon pack
Image: Pink Petticoat "Lola Rose big day"
Embossing Folder: Provocraft D'vine swirl
Colouring Mediur: Pencils and Sukura Pen, Ink - Ranger Distressed Ink "Antique Linen"

Second, is a baby card.

For some reason there has been a lot of boy babies born this year. It seems to be a ratio of 3:1, boys to girls around here. Pity all the girls in about 20 yrs time! lol.

I printed out a giraffe, coloured it using Promarkers and cut it out. I highlighted the mane, tail and hooves using Anitas glossy accents. I mounted it onto blue core'dination card stock, Mother Nature elements collection, - love the colours in this pack - and distressed the edges with tumbled glass distress ink, then corner punched diagonal corners to soften the image. I used the same core'dination cardstock to layer onto a white card, onto this I layered some contrasting blue Papermania "Sweet Nothing" paper one vertically and one horizontally I inked all the edges using the same distress ink just to pull them all together. I mounted the giraffe onto this and added some card candy in contrasting pale yellow. 

Recipe:
Card Base: White Greeting cards 12.7x17.8cm (5"x7")
Backing Paper: Core'dinations "Super Assortments" Elements Mother Nature
Designer Paper: Papermania "Sweet Nothings"
Ink: Ranger Distressed Ink "Tumbled Glass"
Image: Google
Embellishments: Card Candy


Hope you like,

No eye candy, just words....

Today is 31st of July, it is in my (school) books the last day of Summer, but what a day, it looked and sounded like November, all except the temperature.  The wind howled, the rain lashed against the windows but it was still warm enough to wear a t-shirt.

Did you ever feel like you had to get away, even just for a few hours?
Well I do, every so often I need a break. I love where I live, love the sea and the mountains - even on November days, lol.
So that's what I did today after work.
I needed to get the car insured instead of doing it on-line I drove to the brokers about 40mins away, not too far but away from here!

Sonny came with me.
Up to a few months ago the car was a place we could just chat, listen to the radio or some music, just spend some time together but not now,
 he is a teenager.
 So while I drove and listened to the Beatles on CD he sat in the front passenger seat with the hood of his jacket up, head-phones on, and his sun-glasses,  remember the day is like November, wet and dull. And hardly a word between us. It was funny really.
How they change, from boy to teenager, almost over night!

On our way back we stopped at Inch Beach, it is a beautiful sandy beach that stretches for miles, like a finger out into Dingle Bay. This is Sonny's favourite beach and it was his intention to go for a run but when we got there it was so wet and windy he decided not to, so instead we went for dinner! From fitness to filling in one foul swoop. lol
We sat by the window looking out at the wet, the sea with its thundering waves and the wind-surfers dancing over them almost fluidly. We watched the seagulls glide effortlessly in the wind, while little birds on the ground were been (almost) blown over. We watched people dressed in winter gear heading out for a walk and young children running in from the sea in their swimming gear after been tossed about in the shallows - after all it is their summer holidays!

Quite an interesting sight really.

Now I as sitting here listening to the wind and rain as I am sure I will do for many months to come.

STRANGE WEATHER

The seasons as I knew them
Have simply gone away
They all seem to come now
In or around just one day

Spring arrived yesterday tea time
Then summer arrived with the moon
Autumn in the earlier hours of this morn
And winter came today around noon                                                        by Luckilye

Hope you like,

Teachers Card

I had put off showing this card as it has been a while since school's out here in Ireland, but in other places it is only now finishing up for the summer holidays.

Happy Holidays to all!

This is the card I made for Sonny's principal, as she has been a great help to both Sonny and us during his primary school years.

It is a simple card. The base is a blank Kraft card. I embossed white card using a Cuttlebug EF, Roses, I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the edge and wrapped a ribbon between the embossing and edge.
The sentiment is computer generated and reads "Go raibh maith agat", Thank You Very Much - in Irish.
I cut it out using Labels 4 and layered it onto a large piece of Kraft card also cut out using my Labels 4 die. I used a brad to attach it to the embossed card and then mounted it all on to the blank card. I added a Prima Flower to finish.  And Voila a finished card.

Recipe:
Blank Card: Kraft - DoCraft Papermania
White card - Stash
Ribbon: Local haberdashery
Embossing: Cuttlebug EF
Punch: Martha Stewart - Scallop Dots
Flower: Prima

Hope you like,

Quick Hello

Hi all,

This is going to be short and sweet today. I have not made any cards lately to show you so what I am doing today is show some card that I received from lovely friends.

First up is a friendship card from Maria.

Second is a card I received from my Secret Pal over on PCP. I will not know until December who she is but she has sent me some lovely cards since last January.

This is a photo of the prize I received for winning the May Challenge on PCP. It only arrived yesterday and I cannot wait to get "messing" with it.

Hope you like,

So what's new?

Off today, so I will catch up with you all.

Not much happening in my little world, weather all over the place but not much summer here.  Haven't even been to the beach this year! What's that about?

Have you ever heard the saying "if you want something done, ask someone who is busy" don't know where it comes from but is so true.

For most of the past 6 years I have not been working and have been getting lazier and lazier by the year, seriously. Everything gets put on the long finger because it could be done tomorrow. But as I have been working for the past week and a half, yep that's all, but I have gotten more house work done in that time than I have in the previous month. Today I am off and this morning I was out gardening, well clearing rubbish from borders that were meant for flowers at one time. That was something that I had intended to do early in spring so I could have some colour in the garden this year other than green and yellow - weeds and dandelions. :) Won't have much colour this summer either but at least I have started something. Even worked in the rain. Go me!!!!!!

******************

Last post I mentioned that I had taken part in two tea swaps and showed what I had received and sent in the first swap. This time I am going to show the second swap.  The criteria for this swap was "Tea Pots"

This is the card I received.

And the inside,

I forgot to take a photo of the card I sent out, but have asked the recipient to send me a copy of the photo she took of it, once i get it I will upload to here. It was a cute card even if I say so myself. lol


Hope you like,

Catching up.

Hi,

I have a few things to say first:
I want to thank all my followers, readers and commenter's here, I love hearing what you have to say and it makes my day when I read your comments.
Second, sorry for not reading and commenting on the blogs that I usually do but I have been working for the past week and just don't have the time that I did, to follow up on all the blogs.
It is great to be working again even if it is only for a few weeks.

I actually have some cards, to share with you tonight and I will keep some until tomorrow or Sunday, just to keep you following! hehe.

Over on PCP there is a Tea Party Group and they have swaps once a month and I have taken part in 2 of the 3 swaps so far.  This is a strange group to have on a crafting site but it is surprising how many enjoy the cuppa while crafting.

This is the card I made for my first swap. The criteria was to include, 2 different samples of tea along with something nice to eat! And as it was in summer, flowers had to be included somewhere on the project.

I used DoCrafts "Hot Diggity Dog" by Andrea Jayne designer paper as the main focus for this swap. I folded it into a "Tea Bag Baggie" I used a template from Watlzingmouse Stamps.
On the front is an image of a teacup, which I cut out using my nestabilities circles, I inked this with Tattered Rose distressed ink. I mounted this onto a scalloped circle die cut also from my nestabilities set. The "Baggie" is closed with a white brad. The tea bags themselves are wrapped in other designer paper, K&Company Designer paper which I have for so long I have no idea where I purchased. These are tied with bakers twine.

On the back is just a flower Rosette which I make from Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Designer Paper.

I, in turn, received these from "RATS" (not real name!). This is the front, isn't the little teapot charm the cutest?

and it opens to this,

Recipe:
Designer Paper: DoCrafts - Hot Diggity Dog by Andrea Jayne, Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird, K&Company.
Baggie template: Waltzingmouse Stamps.
Colouring Medium: Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, ProMarkers.
Miscellaneous: Brad - No idea, Bakers Twine - PCP Secret Pall 1st.

Hope you like,

Summer Time - What?!

What does summer time mean to you?

Long hot sunny days, children playing in the garden, going for walks in the long grass (don't let the farmers see you or there will be trouble) eating breakfast, lunch and dinner outside on the patio - well if it does, lucky you.

For us it is trying to dry wet outdoor clothes inside for 13 months in a row. Watching the tide coming and going from the inside of rain drenched windows. Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner by the fire (okay that's a fib, but some times we wish the fire was on!)

Where did the summers that we had as children go to? Yes, even in Ireland we had sunshine and long dry days spent outside and eating meals sitting, on a tartan rug, on the grass in the garden. Along with Sunday trips to the seaside and trying to eat a 99 Ice Cream before it melted all down you hands or fell on the ground.

I understand that summer and winter weather has changed all over the world but I just wish it just dried up here for more than one day in a row!!  Well to be honest we did have a good week last week but this week is rain followed by more rain on top of rain. But as an Irish person I am entitled to have a rant about the weather, our national pastime!

*************
I made this card for a fellow PCP member who celebrated her birthday last week, I had to ensure she received the card before I posted here.

I used a white square blank card base.  I dry embossed some white card using a cuttlebug embossing folder. The yellow gingham paper is from a DoCrafts Me to You, Spring Chic paper pack. I stamped the papermania sentiment straight on to the backing paper after afixing to the card. The pink layer is from a paper pack that I have for ages - Papermania Sweet Nothings. Then the image is a freebie I got with a crafty magazine some time ago, it is a "Lili of the Valley" image, in fact there was a little pack of images ready to be coloured and used on cards, it is one of the best freebies I received in a crafty mag, each image is as gorgeous as the last. I coloured the image using colouring pencils, I need to get some decent skin coloured pencils. I sparkled up the flowers a little with Sukara gen pens

Recipe:
Designer paper: Docrafts - Me to You Spring Chic, and Papermania - Sweet Nothings
Embossing: Provo craft embossing folder
Die Cut: Xcut nesting set
Image: Lili of the Valley
Colour medium: Pencils, Sukara Gel Pens
Sentiment: Papermania
Miscellaneous: Ribbon - stash
                         Ink - Papermania


Hope you like,

"I wondered lonley as a cloud...."*

Did you ever as a child or, indeed, an adult lie on your back in the garden and watch the clouds float by and see little pictures in them?

Yesterday while drinking a cup of tea I was looking out the window and the was a big fluffy cloud and suddenly I saw this giant face, with big bushy eyebrows, looking back at me.

Can you see it too?

Now, to be honest by the time I got my camera it had dispersed a little, it now looks like it is blowing out its nose!


Hope you like,

* Taken from a poem by William Wordsworth "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

Abstract.....

My sister text me this morning asking about the rain.  She wanted to know if it has stopped here or not.
We live right at the south west coast of Ireland and thus we get the first of any bad weather that comes from that direction which is the prevailing direction of the weather during the summer.
When she text the rain had stopped and we had a very pleasant morning with sunshine and heat.
So I promised I would send her some sunshine.

Recipe:

Card blank: Stash

Coloured Paper: Cor'dination paper from my scraps box.

Die cut: Spellbinders Circles and Squares.

Right now, it has started raining and hubby was out cutting the grass, he is going to be bummed!

Hope you like,

Fathers Day part deux.

Was speaking to my neighbour yesterday and I mentioned that it was Fathers Day tomorrow. She had forgotten all about it and it seemed some of her children had also (the children are grown up and live far away) as the post (mail) had come and no cards. The neighbour then asked me to make a card on their behalf. This is what I came up with, if only took me most of the day but still!

 The toppers were somethings I had purchased some time ago, cannot remember were. Card stock is all from Cor'dinations and I use my spellbinders nestibilities for the backing of the ship and sentiment. I used Martha Stewart's edging punch to edge the card stock to resemble underwater bubbles.

Recipe:

Blank Card Base: Kraft Card from stock.

Backing Paper: Cor'dinations pack - Super Assortments Elements.

Topper: From stash - Boat and shell

Die Cut: Spellbinders - Oval and Scalloped Oval.

Punch: Martha Stewart

Ribbon: Stash

Ink: Tim Holts Distress Ink - Antique Linen.

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Other News in My Little World

We have no water coming into the house since yesterday morning and it is so annoying. 
We just get so used to having everything on tap (pun intended) like electricity, heating, and water that when something happens and it goes, it is only then, do we realise how much we relay on it. 

When I was very young our home did not have any running water, we had to go to the pump on a daily bases to fetch drinking water.  We had a large tank out the back to collect rain water, this was heated for washing and cooking on a large range in the kitchen.  We only had a bath on Saturday night, in a tin bath in front of the range.

Now, if we cannot have a shower daily and flush the toilet after every use, can get water whenever we want from the tap, we are lost.  Our homes are not equipped to cope without water, we don't have any water butts to collect rain water, we don't have a pump nearby for emergencies. 

Now all I want is to have my water back so I can wash up and put some laundry on and just feel that little bit cleaner.


Hope you like,

Fathers Day approaching fast.

So yesterday, I decided to make some Fathers Day cards. I got the idea from the PCP Newsletter, Susanna Boyd had a video showing how to make them. She made it look so simple that I just had to give it it a try, in fact a made a few of them.

 and this is a throw back to the 70's. lol

I know that there are lots of origami shirts out there but this was much simpler, not much folding. wow, I sound so lazy, :0, don't like cutting now I don't like folding. lol

I sent one, like the top one, to my Dad yesterday and this morning I received a text from my Mom - background story: last Christmas when my father was very ill and spent so much time in hospital, he lost loads of weight so now all his clothes are falling off him but he hates shopping - thanking me for sending the card, and that she is going to frame it hang it where he can see it when he is getting dressed. :0
Yeah! we have  a strange family!

Hope you like,

Was going to make more.....

but time ran out, or was it that I spent too much time reading others blogs, possibly the latter! So what was it I was going to make more of - Good Luck in you Exams cards.

The month of June is the major exam time in Ireland, with both Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate examinations happening. The Leaving Cert is taken at about age 18-19 yrs when students finish formal education and is a very important exam, particularly if the student wants to go on to further education.  Junior Cert is taken at roughly 14-15 yrs this would be half way through Secondary school.

I have a niece who is in the middle of her Junior Cert at the moment and this is a card I made for her.

I decided to use an unusual good luck symbol for her card, so I picked "Manekineko" lucky Cat, it is a Japanese lucky symbol (I have since found out it is to attract financial wealth - but that can't be bad, can it?) As usual I downloaded it from Google. I cut it out and mounted the image onto white card which  I had cut out using a circular nestibility die, I embossed this with "Swiss Dots" a ProvoCraft embossing folder. This I then mounted the image onto red card to match its cushion and ears.  I cut this out using Xcut die.  I also used the same Xcut die set to make the card base. I just cut out a blank square card ensuring that I left the folded edge inside the die so I would not cut through it.

I had intended making some more of these for others not using the same image but with regular good luck images, like the clover or black cat, but as I explained earlier, I just did not have the time, I was so busy!!!!

Recipe:

Blank card: Stash

Red and white card: Stash

Image: Google

Die cuttings sets: Spellbinders Nestibilities Circles and Xcut shaped die.

Hope you like,

Another Birthday Card - in green.

I love green, as some may know! It is such the colour of nature and it comes in so many hues. It is wonderful. And I like to think of myself as a down to earth type of person so green suites me, but I am sure others may not think so. lol but that's their opinion and who am I to argue with them.

But anyway.....

Yesterday was my sisters birthday, will not divulge a number, but will go as far as to say, she is an older sister. :)

It is a simple but effective card.

It is a tent shaped card base, using Pink Petticoat backing paper and the plain  paper is also from PP. This plain PP paper is embossed using a Provo Craft Roses folder. The white die cut shape is cut using an Xcut die then chalked lightly on top of this is a Rose image water coloured and glittered.   The sentiment is a papermania sentiment. On the backing paper I used Sukara glaze pen to highlight some of the circles just for effect and I wanted to do it!

Recipe:

Designer Paper: Pink Petticoat - Doodleicious Rainbow papers 3

Embossing Folder: ProvoCraft Roses folder.

Image: Stash

Sentiment: Papermania sentiment.

Colour medium: Ink - StazOn black - sentiment, papermania  pigment inks - Rose, Sukara Glaze clear pen,

Glitter: DoCraft -Glamour Dust

Challenges I am entering:
The Paper Shelter Challenge blog: #67 Going Dottie

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Other News in my Little World

This is what is happening in the fields across the road -  my BIL's land.

He is getting the grass cut for silage (food for cattle over wintering in the sheds), they look like mini black puddings!

 The grass is cut (like in right of the photo) then is "sucked" up and wrapped in black plastic via a machine on the back of a tractor.

It is fascinating watching it.

Yeah! I need to get a life. lol

Hope you like,

Sonny's* 13th birthday...

Yesterday, Sonny celebrated his 13th birthday. Now some people say that when children enter the teenage years they get moody and disagreeable, well I can categorically say that that is not true, he has been like that for the past year! lol
He is a wonderful child teen if a little "independent" at times.

It took me a day and a half to do this card, I had no idea what kind of a card to make at first so I had to search the Internet to see what it would throw out. This is nothing like I found either, it just materialised as I went on.
I wanted to make a different type of card and I like easel cards, this was my starting point. The image is from Kenny K "Cool Kid" it took me two colourings to get it right. The verse and 13 are computer generated. The lightening bolt is a google download which is glittered to an inch of its life using Glamour Dust, - but you cannot see it here. These elements are mounted on Core'dinations card stock, this is a lovely colour, using Nestibilities die cut shapes and the image mount is cut using an xcut die.  The backing paper is a free download from KWB Downloads, (if someone knows more about KWB let me know, as I don't have any other info on them).

Recipe:
Designer paper: KWB Downloads
Image: Kenny K - Cool Kid
Backing paper (mounts): Core'dinations Card Stock - Super Assortments, Earth Elements color.
Colour medium: ProMarkers
Embellishments: Stash.


For the first time in the last 6 years, I made the birthday cake.

It is/was a chocolate biscuit cake with strawberries, Sonny loves strawberries and I love chocolate so that's us sorted, Hubby just had to eat it! It's scrumptious but a little rich. It is an easy cake to make but been the first time I made one, it took me ages. And the amount of washing up afterwards - won't even go there. lol

*Not real name.

Hope you like,

I won something........ yeah!

I don't enter many challenges, as I make my cards first and then look for challenges but can never find one to suit the card I had just finished. Over on Paper Craft Planet in the "Anything Goes Discussion Bord" they have a monthly challenge and each month I say "I must enter this challenge" but for whatever reason I never do.  Last month they had a Black and White Card challenge and the day before the cut off point I got a chance to make a card and entered it, then to my great surprise I won the challenge.  I could not believe it, as I have never won a challenge like it before, I was so excited. Here is the finished card.

I mounted a Pink Petticoat download backing paper onto some black metallic card stock. The backing paper was looking a little "flat" so I went over the "doodles" with some Sukara Glaze just lift it a little. The image was a freebie from Create with Tlc I printed it onto photo paper and cut it along its black border than mounted it onto white linen effect card. I added a black organza ribbon before mounting the image at an angle onto the card.

Recipe:

Cardstock: DCWV - Hippie Chic

White Cardstock - stash

Backing Paper: Pink Petticoat - Doodleicious Rainbow 2

Image: Create with Tlc.

Ribbon: Anita's everyday ribbon

Colouring Medium: Sukara Glaze

Hope you like,

A card for a man in my life!

Morning all,

Today is my Fathers Birthday, "my old Dad", as he says himself.
One morning last year, the Queen was announcing the OBE's (Order of the British Empire) for the year when Dad announces, " I have an OBE" he clarified that by saying "Over Bloody Eighty!" :)

**********************

This is the card I sent him for this year.

The panel on the left, is actually masking tape adhered to card, then inked up with different colour distressed inks. Once the ink was dried, I misted it with some Smooch Spritz just to give it a bit of a sheen. I really cased the idea for here but I did change the dimensions, I used a square Kraft card and just cut the front panel to suit me.

I mounted the inked panel onto cream card than on the front of the card. I die cut out two shapes in cream coloured card, I used the second shape, for the sentiment in the inside. D.A.D. is computer generated, I cut out the letters and coloured them with promarkers than mounted it onto the front of the card. I cut out a larger shape in dark blue and backed it on to the front panel.

I mounted designer paper, from a Papermania pack (I have it so long, I don't have the name of the pack), onto cream card and then onto the Kraft card. I stamped the sentiment onto the second cream die cut shape and mounted it onto the DP hiding it behind the large blue die cut shape.

Recipe:
Designer paper: Papermania.
Die Cut Paper: core'dinations - Super assortment.
Die Cut: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 4
Distressed Inks: Ranger - spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, antique linen.
Sentiments: DAD computer generated, Happy Birthday - Papermania Sentiment.

Entering into:
Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog - Challenge #54 Dad Daddy Papa

Baby Cards

We have just finished a Bank Holiday weekend here, all back to school and work today so have time for myself again. Yeah!
The weather was good, actually better than good, usually Bank Holidays happen to be wet and windy here but this weekend was sunny with some showers Sunday evening and yesterday afternoon.
Saturday and Sunday were quite but yesterday afternoon I took Sonny to an athletic competition. We don't have an athletic club here but he does like running and is fast. The competition was between local Primary Schools rather than a club meet.
There was a small enough turn out, but Sonny did great, he won his 100m race. He has qualified for the Primary Schools Finals in a few weeks. He was extremely happy with his gold medal. The up side of all of this, is that there is an athletic club about 40mins away from us, so we are heading there tomorrow evening.

   ************************

I got into a slight roll after making a baby card for my g-nephew a few weeks ago and I made two more. One in blue and one in pink, yeah, I am a traditionalist. lol.
The sentiment "Fáilte" is Irish for "Welcome"

The image is a Mo digital Pencil "Robin". I like Mo's images as they all have "personalities". I coloured them with ProMarkers, cut them out with x-Cut die and mounted them backing paper. The sentiment I used a nestibility die.

I chalked the die cut, just to help the image pop!

Recipe:
Backing Papers: Blue Gingham - Papermania "Sweet Nothings",
                           Dotty Paper - Pink Petticoat download.
                           Pink - Papermania "Sweet Nothings", DCWV - The Blossoms Butterflies.
Image: Mo digital Pencil "Robin".
Colouring Medium: ProMarkers.
Die Cut: Spellbinders Nestibility -  Fancy Tags, xCut
Ribons: Stash.
Sentiment: Computer Generated.


Entering into:
Creative Belli Blog: Belli Challenge #143 - New Baby/New arrival.



Hope you like,

Family Day

We celebrated our 6th Family day two weeks ago.
 Family Day is a day we set aside for ourselves,  we keep it to 22nd April because that is the date we, the 3 of us, came home from Ukraine to start family life together.
This year it fell on a Sunday, the 3 of us were free and there wasn't any matches on or any other disruptions.

A few weeks ago I asked Sonny what he wanted to do on the day, he said that he would like to go to the Aquarium. We had not been there for a few years even though it is only in the road, sorted. "A fish(watching)ing we will go"
He wanted salad for dinner - I went WHAT, salad. He went yes, salad, salad it was. Hubby wanted chicken legs!!!
We had salad for starters - a green salad, bacon and egg salad and a Greek salad. That did us for both starters and veg with main course. Main course was roasted marinaded chicken legs and roast potatoes (with salad!). Then for desert, my choice, stewed pears with (homemade) chocolate sauce. It was a yummy scrumcious dinner, if a little unorthodox.

We headed to the Dingle Oceanworld (Aquarium).
Here are a few photos of the afternoon.  What is the last thing a photographer should do before leaving home? Yes, check batteries. When I went in and turned on camera the battery low indications started flashing so you will have to forgive photos, the quality is not 100%, we were not allowed to use flash and also you have to understand that we were taking photos again glass, in some you have a some reflection. Now that my excuses have been made have a look!

  A very nice Piranha!

Don't remember what this one is, but it is a nice colour!

Coral Reef and it inhabitants. There are some beautifully coloured fish here but they were all moving so fast all I could get was a blur! (Low battery problem! ;0)

Sharks!

I was a little disappointed with this tank, the last time we were there there was a lot more fish and it seemed brighter. Said this to Sonny - his answer," the sharks eat the other fish". D'oh! I thik they were in a bad mood, they would not pose for any photos - hence they are blurry! (Actually one looks like a "flying saucer")

These just looked nice.

These kill by inflecting poison into there prey.
This one  looked like an elderly lady dressed in flowing chiffon.

Another one that looked nice but I cannot remember what its name is!

These are what we came to see. Penguins, I took lots of photos but the glass was so wet they were not great, will have to go back and get better ones another day. I don't know what it is about Penguins but every time I see some either on TV, magazines or in real life, I break into a real big silly grin. :) They were so funny, they swam and they were playing (interacting) with the people while they were swimming around and if one of them caught you looking at them, they would come up to the glass and stare back.
Hope they were having fun too!

After the Aquarium, Sonny and I watched a movie together, Hubby had to get some work done. It was a lovely FAMILY day.

Hope you like,