Something I'll not be able to do for another 4 years......

......write a blog post on the 29th February. HaHa.

Happy Leap Day to all.

There are lots of traditions surrounding the 29th of Feb, mostly regarding women asking their man to marry them. Here is an Irish tale,

 Legend has it that St. Brigid of Kildare, a fifth-century Irish nun, asked St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, to grant permission for women to propose marriage after hearing complaints from single women whose suitors were too shy to propose. Initially, he granted women permission to propose only once every seven years, but at Brigid's insistence, he acquiesced and allowed proposals every leap day. The folk tale suggests that Brigid then dropped to a knee and proposed to Patrick that instant, but he refused, kissing her on the cheek and offering a silk gown to soften the blow. The Irish tradition therefore dictates that any man refusing a woman's leap-day proposal must give her a silk gown. From Huffpost Weddings

I suppose it is appropriate that the Irish tradition included both St Brigid whose feast day is in Feb and St Patrick whose feast day is in March.  Huffpost Weddings also writes about other leap year wedding traditions.

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Yesterday was my niece's birthday, time is flying, it seem only like 5 years ago when I was changing her nappies etc, but it was 23 years ago. :0

Even if I say so myself, she has turned into a lovely woman. Of course her parents are to be responsible for that, I was just passed through her life every-so-often. lol

Here is the card I made for her. The photo is not the best, I know I have said this before but I must organise a light box for taking photos in all weathers and at any time.

The card itself was meant to be much simpler that it turned out. I had an accident, while stamping the sentiment there was a tiny blob of ink on one corner of the block, (stamp was acrylic and I had to mount it on a block) and when I stamped the sentiment, I accidental marked the top of the card. :(  To cover that up I had to add the blue ribbon on top then to finish it off I added the "bling", the little gems.

I embossed the bottom 1/3 of the card using Swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The "present" is just a square of metallic card embossed with another cuttlebug embossing folder.  I add the ribbon and bow to look like a wrapped gift.  The sentiment was then stamped straight on to the card. It is hard to see in the photo but there is another ribbon just above the "swiss dots".

I printed out the inside sentiment onto ordinary cardstock and used nestibilities labels 4 to cut it out, this sentiment is a freebie from Create with TLC.

Recipe:

Cardstock: DCWV Hippie Chic Cardstock.

Embossing folders: Cuttlebug - Swiss dots and D'vine Swirl

Ribbon: Local haberdasheries.

Bow: Papermania - Capsule collection.

Stamp:Papermania - Clear stamps Sentiments.

Ink: Archival ink

Bling: Papermania - Adhesive Gems

Hope you like,

Retirement card and first commission.

Hi all,

We were at our postman's retirement party last Friday night. Wow! The food was wonderful as was the company. There was a beautiful Seafood Paella, it we scrumptious, it was made with smoked haddock and mackerel both strong tasting fish but it was yummy. There was much more food there but I don't want to make you all hungry. lol

As a cardie, I made a card for him.

I had an idea in my head of what I would do but this is nothing like it. lol  The image is from Digi Doodle Shop Old Truck 1. I used pencils to colour it and white glaze for the white tires.
I like using pencils, especially for small images but I need to practice more, don't know if it is the paper or what but no matter what I do the pencil marks are always viewable. (is that a word? lol)
It is mounted on yellow DCWVcard stock and then mounted again onto core'donation vintage collection. The bakers twine is from a friend and the little button is actually a sticker from Websterspages "Buttons and Twine" I don't remember where I purchased them but they are lovely to work with.   The sentiment "Happy Retirement" was computer generated than cut out using one of Spellbinders nestabilities Fancy Tags. In side I printed out a retirement poem, I found on another site, it's an old Irish blessing;

“May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.”

I was also asked by a neighbour to make a card for him too, she only asked me the day of the party so it was kinda rushed and I never got a chance to photo it. She was my first paid commission. Yeah! and she though it was great, happy days! May I get many more. lol

Recipe:

Card stock: Core'donitions Vintage Collection and DCWV Brights.

Colouring Medium: Pencils

Bakers Twine: From a friend (no name with it)

Button: Websters Buttons & Twine -  County Estate

Die: Nestabilities Fancy Tags.

Challenges Entered;

Dream Valley Challenges - #26 Just for Men

Here Come the Boys - #21 Vintage Feel



Hope you like,

Post Valentines Day

Now, to be honest, I really am the most un-romantic person in the world. Not into all this flowers or chocolates (well, not for Valentines day anyhow) or being taken out to dinner. Don't get me wrong, I like the above on surprise occasions or on special occasions as Birthdays or Anniversaries but Valentines day just leaves me empty.

After saying all that I did make a card for Hubby.  I stayed away from all the pink and frills after all he is a man, that would just wash over him. This is what I made him instead.

It is a masculine card, I was going to put a ribbon where the bakers twine (lol sorry just typed bailing twine but changed it, guess where I live. lol) but thought it was too girlie.  The bakers twine was given to me by my Secret Pall 2011.

The heart is embossed with a cuttlebug folder then cut out with a Woodware scalloped punch.  The paper on the lower part of the card was plain but I just stamped some random small hearts with a watermark ink pad to give it a bit of  tone-on-tone "oomph".

Recipe:

Card: Stash

Designer Paper: The Clipart Fairy - Simply Christmas paper 3 (Digital download)

Heart: Core'dinations - Super Assortments

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug - script texture

Ink: Top Rose Watermark

Stamps: I have no idea, I have them so long. lol

Challenges:

Card Crafters Circle - Challenge #9 Valentines Love Hearts

2 Sisters Challenge - Challenge #78

Hope you like,

Spring Time!

Today, 1st of February is also the first day of Spring.  We can now look forward to seeing young lambs frolicking around the fields and baby rabbits hopping about. Do you know, that a baby rabbit is not called bunny but kitten or kit? 

Also snowdrops will be popping out of the ground followed shortly by daffodils.

It marks the start of the pastoral year where sowing and ploughing begins. But here, in our area, is not arable farming but dairy farms, so we have the added pleasure of having the surrounding fields spread with slurry, for those that do not know what slurry is, it is the waste from the sheds where the cattle are over-wintered, you can imagine the smell, is not very nice! It is spread as a natural fertilizer for the fields that have being set aside for grass.

The best thing we can look forward to is warmer drier weather, bliss, though we cannot complain about the temperatures for this past winter, it was extremely mild but very wet the exact opposite to last year where we froze our "butts" off" along with pipes and roads. lol

In pagan times, today was a festival day, "Festival of Spring" but since Christianity we celebrate St Brigid's day, (Lá le Bríde) and the coming of Spring.

Hope you like,