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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,