7 things about me

A big thank you to Alizabethy for this blog award. I am thrilled - thank you.  To carry on the tradition I must....

 

1.Thank the person/persons that shared this award with me and link it back to their blog/blogs. I recommend you look at Alizabethy's wonderful blog.

2. Share 7 things about myself! ... must admit .. not a fan of this bit... hmmmmm

1. We have no animals (although my boys have made a request for a dog!)
2. I am an only daughter.
3. I lived in Chicago, Illinois for 4 years.
4. I have been a brownie, girl guide, sea ranger, sea ranger leader and venture scout leader.
5. I LOVE coffee.
6. I still miss Chicago after 6 years!
7. I love to sail and spend time on the water.

3. Pass this award onto seven other bloggers that I have recently discovered (some not so recently!).  Please look at these blogs - you will come away so inspired.

 

Swords with Scissors - Jenny

My hands get jealous - Kate

Mad thoughts of a crafty cow - Sian

Pieces by Aideen - Aideen

Wendymade - Wendy

The Funkie Junkie - Linda

Mullen Images - Nicole

4. Leave a comment so they can pass along the recognition!

 

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great start to your week.  Off to get inky!

Critters & Cogs Week - Pollycraft Designs

Paula on over on Pollycraft Designs is having a really fun week of "Critters and Cogs" and I was the featured blogger yesterday! woohoo!!!  Thanks so much Paula.

Here are some cards that I have made using Paula's wonderful digis.  She has a freebie available here at the moment and also has some special prices until Sunday - be sure to check them out.

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Paperplay - Let's Get Sentimental

 

 This week on Paperplay the challenge is Let's Get Sentimental.  We are very kindly sponsored by Paulette of Create with TLC.  As you know I am a huge fan of Paulette's wonderful art and am posting a couple of cards I have previously made using a few of her freebie sentiments.  

 

 Be sure to pop over and check out the creations by all the Design Team this week here.  Thanks so much for peeking and I hope you get a chance to play along this week with Paperplay.

CARDS Blog Freebie Printables

 

Did you see the wonderful free printables that CARDS (now CREATE) had available at Valentines over on their blog?

Here is the link and here are two of the cards I made with the PDF by Hannah Craner.  What I created were very quick and easy but fun to produce.  I added glossy accents to the green heart in the first one and to the Owls eyes and random little hearts on the branches in the second.

Thanks so much for peeking and I hope you are having a great day.  It's mid term here in Ireland for most of the school children this week - so my little ones are on holidays.  Fun times - but I may not be around too much in blogland but will catch up next week!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Oons!

It's my SIL's birthday today - happy birthday Oonagh!  She is away at the moment and I wanted to post a birthday wish here so that she knows we are thinking of her today!

It is also 10 years today that we set off on our adventure to live in the United States - what an amazing four years we had.  Don't know where the time has gone!  Moving transatlantic, two little blessings later and a move back seems to have gone by in a blur!.

On to the card - I paired this wonderful digital freebie from Lori Boyd (By LORi Designs) with some coloured textured cardstock and an SRM Sticker for a fun card. 

The freebie was available over on Paper Craft Planet for the first 100 members of the group.  Be sure to pop over and become a follower of By Lori Designs to ensure you get to "nab" the next amazing freebie and play along with the fun. 

Hope you have a wonderfully blessed day.

Paperplay - Add Shine (used a JSL digital freebie)

This week's challenge on Paperplay is to "Add Shine".  I set this challenge as you all know I love using glossy accents for added dimension and shine on my cards.

We are very kindly sponsored by Just Some Lines this week so I used a wonderful digital freebie - Mod Christmas Flowers from their blog to produce a one layer card.  I printed the digi directly on to an A6 card blank and got busy with my copics.

 I then added a sentiment sticker by SRM and some glossy accents to the flower centres.

 

Quick and easy set of cards.  I hope to make a few more cards with the wonderful images by Jehanne.  Be sure to check them out.

Thanks for peeking and I hope you get a chance to play along with Paperplay this week.

You make my heart happy!

Another entry for this month's Hero Arts Love and Friendship Challenge.  I had fun creating this.  I actually envisaged it in my waking moments very early a few mornings ago and kept a snapshot in my brain until I managed to create it with stamps and paper.

I stamped the HA Heart Flourish (K5153) onto kraft and then cut the craft and machine stitched it to the black cardstock which I had punched with a scallop border punch.  I machine stitched them together with black thread.  I then stamped the heart part of the image repeatedly in red on white cardstock, cut out and popped on top with foam dots.  I added glossy accents to the bottom hearts and stickles to the red hearts when they were in situ.

Added the pearls at the end to finish it off!  Matted and layered and finished.  One of my little guys has been home sick since the weekend - on the mend but it is restricting my time leaving comments on all my blogland friends blogs..... I will be back!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a good day. 

Wee Stamps Digital Freebie

The very talented Sylvia Zet is having the first release of the image above in her digital stamp shop - Wee Stamps.

This freebie (YEAP... you read correctly FREEBIE) above is available until Feb 16th - 12 o'clock Edinburgh time (think that is GMT).

Be sure to pop over to Sylvia, say hi and pass on the word to other fans of wonderful digital stamps.

Hope you are having a great Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by.

I only have eyes for you!!! - Digital Freebie

Supplies:  Freebie digital image by Tales from Pollycraft, W R Memory Keepers pp, 

Textured cardstock by Papermania, copics, machine stitching, XCut corner punch, 

while gel pen, googly eyes! and glossy accents.

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blogland friends - I sincerely hope you have a lovely day.

Today I am sharing a "FUN" card.  You know I love all critters!  Here's a new one from Paula over on Tales from Pollycraft and at the moment it's a freebie (until Feb 28th) - just perfect for those fun Valentine's.  Quick - you can get him from HERE.

I coloured him a lovely aqua colour to match the Hippity Hoppity paper by W R Memory Keepers.  I was going to add googly eyes to the sentiment too but decided it was "googly overload!".

Challenges

Sew Many Cards - Valentine's 
CRAFT Challenge - Valentine's 
Simply Create - it's bright in here
Stamp Something - Something for your Valentine
SSDS - Love is in the air

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a great day.

Sweet Wonderful You

Supplies:  Fluffy digital image by Pollycraft Designs, 

sentiment by Jess Holland - freebie here, textured cardstock by Papermania, 

copics, XCut border punch and black gel pen for doodling!.

Another card featuring the wonderful "Fluffy!!".  Can you tell I am a big fan?

I used hot pink and orange as the colour combo on this card and the sentiment is by Jess Holland.  It's a freebie available here.  I changed the colour of "wonderful" in photoshop and printed onto cardstock to create a banner across the card.


Thanks for peeking.

Are you feeling a little blue?

Supplies: Fluffy Digi image by Pollycraft Designs, Sentiment by Inkadinkado, 

copics, memento tuxedo black ink, Papermania textured cardstock and copics.

You could always try painting yourself a different colour!  I love this sentiment by Inkadinkado.  I think this sentiment paired with the wonderful "Fluffy" from the Critters and Cogs digital image range by Paula on Pollycraft Designs would bring a smile to anyone's face.

Hope you have a wonderful day and a great start to the weekend.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy Every Day - Friendship Card

Supplies:  Textured cardstock by Paperpmania, Hero Arts Poetic Petals Digital Kit, 

Hero Arts Winged Friends Digital kit and sentiment from Pollycraft Designs,

XCut border punch, machine stitching, copics, glossy accents and
adhesive.

Another card for this month's wonderful challenge over on Hero Arts - Love and Friendship.  Used digital kits for this card too.  Can you guess that I am loving digital at the moment?

I paired the digital kits - Flutterbies with Poetic Petals for this card.  I used my favourite pink and orange colour combo with a fun sentiment by Tales from Pollycraft.

It's NEW CHALLENGE day over on Paperplay and the challenge this week is "Hearts and Flowers by not Valentine!"  Be sure to check out what Sandie and the wonderful DT created here (Team A's week off!).   We are very kindly sponsored by Waltzingmouse Stamps... so you DEFINITELY want to be in a with a chance to win

Challenges

Top Tip Tuesday - Frame It

Sew Many Challenges - Anything Goes

Catch the Bug - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for peeking and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Clean and Simple Valentine's Card

Supplies:  Hero Arts Vintage Couple Digital Kit, black ribbon by Paperchase, 

pearls, black cardstock, Bazzill Basics kraft cardstock and 

pearlescent card blank by Anita's.

A quick and simple card for Valentine's Day.  Used the Vintage Couple Digital Kit by Hero Arts - love the look of this on the kraft cardstock.

I matted and layered it on a pearlescent card blank - lovely shine from this in real life!.

pssssstttt.... - there is 25% off sale on these Digital Kits here.  Quick... go check it out.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you have a great day.

Love is in the air

I loved what Lucy Abrams created with the "ripped paper" and stitching technique that she used here on the Hero Arts Blog a week or so ago.  I tried to rip the paper edges after stitching.... not as successful as Lucy but decided to share anyway.

The plane (from PTI Tiny Treats - Valentines) looks disconnected in the photo above but in the top photo the machine stitching holes are clearly evident.

A quick card share today - hope you have a wonderful day.

Help for Katie

  Supplies: Help For Katie digital stamp pack - Studio 313 digis, Bazzill basics 
kraft cardstock, textured cardstock, machine stitching, red felt, 
Spellbinder heart die, copics and embroidery floss.


Katie Emmerson Renz, a fellow crafter, has very recently had the diagnosis of gastric cancer. She is currently undergoing treatment and you can read Katie's story - in her own words - HERE on her blog. 

Katie is married to Kevin and they have 3 beautiful boys. 

A group of amazingly talented artists have come together to fundraise for Katie and her family. They have put together a package full of lots of digital images that you can purchase for a fraction of their worth. Details and images of these digis can be found on Jak Heath's Blog.  The post is HERE.

Please, dig deep and do what you can to help. Spread the word about this fundraising through your blog, forums, Facebook, Twitter etc.
The card above is what I made with a wonderful image by Studio 313 from the package.

The full list of artists and images are over on Jak's blog along with details on how to purchase.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week.

Yelling about Love!

A very quick post today - I found this fun colouring page image here and decided to turn it into a very quick and easy "One Layer" card.  I printed it directly onto an A6 Card Blank, coloured with copics and added a rub on sentiment from the BasicGrey Bittersweet Greeting Card Kit.  Just perfect for the smallies to give to their grandparents with an amended sentiment.

Thanks so much for peeking.  Hope you have a great day.

Love & Friendship Challenge

Another card for this month's challenge on Hero Arts - "Love and Friendship".  I used the Vintage Couple digital kit again for this card printing it directly onto kraft cardstock.  Used Bo Bunny patterned paper and layered it on red textured cardstock by Papermania with machine stitching.  I used my spellbinder dies to cut a scalloped circle and circle and assembled the card.  Added the parasol with pop dots in a similar colour by using some Papermania pp from my stash.

I left this one sentiment free - so it can be for an Anniversary, Valentine's, .... just because!

Thanks for peeking.  It's raining here this morning so the boys football training has been cancelled..... they miss the hour of running around and blowing off some steam!  Hopefully it will dry up later (fingers crossed!) LOL!!

Challenges

C.R.A.F.T. - In the roll of a die

Fairy Fun Fridays - For a sweetheart

Raise the Bar - Hearts

Simon Says Stamp - Love is in the air

Have a wonderful Saturday.

Love and Kisses - using SRM Stickers!

Supplies:  Black cardstock, pink cardstock, black glittered chipboard 

heart by Pebbles, SRM Sticker, Paperchase ribbon, Fiskars Upper Crest punch 

and machine stitching.

You will know that I am a HUGE fan of SRM Stickers and I made this card above using a sentiment from this set.  Quick and easy... except for the machine stitching which I had to slow down a little for! LOL!

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - Love is in the Air

Creative Craft World - Love Card Challenge

Bunny Zoe Crafts - Love is in the Air

Paper Sundaes - Valentine's

Simply Create - Give your heart away

Tuesday Throwdown - Stitching

Mami Doodles - magic of love 

 

Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

Paperplay - Stamp it Out!

Supplies: Hero Arts Digital Kit - Vintage Couple, Papermania Blue and 

Green Rose pp (double sided), Bazzill kraft cardstock, White cardstock base, 

Basic Grey Rub On Sentiment, machine stitching with blue thread, American Crafts 

Aqua Essentials Ribbon, BG Jovial button and pop dots.

This week's challenge on Paperplay is "Stamp it Out!" - you can use digital or rubba' or clear or cling stamps - whatever you want once you dig out those stamps and get stamping!!!.

The sentiment is from this kit here - it is by BasicGrey and it is one of the left over sentiments from the Bittersweet Greeting Card Kit.  Seems like a great match given Hero Arts have recently teamed up with BG - check out the updates on the Hero Arts blog.

I am entering this card into this month's Challenge on Hero Arts - Love and Friendship.

Did you see that one of our past Paperplay Design Team Members has become a Hero Arts Hostess? - check out the news here.  HUGE congrats to Heather (I think she is the first Irish hosti with Hero Arts) - woohooo!.

Happy St Blaise's Day - Very few facts are known about Saint Blaise. We believe he was a bishop of Sebastea in Armenia who was martyred under the reign of Licinius in the early fourth century.  St. Blaise is the patron saint of wild animals because of his care for them and of those with throat maladies.

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - Love is in the Air

Creative Craft World - Love Card Challenge

Bunny Zoe Crafts - Love is in the Air

Paper Sundaes - Valentine's

Tuesday Throwdown - Stitching

Mami Doodles - magic of love

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you get inky this week and play along with Paperplay.

Liebster Blog Award

The amazingly talented Jackie and Sian have made my day by awarding me with this Leibster blog award.  Thanks so much to you both.

 

 

The idea behind this award is to give it to people whose talent you admire but feel they do not get the recognition which they deserve, 

so please do not award this to anyone with say 1,000 followers.

If you have been TAGGED and would like to take part, all you have to do is post the blog award above on your blog and link the person who gave you the award (also let them know you are accepting the award by posting on their blog ).

Then you can choose 3-5 people who you think deserve the award and post their name and blog links on your blog.

For now I will choose three blogs I admire and think deserve to be shared.

Donna - three umbrellas

Sandie - The Crafty Side of Me

Julie - Oh Well

Be sure to pop by and say "hello" and thanks again to Jackie and Sian.

Happy St Brigid's Day

Happy Saint Brigid's Day - today is the feast day of St Brigid here in Ireland and a lot of school children will come home having made a cross similar to the one above. 

Here's what Wikipedia says

Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland (Brigit, Bridget, Bridgit, Bríd or Bride) or Mary of the GaelIrish: Naomh Bríd) (c. 451–525) is one of Ireland's patron saints along with Saints Patrick and Columba. Irish hagiography makes her an early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and founder of several monasteries.  Her feast day is 1 February, celebrated as St Brigid’s Day or Imbolc in Gaelic Ireland.

And, yes, food is involved in the celebration of St. Brigid's life. Colcannon, Boxty Cakes, and St. Brigid's Oatcakes for the children are the thing:  (I haven't tried to make any of these but thought I would share some traditional recipes with you!).

Colcannon (serves 6)
1 1/4 lbs. Kale or green Cabbage
2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds peeled and quartered potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 cup cleaned and chopped leeks white part only
1 cup milk
Pinch of ground mace
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup melted butter

Simmer kale or cabbage in 2 cups water and oil for 10 minutes, then drain, and chop fine. Boil potatoes and water, and simmer until tender. Simmer the leeks in milk for ten minutes until tender. Drain and puree the potatoes. Add leeks and their milk and the cooked kale, and mix in. Add mace, salt and pepper. Mound on a plate and pour on the melted butter. Garnish with parsley. 

Boxty Image from one perfect bite

 
Boxty Cakes (makes 12)
1/2 pound hot cooked potatoes
1/2 pound grated raw potatoes
2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Butter for frying
Salt and pepper

Drain, peel and mash the hot potatoes. Stir in the raw potatoes, flour and baking soda. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well with enough buttermilk to make a stiff batter. Shape into 3 inch patties about 1/4 inch thick and fry on hot greased griddle until crispy and golden on both sides.

I have been absent from the blogging world in recent weeks (there has been a lot going on) and I hope to rectify it over the comings days!  Cannot believe it is the first day of February already!!!  Where did January go?

Thanks so much for stopping by hope you have a great day.