Easter Theme

Supplies:  Spring Bunny with Eggs - Colour and Cut stack 
image from Lili of the Valley, pp - Daisy & Dandelion A5 Paper pack - 
Docrafts, copics - B02, BG01, B12, BG34, G000, BG10, RV14, RV23, 
R85, R81, 0, E21, E33, E95, Y11, Y00 and YR000, machine 
stitching, buttons from stash, Textured pink cardstock - Papermania, 
Spellbinders oval and scalloped oval dies, pop dots, tombow 
adhesive and 6x6 cardblank by craftyworkcards.

This week's challenge on Paperplay is an "Easter Theme".

We are very kindly sponsored by In2stamps.

I used a Lili of the Valley image from a Colour and Cut stack that I got free with a magazine last month.  Just the perfect image for a fun "bunny" Easter Card.

I left it sentiment free as my niece/god daughter celebrates her fourth birthday on Easter Sunday and I am thinking I will add her name or age to the card above and make it an Easter birthday card!

Ignore the wonky zig zag stitching - the tension on my sewing machine has decided to act up! I haven't been treating it nice... so it has every right!

Hope you get a chance to play along with us this week on Paperplay.

I am entering this into the LOTV's National Craft Month Challenge.  This week's theme is "Mum" or "pink" - think I have enough pink on this to qualify (and it is for my niece's birthday!) 

Challenges
Anything Goes Challenge - Get ready for Easter
Clear it out challenge - Easter/use up your pastel papers (last years pp from Some Bunny loves you collection!)
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Eggs
Paper and Such Design - Spring or Easter Card
Top Tip Tuesday - Easter and/or animals
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for popping by - hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Spring Colours

Supplies:  pp - Random by Crate Paper, square punch to create the 

banners, sentiment - Waltzingmouse Stamps, White card Blank - 

Anita's, machine stitching, black tuxedo ink - memento.

I have been admiring the banner cards that everyone has been creating in blogland and decided to make a couple as part of a set for gifting.

I used scraps from a new 6x6 paper pad by Crate Paper (Random).  Am loving using it as I love the colours and patterns in it.

Thanks so much for peeking - hope you are having a good week.

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Spring  Fling colour challenge

Saturday at the NEC!

On Saturday I got to go to the Hobbycrafts Show in the NEC, Birmingham.  I caught an early morning flight (which wasn't so early as there was fog in Birmingham and we landed 2 hours late!).  

Then I wandered and gazed upon wonderful things like the ribbon above at craftfairy.co.uk (a bit of pink anyone?) and below (beautiful shades of blue).  I wish I could just buy one of each!

I got to meet Sandie Dunne in person (the boss over on Paperplay Challenges) - sorry forgot to take a photo! her flight was diverted to Manchester so she got to check out some local scenery on her way to the NEC!

I also got to meet Jane Millard of milliemarvels  and Clare Curd of Fiskars / Create and Craft / Quick Cards ... the list goes on!  It was just fab.  (photos taken with my iphone!)

I also got to meet the Ribbon Girls - Mary and Andrea (although very fleeting) and Jo Neville - Rambling Boots.  Great to put faces to names.

I managed to take a workshop that Clare held using all sorts of Fiskars goodies.  Want to know more about Fiskars?  Become a Fiskarette?  Check out the deets here.

Then I did a spot of shopping with Jane - so much fun - such amazing stuff.  Not enough time before my 17.15 flight back home.  Thanks for peeking - hope you had a fun weekend.

Hero Arts March Challenge

Supplies:  Hero Arts Daisy Reverse Pattern S5473, Hero Arts Sending 

smiles messsages CL490, butter yellow textured paper - Papermania, 

kraft card blank - Anita's, copics Y11, E43, B12, B45, G82, pop dots, 

tombow adhesive, clear embossing powder, 

versamark ink and heat gun.

This month's challenge on Hero Arts runs until March 29th and I wanted to put in an entry before I ran out of time.

I have had this daisy woodblock stamp in my stash for a while without inking it up!  

 I love how the embossing looks almost like a ceramic tile.

I coloured the non embossed flowers with the copics that matched the colour challenge this month.

Challenges
Lily Pad Cards - Simon Says Stamp presents a Flower Challenge

Thanks for peeking.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

"Spring Colours"

Supplies:  Easter Parade - Whiff of Joy, pp - Random by Crate Paper, 

yellow vellum - Papermania, Dark Chocolate Ribbon - PTI, buttons 

- Basic Grey, machine stitching, pop dots, Anita's 6x6 Card blank, 

copics 0, B00, Y35, Y15, Y11, E53, E00, E21, R00, 

and sentiment sticker - SRM Press.

This week's challenge over on Paperplay is "Spring Colours" and we are very kindly sponsored by Whiff of Joy.  We want to see your card/project/LO using "Spring Colours".  See what the DT created here.

It isn't my team's week on Paperplay but I decided to play along with the fun sketch challenge set by Karina over on Whiff of Joy Challenge.

I had lots of fun stitching all the layers together on this 6x6 card.

Challenges

365 Cards - sticker/ink/patterned paper 

(sentiment sticker/stamped image in black ink/several pp's)

Made especially for you - create a card featuring 3 buttons

Thanks so much for peeking, hope you all have a wonderful end of week/weekend.

A Sweet Challenge

 Supplies:  Sentimental Birds - Sweet Stamp Shop, Say it Loud sentiments - 

Waltzingmouse Stamps, clear embossing powder, versamark ink, 

faded jeans, peeled pain, iced spruce distress inks - Tim Holtz,  

ink blending tool,  black and kraft cardstock, Black tuxedo memento ink,

Anita's 6x6 card blank, pop dots and adhesive.

Did you see that Nicole over on Sweet Stamp Shop has a new "Sweet Challenge" this month.  You have until April 1st to play along.  

I decided to play along with one of the "eligible" sets - full deets are here.  I love this Sentimental Birds set.  I stamped on white cardstock, embossed and then got inky!

You could win the ENTIRE next release!  How cool is that?

I finished the card with a sentiment by Waltzingmouse Stamps.  I know I will need some of these cards as a lot of college students are about to fly the shores for the Summer months (some to the USA on J1 Visas).

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Handmade backgrounds 

Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you have a "sweet" day!

Happy Mother's Day

Supplies:  pp - Random Collection 6x6 Crate Paper, 

Random Chip Stickers Crate Paper, Chicken Wire Stamp 

Set - Waltzingmouse Stamps, Sentiment - Hero Arts SD395, 

Butterfly Die - PTI, Sap Green Ranger Archival Ink, Tuxedo

Black - Memento Ink, Fiskars Stamp Press, Anita's 6x6 

card blank, machine stitching and pearl.

This card started out life as a St Patrick's Day card! At least that was what it was going to be in my head!  

I got a little diverted by the Hero Arts stamp set (below) that arrived from Simon Says Stamp on Friday morning and hey presto - a Mother's Day card was born!.  I won the set recently on SSS - part of their National Craft month celebrations.

Thanks to SSS for the wonderful stamp set.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone celebrating with their own Moms/sisters/aunts/daughters/loved ones today.

Challenges

Glitter Geeks - Mother's Day
Stampin with the Dragon - Things with Wings
Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Waltzingmouse Stamps - March Blog Party

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone.  I shared some photos in my earlier post today - click here.

Today is a day when the "Irish" get to celebrate their heritage all over the world.  I was lucky enough to experience the Chicago celebrations for 4 years and boy oh boy! can they party!  I attended a few Downtown Parades and Southside Parades (thankfully held on different weekends) and they dyed the river green downtown - a sight to behold.  

Thinking of all our friends in Chicago and the USA - Go Irish!  See you in September!!!  (Notre Dame play Navy in Ireland in September.)

Now let's get this party started!!!

Last month was my first time taking part in the WMS Blog Party and when I saw this month's theme over on WMS, I couldn't BUT take part!

Lynn advised us back on the 1st of March as follows "Your project needs to contains something St. Patrick’s Day or Irish related, OR green in theme. (use your imagination…green could mean color or something recycled)"

Supplies:  Shamrock Digital stamp - WMS, Spellbinders wonky 

rectangle dies, Papermania textured cardstock, copics 0, 

YG17,YG91, YG11, Y11, pop dots and adhesive.

 I obviously went with all three !! - the green/Irish/St Patrick's Day combo!

Shake a shamrock! Shake a shamrock!
 (this was a marketing campaign by Irish Biscuits for Italia '90) - remember those days! sigh!

This is a freebie digi over on Waltzingmouse Stamps.

I paired it with the Emerald Blessings freebie sentiment.  Thank you Claire!

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - A bit o' Green
Just inspirational Challenges - Photo inspiration
Rainbow Lady's - St Patrick's Day

Thanks so much for peeking and I hope you get a chance to play along with the hop/party/waltz!

Happy St Patrick's Day - photos from Ireland

Hello from Ireland.

Happy St Patrick's Day.

Wishing you all a wonderful day - where ever you may be in the world.

I think everyone has a little bit of Irish in them! especially on St. Patrick's Day.

The day is celebrated here in Ireland with parades in every town and village around the country.

 (below) Beacon at Baltimore, West Cork

(above) Currach racing under Roches Point, Cork Harbour

(above) evening on the River Shannon

(above) Round Tower seen through a window at Clonmacnoise

(above) Blarney Castle - where you kiss the stone to get the gift of the gab!

Just wanted to share a "taste of Ireland" in my post this morning.

Hope everyone has a great day / weekend.  It's Mother's Day here in Ireland tomorrow - a weekend of festivities!  Enjoy!

Mami Doodles Digi "Winner"

Congrats to Dawn who left the following message on my blog (I have emailed you Dawn)

 

Dawn Mar 12, 2012 01:10 AM

what a sad day... Elisa has some amazingly cute images. I have a few myself. Love all your projects.

She is the winner of the Mami Doodles digi from this stop on the "Farewell Blog Hop".

Remember - 50% off all digis in the store until March 16th!

"Bingo"

Supplies:  Gingham&Co stamp set - Waltzingmouse Stamps, 
Enjoy the ride sentiment - PTI, Magenta Hue - Ranger 
Archival ink, Anita's kraft card blank, upper 
crest border punch - Fiskars, machine stitching, raspberry 
fizz button - PTI, embroidery floss, butterfly die - PTI, 
Stamp press - Fiskars, Quickutz Polka dot embossing folder 
and white acrylic paint/toothbrush.

This week's challenge on Paperplay is one that I haven't taken part in before it's BINGO!
  

Metal charm	Flowers	chipboard
Stamping	Faux or real stitching	Inks/ink pads
gems	buttons	Paint

 

 I used the stamping/stitching/ink pad selection (but added button/paint for good measure!).

 I decided I wanted to get messy with some white acrylic paint after I had stamped the card and had it nearly assembled.  Used an old toobrush to "spray" the paint in a random pattern.  Then adhered the butterfly using a glue dot and some glossy accents. 


For the butterfly I ran my die through using an offcut of some stamped patterned paper created with the larger gingham stamp, it meant I had reverse stamping on my butterfly wing! (happy accident - smiles!)

Challenges
Crafty Sentiments Design - Things with Wings
Creative Mondays - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthdays

Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope you have a great day and weekend ahead.

Mami Doodles Farewell Blog Hop

This "surprise" blog hop is to honour Elisa / Mami Doodles and her achievements of the past 2+ years.  She has decided to shut her Mami Doodles digi store to concentrate on other endeavours- see her post here.

I had the pleasure and honour of being on her first Design Team - here is my post back in April 2010 and I adored working with her amazing digis.

I am the first stop on the hop and I think Elisa is Marvellous and Magnificent.

Every blog on this hop has a free Mami Doodles digi - I will draw by 6pm EST on Wednesday from the comments left on this post. The winners will be posted on the individual blogs and the Mami Doodles blog.

Elisa has 50% off all her digis until March 16th when she will be closing her store - so quick... run on over after the hop and pick up some goodies here.

Here are some of my favourite "Mami" projects

 

 

 

Here is the blog hop order

Deirdre (you are here!)

Frances

Jackie

Jenn

Lisa

Manuela

Pam

Ren-Yi

Sarah

Stephanie

Trinh

 I know you will join me in wishing Elisa continued success on her creative journey.  Thanks so much for stopping by today - please be sure to hop on over to Mami Doodles and leave Elisa some "love".

Thanks so much for stopping by - now off you go to Frances in Florida.

Sweet Birthday Wishes

Supplies:  Chicken Wire and Compact Sentiments - Waltzingmouse 

Stamps, Button Boutique Stamp Set & Die - PTI, Raspberry fizz  

buttons and ribbon - PTI, Papermania pearls, Upper Crest 

Border Punch - Fiskars, Pink cardstock - Canson, Magenta Hue - 

Ranger Archival Ink, White Stazon ink, pop dots, 

Anita's kraft card blank, embroidery floss, machine stitching,

Stamp Press - Fiskars, Guillotine - Purple Cows

and white cardstock.

I knew as soon as my new "Chicken Wire and Compact Sentiments" stamp sets hit the hall floor (delivered by the mail carrier) yesterday morning from Waltzingmouse Stamps I would have to ink them up!

Plus - I have forgotten a February Birthday of a dear friend of mine who is a very talented artist and I need to send her a card and gift yesterday!!!  You know when the panic sets in when you realise you have forgotten?  That's the feeling in the pit of my stomach at the moment.  Thankfully I have a couple of cards sets made, packaged and will send one of these to her.

I used my new Ranger ink (love this colour - Magenta Hue - available at Simon Says Stamp now!).  I had some buttons already stitched onto the stamped cards and was looking for a home for them!.  I soooo love raspberry fizz buttons and ribbon.  I even love the name.  I machine stitched the ribbon on to the card and decided to run stitching all around the button card (barely visible in photo above - you can click to enlarge!).

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Mother's Day/Special Girl (for my friend Deirdre, yeap my namesake!)

Create me Pink - Spring/Button  (chicks/chicken wire!)

Top Tip Tuesday - stitching (real or faux)

Craft your passion - Anything Goes

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

Behind the Name ... Deirdre

Paper Crafts highlighted that this week is all about "celebrating names" so I decided I would share some information about my name "Deirdre".

Warning - Content heavy post!

GENDER: Feminine
USAGE: English, Irish, Irish Mythology
PRONOUNCED: DEER-drə (English), DEER-dree (English), DER-dre (Irish)   [key]

Meaning & History
From the older Gaelic form Derdriu, meaning unknown, possibly derived from a Celtic word meaning "woman". This was the name of a tragic character in Irish legend who died of a broken heart after Conchobhar, the king of Ulster, forced her to be his bride and killed her lover Naoise.

It has only been commonly used as a given name since the 20th century, influenced by two plays featuring the character: William Butler Yeats' 'Deirdre' (1907) and J. M. Synge's 'Deirdre of the Sorrows' (1910).

VARIANTS: Deidra, Deidre, Deitra (English), Derdriu (Irish Mythology)

According to Irish Lore

Deirdre was the daughter of the royal storyteller Fedlimid mac Daill. Before she was born, Cathbad the chief druid at the court of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, prophesied that Fedlimid's daughter would grow up to be very beautiful, but that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake. Hearing this, many urged Fedlimid to kill the baby at birth, but Conchobar, aroused by the description of her future beauty, decided to keep the child for himself. He took Deirdre away from her family and had her brought up in seclusion by Leabharcham, an old woman, and planned to marry her when she was old enough. Deirdre grew up, and one day told Leabharcham that she would love a man with hair the color of the raven, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood. Leabharcham told her she knew of such a man-- Naoise, a handsome young warrior, hunter and singer at Conchobar's court. With the collusion of Leabharcham, Deirdre met Naoise. At first the young man wanted nothing to do with her, because it was known that she was destined for the king. But Deirdre shamed him into eloping with her. Accompanied by his fiercely loyal brothers Ardan and Ainnle, the sons of Uisnech, they fled to Scotland. For a while, they lived a happy life there, hunting and fishing and living in beautiful places; one place associated with them is Loch Etive. But the furious, humiliated Conchobar tracked them down.

He sent Fergus mac Róich to them with an invitation to return and Fergus's own promise of safe conduct home, but on the way back to Emain Macha Fergus was waylaid by the king's plan, forced by his personal geis (an obligation) to accept an invitation to a feast. Fergus sent Deirdre and the sons of Uisnech on to Emain Macha with his son to protect them. After they had arrived, Conchobar sent Leabharcham to spy on Deirdre, to see if she had lost her beauty. Leabharcham, trying to protect Deirdre, told the king that Deirdre had lost all her beauty. Mistrustful, Conchobar then sent another spy, Gelbann,[2] who managed to catch a glimpse of Deirdre but was seen by Naoise, who threw a gold chess piece at him and put out his eye. The spy managed to get back to Conchobar, and told him that Deirdre was as beautiful as ever. Conchobar called his warriors to attack the Red Branch house where Deirdre and the sons of Uisnech were lodging. Naoise and his brothers fought valiantly, aided by a few Red Branch warriors, before Conchobar evoked their oath of loyalty to him and had Deirdre dragged to his side. At this point, Éogan mac Durthacht threw a spear, killing Naoise, and his brothers were killed shortly after. There are other versions of the death of Naoise. Fergus and his men arrived after the battle. Fergus was outraged by this betrayal of his word, and went into exile in Connacht. He later fought against Ulster for Ailill and Medb in the war known as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley), the Irish Iliad.

After the death of Naoise, Conchobar took Deirdre as his wife. After a year, angered by Deirdre's continuing coldness, Conchobar asked her whom in the world she hated the most, besides himself. She answered "Éogan mac Durthacht," the man who'd murdered Naoise. Conchobar said that he would give her to Éogan. As she was being taken to Éogan, Conchobar taunted her, saying she looked like a ewe between two rams. At this, Deirdre threw herself from the chariot, dashing her head to pieces against a rock. In some versions of the story, she died of grief.

Turning Eight.....

 Seriously... where does the time go?  

My youngest is turning EIGHT today! 

So today will be spent celebrating and having family time.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Where does the time go?

Supplies:  Penny Black Transparent set - trims, computer generated 

sentiment, Hero arts clear gems, pink gems by Icon Design, 

Purple Cows guillotine, textured cardstock - Papermania, purple

/blue cardstock - Canson, Range Archival ink - Blue Violet and 

Magenta Hue (new!!), tombow adhesive, copic BV08, 

pop dots and machine stitching.

I just don't know where the time goes!!

Happy Birthday to my God Daughter and Niece.

I made this card by cutting three strips of cardstock, adhering it to my craft mat and stamping with two new inks by Ranger.  I then machine stitched to the pink cardstock and added the sentiment strip.  I added gems (I coloured clear HA gems for the purple with a copic) and adhered to the base layer with pop dots.

Challenges
Celebrate the Occasion - Birthday (must use bling)
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Edited to add - Look what the featured project on twopeas is today.....woohoo!

Thanks for peeking - hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Something Old, Something New

Supplies: Vintage buttons, sentiment - "enjoy the ride" stamp set PTI,

 pp - Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills Collection, papermania pearls, 

embroidery thread, machine stitching, pop dots, Spellbinders heart die, 

white cardstock, memento black ink, tea dye distress ink and 

blending tool, Big Shot, Purple Cows Guillotine and craft knife.

Welcome March!

This week's challenge on Paperplay Challenges is "Something Old, Something New".

This challenge "called" to me on several levels - when I hear that saying it reminds me of Wedding and a Bride.  I also adore buttons and had lots of beautiful ones with sparkle on them in my stash.

So my old/new is old vintage buttons and new paper.


I hand stitched the buttons to a diecut heart which I then embellished with some pearls

Edited to add - when I made this card I knew I had seen a button heart somewhere but just couldn't remember where the inspiration had come from.... then I found it!  Heather over on Stamping and Stitching had her card featuring a button heart on Paper Crafts Magazine this month. 

Challenges
 Love to Create - Real or faux stitching
A Passion for Papertrey - Needle and thread
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes 
Divas by Design - Spots and/or Stripes
Little Darlings Challenge - Pearls

Thanks for peeking - hope you get a chance to play along with us this week.