Paper Crafts Magazine Publication and a Walk

Well after a little bump on the posting road, I’m back after a two week break!

I’m in the middle of making a lot of cards for a friend and as I’m definitely not a speedy card maker I don’t have a card I made recently to show, instead I have one I made way back in November, which was published in the May/June issue of Paper Crafts magazine.

One of the sections in the magazine is Found Objects for Mother’s Day. So we had to make a gift using found treasure as well as a matching card. Oh I had so much fun rummaging around looking for some hidden treasures! I made a brooch and card using some beads from a broken necklace, a piece of silk a friend had given me and my favourite bit - some fabric which my mum had hand dyed.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Silhouette Grass & Celebrate Everyday

I was so thrilled to have had this project and also one for Father’s Day published in this issue. It really meant so much to me as when I was making my projects, I constantly had my dear mum and dad in mind and included what they love\loved and things that make me think of them.

Below are a few photos from a walk we did a couple of weeks ago up the Sugar Loaf Mountain. I love the walk and the views are spectacular (much better than the photos I took!) and it only takes 30 minutes to get to the top.

Setting out

At the top looking towards Wicklow Head

View of the Wicklow Mountains

View towards Killiney and Bray Head

Well I better get back to making those cards! Hope you all have a great weekend:)

Ribbon Scraps

For Lily Pad Cards' First Birthday Blog Hop please click here.

Since I'm such a hoarder of all sorts of left over bits and pieces from other projects, it's great to finally use some up in the Don't Throw it Away Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.


Hero Arts Stamp - Birthday Messages

Today I used up some of my scraps of ribbon on this card. I only needed a few supplies to make the card and it was one of the quickest cards I've made in a while. To start with I punched some circles out of the black panel and then punched out some slightly larger circles from scrap card. I covered these with a variety of ribbon scraps and stuck them behind the panel. Using a rotary cutter I trimmed the surplus pieces from the edges. Instead of having to fiddle around with positioning the sentiment stamp, I stamped the sentiment on a piece of card and positioned it as I stuck it to the back of the panel. Then it was just a matter of adding a gem and attaching the panel to the card with adhesive foam pads.

I've just been told by someone here that the card makes them think of planets and the 70s - I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not!

Hope you all have a lovely Easter:)

Rainbow of Kites

For Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday Blog Hop post please click here.

In the last couple of weeks we've had a real mixed bag of weather with a week of 20C sunshine, followed by a few days with flurries of snow. I'm glad to say today we're back to sunny blue skies again. So I thought I'd make a card with the same blue skies and some colourful kites.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Right at Home, Be Happy & Woodland Creatures

For the sky I applied distress inks (broken china & tumbled glass) to the back of textured card to get a kind of mottled look (unfortunately it doesn't seem to show in the photo!). Something I seem to accumulate at rapid speed is paper scraps and since I'm not great for throwing things out, even tiny pieces of paper, Cath's Paper Scraps Challenge in the Moxie Fab World is the ideal excuse for using up some of these.



The kites were stamped on the background and I pieced the little bows from scraps and added some gems. I stamped the kites again on scraps of white and coloured card and pieced the kites. The sun and clouds were stamped on scraps too.

I'm also submitting this card into A Blog Named Hero's first challenge which is using favourite Hero Arts products (the Right at Home set is one of my favourites from this year) and also the current Hero Arts Challenge, Sunshine and Showers.

As Maggie Muggins invited me share this card at her Silhouette Free Shape Party #3, I've linked it there. I really wish I had a Silhouette and am hoping that maybe some day a shop in Ireland will stock them!

Well I'm off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day, I hope it's sunny wherever you are:)

Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to the Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday Blog Hop!



You should have arrived here from Karin’s blog. I’m so delighted to be celebrating the 1st Birthday of Lily Pad Cards and to be part of this Blog Hop – congratulations and thanks Deborah and Vicky!

There are three prize packages with a total retail value of over $300 to be won! These prizes will be awarded by random draw. To be eligible, you need to “like” Lily Pad Cards on Facebook. To increase your chances of winning, you can leave a comment on each of the blogs participating in this hop (including the Lily Pad). Your name is entered in the draw each time you comment on a blog (but only one comment per blog, please). To be in with a chance to win one of these wonderful prizes, comments should be left by 12:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, April 8. Good luck!


The Dream Team!

Well for my cards today, I wanted to use colours inspired by lily pads and a certain fabulous frog – yes Frederick duPonde you know that’s you, and honestly, George Clooney isn’t a patch on you! In honour of the equally fabulous Vicky and Deborah, I also made sure I included the colours of the Greek and U.S. flags.

So below is my first card.



Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps (Friends Definition, Wild Flowers and Birthday Messages), faded jeans distress ink, VersaMark, white embossing powder, card (cream & navy), upholstery fabric, baker’s twine and gems.

Of course I had to make a card especially for Frederick....



...and here it is



Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps (Froggy, Be Happy, Write Your Message,Friendly Flags and Heart Owls), card (white, blue, green & red), inks (black, green & blue), Happy Birthday embossing folder, blue ProMarker, Glossy Accents, white pen, baker’s twine and gems.

Since it’s a day of celebration, I have some brownies and baklava at the ready and am now ready to enjoy lots of hopping! The next stop on the hop is Lidiya’s blog. If you hit a bad link, you can always go back to Lily Pad. to view the master list of blog links. Please report any bad links to aris@inlinkz.com. Thanks for visiting and have fun hopping:)