Wild Flowers Happy Birthday

I'll be in work for one day tomorrow and then back on the rest of my holidays again, so I thought I'd squeeze in a bit of play time today!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Wild Flowers & Birthday Messages

One of my favourite Hero Arts stamps which I use over and over again is the Wild Flowers image - I just love it! For this card I embossed the flowers twice on grey, shimmery card and added some gems. I had my sewing machine nearby from yesterday's card and decided to try a type of ribbon treatment that I hadn't done before. It was quite quick and easy to do so I'll have to try it again. To finish I just added the bow and embossed the sentiment. Yet again my friend Linda sent me something that I used on this card - the yummy ribbon, thanks again, Linda:)



I'm submitting this card into the Ellen Hutson LLC Hero Arts Wood Take 'n Makeand the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

You're Sew Nice

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas:) We certainly had a very enjoyable one and are still making the most of our break from work/school. It feels a bit strange not to be making Christmas cards and a pity to be putting away those Christmas stamps for another year. So today I made a card which is a bit of a break away from my norm as I used a lot of patterned paper, bold colours and a (very!) wild colour combination for me!

My friend Linda sent me all the gorgeous, gorgeous papers on this card and I wanted to use them on a sewing related card - thanks again, Linda!



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy

To start with I embossed the sewing machine, added the gem and thread and placed the machine on a frayed piece of fabric. The sentiment was also embossed and I stitched on the patterned papers for the background.



I'm submitting this card into the Ellen Hutson LLC Hero Arts Clear Take 'n Make. The picture of the challenge project must include the stamp/s used. As you can see the Sew Artsy set is much loved and much used by me! I'm also submitting the card into the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with your family and friends and wish that all your dreams come true in the year ahead!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Gingerbread Fun, Celebrate Everyday & Write Your Message

Cinnamon Scented Pine Cones

This year I wanted to have some cinnamon scented pine cones for Christmas. So on a sunny, crisp afternoon early in November we set off for a walk in a local forest. We all enjoyed the walk, the chatting and coming across a bounty of pine cones in the woods.

After coming home the pine cones were washed and they dried out and opened up in front of the fire we've had lighting every evening since late October - loved the fresh pine smell in the sitting room during this part of the process. After that it was just a matter of adding some cinnamon oil to the pine cones and putting them in plastic bags for the scent to be fully absorbed.



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Merry Christmas Tree

I've a few baskets of the cones in the house now and we gathered so many pines cones, family and friend will be receiving them shortly. So I wanted to come up with a way of packaging them and this is it -



I recently received this wonderful stamp and die set from Hero Arts and couldn't wait to get started on making something with it. So today I pulled out card scraps, embossing powders, some bling and ribbon and played away to my hearts content.

Hopefully my family and friends will like their little scented packages. Here's a photo from when we were on the way home from the woods, you can see one of my helpers striding back to the car - well there was a promise of hot chocolate and a treat at home!



I'm submitting this project into Ellen Hutson LLC Hero Arts Cling Take 'n Make, the current Play Date Cafe Challenge, Simon Says Stamp "What's Your Favourite" Challenge (I've a few favourites on this one - tool is Cuttlebug, stamp is this new one and product would be bling) and also Paper Crafts December Gallery Challenge. Hope you're all having a fun weekend!

Shimmery Snowflake Bauble

When I came across the sumptuous Tuesday Trigger over at the Moxie Fab World I wanted to play straight away. So I took a little break from putting up the last of the Christmas decorations to make this card.



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Very Merry Christmas

To start with I embossed the sentiment in silver on a panel of cream linen texture card and added the stitching. Then I die cut the snowflake and covered it with lots of white glitter. To make the sparkly centre, I just die cut a circle of cream card and encrusted it with beads, gems and pearls.

I took inspiration from a number of elements in the photo above - the baubles, the colours, the snowflakes, the elegant shape of the tray and of course the sparkle and shine. Also I couldn't quite make out what the white background was, but I envisioned (lol rightly or wrongly!) the silver tray sitting on a crisp linen tablecloth.

I'm also submitting this card into the Oldie But A Goodie Challenge (Let it Snow) as everything I used on the card is over 6 months old, the Addicted to CAS Challenge #2 (Bauble) and the Red Carpet Studio Challenge (use either a snowman or snowflake).

I can't believe I've posted twice in the one day. That's double the amount of posts I had in the whole of November - it's great to be back!

Spelling Bee Party set in Die Cutting for Paper Crafters

I was over the moon to have had a couple of projects published recently in Paper Crafts' Die Cutting for Paper Crafters magazine. The call for submissions couldn't have come at a better time, when I was about to start playing with my new Silhouette Cameo (thanks again P xoxo).

The first cut I made with the Cameo can be seen in a card on page 39 of the magazine, which involves some sprinkles and unusually for me is CAS! The second project I made using the machine is this one, a Spelling Bee Party Ensemble.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Picnic set & Be Happy set

The set took a little while to make but oh did I have fun putting it together using my Cameo and Cuttlebug! The photography and styling in any Paper Crafts magazine are always fab so I thought I'd show a photo of the set in the magazine.

I was delighted to spot my friend Trinh on page 42 of the magazine with what I think is the perfect retirement card! Die Cutting for Paper Crafters is a wonderful magazine packed full of brilliant projects and tips using a variety of die cutting machines. It also has a machine comparison chart and sandwich recipes which are invaluable.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Christmas Craft Fair

Well for the past while I've been busy busy with organising and making stuff for a local craft fair. As always, it was brilliant get to meet and chat with the crafters and see what their creative minds and hands have produced. I also managed to squeeze in a little Christmas shopping at the fair too!

So I thought today I show a little flavour of what was available at the fair. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get photos of all of the stands but have provided links to a couple of other exhibitors towards the end of the post.

First up is Sharon Spendlove (Tel 086 6067726 spendlovesharon@gmail.com) who works wonders with fabrics and created this cute teddy and beautiful bags.

Deirdre Mellon (087 1273122 naascrafts@gmail.com) made these adorable fabric decorations and gorgeous felted handbag.

She also made the sweetest little baby booties.

Ruth Teskey (Tel 087 2604946 avondalehandcrafts@gmail.com) always amazes me with her fabulous ideas and designs and this year was no exception. I just love these!

Next up is Sandra Petitfrere (086 8583832) who had fantastic handmade bags and paintings. I'd love any of these bags

and absolutely loved this painting by Sandra.

Anne Casey (casanaglasshp@eircom.net) had painted glass using gorgeous vivid colours as you can see here. I was very tempted to buy something from the top shelf for a purple loving friend in Minnesota but was afraid it might break on the journey.

Paddy O'Connor's (Tel 085 1408941 poconnor1313@gmail.com) work is always a pleasure to look at. Among the many items he had on display were these lovely clocks,

pens and pen holder. Did you spot the fun glasses holders in these photos?

Paddy had lots of company at the fair including his cute grandson who was admiring the amazing spinning wheel that Paddy had made.

Virginia McNceill (vmcneill@eircom.net) created these cosy and oh so pretty items. They'd be perfect for the cold spell we're going through now!

Roisin Monaghan made these beautiful bags. I think she used her Big Shot to make the flowers on her fabric bag - so pretty!

Lorraine Kavanagh had lots of beautiful knitted and crocheted item including these cuties.

From Naas Photography Group we had John Rapple (087 7671736 johnrapple@gmail.com) and Paul O'Rourke (087 7057250 paulorourkephotography.ie). They had fabulous photos and I have to apologise to John and Paul as my photography skills are lacking and my photos don't do justice to their work! You'll get a better idea of their work on either their Facebook page or website.

I really loved John's photo of the snowy old cottage below and he had another fab snowy scene with swans on a local lake - pity I didn't realise my memory card was full when I took that one!

I love Paul's photo of one of my favourite spots in Glendalough

and this gorgeous photo of a local canal with autumn putting on its glorious display of colours.

It was great to meet the Byrne family again at the craft fair. Becky Byrne (Tel 085 7665871 beckybyrne@eircom.net) created these gorgeous flowers and I love that the funds she raised are going towards the publication of her nana's book.

Jackie Byrne (Tel 087 9514757 edwardbyrne@eircom.net) made some gorgeous necklaces and felt work,

while Becky and her dad Martin (Tel 087 2077582) had gorgeous photos on display.

Also at the fair were Cliona Kelliher, Purity Belle with yummy scented candles and Lisa Skidmore, Feelights (087 2153439) with the cutest handmade handbags and dog bandanas.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to organise the Christmas Craft Fair next year but was delighted when Becky Byrne kindly volunteered to run it next year so that the fair will continue on - thanks again, Becky:) I hope you enjoyed your trip to the fair and that you have a great crafty weekend!

Merry Christmas Ornament

I was so excited when my dear friend Linda sent me (among many other yummy goodies!) a new Hero Arts Stamp & Cut Set which is exclusive to Archiver's - thanks again, Linda:) The Christmas Ornaments set has three gorgeous ornaments and a die for cutting them out - yay I'll have some Christmas cards made in no time!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Christmas Ornaments, Aspen Happy Holidays & Very Merry Christmas

To start with I clear embossed and cut out the branch to hold the ornament. I've been using red felt on some other project I've been making so decided to die cut the felt as a backer to the embossed ornament. The ornament and sentiment were embossed and I added lots of bling to finish. Hero Arts' November Challenge includes using bling and dry embossing so I'm submitting this card into the challenge.

I had a great time yesterday with a couple of my friends at the Knitting and Stitching Show and was hoping to show lots of photos here. But a lot of the exhibitions and stands had a no photography policy, so I hardly took my camera out at all. I did get a photo of this gorgeous little box which I fell in love with. Unfortunately the box was out of stock, but hopefully I'll be able to pick one up again - I just need to track down the pamphlet I picked up for that particular shop! It would be a great project for using up paper scraps and stamped images from my stash.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Reindeer Tag in Paper Crafts Magazine

The past week has been busy, busy for me and I haven’t had a chance to make anything. So today I’m sharing a gift tag which was published in the November/December issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. I still have to pinch myself when I see something I’ve made in a magazine! I think I may also have a card in the digital version of the magazine but can’t access it at the moment.

Stamp (Hero Arts) - Christmas Reindeer set

In my last post I used the cute reindeer from Hero Arts’ Christmas Reindeer set to make cards and this time I made a gift tag by enlarging the image a bit. I think I’ll also use the reindeer to stamp wrapping paper so I’ll be getting a lot of use out of that set! Here’s a photo of the tag in the magazine.

I keep browsing through the magazine and am getting lots of ideas for my Christmas cards and tags for this year. I also love the “Set the Table” section which is full of amazing ideas for menus, placemats, napkin holders etc for the festive table. Hopefully this year I’ll get to try to make something special for our table for Christmas Day.

I'm afraid I'm going to be a very patchy blogger for the next little while as I'm very busy at work and home and am also starting to gear up for this year's craft fair - hopefully I'll be popping in every now and again though!

Happy World Card Making Day!

Happy World Card Making Day! Isn't it just wonderful for card makers all around the world to have a special day to celebrate making cards and have a really good excuse (not that we ever need one!) to get up to our eyes in ink?

Today I'm trying to make a batch of Christmas cards. Usually I make a different card for everyone but have never quite managed to make all of my own Christmas cards and always end up (shock, horror!) buying some. So this year I'm going to try make a few cards of each design I come up with. There's no guarantee I still won't end up buying cards at the last minute but hopefully this will help.

So now onto the first card. I have to say I'm totally in love with the adorable reindeer in Hero Arts Christmas Reindeer set - every time I see their cute little faces I have to smile! This card started off as an attempt at a CAS card but I never seem to be able to restrain myself from adding bits and pieces!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Christmas Reindeer & Very Merry Christmas

The second card has the other reindeer from the Christmas Reindeer set. This guy looks like a fun character so I had to put him in the middle of a snowball fight.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Christmas Reindeer, Very Merry Christmas and Magical Background

I wouldn't have been able to make this last card without my very good friend Linda, who send me a big batch of something I've been trying to get here for years - glossy paper that somehow actually lets alcohol inks and the blending solution do their magic - thanks again so much, Linda:) Making this card even brought the smell of Christmas into the house. I've haven't used StazOn in a long time but as soon as I opened up the pad, it reminded me of the almond paste my mum makes for Christmas cakes - yummy!


Stamp (Hero Arts)- Christmas Blessings

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you are having a fantastic World Card Making Day:)

Treat Container in Holiday Cards & More

I absolutely love Christmas, so was delighted when I received Holiday Cards & More in the post today. I've spent ages (and ages!) admiring all the wonderful projects in the magazine and am looking forward to going through the magazine again and again. Cards, home décor, gift wrap and tags - they're all in there.

I was so excited to see a project I had made in the magazine. The cute Snowy House stamp by Hero Arts is one I've used over and over again for cards and tags but this time I enlarged the image to 200% to make a little treat container.

Stamp (Hero Arts) - Snowy House

Paper Crafts has provided lots of downloadable patterns and templates here for projects in Holiday Cards & More, including the little box I made for the inside of the treat container.

Autumn Birthday

I wanted to make a card and wrap a gift for a friend using autumn colours and some natural elements.


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Antique Engravings, Maple Leaf & It’s a Day for a Cupcake.

To make the wrapping paper and background for the card, I stamped the butterflies on a piece of parcel paper and kraft card, using walnut stain distress ink. I used a variety of distress inks (spiced marmalade, mustard seed, rusty hinge and barn door) on the leaves.



The maple leaf image was inked up and lightly spritzed with water before stamping. Then I cut out the leaves and applied some more ink as needed. Walnut stain was used again to stamp the sentiment on the card. To finish I just added raffia, wooden buttons and some twigs from the garden.



I’m submitting the card into the Focal Point Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, and the projects into the Paper Crafts September Gallery Challenge and the current Hero Arts Challenge (Fall Feast).

Autumn Leaves

I can certainly feel a change in the weather here, with a bit of a nip in the air in the mornings and evenings and suddenly the evenings seem to be closing in a lot earlier. Even so, I love autumn and for my card below included some of the colours we’ll get to enjoy on the trees over the next little while.


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Maple Leaf & Birthday Messages

I remember as a kid having so much fun jumping into big piles of leaves in autumn and to this day I still love the rustling sound of leaves as I go on walks at this time of the year. So I thought I’d make my own little pile/path of fallen leaves on this card. To start with I inked pieces of scrap card with various distress inks (spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, mustard seed, tea dye, forest moss, barn door and walnut stain – not only do I love distress inks, I love their names too!). Then I applied the same inks to the leaf stamp and lightly spritzed with water before stamping. After cutting out the leaves I adhered them to a panel which I then trimmed. The sentiment is embossed and I just added some gems to finish.

I’m submitting this card into the Repetition Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, as I used the same leaf stamp for each of the leaves, and the current Hero Arts Challenge – Fall Feast.

Happy fingers, happy feet and a chance to win a trip to Ireland

My fingers are orange and green but, as always, I've had great fun playing with distress inks!

I made this card for the Focal Point Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, Paper Crafts September 2012 Gallery Challenge (natural elements) and the current Hero Arts Challenge (fall feast).



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Earth Flowers, Blossom Art, Designer Woodgrain & Everyday Sayings

On the card base I stamped the woodgrain using antique linen distress. Then I die cut a piece of fabric and stamped the Earth Flowers with tea dye distress ink. The flower and leaves were white embossed and I applied distress inks (spiced marmalade and forest moss). To add some more natural elements I added some raffia and a wooden button.

So you've heard about the happy fingers and now on to the happy feet with some photos from a recent hike in Glendalough. We started the walk from the far side of the lake you can see way down in the valley. You can probably tell from the photo our walking boots have enjoyed quite a few rambles!

On some parts of the trail these railway sleepers have been put down, mainly to protect the mountains but they also provide a good grip on what can sometimes be slippery slopes.

Wish I could capture in photos just how beautiful it is in the mountains,

especially on gorgeous sunny days.

The heather is in full bloom.

But it looks like we were a bit late to try the sweet, juicy fraughans (bilberries) that can be found there.

Coming down through the forest we can across foxgloves. A bee was hovering around them but in each photo I took he had disappeared into the flowers or ended up blurry.

Here we are back down at the lake again and up to the left is where we had been.

I just thought I'd mention a place where I came across a chance to win a trip to Ireland next year from the US. A year long event called The Gathering celebrating Ireland and all things Irish is being held next year. It sounds like it's going to be a brilliant fun filled year. Anyway on The Gathering's Facebook page there is a chance to win the holiday here. Good luck!:)