Yarn Bombing and Emoji Card

June Fest is on again in our neighbouring town Newbridge. We happened to be in Newbridge one glorious sunny evening and came across the yarn bombing in Liffey Linear Park. It was so enjoyable strolling through the park and taking in all the fun and funky knitted and crocheted pieces that decorated trees, lampposts, railing, benches etc.

Because it was so sunny and bright and I had to take photos on my phone, unfortunately, my photos don't do justice to the installation, but here goes anyway!

The first hint of what was to come was the way the swan statue at the entrance to the park was bedecked in colourful knits.

Well done to whoever yarn bombed this life sized angel!

Crochet flowers were trailing from the flower basked on this lamppost

and the trees along the pathway were full of colour.

There was even a little bit of Christmas to be found with this gingerbread man on his bike

and a snowman was tucked away in a tree decorated with candy canes.

I loved this fun couple

and the aquatic pieces on this lamppost.

If you want to take a breather, near this teacup lamppost with cupcakes and donuts

there is a fabulous bench under a shady tree.

After a little break how about shooting some hoops

or taking a stroll to the end of the park

where some colourful mushrooms had sprouted at the base of this tree?

Flowers, bees and sea life were out in force on the banks of the River Liffey.

I couldn't think of a better placement for this poo emoji

and there were lots more emojis to be found on this lamppost.

After coming home I thought I really must make a card using an emoji die set I picked up on a fun shopping trip last year with my friend Linda.

Die - Emojis die set (Spellbinders)
Stamp - Woodland Creatures (Hero Arts)

I just wanted to make a quick and simple card using one of the emoji dies and because of the way all the trees were decorated in the park I wanted to use some kind of woodgrain on the card. In the end I recycled a piece of card I had saved from packaging.

Hope you enjoyed taking a peek at some of the yarn bombing in Newbridge. It's well worth a visit if you happen to live nearby or even not so nearby :)

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day from the Emerald Isle! I'm just popping in to post a card I sent to my good friend Linda for St Patrick's Day.

Last year Linda sent me some gorgeous shamrock die cuts so I wanted to use one on my card for her. I applied ink to a cream shamrock, added some lovely shimmery clear Wink of Stella and finished the shamrock off with a green gem.



Then I die cut a couple of flourishes from gold glitter card using a die from the beautiful Celtic Flourish set by Docrafts. The sentiment was stamped using the same ink I'd applied to the shamrock.

Dies - Fancy Shamrock (Impression Obsession) and Celtic Flourish (Docrafts)
Stamp - Celebrate Everyday (Hero Arts)

I'm submitting the card into Simon Says Stamp's Bit O' Green challenge.

Have a look here to see the fabulous St Patrick's Day card I received from Linda. Thanks again, Linda :) :)

St Patrick's Day is a public holiday here so no work or school for us today. We're hoping to spend a fair bit of our long weekend surrounded by green, including visiting one of our favourite places - Glendalough.

Hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend :)

Tropical Birthday

Hero Arts has a great Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge this month so when I had a bit of time to get inky this morning I just had to join in on the fun.

With the card I made I (accidentally!) managed to cover two of the lines - circles, background stamp & watercolour and background stamp, birthday theme & die cutting.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Tropical Background & Messages with Flourish
Die (Hero Arts) - Delicate Butterfly Fancy Die

I started by applying distress inks (spiced marmalade, worn lipstick & barn door) to the background stamp, spritzed with water and applied this to cream card. After the panel had dried I stamped the sentiment, die cut the opening and adhered some acetate at the back of the panel. The bright pink backing card for the shaker was also stamped with the same background stamp but because it was stamped in pink on pink it has left a very subtle pattern. After adding a mix of sequins and putting together the shaker panel I adhered it to a cream card base. My good friend Linda sent me the pretty butterfly - thanks again, Linda:)

I heat embossed the butterfly twice using enchanted gold embossing powder and used foam pads to attach it to the card.

My Mam is doggy sitting at the moment so this morning I brought Max, our hairy friend, for a ramble up the hill behind my Mam's house. Here are some photos I snapped along the way.

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day! I'm just popping in to post a quick St Patrick's Day card that I made this morning - talk about leaving it till the last minute!

Every St Patrick's Day I seem to make cards focusing on shamrocks, but this year I was thinking of some friends who just loved seeing lots of sheep when they were on holidays here in Ireland.

Moll's Gap, Co Kerry

I remember in particular one friend from Germany who got us to stop the car for photos nearly every time we came across sheep in the Wicklow Mountains. Needless to say there were a lot of stops that day! Of course I couldn't resist adding a little shamrock (made from mini punched hearts) to the card too:)



Stamps (Hero Arts) Missing You & Celebrate Everyday

Now it's back to the festivities for me:) Hope you have a fun St Patrick's Day!

Ardmore Beach, Co Waterford

Killarney, Co Kerry

Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare

Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare

Turning Snowflakes into Flowers and a Bit of Blarney

In this post I used the pretty Simon Says Stamp Kate Snowflake die to make a border and today pulled out another very pretty snowflake die from Simon Says Stamp called the Eliza Snowflake, to see what non Christmassy thing I could make with it.



Die (Simon Says Stamp) - Eliza Snowflake, Stamp (Hero Arts) - Be Happy


I thought I'd try to make some flowers this time and cut out the bits and pieces I needed from Studio Calico (Snippets) patterned papers.

After die cutting, I trimmed away the pieces I didn't need and layered two pieces to form a flower.

To finish the flowers I added a little pearl to the centres. The sentiment was embossed on another die cut (Dahlia Nestabilities) and I stuck little pieces, from the snowflake die cut, to the back so that rings peek out between each petal.

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Challenge and Simon Says Stamp You Gotta Have Friends Challenge

The past few weeks have been busy, busy here so I'm only getting around to posting some more photos of the little trip Linda and I did around the place. Next stop is Blarney Castle.

A beautiful walk, by a little stream, leads to the castle. It was lovely to hear the babbling sounds of the stream and all the birdsong as we made our way to the castle. We were blessed with the weather that morning, it was absolutely glorious.

Both of us skipped kissing the Blarney Stone. I have to say with my head for heights, dangling backwards out over a castle wall doesn't really appeal to me! But in this photo you can see a lady (beside the man in the red jacket) who is just about lean out and go for it - better her than me:)

I enjoyed the views instead and will just have to do without the gift of eloquence!

After visiting the castle we had a lovely stroll around the grounds. There was a fascinating poison garden beside the castle, but I must have been so intrigued with it I forgot to take any photos! I loved the fern garden which has some of the biggest ferns I've ever seen.

Winding through the walks we could tell the wild garlic was in full bloom - the faint smell of garlic wafting in the breeze was lovely.

Blarney House wasn't open when we visited but I enjoyed seeing it again and....

...spotting the wonderful features like this water spout.

We couldn't have picked a better time of the year for our visit with the bluebells and rhododendron in full bloom.

Hope you enjoyed the little bit of Blarney:)