Christmas cards from friends, a little giveaway and Happy New Year!

I’ve always loved receiving Christmas cards, but since I joined the Hero Arts Flickr Group and started receiving cards from friends there, my delight in receiving Christmas cards has increased tenfold! There really is nothing like a handmade card and even though I’ve oohed and aahed over countless cards I’ve seen on various websites and blogs, there’s nothing like holding one in your own hands and being able to truly see the amazing detail and work that has gone into creating it.

Anyway scattered through this post are the beauties I was so lucky to receive this year.

Card A


They were sent to me by these very lovely and talented ladies (in alphabetic order) - Barb, Ivy, Lai-Yoke, Linda, Maureen, Paula, Sally, Sue and Trinh – thank you so much ladies, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to receive these wonderful Christmas cards from you!

Card B


I thought it might be fun to have a little game and giveaway with them. All you have to do is guess who made each card!

Card C

Just post your guesses in the comment box or email me by 11.59pm PST on Saturday 7th January.

Card D


If you sent me one of these cards, please email me your guesses using my email address, Flickr mail or by using the contact me button on the sidebar, otherwise it might make it too easy for everyone!

Card E


Whoever guesses all or the most correctly will win a little prize. It there's a tie, I'll do a draw. I’ll send a surprise (at the moment it’s a surprise for me too as I’ll only get to my LSS next week to buy the goodies!) and also make a brooch like the one in this post, in whatever colour you'd like.

Card F


So have fun guessing and I’ll post the answers and winner on Sunday 8th December.

Card G


To finish up I just want to say a great big thanks to everyone for visiting over 2011 – I know I haven’t exactly been great for posting, especially in the last few months!

Card H


I really appreciate your visits and the lovely and encouraging comments you have left.

Card I


Hope you all have a fun time celebrating New Year’s Eve and I wish you all of the very best for 2012:):):)

A Valentine from Joy and blog awards

This is the wonderful card which I received from the lovely and talented Joy though a Valentine swap organised by Anita in the Hero Arts Flickr group. I love Joy's gorgeous design and the beautiful colours she has used.


Her colouring is gorgeous and I love the sprinkling of pearls. Joy, thanks again for this beauty and for all the lovely goodies you sent along with it. Unfortunately the Valentine which I sent to Amy seems to have gone astray so I’ll be sending another card to her. I won’t post my first card here just yet in case it eventually turns up.


A little while ago I was delighted to be given blog awards by two very kind and talented ladies - Dawn and Rosemary.

This is the award from Dawn



To accept this award I need to do a few things:

1. Thank the person who gave it. Thank you so much Dawn for the award and lovely compliment!

2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.

3. List three things which you love about yourself (this is the hard bit!). I hope these will do!

a) I love that I’m lucky to have wonderful family and friends.
b) I love that I feel life has been kind to me and that I’m a very happy person.
c) I love that I’m always ready for a good laugh.

4. Post a picture that you love.

My favourite photos are of my kids and hubby but I’m not sure that they would want to be on my blog. So here’s a photo of the hairy guy in my life – Toby. This is from last summer when we dropped down to Kilkenny (love that city) for the day. Toby loves coming on day trips with us and I took this photo just after we finished a picnic in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle.



5.Pass this award to 5 people--in no particular order

Trinh - She is so creative, kind and is a great and fun friend.
Linda - Another great friend who is talented in many ways and is full of the joys of life.
Sue - A genuinely lovely friend who has the most amazing talent.
Sue - Another very talented lady whose cards I admire very much.
Lin - She’s so talented, kind and thoughtful. Love her style.

Now on to Rosemary's, award. Firstly Rosemary, thank you so much for this award and for your lovely words that went with it.



I have to pass the award on to 5 bloggers and tell you 5 things about me.

Libby – I always love visiting Libby's blog to see her wonderful cards, yummy recipes and her fun postings. She is so funny and I often end up giggling right the way through her posts.
Patricia – I love visiting Patricia’s blog for her fab and fun creations. I’m always amazed by her colouring skills – I need to take a trip to Spain for some lessons.
Maureen – A really lovely and talented lady who is so kind and encouraging.
Deirdre – She is such a talented and sweet lady and has been a great help tipping me off about where to shop for crafty supplies here in Ireland.
Virginia – A really lovely lady with a great sense of humour who has a wonderful blog covering her gorgeous creations, lovely family and yummy food.

Thanks to all you ladies, it's been great getting to know you and see your fab creations:)

So here are five things about me – be prepared for a snoozefest!

1. We have a dog called Toby as you can see above and a goldfish called Bubbles. My son Mark had his name drawn out in a raffle and could choose either a chocolate cake or a goldfish. He loves chocolate cake so much but Bubbles it was!
2. I used to always put brown sauce* on my dinners and bring a bottle of it on holidays. One time for a bet I ate some on chocolate cake – it actually tasted really good! Now I don’t eat it at all.
3. I met my hubby in work.
4. I’ve no head for heights.
5. Years ago I lived in Florida for a year. I can’t believe I actually missed our changeable Irish weather when I was there!

* I had a couple of questions about brown sauce - it's a kind of steak sauce made from malt vinegar, tomatoes, dates, tamarind extract, sweetener and spices.

Phew, sorry for the extra long post today!

Cards from Trinh and a list.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything – I nearly had to wipe away the cobwebs to get into the blog! I’ve been busy with non stamping things and also have made cards I can’t show just yet for friends’ upcoming birthdays and Anita’s fun Valentine card exchange.

Today I’d love to show you two wonderful cards that my good friend Trinh, who I got to know through the Hero Arts Flickr group, sent me along with a brilliant array of stamping goodies. Thanks again Trinh! We both thought the package had gone astray in the post as it obviously decided to take a very scenic route and took all of 32 days to get from the U.S. to Ireland! It was well worth waiting for these beauties though.

First up is a gorgeous, gorgeous Christmas card.


I wish you could see it in real life to see the amazing all over shimmer.


The second one is just adorable and just my cup of tea. If you know me you’ll know I love my tea (more about that later) so I love this card with its beautiful design, colours and embellishing. Think I need to make a cup of tea now!




Speaking about the lovely and talented Trinh, during the week she gave me the two awards above. Thanks again Trinh for the awards! I’ve never made up one of these lists before but here goes.

1. I’m more of a morning person than a night owl.

2. When I was a child I wanted to be a window cleaner. I often used to see a window cleaner at our local shopping centre and I thought a bucket of soapy water and a squeegee would be the coolest things to play with for a job. Now cleaning the windows is one of the jobs I’m not really keen on about the house!

3. I love my tea. I always start the day with a cuppa and probably have 8\10 cups a day. It has to be weak with lots of milk so it sort of looks like hot milk with a slight tinge of colour.

4. Foods I don’t like – fish, Turkish delight, beetroot.

5. I have always loved travelling but after a few bad experiences on flights I hate flying. Living on an island I just have to try to get over it as much as I can.

6. My favourite city is Paris and favourite natural area would be a tie between Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. In Ireland my favourite city is Galway and natural area a tie between Wicklow and Kerry. Can you tell I prefer the countryside to cities?!

7. Some of my family call me Head, Heads or Headie.

8. I would spend more time in a craft shop or book shop than I would in a clothes shop.

9. I LOVE chocolate and love chocolate with nuts even more.

10. I started wearing glasses when I was 16. The thoughts of putting in contact lenses makes my eyes water and as for laser eye surgery – aaaagh!!

I’m supposed to pass these awards on to other bloggers. I would love any of you reading this to take these awards. Please let me know if you do - I'd love to read your list:)

Women’s Christmas and Christmas cards from friends

The 6th January, the feast of the Epiphany, is also known here in Ireland as “Nollaig na mBan” or Women’s Christmas. Traditionally on this day men are supposed to do the housework and cooking while women have a lovely relaxing time. Sounds great doesn’t it! The custom dates back to years ago when men never did any housework and were never expected to either. Well thankfully that all changed quite a while ago and most men do their fair share around the house so to be honest I don’t leave my hubby to do everything (nearly but not quite everything!) today.

Today is also the day everyone takes down their Christmas decorations and Christmas cards, so I suppose the men could have a bit of a busy time of it, lol! Even though it’s a bit after Christmas I just thought it would be a good day to show you the wonderful Christmas cards I was lucky to have received from friends I've met through the Hero Arts Flickr group. I’ve linked to their websites so you can see more of their wonderful creations.

Lai-Yoke



Sue


Maureen


Hannah


Isha


Thanks so much ladies for these wonderful cards which I’m going to bring to my part of the playroom now. So all through the year I’ll still have a little bit of Christmas to enjoy in my craft space!

Cards from Fika, Linda and Maureen

Today I’d like to show you three fab cards I’ve been lucky to receive from three very lovely and talented ladies. It's been brilliant getting to know Fika, Linda and Maureen through the Hero Arts Flickr group and the Die Cut Divas Flickr group.

The first card I received is from Fika (juicyflavor on Flickr). It’s just such a fun and playful card packed with great details. Love the chick having fun skipping and what a perfect sentiment to go with it too!
Stamps (Hero Arts) - Flower Chick, Life is Not Perfect & Stripes Pattern

Linda (scrappinbari on Flickr) sent me this absolute beauty. I love the gorgeous combination of colours and stamps here. The shimmer from perfect pearls and the embossing looks even more beautiful in real life.
Stamps (Hero Arts) - Fabulous Flourish, Music Background & Friends

Recently I was delighted to receive this gorgeous card from Maureen (mkmermaid on Flickr). I love the way she has combined the various images and patterns. The card is wonderfully sparkly with lots of glittery goodness.


Thanks again Fika, Linda and Maureen, I love your cards!

Cards from Sally and Anita

I love butterflies and was delighted to receive these two beauties from two very talented ladies - Sally and Anita.

Sally's colouring of the Heart Winged Butterfly is absolutely brilliant and her design and background look amazing. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to capture the fantastic all over shimmer that there is on the card.



To see more of Sally's wonderful cards you can visit her blog here and her Flickr photostream here.

Recently I won some blog candy on Anita's blog and along with the yummy goodies she sent me this fab card with more gorgeous butterflies. I love the beautiful colours and design. As for the stitched sentiment - brilliant!



You can find more of Anita's fantastic cards here on her blog and here on her Flickr photostream.

Thank you so much Sally and Anita - I love them!

Post from Patricia

Since I joined the Hero Arts Flickr group I've been the happy recipient of wonderful cards from Flickr friends. I keep all the cards on shelves above my desk where I can see them every day and I think poor hubby is going to have to add more shelves soon! This week I'm going to share some cards which I was delighted to have received recently.



I love taking a virtual hop over to Spain to visit my pal Patricia's (Scrapflower on Flickr) blog. She creates fantastic cards and I am in awe of her colouring skills. Above is the absolutely gorgeous card she sent me recently. I love her design and all the brilliant details plus of course her beautiful colouring. I wish I could have captured the amazing sparkle that there is on the wings in real life.



Patricia's adorable little envelope had me intrigued and I opened it to discover......



....a wonderful ATC tucked inside. I may (lol!) have mentioned that I love all things sewing related, well I just LOVE this ATC! The images are perfect and I love all the stitching and Patricia's fab distressing and shading!

Muchas gracias, Patricia for sending me these beauties and for all the wonderful goodies you included in the package! If you'd like to hop over to sunny Spain after a visit to wet and windy Ireland here is a link to Patricia's blog where you can see lots more of Patricia's gorgeous creations.

More cards from Linda

As I've mentioned before I love being in the Hero Arts Flickr group for all the inspiration and fun. It has also been brilliant getting to know the lovely and talented ladies in the group like Linda (ScrappinBari on Flickr). Because of a comment that she left on one of my cards, we recently ended up doing a little card swap.

Linda surprised me with this absolutely adorable card which I had included in my favourites in the Flick group. The flower box with the beautiful flowers has such gorgeous dimension, colours and colouring.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Curly Flowers & Easter Set AR176 (exclusive to Archiver's)

And who could resist this cute little bunny peeking out from the ribbon and flowers?


Linda also sent me a mini card and ATC which she had made at an Archiver's class. The mini card is 3 inches square and is such a dote! If you know me you'll know I love sewing so I've put the card on the shelf above my sewing machine so I can see it as I'm sewing away. I wish my sewing machine looked as pretty as this one!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy

Unfortunately my photo doesn't capture how beautiful Linda's ATC is in real life. The distressing and stamping are wonderful and there is such a delicate sparkle off the pretty butterflies.


Stamps (Tim Holtz) - Urban Chic

Here is a link to Linda's photostream where you can see lots more of her gorgeous cards.

This is the card I sent to Linda (more details here)


Stamps used (Hero Arts):- Antique Engravings, Wild Flowers & Messages

and the ATC is below. The butterfly is embossed on a shimmery fabric using sparkly embossing powder and the background is one of the beautiful papers from a Kaiser Craft pad that Paula and Dawn sent me. Thanks again Paula and Dawn!


Stamp (Hero Arts)- Heart Winged Butterfly

Thanks again Linda for the fun swap and for all the gorgeous goodies you sent me to play with!

Card from Sue

I've long been an admirer of Suzz (Stampersuzz on Flickr) and couldn't tell you the amount of time I've spent staring at her amazing cards, taking in every last detail.

Recently, Sue very kindly and generously sent me this absolutely wonderful card along with a brilliant array of goodies. I was really like a kid on Christmas morning when I opened her package!


I just love everything about this card - the design, colours, embellishing, distressing, all the beautiful sewing related stamping and Sue's cutting skills are amazing.


Just had to show a close up and I LOVE this sewing machine! Thank you again Sue for this very special card and for all the yummy goodies too!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

July Card Chain Challenge

I always love taking part in Deborah's Card Chain Challenge (CCC) and today I was delighted to receive this absolute stunner from Marian in the Philippines.



The background looks amazing with the way she inked the hills, sky and sun. It also has a wonderful all over shimmer (perfect pearls maybe?) which I couldn't catch in a photo. The gorgeous embossed tree and butterflies are full of sparkle too.

It's also beautiful on the inside!



Thanks again Marian. I love it!

This is the card I sent to Donna (irishmist2009). As Donna has received the card, I thought I'd post it.



Stamps (Hero Arts):- Leaves Background, Flourish Background, Engraved Flower & Messages.

I used a piece of green fabric for the background (the grain of the fabric is less obvious in real life), clear embossed the Leaves Background on it and added a little machine stitching. The red card base is clear embossed with the Flourish Background. The flower has two layers and is coloured with a red marker and yellow watercolour pencil. I love the little heart pearls from Hero Arts so I had to add one to the card!

If you haven't already tried it, I'd highly recommend taking part in Deborah's monthly challenge. On the last Friday of the month Deborah gives the details of the next CCC on her blog. So you might like to check out her blog on the 30th of July for the August CCC!

Cards From Linda

I'm so happy that I joined the Hero Arts group on Flickr a little over a year ago. Besides all the brilliant inspiration and fun in the group, one of the best things about it for me has been "meeting" and getting to know fellow card making addicts from all over the world! One of the lovely ladies I've got to know in the group is Linda W (ScrappinBari). Not only is she super sweet, funny and talented but she has also given me some of the yummiest recipes that I've ended up using again and again.

Anyway I wanted to share the wonderful cards and ATC that I received from Linda last week along with lots of yummy goodies.



I wish my photos could do justice to how fab they are. It's a dull, cloudy day here today and I think it's supposed to be that way for the week.



On Linda's Flickr photostream you can find a description of how she made the amazing backgrounds. I really want to try these techniques too.



Thanks again so much Linda!