Crop 'n' Shop

We were so tired last night after a fabby weekend in Youghal that I didn't have the energy to post up some photos. Tigger had asked Shona and I down to her place for a Crop 'n' Shop, and knowing Tigger's (& family) hospitality we said yes straight away. On our way down on friday we collected Caroline in Mallow. It was brill to have adult company for the journey and to catch up with Caroline too :-)

On Saturday morning Ruth and Donna arrived at Tiggers and after a few hours of scrapbooking we all headed to the Craft Mills in Lismore for a little retail therapy.... ok alot of retail therapy. We were like children in a sweet store!!! Laura's shop is amazing! She has some wonderful papers, embelisments, inks and stamps. Gosh, Its so much nicer seeing crafty stash in real life. Once we left a wee fortune behind us it was off to have a yummy lunch in Foley's.

After our feed we went around the corner to a Church of Ireland, where I got some gorgeous photos not only of us girls but of course of the church itself (surprise, surprise!) The light under the trees was delish and I got some gorgeous photos. I love the one of Ruth, Tigger, Caroline and Donna!

We got loads of scrapping done, well most of did ;-) alot of the LO's are for Scrapwest over the next few weeks so the only one I can show is the one dedicated to the weekend. I used the yummy Basic Grey Pheobie collection, really loving these papers!!!

Oooops - this is an 8x8 DLO (thanks Audrey)

Thanks Tigger and family for looking after us! A huge thank you to Eugene for supplying our tummies with the most scrummy food over the weekend. It wasd a fab weekend catching up with the girls and I'm looking forward to the next one :-)

Tags

This weeks Scrapwest was set by Annamarie and was called 'Tags' incorporating them into a LO, mini Album or card. I made this mini album using the yummy Pheobie papers, chipboard flower, ribbon and lovely pink envelopes. The mini book is to celebrate Shona's Communionn with photographs of her at various times of the day (the later ones are so funny), the tags in the pocket have even more photos.

Open Road

There is nothing better than the feeling of freedom with just a simple thing like the open road and no plans to where you will end up. After spending the week in the hospital with Shona all I wanted to do this bank holiday weekend was hop in the car and drive. Luckily for me I had a driver who kindly obliged to let me sit back and watch the scenery.

The first place we ended up at on Saturday was the Cliffs of Moher along with a 100 or so other soaked to the skin tourists. The sign below is dedicated to the last person I was with at the Cliffs, way back in the late 80's (LOL!).

Can you imagine all those tourists who stop to look at one of the most famous landscapes in Ireland (with one of the most expensive car parks in Ireland) only to be met with nothing but mist. Lucky for them there was plenty of plastic tourist ornaments to purchase in the shop to make the journey worth it! Oh and lovely wax hats to keep the rain off too :-)

On one of the bi-roads we came across one of the most breath taking views (of course there would have to be a building included). I got a close up shot too of the castle but the private sign we noticed might indidcate the owners wouldn't want us posting it up, or evidence that we were on private property :-o

Doolin had the most spectular natural elements. I am always amazed at how anything grows in the Burren. Peeping through the rocky landscape you can always find a little bit of nature thriving....

... but what Doolin offered the most was nature at its best!!! We stood there totally spell bound by the strenght and power of waves crashing against the rocks. After a few photos I had to put the camera down and just experience it. If the weather had been better we wouldn't have known this :-) thank goodness for the Irish weather!

After our car picinic in Doolin, it was back on the road to Ballyvaughan. On the way I really made the moat of being a passenger. The scenery in Clare is so rough and rugged and truly beautiful! We had a nice meal in Monks followed by a walk and a drink in a local where there was some trad music.

The next day it was off to Galway for a few hours, coffee on Shop street, just chilling and making the most of the better weather. There was loads of street entertainment, music, markets and street artists all competing for customers. The guy below had the right idea, it made him stand out from the crowd sitting on the australian's lap (LOL!).

We finished off our tour by heading to Salthill to soak up the sun and have a little fruity tart picnic. I came home feeling completely relaxed and ready for whatever the world holds! Thanks goodness for bank holiday weekends :-)

Scrap West

This weeks Scrap West theme was set by Ruth and is called Birds of a Feather. I love this photo of Shona and I, she thought it was soooo funny to wear my glasses, which I think makes her look so grown up! I used the gorgeous Piggy Tales collection from Crafteire which includes tags and the most gorgeous coloured chipboard letters.

I also used buttons, the Heidi Swapp flowers and white chipboard letters that Tigger got me as a b-day gift nearly 12 months ago (its the gift that just keeps on giving). I hi-lighted the flower on the tag with glossy accents. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!

Have you tried....

... cheese and onion Taytos and chocolate TOGETHER? Well I have for the first time and all I can say is YU-UM-MY!!!! In work we just happened to be talking about chocolate (as you do...) when one of my work girlies mentioned the combination. My first thought was YUCK, but I was persauded to go purchase the ingredients, assemble the combination and then devour. So if you have not tried it out yet then rush out to the local shop and purchase your favourite choccie and a bag of cheese and onion Taytos.

P.S. If you have a favourite weird combinations can you leave a link please :-) I'm feeling very adventurous!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Found this on Elsie's blog and thought it was cool. Check out the "get your own" for a bit of fun

:-)

R & R

My little woman and I rested up today, we chilled watching TV, we shoped for treats and had a fab lunch in the Pizza Hut :-) I got this gorgeous photo of my babes chilling on the couch and had to scrap it straight away (any excuse for me to relax too). Believe it or not this is a 12x12 ... I used the scrummy Oodles Of Doodles from Upsy Daisy Designs (check out the Crafteire shop), chipboard shapes, felt and buttons.


The flower chipboard was done by covering with white acrylic paint (a trick from Tracie is to use baby wipes to apply the paint in layers - it dries very quickly!). I then applied dots of glossy accents for a little bit of texture.

Kirsty's Photo

Last sunday the wonderful Tigger hand delivered the CD of photo's from Kirsty. They look grand but I think I prefere the untouched ones, wrinkles and all (LOL). Anyway it was a wonderful oppurtunity to get photos done by Kirsty.




Shona and I are going to spend the day relaxing, ok we do have to do some food shopping and maybe a few treats for the little woman too :-) but the rest of the day is just chilling :-)

Have a lovely day all!

Life is a Rollercoaster

... isn't it though! So much has happened since last I posted, well not so much, just one major thing really.

My little girl has been in hospital since last Sunday with pneumonia. I thought it was a bug as she has a temperature and was constantly sick. When we brought her to the doc on sunday he thought it was appendicitis, so straight to the hospital. The poor babes was really out of it with a fever so as soon as they put her on a drip I felt more relaxed. The blood tests showed she had an infection but they couldn't tell where... She had no cough or sniffles so it was a huge surprise when after the chest x-ray the docs said it was pneumonia.

Two days after the anti-b's and about 13 hours straight sleep, she awoke nearly back to herself (what a relief!). She came out today, yipee!!! I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight with my little girl. As alot of you probably know its impossible to sleep on the ward with beeps going off through our the night and the pull out bed isn't the most comfortable! Anyways, she was let out today, which was really a good thing as last night she woke up and asked me to sneak her out (LOL).

There was very little to do in hospital except wait, read and watch TV, but one of the days I brought my sketch book. I haven't sketched in aaaaaages so they are a little rough and Shona decided they need a little work and added her own little touches :-)

Twilight Racing

Yesterday evening myself and 2 other girls from work headed to a Twilight Race Meeting in Limerick Racecourse... talk about hilarious!!! None of us had a clue what we were doing and hadn't a clue how to read "the form" either but sure that didn't stop us from betting big money (€2 to place or each way ).

We picked our horses by their horsey names... we quickly scanned the list in each race to see something that would pop out or mean something no matter how obscure. I was very dissapointed, any of the horses I picked didn't place very well, whereas the 2 girls were picking winners each time... So by the 5th race I got very excited when I saw the name Crafty Eyed. I thought the gods were smiling down on me or giving me a sign that this was going to be my winner!!! ..... well all I can say is that Crafty Eyed is still running (@#%*^%)

After the races the Hot House Flowers played in the pavillion, Liam and the boys were soooooo cool, giving it loads! Mind you so was Ailis and I, we danced most of the evening with poor Ann minding our bags (she didn't want to be seen anywhere near us). I didn't realise how loud the music was (or how old I was) until we left the pavillion and I kept asking the girls "am I shouting?" the two girls kept repling "what?" LOL!

Anyways, we had a blast and I would recommmend it to anyone!!! The next one is on the 16th June and Jack L is playing after the races (coooool!). Check out Limerick Races for more info.

Ciao and have a lovely weekend!

First Holy Communion

My little princess is growing up sp fast! Yesterday was her First Holy Communion and what a wonderful day it was. From the moment she woke up to when she eventually went to bed she was so excited, which was a relief considering how nervous she was during the lead up to it.


The ceremony itself was very special, with each child playing a part. Shona brought a gift to the alter, you could see the concentration on her face. One of things Shona was worried about was the taste of the eucharist. When she did receive it and turned to walk back down to her seat, she glanced over at me, screwed up her face and mouthed the word "yuck", you could hear a little murmer of laughter throughout the church.

Of course there was a few emotional moments for me, how proud I was of my beautiful young girl. I really felt part of a special occasion, sharing it with my Mum and Shona's dad. When the priest talked about the children being so open, trusting and forgiving it really tugged at my heart. The tears were freely rolling down my cheeks :-)

The party back at the house was so relaxed! Our guests started arriving at about 2pm and kept coming all day. Everyone commented on the gorgeous food that my wonderful sister prepared for us and the wine was just delish!!!

I have to say, there was no stress for me even with the run up to the event. When people offered to help I siad "yes, please", I even asked for help on a few occasions, which as my family know can be very difficult (being stubborn and independent). The day would not have been the success it was without the help of my Mum and Dad, my sister and John :-)

On a serious note, the cosmic forces were working over time yesterday. After my parents left the house to go to Kerry, they were envolved in a very serious accident at the Dublin roundabout. They were hit from behind by a jeep, which got caught on my parents jeep. The driver seemed to be accelerating rather than breaking as he was pusing them at speed towards an ESB pole. Only for my dad having the presence of mind to pull on the hand brake I don't think they would have made it. As they broke free and my Mum got control of the jeep, the other vehicle flipped over twice and landed up-side-down.

We're not sure how the other driver is as he was taken away by ambulance but my Mum and Dad are ok, just very shaken up. My poor Mum said to me last night, all she could think as she was being pushed towards the pole, was that they were going to die on Shona's communion.

I know that sounds very depressing but I am feeling thankful to who ever was looking after my parents yesterday. Its times like this you become grateful for what is in your life. Shona and I tell my parents how much we love them everytime we see them. At least that is one thing I am thankful for!

Life can change in a second, so please if there is someone you need to pick up the phone to and tell them you love them, do it now!

I would like to dedicate this post to....

..... a wonderful woman, mother and scrapbooker, whom I never knew had a blog until today! She lives on an island off Donegal and eveytime I hear her stories about travelling by boat to the mainland in all kinds of weather, I think to myself, what a fantastic adventure this woman and her family are having! Here's to you Noelle. Check out her Blog with gorgeous photos of her kids and sample what life must be like on Tory Island.

Basic Grey

Well I am so chuffed, I submitted The Invitation LO to the Basic Grey gallery and I've just got an email to say the LO was selected for the gallery, yipee!!! I'm so excited, its the first time I submitted something to them :-) Below is the LO, you can check out Basic Grey for a peep.

Below is the LO for the Scrapwest Blog. The theme was My Craft, which was to celebrate the wonderful weekend we all had at Crafteire. There is a common feel on this weeks theme, our love for our craft. Something we all understand only too well :-)

Communion

Oh the weather was gorgeous yesterday! After spending a morning not doing much, Shona and I went to a party for her cousins communion. What a beauty she is, so natural. I captured a few photos of her, doesn't she look amazing!

Shona slpet for about 4 hours the night before (which is not like her!!!) so she wasn't in the best of form. I did get a few smiley shots of her, which are perfect for scrapping! Now I just have to find the right paper to match her top.... anyone know where i can get it??? LOL!

Bumbleberry CJ

Last weekend at Carfteire we got to swap back our Bumbleberry Cirlce Journals. I am so touched with the beautiful LO's these ladies did, and I feel I know them a little bit more. Thank you so much, you are all so talented.

Check out the girls Blogs, Tigger, Caroline, Maura. Izzy & Noelle get some blogs girls, it would be wonderful to read what goes on in your lives!!!

The theme for the CJ was......

.... either the top things you want to do or one thing youor really want!


Eva

Tigger

Caroline

Izzy

Noelle

Maura

I have to say, this was the best organised CJ ever!!! I know there was a few hicups but Caroline was superb, keeping track of everyone and all the girls were brilliant at keeping to the posting dates, it was such a pleasure :-)

Thanks for loooking!

Belgium Chocolates & Brussels Sprouts

Bonjour and Hallo, just back (since thursday) after a few days training in Belgium. The company decided to get each of the marketing departments together to train and bond :-) There was Portugal, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, UK, Belgium and Ireland, talk about International Relations. HQ is in Brussels but we stayed in a place called Edegem near Antwerp.

Because it was such a short visit we didn't get to see much of the country. With 2 hours to spare before the flight on wednesday, Joke (pronounced Yoka) brought myself and two others to a town called Machelem near Brussels for a quick visit. She was brilliant, bringing us to the chocolate shop for pressies and then to a bar to taste the local beer, yummy!!! I got a a few photos with my phone of a beautiful square with the most fantastic buildings, the architecture was amazing!!

Crafteire was amazing, it was wonderful meeting up with the girls and making friends with some new faces :-) Unfortunatley the batteries died in my camera, so no photos. I'll have to rob them off everyone else :-) Roll on Crafteire 2008!