And another...

great quote, "Happiness depends more on character than fate". There is something reassuring about this, that we can choose happiness rather than leaving it in the laps of the gods.

Chipboard, acrylic paint, Basic Grey letters, 7gypsies Outback, Heidi flowers, various chipbaord letters and shapes.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Mine is on the back of my toilet door! Hahahaha! I love little words of wisdom, especially if it helps you to think positvely. When i read the words "One's Life is framed by one's thoughts" recently I was inspired to make a little sign for the back of my toilet door, so when i have a moment to ponder ;-) i have my little bit of positive inspiration. Basic Grey, Eva range, 6x6 ;-)

Life Lessons

...you can be taught them all you like.... you know those little words of wisdom you hear from your Mum/sister/friend, but until you actually go through something profound, they don't mean much. When the dust settles, and everything sorts itself out, thats when you say... "oh yeah, that really makes sense now".


I've learned loads over the last number of years, I suppose I was too busy to learn up until then. But one of the biggest lessons i've learned is that Friends are special, really special. Its great having them around to celebrate and party, but when the crap hits the fan and they are still standing beside you, holding your hand or drying your eyes.... thats true friendship!

I am one lucky girl! I've got a great bunch of friends, people I can have fun with but I also know if I need them they'll be there in a heart beat and I too for them, without hesitation. Lurves you guys :)

P.S. Forgot to mention the papers are new from Basic Grey and called... Eva, hee hee, just had to buy them. Looking forward to the Birds of a Feather stamps, pmsl!

Happy Birthday Fiona

Fiona, Viv, Anne-Catherine, Laura and I went to Midnight Court in Leamy House last night for Fi's birthday and it was brilliant!!!!! Its one of this interactive plays where you follow the cast around the house! If you never had the chance to go to something like this, well you have to its amazing!

Hope you had a great time last night babes, I certainly did :) Baby says Happy Birthday too!

#1

Wow, its been ages since Viv, Fiona and I sat and talked, it was like old times. The girls called this evening and we had such a laugh catching up on all the gossip. Both girls daughters started secondary school this year, i can't believe it! I still remember the time the 3 of us dossed from school and sunbathed out my back for the day.... While they were here I showed them some photos I had printed out of their first time Geo Caching. The plan was to do a DLO 8x8 with the series of images, typically i changed my mind after I cut up all the card, hee hee!


So with the 8x8 card already cut i had a choice... i could use 1 image, but I had a series of them that i loved and I wanted to add a good bit of journaling too... It took awhile but eventually i came up with a type of overlapping LO where i could all my photos :)

This is my favourite photo, it really sums up the laugh we had. Don't you just love it when your friends willingly pose for photographs and give you good material to scrap. Lurves you girls and thanks for permission to post these up, I hope you like them :)

Ciao Bambinos :)

Scrapping at last!

Gosh, it's been soooooo long since I've done some scrapbooking, my mojo seemed to be on holiday. Its great when you're feeling a little creative and you can do something about it! I did a very simple LO, concentrating on the colour scheme, especially picking up on the orange in the seat.

These photos were taken on the August Bank Holiday in the Killarney National Park. They have the most fantastic kids playground there, the best in Ireland!!! I have to say there are playgrounds pooping up all over this country, ones with some imagination!
You got to check out this park next time you're in Killarney, it would make you wish you were a kid again! :-)
Imagine Caroline has been having crops for a year now!!! Where does the time go? To celebrate she is having a Birthday Crop on the 21st September. There is only 1 place left.... so check out her blog for more details.


The papers for the class are Basic Grey, as you can see above they are in green and blue. I've used a 6x4 (landscape format) to create a LO with some "white space".


Last but not least..... have you heard the news? As soon as I saw Donna Downey was coming back to Ireland I booked my place straight away! Lainey and Annamarie organised such a great event the last time I just know this will be fantastic! Not only is Donna teaching but so is Anita Mundt. My gosh we are soooo spolit! Check out The Scrapbookstore website for more details :-)


Right, off to get organised for school and work. Keeping fingers crossed this bloody flu is gone after a good nights sleep :-). Night all!

50 years and still going strong...

Imagine, 50 years married.. whats their secret? What ever it is they both deserve medals, hee hee! We've just had a great weekend helping my parents celebrate. A weekend of champagne, shopping, pampering, utter indulgence! How tough is that? Well someone has to do it :)

Of course on our way down, i had to take a few photos, this obsession i have with clouds might get a little dangerous... I couldn't help it, the sky was amazing!


Right, night to all :)

Food for the Soul

A week in Kerry just chilling is the best medicine in the world. Shona and I had the most relaxing week in the most beautiful surroundings!

Every morning I headed with my sis to Glenbeigh for a walk.... well she walked i strolled while taking photographs. The weather wasn't always the best but the cloud formations were amazing (i have a thing for clouds).

We spent most afternoons shopping or sight seeing and Shona was an absolute doll never complaining once! I even brought her to Caragh lake to show her the place she was named after (Shona Caragh), she says its a beautiful lake, just like her!

I think one of the hightlights of the trip for her was getting on Papa Buds boat, its a small deep sea fishing thingie and she was in her element. We didn't go out with the gang as they were going fishing and thats not our cup of tea!!!


Doesn't this photo sum up our Irish summer? Hahaha! I love it! Having ice cream on a misty day while looking for the Skelligs.
On thursday we had a yummy Bar-b-q at the cottage. Old friends of the family came along with their gangs, the kids (all 14) were utter stars, they had no problem posing for me here, hee hee!

The holiday was just what I needed, its a pity it ends all too soon but I'll feel the benefit of the break for a while to come.

Happy birthday to a great guy, I know Viv won't mind me saying... Der (you old man) thanks for a great night on friday, we'll all be there for the 50th.

Ok back to reality now, Ciao bambinos.

Eva - aka Cheshire Cat ;-)

The last few weeks..

.. have been busy again, really looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend - phew :) So the photo club summer meet up is working out really well! Its the same crew every week, but sure we don't mind. So recently we've done outdoor portrait in St. Mary's Cathedral. Ber's son and his girlfriend kindly posed for the evening :) I really love the first image, its got a nice subtle gothic feel to it.

Then there was the night we started in town and ended up at the show in Castletroy Shopping Centre. The weather kept threatening to pour but we were lucky to get a few decent shots. George was great to let us all on the Big Wheel for free!


During the week we were in UL to do sports photography... with very little sports going on, hahaha. Mind you look what we did find... some peeps trying to do some paraglyding but the wind just wasn't strong enough, still it gave us great photo ops :) We finished the evening on the Living Bridge taking shots of the sunset, devine!

The geocaching has been going great! I brought Shona, Louise and the boys out and about near her neck of the woods. The boys were a little reserved at first but I really think they'll love it, Shona certainly does. We plan on doing loads over the holidays. A few days later, I introduced Viv, Fiona and Ber to geocaching out in Shannon, that was sooooooo funny with us trying to hide what we were doing from muggles...

The only creative thing I've done over the last few weeks was to make a bag. I found the most beautiful linen material in Hickeys. Its been years since I made something from fabric and I loved it... got a feeling I know what this years Christmas gifts are going to be :) As long as I can master the seaming...

Just want to leave you with this.... came across this fantastic video from Haagen Das for Help The Honey Bees, check out the site too. http://www.helpthehoneybees.com



Have a fabby weekend!

Summer Camp

Well her summer camp is offically over... phew, what a blast! For the last 2 weeks Shona has been coming into work for about 45 mins every morning and then at about 9:45 we'd head to UL for her Centre Stage summer camp. I've seen her confidence grow over those 2 weeks, for a girl who would not sing in public to one who would practice her song for the company secretary.

So even though the camp ended on friday, there was rehersals on Saturday and Sunday along with two show at the University Concert Hall today. She has been excited and nervous all at the same time. The show they were doing was Alice in Wonderland, Shona played one of many rabbits and sang "he's late, he's late" (about the white rabbit)

This has been an amazing opportunity for her, one i reckon she'll remember for the rest of her life. Not just the 2 weeks but the whole experience of being back stage, seeing the concert hall from another angle!

Shona's Dad, Gran, 2 Aunites (Mary & Ber) all loved seeing my little angel up on stage, we even stayed on for the senior performance which was "Hairspray" which was brilliant! The singing was amazing with wonderful young talent!

After the show all the kids got a certificate of attendence, as you can see my babes was as proud of punch :) as were all her family.

Crafteire Crop

OMG! I'm exhausted! What a fantastic weekend. The Crafteire Crop was nothing but laughing, drinking and crafting. Thank you Mireille for opening up your home to us and making us feel so welcome! Thank you girls for my pressies and gorgeous cards :) Lurves you! The champagne was flowing and I can tell you a girl could get used to this life style :)


Can you guess who this is? I think the stripes give it away. My driver to Tullamore forgot to get suitably orange before heading to Offaly so Mireille and I got working on her as soon as we landed!
We got so much done over the weekend, loads of LO's as you can see below mostly the gorgeous Fancy Pants papers but I also did my first Geo Cache which Mireille talked me through. I've wanted to do one for such a long time and now that I have I can see Shona and I doing loads over the summer!

Thanks again girls for a fabby weekend :)