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!

London by Taxi

My sides hurt, I don't think I ever laughed so much. At the airport today as we recalled what happened over the weekend strangers around us were laughing so much their sides were splitting too! I can't remember half of what we laughed at, but most of it happened in the numerous Taxi's we travelled in.

Saturday was fantastic! We didn't go to Liz's at all but Dianes previous residence, Kensington Palace, which was bought as Kensington House by Willaim of Orange and rebuilt into a Palace. The reason why I mention William of Orange is that my birthday is on William of Orange Day and as my Dad dig's with his left foot he wanted to call me Willamina. All I can say is thank goodness my mother didn't give into that one!!!!

Afterwards he headed to Harrods, for a quick lookie, especially in the most delis food hall. Then off to one of my now favourite shops of all!!! Swarovski! I've always loved their crystals but never dared purchased, well i did this time.

We also bought Eve the most gorgeous pair of crystal earings. After this we headed to Harvey Nics, which I have to say is so over priced but was still fun to browse the handbags starting at £300!

The pre Theatre meal in the Criterion was perfect. The restaurants looked like a Russian tea room with gold mosiac ceilings, columed arches and palms trees everywhere. Around the corner from the restaurant was Her Majesty's Theatre where the hi-light of our trip took place. I've been to a few musicals in my time, but this was magical. The singing, the sets, the drama of it all.... If you've never been, well then its time you did! We finished off our night drinking a few cocktails back at the fantastic Crowne Plaza (a place I would recommend if you are staying in London).

This morning we took a quick trip to a local Market where we purchased a few pressies for ourselves, LOL! All in all, the package was fantastic and I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking about heading to London for the weekend.

Cheers!

'ello, 'ello, 'ello, whats going on here then

I am sitting in my hotel room in London writing this from my bed on the TV. How cool is that! We've had a wonderful first evening here.

The flight from Shannon wasn't a bother, except for a little turbulence where my SIL lost most of her champagne. The taxi driver was fab and the hotel is just amazing. its called the Crowne Plaza and its so central. WE had the most amazing Italian meal last night, italian meats like salami followed by the lightest pasta I've ever tasted, all washed down with the most beautiful savingon blanc(sp?), yummy!

Today we are heading to Liz's house (HRH) for a princess Diane tour, i plan to be ther for about 10 mins, then off to Harrods, Harvey Nics and Swarzcov (sp? again). Tonight its dinner and then Phantom of the Opera.

Right, I think its time to peel myself off the bed and hit the town!

See ya all very soon.

Goodbye from London

feeling inspired

Isn't it wonderful when you find inspiration in the midst of doing something else... this happened to me this evening :-)

While Shona and I were out for a walk in UL, I came across a wonderful building that houses the Health Science department at the University. Now anybody who knows me knows how much I love architecture, so to find a gem like this when I wasn't expecting it was fantastic. I was also fortunate to have remembered my camera, planning on taking a few shots of Shona (not at her, LOL). None of these shots were edited, they were taking as is. It brought me back to my college days when we would wonder the streets of Limerick trying to capture unusual images, most of us returning to the college with the same shots.

I'm going to have to lock myself away for a few days, dust off the acrylics and get painting :-)

Scrap West #24

This weeks them was set by Annamarie and is called Scrap Lift. The idea was to find a LO that you found inspirational and ScrapLift. I found a wonderful LO by Jlyne Hanback called Read. Jlyne kindly gave me permission to scrap lift her LO. I really like the dimensions of this and the fact there was so much cardstock visible.

My own version is an 8x8 for my Book of Me. I used the Twirl Collection from Crate Paper, oooh I love this stuff so much, its so girlie and sweet.

Off now to do loads more scrapping :-) Happy Easter to all, enjoy all the yummy chocolate!

As promised...

... the complete LO. This is inspired by a wonderful poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer called The Invitation. As soon as I read the words, I knew I wanted to scrap it some how, without using pictures (an unusual departure for me). The Basic Grey papers were just perfect for this LO. The pocket holds a booklet with the complete poem, so the recipient can dip into it every now and then... and if his reaction was anything to go by, I know he appreciated it. I am planning on doing a series of canvases based on this poem pour moi, so I'll keep you posted on there progress.

If you get a chance read the poem (see link above), keep coming back to it, pick out the bits that are meaningful to you. Every time I read it, there is something new and profound. At this moment in time my favourite piece is...

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

M.I.A.

Ok..... I know I've been missing in action and its been sooooo long since I updated this thing but sometimes real life gets in the way of cyber life and truly that is a great thing! A few things have happened since last I posted, all good...

...But firstly this evening I gave my over grown lawn a bit of a hack, the smell of the freshly cut grass gave me a sense that summer is really on its way and so to celebrate I decided to refresh the blog too by giving it a new banner dedicated to the spring season. So make yourself a coffee, pull up a chair, we could be here awhile.

Work is really progressing with loads of training envolved. Last week I was in Dublin over night and met up with the ever talented Lainey, we had a fab night going to see a friend of hers art exhibition, then later catching up over a few drinkies. I'm also heading to Brussels for more training the day after Crafteire and all I can think of is all that yummy chocolate I'll have to sample while there :-) Gosh, I have it hard, LOL!

My wonderful Mum had her 70th birthday party two weekends ago, so there was alot of preperation envolved, not only organising the event but also making a few things for her too :-) The weekend was amazing with loads of pampering in the Renaissance Suite at the Radisson in Limerick. If you ever want to treat yourself (go on you deserve it!) I'd hightly recommend this place, all I can say is WOW!!!! Her girls are taking her to London for the weekend as her birthday gift (we gotta treat ourselves too), another gift she got was from my niece Deborah and it was a voucher for a tattoo... and yes she did at the age of 69 my Mother got her first tattoo, I'm so proud :-)

On the scrappy front besides Scrap West and making the gifts for my Mum, there's loads of creative projects on the go. At the moment I'm mainly getting ready for Crafteire, the classes are nearly finished. I'm really looking forward to catching up with everyone, taking a few classes and buying loads and loads of stash! I've just finished an A4 LO using the scrummy Basic Grey Scarlet Letters papers. As its a gift I can only show you a teeny piece of it but I'll post up the full LO soon... promise!...


.... Oh yeah and there is someone putting a smile on my face these days too, thought I'd sneak that one in :-)

So thats all the news, yeah its been busy, but sure life is good and thats all that matters. I hope all you wonderful creative ladies are all well, can't wait to see you soon.

Eva x