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 :)

Birthday celebrations

Well the celebrations have started, and boy i'm paying for it already...... Plenty champers and vino in the boys apartment last night and then Ber and I hit the town. We both had plenty to drink and laughed so much, there was a little bold behaviour but sure it was my birthday celebration. I'm allowed to bold every now and then especially when its fun :)

I'm really looking forward to meeting the crafty girls at the weekend, plenty of scrapping, chatting and shopping!!! Bliss!

I just looked at my post from last year and its funny how I was feeling at the time and what i planned for the year ahead. Never did i think i would be off the smokes nearly 6 months. The weight gain has been a bit of a bummer but its a small price to pay. As part of my gift to myself for my birhtday I had to be off the smokes 6 months and without a tennant for that time. So last weekend I offically moved into the room i used to rent out. I spent from 8am to 9pm on staurday moving furniture and painting walls. Shona gets the room I used to sleep in and her dad is moving her bunk bed this saturday :)

Anyways... today I got the most beautiful card from Sabrina. Look at the little birdie, its embossed and has glossy accents or something similar. Thanks Sbarina :) you're a star!

Ok need to pack some bits for the weekend :) Ciao

Photoshop Elements & Photocourse

I've finally invested in Photoshop Elements 6 and I'm a happy bunny! Not only did I invest I also did a photocourse on friday with Peter at Living Images. I totally recommend doing something similar if you want to move your photography skills on.

The following 3 photos are an example what can be done. The first image is under exposed especially considering it was taken on over cast day.

I'm bumped up the brightness to produce this high-key image and used dodge and burn for the eyes. Ialso used a clone stamp and healing stamp to remove the cold sore.

If you look at the black & white image close enough her eyes have a hint of blue.

OMG, 2 in one week!

I'm on a roll! Wonder how long this will last? :) Anyways below are a few photos from my trip to Brussels last week for work. Training and team building we were told.......Hmmmm! The first photo is all my marketing peers, one from each country, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy etc etc. We had just arrived to Ardennes after a meeting in Brussells. Here we are chatting, catching up since our last get together. The sun was shinning, we were a little tired from our trips but once we were served our glasses of champagne we started to relax (this is work by the way).

Then came the news that we would be cooking our own food.....a 3 course meal... trout, lamb, veg, dessert... We were given an apron and hat, for health and safety reasons of course, not to make us look silly. I wore mine a la Beret, here I am with Ana (Spain) & Paula (Portugal). We were also supplied with a glass of wine just so we wouldn't feel so silly.

The the French speaking chef gave us directions (translated by Anne) on how to do julianne of vegetables (properly). We celebrated by drinking a glass of wine. Then we learned how to skin and debone a fish. Then another glass of wine. We were showed a few more really great cooking tips but I can't remember them.... Then we were told to start preparing the food...... 3 hours later (maybe it was only an hour or so) we sat down to eat. We were so hungry and tired (and some of us had alot of wine in us) that we didn't care what the food was like, considering the nearest take-away was over 200km away. The food was delicious!!!

The next day we had our training session (real work). Then at about 2pm we headed off for our team building exercises.....Hmmmmmm! Wild Trails it was called. We were split into 2 groups and off we went into the forest. our first task was to build a bridge over a stream with 4 long logs, 4 short logs and 8 ropes. When the bridge was finished we had to go to the other side pushing a jeep... Yes a JEEP! And all this had to be done in 45 minutes. And what a team we were, just under 42 minutes!!!!

Next we were blind folded and ahd to find and make a perfect square with a rope, while holding it :) And loads of other tasks like rock climbing, abseiling, yadda, yadda. After all ourt hard work we were treated to a Bar-b-que and wine. We chilled for a few hours and then it was off into the forest using a torch (flame kind) to light our way. We were led to a teepee made of logs where a woman surrounded by Jamba drums taught us how to play... this i loved and now I want a Jamba drum :) At 1am we headed back to our abode for the best nights sleep.

The scenery surrounding where we were staying was amazing. I got out with Micela (Italy) for about 30 mins walk and a few photos (nothing decent as I had my small digital with me).

Our last day was more meetings and then off to the airport to wait 6 hours for my flight. I got into Bewley's Airport hotel in Dublin at 12 midnight and completly shattered.

Before I could get home to my sweetie babes I had one more engagement... The Mid Summer Mega Crop. And boy was this Mega!!! Donna and her family are so sweet and she is one talented girl! She entertained us with really witty stories and her teaching was so professional. I loved her class (pictures to follow when its done). Lance from Rusty Pickle gave an intense 3.5 hours of paper engineering. A great Kit with brilliant techniques. Thanks to Annamarie and Lainey for getting these two talented people over from the States :)

My creative juices are flowing again.... Yipee! I had this photo of Shona that I wanted to scrap for so long and I got it done tonight!!! I used the Colour-Me range from Luxe to co-ordinate with her top and the rest just came together.

Right, off to the labba. I need my beauty sleep for my one to one photo course tomorrow. Sleep well x

Where does the time go?

Back in September I did a LO about Shona's first day in 3rd class and now i'm preparing for her last day in 3rd class, namely preparing the teacher's gift, every crafters dream (pmsl). I've double checked my spellings but I'm sure there must be one wrong (LOL!). Anyways.... I've made a set of cards for various occasions, in a number of colours:

And also a mini book documenting each month of her school year, including her first day, christmas play and school tour. The kit is from Rusty Pickle's Lucky kit which I bought last weekend at the Mid Summer Mega Scrap. The papers are very Orish and I normally don't scrap in Green, so this was a challenge! I kept it simple with all the images the same size and used 1 paper on each page. I finished it off with the Bind It All (love this):

So glad I got this done, considering I was away all last week in Belgium with work.... Photos to follow soon... involves logs, ropes and a jeep :) Ciao!

Woohoo...

...Its been less than a month since my last confession, ahem i mean post. So whats been happening?

June Bank Holiday weekend: Shona, 2 of her friends and I headed to the Burren Birds of Prey in the Ailwee Caves centre, it was fantastic! The girls and i loved the display, I highly recommend it. The birds are in fantastic enclousures, plenty of room and so clean! Afterwards we went to the farmhouse to buy some yummy cheese. Then we got on the road again and headed to Lahinch for tea and a dip (toes) in the water. Then it was off to Quinn to say hello to my sister, then back home for bed (10.30), phew! We kept going all day and had such fun!

The Sunday of the bank holiday it was off to Tralee with my cousin for our Aunts 60th birthday. Shona asked to come when she heard it was a party, i jokingly said I'd be the youngest one there.... how right I was. By 11am the party was finished so us two young (ish), free (ish) and single gals headed out on the town. The Brogue Inn was brilliant, great late bar with brilliant music. I even met Maura there (* waves at Maura*). B ack in the lobby of the hotel we met a gang of other residents, we kept inviting anyone coming in the door to join us. The drink and sandwiches kept on coming. At 5.30 i headed to my labba. Early the next day (no hang over without the ciggies) we went to Blennerville, all of 2km from the hotel and I got this gorgeous image of the windmill... Look at that stunning sky, and those fluffy clouds!

The camera club has finished up for the summer but a few of us have decided to meet up over the next 2 months every other wednesday. We have a time table of places and things we would like to photgraph, our first evening was Macro in the peoples park.... but the flowers weren't in bloom :~ so when we eventually got out of the park (we were locked in for awhile) we headed down to the river and stayed there all evening and into the night. Below is my fav, as the sun was setting over my left shoulder the glass of this building acted as a reflector, cool!

Our garden is becoming a little piece of heaven. Both Shona and I have been working on it to tidy it up and bring the plants on, the wether was so bad last year that they really didn't get a chance. Last weekend we bought one ofn those swing benches with the canopy and I have to say both Shona and I love to sit, swing and talk all evening on it. Its been the best investment (paid for by being off the smokes 4 months - in 7 days it will be 5 months). Our strawberrys have blossmed with the sun and rain. I picked a crop during the week and there is loads more to be picked, not bad for a city gal :)

Scrapping at last! Can you believe it... i think Crafteire in Feb was the last time I scrapped. While taking apart the box the swing bench came in i noticed the card board and deciede not to re-cycle it all. I've kept enough to make two books. The photos are of Shona and her friends on our Clare day out. I really enjoyed tearing and painting. I aslo used the bind-it-all. This format was inspired from a mini book I saw somewhere (can't remember...)




Finally, last tuesday while driving to Galway i rang Patricia, my best friend from the age of 4. When we moved we lost contact but did meet a few years ago briefly in a shop. Anyways, Patricia and her hubby were in Kilorglin recently and she found the cottage (we would have gone down nearly ever weekend as kids). She met my dad who knew her straight away even though its been 25 years.... gosh i feel old. So she gave them her mobile and I rang her last tuesday, we talked from Bunratty to Kilcolgan (thats about an hour). We're going to meet up as soon as possible. I can't wait. I told her all about scrapping and I think she'd love it. Anyways Patricia, here is the photo I was telling you about:

So, as you can see its been a very quiet few weeks. I'm ready to chill for the weekend, if you're looking for me I'll be in my garden on the swing bench drinking cider out a champagne glass :)

Is this becoming a habit?

The monthly posts that is, lol! The last month has been a little slower than others but very eventfull!

There have been major changes in work with 3 jobs gone. i'm grateful for still having mine but it goes to show you there is nothing written in stone. With this in mind I'm looking at bringing in a little more cash for Shona and I by doing more photography. I'm building a website and will be pimping my services as much as possible :) I'll post up a link as soon as its finished!

Last weekend I brought my Mum and Sis to Menopause the Musical in Kerry and I have to say I was crying with laughter so much. Twink is a complete star, she is so funny and has a heart of gold, she also looks amazing (you go girl). The next day we gals went for a fantastic walk near glencar, i came home with some gorgeous images and a sprained ankle. My mum kept saying look down and look where you're going, we came to a clearing, i looked up to see the view and thats when i twisted my ankle in a great big whole... i found this quote for a siggie (not ciggie). “When I look down, I miss all the good stuff when I look up, I just trip over things” ~ Ani Difranco

Went to the docs on monday and he sent me to the hospital to get it x-rayed... 3 hours later they sent me out with a bandage and told me to go home and rest... not a bother. Its fine now really, just a little swollen but I'm so happy with the photographs, must send a few copies to the girls :)

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Amy and Ali made their confirmation during the week, Shona and I headed out to Bunratty after work to spend some time with the girls (and take some photos). They all look so grown up and gorgeous. We had a laugh sneaking into where we shouldn't be......

(Hi Michael, sorry to have missed you and Helen, hope you are having a fabby holiday)

Right off to visit the boys and have the girls coming over for some vino and scrapping :) Have a loverly weekend... see ya next month :)