Enjoying my crafty time....

Our home is being updated, two rooms downstairs, painting in most areas, 1 big bedroom makeover and I am trying to keep on top of all the work, but things keep distracting me like pretty paper, ribbons and flowers... LOL...

I bought Kirsty Wisemans Christmas CD of images and made the cards below with the papers from the CD and my new Spellbinders snowflake die... My mother is not keen on the card as it's not the traditional Christmas colours - but I like it.

Another version of the card with the little present that you can print off the CD. Lovely!

I have to admit that I scrap lifted this LO, I saw a lovely LO from a Garden Girl on 2peas, and did this LO below, my version of it and I love it. There is a little note to Lea enclosed in the little envelope for her to read when she gets older. Papers are old from my stash but form memory are Dream Street.

Shannon was 6 recently, and as her Birthday falls on the 1st day back at School, we held off and had the party on Saturday the 18th. I blogged the invites and then gave the cupcakes that I made (all 50 of them!) with the Toy Story toppers that I made with little Thank you notes on the back. Shannon was not impressed as she was cross that I used all her Toy Story stickers but I was very happy with the result. Not a fun day for us grown up's on the day of the party - as it rained and rained and we had to amuse 28 5-6 yr olds and the bouncy castle was a waste of money....

Had my camera out again this weekend and we took a walk down to the new market at The old Point Depot. There is a fab looking wheel, and as there was a break in the weather I took the image below. Have some lovely spider photos if anyone is interestsed.... they are driving me mad there are everywhere at the moment.

Had a root canal done yesterday - feel OK not great but just coping with the pain and discomfort, and have to go back next week for the next part of it... OH NO!!!

Things I've learned...

...Never leave a child alone when finished making scones and take a phone call... OMG what a mess and the school uniform had to be washed twice to get rid of the flour.... ...Never make a plan to have a birthday party before checking the family diary - your date will clash with friends visiting from Australia and have to make the invites twice! They went down really well as the invite had a lolly pop attached - Pray for me 35+ girls between the age of 5 - 6 for a bouncy castle party with no rain hopefully! (the moms at the school think I've too much time on my hands, if they knew!!)

...Don't delete your camera's memory card until you check if you have uploaded all the photos to your computer. I did just this and lost loads of photos of cupcakes I've made with special toppers. Lisa was so good to forward me this photo I took of her on her 40th with one of her cupcakes.

and finally I've learned that I can scrap under a time pressure - I normally play and move paper around for ages... but doing the weekly Kirsty Wiseman scrap (on Facebook and on her blog) has helped me make the two LO's and under 2 hours for each one....looking at them side by side I think I need to put the circle punches away for a while! LOL

Nite all....

Time off.....

The month of August was supposed to be time off month, I took the whole month off with plans to do "things!" with the kids, like picnics, days out at the zoo, see children's museum and things like that. Well as per my life, things did'nt go to plan, there was more hospital appointments than I needed or could deal with, the Autism assessment that we thought would happen quickly did'nt start till this month and then we had the terrible news of a death. So all in all it was a horrible month and then I got sick and needed more time off so it's back to work tomorrow and I'm not sure how I feel....

On the plus side, the photo above is of our little one who attended "skool" today for the first time. She needed to be socialised with other kids as she needed to see them eat and try to bend a little with peer pressure, if she does not start eating she will need to have a surgical stomach peg put in, so fingers crossed that 3 afternoons in creche will help her have a bit of fun and learn to eat before the decision is made for us.

The card above is a "request" for a 60th Birthday card and this is what I came up with. The white flower is a drinks coaster that I took from a pub and have a few put away to play with...

Two of my little friends went to big school this week - so needed two cards - this is what I came up with and was quite happy that they turned out OK.

Last card is one for my DH's Dad and one of a bunch I made this week and this one was the only one that I remembered to photograph - two others got given away and some more might get a quick click tomorrow.

We have friends from Australia arriving on Friday for the weekend so planning on a crafting night tonight to play before the marathon cleaning begins! Nite all.....

Happy Days....

My lovely cousin Jennifer and her boyfriend Tim arrived last Sunday from Boston, bright and early at 5am in the morning. I collected them from the airport (see previous post and whinging!) and Tim had arranged for them to spend their first night at Clontarf Castle and he asked Jennifer to marry him... What a lovely romantic venue and we joined them that night to share the bottle of champagne and their excitement.

Above is the card that I made for my mum's Birthday - I sat and sat the night I made this, the first card was all cream and brown and when I looked at it, it did'nt look like a "happy" card, so it was a big push to get this one done and for me to be happy with it.

In the next week I have to send 4 Birthday cards, 2 first day at school cards, one well done card and an engagement card. I've made a start on them, but not ready to show, got 3 done tonight so happy that I am nearly ready.

My craft room is such a state, I keep running in and spending time making but no time to tidy and OMG after a month of that it's hard to even find anything. So, big effort needed to get it cleaned up and this house could do with a big job done on it too!!! LOL....

Happy Birthday to....

This is the card I made at a crop last Thursday - it took me nearly 3 hours to make this as I just kept being distracted by the shop stock, the intersting chat and the girls who were at the table.... I am a chatty girl, and like to have fun and had my friend Elaine on one side and a crafty friend who we don't get to see very often on the other.

The card was one I made for my friend who celebrated a big birthday recently and we went to a gay night club on Friday night and OMG we had so much fun.... We danced and danced till 3am where I fell into bed and felt horrible the next night. I tend to try and not have a hangover cause hangover + kids = horrible day!

Funny the photos of the night apperared on facebook the next day and there was one photo of a brazzilian guy who actually picked me up off my feet and my face is just so shocked! I commented that I got picked up by this fab looking brazillian guy, but if he had taken me home he would not have known what to do with me.

It felt like we had crashed and landed in a different land being in a gay nightclub and no matter how old or wize I get, seeing two guys kissing and the rest is still odd to me! LOL it was a lot of fun and something we all plan to do again as we just had the best night.

Have another card to share so off to try and find a photo of it.

Night Michelle

Third time lucky....

*%$£$% blogger is not playing nice tonight. It not liking my photos at all, but I will try again!

Below is the card that I made for Layla's first Birthday. You might remember Layla, She is my cousin Lara's little girl and featured in lot's of shots last year. This card started up as an icon on my Cricut Celebrations cart, but I could not get it to cut to the size I wanted so I cut it free hand instead! Papers are from Imaginisce...

This card is the one I made for the recent death we were touched by. I agonised over this card, the papers and the style but in the end it's not the card thats important, it's the message inside! Pink Paislee papers were used.

This evening my lovely friend Lisa called in after spending the afternoon enjoying my 40th Birthday gift to her. She had a Boudoire style photoshoot with my very talented friend Anna and her pal Ally. Ally provided her specialist hair and makeup skills and even late in the evening Lisa looked amazing. Anna photographed Lisa and made the magic and I think Lisa enjoyed it.

So if you are having a big special birthday, reached the age where you need to remember the sexy you, or know someone who needs a treat, why not contact Anna 087 929 4988 who is now specialising in this type of photoshoots and hopefully Lisa might allow me show you some of her photos - maybe, hopefully!!!

Absence not planned....

My long blogging absence was not planned and not wanted.... We have had the horrible news of a death, very traumatic and horrible and it's had huge impact on our home. We are getting there but it's taking time and the stress has taken its toll on my creative time and inspiration. To top it all off - we are getting work done on the house, new wooded floors and the place is in a heap, not good for your mental health eh!!

Our little one is 2 and here are the cupcake sticks that I made and a photo of her on the big day.

More to come - photos on the other computer so will share soon.




My other news is a little bit of good news - someone is actually paying me to take photos! Yes my first paid job, it's not a lot, but OMG am I happy and at the same time worried that I won't be able, but I know once I get there, and my nerves settle down I will be able to get thru it!

Will be back soon - promise!