Electric Picnic time!

I havent posted up many of my cards lately as I have moved away from home and am now back in maynooth, sans un laptop! The card making is a bit slow too, as I dont have as much room to do it. But I'm heading off to electric picnic this weekend, so there will be pictures from it very soon!

here are some good tunes I'll be enjoying over the weekend!

 

 

    

                                        

 

Not to mention some of this stuff.....

 

should  be a fun aul time!

This is were I have been hiding out for the last few days!

Some of my recent card creations....

1: Golden Tickets Card.

This card I made quite simply, using Anita's 135mm square cards in cream. I used dye on the edges with gold and a coppery brown ink. The green pattered paper is from 7 Gypsies Conservatory Double-Sided Paper Pack 6 X6.  I used the gold ribbon off a chocolate box for the side, this went over a piece of torn cream paper, inked again with the gold and coppery brown dye and pattered with a floral graphic clear stamp in a mossy green. One thing though, get a larger ink pad of gold, silver and black, these are the ones I use more then the others.

Following this, I stamped 2  pieces of scrap brown card with a ticket clear stamping the same brown. .

Now, here is the tricky bit, the flowers. I used 8 circles of  Anita's Pearliest A4 card in Ivory, cut with X-Cut Punch Scallop Circ 5/8" . Scrunch them up. Then take 4 and one by one attach it to an ordinary gold brad (the ones you get in any office shop). Edge this with Gold ink.
The bigger flower is made with stencil made from chipboard pri-used stickers. The paper used is old green card from a scrapbook bought in a pound shop. I used a button, from my own random collection for the centre. The little brown flowers are brown card punched from EK Success small daisy.

2. Daintree Jade Card.

Daintree in Candem Street in Dublin is one of my favorite shops. It has so many pretty things! I recently purchased a "lucky bag" there in which I found this lovely Jade paper.

To make this card I used some Anita's 135mm square cards in white. Then made a smaller square of jade Core'dinations Card . On top of this I put a slightly smaller square of white card, which had the strip of cream and jade pattered paper (abouth and inch and a half wide) stuck to the fronto of it.

I used a small rectangle of the jade card, in the bottom right corner with white happy birthday stickers on it.

I then tied some jade organza ribbon over the card square. It's extreemly pretty!

Here is a simalar version in green, again paper from Daintree.

 

3. Big Blue Gem Flower Card.

For some reason flowers are very popular on cards, so heres another type of one.

Again, pretty easy to make. Use an 135mm square card.in cream.Use some of the Core-ordination card in a dark yellow or orangey colour for a smaller inside square. Edge this square with an orangy brown ink.I then put a smaller inked square of poka dot paper ( from Papermania Paper Pack - Happy Birthday To You 6x6 ) Follow this with a blue paper rectangle, again inked, on top and then an inked green strip across the middle.

The flower is made from light pink scrapbook paper. 2 flower shapes are cut out using the stencle of chipboard and then inked with some pastel pink ink. Then, using the Xcut 3D Daisy Sillouette punch, make one daisy out of pale cream card and another from the oranngy core-dinations card, as used before. Ink these with the orangy ink and stick one on top another and then on the 2 pink flowers. In the centtre I used a big blue gem I got in a pack I found in Lidl, but a button or large brad works well too. In the left corner I stuck 3 little matching blue gems.

 I used leaves from a chip board sticker set I got, very pretty and 3d.
The letters are again stickesr. I find it always handy to have a good supply of letters, they are the things I run out of quickest!
 




I think thats enough instruction for the moment. I'll leave you with a selection of other cards I have made of late. hope they give inspiration to anyone wanting to make some cards.

Some random cards I've made recently

All these were made for certain people or events, so I had somthing to base them on. But often I just make general cards for birthdays or weddings or as a thank you.

Snaps from Birr Craft Fair.

Here is a mix of the lovely bits and bobs on sale at the Birr Vintage week craft fair, in Birr, Co. Offaly, Ireland.

 

Any questions?
Everything was so pretty and cute.
Heres a few links which you might find handy if anything takes your fancy.
Birr Vintage Week, Co. Offaly, Ireland.
The Bag Ladies, Birr, Co Offaly
Birr Castle
I also visited a beautiful shop in the main street called Hedgerows, main street, Birr. Tel: 057 91 22478. (pics 3, 4, 8, 12 and 14) full of gifts, clothes, jewellery and household stuff. So worth a visit!

Dear Lord....

I've spent ages trying to organize and get gadgets for my blog, its so confusing!

Arent cats great....

Am I the only person that thinks this is a good thing?

Some of my birthday cards.

As I havent been too up to date with my blogging, here are a selection of the cards I have made that I am particularly proud of.

 This one is one of the first cards I made. It was for a friend who loves her shoes!
To make it I printed off a selection of shoe sillouettes, such as the ones found here; http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-25288852/stock-vector-shoe-silhouettes-set-vector.html
I cut them out carfully and glued each of them to different papers, which I then cut out again.
I got a premaid blank card ( you can get them  in tesco), lightly dabbed glue on it and scrunced some tissue paper over that. Then stuck down the shoes and some little gem stone stickers I got in a pound shop. Took me ages to do, but it was worth it.

 This one is one I made for my brother. It's a pop up card, but its hard to tell from the picture.
I used Basic G Max Chip Shapes for the dog and little bones, hung up with some cheap garden twine. I always enjoy using bits and bobs that are hanginging around and from charity shops. I love garden twine. Its so easy to stick down!






The thank you card was made very spur of the moment. This picture dose it no justice. It turned out really well. I did the butterflies with black ink and a rubber stamp and then cut them out delicately. I stuck them down on a stamped and inked card blank, but left the wingd sticking up to give a 3d effect.



I will stick up more later.

Visual Art exibition (weekend of August 12th - 14th, Old School, Kinnegad, Co Westmeath) 12- 4 each day.

These are the photos I will be showing at the exibition. Mine are based on my Granparents who both passed away recently. I felt pictures which repersented them and how different, and yet the same in many waysthey were. It would be really nice to do. Here they are.

My granfather was a very precise man, he liked everything in its place, on time and organized (somthing didnt inheret!), so as you can see from pictures 1, 3, 5 and 7, order and neetness were a big part of his life. Also, as a farmer in rural Ireland in the 1920's and 30's, nature and outdoors went and in hand with his daily life, as did his great faith in God. Both my grandparents were very religious, which is very normal I suppose for anyone who grew up in a hudgely catholic country before Vatican II. I tried to show that in all of the pictures.

My Grandad passed away in March, he was 102 and was still very aware of what was going on. He died in his sleep and in no pain, it was a bit sudden, but at such an age we were all so thankful for the extra time we had with him.

My Granny had passed away last year. However, she was 97 when she died, so she had lived a long eventful life too. Where my Granfather had been precice and particular, my granny had not. She worked hard on the farm and rared her children well, but she was a very outgoing, friendly woman. She loved her cup of tea and when neighbours or relatives would come to visit. When she was young she was always playing tricks on people and often had cards nights in her house. I tried to show this in pictures 2, 4, 6 and 8, the contrast in her personality to that of my granfather. Her kitchen was a bit more cluttered, it didnt matter if things werent folded and she would walk through the feild to my uncles house rather than the road.

But still both of them were in it together. They both spent their last days in the same nursing home under the care of lovely staff and right beside where their son and grandson had trained to be farmers and married their wives. I think this exibition will be a nice way of remebering them and their life as it was and still is in a way with us.

As I said, the exibition is on Aug 12-14th in the old school in Kinnegad. there is lots of other visual art apart from mine, some about music and others on recession buildings, so its pretty varied. please check it out :)

nothing like a bit of simon and garfunkle on a chill out day...

pitty they hated each others guts when this was done.

What have I been up to?

I'm sorry. I compleetly forgot about my blog for a little while there!

so what have i been doing?

• Wedding invitations
• Photography
• Getting back in touch with friends I havent seen in ages
• Learning the piano
• Trying to find a new place to live

and a good bit of other stuff, so you can see why I havent had much to say!
I decided today to spend it all working on my blog, uploading stuff, doing an inspiration and idea board and explaining how i did stuff. I'll stick in a few tunes too!