Happy Monday...

Mondays are so much easier to deal with when it's sunny and today is a beautiful day... Hope this sunny spell lasts right through til October as everyone is happier when the sun shines!
Anyway loads of news to report....Saturday we had the girl's brigade display which was great. I took so many photos I nearly crashed my laptop when I tried to upload. The girls gave me lots to be proud of - doing their thing perfectly with such panache...

This is Lucy doing the 'hokey kokey' - what a little doll she was! Then they did the cutest routine of 'Thank Heaven for little girls' in their little pink dresses... (a scrapbooker's dream night out don't you think!' LOL!)...




And here's miss Eva looking so grown up doing the routine 'Sweet Sixteen' which they did recently at the district finals. Definitely a proud mammy moment! She takes it VERY seriously and there wasn't a foot out of place. How cool is she!


Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon - went to Christine's (Arc angels) Charity crop. There was a raffle and I won 2nd prize which was a camcorder (or sorts!). Not sure how it works but DH is having fun with it...We did this lovely LO using gorgeous papers - haven't seen them before so I was well impressed with them.


There were some amazing bargains for sale -lookey lookey what I got...Donna from www.Scrap4Keeps.com is closing down her shop and I got these babies for €3 each - I nearly tripped over myself in the rush to the table when I saw them for sale. She still has loads of stock left so check out her website for a bargain - everything is half price! I had fun trying to sneak them into the house without being noticed... Thankfully my husband is not as observant about craft matters... unlike the scrapbook widower (see sidebar for link). While he was sorting out the tea I quickly made some changes in my new craft room (did i mention I got a NEW CRAFTROOM!!!) and installed them as if they have been there for 100 years. At one stage he walked into my room to tell me something and my heart skipped a beat but I stood directly in front of the tower of paper and made sure I was in his eyeline and then gently backed him out of the room... phew...he hadn't noticed (yay!). Don't they look like they have been there for 100 years... haha!!!! RESULT! Hope he doesn't read every inch of my blog!!!

So here's my new room - it's 3 walls of floor to ceiling stash and 2 wallpaper tables to allow me be creative. I love it as it's a real 'lock myself away from the kids' room...bless their little cotton socks! It used to be their toy room but they were too fond of bringing their toys to every part of the house so they have been sent to the attic which is a much better plan for everyone involved...especially moi! I hasten to add...it's not normally this tidy!

Peace and quiet...



They have all left for ballet and I am here on my own with a cuppa and the pc for company - bliss! The kids are so excited today as they have their girls brigade display (ie parent's night) tonight so they will be performing their little hearts out for us. This month my project is up for the www.craftsupplies.ie design team. I did a wavy LO showing the girls at last year's display. I called it 'Proud mammy moments' and I've journaled how it's little moments like these ...when they are performing like they are on the Albert hall and it's only a local school hall, nevertheless my heart is bursting with pride for them...

This is the other project I did for the DT - using my granny's photos from age 6mths to old age. I'm so lucky to have these photos and I will make sure they last for another 100 years.


I've just sent this off to Kirsty Wiseman for the mother's hands challenge. I took this photo last week -which wasn't easy as I was using one hand as my other one was under the girls. I just love the chubby wrinkles on Lucy's - she still has baby hands and I know it wont last much longer :-(....




I had fun this week doing a LO for Scrapwest called 'My craft' -it's nice to put all your stash photos in one place! LOL!


Later
x

YOU RAISE ME UP...



..And the boys from WESTLIFE certainly did last night at The Point! For the past ten years I have been waiting patiently to have a daughter old enough to bring to a boy band concert and last night my wish came true. My friend Niamh and her little girl Caoimhe came with us and we had such a great night. We had second row seats and enjoyed a bird's eye view of the boys and I swear Cian was singing 'You raise me up' right at me as he was winking at me all night Haha! Sorry Niamh hun ...but it was me and not you!!!! The kids had a ball but really it was all for the mums last night!

Here's some shots of the guys in action...My goodness young Cian looks divine in a white suit!

My claim to fame on Westlife is around 8 years ago I was working in a pharmaceutical company and I ran a PR event for some of the children's hospitals. 50 kids were nominated to go on a flight the week before Christmas to fly to the 'Northpole'. Actually it was a night time round trip to Mayo and back but the kids were none the wiser. Half way through the flight the captain announced that there was some extra-terrestial activity and he made the plane shake a little. Next thing Santa arrives out of the cockpit with pressies for everyone etc. It was a fab night - all the kids were mesmorised by the whole thing. Anyway one of the little girls picked from Tallaght hospital (Tammy) wrote to me to say how happy she was to be picked but was advised not to go as she has cystic fibrosis and had developed MRSA.

I felt so gutted for her so I asked our PR company if they could do anything to help. I phoned her and she told me she was a huge WESTLIFE fan so I got a hold of Louis Walsh's mobile number and chanced getting in touch. They sent me the biggest parcel of signed CD's, sweaters, books and posters and a personalised letter for the little girl. I was so impressed with them - such a great bunch of lads. We went out to Tallaght hospital on the day that she missed the flight and presented her with the parcel of Westlife goodies and a stereo. I still have the thank you card she sent me - I often wonder whatever happened to her as she would be 16 or 17 now...

Anyways..here are the yummilicious boys...
.




And here's the gorgeous girlies reunited after 4 months of being apart. Best pals forever...

Really enjoyed the girlie night out with my little girl :-) (***wubs***)

Ahhhh... beginning to come back down to planet earth...


...after such a great weekend. Some photos are starting to trickle through - this was taken after Kate's presentation for her forthcoming nuptials next month (brave lady having a mini wedding one month before the actual wedding event!)...

If you haven't seen Kirsty Wiseman's blog recently go and check it out now...right now..the link is on your right. She took some amazing shots of Dublin like you have never seen it and all the pretty ladies who were there at the weekend. Clever Kirsty!!! She inspired me to dig out my canon yesterday to take some shots of the girls and this is what I came up with...I love photographing my kids now as I know in a couple of years time they will run a mile when I produce the camera so I am happy to capture them while they are willing to don a pose for me.



A typical Lucy pose- there's mischief in them there eyes!


We took some fun shots of our hands together for Kirsty's 'mother's hand's competition which closes 1st May so hurry hurry and get scrappin!


These are the last few projects I've done for SCRAPWEST blog which happens every Friday night at 9pm.

Inspired by you (and you your clothes Eva!)



Me Myself and I (it's a really dark photo as I took it in the depths of the Winter but I like the way it is moody...a bit like me says dh LOL!)


Playtime (contrasting weather here. I took this last October on a beach in Lanzarote. The girls were sitting on the pedalos for over an hour pretending to sail...)




Turning Japanese


Talk later -I have a 101 things to do today and this isn't getting any of them done! Hey one more sleep to our big concert tomorrow night 'Westlife!' (WhooHoo!!!)....

Crafteire '07



Just back from a fantastic weekend away with Crafteire - a whole weekend of crafting, classes, shopping and great craic. It was brilliant but went way to fast. I met so many new people over the weekend and caught up with the regular crew which was fun. I managed to take in 4 classes yesterday and I loved it all. Jane Dean started the day with the most stunning LO called 'Home' based on the style of Claudine Hellmuth which I adore. Then we had Carrie's brilliant beaded accents class - I learn't loads of new tricks there and cant wait to make some more. Then in the afternoon we made a lovely mini album and layout with Kirsty Wiseman and finished the day with AmberJane's funky DLO and mini album. So all in all I got quite a lot done in a day - even managed a bit of shopping.


My jaws were sore last night from talking - seemed to be in overdrive since Friday. When I get myself organised I'll post up some photos of the weekend. In the meantime, here's the photos of the template LO's we did at my heritage class on Saturday morning. I also completed a family album to show how the simple templates can be used to speed scrap a bunch of old photos. Thanks to everyone who came to my class.

Lovely to see everyone in Tullamore and thanks a mil to Kate and Mireille for their trojan work in making it happen. Roll on next year!

Oh the excitement is building...



Tomorrow I depart for a weekend of crafting at 'Crafteire'. I'm as excited as Eva looks in this photo taken yesterday when we painted in the garden. Crafteire is the highlight of the Irish crafting calendar and if last year was anything to go by it's gonna be brilliant. There's classes back to back for 2 days, dinners, competitions and some celebrity scrappers coming not to mention THE SHOPPING! I'm teaching one of the first classes on Saturday so it's great to have it done early in the day. Trying to stay composed but I just cant wait for tomorrow! I nearly have all my jobs and projects completed - the hardest part is the packing -what to leave behind as I want to bring my craftroom but I know I'll probably make nothing as there will be too much chatting and shopping going on! Did I mention the shopping????




Anyway, we've had such a great spell of good weather these past few weeks - kinda freaky for April. The kids have been soaking up the sun in the garden. Got some good shots of them over the past week...

We had a lovely picnic last week with typical picnic fayre- eh ...rice krispies, popcorn, cream crackers and fruit. They were dying to try out their new picnic basket and took delight in pouring me continuous 'cups of tea' which had a strange orange juice flavour LOL! Still it was a nice moment sitting in the sun having chats with these two imaginative little girls...

Eva is looking cool here in her new t-shirt which we designed together last week. Finally found a practical use for my 3D paints. Oh yeah...the two little blue dots at the bottom are Lucy's fingerprints - she hadnt the patience to wait for it to dry. Now why am I not surprised ....



Yesterday in typical Lucy fashion- she decided to paint her hands black. Eva meticulously decorated a box with paint - lots of geometric shapes and stripes - flawless detail as always. Lucy however decided to go for the more organic form of expression - which continued in the bathroom when we tried to wash it all off. Now I have black bathroom towels and black fixtures! How my two girls differ and I try to remind myself daily to embrace it and not worry about the mess! Today the only trace of this expression is her little black nails...



Better sign off and finish my projects for tomorrow. As I type Lucy is standing behind me giving me a 'hair do'. Lets hope my missing craft scissors doesn't ressurect itself suddenly - she is the chief suspect...

So I'm driving home this lunchtime, kids in the back of the car, minding my own biz. As I approach a roundabout there's three lanes heading in the same direction. I'm in the middle lane. Next this car to my left completely ploughs into my lane. I swerve to avoid and beep on the horn to let the driver now that she is going to anihilate me and the kids unless she moves. And you would think that would be the end of it. Instead little miss irresponsible is driving on one hand with the phone up to her right ear. Next thing she sticks her finger out the window (classy lady!) while driving AND while on the phone and doing so swerves again at me! Even the juggernaut behind her blasted her out of it for being a stupid airhead. At one stage she passed me and slowed down as she came up to my window (like it's MY fault!). Honestly!!! - I locked my door to be sure (LOL!) as she was the type of nutter that could go ballistic with the right provocation.

Anyway enough of that - rant over. Last week I got some lovely birthday cards from the girls at www.Craftsupplies.ie and I've promised to show the talent so here you go...

L-R: Audrey, Tigger, Sabrina



L-R: Caroline O, Jackie C, Lebosi



L-R: Neasa, Joanne


L-R: Noelle, Lara, Kiki



Aren't they gorgeous! I love receiving handmade cards - all the detail and work which goes into them. Thanks girls! Much appreciated!

I've been a busy bee these last few days and weeks getting ready for Crafteire at the weekend (whoohoo!). I have my heritage class completed and I'm still working on my heritage album. Also have been doing up some samples for Linda of Kelly Crafts. She's selling these gorgeous little mini albums at crafteire to alter. Got a few done and I can show you them now;

My Honeymoon

Holiday to Oz '99


Inter rail '95



Wedding album