Mischief Monkey...

Lucy is the one that I have to watch in my house - her mischief bemuses me as often as it tests my patience. She made me laugh this week for 2 reasons;

I noticed on Sunday while I was away that she had painted her nails herself;

Me 'Lucy what's that on your nails?'
Her 'I wanted to paint my nails all sparkly'
Me 'That's lovely Lucy'....then I noticed it!
Me 'Lucy what's that on your eyelids?'
Her 'I wanted my eyes to be sparkly too'
Me 'Shriek - close your eyes and don't move' AAArggghh! Thankfully it was the kiddies water soluble variety. Try explaining that to A&E! {edited to add - ...and no before you ask... I resisted the urge to grab the camera first before the clean up operation!!!}

An hour later I was in my bedroom and noticed in the place where I keep my hairdryer and brushes that there was a 4 inch clump of beautiful blonde hair stuffed in the corner. And then I noticed my craft scissors!
Me 'Lucy is this your hair?'
Her 'Yes Mammy - my fringe was a little bit long so I made it nice and tidy'

Definitely one to watch! I need eyes in the back of my head!

Crafteire'09

Just home from a great weekend away at Crafteire. We had such a laugh - all the girls were in sparkling form and the craic was mighty. I guess you had to be there but there were so many giggles this weekend it was a total tonic! I really enjoyed the luxury of the Tullamore Court hotel - lovely room and great food. As for the creative part of the weekend, I just chilled out at my own pace, chatted loads and finally managed to erect my Karen Burniston house, whose class instructions I purchased over a year ago. As the same class was being taught by Jane Dean this weekend I figured it would be a good time to have a go. I started this on Thursday night before I left and around 7 hours later working on it solidly on Saturday....voila! I'm very pleased with it as it was quite a feat of engineering really! At one point it was totally breaking my heart!!! I used the gorgeous October Afternoon kit I purchased at Kit 'n Kaboodle which worked a treat for this project...The second page (my own design)then came together quickly to match the 'house'.













Today I really enjoyed working on this DLO using my 'Spring Fling' kit and these two favourite photos of Lucy Lou in Disney last year.



I found this fabulous merry-go-round quote on www.quotegarden.com which works perfectly for the photo - love when that happens!

The Evolution of Dance...

Found this on utube today - I just love videos of wedding first dances (the alternative variety). This wasn't a popular thing to do in 1997 when I got married.... (days before utube and the interweb!). If I was doing it again I would definitely have an alternative first wedding dance ;-)



Mid term break is rolling along at a nice pace - getting lots of playdates in so the kids are having fun. I'm looking forward to escaping to Tullamore for the weekend for Crafteire as I really need to get back to scrapping just for fun. I made this last weekend for the Creative Scrappers guest DT submission called 'first playdate' and it shows Eva aged around 3 months old having her first play date here - it just doesn't seem like 8 years ago!

Valentines Day...

I don't really go in for all this contrived romance on 'Hallmark Day' - having said that we did have a nice day today. I got my traditional Valentine's day card with hand penned verses which year on year reflects whatever happens to be going on in our lives eg weddings, babies, extensions etc. This year we are both a bit obsessed with WII fit and weight watchers so here are some of the best which made me giggle today...

Roses are red
I like my meat joints
..pity we wont have one
'Cos we don't have the points!'...

and..

Roses are red
chocolates, a must
Or we'll go to 'fat fighters'
and eat only dust!

It just wouldn't be the same without these little verses!! Instead of red roses and chocolates himself got me WII fitness coach (on my instruction ;-)) and I LOVE it. She's a tough task master but hell she's going to get me fit! Happy to report 11 lbs down since Christmas day and counting!

This morning I went to see my friend Helen's new baby Zac and gave him his first little photo shoot. He's a cutie and was wide awake for a 2 week old...




After we dropped the kids off to girls brigade we did a 7km trek around Malahide coastline which was fun as it was a great day for a walk. Then we had a lovely lunch in Gibneys without any little people spilling anything or needing the toilet just as the food was served - bliss!



Tonight I cooked a delicious Steak Diane meal (from scratch - no MSG! haha!)and for dessert we made a family attempt at demolishing this Thornton chocolates valentine's day present. Well I figured it was a perfect gift for himself...combining his two main passions in life - chocolate and football! I gasped when I counted the points up!!!

My two fairies were complaining that they didn't receive a valentine's day card so the postman made a late delivery of presents and cards for them. It was so funny to hear them discuss the possibilities of who their secret admirers could be...kids eh!



Happy Hallmark Day where ever you are especially my folks who met this night 44 years ago...

Feel the fear and do it anyway...

It was a good read a few years ago by Susan Jeffers and I've always tried to follow her thinking on the subject. Today was one of those days. I've always had a fear of water especially the deep end. My aunt taught me to swim (I use that term loosely btw) when I was 13. Despite years of going to group lessons I just couldn't let go the bar. I can pinpoint where my fear started - maybe I was 2 years old or thereabouts and I can clearly remember my mum and dad passing me back and forward in a crowded pool and I knew right then that I had to get out. I just didn't feel safe in the water. At 13 my aunt Marie showed me that I could actually float but it never really got past that stage. I think it's 99% confidence and 1% ability.

So today I drove to the NAC and started my first lesson 'for Nervous Adults'. Doesn't that conjour up the funniest images of grown ups with chattering knees having their hands peeled off the bench and forced into water??? Tee Hee!

Thankfully, it wasn't half as bad as I'd imagined thanks to my wonderful instructor Lynn who let me go at my own pace and didn't let go when I asked her not to. By the end of the 45 minute session I had managed to swim with my face in water maybe 12-15 feet and float a full length on my back unaided. I walked out of the pool 10 feet high. This year for the first time, there is a very high chance of me actually enjoying the swimming pool on my holidays!

Wonder what fear I'll tackle next? Spiders, Snakes, my visa card!???

February's Scrapbooking Class and Crop in Le Cheile, Donnycarney


Just home from a very relaxing day scrapbooking at Le Cheile. This month I taught a transparency class with a pop up mini booklet using somne lovely Prima Marketing papers called 'Morning Song'. I have a few kits left over so if anyone would like to order one just drop me a line...



Thanks to everyone who came along and braved the elements. Big congrats to Carrie who has just been published in 'Stamper Sampler' which is a big honour! (we're not worthy!! ;-)) Thanks to Carrie also for all the amazing freebies she brought along today! Great to see so many new faces and hope to see you all for the next class on Sat 14th March. We have something extra lined up for everyone on Sat 18th April so save the date!

Snow!

We woke up to a blanket of snow this morning - the first major snowfall since my kids were born 8 and 5 years ago. They were fascinated to see it and it was great to see them amazed by it all. You sometimes forget that the things you take for granted are totally new experiences when you are under 3 foot tall;-)

I had to take Eva back to the doctor today as she's been running a fever on and off since Wednesday. She seems a little better today so will keep and eye on her for another day or two before starting her on antib's. On the way home from the doc's I drove around the Phoenix Park to see the snow (it's a novelty afterall!). It was beautiful and I caught some of it on camera. I've been waiting a long time to get some snow photos - I have plenty of papers crying out for some snow photos LOL! As expected it was all melted away by the time I picked Lucy up from school. Maybe we'll get more tomorrow and keep the little one's happy...


So to crafty things, I've finished preparing my class for next weekend and it's called 'One Day...' The theme is apt for valentines day/wedding or a love themed photograph and we will be using a fab new transparency from Prima Marketing. We will also be incorporating a little pop up heart journaling booklet into the layout. There's plenty of space available if you would like to join us and all beginners are welcome...Here's some sneaky peaks of the project ;-)