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

Happy Easter!
There will be nobody under the age of 7 sleeping in our house tonight as they have gorged themselves on chocolate all day. We had an easter egg hunt earlier this afternoon which absolutely delighted the little ones. It's great when they still have the magic of believing a giant furry bunny visited their garden overnite leaving a trail of chocolate for them to find. Long may it continue!

Happy Birthday to me!



Having a lovely birthday today. The sun has continued to shine all weekend which has been a bonus. I had my breakfast in bed with a pile of cards and handmade gifts from my girls. Then a little bit of shopping in Borders followed by an afternoon at the Point Depot with Disney on Ice. We got brilliant ring side seats so the girls were enthralled by all the characters (again! after Disneyland last weekend). We've just offloaded the girls to my parents as we are off to a dinner party tonight. Happy days!

It's a small, small world...

Just back from 5 fab days at Disneyland Paris and we are still singing that song...it was a big hit with the girls. Only managed to do this particular ride 3 times (last Summer it was 7 times!). I took this cute photo of Lucy donning her 'builder's rear' on Ed's shoulders (already have a LO title 'bumming around in Disneyland' LOL!).

We had a great time despite the first two days of torrential rain - rain that soaked right through to your bones. We nicknamed the place 'Drizzlyland' - it's definitely a place to go when it is sunny! However, we joined the sea of yellow raincoats which turned the park into a 'bananaland' but it was necessary if we were to keep up the pace.

The kids had an absolute ball. They were much more adventurous than last year - and we even got to do some older stuff like Pirates of the Carribbean and Buzz Lightyear which was brilliant. We were also there on the day of the 15th Anniversary of the park so the world's media was there taking footage. It was so much fun...a great atmosphere with all the extra hype.











Our hotel was the New York - right at the end of Disneyland village and each morning when we stepped out of the lift there was a Disney character waiting there to have their photo taken with the little ones. Such excitement ...











Outside our hotel was a great big ice skating ring - and Eva insisted on having a go (she was a big fan of the recent 'Dancing on Ice' and thought she could go on and do a 'Bonnie' ). However, she did extremely well for her first time, better than her dad!




I have to say the highlights of our trip were firstly the daily parade which featured all the best characters and stories - really magical!




The other highlight for me was Space Mountain - the only way I can describe this is a two minute insight into what it is like to freefall in a plane crash - horrendous but the sense of relief to find that you hadn't died at the end of it was amazing! That's Ed and I in the back row hanging on to our hats - too scared to scream...