My Hands Get Jealous Of All The Work My Brain Does

Please Bear With Me........

2012-01-20T00:14:00.000Z

........I'm making some changes to my blog so things might look a bit funny for a while :-}

My 2011 Christmas Cards

2012-01-15T19:50:00.006Z

These were the basic Christmas Cards that I "mass" produced for family and friends this year.

I limited the design to 2 different types and the only "new" materials were the actual card blanks.

Everything else I already had in my stash.

I was trying to stick to my promise to use up the stash I have before I buy more, although you may remember a post about some Christmas stash that I bought here, BUT I didn't use any of the stash in this years Christmas Cards (it will hopefully get used in next years). The toppers that I used for this years I actually made a few years ago so I was determined to use them up.

I snapped some shots quickly on my phone before I sent them out and didn't realise until I loaded them up to the computer the that they actually came out quite blurry (SO blurry that I actually considered not posting them at all)
So please forgive me for the quality of the pics. I think it was because the light was SO bad the day I took them. That's the only explanation I can think of because my phone pics normally come out really good.

Here's a closer look at them.
Design 1

And Design 2.......

And this was the only "Special" card that I made. It was for my Aunt and even though you can't tell in the pic it's actually an A4 card. The lighting is shocking, it was taken when it was on my Aunts mantelpiece and another thing you can't tell is that it's a decoupage card.
It was a kit that was in the prize pack I won last year from DoCrafts.

Happy New Year & A Belated Merry Christmas

2012-01-06T19:30:00.000Z

Oh My God I'm so late putting this up.

I was meant to post a "Merry Christmas" post while I was at my Aunts in Cork for Christmas and I had it all prepared ready to just tap a button on my phone on Christmas morning to publish the post but I just had one small little problem....... From the minute I arrived at my Aunts in Cork (on Christmas Eve) my mobile internet reception was a pure JOKE.

I think the whole time I was in Cork (from Christmas Eve to the Wednesday) I got online for about 30 mins IN TOTAL. Hindsight is a great thing and if i had know the way it was going to be there are a lot of things I would have done (like scheduled my post to automatically post on Christmas Day) BUT as I didn't know the way things were going to go, I ended up with no post on Christmas Day. So I am only now getting to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

As I said i spent Christmas with my Auntie in Cork, it was great to get away for a bit (although cooking Christmas Dinner using someone else's cooker was a bit stressful) but all turned out well and we enjoyed relaxing and pigging out eating too much good food (as you do).

Now here we are in 2012 (already) and Christmas is just a blur. The decorations will be coming down soon. You're not supposed to take them down till after the 6th (today and believe me it took all my willpower not to pull them down over the last few days) but it's bad luck so I suffered on.

SO here we are at the start of another New Year. One thing I am not gonna do is make resolutions. I have learned over the years that I NEVER keep them so I'm not going to be stupid enough to try and fool myself into pretending that this year will be any different. So THIS year I'm going to try and do goals each week/month (haven't decided which yet ;-}), kind of similar to Elsie's 4 Simple Goals from 2 years ago. With a bit of luck these will be more achievable. We'll see.

Anyway I hope you all had a GREAT Christmas and that you have a Very Happy & Peaceful 2012!

In the next post I'm going to put up the Christmas Cards I made for family and friends (even though it's SUPER late) I still thought you might like to see.

November Glossy Box

2011-12-18T14:25:00.007Z

I'm a very late putting this up because my November Glossy Box came while I was in Cork a few weeks ago and I wanted to try the products first before posting. Anyway between one thing and another the weeks were flying by and December was upon us so I was going to skip Novembers box and pop up Decembers but as I don't yet have Decembers (and probably won't before Xmas, I'll explain below what has happened) I thought I would pop up Novembers box.

I had heard a lot of people complaining about this box so I was anxious to get mine and see for myself what I thought of it.

So here's what I got in MY November Glossy Boxand what I thought of each of the products.

This was what my box looked like when I opened it

First product were these perfume samples by Serge Lutens.
There were 2 samples both are meant to be unisex but I feel more like the one in the white box is a woman's scent and the one in the black box is more for men.
One big plus for these is that they were in a little pump (something that I had been hoping for in the samples I got with the last few boxes). I'll be carrying the white one around in my handbag but not the black one. The black is too strong and aftershavey for me.

Next up is this FC5 Ultra Hydrating Hand Crème By Arbonne.
This is the perfect size to also stick into my handbag and smells gorgeous. My hands have been EXTRA dry due to the really cold weather and while I like the feel of this and love that it sinks into my skin quickly I feel like it could be a BIT more moisturising.

This was my absolute FAVOURITE product in the box. It's the Recovery Balm By Monu and was a full size product.
I LOVE this SO much. I cannot say it enough how great this felt on my skin.
My skin was in a bad way when I got home from Cork it was very dry and this was just what I needed. After one application I could feel and see the difference.
I have used it a LOT since I got it but found that I was using it a bit too much because I had a bit of a breakout from it. So now I just use it for approx 2 days of the week (depending on how dry my skin is)

The next thing I got in my box were these Designer Nail Wraps By Nail Rock.
I haven't tried these yet, mainly because the animal print design is not really my style. I saw some other people got a red lace design (that would have been more my taste) and there are some other gorgeous designs in the range (looking at the leaflet that came in the pack)

I didn't get too excited when I saw this in the box. I mean they were just bath salts.
I have used Radox Bath Salts before and was allergic so I hadn't tried any others but I was pleasantly surprised by these ones from Dead Sea Spa Magik.
I had no allergic reaction and they left my skin feeling lovely and soft.
I think out of all the products this was the one people seemed to be complaining about the most. There was a chance of getting 4 other Dead Sea Spa Magik products in your box but most people got these Bath salts and didn't seem to be too happy about it.

All in all I was really happy with what I got in my November box. Now let me tell you what happened with my December box. The December (Christmas) Glossy Boxes were sent out earlier than normal so that everyone would have them in time for Christmas but I noticed that my monthly payment hadn't been taken out of my account.
It normally comes out of my account on the 14th/15th of the month so I contacted Glossy Box about it and apparently there was a technical error and the charge run missed out on me. They were very helpful and are looking into what happened and in the mean time they sent me out a box straight away yesterday morning.
So I guess I'll have to just keep my fingers crossed that I'll receive it before Christmas.
Because people have been getting their boxes since last Monday I haven't been able to stop myself from looking at what's in the box so I have an "idea" of what I will be getting.
Of course there are different combinations of boxes so I won't know for sure until it comes and I really hope it comes before Christmas because it looks GREAT!

O2 Free Music Fridays

2011-12-10T00:01:00.008Z

This year as a Christmas present people who are on the O2 Network can download 3 free songs on iTunes each Friday from November 11th to December 16th. I found out about it really late and missed the first 3 weeks ;-( BUT I've managed to download some songs last week and this week and will have 3 more next week.
I thought I'd share the songs I downloaded.

First up I love "Lego House" By Ed Sheeran

I love this Adele Glee mash-up

But I HAD to download the original too ;-)

More Glee :-)

And to get me into the Christmas mood a bit of Mr Bubbly

Last but not least "Jar of Hearts" By Christina Perri

I know what you're thinking and yes you wouldn't be the first to think I have a very weird taste in music. It's a bit like my taste in movies.

Yes I Went To See "Breaking Dawn"

2011-12-01T11:24:00.001Z

I forgot to mention that YES I did go to see "Breaking Dawn".
I went into Limerick to see it. They actually had 2 midnight shows of it on the Thursday night but I waited until the first showing the following morning which was at 10:30am. It was really quiet at the 10.30am showing only 10 people (including me) so it was almost like a private screening! Just the way I like it.
It was mobbed for the midnight showings the night before (according to the guy who sold me my ticket.)

Last year they gave us a free keyring for "Eclipse" and I was kind of hoping for another keyring this year as last years one broke but this year it was a bag (a pretty crap bag at that) I'm not gonna put up a pic because it actually looks even worse in the pic.

Anyway onto the movie.........
Without giving anything way (although if you're a Twilight fan you'll have seen it by now, probably multiple times.)
In MY opinion it's definitely the best of the Twilight films so far which is amazing coming from me as it was my least favourite book and I really struggled to finish it.
I felt that the movie was very fast paced. I was at the end of the movie before I realised it.
Unlike some of the other Twilight films, even though I had seen a lot of the clips online, I didn't feel like I had seen the whole movie already, which definitely added to my enjoyment.

So now I'm just anxiously waiting for the DVD to be released (which I "think" is around the 12th March 2012) AND for "Breaking Dawn - Part 2" to come out in cinemas November 2012.
The Countdown Begins!

Lunch With Friends & Crafty Buys

2011-11-30T17:37:00.005Z

So a few weeks ago I headed into Limerick and met up with Eva and we both met up with Mandy for lunch. Mandy was doing a Docrafts demo at the Art & Hobby Shop in The Crescent.
We had a lovely lunch, it was great to catch up with Eva again and FINALLY get to met Mandy and it would have been rude not to stop in and look at the demo and maybe pick up a few "essentials", right?
Of course there was a lot of things on offer and I couldn't resist picking those up too.

Here's the stash I ended up coming home with ;-}

The first things I bought were really WERE essentials. I really needed white card blanks but then I spotted the brown ones too and couldn't help but pick them up as well ;-} I also picked up the Creativity Mag (which had some FREE stamps so it was a bargain)

Another essential was the foam tape (I really needed that) but then I spotted these other bits (most of which WERE Half Price so i couldn't leave them there) AND the "Winter Wonderland" 8"x 8" Creative Papercraft Kit (down at the front on the pic) actually had 2 extra sticker sheets in it ;-D so it was extra good value. I think someone made a little boo boo when packing, but hey I'm not complaining

See I didn't go over board!
Last week I was down in Cork at my Aunts for a few days and I brought my craft stuff with me to make my Christmas Cards. I got the main parts of them done but have to put a few finishing touches on them and when they're finished I'll take pics and pop them up.
Ironic thing was I didn't actually use any of the Christmas stuff that I purchased above, only because I had toppers already made for my cards this year, BUT I am gonna make up cards with my purchases so that I'll have my cards done for next year ;-} LOL
I'm itching to use my new purchases so any excuse

October Glossy Box Review - Better Late Than Never

2011-11-21T16:29:00.009Z

As the title says this is my review of the October so this was what the October Glossy Box looked like.

Because Glossy Box were celebrating 6 months in business, this month instead of having the normal 5 products there are 6 in this months box

First product was this Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner. I was SO excited when I saw this because I'd heard of the brand but had never tried it before, so of course the first thing I did was twist it up to have a look. BIG MISTAKE. It twists up but doesn't twist back down again.
For something that is such a good brand this was a huge disappointment (only because of that) I ended up having to break off the part that I had twisted up in order to put the lid back on again. In my opinion that is a major design fault.

Next up is this Leighton Denny Expert Nails High Performance Colour. I've only used this once and I think I may have applied it too thick because it didn't look very good. I haven't tried it since but will give it another go because I've heard good things about it.

This months box also had some perfume samples, again in vials ;-/ These ones were by Robert Piguet (who I have never heard of before) and were called Fracas, Visa and Calypso. They all smelt really different from each other so I'm sure there is something to suit everyone's taste.

Last but not least my favourite products from the box the Dermalogica Products. I got a MultiVitamin Thermafoliant, a MultiVitamin Power Recovery Masque and the freebie 6th product was a Renewal Lip Complex and also a little bag to put them in. The only one I've tried out of this bunch is the Lip Complex and I really liked it but I look forward to trying these because I've used Dermalogic before and found it really good.

So that was October's Glossy Box. I received an email to say my November one was on the way so I should have it this week (hopefully). I have to admit I've had a peek at what's in the box this month so it's not going to be a surprise but I'm still anxious to get it and see if I like it.

Glossybox September Review - Finally

2011-11-21T12:45:00.013Z

SO it's been ages since I posted about me subscribing to GlossyBox and I'm sorry this review and look at it is only being posted now.
There are various reasons the mains ones being that after I posted originally and saying that I expected to get it a few days after I didn't receive it for a week and a half after that.
Then I photographed everything and went to do my post only for my phone to break (all the pics were on my phone and as I had used some of the things I couldn't retake the pics) So I sent my phone off for repair and was sent a brand new one.
In the meantime I had received my second (October) GlossyBox so I thought I do a double post and review both boxes.Great idea, right? WRONG.
There was a fault with the camera on the phone and I had to send it away AGAIN.
You would have thought I'd have learned my lesson from the month before and not used my phone to take the pics but oh no I made the same mistake twice!
So anyway after everything I'm finally getting around to posting this and I got an email to say that my 3rd GlossyBoxis actually on the way. I'm excited.

So here is what I got in my September Box and what I thought of them.
I will put the October one up later today and the November one as soon as it arrives.

When you get your box it arrives like this inside a sturdy patterned box

And when you open it up it looks like this. Packaged up like a present with a card to tell you all about what's inside. The card also has discount codes for full size products of what's in the box because remember it's sample size products that you get but having said that you sometimes do get FULL sized products.

So this was what my September box looked like. I was really happy when I opened the box and saw TWO full sized products in there.

Let's start with the full size products. The first one was this HD Brows(Eye&Brow Palette)
This is worth £19.95

Now I don't need a brow kit. My eyebrows are very dark already BUT the great thing about this kit is that if you don't need a brow kit you can use it as an eyeshadow and eyeliner.
LOVE this product!

Next up ANOTHER full size product. The Neal and Wolf (HARMONY Intensive Care Treatment). This product is worth £12.95 and was my favourite product in the box.
It smells gorgeous. It was the first thing I could smell when I opened the box, without even opening the tube. I have a very sensitive scalp so I can't use everything but this totally agreed with me and left my hair feeling soft and gorgeous and smelling fabulous.

Next up is the Dead Sea Spa Magik (Salt Brushing). You get 2 sachets of this. They are decent size sachets. I haven't tried these yet so I can't comment on what they're like.

This was my least favourite product in the box.
I love perfumes but I can't stand samples in little vials. I like when they come in little pump bottles. The perfume was a bit strong for me. I liked it when I smelt it in the vial but when I wore it it didn't smell nice on me.

And last but not least was this Kimia (Exquisite Rejuvenating Facial System).
It's a two step skin treatment that has an oil and a activator. You massage in a few drops of oil into your face and then follow that with a couple of pumps of the activator.
I was worried about using this because my skin is really sensitive and can react badly to lots of products but I decided to give it a go.
When you join Glossy Box they ask you to fill out a form and ask lots of questions about your skin, hair type etc so that they can tailor you box to what suits you best. I had filled in that my skin was sensitive and this was a natural product so I thought right here goes.
I used it in the evening before going to bed. My skin went VERY red after using it though it didn't feel like it was burning or anything, it looked like a bad reaction BUT it did feel very soft. I was nervous when I woke the following morning half afraid to look in the mirror but when I did all the redness had gone and my skin did feel lovely and soft. I need to give this another go because it says to experiment with the ratio of oil to activator to suit your skin so I'm thinking I need more activator and less oil.

Overall I was really happy with my box and thought it was well worth the money.
One of the full size products covered the price of the box.
October review will be coming later today ;-)

CAN.NOT.WAIT

2011-09-14T16:14:00.003+01:00

To see this.........
But I guess I'll have to seeing as it's not out till Nov 18th

Glossy Box

2011-09-12T13:10:00.003+01:00

I don't know if you've ever heard of Glossy Box or not, but basically what it is is a box that you get every month and in the box are 5 beauty products.
They say that they are sample/minature size but some of the reviews I have seen of the Glossy box it has featured products that are nearly full size.

The box has only recently become available to Ireland and it costs £10.00 +£2.95 p&p per month, that's about €15.00. So great value in my opinion.

I ordered my Glossy Box last Sunday week and it has been shipped so I'm expecting to receive it in the next few days.

I'm excited to see what I get in it and will take pics of it and put them up and let you see what I get when it comes.
Some of my favourite beauty products are nail varnish, perfume, hair products and lip glosses so I'm hoping to maybe get some of those. The great thing is that it's always a surprise because you never know what's going to be in it.

Changing Times

2011-08-31T11:00:00.002+01:00

This blog post has been in my drafts for over a month now but I've decided today is the day to put it up.

Things change and I have found that I am doing less and less crafting. Don't get me wrong I still craft but my crafting has gone in a different direction and I definitely don't spend as much time crafting as I used to. Originally when I started this blog it was more of a lifestyle blog which included crafting but wasn't solely about crafting.
Then somewhere along the line it gradually turned into a blog "just" about my crafting.
Now I feel that I need to change things back to the way they were originally because this blog has not been updated as often as it used to or as much as I'd like mainly because I felt that I HAD to post craft stuff and because like I said I'm not crafting as much then there wasn't as much to post.

Over the last while I have found that sometimes I would see something online or do something and think "I'd love to pop this on my blog" but then when it doesn't directly have anything to do with crafting I don't put it on because I think people tend to come here specifically for crafting.

I hope that this change of direction for the blog will have me blogging more because I won't be stopping myself posting about something because it isn't totally about crafting.

I have a few ideas in mind for different regular series that I want to run so I hope that you will all like the change in direction for my blog.

Like I said you WILL see craft stuff on here so if that's what you are following me for then don't worry ;-)

Elsie's Messy Bun

2011-07-15T11:48:00.009+01:00

So over on Elsie Larson's blog I saw that she did a little tutorial on how she puts her hair up in a messy bun.

(Pic Source: A Beautiful Mess)

I love the way she styles her hair but I am totally useless at styling mine and tend to just leave it hang loose.

It looked SO simple that I said I just HAD to have a go and I was so happy with the results.

I had washed my hair the day before and hadn't straightened it. I must try it on straightened hair too just to see how it looks but I think i will prefer the look on my hair curly.

The only thing I did differently to the way Elsie did it was that I forgot to buy new bobby pins so mine wouldn't really hold my hair properly so I tucked the bits of hair into the band that I used to tie the ponytail and then stuck the pins in to make it more secure.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and it lasted the whole day without having to touch it.
I will definitely be styling my hair like this more often!

Head over to Elsie's blog for a step by step of how she did it!

"A Dog's Life" Charity Cards

2011-07-14T14:10:00.003+01:00

As promised here are the pics of the cards I made for "A Dogs Life".

They are doggy themed (OF COURSE) but I was really surprised that I only had one dog stamp {blush}
I really couldn't believe it! I had more cat ones than dog ones! And though I have nothing against cats I am really a doggy person!

I didn't photograph them individually coz they're all kinda the same ;-}

"A Dogs Life" do such great work rehoming dogs that I am only to happy to contribute some cards to help them raise money. I only wish I could be of more help.

If you are considering getting a dog please look in your local animal shelters first.
There are SO many dogs that need to be rehomed and ok some of them may not be the prettiest or the youngest but they don't deserve to be thrown on the scrap heap!

Check out "A Dog's Life" Facebook Page HERE

Oh My...............

2011-07-04T16:20:00.003+01:00

..............such a long time since I posted on my poor neglected little blog.
Let me update you on what I've been up to since the last time I posted, it actually hasn't been a hugely busy couple of months for me.
But.........

Some lovely online friends sent me some plants to plant where I have Susie buried and one of those plants is a day lily. I tried snapping some pics of the flowers but didn't end up too successful. Because it's a day lily each flower is gone after 24 hours and each of the days that the flowers came out wasn't the best day for taking pics but here's what I managed to snap. The flowers (in reality are GORGEOUS)

Crafting with Eva & Ber

The love Eva and Ber asked me to join them for an afternoon of crafting last month. It was an afternoon of lovely food, lovely company and we even got some crafting done (well Eva and Ber did anyway LOL)

Pic by Eva

Birthday

I celebrated another birthday (where are the years going?)
Eva and Ber got me a birthday cake! (thanks ladies)

Pic By Ber

I have been crafting too.
I just finished some charity cards for an animal shelter called "A Dogs Life" (which I will post pics of soon) AND I just did an online class with Kirsty Wiseman.

It's call ME In MoleskinE and there's a link to it in the sidebar -> -> -> if you're interested in doing it (or finding out more about it). It's an Art Journal class (I've never done one of those before)
I'll post some pages from that soon too!

I've also been doing some other crafting but I can't share at the moment, hopefully I will be able to share in the next month or so ;-)

And that is what I've been up to the past while.

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-05-02T22:15:00.004+01:00

The lovely Deidre from Colour & Ink gave me this Stylish Blogger Award.

Thanks so much Deirdre.
And now I have to carry the tradition on by:

1.Thank the person/persons that shared this award with me and link it back to their blog/blogs.
DONE

2. Share 7 things about myself!
Ok here goes.
I've tried to pick things that you might not know about me already!

1. I'm an only child
2. I'm such a procrastinator (it's not funny anymore)
3.I love my iPhone SO much
4. I'm so unfit (but I'm trying to change that)
5. I'm "slightly" ROBsessed :-}
6. My guilty pleasure is "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" {blush}
7. I am a perfectionist with some things (but not with everything)

3.Pass this award onto seven other bloggers that I have recently discovered.
The blogs I picked are not SO recently discovered but are ones that I love so please have a look at them!

1. Jackie http://jackies-space.blogspot.com/
2. Dianne http://diannesdooodleblog.blogspot.com/
3. Mandy http://crafty-angel.blogspot.com/
4. Kirsty http://limegreenbogiegirl.blogspot.com/
5. Sandie http://sandieshores.blogspot.com/
6. Elisa http://hybrid-alien.blogspot.com/
7. Elsie http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/

4. Leave a comment so they can pass along the recognition!
DONE ;-}

Testing Out Mobile Blogger

2011-03-27T15:38:00.001+01:00

So I just set up mobile blogger on my phone and wanted to try it out to see if I could post successfully.
Not sure if I'll ever make any use of it but just thought it would be handy to have it set up.

Hope you like the pic ;-)

Cannot Wait For This Movie

2011-03-04T11:45:00.002Z

I'm so excited to see this movie when it comes out.
For now though, I'll have to make do with the new trailer.
So I thought I'd share it with you

Great Promarker Tips From Kirsty Wiseman

2011-02-23T16:22:00.001Z

So while looking on Kirsty Wiseman's blog the other day I saw this video and thought "Why didn't I think of that?" and if you haven't seen it too I know you're going to be saying the same thing. I think these tips are just so clever.
So of course I'm sharing with you because you know what they say..........
"Sharing is Caring!"

For more great tips and ideas check out Kirsty's You Tube Channel and of course Kirsty's blog for lots of inspiration.

Free Calendar Wallpapers From Basic Grey

2011-02-23T11:35:00.004Z

I don't know if you have already seen these or not but Basic Grey have some gorgeous FREE Wallpaper Calendar downloads on their site.
I just downloaded the March one. It's so pretty and I can't wait for March to come so I can stick it on my laptop.

You can download it HERE at their site.

Rainbow Rice Recipe

2011-02-19T10:13:00.008Z

The other day I bought some dried apricots to eat as a snack instead of reaching for chocolate or biscuits but even though I loved the sweetness of them I didn't really like that they were so chewy. I had never tried them before so I didn't know what to expect.

I'm trying out new foods and trying to be more healthy.
SO............... I didn't want the apricots to go to waste and looked up some recipes that I thought I might like to use them up and I found this one that seemed perfect.

It's called "Rainbow Rice".
I love rice salad dishes but I generally buy them ready made from the supermarket, I know, I'm fierce lazy but I honestly didn't know how to go about making them myself.
I'm so happy with how this turned out. It's SOOOOOOOO gorgeous and super easy to make!

SO let's get started

First of all let me apologise for the pics. I took them with my phone and some of them didn't come out too good. (Next time I do any cooking I'll take proper pics, I promise)

First of all here's a list of what you need:

Rice
1 Red Pepper
1 Carrot
1/4 Cucumber
8 Dried Apricots
Sunflower Seeds
Juice from 1/2 an Orange
Olive Oil

That's it.

As I said it's so supereasy to make that I probably don't need to do a step by step but here's goes anyway.

Ok so first boil your rice. I used boil in the bag rice because that's what I had. The original recipe tells you all the different rices you can use but as I had this in the press I said I'd try it out. I left the rice cool down and then put it into the plastic tub that I was going to be storing it in (because I hate lots of washing up :-})

Next chop up your red pepper into really small pieces and add it to the tub with the rice.

Grate your carrot.

Add to the tub with the rice and red pepper and mix.

Chop up your cucumber into small pieces (I used 1/4 of a cucumber. The recipe said 1/2 but I found 1/4 was enough for me. It's up to yourself)

Again add to the tub and mix.

Finely chop 8 dried apricots (the recipe says 6 but obviously the reason I was making this was to use up the apricots so I said I'd use 8) and then add them to the tub and mix.

Then get 2 tablespoons of sunflowers seeds (the recipe says you can use pumpkin seeds instead if you have those) and you need to toast them, so what I did was put them on a plate and added a little bit of olive oil and put them in the microwave until they went brown. Next time I make this I'm gonna use more than 2 tablespoonfuls because you wouldn't really notice the 2 tablespoonfuls.

Next you need to add the sunflower seeds to the tub with everything else and add in the juice of half an orange and about 1 tablespoonful of olive oil (the recipe says 2 tablespoons but I don't really like the taste of olive oil so I just put in 1 :-)).

Mix everything together in the tub and that's it.

Didn't I tell you it was really simple?

I had it with some fish and lots of salad and some sweet chili sauce (my fave).
Sorry the picture is crap!

Good thing about this is that it holds in the fridge too and is even nicer the day after making it because the orange juice makes the apricots plump up and they are yummy in it.
I still have more apricots so I'll definitely be making the recipe again and I think I might even add more than 8 to it the next time.

If you want to follow the original recipe I got it at GoodFood.com

Visit To The Hairdressers (At Last)

2011-02-17T22:30:00.009Z

So I decided it was well and truly time that I go my hair cut, It hasn't had a proper cut since (I think) about July :-0
I had been going to get my fringe trimmed (and have to admit I had been trimming in between times myself).
I had a LOT of split ends that needed to come of and the long layers that had been cut into it last year were well and truly grown out.

So this is what it looked like before I headed to the hairdresser. I popped a colour in a few days before I went.

And I took these pictures with me to give the hairdresser an "idea" of what I wanted. Obviously the colour was not an issue I just wanted to show her the type of layers I was looking for.
She told me the problem with both of these style was that they had extensions and that if she was to start the layers that short that the longer part of my hair would be very thin and just wouldn't look good hence why these 2 have extensions put in. So I told her to do whatever she thought herself. I trust her because I've been going to her for years and she knows what I like.

SO this is what I ended up with.
She asked me if she'd dry it wavy (as I can dry it straight myself) and I said YES.
I wanted to see how long I'd get out of it. Day 1 is when I just got back from the hairdresser and it's actually curly as opposed to wavy I actually think it looks better on Day 3 :-) But by Day 4 it needed to be washed so I stuck it up in a bun but it was still wearable for the day.

I have it dried straight now and she actually took a good 2 inches off the length but it badly needed it and I'm really happy with the layers. I might ask for a few more next time :-)

Make Do & Mend

2011-02-11T15:21:00.007Z

First of all I want to say a huge thanks for all the lovely comments on Susie's post and also for the lovely emails I've received.

I saw this print over on Rachel's blog and at the moment it kinda describes how I'm feeling. I'm making do with things and I'm mending. (I know that's not what they really mean by this but..........)

Source

Goodbye Susie

2011-02-01T07:36:00.012Z

I said goodbye to my little Susie today, she had enough and was starting to show signs of being in pain so I made the choice that every pet owner dreads.
It hurts so much right now but I know it was the right thing for Susie.
She was the best dog in the world and my best friend. She was always there wagging her tail or to give me a lick and cuddle.

John Grogan the author of "Marley & Me" said it best when he said
"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not."

Susie gave me her heart (and more) and she will always have my heart.
I love you little girl and I'm sorry we didn't have longer together.

If I Should Grow Frail
by Julia Napier

If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain does keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done
For this - the last battle - can't be won.

You will be sad I understand
But don't let grief then stay your hand.
For on this day, more than the rest
Your love and friendship must stand the test.

We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn't want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.

Take me to where my needs they'll tend,
Only, stay with me till the end.
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.

Don't grieve that it must now be you
Who has to decide this thing to do.
We've been so close - we two -these years,
Don't let your heart hold any tears.

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

2011-01-24T19:11:00.009Z

And that is certainly the case here.

The following pictures will have you in tears (I am warning you now) but I just have to share them with you.

My friend Tess emailed them to me a few days ago and I haven't been able to get them out of my head since.

These pictures are of a dog called Leao who is keeping vigil beside the grave of Cristina Maria Cesario Santana, his owner, who died in Teresópolis, one of the areas hardest hit by the floods in Brazil.
Vigil: Leao sits for a second consecutive day next to the grave of his owner Cristina Maria Cesario Santana

These pictures are heartbreaking and have me in tears everytime I look at them.

Grim toll: Workers at the cemetery in Teresopolis, near Rio, have dug dozens of graves for landslide victims

You can read more about this here

Project Restyle - I'm In!

2011-01-20T21:37:00.006Z

So I don't know if you've heard about Project Restyle or not?
I saw it over on Elsie's blog at the beginning of the year and thought it was such a good idea.
Let me tell you a bit about it...........

Project Restyle is a just-for-fun creative group focused on ReStyling damaged, unwanted or unusable goods into fresh, beautiful pieces (perfect for my redecorating budget!)

Here are the Project ReStyle Guidelines

1. You must use unwanted, damaged or unusable vintage or used items to ReStyle. One of the big purposes of the group is that it encourages green living and is budget friendly. You can use items from your own closet/attic that you no longer love, thrifted finds or hand-me-downs.

2. Take a Before & After photo of your ReStyled project. It's that simple!

3. Share your creative work on your blogs and in the Flickr Group. If you don't have a Flickr account, it's free to join.

4. You can create fashion, home decor or gift items. There are no limits on what types of items you can ReStyle! Be creative and make items you know you can really use!

This is just the inspiration I need because as you know I'm slowly (but surely) redecorating each room in my house and have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head. This project encourages you to recycle and give a new lease of life to things that you already have.

I've already seen a few brilliant ideas that I want to try over on the Flickr Group

So if you think it's something you'd like to join in sign up and check out Elsie's blog for more details

New Year's Resolutions......

2011-01-02T20:16:00.008Z

......are something I try not to make anymore because I never keep them.
Of course with the start of each new year I say that it will be different and the things that I nearly always say will happen are that I'll eat healthier and get fitter (it generally doesn't last too long) but of course with the onslaught of fitness DVD's that hit the market at this time of year aimed at people like me, I cave in and buy one (as I always do) well if I'm honest I normally buy MORE than one.

Last year I bought a "Strictly Come Dancing" one which I thought would be good as I could learn how to dance while getting fit and end up with a dancers body as a bonus. Yeap it seemed like a great idea at the time but someone forgot to tell my 2 left feet. I jokingly told a friend about how hard it was and she asked if she could borrow it, because she was good at dancing and always wanted to learn properly. Two weeks later she said "Oh my God that DVD is impossible. I couldn't keep up with them". I'm not quiet sure what happened to it as I didn't see it again but it was kind of comforting to know that I wasn't the only one who had problems with it.

Then I decided to invest in "10 Minute Solution". There's a whole range of these for different parts of your body and the one I got was "Dance Off Fat Fast". Mmmm another dance one (I see a pattern forming).
This one I did manage to keep up with but didn't find it very challenging and got fed up with it after a while.

This year I said I wouldn't buy any fitness dvds and then when I went grocery shopping Tesco's I spotted the new Davina McCall DVD and thought that was just what I needed.
I tried it for the first time this morning and managed to do the warm up and 3/4 of the cardio workout before I felt like I was gonna passout! it was tough! But hey the only way is up. If I keep it up I might be able to get through it all by..... this time next year, maybe ??
I do like this DVD the workouts are easy enough for me to do (no complicated steps for my 2 left feet) and yet the workouts are VERY effective or at least the 3/4 of the one I did was. The good thing too is you can mix and match the different workouts to focus on your problem bits.
Here I'll let Davina tell you about it.

2011

2011-01-01T17:21:00.005Z

Source via WeHeartIt
Source via WeHeartIt

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T11:40:00.006Z

Wishing you all A Merry Christmas

My Dog Is A Gleek!

2010-12-17T17:05:00.009Z

It's been so cold here lately and Susie has really been feeling the cold so what with Christmas coming up and all I decided to buy her a doggie jumper. I'm not mad about dogs wearing clothes but I think this works and I felt so sorry for her shivering all the time.

She didn't look like she was enjoying it too much......

But then she started loving it!

I didn't realise when I bought it but a friend pointed out (yes Mona I'm talking about you!) that she looks like she belongs on "Glee" LOL

Rachel sure does like her Argyle.

And just because I'm a total Gleek here's a little vid, I love this!

Mami Doodles GD Challenge: Cherish Your Online Friends

2010-12-17T15:27:00.011Z

This weeks Mami Doodles Challenge is to send a card to another member of the DT in the spirit of Christmas and all.
I'm sending a card to Deirdre.

I actually made 2 cards for this weeks Mami Doodles Challenge (I know what happened?? LOL)

My first one was using this gorgeous image called "Santa I Can Explain"
I love this image. I used Fancy Pants Happy Holidays Paper that I think I've had for about 2 years {blush}

For this one I used "The Star Fairy" image, I love this image because you also have a version for a New Years Card and you know you always need those as there's always someone that gets forgotten. I used Anitas Red Christmas Papers and I really don't know how long I've had these (in other words a LONG time)

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Elisa for asking me to be Guest Designer for December and if you haven't already then you NEED to check out her Mami Doodles images because they're fantastic!
Also if you want to have a chance to win some of her great images go HERE to enter the challenge.

Guest Designer At Mami Doodles: Anything Goes

2010-12-10T18:56:00.008Z

The lovely Elisa over at Mami Doodles asked me to be her guest designer for December. I was honoured to be asked and of course said YES!

Elisa has just released some gorgeous new images for Christmas. I dare you to go and look and not want them all!
There's "The Star Fairy", "The Storyteller", "Christmas Wreath" & "Santa I Can Explain" which is the December Promo item and means that you get that one free when purchase any stamp through the month of December.

On my project I used the "Christmas Wreath" Stamp and made this little wall hanging. I love this stamp, you actually get 2 stamps one with the door and one without.
The challenge was "Anything Goes" and if you'd like a chance to win 4 of Elisa's images head over HERE and enter before next Thursday 16th Dec.

Us2

2010-12-08T10:43:00.003Z

Five years ago on Today FM's Ray Darcy show they compiled a book of photos that told the story of a day in the life of Ireland. The money raised from selling the book went to charity. They asked the public to send in photos and were amazed with the success of it.

Five years on and they decided to do it again this time to raise money for Barnardos Childrens Charity.
The idea was to take photos on Oct 2nd and email them in to the show.

Saturday Oct 2nd 2010 was a very, very wet day here in Tipperary but I decided I wanted to join in. So I grabbed my camera and started taking pics.

The day started with myself and Susie having a lie-in.
Here she is in her bed all curled up.

After lunch with no sign of the rain clearing I decided to head to "The Lookout". I love this place and it feels like being on top of the world. Unfortunately it was so wet that I had to sit in the car for quiet a while.

Finally the rain eased off a bit and I got out and tried out the panoramic mode on my camera for the first time.

On the way home I popped into the local shop for a few bits and spotted the ice-cream machine so I got myself a 99 and was told it would be the last one I could have for a while because they were packing up the machine for the winter. I love my 99's SO much.
While sitting in the car I snapped a pic of my 99, just for fun.

So I sent off my pics disappointed with how few I managed to take and thought to myself that I didn't have a hope of any of them making it into the book especially as I heard them saying that they got in 21,000 pics and how great they all were.

I picked up my book today in Easons (they were nearly all gone)and was told that they only arrived in 2 hours before and would definitely be gone by the end of the day.

I got home made a cuppa and sat down to flick through the book and imagine my surprise when I saw one of my pics in the book.

I was laughing at the one that got added. Out of them all that was the biggest surprise and to think I nearly didn't send it. Then I thought "Why didn't I paint my nails that day?"

Starting Tomorrow.....

2010-12-05T22:36:00.004Z

Over on Elsie Flannigan's Blog

SO exciting, are you gonna join in??

Some More Visitors

2010-12-03T13:17:00.013Z

I had some more visitors last month. My friend Gozde from Turkey came to see me at the end of November. Thank God she managed to avoid the horrible weather and even though it was cold we were pretty lucky with the weather. We managed to visit a good few places.

She arrived on a Monday and we headed to the Rock of Cashel

Then we went down to visit my cousin Noel and went for lunch in Dungarven

We went looking around the town. it's so pretty there........ and then we headed home. Unfortunately because of the time of the year it gets dark by 4.30 pm.

The following day was raining but we headed into Bunratty Castle and had a look around.

I DID NOT LIKE ALL THE STAIRS!

Believe it or not I have never been to Bunratty and I HAVE to go back in the summer to have a proper look around the Folk Park. What with the weather and being so late getting there we didn't really have a proper chance to look around.

On our final day before Goz had to catch her train we headed for Castlelough and Garrykennedy

Last weekend my Aunt came to stay for a few days. It was great to catch up with her even if it was brief. She had a cataract op last Wednesday and needed to have drops put into her eye 3 days before. Thank God she's now over the op and all went well.

Lucky Me

2010-12-02T15:37:00.010Z

I was lucky enough to be one of the winners in the October monthly draw over on the Docrafts website and my prize arrived last week and look at all the goodies I got!
I really wasn't expecting this many goodies as there are over 20 winners every month. I have to say they were MORE than generous!

Click on the pics to see them Larger

Oh My...............

2010-11-12T22:49:00.007Z

........it's been so long since I blogged {blush} but I really do have a good excuse. I've been pretty busy.

The week before last my lovely friend Kat from America visited with her hubby and a friend of theirs and for the past couple of weeks I've been busy decorating the Bathroom and Guest Room (pics of that to come soon). I had been meaning to decorate them for some time now (well I actually want to decorate every room in the house but I said I'd start with those two) and what a better insentive than having visitors. Also another friend of mine, Gozde from Turkey is coming to visit on Monday.

I wanted to do a before and after post of the two rooms but my camera was giving me trouble and I've lost the before pics I took of the bathroom :-( so you won't quiet see the full effect but I'll post them anyway. There's still a few little things I have to add, I'm waiting for them to come in the post and then I'll take after pics.

Let me share with you some of the photos of Kat, Peter and Rebecca's visit.
It was a short visit they arrived on Thursday afternoon and after a quick cuppa and some yummy cake we went for a Chinese and a few drinks (no pics of that !)

Then the following day we woke up to LOTS and LOTS of rain but we didn't let that put a dampner on things and we headed off to do a bit of sightseeing.

I took them to Bunratty Castle but as the gardens were closed to the public that day we decided to head back into Limerick and visit King Johns Castle instead.

Lots of funny pics followed.

Then on the way back we stopped off at "Matt The Threshers" in Birdhill for some gorgeous soup and sandwiches. The soup (as my Uncle would say) had eating and drinking in it. I was so full after the soup that I almost couldn't eat my toasted sandwich.

Photo By Rebecca

Then because the rain was starting to clear (at last) we headed down to Killaloe. It's SO pretty there.

Next stop (before the sun went down) was "The Lookout" at Castlelough.

Then it was a quick look around town and back home to relax and have a few drinks as they had a very early start the following morning. They had to be up at 5am because the ferry was leaving at 8.45am and wouldn't you know it, it was a gorgoues day after all that rain the day before. Typical Ireland.

We had a great day despite the rain. The visit went way too fast!

Music Saves My Soul

2010-10-10T20:21:00.007+01:00

Oops I'm a day late with this.
I wasn't online very much at all yesterday
because I'm a busy bee here. I've been
painting pretty much non-stop for the last few days.
And no not pictures, walls!

Anyway here's my choice for this weeks
"Music Saves my Soul"
I love this song by Amy Winehouse and a friend of mine
made this vid and paired the song
with something else I love (Mr Robert Pattinson)
it's just perfect and always makes me smile.

Hope you enjoy it too

Don't forget to link up to Marcea's blog if you decide to join in!

Music Saves My Soul Saturday

2010-10-02T20:48:00.008+01:00

Oops I nearly forgot it this {blush}

Well it's still Saturday so I'm ok :-)

This is my choice for this week. I love this.

(Keep an eye out for the granny, she's priceless)

Don't forget to join in head over to Marcea's Blog

GBCE Class

2010-09-26T15:16:00.007+01:00

This is what we made.
The class was for this LO. I've used baby pics
but the papers were suitable for lots of different types of pics.

I also did a Christmas version of the LO.

I left the inside blank on this one because I want to add some journalling.

I did a different flower on this one

I made this card with the leftovers and a different type flower.

I used a Digi Stamp from Mami Doodles
Big thanks to Elisa for giving me permission to use it.

This is the same as the flower above except it has an extra two layers

I'm going to do a little vid showing how to make the flowers so keep an eye out for that.
You won't believe how easy they are!

"Music Saves My Soul" Saturday

2010-09-25T20:56:00.009+01:00

So I found this thorough Sandies blog today.I
It started last week. The idea is to pick out
a song that you love and post it on your blog
and then you leave a link HERE and you have a chance
to win a little candy. How cool is that?

SOOOOOO here's my fave this week.
I LOVE this version of the song, it just makes me smile
and so does Sue coming in at the end saying "SHUT UP" LOL
I'm a total Gleek!

GBCE Sneak Peeks

2010-09-21T16:41:00.012+01:00

Sneak Peeks of my class at the GBCE.
Using the gorgeous DCWV papers
we will be making a LO that can be adapted
to use whatever pics you like.

In fact you will be getting such a bumper kit with this class that you
are going to be able to make 4/5 LO's and still have enough
to make some cards too!

Each kit will have 12 sheets of 12X12
(many embellished and glittered) plus a full sheet of stickers
and a full pack of brads - valued at almost 20 Euro

AND

If all that's not enough
You will also be getting a gift pack from K&Co!

Places are booking up fast, so if you want to
be sure of getting a place BOOK NOW

I'm so excited to be going to the GBCE
and I'm counting down the days!
Only 3 more sleeps!!

Get Well Soon

2010-09-21T16:03:00.006+01:00

Last week at Kirsty's Wednesday Night Online Crop she had
a gorgeous sketch and I used it to make
this card for my Aunt who is hospital at the moment.
The Digi Stamp is one of Elisa's from Mami Doodles
(I LOVE her digi stamps, I may have mentioned that before! :-})

I normally don't enter challenges but I stumbled
on the "Stamp Something" blog
(through Jackie Mooney's blog) and this card fits
the challenge so I'm going to enter it.

Stamp Something: Use a Digi

Today I'm In Love With..........

2010-09-09T13:35:00.008+01:00

......Kirsty Wiseman's Wednesday night cyber crops.

Last week Kirsty had a Wednesday night Cyber crop
and set us a challenge using a sketch and also
a product challenge. We could do one or the other or both (if we wished).
I decided to do the sketch and ended up with this.....

And then the following day I decided to have a go

at the product challenge but things did not go to plan
and my LO ended up with a cup of coffee all over it :-(
This might have been ok if that was on
Kirsty's list of products but it wasn't! :-}
Anyway Kirsty still featured my original LO on her blog
Yippeee!

So last night she set us another sketch and product challenge
and as last weeks LO ended up in the bin I decided
to use one of the pics on this weeks one
and this was what I ended up with......

I hope Kirsty is gonna make these cyber crops

a regular thing as I'm finding them a great challenge.
I'm a very, very slow scrapper so to complete a LO in
2 hours is actually quiet difficult for me.

The cyber crop starts at 8pm and finishes at 10pm every Wednesday night.
Oh and did I tell you there's a prize too!
What more could you want ??

If you want to play along next week check it out HERE

Today I'm In Love With......

2010-09-02T10:54:00.004+01:00

THIS.....

This it will put a smile on your face I promise.
It's FANTASTIC!!!

Thanks to my lovely friend Laura for sharing it with me!

Today I'm In Love With........

2010-08-30T12:08:00.006+01:00

Each day I'm gonna pop up something
that catches my eye, it might be a song, a video,
a picture, some handmade thing that
I have fallen in love with, a blog that's interesting...........
you get the idea ;-)

SO Today I'm in Love with.......

THIS...........

The Script's new song

To Do This Week......

2010-08-30T12:07:00.007+01:00

1. Start painting the bathroom.

2. Cut the grass.

3. Make more items for my Etsy Store.

4. Settle on a banner design for my Etsy store.

5. Clean out my kitchen presses

6. Finish some half done DT's projects.

7. Take my neighbour to the garden centre

I'm sure I'll think of a few more

4 Simple Goals........Before 2011

2010-08-28T17:58:00.008+01:00

I love Elsie Flannigan's blog and

follow it almost religiously {blush}
It's so inspirational and
just the way I'd like my blog to be.

Anyway as I was looking at it recently she
had a post about a blog challenge idea
that she has called "4 Simple Goals"

Here are the simple guidelines for the challenge:

1. choose simple goals that will make your life
richer and happier on a daily basis.
choose things you may not otherwise get done,
but that are not difficult to accomplish.

2. do not choose result oriented goals,
choose activity oriented goals.
for example.... instead of "lose 10 pounds",
choose something like "eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day".
get what i'm saying?
positive actions instead of just the end result!

3. choose goals that are personal that you believe
will truly make your life richer just by doing them!
they can be daily, weekly or one time experiences.

4. choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished!
it can be a small or large reward.

5. blog your goals, each one as you achieve it
and a big post when they are all finished before the new year!

Simple eh?
Mmmm... we shall see.
Goals are not my strongest point but
I'm going to be positive about it, try my best
and hopefully the fact that I'm putting them up here
will actually mean that I'll try harder to achieve them.

SO here are my "4 Simple Goals - Before 2011"

1. Blog More Often - This has been something
I've been trying to do for a while and failing miserably.
I mean I'm on my computer everyday
so logging on and doing a blog post (even if it's a small one
should not be a huge problem) but somehow it never gets done.
SO I'm going to try and so a little daily blog post and
with a bit of luck after 21 days it will become a habit.
Apparently it only takes 21 day to form a habit. We shall see :-}

2. Decorate - There's lots of things I want to do
to my house to put my mark on it.
At the moment it's still decorated in my Mum & Dad's taste
and it didn't feel right to change it all along. The time feels right now
and I'm ready to make it MY house. I won't be changing everything about it,
I mean it will still have bits of my Mum & Dad because
I'd never want it to lose them completely but I now feel ready
to add my touches. I've already started and painted
the front garden wall last Thursday so now I'm all excited
to do things to the inside, mainly painting but there are
other things I'd like to do that I won't be able to do myself.
They may not be done till next year so if I get even just the
painting part of it done by 2011 I'll be happy!

3. Etsy Shop - Aaaah if I had a Euro for everytime I've set a date
to open my Etsy Shop I'd be rich LOL
But I'm setting it to open in October and I'm working
really hard on products for it so it's looking really good for October.
There's a reason WHY I want to open in October
and all will be revealed soon.

And finally
4. Weekly To Do/Goal List - Because I find trying to limit
my list to 4 really hard, I thought that I'd do like
a mini to do/goal list each week and
try and achieve more things that way.
I thought if I post my weekly list on a Sunday or Monday
on my blog (as motivation) and then post about
each thing as i get them done that that might work.
I don't know if it's going to be interesting for people
to read or if it'll be more for me but sure I'll try it
for a while and see how it goes.

SO there you have it. If you'd like to play along
check out Elsie's blog "A Beautiful Mess"

More Exciting News...........

2010-08-24T20:49:00.010+01:00

I can now tell you another bit of my exciting news!

I am going to be teaching 2 classes at the
"Great Big Craft Extravaganza" (GBCE) in Athlone
at the end of September.

I'll be doing a class using gorgeous K&Co Christmas papers,
that one is on Friday 24th Sept @ 11am.
It can be booked HERE

And I'm using DCWV for my second class
which is called "Hello Baby" is on Sunday 26th Sept @ 3.15pm
and it can be booked HERE

I am so excited to be teaching these classes (can you tell?)
and I'm in such good company.
You HAVE to check out all the other fabulous
tutors and classes that are on offer.
Have a look at the timetable HERE
and hop over to An Siopa Buí for booking

Also keep an eye out I might even post
a few sneak peeks of my classes here.

Why I Was Excited...

2010-08-16T19:17:00.008+01:00

ONE of the exciting bits of news I
wanted to share with you was that I was asked to
be A Design Team Member for Little Snippets
I was delighted to be asked and have been
using "Little Snippets" for a long time now.

Here are some things that I used
"Little Snippets" on in the past

And I'm working on some new things at the moment.
More exciting news to come.

Exciting Stuff......

2010-08-03T11:24:00.008+01:00

.....I'm so excited. I've signed up for this online
Home EC class with Leigh-Ann, Rachel & Courtney.
I can't wait! It starts Aug 10th

I also have some other exciting news too
but I can't say yet. Actually there's
a couple of things (which will be revealed over time).
I know I'm a tease huh??

ETA: I just got some more really exciting news
about some friends that will be visiting! CAN'T WAIT

Oh and FYI I'm still movie mad.
I'll share later what I've watched
since last time I blogged,
which was {blush} AGES ago. Sorry :-{

I've Gone A Bit Movie Mad

2010-07-11T12:36:00.006+01:00

Well what with all the rain and the World Cup
I started looking at lots of movies and while
I am guess what else I'm doing?? Yeap CRAFTING!!

Can you believe it??
I will show you what I've been making
as soon as I load the pics up to the computer,
in the meantime here's what I've been watching.

Shutter Island
This is a must see. It's brilliant. Leo at his best!

Hatchi: A Dogs Tale
If you can watch this movie and not cry
then you are made of stone.
Seriously have a very, very big box of tissues for this one.

2012
This was good but VERY long

The Lovely Bones
Another MUST see

Up In The Air
I fell asleep half way through this ;-}

I Love Listening To These......

2010-07-09T12:59:00.007+01:00

.......lately and just thought I'd share.
Enjoy!

This one probably sounds famliar. It's in an ad.

I Went To See Eclipse Last Sunday.......

2010-07-04T22:53:00.012+01:00

....they were showing previews and of course I couldn't wait.
I decided to go to an early showing (10.45am) in "The Storm".
It ended up being a really good decision because there was only
about 15 people in the cinema.
I also got a free keyring (yay). I know, I know it's easy to please me.

Anyway back to the film. It was definitely the best of the three.
Some of the things I liked about it (without spoiling it for
those who haven't seen it yet) this one has LOTS of
action in it as well as some comedy thrown in. I felt it
really needed the bit of comedy so it's not as dark
as the others. Charlie (Bella's father) has
some of the best comedic lines in it, I found myself giggling away.
Another thing I thought was good was that they explained
more about the backgrounds of the other characters,
something that was really lacking in the other films.
If you hadn't read the books it would be really hard to even
know who some of the other characters were.

So there you go really worth a look in my opinion (I may be a bit biased LOL)

In The Garden..............

2010-07-03T21:25:00.004+01:00

............that's where I spent last weekend.
I finally got the garden straightened out a
bit and bought a few flowers to plant,
so of course I had to get the camera out then.
I decided to play with the compact camera
that I got for my birthday. I need to mess with the settings to
find out what works best. I found that the macro setting
on it is really good, you know for a compact.
Here's a few of the photos I took.

None of them are edited they're straight out of the camera ;-)
Although I do plan to edit them I just
wanted you to see them before I did.

Enjoy

Inspirational Art

2010-06-13T21:53:00.010+01:00

Inspirational Art

So last Saturday myself and my neighbour went to
not one but two local art exhibitions.
There is so much talent out there and I felt so inspired
when I came home, so i thought I'd share some of what I saw there .
(Photos were taken with my phone)

White Chocolate Mud Cake

2010-06-10T20:20:00.008+01:00

White Chocolate Mud Cake

What's left of it.
I decided to try out this recipe the other day and my God did it turn out gorgeous!
It doesn't look the same as it did in the recipe book (actually mine doesn't look that good at all but it's tastes fantastic!). I decided I wanted to see if I could make cupcakes with the mix too so i put half of it into a loaf tin (instead of a round tin) and the other half I made into cupcakes. The cupcakes were ok but the actual cake turned out gorgeous!

I'll definitely be making this again and using the round cake tin and also I'm going to use real white choc as opposed to cooking choc!
There's no stopping me now that I have my new hand mixer! If I make all the recipes I want to try I'll be as fat as a fool LOL

Here's the Recipe in case anyone would like it

250g butter, chopped
150g white chocolate,chopped coarsely
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
1 cup (250 ml milk)
1 1/2 cups (225g plain flour)
1/2 cup (75g self-raising flour)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs, beaten lightly

White Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup (125ml) cream
300g white chocolate, chopped coarsely

Grease deep 2ocm - round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper.

Combine butter, chocolate, sugar and milk in a medium saucepan,; stir over low heat, without boiling, until smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl; cool 15 mins.

Preheat oven to 160 C , 325 F , Gas Mark 3

Whisk sifted flours into mixture, then stir in essence and eggs. Poor mixture into prepared pan; bake in moderately slow oven for 1 hour. Cover pan with foil; bake about 45 mins.

Stand cake in pan 30 minutes; turn onto wire rack to cool. Spread top and side of cold cake with white chocolate ganache.

White Chocolate Ganache Bring cream to boil in a small saucepan; pour over chocolate in a small bowl, stirring until chocolate melts. Cover; refrigerate, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until spreadable

Birthdays Are Good For You.......

2010-06-02T16:05:00.010+01:00

......so Father Larry Lorenzoni tells us. He said “Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.”

Oscar Wilde said "Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years."

I agree with the first one and think I'll take Oscar's advice and stay at 35 for a while.
Why all this talk about birthday's? Well it was my birthday on Friday although it kinda turned into more of a birthday weekend because my Aunt, cousin-in-law and her 2 kids came up and Saturday and took me for lunch and basically spoiled me rotten. Look at all the gorgeous things I got for my birthday!

A Digital Frame

Cute Camera

A Hand Mixer (I really wanted one of these)

And some yummy smellies

And this gorgeous Hamper

(Sorry the photo is not the best I snapped it with my phone)

Yeap totally spoilt. I had been saying for AGES that I wanted to get a small camera to pop into my handbag. As much as I LOVE and really I do LOVE my Canon I hate that it's not so compact. Obviously I said it more than once without realising it :-}
Well now I have one and I'm so happy with it!

I also got some money and decided to be really boring and buy something that I needed badly a new Vacuum Cleaner! I know, I know, but I really needed a new one, one that could handle Susie's hairs and I'm so happy with the one I got. It's a family and pet one and is brilliant (so easy to please me LOL.)

Speaking of Susie she's gotten into the habit of sleeping upstairs at night-time. It all started one Saturday a couple of weeks ago, she just wouldn't settle and the only way I could get some sleep was to let her come up. So she now sleeps beside my bed in her own bed. She's not allow up on my bed, she doesn't look to get up anyway but I just couldn't let her sleep there with the amount she coats.
I'm not sure why she decided that she wants to sleep near me (maybe it's something to do with her illness) but it makes her happy and that's all that matters to me ;-)

And We Have A Winner.............

2010-05-17T23:16:00.007+01:00

Tisme

you are now the proud owner of this little lot!

Also I decided to have two Runners-Up Prizes (don't know what they are yet) so

Sabriel & Chocolait you both win too!

Can you all email me HERE with your addresses please!

Happy News....

2010-05-14T16:58:00.004+01:00

YAY I Won

I was so delighted when I found out that I had won a gorgeous ring from Erin over at "Pear and Peacock", seriously I think after my passion for bags rings come in a close second!

Erin's designs are absolutely gorgeous, if you love jewellery and are looking for something original and different check out her shop HERE .

Can't Stop Singing This....

2010-05-05T14:19:00.003+01:00

...only I really don't sound as good but in my mind I do! LOL

To see the official video go here!

Blog Candy

2010-05-02T14:22:00.006+01:00

Would you like to win some blog candy?? Thought so!
So if you'd like to win this lot it's easy, all you have to do is become a follower (if you're not one already) and post about my candy on your blog either in a post or in your sidebar (linking back to this post) and then just leave a comment for me.
Simple huh? Entries will close at Midnight (GMT) on Sunday 16th May!

I'll add a list of what's in the candy tomorrow but basically there's rub ons, stamps and chipboard!

Good Luck!

Fancy A Chance To Win This.......

2010-05-01T23:34:00.005+01:00

If the answer is YES then head over to Paperplay Challenges. You have 2 chances to win over there. This prize is from me and there's also one from Cardmad Fairy. And if that wasn't enough I'm gonna be putting up some candy here tomorrow so if you'd like a chance to be entered into it then be sure to come back !

Blogs I Love

2010-04-20T20:12:00.004+01:00

I'm making a few changes to my blog and one of the changes I've made is to move the "Blogs I Love" List from the sidebar.
From now on if you're looking for the list click on the "Blogs I Love" tab under the header at the top of the page!

5 Things.....

2010-04-19T14:42:00.011+01:00

So I've seen this on a lot of people's blogs lately and thought I'd have a go!

5 Things I'm Looking Forward To.....

Summertime - I got a taste of it the last few days and I can't wait for lots of sunny days.
Having the whole house De-Cluttered
Getting everything (including myself more organised)
Seeing The 3rd Twilight Movie "Eclipse" at the cinema.
Painting every room in my house.

5 Things I Did Yesterday.....

De-Cluttered part of my bedroom
Did some crochet (it's been ages)
Made a gorgeous Omelette
Washed my hair (exciting stuff :-))
Took some photos in the garden (I'll share them with you tomorrow)

5 Things I Wish I Would Do.....

Click my fingers and the whole house would be painted
Be more organised (are you seeing a trend with this ?)
Have more hours in the day
Sew
Build a conservatory

5 Cute Things I've Found Online Lately

All photos found at Etsy.com Click on each photo to go to the sources

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T12:17:00.007+01:00

Found Here

Hope you all have a very Happy Easter

Five Faves Friday

2010-04-02T23:53:00.007+01:00

1 Easter
I love Easter. To me Easter means that summer is not far away although with the way the weather is going this year who can tell what's going to happen. Still I like to think that summer is on it's way.

Photos via weheartit.com

2. Dragon's Den

I'm addicted to watching "Dragon's Den" on RTE1 . I LOVE it and never miss an episode.
And my favourite was a lady called Elaine Sarah Comerford from last year's series. She came up with button jewellery you can read her story here and here's her website Button & Co I tried to find a You Tube Video of it but there doesn't seem to be one.

3. Sweet And Sour Chicken

I could eat this forever. I love it and what I love even more is making it myself. Since I started making it myself I don't like the one from the Chinese, it just doesn't taste as good (even if I do say so myself!)
The pic above isn't a pic of mine but is the nearest I could find to what mine looks like. Mine doesn't last long enough to take pics of it! LOL

4. Eva's Photography Exhibition

SO excited for my friend Eva

5. And Finally I'm Loving the Indie business course that I'm doing run by Elsie, Leigh-Ann & Jill. I'm learning so much and can't believe how quickly the time is going.

A Year Today......

2010-03-30T19:38:00.001+01:00

RIP

Keep An Eye Out.....

2010-03-29T22:07:00.003+01:00

.....this week.
I noticed that I have reached 30,000 hits and to celebrate I'm going to give away a little blog candy.
Excited?? Me too.

Did You Turn Out Your Lights For Earth Hour Tonight?

2010-03-27T21:55:00.003Z

Five Faves Friday

2010-03-26T19:36:00.007Z

Can you believe it's Friday again already??
Where are the weeks going, it's scary!

Anyway here are my five faves this friday.

1. Creme Egg Ice-Cream
I saw this when I did my shopping the other day and I love creme eggs SO much that I HAD to buy it, plus it was half price in Tescos and I can't resist a bargain. It is SO gorgeous. Yum!

2. Corner Punch.
I'm addicted to using this on everything I've made recently. I think it adds a professional look and I love this one from Cardz 'n' Scrapz.

3. Etsy

I could spend hours looking around Etsy and tend to go there more and more if I'm looking for something handmade, different and unique. Lately I've been surprised at the amount of people (not crafty people) who have never heard of it and when i mention etsy they ask what it is. I always say it's like Ebay for crafters but it's so much more than that. So just in case you've forgotten about Etsy lately I just said I'd remind you!;-)

4. "Remember Me"
I think I've been talking about this movie more than once before but it finally comes to the cinemas here on friday and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Remember Me Exclusive TV Spot

5. Owls

From Skunkboy Creatures

I want one SO badly

Giggles On A Wednesday!

2010-03-24T20:22:00.004Z

I got these in an email today and had to share coz they made me giggle!
Hope they make you giggle too!

Five Faves Friday

2010-03-19T22:38:00.009Z

1. LOVE this

2 Picked up this today!

3.Cupcake Nails - How cute are these?

Photo found at WeHeartIt

4.Springtime.
It's starting to look a lot like springtime out there (well at times anyway)and I love how the evenings have a bit of a stretch and the sun is a bit warmer.

Photos found at WeHeartIt

5. And last but not least.
"Cougar Town" and "The Good Wife" started last Monday from 9pm on RTE2 and they're both brilliant! If you haven't seen them I recommend watching.

"Eclipse" Time

2010-03-11T17:52:00.002Z

I'm SO excited for this movie!
Have to hold the excitement until July.
In the meantime here's the trailer that was released today.

I Have Been Busy...... Honest!

2010-03-09T21:24:00.014Z

I've also been sick. I was sick for a full week, had a horrible tummy bug that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I'm not exaggerating when I say I spent the whole week on the couch snuggling up with Susie. It's so funny how animals can sense when you're not feeling well. She didn't leave my side from one end of the day to the other.

Anyway since I last blogged I said goodbye to Crafty Angels. My 6 month term had finished and a new design team has started this was the last project I did.

I also made the hard decision to leave Paperplay Challenges. It wasn't an easy decision to make as I've been with the team from the start. I wish Sandie and the girls all the best. It's amazing to see how much the blog has grown over the last year and a half and will continue to do so I'm sure.

With Mother's Day coming up on Sunday I made this card for my Godmother (who is also my Aunt). I really like how it turned out.

I made this Pink Pearl necklace for her too. I made it a while ago and found it difficult to make something suitable for an 82 year old. This isn't really my style but she rang this morning and was mad about it so it looks like it was a hit!

These are more my style. I made these recently and LOVE them. I'm only starting out with jewellery and just learning but I love it.

I also started an online class and I'm loving it. There's a class everyday so it's quiet intense but it's SO good.

See I told you I was busy!

Oh I'll start doing Five Faves Friday Again tomorrow. I've missed a few weeks of it {blush}

Right better run.

Paperplay Challenge- Thank You

2010-02-17T17:17:00.003Z

So Sandie did a sketch for us to follow for this weeks Paperplay Challenge and this was what I did for it. Check out the blog to see what the rest of the ladies did.
Digi Stamp is from Mami Doodles once again (I'm addicted to them)

Paperplay Sneak Peek

2010-02-17T17:12:00.007Z

Little Peek of my project for tomorrows Paperplay Challenges Come back tomorrow to see the full thing !

Crafty Angels Challenge - Fantastic Flowers

2010-02-15T14:08:00.006Z

So over on Crafty Angels this week Caz wanted us to say it with flowers and this was what I did for it. I love this image, so cute!

Only one more challenge for me on the Crafty Angels Design team before the new team take over. I can't believe how quickly 6 months have gone by!

Crafty Angels Sneak Peek

2010-02-14T16:24:00.004Z

This is a sneak peek of my project for Crafty Angels which goes live tomorrow!
Check back then to see the full thing!

Oops I'm late

2010-02-13T19:25:00.003Z

So I said I'd post my full Paperplay project on Thursday but ended up taking Susie to the vet again so I'm only getting around to posting it now. The vet ended up giving her two injections and while she's still not 100% she is getting there.

Anyway this is my Project for the Paperplay Challenge this week which was set by the lovely Liz. She wanted us to make a birthday card for someone special. It can be for anyone from your dear grandmother to your sweet little cat!!

Sneak Peek Of My Project For Tomorrows Paperplay

2010-02-10T15:43:00.004Z

Come back tomorrow to see the full thing ;-)

Mr Mouse Meets Crafty Angels

2010-02-08T10:00:00.000Z

So over on Crafty Angels this week the challenge was set by Sandie and she wanted us to use our favourite colour. This is what I did for it using once again a Digi Stamp from Mami Doodles (coz I love them) and the Patterened Paper is available at the Crafty Angels shop.

My Late Entry For Paperplay

2010-02-07T18:27:00.004Z

So I was late with my entry for last Thursday's Paperplay which was set by Sandie and was called Love Notes.
This was my entry for it using my "new" Promarkers (which I'm LOVING BTW) and using Elisa's Mami Doodles Digi Stamps (which I'm also LOVING) check them out you will fall in love with them, they are so cute.

And here's a sneak peek of my project for Crafty Angels. It will go live tomorrow so come back then to see the full thing!

Five Faves Friday

2010-02-05T23:28:00.008Z

1. I just have to share this video with you. It's a fantastic video of Sand Art that was shown to me by my friend Kiki.

Before you watch the vid this is the story she is telling
Taken from Magicmum.com

This video shows the winner of "Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000.

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.

It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.

She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.

This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.

In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.

Kseniya Simonova says:
"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."

2. Mandy's Artwork. I just loved this mixed media artwork by my friend Mandy. SO Talented!

3. The Lovely Bones is being released here in Ireland on 19th February and I can't wait to see it and I still think Saoirse should be up for an Oscar! :-(
Here's the trailer to refresh your memory.

4. This song is going around in my head. I find myself humming it when I don't realise

5. And finally I can't wait to see this movie as well.Unfortunately I'll have to wait till April 2nd :-(

Naughty, Naughty

2010-02-04T16:24:00.013Z

I'm very bold, I kept meaning to update and kept getting distracted anyway I'm finally getting around to it and I have some crafty goodness to share with you!

First up is Crafty Angels.
This one is from 2 weeks ago and the challenge was set by Laura. She wanted us to do some paperfolding so this was what I came up with.

And this weeks challenge was set by ME. I challenged people to use buttons on their project. This was what I did for it.

Can you believe the DT term is nearly up over on Craft Angels and Laura is now holding a DT call so if you want a chance to be on the DT check it out here

So onto Paperplay Challenges and this challenge was from last week and was set by Sandie. She wanted us to use Pink, White and Green in our challenge, this was what I did for it and it was a scraplift from one of Elsie Flannigans scrapbook pages.

I'm running late with this weeks challenge but will have it up tomorrow. In the meantime if you want to check it out head over here.

Finally news about Susie. I only got her test results back on Monday and it wasn't good news. She tested negative for cushings which the vet expected but her bloods were still as high as last time and he did another test on her too (can't remember what he called it) but it came back really high too.

He wanted to do another test to test her liver function and it required her to eat and, as he put it "The little brat wouldn't eat for him" . I couldn't believe it because she had to be hungry (she hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours because I had to bring her in fasting) and I said to him that she'd probably wolf down her dinner when she got home, and she did! But anyway back to the results they basically just confirmed what he thought the first time that she has a liver tumor :-(

I asked him what I was to do now and he said to basically keep her as comfortable as I could until I felt that it was "time". He has given me a tonic to give her, he said it won't do her any harm. Anyone I say it to can't believe that there's anything wrong with her because she looks so well but she was ill over the weekend and I hate seeing her like that. I just hope and pray I will know when she's in pain and has had enough. until then we'll plod along.

Here she is being good the other night getting her treat. I saw a man doing this one time with his dog with an ice-cream and he put it right in front of the dogs nose and the dog didn't touch it until he said "now". I thought it was brilliant and decided to teach Susie mainly because she used to just grab food so I thought some manners were in order LOL

This is the result

Five Faves Friday

2010-01-29T13:33:00.009Z

1. I Love my iTouch, seriously still in love with this and I have it over a year now. My lovely friends over at the Craft Supplies Forum gave me a voucher in Christmas 08 and I treated myself to it. Best thing I ever got. Not so sure about the new Ipad :-/ To me it looks like a giant iTouch.

And I just had to share this because it's hilarious. It was actually made 4 years ago! I'm thinking Apple should have thought a bit more about calling it an iPad.

2. Number 2 on my list is...... PROMARKERS.

Yes I'm in love with these babies. I don't have that many at the moment but that will probably change soon because they're becoming an addiction!

3. I SO want this

and this

They're by Donna Downey
You can see more of them here

4. Decluttering. I've started decluttering my craft room. Let's hope I actually get to finish it this time! it's not looking too bad ATM ;-)
I wish it looked like these

Found here

5. This Blog
It's so pretty.

Update On Susie

2010-01-25T16:33:00.004Z

Susie's test was cancelled last Thursday something about needing a specialised lab for the test and the vet didn't want the bloods to be lying around over the weekend so it was re-booked for today. She's there now. I dropped her off at 2pm. I had to fast her all morning which was really hard coz she SO loves her food. Anyway she was all excited going in the car, I don't know where she thought we were going. She might have thought I was taking her for a drive and a walk because I did that the other day and even though she's not great in the car she seemed to enjoy it and saw a swan for the first time LOL

Anyway I dropped her off at 2pm and the test takes a good few hours they have to take bloods and inject her with some stuff and then wait 4 hours and then take more bloods.
There was another dog (a red setter) there to have the same test done and when we went in the door she just followed the other dog in but then she had a look around and realised where she was and said "I'm outta here" you could see the look on her face and everyone just laughed at her. They were both put into cages and Red Setter just hopped into his cage but when I put Susie in she kept try to get back out! I eventually got her into the cage so I hope she's not too scared :-((
So basically I'm just waiting for the phone call to go and get her!

Five Faves Friday

2010-01-22T19:33:00.005Z

I can't believe a week has passed since I did this!
SO here are my "Five Faves" this Friday!

1. "Come Dine With Me"
I'm addicted to watching this on More 4 on Sunday afternoons

2. Still on the subject of food, you've good check out this blog!

It's called the "Good Mood Food" Blog by Donal Skehan and there are some gorgeous recipes on there. There's also a book to go with the blog

3. "Glee"
If you haven't watched this you need to. It's so cheesy and funny but great relaxation tv!

4.Lattes
I fallen in love with them lately!

5. And last but not least another guilty pleasure "Keeping Up with the Kardashians".
Do not ask me what I find entertaining about his lot I can't explain it, maybe it's like a car crash you just can't look away! LOL

Crafty Catch-Up

2010-01-19T19:23:00.009Z

SO a few little projects I did over the last couple of weeks first up is Crafty Angels

Week 16 was my turn to set the challenge and I wanted you to Recycle something. For example you could use newspaper on your project or take an embellishment from something else or maybe you will come up with something entirely different.

Well this was what I came up with. I used an old Christmas card for my recycled bit.

Week 17 was set by Sandie and she wanted to see some texture on your creations. You can use embossing, folding, fabric and many other things to give a 'feel' to whatever you make.

This was my project for it. I did some embossing (sorry the photo is awful)

And this weeks challenge was set by Caz and was all about "Keeping it Simple"
She wanted to see cards or projects using one image, one piece of cardstock (inc card base), one sheet patterned paper, one type of embellishment (eg buttons OR bling OR flowers) and one sentiment....no more, no less!

The challenge is open until 8pm on Sunday so you have LOADS of time to enter
If you like the scarecrow stamp I used then you can get it right here

I missed a few of the Paperplay Challenges but here is the current challenge set by Elisa and was called "Furry Friends" she wanted us to make something dedicated to our friends that bark, squeak, meow, roar, moo or neigh.

This challenge is open until 9pm tomorrow night so you still have time to enter if you would like a chance to win some fab digi downloads.

Update on Susie: She was sick this morning and vomited a few times :-( This is the first time in 3 weeks that she had any vomiting. I was going to ring the vet today anyway because he came back from his holidays yesterday and I wanted to have a chat with him about what to do next etc. He was out this morning and by the time he rang me back Susie was feeling much better and even had a bit of dinner. She's totally back to normal now, Thank God and is sleeping beside me here on the couch. Anyway I was telling him my concerns and asking him if there was any chance that she had cushings disease because from what I read on the net she seems to have a lot of the symptoms. He said it was a possibility so she has to go in on Thursday to have the test done, she'll have to stay in for the day but hopefully we might get some answers from it. I've been looking around on the net to see what I can do diet wise etc to make things better for her and keep coming back to Cushings all the time. I'm convinced she has it so I guess we'll know in a while!

So I'm gonna say goodnight now!

Five Faves Friday

2010-01-15T21:28:00.014Z

So I saw this over on Tracie Hudsons blog last year and thought it was a great idea. I often see things that I like that I want to share and mean to blog about but decide to wait until I have more to blog about than just one little thing and then what happens,? Yeap you guessed it, it gets forgotten about completely.

Elsie does a "10 Things I Love Sunday" but I think 10 is a lot to be coming up with every week so I figured 5 is great.
So here are my Five Faves for this Friday!

1. I love Elisa's new digi stamp blog Mami Doodles and am trying not to buy every single stamp on there. Check it out some seriously cute stuff on there.

2. I picked up this bag in Penny's before Christmas. It was only €1.50 but I fell for it the minute I saw it!

3. If you haven't checked out Kirsty Wiseman's Vids that she recently started doing then you really have to . Her "You Tube" channel is here and this is the type of thing she has on it.

4. I just LOVE this

5. Crochet. I haven't done any for ages but after seeing all these fab projects I'm itching to do some SOON!

Found Here

Found Here

So there you have it five of my faves this Friday. Hope you like them too!

First Post of the New Year

2010-01-15T11:36:00.008Z

I hope you've all had a great Christmas and New Year. I can't believe how quick the time has gone since the New Year. January will be gone before we know it. It's been the same here as the rest of the country snow, ice and cold but thank God it's gone now and I think we're just meant to have normal frost etc from now on!

I suppose the biggest news I have since Christmas is that Susie got quite sick 2 Sundays ago. I was up all night with her on the Sunday night and rang the vet first thing Monday morning and he told me to bring her out. He asked some questions and gave her 3 injections to stop the diarrhoea and vomiting and some antibiotics in case there was any infection going on. He said if she didn't improve or got any worse by the following day to bring her back out and he would do some blood tests to make sure there wasn't anything else going on but when he lifted her down off the table he didn't really like what he saw. He said that he would expect her to go smelling around the room and she didn't she just stood beside me looking very sad so he decided to do the blood tests there and then. I had to wait until Wednesday for the results and I wasn't to give her anything to eat after the injections. By Tuesday she was way better still a bit down and out not 100% but was hungry and kept everything down. I didn't give her much in case it was too much on her little tummy. So Wednesday the vet rang and wanted to know how she was and was surprised to hear that she was eating really well and was in much better form. The reason he was surprised was because the blood tests had not come out good. Her white blood cells were normal so there was no sign of infection but her Liver Enzymes were really, really high :-( He said that it didn't look good but that seeing as she was in good form that he wasn't gonna put down a happy dog! :-( SO I basically spent most of that day crying and Susie was looking at me wondering what the heck was wrong. The vet said he'd leave out a tonic for me to add to her food that might help her a bit so I collected that and I add it to her food everyday. Just over a week on and I'm not sure what to think she's in great form, is eating like a horse and seems to be back to her normal self. Her tummy gets a bit rumbly at times but that happens to her on and off anyway, only thing different is the before when it used to happen she wouldn't eat until she felt better now it doesn't seem to stop her eating. I don't know if it's wishful thinking on my part but I'm having a hard time believing that she has a Liver Tumor. When I looked it up online one thing it listed as a symptom was loss of appetite and she SO has not got that it's the complete opposite. So I rang the vets last Wednesday but he's on hols till Monday just to have a chat and see what happens now and maybe see if there would be any point in doing another blood test to see if anything has changed :-/I dunno. At this stage I'm taking each day at a time and hoping that it turns out to be a good day. As long as she's happy and painfree then I'm happy.

Here's a little vid I took last week of her helping herself to one of her treats. It was so great to see her back on form!

I'm not gonna put anymore on this post coz it's really long already, so I'll do another post or 2 later today to update on what crafting I've been doing and some Christmas pics etc !

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T18:13:00.003Z

It's Been Over A Week

2009-12-22T20:44:00.006Z

Oh well so much for me blogging everyday. Anyway I've been very bold and I don't have my Paperplay Project done either {blush}.

I will get to it soon but in the meantime head over to the blog and have a look at what the other DT members have done AND you could also have a chance of winning a surprise package from Sandie. She won't tell us what's in it but I bet it's good!

This weeks Crafty Angels Challenge went live yesterday and was set by the lovely Caz. She wanted us to try something new so I decided to do a bit of sewing on my card. I've always want to try sewing preferably using my sew machine but I decided to hand sew it instead. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Crafty Angels Tear it Up

2009-12-14T17:28:00.003Z

This weeks challenge over on the Crafty Angels Blog was set by the lovely Sandie and
was called "Tear it Up" Sandie wanted us to tear up our papers and this was what I did for it!

Head over to the Crafty Angels Blog to see the rest of the DT entries!

Short post I'm running to get ready for mass. They always have a mass for all the people that have died in the parish during the year. Might be back with another post later!