Bunch of Cards

Not that many...but my recent makes :o)

First, this was a personalised order for a Kilkenny hurling fan:



Then, a Teddy Bears Birthday card:
Background Paper is from Papertrey Ink



Stamps,& paper from Papertrey Ink too:



Star Stamp from Papertrey Ink:



Paper Trey Ink:




Stamp is Hero Arts:
Background was made using the "faux mosaic" technique.



Elzybells Stamps, backing paper from Papertrey Ink:




Well, yep, I have been playing with the Quilter's Sample set from Papertrey Ink. I love PI stamps, they outstand from the rest because of they versatibility.

Now, I'll be making DH's Valentine's card. But I have itchy fingers to do some crochet...I have a project in mind, I've bought a pattern online, just waiting patiently to receive it in my inbox !

TFL

Kiki x

New Year's Word , Snow & Cards

Hi There !!

My New Year's word this time is WELLBEING. It basicly sums up all I want to achieve this year.



These are my first card orders of the year:




And this was a card I wanted to do, I hadnt used the Papertrey Ink stamps I got looong time ago:


I used Vintage Core'dinations card for the background, love it !

A couple of weeks ago, we were blessed with snow !! Even though it is a nuissance for driving,I love to see the ground, the walls, the trees, everything covered in snow...the white snow reflects light, so I feel everything looks very bright, hope we get more soon ! Here are some pics, taken on the first days, but it got heavier.






Craftwise, I'll be building my stock little by little...

TFL

KIki x

A New Year...a New Start !

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Fist post of the year, yeah !!

I havent blogged in ages !! But December was such a busy month. I will tell you all about it... Go and grab a cup of tea/coffee..this is gonna be long.

Craftywise...the last crafty thing I made was a birthday card for a lady who works for a project in Zambia where they help to build schools for children:



Then, I had decided to give myself a break till the New Year, so I havent made a single thing ever since. But I have ideas :o)

I absolutely dislike Christmas in Ireland...mainly because the days are short, cold and boring. Back in Costa Rica, Christmas mean long school holidays, and the beggining of the dry (and very sunny) season; So for this year, I started planning activities to keep us going, something to look forward to and make these days more bearable. It was all gonna start with a Christmas Play called "The Magic Christmas Tree" at the Dunamaise Theater in Co Laois, on December 14th. We were looking forward to this. But on December 13th, a cold Sunday...as we were getting ready to go to the swimming pool, as every Sunday morning...the door bell rang, and of course, my first thought was that it was my Father in Law, dropping in to see the girls...he usually dropped in on Sunday mornings....but no...it was the Guards (Police). I thought they were looking for information on a robbery or something like that....but they asked if they could come in, which I felt it was unusual...once they were in, and as we were facing each other, waiting for them to talk...I will never forget those first words, one of them turned to my husband and said "Im afraid I have bad news, your Dad was found dead on the side of the road"...... OMG, I can't describe the feeling !! our hearts jumped inside, our heads were thinking "he got the wrong house", and maybe the guard felt a bit the same, cos one of them kept repeating Father in Law's name, James, and his address !! He then proceeded to explain a bit further....Father in Law, Jimmy, as he was commonly known by everybody...had gone to work that morning...he didnt work on Sundays, but because it was Christmas trees season, he worked on that day. He worked 48 years for Coillte. He wasnt feeling well, had pain chests, and decided to go home mid morning...he was a very stubborn man ! his brother & co-worker wanted to bring him home in his car, but Jimmy declined, he was going home on his motorbike. Over half way on the road, he must had felt that there was something wrong, he stopped the motorbike and dropped dead on the side of the road. Somebody passing by, probably very soon, saw him and rang the ambulance and guards. Jimmy was brought to the nearest hospital and CPR was performed, unsucessfully, he must had suffered a massive heart attack !! He was young, only 63...but to be honest, he didnt look after himself at all. "He was a simple man, who lived a simple life".

He had a beautiful farewell funeral...all his grandchildren: Zoe, Marie Claire, Melanie, Kim, Julianna & Lucas took a very active role at the funeral, as innapropiate as it may sound, yes,it was a beautiful and comforting ceremony.

Jimmy and I didnt get along well all the time, we probably had many cultural clashes along the way...but during these 11 and half years I got to meet him, he earned all my respect and care, and I believe I earned his too...He was a loving and caring Grandfather....and for that alone, I will be eternally thankful....Jimmy, you'll be missed...



We didnt make the Christmas play...but we went to see Miley Cyrus in concert...the girls, specially my eldest, were looking forward to this concert since May or so !! We were in two minds...we had just said goodbye to grandad...was it appropiate to go to the concert or not??? well, the last time we saw Jimmy, my hubbie had rang him to please come and mind the girls for half an hour, I was going to my Yoga class and Hubbie was stuck late in the train coming from Dublin. Jimmy always helped us out in situations like these. Well, the half hour Jimmy was here, was made to watch Hannah Montana !! so knowing him, he would had said "Bring those girls to that concert!!" so off we went. I took some pics with my phone, I still have to download (havent done it before, need hubbie's help).

After Miley's concert, it was the girls Play at school....this year the school got 2 drama teachers to help them out, and it showed, it was brilliant !! Here are some pics, not good pics, we were sitting at the very back :o(




We went to see Santa...at the Clanard Court Hotel, it has been so far the best Santa experience ever !! It was a 3 hour tour !! First, the girls went into the Elves Workshop, they decorated their own Christmas tree bauble, while they were wating for their bauble to dry, they got their faces painted. We then proceeded to visit the elves....we saw them at work, wrapping the presents to give to Santa, saw their bedrooms, and Lazy bones was there sleeping...we all had to shout to wake him up and send him to work !!! Then we went into Mrs Claus kitchen, and then her bedroom, she was there and we got a pic with her. The girls spotted Santa's "Nice & Naughty" lists on his desk, and rapidly grabbed a pen and made sure their names were on the "Nice" list. After, we went for a story, a lovely lady sat the children on logs in in a pretend forest and told them a nice Christmas story. The children then wrote and posted their presents list, we then added something that our youngest had forgotten to write down on her "other" list...LOL !! Then we had a lovely cup of hot chocolate with mashmellows...getting us a bit warm to then go on a road trip to visti Santa's farm...were we saw some turkeys, cows, goats, and raindeers...they are in trainning raindeers !!! We were brought back to the hotel after. We then visited Santa, who was lovely and took his time with the girls....and to finish the whole experience, we got a lovely family photo, Im usually not impressed by these, but I was this year ! beautiful pic, thiking on using it for next year's Christmas cards :o)


With lovely Santa


These are the raindeers Rudolf is trainning at the moment, they have to practice their landing a bit better :O)


Making Mince Pies at Mrs Claus kitchen


"Nice & Naughty" Lists


With Mrs Claus, isnt she lovely?

For our Christmas treat, and I mean only Hubbie and me :o) we have visited Ikea 3 times !!! hehehehe....kinda of addicted at this stage, but our house is looking soooo much better !!!!!!!!!!

Ikea Visits:







My crafty corner...before and after Ikea :o)








Ever since....we have bought 2 more Expedit units, smaller ones (they added about 1/2 more storage space, yipeeee) 2 tables, 4 chairs, 4 stools, 1 standing lamp, 2 picture frames, several children's arts & crafts items, I steel stand with baskets I stool (so I can reach the top of our clothes press) & several towels. Hubby has been over the moon putting together all these pieces of furniture, his "Lego" as he calls them :o)

Well, and we ended the year going to Disney On Ice, Princesses Wishes...it was lovely...we all enjoyed it soooo much !!




Hubbie & me, self portrait :o)

MC and her Popcorn

J with a lovely food dye mustache !! hehehe

I yet have to think on my New Year's resolution word...my last year's was "Believe".

TFL

Kiki x

PS: Hubbie is doing ok...he has a loving wife & kids who have been there to comfort him when has needed us the most. He has made himself very active lately, maybe that's his way to deal with his grieving I suppose.

Altered Items

Well, the Christmas Fair didnt go as planned :o( but at least Im selling my stuff, slowly but it's going, like every Christmas :o)

This year Im planning on taking a break just before and after Christmas from all the mayhem ! I am not even making x-mas biccies, after nearly 20 years or making them every year ! I'll bake some cakes instead, quicker (non christmas batter though!). I really need a break from crafting, I want to spend those days with my family & friends...and already have some activities lined up.

For the Teachers this year, they're not getting a fully handmade present, only the outside will be handmade LOL !. And this is it:



A friend asked me if I could Alter some notebooks for her to give as presents:





I have to admit that Altered Art is my number one Favourite...dunno why, but to see the final product gives me great satisfaction ! (more than cardmaking !)

TFL

Kiki x

Getting ready for the Christmas Fair !

Hi there !! it was my hubbie's B-day in October, so I had to put together a card for him, I was quite busy, so I came up with this:



Well, Im glad to say that I'm finally looking forward to Sunday's Charity Christmas Fair! Im still not finished, but I'm getting there. Besides some "all ocassions" cards, I also made x-mas cards, fridge magnet calendars where you add your own photo, altered diaries, altered notes mini books and some layouts in canvas, here are some samples:



Im sending this one to my parents for X-mas, along with the fridge calendar with the photo





Hope to do well :o)

If you still haven't started X-mas shopping, come for a bit or retail therapy ! this Sunday 15th of November, from 10 am to 5 pm at ALSAA, Swords Road, Dublin.
We are a group of mothers that run different bussiness, a lot of these are of handmade crafts !!



In aid of St. Brigids Cardiac Unit, Crumlin Childrens Hospital

TFL

Kiki x

Remember me?

It has been over a month since the last time I blogged...well...things have been a bit rocky. Craftwise, Im still busy, still working as much as I can on getting ready for next month's craft fair...I won't be able to have ready as many items as I had initially planned on doing, but still, I have made some nice bits. Will post pics later.

Over the last 5 months I have been suffering from aches and pains all over !! I have felt completely run down...I spent the summer in a "bubble" literally, I couldn't bring myself up for doing anything...the highlight of the summer was to visit the zoo! only the Zoo !

And now...with the impending arrival of the winter, I knew things would only get worse. So, about a month ago, I decided it was time to feel better, to work on myself...I started aerobics, made myself to bring the girls swimming more often, so I can have a swim too, and recently, I joined a yoga class...gosh ! why I didnt do enough research before I joined, it's not easy !! it's not what I thought...going for a bit of relaxation !!! LOL !! But after the 2nd class, I felt a renewed person! had a great day after !!!! and 2 weeks ago I wasnt expecting to say this, but actually, Im looking forward to tonite's class !! Thanks Paul !!

Anyway...I also did a lot of research on my aches and pains...google can be a great doctor ! LOL ! and leaving aside all of the cancers I might be suffering from (according to google) I narrowed my symptoms down to be Fibromyalgia. So, loaded with info, I went to see my GP...I wasn't expecting her to diagnose me, that diagnose can only be done by a Rheumatologist, I went to ask her to refer me to a Rheumathologist. I was explaining to her my symptoms, I had told her I had "studied" my pains, which are not easy to describe, but my right shoulder & neck were very very sore, making my life miserable ! along with a pain in my left foot/ankle, which was the reason I avoided walking too much. I am convinced the pains are not at the joint per se, but around it, which means muscles and tendons. The rest of the body feels sore often, but the other pains are there ALL the time.

She inmediately said "Fibromyalgia", I didn't think she was very familiar with it, but to my surprise, she was (fair play!!) she knew where the tender points are and did the test, and yes, she confirmed it. So, I have started treatment...From January I decided this year was a "drugs" free year, weaned myself of antidepressants and any other chemical I dont need inside my body...but unfortunately, I need to be able to function, so reluctantly I am back on the antidepressants :o( along with antiinflamatories :o( maybe I will be able to "live" without them again if I keep working on myself a bit more..hope so.

In the meantime, I will be doing more reseach on Fibromyalgia, recent discoveries, etc..it is a very strange syndrome (it's not an illness) not very well known and not specific known cure either.

I always think that the answers to feel better relies in our own bodies...and without knowing a while ago what was happening to me, I took the decision to start "moving", whatever I was suffering from, I had to "move, move it", so I went back to aerobics (which are light, perfect for me), swimming, which I felt relieving, and yoga, to help the mind too...and all these are reccomended to Fibromyalgia sufferers !! I was surprised when I read that.

I hardly ever post personal stuff in my blog...but I know some of my crafty friends also suffer from FM, so any advice is welcome!

Recently, I made some cards to order...which by the way, some of them I had to make at short notice, I felt under preassure, and even though I find it hard to say "no" I won't be taking orders with less than 2 weeks from now on. My cards are my art, my creation, and I hate hate hate to rush them !! it takes a few days of "thinking" how Im gonna put together a card, what colours Im gonna use,I might need to order card, or papers, or embellishments, etc...so short notice means either repeat an old style, or get it out of the way asap, and I hate to have to do that...I get no enjoyment that way.

These 2 cards are for a Wedding on Halloween day :
I actually loved using these non traditional colours




Another Wedding card...not for Halloween, but again, not the tradtional "silver" or "gold" emmhhhh...I ran out of the "silver and gold" card ! hehehe.




These 2 were put together in a rush:
But still, think they turn out ok




I havent' done a baby card in a while...delighted how this one turned out:



TFL

Kiki x

PS: On my next post...I will be adding pics of our trip to Eurodisney !!! yipeee !