GBCE

It's nearly here - the GBCE at The Athlone Springs Hotel starts Friday. And then on Arthur's Day - I'll be there with the brand new Boys2Men dvd rom from Ella's Design. Lisa has been a star and she and her husband have pulled out all the stops to ensure there will be an exclusive supply of these in Athlone. As the disc has not yet launched, no sneak peeks I'm afraid but you can be the first to see it on Saturday ..... One of the designs features in my Men's class on Sunday morning, with the Houghie board slant, so bring your boards!

Last class of the day is my sizzix class - there's new ways of looking at old dies and chocolate. What more do you want!

promarker giveaway

It always makes me feel warm n fuzzy to find new cardmakers on this island of Ireland and with great delight I discovered A Passion for Cards today.
Even better still she draws her own images, sells them as digi stamps and also in glorious clear polymer  and the absolute clincher? She has a Promarker giveaway! A girl can never ever have enough Promarkers - unless you own them all (and if you do - you can give them to me.... please)
Have a look and enjoy.....
P.S  I am searching for a recent photo of Pat Van den Hauwe, the ex Wales defender. He lives in South Africa now and the only interviews I can find are radio ones - so no pics there then! Help me please .....

Mami Doodles challenge 10

Determined not to miss the deadline on this one, here's my entry for Mami Doodles challenge 10 Boy's card with red . This one was for a Mario fan - obviously.

Mami Doodles challenge

I did this little card for the Mami Doodles challenge last week but have not had chance to post, however Elisa has already set a new challenge so I'm late but that's not all my fault - the original deadline was the 19th. Anyhow - here it is using Elisa's free flower image.

Free Download again ....

So File Factory was not a good choice for file sharing, so  I have tried again using Scribd - and it looks good. So fingers crossed, you can get it HERE
And in case you din't know what I am talking about - here's the card - again ...

 

mami doodles - Madeline bakes a cake

It's been a while since I did a Mami Doodles but I just adore Madeline bakes a cake. Even her name makes me want a cup of PG Tips and just one little almondy delight ...
I made another book card, added lots of glitter and some pretty baby blue ribbon, a few off flowers ,big pearl brad and a tiny little silver spoon.
The author of the verse is unknown to me and I collected it in my poem file many moons ago. "I have a little recipe that isn't hard to make but you must always start it as soon as you awake. Take a big mixing bowl and fill it with a smile, Mix a cup of sunshine and good deeds to last a while; Add a pinch of thoughtfulness and care - but don't bake it in the oven, just spread it everywhere."

Who was your tv crush and did they age well?

So I'm watching reeling in the years - 1985 and it's scary to remember it all soooo well. In 1985 I loved Michael Praed, thought he was so damn gorgeous. It would have been a toss up between him and the Everton defender Pat Van den Hauwe, so it set me wondering what they looked like now ....

Oh well. I wont even start on my bizarre Robbie Coltrane obsession ....
And I found a recipe for sloe chocolate truffles and sloe chutney but you use the leftover sloes from the gin making - so I guess it's time to plan ahead and get these going for truffles next year! 
I'd love to try something with the rose hips that are just looking so divine in the hedgerows - I know there is rose hip syrup but all the recipes have HUGE amounts of sugar, perhaps I could experiment with half sugar and half splenda ....

Lots of stuff

The weather is gorgeous and everytime I go outside I'm reminded that the season's changing. There are apples and a crop of damsons in the orchard and the hedges are filled with blackberries and sloes. There seems to be a glut of sloes and I plan to scour the net for a new sloe gin recipe - just something with a bit of a twist. I also remember making a yummy plum and blackberry "slump" one year topped with lemon dumplings and mascarpone cheese - so I need to find that one as well. Any suggestions for damsons other than jam would be very welcome too.
I'm still busy putting together cards and projects to show at GBCE, Athlone and I am itching to get to An Siopa Bui to see the new sizzix yummies - expect to see them in my class.
And a card? I've got one to share for the current ABC challenge - C is for charms.I made this originally for the GBCE but I've decided to share it as a freebie.
So for you all - a vintage Christmas card. It's a single sheet printable pdf sheet (it's all about paper saving in my designs this year!)
It's a book shaped card, similar to a bookatrix and sits on top of a five inch easel card. You need to score down the centre of each page and then gently curve each section around a small cylinder (tube of glue, small spray can etc) add glitter to the page edges and attach to the centre of the easel with redline tape.
I used a piece of grosgrain to make bookmark for the centre and added my new gold snowflake charm and a large gold brad. Finish with some flowers.

I couldn't get the file to upload with 4 shared, so I have opened a File Factory account and you can download the PDF HERE