Can't believe the last blog was dated 9th jun. went off on holidays to Dubrovnik the next day

seems a life time away well Summer was brilliant can't complain about the weather can we?

Have been trundling along with the card making, got a new justz cutz die cutting machine and I love it

read loads of bad reviews but I don't seem to be having any trouble certainly prefer it to the joycraft one which broke on me, never liked it anyway found it to be too much hassle .

 Have just finished an order for 5 new baby girl cards for the same baby all "special" and in boxes. Really had to get my thinking cap on as I had to do 5 special cards for this baby's sister when she was born and also for her first birthday!!!

box for baby card love the background misty ethereal  feel
 found it on google images looking up victorian baby images ,
which is where I found this gorgeous baby.

crafts you print kit took ages as it was the very first ime I ever did one of these type cards
but not a bad result above closed card and below card opened very 3 D
fits lovely onto an 8x8 box

this is another crafts u print images
but put acetate on the front and put some of the layers of decoupage on the acetate

this was card no 5 from grandad
and is in it's box with lovely red and white tissue
I thought red and white was very unusual for a baby card
and I fell in love with this image again free image on google images 

front of box card
card was made by cutting an 8x8 card in half
 and making a new spine from a 3 inch strip of card and
 attaching to both front and back of 8x8

made up concertina frame and decorated with lace

Good Morning all from a glorious sunny Kilcoole

I have been so busy lately I haven't had time to write.
I had the biggest surprise of my life on the 24th May the day before Mia's Communion.
Rachel rang me from Sydney on the friday morning as she does before she goes to bed wondering  if the cards she sent for confirmations and communions had arrived I said they hadn't but sure they would probably arrive the following week , we chatted for a while and then she said she was really tired and going to bed I said goodnight and went on with my work.  At around 4pm there was a knock on the door and I thought one of Katie's friends went out and saw Ciaran in the hall mirror now why is Ciaran here I thought opened door and there is Rachel standing there Hi Mom!  I screamed  what a surprise ,she was home for 2 weeks holiday and just Ciaran and Frank knew. She has now gone back and all has returned to normal .

Just finished packing for my week long holiday to Dubrovnik really looking forward to that otherwise have made very few cards except for a couple of 25th anniversary cards for Yvonne and Michael.

so it's goodbye from me for a little while enjoy the good weather.

Good Morning from sunny Kilcoole sunny but breezy  with a chill,

 but still I'm not complaining it is dry. Things have been very quiet in Chez Honan since Dylan's First Communion last Friday which was the most amazing ceremony I was ever at , Dylan goes to St Catherine's Special School in Newcastle and himself and 21 others of varying ages and disabilities made their Communion, 

our gorgeous dylan

very few cards being made at the moment as the big rush of confirmations and communions is now over

just made this card for a friend who is retiring from work

it is my take on a graphic 45 designer's (annette green) card posted on their facebook page using the secret garden papers, flat mulberry paper flowers from wild orchid crafts, owl I got in a packet of clocks 

 from China.

Hello  all 

what an unbelievably  hectic weekend started on thursday and ended today absolutely wrecked.,

and the whole thing starts again next Friday with Dylan's Communion

And as promised all ten cards

20thy birthday for irish dancer /piper

graphic 45 images  little darlings

1st of 3 "rocker" cards

2nd rocker card images from google images

panda card love this image 

teapot but you have to love the mice from joanna sheen

3rd rocker card all bling on the 3 cards was on one bag dangly from penneys sale

the 3  communion cards

tomorrow is my granddaughter Chloe's Confirmation hard to believe she is off to secondary school in September . we have had very strange weather here in Kilcoole this week, gale force winds lashing rain and a huge drop in temperatures , hope our summer hasn't come and gone. Have been very busy all week have had to make 10 cards for a friend 3 communion , 3 "rocker" ? 18th birthday cards now that was a real challenge haven't quite finished them all yet will post pics when I get them all done a 1st birthday, a friend with teapots an 18th with pandas and a 20th irish dancer/ piper theme ecletic mix don't you think? was feeling quite ill last night with a very sleepless night shivering with cold and all aches and pains , was up at 6.30 am  which is very early for me but was able to get some of my cards finished I also had to make 3 catering sized Lasagnes and a chicken mornay for tomorrow's party. so will not be around for a day or too.

                                            Another beautiful day birds singing their little  hearts out , and I sincerely hope this is not our Summer it can't happen again!!!!

Had a lovely relaxing weekend just had to make the wedding card below

and my swap card which is going into the post in the next half hour

Wonder who is getting that one??

Do you like my latest accessory?

box for wedding card used graphic 45 romance as backing paper

wedding card I made over the weekend
 image is a vintage image i downloaded from google
background is embossilicious  folder flowers are from wild orchid

latest in crafting accessories

good morning from a lovely sunny Kilcoole and happy bank holiday week end to you all.

I had a lovely ??th birthday yesterday and spent a lovely relaxed  day just making this card which I just loved doing..  I t has all the elements I love. Only drawback was that I forgot all about time and was so engrossed in the card I didn't move all day and fecked up my back suffering now. Off I go now to get my hair done  hope you like the card .

Front of the card I just typed in travel into google
and found this lovely background it was too nice to cover up so I made a feature of it.
personally I think I ticked all the boxes

now for the fun bit my beloved savage chickens by doug savage
 if you want weird humour like mine you will find a savage chicken on any subject
just google and see

had forgotten to mention in the brief  was the card was for a psychologist the  cartoon above is actually for a psychiatrist as only they prescribe meds. but I thought it was funny

travel quotes and ref to sligo and cork

the reference to India and Germany decoupaged one layer on the india, suitcase and beer mug

the back page  "the story teller" part all elements
 downloaded from google images love the painting.

well remember when I said that was the last of the book cards?
err no! got an e-mail yesterday from "one step up from tesco's" Niall, his wife loved the card and is framing it, so now he wants a special card for a male friend who is 65 loves travel, grandfather, mention sligo,cork, India and germany  and it has to be a belated birthday fun days ahead over the weekend .Great day to spend my birthday and it's sunny whoo hoo also got a delivery of some beautiful flowers from  wild orchid craft . Plenty to do have a wonderful sun day all.

well that's the last of my book cards for now , so had a chance to start making my 
grandchildren's confirmation and communion cards have 3 to make .
 with the help of  the wonderful Yvonne got some card embossed.
Heading into Dublin with  chloe tomorrow and her mum to get her Confirmation outfit, so looking forward to that.

this is Mia's card from grandma and papa
just a simple bookatrix in white the cross is a spellbinders cut out before machine broke flowers are from wild orchid 

mia's card from my mother made the little rosary out of beads and bracelet thread
the cross I got in a bundle of charms from china

chloes card image from crafts u print but I resized it  it is for the front of an A5 card used the embossed cards using yvonnes joycraft

made dylan's little rosette out of 2 pieces of ribbon

spellbinders cage and bird (pretending to be a dove) feathers for tail forget where I got the background paper but seem to have it for years  large impressive cross came from China

Happy Monday from a sunny Kilcoole
I can't believe we are at the start of another week time really is flying.
I made 2 commissioned cards over the weekend for 2 ladies who will be celebrating 50th birthdays.

another vintage wine ad I love these vintage images and a little reference to the ladies birth year
background graphic 45 french country.

my little homage to the grape images from google and backgroun from
graphic 45 french country

hikers image from B_C_E templates background can't remember

image on inside card  is la pashe flippin luxury
but I only used front image and a different background

verse 

card 2 is also 50th birthday for a lady who loves her red mini, walking and wine
image is from google images + little dangly heart bling is from my own stash

special verse for mam

little joke images are from another set of vodka ads 

Drinks Vodka
beautiful image is from a vintage Absolut Ad
as is grey goose in a cage

Loves Chanel 5 ,
with a little swinging bottle image  is a vintage ad for chanel, backing paper is
 graphic 45 french country

sex and the city

the remit on this card was for a mother who loves lillies and tulips

We had our first barbecue of the season yesterday trying out frank's new barbie, note I said frank's barbie as
I never cook on it. What I do though is all the marinading and extra bits . woke up this morning to glorious sunshine but that was short lived, dull and nippy now.

Decided to make my granddaughter's Chloe confirmation card and was going to use my lovely 8x8 embossilicious embossing folder  I broke my joycraft machine one of the cogs broke in 2 Frank is sort of trying to fix it but I know it won't work, just when I was really getting used to it too. hoping to get another one soon but definitely not joycraft maybe the grand calibur.

I am just finishing off a book card for a 50 year old female will post photo tomorrow.

one of the boxes for the 1 year olds cards

2 communion cards I made today with 2 different images from Kathryn Andrews fincher
her images are very evocative of days gone by
glittered everything with glamour dust 

2nd box

bookatrix box

thought it was going to be sunny today but rather dull now here in kilcoole.
thank god the 5 cards for the 1year old have just been collected actually glad to see the back of them.
Frank came home from work last night with a request for a card for a colleague's wife (india, tennis, computers and husband home alone minding kids) that was the brief as written  found out later wife goes to India  to set up call centres and he wanted a card "1 step up from tescoes"
Well I showed him and have charged him way above tesco prices serve him right!

inside of card

front of card anyone for tennis outside the Taj Mahal?

easel card for the 1 year old I love this image of vintage bears

just adore graphic 45 papers at the moment this is from the once upon a springtime  range
 and just added a big gold bow and a couple of die cut  flourishes.
decoupaged some of the flowers on one of the pages.

this image is from the chrysallis cd from crafters companion
I love christine haworth's images.

 designed a crown from a template found on google images ty yvonne for the wand idea
paper for crown was a cup paper