A few weeks ago, ViviBijoux, a fellow member on the Etsy Ireland Team announced an ATC swap for us all to participate in.  I have never done ATCs before, but I’m always open to new crafty things so I signed up.

I was partnered with Fi of patchworkdelights who told me that she liked red, silver and gold… and beads.

BEADS!

Before that info was revealed, I admit, I was a little lost with where to start. But, beads… beads I have.

So…

I opted for a bit of bead embroidery for my card. I chose a sort of summer theme and went with the colours Fi was keen on.

This is the result…

I’m quite pleased with it!   I also made her a little pair of coordinating earrings. I hope she likes them!

The rest of the entries will be posted on Saturday on the team blog so do check back to see what everyone else was up to. I can’t wait to see all the craftiness!

September 3rd, 2010 | 7 Comments »

As I spoke briefly about in my last post, I picked up all sorts of treasures on our trip to the beach the other day.

These are a few of my favourites…

Collecting nature is fun. Join me and show off your finds in Poppytalks Collecting Nature flickr pool!

August 31st, 2010 | 5 Comments »

We finally had some nice weather! On Friday we got up early and headed into town to catch the train somewhere. We weren’t sure where, but once at Connolly station we decided we’d do the Greystones to Bray cliffwalk again. Was beautiful the first time, why not?

So, we took the train to Greystones. Got off and headed down to the beach.

We walked up and down the beach for about a mile looking for sea glass and shells.

Then we headed back into the town of Greystones for some coffee. We stopped at this cute little cafe, situated at the entrance of the cliffwalk, and had a big ol’ cappuccino and some apple pie. Was just the thing to re-energize us for the walk! Couple of health nuts, we are.

Then, off we were!

The cliffwalk itself is 8km. And it is a truly beautiful walk!

Once we got to Bray we stopped at this picnic bench to eat our sammiches and rest a minute.

The Bray promenade is just the cutest thing. I love all those brightly coloured buildings.

It was cooling down quite a bit by now, but we strolled along the beach again looking for more sea glass. I found all sorts of treasures, but I’m saving those for another post.

We were knackered by the time we got home, but it was a beautiful trip!

You can see the full length of our walk here in this neat little gadget.

You can even see when we speed up downhill and slow down uphill.  Pretty cool!

Greystones to Bray

Plan your trips with EveryTrail Mobile Travel Guides

August 29th, 2010 | 5 Comments »

I’ve been trying hard not to get sucked into vacation mode. Mr. balanced is off work for 2 weeks for his birthday, but I’m not. It’s difficult for me to stick to my “schedule” when he’s here. Not that I don’t want him here!

Anyway, we made some plans, but the weather has been horrible so we keep pushing them back. We have, however, had a lot of success out in the garden. During the small breaks of good weather.

August 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

… this woven stainless steel jewellery line from the socially responsible Australian duo Polli.

August 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Lookie what I got in the post today!

- Hello Squirrel Folded Note Cards -

- Curry Blossom Note Card Set -

- Personalized Initial Stationery Set w/Linen Folio -

They all come from the beautifully talented Stacy at

Inkspot Workshop

Now I’m all set to catch up on my correspondence!

August 18th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I’m very excited about this release!

I’ve been working on these behind the scenes for the past couple weeks and I finally got around to photographing them today. I’ll be listing them individually throughout the day.

I love them! I like their dainty simplicity.

They are made by weaving tiny 1mm Japanese glass seed beads through Antiqued Copper small cable chain. They look adorable worn individually, stacked together or even paired with other bracelets. I’ve chosen to list them individually, but I might list some in pairs or groups later on. We’ll see how it goes!

Do you like?

August 17th, 2010 | No Comments »

This whole adventure started because I wanted a stamp with my new logo, but while looking for custom handmade stamps and comparing prices I came to the conclusion that I could just make one. And it would be a lot more fun.

I found this basic tutorial and sought out my supplies.

I purchased my rubber material, called Speedy-Carve, and my lino cutting tool from Dharma Trading Co. I got the smallest size to start with which was a 3″x 4″ block for $2.99. And the shipping charges were also very reasonable.

If you follow me on Twitter you already know that my first attempt at the logo came out… backwards.

But, my second attempt was much better and I’ve now made 5 stamps in total.

I managed to salvage the first bad logo stamp by carving into the reverse side to make that simple leaf outline stamp above. For anything very specific it’s best to go by image transfer, but I enjoyed just freehanding a design onto the rubber and going from there much more.

I didn’t have any scrap wood laying around so I used some thick cardboard for the backing. It’s not very pretty, but it works grand for me.

I still have quite a bit of rubber left from that small block I purchased, so depending on the size of your stamps, you can get quite a lot from one little block.

You can also carve into rubber erasers which is equally fun.

I had a lot of fun making these! If you haven’t tried stamp carving yet, I highly recommend it. It’s my new favourite hobby. After jewelry making, of course.

August 12th, 2010 | 9 Comments »

Hand Stitched Textile Jewellery Treats by teasemade

Just darling.

August 10th, 2010 | 4 Comments »

It’s a bit out of the way, but c’mon. How charming is this!?

And the view!

I can’t imagine I would ever be uninspired.

[via]

August 5th, 2010 | 2 Comments »