We had a long holiday weekend here in Ireland and the weather was perfect! It was sunny and warm and beautiful.

The dear husband recently ordered a ton of seeds and bulbs and other equipment, but when we got our order we were missing a few things so we had to go out and pick those up and then, of course, we came home with more than we needed.

We barbecued on Friday and Saturday night, ate outside, enjoyed the neighbours being gone all weekend! It was wonderful.

Mr. balanced painted the shed and together we planted lots of things.

( It seems that Ginger has been nibbling on that spider plant while on the windowsill, so we’ve put it outside in the nursery. She can’t be trusted with anything.)

Today, of course, the rain returned. But, I’m happy to see it. It’s washed away all the dirt from our adventures outside and made everything feel fresh and clean.

It was a wonderful weekend, indeed. I hope yours was too.

new necklaces

new earrings

See you in another 3 months!

(ok it wasn’t that long)

to a final product!

Love ‘em!

These are now available in the shop!

Wrapped in Blue Earrings

{ image via IrishFireside }

The sun has come out for St. Patrick’s Day! We’re just watching the parade on the tele. We’ll be staying close to home and celebrating safely.

For us,  my husband and I, today simply means not having to go to work or walk down to the p.o. It’s a national holiday after all.

I am having a sale in my shop today to help celebrate though! I’m offering Free Worldwide Shipping on all purchases.

Why not snag yourself your own wee shamrocks!

Iris O’Connor is a very talented artist/photographer/mixed media artist based here in Dublin, Ireland.

Dawanda Shop | Website

She says about her work, “Creating something or painting or taking photographs has always been part of me and over the years I have experimented with a few different styles and techniques. I think I can say that for the moment I have found my ‘niche’ with photography and mixed media.  I especially like the term ‘mixed media’ as it can be anything you want it to be as long as you use a few ingredients together.”

I love it too! And I think you do a beautiful job Iris.

Oh I do want to live beside the seaside... Print

Group photo... Print

Closed for Lunch... Print

I can’t believe how quickly 2009 has gone by. So many things have happened this year, not all of them good, not all of them bad. It was a good year.

I am thankful for many things at this moment and I am hopeful that 2010 will be better.

I want to thank all of you who have supported me and my endeavours and wish you all the very best in the new year.

Reflected Rain by jared in kansas

We’ll be staying in tonight , no chance of us hanging out outside.

I hope that you all have a safe and happy New Years Eve!!

The winner will be drawn once I reach 100 fans. I am currently at 88 and I need your help. If you are already a fan, thank you sincerely, you are automatically entered to win. If you know someone who might also appreciate my work please send this along to them so that they too may be entered to win a pair of free earrings!

Your support is very much appreciated.

Rach

Sooo, it has been a while since my last post.  Last Monday, August 31, the hubby turned the big 3 0 and decided to take the whole week off to celebrate. He’s been home for 9 days and we were in and out of the house the whole time. Only yesterday did we really have absolutely nothing to do, but the whole week was great!

One of the nicest things we enjoyed this week was the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. There is so much to see here I don’t even know where to start.

The place is massive and we spent a good 4 hours walking around trying to see everything on offer. There’s a  Sensory Garden, Fern House, Waterlily House, Cactus and Succulent House (one of my favs), Rose Garden, Woodland Garden, Orchid House, Great Palm House (my absolute fav! it was like a rainforest in there – hot, wet, sticky and gorgeous), a Rockery, Grass Garden, Herb Garden, Organic Fruit and Vegetable Garden, Chinese Plants, Native Plants and every type of tree you can think of. Plus SO much more! They also have many art installations scattered around which were all very interesting. AND to top it all off a building devoted to the great Charles Darwin – how cool is that?!

One of my favourites, though I think it is intended for children, was the great Sunflower Maze.

Panorama of Sunflower Maze on CleVR.com

Hubby got this great panorama of it, but you really should see it for yourself if you can.

He also made one of the beautiful Rose Garden.

Panorama of Rose Garden on CleVR.com

After walking around for a very long time we were knackered and luckily they also have a very nice cafe on site. They even had some lovely vegetarian options, I got the vegetarian quiche and fresh salad and it was soooooooo good! I’m pretty sure they use all their own organic veggies in their cafe which just makes it that more special.

It is entirely free to go so if you ever get a chance to visit I highly, highly recommend it.

You can see a few more pics of our trip here.

All these lovely things are from the talented Irish folks of the Crafty Ireland Team. Clicking the photo will take you to the treasury if you’d like to show it some love. While it is still active, of course.

I really do love them, but I’d also love to hear what others think of them. Let me know in a comment.

If you’d love to touch them yourself, they can be found here.

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