Begorrah, bejaysus ....

.... and beshamrocks - it's Thursday again and another week of PaperPlay - our challenge this week is a very Irish one - Shades of Green - the challenge is to make a St. Patrick's Day card, a good luck card, or simply use shades of green.

I'm not a big fan of St. Patrick's Day, the only good thing about it is that it's a day off!!!  I have too many  memories of having to attend parades in the freezing rain and the howling wind as a child.  My own two poor deprived offspring have never been to a Paddy's Day parade, they'll have to wait 'till they're old enough to go by themselves!!!

So, I didn't make a St. Patrick's Day card - I made a good luck one - here it is:

I've used the sketch from Totally Gorjuss, and I'm also entering this into The Shabby Tea Room ("Luck of the Irish"), A Spoon Full of Sugar (vintage/shabby), Little Red Wagon ("St. Paddy's Day Green"), Simon Says Stamp (anything goes) and Colour Create (green/brown/cream/black).

The colour scheme is not one I'd normally use, but I really like the combination - especially with the added touches of gold on the ribbon and the gold stickled hearts - very leprechauny!  I've used one of my Sugar Nellies that I haven't inked up for a while - love these Leanne Ellis images - here's a close-up:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Origins"

Stamp: "Choose" by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Gold stickles, ribbon from stash, needle + thread

If you were wondering where I got the title for this post, I've added a link below.  If you've got 4 minutes to spare, have a listen.  It's an Irish comedian called Mario Rosenstock doing his version of Michael Flatley on a spoof radio interview - I've listened to it over and over and it makes me cry with laughter every time.  Enjoy!!

And thanks for looking (and listening!!).

Clean and Simple ....

.... and QUICK!!

That was my motto this week.  It's exam season (and yes, the sun is shining!).  Most years, I make a few cards for those friends' kids, neighbours' kids, etc., that I know who are doing state exams.  But this year, my daughter is one of those candidates, therefore so are all of her friends, and also seven or eight kids of staff at school too.  So I have had to be ruthless or else it would have been like doing the Christmas card production line in June!!  I've made one for my daughter and her cousin, both doing Junior Cert, and one for her "godbrother", doing his Leaving Cert, and that is it!

DD's card is my DT entry for this week's PaperPlay Challenges - "Flowers and Sparkle Galore".  We are being sponsored this week by Stitchy Bear Stamps, who are offering 4 digi images as a prize.

Here's my card:

I used Scenic Route "Appleton" papers - great for school themes (shame they've gone out of business, though).  I found the big old flower in my stash and covered it with stickles - it doesn't show up in the photo, but it is very very sparkly.  I'm also entering this into The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge "Buttons and Blooms".

And here are the boys' cards:

I had decided from the start not to use any of my usual distressing and stitching and stick to a clean style.  I found it very very very difficult indeed!!!  Although on the plus side, it took a fraction of the time!!

Thanks for looking!