...a return

There really is something very special about Ireland - It's in the air and it's in the ground - you can breathe it and feel it. I just got back from two weeks in County Mayo - possibly my favourite part of Ireland, It has everything - beaches, mountains, history, it's all there - I'm working on a long term plan to move there (I've been working on this same plan for 12 years now.. you see where I'm going with this.)

Anyhow, I just got back a couple of hours ago - the flooding is incredible at the moment, we've had a few 'soft' days here lately.

I have a few pics to show you and one card - it's the card I made for the Guest star Stamper submissions for August over at PapertreyInk.

I used the recently released Quilters sampler stamp set. I made a little quilt by stamping the blocks onto fabric. I stamped a border using a Faux ribbons stamp. I coloured the quilt blocks using a soft pastel pencil to match the Aqua mist.

The quilt was backed in a floral fabric that matched Aqua Mist and the wadding is two layers of kitchen paper. I then quilted the quilt on my sewing machine. Attached to the front of the card over a piece of Dark Chocolate card that had been stamped in versamark with quilt blocks. The sentiment was manipulated to match the layout of the card. Everything was put on a base card of Aqua Mist.



I must've taken over 1000 photos while I was away - 985 of them feature my kids and husband - the rest I kept for you!! Lol. I won't bore you with them all now but expect a few to pop up now and again inbetween cards.

The first is Sunset over Clew Bay - they say there's an Island in Clew bay for every day of the year - I'm inclined to believe it.



The second picture is the River at Cong - the place where they filmed 'The Quiet Man' starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara - an absolute gem of a place - more pics of this will follow.




The third pic is Murrisk Abbey. Murrisk is a charming village at the foot of Croagh Patrick in Mayo (more on this later). The Abbey is a ruin now but has the remains of a fine window. The day was very overcast and on days like this I sometimes take Black and White photos as they seem a little more atmospheric. Hope you like them.