Like a breeze on a hot summer's day...

...I'm just breezing through. So here we are at the end of the month and thanks to an exceptional workload I haven't managed to complete any of the colour challenges - ho hum, at least there'll be some new ones to look forward too tomorrow.

But I did manage to get out briefly last week and take some photos, and here's one I scrapped...well I layered and filtered it with my own combination paint-style effects and added a a little verse concocted especially for it....so you may or may not consider it to be scrapping, but I like it!

NB: If you'd like to see the background in greater detail or read the verse, just click on it for a larger version.

Anyway, the forecast here is for hot, hot and more hot this week, so I'll be doing my best to get out of the office every chance I can because this is the hottest corner of our little house and a girl's gotta breathe occasionally. So not sure I'll managed to do anything of substance any time soon! I do have some bits in process, but I just can't cope with the heat long enough to finish anything lol! So I hope you all enjoy the weather more than me, and I'll be back when it's cooled down a little.

Slainte!

Hear that roar? It's a Connemara Tiger!

This started out as a mini add-on to the 40s Femme Glam kit - and somehow blossomed into a full kit itself. I usually struggle with naming things, but this just declared itself to me - so let me explain because it's a little odd.

Way back when I originally showed the Fun Furs (which eventually became the 40s kit) a pinkie chum asked for them in green (ours is not to reason why) and so I created some. Then when I was creating the marcasite jewellery for the 40s kit, I remembered my mum's brooch - the marcasite and Connemara marble one I mentioned - and made several inspired by that - so it seemed only natural to pair them with the green furs as an add-on.

But as I started to package them together yesterday, there were great celebrations in Ireland (and in many European cities I understand) as they announced the result of the Irish national referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was a resounding NO WAY! Makes a girl proud so it does.

And there was fond talk of all things Irish including the Celtic Tiger (as the 90s resurgence of the Irish economy is affectionately known). And I pondered, not for the first time, what a Celtic Tiger would actually look like if such a thing really existed - which of course it doesn't - when I realised I'd already answered my own question - with these green furs! And since it's natural hunting ground would probably be in the wilds of Connemara (a little like the Beast of Bodmin roams the Bodmin moors) - hence the name.

Yes, I know, this means nothing to anyone but me, but it was such a weird and wonderful moment, I wanted to share it with you! So in honour of the voice of the Irish people having rung out loud and clear across Europe for the first time ever....I give you....

Connemara Tiger




Then having gone so far as to give it a glorious name, I decided that it deserved its own alpha - which then resulted in four - and an accidental set of framestrips to boot! So the full kit now consists of:

• 8 assorted Connemara Tiger fur backgrounds
• 2 Connemara marble frames
• 2 Glassed fur frames
• 8 assorted frame strips
• 1 Connemara marble bead frame
• 10 Connemara marble & marcasite trinkets - flowers, hearts, ovals, shamrocks
• 2 x furry alphas (lowercase only)
• 2 x Connemara marble alphas (upper and lowercase, numbers & punctuation)

Since Connemara Marble is a natural stone, it comes in a range of shades of green from deepest forest to mossy - and I've used a couple of my favourites to create the alphas - one of which is framed in chalk, and the other in limestone - both abundant in the locality. Equally I think the Connemara Tiger might be part chameleon - with fur that subtly changes colour to enable it to blend with beautiful Connemara countryside (which is probably why it's never been caught or seen before!) so I've used a couple of the darker ones to create some 'furry' alphas which I think are rather cute.

I'm currently waiting (impatiently!) for the files to upload - so in the mean time, let me ask you a question. Are you ever puzzled by the things that you love that your other half hates - and vice versa? I'm lucky that when it comes to likes and dislikes we are predominantly in agreement - but there's a odd few things where we differ with a passion - and it seems to be mostly about food:

• I love fresh tomatoes - he can't abide the sight, smell or taste of them
• He loves tomato soup - I despise it
• I love Branston pickle - especially on cheese sarnies - it makes him shudder
• He loves Bovril - on pretty much anything - just the mention of it makes me feel ill

These aversions are so strong that we've laid down some ground rules for when either of us fancies a food that offends the other...

• You must inform the other party before consuming the offensive food
• You must not consume it in an enclosed space (like in a car or indoors when the weather is too foul to open the windows)
• You must not leave behind any traces - cutlery and plates must be cleaned immediately rather than left in the dishwasher to fester
• Finally, and this is the most important rule of all - you must allow time for a decent snog before consuming the food - since you will not be allowed within kissing distance for some considerable time afterwards...

Mind you, sometimes it's worth it just for the excuse to snog lol! But I wonder if there are other couples out there who have such intensely opposite passions for odd foods? So consider yourself tagged if you've read this to tell me if you do or don't, and if you do, what foods are involved and have you got any special rules about them?

And now for one final item (the upload is about 95% so I'll just have time) - I wonder if you've noticed that there are two new links under the Must Haves section on the left? These are two places I've discovered recently that I really recommend you visit.

Treasured Finds is a wonderful store where you'll find jewellery, frames and much, more (including some fab Celtic pieces) all in sterling silver. I've just bought my mom a lovely set of silver sewing items all intricately decorated. Their prices are very reasonable, and I'd certainly be spoiling myself rotten if I wasn't stoney broke lol! The store is owned and run by a charmingly nutty husband, wife and cat team - read their FAQs - it's so funny!

Aon Celtic is the home of a superb Celtic artist - Cari Buziak - and her work is simply stunning - and you can own it on prints, clothes, jewellery and so much more. At the moment, just looking at it will have to be enough for me - but then it's so inspiring, so I'm not complaining.

And before you ask, no I'm not on commission, not related or affiliated - I just really love the work on both sites and think you will too.

And finally, the upload is finished, so here are the links:

Belanna's Connemara Tiger - Papers
Belanna's Connemara Tiger - Elements
Belanna's Connemara Tiger - Alphas 1 & 2
Belanna's Connemara Tiger - Alpha 3
Belanna's Connemara Tiger - Alpha 4

Now I realise this may have limited appeal, being green, but I hope someone out there will enjoy it - and let me know if you do.

Slainte & have a great weekend!

At long last, a little glamour...

Gosh, I can't believe how long it's taken me to get this finished - though technically it's been finished for over two weeks now lol! But finding the time to create the previews, zip and upload everything and finally post it here seems to have taken forever. In the end, I had to get it done, otherwise I wouldn't be able to start on this month's colour challenges. Anyway, I'm very pleased to finally present for your delight and delectation -

40s Femme Glam


It was nearly going to be 40s Femme Fatale - but I don't think it's quite that dark! Anyway I hope you like it and for reference it contains:

• 8 funky furs in a range of natural colours...guess the animal!
• 5 individual 40s femmes stickers clad in the aforementioned furs
• 2 group 40s femmes stickers
• 8 accessories stickers - shoes, bags and gloves
• 3 marcasite & opal necklace frames
• 4 marcasite & opal brooches
• 2 marcasite earrings
• 4 - count em - 4 alphas! 3 in fur and 1 marcasite

Two of the fur alphas are complete upper and lower case, the third is upper case only, the marcasite is lower case only. Due to lack of time, I've had to leave them as sheets, but I'm on the lookout for an action that will automate the process of separating the letters to save me some time. Amanda pointed me to one, but it was PSP. I found a PS version by Monica Larsen, but don't know if it will work in CS3 - has anyone tried it???? If I can get one that works, I'll separate the alphas and re-upload.

I had so much fun playing with these that I created a whole range in semi-precious stones such as amber and lapis lazuli. Plus I have quite a collection of these fur papers in a range of more vibrant 'synthetic' colours.....so let me know if you'd like them.

Oh, and would you like the links????

Belanna's 40s Femme Glam - Papers
Belanna's 40s Femme Glam - Elements
Belanna's 40s Femme Glam - Alphas

Re-living 40s glamour...

Thought you might like a little preview of what I'm working on - since Betty asked about the furs, I've been playing with some ideas for elements to go with them and I've come up with a sort of 40s glamour theme (I just love 40s movies, particularly noir).

I love my faux fur background combined with this coat from Dover, so there'll be a few of these. And so far I've got some opal and marcasite brads, flowers, hearts and frames. Then since I was working in marcasite, I remembered one of my mom's favourite items is a Tara brooch in marcasite and Connemara marble - so I tried to create something that resembled the marble, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. Which means in addition to the 40s Fur kit, I'm also working on another Celtic kit, but this time with Connemara marble, and possibly a little bit of Blarney.

I'll try to get the 40s kit uploaded Saturday or Sunday. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Just a few trinkets...

The last colour challenge for the month is at RAKScraps hosted by Connie, where the theme is mums and family. Now those of you who've been with me for a while may remember the cards I made for Mother's Day...sigh!

Anyway, I really liked the papers because the stone represents my mum's strength and the damask is because she was a damask weaver before she got married - so I've recreated them in this month's colour palette (along with some matching beads and baubles) and hence we have:

Trinkets for Mum



which contains:

• 3 stone textured papers
• 3 crumpled damask papers
• 3 crumpled textured solids
• 2 small bead necklaces (frames)
• 2 dragonfly brooches
• 3 coloured pearl bracelets (frames)
• 3 coloured pearl earrings (brads)

I was working on the dragonfly brooches for another section of the Grow kit - but I couldn't figure out how to get the Grow theme to work for a Mum-related kit lol! Nevertheless, I think they go just as well with this, and I really like how the coloured pearls turned out - hope you like them too.

Belanna's Trinkets for Mum - Papers
Belanna's Trinkets for Mum - Elements

Ooops - and something that really tickled me today was a sign we passed on the way back from running various errands which said:

Save the earth - it's the only planet with chocolate!

What more motivation do we need????

Step we gaily, on we go...

The song that's been going round inside my head these last few days, is Marie's Wedding, a traditional Scottish folk song that I fondly remember being performed by the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. The rather jaunty chorus goes...

Step we gaily on we go, heel for heel and toe for toe,
Arm in arm and on we go, all for Marie's wedding
Over hillways up and down, myrtle green and bracken brown,
Pass the sheeling through the town, all for Marie's wedding...etc etc

It's a lovely little ditty and probably on my mind because I've been seeing a lot of bumph about weddings lately... we are coming up to wedding season I suppose, so that makes sense. Which put me in mind to do something wedding-ish, and I remembered that a couple of people had mentioned having a Claddagh theme for their weddings, so I put two and two together and came up with this:


Claddagh Wedding consists of:

• 5 patterned papers
• 3 textured papers
• 2 decorated frames
• 2 wedding cake stickers
• 2 wedding cake chipboard pieces
• 1 Celtic rose & knot doily
• 1 Celtic rose & knot sticker
• 2 intertwined Celtic symbols
• 2 decorative horse shoes
• 2 iced wedding favour cookies
• 3 wedding invitation seals
• 1 Celtic heart cake topper
• A collection of Wedding words
• 1 complete alpha - upper case, lower case and numbers
• 9 framed Celtic symbols and one blank

I started with some papers that didn't make it into the original Claddagh Love kits because I was working to set colour palettes. I'm really pleased with the alpha, and hope you'll like it because it turned out better than I could have hoped. I also really love the two Celtic symbols (see the top right corner of the preview). Intertwined animals are often used a wedding or marriage and I thought these two (sea horses and birds) were perfect, and thanks to a combination of styles, the end result is simply gorgeous - a little like a soft gold enamel with a stone edge. If I was getting married (which I'm not and not likely to be lol!) this would be my wedding stationery, no doubt about it.

Some of the other pieces I'm not so sure about, so if you download it, I'd really love to know what you like or don't like from it - also whether the element and alpha sizes are too big, too small or about right? All feedback is welcome, and if you take the time to help me improve, it means I can offer you better stuff in future eh?

Belanna's Claddagh Wedding - Elements

Belanna's Claddagh Wedding - Papers

Belanna's Claddagh Wedding - Alpha

Ooops! Just realised I forgot to mention the fonts used in the TOU - for info they are Irish Blessings and Cry Uncial.

On a wing and a font...

While I love fonts, I'm not normally a font challenge kinda girl, but even I couldn't resist the rather gorgeous one chosen for this month's font challenge at SAS - it's called Adine Kirnberg. And after oodles of fun playing with different effects, I finally settled on a nice cracked stone finish - and it's so nice I'd be seriously tempted to make an alpha with it. (Click on the picture for a closer look at the stone, it's really lovely.)

So for the first time in an awfully long while, I had an incentive to scrap, and for the first time I scrapped with something I created. Well, no that's not technically correct, because I've created papers etc to make cards before...but this is the first time I've scrapped with something I've released as a freebie...which seemed weird.

So, while I'm here I'd best take a moment to answer some questions etc...

Firstly a word of thanks for all the supportive comments - they're very much appreciated - and I'm so pleased that you're enjoying Grow & Grow Too, they were fun to make and helped cheer me up a little, and your comments have multiplied that effect - many thanks!!! I'm especially pleased that the little grasshoppers and flower pots have received such a warm response - I kinda liked them, but I just never know if others will feel the same!

Betty asked about my Funky Furs ... to be honest, that was so long ago I'd all but forgotten them! But yes, I'm probably going to release them, but I want to see if I can create some elements to go with them first...maybe some art deco jewellery might be nice...if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Chris Allport asked about Celtic Mysts ... and the truth is I feel both guilty and resentful about all things Celtic at the moment. Guilty because I said I'd release more, I created loads and all it really needs is a bit of finessing, packaging and uploading - which wouldn't really take much time at all. But I feel resentful because I was on such a high when I released the first part and while creating the rest...but then things in real life took a downward plunge and everything I was working on got tainted by the events and feelings which left me with a very irrational aversion to finishing it. So every time I think I must get it sorted, I find more pressing things to do (like surf the net, make tea, buy bread, call my mom, do a crossword...you get the idea).

It's a bit like getting run over while eating your favourite sandwich, and now you'll starve yourself rather than face cheese and pickle ever again (or whatever your favourite happens to be) because it triggers unpleasant memories. I know it's daft, and as a fairly logical person I find it particularly frustrating, but I will overcome it eventually, it just might take a couple of months. So for those I've disappointed, I can only say, I'm human and I'm sorry!!

I'd also like to say a great big thank you to the Pinkies for all their support recently, just so that you know it hasn't gone unnoticed or unappreciated, and I am actually trying to drag myself back to a reasonable stable frame of mind, and when I do, I'll be back. The good news is that I started taking a variety of herbal supplements recently, one of which is St Johns Wort, which I think is actually beginning to make a difference - I am feeling much more positive (as evidenced by Grow lol!) and while the circumstances haven't changed, I just feel a bit more able to cope than before, if you know what I mean. So I'm feeling a bit hopeful that while I haven't turned the corner as yet, it is at least in sight.

Hugz to all!