last order before our carcation

Right, so this week we're off on our staycation to the beautiful county of Kerry

But first I had to finish one last order for my friend who runs The Baby Company a gorgeous website that specialises in high quality baby products & accessories. She often does fairs and asked me to do some bunting for her stand.
I was relieved to finally get the fabric delivery today The Yummy Mummy Market this weekend in Bray.
Anyway we got started and finished this afternoon YEY
So we went from this ........

 And the results were ....

I think it looks pretty good. I'm loving the lace effect along the top and will definitely be doing more like it again

Schools out for Summer !!!

So as a mum of 2 kiddies, 1 school going, its a big deal now with tomorrow being the last day of Junior infants and summer holidays are finally here. 

To completely honest I'm looking forward to the little lie on in the mornings, my kids like to sleep :) so no more setting my alarm for 7.15 to hit snooze 3 times before I finally drag myself out of bed and wake my other 2 sleepyheads.
But I'm pretty sure there'll be a few "I'm bored moments" so gonna have to think of a few budget friendly outings.
www.daysout.ie is a great resource for things to do anywhere in ireland. great website.

In Dublin my top few would be:
Ardgillan Castle just outside my beautiful hometown of Skerries.
Beautiful gardens, fab playground with the best view :) if you got a sunny day then your laughin!! Skerries  is a beautiful seaside town that you need to visit if your out that way. Some great places to eat and a great beach for long walks or dare I say swim :) although they've just been given a blue flag recently so yey! well done...... They have a grea adopt a beach scheme going on there where locals basically have adopted a section of beach to keep tidy and maintain. great idea right ! http://www.skerriesnews.ie/beach

Newbridge House & Farm   fab playground, lovely picnic area, great farm which isn't too expensive for entry from what I remember.

Phoenix Park - great space to picnic/cycle/walking/rollerblade

Rathbeggan Lakes  just outside Rataoth is a great little budget friendly place to go for young & older kids

Other great outings that might cost a few euros are
Dublin Zoo
Tayto Park
Powerscourt Gardens  although I its wicklow, not too far on the good ole M50 and definately worth a visit, stunning gardens!!



We'll be heading down Co Kerry way this year on holiday so next research job is to make my little list of exciting places to see and do there. watch this space :)

I'm pretty bad at this blogging :(

Ok so turns out I;m not so good at keeping a blog : (

So whats been going on ???
Ive been sick last few days with a chesty cough / flu type thing so not getting much sewing done.

 Last couple of weeks I've done a couple of different little projects

I am completely addicted to www.picmonkey.com !! Its so handy and creates such professional looking pics YEY! so my photos are getting a little bit better

 ITouch pouch for a Zumba teacher : ) 

 love this nappy pouch bag I did. Really like this flower fabric. Got it from Lucky Fabrics on Ebay They're in Thailand and I've gotten a few pieces from them over the past few months and have always been really happy. great quality cotton !!!   colours are amazing !

 Really getting into the bunting thing :) My sister in law asked me to do one for my little baby nephews bedroom so I'll be finishing that tomorrow. And a friend has asked me to do one for her company so cant wait to get started on that and show it off but I'm waiting for the fabric delivery...... I hate waiting for fabric deliveries !!!

baby gift sets

Ok I'm finding it really hard to keep up with this blogging malarkey :)
Over past 2 weeks I've been asked to do a baby set for a girl & a boy. This has got my creative juices flowing so to speak. So I put some items together and thought of how I could present it so someone will go "wow"
So I came up with this

Complete with fabric confetti just to give it a bit more cuteness :)

each fit set contains 4 x bibs, 1 taggy blanket & 1 nappy clutch

toddler toy tidy

This week I finally got around to making a little toy tidy drawstring bag for my little boy. Hes 2yrs old and has a lot of little cars & trucks which seem to be EVERYWHERE!!
I was in the fabric shop and spotted the most perfect fabric for this project and it was half price!!! happy days! So got a couple of sq mtre and couldnt wait to get started.
I searched a few tutorials online and usually end up doing my own variation.
Anyway it resulted in this

Then I made another one but I made the drawstring longer and turned it into a backpack.

Now I'm addicted!!! so what can I do with a load of drawstring bags well I'll tell you .......
First I'm going to get myself to Ikea and buy some nice hooks then my bags are going to become bedroom toy tidies for my toddlers wall.
I'll be sure to post a photo when I eventually get round to doing this :)

There is so much to learn

So today I'm getting zero sewing done...... I'm minding a friends 2 kids so along with my own its pretty busy here. The girls are in school till 1.30 but the boys (both 2yrs old) are here playing away and watching good old Peppa Pig (best kids programe ever)
So I'm spending my time watching them with one eye and doing a little learning and researching on the laptop with the other.
I want to get this blogging right.
I want to customise it with buttons/links etc
I want to get some tutorials done
But I have to be more patient.........
one step at a time right?
So I'm reading blogs, tutorials, tips & tricks!
I can probably bet my life that no one has ever read this blog but sure feck it. maybe one day it'll grow to something someone somewhere might be interested in ....lol !!  wish I could insert some emoicons here.....

I have a new logo !

I'd like to introduce my new logo

Courtesy of my very talented brother
Please check out his website http://www.animalmedia.ie/
Big things coming from this guy in the future !!!
Thank You Alan !!!

Oh dear I'm neglecting you blog!

holy sh*t has it been that long since I updated? I'm not proving to be a very good blogger am I ......

Well over the passed 4 weeks my I've been busy with baby gift requests
Like this

and these

People seem to like them :)  yey!

Birthday Pressie for a girly girl

This is a birthday gift I made for a friend for her daughter. Shes 18 on 12 June and I really hope she likes her present :) Her mum was very happy so that makes me very happy !!!

christening gift for my norwegian niece

This week I got an interesting call from a friend who asked me about bandana bibs & a potential business opportunity. Well this got me thinking big time !  Baby gifts !! of course, everyone is having babies these days, especially my age group so at the moment I'm researching fabrics etc for cute bandana bibs....... Its going pretty well. this evening I've finetuned the pattern  and next is to show my product and hopefully start discussing fabric prints etc :)

But in the meantime I decided to make my niece a little christening gift as we're heading over to Norway for the June bank holiday to finally meet her and go to the christenng. so I made this ....

Cute arent they!! :)

Now as a result my mums friend has asked me to make a set of 3 girlie bibs for her grandchild :)

Skerries Mills Farmers Market

I grew up in a gorgeous seaside town called Skerries in north county Dublin, about 25km from Dublin city.
http://www.skerrieshomepage.com/

Every SAturday there is a Farmers market at The Skerries Mills. http://www.skerriesmills.org/
This is where I bought some beautiful fabric recently from a lovely lady called Sarah on a stall called The Stash Cupboard. Her fabrics were so vibrant and colourful I will have to get out to her again soon.
Anyway I made this lovey tote bag and I just LOVE the colour

LOVE Turquoise !!

PicMonkey !!

I've just discovered PicMonkey.com!!! Of course I'm probably the last to know about this handy site that allows you to edit your pics but "yey" I've no photo editor applications on my laptop so this site is gonna come in so handy :)
http://www.picmonkey.com/

Flower Power

A couple of weeks ago I got very excited when I got my hands on this gorgeous print

and in none other than Ikea (omg I love that store)
So all Im thinkin is omg Cath Kidston :) only half the price hehe :)
Dont worry not planning on fooling anyone.... just love the print so chuffed I get a cheaper version cause cash aint in full flow with this damn recession :)

So ended up with

first time doing an magnetic clasp which worked out fab!! and pretty easy :)

Even fitted and little pocket inside

This is a great shoulder slouch bag. Throw in a few nappies, wipes, phone, wallet and your good to go. Going to be making a lot more of these I reckon!
In fact already have a order from a friend for one with a matching make up bag. cant wait to get started on it!!!

My other latest obsession..... Zumba!

Completely unrelated to bags or crafts but tonight I have my first Zumbathon and I'm struggling to find the energy!! This is not usually a problem I absolutely LOVE my Zumba class. Mondays & Wednesdays !! but I think being stuck indoors all week with my little boy who's been sick with chicken pox has made me a bit lethargic :( 

Come On girl WAKE UP !!! you've 2 & a half hours of zumba ahead of you!!!!

Update: Zumbathon was Zumbatastic!!! amazing where ya find the energy from?

Great cause MDI : Muscle Dystophy Ireland.

Heres to the next one !

where would we be without ebay??

I found this great ebay shop selling beautiful oriental cotton prints. The colours were fab so I thought I'd try it out. I ordered a few fat quarters and they were delivered in about a week & a half from Thailand. They were even nicer in the "flesh" with lovely gold print running though them. I was a happy bunny :)
So I put together a couple of different style bags.

I will work on better photography. These pics defo do not give the fabric justice!

I'm now awaiting some more fabric in the post..... excited.com!

lightbulb moment!

This tutorial turned on the lightswitch!!  I loved what she did and she made it look to easy, I thought I HAVE to make one of those right now.
So huge credit goes to .....
http://youtu.be/O7ARJWsPVXY

name it

Myself and my 6 year old daughter sat down last night and I asked her what she thought of a few name ideas I had...... I named off a few "no" "no" "no" was all I got...... I wanted something girly, a bit cute not too cute, had pastel shades in my head so was thinking florally??? anyway I said Cherry Blossom Bags and the quick firm response was YES!!! And so Cherry Blossom Bags was born :) 

Note to self: must work on a logo!

And so my love for making bags was born

I have read so many inspiring craft blogs and tutorials over the past few months that I feel like my mind is just crammed full of ideas its going to burst!! And I just have that "I can do that" feeling!
Its even invading my dreams at night :)
Anyway I just wanted to show you my very first bag that I made from a couple of fat quarters I bought from my local craft shop. I was so eager and impatient I just couldnt wait to get started. So I examined a little tote my daughter had and figured out how it was put together.

And this was the result!! I have to admit I was so proud lol :)
Now dont get me wrong its very rough, pretty messy hems, handles are crocked but all in all I thought it was a pretty good first effort.
And so it begins !

It never leaves you

Whatever possessed me to start a blog I have no idea???  But I’ve been toying with the idea for a few weeks now and I've bitten the bullet. After all who the hell is going to read it right J the one thing that would fill me with dread in school was having to write English essays!!! I was horrendous!! This going to be a complete hit and miss project for me. I'm completely winging it but sometimes that the best way to learn right?

My strongest subject however, was Art <3 I love it!!  I was always crafty, making things, painting things….. Then somewhere along the way I’d forgotten that! Between leaving school, going to college, getting a job, travelling the world for a year, coming home getting another office job,  getting married and having 2 fab kids I thought the arty side of me was gone…… well I was wrong J  I have discovered it again J

So now between school runs and playground trips I squeeze in the time to make a few bags, necklaces or whatever my latest obsession happens to be.

Now the first time I even touched a sewing machine was probably about 6 months ago and to be honest I found them a bit scary. The thought of your fingers being so close to that needle hammering away just gave me the shivers!!! But I had grown up with my mum always at the sewing machine, making a lot of our clothes as young kids and making her own fab dresses. She was pretty impressive! Wonder why it’s taken me 34yrs to come round to sitting at a machine?? Anyway I’ve since discovered that I may just have the “knack” J I no longer fear the sewing machine but feel pretty comfortable sitting at it. Pushing myself to stretch my ability and try new techniques. And all I can say it thank goodness for the internet!! It’s been a fountain of knowledge!