Polly Rises To ITICA Challenge...

Yesterday, over on my other blog 'Vinca'a-In-Tha-Kitchen', thanks to Hey Pesto's Yvonne Carty, I introduced the concept of Ireland's very first National Fish & Chips Day! Yes, you read that right, participating chip ships all over Ireland were selling their very finest fish and chips for half price in celebration of this new event in Ireland's history.

Anyway, as usual in the Pierce household, one thing lead to another with the end result being that I made a jokey bet with Sandie, from Paper Play Challenges that I would make a card to celebrate. What a laugh?! I mean, who in their right mind would be celebrating fish & chip day - for goodness sake...

Well, for one me! I took myself off to my local Italian chippers, Macari located in Tullamore's Market Square and treated myself to the best fish and chips since New Years Davy 2009. Just in case you're wondering why I made a point of emphasising the fact that Macari's is Italian, yesterdays feast was supported by ITICA (The Irish Traditional Italian Chipper Association).

For the sum of €3.75 I enjoyed freshly cut chips and fresh cod cooked in a lovely light and crispy batter which was piping hot and absolutely delicious. In fact the whole family enjoyed an Italian-Irish dinner of fish and chips last night, DG in Luigi's, Monasterevin and the rest of the brood in Macari's at different times throughout the evening. Apparently the promotion has paid off as both outlets were superbly busy...

Later on in the evening, inspired by my full stomach and having ingested so-called brain food, I set about my task. For a while I just sat there and wondered if I should call a halt to the proceedings, after all, it was only a joke. But as time wore on and my other two cards were finished, it slowly began to dawn on me that I've at least a couple of stamp sets with an overall fishy theme running through them.

Sadly I can't recall the name of the first set, although I think it could be a Glitter Girls set for men, the large fish is from one of Anita's See D's Sets and the smaller fish and the air bubbles are from PaperTrey Ink's 'Pond Life'. The image is coloured with Pro-Markers Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Colour Box Chalk Inks, using a sponge dauber to achieve the desired effect.

I wrote the sentiment: 'Celebrate National Fish & Chip Day!' in a black Sakura gel pen, as I didn't really expect to be able to find a suitable rubber stamp at such short notice! All the card and ribbon is from The Paper Mill Shop at Junction One, in Antrim.

All in all I enjoyed the challenge. It certainly was an unusual one and I only wish that I'd have realised what day it was just a little earlier, because as usual for a Wednesday night this challenge lead to burning of the midnight oil, yet again!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my exploits as much as I enjoyed pitting my wits against what can only be described as a bizarre challenge. Suffice to say that my friends and colleagues at this morning's BNI meeting were thought it hysterical when I held my card up as an example of how to put an image together using smaller stamps in a multi-stamp image!

Polly Pierce
Vinca Cards

Polly Wishes You A Happy St Patrick's Day!

In case you didn't see yesterday's post I'm participating in Claire's blog-hop over at WaltzingMouse Makes...

So what exactly is a blog-hop then? On this occasion it's where a bunch of folk who just happen to love Claire's range of photopolymer stamp designs come together and celebrate our national holiday, aka St Patrick's Day.

apologies for the washed out background I was trying to show off the script on the ribbon!(see below)...

Aside from the fact that we will be showcasing our own fabulous talents in relation to card making and scrapbooking we will also be showing off our fave designer's abundance of creativity.

I first met Claire a couple of years ago on another favourite stamp designer's forum and we've been friendly ever since. After all, it's something of a treat to meet like minded folk who love to craft and make cards, especially when they're on the same turf - so to speak!

Unfortunately, I have a tendency to make up lovely cards, be very creative in the process and then conveniently forget all about photographing or scanning them! Usually I remember during the small wee hours of the morning, by which time it's too late to do anything about it.

The original incarnation of this card was very similar, however the ribbon at the bottom was a little thinner, a little brighter and it was stamped all over with the words St Patrick's Day rather than just in the middle.

The ribbon I chosen for the second card is PTI Rich Avacado saddle stitched twill ribbon which I just love. I think it fits in quite nicely with shading of the shamrock (watercolour pencils) and the slightly larger celtic script. I was unable to use this larger more decorative script with the thinner ribbon, but it was tied with a pretty bow...

Have you noticed how I've incorporated the colours of the Irish national flag...

I hope you've enjoyed my take on St Patrick's Day which was created using Claire's free digi-stamp created for today, this is just one example of how talented our Claire is, for more examples of her lovely stamps check out here store here.

When you've finished exploring Claire's lovely creations why not hop on over and visit with more of her dedicated followers and see what they've been up in celebration of their two favourite Irish people?

Polly is busy, busy, busy...

Just so that nobody thinks that I've stopped making cards altogether I had a card making blitz yesterday in preparation for Father's Day. Here are some of the cards that I threw together, I'm sure you'll agree that each is quite different from the other...

this is my favourite using Bombshell Stamps 'Homeward Bound' set.

Sometimes when I scan a card into the computer it doesn't look that great as these cards demonstrate. The gentleman on the right has been in my collection for such a long time I can't remember where or when I got him. To date he has been on two outings, but has turned up trumps each time...

The lovely PaperTrey Ink image from their Father Knows Best set is a prime example of the cards not looking their best. The card itself looks a million dollars, with the simplicity of the design, stamp, etc. Unfortunately, the raising of the image to create a 3 dimensional effect has cast an unfortunate shadow, which takes away from the colour of the swirly leaves on the tree!

Maybe this monochromatic gentleman would fit into this weeks PaperPlay challenge; after all, how often do you get bows and bling on a card for a man?

Yes, me thinks it's time I made myself a tent for photographing my cards in good light all the time. These cards are definitely not being shown off to their best advantage!

Finally I made this card with this weeks PaperPlay Challenges blog in mind. It's remit was to make anything you like, but make it a bit different and so I made a masculine Father's Day card using pink and purples as underlying themes! Strange, huh?

I can't help thinking of this stamp as "King Richard"

And that's not all, as later this week I've got to produce a couple of Grand-dad and Great Grand-dad cards for some very special people, just to let them know that someone out there cares for them a great deal...