Polly Learns: Distinctive Folds...

A friend of mine was recently tidying out her hot-press/airing cupboard. Being pressed for space she took it into her head that she ought to learn how to fold a fitted sheet neatly and googled the subject! This is what she came up with:

Since she found this and posted it on her Facebook page she has been the object of ridicule. In a way I understand why she found it necessary to research the subject; flat sheets can be folded neatly and fitted sheets always make a mess of things. Don't they?

I give Bláithín O'Reilly-Murphy, author of Distinctive Weddings: Tying the Knot without the Rope Burns!10/10 for researching the most annoying subject of subjects known to woman kind; she certainly came up with the answer to this predicament, didn't she? Folding the laundry will never be the same after this and I for one say "Thank You!" (with one eyebrow raised) to her for solving the mystery of how to fold a fitted sheet neatly...

Have Fun!

Polly Pierce
Hand-made Irish Greeting Cards & Wedding Stationery

Polly's AMa'amWAHM

A week ago today I plugged my work phone in to charge it and noticed that I had missed a call the previous day. Seeing as it was my work phone and I am of a nosey nature I rang the number; identified myself and enquired about the missed call.

In short I had missed the advertising editor of a local newspaper whose circulation figure exceeds 16,000 with a potential readership of up to 70,00. Okay, so I know these figures probably seem like small fry to some; but to me living in the heart of rural Ireland this is huge exposure potential for me.

Needless to say, I demurred a little, picked the poor woman's brain and demanded extra exposure in the form of an editorial/press release in the forthcoming Wedding Supplement. After all €164.00 inclusive of tax is a big investment for a cottage industry such as Vinca Cards.

After a lot of deliberation and discussion I decided to plough ahead and book a place in the Annual Leinster & Offaly Express wedding supplement. As everyone keeps telling me I have got to get my name out there and make my brand known. This morning I came up with this little classified ad:)

© PollyPierce at VincaCards2008

With literally a couple of hours until the copy deadline; it seems I managed to do the advertising editors job for her and it will be going in just as it is!!! I really have to say that I am extremely proud of myself as this is my first attempt at anything like this...

Now all I have to do is wait until next Wednesday for the paper to publish my ad alongside an editorial about WAHM's like Polly Pierce at Vinca Cards!!!! You know; I wonder if I should just get on and write it up myself and save them the trouble of sending out a journalist to interview me...

... or am I just getting too big for my boots? Ha, Ha!

LOL

Polly Pierce
Your friendly local Wedding Invitation Making Diva

Polly Studying

It has just gone three in the afternoon on Monday and guess what? No kids! BJK is collecting LB; while I head into town and collect the organic basket and do some banking for DG. Obviously I'm not doing that at this very moment; but I will be...

Actually, I'm listening to a pod-cast by one of my on-line mentor's; ie Alice Seba. It's an interesting recording; though it does demand that you set aside some time to listen to it properly. I really must locate my famed MP3 player; the one which DG bought me at Christmas for that express purpose! It really annoys me; that I don't use resources which have been made so freely available to me.

Ultimately; these amount to the two e-courses that I subscribed to way back in June, and of course the famed mp3 player. Thankfully my subscription for the Blogging Starter Pack is valid for a long, long time; allowing me to learn how to set up a blog from scratch at my leisure. As is Alice's Internet Marketing Sweetie; Hallelujah!

Today for the first time I have actually taken the time to sit down and listen to the first part of one of these courses; forced to do so largely by the aches & pains currently inhabiting my body this is nevertheless quite an achievement. Since subscribing; all that time ago, I printed out the accompanying seventy page workbook a second time. Last time it was an unmitigated disaster. I'd decided to be clever and print on both sides of the paper; thus making it impossible to maintain continuity. The front page was printed on the back of the last page and so on...

This afternoon I used A5 format allowing for two pages per side; cleverly avoiding any further abuse of modern technology. I'll be reverting to my beloved guillotine and comb-binder in the very near future to make this e-book look and feel like something a little bit more robust.

In the old days I would have resorted to using a hole-punch and a ring bound folder. Had I been really posh; or even that bothered, I may have strengthened the holes by applying paper polo shaped reinforcements....

It appears that there's a lot of study ahead of me; and once again procrastination is being booted out the door. Time's too short and precious to waste it feeling sorry for myself; nursing sore hands, back and feet. I also resolve to take my medications as prescribed; not to loose the new packages any more and to go to bed early having already completed my homework.

The very thought of it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I mean; it's okay to have all the answers for the children but it's quite a different matter when it comes to disciplining oneself and putting all that into practice.

I wonder; do you practice what you preach? Do let me know; I could do with a little bit of moral support right now...

Polly Pierce
Greeting Cards & Wedding Stationary Diva

Polly Whines

As some of you undoubtedly know by now I recently attended The Midlands Bridal & Debs Exhibition at Charleville Castle; not as a visitor but as an exhibitor. I had a great time and left with plenty of ideas and big hopes for orders in the future.

© Lily O'Brien

As far as my stand goes, aside from having a superb product to show off I took my new best friend; Lily O'Brien with me. Or perhaps I should say some of her lovely chocolates which I offered

to my visitor's as brides bribes; excuse the accidental pun! Suffice to say; my table was very popular, not least because I was the only stationer present!

On Saturday evening; on my way home from the expo I called into my favourite shop, ie Lidl. As I had worked hard all afternoon; I'd decided to treat myself to a glass of wine to finish the evening off and this shop has a great collection of Spanish wines to choose from. Imagine my delight when their 'Barcelino' oak aged Barrica from Catalunya was on offer at just €5.99...


Needless to say I picked up two bottles. One I shared with my Mom the following evening; alongside Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding; and guess what? She loves it too! The other took pride of place at home and was shared with a thirsty farmer when eventually he got home from working on this years late harvest.

I am also pleased to be able to report that my local Lidl had some of their Lord Nelson teas left in stock. I had first encountered these on the Lidl Treats blog a couple of weekends ago and pounced on the opportunity to test them. As they had had such a good write up, my expectations were high and I was delighted to discover that these inexpensive treats were every bit as good as hoped for.


Even LB has discovered their delights. He has been plying me with huge quantities of the softly coloured beverage in the hopes of usurping me from my place at the computer this week. The poor lad wasn't in the best of health last week; suffering with one of those infernal bugs which does the rounds at this time of the year.

© lidltreats.com 2008

Despite returning to school on Monday; he's been off again this week following his withdrawal from a cross country race at our local Harrier's club. He's not quite well enough to be in school and he's not quite ill enough to be at home; suffering badly with boredom!

To make matter's worse; BB has also been off colour this week. He had his Tetanus booster injection the other day and appears to have suffered some of the unfortunate side-effects, including cherry red face, bodily aches and pains and a tomato sized lump on his left upper arm which is very sore. The delights of preventative medicine!

Today both of these guy's are a lot better and have taken to driving one another mad; and me in the process. Doubtless they're still not fit enough to return to school today; but you can't blame a gal for wishing!

So, that's enough from me; and anyway I think I can smell pancakes in the distance! LB has obviously decided to focus his energies in the kitchen for the time being...

Bon Appetit

Polly Pierce
Purveyor of Fine Irish Hand Made Wedding Stationary & Greeting Cards

Polly's Treasured

My new blog Wedding Invitations By Vinca is just nicely getting off the ground and funnily enough I seem to be finding things related to whole area of weddings purely by coincidence. Yes coincidence!

As it pays to be aware of what is going on around me with regard to my interests, my greeting cards, wedding stationary, name, etc I run a Google alert on an on-going basis. This service is provided FOC and allows you to set up notifications when items of specific interest are published on the net. To date it has proven invaluable and has often given me ideas regarding subjects to blog about.

The other week I got another alert which was probably going to be one of the usual throw away references to someone or other's funeral. The second entry caught my eye and persuaded me to hang onto it. Just a couple of days ago I finally got around to opening and viewing the links; where I found some buried treasures.

© D M WilliamsPhotography2008

Once again this is of a Weddingly type nature, although DM Williams cover many different areas of photography with my favourite being a black and white image of pregnancy and the birth of this husband and wife team's twins last December.

For more on this talented couple's work head over to Wedding Invitations by Vinca. This is especially relevant for couples thinking of booking a wedding photographer on either side of the Atlantic.

Hope you enjoyed this photo as much as I did!



Polly Pierce
Vinca Cards Handmade Greeting Cards & Wedding Stationary

Polly's Big Event

This weekend sees the inaugural Midlands Bride & Deb's Exhibition being held in the picturesque Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co Offaly. This prestigious event, which will hopefully be the first of many to come is being organised by the lovely Yvonne Delaney of Lynzdel Bridal Fashions of BlueBall, Tullamore.

The event promises to be "The Wedding Event of The Year" and aims to showcase the services available to both engaged couples and young ladies Deb's facing their 'coming out' at their graduation ball. Lynzdel Bridal Fashions carries an extensive collection of Bridal and Debs dresses and accessories. First Holy Communion dresses, hats and feathers are also available from this award winning business.

Who better to organise what promises to be a superb event; catering for all the family with catering and entertainment available in the grounds of this gothic manse? I for one am becoming quite excited about the whole thing now and can't wait to see the what this fairy tale venue will look like having received the attentions of local florist's and other creative folk in preparation for Saturday's grand opening!

Arist's Trading Card by Vinca

If you live in Ireland; please, please, please come and visit my VINCA Cards stand at 'The Midlands Bride & Debs Exhibition' on Saturday 27 th & Sunday 28th from 12pm - 6pm Admission €15.00 per head; with the proceeds apparently donated to the local Oncology Unit.

Polly's Panic

I think that the best way to describe this distracted-ness would be as PANIC! Last Thursday I found myself enacting a vague plan that had been developing somewhere in the back of my conscious mind for a while now. Somehow I managed to enrol my services at a local Bridal & Deb's Exhibition! To make matters worse it is next weekend...

The result was an action plan being thrown into action almost immediately. A visit to my local old-fashioned haberdashery store was a matter of priority. Thank God that in my previous incarnation I have experience of working a trade stand at one of the largest annual shows in the country; at least I have that much to fall back on!

Armed with ribbons and bows, metres of shiny lining material to coordinate with my business cards etc, tulle to emulate the bridal veil and bring things together a visit to my favourite florist was next in order. To be honest, I left a little downhearted and clueless regarding my choice of flowers for my table. Simple, stylish and tasteful are the order of the day, preferably without huge cost involved either...

By Friday evening my worst dreams had come through. Despite all the work ahead of me I found myself back on the road to Newbridge; delivering LB to his gymnastic class. The class is not the problem; it's the time, the distance and the likelihood of me spending money I haven't got on yet more craft materials!

This time was different, having dropped LB off at the Curragh Army Camp; I took myself down to my favourite chocolate destination which is Lily O'Brien's factory shop. Here I discovered much to my embarrassment that I had rudely barged past the receptionist in order to buy myself ten minutes browsing time. The poor woman was propping up the main door while talking to a young man; and to be honest I'm surprised I didn't send them both flying!

The urgency which led me to forget my manners lies in the fact that the shop closes at 5.30pm on the dot and this was my last chance to buy some of their beautiful goodies before the show. Thankfully it seems that I was forgiven; the inner door was unlocked and I was allowed to peruse and sample to my hearts content.

During that time I picked up four reasonably priced boxes of Lily's delights; all wrapped up in just the right shades of purple/claret and a ton of choc's to give away at my table next weekend. In fact; the young woman who served me went to extraordinary lengths to fulfil my hopes.

The end result of my shopping was certainly better than I had hoped for and so far it was affordable! This is where things start to go downhill...

Polly Pierce

Wedding Stationary & Greeting Card Maker

Polly Introduces Gary Vaynerchuck

Good morning everybody and welcome back to Vinca's-In-Tha-Kitchen!

During my few days away from the kitchen I came across Gary Vaynerchuck on Wine Library TV; amazingly enough I have already encountered this guy earlier in the year when I was introduced to him by one of my internet marketing and blogging friends.

This guy has made an absolute fortune just by ignoring the advice of all the marketing guru's and just putting himself out there on blog TV! While at times he comes across as being a little over-enthusiastic he does know his stuff. Check out this whacky show which focuses on Tempranillo - one of my favourite wines...


If you like what you see, believe me there are plenty more where this came from. My only regret is that a lot of the wine's reviewed are probably not available in this country, ie Ireland; so it'd be difficult to consider this as an on line sommelier's course! If you look to the left you'll spot a new badge for Gary's book; which is about to be released...

I'm sure that there is still loads to be learned, so I for one will be checking in on Gary Vaynerchuck from time to time...

Cheers!

Polly Peirce

Purveyor of Fine Hand Made Irish Greeting Cards & Wedding Stationary

Ps. At this stage I think that it is important for me to state that this is not a paid post as I don't do them!

Secure Polly...

Jean of The English Armchair Abroad left an interesting comment on my last post.

If, like most people, you have occasionally tried to book an excursion on the internet I should imagine that at some stage you have encountered a well known internet travel agency known as e-bookers. Like many people; I decided to use this company when booking my fortieth birthday present to myself - the famous trip to Spain.

I found the site very easy to use; in relation to booking the flights. I navigated my way through the various pages and was pleased with the results. The price was reasonable enough; affordable at least, and everything had gone better than expected, bearing in mind that this was my first time.


Imagine my horror when; having gone ahead and booked the various hotels and a car rental for the week, I discovered that the credit card payment hadn't gone through and that I was being held to ransome by e-bookers. I had limited time to provide them with details of another credit card or they were going to cancel the booking.

"Fair enough..."; except for the fact that I had used my Mom's card to place the booking and there was no way she was maxed out! Eh-hmm! One investigative telephone call later revealed that there was actually no problem but that they had asked the offending travel company to ring for authorization on the card.

This is another example of how careful the security services at credit card companies are; and I for one am thankful to them. The request for authorization had been sent to the travel company because Mom's credit card was being used in an uncharacteristic manner...

10/10 for Ulster Bank Credit Card Services and 0/10 for e-bookers

To cut a long story short; being a typical Aries; ie a bull in a china shop, I got cross with the travel company; whose attitude I deemed somewhat cavalier. I took my custom elsewhere; vowing never to return.

In doing so I discovered Club Travel; which turned out to be very much to our advantage. Club Travel charged me €1.00 less and managed to get us on a direct flight; which hadn't been offered to us previously. When we reached our destination we were tired from being up early; but at least we hadn't endured a five hour stop over en route!

We had a super holiday, we missed all the infamous Easter Break traffic at the airport and discovered the delights of Spanish public transport, deserted beaches and a heat wave in May! We even went skiing...

Imagine that; Skiing on Sunday morning; lounging on the beach Sunday afternoon! And no problems with my own bank as I had advised them of my intended spending pattern whilst on holiday...

Bye for now,

Polly Peirce
Purveyor of Fine Hand-made Irish Greeting Cards & Wedding Stationary

Polly Scams Hoaxers

Dear All!

Yet again it ismy sad responsibility to report that the scammer's are at it again. This time it's in the form of an innocent e-mail sent to my VINCA Cards e-mail address (vincacards at yahoo.co.uk - change at to @ to use this address) ...

Should you be unfortunate enough to receive something similar you may be tempted to explore; as I was. If you do, please be aware that I have Norton Internet Security which thankfully protected me from this obvious attempt at phishing and don't be tempted to enter any personal information.

If you are a valued customer of any banking institution and you receive a similar letter or e-mail, call into your local branch and tell them about your e-mail. Should there any confusion they will clear it up relatively quickly, but the one thing that they will never do is ask you to divulge details on line or over the phone.

Anyway, have a quick look below and see what you think. You might want to follow the link yourself; just to see what I'm on about, unfortunately you can't the link as it isn't live - I disabled it; just in case...

LOGO

Dear Valued Customer, During our regular update and verification of the?????? Internet Banking Service, we could not verify your current information. Either your information has been changed or incomplete, as a result your access to use our services has been limited. To restore your online banking access, kindly update your information. You can update your online banking details by following the link below. Click here to update your account Thank you for banking with ?????? Customer Service

To be honest, the copy writing of this letter is poor, plus I don't have an account with the bank concerned. (I have removed any references/logo's to avoid infringing any copyright laws which may be applicable)

Out of interest I did click on the link and was transported to this sign in page, which looks pretty good. It even has a thing on how to protect yourself from Internet crime!

Just as I read this, Norton kicked in and saved the day; see below...

Please do not hesitate to act; in an effort to stamp this type of crime out. If you are 'the winner of a prize' one of the first things they usually do is ask you not to publicize your good fortune.

Do just the opposite and SHOUT it from the roof tops:

1. Tell everyone you know about it
2. Blog about it!
3. Report it to the relevant authorities.
4. Write to your local newspaper.
5. Do not keep it to yourself! You might just save someone less fortunate than yourselves from being had...

That's all from me tonight, so it's over and out from

Polly Peirce
your local cyber-vigilante and
Purveyor of fine Hand-made Irish Greeting Cards & Wedding Stationary

ps The screen shots are courtesy of TechSmith's Camtasia Studio 3

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Final Chapter (Death Match Takes Place...)

Did you hear the one about the woman who purchased a brand spanking new top of the range dishwasher and then couldn’t use it because the fittings were different? Well, you have now! That’s me; I am the heroine in the final chapter of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’.

Last Friday, I filled in a few of the blanks regarding the adventures of the family Peirce and their multiple disasters over the course of a week. Today, I propose to close the book on this episode of our lives; in the hope that we can get on in a trouble free manner from now on and well into the future.

Going back to the dishwasher; it is now plumbed into the space where my washing machine has always been, thus avoiding problems caused by the anti-flood system and its ginormous fittings. Seeing as it doesn’t have to pass through the carefully manufactured hole in the mass concrete wall dividing the kitchen from what we fondly call the ‘Scullery’, this is no longer a problem.

With the new dishwasher installed and working perfectly, my two bitches decided that they would embark upon yet another of their ferocious fights, right behind my back in the confined space of the scullery. I had been trying to re-programme the water softener, in the hopes of having even shinier glass ware. This task was abandoned rather suddenly as the girls snarled their way into the back of my legs and almost sent me flying.

What followed was ten minutes of terrified intervention between the objects of my affections and myself. I could and probably should stand back when these things happen and allow them to take their course. I don’t because I can’t. I take my chances and hope that I don’t get bitten; so far I have been lucky. Neither I nor my two bitches have suffered too greatly from their hormonally charged sparring matches; but it is exhausting physically and emotionally for us all.

Next evening the matter of the washing machine was tackled. For the best part of last week I was sans washing machine. The plumbing wasn’t long enough to traverse the famous whole in the wall; a matter of mere inches prevented the installation of the machine in its new position.

First evening DG took himself off to B&Q in search of extension pipes and found just what he was looking for. It was only when he went to fit them that he realised the real problem was the discharge pipe. The following evening he made a return visit to that great bastion of DIY and luckily found just what he was looking for; an extending discharge pipe for an automatic washing machine.

Evenings came and went; largely unsuccessfully. Appliances were pulled out; blocking the thoroughfare between the kitchen and the rest of the house, bits of pipe were cut off, water leaking everywhere and generally interfering with the smooth running of the household. Enough was enough! On Friday evening I demanded peace and quiet, without any excitement or water leakages…

While all of the above has been going on, it has actually been advantageous in some ways. Thankfully the washing was up to date, so this hasn't been too much of a worry and BJK looked after the boy's school uniforms for me. As a result the wedding stationary for my friend is coming along quite nicely.

I have been able to spend quite a bit of time out in my studio and/or on the computer; working on the wording. I've settled on of six informal layouts, four for the wedding itself and a couple for the evening reception.

I'm really concentrating on the design aspect of it now. Being very much aware of how people's taste varies, I have determined to offer a selection of modern & traditional designs which will hopefully suit everyone.

It's a great challenge; but it is just what I needed to get me right back into the middle of what I had originally planned to do; which is to make handmade greeting cards to sell, after all, I've got to pay for the dishwasher somehow, haven't I?

…Sunday afternoon: In the space of roughly thirty-five minutes DG removed the back of the washing machine, replaced the original hose with the B&Q extending version, put it all back together again and hey presto! Normal service is resumed…

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy making cards...! LOL!

Take care!

Polly Px

A Series of Unfortunate Events Chapter 4 (Monday's A Good Day!)

My tail of woe continues from yesterday's post. Having lost my mobile phone at the weekend and it being my primary form of communication with the outside world; I am now wondering about the wisdom of this system.

That said, I did buy a card reader and back up system for precisely this situation. Following our disastrous visit to France in 2006, I swore that I would never be faced with the problem of losing my phone contacts again. Unfortunately, I haven't made a regular habit of backing up my sim card using this device; consequently its value remains questionable. Ah, ha! Another resolution for the new year!(That's resolution 10..1!)

The saga of the dishwasher delivery wasn't actually too painful after all. After a couple of well placed e-mails to the company's customer service department and one telephone call at 9.00am Monday morning the courier was able to contact me in advance of his arrival on my land line. I must be sure to give both numbers in future; it would have been so much simpler to do this in the first place, but hey, nevermind, eh?

Poor DG; my hero. His name was slightly sullied at nine thirty-five on Monday morning; when the courier rang. His estimated time of arrival was forty-five minutes later and DG had forgotten to pull out the dead dishwasher and disassemble its many and varied attatchments; plus it was full of water.

Luckily, the God's were on my side; given that I enjoy tinkering in the DIY department. This has much to do with my parenting and history of orthopaedic theatre nursing; the combined effect make for dynamic talent in everything and anything around the house. The plumbing was the least of my worries and what's more, the scullery floor got washed into the bargain, a minor inconvenience with a hidden advantage.

Draining salt sump proved somewhat trickier; resulting in the offending machine being turned upside down; yes, that's what I said - UPSIDE DOWN! The only injury was the thump on the forehead; incurred when the blessed thing catapaulted itself forwards from its position leaning backwards, balanced on its back legs, in order to drain the last of the fluid through the discarge pipe.

It's great being able to do all these things for yourself, even if two day's later you notice what looks like smeared newsprint all over your forhead! I shall be eternally grateful that Monday was one of my good days, otherwise it would have meant a trip to the local rubbish dump at the weekend to dispose of the dishwasher that DG forgot. All in all it was quite a successful day.

I am sure you can't wait to hear the rest of my misfortunes this week, however, patience is a virtue and I have cards to be making. I am following the advice of my friend Fly Lady and using my kitchen timer to help me make the most of what seems like the short time available to me, already I have reset it, I am now on round two of my computer time!

I must go now and emerge myself into the world of the mad crafter; in the garden shed ( that should read Craft Studio) at the back of the house. I set up a website for my friends wedding; so that she can keep abreast of any developements here, and let me know what she thinks.

Yesterday I was working on the wording for the invitations, today I have to go and look at the design aspect; it's a challenge that I am really enjoying. I'm looking forward to updating their website daily. Maybe one day, I'll let you all have a peek at it...