My FIRST Etsy Sale......

....can you tell I'm soooo over the moon about it? (I sold the above card) Firstly because its from someone in the lovely USA and it feels amazing to know that someone likes your work enough to want to purchase it!! I'm also putting the sale down to my newly found and practiced photograpy skills!!! eeeekkk I'm delighted! I was like a proud mommy sending off the package this afternoon.....now I'm worrying that it will arrive safely and in perfect condition!!! Whoooo, fingers crossed there are more sales to come! :)

Top o the morning to ya!!!

With St Patricks Day fast approaching, I've been rooting around in that room I like to call my studio for all things green and Irish like!!!

I've created a range of St.Patricks Day cards for those of you out there with Irish loved ones abroad, or those of you who own a red setter and think "well I'm pretty much Irish!" If you look closely you might have noticed a difference in my photography skills. I've been working hard at improving these and thanks to a another card making blog I read, I picked up a few tips....the biggest one was, turn off the flash and use natural light and thats exactly what I did! I'm super dooper pleased with them!

Lots more items to come in my etsy siopa, so stya tuned as they say!

Enjoy! x

An Etsy Treasury!!!

So I was lucky enough this afternoon to log on at the correct time and get myself one of those Etsy treasuries everyone talks about! We're all about promoting the Etsy Ireland team and as the timer clocked down to below 333 I couldn't wait to start selecting my items! I chose the theme Apricots - simply becuase its a pretty word and it showcases lots of the Etsy Ireland work!!

Here's to snagging a few more - and hey, maybe one day I'll be so privledged as to get on the Etsy homepage!!!.....ahhh wishful thinking! :)

Check out the treausry right here!

My Favourite Limerick Shop

Sequoia Lane, O'Connell Street, Limerick - if you havn't been there and you live in Limerick, then where have you been? This shop fits my personality more than I can explain. Their items are beautiful and have a classic vintage feel. I especially love their gifts department just as you walk into the shop. Its so clear that the owners have style and taste that you can even begin to measure in words!

My mini dream would be to sell some of my cards there as the kind of customers who walk through their doors are the type who appreciate crafts, handmade items made with love and care and those with an eye for fashion and interiors. However in saying that, I do think there is something to suit everyone inside!

Today I purchased a mini chalk board for my studio, some lush ribbon which I'm only dying to use and some blank A5 individual alphabet letters which I've actually searching for. (More about what I'm doing with them later!)

So in short....get yourself down to Sequoia Lane, I've included a link for their website but really it doesn't do this quaint shop any justice! You have to see for yourself! :)

A Wonderful Saturday!

It's valentines Eve!!! (ha ha) and as I write this I'm having the most wonderful Saturday. For the first time in a long time, Robert and I woke up early (07:30 - that's good for us on a Saturday!) and headed out to the lovely Farmers Market located in Limerick City. It was cold this morning but I was happy out strolling in and out of each stall, speaking to all the sellers and tasting every bit of pate, bread, chutney and sauce I could! We spent a small fortune buying ingrediants for our romantic Valentines (eve!) dinner this evening, but it was worth it! Plus since I've become a mini-seller myself I just love buying handmade things from other people.

After a perfect cup of tea and a sneaky pastry, I organised my gorgeous bunch of red roses (from himself!), took a stroll around the park and then met up with the talented Ruth from Nice Day Designs and also Nice Day Supplies to pick up my second Etsy order of yummy buttons. (I'm getting seriously addicted)I can't wait to get crafting this afternoon! These buttons are lush....I also got a bit creative when photographing them! :)

My First Etsy Package Arrives!

On Thursday evening I made my first purchase on Etsy, I've been longing for some sales so I thought maybe I should pay it forward and give some sales to someone else and maybe the good karma will come back to me! I discoverd packages and strings through the Etsy Ireland blog and I'm totally head over in heels in love with her shop. I picked out some beautiful spools of twine and hey presto within 24 hours my purchase arrived!

However, it wasn't just any purchase! It was so beautifully packed - right down to the address label. You could tell some love, care, appreciation and thought was put into this little tiny purchase - but oh how grateful I was! It's safe to say I'll be back for more!

E-advertisment!

While it may have taken me about an hour to create this, I think its worth it!! I made a few mistakes along the way but sure its all a learning curve! I'm going to use ad's like this and others to advertise via email, on my blog and facebook page. I really need to brush up my photoshop skills, to think I have a degree in Fine Art!!

Personalised Cards

Over the last 6 - 8 months, I've lost count of the amount of cards I've made for everyone. The ones I love making the most are those that are for children or newborns. Attached are two cards I recently made for someone's godchildren....I think they're super cute! Sometimes I get really stuck in to making cards and then I love them so much I don't want to give them away!

Check out the buttons - directly purchased from Nice Day Designs

Enjoy!

Inspiration

I bought some pretty tulips to brighten up my office and they are so fabulous I couldn't stop taking photos of them! I love bright colours and everytime I look at this photo it cheers me up! :)

Its been a productive day!!!

All week I kept telling myself that when Saturday arrives, I'm locking myself away into the studio! I'm feeling pretty determined lately to create some great work and most importantly, I want to have the best items possible to have on display on my esty page and of course for show on the estyireland blog too!!

I'm obviously still in a loved up mood...its hearts galore in the studio today! No doubt I'll be seeing them in my sleep tonight! These items will also be appearing on www.luckyrainbowdesigns.etsy.com

Enjoy!

CraftyIreland

Hurragh! Another milestone achieved! I had been searching for a while for some sort of craft blog where by I could meet other crafters from Ireland, but also to drool over their fantastic talent and work! I totally believe looking at other peoples work can insipre you and give you the motavation and confidence to create even more of your own great work!

So without further a do - I'm am pleased to say that I am now a member of the
Esty Ireland team. They represent Crafty Ireland, which to date consists of over 100 talented people working in a wide variety of media. Some if not all of the work is just gorgeous and I've already lined up numerous items I want to purchase for myself and others! (but mostly for myself!!)

Big thanks to my college buddy Ruth from Nice Day Designs who gave me a cool tip for links etc!! I'm now offically link-happy! :)

New Banner!!

I finally got around to making a banner and creating some sort of design unique to LuckyRainbowDesigns. In Art college I used photoshop alot for various things, but have gotten a little rusty since I left. However a few hours later I was back in the flow and hey presto, a new banner was born! TA DAAA! :)

The image behind the text was an old photo found on my laptop from my H.Dip experimenting days...I really love it as I didn't want to go for the obvious picture of a rainbow for design...and then came choosing the text. I love fonts and could spend hours picking the right one, but in the end a decision had to be made! let me know what you think!! :)x

LuckyRainbowDesigns on ETSY!

I finally made the step towards ETSY - that wonderful website full of all things handmade and vintage!!! Seriously if I had a credit card packed with dosh, I'd spend my days shopping on it and then wait with excitment until the postman arrived with my goodies!!! sooooo now you can find me at www.luckyrainbowdesigns.etsy.com (yeaaaa!)I'm hoping it will be the creative outlet that will not only show everyone out there what I can do, but also to sell a few things too!!

Wish me luck! :)x

Some birthday wishes!

A good friend of mine just loves sending cards, as do I!! the bonus for me is that she loves sending my cards!! She gave me quite a hefty order this week, so attached are a few snapshots of the order so far!! I love these cards and spent at least 30 minutes on each one. I also tried out some fun embossing techniques....oh how I love my heat gun!! Why I didn't get one sooner, I'll never know! :)