So, last night was the opening…. and I have to say a HUGE thank you to Deborah O’Keefe who runs the gallery, she puts in so much work to keep it going so that people like me can feel like they are getting somewhere with their art dreams.
There was a great turn out, lovely music and lots of new people to meet.

Here are my family, including my Dad who was sporting his new baldy look (thats chemo for you!) I didn’t think he would be able to come but here he is with my Mum, Tim, Ebony, Zac and Molly. He is a great artist and was inspired by the show to take out his paints again….. it just proves that ART HEALS!!!!!

This is Tim contemplating if we will ever find one piece of art that we both like!

Last Sunday I went to Limerick to see the Etsy Ireland Pop-up shop. It had been opened for Saturday and Sunday and Ruth
had sent an email to the Etsy Irealand team asking them to send their work to her and she would display it……….. can you imagine how much work that was?? she is like Superwoman!!

So, off I went on Sunday with some prints and magnets to display, while I was waiting for it to open I met Rebecca who makes fab cards- this is her adding her artistic touch to the outside of the shop!

Now, as the sign says its “open this weekend only” but – great news! the owner of the bar (Bourkes Bar in Catherine street) where the shop has “popped up” has very kindly extended it to a month!!!! that means that every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the next month people will be able to buy a huge variety of handmade items.

You all know how much I love polka dots – especially white spots on red background…… look how Ruth decorated the space!!!

This weekend has been wet and windy.. perfect for getting jobs done around the house. First thing on Saturday was to put down a new floor in Zacs room –

with Tobys help of course!

and then we put all his furniture back and he has been watching dvd’s in there since! the walls are a blue/grey colour that doesnt’ show up well in these pictures.

Today I was left at home for the whole afternoon by myself. I took out my sewing machine to make a bag but it didn’t turn out quite as I’d hoped (that might be because I decided not to use the pattern…..) so I made a cushion instead.

Printable canvas is great! I’ll have to search for a bag pattern, I think i’d like a “Polly Bag” for the summer!

Hope you weren’t blown away this weekend,

love F x

We have been crazily busy in our house recently – here is a bit of whats going on……
Today we are booking Mollys’ ticket to Nairobi, she is going to do a month of volunteer work in a school and orphanage in Kenya. It is a huge adventure for her, she doesn’t know anyone else going and has never been far away from home before…….. I am both scared and excited for her, I really hope she enjoys it and learns from the experience.
She will be 17 on 19th July and flies out on the 24th, so now a long series of vaccinations and visas and travel arrangements must start.
I think she should start her own blog to keep everyone at home up to date!

Tim and I have been away in Galway this weekend climbing. sixteen brave souls set out to climb 7 of the “Twelve Bens” the weather was gorgeous, we had great fun, we covered 13km & 1535 metres of climbing on Saturday and then found a little pub in Cliffden to enjoy a well earned drink!
On Sunday we pulled on the harnesses and ropes and climbed Carrot Ridge – that was an experience…… I would have taken photos but I was busy holding onto the rock face!!

The Back Lane Gallery exhibition is having its opening night on May 21st ( just in case anyone wants to come along…..!) and here is the second Polly. There is some beautiful work there, lots of local artists, so it’ll be a great event.

What else? well, the Easter holidays are officially over tomorrow ( today is the May bank holiday) and everyone is back to school and work. At the minute everyone is a bit glum about it, but tomorrow it’ll be good to be back into a routine.
Thats all for now I think, hope you all had a good weekend,

Love, Felicia xxxx

This is the first painting for the Back Lane exhibition – the writing around the edge says – ” Life is not about getting what you want, its about wanting what you’ve got…” A sound sentiment if you ask me!

I’ll be putting prints of this for sale on my etsy shop over the weekend – there is a link straight to it on the main page of http://www.scrapzville.com/

Her she is complete with frame, I tried every single colour as a background, but black wins every time!

This is a new Polly – still not finished but getting there!
Hopefully it’ll be finished in time for the exhibition at the Back Lane Gallery, i’m not sure when i’m supposed to have them in by!
This is a 8×10 mixed media on wood – bigger then usual, I love the way her clothes have turned out.

Its half term holidays here, so Zac is supposed to be clearing out his room so that it can be redecorated this week – what he’s actually doing is drawing pictures and re reading all the stories he has found! So, i’m off to Homebase to get paint and a blind and new flooring….. it looks like any painting done today will be on walls rather than art!

This is the abbey in Lagrasse – its just one of the many amazing buildings that we visited. Tim is a history fan and was spoilt for choice of places to visit. Actually, they were all really interesting, and there were alot of vineyards to visit too!

This house is why I want to live in France! there was a patisserie next door, which made it just about perfect!!

and this is a close up of my birthday present, do you want to know why its so special? well, i’m going to tell you anyway!

When my babies were small they always called their beds their nests – they would snuggle up and be cosy in there. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE being at home, I mean, love it! even if there is laundry and chaos to sort its the best place to be! and finally, the nest at the bottom has 3 eggs in, one for each of my children.

I wonder if Gwynnie knew that when she made it?

Hello, there are a million things going on in our home at the moment, mostly good, some that we will wait and see what happens. But one thing that happened this week was it was my birthday on Sunday…… (This could be a long post, best go and get some coffee, tea, water, wine? and get comfy!) So, because my fella (that is an official alternative title to “partner”, hes not my husband, he says he is too old to be “boy” friend, and he also says “partner” makes him feel like a cowboy!) is completely AMAZING he took me to Carcassone in France for 3 nights! The castle is huge – huge enough to form the outer walls of the old city, people actually still live inside the walls – can you imagine that? they have to be really good drivers to get up and down the streets that were made for knights on horses! There are so many stories and so many photos to show, i’m not sure where to start or finish! we started our journey by driving to Dublin, we had dinner at The Porthouse which is a Tapas bar (thanks Cathy for introducing me to it!) but something strange happened there – I had never tasted calamary or the particular wine we had, I didn’t like either and only had a bare taste but I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic. I was convinced that I couldnt’ go to France for the silliest reasons, I am claustrophobic and thought that I would suffocate on the plane, also that my children couldnt be on their own while I was gone ( the eldest is 20!) In general it was a total panic that I can only put down to the food……….. a horrible feeling, poor Tim, I woke him up at 4am to say he would have to go alone!!!! Still in the morning, all was calm again and off we went. I didn’t suffocate – I have alot of visualisation techniques for plane travel, its not the flying it sharing that space with so many others! Also, this is sooooooo stupid – I got a copy of Cloth, paper, scissors in Dublin. I’ve never found it at home, I was so excited and decided to not even open the cover untill I was on the plane. On the plane I opened my bag to find…. that i’d left it in the hotel!!! but the trip was far too good for that to matter… Anyway, we spent 3 days travelling from Chateaux to castles to Abbeys, taking hundreds of photos and eating delicious food. The whole thing was fabulous!!!!!! But there is more!……… Look at this!!! no not the Gorge or the mountains or the sunshine….. look what is around my neck! Once, ages ago I mentioned to Tim that Gwynnie B had this necklace that I was going to treat myself to….. guess what he had for me on my birthday????! I know, reading this you may be thinking I am thoroughly spoilt, I think I am too! but I honestly totally appreciate everything that I have, I am one very happy 42 year old!!!! xxxxx

The “Open Coffee Killarney” meetings are run by (the very cool and groovy!) Maria Stack as an informal business networking group. Last night Maria had arranged a fund raiser for a very good local cause the South West Counselling Service. This service is badly needed and could really do with extra funding to help more people. I donated a framed print, which was one of many spot prizes ( I didn’t hear who got it yet, I hope they like it!) and since it was “Cocktails for Charity” it seemed rude not to have one! This week has been very busy and so I am loving being at home and pottering around today. I had to go to the DIY shop to get some hooks to finish a craft project, I found them amongst about a thousand other hooks, queued up, paid and then drove away without them!!!!!!! Duh!!!! Still, its no big deal, I dont’ need them just yet. What else? my friends Nicole and Timi are putting together an online magazine, “Crafting Ireland” i’m going to enter something into their first challenge, its ages since I did any crafting! Thats all my news today, there is more news to follow when I get some decent pictures…….. Have a lovely weekend x x x

Morning! if you are in Ireland then what a beautiful morning it is! I hope its sunny and spring like wherever you are.
So, this little Petit Polly (5″x7″) was just finished last night. I love her, sometimes I make these Pollys and think, “she’s cute” and sometimes I just LOVE them! anyway, heres the thing, it took me ages to learn how to shade a face with pencil…… (and there is ALOT more learning to do!) but I have been trying to paint faces instead and so far it has been a disaster!!!
I have ruined more little faces then I care to mention, so I’m back to pencil and finishing with wax. Tam over at Willowing has some lovely tutorials on this, but she makes it look easy!

I suppose i’ll keep practising, any hints, tips, video links would be greatly appreciated, but maybe i’m just a pencil kind of a girl?!