a walk through Glendalough...

this is a trip we took to glendalough, we dont have many photos but this might encourage a road trip! our advice...bring a picnic!



This is Caoimhe in the ruins of the church
We went around the old graveyard too. We spent ages looking at all the very old graves.






walking up through the steps we went on a walk through the woods, it was stunning.
And Sadhbh and Caoimhe had a great time












this is our amazing find...a toadstool...what do your think Sean? Would it go with the pool???












the view here was fantastic, peaceful and calm. It was so quiet













This the wooden rails all the way up to the woods with some stunning views of the waterfall behind



































the girls enjoyed playing at the lake.
































We had some seriously wet feet. But they didnt mind
It was a great day. this is a great place to visit. We also went when it was raining and the mist on the lake was breathtaking, Martina you would have loved it.


one thing is you need good hiking/walking shoes for this place and some spares for the kids!

Ashtown Castle....

Our Mama and Dada brought us to the Phoenix Park. We went to the visitor centre. there is a playground there too. The name of the castle is Ashtown Castle, nobody knew it was there becasuse an old house was built around it and when the house was being knocked down they found the castle.

I was going to write what the sign said down but it took too long so i took pictures instead

this is all new pottery but it was like what they used a few hundred years ago.

these are some of the things you can see at Ashtown Castle visitors centre

This is where the bones are




















The human skeleton is real
















































































these are stuffed deer

This is me and Caoimhe outside Ashtown Castle.

we loved this trip but we want to go again because we didnt get to go on the tour of the castle.

You can also draw pictures upstairs and they have books you can take that have lots of things in them about animals of the park

It was really good. we give it 7 out of 10

screen printing....on the cheap!

I have tried in vain to find a very cheap
way of screen printing with the girls,
however after looking through some
different sites I have come up with
this. Now I know this wouldnt work
for intricate designs or for use on very
expensive clothing. But for use on old
or faded ready to bin clothes we think
its a great way to revamp. I wouldnt
guarantee that they will wash very
well!
We used cardboard for the screen frame, acrylic paints, that sticky transparent book covering, voille, cellotape to hold the voille to the screen and a baking spatula we bought for three euro! Cheap!



This is our cardboard frame.
Not bad eh? It was quite
sturdy too. We cellotaped
the extra cardboard down
to secure and make it more
sturdy.








This is our cardboard frame with
the voille stuck to it. We stretched
it until it pulled really tight.
So far so good...










For all the parents out there who
have used this dreaded stuff to cover books
it can be infuriating...but
I have to say, it work very well
with this.
This is Caoimhe's design. The
girls drew their designs. I started
the cutting out with a sharpe
blade and the girls finished it
with a pair of scissors.













Sadhbh's butterfly design
















Sadhbh's design was a butterfly.
She did a practice run on a very
old t-shirt of her brothers!















Sadhbh dragging the paint
from top to bottom using
the cheap baking spatula.











and what do you think? Not bad eh?
We had a little leakage but otherwise
we didnt think it was that bad.
Enough practice.....















While Caoimhe held the screen down
Sadhbh put the paint at the top of
our cardboard screen.















Caoimhe certainly applied pressure!















.....and here is the finished t-shirt!
I think it looks great Sadhbh

















we had a little leftover paint
on the screen so we decided to
do some butterfly pictures












Then it was Caoimhe's turn...
she chose green paint


















They had a great time doing this
it was now Sadhbh's turn to hold
down the screen for Caoinhe.



and again a practice run












Caoimhe knew she had to cover all
the area of her design....lots of paint!
















the practice run looks great....

















Before Caoimhe printed
she put a piece of cardboard
inside the t-shirt to stop the
paint from going through to
the back











Caoimhe loved doing this.


















Sadhbh holds down the screen.













...and Caoimhe's finished t-shirt..who
said blue and green should never be
seen!











two very nice revamped t-shirts
Well done girls.

Sadhbh and Caoimhe say, we liked doing this
screen printing. We both would like to use
more colours and now we are going to
try to now that we know how to do it.
we are going to keep all the cardboard now.

We rate this 10 out of 10
and its not that messy.

bits and bobs...

From talking to lots of othe HS parents it seems we are definitely not the only ones with bits and bobs of art material leftover! I asked the girls what could they think we could do with it. So a discussion took place and we decided to make our HS friend Martina a collage...we used leftover cardboard, strips of wall paper, ribbon, rice, yes rice and some other seeds. We also used lolliepop sticks and twine.
Now the girls can tell you the rest......




It was really fun to do and there was lots
of different types of things on it
My favourite part was sticking
the beads on but I loved doing
it all. It was really fun and exciting
because we got to choose lots of
different things and we got to
make it anyway we wanted.
This is definitely worth doing
and I would love to do another
one. I would rate this as 10 out
of 10. Sadhbh












































I loved sticking things down and
I loved how it turned out.
My favourite was the glitter.
I liked doing this picture, it was
fun and messy. I give it 10 out
of 10 aswell it was really fun.
Caoimhe


































I wrote the message on the back.
and I put the date on it aswell.
Caoimhe


























This is the picture when we finished.
We did it for Martina because she
uses lots of things in her house for
cards and pictures. So we dont want
to buy her new things because she
recycles everything.