An Irish Blessing

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! The day we are all Irish - heritage or not. I'm told my kids have an Irish heritage on their father's side. I've always felt a little Irish - you know - with a strong passion for potatoes (in all forms), corned beef and cabbage and Celtic music - I once saw Lord of the Dance - but I'm afraid that's about as far as it goes. Some day I hope to visit Ireland. It's been on my travel wish list for many, many years.

I made the card above for my Homeschool Mom Secret Sister. It has one of my most favorite Irish Blessings on it. The card itself is 6x6 inches. The cardstock is Bazzill as are the brads (by way of Happy Hammer.) The striped paper is Heidi Grace Designs that I sandpapered and stitched and the flowers are from Prima. The shamrocks are just green flowers that I trimmed and smooshed together with a dot of glue in the center. I dragged out my old "cloud" patterned scissors for the mat around the verse and smudged a little Tea Dye distress ink around the edges. The inside design is done with various heart and circle paper punches plus a couple more flowers. I was going to add some Jolee's boxer shorts with hearts on them, but couldn't find them anywhere... and I KNOW I have at least two pairs! Maybe they're filed under "boxer shorts" rather than "underwear" or "Valentine"... I'll hafta check later...

The other night/morning I caught a performance of Celtic Woman - A New Journey on PBS during their spring pledge drive. I saw their concert a couple of years ago (on TV also) and was just gobbsmacked by their beautiful voices - so pure, clear and seemingly effortless. Now I'm laying aside my pennies for the New Journey concert on DVD. My little Michaela woke up for a pee break in the night and joined me on the love seat to finish the second hour of the concert (that ended at 3:30 a.m.) She was entranced by them as well, and even though we were making a recording we couldn't tear ourselves away. She's been singing "Sail Away, sail away, sail away" the whole rest of the week. It was a nudge for me to drag out my dusty Enya CD's as well. The kids seem to really enjoy them and even when I played them during school time they stayed on task.

I leave you now with some of my most loved Irish blessings:

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours!

May there always be work for your hands to do.

May your purse always hold a coin or two.

May the sun always shine on your windowpane.

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

And rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

God bless the corners of this house,

And be the lintel blest,

And bless the hearth and bless the board,

And bless each place of rest,

And bless each door that opens wide

To stranger as to kin,

And bless each crystal window pane

That lets the starlight in,

And bless the rooftree overhead

And every sturdy wall.

The peace of man, the peace of God,

The peace of love on all.