Again any help in promoting this event would be greatly appreciated. The event will be opened by Pat Hickey Olympic of the Council of Ireland at 11am on Sunday 7th.

Further information can be found at http://www.irishopenonline.com

I just love some of the items in the Childrens range and just have to share them.

The Kildare Enterprise Board, women is business initiative which I have been attending for the last two to three years has been withdrawn for funding reasons.  This was a great event, there were great speakers every month and I’d made a lot of what I’d call friends through attending this event - I’ll really miss it.

Another event which I attended and again enjoyed was the Life Lasting Success event which was held in the Red Cow Hotel, I had applied for and received the tickets from Krishna De, having been told about the event by Lorna at Garrendenny Lane.  We had a catch up and a chat with fellow twitter member JBBC.  This was a very long day - for I could only make it on the Friday.  The high point for me was listening to the inspiring talk given by Sean Gallagher of Smarthomes and RTE’s Dragon’s Den. 

As a Smarthomes approved installer and working in the construction sector I could really relate with what Sean had to say.  I took away a list of books to read - some of which I had already on my bookshelves and must revisit.

It’s something that we are planning to do again in the future, to catch up and swap ideas.  I really enjoyed meeting my fellow bloggers.

January is a great time to put some plans together for spring decorating, chack out the hot trends for the New Year and even the New Decade.  The current edition of House and Home has the low down on all that’s hot for the “interior” you’d dream of.  My good friend Lorna from Garrendenny Lane Interiors is featured in the current edition, as is Zee from Homebug and some other notable bloggers. It’s well worth checking out!

Farrow and Ball have always been a favourite of mine, I just love the quality and finish that their paint gives.

They have a new ‘Estate® Eggshell’ range, which is a unique high performance paint finish which offers an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional oil-based eggshell paints.

According to the Farrow and Ball website the product is a pleasure to use as it is easily applied, quick-drying, and has virtually no odour. It offers excellent opacity and is hard wearing and washable.

Suggested uses are

· Update old kitchen or bathroom units to give them a new lease of life.

· Paint children’s bedroom furniture in contrasting colours to create a fun, bold scheme.

· Create a unique feature by painting picture frames, shelves and cupboards either to coordinate or contrast with a room scheme.

· Hide pipework and radiators by painting them in the same colour as the wall paint, or use a bold contrasting colour to make them stand out as features in their own right.

· Recycle some old furniture or finds from your local skip or even from jumbletown.

You can benefit by personalising these items or finds to suit your interior or why not build up a new scheme around a newly revamped piece of furniture.

Furniture to be revamped can be given a new lease of life, particularly items that are finds from jumbletown. Jumbletown for those of you who are not familiar with it, is a great site for finding old pieces of furniture that people are giving away free, you register on the site and when you spot an item that you’re interested in you post a request and then if you’re lucky you get to collect the piece. There are some great before and after pictures posted on the site so check it out for inspiration.

It’s been a great year for us in some ways and a very sad year in others, for nine months we attended a funeral a month.  We also lost our pet of seventeen years during the summer, so its been hard.

On a brighter note, we (at Pedreschi Electrical & Alarms Ltd, where I work alongside my husband Daniel)were announced the RECI contractor of the Year at a ceremony in the Burlington Hotel which was a great night.  To be awarded the winner in the Domestic Category for the Dublin Region was a great surprise, but then Daniel is really good at what he does.  We finalised our certification process with the EQA and completed our PSA licensing application, required to carry out works on intruder alarm systems.  We also became an approved installer for the MK Smarthomes range of audio/visual equipment.  And signed up to the SEI for the Approved Contractor which enables us to carry out grant work on heating controls.  We attended the Business Fair in Johnstown House, it was the first time that we attended an exhibition on behalf of the electrical business. We updated our website to include blog style posts and have included a contact us page, we are participating in “Social Media” you can find up on Twitter.  @PedreschiElect  We are members of the Kildare Business Network.

While here at Harmony Design Studio things have also been busy, I was featured on Ireland AM on TV3 as part of the “Recession Bussiness - Section”.  I even did some business on the day, which was great!  Having been a part time student at the NCAD, I took part in the end of year exhibition in June.  My stock is also for sale via the Gifts and Vouchers website and also on the AnPost Online Shopping website. I have been busy in the run up to Christmas and didn’t do as many craft fairs as I would normally do, the one that I did attend was at the RTE Sports & Social Club.  I have my head in the books again and for the foreseeable future, I am studying at the IT  Tallaght on the Energy & Environment course.

One of the high points for my son was meeting the boxer Bernard Dunne, who was attending a trade event at Donnelly’s Tools during the summer.  Bernard was such nice lad it was such a shame to see his defeat later in the year.  The other big thing for my son was his junior cert which he passed with flying colours.  Its just 12 months since had his own great achievement.
Having reflected on the last twelve months its now time to plan ahead for the next twelve months.  To each of you have a great Christmas and a very Peaceful New Year.

Its only available in two sizes and details can be found at the shop.

I will extend this offer to the New Year for any orders placed on or before 1st January and for shipping up to the end of February.  So if you have a gift to buy for yourself or someone else special how about comissioning a very special one of a kind original piece of functional art. 

This is also the weekend when the National Crafts Fair takes place in the RDS, Dublin, a great fair to visit with lots of ideas for Christmas presents, trinkets or even delicous ranges of food to suit all tastes.  So if there is a Craft Fair nearby to you in the run up to Christmas, do visit, do stop and chat with the Craftspeople, they would only be delighted to give you an insight into the time and labour that goes into producing just one item that they’re selling.

I won’t be attending any further craft fairs this year but I do have a Special Offer which is limited to Friends and Family and my business network, Kildare Business Network,  at the moment but I may possibly open it up to everyone next week.

A costal interior can be easily achieved, the basis of this scheme is the panelling which is painted in warm netural colours.  Accessories really finish off a scheme like this and can be easily picked up in any good DIY or home interiors shop.

The vouchers are valid for an initial twelve month period and can be extended by prior arrangement. Futher details can be found at the shop.  http://www.harmonydesignstudio.ie/index.php/products-page/

These would make an ideal Christmas Gift for that special someone who has everything!