Some of you already know I love all things Irish. 

A beautiful ancient Celtic language that is part of heritage, culture and our national identity.

It sounds like music lilting and dancing on the tongues of our people all over the world.

An emotive lyrical song that mirrors our rugged coastline and our deep-thinking scholarly ancestors. 

It's also really bloody hard to spell.

Comedian Lee Mack has had a particularly tricky time (bit of swearing in this!)

And these Americans didn't have a great success rate either....

credit YouTube.com/buzzfeedvideo

Is there ANY nationality who can cope with our names?

credit YouTube.com/Clisare

 If you have blessed your little ones with an Irish name or are shopping for a gift for a niece or nephew and cannot find their name on ANYTHING, fear not. 

Our personalised Funky Crayons come in the shape of any name and include the precious fada too.

And because you can order safely online, we won't even make you pronounce it.

credit Caoimhe Hannon Facebook via dailyedge.ie

Have you had any misadventures with your Irish name?

Let us know in the comments!

Hi!
I know lots of you are hearing about crowdfunding and Kickstarter for the first time and are confused and maybe nervous of taking part in the ‪#‎wickids‬ campaign.
Maybe you've seen the product, watched the video and don't know what to do next.

If not, here they are! Awesome right?

WICKIDS -THE FUNKY CRAYON CANDLES

#WICKIDS -The Funky Crayon Candles

They are now a live project on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website. To own some of the first Wickids ever produced, you need to back it on Kickstarter.

So what happens when you "back it on kickstarter"?

If you want to support me and my project, you can pledge money to "back the idea" and help me to get it moving forward. This means you select an amount from €2 upwards that you are willing to give to help give this project a kickstart. Every business needs to raise money in the early years. Some people borrow heavily and some people give away some of their company to an investor.
The alternative to these routes is called crowdfunding. Imagine if the customers were the ones to fund the business!

To do this you follow the steps underneath the video in this link

**Your card is not charged at this time!**

Why was no money taken when I made my pledge?

The campaign keeps running until 20th of August and my target to reach in pledges is €12,000

If the €12,000 target is reached in pledges by that date, your card is charged safely and securely with only the amount that you pledged. After a week or two the money is transferred from Kickstarter to my company and with that I get started on making and shipping your rewards!

Wait what's a reward??

When you pledge your money, you also select what reward you'd like to receive in return. You could be the proud owner of some of the first WICKIDS ever produced!

What happens if the campaign does not reach its target?

Well if the campaign does not have €12,000 in pledges by 20th August, no one's card is charged, no money changes hands and Funky Crayons and WICKIDS go back to being stuck in a tiny kitchen stuck for space and funding to move out and grow.
It is only with YOUR HELP that I will reach that target and not allow this to happen!

So if you back it on Kickstarter, you are becoming part of a community of people who believe in helping small businesses to create something great. Even a tiny amount of money can help when it all adds up. Your money is at no risk as you will either get a great reward in return for your money OR you won't get charged at all. It's a safer bet than at the races or a football match! You can see how far along we are here

Worried about giving your card details to Kickstarter?

Kickstarter uses very secure payment processors so don't worry, your credit/debit card details are all totally safe.

This is crowdfunding.

You are the crowd; my family, friends, neighbours, customers, suppliers, stockists and then THEIR friends and THEIR friends and so on. With your help to share this and your generous help to fund this, I know we can do it together!

It is a great alternative method of raising a bit of finance for small business. The banks don't want to know about lending me the money. I am self-employed and not drawing an income from my business yet, I spent the previous 4 years on social welfare as a full-time carer for my aunt. We have a nasty mortgage taken out just before the bubble burst and we have one income and 3 children.
And we're doing fine. Because the important things to us are our health and happiness.

But to a bank I am just not worthy of a loan. You all get that right?

But to you good people, I know you believe in what I am building here. It may be a tiny family business now, but it has the potential to grow and employ people in the future and be built on solid foundations, not unsustainable debts, ripping people off and exploitation. Remember when businesses were built like that?

I believe in hard work and honest work and growing my company and my brand organically. What better way to do that than with all of you coming along for the ride?

To those of you who have helped in any way so far, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And to those who have been nervous or unsure of what this is all about, I hope I've eased your fears above. If you want to ask any more questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch!!

You can message me on Facebook
E-mail funkycrayonsireland@gmail.com
Tweet me @funkycrayonlady

And you know lots of others just like you had these questions too, so please share this post with everyone!

Michelle x

To back #wickids on Kickstarter click here!

OOPS! U2 were playing a concert in Vancouver last night and let's just say the edge got the better of er...

The Edge. 

video via wp jrl on YouTube

All joking aside though, this gig, part of their iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour went ahead in spite of the sad loss of Larry Mullen's dad a few days ago. The lads flew to Canada by private jet after the funeral. Not an easy thing to do but the show must go on. 

The star has a very important video message for you.

The following information affects everyone for the next 31 days. 

You're welcome. 

This week (20-26 April) is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Week also called 65 Roses week. 

'65 Roses' is how some children first learn how to say 'Cystic Fibrosis'. The symbol in Ireland for '65 Roses Week' is a purple rose.

More info on Cystic Fibrosis and 65 roses week is available here 

To raise awareness of Cystic Fibrosis and to raise some money towards research and installing seperate units in hospitals for people with CF we are having an auction of this set of 65 roses in Funky Crayons!

Just comment to place your bid and the highest bid by 9pm Sunday night (26th) will be the winner and the money raised will all go to Cystic Fibrosis. 

Whenever I take this online business of mine out into the real world and meet people at fairs and trade shows, Funky Crayons are met with joy and wonder. 

Occasionally the excitement is diluted by a little hesitation and a comment that the children will write on the walls with them.

This is a very old problem. I'm sure there were cavemen and women scolding their toddlers for expressing their creativity on the cave walls. 

But the solution is really simple! I can only speak for my brand, which are wax crayons. This may not work with some poor quality brands that are actually PLASTIC crayons. (Yes, I know.) 

Anyway, the answer lies in science. The particles of wax are easily gathered up by a sticky substance that comes in a handy spray can and is available for less than the cost of a litre of milk. 

HAIRSPRAY!!

Simply spray hairspray, doesn't matter what type, onto the work of art on your wall, kitchen cabinet, door etc. Get the cheapest one you can find if you haven't already got some.

And then wipe with a baby wipe or even some paper towel. 

With a very minimal amount of effort, depending on how long the masterpiece has been there, it wipes clean off!

You're welcome!

Share this with other stressed out parents too ;-)

Michelle aka @funkycrayonlady

1. To sleep in.

To ACTUALLY sleep in.

Not to get up, fix breakfast, sneak back to bed and be joined by the youngest. Get up again to settle a row between the older ones. Go back to bed. Find the youngest sprawled across my side. Shove her over. Be informed that I've just "killed her (imaginary) baby with my enormous bum" Answer questions from downstairs with shouts the neighbours hear clearly but no one in my house can. Realise this is not worth it and get up. Again. 

No, I mean actually sleep in. Like a teenager. Like get up at lunch time and have no idea what time it is. BUT everything I normally would have done is done. So I just jump in to the middle part of the day having had more than 4 hours sleep. Bliss.

2. To pee/poop alone

I am not alone in this I know. But I would like to answer my calls of nature as they occur. Not have to schedule them around how everyone else feels about Mammy .....DUN DUN DUN.....leaving the room! 

I want to use whichever bathroom I want (not to shrill screams of "Aw Mammy why did you have to use my favourite one?!")

I want to complete the task at hand without answering anyone's life-changing questions through the door. Or reading any notes passed under the door. 

And without shouting things like "I know how many cookies were on that plate when I left you know"

3. The Food

             

                    

I don't want to have to plan food, buy food, wash food, chop food, cook food, separate anyone's food from touching other foods, clean up spilled food, hide food, explain food, promise food, examine food or provide the food. 

I do however want all my favourite foods handed to me in a timely fashion. I want a full Irish for breakfast (well, brunch seeing as I will be in a semi-coma most of the morning) afternoon tea with all the trimmings and a big dirty Chinese meal for dinner. And none of the above will have any calories within them. Because I said so. 

Most importantly I will not be cleaning up after the food :-)

4. Cards & Gifts

I want all of my children to line up in order of height and sing me a song they wrote about their love for me. Each will have a verse about their unique relationship with me, their life-giver and matriarch. And then they will harmonise perfectly for a very touching finalé while kneeling down and bestowing gifts upon me. 

Or maybe just a card they all made together without causing each other bodily harm. Some chocolates too. That's always good. 

5. To leave me alone

If you're taking that seriously you've kind of missed the tone of this post so maybe take a little break from the internetty.

But honestly, they are the light of my life and I love them with every fibre of my being and all that jazz. I just also love when I can be me. Just me. Not me the friend, or the crayon lady, or the daughter, or the sister, or the wife, or the mother. Just me. She's still in there somewhere. I see glimpses every now and then like flashbacks in a bad tv series. Maybe I'll find her in my dreams while I sleep in. Or alone in the bathroom. Or she'll appear in my fried egg. All I know is that it would be really nice to get a chance to look for her. 

In the meantime you can find me in my other superhero roles at 

Twitter.com/funkycrayonlady

and 

Facebook.com/funkycrayons

or sign up for emails here 

YOU WILL NEED:

  

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January days can so be drab and dreary.

The sky is grey and the landscape white with snow or grey with mist and crappy rain. 

So be kind to yourself. And have fun.

Add a little colour to your January.

• Build a blanket fort with the kids.

• Colour in an old cardboard box and make a fairy home out of it. 

• Play hide and seek.

• Add food colouring to cooking oil and then mix with water and watch the colours swirl around.

• Treat yourself to a bar of chocolate or a magazine. ( It won't change the whole year's balance sheet or weight loss plan that much will it?)

Need a kickstart to feeling happy today?

Pull the blinds and hit play on this and dance like no one's watching. 

HAPPY FRIDAY! 

What do you do to cheer yourself up and beat the January blues? Tell us in the comments below!