Coaster calendar

Teachers - what to get them? Well this year I decided on coaster calendars. This is one I made for Daniel's 6th grade teacher.
The coasters are 9x9 cm (3 1/2 inch square) and I covered them with Basic Grey's Green At Heart paper collection. I made the calendars myself in a Word document as the only templates I could find were in English. If anyone is interested in a German version, let me know and I'll email you a copy.

 

I also made a card with the corresponding papers and added the tree from the HA CL469 Swirl Christmas stamp set which has been inked with peeled paint distress inks, and the circular sentiment from Lili of the Valley. The green paper is from Bazzill and I used the Nestabilities Scalloped circle die to mount the sentiment. Thread and rhinestones are from my stash.

I hope the teacher will like them!
My youngest (Daniel) turns 12 tomorrow so I've got to do some baking. Bye for now and have a good day!

Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs,
Becca

A quick and simple gift

A good morning to you!
How was your weekend? My DH and I spent most of Saturday shopping and came home pretty tired but couldn't rest as we'd bought some furniture from Ikea which needed to be assembled. I think I got to bed around 2am!

This was also one of the reasons I went to bed late - I wanted to finish these candles for some of my friends at church. Here is the one I did in barn door red:

I bought some candles from Ikea and stamped the Hero Arts S5319 Circle Lace and CL343 Holiday Sayings with barn door distress ink onto some tissue paper and adhered with a heating tool. I then added some pearls to finish it off. A quick and simple, yet elegant gift.
I also made some in black and scattered straw.
What do you think?

Are you ready for Christmas?

Hugs,
Becca

Tilda with cracker

This is my last Christmas card that has to go overseas giving me a few days break before I have to do the local ones. I'll be off to the post office after this post to mail them. My family is spread throughout the world - a brother in New Zealand, a brother in the US, a brother, a sister and my mum in England, and me here. We are one international family!

I decided to enter the challenge over at SimonSaysStamps (a Christmas card but no red or green) and pulled out the Basic Grey Kioshi paper pack that I got in the summer and have yet to use, and threw this Tilda card together. Some cards take an absolute age but this one just flowed really easily and I was finished in no time.

I love the colour combination and these design papers are so pretty.

Card recipe:
Paper: Basic Grey Kioshi paper pad (DP), Bazzill cardstock
Stamps: Magnolia Tilda with cracker, Lili of the Valley circular sentiments
Die cuts: Nestabilities Scalloped circle large
Border punch: Martha Stewart Garden Trellis
Ribbon: Knorr prandell sky blue
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Embellishments: Stickles, snowflake punch and gems from my stash

Well that's all from me for the next few days. My house sorely needs some attention and sadly, laundry doesnt't do itself!

Thanks for all your lovely comments over the past few days;  I really appreciate it.

Hugs,
Becca

p.s I'm also entering this in the Just Magnolia "Make a Christmas Card" challenge

Catching up - Part 2

Hello everyone!

I hope you are well and are not stressed out with your Christmas preparations. Once I get these cards sent off then my list gets shorter! :)
It's snowing here again (well we are in Switzerland so I guess it's expected) so I thought I'd post a few photos of the snow fall we've had the past few days. It had nearly melted away last week but it's back....

 This is our balcony:

Anyway, on to the cards I made yesterday. I'm afraid it's a card overload!! Sorry about that.......

Card recipe - 1:
Papers: Basic Grey Jovial paper pad / Bazzill (red)
Stamps: Tilda on Christmas morning - Magnolia / Poinsettia - Inkadinkado
Sentiment: Hero Arts Holiday Sayings CL343
Die cuts: Nestabilites Label #1
Punch: Martha Stewart Garden Trellis
Inks: Copic markers / Distress Inks (Poinsettia)
Brad: Basic Grey

 

Card recipe - 2:
Paper: Basic Grey Jovial paper pad
Stamps: Tilda with giflts / Poinsettia - Magnolia Stamps
Sentiment: Lili of the valley
Ribbon: Knorr prandell crimson red
Die cuts: Nestabilities Label #1, Scalloped circles large
Embellishments: Stickles, Gems from Hero Arts
Tilda coloured in with Caran d'Ache watercolour pencils / Poinsetta with Copic markers
Sewing machine (this was my very first attempt to use a sewing machine with card making - I have to practice!! ;))

Card recipe - 3:
Card: Hero Arts Kraft
Paper: Basic Grey Jovial paper pad (red) / Bazzill (green)
Stamps: HA Swirl Christmas CL469 (tree) / HA Old Letter Writing S4878 (background) / HA Holiday Sayings CL343 (sentiment)
Inks: HA Shadow ink soft pool / Distress Ink - shabby shutters and walnut stain
Ribbon: Knorr prandell crimson red
Gems from stash

Card recipe - 4:
Card: HA Kraft
Papers: Digital kit Jessica Sprage - Seasonal Sampler(background) / Bazzill (red and green)
Image: I haven't got the faintest idea - the image was sent to me with an order. If anybody knows can they let me know :)
Sentiment: self made on computer
Coloured in with Copic markers, Stickles and Glossy accents (on the hearts)
Snowflake: HA Swirl Christmas CL469
Gems from stash
Sewing machine

I'm working on one more Tilda and she should be posted sometime this afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Becca

Catching up

I'm so behind with my Christmas cards this year; usually by this time of the month they are finished and the ones that need to go overseas are already in the mail. Oh my......

I made five cards today but the light is now so bad that I'll have to wait til tomorrow to take the other photos. Here are two Tildas that I made using the Basic Grey Jovial  design paper. The Tilda with Hood has been coloured using Copic markers and the Tilda with fir tree was coloured in with watercolour pencils. I need to buy some more Copics.......
The sentiments are from Lili of the Valley and the poinsettia stamp is from Magnolia, as are the Tilda's. The deep border punches are Martha Stewart (garden trellis on the top card and vintage doily on the bottom one). I also used glossy accents on the coat buttons to lend an extra "shine".

I'll post the other cards tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think as I love to read your comments.

Snowy hugs,

Becca

Reindeer greetings

I can't believe how quickly Christmas is creeping up on me; I am sooo not prepared! I'll be busy the next few days with friends visiting from the US so that means even less time to make cards but I don't really care about that as I am so excited to see my friend and her daughter. You know when you meet people in your life and you just hit it off and then you don't see each other for years and when you do see each other again, you just carry on where you left off? Well that's how it is with Sherry - she's one of those "eternal" friends.

Anyway, on to my card. Christmas came early for me as the craft stuff I ordered came yesterday and I got to play with some of  my new Hero Arts stamps (plus Basic Grey paper pads, Magnolia and Lili of the Valley stamps, and some Nesties). Sherry is bringing the other stuff I ordered with her - so it'll be Christmas again tonight! :)
I've been dying to play with this reindeer when I saw it online and now it's mine! I think it's so classy.
I hope you like it.

Card supplies:
Card: Solid Box of Cards - DCWV (Chocolate Brown)
Design paper: Basic Grey Blush 
Paper: Bazzill Kraft 
Die cuts: Nestabilities Label #1, Classic scalloped cirlces large, Standard circles large
Ink: Distress Ink - barn door, antique linen, walnut stain / HA Shadow Ink - soft pool
Stamps: Fiskars Winter Wonderland (sentiment), Hero Arts Swirl Christmas (reindeer and snowflakes)
Ribbon: Knorr prandell
Rhinestones: Hero Arts


Have a lovely day!

Hugs,

Becca

Lili of the Valley’s 12 days of Christmas Candy

Hi all,

Lili of the Valley are running a “12 Days of Christmas Candy" event on the Ideas to Inspire blog, so pop across now to enter for today's stamp give away.  Each day they will be giving a stamp away to one lucky winner.

I don't know about in your neck of the woods but it's snowing like crazy here and it's really cold, but I'm staying indoors and am busy baking my Christmas cookies! I'm afraid no card making for me until I'm finished them! :(

Hope you are having a lovely advent.

Hugs all,
Becca

Lilac sympathies

Yes, another post from me! Two in one day - don't go into shock now! LOL!

On a sad note - a friend of ours died on Friday after a painful battle of cancer and although we are sad at her going, we are glad that she could finally go as she was in so much pain. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband and her seven children.
I made this card for her husband and I still have to make one for the daughter who I am close to. I decided to copy one of my previous designs (see it here) and just modified it a little. Why re-invent the wheel when it works!

I clear embossed the HA Designblock Silhouette stamp onto a white card and wet distressed with perfect pearls using shabby shutters, peeled paint, milled lavendar and dusty concord. I then used the applicator with the same colours to fill in the gaps and the edges. The sentiment  from the HA CL342 Everyday Sayings was stamped with chestnut roan Colorbox chalk ink and distressed with milled lavendar ink. I used lilac and brown ribbon from Knorr Prandell and 5 lilac rhinestones. The butterfly is digital and is coloured with shabby shutters.

I love the effect the clear embossing and distress inks have on this stamp; I now have to try it out with different colours.

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to hear from you so please leave a comment.

Hugs all,
Becca

Baby girl

Happy First Advent! How did this come around so quickly? Only four Sundays until Christmas...well three after this one......

Anyhow.....here is the second baby girl card that I made for my great-niece, Liliana Elizabeth.

Once again I used the Hero Arts "Adorable Baby Girl" stamp set and coloured them in with spun sugar Distress Ink. The background paper is from HOTP Girls: Baby &Toddler, the ribbon is from Michaels and the clear rhinestones were from my stash. It's quite a simple card but I think it works effectively. I love the glitter!

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Merry Tilda

What do you do when a blog challenge comes from a photo with these colours? Not easy, eh?

Well this is what I came up with: Tilda with gifts on blue and purple with silver peel-offs (gold just didn't match with the card).

I know she is not perfect, but I'm still learning and will hopefully improve with time and practice (I find the hair and face sooo difficult!)

Materials:
Papers: HOPT Cardmaker's Christmas creative pack (blue) / Bazzill cardstock (purple)
Die cuts: Nestabilities Labels #8
Stamp: Tilda with gifts
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black
Tilda: Distress Inks - blue jeans, old paper, milled lavendar, dusty concord, tattered rose, victorian velvet, black soot, peeled paint, shabby shutters and walnut stain
Organza ribbon: Knorr prandell - lilac
Silver peel-offs
Snowflake punch and clear rhinestones


Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to hear your comments.

Hugs,
Becca

Thank you for the music.....

My husband, who is the principal of a music school in our area, asked me to make 25 thank you cards for the students that took part in the chamber musik evening last week. Of course, I said "yes" - who doesn't like to get paid for their hobby! I wanted something cute so decided on this adorable Hero Arts owl with a cloud background. I left the space free at the bottom so I could adhere the chocolate there (yes, Swiss chocolate!!). I must admit it took me longer than I expected and was glad when I had them finished!

I hope the kids like them!

Materials:
Stamps: Hero Arts - CL415 Sweet Owls / S5215 Clouds / A241 Clef
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Hero Arts shadow ink  - soft pool
Die cut: Nestabilities Labels #1
Distress inks: walnut stain and broken china
Copic markers
pop dots and glue

Winter has arrived in full force here in Switzerland. If it keeps up then we will defintely have a white Christmas! I can't believe it'll be Christmas in less than a month.......

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Becca

Blue Christmas

I was blog-hopping (as one does) and saw a challenge on the 7 Kids College Fund blog  to make a Christmas card in non-traditional Christmas colours. This peaked my interest and away I went to look at my stash. I wanted to use my new Magnolia stamp - Tilda with gifts - and tried a few different colours before I came up with BLUE. I know blue is a winter colour but it's still not traditional as red and green.
So here she is:

Materials:
Stamp: Magnolia Tilda with gifts
Die cuts: Nestabilities Label #8 / Classic scallop circles large
Paper: Dovecraft 6x6 Winter Wonderland
Sentiment: Fiskars Winter Wonderland clear stamps
Ribbon: Knorr prandel sky blue
Inks and paints: Tilda - Copic markers / edges of card - walnut stain distress ink
Snowflake punch, paper doily and rhinestones

I think she is so cute. I'm so glad I bought this stamp, it's so versatile - wedding, birthday, Christmas - it goes for them all. I hope you enjoy my card and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US!

Hugs all,
Becca

p.s I am entering this into: 

Non-Traditional Christmas challenge  over at 7 Kids College Fund blog 
Let it snow! over at Simon Says Stamp challenge blog

Messy desk

I wonder if it's possible to keep my work area clean for at least a few hours. I try, I really do but I am such a messy crafter that all I seem to be doing is constantly tidying up after myself. You should see my desk at the moment......well actually I'll show a peek.......and as this is also the family computer I'll have to tidy it all away  before the kids come home from school so they can go on it.

Poor me! One day I'll get my own room ......

Hugs,
Becca

Little princess

Believe it or not, I am a great-aunt! My first great niece was born when I was 33! Although I have to admit, I was an aunt when I was 7 (nearly 8) years old. This card was for great-neice #6, Amelia Jane who was born on halloween. Great-neice #5 Liliana Elizabeth was born four weeks earlier on October 2nd. I'll post her card next.

The background paper is digital and was made from the Hero Arts Polky Dot kit. The stripped paper is from Doodlebug and the silver glimmer cardstock is so old that I have no idea where I bought it! It was cut using the Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch. I used the Nestabilites large circles die and stamped the images (Hero Arts Adorable Baby Girl) onto white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured them in with Distress Inks (spun sugar, victorian velvet).  All the images have glitter glue on them and the middle circle also have been spritzed with pearl Perfect Pearls.

Thanks for looking and have a lovely day.

Hugs, Becca

Magical Christmas

I'm in the mood........no, not for dancing but for card making and the "on the list" stamp from Penny Black was shouting out to be used in a cute little Christmas card.

I wonder if my name is on his Christmas card list? ;)

Materials:

Bazzzill kraft cardstock  

Basic Grey Sugar Rush (green strip)

Penny Black stamp "on the list"

Background stamp: HA 4878 Old Letter Writing

Nestabilities: circle large, scallop large

Fiskars Holly punch

Sentiment: Forever Friends stamp set

Red paper: I can't remember!

Glossy Accents

Versamark

Clear embossing powder

Dimensiona pop dots

ribbon from stash

Well the weekend is nearly over. I hope you had a good one.

Hugs,

Becca

My birthday boy

I can hardly believe that my second child is 18 today! Where on earth did the time go? That's two of our four children who are now "adults", which I guess offically makes me old.....lol!
I wanted to make a fun card for Aaron and decided to use the cute stripped paper from Basic Grey's sugar rush collection with the cupcakes stamp from Hero Arts. I felt they went well together and Aaron was really happy with his card, especially what was inside of it -  5 driving lessons vouchers. Now that he is 18 he can learn to drive and driving lessons here in Switzerland cost an arm and a leg - approx. SFR 90-100 which with current exchange rates make $100 or £65 per hour. You usually need around 20 lessons before you are ready to take your test, so you can work out how much it costs to learn to drive! Thank goodness he is only 18 once and thank goodness he is earning so he can pay for the rest of the lessons himself! ;)

Anyway, here is the card I made for him. I'm afraid the photos are a little blurred but you get the idea.

Materials:
Background papers: Basic Grey Sugar Rush
Stamps: HA CG151 Happy Birthday Cupcakes
Distress Inks: shabby shutters, peeled paint. barn door, wild honey, broken china, walnut stain
Copic markers: YG03, R29
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Nestabilities: Standard circles large S4-114, Classic scalloped circles large S4-124, Labels #8 S5-019
Punch: Fiskars scallop sentiment
Ranger Glossy Accents
Dimension dots

Tonight he is going to watch the new Harry Potter movie with his best friend.......the rest of us are jealous!

I wish you all a lovely weekend and want to say thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Becca

Baked with love

Today's card is my first Christmas card of the season and I used the Magnolia's "Tilda with Cowberry Muffin" stamp with papers from Papermania's "Tradtional Christmas Colossal Paper Pack".

I stamped Tilda with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Cotman 300gsm water colour paper and coloured her in using Distress Inks (shabby shutters, peeled paint, victorian velvet, antique linen, tattered rose, and walnut stain). The image was cut using Nestabilities Label #8 and I drew a line of glitter glue around the edge. The wings and the cupcake also have glitter on them.The holly border punch is from Fiskars and the digital sentiment from Louby Loo. The punched snowflakes have been coated with glitter glue and all the edges have been distress inked with walnut stain. The ribbon and  rhinestones were from my stash.

I hope you enjoy my card and thanks for looking.

Hugs,

Becca

Addition: I just noticed that the green around the sentiment is darker than it really is. On the card, it's the same green as the background papers.......camera lighting is very strange!

With thanks!

I knew that I had to iron at least one basket of laundry before I started making this card as I knew that I would be lost........one basket down two to go! I didn't iron last week as I was busy, so the kids have been picking stuff out of the baskets and are either ironing them themselves or asking me to do it before they go to school. What a poor life they lead! ;)

Anyway........I know it's not summer any more but I had this Penny Black image that I wanted to use and I knew it had to be summer colours, so green and pink it was. Isn't he darling?

The background paper is from Folia (a German company) from the Flowers and Spring paper block. I embossed a piece of white carstock with the Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder and coloured it in with shabby shutter distress ink. The image has been placed on a piece of LilyKate paper from Basic Grey which has been run through the Cuttlebug with Nestabilities Label #1. All the paper edges have been inked with walnut stain distress ink, and the sentiment is from a Papermania stamp set that I bought in England last year.

 

The background paper is full of glitter and gloss which is better seen from this side angle.

Now back to the ironing.....

Thanks for looking.

Hugs all,
Becca

Sarah Kay Birthday

The kids went back to school on Monday and life is returning (once again) to some kind of normality. I found a few spare hours this morning and made this birthday card. I've been itching to make some cards for weeks and just never found the time but now....
For the card I used Basic Grey's Lily Kate for the background papers and Bazzill for the cardstock.The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Hearftfelt Messages" stamp set. The image was coloured in with distress inks and the frames cut using some Nestabilities on my Cuttlebug. The punch is a Fiskars Lace Border punch and the flowers were punched and then layered on top of one another.

  

 It's good to be crafting again! :)

Hugs all,

Becca

p.s I'm entering this in this weeks Simon Says Challege "PUNCH EM"

Monochromatic thank you's

My hubby needed some thank you cards for work and I decided to use my new Clings butterly stamp from Hero Arts. I wanted a monchromatic look and decided on a turquoisey-blue. I made the background paper from the HA Polky Dots digikit. I stamped one butterly directly onto the card and coloured it in with Copic markers and then stamped a separate butterfly onto some cardstock coloured that and cut it out, then adhered it to the cards with dimensional dots. I stickle glued the body and dots of the butterfly and then added the six gems . They are simple to make and exactly what I need as I have to make a batch of them!

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Home again!

My family and I are back home again after our 3 1/2 week trip to England and Wales. We had a great time visiting family and being tourists for a while. We packed a lot into our trip and felt a little like gypsies - on the road every three days - and are glad to be able to unpack our things again and put them in closets. While I was away I got to play with a few things that my sister and neice brought over from the US for me - 6x6 paper pads from Basic Grey and 8 packs of Nesties to go with my new Cuttlebug. I also bought 6 new Distress Inks. I wanted to make a card for my neice's 20th birthday and came up with this using my new Sugar Rush pad from Basic Grey:

To be honest with you I can't even name the butterfly punches or ribbon I used as they were my sisters. But I do know that the border punch is Fiskar's Lace punch as I have the same one :) The sentiment is from Melissa Frances Simply Said stamp set and has been stamped onto paper cut out with a Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large die and placed onto the grey paper that has been cut with a Classic Scallopped Oval Large die.

It's good to be home as I can now play with all my new goodies :)

Hugs,
Becca

Birdy friends

Time is not my own at the moment. School is winding down (3 more days) and preparations for our summer holiday are taking priority in my to-do list. I know I won't have any more time to make any more cards before we leave for England so I'll take my leave for now and wish you all a lovely summer. I'll see you again in August.
Enjoy my birdies.......

The background stamp is Hero Arts "Clouds" and has been stamped with soft pool shadow ink. The birds are also from HA and is the "Hugs and Kisses Birds" stamp, and they have been coloured in with copic markers. The birds are sitting on a "fence" of Basic Grey Blush design paper which has been cut out with fiskars scissors. The bottom piece of paper is also from the BG blush collection and has been punched with a fiskars scallop sentiment punch. The buttons are from Doodlebug Design , the ribbon from my stash and the sentiment from HA Heartfelt Messages stamp set.

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Digital papers

I thought it was time to go through some of the digikits that were on my hard drive that I'd downloaded for free from twopeasinabucket.com and make a card with one of the kits. I decided to use the papers from boho chic by Brandy Buffington and went to "play". I especially like the softness of the background paper that I used, it almost looks washed out. Enjoy!

Click here to go to the free kit:

Supplies:    

Boho Chic by Brandy Buffington

Copic markers

Ranger Distress Inks 

Papermania Sentiments stamps

Sarah Kay "Gardens need many helpers"

Fiskars Sentiment Scallop punch

Flowers from Folia

Ribbon from local craft store

Dimensional foam

That's all my craftiness for this week. The weekend is busy with graduations so I hope you have a lovely weekend and I'll see you next week.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Hugs,
Rebecca

My friend

This is a bit blurred, sorry! I usually take a photo of my cards but decided to try scanning, which I won't be trying again! ;)
I wanted to try a card that didn't have an image on it. I wanted to let my friend know that I really appreciate our friendship and that she means a lot to me and I wanted to do it in a non girly-girly way. I hope I succeeded!

I used K&Company Classic K McKenna papers and used the threading water Fiskars punch on the darker one. I white embossed using the Hero Arts Brocade stamp and coloured in using shabby shutter distress ink. The heart is from Heidi Swapp and was stamped with warm red ColorBox chalk ink. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Anytime Messages" stamp set and the ribbon was from my stash.

I'm going to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp "You gotta have friends" challenge. (yes, I know, I seem to have been bitten by the "challenge" bug! :) )

Oh before I forget, I wanted to mention that Jessica Sprague is giving a free online class which you can find here:

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Color Inspiration #4

I had so much fun doing Kristina Werner's previous colour challenge, I thought I'd have another go!

These colours were a lot harder for me but I managed none the less :)

I had to dig deep into my stash to find papers that would match the colours but finally found some HOTP background papers from their Artsy Collage pad that fit! The Sarah Kay "Spring is Back" image was coloured in with copic marker and distress ink, and layered on white and pale blue Bazzill papers. The frame was cut out with the Cricut Storybook cartridge and the flowers from Hero Arts were coloured in with copic markers. The sentiment is from Melissa Frances "Simply Said" stamp set, and the bottom paper has been punched with the Fiskars Lace Border punch.

Phew!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy my card.

Hugs,
Becca