Rollercoaster week

Sorry I've been MIA. Last week was one heck of a week! First of all there was an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand! Did I ever tell you that my brother and his family live in Christchurch? No? Well, he does.
Luckily for him (and us) he wasn't at work on Tuesday because he was off sick with gastroenteritis. My brother's work place is in downtown Christchurch and the earthquake destroyed his building trapping some  co-workers until they could be rescued. Two of his team are still missing! On the morning of the quake he was at the doctors with my sister-in-law and I am soooo glad that he got sick (so are they!) Atfer the doctors they had decided to go into town to the library to return a book, but my brother forgot to take the book with him so they decided to go to a their local library and check out the books there. This is where they were when the quake hit at 12.50 instead of the downtown library which got seriously damaged. Someone up there was looking out for them (twice) and I am really grateful! Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones!

Sadly, we had bad news this week anyway. On Thursday evening we got a phone call informing us that my husband's brother-in-law had just died of heart failure while playing sports, at only 53 years of age leaving four children ages 23-10 years old. This was so unexpected and we are still in shock!
The funeral will take place on Wednesday. I cannot grasp the feelings that they all must be having. It makes me even more grateful for what I have!
I've used all my condolence cards so have to make some more. I wanted something simple yet elegant and I thought about the lovely HA flower stamp that I bought last year (and haven't yet used) and started inking it up and this is what I came up with. I have two more to make.

Card recipe:
Papers: DCWV / HOTP
Stamps. Hero Arts Stencil Flower CG194 / Everyday Sayings CL342
Inks: Memento Tuxedxo Black / Copics: YG03 G82
Punches: Fiskars Lace Border
Ribbon: Knorr prandell
Flat back pearl and doily from my stash

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and wish you all a lovely Monday. Hug your loved one because you never know what is around the corner!

Hugs to you all,
Becca

Birthday card for my Mama

It's my mother's birthday next Saturday (Feb 26th) and I wanted to get her card done and sent off before this weekend was over. I'm always late and I didn't want to be this year. She will be 79! I am my Mama's baby - she was 39 when she had me (yes, you can all count - I'll be 40 next month!) - and I was quite a surprise for the family when I turned up eight years after the last and seventeen years after the first (we are five kids in total).
I've noticed that regardless how old you are, you will always be the baby of the family. I was pregnant with #3 before one of my brothers realised that I was an adult!! :) So this is why I chose this card for my mother, showing her that I am still her little girl........ pretending to be an adult! hehe!

I feel that this is my best card yet! I love the colours - pink and green are my favourite colour combinations and this stamp just screams girly pink. Don't you agree?

I used my last piece of this particualr design paper (BG Porcelain) and I don't know what I am going to do without it. I hope BG puts this collection on their digital kits soon so I can have it forever!

Here is my card recipe:
Cardstock: Bazzill (pink and green )
DP: BasicGrey Porcelain paper collection
Stamps: Lili of the Valley - Hello Cupcake (image) / Melissa Frances - Simply Said (sentiment)
Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black / Copic markers* / Ranger Distress Inks (walnut stain)
Die cuts: Nestabilities Labels #1 & Classic scalloped circles large
Punches: Gütermann (butterfly, leaves and flowers)
Ribbon: Knorr prandell
Gems: Basics by Kaiserkraft and Hero Arts
Doily from stash

*Copics:
Face and body: E000, E00, E21, R20
Dress and hat: RV10, R81, R83, R85
Hat, shoes, teacup and scallop circle: G21, G24

I am entering this into the following challenges:
Lili of the Valley: Challenge #84  - My favourite Colours
SimonSaysStamp Challenge: Make your own embellishment!
Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Challenge #9 - Spring....Flowers everywhere!

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment to let me know you were here! I appreciate you!

Hugs, Becca

p.s Barb - don't show Mum this post otherwise it'll spoil the surprise - ta! xx

Just Magnolia sketch

Hello there!

Did you all have a good Valentine's Day?
DH and I went out to dinner and a movie last night (oh the joys of having older kids!) and had a lovely time. We saw the new Russell Crowe movie "The next three days" and I was surprised how much I enjoyed the film (hubby chose it) as the read-up wasn't too exciting!

Today's card is taken from Mina's sketch over at the Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar Challenge Blog and to which I will enter:

Can you tell that I am wishing for a warmer climate? Look at Tilda's sleevless top.....oh....I'm counting the days when I can go outside wearing just a t-shirt instead of long sleeves and sweaters!! It's foggy here today........

Card recipe:

DP:  K and Company Classic K Bailey / Basic Grey Lilykate and Cappella

CS: Bazzill

Stamp: Magnolia Tilda with Bownot (Summer 08)

Inks/pens: Memento Tuxedo Black / Water colour pencils (hair)

Copic markers: E000, E00, E21. R20 - face

                        BG72, BG75 - jeans and hat 

                        R81, R83, R85  - top, bow and shoes

Die cuts: Nestabilities Large Oval and Large Scallop

Cuttlebug embossing folder - Flowers

Pink glitter glue (around the oval and on her wings and small blue strip of paper)

Flower: Prima and Rayher
Leaves: Cricut Storybook cartridge
Lace: from my stash
Sewing machine

Update:
I've never done this before - made adjustments and then re-posted a few hours later but I felt that something was missing and so I added the pearl gems. What do you think? Before or after the gems?

Thanks for stopping by and thanks in advance for your comments.

Hugs,
Becca

Love, Love, Love

This is a first for me! The lovely Chrissy has passed along this love award and I thank her HEARTILY for it :

Now I get to choose a handfull of people to pass this love/appreciation award on to. There are so many great, inspiring craft blogs out there and here are five of them:

Rene

Iulia

Maz

Sue

Renkata

Thanks for all the love you give me!

A few rules:
You have been TAGGED, and if you wish to play, create a new post, and post this Love Award, tell the person who sent it to you that you accept it, add a link to them.

Then choose 3-5 people to send the award on to, add a link to their  blog, them let them know that you have sent them this award and they are tagged.

The aim for this is to try and bring unknown blogs to light so please don't send to blogs that have 3000 followers.

Feel the love.......

Hugs,
Becca

Colour challenge red, pink and black

Hi! I hope you're having a great week. The snow is nearly all gone here and Spring has been trying hard to break through. I feel such a surge of energy when Spring arrives - I love it!

I nearly didn't post this card as I'm not 100% sure that I like it but my 15 year son told me he liked it and that I should post it. So here is me being obedient and posting it anyway ;) What do you think? I think it's missing something but don't know what......

The colours for this challenge were from this picture from the Magnolia-licious Challenge blog::

The pink DP is from Provo Craft that I've had for eons, and as I didn't have a red doily I coloured the one that I had with barn door distress ink, and coloured "Sweet Tilda" with water colour pencils and Sansador.
The black corner edges are from my Cricut Storybook cartridge, as are the leaves. The flower is a combination of Prima and Rayher flowers and the black ribbon is from Knorr prandell.

I'm going to keep this post real sort as I'm in the middle of ironing , which believe me is my least favourite household job! But hey, life goes on.....

See you later and thanks for popping by!

Hugs, Becca

My valentine

Happy Sunday to you!
I hope you've all had a lovely weekend? Ours was good and school starts again tomorrow for us after one week off - winter break for skiing. We went twice and we had a great time. I left my camera in the car and could have kicked myself as the weather and the views were spectacular! Arhh!!

I worked on a valentine's card yesterday and used a Magnolia stamp - Tilda brings a flower for it.

I used the sketch from Friday Sketchers

and this is what I came up with:

I used BasicGrey's sugar rush papers for the background and the baby pink and raspberry cardstock is Bazzill. I love the busy "love" background - it is perfect for a valentine card. I coloured Tilda in with water colours pencils with Sansador. I am still waiting for an order of some additional Copic markers and can't wait for them to arrive. The hearts are Sizzix die cuts and the circle and scallop are Nestabilities.

I added pink glitter glue to the hearts and to Tilda's pocket and flower for some added sparkle.

For the swirls I used my Cricut Storybook cartridge and then added some Hero Arts pink gemstones.

 

I bought the pink polka dot ribbon on Friday at our local grocery store (!) and I love it (I bought a cyan blue one as well). The other pink ribbon is from Knorr prandell.

So what do you think of my "busy" valentine's card?

I am entering this in to the following challenges:

Friday Sketchers - Challenge #140

Basic Grey - All heart

Just Magnolia - Anything goes with the option to add ribbon

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Glitter challenge

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Love is in the air

Totally Tilda - Challenge #15 Tilda with lots of hearts

7 Kids College Fund challenge -  #14 I heart you
Bunny Zoe Crafts - Challenge #8 Love is in the air

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate you.....

Hugs, Becca

Yeah, I won....

...some blog candy from LOTV's Ideas to Inspire! I won a £10 voucher and am so happy!
This will get me 2 1/2 stamps and I know exactly what I want to buy. I've had my eyes on some of the new stamps (and some paper) and couldn't decide which ones to get as I like so many of them but now I can get all the ones I had on my list - so cool! Thanks Lili of the Valley - you rock!

Hugs, Becca