Becca's Crafts

Love is the air

2011-07-15T12:06:00.001+02:00

The wedding season is here and I want to show you a card that I made for my nephew (and now neice in law) who got married last Saturday. Sadly we couldn't go to the wedding as they live in the US but our thoughts and hearts were with them as they made their vows. Isn't love grand?

This Lili of the Valley image "Love Grows" suits the occasion just perfectly, don't you think? Aren't they cute together?
My husband will probably laugh at this image because when it comes to gardening, I suck! I just don't see what needs to be done and he has to drag me out of the house and tell me exactly what he wants me to do! But the symbol of the image is what counts - working together - come sunshine or rain and not forgetting that love needs to be watered and trimmed and looked after otherwise it will wilt and die.We wish the new bride and groom all the love in the world as they start their journey together!

Well, I'm off to get ready as we're going to a wedding apéro this afternoon - as I said, it's the wedding season and LOVE IS IN THE AIR!

Card recipe:
Stamp: LOTV Love Grows
Papers: Prima Sparking Spring 6x6 (DP) / Bazzill (CS)
Punches: Martha Stewart Heart Lace border, daisy flower punches, McGill branch
Die cuts: Nestabilities Classic square and Classic scallop square large
Ribbon: MeiFlower / St. Gallen Lace
Inks: Memento tuxedo black, Distress Inks forest moss,
Colouring medium: Caran d'Ache watercolour pencils with Sansador

Hugs,
Becca

Spring Swing

2011-04-22T00:41:00.007+02:00

Hello fellow crafters!
I hope you are enjoying the lovely Spring weather? I definitely am! It's great that the weather forecast for Easter is sunny and warm as so many Easter Sunday's have been spent indoors due to the rain! We are having a mini drought here in Switzerland and the lakes are pretty low on water - so the rain can come next week when the kids go back to school :)
Today I took my youngest son (12 yrs) to the movies to see "Rio" while DH worked in the garden. That's a fair trade, isn't it? lol! We had a fun time together and we really enjoyed the film. We would both recommend it! :)

My card for today is an Easter card and what better way to showcase Easter than with a bunny! I used one of my new LOTV stamps from the March release called "Spring Swing" and I think he is just adorable!

Card recipe:
Stamp: Lili of the Valley "Spring Swing"
Papers: Nitwit Collections "Above and Beyond" maryfran / Bazzill
Medium: Caran d'Ache with Sansador (bunny) / Copic markers (swing, flowers and grass)
Die cuts: Marianne Design swirl / Magnolia Doohickey Tilda lace / Joy Crafts Butterfly
Embossing: Spellbinders Impressabilities-Flowers
Punches: Tonic flowers
Gems: stash
Ribbon: Meiflower

I am entering this into the following challenges:

LOTV - Challenge #93 "Easter"

Simon Says Stamp - "Emboss it!"

PaperPlay Challenges - Week #16 "Easter"

Creative Inspirations Challenge - Challenge #57 "Easter"

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #161 "No text"
ABC DT Challenge - "Easter Card"

Happy Easter everyone!

Hugs,
Becca

Honey Tilda

2011-04-19T18:01:00.001+02:00

I can't believe it's taken me nearly three weeks to finish off and post a card! I just haven't found the time what with running the household, managing the kids and now easter holidays! My 12 year is constantly bugging me to get off the computer so he can go on!I don't know how other crafters manage to roll of cards daily! I do admit that this has been a rather long break but I hope to catch up soon.....

This stamped and coloured in image of Honey Tilda has been sitting "patiently" on my desk wanting to be made into a card and the reason why it has taken so long is because I don't own many yellow papers. I finally had to get some digi papers to be able to finish the card!

I made my own flowers for this card! Can you believe it? I watched some YouTube videos and hey presto - self-made paper roses distress inked with scattered straw ink! Are you impressed? I am :)

Aftrer all this waiting, I hope you like it! I do :)

Card recipe:

Stamp: Magnolia Honey Tilda

Papers: Shabby Princess - Sweet serenity digi papers / black and white cardstock

Medium: Caran d'Ache water colour pencils with Sansador

Dies: Nestabilities Label #1

Punches: Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch / McGill Pine branch / Tonic flower punches

Ribbon: Knorr prandell

Rhinestones: stash

Glitter: Stickles Crystal ice

Flowers: self made using Tonic flower punches

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Becca

My stash from the NEC

2011-03-31T13:15:00.001+02:00

A week ago today I flew to England for the weekend to see family and go to the NEC Hobbycrafts fair in Birmingham. Luckily for me my mum and sister only live 20-25 mins away from the NEC and so my sister and I were standing in line when the doors opened at 9.30 am! I was really excited! I'd made my list of things that I wanted to get and was hoping to get everything on that list - sadly I wasn't that successful. I did, however, manage to get a lot! :)
The times I've been to the NEC Hobbycrafts before have been on a Saturday and I am so glad we chose a Friday this time! So much better and not as many crowds. You could actually get into the booths without either been stood on or squashed. We were there for a total of 6 hours and it flew by!

I took my camera with me but totally forgot to take any pictures at the fair. I got so involved in looking at the goodies that it didn't even come into my mind to take pictures until after and then I kicked myself!

Bev Rochester served us at Lili of the Valley stand. I was really happy it was Bev as she'd kept some stamps by for me incase they sold out straight away. I got the very last Postcard stamp - lucky me (Thanks Bev)!

When I look at the goodies I bought on the table like this, it doesn't look like a lot, especially as I know how much it all cost! It definitely felt like I was carrying more! My birthday money sure came in handy though ;)
I was disappointed that there weren't that many 6x6 paper pads. There was one I liked but forgot to go back and buy it - silly me! I'll have to look online for the paper pads and for the things I couldn't get.

Now I've got to get around to playing with it all!

Unluckily for me, I got home on Sunday night and by Monday evening I was feeling terrible. I'd caught a tummy bug and couldn't keep anything down. It's Thursday and I'm now starting to feel normal again but I've just got off the phone to my DH and he is now feeling queezy - great eh?!

The only thing I've done this week is stamp up and colour "Honey Tilda" and I hope to finish up her card sometime this weekend - isn't she a darling?

Hopefully see you all again here soon!

Hugs,
Becca

40th Birthday

2011-03-18T23:34:00.001+01:00

I was born on Tuesday 16th March 1971 at 04.20 in Essex, England and this past Wednesday I turned the ripe old age of 40!
I had a fantastic birthday! I had an open house, and friends and family celebrated with me from early afternoon until nearly midnight, and it was the best birthday ever. I started my new decade on a high and am feeling pretty good at being the big four-oh! I have the best friends ever and I am so grateful for them in my life.
One of my best friends daughter was looking through my cards at the party and told me that she would like one. I asked her what her favourite colours were, so I could make a card to suit her tastes, and she told me they were pink and blue. She is 7 years old.
So today I got to work on her card and then tried to fit it into this weeks challenges. This is what I came up with:

My haul from SimonSaysStamp finally arrived yesterday and I got to play with "Tilda with balloon" from the 2011 You Are So Special collection. From the moment I saw her I knew I wanted her; it just took me ages to order her! The Martha Stewart heart lace border punch and the Hero Arts 3 Dotted Flowers stamp were from the same order. I had hoped they would arrive on my birthday but this way I got to open them on Thursday and it was like my birthday all over again :) I don't have to grow up now just because I'm forty, do I?! ;) (Wow, that sounds weird - f-o-r-t-y-!!)

After my failed attempt at colouring in Tilda's dress in my last post, I really made an effort to get it right this time. I feel it went alot better. What do you think?
But then again I can't really take all the credit. My other order from Lili of the Valley arrived yesterday as well bringing with it the Super Smooth Stamping Card that I ordered and it is brilliant, so I think it's the stamping card that made the difference this time. It is so smooth and the pencils and markers just glide over the paper. I definitely have to get some more when I'm at the NEC next week.....

I made the inside to match the colours on the outside - I just reversed them.

Card recipe:
Papers: pink and blue - a paper pack from Hobbycrafts / DP BasicGrey sugar rush
Stamps: Magnolia Tilda with balloon 2011 You are so special collection
Hero Arts: 3 Dotted Flowers (the smallest of the three)
Die cuts: Nestabilities oval scallop large and circle large / Sizzix Sizzlits (chipboard heart)
Colouring medium: Caran d'Ache watercolour pencils with Sansador / Copic marker for her skin
Distress inks: victorian velvet, walnut stain
Punch: Martha Stewart lace heart / Gütterman leaf punch
Ribbon: Knorr prandell
Extras: Glossy accents, chipboard, glitter glue, flat back pearls

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Just Magnolia - Week 98 Favourite colour combo
SimonSaysStamp - Simon Says......Happy Birthday
Friday Sketchers - Sketch #146 (I couldn't do a sentiment as I don't know what Safira wants to use the card for)
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Challenge #10 Happy Birthday....with lots of pearls
Totally Tilda - Challenge #18 Tilda with chipboard
Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Die cuts

It's the weekend again......how did that happen? How come the time is flying by so quickly?
I hope you all enjoy your weekend and that you are well relaxed.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and for your sweet, encouraging comments. I love reading them.....

Hugs,
Becca

Romantic Tilda

2011-03-14T13:10:00.001+01:00

Two cards posted in one day! I must be ill?! lol!

I had a hard time coloring Tilda's dress today and nearly threw the whole thing in the rubbish but thought "what the heck, nobody is perfect!" and decided to post her anyway. I WILL master shading one day! lol! Do you have days like this too?
I have decided that I am BasicGrey paper junkie - I can't go long without using one of the papers otherwise I go into withdrawl!! :) They just call out to me "use me, use me!" and I can't resist! :)
I used one of Bev Rochester's sketches; it makes life so much easier to follow a sketch - half the decision making is already done for you!

Card recipe:

Papers: DP BasicGrey Kioshi, CS Bazzill

Stamp: Magnolia Romantic Tilda, Lili of the Valley circular sentiments

Colouring medium: Caran d'Ache pencil with Sansador, and Copic markers for the skin

Glitter glue: Knorr prandell

Ribbon: Interio

Punches: Gütermann (leaves, flowers)

Die cuts: Magnolia Doohickey Tilda Lace

Brads: Stash

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Sentimental Sundays - Go Green

7 Kids College Fund - Mardi Gras

Magnolia-licious - Green

Thanks for looking and leave a comment if you want so I'll know you've popped by.

You make my day.

Hugs,

Becca

Rosie with presents

2011-03-14T08:11:00.003+01:00

Hey all,

I hope you had a great weekend?
On Sunday evening after Skyping with my sister in England I got to work and really challenged myself with colours that aren't usually ones I use. The challenge over at Colour Create was to use greens/olive green, brown, cream and black, and believe me it was tough!
Once I'd decided on which papers to use the rest kind of flowed.......
I used the sketch over at Friday's Sketchers

Card recipe:
Papers: BasicGrey Capella, Bazzill
Stamp: Lili of the Valley Rosie with present
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Caran d'Ache watercolour pencils with Sansador, walnut stain DI
Die cuts: Nestabilities Oval and oval scallop large
Flower: Prima
Brad: BasicGrey Capella
Leaf punch: Gütermann
Black pearls: Hero Arts
Ribbon: Interio (25mm)

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Colour Create - Greens/olive green, brown, cream and black
Friday Sketchers - Sketch #145
Lili of the Valley - Say it with flowers
ABC DT - Happy Birthday
The Shabby Tea Room - Party time

Hope you have a great start to the week. This week is going to be busy for me as it's my 40th birthday on Wednesday and I'm having an open house......I'm getting excited!

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Becca

Fruity Tilda

2011-03-11T13:00:00.003+01:00

It's been two weeks since I made a card - I've been feeling out of sorts and a bit demotivated - but today while I was looking at the different challenges I felt motivated to make one. I'm hoping I have my mojo back!

The sketch for this card is from the very talented Bev Rochester over at Just Magnolia Challenge.

Can you tell that Tilda is ready for Spring? Look at all that gorgeous fruit - strawberries and cherries - and her muffin is a fruit muffin, naturally!

Card recipe:

Papers: CS Bazzill, DP Bearly Mine

Stamp: Magnolia Tilda w/ cowberry muffin

Punches/Dies: Carl flower punches, Magnolia Tilda Lace, Nesties circle and scallop

Inks: Memento Texedo Black, Caran D'Ache with Sansador, Distress Inks - walnut stain

Embossing: Cuttlebug folder swiss dots

Brads, pearls and doily from my stash.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Totally Tilda - Fuity Tilda

SimonSaysStamp - Anything goes

Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar - Bev's sketch

ABC Challenge - P is for Pearls

It's Friday, people! It's weekend! Yeah!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Becca

Rollercoaster week

2011-02-28T14:04:00.000+01:00

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

2011-02-17T16:46:00.002+01:00

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

2011-02-15T15:15:00.008+01:00

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

2011-02-12T12:59:00.002+01:00

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

2011-02-11T16:35:00.000+01:00

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

2011-02-06T19:19:00.002+01:00

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....

2011-02-03T22:19:00.001+01:00

...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

Anything but a square....

2011-01-31T13:01:00.004+01:00

...is this weeks challenge over at Lili of the Valley and I knew I had a small problem! This challenge was really going to be a challenge for me and I nearly didn't bother attempting it. But now that I've done it, I'm glad that I did because I love it! You see, I don't own any large die cuts, I just have my Nesties and they weren't large enough for this project so I had to put my thinking cap on.
Luckily for me, I have a Cricut and cartridges that cut out lovely shapes and this is how I cut my card. I used the Storybook cartridge and cut the Bazzill pink scallloped shape out at 5" and then the floral paper from BasicGrey Porcelain collection at 4 1/2".

I coloured the Lili of the Valley "Hello Cupcake" stamp with Caran d'Ache watercolour pencils and Sansador, and cut her out with Nestabilities Large circle and mounted her onto Bazzill cardstock (green) which was also cut with the same Nesties set. I then added 2mm pink gems from Hero Arts around the edge of the DP to add some bling and a small bow to finish it off.

I scored the back of the card to make a fold and then used the same Bazzill green paper cut out at 4 1/2" to make an inlay. The sentiment was stamped in Distress Ink peeled paint and is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings stamp set. The lace is from my stash.

I'm really pleased with my card and hope you like it too.

Thanks for stopping by and leave a comment so I know you've been here. I love to hear from you.....

Hugs,
Becca

Ode to joy

2011-01-28T16:22:00.007+01:00

We are a musical household. My husband is a pianist, the kids all play instruments, and our daughter is ALWAYS singing (I honestly think she would shrivel up and die if she couldn't sing!). Ours is a noisy home - creative, yes, but noisy nonetheless. My card for today is a reflection of this.
I bought the Penny Black "Ode to joy" stamp quite a few years back and used it to make birthday cards for my husbands' music friends. The three musical mice are just sooo cute!

I used Basic Grey's Curio 6 x6 papers backed with black bazzill cardstock.The papers are so soft and romantic with a hint of vintage/shabby chic look about them. The stamp was stamped on Canson Extra white-light grain-180g drawing paper with Stazon Jet Black and coloured in with Ranger's Distress Inks (tea dye, walnut stain, antique linen, tattered rose, victorian velevet and black soot).
The flower is from Prima's Essentials Jack N Jill collection with a flat backed pearl from my stash. The ribbon is Knorr prandell and the sentiment is from Hero Arts CL342 Everyday Saying stamp set. I think the "just a note...." was perfect for this card, don't you agree?

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

SimonSaysStamps - Animal antics

BasicGreyChallenge - Flower Power (Floral design paper-Curio)

Friday Sketchers #139 (I've mirror swapped the embellishments)

Some cool news for me: I booked my flight to go to England in March to visit family and to go to the NEC Hobbycrafts fair (24-27th March). I'm so excited and am already making lists of stuff that I want to buy. Roll on March.......

Wishing you a lovely, relaxing weekend and a big THANKS for stopping by.

Hugs,

Becca

Impressions

2011-01-22T22:10:00.002+01:00

"Another altered journal!, I hear you say.
Well I bought two last week and as you know, I made one for my daughter's birthday which meant I had this one left over. So I decided to dress it up and give it to a friend who is moving away next month. She can either use it as a journal or a notebook - whatever she needs most. This is a totally new colour combo for me - brown, green and purple - I wasn't so sure at the begining but I think it's growing on me! LOL! You've got to challenge yourself, right?
I never know what to do with the sides - you know, the black bit on the left that you can't cover. What do you do to hide it? Any ideas? I guess buy the right coloured notebook to match your papers, right?
As I've used so many different products on this project I'll just put all the info in the card recipe below.

Card recipe:
Stamp: Magnolia Jam Tilda - 09 Yummy Tummy Collection
Papers: Déjà Views Plum and Apple 8x8 tablet / BasicGrey LilyKate (green floral) / Bazzill
Die cuts: Nestabilities large circle and large scallop / Fiskars scallop / Martha Stewart Vintage Doily
Spellbinder Impressabilites: Flowers
Ribbon: Knorr prandell
Flower: Bazzill / Leaves: Cricut Storybook
Inks: Copic markers (face and body) / Distress Inks (dress, hair and socks and all edges)
Ribbons on the side: Michaels
Gem: stash
Sentiment: From the 8x8 tablet Déjà Views

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
SimonSaysStamp: Bingo (Punch/Diecuts, Embossing, Ribbon)
Magnolia Stamp Lovers: Sentiment
Just Magnolia: Sketch by Donalda
7Kids College Fund: Challenge yourself (colour combo of brown, purple and green.....very new for me)

I hope to spend more time in my craft room next week - one project a week is just not enough. I have tons of ideas running around in my head and not as much time as I would like to make them happen.

Wishing you all a lovely Sunday and hope you can all recharge your batteries.

Hugs all,
Becca

Altered journal

2011-01-13T13:57:00.000+01:00

Hello!

Well it's my daughter's 20th birthday today and I just wanted to share with you what I made for her.
She mentioned that she needed a new journal so I decided to buy a basic one and jazz it up a bit. The colours I chose reflect the colours found in her bedroom - red and orange. I'm happy to inform that she loved it! Phew......
As you probably guessed by now, I love Basic Grey papers, especially the 6x6 paper pads. I do have other papers but I always seem to gravitate towards BG. For this project I used papers from the Blush and Sugared collections and have decided to enter this into the BasicGrey Challenges

Here's a picture of the birthday girl taken last summer:

Isn't she a cutie!

Card recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey - blush & sugared

Stamp: Magnolia - Summer Tilda with bownot

Punches: Martha Stewart - Garden trellis & Vintage doily / Fiskars scallop

Flowers: Bazzill & Heidi Swapp

Die cuts: Nestabilities Labels #8

Inks: Tilda was coloured in with watercolour pencils / all edges distressed with walnut stain

Extras: Knorr prandell - Glitter glue

Brad: Basi Grey cappella

Ribbons: Michaels

I hope you like my creation and thank you for stopping by!

Hugs,

Becca

My first LOTV card and challenge

2011-01-06T11:19:00.000+01:00

I bought three Lili of the Valley stamps before Christmas and am just now finally getting around to playing with them. I am in love with LOTV! I think the images are sooooo cute and the price is great too ;) I can't wait for next week when the new stamps come out.
All I want to do at the moment is make cards! My laundry is piling high and I can't seem to pull myself away from my office long enough to start ironing. Am I the only one out there with this problem?!

This card started off as a wedding card for my niece using the Cappella collection from Basic Grey but once I'd added the ballerina and glittered her up I don't think it fits for a wedding, so I think I'll use it for a birthday card instead.

I'd made this card last night without a sketch and to my amazement when I looked at the new challenge on LOTV my sketch was nearly what Lena had chosen. So with a little "artistic license" I am entering this on their challenge and hope they don't mind that it isn't exactly like Lena's sketch. I don't think my kids would appreciate me making another card when they haven't got any fresh clothes to wear! lol!

Card recipe:
Papers: Basic Grey Cappella
Stamps: Lili of the Valley- Little Ballerina S203 / Dreamy Days Circular Sentiments S214
Inks: Image: Stazon Black / Distress Inks (tattered rose, antique linen, tea dye, scattered straw)
Sentiment: Colorbox chalk - dark brown
Die cuts: Nestabilities Large Circle and Scalloped circle
Punch: Martha Stewart
Glitter and pearls from my stash

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Pretty in pink

2011-01-05T11:51:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

My eldest turns 20 next week and I wanted to make her a girly card to let her know that she will always be "my baby girl" and that in my eyes she is "wonderful". I can't believe that she will be 20 - where does the time go!? Am I really old enough to have a 20 year old? Apparently I am! lol!

A whole new decade awaits her and it's going to be an exciting one.............

Anyway on to her card - I used the Midsummer Tilda from the Fairytale collection and doesn't she look pretty in pink?

I love the pink and green combo at the moment and as I was flicking through my paper pads I came across these papers from Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses collection and knew that I had found my papers for my pretty in pink Tilda. I coloured Tilda in with distress inks (spun sugar and victorian velvet for her dress, and antique linen and walnut stain for her hair) and copic markers for her face and body. The circular sentiment is from Lili of the Valley and the flowers from Rayher. I used Borderabilities Fleur de Lis border from Spellbinders and the Nestabilities Labels Eight.

I am entering this into the Just Magnolia -Anything goes
and Simon Says Stamp - New Beginnings (new decade for my daughter)

I'm sorry the photo is a bit dark but you get the idea.

Thanks for popping by and I just want to let you know how much I appreciate you and your comments.

Have a great day!

Hugs,
Becca

Coaster calendar

2010-12-21T12:44:00.001+01:00

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

2010-12-20T10:37:00.001+01:00

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

2010-12-14T20:00:00.002+01:00

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

2010-12-14T10:29:00.003+01:00

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

2010-12-13T18:04:00.004+01:00

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

2010-12-08T15:12:00.001+01:00

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

2010-12-02T09:14:00.002+01:00

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

2010-11-28T21:08:00.000+01:00

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

2010-11-28T09:00:00.001+01:00

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

2010-11-27T09:00:00.007+01:00

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.....

2010-11-26T10:49:00.000+01:00

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

2010-11-25T16:16:00.000+01:00

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

2010-11-25T15:56:00.000+01:00

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

2010-11-24T10:11:00.000+01:00

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

2010-11-21T14:00:00.005+01:00

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

2010-11-20T12:12:00.003+01:00

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

2010-11-17T15:17:00.011+01:00

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!

2010-11-12T16:25:00.001+01:00

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

2010-10-27T16:19:00.005+02:00

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

2010-09-02T19:25:00.005+02:00

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!

2010-07-28T21:40:00.003+02:00

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

2010-06-29T20:57:00.002+02:00

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

2010-06-24T08:35:00.004+02:00

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

2010-06-23T09:58:00.010+02:00

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

2010-06-22T20:06:00.007+02:00

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

Whoooo loves you?

2010-06-21T11:28:00.001+02:00

Melissa (my 19 year old) needed a birthday card for a male friend of hers to be from her and her boyfriend and told me this about an hour before she needed to leave the house! Now I have a lot of female birthday cards on hand but not many male ones, so what was I to do?
Well I remembered the new digital papers I got the other day and thought I'd quickly put together a fun card with those papers and an owl from the stacked birds kit. I've never met this young man, even though I know his parents and some of his brothers, so didn't know what his likes or dislikes were.
However, with only a short amount of time to make this card I just decided to "wing" it :)
It is mainly a one-layer card with just a little dimension on the second owl that I cut out and layered on top. The sentiment inside read: "WE DO!! Happy Birthday"

Isn't he fun?

Thanks for looking!

Hugs,
Becca

Top ten - so exciting!

2010-06-20T22:42:00.000+02:00

I just want to say how happy I am to have had my card chosen for the Top Ten of Kristina Werner's RC Color Inspiration #3. As I'd mentioned, this was my first card challenge and to have my card chosen the very first time is soooo cool and motivates me to enter more challenges. Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments and remarks, they mean a lot to me.

Wishing everyone a lovely week.

Hugs,
Becca

Hybrid Tweet-tweet

2010-06-18T10:28:00.002+02:00

At the moment I love making cards that have any type of bird on them and when I saw these digital stack of birds from Holly Brook Jones I knew that I had to have them. Luckily for me there was also a matching kit of papers - Waiting for Spring - so I got those too! The only thing I had to do was to adhere the papers and put some foam dots under the birds for dimension and add some embroidery thread. This is definitely a card that I will make in a batch in the future as its so simple.
BTW - I truly am waiting for Spring, (never mind Summer) as the weather we are getting here in Switzerland reminds me more of Autumn - it's wet, cold and foggy! Ugh!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my card and wish you all (and me) a lovely, warm weekend :)

Hugs,
Becca

Hello

2010-06-17T07:02:00.003+02:00

Every month Kristina Werner gives a class over at twopeasinabucket.com called "A Year In Cards" and I really enjoy watching her tutorials. This month's theme was "Hello" cards, so I decided to have a go at making a hello card using colours that I wouldn't usually use.

The cardstock is Bazzill Basics and the blue background card has been embossed with the Divine Swirl embossing folder. I used my last piece from the HOTP Vintage papers (shame they don't make it anymore) and used the colours in it to make the rest of the card. The alphabet stickers are from Basic Grey Blush collection and the red card has been punched with a Fiskars Sentiment Scallop punch. The green ribbon was from my stash.

So this is me saying "hello" to you!

Have a lovely day.

Hugs,
Becca

Lucy's Cards - Challenge 11

2010-06-16T13:10:00.002+02:00

I love the colours that Lucy Abrams has put together on her latest challenge. They were taken from a cushion that she likes!

This is her challenge:
Create a card using only white, light blue and light kraft. Black can be used for outlines and sentiments. Bonus points available if you use birds too. :)

Here is my take on the colours:

I used Bazzill cardstock and stamped the Basic Grey Urban Prairie "Wild Flowers" bird stamp on to the "rough" side of the cardstock to give it more depth. I used Chestnut Roan Colorbox chalk ink (no black for me) for the birds and the sentiment, which is from Melissa Frances "Simply Said" stamp set. The frame was cut from the Storybook Cricut cartridge. Rhinestones and ribbon were then added to finish the card.

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Sympathy

2010-06-15T15:05:00.003+02:00

I've never made a sympathy card before, I've always gone out and bought them. But this card had to be a bit more special, as it was for my sister-in-law's father who had just lost his wife to cancer this week. I've known my sister-in-law's parents since I was 5 years old, so they feel like extended family to me.

So I put my thinking cap on and went to work and came up with this simple, but hopefully elegant card:

I cut out the frames from the Cricut Storybook cartridge, used HOTP Vintage paper pad and added dimension with foam dots.The stamp I used was the Hero Arts "Silhouette" stamped lightly with Chestnut Roan chalk ink to make it look soft. All the edges were distressed with Walnut Stain and the sentiment is from Melissa Frances "Simply Said" stamp set.

Update: I felt it wasn't finished so I added three small pearls to the stamped flower image. Here's a view of the finished card from the side:

My thoughts and prayers are with the Hall family.

Hugs,
Becca

Copy cat

2010-06-11T09:43:00.005+02:00

Hi there!

I've never copied a card before but today I did! On Jennifer McGuire's blog I saw this card and I knew that I needed that stamp. So when I finally got the stamp, I knew that the first card I was going to make with it was going to be Jennifer's card - it was as simple as that! :)

I embossed the stamped image with white embossing powder and then coloured in the card with broken china and wild honey distress inks. I then spritzed it with perfect pearl mist to make it shine. You can see the shine on the bottom photo better. I coloured the butterfly with shabby shutters and spritzed that as well. The sentiment is from Stampendous "Happy Messages" and the orange paper at the bottom was cut from the top of the distressed paper before I tore it.

Thanks for looking and hope you have a lovely weekend.

Hugs,

Becca

Sweetness without the calories!

2010-06-10T08:35:00.002+02:00

Everyday I'm using something new from my haul from Simon Says Stamps and today I'm using the "Happy Birthday Cupcakes" stamp from Hero Arts. I didn't know whether I should buy the large cupcake stamp or the two smaller ones but decided to get the smaller ones as the pack also included a cute sentiment stamp .

The background paper is from the pack that I've been using the most this week - Déjà Views "Fresh Print Apple". Once I'd stamped and coloured in the cupcake with Copic markers, I decided I wanted to use a paper from the Basic Grey Blush collection (the one with the flowers) but realised quickly that I didn't have anything that coordinated with it. What to do? After about 5 minutes I decided to create something myself. I ran a piece of white cardstock through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder and then used Distress Inks victorian velvet and tea dye to get the colours and look I wanted.
The scalloped square was cut using the Cricut Storybook cartridge and the sentiment is from Papermania's "Sentiments" Clear Stamps set . Both have been distress inked with victorian velvet .
The top of the cupcake and the sentiment have both been given some dimension with pop dots.

I hope you enjoy and thanks for looking!

Hugs,
Becca

p.s tomorrow I'm going to try and do something with this

Heart Owls

2010-06-09T11:39:00.001+02:00

My haul from Simon Says Stamps came yesterday - it only took six days to get here - and I decided to play around with some of my new stash. I made this cute owl card and even though the clouds aren't perfect (still getting the hang of how much ink to use) I think it's still worth giving to somebody. The "Heart Owls" and the "Clouds" background stamp are both from Hero Arts as is the Shadow Ink. I coloured the owls with Copic markers and the branch has been cut out using the Cricut Storybook cartridge. I had some old Basic Grey alphabets so used those for the sentiment.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Hugs,
Becca

Colour combo alternatives

2010-06-08T20:46:00.003+02:00

Today I made three cards using the colour combo from Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration and Jordan decided which of the three I should enter. I think he chose well. Here are the other two I created:

The papers are from Déjà Views Fresh Print Apple collection, the butterflies are from Hero Arts and are coloured in with copic markers. The bee stickers are from Penny Black, the ribbon from Offray and the pearls from Artoz.

The background paper is from DCWV "The Old World Stack" and the bottom papers are from Basic Grey Lily Kate collection and have been punched with a Fiskars scallop punch. The buttons are from Doodlebug Design and the ribbon is from Michaels. The stamp is from Hero Arts "Little girl with heart" and has been coloured in with Copic markers and chalk ink and distressed with Distress Inks from Ranger. The butterfly is also from Hero Arts.

I still haven't figured out to colour hair properly - I think I'll have to go and look at a tutorial on youtube! :)

Thanks for looking and leave a comment if you like.

Hugs,
Becca

Color Inspiration #3

2010-06-08T19:05:00.002+02:00

I am still new to the craft blogging world but have been watching Kristina Werner's card making videos over at twopeasinabucket.com for over a year now and have just recently found her blog. Not long ago she re-started her color inspiration challenges where you have to make a card or a scrapbook page with the assigned colours and then she picks her Top Ten.

These are the colours for this week and I decided to have a go. I don't own any Stampin' Up inks but thought "what the heck, I'm sure I can find similar colours".

I got to use my new Hero Arts Silhoutte stamp that came today and had fun playing around with the different colours. I hope you like my card:

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,

Becca

Spring time

2010-06-04T23:39:00.002+02:00

The weather here has finally decided to play nice and it motivated me to make this sweet Sarah Kay card in lovely spring colours. I hope this means the nice weather is here to stay!

I coloured her in with watercolours and distressed all the edges with distress inks. I mounted her onto a frame from the Storybook cricut cartridge (still waiting for my Nesties to arrive) and put glitter glue around the edges and then placed her on pink background paper embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.The scalloped edge was cut using a Fiskars punch.The papers are from K&Co Classic K McKenna and Basic Grey Lily Kate, and the flowers are from Rayher.

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

Countdown calendar

2010-06-02T10:14:00.000+02:00

I saw a similar version of this countdown calendar on Lisa Bearnson's blog and decided I wanted to buy one for my friend but couldn't find one anywhere. So I decided to make one! It was a busy two days work - sawing the wood by hand, painting it, figuring out how many numbers I would need and in what sequence they would go on the blocks, creating the word art in Photoshop and then assembling it. I had a lot of fun making it and my friend was really touched with her gift. I'm really pleased how it turned out!

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca

A new beginning

2010-06-02T08:37:00.002+02:00

I thought it was time that I put my crafty stuff here on its own blog, separate from my family blog. So here goes:

Here are three cards that I made not long ago.

I used Magnolia's Jam Tilda stamp from the Yummy For Your Tummy collection coloured in with copic markers. The background papers and flowers are from Déjà Views Blue Raspberry collection and the sentiment is from Melissa Frances "Simply Said" stamp set.

Another Tilda card from the Yummy Tummy collection - Dinner Tilda - painted with copic markers. I cut out the frame from the Cricut Storybook cartridge, embossed it with Swiss Dots embossing folder and coloured it in with distress inks. The paper is Déjà Views Blue Raspberry collection and the sentiment is from Hero Arts "Heartfelt Messages".

I love Sarah Kay - it takes me back to my childhood! The background paper I made by clear embossing Hero Arts Designblock "Flourish" and distress inking with Scattered Straw. The Sarah Kay Precious Moments was coloured in with Distress Inks and mounted on Basic Grey Lily Kate. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Heartfelt Messages" and the butterfly is also from Hero Arts.

I hope you enjoy and thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Becca