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

Anything but a square....

...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

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

"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

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

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

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

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