CCCB # 75 "Let's face the music"

Hello!

This last week I spent most of the time with a zillion Kleenex tissues. And I am glad to be back to cardmaking again :)

I am in time to join this weeks' challenge at the City Crafter Challenge Blog

This week it's all about music. Sheet music, a charm, an image, musical notes...you name it!

I made a card for someone who is going through a difficult time.

Her mum went to the hospital for a scan a passed away within a week....

I decided to make a card in soft colors with a little splash of color. .I hope it will comfort her.
 (It's not a formal sympathy card)

I recently bought a doily die and I LOVE it. And had to use it again:)

My sister  Jacqueline gave me the little silver pearls; another favorite...

Papers, tag and sticker from Melissa Frances; sentiment from Waltzingmouse stamps

I added a pearl brad to my yo- yo heart and the trim is from Maya Road

It's hard to see in the photo but I did ink the edges with a bit of white ink.

Here is my card :

Off  I am; have a great evening/ day!

Till soon!

Stella

CCCB #74 I "heart" you

Hi!

How are you?

There is a wonderful challenge going on at the City Crafter Challenge Blog. You can still join us!

The challenge is just to incorporate a heart(s) on your project.

This is the photo inspiration:

I made a card for my niece who had a little "goodbye" party last night. She finished her study at the University of Groningen. The next months she will be travelling with her boyfriend in the Far East (Malaysia, Indonesia and so on..)

She is the eldest child of one of my sisters and left home 6 years ago to study here. Living away from home in another city she loved to come over at our house for dinner. She's a wonderful young woman. With a great sense of humor and a lovely personality.

I bought a book for her filled with photos of Groningen. To look at and think back of a place that she loves  so so much and brought her so many good things. ( That's what she told us)

I made the card and didn't add a sentiment; I wrote a personal letter and tucked it inside.

The phots are a bit blurry; I finished the card yesterday evening at 7.00 PM and it was already getting dark due to the

cloudy weather and rain...)

I used a new doily die and paired it up with some embossed papers and a text stamp from Waltzingmouse stamps

A heart cut out of felt with a little flower - made by me :) -  on top

Here is my card:

Well I'm off for some coffee and I hope to squeeze in some time for another card.

Till soon!

Stella

Random and a 2nd card

Well hello,

How are you?

At first I want to thank all of you who left a lovely, heartwarming and sweet comment during the last week. To congratulate me with my new job, wishing me luck and fun. It  has been lovely to read them all and it  made me realise that all of you are making this blog so special for me.

Thank you so so much! XXXXXX

A daily routine with a bit more time for blogging and cardmaking. And comments. I know there is a lot to read and look at on your blogs. I will hop over but it probably will take me weeks to catch up with all the posts from all of you during the last three weeks. Scrolling down in my dashboard I counted at least a few hundred posts. It will be fun but also take some time. And there is a chance that you might receive comments in the upcoming weeks upon a post that has been posted some time ago. It's not a matter of being interested; it's a matter of time....

I am still wondering how all of you are staying on top of your dashboard. What's your secret? I'd love to hear it!!!

It's 8.45 PM now. Our youngest son joined us for dinner and is now back to his own home. We laughed so much and I love it when one of our sons (or even better; both of them hee hee) are here. It really is quality time and I enjoy these moments so very very much.

. 

 I also want to show you a card that I made for one of my sisters. She's celebrating her birthday tomorrow and this card offered me a chance to create another card with a stamped background. I had so much fun creating the background for this card:



I really need to practice on stamping backgrounds and I have a few sets with background stamps from Waltzingmouse stamps. I used another set for my card; the Musical Background stamps.

I made this card for two challenges; it's my 2nd card for both of them. Thank you ladies for a wonderful color and sketch challenge!

I used the colors of this weeks' challenge at CR84FN

and the sketch of this weeks'challenge at the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge

I love to use a lot of embellishments but again; I wanted to let the stamped background speak for itself.

Not my ususal style but it's a great way to work on my styamping skills :)

A close up of the background:

I also used my Vintage Labels 4 and the Fancy Phrases set:

A fabric flower made by me; topped off with a pearl. And beneath the flower you can see a butterfly that I cut of a piece of grey felt with a butterfly die

I distressed the edges with Pumice Stone distress ink.

Here is my card:

Now it's time for coffee and blogging; till soon!

Stella

Three in a row!

Hello!

How are you???

My oh my it has been more than a week since I've posted here.

With a new job the week went by before I even noticed it.

The first few days were quite busy; getting to know new people,  training and learning to work in a another system. Fun fun fun but by the time I got home I was worn out......

At the end of the week I already felt settled and today I am not as tired as I was last week. Getting used to all the new things I can say that my new job fits like a tailor made jacket :)

Yesterday I really wanted to make a card and for the very first time I used three different challenges.

I made my card for:

The City Crafter Challenge #73 

On your project you have to use

1 ribbon

2 or more words

3 or more butterflies

and  CR84FN38 based upon these gorgeous colors:

and the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge #64 based upon this sketch:

A combo of 3 challenges and I decided to let the stamps speak for itself....

I used one the Text it Stamps from Waltzingmouse stamps to create a background.

It took me quite some time to stamp this background. A lot of paper is in the bin but finally I  had a background that looked quite good (if I may say so...)

And stamped three butterflies on top of it with a stamp from Eline's Huis:

The sentiment is from Flourishes and I added a small gingham bow; there's the ribbon :)

I added a bit of distress ink around the edges of my card and my (little) banner with the sentiment.

And I am quite pleases with the result. Here is my card:

I also wanted to show you the keyhanger I made for Ira's birthday. The only decent picture that I have is of the keyhanger itself. On Ira's blog there is a good photo of my card; mine looks horrible...

And Saturday the mailman delivered this GORGEOUS package from Pauline

With a fabulous card. IRL it's even more gorgeous; a handmade jewel!

And she sent me this; a belated birthday gift and my jaw hit the floor...just look....

Pauline thank you so so much!!!!!

 My dashboard has a new design; it's all white now and crisp. It looks great but didn't work the way I wanted... I hope it will be better now.

Am I the only one or are there more with a new LO/design of their dashboard and having the same trouble?

Well that's all for now.

Have a wonderful evening/day!

Stella



Well hello there....

How are you????

It's so good to be here again!

It has been more than a week since I posted something 

And we had a wonderful vacation!

Spending lots of time with our sons, family ( thank you Jacqueline for a weekend filled with priceless memories. And yes; we laughed so so much and had fun!), visited friends and had a wonderful time. And besides that we went shopping, made a few "steps" in renovating the bedrooms of both our sons, watched a few good movies and enjoyed just being together.

And tomorrow we are back in the routine of daily life. Like all of you.

I am also starting in a new job at an insurance company. I am excited; not stressed. And looking forward to it.

I've been quite busy with all kinds of things and I am telling you: there is a bit of a picture overload in this post.

So if you need a break, don't want to fold the laundry, ironing, cleaning the kitchen and fill the dishwasher, if your DH is watching TV, your children in bed or playing outside and have fun,  if you're ready for coffee, tea or whatever...this post is a great excuse to sit down :)

I used quite a few things that were sent to me, used a lot of scraps, finished my first log cabin (a first attempt to start quilting hee hee), made a birthday tag instead of a card and...I started coloring stamped images.

I really wanted to try that and you can find the pictures of my first attempt in this post too....

Here we go!

Cathy sent me a box filled to the brim with gorgeous embellishments and one of them was this amazing flower:

I really wanted this flower to be the focal point of this card. And used papers from the Girls Paperie and Wild Rose Studio. The ric rac ribbon is a gift from Deb

(this picture is a bit blurry;sorry!)

Next is a card that shows my first attempt of coloring images with distress ink.

The sentiment is from Waltzingmoouse stamps; the papers were a gift from Jacqueline.

I used a waterbrush pencil; one you can fill with water and than...easy peasy :)

I used Forest Moss and Bundled Sage for the leafs and stem:

This image is stamped by Petra. She sent me a few so I could give it a try.

I know it's not perfect but hee...it's my first attempt you know

I made a big mistake with coloring the flower; just beside the stem. Well; lesson learned...

I used Chipped Sapphire, Weathered Wood and Old Paper to color the flower:

And here is my first attempt. I love to hear what you think of it and if I should do this more often. Of course; I have to practice and I would love to get some advice...

I made a few tags. I decided to wait with stamping a sentiment. I didn't pierce it. I can still add some ribbon, twine at the back or just glue it onto something. A few close ups:

And four in a row; the cute tiny buttons were also a gift from Cathy

I made a birthday tag for one of my nephews in patriotic colors; here in Holland the flag is also in red, white and blue. It tunred out quite well; hopefully not too girly:)

The tag:

I am so so happy with the way my first Log Cabin turned out.

I recently bought some more fabric and believe it or not; I already have some red patterned fabric in my stash. We seem to go along quite well the last few weeks...!!!

I had so much fun giving this a try and I am so proud of the result so I decided to frame it.

Here it is:

We didn't have much of a summer. We had too much rain. lots of wind and less sun.The garden looks horrible with one exception; my hydrangeas.

I am sharing a few close ups of these beauties:

This one is my fave. I love the combo of soft pink and fesh green. Colors of nature!

I am also busy sewing. With a lot of different projects and various fabrics I'll show you a little peek:

And one finished project. This is a keyhanger in the shape of a house. I made a few mistakes but again;  first attempt and the second one turned out quite well. I'll post it later; I don't have a picture yet.

But here is the key hanger I made for myself:

That's all for now and I know there is a lot of catching up to do with all of you.

I'll better hop over :)

Till soon!

Stella