Prayers for my friend

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to blog. Both mine and my husbands new hours at work have made it almost impossible to steal away time to do anything buy survive the day to day stuff. Thank goodness my hours have returned to normal and I'm able to get some fun things done. I made it a point to set aside some "me" time today. I'm slowly coming out of my funk and feel my mojo returning. Here is a card I created yesterday featuring one of Regina's new sets, "Trust In The Lord", from The Cutting Cafe.

I made this card for a friend of mine who was in ICU fighting lung cancer. I didn't get the chance to give it to her. Today she lost her fight and is now in heaven. I will instead, give it to her daughter who is also my friend and who will be needing a lot of prayer to get through the days ahead.

I printed the crosses on blush card stock using print shop to reduce the size and change the color. I then colored them with Copics. I used my oval nesties to emboss around the main cross and then sponged chocolate chip ink around it. The sentiment was printed on vellum which I had cut using my oval nesties. I added a row of embossing top and bottom using my cuttlebug and frills border folders. I felt it needed something to add more focus to the main image so I added the frame, border and ribbon and also sponged on chocolate chip ink.

I love this new set Regina created for us and you will too. It has so many wonderful sentiments that are both comforting and inspiring.

Thanks for bearing with me during my down time. You all are the best! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

You're One In A Melon

It's hot here in Texas and I mean really hot. So hot it reminds me of my childhood, growing up in Arizona. Me and my brothers and sisters would spend all day at the public pool, then cool off later at home with some ice cold watermelon. You should have seen us. We would all be lined up outside on the sidewalk, watermelons in hand with pink watermelon juice dripping off our faces from burying them in the yummy, cold goodness. Today's card is in honor of hot summer days and fond memories.

The image is Fruit Greetings from The Cutting Cafe and is colored using Copics and glazed using Glossy Accents. I added some doodling around the edges and kept to an overall polka dotted theme just for the fun of it using my Cuttlebug and Swiss Dot Folder, Dotted Ribbon and a big ole Button. It still needed a little something so I added the photo corners.

I thought I should take a moment and let you in on decision I struggled to make. You may have noticed that I've been absent in the Cuttlebug Challenges lately. I have decided to take a step back from some of my design team work and take some time to catch my breath. When mom passed away last year in October, I was so eager to keep myself busy so that I didn't have time to think about her being gone. As you can probably already guess, it didn't work. Well, that's not true exactly, it did work for a little while, but eventually it left me feeling tired and stressed. I have decided it's time to face my feelings head on and only take on what I can handle in the way of commitments. It's been awesome working with such a talented team and I wish them all the best.

Have a fabulous day! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Monday At The Cafe

It's Monday and time for another card for Monday At The Cafe.

I love circle sentiments, don't you? Check out the fabulous Extended Family Birthday Sentiments Regina, the owner of The Cutting Cafe has created. There's one for just about every member of the family. She thought of every member of the family when she made this set. So cool!

I used pretty much the same layout as yesterdays card but just added a few more elements. I cut the flower center and border using my Cricut and Storybook Cart (love that cart). The DP is from Memory Box and the Card Stock is Carribean and Black Textured. I thought this would look nice with a heart border from Fiskars. To add the finishing touches I threw in some ribbon, primas and brads. I love the elegance of this card, don't you?


I sure hope you're all having a great summer. I'm busy with summer school, kids and just the normal day to day stuff around the house. I cleaned up my craft room today and plan on doing some more organizing tomorrow. Lord knows it needs it. Maybe, just maybe it will inspire me to create more. One can only hope:)


Have a fabulous day and as always, thanks for stopping by. TTFN



Hugs, Becky

Little Lady Birthday Card

I know it's not Monday but Holy smokes it's been a while since I posted here and I wanted to share a really cute birthday card. I bet you all thought I fell off the face of the planet. Not to worry, I'm still here, it's just that I haven't felt any creative energy for the last couple of weeks. I think it has something to do with the kids being out of school and my schedule at work changing, but I'm finally get back into the swing of things. Just in time for some new releases over at The Cutting Cafe.

I love whimsey and this cute little ladybug from Little Ladybugs is just that. Whimsical and cute as a bug. LOL

Paired with the circle from Happy Birthday To My Daughter and it's a perfect card for a little girls birthday.

I printed the background using my print shop to change the color of the font (instructions for this are on The Cutting Cafe). I also thought it would be fun to add some big black dots. I cut the scallop square with my Cricut and Mini Mono Cart. For the circle, I reduced the size and cut it out and added a black mat, flower and the ladybug to the center. Top it off with some fun ribbon, a button and some dots around the circle(white gel pen) and it was finished. Cute, cute, cute!

I wish I had more time to chat, but I need to get back to my stamp room if I'm gonna have a card to share with you for tomorrow's Monday At The Cafe. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by. TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Cuttlebug Be Inspired 34

Good morning all my blogging friends. It's time for this week's Cuttlebug Be inspired Challenge. This week we are challenging ourselves and you to cut into that Basic Grey paper and make something beautiful. I know it's hard, but together we can do it. Just say to yourself " I bought it because I love it, I can use it because it wants to feel loved".

I've had the Infuse paper that I used for my card for quite a while and have admired it long enough. It's time to admire it in it's next form. A card.

Using my Cricut and Storybook Cart, I cut the hearts and marquee. I ink embossed the heart using my Cuttlebug and Argyle folder. I also embossed the marquee panel using the textile folder (one of my faves). That beautiful DP as I said before is Infuse from Basic Grey and inspired my color pallette. I added the champagne ribbon and flowers just to give it a little something extra.

Be sure to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge blog to see the fabulous designs from the team. I know I'm excited about them.

This weeks sponsor for our challenge is Mother's And Daughter's Creations. Be sure to stop by and show them some love.

Speaking of daughters. It's my youngest daughters sixteenth birthday today (this is set for autopost, by the time you read this we will have already celebrated). It's time for cake, ice cream and a movie. This weekend we get to go on a shopping spree (her not me) and have dinner out. I can't believe my baby girl is sixteen already:(

Thanks for stopping by. If you have some free crafting time, we'd love for you to do the challenge. Be sure to post a link on the Cuttlebug Challenge site.

Have a great day! TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Monday at the Cafe and a bit more.

Warning, this is a lengthy post so if you want to you can skip all the small talk and scroll down for today's Monday At The Cafe.

I'm finally getting back in the swing of things and fingers crossed all my postings will now be on schedule.

This weekend was the fabulous North Texas Swap and I had so much fun. I'm still smiling and admiring all the fun cards the ladies had for me to make. I wanted to share some pics of a few of the ladies I had the good fortune to hang out with.
My friend Sandy who flies in for this event every year. She always has amazing designs but better than that, she is a wonderful person and I look forward to seeing her every year.
My dear friend Suzy and our fearless leader for this year's swap. She put together an amazing get together and was so calm and collected the whole time. Suzy girl, you rock!

I finally got a picture with the one and only Jen Del Muro. She's been at every swap for the last three years and I always enjoy spending time with her. She is so sweet and uber talented to boot. I just hope some of her stamping genius has rubbed off on me.

My fabulous table mates. Me, Libby, Christy and Susan. We spent the whole day together and had the greatest time. I especially loved the sound effects coming from the other side of the table. (Susan, you know what I'm talking about) You ladies are the best!

This is my friend Sharon, myself and Libby. Sharon is the person responsible for getting me to my first NTS three years ago and I just love her to pieces. She's a wonderful person and so talented. I'm glad I got to see her again.

This was the door prize that I took to exchange. The votive is actually a wine glass with a paper shade that I made to match my card.

Look for lots Cat's Pajamas cards in the future because I was the lucky recipient of the door prize they donated to the swap. There were three sets of Clearly Swanky stamps, ribbon, buttons, 3-d frames and flowers from Petaloo and a new border punch. I would have posted a picture but I tore into it as soon as I got it home and was ashamed to show my debauchery:)

Now to the business at hand. Today's Monday At The Cafe.

One of the ladies (I believe it was JT-SCS name) at the swap brought these cute little treat holder for cookies and I loved mine so much, I thought it would be perfect to showcase one of the newly released sets at The Cutting Cafe.

Major cuteness going on here. This is from Regina's Thank Ewe set and you get the background and four sheep images. This is one of the small images. It was the perfect size. I colored her just around the edges using my gray Copic marker. I'm gonna be busy making several of these to hand out to the teachers on Friday.

If you think this is cute you should check out the Little Ladybug, Cutie Pie and Sweet Heart set. So many possibilities!

Well, I think I've dragged this on long enough. Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by my little piece of blogland. I'm outta here. TTFN

Hugs, Becky

Sketch 97

Good morning and welcome to this week's sketches challenge. We have just one more month of challenges and then we will be taking a summer break. I'm gonna miss Tamara's wonderful sketches but we still have a few more before then so I'll save my sadness for then.

Look at the fabulous sketch she has for us this week.

I kept to the sketch but changed the size because everything I wanted to include wouldn't fit on a regular size card. I cut the numbers and sentiment with my Cricut and Graphically Speaking Cart. The Congrats was stamped in White Pigment and heat embossed with white EP. I used masculine colors and lines so this card is perfect for a young man getting ready to start the next level of his journey. I loved the saying "no limits" don't you?

Be sure to stop by the Sketches site to see the amazing work of the team. You won't be dissapointed that's for sure.

I gotta run. Hubby is home sick with whatever it was that I had last week. That's why I haven't been around. I'm looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. I miss my blogging time but hubby is more important. Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by. TTFN

Hugs, Becky