Simon Says Stamp DT Card - Sweetheart Brigitta & Reflecting

Good morning peeps,

Yesterday I sat in my craft room & not achieving much I started daydreaming & looking around me at all the hundreds of rubber stamps, pads of paper, reams of ribbon, mountain of flowers etc & thinking how much my life has changed!

Three & a half years ago I never even knew a rubber stamp existed apart from the one's the cashiers in the bank or Post Office would use to stamp "paid"on bills. 

My weakness used to be shoes & handbags, now it's pretty papers & little bits of etched rubber. 

I loved buying things for our home to make it look nice, now I still love buying nice things for our home but often with the intention of taking them apart & using on my cards. 

I used to think I didn't have time for a hobby, & now I'd be lost without it.

I loved having a garden full of flowers, now I'm not content with a garden full I also "need" baskets, boxes & drawers full of pretty paper flowers, and why? 

I'm sometimes in hubby's bad books because he's tripped over a storage folder of papers, or I've "borrowed" something from his toolbox, or when he's horrified that I spend £5 on in his words " one felt tip pen", or I stay up very late to finish DT comments then wake him up trying to sneak into bed, or when my laughter gives me away as he's telling me something important or serious & he realises I'm reading someone's blog instead of  fully listening to him, or when he gets caught with Len (the postie) complaining he needs a big fat Christmas tip for delivering all my parcels, or I spend too long wandering around the craft shop, or because he can't hear the TV over the racket Ali & I make oohing & aahing at over pretty papers or sweet stamps, or when he shakes his head wanting to know why I need more in his words "crap" when I have so much already. 

As I reminded him yesterday, "it's all your fault lovely man as it was YOU who spent weeks trying to convince me I would enjoy making cards after buying me a card making magazine which I didn't want",  so the silly man only has himself to blame lol.

Today is new challenge day at

SIMON SAYS STAMP

& this week our challenge is 

USE 3 DIFFERENT DESIGNER PAPERS

My lovely teamies & I are showcasing CC Designs or The Greeting Farm products this week & I'm so pleased we are as once again I have dug into my stash of poor neglected stamps & remembered why I needed to buy lots of these little cuties.

Ingredients -

Image - CC Designs Sweetheart Brigitta

Medium - Copics

Papers - Memory Box Minuet

Flowers - Magnolia, Prima & stash

Twine - Hemptique

Tools - CC Designs leafy branch, MS Cherry Blossom PATP, Magnolia doo hickey Tilda doily & swirly butterfly, classic large rectangle nesties & large scalloped rectangle nesties

The Copic colours I've used are -

skin - E000, E00, E13, R30, R20, hair - E37, E35, E33, E30, dress & shoes - B95, B93, B91, wings - C3, C1, C00, tights - C1, C00, G82, G40

As always our lovely Heidi is sponsoring our challenge with a mahoosive $50 in store spending spree.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the STORE BLOG peeps, leave a comment and you could win all sorts of lovely goodies :)

I'm entering my card in the following challenges -

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - celebration, Lollipop Crafts - anything goes, The Crazy Challenge - use a punch or die, 

Seems A Little Sketchy - sketch, Inky Impressions - bright colours, Ladybug Crafts Inc - Spring is in the air, Make It Monday - anything goes, Stamp With Fun - shapes, Paper Sundaes - birthday, Stamptacular - charm me

On this day the 22nd February 17 years ago my sisters & my worlds fell apart as we lost our lovely dad after his battle against cancer. I was only 25 years old then & absolutely devastated beyond words, but I am so proud he was my dad & so grateful that my dad had been with us on the most important days in my life, to give me away on my wedding day & to proudly cuddle his grandchildren.

My dad was of the typical "old school" & when we said "love you dad" he would get all embarrassed & quickly mutter "yep you too", but would buy us birthday cards with the soppiest words ever in & he would write "I mean the words, lots of love Dad" 

He loved a party & was king of the dance floor, he was very protective of "his girls" & he expected men to be men, to be tough & strong. He was the First Aider at work (butchers) & would tell a man with his thumb hanging off to stop being a wimp & stick a plaster on it & get back to work, yet went to pieces when Tracey (baby sis) cut her head open, or Debbie (older sis) gave him his first grandchild, and was an emotional & nervous wreck on my wedding day telling the vicar he needed another minute before we went in the church as he was trying to compose himself :)

Although I would give anything to have had my dad with me for more than 25 years I am so grateful for those 25 years & the memories I share with my sisters.

Some years it hurts too much to acknowledge the anniversary out loud, I get stressed & tearful but can't bring myself to talk about it, but this year I feel able to do what he would want, & raise a glass, & a smile in his memory.

 I will love and miss him always.

My dad & me

I must say sorry to my baby sis, if she hasn't shed a tear already today I know she will when she reads my post, and Tracey, in dad's words "stop that booing" lol.

Apologies for the long post peeps, there's just no shutting me up today lol.

Thanks for stopping by