Morning peeps and hope you are all OK today.
The man flu is still lurking but I think it is improving ever so slightly so hopefully by the weekend I will have some semblance of normality back (hahahaaaaaaaaa to the normality bit!!)
So it’s time to nip over and see what’s happening over at the Lili’s Little Fairies Challenge and this week it’s time for a game of
Embellishment Bingo
Here’s the grid and all you have to do is to pick a line :)
There are several combis I used here – not deliberately cos I aint that clever (although I did use everything on a grid once for one of The Ribbon Girl challenges, smug smug!!!). So take your pick from
Flowers, Gems Glitter
Glitter Buttons Ribbon
Pearls (the little stars) Lace (paper) Glitter
And talking of The Ribbon Girl, we are sponsored today by those lovely peeps Mary & Andrea and there is a …
…. fab Aqua Mini Ribbon Kit up for grabs.
So ….
… this is what I did. I used one of last year’s Lili Of The Valley Christmas releases and this is of course All In A Row .
I coloured it with Copics in these colours -
Skin – E0000, E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02
Hair – E31, E33, E35, E39, E50
The rest – BV0000, BV000, BV00, BV02, BV04
The papers are from the Lili Of The Valley paper pads and this one is Promises which features papers from the Nitwits collection of the same name - I really like these colours together :)
Some Ribbon Girl yummies here -
A larger bow made with Sky Mauve Lilac Seam Binding, topped with a smaller double bow made with Wavecrest Seam Binding which was finally topped with a Medium Purple Polka Dot Button tied with some natural button twine.
And there’s a cheeky little tag peeking out which is from the LOTV Christmas Sentiment Tags Set 32
The dies I used are Spellbinders Lattice Motifs and of course a bit of Tilda Lace
A little arrangement made with various fab stuff from Wild Orchid Crafts :)
So there we are all done for today.
If you get a sec, nip over and have a mooch at the challenge blog peeps and from next week there will be a few more faces joining the DT. Hugest congrats to them and I for one can’t wait to share their fabulous work :)
Before I go I just have to say that yesterday my heart went out to the families of the Hillsborough Disaster. For too long these poor people have not only had to come to terms with losing their relatives in the most awful way, but have had to fight every inch of the way for the truth. I guess that under the circumstances it wasn’t a lot to ask. Yesterday that fight brought them the official confirmation that they had been seeking all these years. I’m sure that it didn't make them feel any better – in fact it probably made them feel worse in some cases, knowing that lives lost maybe could have been saved. But they must at last feel vindicated and it is a step forward for them and maybe now they can begin to find some peace and start to heal. If that’s possible.
I am LFC supporter – have been all my life – and so is Rich and my Emma. I used to go to home games years ago,back in the days of Emlyn and Clemence and Tommy Smith etc. My ex husband was also a red and went to most games, home or away and even went abroad to watch them, although he wasn’t at Hillsborough. So I guess that football is a way of life round here so this really hit home and I remember it happening like it was yesterday.
I remember going into work on the Monday and of course it was the main topic of conversation, and finding out that one of my ex neighbours had died there. One of the girls who worked there used to go to the same pub as he did and she told me - I couldn’t believe it. I still see one of his sisters now cos she works in one of the shops near here.
I remember feeling outrage that you really should not go to a football match and not come home.
I remember the nightmares I had after reading a particularly harrowing and graphic book of accounts of what happened that day. I remember wishing I had never read it and then feeling guilty that I had just wanted to bury my head and wipe away the images I had from my mind because the people that were there would never be able to do that. I cannot even tell you peeps what I read because it is too awful. Suffice to say that those that were caught up in those pens must have thought they had gone to the very depths of hell.
I remember the shocking pictures on the front pages of the Sunday papers the next day and going out of my way to make sure that my kids didn't see them.
I remember meeting up with the sister of the best friend of my neighbour who had died. Her brother had also gone to the match but he came home. He came home without his best friend but brought back a world of pain and problems and guilt. He was traumatised beyond belief she told me and his nightmares may even continue to this day and will be far worse than anything I could ever imagine.
I remember one of my works colleagues telling me that her husband had been there on that day. He was in the top tier and got the most awful view of what was happening below him. He was one of those helping to pull people upwards. He has never gone to a match since.
I’m not meaning to get on me soap box here cos I know that we lived in a very different world then, even though it wasn't that long ago, and football supporters hadn’t always been paragons of virtue – sorry if this offends anyone but it is the reality of those times. And I have always told my kids that they have to have a fair and balanced view of life and that there are usually two sides to every story. Some (not all) supporters had a really bad reputation back then for rioting and pitch invasions and fighting and I have tried to rationalise in my head that those in charge on that day may have got the wrong end of the stick and as a result made the wrong decisions. Making wrong decisions is part of our lives – we have all done it because we are human beings and we aren’t perfect. I can forgive that. But what I cannot forgive is the systematic cover up and all the lies that have been told since. Things that are coming out now about the lengths that certain parties went to to deflect blame and cover up the truth are beyond belief and those responsible must be brought to book. What they did is nothing short of evil.
It’s hard to live in these parts and not know somebody who died or was affected by this, even down to the next generation because my kids both went to school with the brothers of two of the victims. There are lots of people around here inter-connected to this tragedy in some way or another and a lot of people have been affected. And we live some 20 odd miles from Liverpool so in the city this will be even greater.
But none are affected quite so much as the immediate families. The rest of us remember Hillsborough when things like yesterday happen and then we all start talking about it again. But for those families it never goes away and they remember it all the times. For them it isn't just a topic on the news cos it is their reality.
So today I am remembering the 96 and their families.
I am also remembering the other victims of that day that we don’t always think about. People like the young St Johns Ambulance volunteers that were there on that day, some little more than kids, who thought they were there to patch up cuts and bruises. And the hospital staff who tried to deal with this but who must have been completely overwhelmed. And the Hillsborough ground staff – God only knows what they had to cope with. And the family and friends of those fans who went but came home – they have probably been coping with the fall out ever since. And the fans on the pitch that were desperately trying to save their mates and fellow fans.
And on and on it goes.
But hopefully now they can start to have some sort of closure.
And while I’m remembering, my thoughts are also with my friends across the water on the anniversary this week of 9/11. And finally I am remembering my lovely Mum because it is 9 years tomorrow since she died (love and miss you loads Mum xxx).
Huggiest of hugs to all xxx
