It's a "White Out" kind of day!

Okay girls, this week's Bellarific Challenge was to make a card using only white paper and a coloured image. Sounds simple right? Well if you have been reading my blog for any length of time then you will know that I just don't do simple well. So I was trying to figure out a way to have lots of layers and matting on my card but to make it stand out...it's harder than it looks!

Now I know some of you are looking at my card and saying to yourself..."she used white and cream, she cheated"...not so my little dears :D I used only white card stock and the parts that strangely look a little ivory in the photos are actually Score Tape and Warm White Glitter by Glitter Ritz. When I took the photo, it showed more ivory tones than white but it is really all white in person...and sparkly! *grin*

So now that I have explained the white part of the card to you, I have a confession to make. I did cheat just a teensy little bit...I added a wee bit of sand ink sponging to the very edges of some of the layers just to define them a bit. Okay, fine! You can throw the book at me now. I admitted it okay? ;)

The Snowy House image was both water coloured with my trusty Derwent Inktense Pencils and a water brush as well as sponged with some baja and teal inks. I had to place a blue backdrop in my light box just so that you could see the card, but I kind of liked this challenge! I made me really think out side the box :D

It maybe a white out day on my blog but it's a Black Friday kind of weekend over at Stamping Bella! Emily is offering you for EVERY order OVER $50 you will receive 5 free stamps (Stamping Bella chooses) included in your order!!  The retail value can be up to $50!  all for FREE! The sale starts now and goes until Monday at midnight!

Now onto next week's Bellarific Challenge. All you have to do is make a card with snow on it. It could be in an image or some sort of snowy concoction that you have dreamed up all by yourself! The point is to have fun and show us what you got ;) Don't forget to email Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) your creation by Thursday evening to be included in Friday's Bellarific Post on Bloggabella :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella -Snowy House
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Teal, Sand
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders LG Scallop and Standard Rectangle Dies, Button, Ribbon, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Score Tape, Glitter, Dimensionals, Sponges, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Stickles

Minty Coffee Soothes the Ankle

 It's a minty coffee day around here! We woke up this morning to a boatload of snow and therefore it's a snow day for the kids and a major caffeine fix for Momma so that she can keep up with the kidlets! lol I don't know what's better with coffee besides a big ole candy cane, do you? Nope...didn't think so ;)

I water coloured the coffee cup with my tombows and sponged the background in. I then took a couple of prismas and some gamsol just to add some shading underneath the cup because I forgot to add some tombow there before I sponged...maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet today! If fact I know I haven't other wise I would have known to wear better boots to check the mail...instead I fell flat on my back with my leg folded underneath me and making a rather nasty popping sound. We will see how the ankle is a little later today but it sure feels like a sprain! Ugh! Well, enough about me and onto Emily's good news...

You all know that Stamping Bella is a Canadian store right? Well, Miss Em is currently in Michigan and is wanting to celebrate Black Friday with the Americans so what does that mean for everyone? She is offering you for EVERY order OVER $50 you will receive 5 free stamps (Stamping Bella chooses) included in your order!!  The retail value can be up to $50!  all for FREE! The sale starts now and goes until Monday at midnight! Such a fantastic deal right? I know! :D


Don't forget that tomorrow is Bellarific Friday and the challenge was to make a "white out" card using only white and having just the image coloured. If you are making a card, don't forget to email it to Emily so that she can include you in tomorrow's post over at Bloggabella.  See you tomorrow, and I will be the one wearing all white ;)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Minty Coffee
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Chocolate, K&Co DP, Upsy Daisy DP, Bo Bunny DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Caramel, Chocolate, Moss, Red, Saffron, Mustard
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Labels Dies, Tombow Dueal Brush Pens, Water Brush, Martha Steward Border Punch, Pearls, Crystal Effects, Sponges, Dimensionals, Quickie Glue Pen, Glitter, Holly Embellishments, Prisma Pencils and Gamsol, Clear Embossing Powder, Versa Marker

Season's Greetings!

Welcome back to the last day of the There She Goes November release sneak peeks! If you have arrived here from Miss Julie's blog then you are in the right place, if not then please start back at the TSG Blog :D

Today, I get to showcase a fabulous new set by illustrator, Chris Dark called Seasons Greetings. These wonderfully illustrated images are perfect for creating elegant as well as whimsical holiday cards for your friends and family and is a  4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 13 stamps that will sell for $18.

This Santa was water coloured with Derwent Inktense Pencils and a water brush and I don't mind telling you that I took the easy way out with this card ;) I actually water coloured the Santa first and then cut him out and glued him to my sponged background. I didn't feel like masking him off in order to do the sponging so it was just easier to cut and glue ;) Sometimes easy is just plain better :) For the snow, I added some dots of glue with my quickie glue pen and then covered them with warm white glitter ritz sparkles and coated the white trim on the Santa suite with crystal stickles. This Santa shines! :D

Would you like a chance to win the Seasons Greetings stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Seasons Greetings Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Seasons Greetings stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Nov. 27) during the Release Party Chat.
Thanks for coming by today and you are now off to Miss Natalie's blog.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Season's Greetings
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Chocolate, Basic Grey DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Chocolate, Navy, Baja, Sand
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders LG Scallop and Standard Oval Dies, Top Note Die, Stickles, Quickie Glue Pen, Glitter, Sponges, Dimensionals, Ribbon, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Sakura Gel Pen, Corner Chomper, Scallop Edge Punch

Penguin Pals

Welcome back to the second day of the There She Goes November release sneak peeks! If you have arrived here from Miss Julie's blog then you are in the right place, if not then please start back at the TSG Blog :D

Today I'm excited to show you a card that was made with a sweet  image from the new Penguin Pals set by our newest illustrator Di Carubia (of Di’s Digi Downloads). Penguin Pals is a 4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 16 stamps and will sell for $18.

This card was water coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils and a water brush on Canson 90lb cold press water colour paper. I tore off a piece of white cardstock for the snow under his feet and added stickles to make it look a little like snow of which I also added stickles to the main image itself and my Spellbinders die cut snowflake :)

 Would you like a chance to win the Penguin Pals stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Penguin Pals Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Penguin Pals stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Nov. 27) during the Release Party Chat

Thanks for coming by today and you are now off to the talented Miss Natalie's blog.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Penguin Pals
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Cocoa, My Mind's Eye DP, Bo Bunny DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Chocolate, Baja, Moss, Blue
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Lg Standard Circle, Scallop Circle and Snowflake Wonder Dies, Ribbon, Sponges, Rhinestone Brad, Stickles, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Corner Chomper

It's Sneak Peek Time at There She Goes!

Welcome to the first day of the There She Goes November release sneak peeks! If you have arrived here from Miss Julie's blog then you are in the right place, if not then please start back at the TSG Blog :D

 

I have two fabulous sets to show you today, so bear with me on this long post :) The first set is called Just for You and I used it here with some fantastic October Afternoon designer papers to add a touch of fun to my Winters day :) I loved the bright colors so I thought that I would make an all occasion card and test drive my newest Martha Stewart punch (Cornflower) while I was at it.

This card didn't require any colouring by hand at all...just a little bit of ink, a couple of sponges and some really fabulous stamps :D Keep scrolling down for sneak peek number 2 of the day :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Just for You
Paper: Gina K, Black, October Afternoon DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Caramel, Saffron, Mustard, Red
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Corner Rounder, Clear Embossing Powder, MS Cornflower and Leaf Punches, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Button, Twine, Dimensionals, Sponges

The next set on the list is this cutie of a Christmas/Birthday set called Wrapped in Joy. It was designed by Torico and she always comes up with really sweet and whimsical images.

 

For this card, I participated in this week's SFYTT challenge. The sketch fit really well with this little sweetie as she is one of the smaller images in the set. I water coloured her with Tombow Markers and a water brush and then popped her up on dimensionals. The background was created with a little piece of designer paper and some sponging. I then drew in the floor board lines with an SU stamp and write marker in Chocolate Chip.

Would you like a chance to win either the Just for You set or the Wrapped in Joy set? Here’s what you need to do. Just go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Just for You/Wrapped in Joy Blog Hop Challenge posts. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Just for You/ Wrapped in Joy stamp sets. The winner will be announced during the Release Party Chat.

Thanks for coming by today and you are now off to Miss Natalie's blog. 


Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Wrapped in Joy
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Bo Bunny DP, K&Co DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Rose, Moss, Chocolate, Caramel, Cocoa
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Corner Rounder, Clear Embossing Powder, MS Heart Punch, Cuttlebug Tag Die, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Button, Twine, Dimensionals, Sponges, Tombows, Water Brush, SU Chocolate Marker

Bellarific Funky Bamboo Sketches

Great title isn't it? ;) For this week's Bellarific Challenge over at Bloggabella, Cathabella gave us this fantastic sketch to work with.

 

As fabulous as this sketch is, I totally forgot about it until yesterday! *GASP* I know! I was hanging out on Facebook when I realized that I hadn't done my challenge card for today so I raced down to my craft room and pulled out my handy, dandy Funky Bamboo stamp so that I could quickly make a sponged scene. 

This card came together fairly quickly with some Basic Grey Indian Summer papers and a scrap of K&Co paper. Instead of a square card, I changed up the shape to a regular A2 because it fit with my image the best. It's all kind of squished on the card but I like the look anyway ;)

This is a short and sweet post because I have my little girl home with me today because she's sick and she's been begging me to watch a movie with her so... I have to run. Before I leave, next week's Bellarific Challenge is to make an all white card with just the main image that has colour...think Christmas and that should get the ball rolling for you! :D 

Have a great day everyone!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Funky Bamboo
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Basic Grey DP, K&Co DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Rose, Razzleberry, Eggplant, Pumpkin, Saffron, Rust, Suede
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Sponges, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Brads

A tale of desperate thinking....

Okay, so the story for this card goes a little like this...

Once upon a time ago, this fair maiden attended the winter fair with the respectable initials of CHA in the year Two Thousand and Nine. Whilst she was there, she stumbled upon a delightful little market booth named Jillybean Soup. The busy women who sold their wares, took some time and taught this maiden how to use their goods. The maiden thanked the women for their tutelage and was sent on her way.

When the winter fair was over the maiden boarded her steel airborne carriage and went back to her land far, far away called Reality. As the months and years passed, the maiden forgot about the beautiful gift that she made with the women until she stumbled upon it while her cleaning fairies where moving things about. Sadly, her gift was somewhat damaged and the fair maiden was distraught.

One day the maiden's daughter came to her and said that she was in need of a way to give Birthday greetings to another of the girls that attended her school. The maiden was so very busy that she needed her fairies to use their magic and fix the situation for her but alas, the fairies were no where to be found. So, the maiden found and old sewing kit and some scraps of parchment and set out to create the vessel on which the Birthday greetings would be delivered. Whilst doing this, the maiden remembered the beautiful gift from a land far, far, away and was able to repair it by adding new parchment in exotic colours and stitched the layers together.

The next day, the maiden's daughter was able to deliver the birthday greetings along with a gift to be treasured and they all lived happily ever after...except for the fairies who were suspended without pay when they were found to be playing a game of who can hide the longest, therefore leaving the maiden to get her hands dirty with staining inks :)

The End

Card Recipe:

Stamps: None
Paper: Gina K Kraft, Espresso, Jillybean Soup DP, Scenic Route DP
Ink: Cocoa, Chocolate, Rust
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Die Cut Felt Flowers, Ribbon, Brad, Dimensionals

TSG81 - Bee Happy

Hee hee hee, this card makes me smile when I look at it :0) I might be the pretty Spring-like colours or it might just be these adorable bee images from the Bee Happy set by There She Goes. Either one is bound to put a smile on your face, I'm sure of it :D

My card was made for week's challenge over at the TSG blog, and is a sketch that our fellow (and fabulous) Trendsetter, Holly challenged us to. It looks a little intimidating at first, but it actually came together pretty easily! I sponged my scenery first with various inks and then added my stamped images and popped up flowers and bees after that were water coloured with tombow markers and a water brush.

So you want to play along too don't you? Well then - to be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a scene using stamps then come back to the TSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the Mr. Linky that is located at the bottom of this challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Nov. 15). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)

You do not need to have a blog to be able to participate in the TSG Challenges! You can simply add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery. If you upload your card to an online craft gallery, please use the keyword TSG81 so we can check out your beautiful work!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Bee Happy
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Teal, Lime, Pumpkin, Olive
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Corner Chomper, Sponges, Ribbon, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Stickles, Cloud Template

CDS - Unity Candle Digital Image

Welcome to my first digital image release through Clear Dollar Stamps! This image is called Unity Candle and is mostly an Anniversary set but has been designed to work well with The Light of Winter stamp set from the November release :0)

The image was water coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils and a water brush on Canson 90lb cold press paper. After I finished colouring the image I gave it a thick coat of crystal effects to make the image glossy and to give it a little extra "oomph" since I didn't make the image 3D.

I was able to find some scraps that worked well with this image and came up with a rather strange layout - but I kind of like it ;) I kept the embellishments to a minimum because I made this card for my honey and, well...he's a guy and doesn't appreciate all that much bling ;)

Although this is my first digital set...sadly, this is my last official post as a Design Team Member/ Illustrator for Clear Dollar Stamps. I came to the decision in September to leave the team and to take a break from illustrating. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Lori McCroskey and her Clear Dollar Stamps girls and am going to miss them immensely! For those of you who don't know, Lori was the first design team that I ever worked with and I have been with them since June of 2008 :) She not only believed in me and gave me my big break as a designer/illustrator but also along the way became a good friend and I am so very thankful for those opportunities!

Thanks for coming by today and don't forget to take a peek over at Lori's blot to see at all of the Digital Release Images that are available as of today!


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Unity Candle Digital Image
Paper: Gina K, Chocolate, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Printer, Caramel, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Labels Dies, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Ribbon, Sponges, Crystal Effects, Printer

FS197 - Peonies and Jellybeans

Hi everyone! I get the pleasure again of bringing you this week's prestigious Featured Stamper Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers because Miss Beth is still on vacation overseas :)

This week's challenge is FS197 - Jumpin' Jellybeans! and we are featuring Jellybean74! Angela's (Jellybean74 at SCS) gallery is chalked full of pastel, yummy goodness just like the sweet candy so let's start that sugar high and make her feel special!

This is the card that I chose to CASE and as per the Featured Stamper Challenge rules, I had to change 2 or more things on the card. I kept the same layout, colour combo and image type but changed out the green matting for black, added a double bow and some dry embossing and stitching.

The image has been water coloured with my tombow markers and a waterbrush and the clouds were sponged in. As a finishing touch I added some prisma colour and gamsol grass (here is a video tutorial on how to do this from Paula Williamson). I used as many of the same designer papers that I had to match Angela's card and ended up embossing them with my cuttlebug. I didn't have the exact same image that she used so I went with the next best choice of Peony Bittybloom from Stamping Bella.

Congratulations Angela and thanks for have such a large gallery full of eye candy to choose from!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Peony Bittybloom
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye DP, October Afternoon DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Teal, Olive
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Labels Four Dies, Lg Classic Scallop Circle Dies, Lg Standard Circle Dies, Ribbon, Button, Twine, Cloud Stencil, Sponges, Pomagranate Bella Baubles, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Corner Chomper, Prismas and Gamsol, Gelly Roll Glitter Pen

Bellarific Holiday Card Challenge

It's a bird, it's a plane...nope wait a minute...it's a Christmas tag? Yeah, I know that this week's Bellarific Challenge said a holiday card but I couldn't help myself. You see, I had these sweet sparkely/acrylic snowflakes by Me & My Big Idease that I wanted to use and I wanted to step out of the box a little and create something that I normally have difficulty with...yes, that would be tags ;)

I have no idea why, but I have this problem with my tags...they always end up looking so plain and I was going for a wee bit of a flashy look, so out came the ribbons, buttons and bling, oh my! The tag measures 3"x5" and is made up of some scraps of designer papers. I used the Stamping Bella Merry Holidays sentiment because it really does cover all of the holiday bases :0)

For the sparkly swirl piece, I used a die from the Spellbinders Doodle Parts set and cut it out on Baja card stock. I then took the piece and zipped it through my newest toy - the xyron sticker machine and then coated it with some glitter from Glitter Ritz. I was so thrilled with how this turned out because to me it looks like the pretty seasonal chip board that you can buy at the craft store, but is much easier to apply to a card/tag because it's the same thickness as the rest of the papers. Yay for new-to-me discoveries! Yes, I can be easy to please and simple minded at times ;)

Well enough of my high on glitter and let's get to next week's Bellarific Challenge. Drum roll please.....it's a sketch brought to us by Cathy :)

Thanks for the great sketch Cathy and for everyone else, don't forget to email you challenge card photo to Emily so that you can see yourself on Bloggabella :D Have fun!

Tag Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Merry Holidays
Paper: Gina K, Black, Baja, My Mind's Eye DP, Bo Bunny Dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Red, Baja
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Doodle Parts Dies, Glitter Ritz Glitter, Sponges, Xyron, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Buttons, Twine, Pearls, SU Tab Punch, Designer Label, and Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Snowflake Die Cut by Me & My Big Ideas, Ribbon

Mojo164 - Cuppa Tea

First things, first. I love this stamp! I have coveted it for quite some time and now it's mine I tell you  - all mine :D It's a set from Stamping Bella called Cuppa Tea and I used it here to make this week's Mojo164 sketch challenge. Miss Julee is one of the best sketch designers out there and if you every need some inspiration, her Mojo Makers and herself are always there to provide it :D Thanks for kick starting this creation Julee!

The tea cups have been water coloured with tombow dual brush pens and popped up to be 3D. The background was shaded with water colours first,  then sponged...and then I added some final details under the saucer with my prismas and gamsol :) Yeah, that is a lot of colouring for just a few little whimsical tea cups but it was worth it!

That's it for now and just a reminder to you all, this week's Bellarific Friday challenge is to make some sort of Holiday/Christmas card. You can make it as simple or as detailed as you like and don't forget to email it to emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday to have it included in with the Bellarific Friday post over at Bloggabella.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Stamping Bella - Cuppa Tea
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye Dp, October Afternoon DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Caramel, Mustard, Saffron, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Dies, Tag Punch, Martha Steward Punch, Ribbon, Sponges, Button, Dimensionals, Raffia, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Prismas and Gamsol

TSG80 - Happy Mail

This week over that the TSG blog, fellow Trendsetter Angela has challenged us all to create a scene. There She Goes Stamps have a number of sets that are designed to work with each other but I figured that I would go a different route and try something a little different.

I ended up taking all of my TSG stamps and laying them out on my table (it was no easy task I might add) and started pairing up sets that had stamps that looked like they might have similar sized stamps in them. There were so many choices that I could have gone with but I chose the cat and mouse from the Cattitude set and the sentiment and mailbox are from the Special Delivery set. Doesn't this cheeky fat cat look like he's ready to enjoy what arrived in his mailbox? ;)

I coloured the cat to kind of look like Garfield because he's on the pleasantly rotund side and has the same markings and smug look on his face ;) Most of the scene was water coloured with my Tombows and then I added some simple sponged clouds to the background to brighten up the card. I paired up my images with some fun October Afternoon - Report Card papers and finished it off with a hint of orange ribbon :)

So you want to play along too don't you? Well then - to be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a scene using stamps then come back to the TSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the Mr. Linky that is located at the bottom of this challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Nov. 15). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)
You do not need to have a blog to be able to participate in the TSG Challenges! You can simply add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery. If you upload your card to an online craft gallery, please use the keyword TSG80 so we can check out your beautiful work!

Thanks for coming by today!

 Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Special Delivery and Cattitude
Paper: Gina K, Grey, Water Colour, October Afternoon - Report Card
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Teal, Lime, Grey
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Clear Embossing Powder, Spellbinders Sm and Lg Oval Dies, Labels Dies, Ribbon, Twine, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water Brush, Dimensionals, Sponges, Corner Chomper

FS196 - Owl that Jazz

Hi everyone! Today I get the pleasure of bringing you this week's prestigious Featured Stamper Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers because Miss Beth is on vacation overseas :) I will also have the pleasure of hosting next weeks challenge too so stay tuned for that one ;) 

This week's challenge is FS196 - All that Jazz and we are featuring jazzytobi! I had the pleasure of meeting Tobi Crawford at a stamping event last month as she is a total doll and her cards are out of this world! 

This is the card that I chose to CASE and as per the Featured Stamper Challenge rules, I had to change 2 or more things on the card. I kept the same layout, colour combo and image type but added dew drops, ribbon instead of a sentiment and stitching with matting to the card. I chose this particular card because I had it in my favourites file since last year and absolutely adore the fun image and bright colours :D

My owl is from the You're a Hoot set from There She Goes and was water coloured with my tombow markers and water brush. The clouds were sponged and I added some dew drops to balance out the image since mine was a little different from the original card. I didn't have any chipboard to complete the Tobi's sentiment panel on her card so I went with coordinating ribbon and added texture by dry embossing the designer papers :)

Thanks for coming by today and thank you Tobi for sharing your artwork with us :D

 Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - You're a Hoot
Paper: Gina K, Chocolate, Kraft, Water Colour, Making Memories DP, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Turquoise, Chocolate, Caramel, Olive, Studio G Green Ink
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Sponges, Ribbon, Dew Drops, Cloud Stencil, Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Multi, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water Brush, Dimensionals

Bellarific 1,2,3 Challenge

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Bella-ri-fic Fri-day! *said in my bestest shower stall sing song voice ever* :D Welcome to Bellarific Friday! Today's challenge was to create a 1,2,3 card...and what does that mean you ask? Well it means 1 image, 2 designer papers and 3 embellishments :D I did that the one image thing to a new level though. I'll bet that you don't recognize this Bella stamp do you? It's actually the 3 Whimsy Flowers stamp and I just masked off 2 of the flowers and kept this one nice and lonely (according to Emilybella) lol

Speaking of lonely... This Saturday most of the bella babes will be visiting Miss Em at the store and I'm so green with envy that I don't get to be there! I'm just going to sit here and pout for a bit. At least I'm not that lonely because it looks like Elainabella, Jeaniebella, Wendybella and I are in the same boat...at home, whilst the rest of the bella babes are colouring up a storm and chatting away having a great time.  Don't mind me, I'm just going to pout a little more.

Ok, I'm much better now ;) So as I mentioned above, I masked off 2 of the flowers in the image so that I could just stamp the one flower. I then water coloured it with my tombows and put a protective coat of clear embossing powder over the image so that it didn't get affected by my sponging. As a final touch to my main image I added some quickie glue pen dots and covered them with glitter to add a little sparkle to someones day :)

So now that you have had some glittery sunshine to add some sparkle to your day (and mine ;) how's about we get to next week's bellarific challenge? I'm warning you, it's simple and you are going to thank us for it ;) All you have to do is make a Christmas/Holiday card. I told you it was simple :) You can thank us later ;) So off you go and get started on your Christmas card and don't forget to email it to Emily by Thursday so that you can be featured on Bloggabella :)

Card Recipe: 

Stamps: Stamping Bella - 3 Whimsy Flowers
Paper: Gina K, Chocolate, Water Colour, October Afternoon DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Pink, Rose, Plum, Caramel, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Brads, Sponges, Clear Embossing Powder, Quickie Glue Pen, Glitter Ritz Glitter, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water Brush

SFYTT - Christmas Kitty

Happy Thursday everyone! Well it is for me anyway because both Grey's Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries are on so that chalks up my day to be the happiest day of the week :D Today, will also bring you this sweet Christmas kitty who is all decked out for the holidays :D

This stamp is from Stamping Bella and is called Confused Christmas Cat and he worked perfectly with the scraps of old designer paper that I had laying around. He was water coloured with my tombow markers and then I added some chunky Martha Stewart glitter to look like snow and then added some to the snowflake punchie too :D

This week's SFYTT sketch challenge worked perfectly for what I had in mind for this image so it was a given that I would participate this week! I ran all of my scraps of designer papers through my cuttlebug to emboss them with various folders and then to bring attention to the embossing, I sponged over it lightly with some coordinating inks to the designer papers. This is just a fun little detail that I do to most of my cards because I am a texture-a-holic :D

Thanks for swinging by today and bearing with me while I am in the spirit of making Christmas cards :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Confused Christmas Cat
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Chocolate, My Mind's Eye, Bo Bunny, SU
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Pink, Olive, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Circle Dies, Sponges, Dimensionals, Martha Stewart Chunky Glitter and Snowflake Punch, Crystal Effects, Circle Punch, Corner Chomper, Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Button, Twine,Pomegranate Bella Baubles

SC305 - Joy

Do you ever get excited to do some stamping and then surf around for some inspiration to get you kick started? I do, and I came across this week's sketch challenge over at SCS (SC305). I did get a chance to participate but this card didn't come together as easily as I had hoped.

I sat down and picked out my papers and then just ended up staring at them. *Poof* Just like that - all my inspiration and energy went down the drain. I decided to water colour the candle (Clear Dollar Stamps - The Light of Winter Set) up with my tombows anyway and then cut out all of the shapes. I then left the room for at least a half hour so that I could come back to my would be card with some new ideas and hopefully a colour combo for the sponging behind the candle.

It was one of those nights where I just couldn't make up my mind, so instead I just ended up pulling a bunch of inks out of my ink carousel and started adding them and hoping for the best. It ended up turning out fairly decent but now that I look at the card, I probably would have gone with yellows, greens and browns for the ink colours. Oh well. It's finished and I'm not going back and changing it! lol

Speaking of Sponging Ink...Did you all know that I teach a Sponged Ink Backgrounds class over at My Creative Classroom? I know that at the top of my blog, there is already a reminder but I thought that I would include a little blurb about it in this post so that all of my email subscribers would have the info as well.

The class starts on November 3rd and will run as online classes for 4 weeks in total. Online classes are perfect for all of you who like to craft in your jammies ;) This class is ideal for beginners and advanced card makers and will bring a new vibrancy to your card making skills. Won't you come out and join me in getting inky?

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - The Light Of Winter
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Fancy Pants, SU
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Saffron, Chocolate, Red, Pumpkin, Mustard
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Sponges, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Circle Punches, Brads, Versa Marker