New Things for 2011!

Hi everybody! I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 will bring you joy, prosperity, health, laughter, many friends and dreams coming true :)

2011 has already brought me some wonderful things to share with you and over the next couple of days, I will have some announcements to post. Today, to get you all started (and me) I get to announce that I have the amazing opportunity of joining Michelle Rogers and her Stamper's Dream Design Team! Woo Hoo!

I am thrilled at the opportunity to work for both a fabulous company and their amazing designers! Thank you so much Michelle for having me and I can't wait to show you all some of my Stampers Dream creations!

Be sure to swing on by here tomorrow for yet another announcement :D

Dewents, Pastels and Tombow's Oh my!

 

There is nothing like using the whole kit and kaboodle on a card! If you are wondering what I am talking about, it's the 3 different colouring mediums that I combined for this sweet Teacup Daisies stamp by Stamping Bella.

Don't ask me why, but when I coloured this image I ended up grabbing my tombows, derwent inktense pencils and some pastels and went to town colouring up this image. I was more or less just playing around but I loved how it turned out so I made a card for it :D

I think that with all the dreary rain that we have been having, it's put me in the mood to break out my go to cheery and bold papers. For this card I used the Thrift Shop line by October Afternoon and distressed it a little with some inks and a distressing tool. I added some Martha Stewart seam binding that I picked up on sale yesterday to finish off the card along with a button and some copper bella baubles :D

Thanks for coming by and I will be back a little later today with an announcement so stay tuned :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella -Teacup Daisies
Paper: Gina K, Espresso, Water Colour, October Afternoon DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Caramel, Chocolate, Baja, Teal
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Standard Oval Dies, Seam Binding, Button, Linen Thread, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Sponges, Bella's Copper Baubles, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Pastels, Derewent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Distress Tool

Sentimental Love Birds

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 show you two brand new sets that I have combined into one card. The sets are Love Birds and a mini set called Sentimental.

Love Birds is a 4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 18 stamps and will sell for $18 (Illustrated by Torico) and Sentimental is a 2x6 mini set that includes a total of 6 stamps and will sell for $7.

For this card I combined both of the soon to be released sets into one card. The "I love you" is actually adhered to the card base and the bird panel is popped up in one big layer around it. I have no idea what possessed me to do this because you can't really tell from the photo that I created the card this way - but I like the look of it anyway ;) The bird was water coloured with Derwent Inktense Pencils and a water brush and the clouds and grass were sponged in. The grass was done with the negative part of a die cut by using MFT Grass Dienamic and a couple of sponge daubers :D



How would you like a chance to win the Sentimental and Love Birds stamp sets? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Sentimental/Love Birds 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 “Sentimental”/”Love Birds” stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Jan. 1st) during the Release Party Chat.

Thanks for coming by today and now you are off to the very talented Piali's Blog :) Have fun!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Love Birds and Sentimental
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Espresso
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Chocolate, Baja, Teal
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Standard and Scallop Rectangles, Twine, Sponges, Dimensionals, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Corner Chomper, SU Scallop Edge Punch, MFT Grass Dienamic, Button, Pastels. Cloud Stencil

Buckets of Love

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

This amazing set was illustrated by the incredibly talented Torico and is called Buckets of Love. This is a 4x6 stamp set that includes a total of 18 stamps and will sell for $15.

I water coloured the image with Derwent Inktense Pencils and a water brush and then added a little bit of shading with some pastels. I sponged in the background and then coated the hearts with some crystal effects for some extra shine :D The heart backdrop is a Spellbinders heart die and I used some sheer ribbon and Maya Rd heart pins to finish off the card.

Would you like a chance to win the “Buckets of Love” stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their “Buckets of Love” 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 “Buckets of Love” stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Jan. 1st) during the Release Party Chat.

Thanks for coming by today and don't forget to swing on back here tomorrow for day 3 of these wonderful releases. Now you are off to the very talented Piali's Blog :) Have fun!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Buckets of Love
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Espresso, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Red, Chocolate, Baja, Teal, Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Heart Dies, Ribbon, Sponges, Dimensionals, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Crystal Effects, Maya Road Heart Pins (Stamping Bella), Corner Chomper, Bow Easy

Wonderful Winter Wishes

Welcome to the first day of the There She Goes 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 show you a fabulous new set by Torico. This set is called Wonderful Winter Wishes and is a 4x6 stamp set that includes a total of 12 stamps that will sell for $15!

I picked some bright and fun papers from an older set of October Afternoon papers that I had stored for safe keeping and coloured these cuties with Derwent Inktense Pencils and a water brush. I added some sparkle under the little girls feet and some random snow flake glitter dots all around for my wintry card :)

Would you like a chance to win the “Warm Winter Wishes” stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their “Wonderful Winter Wishes” 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 “Wonderful Winter Wishes” stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Jan. 1st) during the Release Party Chat.

Thanks for coming by today and don't forget to swing on back here tomorrow for day 2 of these wonderful releases. Now you are off to the very talented Piali's Blog :) Have fun!


Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Wonderful Winter Wishes
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Black, October Afternoon DP, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Red, Olive, Baja, Teal, Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders, Standard Rectangle Dies, Martha Stewart Heart Punch, Button, Twine, Sponges, Dimensionals, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Water Brush, Quickie Glue Pen, Glitter

TSG86 - Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

 

I have a few things There She Goes to share with you today and the first up to bat is this week's TSG86 - Button It Up Challenge brought to us by our fellow Trendsetter, Iwona (Chupa)

For this challenge, I used my buttons as the wheels on my baby buggy. These buttons started out as plain black but I wanted them to look like they had rubber tires on them so I took a versamarker and some silver embossing powder and went to work. I love how they turned out! The buttons were the perfect size and compliments to this little buggy from the Bit of Stardust set by TSG.

Would you like a chance to win some TSG bucks? Of course you would! All you have to do is create a card that utilizes buttons, and then come back to the Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the InLinkz that is located at the bottom of this challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Dec. 27th). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

Now onto my second bit of info for the day :) There She Goes is having a SALE! It's called the Changing of the Seasons Winter sale and it will run from December 21st until the 28th. All 5 of these stamp sets are 15% off of their regular price. How about an early Christmas prezzie for yourself ;)

Dadisms $20.40 (reg. $24)
By The Sea $20.40 (reg. $24)
Art Is the Window $15.30 (reg. $18)
Bit of Stardust $15.30 (reg. $18)
Autumn Mosaic $15.30 (reg. $18)

 

 

Thanks for coming by today and I will be back a little later in the week with a Stamping Bella card to share with you :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Bit of Stardust
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Black, Moss, Cosmo Cricket DP, K&Co DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Sage, Olive
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Clear Embossing Powder, Buttons, Versa Marker, Silver Embossing Powder, MFT Grass Die, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Sponges, Dimensionals, Silver Gel Pen

Bellarific Friday

Welcome to the last Bellarific Friday of 2010 :) This fabulous sketch was brought to us by Pauline! Sorry about the yellowish tint to my picture but as I type I am sitting here rather painfully and hopped up on some extra strength Robaxacet for a pinched nerve/muscle in my back - so if this post doesn't make any sense then we can just blame the meds, 'Kay? Oh yeah...back pain = no tolerance for taking a phenomenal photo or expert editing ;)

So this GORGEOUS stamp is by Stamping Bella and is called Door with Wreath and is a Mo Manning illustration. I have to tell you that I quite literally squealed when it arrived in my mail box and this week's sketch just begged for this image :D

So this image has been water coloured with tombow marker and distress re-inkers because...well, I don't know...I guess I was in the mood to combine inks ;)

I have a funny story to tell you now. Not funny as in Ha Ha, but funny as in "it's only funny when it's a few days after the fact" funny. When I finished up the image, I set it aside and then started to hunt for something in the piles on my craft desk. This in turn, caused some tombows to roll across my image and then guess what I found? Yes, a bright RED mark now smeared into my beautifully shaded SNOW. How did that happen you ask? Well tombow markers are very juicy an one of my red ones actually had a little bit of ink leak out of the lid (this only happens once in a blue moon) and it just so happened at the perfect timing of my tombows rolling across my beautiful picture :( I was mad *insert expletive here*, then frustrated and then challenged because there was no way that this was going in the trash. My new mission was to play a little game of hid the ink spot.

I tried white pencil crayon, white gel pen, white embossing powder and glitter and you know the thing that worked the best for me was? Yep, it would be one of those cute little hodgepodge hardware anchor embellishments :D Shhhh, don't tell anyone that there is a big boo boo under there because we don't want anyone thinking that it's a Christmas crime scene photo ;)

Thanks for coming by and reading my blather and we will see you back here in the New Year for more fabulous Bellarific Challenges :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Door with Wreath
Paper: Gina K, Espresso, Water Colour, Cosmo Cricket DP, Upsy Daisy DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Burgundy, Chocolate, Various Distress Re-Inkers
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Clear Embossing Powder, Sponges, Dimensionals, Hodgepodge Hardware, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Red Half Pearls, Bow Easy, Ribbon, Glitter

Felix Ketto Journal

 Hi everyone! I just wanted to quickly pop in and show you this little altered journal that I made using Stamping Bella's Felix Ketto with Flower stamp. I picked up a series of these 5" soft cover journals a couple of months ago with the idea in mind that I would alter them. I am s-l-o-w-l-y making my way through the hoards of them and I knew that it would be hard to paper tole the little cat so he would be perfect for a journal. (You don't want too many things sticking up off a journal, only to be torn off if you carried it in your purse)

I just love how this little guy turned out and the papers are perfect for him :) I think that this will probably be given to someone at Christmas but I haven't decided to who yet ;)

Before I go, I just thought that I would remind you all that this week's Bellarific Challenge is a sketch and this will be the last challenge of 2010. We will be back full force in the new year with oodles of challenges to keep your fingers inky :) As always, please email your project to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday evening for your chance to win some Bella Bucks!

Thanks for coming by today and try not to lose your minds in the Christmas craziness that is happening right now :D

Journal Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Felix Ketto With Flower
Paper: Black, Water Colour, Basic Grey Kioshi Papers
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Celery, Kiwi, Lavender
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Standard Square Dies, Brads, Stickles, Bow Easy, Ribbon, Sponges, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Corner Chomper, Dimensionals, Journal, Pastels

TSG85 - Normal? What's that?

Welcome to this week's TSG85 challenge and it's to break out of the new goodies and get back into the oldies. That's right ladies, it's time to use your much hoarded stash - that is use anything that you own to make a card that you haven't picked up in 6 months or longer.

Not only did I manage to complete this week's TSG Challenge but I also got a chance to participate in the MOJO169 Sketch Challenge too :D

To make this challenge card happen, I pulled out some old sahara sand ribbon, twill tape, micro beads and my very first There She Goes set called Loads of Fun and let me tell you...this sentiment pretty much sums up my household ;) If you take a close look at the picture below, you will notice that I have made the washing machine into a little shaker image using some micro beads that haven't seen the light of day in quite some time. I kind of thought that they looked like suds and let's face it...who doesn't like an interactive card :D

 

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 (December 20th). 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 TSG85 so we can check out your beautiful work!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Loads of Fun
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Basic Grey DP, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Rust, Sand, Navy, Saffron, Mustard, Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Clear Embossing Powder, Twill Tape, Ribbon, Linen Thread, Sponges, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Dimensionals, Corner Chomper, Acetate, Micro Beads

Bellarific Giftabellas

This week's Bellarific Challenge over at Bloggabella is to be a giftabella and make something that you could give a gift in, whether it be a box of some sort or a gift card holder, or well...anything really :D I thought that it was pure genius to have this challenge right before Christmas to get everyone a little more ready for the big day, but the only problem I had was that we only give gift cards to those "I don't want anything-ba humbug-didn't supply Christmas lists-annoying kind of people...most of whom are men. OK, well I had two problems then...I was lacking in masculine Christmas Stamping Bella stamps too (I clearly need to add more stamps to my collection to prevent this in the future) so a sentiment just had to do for this cute stocking gift card holder.

I was surfing the web and looking for inspiration when I stumbled upon this template . I know... you all probably thought that I came up with this on my own but I really just borrowed the idea and the template from sweet Miss Claire Brennan :) Why re-create perfection right? ;)

I used some older Basic Grey Wassail DP and Grey card stock to create the stocking and before I sewed it all together, I embossed it, sponged it and then hand stitched the cross stitching. I then zipped it through my sewing machine to hold it together and added my Merry Holidays tag and some holly embellishments. My in laws are so going to think that I a genius with this fun little stocking :D

Before I go, I just thought that I would remind you all that next week's Bellarific Challenge is a sketch and this will be the last challenge of 2010. We will be back full force in the new year with oodles of challenges to keep your fingers inky :) As always, please email your project to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday evening for your chance to win some Bella Bucks!

Speaking of bellas, did you all happen to see that Emily did a surprise release of 3 new bellas? Yippee! I was so excited that they just hopped into my shopping cart all by themselves! *grin* If you didn't see, then I just thought that I would spread the word and share my excitement ;)

Gift Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Merry Holidays
Paper: Grey, Ivory, Basic Grey Wassail DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Chocolate, Caramel, Olive
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Designer Label Punch, Clear Embossing Powder, Embroidery Thread, Needle, Holly Embellishments, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Sponges, Eyelet, Ribbon, Corner Chomper, Template from Waltzing Mouse Stamps

TSG84 - Bring on the Bling

 

Ok, so I'm a little late with my challenge this week but better late than never right? This week's challenge was the TSG84 - Bring on the Bling and was hosted by sweet Miss Jodi. 

I opted to do a tag for my kid's teacher's Christmas prezzies and the tree is from the Penguin Pals set and was water coloured with tombow markers and then popped up a bit. I decorated the tree with multi-coloured rhinestone stickers (for the bling) and then put matching gems on the punched out border. Oh Nelly, does this tag ever shine! I'm still very new to making tags and I'm not quite sure what the real size should be but this one is 3" x 5".

Now onto some other fascinating news in the There She Goes world. Did you know that TSG has a new blog on the block? Yep, it's called the Tips and Tricks blog and it's a work in progress but FULL of fascinating ideas. Pop buy to check it out when you can because Jessica has it so that you can click on the stamp set itself to see everything that you can do with the stamps :D

Tag Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Penguin Pals

Paper: Chocolate, Water Colour, Gina K, My Mind's Eye DP

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Red, Olive, Teal

Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Tag Dies, Martha Stewart Punch, Ribbon, Corner Chopmper, Rhinestone Stickers, Clear Embossing Folders, Button, Linen Thread, Tab Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals

SC310 - Hanging Out

 

I so love this stamp! I water coloured these little owls from Stamping Bella called Branching Out Owlies earlier today with my tombow markers on 140lb cold press paper and set it aside until I had time to play after my kids were in bed. Lucky for me this week's sketch challenge was posted in the mean time and these owls fit right in with the sketch (SC310)

These fella's were cut out and popped up on my sponged ink background and because their eyes remind me of big shiny baubles, I couldn't resist a coat of crystal effect to make them shine :D These little guys just make me smile! Now because I'm tired and I'm too lazy to go back downstairs and look in my craft room to give the designer papers their proper names...I'm just going to call them unknown scraps. Go with it, 'Kay? ;)

I added some buttons and some linen thread (thank you Angela) and got busy with some finishing touches including some almost-invisible-stitches-against-the-busy-paper look ;)

For those of you who play along (and those of you who want to win some Bella Bucks), don't forget that this week's Bellarific Challenge is to make a gift card holder or gift packaging of some sort. When you are finished, simply email Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday evening for your chance to win and appear over on the Bloggabella blog :D

Thanks for coming by :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Branching Out Owlies
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Chocolate, Scraps of Unknown DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Teal, Kiwi, Artichoke
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Clear Embossing Powder, Linen Thread, Buttons, Sponges, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Corner Chomper

A Pocket Full of Snow

A pocket card that is! I can't even remember the last time I made one of these and I have know idea why because I love them! The folded over panel was the perfect size to show case my boots stamp by Stamping Bella. I water coloured these babies with tombow markers and a water brush and then popped them up to be 3D on some glittered paper that is supposed to resemble snow, but didn't quite glitter enough for the photo. This card is wonderfully sparkly in real life and each little twinkle is a bit of holiday cheer :D

This week's Bellarific Challenge was to use some sort of snow on your card and I took the sparkle route and glittered up the snowflake and the ground beneath the boots. What can I say...glitter makes me happy. It makes me even happier when it's situated on my husband's face and he doesn't even know it's there ;) lol

Next week's Bellarific Challenge is Giftabella. No, not the stamp but the idea itself. You are to make some sort of gift packaging or gift card holder so you are at least a little bit ready for Christmas ;) Don't forget to email Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) your project by Thursday evening for your chance to win some Bella Bucks and be featured on Bloggabella :D

Before I go, I just wanted to leave you with a few photos from the great tree hunt of 2010 :)

I got this kodak moment as Tait was winding up and his target - a very bent over daddy who was cutting down our Christmas Tree. I tell you, this is a boy after my own heart! lol

Here we have little missy and her big snow ball that she was trying to sneak up on me with - just look at that cheeky little grin :D

The one. This is the tree that the kids picked and we took home. We cut down our own and purchase it from a local Christmas tree farm and these trees stay fresh well into January.

Our little helpers :D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Boots and Let it Snow
Paper: Gina K, Brocade Blue, SU DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Brocade Blue, Navy, Baja, Olive, Artichoke
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Tag Dies, Spellbinders Doodle Parts and Snowflake Dies, 1 1/38" and 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Ribbon, Buttons, Linen Thread, Xyron, Glitter, Tombow Markers, Water brush, Eyelet, Sponges, Dimensionals, Corner Chomper

SC309 - Beary Simple

Happy December 1st everyone! My kids were already to tear into their advent calendars first thing this morning and went to school with a little more bounce in their step ;) So...who's ready to bring on the Christmas rush? We actually went out and cut down our tree on Sunday and did A LOT of Christmas shopping yesterday so now today we are going to break out the decorations!

But first things, first. I have to tell you about my non Christmas card that I made for today's SCS SC309  sketch challenge. Because I have been on a Christmas card frenzy, I opted to make something for a little person. I don't really have a little person in mind for this card...I was just itching to ink up this adorable "my beary best friend" stamp by Stamping Bella ;)

He was water coloured with tombow markers and a water brush on Strathmore 140lb cold press water colour paper. This card is a 4 1/4" note card, so I was able to use some old scraps of designer papers that were begging to be used up. I then added some simple linen cross stitches and a ribbon treatment instead of a sentiment, and Voila - a beary simple card :0)

Thanks for coming by today and just a reminder for those of you wanting to play in this week's Bellarific Challenge that all you have to do is create a card with some sort of snow on it. It could be an image with snow, snow flake die cuts or sparkles to look like snow. Let your imagination run wild and don't forget to email Emily ( emily@stampingbella.com ) by Thursday evening for your chance to win some Bella Bucks!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stamping Bella - My Beary Best Friend
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, SU DP, Bo Bunny DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Mustard, Caramel, Sage, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Standard Square Dies LG, Button, Linen Thread, Ribbon, Clear Embossing Poweder, Sponges, Dimensionals, Tombow Markers, Water Brush