Friday, April 13, 2012

Bellarific Friday: Shower!

Hi all,
Happy weekend!  I have a fun weekend planned - I get to go out on the town tonight and stay in a hotel!  I have to say: I LOVE staying in hotels.  It's the best.
I have a nice steak dinner to attend on Sunday as well, so I am ready for some yum!
I hope everyone has some great plans as well...

Welcome to Bellarific Friday!  Our challenge this week was to make a shower card - you could have done a baby shower, bridal shower, or something with rain on it!  Em doesn't mind.

Here's mine:

My card base is Bashful Blue CS.  My papers are from an SU DSP pack - can't remember the name, but it's definitely old.  All the mats are black.  I also added some white machine stitching to one of the layers, along with some green Martha Stewart pearls.  I rounded two of the corners on the bottom layer.  The layer just underneath the image is DSP cut out with Label 18 Nesties.

I stamped the lovely BridalPartyBellas on Bella's Bestest Paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured them mostly with Copics and added some shading with my Prismacolor Pencils.  I cut them out with Label 4 Nesties and added some Wheat Versamagic sponging inside the stencil.  I also added a bunch of glitter dots all around, and all over the bride's dress.
I totally love these girls - absolutely perfect image!!!

Next week's challenge??? Our 8th sketch challenge for this year!  Make a card using any of the images sold at Stamping Bella and the layout below.  Send it to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night, and you will be entered to win some Bella Bucks (aka, free product), and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!  We love seeing what you come up with!


Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

SFYTT and Lulu

Hi all,
Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter weekend - did you make a bit of craft time in the midst of the cooking and company???

I decided to play along with a sketch out there in blog land.  Have you ever played along with Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try (SFYTT)???  She's got some really great layouts, and she has an amazing design team!

Here is the sketch for April:


Here's my take:
My card base is white CS.  My patterned papers are from SU's Nouveau Chic DSP pack, and my mats are all black. 
I also added some Dew Drops to the corners of the smaller panels.

I stamped Clara Lulu onto Bella's Bestest Paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured her with Copics, and added shading with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS.  I cut her out with Classic Circle Nesties and added some Wheat Versamagic sponging inside the stencil.  I backed that with a die cut from the Spellbinders Parisien Motifs set - very intricate and lacy, but the circle covers most of it.
I added a bunch of glitter dots all around her and I added some yummy butterflies punched out with my Martha Stewart punch.

Don't forget about our Bellarific Friday challenge this week: showers!  Make a card for a bridal or baby shower, or something with rain on it!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Bellarific Friday: Our 7th Sketch for thisYear!

Hi all,
Well, looky here...I had computer problems again.  My posts are supposed to go live at midnight on Fridays, and my internet was giving me trouble yesterday.  So, I wasn't able to schedule my post, and I wasn't able to send my card to Emily!

So, all is in working order, and I can continue on with my schedule!  Phew.

So, first off, Happy Good Friday!  We get a holiday today, and I'm stoked to get a long weekend!  And Happy TGIF!

So, our Bellarific Friday challenge this week was to make a card with the sketch below:


Here's mine:

I went for a really simple card - all neutral colours.  My cardstock is all Sahara Sand, my patterned papers are from SU's Manchester pack, and my mats are black and white.  Sometimes, I really like the neutral palette - you could also do it with Kraft paper - also really effective.
The butterfly is from Martha Stewart - I am in LOVE with her embellishments!

I stamped Posie Pixie onto Sahara Sand CS using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and coloured her totally with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS.  I only used my black and white pencils, and also the Cool Gray 90% pencil.
I added a bunch of glitter dots all around her for some girly sparkle!

Next week's challenge???  A Shower Card! Just make a card for a bridal or baby shower, or there can be rain in the image!  Use any image sold at Stamping Bella, and send to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night.  You will be entered to win some Bella Bucks (aka, free products) and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

A Pixie from Paulabella

Hi all,
I hope you had a great weekend, and are ready to face another work week!  I suspect this one will be easier than most because most of us should get a long weekend coming up - thanks to Good Friday!  I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Hopefully, you got a chance to get crafty this weekend - I know it can be hard with all the errands to run and chores to do.  Sometimes it's a good idea to just relax with some colouring, KWIM?

Well, I did get to play a bit.  I was looking through my drawers for some paper, and I found some supplies I hadn't used yet from a colouring class that Paulabella did when she visited Bellaland!  I'm sure you all know by now that she is the colouring queen!  So I had to colour it up and post it!

The base is just white, and she chose the plaid paper with the pink mat.  I don't know what brands they are - she prepared them for us before the class.

She also pre-stamped Paisley Pixie (assuming it was on Bella's Bestest Paper, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink).  I coloured her completely with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, as per her awesome instructions, and I added some Bisque sponging around the outside.
I added some machine stitching around both layers, and that was it!

Don't forget about our Bellarific Friday challenge this week to use the sketch below!


Have a great week!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Bellarific Friday: Spring or Easter!

Hi all,
Welcome to another Friday!  Things are changing at work, and I'm gonna be a lot more tired in life, I suspect.  We shall see how long I can last at my current speed...

But, let's look towards the weekend - happy thoughts!

It's Bellarific Friday!  Every week, we get a challenge where we can use our Bella images, and come up with a project!  So, this week, our theme was to make a Spring or Easter card - perftect timing, no?

Here it is:

I actually only used white cardstock!  For any coloured cardstock that you see, it was white, sponged with ink.  So, the lower layer was sponged with bashful blue ink and matted on white (both punched with my Ticket Corner punch), and I wrapped some white satin ribbon around it. 

I stamped Row of Eggs With Bunny onto Bella's Bestest Paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured it with Copics, and added shading and grass with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS.  I added some Wheat Versamagic ink around the edges, and some glitter spots all around the image.  I added a bunch of fun Thickers to the top as the sentiment for a different texture.

Copics used:
*Yellow Egg and Flowers: YR21, Y35, Y38
*Green Egg: YG11, YG13, YG09
*Purple Egg: BV0000, BV04, BV08
*Orange Egg: YR61, YR04, YR07
*Bunny: E40, E41, E43, E30, E31
*Pink Flowers and Butterfly: R20, R43, R46

Next week's challenge??? Our 7th sketch for this year!  Just make a card using the below sketch and any image sold at Stamping Bella and send it to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night.  You'll be entered to win some Bella Bucks (aka free stuff), and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Pink Orchids

Hi all,
Happy Sunday - hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to start next week with some gusto!  I was mostly cleaning today, but I was so exhausted from this week at work that I ended up taking a 2-hour nap in the afternoon.  Love it when I can do that :-)
I had dinner at my parents' house, and then came home and got crafty for a bit!

My card base is Rose Red CS, all my patterned papers are from the SU Raspberry Tart DSP pack, and I have black and white mats.  I also added a white strip across the middle punched with an EK Success edge punch. 

I stamped Pot O' Orchids for Lulu onto Bella's Bestest Paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured it totally with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS - no Copics!  I also added some Wheat Versamagic sponging around the outside of the white square and added a black mat.

Don't forget about our Bellarific Friday challenge this week: to make a spring or Easter card!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Bellarific Friday: 6th Sketch!

Hi all,
Welcome to another Friday!!!  We have had summer-like weather this week in Toronto, and today it DROPS to a very cool and rainy couple of days.  It was so lovely while it lasted.

Let me start with this: have you SEEN the new release Emily has put out over at Stamping Bella???  There are SO many new images, and they are AMAZING!!!!!!!!
There are new Ramonas, new Uptowns, new stamps from Vicki Boutin, new stamps that Em herself has designed, and more!  You need to check it out, and fill up your shopping cart!

OK, now that's out of the way, we can move on to another fun topic!  We have another Bellarific Friday to share with you, and hopefully you were able to play along!  We were given our 6th sketch for 2012, and here's one last glimpse:

Another great job by Ebrubella!

Here's mine:
My card base is white CS, the patterned papers are from SU's Manchester DSP pack, and the mats are black.  I added some CTMH square rhinestones to the corners, and the strip across the middle has a punched scallop edge (although it's mostly covered up), and I tied some black grosgrain ribbon around the middle.

I stamped the beautiful Blow A Kiss Jane onto black CS in Versamark ink and embossed her with white EP.  If you saw my card from my last post, you'll be able to see that I'm on a kick with white embossing on coloured or dark cardstock.
I matted that with white CS, then again with black.
I stamped the sentiment onto white CS with black ink, cut it out and added it to the corner.

Next week's challenge???  Spring or Easter!  Make a card with that theme using any of the images sold at Stamping Bella and send it to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night.  You have a chance to win some Bella Bucks, and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!  Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a great weekend!
Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Dandelion

Hi all,
Well, it's Sunday night, and most people's weekends are coming to an end :-(
I still have tomorrow off, so I am planning on getting stuff done in the day time.

I wanted to get crafty today, but I felt like doing something other than my usual colouring.  I'm playing around with heat embossing, and here's what I came up with:

My card base is Chocolate Chip CS.  I used a piece of a rusty coloured cardstock, but I can't remember the name (it was one of the SU In Colors from a couple years ago), and I embossed it with the Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers folder.  I sponged around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink, and matted it with black and white CS.  I also wrapped some Soft Suede polka dot ribbon around that, and added some white pearls to the corners.
I stamped Dandelion Wisps in Versamark onto the rusty cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I cut it out with Label 7 Nesties, and sponged that with the Walnut ink as well.  I really like how the white pops out from the coloured paper.  Definitely gonna try that again!

Don't forget about our Bellarific Friday challenge this week, to make a card with our 6th sketch!


Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!
Happy Monday to all those going back to work :-)

Friday, March 16, 2012

Bellarific Friday: GREEN!!!

Hi all,
I hope you're ready for a fun St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!  I have a family event because, as it turns out, my entire family has their birthday in March, so we just celebrate everyone together.
I don't think I'll be drinking any green beer, but hopefully everyone else can take advantage of this fun holiday passed on to us by the Irish!

As you know, it's time for Bellarific Friday, and for me, this challenge was a great chance to make a masculine card.  We were supposed to make either a St. Patty's Day card or a green card - I don't actually have any "lucky" images, so I chose the green theme.
If you were able to play along with this week's challenge, don't forget to post your card on SCS using the keyword BELLARIFFIC1012 so that we can see it in the gallery!

Here goes:

My card base is Certainly Celery CS, and the polka dot paper is from the SU Old Olive Patterns DSP pack with a black mat.  Next, I added another square of Certainly Celery CS, which was embossed with the argyle Cuttlebug folder and matted with black.  I put that square on an angle, and added some Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon around the base layer. 

I stamped The Big Guy Grilling by Mo Manning onto Bella's Bestest Paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured him mostly with Copics, but I paper pieced his shirt using argyle paper from the same pack, and added shading and grass with Prismacolour Pencils and OMS. 

Next week's challenge???  Our 6th sketch for this year!  Make a card using the sketch below and any image sold at Stamping Bella and send it to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night.  You'll be entered to win some Bella Bucks and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!


Have a great weekend and I hope you see someone wearing a shirt that says "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!".

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Safe Travels

Hi all,
Just stopping in for a quick post...had a long day at work, and I need to jump in the bath pronto!  I was eyeing one of my new Uptown Girl images from Stamping Bella and had to put something together...

White base, and black mats...the blue mat and the patterned paper are from SU's Tickets and Tokens Simply Scrappin' Kit.  The aviator emblem at the top is one of the stickers from the same pack which I matted with black CS. 

I stamped the gorgeous Uptown Girl Molly Makes A Detour (I think she might be my FAVE) onto Bella's Bestest Paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured her with Copics, and added shading with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS.  I sponged the outside of the panel with a very dark ink: Jumbo Java Versamagic ink. 
That was pretty much it - I kept it simple because the image is so awesome.

Don't forget about the Bellarific Friday challenge for this week: to use green on your card or to make a St. Patrick's Day card!  We shall see what you came up with on Friday!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by!