Belli Challenge #30 - baubles and bling

Isn't this the sweetest image???? This week's Belli Challenge is a very special one. You are seeing a sneak peak of a very special stamp set that will be available beginning September 1. Our very own CHRISSY is designing stamps for Sweet N Sassy Stamps!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is such awesome news, and I am SO excited for Chrissy!!! Let me tell you, I have seen what is in the works and you will LOVE everything she has done. This girl can DRAW!

Chrissy will have two stamp sets releasing on September 1 - Child of God (which includes the images you see in this card) and Autumn Blessings. I can't wait to get my hands on these. No, I don't have this stamp set. Chrissy sent me some stamped images with her very first stamp set that she got from the stamp makers. I want these stamps in my hands NOW! :-)

Be sure to check out Sweet N Sassy Stamps this week. They are doing a big blowout party for all the new releases coming up on September 1. You don't want to miss the big party - Korin will pick a winner who will receive ALL seven of the new stamps being released. WOW! (Anybody know how I can bribe Korin to pick me for the winner???)

Okay, back to the Belli Challenge. This week we are doing images from Chrissy's Child of God stamp set as well as baubles and bling. I chose to add some Pearl Dew Drops to the centers of my prima flowers for my baubles. The blue flower you see is actually hand dyed. It was a much paler blue color originally, so I pulled out my Brocade Blue reinker and my aquapainter and dyed the flower so it matched the cardstock.

We realize that you don't have these images (yet....), so your challenge is to create a card or project with baubles and/or bling. You can add dew drops, rhinestones, glitter, pearls, anything! Be creative! If you post your card to SCS, please add CBC30 to the keywords.



Stamps: Child of God (released at Sweet N Sassy Stamps on September 1)
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Brocade Blue (prima flower), Celery, Blush Blossom, Banana, Creamy Caramel
CS: Celery, Brocade Blue, White, Basic Gray Lily Kate dp
Other: Celery dotted ribbon (Michaels), Prima flowers, Pearl Dew Drops, aquapainter, Cool Gray Copic marker, white gel pen (colored the pearl bracelet around the girl's wrist)

Christmas Music Angel

Just an experiment to see what this would look like. Ya know how you have a "picture" in your head, but you never know what it really looks like until you stamp it? This was pretty much what I had envisioned, except in my head I had a big bundle of ribbon tying the ornament on. In the actual stamping, I didn't want to cover up the angel, so I found a pretty hammered brad to attach the ornament.

The ornament was sprayed with Burnt Red Glimmer Mist, dried, and sponged with Walnut Stain distress ink. I wish you could see the shimmer.

All the stamps on here are from Cornish Heritage Farms. I just love the big Aged Sheet Music scrapblock. This allows me to use the image for either a horizontal card or a vertical card with none of the sheet music cut off. Awesome!

Stamps: Aged Sheet Music scrapblock, Trumpeting Angel, Christmas Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink: Walnut Stain distress ink, Old Paper distress ink

CS: Vanilla, ornament was cut from White cs

Other: cricut - ornament shape, sponge, distressing tool, Burnt Red Glimmer Mist, brayer, hammered brad

Christmas Dove Card

Danita, Chrissy, and I spent Saturday afternoon challenging each other to stamp some cards. One of the challenges was to use this sketch and NO Chocolate Chip! ACK! I love my Chocolate Chip!

I knew I wanted to make a Christmas card, so I needed red and green. The other two colors were harder to work in - pink and basic gray. But it all seems to mesh together for a different sort of Christmas card with non-traditional colors. (Of course, I personally think Chocolate Chip would have worked MUCH better than Basic Gray... LOL)

You can find the sketch challenge here, and you can see I flipped mine around. Because of the orientation of the dove, it just needed to be on the left side instead of the right. Check out Chrissy's card here, and Danita's card here.

You probably can't see it, but I colored the dove with a white watercolor pencil.

Stamps: A Wish for Peace
CS: Holiday Treasures dp, Olive, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, White, Basic Gray
Ink: Old Olive, Basic Gray
Other: Prima poinsettia flower, Riding Hood Red satin ribbon, nestabilities, white watercolor pencil

Christmas House

I wasn't going to buy this set when I was looking through the new SU catalog. But my friend Danita was on a mission to convince me to get this, and she won. I am so glad she "forced" me to buy this now, because I love it! It is called To You and Yours, a set of 6, 111706, $18.95.

I used sketch TSSC31 for this card, and it worked beautifully. I now have people ordering this card from me, LOL!

I chose my colors based on the Holiday Treasures paper - Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Very Vanilla. The red is really supposed to be Ruby Red, but since I was using the new buttons from the Button Bouquet, I wanted to use Riding Red Hood cardstock to match up with the buttons. RRH really goes well with the Holiday Treasures paper too.

I stamped the house image with Chocolate Chip ink onto a Very Vanilla circle, and of course, I had to sponge a little bit of the same brown ink around the edges. That's just my thing....... :-) I used the same Chocolate Chip ink to stamp the sentiment on the Olive houndstooth paper (so yummy - love that paper). The red buttons were tied with Linen Thread and attached with glue dots. Simple, clean, and easy card to make.

Have you started on your Christmas cards yet??? Hint hint hint!!! Only 4 more months to go.............

Stamps: To You and Yours

Ink: Chocolate Chip

CS: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Holiday Treasures dp

Other: Button Bouquet, Linen Thread, nestabilities circles, sponge

Belli Challenge #30 - coasters

This week's Belli Challenge is to create something with chipboard coasters. I decided to make a Christmas coaster book. For those of you who come to my stamp camps, I will be hosting a fun afternoon in October where you can come and make your own coaster books. Check your email for details on this. :-)

I started with two plain white chipboard coasters, and covered them with the new Holiday Treasures paper. The best way to glue the paper to chipboard - for me - is to cover the coaster with glue using the glue stick. Then lay the paper down and smooth it out. I gave it a few minutes to dry, and then sanded all the edges with the sanding block.

The crop-a-dile works great for punching holes in chipboard, so I used that and tied the coasters together with the new Old Olive narrow grosgrain ribbon. The rest is fairly simple - I just stamped the images and attached them to the coasters. Lots of fun, and so many possibilities!

Check out what the other gals on the Belli Team have created:

Rochelle Wick http://impressionsbyrochelle.blogspot.com/
Debby McGivillary http://debbysstampinheaven.blogspot.com/
Shelly Koskinen http://shellysstamping.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Greco http://glitterinmyhair.blogspot.com/
Chris Dickinson www.chrissyd723.blogspot.com
Christi Thorsen http://cici510.blogspot.com/
Ceal Pritchett http://simplybeautifulcreations.blogspot.com/
Lorie Ames http://www.live-love-laugh-create.blogspot.com/
Danita Hollander http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-Sq2CKRgzaK0KuqThCyDdel9j

Now it's your turn to create something with coasters. If you upload your picture to SCS, please use keyword CBC30. Post a link to your picture over on Chrissy's blog posting. :-)


Stamps: Snow Swirled
Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
CS: Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Holiday Treasures dp
Other: crop-a-dile, Old Olive narrow grosgrain ribbon, chipboard coasters, dimensionals, 1/2" circle punch

Two for One Christmas Cards

I've been making some Christmas cards with the new stamps from the Stampin Up Fall/Winter catalog. I've also been playing with the new Top Note die for the new Big Shot that SU will be selling in their Holiday mini catalog (available October 1). SU has done a WONDERFUL job this year with their catalog and promotions and new partnerships! I'm so impressed!

I cut the Top Note shape from the new Holiday Treasures designer paper, and folded it in half. The sentiment is inside the fold as you can see in the pictures below. The snowflakes are from the Snow Swirled stamp set (on sale this month!)






For this card below, I used the leftover Holiday Treasures paper to make a frame for this winter scene. Why waste such pretty paper?? The tree image is from A Wish for Peace, and the sentiment is from Snow Swirled. I colored in the snow with a white pencil, then dabbed over those white areas with the 2 way glue and poured Dazzling Diamonds glitter on top.




The colors on both cards are: Ruby Red, Old Olive, and Chocolate Chip. Isn't that a beautiful color combination for Christmas? :-)

Belli Challenge #29 - scallops

This week's Belli Challenge is to use scallops on your cards and/or projects. I had a chance to play with Danita this past weekend, and I came up with these cute cards. Thank goodness I did these on Saturday, because I've been battling a migraine for the past couple days. This post will be short and sweet, because I'm still in a bit of pain.

As you can see, I used the scallop circle punch (SU) on both cards, as well as the new Scallop Edge Punch (SU). The color combo on the fairy card was suggested by Danita, and I have to say it is growing on me. I used Artichoke, Rose Red, Pumpkin, and Amethyst. My first thought was ick, no way, but after playing with the colors, they actually do go very well together.

Now it's your turn to make a card with scallops on it. If you post your card to SCS, please use keyword CBC29. Post your comment to Chrissy's Belli 29 posting, and include the link to your card.

Sneak Peaks for you

Here's some sneak peaks of some upcoming Stampin Up! products for you. Can you guess what they might be?? :-)

Belli Challenge #28 - containers

This week's Belli Challenge is to decorate a container. I decided to try something different and transform this container:



into this:




I love making Christmas ornaments out of "found" things. It's a good way to recycle some of your trash, too. I have done this with leftover ribbon spools as well.

The stamps on this ornament all come from the Joyeux Noel stamp set over at Cornish Heritage Farms. I inked up all the stamps with my Tsukineko Glue Pad, and covered them with Micropearl Pearl Ex powder. I love my pearl ex. :-) I decorated the edges with stickles and tied a pretty blue snowflake ribbon around the container.

There's no need to spray or seal the pearl ex - the glue pad takes care of all that. Love the Glue Pad! You can also buy this glue pad at Cornish Heritage Farms while you are shopping for the Joyeux Noel set. :-)

Check out some of the other ladies on the Belli Team:

Rochelle Wick http://impressionsbyrochelle.blogspot.com/
Debby McGivillary http://debbysstampinheaven.blogspot.com/
Laurie Serino http://www.stampingforgodsglory.blogspot.com/
Shelly Koskinen http://shellysstamping.blogspot.com/
Chris Dickinson www.chrissyd723.blogspot.com
Christi Thorsen http://cici510.blogspot.com/
Ceal Pritchett http://simplybeautifulcreations.blogspot.com/
Lorie Ames http://www.live-love-laugh-create.blogspot.com/


Now it's your turn to create something with a container. Upload your picture(s) to your blog or to SCS (keyword CBC28), and post a link to Chrissy's blog posting. You could win some Belli blog candy!


Stamps: Joyeux Noel (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Tsukineko Glue Pad, Night of Navy (around the edge on the big snowflake side)
CS: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Other: Micropearl Pearl Ex powder, Star Dust stickles, nestabilities, q-tip, snowflake ribbon from JMK Ribbon, cheese cardboard container

Bye Bye Blue Bayou

I made this quick card last night when I was cleaning some scraps of paper off my table. There was some Blue Bayou cardstock and designer paper that were cut to fit each other, and I figured I might as well use them.

Touch of Nature is a retiring set, and I've hardly used it. I love the quote in this set - it just seemed so perfect for this card.

Keeping this post short and sweet. There are some good thunderstorms coming this way, so I need to shut down my computer. Pray that we get some rain - we need it. :-)

Stamps: Embrace Life, Touch of Nature
Ink: Jet Black Stazon, Blue Bayou
CS: Blue Bayou cs and dp, Naturals Ivory
Other: Kraft tafetta ribbon, aquapainter

Glimmered Swirls and Dragonfly

I've been playing with my Glimmer Mists, and my fingers are all purple! LOL This card is just something that came about in a random fashion.

When I sprayed the smaller piece of cardstock, I started with Sunflower, then I went over here and there with Fully Purple. It didn't get as "purple" as the background piece did, so I sprayed Olive Vine on top of that. I really like this mixture of colors.

The background piece is just sprayed with Fully Purple - nothing else. Isn't that a gorgeous purple color? It is so shimmery when you hold it in your hands.

The stamps on this card are from Cornish Heritage Farms - Beautiful and Garden Friends. I love the swirls in the Beautiful set, and the colors of the smaller glimmered piece dictated that I needed to stamp a dragonfly on it. To help set off the background piece, I went over the edges with a Gold Krylon paint pen.

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms - Beautiful & Garden Friends
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
CS: Basic Black, Whisper White
Glimmer Mists: Fully Purple, Olive Vine, Sunflower
Other: Gold Krylon paint pen