Roses and Pearls

My dear friend Chrissy sent me some images from her newest stamp set, Love Blooms. She has more sneak peaks on her blog, and Sweet N Sassy stamps is getting ready to release this set along with several others this weekend. I love Chrissy's rose set - it's gorgeous!!!

Chrissy said she stamped this with a Copic-compatible black ink, so I colored the roses and vase with my copic markers. I punched out the little bow shape from the same designer paper that is behind the roses, and put a flat-back pearl in the center. The pearls are from the SU Pretties Kit, and they are the perfect size for this.

Thanks for the images, Chrissy! Can't wait til I can buy my own Love Blooms set!!!

Right now, it is still New Year's Eve, but it will be HAPPY NEW YEAR when most of you read this. Yay for 2009!!!

Belli Challenge #48 - PARTY!!

This week's Belli Challenge is to create a card with a New Year's or Party theme. Since I don't have any New Year's stamps, I decided to go with a party theme. I painted the frosting on the cupcake with Bubble Gum Shimmerz to give it some yummy sparkle. The background paper is from Basic Grey, and the sentiment comes from U R A Hoot at Cornish Heritage Farms. The cupcake stamp is one of those $1 stamps in the bins at Michaels. This sketch is MOJO65 from Julee's blog. :-)

Here is some more inspiration for you from the Belli Girls. If you upload your own card or project to SCS or PCP, please use keyword CBC48.


Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Ceal Pritchett
Danita Hollander
Joan Ervin
Karen Gibson

Stamps: $1 Michaels cupcake, U R A Hoot (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, YoYo Yellow, Regal Rose, Rose Red
CS: White, Chocolate Chip, Urban Prairie Basic Grey
Other: Bubble Gum Shimmerz, paint brush, Accents & Elements Build a Flower, Nestabilities, Flirty Ribbon, Rose grosgrain ribbon

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to a fabulous 2009!!!

Imagine

I just created this about an hour ago. Not sure what came over me, as this is nothing like my "normal" style. I think the muse took over and I just let it do what it wanted to do.

To do the background, I inked up the "Imagine" stamp with Regal Rose ink, stamped it off, and then stamped on the little curvy paper. I repeated that multiple times until it filled the paper. This way it is not overpowering and it remains a background image.

This is sort of the scrappy shabby chic look that I see everywhere, but I've never done myself. I guess it was just time for me to try something different. :-)


Stamps: Big Inspiration, Vintage Butterflies, Motivational Centers (all from Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Regal Rose, Adirondack Espresso
CS: Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Making Memories spiral journal book paper
Other: button, flower, lace, nestabilities

Gift Card bags

Several of us kids got together and decided to give some gift cards to our grandparents and to our parents for Christmas. I had to make a cute little bag to put the gift cards in, so I decided to use this template from CHF. Since I was in a hurry, I didn't do any stamping on it. I just used the larger felt snowflakes (from the SU holiday mini) on the front of each bag. They were the perfect size, whew.

I had wanted to show this off a few days earlier, but I couldn't risk my mother reading this and finding out about it ahead of time! LOL We had our big family Christmas last night, and it was a blast. We all had such a great time. Best of all, we were able to really surprise our grandparents and parents with the gift cards. Hee hee hee!

All supplies are from Stampin Up: Kraft cardstock, Rich Regal blue eyelets, Kraft tafetta ribbon, linen thread, large felt snowflake, Neutrals button, Mono Multi liquid glue.

MOJO #66

I was playing with Danita this afternoon and we decided to try the sketch from MOJO66. I changed mine up just a tad so it would fit this Sarah Kay image (tall and skinny). The designer paper was too bright for the watercolored image, so I sponged the edges of all the papers with some Cocoa ink.

My cousin used to have both a Raggedy Ann doll and a Raggedy Andy doll when I was little, but for the life of me, I can't remember what colors of clothes they wore. All I remember is the bright red hair. She used to have them propped up on her bed and I remember playing with them. I'll have to do a search of these dolls to see what colors their clothes were. :-)

I added the little die cut flower (sponged with Cocoa on the edges) and red rhinestone brad to the top corner. It just needed a little "something" there to finish off the card.

Stamps: Stampavie Best Friends Forever (Sarah Kay)
Ink: Stazon Black, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Cocoa, Blush Blossom
CS: Olive, Real Red Textured, watercolor paper, Summer Picnic dsp
Other: Bashful Blue die cut flower, red rhinestone brad, aquapainter, pinking shears, sponge

Belli Challenge #47

This week's Belli Challenge is "A Blast from the Past." We are looking back at the past Belli Challenges and picking one to do for this week. I realize today is Christmas Eve, but this card is for my girlfriends up north who are sick and tired of the cold and snow. :-) Here's some warm, sunny, and spring-y thoughts for you!

The Bellies that I have used on this card include the following challenges: ribbon, designer paper, watercoloring, dew drops, flowers, and white gel pen. Can't see where I used the white gel pen? Look at the bow on the hat. I used the white gel pen to fill in the little polka dots on that little bow. :-) Ya think I used enough Bellies on here?? Hee hee!

If you decide to play along and upload your creation to SCS or PCP, please use keyword CBC47 so we can find your artwork. Welcome our newest Belli Girl, Karen Gibson, this week! She is filling in for Danita who will be going on hiatus during tax season. Check out what our Belli Girls are doing this week:

Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Christi Thorsen
Ceal Pritchett
Danita Hollander
Joan Ervin
Sarah Anderson
Karen Gibson

Merry Christmas Eve to you all. May you be safe and happy tonight!

Card with NO stamping!

You read that right, there is NO stamping on this card. The Santa image and the sentiment are both rub ons from Stampin Up. Everything on this card is from Stampin Up. These particular rubons come from the Holiday Mini, and they are called Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons. The 3D star is also from the Holiday Mini, and it is part of the Star Bright Designer Series Paper Ornaments.

Stamps: NONE
Ink: NONE
CS: Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Olive Textured, Real Red Textured, Ski Slope dsp
Other: Real Red ribbon, scallop edge punch, paper piercer and mat pack from the Tool Kit, 3D star from Star Bright Designer Series Paper Ornaments (holiday mini), Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons (holiday mini)

Getting closer and closer to the big day! :-)

Gingham and Chicks

I woke up bright and early this morning, raring to go and finish this card. I had started it last night and put most of it together. So this morning, I sat down and watercolored this as soon as I crawled out of bed. Yup - haven't had breakfast, haven't had a shower..... This stamping thing is addictive, isn't it??? LOL

This is another Sarah Kay stamp that my friends gave to me for my birthday last week. I'm having so much fun with these stamps. It's bringing me back to my first love, which is coloring.

I was browsing Peanutbee's blog and saw this layout, and quickly sketched it on scratch paper. It's a beautiful layout and it works perfectly with Sarah Kay images. I hope she doesn't mind that I cased her layout. :-)

Stamps: Sarah Kay Country Girl
Ink: Black Stazon, Caramel, Cocoa, Summer Sun, Saffron, Banana, Brocade Blue, Real Red, Only Orange, Celery
CS: Brocade Blue, watercolor paper, designer paper from Making Memories
Other: blue ribbon, Rich Regals brads, aquapainter

Belli #46 - Bubble Ornament

I had to try another card with wrapping paper. For this card, I kept it very simple. The only colors are pomegranate and vanilla. The ornament (from Basic Grey) was stamped with Pomegranate ink, and then I put a clear bubble sticker on top of it to give it some dimension.

I stamped the sentiment (from Cornish Heritage Farms) at the bottom of the vanilla card, and then scored the lines above it with a scor-pal. All that was left to do was make a bow and adhere that above the ornament. Quick and simple card. :-)

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Distressed Apples

It's so nice to have time to sit down and play! This is what I was working on this afternoon. There is a distressing challenge going on over at the SNS blog, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper, and then colored it in with an aquapainter and reinkers. After it dried, I sponged over it very lightly with a brown ink and then roughed up the edges of everything with a distressing tool.

This is one of the Sarah Kay images that some girlfriends bought for me for my birthday. Thank you so much, gals!!! I love it!!!

Belli Challenge #46 - wrapping paper

This week's Belli Challenge is to use wrapping paper on your cards or projects. This is actually easier than you might think. Just think of wrapping paper as designer paper. It makes great backgrounds for your cards. You can see I did three different versions of cards using the same wrapping paper above.

Some little tips for you:

1 - it is much easier to die cut wrapping paper than it is to cut straight lines with a rotary cutter.
2 - adhere your wrapping paper with a tape roller (like an ATG gun or mono adhesive). I found that when I used a liquid glue, you can see the lines of the glue through the thin paper.
3 - don't be afraid to experiment with wrapping paper. :-)

Pull out your wrapping paper and make your own cards or projects. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword CBC46 so we can look at your artwork. For more inspiration, check out what the rest of the Belli Girls have created:

Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Christi Thorsen
Ceal Pritchett
Lorie Ames
Courtney Fowler
Danita Hollander
Joan Ervin
Sarah Anderson

Merry Christmas!!

Bashful Rose Snowmen

Less than two weeks til Christmas! But I'm still in the mood to make Christmas cards, so why not get a head start on my cards for next year?? :-) This is a fun and easy card to make. The colors are already picked out for you when you pick a designer paper to use - can't get much easier than that. All the products on this card are from Stampin Up!

Stamps: Holiday Line-Up, Loads of Love (sentiment)
Ink: Stazon Black (for snowmen), Basic Black (sentiment), Bashful Blue, Rose Red, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, So Saffron
CS: Bashful Blue, Rose Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Junior Varsity designer paper
Other: Bashful Blue striped grosgrain ribbon, Rose Red button, hemp twine

Belli Challenge #45 - Christmas

This week's Belli Challenge is to make a card or project with a Christmas theme. Now this is an EASY Belli Challenge! I love making Christmas cards. In fact, I rounded up a ton of the Christmas cards that I have made this year and mailed them out. I'm talking about over 50 cards that I mailed to friends and family. Yup........ I had THAT many, and I still have more here! I'll have plenty of cards to pick from next year. :-)

Check out what the other Belli Girls have created, and then go to Chrissy's blog and post your link to your own Christmas creation. Be sure to use keyword CBC45 if you upload to Splitcoaststampers or to Paper Craft Planet.

Rochelle Wick
Debby McGivillary
Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Christi Thorsen
Ceal Pritchett
Lorie Ames
Courtney Fowler
Danita Hollander
Joan Ervin
Sarah Anderson

Hugs and Kisses and Holiday Wishes Belli #44

I found a little time to play yesterday, and I wanted to try this sketch challenge from the Technostamper blog. I didn't follow it exactly - instead of the oval, I used a Labels 1 Nestability shape.

For the stamped image, I decided to do a cracked glass technique. I stamped the image (from Just Rite Stamps) and let it dry. Then I covered it with Distress Embossing Ink (Ranger), poured Stampin Up's Glassy Glaze enamel on that, and heated it up until it melted. I repeated this two more times until I had a nice even glossy coat. To crack the "glass," I put this piece in the freezer for about 5 minutes, and then took it out and immediately bent it here and there to get the "glass" to crack.

When I had enough nice sized cracks, I smooshed my ink pad on top and let the ink settle into the cracks, then I buffed it off with a tissue. I love this technique! It's different every time.

I debated what to add to this card, and I settled for a simple ribbon with some branch punch-outs. This card didn't need any brads or flowers or a bunch of other stuff. Ya know me, I like to keep it simple. :-)

Stamps: Just Rite Christmas Stamp Ensemble
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Embossing Ink
CS: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive
Paper: Basic Grey Blitzen collection
Other: Chocolate Chip wide satin ribbon, Martha Stewart branch punch, Glassy Glaze Enamel, nestabilities

Edited to add: This week's Belli Challenge is to use UTEE to make a cracked glass image. UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) is the same as Stampin Up's Glassy Glass Enamel. Why don't you pull out your jar of UTEE and give it a shot? :-)