Belli Challenge #52 - Bake a Cake Challenge!!

Can you believe it has been ONE YEAR of Belli Challenges already!? For those of you who may not know what a Belli Challenge is...

Each week, we try a challenge that will use things we have lying around our stamp rooms or homes! With a constant flow of new things coming out, we tend to forget about the other things we have and they quickly become clutter!

For the week of January 28, Belli #52, we are hosting a VERY special Belli Challenge in celebration of our One Year Anniversary. Some of you may have played this game before with some other groups... We will be BAKING A CAKE to celebrate our First Anniversary of Belli Challenges.

How do we play BAKE A CAKE?

Listed below is a list of cake ingredients. You must pick 5 ingredients, you can list them on your upload too, but don't share what the ingredients stand for, link them up to Chrissy's blog! Tomorrow Chrissy will give you the list of what the ingredients are equal to in Embellishments! On this second list is the corresponding crafting ingredient for the items you picked. For example, flour = ribbon (just an example - the actual list is different). Your challenge is to create a card with those 5 ingredients that you chose. You could wind up having to create a card with ribbon, chipboard, designer paper, buttons, and paint. This is the fun part. You don't know what you are picking!! Are you ready for this fun challenge??

Here are the ingredients, be sure to choose 5!
Flour
Sugar
Butter
Vanilla
Eggs
Salt
Baking soda
Chocolate
Nutmeg
Milk
Cinnamon
Powdered sugar
Cream cheese
Cocoa powder
Coconut
Oil

For my card, I had picked flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and powdered sugar. It was a challenge for me to put all that on my card, because I'm not a foo-foo stamper. My cards are usually clean and simple. But I managed to squeeze all my Cake Ingredients onto this card. :-)

Check on Chrissy's blog for the second list which will have the equivalent crafting ingredients. I hope you join us in our fun Anniversary Challenge!!

Lee Murphy joins us again this week as our special guest designer. HERE is her blog, so check out what she has created!!

Here's what our Belli Girls have created for our First Belli Anniversary:

Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Christi Thorsen
Ceal Pritchett
Lorie Ames
Danita Hollander
Joan Ervin
Karen Gibson

Stamps: Love Blooms (Chrissy's latest stamp set available at Sweet N Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Silver Encore, Pink Pirouette
CS: White, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, vellum, Bittersweet Basic Grey dsp
Other: nestabilities, silver embossing powder, brads, lace, copic markers, sponge

CBCC #23 - Color Challenge

Today's CBCC Challenge is a color challenge. Today we are using Real Red, Pink Passion, and Chocolate Chip. I sort of went outside the norm and made a little Valentine's purse instead of a card. I had seen something similar somewhere else, and it just stuck in my head. You know what that means. I have to make it or else it will stay in my head and drive me crazy. :-)





This is really easy. Simply cut out two of the real red pieces from the Stampin Up Petal Die Cut with the Big Shot, fold over two of the petals, glue them together, and you have a cute little heart shaped purse! Can you guess who will be getting this on Valentine's Day? I'll fill it with some shredded paper and some yummy chocolate candies and give it to my honey. :-)

Play with us, and upload your creation to SCS or PCP (use keyword CBCC23). Here is what the rest of the Challenge Chicks have created:

Courtney Fowler
Chris Dickinson
Maria Fiscella
Lorie Ames
Danielle Marcus
Sarah Anderson
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim

Lady in the Moon

Danita challenged me to use the MOJO70 sketch today, so this is what I came up with. The lady in the moon image is from Rubbernecker - isn't that gorgeous?? I colored her with copic markers and then sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy ink. The sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink, and I picked it because it mentioned stars.

I was actually going to emboss the lady image before I did my sponging. However, when I went over the coloring with my Versamarker pen and dumped clear embossing powder on it, all the powder fell off!! I wonder if the alcohol in the Copic markers repels the stickiness of the versamark?? Does anyone know?? So..... I had to be careful with my sponging, and I used my fingers to hide the moon as best as I could.

Thanks for a cool sketch, Julee! :-)

Stamps: lady in the moon (Rubbernecker), sentiment (PaperTrey Ink)
Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Not Quite Navy
CS: Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Kraft
Designer Paper: Not Quite Navy, Saffron
Other: star punch, copic markers, nestabilities, sponge

Basic Grey Recipe Challenge

Danita challenged me to play in the new Basic Grey challenge today. This time we had to follow a recipe - 2 designer papers, 1 button, 1 ribbon, and 3 brads. Easy enough, right?

So I picked up my Basic Grey Urban Prairie papers and tried to figure out which ones I wanted to play with. Then I had to think of a sketch. Then I had to think, which stamps would look good with this? Finally I decided on the new Spring Trees from Cornish Heritage Farms. It's a fun, cutesy set that I thought would look good with the Urban Prairie papers.

The green flower brads were a bright lime green, so I dulled them down a bit by coloring over them with a Copic marker. The tree image is colored with Copics, and I went over the bee wings with a clear Spica glitter pen for a little shimmer.

This is a fun little challenge. It's nice to have a day to just play! The weather has been cold and windy today, so it was a perfect day to stay inside and stamp. Hope you are all warm and happy today! :-)

Stamps: Spring Trees (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black
CS: Taken with Teal, White, Urban Prairie by Basic Grey
Other: button, flower brads, white tafetta ribbon, copic markers, clear Spica glitter pen

Belli Challenge #51 - Inky Fragments Tag

This week's Belli Challenge is to use your ink refills. The most obvious thing to do with ink refills is to watercolor an image. So I thought I'd try something different. Here, I've used alcohol inks to color the tag and the clear fragments.

It's mostly a trial and error thing. Sometimes I get too much color and it gets all muddy, and sometimes I don't get enough color. I actually tried several different combinations of colors before getting this result. You really just have to play with it to get a feel for it.

Just a note - regular dye ink refills will not work on these clear fragments. You will need to use the Ranger alcohol inks to get this effect. I stamped the butterflies and swirls with Black Stazon ink. Dye inks will not dry on the fragments.

This week we have a wonderful special Guest Designer joining the Belli Girls. Her name is Lee Murphy, and here is her blog. Go check out what she is doing!

Please play along with us, and use keyword CBC51 when you upload to SCS or PCP. Here is what the other Belli girls have done for you:

Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Christi Thorsen
Ceal Pritchett
Joan Ervin
Karen Gibson
Debby McGillivray




Stamps: Rubbernecker silhouette flower; Cornish Heritage Farms Beautiful, Vintage Butterfly, Inchie Style
Ink: Jet Black stazon, alcohol inks from Ranger
CS: white tag, glossy paper
Other: Tim Holtz fragments, black grosgrain ribbon, glossy accents, alcohol inks applicator, blending solution

CBCC #22 - sketch challenge

Today's CBCC Challenge is a sketch challenge. When I saw the little circles at the bottom, I really had to think about what to put there. I finally decided to use my Spellbinders Petite Rose Border die cut set. I cut out 3 of the little rose circles and embossed them with the tan mat. To color the roses, I left the cardstock inside the die after embossing. It makes a perfect stencil for coloring. Here, I used my Stampin Up chalks for a nice soft touch of color.

Come play along with us. I'd love to see what you create with this sketch. :-)

Courtney Fowler
Chris Dickinson
Maria Fiscella
Lorie Ames
Danielle Marcus
Sarah Anderson
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim

Stamps: Heart from the Heart
Ink: Cocoa, Old Paper distress ink
CS: Cameo Coral, Vanilla
DSP: Lily Kate (Basic Grey), Close to Cocoa dsp
Other: chalks, nestabilities, Petite Rose Border die, sponge, kraft tafetta ribbon

Stained Glass Dreams

I've been playing in the VSN challenges this weekend, and this is one of the cards I made. There was a picture of a box of chocolate, which was gold and ornate with stained glass images all over it. So from that inspiration piece, I chose to do a stained glass card.

Since we only had 45 minutes to work on our cards, I had to figure out a quick way to color the "glass." I used alcohol inks with the blending solution and pounced it onto glossy white cardstock. After that dried, I stamped the stained glass backgrounder with Black Stazon ink. This stained glass stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms, but it is now retired and not available for sale anymore. This is one my favorite backgrounders, so it will still be seen now and then on my artwork.

The lady image is from Rubbernecker. (Shhh.... I stole this from Mom....) It is part of a larger circular stamp, so I just colored her with copic markers and cut her out. The sentiment is from Motivational Centers at Cornish Heritage Farms.

Stamps: CHF Stained Glass Backgrounder, CHF Motivational Centers, Rubbernecker lady
Ink: Stazon Black, Adirondack Pitch Black
CS: Brushed Gold, glossy white, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Other: star punches, copic markers, alcohol inks, blending solution, black wide organdy ribbon, ticket corner punch, gold paint pen, gold glitter pen (in the hair, edges of book pages)

Blog Candy Winner

Okay, time for the winner! Random.John picked #5, which turns out to be Karen! Whoo hoo!!! Congratulations, Karen! I'll get your card in the mail this week.

Stay tuned for my next posting of a stained glass card. :-)

Blog Candy Alert

Time is running out. Hurry up and leave a comment on THIS posting for your chance to win the blog candy.

I will pick a winner later on today (Sunday), so don't delay! :-)

Scraplings

Have you heard of Scraplings? These are basically tiny leftover pieces of cardstock that you turn into little bitty cards, thus..... "scrap"-lings. This particular scrap of real red cardstock is 1.75" x 11". You could make a scrapling from something as small as 1.5" x 8" up to 2" x 12". The whole idea is to use up your scraps.

So in keeping with that idea, I found some leftover white rub-ons from last year's Stampin Up! SAB package. Remember those? I bet you still have some in your stash. Pull them out and use em up! The only thing on my card is rub-ons, white grosgrain ribbon, and cardstock. No stamping at all. The longest part of making this card - for me - was finding the scrapling cardstock.

I challenge you to make a scrapling this weekend. They are cute and fun! And the best part is that you are using up some of those cardstock scraps. :-)

Stamps: none
Ink: none
CS: Real Red, Basic Black
Other: white grosgrain ribbon, white rub-ons

Belli Challenge #50 - Soul in the Sky

This week's Belli Challenge is to find your old stamps, dust them off, and ink them up again. Since last week we inked up our new stamps, this week we are playing with our beloved yet neglected stamps.

I looked through some of my older stamps, and this hummingbird image cried out to me. It's been a long time since I played with this one from Cornish Heritage Farms. I simply colored it with copic markers and cut it out, then adhered it to some nestability scalloped ovals. The centers of the flowers have a tiny bit of Yellow Stickles in there. This is a nice flat card that will be perfect for mailing to a special someone. Could that be you? Leave a comment on this posting and I will pick a name on Sunday, January 18!! Good luck!!

Play in our challenge this week and use keyword CBC50 if you upload to SCS or PCP. Here's a little more inspiration for you from the other Belli Girls:

Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Ceal Pritchett
Christi Thorsen
Danita Hollander
Joan Ervin
Karen Gibson
Debby McGillivray


Stamps: Bird Sampler, Vintage Butterflies (both from Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cameo Coral
CS: Cameo Coral, White, River Rock, Ginger Blossom dsp
Other: copic markers, sponge, nestabilities, Yellow Stickles

CBCC #21 - Inspiration

This week's CBCC challenge is to find inspiration from your favorite CD. "What music do you listen to while you stamp?" Courtney said to use that CD cover as inspiration for this week's card or project. Wellllll......... little does Courtney know that I don't listen to music. So, I changed it around a bit and found some inspiration from my latest DVD movie.



Can you guess what movie this might have been inspired by??? Hee hee heeeeeeee!




The Fairy Dust sentiment comes from Rubbernecker. I went on a buying spree last year when I met the Rubbernecker gang at a convention in San Antonio. I'm so glad I had a chance to use this stamp. It's such a cute and whimsical saying.

Look closely and you will see that all the papers are shimmery. The dark blue cardstock is Night Sky from PaperTrey Ink, and the cream paper is Poison Ivory shimmery cardstock. I wanted the green to shimmer also, so I found my old bottle of hairspray and silver Pearl Ex, shook it up, and sprayed the green cardstock.

For the sentiment, I stamped it first with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink, let it dry, and then centered it inside a nestabilities die. After I cut it out, I sent it back through with the tan embossing mat to give me a raised edge. I used that raised edge as a guide for applying some Star Dust Stickles around it to sort of frame the sentiment. I used the swirls from the Beautiful set at Cornish Heritage Farms and stamped with with Vintage Cream ink (PTI). After that dried, I went over some of the larger swirls with Star Dust Stickles (my favorite!).

Well, I couldn't just leave it at that. So I Stickled some silver star brads and waited several hours for that to dry. In the meantime, I found some irridescent ribbon, and that provided a great finishing touch for this card. It turned out to be a shimmery and sparkly card in honor of Tinkerbell! :-)

Play along with us, and use keyword CBCC21 if you upload to SCS or PCP. Please check out what the rest of the Challenge Chicks have created:

Courtney Fowler
Chris Dickinson
Maria Fiscella
Lorie Ames
Danielle Marcus
Sarah Anderson
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey
Kim


Stamps: Fairy Dust (Rubbernecker), Beautiful (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Vintage Cream (PTI), Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate
CS: Poison Ivory, Night Sky (PTI), Garden Green
Other: irridescent ribbon, Star Dust Stickles, star brads, nestabilities, hairspray & silver Pearl Ex

Smiles and Laughter

Three of us got together tonight to stamp, and Danita challenged us to work on this week's Basic Grey challenge. I had been gone all day so I didn't have much mojo flowing tonight. I kept mine super simple, painting crackle paint on the chipboard and stamping on some Basic Grey paper that matched the colors in the dsp that I chose (Urban Prairie). The Ranger distress crackle paint in Broken China is a very good match for the blue in this Urban Prairie paper.

After I finished this card, Danita and Chris said that it might have looked better with a solid black ribbon. Possibly so, but I'm too tired to go back and change it. LOL Nighty night!

Stamps: Hero Arts
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
CS: Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Urban Prairie Basic Grey dsp
Other: Paper Studio chipboard, dotted black ribbon, Broken China distress crackle paint, pinking shears

Belli Challenge #49

This week's Belli Challenge is to create a card with NEW stamps or with a TIME theme. I combined these on both of the cards above. I used new stamps and managed to weave a time theme into each card.

For the orange card with the clock, I used the sketch from MOJO61. But in order to keep it a masculine card, I didn't add the scalloped edge above the sentiment. I sponged around the edges of the orange cardstock and then distressed the edges of the main image. Both the clock image and the sentiment are new stamps that had never seen ink before.

On the Time to Reflect card, I used the Aged Tiles technique from the Technique Junkies newsletter. Again, I did more sponging, and I added some twill and aged copper brads. The sentiment and the Bird Watching image are new and uninked stamps.

All the stamps on both cards are from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Play along with us and create your own Belli card. If you upload your card to SCS or PCP, please use keyword CBC49. For more inspiration, please look at what the Belli Girls have done:

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


Orange clock card:
Stamps: CHF Time to Stamp
Ink: Walnut Stain distress ink
CS: Tangerine Tango, Archaic Basic Grey
Other: sponge, Making Memories brads, distressing tool

Bird Watching card:
Stamps: CHF Time to Stamp & Bird Watching
Ink: Walnut Stain distress ink
CS: Kraft, Ruby Red, Baja Breeze, Vanilla
Other: twill, aged copper brads

Feeding my Dolly

Sweet N Sassy Stamps is hosting this week's CPS sketch, so I thought I'd play along. I actually rotated the sketch around to fit my stamped image (Sarah Kay line by Stampavie), so it may look a wee bit different to you.

I colored the image with Copic Markers (getting better at the blending thing), and I used some designer papers from the Basic Grey Eva collection. I picked my marker colors according to what I could match up in the designer papers. The buttons are adhered with bits of pop up glue dots after being tied with linen thread through their holes.

Can't chat too long, since I still have to clean the kitchen and get ready for work again tomorrow. Have a great night!

Guess What??

I have some exciting news. I was asked to become a member of Courtney's Challenge Chicks design team!!! I'm so excited!

For my first CBCC posting (not to be confused with the CBC which is the Belli Challenge), we were asked to "reduce, reuse, and recycle." I found my little stash of scraps, and picked a few things from there to play with.




Can you see what I picked out from my scrap stash for this card below?




I used the white designer label punched cardstock piece, the black photo corner piece, and the little pieces of ribbon. By choosing these items, my colors were already decided for me - white, black, and riding red hood. This ended up being a very bold and striking card. How's this for my first Challenge Chick card? :-)

Come play with us, and create a work of art from your pile of scraps. For more inspiration, please check out what the other Challenge Chicks have done:

Courtney Fowler
Chris Dickinson
Maria Fiscella
Lorie Ames
Danielle Marcus
Sarah Anderson
Sparkle Smith
Maria Gurnsey


Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy, CHF Nature Silhouettes
Ink: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red
CS: White, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red
Other: black gingham ribbon, riding hood red tafetta ribbon, photo corner punch, designer label punch, circle punches