Belli Memories

This week we are all celebrating Thanksgiving, so we are not issuing a Belli Challenge. Instead, we have decided to revisit some of the Belli Challenges gone by. Do you remember Belli #8?? Hee hee! That was the week we did Flowers. I decided to share this card with Prima flowers on it in honor of our Belli Memories week.



These flowers were originally a pale orange-y color. I colored them with Rustic Red Shimmerz paint, and they turned into a beautiful sparkly pink-ish/mauve-ish color. It works really well with this Basic Grey paper, the Sugared collection.

The little girl image is colored with Copic markers, and I added dew drops to the centers of the flowers. This was a sketch challenge in the Stampavie group over at Paper Craft Planet.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Stamps: Fanny's Cuddle by Stampavie
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black
CS: Burgundy, White, Basic Grey Sugared
Other: copic markers, nestabilities, small and large oval punch, prima flowers, dew drops, Rustic Red Shimmerz paint

Cherish long card

Here is another version of the long card I showed you yesterday. This one is much simpler and quicker. I came across my old Two Scoops (Basic Grey) paper collection, and there are some stickers in this package. I wanted to use the "cherish" sticker, and I knew it would be perfect on a long card.

So what images do you associate with "cherish?" I wasn't really sure what images would work, so I pulled out some butterfly stamps and went to work. All the stamps on here are from Cornish Heritage Farms. I started by stamping the dark blue swirls, then I added the leaves. The butterflies are stamped with Baja Breeze and Pink Pirouette inks, and then I sponged the edges with Blue Bayou (retired SU inkpad).

It didn't seem quite "finished" so I looked at the stickers again. There are some little tiny flower stickers, and I pulled those off and stuck them on the leaves. I think that really finishes the card nicely.

Stamps: Beautiful (swirls), Nature Silhouettes (leaves), Vintage Butterflies (all from Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Celery, Blue Bayou
CS: Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Basic Grey Two Scoops collection
Other: white taffeta ribbon, scallop edge punch, tiny pearls, sponge

Teddy Holly Days

Isn't that teddy bear just adorable??? I love this image. It's in the Rachelle Ann Miller Collection by Stampavie. This image works great when you want to make a card that fits in a standard #10 envelope. The card size when finished is 9.25" x 4", so you actually have to cut your cardstock to 9.25" x 8", and fold in half.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper, and used my aquapainter and reinkers to color it in. I really enjoyed spending some time watercoloring this afternoon. It's such a relaxing and colorful experience to watch your image come alive with each application of color.

It's hard to see, but I went over the sentiment with a Black Spica glitter pen. It is just a hint of sparkle on there, because I didn't want to take the focus away from the teddy bear image.

I want to encourage you to watercolor this week. Just stamp something and pull out your supplies and color. Do something fun and relaxing, which has NOTHING to do with the big Turkey Day. Take your mind off that for a little bit and just have fun coloring. :-)

Stamps: Stampavie Teddy Bear, Stampabilities (sentiment)
Ink: Stone Gray stazon, Baja Breeze, Cocoa, Caramel, Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst, Going Gray, Basic Black, Celery
CS: Basic Grey, Pretty in Pink, watercolor paper, Ski Slope dsp
Other: Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, felt snowflakes (SU), aquapainter, tiny pearls, Pretties Kit (from SU - the clear rhinestone brad), black Spica glitter pen, scallop edge punch

Thanksgiving Wall Hanging

Can you believe next week will be Thanksgiving?? Time is just flying by now. I created this wall hanging to display in my house next week while I have the whole family over for Turkey Day. Yup, I'm cooking for the whole gang this year (with some help from Mom, Ma, and my SIL's, whew).

I used my Leaves #2 die from Stampin Up and ran it through my Big Shot with three different colors of cardstock. Then I ran my bone folder across each leaf to mark the veins. After I sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink, I crinkled up each leaf along the "veins."

The Thanksgiving sentiment is from Paper Inspirations, and the small wooden cutting board is something I've had in my crafting cabinet for several years. It came with the hole in the top - perfect for hanging on the wall.

Stamps: Paper Inspirations
Ink: Chocolate Chip
CS: Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory, Mustard dsp, Rust, Burgundy, Artichoke
Other: sponge, bone folder, Leaves #2 die, Big Shot, nestabilities, pop up glue dots, dimensionals, Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, wooden cutting board

Belli Challenge #43

This week's Belli Challenge is to use cord on your card or project. Can you see the cord on the right side of this card? There are three strands of gold cord pulled together, with a bow on top. It sort of looks like a wrapped Christmas present, doesn't it? I wanted this to sort of coordinate with the wrapped presents in the Stampavie image.

I have fallen in love with the Sarah Kay images made by Stampavie. They are just darling! They remind me so much of my childhood, growing up with Holly Hobbie images everywhere.

Play along with us and make a card with some cord on it. Here's some inspiration for you:

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


Stamps: Christmas Magic by Stampavie
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black
CS: Artichoke, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Grey Wassail dsp
Other: copic markers, gold cord (retired SU), green metallic ribbon (Michaels)

Silent Blue Night

I was inspired by Debbie Olson's latest post where she painted the edge of her nesty-cut image with a metallic pen. In order to let the blue image remain a focal point, I kept the background very pale.


Can you see the Aged Sheet Music scrapblock on the pale pink card? I had stamped it with white craft ink, but it wasn't very visible, so I dumped Irridescent Ice embossing powder on it and heated it up. Then I smooshed my white craft ink around the eges of the pink card. The snowflake is covered with Star Dust stickles, and then I put a pale blue dew drop in the center.


Stamps: Christmas Expressions, Silent Night (Kinkade image), Aged Sheet Music scrapblock (all from Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: white craft, Broken China distress ink
CS: Pink Pirouette, White
Other: Irridescent Ice embossing powder, silver ribbon, snowflake punch (Martha Stewart), dew drop, Star Dust stickles, silver paint pen

OCCC Silhouette Challenge

I read the challenge that the OCCC blog has issued this week, and I wanted to play along. The challenge is to use silhouettes. I love my silhouette stamps! I pulled out a set that I haven't inked up yet - Inkadinkadoo's Fall Season.

I found that if I ink up with regular Stampin Up classic (dye) inks, the images come out looking rather splotchy and ugh. If you look at the tree closely, you can see the splotchiness. When I inked up with Versamark and stamped on the Rust cardstock (the lower part of the card), it looked much better. I probably need to sand down the images (these are clear stamps) so they will accept the dye inks better, but I didn't want to waste time on that today. My mojo was flowing and I wanted to stamp, not sand! LOL

I stamped the large leaf image with Versamark on Rust cardstock, and cut it out to go inside the card. See below:



I'm working on a special card for the upcoming Belli Challenge this Wednesday. Come back here and check it out on Wednesday. :-)

Stamps: Harvest Home (Stampin Up), Fall Season (Inkadinkadoo)
Ink: Artichoke, Rust, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
CS: Chocolate Chip, Rust, White, Artichoke dsp
Other: Vintage Copper brads (retired SU), piercing tool