Bellariffic Friday

If you're looking for the blog hop post, it's right here.

This week for Bellariffic Friday, we have a sketch from Nicky! I skipped the oval part because my sentiment wouldn't fit in one, but otherwise I was pretty faithful.

After the Ketto blog hop a couple weeks ago, I ordered missmatch Ketto and just couldn't wait to ink her up. I colored her in with copics and added crystal effects and star dust stickles to spice her up.

The paper is once again from the October Afternoon Detour collection. I thought the pinks and aquas were perfect for this little princess. When I stamped the sentiment on the patterned paper, I accidentally caught ink on the corner of the stamp. So I added the little flower button to cover that up. It kind of works. ;)

Stamps: missmatch ketto and daretobedifferent sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, patterned paper from the October Afternoon Detour Collection
Accessories: Dimensionals, Button Latte from Stampin' Up!, Crystal Effects, Star Dust Stickles
Tools: Copics, Classic rectangle nestabilities from Spellbinders

Birthday Blog Hop

Welcome to the Birthday Blog Skip, Hop & Dance sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella. If you're following the hop, you should have come from Mandi's blog. I am super excited to participate this time!

Today is Emily's birthday (Mrs. Stamping Bella herself), so Shannon organized a blog hop on the SCS forum. The theme is Birthday and I decided to fall back to an actual Bella stamp since I haven't used those in a while. ;)

I used colored cakeabella with copic markers and add a little crystal effects & glitter to liven her up. I drew the colors from this old Simple Scrappin' Kit from Stampin' Up! I think it was a level 1 hostess set or a sell-a-bration kit or something. Anyway, the Cool Caribbean paper is from the set and the daisy chain and polka dot strip are adhesive die cuts from the kit as well. I really liked the look of the daisy chain above the Fiskars threading water punch.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Gabriela Duclos. Have a great day!

How about a prize? In addition to the fabulous eye candy, we have decided to hide a prize somewhere along the hop! One pre-selected blogger will draw a random winner from the comments on her post, and the winner will receive a $40 Gift Voucher to Stamping Bella!!! The fun part is...we're not telling you who it is! So as you hop, make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! We will announce the winner on Monday in the Splitcoast forum.

That's pretty much it. Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: cakeabella and happy birthday mixed sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Gina K black Pure Luxury cardstock, Simply Scrappin kit from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Dimensionals, Star Dust Stickles, Crystal Effects
Tools: Copics, Long oval and Long Scalloped Oval nestabilities from Spellbinders, Threading Water punch from Fiskars

Weiman Wranglers

I'm sure by now you've already heard about it, but just in case you haven't - check out the new Weiman Wranglers digital stamps being offered by Pink Cat Studios. All proceeds for these stamps are being donated to the Make a Wish foundation in memory of little 4 year-old Ethan Weiman. When I posted, they had already raised over $1200!

For this card, I used an old Mojo sketch (#67) and some retired patterned paper from Stampin' Up! This was the first time I've colored a digital stamp with my copic markers and I was a little scared. But, I printed it out last night on PTI white card stock and by tonight the ink was totally set. There were no bleeding or smearing problems. It was actually pretty cool! Also, I shrunk the image down to 3.5" tall before printing so it would fit on my card better. That is a pretty cool option with digital stamps.

If you need more incentive to purchase these awesome stamps, Lauren Meader, Heather Hutchinson and Vicki Garret are all offering a chance to win a PCS gift certificate just for posting about and using these great images.

Stamps: Weiman Wranglers and sentiment from Billy Plate 1 from Pink Cat Studio
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie & retired patterned paper from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects
Tools: Copics, Small Label nestabilities, 1 1/4" circle punch

Stamp New England

I can't believe that I never followed up and told you how much fun I had at Stamp New England in New Hampshire back in March! I got to meet Lauren Meader in person which was pretty awesome. We made so many cool projects and got so much free product! I won some stamps from Odd Bird Planet that I still need to use...

Anyway, I am really excited about doing it all again in July when Stamp New England comes to Connecticut. I just found out that they don't have quite enough registrations though, so if we don't get some more in the next couple of days, it is going to be canceled. Please consider coming. It will be so much fun!! (If you do register, mention my name in the comments section.)

Here's some more pictures of Lauren and the project that she designed for us all to make. We actually each got this stamp set from Papertrey Ink for free! (And it was brand new and sold out at the time!)

Bella Sketch Challenge

This week's challenge on the Stamping Bella forums was a sketch from Jamie. BSC78 to be exact.

I really wanted to use the LoveBeetle Huggabugg, so even though it made my panel a little shorter than the sketch, I went with it. I pulled my colors from this awesome paper from October Afternoon Detours collection. You'll be seeing some of this paper again this week for Bellariffic Friday. ;)

The sentiment came with Lovey Huggabug, but I thought it was too perfect for this little "bug" car.

I used copics to color in the image. Then I applied crystal effects to the hubcap using these awesome applicators that I bought from Gina K! Let me tell you I have used crystal effects more since I got these applicators a couple weeks ago than I have since I bought the cyrstal effects 3 or 4 years ago! They are awesome. I then added some star dust stickles to add a little whimsy.

Love it!

Stamps: LoveBeetle Huggabug and Lovey Huggabug from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Chocolate Chip, patterned paper form the October Afternoon Detour collection
Accessories: Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Star Dust Stickles
Tools: Copics, Classic Rectangle & Class Circle nestabilities from Spellbinders

October Stamps Question

Laura M asked if there was a way to purchase Nina Åslund's cute stamps I've used here and here in the US. Currently, I don't think anyone can order from October Stamps. I don't speak Swedish, but Google's translator makes it sound like they are going out of business. You can purchase some of Nina's older animals & monkeys from EZ Mount Stamps here in the US. They don't seem to have the people stamps or the elves though. I haven't ordered from them yet. When I ordered, I got them direct from Sweden.

Hope that helps! I'll be back with a Stamping Bella card later tonight.

Father's Day Part 2

This was the Father's Day card from my son. I think this little boy stamp from October Stamps (designed by Nina Åslund) looks just like him with big bright eyes and a huge smile. I also colored his hat to match my son's Syracuse University baseball hat. hi dada was stamped with Karen Foster Snap stamps. It's a phrase that my little guy says often.

On the inside, I used the new Super Parents stamps from Starving Artistamps. The two stamp lines go together pretty well. If you can't tell, my little guy colored the inside with regular old Crayola crayons.

Stamps: little boy from October Stamps, sentiment made with Karen Foster snap stamps, Super Parents and Sentiments Baby! from Starving Artistamps
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Dimensionals, Crystal Effects
Tools: Copics,Classic Circle and Pinked Circle nestabilites from Spellbinders, Traffic Jam Cuttlebug embossing folder

Father's Day Part 1

For father's day this year, I wanted to give my husband a card from me and another card from my son. This is the card from me. ;)

In our family we pride ourselves on being a little silly, so when I was looking for a father & son image, I thought the two sizes of Yapples would be perfect.

I colored my images in with copic markers and then went back and added the dots for the Van Gogh technique. I absolutely love some of the design team samples, but I don't think this technique is going to come easily to me. It was fun to try it out though.

I colored the baubles with the darkest matching copic marker in that color family and it came out much lighter than I expected. I still like them though!

The layout is from an old Verve release sketch.

The front of the card is pretty wacky, but on this inside I wrote all kinds of mushy stuff. I think he'll like it just fine.

Stamps: Creatures and Together Sentiments from Starving Artistamps
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White & Aqua Mist card stock, Basic Black from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: diamond ice baubles from Stamping Bella, Dimensionals
Tools: Copics, Labels Two nestabilities from Spellbinders, Spots & Dots Cuttlebug Embossing folder

Bellariffic Friday

This week's Bellariffic Friday challenge was a great sketch from Paula. The four squares gave me a little pause, but I thought it would be cute to have the turtle peaking through each one. I think I made them a little too big though and didn't really pull it off. Oh well... It's still kind of cute.

Stamps: turtle tots - picking posies stamp with sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Chocolate Chip & Pixie Pink from Stampin' Up!, Lemon Tart from Papertrey Ink
Accessories: Dimensionals, Wasabi Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Copics, Classic Square nestabilities from Spellbinders

Anniversary

Yesterday was my ninth anniversary. I can't believe that!

Around Christmas time I had ordered some stamps from October Stamps in Sweden that were designed by Nina Åslund. I just loved this smooching couple. The look on the guy's face was priceless. It looks like the company might have gone out of business which is a shame because I love Nina's stamps! You can find some of her animal and monkey stamps in the US here.

I colored the couple in with my copics. I sure am loving them! Then I decided to pair it with this cute retired Valentine's day paper from Stampin' Up! Since I had the clear buttons out, I decided to make my own little embellishment by punching out the xo circle and gluing it to the back of the button.

Stamps: puss from October Stamps, sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, retired designer paper from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Dimensionals, Clear buttons
Tools: Copics, Label Two Small nestabilites from Spellbinders, Smallest circle scalloped punch from Marvy

Bella's Favorite Stamper

I'm finding all kinds of fun things to do in the Stamping Bella forum these days. Evidently there is a featured stamper challenge every month. This month, Angie Williams was the featured stamper. We were to CASE a bella card from her gallery and change at least 2 things.

I chose this card because I loved the button balloons. So what did I change? Here's my list:

1. I changed the color scheme to be a little brighter.
   
2. I didn't clip the outer layer's corners with a ticket corner punch.
3. I used clear buttons and colored them with a copic marker to match my monsters.
4. Instead of putting my sentiment in a circle, I used a little flag at the bottom because it fit my sentiment better.
5. I used embroidery floss for the balloon's strings instead of drawing them on.
6. I used a different embossing folder.
7. I also added crystal effects to the orange balloon that the green monster is holding.

Wow, I changed more than I thought. But, I think you can definitely still see the resemblance from the original card.

This was a great challenge. Thanks Angie for the inspiration!

Stamps: monster bash stamp and happy birthday ms from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White & Pure Poppy card stock, Tempting Turquoise from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Clear buttons, Black Embroidery floss, Green Apple Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Copics, Classic Rectangle and Labels Small nestabilities from Spellbinders, Bloom Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Red, White & Blue Bella

This week's challenge on the bella forum was a Red, White & Blue sketch challenge.

I found this old Chatterbox paper in my stash and thought it was perfect. I thought this little Appley bowl huggabugg would be too cute.

I colored her in with my copics and then added some crystal effects to the apples. I also used Frosted Lace stickles to her wings and the polka dots on her dress. She is just too cute & sparkly in person.


Stamps: Appley Bowl Huggabugg and sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, patterned paper from Chatterbox
Accessories: Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Frosted Lace Stickles
Tools: Copics, Classic and Rectangle nestabilities from Spellbinders

Bellariffic Friday

It's Friday and that means it's time for another Bellariffic Challenge! This week's sketch is from Jen Del Muro and it was just perfect for these little owlies!

I found this paper in my stash the other night and thought it would be perfect for these owls. It's really old SEI paper from the Seasoned line. This sketch also gave me a chance to use the felt ribbon from Stampin' Up!'s holiday mini catalog last year.

I think that's about it. It's been a month now and I am still loving these challenges. :)

Stamps: branching out owlies and dare to be different sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Chocolate Chip from Stampin' Up!, patterned paper from SEI
Accessories: felt ribbon from Stampin' Up!, Dimensionals,
Tools: Copics, Classic and Scalloped Oval nestabilities from Spellbinders

This time, it's a girl!

I just found out on Sunday night that a former co-worker of mine and his wife just had a baby girl. They have a 3 year-old little boy too, hence my post's title.

I had colored a bunch of these little babies for the last baby card, so I decided to make a quick & cute card for this new little girl. I turned to the clean & simple blog for a fun layout and chose FTL43. I remembered having some really old patterned paper from Stampin' Up in pinks & yellows so I dug that out. I forgot how flimsy their patterned paper used to be. The newer stuff is so much nicer! To liven it up a little, I highlighted some of the designs in stickles. Cute & simple. I love it!

Stamps: Oh Baby from Starving Artistamps
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White & Lemon Tart card stock, Candy retired patterned paper from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Star dust Stickles, Dimensionals
Tools: Copics, Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle nestabilities from Spellbinders

Oh Baby!

And now for something different... I have been on a Stamping Bella kick lately, but the need for a baby card reminded me that I have uninked Doodle Factory stamps sitting around. So, I had to switch gears and show them some lovin' too.

Friends of ours had a little boy last month and it's totally brought back memories of my little guy's first few weeks. They have decided to cloth diaper as well, so I wanted to give this little baby some cute printed cloth diapers. I love this truck paper from piggy tales. It has big cars on one side and smaller cars on the other. When I was looking for a contrasting piece for the strip behind the baby, I turned right back to this fun polka dot paper from Pebbles Inc.

As a finishing touch, I applied a little crystal effects to the baby's tears to make them look a little wetter.

For the layout, I used Lauren Meader's mytimess15 sketch.

Stamps: Oh Baby and Sentiments Baby! from Starving Artistamps
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Wild Wassabi from Stampin' Up!, Tortoise & Hare collection patterned paper from piggy tales, Summer Days Stripe and Summer Days Polka Dot patterned paper from Pebbles Inc
Accessories: Wasabi striped Grsograin ribbon from Stampin' Up!, Dimensionals, crystal effects
Tools: Copics, Silver Zig Painty, Classic Circle and Pinked Circle nestabilities from Spellbinders, Treading Water punch from Fiskars

Bella's Show & Tell

The Stamping Bella forums on SCS have gotten a make-over and now have brand new challenges every week. Each week of the month will be a different type of challenge. You can read more about it here.

The first challenge is a show & tell. We were to make a card showing who you are as a woman, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a sister, a friend, a dreamer, a career woman, etc.-anything that defines you. Then we have to explain our interpretation of the theme.

So, I chose ipodabella because at my day job I write software that runs on smartphone devices like the iPhone, Google's Android operating system and Blackberry. I also own an iPhone which I love to pieces.

For this challenge, I used Lauren's Saturday sketch mytimess33 and I actually used it the same weekend it was posted! I think that is a first for me. ;) Of course, I did it from memory so I got a few things wrong. But, I still like my finished version.

I did a lot of stamping last night, so check back tomorrow for something a little different.

Stamps: ipodabella from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Marvelous Magenta, Ballet Blue from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: diamond ice baubles from Stamping Bella, Dimensionals, White Fun Flock, Black Polka Dot Organdy ribbon from May Arts
Tools: Copics, Cuttlebug Paisley embossing folder

Turtle Cutie

Wow! I am so late on this one. I didn't actually make the deadline to make it on Emily's blog, but I still wanted to post on Bellariffic Friday.

This week's challenge was a sketch from Karen Motz. The wavy flag was a fun element that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

I still had this patterned paper out from last week, so I figured I'd give it another whirl. My card was feeling a little flat though, so I added some icicle stickles to all of the dark orange dots & stripes on the paper in addition to the cake trim, candle flames and party hat. I think it added just enough sparkle to make this card shine.


Stamps: Turtle tots - birthday wishes from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore from Stampin' Up!, Party Time Boy Stripe, Summer Days Stripe and Summer Days Polka Dot patterned paper from Pebbles Inc
Accessories: string of pearls baubles from Stamping Bella, Dimensionals, Icicle Stickles, Mini Glue Dots, Prima Flowers
Tools: Copics, Class Square and Label One nestabilities from Spellbinders