Bloom Where You're Planted

This card is from my Bella Binge a few weeks ago. Sadly, I have not had a chance to stamp in a week or so. Hopefully I'll sneak some time for ME this weekend between DH's business trips! I just love Veggiebella, and here she is, fresh from the garden...

I used Target DP, scraps of orange and green and white for the sentiment. The flower brads are Making Memories. The ribbon is pieces of scrap from my stash. Bella is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended. Notice how I'm not coloring in the entire image anymore, but trying to use shading? I doodled around the white spaces with my orange gel pen. The sentiment is from Anita's, found at Michael's a few years ago. She just makes me want to drag out the gardening books and start planning, even though it's freezing here today!

Off to grab some dinner. Thanks for looking!

Little Bits of Spring

After the snow of last Friday (the first and hopefully last of this winter), I am in serious need of Spring! I made these cards last week and thought today would be a good day to share them. I wanted to post them last night, but we had guests all weekend and a birthday party last night. So here they are today.

The first uses the Maya Road chipboard blooms that I have had stashed away. Honestly, I was unsure of what to do with them. In the end I colored them with Sharpie markers and added some glitter using the Two Way Glue Pen and Martha Stewart white glitter. I used green rick rack for the stems and dollar stamps for the dragonfly, leaves and sentiment. I used my new Spica glitter pen on the lettering and it is very sparkly IRL.

Here's a close up of the flowers:

This second card is for my Grandmother's birthday next week. Even though my parents divorced when I was 6, my Grandmother was always in our lives. We still keep in touch with notes and letters. This card just scream Spring to me and I love it. I might have to make more of it! I used the Color Box Chalk Ink for the flourish from Baroque Motifs, and added Primas. In the centers of the flowers are colored brads from Queen & Co. The sentiment is from a set I have but lost the name of. Ribbon is from my stash, as are the papers. This was the first time I used the Chalk Inks and I LOVE them! I just ordered a bunch from Joann's and they came today. Hopefully I'll have some time to play later.

Thanks for looking!

A Sketch Challenge - NO Stamping!

I love a quick card that has no stamping! Although I spent so much time looking for my last scraps of this butter yellow paper that I could have stamped a bunch images (and colored them!). I love this Making Memories Maddi Stripe and Maddi Paisley dp. The tag is from Target, from ages ago. The base card is a nice textured cs with flecks of color through it. The sketch is from Tranquil Moments. I hope I made her deadline for the challenge!

This has to be quick - time to get DS off to bathtime and bed. Then DH and I get to order our Friday night pizza and sit on the couch catching up. With all his travel, we don't even get a chance to chat much lately!

Thanks for looking!

Jen's Aloha RAK - February

I was so happy to receive this RAK from Flo at Flossie's Follies the other day. We both participated in Jen's Aloha RAK and she was my RAK-er this month. It's really a fun swap that Jen hosts every month. Check it out!Here is another Bella card I did on Monday. I had all the stamps out, so stamped a bunch if images, colored them up and put together a few cards. I have to make more images, though, as DS took a bunch to color himself. He even cut them out. SO cute! I used Sweetybellas, colored with Prismacolors nad blended. The ribbon is American Crafts and I forget the name of the DP. I hope you can see the detail of the DP, though. It says Best Friends and had definitions of cherish, friends, delight, etc. It's very pretty. The flower is and the flower brad are from Target. I used the Linen BG stamp on the white card base. And of course they both have a scoop of chocolate ice cream!Well, we had a partial snow day today. The first of the entire season. The library where I work was actually opening at 1pm, but I'm not going on since I kept DS home this morning. It is supposed to rain and ice on top of the 5 inches of snow we got, so I'm staying tucked inside!

Have a good weekend, everyone. Thanks for looking!

Kid's Birthday Card

Yesterday was one of those wonderful "home days" that I like to spend with DS. He was content to putter around in my office while I stamped. He even colored some Bella images! I got a bunch of cards made and in the afternoon, the weather was nice enough to go around the block a few times on his bicycle. All holidays should be relaxing like that!

So although I created 5 cards, I am going to only share this one tonight, since I don't know how my stamping time will pan out for the rest of the week. DH is headed out of town again, and we are expecting guests this weekend. Besides, I don't want to bore you with Bellas! (is that even possible?)

Instead, here is a card for a friend of DS who is having a birthday party Sunday. I used By Land, which I LOVE for little boys. The dump truck is stamped with Wild Wasabi ink on white cs. The dp is from the Provo Craft Holiday Slab V that you saw so much of at Christmas. Well, it's not just for holidays anymore :) The sentiment is Studio G from Michael's. I used the large black eyelets from We R Memory Keepers on the wheels. I hope he likes it! It was a fun, quick little card to make and I need to stock up on those kiddie birthday cards!

Hope you all had a nice long weekend. I keep reading about everyone's sicknesses. Let's hope we can all open the windows soon and air ourselves out and be healthy again. I do hope everyone is on the mend! Thanks for looking!

VeggieBella

On Friday, I received my Bella order. I have been waiting and waiting for them to get here, and they did, just as I was starting to really feel better! I stamped a bunch of them off and have been coloring them bit by bit. Tonight I put together a few cards with VeggieBella. I have only one to post, though, as I am going to hope for sunshine tomorrow for better pictures. Here she is, ready to be entered into Shannon's color challenge. The challenge is to use Tempting Turquoise, Almost Amethyst and Black in a card. The pieces used for this card are close to the end of my stash of this great amethyst color cs. I used a bunch of it at Christmas and got tired of it, now I want more! Bella is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended, the ribbon is from my stash. I put little snap brads in the corners of the main image panel.
I'm off to make another card or two before I turn into a pumpkin this evening. Tomorrow is a a holiday, so hopefully DS will want to play in my stamp room and I can do some more! Thanks for looking!

SC163

Two posts in one day - I MUST be feeling better! This card is for SCS Sketch Challenge 163, and also for Allison's Suggestive Sunday. Allison's challenge to us was to use a $1.00 stamp as the main focal image. I had these scraps laying on my table (REALLY have to take some time to clean up!) and put this together. I saw the cuttlebugged layer swiped with ink on Julee's Poetic Artistry blog and thought it was stunning, so I had to use that idea.

The ribbon has been in my stash since last year. The stamps are Studio G, and the colors used for ink are Cool Caribbean and Close to Cocoa. I used MM brads and Stickles on the flowers, and a rhinestone on the swirl of the sentiment panel. I found the perfect spot of sunshine on DH's desk to snap the photo.

I'm also entering this into Bela's Creating Place challenge to use no patterned papers. Thanks for looking!

Back Among the Living

Ah, it feels so good to feel healthier! What a week it's been! I'm glad it's almost behind me... Thank you all for the well wishes!

DS returned to school today - couldn't miss the Valentine's Day party! He was so excited to go back and play with his friends. And you should have seen them mob around him when I dropped him off. It's so cute to see the friendships developing. Luckily, I had his Valentine card made up weeks ago, or I would have been scribbling kids' names on scraps of paper. Here are the cards he is giving out - and Smarties are tucked into the envelopes. The stamps are Love Ya Much, from CC Designs. They were just too cute to pass up, and I am especially in love with these little lovebirds! And the bunny with the appliqued tail, too cute! (sorry, Puppy, you're cute, too but I am partial to the others)

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you out there! I hope you get to snuggle with your sweetie and eat some chocolates today. Thanks for looking!

I'll Be MIA For A Few More Days

Here's the story: DS: sinus infection, asthma flareup (bad one this time); DH: Spain on a business trip; ME: fever for 4 days now, going to dr. tomorrow.

Not a pretty picture. Especially when I received 7 new bottles of Stickles today and I can't even play with them! Boo hoo for me.

Hope to be back at it this weekend. Stay warm and thanks for looking :)

...And Then There Was Light!

While at Target picking up a prescription for DS (ear infection and flu!), I stopped by the lighting section to see what kind of bulbs they carry. I have been complaining about the lighting in my craft room and contemplating buying an expensive daylight lamp. Instead, I tried some new bulbs and sure enough, I can see what I'm doing now!!! Gotta love an easy fix. Turns out the bulbs in my ceiling light were only 40 watts. Fine if you are on the computer, or paying bills, or something. But NOT when you want to see color and detail.

So with sunshine this morning and my new lightbulbs this afternoon, here is what I created. The first card is the Monday Lunchtime Sketch by Mary Jo at Techno Stamper. This is a fabulous sketch and you really should go check out what everyone is creating with it! I used the Soft Sky cs, brown and cream scraps, and Alpine Socks dp which has the greatest little shimmer in it. The cupcakes are from Stampendous, available at Eclectic Paperie. I paper pieced the cupcake papers with the matching dp, and put microbeads on the frosted tops. (I love how the microbeads reflected the light in the photos - IRL they are a shimmery brown). The cherries on 3 of them are red glitter glue and the fourth is a red jewel brad from Target. The square brads on the sentiment are Making Memories.

This next card is for the challenge at Sarah and the Stampstars, No Stamping Required! Also, if you look closely, I SEWED on my card! Yes, this is a first, and clearly there is a problem with the tension on my bobbin thread (see photo of back of panel), but that is easily fixed. Sewing has been on my "techniques to try" list for so long, I finally tackled it today. And it was fun! I used microbeads on the heart. DP is from CTMH. The sketch is Di Hickman's newsletter. A great way to use up scraps.

I'll be home tomorrow afternoon with DS again, so will probably get to stamp more while he snoozes on the couch watching Thomas the Tank Engine. Thanks for looking!

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers - 12

After seeing several blogs with SBS logos, I decided to check it out myself. What a great way to connect with other stamping bloggers, or blogging stampers, or blampers? Stoggers? Anyway, I signed up for Group 12. See my sidebar to links to my "sisters." I've already received some sweet comments. Thanks!

Here's a little something I put together the other night, following CPS #50 again. If only my camera would cooperate and focus more! I think I might hold off on Nestabilities and invest in a better camera. Can't decide - maybe I should wait for my birthday? Or maybe I'll get a good guilt gift because DH will be out of town on Valentine's Day (AGAIN!)...

I love the harlequin background paper with these sweet daisies. I used my oval nestabilities to create the mats, and stamped the image (Studio G), then colored with my gel pens. The sentiments is also Studio G and I colored the flower with the same pens. I doodled around the white frame, but you can't really see the yellow dots that are between the blue squiggles. My camera doesn't seem to want to focus in on the doodle. Maybe it was the lighting. I'll try again if we ever get a sunny day! The ribbon is from Target - synthetic raffia. The picture hanger is from We R Memory Keepers, attached with a Queen & Co brad. See, I'm using my stuff!

Well, I had to pick up DS from school with 102 temp this afternoon, so I'm going to check on him and change the tv channel if he needs it. I suspect a sinus infection. Poor little man.

Thanks for looking!

ETA: Got my camera to focus on the doodles. Here they are, and you can see the yellow dots...

Unexpected Stamp Time

The good news is that I got some surprise stamping time this afternoon. The bad news is it means I'm working a split shift and have to return to work this evening. But I'll take what I can get, especially if it includes a quiet house and time with my stamping stuff!

The CPS sketch this week is a tough one. I have a couple pieces of dp that are lined up to try it, and this is the first attempt. You can see the sketch HERE. Since my stash of cards is short on masculine cards, I am trying to make some to have on hand. This one uses CTMH paper, and soft sky scraps. I sent the SS throught the Cuttlebug with one of the oval Nestabilities dies, then sent it through to emboss it. The "frame" that results from this embossing is then watercolored with Close to Cocoa. The smaller oval is also from the Nestabilities set and the stamp is from Hambo Stamps. The hardware is We R Memory Keepers and the sentiment is MFT, Icing on the Cake.

This next card is from the Eclectic Paperie Mission: Hey There Cupcake! that was issued with the purchase of the exclusive Stampendous stamp set. This is a fabulous set, with a bunch of interchangeable cupcake tops and bases. Plus a great selection of words to put together a custom sentiment! The dp on this card is from Miss Elizabeth's that I got at the dollar store. Ribbon is from my stash and the other layers are scraps. The rhinestones are also from my stash. I am trying to use my embellishments before buying anything new. So far, so good.

Well, it's almost time for me to return to work. Thanks for looking!

Two Stamping Bella Challenges - Completed!

Since DH is home this week, I took advantage today and holed up in my craft room. Stamping Bella had a pajama party the other night and posted a few challenges. I wanted to get these challenges done, since I can't upload to SCS tomorrow (I haven't joined the Fan Club yet). So I thought I would also post them quickly here before I run out for dinner with a girlfriend.

The first is the Favorites challenge. The only stipulation was you had to use your favorite product on it. My favorite Bella is Bookwormabella, that my friend Cindy sent me a while ago. The background is Crosshatch, stamped in two different colors (bordering blue and mellow moss). The letter paper is DCWV, and I think this was my last bit of it :(. The ribbon is from my stash and the tag is made from the Word Window Punch. The sentiment stamp is Studio G from Michael's. The sketch is from SCS, #159.

The second card here is for the Sketch challenge. The base card is Marigold Morning, which I really happen to like. I put ribbon on Presentahbella's gift, and used Primas with a Target rhinestone brad. The sentiment is from Stampendous, Hey There Cupcake, which I just got yesterday from Eclectic Paperie.

Well, time to head out to dinner. Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend. I'll be back with more tomorrow - gotta get those Bingo numbers! Thanks for looking!