Simply Mocha Chica

CPS 207 is so fun this week! I have tons of ideas in my head for it. If only I had tons of time! This card did come together in a flash, using Mocha Chica papers and stamps from the Kim Hughes line of products from now-closed CHF. For those of you looking for a Kim Hughes fix, though, she has started her own stamp company, Paper Smooches! Such fun stuff she's come out with already :) I have a card using her one of her debut sets and will post in the next day or so. I'm still trying to decide if I love it or not.

Anyway, on this card, the bird and tree are paper pieced and all the square image panels are lightly sponged with Cool Caribbean ink. The green embellishments are Bella Dots that I got a couple Christmases ago from Stamping Bella. The other ink colors used here are Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip. Have a good afternoon, and thanks for looking!

Father's Day, Color Throwdown Style...

Yippee! I did the Color Throwdown (#88) before the deadline :) Thanks to DH for taking the boys out for a bit this afternoon, allowing me some guilt-free craft time!

I didn't add a sentiment so this could actually be a Father's Day or other masculine holiday card. AND, I made two of them since everything was already out and being cut. Aren't I productive? LOL.

The base is Tangerine Tango and the dp is from Basic Grey, with a little So Saffron mixed in for good measure. Image layers are cut with the Deckled Rectangle Nesties. So fun!

I hope everyone had a good weekend! We got big news, but also had to sadly cancel our big summer vacation. I'm bummed, but good things are on the horizon :) Thanks for looking!

EONAC #4

This week's Everything Old is New Again Challenge is to use a stamp that you HAD to have, but have hardly used since getting it. I chose this Grillafella from Stamping Bella. I went through a phase of buying a bunch of Bella stamps, especially Fellas for those tricky masculine cards, and have not used them very often.

I had these dp scraps on my desk from making Justin's Valentines, so I cut a few into squares to patchwork the background. The image is colored with Bic Mark It markers - cheap, but effective. The base card is craft and I added some brads and piercing. The sentiment was also sitting on my desk and I don't know who made it...

Well, I'm logging off to watch the rest of the Survivor Heroes v Villains premier. CBS is really trying to compete with the Olympics! Good thing we just got a DVR :)

Have a good night! Thanks for looking!

A Sheetload of Cutting!

I made this card for the November Sheetload Of Cards contest. The dp is BG Sultry because it was on my desk from the other day. The base is Soft Suede and the pink is Melon Mambo from this year's In Colors. The twill is from SU! a season or two (or three) ago. PMSabella is paper pieced right down to the tiny chocolate that fell out of the box. That was a LOT of tiny cutting and a few times I thought I lost the small pieces. If you can see, the popcorn is detailed with liquid applique.

My time is limited to Carter's nap and I have to also get the laundry done, so off I go. DH is back from his business trip tonight, so fingers crossed for stamp time this weekend! Thanks for looking!

A Lost Cause-a-Bella

I sat down to make this card last night and realized that I have lost my Causabella stamp. I makes me crazy to think that I have lost anything, so I'm going to have to tear my room apart to look for her over the next week. But hey, it needs a good clean anyway! After I gave up the search last night and went to bed, I realized that I had a few sheets of the image stamped off, so got back to work today.

This card almost consolidates 2 challenges from the past week. Kerry's sketch from Three Clovers Designs, the Girlie theme from SCS Limited Supplies Challenge. {ETA: I just realized that the LSC was to use NO patterned paper unless it was made with stamps. So I'm not as far ahead of the game as I thought :(} The dp is from Perhaps by BG and the cardstocks are Pretty in Pink and Sahara Sand from SU! The hardware is also SU and the pearls are from my stash.

Since I've been making cards as needed lately (if I have the time), this one is headed out in the mail tomorrow to an aunt of mine who is undergoing radiation for breast cancer. Between DH's and my families, we have 3 aunts currently undergoing treatment for various cancers. Please keep them in your thoughts! We went from no family history to this in less than 6 weeks!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Carter is sleeping in his bouncy chair right now and I'm thanking him for taking a nap so I could play in my craft room! I took Justin to a "Touch-a-Truck" event this morning and we had fun while Carter hung out with Daddy. So this afternoon was a little time for ME! Imagine...

Thanks for looking!

Krafty Teacher

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school. I think it's everywhere, but I always wait until the last minute to do anything. This is the card I made for DS's teacher, who is really very sweet. This is her first year teaching and I think the Kindergarten class really gives her a run for her money!

For inspiration, I used the Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS and the sketch challenge on Stamps and Smiles blog. The image is Teachabella and after coloring it I realized I colored the space between her shirt and arms. Oh well, a chubby Bella! The sentiment is SU! stamped in Tangerine Cat's Eye chalk ink. The ribbon is from my stash and I found that button that matched almost perfectly! The dp is from DCWV.

Well, I'm off to the couch for Thursday night TV. If the stamping gods are with me, I'll be back again tomorrow with another creation. Thanks for looking!

Naughty Bella!

I've been puzzling over this challenge, posted by Allison, all week. Finally today it hit me in the middle of the day what I should do. Unfortunately, I had to wait until I got home from work to execute the idea. But here she is:Look how the Dasher papers by BG match so well with the new Red Riding Hood and Kiwi Kiss cardstock from SU! And look, I'm using the IN Colors while they are still IN! Usually I'm a season or two behind...

Bella is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended. The chrome on her bike are colored over with glitter markers. I used puffy paint for a pom-pom on her headgear and also on her jacket. I'm not too sure about the ribbon, but I think I like it. Do you agree or disagree? The sentiment is computer generated.

I wish everyone a good weekend - stay warm! Thanks for looking!

Mama Said...

...there'll be days like this. Don't you love Grumpabella? She just joined my collection this week, and I couldn't wait to ink her up! The sketch is for Angelosity Day 5 which she posted yesterday. I am determined to catch up with all her challenges this weekend!

Daisy paper is from DCWV Spring Stack, and the saffron is from Marcella K. The ribbon is from my stash, baubles from Michael's, and the sentiment is Verve.

Hope you're having a good weekend! Thanks for looking :)

Baby, Baby!

Friends of ours, who already had 3 kids, decided to have another. They ended up with twin boys, so now are the proud parents of 5! Yikes! I don't know how they do it...

The boys were born in May, and I am sad to say that I am just now getting around to sending them a gift. At least it won't be lost in the shuffle of new baby gifts, right? There has to be a bright side to such procrastination!

These papers were out on my desk from the birthday card I made the other night, so that's what I used. I had this Bella image that was RAKed to me a while ago, and decided it was perfect. Though if you look that fabulous with twins and 3 other kids, I want to know the secret!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thanks for looking!

Hey There, Cupcake

I'm on a roll - three cards in three days! Lately, it's been hard for me to find the time to even do one challenge each week. This is my effort for the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #38. She always says you don't HAVE to use cupcake stamps, but if you have them, why not? So I dug out my last image of Cuppacakeabella and went to work. Now, I might just have to buy the stamp for myself!I used more Chatterbox paper that has been in my collection forever. These are Ribbon Stripe and Rosey Nook Plaid. The ribbon is from Target and says "celebrate." I used my heart punch to punch the hearts from the pink and green layers, then used them for the thought bubbles. The sentiment is on a set of Nestabilities ovals. The cupcake frosting and the sentiment are traced with the Sakura Stardust pen, and I added a bit of bling to the cupcake and the tale of the sentiment.

I do have to say that I wish I had colored the cupcake paper differently. But overall, I like the way this card came out. I was struggling because of unpleasantness at work today that I just can't shake. If I had my newly ordered Grumpabella, I would have used her instead, since she was more fitting to my mood. Ah, but the weekend is here and I have been promised some quiet time in my craft room (before DH leaves on another business trip!).

Thanks for looking!

Cheers to My Cousin!

The second in my September Birthday Series has been sent to my cousin. She's turning 22 this year and just started a doctorate program in physical therapy. Go, Lisa! I used papers from the DCVW Spring Stack, mounted on brown textured cs from the DCVW stack. Bella is colored with my Koh-i-Noor pencils and blended with OMS. The wineglasses are coated with my Sakura glaze pen. Her pearl necklace is touched up with some Stardust Gellyroll pen. The sentiment is from a set I received as blog candy, from Studio G. The brad is from my stash.

This is another card that was relatively quick to put together. I hope it makes it to her on time and she enjoys her day! Thanks for looking!

Girlfriend's Day Swap Cards

My SBS sisters recently had a swap for Girlfriend's Day, which is this Friday, August 1. Here are the fantastic cards that each participant received:

From Elisabeth:

From Rachel

From Me:

Next, let me say that I love the color combination in Rachel's card. Her main panel has paisley, flowers, swirls and other girly images in the same color combination. Nice job! And the swirl clip detail on the ribbon is a great touch.

First, let me comment on the background paper of Elisabeth's card. I love the sparkly background and the trim that is made of velvety flowers. Very pretty! And the sentiments are perfect ;)

On my card, I used the CHF pretty pattern backgrounder and some dp from the dollar store. The pink tag is from some blog candy I won and I added the sentiment from Verve and some flowers and bling. I also added a Prima to the flower on the main image, which is Sweetybellas. The ribbon is American Crafts.

Is it Friday yet?? Yikes, what a week! I found a job posting today that is a great position, but would require either an hour commute each way or moving house. We've talked about moving house, but like our neighbors. The school district is not the best, but the taxes are lower than surrounding areas. However, the job is the next move on the career ladder if I want to continue on my professional path. So do I throw my resume into the ring anyway? When DH is back in town I guess we'll have lots to talk about!

On another note, anyone have the Carl/Bidex rotary cutter? How long should I expect a blade and cutting strip to last? I've been using mine for almost a year and it feels like the cutting strip is starting to fade in performance. Any opinions are appreciated!

Oh, and one more thing. Saturday I am hosting a Home and Garden Party at my house if any of you happen to be in this neck of the woods! All my hostess benefits will be converted into a cash donation for my Avon Walk. I'm at 65% of my fundraising goal :)

Thanks for looking!

Jilted-Bella and Her (Ex-)Fella

If you have never heard of Allison, at Stampin When I Can, then you must stamp under a rock. She has a great, resourceful blog and has been issuing weekly theme challenges. Thinking outside the norm this week, she challenged readers to create a card for a girlfriend who has just been jilted by her beau. Here's my rendition:
I used Bellas, Emmybella and Beerafella, colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS. The sentiment on Emmybella is from Verve, All About You. The sentiment under him is freehand with a white gel pen. Funny, is there a stamp out there that says that? Unless you are one of the lucky owners of the Snap Stamps that were discontinued and make it yourself?

That's about it for today. Another long day at work today - I had a new employee start today and spent most of the day showing her around and starting to train her. And DS had a reaction to his sunscreen this morning, so I got a call from daycare. Luckily, Benadryl stopped his itching, but I don't get it because we have used that sunscreen brand before with no problems. To make it worse, they didn't even play outside because it was too hot!

Ahh, but my Verve order came today. I LOVE to shop Verve because she has great designs, the best sentiments, and I can order Friday and have the goodies in my mailbox Monday. Now that's fast service! Thanks to Julee, who even processed orders on her birthday!

I'm off to bed now. I just wanted to get this one challenge completed so that I could have some creative time today. Have a good one, everyone. Thanks for looking!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #17!

I just love the sketch Taylor posted this week for the Cupcake Challenge, #17. Here's what I had in my mind, that actually made it onto paper today. My card is full of cupcakes, and I am very pleased with it.

I used Cuppacakeabella, an image I got from my SBS Sister Rachel. Don't you just love this Bella? She was tons of fun to color, and I used my Prismacolors and blended with OMS. The sentiment, the cupcake stamps on the side and the shadow under the main cupcake are from MFT, Icing on the Cake. The sprinkles on the cupcakes is the tiny flower stamp from Verve Visual's Floral Whimsy. The dp is Miss Elizabeth's from the dollar store and the panels are mounted on yellow and purple scraps. The small cupcakes are cut and mounted on pop-dots and have red rhinestones for cherries. The large cupcake has red Stickles for a cherry, and a stem drawn with a black glaze pen. The ribbon is from the craft store and I paper pierced the white panels to dress them up a bit.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend - one more day to go! DH left for Europe on business today, so it's just me and DS for the week again. Let's hope he cooperates better than last time! Thanks for looking!

Birthday Shake-Up

Rachel, one of my SBS sisters, posted a challenge to make a birthday card with "not your typical" birthday colors. I chose this palette of brown, blue and orange. I originally was thinking of sending this to a girlfriend of mine, but what GUY wouldn't like a hot blonde Bella delivering a birthday present?? So consider it a masculine birthday card, too!Bella is colored with Prismacolor pencils, and I added stripes to her party hat. I also added dots to the package. The sentiments are stamped with ColorBox Chalk ink in Tangerine. The ribbon is Ribbons and Bows Oh My! The 'Happy Birthday' is stamped on tiny tags from the Cuttlebug dies, attached with brads from Making Memories. The dotted DP is Die Cuts With a View. I recycled the acetate from a stamp set's packaging to make the window.

The whole card was actually inspired by this tube of beads I have from Queen & Co. They have been stashed away in my drawer and I have wanted to use them. But how? AHA, shaker card! It's my first Shaker, and I do like it. I hope you do too.

Thanks for looking!

Aahhhhhhhhh! Saturday!!

This week was a long and tiring one after being on vacation last week. DS is suffering from full-blown tree allergies and is all stuffed up, sneezing when he walks from the house to the car. I can't give him anything, though, because he's going for allergy skin testing on Tuesday. Antihistamines in the system can skew the results...So hopefully he'll be content to play inside this weekend. He's rediscovered his toy room in the basement, and is there now.

What a week at work! I posted a message to a regional listserv asking for copies of a book for a discussion coming up, and someone from another library chided me for such a request. AND she replied to EVERYONE on the list!! Totally unnecessary and embarassing, except for the fact that my request was successful and we'll now have enough copies for all our book discussion members. So there.

Ok, enough blathering. Here's a card I made last month and never posted. It was for DH's birthday. Fixafella is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended. Some tools were colored with a silver metallic gel pen. The sentiment is from So Many Sayings, punched with the Word Window punch. The brads are Making Memories, and the metal photo corners are We R Memory Keepers. DP is Stemma, Husband.

Hopefully off to stamp a bit today after some house cleaning. Hope you are all having a beautiful Spring day!! Thanks for looking!

Gettin' My Mojo Back...

After a nice nap yesterday afternoon, DS was content to "be busy" with me in my craft room. He got to work on the computer and then did some painting, and worked on his math fun book. I know, math and fun should not be in the same sentence, but he had a great time practicing his numbers! I noticed that at his pre-k they spend LOTS of time on literacy, but not so much on numbers. Maybe that will come with time (he is only 4yo)?

While he was busy, here's what I was busy with. The first is a birthday Bella card. My SIL is having a birthday next week and I will be sending this off to her. I used the convex square punch for the presents, and made the bows with Primas, attached with a Sprinkle brad from Queen & Co. The sentiment is Verve Visual. The rhinestones are Hero Arts, and the dp is from my stash. I've had it forever, but cut the name off. The solid color panels are also from the scrap pile. It's huge, and I'm determined to shrink it down before getting more paper (well, after my latest SU! order comes, that is).

I like this second card because it is very cheery IRL. The flowers were embossed with the Cuttlebug, then colored with chalks. I do wish the yellow was a little more vibrant. The centers of the flowers are microbeads, which I applied to Diamond Glaze. The dots across the bottom are Cotton Candy Stickles. The dp is K & Co, and the ribbon is Ribbons and Bows, Oh My. The sentiment is from So Many Sayings, punched with the Word Window punch.

So, did you see who today's Prima winner is?????????? YES - that's ME!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited :) Ok, just had to get that out of my system, since DH wouldn't understand the joy.

Have a great night - Thanks for looking!

If I Blog Surf Less...

Does that mean I would have more time to stamp? I don't think so - I'd spend as much time trying to get inspired. And what fun is it to stamp in a vacuum? Isn't all the feedback part of the reason to blog?

Anyway, here is a Bella card I made a while back that has been sitting on my desk. It is PMSabella, perfect for me today. I would LOVE to be sitting with chips and chocolate, but we are going on vacation in a few weeks and I'm afraid nothing is going to fit me as it is!

She is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended, and look how well the chair came out. I shaded her with a cool grey marker. The flowers are from Target's $1.00 spot, the brad is Making Memories in silver. The ribbon is American Crafts and the DP is from Miss Elizabeth's, found at the dollar store. Sentiment is from Studio G. It is all mounted on kraft, and the green and purple layers are scraps. You wouldn't believe the size of my scrap pile, even though I try to use it up all the time! I think the scraps multiply while we are sleeping... The Bella panel is mounted on foam tape.

I have been tagged! My first time. I will post in response to that one later tonight.

Keep an eye out for candy soon - I'm slowly approaching 5000 hits! Thanks for looking!

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!

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!