It's another Bellarific Friday!

As soon as I saw Nicky’s challenge this week I knew without a doubt I wanted to use the funky plants hanging block. One problem tho…I didn’t have it yet…so I bust my tail over to Pickle HOPING it would be on the rack and there it was, just like it was waiting for me. Needless to say, I couldn’t walk out with just one single stamp, so I got FIVE new Stamping Bella’s. Yes, FIVE! I was so excited I went next door to see the girls who are busy closing Bride & Joy, got my best sheepish grin on, slowly pulled them out of my bag and fanned them in front of my face! I was giddy! I raced home and think it was the first time EVAH that I actually bought a stamp, inked it up and got it onto a card all in one day! I love it so much I think I’m gonna bring it to work and perch it on my desk so I can admire it all day! I'm gonna look at it and think of warmer weather when I can hang baskets on my deck.

The image was stamped in versafine, cut out with my nesties and coloured with pencils and gamsol. I left the nestie in place and sponged the edge with a bit of chalk ink, added a bit of glitter and some glossy accents. I even knew that I wanted to use the new Basic Grey Porcelain paper and check out the bee brad!

OMG!…it is just to perfect! I’m in love with Porcelain paper and funky hanging plants!

I'm so flattered!

Amy Sheffer, Pickled Paper Designs, left the most wonderful comment on my blog the other day, I would have said something sooner, but frankly, I was left a little tongue tied! I have been a secret fan of her blog and her SCS gallery for quite some time so when she commented I was just a little wide eyed! AND she nominated me for an award which you can read about in this post!

So first off I want to say Thank You to Amy, you really have put a smile on my face. Secondly, when I started this blog I sort of promised myself that I would not get caught up in the awards and blog candy thing...cripe, i'm lucky if I can get a card made in under 60 hours! LOL!...so I'll forgo that part of it but just know that if you are reading, and if you have ever left a comment, I've without a doubt made a visit and snuck you into my google reader! It has become my morning ritual to have a cup of coffee and surf through my google reader for my daily shot of inspiration.

Now don't forget to check Emily's blog today for another dose of inspiration when she posts this weeks challenge cards!

Stella CAN cook!

Lot's to say today so you might want to sit back and relax.

First things first...don't forget that this Friday is Bellarific Friday on Emily's blog. You have until 5pm Thursday to enter and get in on a chance to win $10.00 in bella bucks! Who does not LOVE getting bella bucks!

For today's card, despite her name, Stella thinks she can cook, if she is like me, she CAN cook! I LOVEEE to cook! After our kitchen reno last year I got rid of a ton of old cook books because I felt they were outdated and put all the 'must keep' books in a spot over the desk. I did leave room for growth, but that only lasted a short while until the Pickle girls hooked me on to Cuisine at Home magazine. Make more space! I LOVE that publication. THE most fantastic recipes....and most ingredients you can even find in a small city like Chatham, plus everything turns out FANTASTIC.

So a few weeks ago I cooked Chicken with Artichokes in a white wine/honey reduction with Parmesan orzo on the side and I asked the fam what they thought...the 'hubs' said...WOW...this is 'almost' as good as a restaurant. Hmph!...ALMOST! Seriously, why do I bother. Anyhow, when I saw Stella with her wooden spoon I knew I had to have her! I'll just keep her tucked away in my stash until a deserving moment when I feel the need to give it to the hubs. Or better yet, I'll give it to my boys in September when they go off to University and must live off of cafeteria food for a while! One day I'll be appreciated!

So Stella was coloured with copics, and even shaded with copics this time. Sometimes I use Copics, sometimes pencils...no magic to my decision, it's just what I feel like at the time. I added glitter to her dress and wand with Glamour Dust and the paper can also be found on Stamping Bella, It is the backside of this Imaginese Twitterpated CRITTER CHATER paper. I even used up some scraps to 'decorate' the inside of my card! Don't you love it! I think it is a nice substitution for a liner.

So many people ask how I shade backgrounds with my copics so I thought I'd give you a tip.

Start with your lightest colour and draw a fairly heavy line alone 'one' side of your image. Run your colourless blender along the outer edge of that line to soften out that edge. Add a darker shade of the same colour closer to the image, but not as wide as your lighter colour. Run the lighter colour over it to lighten the darker colour and blend the two. Continue in this manner, with your lighter and darker colours plus colourless blender until you get a nice smooth shading. I used C0 and C1 on this image.

Now go get yourself a wooden spoon in hand and cook something that will make your family thankful!

Betty Bombshell

How many of us would just LOVE to have a bod like Betty Bombshell...I know I would...and I do, if you shift some of the weight around. LOL!

Despite the fact that I don't look like her, I do LOVE her. But she is pretty fair, so I hope she smathers on lots of sunscreen! Now, there is another difference between me and Betty...my European olive complexion does not need a 30spf sunscreen!

If you are still with me, I coloured Betty with my Copics. but used pencils/gamsol for the sand and water. The sun was done by leaving the Nestie in place and sponging on some yellow. As I was looking for paper to match this image I almost feel off my chair when I stumbled upon this Basic Grey Offbeat....It looks like little tubes. And to make it even more perfect it was only coincidence that I coloured the tube she is holding yellow! I rarely will pick paper first and colour later so when something like this happens I get a little giddy.

To complete the image I used Glamour Dust glitter on her wings and accented with Bella Dots!

With all the snow we got here yesterday I think I just gonna keep looking at this card and wish for some warmer weather!

One more thing. I've added a link to all the Bellarific Babes on my sidebar so if you are a Bella fan (like who isn't???) check in with them often for more Bella inspiration!

Can you say....OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a FREAKIN' Bellarific Babe!

Okay...I gotta say...I was a little nervous at first! I'm thinking...OMG, can I do a weekly challenge? If you know me, you know I can spend hours on a card and need some help with personal time management. So I called one of my BFF's Paula and asked her for some tips. This is what she said..."when i get home from work, i say...Jim, Jordan, you are cooking supper"...LOL! she cracks me up! So I tried it on Mark...and he said SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now THAT has me nervous! Oh well, I need to lose a few pounds anyhow. With that outta the way, I'm here, where I wanna be...a Bellarific Babe in the company of some of the BEST talent out there!

Enough babble, here is my card for my very first Bellarific challenge. This is the inspiration that Em had us work with and here is my card using Daisy Bittybloom. I obviously jumped right on the colours and did her up with my Lyra pencils and gamsol, but there are also a couple other subtle inspirations...1) the Bella Dots represent the 4 poster bed (which to my surprise the hubs picked up on right away!), and 2) SIMPLE, there is no fru fru in the picture and I carried that thru to my card by keeping it very simple. There is no glitter (shocking) but I did add some glossy accents to the center of her flower hat!

And if you are wondering, because I had a question on this from a reader,...when I plan on using pencils/gamsol I always stamp my image in Versafine. If I'm gonna use copics, I use Brilliance, or Memento. If you are wondering what makes me decide whether to use copics or pencils...well...it's usually the image, or the final look I am after. If i want to blend more than one colour, as I did with Daisy, I will lean toward pencils...if I want a nice bold vibrant image, I lean toward copics. Or, if the image has a large amount of space to colour, I will use pencils (it's easier!), smaller areas to colour I will use Copics. However, lately I been experimenting with colouring my main image with copics, and adding shading or backgrounds with pencils. I'm really liking those results!

I hope you love her because I do! Now go visit Emily's blog to see the rest of the Bellarific Babes!

Peppermint Birthday Wishes

This was one of the images I stamped off the last time Paula and friends came over. We are so funny...we spend the first hour or so stamping like wild women trading off all new images we have acquired since our last visit. There is paper, ink and stamps EVERYWHERE! I have such a blast with that bunch!


Anyhoo...this is one of Pauline's MFT stamps. Going with my latest trend, I coloured with my copics and shaded with pencils. I did add some veins to the leaves with my .005 marker because I wanted a bit more detail. The picture doesn't show it, but there is also just a bit of glitter amongst the flowers. The border punch is Martha Stewart , the baubles are from Stamping Bella, and sentiment is Stamping Up. I also added a bit of stitching on this card because my machine just happened to be accessible!

Enjoy!

Be My Valentine

My son Alex asked I had any big crafting projects on the go...luckly I didn't and knew he wanted something so I was intrigued. He said he was making a valentine CD for his girlfriend and asked if I could make a CD holder for it. I couldn't say YES fast enough! As much as I like colouring, I sometimes like to just sit and play and create something different. I asked what her favorite color was, and not surprising it was purple! I'm not much of a purple fan myself so I had to make a trip to Pickle to get some papers...I had NO purple in my stash! The blank white CD holders were something that I picked up a while ago just waiting for this opportunity.

I also decided that I would use some Basic Grey rub ons and chipboard flowers that I have had hanging around FOREVER. Then the creative process began. All of the papers I used are from the Basic Grey Euphoria line. I started by covering the outside with a subtle purple pattern and chose some brighter wilder paper for the inside. Alex gave me the song listing, and chose a line from one of the songs for his sentiment that is mounted on a tag cut from one of my Quickutz revolution dies. He also gave me a few pics, which he captioned, and I printed those off on my little Epson Picture Mate printer...side note, I love that little printer!

Enough blabbering, on to the card!

Outside: The flower is chipboard covered in paper and sanded off with my Basic Grey sanding tools. Another thing that I just had to have and has been sitting unused for maybe a year. But I knew that one day I would need them. The center of the flower is a large WeR snap that I set with the crop a dial. The rub ons are Basic Grey Offbeat.

I did add a little hot fix rhinestone that I bought from Stamping Bella in the birds eye! Couldn't resist that bit of bling.

The inside is pretty simple, song listing on the left and sentiment on the right.

I did add a bit of ribbon and an irridescent flower.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I hope she likes it. I also hope she doesn't read my blog!

Sarah Kay

Today I'm showing you Sarah Kay Picnics of Daisies by Stampavie. I picked up a few of these at Pickle last week and they are soooooooooooo cute! This one I coloured the main image with my copics, then added the shading and grass with my pencils. I think I've said before that I not really a fan of blues, but match it with red and it becomes acceptable. With her wide flared denim jeans and red halter, there was really no other colour choice!



To balance the image I shortened the width of the front panel and cut the edge with my Martha Stewart punch. I used the extra piece of blue and mounted it on the inside of my card and trimmed it with a strip of red. I do this from time to time, but not as often as I should because I really like the way it looks in the end.


On a side note, if you live in the Chatham area and are need of a unique gift you should make a trip to Bride & Joy. Sadly, the girls have decided to close the store at the end of the month and will be having a progressive sale on all inventory. So if you need a little gift for the new bride, or mom, or just a little something to make someone smile now is your chance to get it. I have to say I'm sad that the store is closing, and I'll miss the staff that have been keeping the wheels going at Pickle, but on the other hand, I've missed Kell and Kim and will be happy to see more of them and their wonderful creations back in Pickle again.

'Till next time!

Thinking of Spring

The weather here in Chatham today is beyond spectacular! I cannot believe how much snow has melted in the last couple days. In celebration of the beautiful weather I made myself an appeltini and decided to post this Lockhart Garden chair. I've had it colored up for a while but hadn't mounted it until a few days ago. The green in the chair didn't come out exactly as I had planned so i tossed it aside. Then as I was flipping thru some papers I came across this and thought it would be perfect to match with the image.

On another note, lookie what I got yesterday! My friend Faye sent me this card and a personalized stamp that matches my blog! WHY? Because she says I inspire her. Now how super nice is that. Thanks Faye! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

True Love

This is another Sugar Nellie stamp that I ordered from Scotland. Now if I could define a style that reflects what I like, this is IT...she is almost Picasso like with her big round head and wide eyes. I LOVE HER!!!!!!!! Since I am giving it to the hubs for valentines day I thought the colours should also reflect a bit of myself. Nice neutral golds and browns, simple design with tactile accents and a splash of red for colour. She was stamped in Versafine black and coloured with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. The lace is something I picked up at our local fabric store. This card actually looks fantastic sitting in on the dining room buffet! I may have to keep it there on display for a while after I give it to him.

Coming up I'll have a Stampavie Sarah Kay that I bought at pickle and an MFT that I stamped off from Pauline's stash.

It's been a while

I think it has been an entire week since my last post...where has the time gone! Hubs was out of town this week...Houston, lucky bum...while I am here waist high in snow. That means all chores landed on me...he really does a lot around the house so I feel it when he's not here. On top of that we have decided to start on the master bathroom reno. We don't usually (okay, ever) call it the 'master' bathroom since until we added a second bathroom last year it was know as 'the bathroom' since it was the only one! LOL! So, while Mark was away I was surfing the net for bathroom inspiration, picking up tile samples and thumbing thru magazines. Can you say 'ZEN'...that is my goal! We ordered all the 'stuff' friday, the cabinet guy comes on Tuesday and the work should begin in about 4 weeks. We'll see how it all shakes out!


In the midst of all this, Pauline, Paula, Dana and Mary came over yesterday for a chick day. I was starting to think I was losing my mojo but a day with Paula was just what I needed to get the creative juices flowing again. I got three images coloured, and to my own personal shock, this morning I got them all mounted.

Anhoo...when they were flipping thru my latest cards they all said...what's this, i haven't seen this one! I guess I forgot to post it in the busy activities of the week. So here it is, another peel off card. Painted with tombows and accented with gel pens. The little shell's are something I picked up at Stamp Art in London. This card will go into Mom's stash, she loved the last peel off card so I'm sure she'll like this one too.

If your having a Super Bowl party today, enjoy! For me, I'm going to hunker down on the couch and watch the CSI Marathon on Spike TV!