Day of Rest

After our Thai feast yesterday, today was mostly spent as a day of rest for me, which included a nice little nap...but i did throw in just a little bit of colorin'. Yesterday I started about 8am prepping food and worked pretty much all day. While chopping veggies, thinly slicing meat, soaking noodles, making sauces, etc, I watched the Kennedy funeral. Like Emily and her judge fetish, I'm a sucker for big state funerals and could have totally wept during the eulogies given by his sons.

Good thing I wasn't blogging during the death of Princess Dianna cause there would be NO cards...OMG...even my boys, who were VERY young at the time knew not to bother Mommy if she was weeping in front of the TV. I recall it was a long weekend here and I sat in front of that TV for three solid days. It was a darn good thing Monday was a holiday or else I may have to take a personal day off.


This morning while wathing the funeral highlights on the Today Show and Meet the Press I colored up Cherryblossom Bittybloom. I bought the Vintage Cherries Graphic 45 paper while at Emily's last week and knew I had to pair it up with her. For those in my class, this was your 'take home' image but I did alter the colors just a bit to better match this paper.

Copics used:
E000, 00, 11, R21
G20, 40, 82
Y000, 11, 21, 23, 26, 28
R24, 29, 59
E31, 35, W2

I added some glitter with my quickie glue pen and glossy accents to the center of her flower hat. The Martha Stewart scallop dot border punch is also something that I came home with on my shopping trip after the Bella class. You can find a lot more Martha Stewart punches here.

I've got another card to mount up tonight cause it has to hit the mail tomorrow, then I'll spend the rest of the evening hopefully catching some Criminal Minds reruns on A&E.

You're only young once....

...but you can be immature forever!

Bwaaahahahah! Wouldn't that be a GREAT sentiment for this card! I think I'm on a roll! I read it somewhere once, but for the life of me I can't remember where so I can't give credit. (remember, that memory loss thing due to aging)

So...it's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!! whoooohooo! And I'm taking the afternoon off so that makes it ever BETTER! But it won't be all fun and games! This is the LAST full weekend I have my boys at home before they are off to school so we got lots planned! Last minute shopping this afternoon, having the fam over tomorrow for a major Thai dinner feast (I make the BEST pad Thai, spring rolls and chicken satay). I asked the boys if they had a 'last meal' request and Alex requested Thai...so that is what is on the menu for tomorrow. Derek wants blackened beef filet so that will be Sunday's dinner. On top of all that I have a few cards to make for some special b'days and anniversaries! YIKES! And for anyone who was in my copic class last weekend you may recall I said that I suck at time management! I'm really good at putzing around though!

Enough of my personal life and on to the real reason you are here! BELLARIFIC FRIDAY! Meahni was the sketch master AGAIN this week and I gotta admit, it looked simple enough but gave me some grief! Lot's of pieces and I don't do well with that. Then for some 'who knows' reason I decided I wanted to sew on my card. So I pulled out the beloved Bernina, dusted her off and threaded her up. Not too sure on which needle to use on paper (ack!) I chose the smallest size needle I had which is really meant for microfibre. Clearly, it is not good for paper because if you look close (please DON'T) you will see some skipped stitches. If this was a dress I would have ditched it. And the big difference between a dress and a card is that when you sew on fabric, you can rip out your stitches without any trace of it....CAN'T do that on paper! There is NO room for error! So for all you paper sewers out there, I commend you! I bow to you! I worship you!

Before the sewing disaster I think I did a decent job of colorin' up Stellarina! I stamped her with memento ink on bella's bestest paper and used copics of course, then I shaded around her with prisma pencils and gamsol.

copics used:
E0000, 000, 00, 11, R20
R30, 32, 35, 37
E33, 35, 30, 42, 43, 53, 39
T2, 3, Y0000, 000
G0000, 000, 00, BG34

Don't forget to checkout Emily's blog later today to see all the scrumptious submissions! And have a BELLARIFIC WEEKEND!

What's Up?....

Besides your age!

BWAAAAAA HHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!


That is what I am gonna write inside UPHOUSE! I'm killing myself laughing here! You know, when you get to be my age all cards given or received seem to have something to do with getting old and as soon as I saw UPHOUSE I knew exactly what I would write inside to pair up with the what's up sentiment that comes with the image. I think it is hilarious! I'm still laughing! I love good clean stupid humor about aging. And I really don't mind getting older myself because it gives me a good excuse for soooo many things....aches, pains, memory loss, weight gain...you name it. I can somehow tie it in to getting older. LOL!

If you aren't quite as old as I am, or don't want to remind someone how old they are this image would also work very well with the Oh the places you will go sentiment. Yes, I have kids going off to school on my mind. I have a couple other ideas in my head and just may shoot Paula an email to get working on some more sentiments for us!

The image was stamped on Bella's Bestest Paper and colored with copics. The blue sky and faint grass blades were done with prisma color pencils. I also used a sponge dauber and green ink to add some extra shading on the bottom. Ranger Glossy Accents were added to a few of the balloons and some clear glaze pen to the windows. Oh ya...my glaze pen EXPLODED ON ME! YIKES...I knew I should have bought some reserves when I was at Stamping Bella last weekend!
copics used in no particular order:
YR0000, 00, 02
BG0000, 000, 11, 13, 01, 18, 07
YG0000, 21, 13
R81, 83, 85, 59
E21, 33, 37, 47, 49
W1, 5, 7

Now don't forget to play along with Bellarific Friday. We have worked one of our newest babes Meahni to the bone and she has come up with another incredible sketch for us this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday John!

This is our friend John.


John turns 50 in a few days and all he wanted for his birthday was to be blogged. He wanted it so badly, he even sent me the picture he wanted me to post! LOL! Look at that smile....it's just like he's saying "Hey! Look at me, I'm on a blog!". Well John, it has taken 50 years but you finally made it...you are on a blog!

And this is the card I made for John. Although he may not look this old, he may feel this old today after completing a Sprint Triathlon yesterday! Just kidding John, a little birdie by the name of Mark tells me you beat your goal! Way to go!



Happy Birthday!

A Bellarific Weekend!

Hi Everyone, as you likely know, I was in Toronto yesterday at the Stamping Bella Booo-tique teaching a copic class. My very first copic class I have ever taught! YIKES...I'm not new to teaching, but I am new to teaching copics. And the class was a little larger than I am used to as well so I worried a bit about not being able to give enough individual attention. But mostly I worried that having 18-20 people in a room might rise the temperature so much that I would have a major hot flash and melt before their very eyes like the wicked witch of the west! But Ryan was on that and had the room nice and cool for me, something that Emily will really appreciate in another 15 or 20 years...LOL! Thanks Ryan!

In the end, I had a TOTAL BLAST! It was such fun to meet everyone and I hope you all had as much fun as I did. I got to meet fellow babe-a-roo and scrapbooker extraordinaire Sarah Pendergrast. I hope when we greeted some of her uber talent rubbed off on me! (I stalk her blog alllllll the time!) A huge hug to Carla who I've recently met over email who came down from Kingston for the event and to all those who have left comments here who I can finally place a face to the name. And we even got a little surprise visit from Paula! A big thanks to everyone!

Not only did I come home with good memories, I also came home with a couple pounds of rubber! HEHEHE!!!! BIG GRIN! Fearing I wouldn't have time to shop, I put in a couple orders over the last two weeks so they'd be ready for me to pick up. OH MY! Got some new releases in there as well as some oldies but goodies that have been on my wish list for a while. I AM TOTALLY STOKED I TELL YA!


Whew, now that I am done blabbering and IF you are still with me, I DO have a card to share. I'm really loving these bugs...their little faces are soooooooooo adorable I can't resist them. These are BFFabugs paired up with Basic Grey lemonade paper. The ribbon is something that I picked up ages ago in the dollar bin at Michaels and the lime green/red combo is right up there with pink and yellow as one of my fav's! I should also note that this card is smaller than I typically do, an A2 size but I'm kinda liking these small cards lately, there is something almost cozy about them.

copics used:
R0000, 00, 20, 21, 22, 24
RV17, 19, 69
YG0000, 00, 13
W2, 3, 5
E0000, 000, 00, 11, 21
E31, 33, 37, 41, 42, 44, 47
Colorless blender

I'm off to fondle my new stuff some more and then ink up some new rubber!

Birthday Circles!

One of our newest 'babes' Meahni jumped right in this week and gave us a sketch! It was certainly a challenge for me because I am more of a 'square' than a 'circle' person...LOL! But I pulled out Big FAT Present and persevered.


I decided to use the paper from the new Basic Grey Lemonade collection and an older piece of Basic Grey that has been around forever. Colored the image with copics but then went at it with a LOT of shading with prisma pencils and gamsol. Maisy KETTO's POLKADOTS and happy birthday were stamped and embossed with some old ruby embossing powder that I've had forever.

copics used:
Y0000, 08, 11, 15, YR15
YG00, 21, 23
RV14, 17, 19, 69

Don't forget to check out Emily's blog later today to see what everyone came up with! And if you were thinking of placing an order NOW IS THE TIME...have you seen the new shipping rates over at Stamping Bella! FREE shipping for all orders over $55 in North America and over $75 everywhere else!

Finally, for anybody who is registered in the copic class....SEE YA TOMORROW!

Still going places

A special request card!


I rarely do special requests but my brother asked for a farewell card to give to the student who has been working in his office and will be going back to school. He has never asked for this before so either a) they've never had a student, or b) she is a crafty soul who would like a handmade card! Whatever the case, I caved and did one for him. So when the family was over for the steak/lobster BBQ a few weeks ago we flipped thru my bindah's and Daisy VW was the one he picked. Another great image to pair up with the Dr. Suess quote Oh the Places You'll Go.

I colored it with the following copic markers to match up with the scenic route paper I chose:
W2, 3, 5, 7
C00, 0, 1, 2, 3
Y11, 13, 15, 21, 000
YR12, 14, E97, 99
G20, YG03, 13

The shading and grass were done with prismacolor pencils and gamsol and you can see that favorite Fiskars Apron Lace punch on there again. I also added a good thick coat of Ranger glossy accents on the headlights and a sparkly swarovski crystal in the center of the daisy.

For you copic fans out there I want to bring your attention to a couple posts on Marianne Walkers blog.

First is on the topic of shading, many of you ask how I do my shading...this post says it all! If I could describe how I do shading it would sound just like this, but Marianne says it better!

Second is about contrast. This is another topic near and dear to my heart. If you wonder how I get those images to pop you should read this post. It is all about contrast and loving those darker markers.

Finally, only three more sleeps until my class at Stamping Bella! Cannot wait to meet you all!

Oh the Places You'll Go

With so many kids packing up and going off to school in the next couple of weeks I thought it would be an appropriate time to ink up packitup-ABALLE. Rather than using the sentiment that came along with the image I decided to use the Dr. Suess quote Oh the Places You'll Go on the inside instead and the card will be a perfect going off to College/University card.


I inked her up with Memento ink on bella paper and colored her with Copics to match the Basic Grey June Bug collection. I shaded the image with pencils and gamsol and cut her out with the mega curved rectangular nestie. I can't quite remember the colors I sponged the edges with, but it may have been pixie dust and pink grapefruit. The white edge was created with Fiskars Apron Lace border punch, another one of my favorites!

Copics colors for this card image:
RV00, 11, 43, 46, 81, 83, 85
Y000, 00, 11, 15, 17
E41, 42, 15, 000, 00, 11
C0, 1, 2, 3, 5, W3, 5
B60, 93, 95, Blender

Shock of shocks...I don't think I'll be doing any colorin' today! It is sunny and warm and the pool is looking a little too tempting. This afternoon you'll find me in my floatie chair with a pina colada!

Happy Anniversary!

So happy it's Saturday! I did NOT get to bed as early as I would have liked last night, but I did get an early start on the day and this is what I did this morning! We have a 25th Anniversary party to attend tonight and in my last minute fashion, I made the card this morning! Not a ton of coloring on here but it sure seemed like it took me a long time to do it. The stamp is by American Art Stamp and I picked it up a while ago at Pickle. They have a good selection of them and I think they are seriously FUN!



I stamped it with Memento Ink on my fav Bella Paper and added shading with pencils and gamsol. The edges were sponged with Ranger Distress ink in Antique Linen and Brushed corduroy. The punch is Martha Stewart. I had to bling it up so i added black glitter to her dress, black gell pen to her hat and his glasses and clear gell pen on the drinks!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Bella!

Doin' the happy dance

That is what I think of when I look at Francine Flapper and let me tell ya, after two weeks of stay-cation I am doing the happy dance today after a full week of work. I cannot believe how tired I am! Seriously, I could just fall asleep at my laptop here. It's gonna be an early night for this sistah so I can get up early and have a nice long day at home...well, at home until 4 at least when we have to leave for an anniversary party. That reminds me, I gotta make a card!

Shannan's sketch this week was right up my alley...nice and square! Whenever I look at cards that are done with things mounted on angles, I love the interest and the way your eye wanders around the card, but this babe just cannot do it...I try, but my right brain takes over and makes me square everything up again. Maybe that would be a good challenge card for me...try something on an angle! Just do it!

Francine Flapper was stamped with memento black ink on Bella Paper, colored with copics and shaded with pencils and gamsol. Pencils were also used for the grass and some glitter was added for sparkle:

Copics used (sorry the list is not totally complete, i used some W's which I forgot to write down)
E0000, 000, 00, 11, 31, 33, 35
R20, RV0000, 00, 10, 11, E04
YR31, G20, 82

Now head on over to Em's blog because I've already had a peek and there are some WOWZER entries this week! Say hi too and you might just win some bucks! And speaking of BUCKS! I JUST noticed on the Stamping Bella website that there are new shipping rates....FREE shipping for all orders over $55....now won't that make winning some bella bucks go further!

Gone to the dogs!

And the story of the dogs continues! I colored these Woffin' it Up dogs up a couple weeks ago to give to my work pod-mate Matthew for his 30th birthday…YIKES, I am biologically old enough to be his mother…LOL! Let’s see, as I was starting my life as a programmer, he was just entering grade 1! OH MAN, retirement has got to be hitting me soon.

Alright, back to the card. I had it in my head that Woofin' it up dogs would have been absolutely PERFECT for the last sketch challenge I sponsored over at Emily’s blog. Paper was picked, image was all stamped and ready to go and Meahni emailed me all excited that she just colored the DOGS! HMPH! Well I thought for SURE she would use it for the sketch….like it was PERFECT….so I set it aside, not wanting to submit the same image the same week as my sistah…you may know that Paula and I have a thing about posting the same image too close together…we like to leave ‘breathing’ room in there. And it’s funny, we NEVAH tell each other which image we used for the challenge until maybe Thursday…and we also NEVAH share the card with each other prior to the big reveal on Friday…we like the surprise! Typically I don’t like surprises, I actually hate them…even at the ripe old age of 50 I still sneak around looking for presents at Christmas! HAHAHA!

So now I decide it’s time to post the dogs, I have them all ready to go and PAULA posted them on Sunday. Oh well, not much breathing room there. I hope you enjoy them all! I especially like that Meahni googled each breed so she was sure to use appropriate colors…on the other hand Paula colored my little Bessie the Westie black but I am sure Bessie doesn't care since Paula did give her some home made biscuits in her own personalized jar.

As usual, the image was colored in copics with prismacolor pencils and gamsol used for grass and shading. I cut the image out with my deckled edge nestie and left the die in place while I sponged the edges with wheat ink and a dauber.

Copics used:
W00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7
C00,0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
E40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49
E13, 33, 15, 11
R00, 02, 24, 29

Have a wonderful day everyone...and go hug your puppy!

Hanging Sports Block

Our Big BBQ yesterday was completely washed out! It rained non-stop ALL DAY! We have a nice large yard with lots of outdoor seating, a perfect party yard (even though we rarely HAVE parties), but the house is not large at all. Fortunately knocking out the wall between our living and dining rooms made it much easier for 16 people to move around and if you sit in the living room you no longer feel cut off from those in the dining room. Money well spent!


Little Andrew got his turtle card and this Hanging Sports Block went to Jake. I colored the image with copics on bellah's bestest paper, shaded with pencils and sponged wheat ink on the edges with a dauber. Sorry for the dark picture!

copics used (get out those E's!):
E11, 13, 15, 30, 31, 37, 95, 97, 99, 40, 42, 43, 44
W3, 5, C3, 5, 6, 8

Tomorrow is back to work for me so I think I'll spend the rest of the day doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Well, maybe I'll throw in a bit of pouting just for good measure!

Friday is here again!

As I write this post I'm sitting having a coffee and watching Jason Mraz sing on the plaza on my fav Today show! He was the opening act when we saw Dave this spring and that song I'm Yours just makes me smile! As much as I love Fridays, this one is bittersweet for me because it's the last day of my stay-cation! Oh how I have LOVED my time at home. I got some things done around the house, spent some time with family and friends, got some colorin' done and basically lazed around to re-energize for what I know will be a buzy September. The boys will be heading off to different Universities and haven't been doing much to get prepared. I'm sure once they get there it's gonna be a lot of "mom, i need this". Fortunately, one is heading to Hamilton and the other to London so they are in the same direction and at most 2 1/2 hours away.


I took some creative liberties on Paula's sketch because I needed to make an anniversary card for my mom and chose Funky Irises. I didn't have any appropriate sentiments to fit the sketch so I replaced those with embellies instead. Three light olive glass pearls on the upper left and a bow down to the right. I colored with copics and added some sponging on the edge with my dauber and wheat and thatched straw ink.

short list for a change on the copics:
E40, 41, 50, T1
YR000, 12, 20, 31
R22, 24, YG03, 67, G82

Best get moving here, got groceries to do and some housecleaning to prep for another family bbq tomorrow! 16 people...YIKES!

Got on the Turtletot Bandwagon

Looking at those cute as a button turtle cards that Joannabella has been posting lately made me want to color one up and see what all the fuss was about! See...I get sucked up in blogs just like everyone else does!

My little nephew's birthday is coming up so I thought I had the perfect excuse to get me one (okay I bought three!) and pulled out Turtle Tot Cowboy. They are seriously fun to color and I stamped this little guy on bella paper and used my copics but added the sky and dried out grass with pencils. then I took my colorless blender to the belly to create some dots and highlighted them a bit so they would look a bit dimensional. THEN, I went over the dots with my clear glaze pen to add some texture and added some sponging to the edges with versamagic wheat chalk ink and a dauber.

In typical Joannabella style, I even used THREE co-ordinating Scenic Route papers. However, unlike Joanne, I did NOT stitch on my card. I just can't seem to bring myself to use my beloved Bernina to sew paper! And check out the dots! They fit just perfectly into the doughnut circles!

Don't forget to play along in this week's Bellarific friday sketch challenge brought to us by Paula....and don't worry folks, she was much easier on us this time!

ETA! Sorry folks, I forgot to list the copics used....here they are

E11, 13, 33, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44

W2, 3, B41, 52, 95, 97

YG11, 13, 17, G82, 85, Y15, 26

It's a shoe thing

I have a shoe thing! I love them and there was a time in my life when I would not even leave the house unless my shoes complimented my outfit! Sick I know! All that changed last summer when I got plantar fasciitis and a heel spur in my left foot! A year of pain, and ORTHOTICS...ACK!!! really put a damper on my little obsession. Now when you see me I will likely be wearing sensible shoes, I still try to keep them fashionable but more importantly, sensible. I recall when I started stamping 6 or 7 years ago the hubs asked where I was getting the money to buy all these stamps...I said "haven't you noticed that I haven't bought any new shoes lately"...LOL! Now when I am not spending my disposable income on stamps, I buy purses!


So now, since I can't buy hot looking shoes for my feet, I buy them in rubber! These daisy hightops just called my name! And if it's a girl thing I always reach for pink, yellow and green...my hands down fav girly color combo. I stamped the image with memento ink on bellah paper, colored them in copics and finished off the shading and grass with pencils. The edges were sponged with a dauber (that I see Emily now is stocking!!! YAY!!!) and Versamagic Thatched Straw ink.

Get ready...copics used in this image:

Y0000, 00, 11, 15, 17
YR0000, 000, 04, 14, 18
R24, 81, 83, RV0000, 00, 10
YG03, 25, 67, W00, 0, 1, 2
C0, 1, 2, 3, E42, 43

On a final note, yesterday I made the trip to the Heirloom Rubber Stamp Festival in Novi, Michigan with my Chatham stamping buds Lynn and Pauline and even hooked up with some of my American stampin sistahs, Paula, Dana, Shannan and Mary. While I'm chatting with Mary she points out Kimmie Ried standing a few feet away. I don't know her but I sheepishly walk over and say Hi Kimmie Ried, I'm Lindabella!!!! LOL!!!! We jumped, squealed and hugged like we had known each other FOREVER! Too fun!

ETA: Kimmie, I've been thinking and 'cause I'm central to you and Paula the next girly girl get together we have at my place I love for you and Andrea to join us in Chatham....think about and we'll keep in touch! It's all about stamping...and maybe pizza!

I've got a nice quiet day planned which hopefully will include some coloring!