Hi Mom, are you reading this?

This is a super exciting post for me today because it will be the first time my mom will be able to read it  from the comfort of her own home! YUP! This Christmas my brother and I got our parents online and I'm so excited!

I talk to my parents frequently but sadly not as often as I blog so having them 'connected' will keep them up to date on my crazy life at the touch of a button! The best part is that they are embracing it and loving it and that just makes me so happy. They have my number and I have offered myself up as their 7x24 support! And lucky for them, they won't even have to pay a support maintenance fee! Pretty sweet deal!

Personal excitement aside, I do have a card today! I know I've been laying low for the past several days but I was kind of carded out! Early Christmas morning hubby asked if I had cards for the boys and I said NO, give them a boxed one! How sad is that? I made close to 95 Christmas cards this year but didn't even make one for hubs and the boys! They all laughed it off but I hope to rectify it next year! You might equate me to a plumber who has leaky faucets in his house! Get my drift?

In my colouring hiatus I was feeling a little scrappy and decided  to create a scene with Stamping Bella's Artsy House as the focal image.

This is how I did it!

I started by stamping Atrsy House on a couple different papers and pieced it together after sponging the edges with distress ink. Then I stamped lulu KETTO's heart clusters on red patterned paper and cut some of them out to create the 'smoke' out of the chimney. Ketto was used again and I stamped tripletree on a piece of subtle green patterned paper (actually the same paper as the foreground grass) with versamark and embossed it with clear EP, then coloured in the open leaves with a black water based marker. Why water based? Because I could be sloppy and get it on the embossed portions and then just wipe it off the excess with a damp paper towel and not worry about staining the embossed portion. The trees were stamped again with black versafine on the same brown DP used for the roof of the house and I cut and pieced the trees together.

The rolling edge of the foreground grass was cut freehand, the fence is a Martha Stewart punch and the hills were cut from some cosmo cricket paper. The blue patterned paper was from my scrap drawer and I have no idea where it came from! The clouds are a Papertrey die and the I just love you sentiment is Stamping Bella but I can't find the link so it may have come as a sentiment with an image. I've emailed Emily so when I find out exactly where it came from I'll update the link.

Finishing touches include liquid applique doused with glitter on the clouds, glossy accents on the windows and heart on the door and a product from JudiKins called Speckles to give some texture to the foreground grass.

That it is! I had a lot of fun doing this card and i felt like I was piecing a quilt...don't get me started on quilting though...that is whole other passion that I won't get into here!

Later, Linda.

This is why I make cards...

Besides the comfort and relaxation I get from colouring, every once in a while I get an email or a phone call from some one who received one of my cards and it may go like this email I got from Kathy this morning...

"I LOVE IT!!! …thanks so much …I was thinking since you had given the first one to Emily I would never see it again!!! …so very excited to see it again …it’s truly beautiful …

..I’m planning on doing a scrapbook with just pictures of children I’ve taken and this card will be in that book!"

Remember this post...when I got the CHOIR with a star on top by Mo Manning I coloured it 'specifically' for my friend Kathy. Then Emily, knowing it was for my friend, asked if I would have time to colour another one for her before the Toronto Creative Festival. Well...heck, it was probably only September and I knew I wouldn't have time to do another one for her on such short notice so I gave that one to her and PROMISED myself I would do another for Kathy. But I never let on! hehehehehe! It was SO hard to keep it a secret!
 

Feeling pretty good right now that I kept my promise and I DID colour another one for Kathy because she is my friend, and my pod mate for 8 hours a day and if ANY image was meant for her, this was the one...and i HAD to do it!
 
I hope it looks as good as the original Kathy!
 
Now I'll be taking a few days off to spend Christmas with my family but I won't be gone long...I should be back next week. Maybe with some stray Christmas cards, maybe something different...who knows! I'm just gonna wing it!
 
Later, Linda! ....have a wonderful Holiday!

A repeat

Same image, different colours!

I've seen so many cards out there done up with this Door with Wreath and no wonder, it is a stunning image. I know I've coloured it before but knew I wanted to do it again...mainly because my original card went to Emily for display at her booth and I couldn't let this Christmas slide without sending one out. I could have just done a repeat of my original, but how boring would that be. I wanted to do a red door but Paulabella screamed noooooooooooo when I told her because she was doing a red door (we no likey to compete) so I decided to do a brown door with a red shovel.

I used E40 thru E44 on the door and warm greys on the frame with G82, 94 and 99 on the wreath. Again I added some green glitter to the wreath and liquid applique doused with glitter for the snow. I let the liquid applique dry overnight and then heated it just slightly to puff it up a bit. Helen, who works for Emily at the Stamping Bella boooo-tique said many people asked what glitter I used on the wreath, so for inquiring minds it is Art Institute, Ultra fine, #167 Rain Forest Transparent. whew! And for the snow, I used Hero Arts prisma glitter (one of my fav all purpose go-to glitters when i want iridescence)

After I had it all coloured I searched my paper stash and had NOTHING to match it...a good excuse to make a trip to Pickle and low and behold, this piece of Crate Paper from the Restoration collection could NOT have been more perfect. I think I may go back and get a couple more sheets just in case I decide to make a few more of these for my stash.

Till next time, later....Linda.

Whadoya think about a Christmas Penguin

I think it is ADORABLE on so many levels!

A) it was relatively easy to colour
B) it paired up nicely with Basic Grey's jovial paper, and
C) he's just darn cute!

This is penguin with a gift by Mo Manning available in rubbah at Stamping Bella.

As I ALWAYS do, I stamped him with memento ink on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured him up with my copic markers. I think I used EVERY shade of cool grey on this little guy. Then added just a small bit of white pencil for some highlights.

For all my friends and family on my mailing list, I FINALLY got the cards in the mail today. It was bittersweet to see them go because some of them I really love and had trouble parting with so soon. Like this little guy....hmmm....wonder who he will go to?????

Later, Linda.

It's a birthday surprise!

A surprise birthday blog hop for our very own Danabella! Happy Birthday sistah!

If you just popped in here, you might want to step back a bit and start at the beginning on Karen's blog, yes that Karen, the former KarenMotzabella. It is so fun playing with her and some former babes again!

For Dana's card, I was lucky enough to get putyourFEETupabella in the mail this week and I think it is THE PERFECT card for her. This is how I hope she is spending her day, kicking back, relaxing and lounging in a big chair. Maybe even with a drink in hand!

Now you can hop on over to another former babe Joanne Basile.

Enjoy your day Dana, and enjoy the hop everyone!

Happy Friday!

And oh what a happy Friday it is because I am now on vacation until January 3rd! Of course, I shouldn't really call it a vacation because Derek comes home from Hamilton today and Alex will be home Wednesday that means lots of cooking and spoiling their bellies! But it also means lots of bodies in the house to protect me from any future attacks. And I should also mention that the pooch will be the happiest one of all because order will be restored and the entire family will be under one roof. She really misses snuggling up with Derek.

Another reason that it is a happy Friday is because I have another Christmas card under my belt. I was hoping to have my two more done so I could get those cards mailed out today, but no such luck. I'll get them done today though. This is Stamping Bella's Polly Packages and another one of my all time fav images. I love her little work boots!

I've had her coloured up for a while and used Basic Grey Pyrus paper for my inspiration and Paulineabella's sketch fit the bill. Of course I stamped her on bella's BESTEST paper and used the following copic markers:

E000, 00, 11, R20
E50, 53, 55, 40, 42, 43, 44, 49
B0000, 41, 95, 97, BG10, 72, 75
YR20, 21, 23, 24, G82, 94



To complete the sketch, I cut a tag with a spellbinders die and stamped your book is due to give some interest to the background, then stamped season's greetings and finished it off with a double bow made on my bow easy.

That's it for today....tomorrow I have a surprise!

Tall trees and birds again!

This time we are using Stamping Bella's birds decorating TREES and although it was super easy to colour, I could not whip up 20 in a day! But that is what makes this one special...cause it is one of a kind! And whoever on my list gets it, they are the ONLY one who will have it! I kinda like that aspect of the one of a kind Christmas cards I have been sending for the past couple of years.  However, I do now keep track of who gets what image so if I use an image again the following year, no one will get the same image twice. So it is a bit more planning on my part, but I do enjoy looking back on what I sent them the past year and deciding who gets what! It's like organizing and I do LOVE to organize things!

Okay...on to the card...I did not colour this one last year, I don't even think I had it last year and I'll NEVER know why because I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this image!

I started with a base of copic markers, but coloured it primarily with pencils to match up with the cosmo cricket paper. Just as I was about to start adding some snow or glitter (or both) below the trees I decided that the  merry christmas sentiment would fit PERFECTLY stamped below that solid line. (hmmmm....do you think Emily planned that one out?)

My biggest stress was hoping I would stamp it straight! It is just a bit off so note to self...USE THAT STAMP POSITIONER WHEN YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE! oh well, I'm not stressing over it...the teeny little flaws make it even more 'one of a kind'. I even decided that I wanted to keep the card 'cosy' so mounted it on an A2 size card which I rarely do. But it seems when I want a cosy feel, that is the size I use. Besides, when I display my xmas cards, it is always the smaller ones that get a spot 'up front' so I hope this one gets front and center wherever it may land.

That's it for today...tomorrow my card using the FANTABULOUS sketch from our fellow babe Paulineabella!

Later, Linda.

Case of a Case!

I've been soooo bizzzzy my head is spinning. Do you know that tonight I just finished up close to my 95th Christmas card! YUP! I do 45 for myself, about 30 for my mom and 20 for Mark to give out at work! I'm freaking exhausted! Mine are ALMOST done (just a couple more to do), Mom's are done and I think she has got them in the mail already and this past Sunday I needed to get going on Mark's. Needless to say I wanted them to be simple, yet striking. So I decided a CASE was in order and sifted through all my past received handmade xmas cards (yes, I've kept all hand made cards that I've received...one day eventually I will start to purge them because I don't hoard things, but for now, I still have them all).

I came across a card that I have ALWAYS loved that Paulineabella sent me a couple years ago which I think may have been inspired by a Michelle Zindorf card. So I took Pauline's card and simplified it just a bit to make construction easier and came up with this. I LOVE IT! And by golly, I whipped up 20 of them in no time!

The trees come from a Stamping up retired set called Trees Three (one of my alltime fav SU sets), the sentiment is Verve and those little cardinals, well, I borrowed them from Pauline! I think they are also SU. I used my pan pastels to shade below the trees and that embossed border on the left is a cuttlebug embossing border edge. Like Paula, I also have a Sizzix Vagabond and whipping these thru that electric machine was a snap! And oh so much easier on the old wrist of mine!

Thanks Michelle and Pauline for the inspiration!

Tomorrow, more trees, Bella style!

Later...Linda.

Mo-Bella Snowman!

I LOVE this stamp....I love most all snowman stamps but there is just something about this Snowman and a Cardinal that I love even more...hmmm....maybe 'cause it is a Mo....and we ALL know how much I love Mo. This one is available in rubber at stamping Bella, just in case you are a rubber fan, like myself.
 



The papers I chose are scraps left over from last year and had a bit of vintage grunginess to them so I let that theme carry over into my snowman and kept the colours very muted. These are the copics I used, but pencil helped to soften everything off. If I were to do it again, I would use the blues on the mitts so they would not compete with the cardinal. Oh well! I'm probably my worst critic!

BG000, B41, 52, BG72, 75
R22, 24, 39, 59, 35, YR12, 18
E25, W00, 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, 9

To finish it off  I added Stamping Bella's happy holidays sentiment and some poloar white flower soft applied to wet viva decor pearl pen.

That's it! Another one done!

Later, Linda

5 for 5 continues!

Yup, over the next 5 days I have 5 more cards to display on the ole' bloggypoo. I'm gonna start slow though, cause I'm tired tonight! I had the day off, but spent over an hour of it on the road in nasty weather! It sounds pretty lame especially for those who might live in the midwest, calgary, or london area, but you see, Chatham is a very small community and ALL I DID was drive hubs to work, pick him at lunch and drop off and pick up the dog at her little spa. That is NOT worthy of spending 90 minutes on the road in a city of just over 40,000! And I think the city is trying to save money on salt or something beause it truely seemed that not a single road was salted, or even plowed for that matter! Maybe they are gonna wait till spring, I don't know but I was not a happy driver today!

Ya, I'm kinda bitter. But on a good note, hubby was supposed to head back to Huston today but that got cancelled because the highway between here and Windsor was closed due to nill visability! So I'm kinda happy about that...someone to protect me against another pede attack! And Alex was home for a few days to study before exams and was gonna drive one of the vehicles back to London, but because of road conditions I nixed that and put him on the train. But I did give him money to take a cab back to his house so he wounldn't have to brave the cold and snow on the bus...WITH all the leftovers I sent back with him...SUCKER is written all over my head, I know!...but what can I say, he's my boy!

Now that I'm done complaining about the weather I'll get on to my card! I made this one a couple weeks ago with a Sizzix die that I bought at Archivers during my weekend in Wixom with Paula and Emily. I thought it would make some quick and easy cards, but honestly I spent more time fussing with this that I do with my other cards.

I think it was the paper I chose. It was a Kaisercraft 6x6 pad which I loved when I bought it, but every time I tried to use it I struggled. So after I finished this card I tossed what was left of it! No point in keeping anything that frustrates me every time I use it! This paper on the ornament is textured, all the gold part is glittery and embossed. I think if I tried this again, I would use a smoother paper that I could sponge around the edges to give some dimension. I think the lack of shading is what is really eating at me! You KNOW how I love to shade things! My fav part of the ornament though, is the little 'pearls' I added with my Viva Decor Pearl Pen! Now just imaging shading around the edges of this ornament AND pearls! Wouldn't that be better!

Well, that's it for today...I'm tired and gonna re-watch the season finale of Dexter tonight. I did watch it last night but fell asleep before the 10pm show started then woke up and caught it at midnight! WAY to late for this sistah to be watching TV. So I'm sure I missed something that I hope to see tonight.

Tomorrow, a bella...a MO-bella! Later, Linda.

Life with Linda...it's always entertaining!

Sitting here having a coffee and thought I'd throw in a little bit of life before I get back to the card groove on Monday. So, if you are ONLY here for a card....exit NOW...but you may be a bit entertained if you read on!

I am TOTALLY FREAKED OUT BY CENTIPEDES...i know there is an official word for it but I am too freaked to google it for fear I might see a pic of one! Ya, I am that FREAKED by the sight of them! I think it might be the number of legs they have...anything with more than 4 is CREEPY, and more than 8...well, you'll see!

Okay...so this is how my day started out Thursday. It is just me and the pooch cause boys are away at school and hubby was out of town,. I get up, shower, make a coffee, and sit on the sofa with the pooch and my laptop. Coffee gets cold so I go put in in the microwave and retreat to the couch. Microwave beeps and I head to the kitchen and my eyes BUG OUT OF MY HEAD BECAUSE THERE IS A FREAKING CENTIPEDE SITTING ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE MICROWAVE!!!!!!!!!!

OMG! In all my 51 years this is the FIRST time I have come face to face with a pede and nobody around to save me....(the dog is useless in these matters)...At this moment I am determined to kill it, my FIRST KILL (just like Dexter)...the mega-legged beast is not moving so I run a short few feet to the living room and grab a stack of magazines, like maybe 20! Then I take a deep breath and realize I CANNOT throw a stack of 20 magazines accurately so I reduce the stack to 4 making sure the one on the bottom was one I did not want to keep, and the two in the middle had lots of weight...I think they were old SU catalogs. Yes, there was a lot of planning that took place in a few short moments! I let out a huge blood curdling cry and threw the stack on the beast! Then I stand there, hands shaking, knees wobbling, entire body frozen while I watch the stack of magazines hoping the beast did not escape it's fate! You see, I didn't have a backup plan!

After what seemed like an hour but was probably only a minute or two I am convinced the beast is dead so I snap a pic of the 'scene of the crime' wth my iPhone and post it on facebook. Thankfully a work buddy just happened to be there at the time and knowing my fears calmed me down a bit (in between a few chuckles I'm sure)! I told him that if I wasn't at work by 8:30 he should call paramedics! The situation was serious!
 
My first kill....just call me Dexter.

(oh, by the way, Alex came home from school for a few days and the stack of magazines remained there until he got home that evening and could clean it up...there were a lot of rules around that ordeal too but I won't get into it now!)

A bellarific giftabella Friday

Do you give money at Christmas, maybe an extra little something for your hairdresser, dog groomer, that lady who keeps your nails looking all pretty! Well I need a couple cards like this and a few years back I bought some envelopes from Stamping Up that were the PERFECT size just for this purpose, I think they are called small open end envelopes.

I wanted to keep it simple so had some pre-planning to do and cut my paper to 6 1/2 x 8", then from the short ends, scored at 3 1/4" from one end and 1 1/2 " from the other. Then I folded it each end in so when you open it up it looks like the picture below! Perfect size for a Canadian or American bill....I stuck a 5 in there just so you could see that it fits perfectly! The sentiment is Stamping Bella, but sadly I could not find it on the website.

For the outside of the card I knew I wanted to use Stella needs a prezzie because it is wide and short and would work perfect for the space. To keep it really clean and simple I just added a strip of patterened paper with a narrow ribbon tied on it....not too fussy, but a little something to make it special. Then I placed my rubber stamp on the front of the card just to get an idea of placement and to know how large I should cut my patterned paper, which is 6 1/2 x 3/4". Then I temporarily placed the DP in place and stamped stella close to the edge. I used copic and pencils on her but the copics did bleed thru my paper so that is why the inside of the card has the nice decorative edge because I needed to glue another piece of white paper inside to hide the bleeding so mounted it on some matching paper! Pretty clever! And it looks great!

This is what the front of the finished card looks like. Lots of glitter, another Stamping Bella sentimet and I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out!

Next week is our FINAL bellarific friday of the year and we are gonna make it easy on ya...just in time to whip up a last minute Christmas card we have a sketch from one of our newest Babes, Paulineabella! This is her first sketch so how 'bout we show her some love!

See ya all next week 'cause I'll still be here....and probably STILL posting Christmas cards until the last bell tolls!

Later, Linda.

Christmas card blitz continues and some new Bella's!

Before I get to my card of the day I want to enable you a bit, just a teeny tiny bit! Did you see that Emily just happened to 'feel like' realeasing a bella or 2, OR 3! Yup she did! And THEY ARE YUMMY....you can catch a glimpse of them on her blog here. I'll be getting them all, and you JUST MIGHT want to drop a hint to your loved one that they will make really nice stocking stuffers! (and less fattening than chocolate!)

Now...other stuff. This is an impression obsession stamp called Tall Trees that I picked up in Novi, Michigan this past summer. Another clean, contemporary and quick to colour image that needs no huge amount of shading to make it stand out. It is a large stamp, measuring almost 3x5" so I simply mounted it on a 5x7 card and added a nice contemporary greeting which you can find here at Stamping Bella. It is one of my fav's and I use it often.

No patterned paper because a) I coloured the image with no particular paper in mind then couldn't find anything to match, and, b) even the papers I found that did match in colour, were too busy for the image. So I just went to my bazzil stash and found some cardstock to match. I stamped it on Bella's BESTEST paper and coloured primarily with copics. To fuss it up I added some copic atyou spica glitter pens here and there and of course, if it is a circle, it must be an ornament and needs a good glop of Ranger Glossy Accents to give it some dimension. That's it! Pretty quick and easy and I have a couple more stamped off because I need FIVE more cards to finish this weekend to hit my goal of 45.

Tomorrow, it's Bellarific Friday and I have a cutie little card that is perfect if you give money as a gift, although it work well for anything, even a gift card, or forget that altogether and just send it as is! Again, I kept it clean, uncluttered and simple....I'm feeling a trend here!

See ya tomorrow!

A bunny dressed up as Santa?

Really? Okay, if I had a bunny I just might do this! LOL! I would dress up my Bessie girl but I know if I ever suggested it, hubs would squash the idea! He does NOT want his tom-boy, roll in the mud, wrestle like a tiger, girl dressed up in some fru-fru outfit! That's why I need a bunny! It makes total sense!

But he won't let me have a cat, so the chances of getting a bunny are pretty much out of reach for me. A girl can dream though! This is Bunny with a Gift by MO Manning available in rubber at Stamping Bella.

He/she was stamped with memento ink on Bella's BESTEST paper and coloured the bunny primarily with pencils. Copics were mostly used for the reds, oranges and greens in likely these combo's:

R22, 24, 27 and 59 for the hat and bow,  

YR01, 02, 4 and 7 for the carrot and 

G40, 82, yG93, and 67 for the carrot top.

To finish it up, I paired her with some Basic Grey Jovial 6x6 paper and added glitter to the carrot top and the santa hat. I couldn't find a Bella sentiment in my stash that fit the void space so went looking in my archives and found this vintage looking Crafty Secrets sentiment that fit perfectly! Except that after I stamped it I kept chanting 'Ho Ho Ho Green Giant' in my head all day! I think it was a curse!

Tomorrow, something different again! Not vintage like this bunny, but another clean, contemporary, BUT NOT WHITE card!

Stay tuned!

Linda

Crisp, clean and white...

...with spashes of black, red and green! You like her? This is Penny Black's Christmas Usher and she was a SNAP to colour up! Did you notice? I didn't even add any shadows under her feet! OMG! I just noticed myself and may have to go rectify that pronto...but maybe not...because I kinda like the very clean look just the way it is.

I stamped her with Tuxedo Black memento ink on papertrey white paper. I used papertrey because I often use that cardstock for the base of my cards due to its sturdiness and I wanted the whites to match.

She was quickly coloured with the following copic markers, and I say quickly because I really didn't blend at all, just swiftly went from colour to colour and let it blend naturally. NO pencils were used on this card!

E000, 00, 11 (flesh) 33, 35, 27 (hair)

R22, 24, 59 (dress)

G82, 24, 94, 99 (tree)

Y11, YR23 (glow around star?)

YR23, Y 26, 28 (tray below tree)

The sentiment is also Penny Black and I added a teeny tiny gold bow on the cake plate, some black glitter to her dress, and stickles around the glow of the star (?) above the tree! Done, done and DONE! A really quickie card and I made 6 of them for my stash! All stamps were purchases in Chatham at Paper Pickle.

Tomorrow, more Mo Manning in Rubbah goodness!

the first full week of december means.....

I'm gonna post a Christmas card a day EVERY DAY until Friday! So for the next five days in a row you are gonna be DROWNED in my Christmas cards! I've been busy! Got all my mom's card done on the weekend, now I'm a busy busy babe finishing up on mine! I didn't work today and got 6 previously coloured images all mounted up. That is how I usually roll...I colour like a crazy person for an entire weekend, then spend the next weekend putting them together. But to get 6 done in a day, OMG, that is miraculous for me! I'm NOT a fast card maker.

Now, there is not going to be any pre-determined posting schedule, for example they will not be posted at midnight EST every day...it is going to be as time permits me to write up the post. So could be up at midnight, but might not be till later in the day. You'll just have to keep checking!

Okay, ready.....I hope you enjoy them!

I'm gonna start with Mo's Singing SO BEAUTIFUL available in rubber at Stamping Bella. I don't kow about you, but I have lots of kittie lovers in my circle of friends who would BUST to get this card!

Do you love them! OMG...I do! Makes me wanna get a kitty! They were stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink on Bella's bestest paper. I started with a base coat of copics, but the bulk of the colouring was done with Prismacolor Pencils. I'm not a fan of the traditional christmas red/green combos and am always looking for something different and original so chose a paper from Basic Grey Papyrus for this color scheme. I gotta say, I LOVE the offbeat funkiness it has!

Tomorrow, I'll give you a hint...clean, crisp and white!

Done, Done AND DONE!

I've been on a bit of a card making marathon since yesterday morning working on getting my Mom's Christmas cards made. It takes me usually a couple days but I must say it is a labour of love and one of my fav annual events.

This year I chose a Hero Arts cling mount stamp called Hanging Christmas Ornaments. It was totally inspired by a card that Bernice gave me when she took my last copic class at Pickle. Hers was done in more traditional holiday colours but I knew that mom would love greens, gold and bronze and of course lots of glitter.



I started with a hot press watercolor paper  because it is smooth and embossed my image in gold. Then I coloured the ornaments with tombow markers and softened it off with wet paintbrush. Pretty quick to do and it actually took me less time than I had originally thought. Then I added lots of superfine Glitter Ritz glitter and ranger glossy accents on the smaller ornaments. I kept everything else real simple because I had almost 30 of these to make so time was critical and I didn't want to distract from the image. I'm undecided on the bow. I only have it on this one and not sure if I'm gonna put it on the rest of them. I actually think I like it without the ribbon better.

That's it for today! My hand is a little cramped from glueing for the last couple hours and I think I need to go take a long hot shower. Then I'll be ready to work on my challenge card for Friday.

Have a great day!

another bellarific friday....

...and another attempt at staying awake to watch an entire episode of Dexter...he's not exactly a profiler, but he is a blood splatter expert and that qualifies him as a forensic guy, even though he IS a serial killer! Ya, I'm a Dexter fan! Here in Chatham I can see the first glimpse of the weekly episode on Sunday at 10pm...like good luck with that, I usually fall asleep about 9:30. My next shot is Monday at 8pm...usually doable, but I have a nasty cold this week which is messing with my bed time. So tonight (Thursday) I have another shot! Dexter at 8pm, and if i miss is I can catch it ONE MORE TIME Sunday at 9 before the new episode at 10.

I'm sure you don't care about ANY of this...and it is pretty long winded but I ONLY watch Dexter and Criminal Minds and it makes me feel happy to spill it! So I'll move on to snow! Thankfully here in the banana belt of southern Ontario we have only seen a dusting of snow and that happened today. I'm serious when I say a dusting, it was NOTHING but yet at work they salted our parking lot! SEROIOUS OVERKILL! But my little Stamping Bella Lulu's Snowman has lots of snow on her and it is FAR from overkill!

I used mostly pencils on her but started with a base of G0000, 000 for her coat to get a nice solid base of colour. Now the best part is the snow! I used liquid applique on the 'dots' of snow and then lots of glitter flowing down. Then I used some liquid applique under the snowman but while it was wet I dumped some Polar White Flower Soft on it! OMGAWSH!....if you could only see it! The perfect snow!

Our challenge next week is something a little different...it is called Giftabella! ....you are to make a gift or a gift card. Me, I'll tell ya now that I am gonna make a giftcard for my right arm (aka housekeeper) Jane! If it it wasn't for her my house would be a total disaster because she keeps me in check. That is because every night before she comes I pick up all the 'stray' stuff that is laying around and tidy up. It is a chore I tell ya, but when I come home after work every other Friday to a nice clean house I am totally thankful for Jane!

I've got exactly 15 minutes...

...to write this post before Criminal Minds starts at 9! I'm a TOTAL junkie! I could watch that show for 12 hours a day. No reality TV for me, but give me some good twisted profiler or forensic shows and I'm  hooked! Thanks for all your comments on my identity theft and GOOD FOR YOU if you changed your passwords! I KNOW it is a pain, but really is important and I'll never let mine slide again.

Alright...tick tock, time is running out so I'll get on with it...this is Pia Puddingtop from Stamping Bella and I know I said it last year, but must say it again....she is one of my ALL TIME FAV CHRISTMAS IMAGES EVER! I wish I had the time to colour one of her to send to every single person I know. I think this is the third time I have done her up and each time I like her better.

This version is VERY vintage when paired up with Basic Grey Wassail paper. I even splurged and used some of my 'premium' ribbon that I bought at Pickle....I think I paid a dollar for 18" of it, but OH SO WORTH IT!!!! Nothing but the best for my Pia!

She was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with these copic markers and also used some prismacolor pencils for added shading:
E000, 00, 11, 51, 53, 55
E31, 33, 35 (hair)
YG91, 93, 95, 97 (dress)
R30, 32, 24, E07 (under dress and hat)
Y28, R59 (ornament and cherry)

Darn, Criminal Minds is a rerun! But gonna snuggle on the sofa with the pooch and watch it again anyhoo!

Later...Linda.

I've been a victim...

...OF IDENTITY THEFT!

YES...ME...seriously I work in the industry, I'm AWARE, I should KNOW better! But it still happened! It started Saturday night while I was sitting in my kitchen/studio (ya I have NO studio...just a kitchen) colouring away and the laptop spoke to me saying "you've got mail"...so I pop over and look to see if it was Pauline, Paula or Emily but NO...it was an email confirming my password change on ebay! HUH! I didn't request that. So I immediately change my ebay password, and my paypal, just to be safe.

So today while I am cooking dinner, I get another password change email, then a few seconds later I get an email change confirmation! AND THEN I get a truckload of nondeliverable email notifications. Something is WRONG! So I try to sign on to my ebay account and can't get in! YIKES...so I get on their security help chat and after a series of security checks I get a phone call from ebay! John informs me that in the last couple of months there has been a rash of web based email passwords that have been hacked and I am victim! He gets me set up again after verifying that I have changed my email, paypal, and ebay passwords. SO...word to the wise....if you have a password that hasn't been changed in a couple years, you just might want to do it now! The sad thing is, I have just been pondering changing my password over the last few weeks, but haven't found time to do it! DON'T ponder! JUST DO IT! Fortunately I caught it early and no transactions had taken place in my ebay or paypal accounts.

Okay...now that I have that out of my system I'll get on to the fun stuff....like a card! You ready? It is a Stamping Bella and this little sweetie is Mavis wearing holly. Purrrrrrrrrr! I just want to pick her up and give her kisses all over her head! Although if she is anything like Paula's cat Pebbles, she will be hiding under a chair and taking a swat at your leg as you walk by! LOL!!!! Now some people would hate a cat like that, but me, I kinda got a chuckle out of it! Gotta luv a sassy cat!

I started out by stamping her on bella's BESTEST paper and colouring her with copic markers, lots of small dots just like I did with teddy, but didn't want to do her entire body like that. So I just did my dots heavily around the perimeter and lightened up towards the center. Then I covered up my dots with prismacolor pencils to soften those dots some more and got just the look I was after! So pleased when it all works out for me!

Now the layout is another story! It didn't work out as planned and I actually had to rip it off carefully to salvage my image and start over! Hmph....it was NOT a good day! Thank god for wine!

Linda.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

NOT!

Seriously, I think snow belongs on the Swiss Alps, not here in Chatham! However, I did buy a new pair of boots in Charlottesville which are very nice (not HOT, like the black babies) but functional, yet fashionable! I think I need some type of Nordic sweater to wear with them. Hmmmmm....

This is Stamping Bella's swirly hills with trees. It was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured primarily with pencils. There really isn't a lot of colouring here which is what I think makes it so elegant, and perfect to put on my all white card.

Lots of glitter, some white pearl pen and glossy accents on the trees bling it up, and of course I had to use ribbon....white of course! I ADORE white cards and CANNOT wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Keeping our white theme going....and to get you moving on your Christmas cards our challenge next week is to use snow on your card. COME ON! It almost doesn't get any easier.

Hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and didn't overdue it too much on the turkey and trimmings. Me, well hubs and I with our friends went to the Lion's football game....if you know anything about football it may shock you to know that hubby and his buddy REALLY ARE DIE HARD LION's fans despite the fact that they did not win a SINGLE game last season. I can't help but chuckle over it! We even dressed for the event all wearing jerseys and beads! I'm not a football fan AT ALL and I only go for the pretzel, just wanted to make that clear.

Today I'll be heading over the river again to spend a couple days with Emily and Paula! WHOOOHOOOO! I've got to head out early and I hope the traffic won't be too bad being Black Friday and all. Not sure what it is like where you live, but the Detroit area residents go wild around here! Personally I won't be partaking in any Black Friday deals...unless they are crafty related!

One final note, I removed the c-box again because it seems I get more spam than anything else. Drop me a line if you have a question.

Thanks for stopping in! Later!

Back Again!

Three days in a row! Okay...for you 'die hard' card people, just two days in a row.

Wanna know what I did today....well I'm gonna tell you anyway...we bought a new mattress and box spring that was supposed to be delivered between 8am and 1pm...no biggie. I've got lots of vacation left so i take the day off. I'll colour in the morning, get the mattress set up and run some errands in the afternoon. WELL....you wanna know what time that delivery got here....4PM...yes 4PM! How awful is that? You know why it happened...I'll tell ya, it's because they CONTRACT out their deliveries!!!! When are companies gonna realize that they should NEVER contract out services that are essential to their business and customer satisfaction. But in the end, do they REALLY care? Probably not because it is all money to them...they PRETEND to care about the customers time but if they really cared, they would have made every attempt to have that delivery here on time. I hope I get a survey!

WHEW! Now that I got that vent out of my system I'll get to the real reason you are here. It is a simple card today, gotta throw some of those in there from time to time. This Stamping Bella image is appropriately called hat and MITTS. It is an older image, but new to me and I just acquired it recently.

I stamped it with memento black ink on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured primarily with pencils but used a base of copic markers in BOOOO, OOO first. Lots of glitter and some dots of silver pearl pen spruced it up. Not to mention what looks like a dark border, is actually silver foiled paper...hard to capture on camera but really pops in person and looks oh so crisp! I always try to avoid the traditional Christmas green and red and I just LOVE the contemporary combo of silver, white and soft blue.

Well, that's it for today. Let's hope I have a WONDERFUL night's sleep on my new mattress and all my aches and pains will miraculously be gone in the morning!

Linda

Snow Fight

Now that I got all my personal stuff out of me I can get back to business and a card. Yes, it is a Holiday card because I'm still far away from my quota and I lost an entire weekend of colouring so I'm feeling a bit behind.

BUT...hoping to turn that around today because I have the day off (ya, I know..you are probably thinking...she was JUST off) But today I am sitting at home waiting for my new orthopedic posturpedic mattress to be delivered. New mattress, water pillows, I am hoping to wake up as a new well rested person tomorrow! 20 years younger and 10lbs thinner would be nice too but I'm not gonna push it.

On to my card...isn't she the CUTEST! This is Snowfight by Stamping Bella.

I haven't said this in a while so I think it is time to repeat it. I stamped her with black memento ink on bella's BESTEST paper. As I always say though, she was coloured with copic markers and shaded a bit with prismacolor pencils. Here are the copics I used to match up with the Basic Grey paper:

E0000, 000, 00, 11, R20

BG10, 11, 32, 34, 72

YG03, 25, 17, 67

YR12, 14, E31, 25, 59

C00, 0, 1, 3, W2, 3, 4, 5, 6

That's about it for today. The temps are dropping outside so I think I just may make a pot of soup today too. My own personal weight watcher 1 point soup! If you are interested in the recipe I posted it here in the forum. I'm not kidding, but when I make this soup and eat it every day for lunch I lose at least 1 pound in a week! Give it a try!

Linda.

Take these chances....

Place them in a box until a quieter time,
Lights down, you up and die

{sniff} That is the final verse of a Dave Matthews Band song called Ants Marching and was the final song of the bands tour this year, and the final concert until 2012, according to the band. This may not sound like a big deal to most, but for a band that has toured EVERY summer for 20 years, to NOT play a concert for an entire year IS A BIG DEAL! And a HUGE deal for us devoted fans. Equate it to people who go down south every year and suddenly 'down south' is gone!

I'll tell ya now, this is NOT a card related post, it is totally personal, so if you are here for a card, you might want to exit now and come back tomorrow.

You may or may not know, that hubs and I are TOTAL HUGE fans of the Dave Matthews Band. For the past few years we have travelled around the US and Canada taking in as many concerts as time and money would permit. Some think it is strange, but for us, every trip is an adventure and takes us to cities and places we would never otherwise venture to. These little jaunts are how we vacation. Early in the year we had our 6 concerts planned which included Toronto, Michigan, Cleveland, Scranton and two in NYC. We were happy, 6 concerts is our typical quota. THEN, they announce the band won't tour in 2011 and the last concert of the summer tour will be in Chicago! So, of course, we get tickets for two shows there. THEN, they announce a final tour finishing up in Charlottesville Virginia (Dave's home town) and OMG.....how could we resist! Plus we love the mountains! So C'ville is where we have been for the last 5 days!

Although we usually fly by the seat of our pants on these trips we were pretty organized this time cause there was lots we wanted to see. Day 1, Blenheim Vineyards (owned by DAVE!). There was only us and a couple of other ladies in there so we had an amazing time chatting and when the staff found out we were Dave-heads they shared some cute stories and showed us Dave's original sketch of how he wanted the winery to look. Actually, she called him David! {melt} We wanted to get one of the 2009 limited edition bottles with the label sketched by Dave, but it was not being released until the next day...and 2008 was sold old....sadness....a reason to go back!

Then we headed to Miller's, the place where it all began. For any Dave-head, no trip to C'ville would be complete without a stop at Miller's. It is kind of a dive bar-restaurant type place, but the food was really good and our waitress was exceptional! That was pretty much it for Day 1 and we crashed about 9pm in our hotel room.

Day 2 was our guided semi-private wine tour of the region. Mark, myself and another couple toured 4 wineries guided by Chris of Arcady Vineyards. Chris and his wife run a B&B and conduct wine tours in the region. Mark found them on Trip Advisor and it was AMAZING! Chris was SO knowledgeable and completely NOT a wine snob (which is what I was afraid of)! Just passionate and so eager to teach and share his knowledge. If you are ever in the region and looking for a tour, I HIGHLY recommend them!

A great dinner of calamari and seared scallops at a place called Bizou before we head to the DMB pre-concert party at the Jefferson Theater to watch Tim Reynolds band, TR3...although Tim is not an 'official' member of DMB he has been touring with them for a couple or so years now. I'm not a total Tim lover, but Mark was a happy guy and snapped some great pictures. I particularily like this one. Me, I spent a lot of time sipping wine, playing with my phone and chatting about Dave with other patrons!

Day 3 we head to Monticello for a guided tour of the home of Thomas Jefferson. An amazing piece of architectural splendour and another great tour guide. After the guided tour we walked thru the tunnels under the house then took a stroll to his grave site. I think all ancestors of TJ can be burried there and we saw some as recent as 1997. Pretty cool! Since Monticello is just down the road from Dave's winery we decide to go get a bottle of the 2009 limited edition. We have decided not to crack it open until Dave and the band tour again! Kinda like keeping the top of your wedding cake for you first anniversary!

That evening we head to the first concert at the John Paul Jones arena on the campus of UVA. A smaller venue, built for basketball I think and OH SO STEEP! Like I think the upper bowl is directly above the lower bowl so you aren't any further away, just higher up! We are in the upper bowl, but fairly close to the stage. I'm happy.

Now the real fun begins! After the concert we head back to the Jefferson for the DMB after party to see Trombone Shorty, the band that opened for Dave this same evening. He is amazing!!!!!! We are standing there watching the show and Mark whispers to me, Jeff Coffin is standing RIGHT behind you! LIKE OMG! Jeff plays sax in Dave's band! So do I faint, ask for a pic, an autograph, I don't know! I'm in shock! He is so close to me I can almost feel him breathing down my neck! A couple peeps get their pic taken with him and I ask Mark if we should ask...he says, don't bug him...but I'm like OMG it is JEFF COFFIN...i MUST say something! So I turn around and say we saw the show tonight, it was great, and we'll be back tomorrow! Then he just starts chatting it up...asking where we are from etc, regular small talk...so I cave and ask for a picture! I got a couple, but this one of Mark and Jeff is my fav! Look close, Jeff has his arm on Mark's shoulder!

It was pretty exciting and when we finally got back to our room WELL after 2am I was so pumped I could hardly sleep! So I posted the couple pics on facebook!

Day 4 we decide to take in the scenery and drive up to Shenandoah National Park and take in the views along the Skyline Drive. Mark insisted on stopping at EVERY outlook so I'll NEVER ask him to stop at another outlook again! Sort of a private joke, we often drive to Myrtle Beach thru the mountains and every time we do I ask him to stop for me to get pics, but he flatly refuses cause he just wants to get to where he is going, plop himself on a lounge chair and read a book. Sadly we missed the peak of colour by about a week! But I didn't care...it was SO quiet and peaceful up there and I could have just perched myself on one of those outlooks and coloured all day. Almost made me wish I was a tree hugger who loved to camp...but that thought swiftly passed and I enjoyed my couple hours. This is my fav pic I took along the drive!

We talked to lots of Dave fans over the last few days and have heard everything from:

• they are never going to tour again
• yes, they will back in 2012
• he wants to pursue other interests
• he won't make it through the year, they'll be back

I can't even speculate what to believe! But even if they never tour again, I'm happy knowing I saw the last concert they performed as a band!

Lights down, you up and die!

Bellarific Friday is here, and video clarification

I'm gonna start by addressing a couple comments I had on my video debut! I spoke of E-4-zero in the face and that is E0000, then I spoke of E-4-zero again in the hair, but that is E40....you might call it Linda-speak! For those who left a comment, I thank you...I'm kinda camera shy, especially in front of a video cam and kinda shy and quiet generally but sort of crazy...I know, I can't explain it either! You really have to know me to love me. Close friends always remind my hubby (in a VERY sarcastic way) that he is the LUCKIEST guy in the world!

Okay...on to business....Bellarific Friday business that is and this week we had an awesome sketch by one of our newest Babes Cathabella! I deviated just a bit from the sketch because the image I chose fit into a square rather than an elongated rectangle, but I call that artistic freedom. Really, a sketch is just a jumping point to inspire you, it is not a criminal offense if you don't follow it to every dimension. So just remember that for next time!

I now give to you Joyful Village by Stamping Bella, another image I bought last year but never got around to inking it. In an effort to not repeat my images TOOOO many times, I thought the timing was right to get this one coloured and I had bright and cheery in mind so coloured those little houses in shades of pink and red with the following copic markers
B0000, 000, 52, YG01, 03, 17, 97
R22, 24, 37, 85, RV02, 11, 19. 32. 34. 69
N0, 2, T3, 5, E42, 44, W7

As always, I shaded around the image with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol, but no pencils were used on the houses. And of course I had to bling it up by applying some pearl pen to the snow on the rooftops and the ground which I dumped with glitter while still wet, then some glitter around the smoke stacks and glossy accents on the windows. To balance it off, I stamped Merry Christmas in the upper left corner. Gotta have balance! Do you know that Stamping Bella has a boat load of tiny super affordable sentiments perfect for fitting into small spaces like this....check them out here.

All pretty and blingy ready to be sent to someone special this Christmas. Our challenge next week was the brainstorm of Kim Teasdale and is one of MY FAV THINGS TO DO! That is an ALL WHITE card except for the image that has colour. Now, remember, this is just INSPIRATION, so don't go all nuts thinking you have to strictly adhere to the idea. It is a JUMPING point....so think white, maybe a paper that is shades of white, or just use all white cardstock, or maybe you NEED to border your image with a standout colour. THAT IS ALL OKAY! just get inspired because that is what Bellarific Friday is all about!

See ya soon!

Back in the Christmas Card swing!

Before I get to the card I have a NEWSFLASH!!!! Emily is up to her old tricks again and gave us an early Christmas prezzie, this was even a surprise to us babes!! Some sneak-it-in while the heat is on Christmas Lulu's....OH SO PRETTY! AND a sale! CHECK IT OUT HERE! (then come back and check out my card...okay!)

Now back to my regularly scheduled blog.....Okay....to be honest, I haven't really been out of the Christmas swing...the Diva from Monday was coloured a few weeks ago but have been saving it for Cathy's birthday. Now this past weekend I was one busy colouring Babe trying to get those Christmas images done! I RARELY do anything on Friday nights unless it involves dinner out and a few glasses of wine, but this past weekend I decided to make pizza (crust and all!) and spend the evening cooking, colouring (and drinking wine). So I got a couple done Friday night and worked my little arthritic arm to the bone and got FOUR more coloured on Saturday. Now don't all excited yet! They are NO WHERE near to being a finished card yet. You see, I LOVE to colour, but making cards out of them is where I struggle...I am TOTALLY layout challenged!

But being layout challenged is not so bad if you have 5 billion sheets of patterned paper to choose from and that is where I try to focus my energy. If the image is pretty, and the paper works with it, no one will EVEN notice the lack of creativity in the layout! Whether this is true or not, I'm gonna go with it, and believe in it, otherwise I'd have to give up this gig altogether cause fussy layouts will NEVER be my trademark.

Having said all that, I have a simple little card with a pretty image and paper that (I think) works well to show it off. This is envie full of cheer from Stamping Bella and is an older image that I have always loved, but just bought it this year! Now I wonder why I didn't get it sooner!

It was a snap to colour up and I am LOVING IT! The image was stamped on Bella's BESTEST paper and these are the copics I used (keep in mind, the shading around and below the image was done with prismacolor pencils and gamsol):
C00, 0, 1, G40, 82, 94
R22, 24, 59, E43, 44, Y26, 28

In the interest of time, there is NO stitching on this card...SHOCKING....but I'm okay with it. The glitter, glossy accents, and edging with a  krylon gold pen, not to mention the pretty image,  hopefully distract from the lack of sewing.

Now for the pillow update! Since the back flared up sleep has been difficult, and sometimes non-existent! I've spent several nights just sitting on the sofa and I dare say hubby probably hasn't missed me snoring next to him! But I'm tired of sleeping or just sitting on the couch all night with my heating pad so I decided to try a new pillow! I have a Tempur cervical pillow which I bought a few years ago, but with the latest back issue I just couldn't lay that flat. (hence, many nights sitting on the sofa!). Now that things have settled enough that I can sleep in the bed I have been putting the Tempur pillow on top of my down pillow and sleeping sitting slightly elevated. Not bad, but not perfect. So I decided to get a water pillow. It has a bladder which you fill with water to a soft, medium or firm pressure. OMG...if you are someone (like me) who would wake up several times a night to re-fluff your pillow...those days are GONE! This thing just rolls with you...you move...it moves with you...no more fussing to adjust the pillow to get comfortable because it is comfortable ALL THE TIME! I'm in LOVE with my new pillow!

Thanks for stopping in...don't forget our Bellarific Friday....it is a sketch and I know you all LOVE sketches so hoping for lots of contributions to induldge one of our newest babes Cath with her first sketch submission!

Lots to talk about today!

But I'm gonna start with my card so for those who don't want to listen to my babble can just move on quickly!

You may remember my LONG LOST BFF Cathy who I hooked up with last year. Well it was her birthday on Friday and she is a true DIVA! Always looking hot, trendy, getting her fingers and toes all looking pretty....hair and makeup perfect! So NOT me! I'll admit, I am a little obsessive about my hair, but nailpolish, NOT...and makeup...OMG....ONLY if I don't want to scare anyone. Do you know that the vast majority of people in my office work long hours for 9 days straight to get every other Friday off....me...not so much...I work 5 day a week, every week but every Friday since there is hardly anyone in the office I use it as an excuse to ditch half of my makeup routine because I probably won't see anyone anyway! LOL!!!!!

Sorry, see, I digress already! Back to the card. This is a Mo Manning image called Diva available in rubber at Stamping Bella. She was stamped with memento ink on Bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with a combo of copics and prisma pencils. These are the copics I used:

E0000, 000, 00, 11, R20, RV11
R0000, 000, 00, 01, 21, 30, 32, 34, 85
E40, 41, 42, 43, 21, 13, 15, 44
E31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 59, N0, 2, 5

WOW! I hope nobody asks me where I used the colours, because honestly, I coloured this image several weeks ago and I no longer have a clue! Which is one of the reasons why I often hesitate to list the colours used for fear someone will ask me specifics that I no longer recollect. (it's probably an age thing, but I'll call it artistic freedom cause it sounds better!)

Did you all enjoy the video last week? OMG! I HATE the sound of my voice but I think everyone who hears themselves says that. I can't thank Ebru enough for putting that together!

On a personal note, remember the back of mine that went out a few weeks ago! Well...massage, chiropractic treatment, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory, pain killers, x-rays, and a lot of whining has uncovered my problem....again...an age thing! I have significant disk degeneration between C5-6 prominent on the right side which is pinching the nerve that runs down my arm and into my hand (YUP...THAT arm)....aka....arthritis in the neck! I kinda wanna scream ENOUGH ALREADY....but I am a patient person, and will wait this out just like I did with my broken wrist and with therapy (and drugs) I am told I will be pain free in a FEW MONTHS! ....ya, you heard that right....in a FEW MONTHS! The good news is that prior to having the spasm in my back I had NO pain at all in my arm or hand, so once this settles I have been told that it will bother me from time to time but that is about the worst of it! I should be back to my normal 51-yr-old self in no time!

Next post....I'll tell you about my new pillow!

It's that time of the week again!

...and where oh where does the time go! This week has just FLOWN by...but that means the weekend comes sooner! For you local Babes, I should let you know that Pickle is having their Christmas Open House on Sunday and myself and Paulineabella will be there between 1 and 3pm to chat it up, answer your questions, eat Kell's marvelous baked goods, drink up some yummy hot apple cider and demo up a storm! It is ALWAYS a fun event so hope you can stop in.

On to the reason why I am here...and that would be our Bellarific Friday Christmas/Holiday theme card challenge. Now really, it could NOT have gotten easier than that. Like make a Christmas card 6 weeks before Christmas? Who couldn't use one of those?...me, I need about 45 of them and this one is #19 I think. I got a LONG way to go! But I plan on getting 11 more done over the next three weeks and then blitz 15 of them with some simple stamping that won't involve an hour or two of colouring per card. This year my goal is to have them in the mail by December 12th! (I'll let you know how that goes, okay)

Like my last ornament card, this Stamping Bella cutsey ornament one was coloured with mostly pencils, those new Caran d'Ache, but I started with a solid base coat of copic. This is a LARGE card too, I broke from my traditional 5.5" square card and went with a 5x7 this time. Based on the oooh's and ahhh's I got from my Mom when she saw it, I think I'll be sending this one to my folks this year. The paper is Basic Grey and the image is mounted on heavy gold foil paper so it screams elegant, glitzy and glam!

All the green areas were covered in Ranger Glossy Accents and the little white 'pearls' were created with my trusty Viva Decor Pearl Pen. And of course there is glitter! No Christmas card is ever complete without glitter!

Next week our challenge will be a sketch provided by our very own Cathabella....YAY! That will surely take some stress off me because I always struggle with layouts. You also must have guessed by now that I WILL be putting this sketch to use in another Christmas card! How 'bout you do the same, you just might win some bella bucks and can get yourself an early Christmas prezzie!!!

See you all soon!