Framed Florals

I did say I wasn't busy making cards, but I still was busy. A while back Emily was selling these little crewel embroidery kits and I thought I'd give it a try. I realized I can do a lot of crafty things but embroidery is not one of them and this little dismal looking piece of work in an adorable frame was sitting on my desk at work. Everyday I would look at it and think I really gotta repurpose that cute frame.

So out came one of Paula's framed florals which fit perfect in the opening. YES, that would be our Paula and Emily transformed some of her beautiful drawings into rubber for all of us to enjoy.  I coloured these pansies in a variety of purple and coral's and used primarily pencils here. I quickly picked a paper to used for the background and now I don't like this one so I'll probably change it up. There is a glass over this, but I took it off to get a better picture.

Now THIS is gonna make me happy at work.

Smashing Good Fun

Ya, I caved....I bought a smashbook. Emily has been carrying this line for a while now and told me I needed it. Well, I hedged, like I normally do but I ventured into Pickle a couple weeks ago and now Kim has them and I had a weak moment and caved. And I'm so glad I did. It is like scrapbooking for dummies. I have scrapbooked in the past but when I look at that blank page my mind goes as blank as the paper. This is different, it almost prompts you and that is what I think I needed. And of course, if I was gonna smash, I needed the little Fuji instax camera that Emily and Ebru went crazy for so I had a bit of Christmas day fun and created this page.

To explain "this is now", the opposite page says "that was then" so I'm gonna dig out some early xmas photo's to smash on that side. And what better way to compliment my mini instant pictures than to use Stamping Bella's grunge filmstrip die from the Journal your Art out set. I notice that she has called it set #1 and I'm hoping that means there will be more sets like it in the future.

As for the other things on the page, the trees are Tim Holtz, "this is now" are quickutz and christmas was stamped from a VERY old River City alphabet set that I've had for years. Like so long that alphabet dies were still just a dream in someone's mind.

While I haven't made any cards for the last couple weeks, I have kept crafty in other ways like decorating my house for the holidays

little Baby Jesus in his manger that was always one of my fav things as a kid and
 a few years ago my mom gave it to me. He used to go under our tree, but this year
I've got him on display on an end table

When I moved to Chatham, my mom thought I should have a little tree so she
bought me this one to put on a tabletop. I've had it for over 25 years and it has not
missed a Christmas yet. I do however have to get more ornaments for it though because
mice got to it this year. The quilt hanging on the wall was made by ME! Yup in my
quilting days I made this skinny santa quilted wall hanging. It hasn't surfaced for years
but I thought it  was time to bring it back out. I love skinny santa's.

I even decorated the light fixture hanging in our dining room. The glass
egg shaped ornaments I made a few years ago and this year I made the
round ones. They are decorated with a product called LuminArte which
is a thin glue like liquid you pour into the ornament and then add mica
like powders that stick to the glue. It is pretty cool and no matter what
you do, no two ornaments look the same.

This little tree is in my living room. Our other big tree is in the family room
and I don't really have room in here for a tree that large. And if you look to the
left, you'll see my little collection of Westie poo's! Love my puppy!

That's it for my decorating. I'm sure for some people, this is pretty slim but I don't like clutter so this is just enough to make it a little more festive around here.

Our regular Bellarific Friday's will start up again on Jan 13th and by popular demand we will be featuring a lot more sketches....like LOTS more. I hope Dana, our commander in chief, doesn't slap my wrist but I'm gonna give you a little Chrismas surprise and release our FIRST SKETCH OF THE YEAR! So no excuses, I'm sure you all got some new crafty stuff that you are dying to break into and I'm giving you two weeks to email your card to Emily! Go get inky!

I'll be back tomorrow with a little NON Christmas NON Winter project I completed over the holidays.

Merry Christmas

Seems like I have been away forever, but it has been a busy week here in the Heavens household. I worked Monday and Tuesday then spent the last three days getting in last minute decorating and shopping and cleaning for our family gathering here this afternoon.

Stuffing is made and the turkey is staring me in the face waiting to get dressed to go in the oven. Oh and my new Scentsy is burning bright with the scent of honey pear cider. Kim from Pickle gave it to me and can you say LOVE! I LOVE this thing!!!! It is the best gift I have ever received EVER! Seriously, I think I want one for every room in my house all with different scents in them. I was browsing the catalogue online this morning and I've got my next one already picked out!!!! OH I can't wait!

Now for my last Christmas card of the year (maybe!) I have another Stamping Bella's Mo's door with wreath. And I couldn't help but make another one of Kitty's wreath's either. The white one went to my mom and this one goes to my inlaw's. It has a more rustic look to it with a red door and wood background created with a Sizzix Tim Holtz embossing folder. I like the Sizzix folders so much better than the cuttlebug because they are just a bit larger and work better for my usual 5 1/2" square cards and they seem to have a deeper emboss as well. Gotta love everything Tim.

Well gals (and maybe even some guy's?) that's all I have time for now. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and I'm off to wrestle my turkey.

Fyi...we are on Bellarific Friday hiatus until the new year and poor Emily has been knocked out with the flu for two weeks so go leave her some love and tell her we've missed her!

Uptown girls are allowed to be late, aren't they?

I have only 3 more days at the 'gas' before I am off for two weeks  (less one day) of holidays! I lost that one day because I took a day off a couple weeks ago to get some Christmas cards done. Since I had to work Monday anyway, working Monday and Tuesday was not so much of a big deal.

I'm certainly looking forward to some time off though. It has been a crazy hectic year because my hubby has been travelling a LOT, which thankfully is ending, and this babe needs a break from everything. I'd like to say I plan to spend my days watching movies, cuddling with my pooch, drinking tea (or cappuccino) and just relaxing my days away. However, if you know me, you know that wouldn't last and I might do that for a day then get busy into some reorganizing project. Or maybe vaccuum every square inch of my house with my new Dyson Animal!  I know when I go back to work the first three months are gonna be hectic so I need some time to recharge however I decide to do that.

Work and life aside, we had an awesome sketch this week. One of my fav sketches by the way and I have used variations of it numerous times in the past but never with Stamping Bella's Quinn.

Isn't she just the cutest thing EVAH!!!!! I know this is a repeat, but I can't help myself. I have to join in with Paula's Uptown Girl support group. And I have a special person who will get this card from us along with her new black Uggs. Since purple is her fav colour, black uggs with a purple coat was the colour scheme I had to go with.

I stamped her on bella's BESTEST paper and used the following copics, along with some shading with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

E000, 00, 34, 44, 49
RV00, 10, 23, R21, 83, 85, 89
V01, 12, 15, 17, N1, 3, 5, C4, 6, 8, 9

Bellarific Friday will be on hiatus for the next couple weeks but we will be back in the new year with  new challenges incorporating many of your suggestions. And just because there is no challenge, I will still be here so pop in and take a peek.

till next time, Linda

White door with wreath

I've been obsessed with KittieKraft lately. I used to follow her blog years ago and she kinda dropped off my radar but something brought me back to her in the past week and I think the stars were with me when that happened. I had just coloured up Stamping Bella's Mo's door with Wreath and was pondering over the wreath when I came across this INCREDIBLE wreath that Kitty made with a Martha Stewart punch and the stars aligned! I got busy punching and glueing following her instructions and I ended up with a BE-U-TI-FUL wreath to adorn my door!

I wanted this door to be white with just a hint of green to pick up the colour of the trim so after stamping on bella's BESTEST paper these are the copics I used, but I will say, I did do quite a bit of tweaking and shading with pencils!

C00, 0, 1, 7, 9, N0, 1, 2, 3, 5
YG91, 93, 61, E81, 87

I'd better scoot cause hubs isn't home and the princess (that would be the DOG, Bessie) is needing some attention. But she will have to wait JUST A MINUTE MORE because did you know that Emily is having a TRIPLE BUCKS EVENT this week! I think it might be because of all the love she got last week that has made her weak! So if you play this week you have a chance at $30 bella bucks and if you leave a comment on this post you will be entered for another $30 bella bucks. LIKE SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! so comment on this post, and play this week and you could possibly win $60 bella bucks!

See ya Friday for the challenge! Off to make more xmas cards...WHEW....ALMOST DONE!

2011 - the year I found my muse

muse: verb, noun

Definition: (v.) to think about or ponder something deeply; (n.) the source of inspiration for an artist

Emily's AJ Monday this week was to use letters or numbers (or both) on your page. I pondered (mused!) over it for a few days and yesterday I settled on the 2011....the year I found my muse.

It might not be one of my most fav pages I have done, but I think it means the most to me. I spent an entire year pondering over this art journal thing, reading lots of blogs, experimenting and trying to find my comfort zone. This year I took a few online classes from some of my fav mixed media artists and I think I'm starting to find my groove. I've realized that I will never be a Kelly Kilmer, as much as I love her work, it is not my style. I don't know if I have a style yet, I'm still experimenting...and enjoying the journey.

Don't stray toooo far because I'll be back Wednesday with Mo's door with wreath and you are not gonna wanna miss this one because I did something a little different this year.

hehehehee! ....Later, Linda.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

NOT!

For my family, Christmas together means 1 hour commutes for most of us, except for the one who is hosting. So I don't dream of a white Christmas, I dream of clear dry roads for everyone who has to drive an hour or more on the highway to spend the day with their families.

That is my wish, and this is my card, Stamping Bells's snowman and a cardinal by Mo Manning.

As always, I stamped this chilly guy on Bella's BESTEST paper in black memento ink and in addition to a combo of warm and cool grey's for the snowman these are the other copic colours I used:

G40, 82, YG67, 63, 99

All shading was done with prismacolor pencils and gamsol and I am pretty sure I used my cerulean blue around the snowman to celebrate prisma bringing back that colour. It is one of my fav's!

Our challenge next week is a sketch which will come in handy for those last minute holiday cards you need to get finished. I know I still have about 10 to make so I'll be sure to whip up a couple using this classic and timeless sketch! I LOVE a sketch challenge!

On a final note, today is Friday here in Southwestern Ontario and a Friday night in the Heavens household means that I am gonna get a break from cooking and we will either go out for pizza or get Thai take out and I'll spend the evening with my art supplies and my journal coming up with something creative for Emily's AJ Monday.

till next time, Linda

Bizmark

Hiya! I planned on posting this a couple days ago but life got in the way. Christmas party, leakly roof blistering the paint on my kitchen ceiling, pizza at Mom's (Windsor pizza to boot!!!!), and a retirement party has kept me busy over the last few days. And if you are wondering why I am boasting about Windsor pizza it is because it THE BEST PIZZA this side of Old Forge, PA where I had the best pizza of my life on one of our Dave Matthews tour dates.

Gosh I missed Dave this year and I can only hope that the band will be announcing tour dates for next year real soon. He brings us to places we would never dream of going and I have great food experiences at 'almost' every place we have visited. Ya...I'm a big time foodie! And I have to throw the 'almost' in there because as we sat in one place having THE WORST hotdog of my life, our son texted me asking where the Thai take out menu was! YA....I was NOT happy, and to top it off hubs rubbed it in that I left them too much money for food! No worries...hubby has paid big time for that because now when we travel I use my trusty Urbanspoon iPone app to find us a great restaurant that does not serve hot dogs!

Alright...with that out of my system I can move on to Stamping Bella's Bismarck by Mo Manning. Isn't he just the cutest thing EVER!

I tried to get him to be a more 'blonde' colour but my copics got the best of me and he ended up a little more brown than I had hoped for. Then I had a tradegy and after he was all coloured up I was reinking my R22 copic and i dropped it getting a nice big blotch of red in the upper right corner. I was not going to let my time go to waste so I thought it was a good opportunity to add the metallic frame with the Verve sentiment. The hardest part was finding a sentiment in my stash that would fit into the frame because it had to be tiny! Thank goodness I have a LARGE stash of Christmas sentiments.

Mistakes aside, I stamped him with memento Rich Cocoa on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured him with the following copic markers:



R14, 22, 24, 29, 59, YR30, 20
YG45, 67, 99, W00, 0, 1, 2, 4
E30, 41, 42, 50, 51, 53, 23, 44, 47
C00, 1, 2, 5

That's it for today, I'll be back on Friday with my white challenge card.

AJ Monday - Create

It is AJ Monday, and it's raining here in Chatham, and I have the day off! YAY!!!! And I am totally okay with the gloomy rainy day because I plan on just hanging out here and putting a big dent in my Christmas card to do list.

While I have things that must get done, I did take a time out last night to just create for no particular reason. Well, maybe one reason and that is to play in Emily's AJ Monday.

I used my typical sprays, dies, gesso and molding paste. But what I really like about this page is that I made use of my 'inky paper'. That is a Roben-Marie term for the newsprint she puts under her page as she works on it. Sometimes she uses printed paper, like dictionary paper, or sometimes just plain newsprint like I did. It is great for absorbing excess spray, or blotting off and it gets all inky and messy and was great for cutting out my word. Speaking of that word, I pulled out one of my most fav alphabet dies of all time, Quickutz Washington Grand.

That's about it for today, lots to do here (#1 is to clean up my mess from last night) so I'd better get busy. Be sure to check out Emily's AJ post sometime today because there are always great ideas to be found.

Lulu's snowman 2011

Hope everyone is well today, we had torrential rainfall this past week and we have a wicked leak in our roof, over my kitchen table. Thankfully the ceiling has not come down but it is not pretty...we need a roofing guy here ASAP! What I am most mad about is that we will have to have the ceiling repaired and then I'm gonna have to paint. Me no wanna paint!

Enough whining...how 'bout a card. And surprise surprise! It's another Holiday card, but I have a good excuse because that was our challenge and I still need 20 more cards so this comes in handy. This week I used Stamping Bella's LULU'S SNOWMAN, and what a cutie she is.

Last year I 'dressed' her up in a pale green coat, this year I decided to keep her all white and pair it up with one of my new Cheery Lynn Design doily dies. These are THE MOST intricate dies I have ever seen and they cut like a dream in my Vagabond. I'm even thinking that I could cut one out of acetate and use it with sprays in my journal! LOVIN' THAT IDEA!!!!

I stamped LULU on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured her up with the following copic markers  using the cool greys on the snowman and the warm greys on lulu:

E000, 00, 11, 40, 41, 42, 44, 07, 09

C00, 0, 2, 3, W00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9

C7, 9, B60, YR15, 18, R22, BG96

Next week our challenge is to keep it WHITE! I know that may scare some, but OMG, I LOVE a white card so I'm looking forward to this one. You might recall that we did this challenge last year and if you are looking for some ideas check out this post.

till next time, Linda



Polly Packages 2011

I have coloured up Stamping Bella's Polly Packages every year for the past three years (I think) and each card I make I like better than the one before it. Hmmmm....could be with all the cards I have been colouring over the years I think I may be getting better at it. I've said it before, but it never hurts to repeat it....PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!! It really does make a difference. You'll find your groove, settle into your style and when that light bulb goes off it will become much easier when you find YOUR comfort zone.

This year I gave her a rustic feel and paired her up with Basic Grey's 6x6 Wassail paper and coloured her with the following copic markers:

E000, 00, 11, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49
E04, 07, 09, 30, 33, 37, 55, 57
E51, 53, Y11, 26, 28, R22, 35, 39
G40, 8, YG61, 67, BG93, 96

WHEW! That seemed like a lot of colours for a tiny chichiboulie. I added some sparkle around her with Hero Arts glitter and going with that rustic feel I pulled out my JudiKins Straw speckles to sprinkle at her feet. One thing you should know...it is best to use some Ranger Glossy Accents, or something similar, to glue down these heavier texture sprinkles. AND, in case you are wondering, the holly vine is a Memory Box die.

I'll be back on Friday with my Bellarific challenge card and hmmmmm....did I use texture on that? I can't remember. You'll just have to wait and see.

Later, Linda

Guilded Trees

I coloured up Stamping Bella's birds decorating TREES with no particular paper in mind. Pretty scary thought isn't it, but I knew I was going to colour them all green with blue shades and blue birds so how tough would it be to find paper to match.

After stamping my trees with memento ink on bella's BESTEST paper I coloured them up with the following copic markers:

YG41, 45, G12, B12, 16, BG07 (trees, birds and ornaments)
E42, 44 (tree trunk)
YR30, E50, 51 (shading around trees)

I decided on an elegant background and used a piece of a solid Basic Grey paper that had subtle shading in it. Ran it thru my vagabond with a sizzix embossing folder and then sponged on some evergreen bough distress ink and tsukineko all purpose ink in Vegas gold. For my local fans, I got this at pickle...which by the way, is where I got the idea ;).  The gold glitter at the base of the trees is a JudiKins product called ROXS. I have several of these very textural accents which I have been hoarding for years and I've decided to start putting them to use. It's all about the details and the more little accents you add, the more the WOW factor will be....but remember, LITTLE is the key to my style! I never want to be so over the top with accents that my image gets lost in the clutter...but that's just me.

Now it's only Tuesday so you still have lots of time to get in on our Friday Challenge over at Bloggabella....our theme is keeping with the season and HOLIDAY is your inspiration. And if you are ready to take the plunge....WORDS is the AJ Monday challenge and you can read about it here.

I've still got one more card to show you before Bellarific Friday, so don't wander off too far! K!

till next time, Linda

AJ Monday

For Emily's AJ Monday I have journalled another thing to document to my list of ever growing passions...gardens. However, this is not a new passion, more likely something inherited from my dad's side of the family. I cannot imagine looking out my kitchen doors and seeing nothing but grass surrounded by a fence. I want interest, and I want flowering shrubs, and hosta's, and interesting trees and in the summer I want to sprinkle all that with some annual flowers. The problem is, our yard is clay and as dry as the sahara. I start out every May with good intentions and then the heat of our southern Ontarion summer sets in and if I'm not home to water several times a day all my good intentions just dry out by July. But one day, when I retire my yard will be the picture perfect overgrown lush victorian garden that I dream of.

I do have a point to all of this rambling and although I have several 'unpublished' pages in my journal that have hearts on them, I was in the mood to create yesterday. So I looked out at my yard that is losing all its greenery and starting to show signs of winter hibernation and that made me think PINK! I needed some pink in my day so pink along with our theme of hearts, I have this page to share.

I sketched the flowers lightly in pencil then gave a watercolor wash in pink over the entire page. I wasn't too concerned about covering up the flowers because I could still see the pencil marks and painted the flowers with acrylics. I hope I've inspired you today, and if you want/need more....just check out Emily's blog later to see the other 'heart' inspired projects.

For you card lovers out there, I'll be back tomorrow with one of those.

till then...Linda

CPS Sketch sponsored by Stamping Bella!

I hope you aren't getting sick of them yet cause I have lots more to make. This one is rather special though because Stamping Bella is the sponsor over at CPS this week and I'm a lucky babe to get to showcase my card! You may have gotten a glimpse of it last week because we babe's had our dates mixed up.  I think CPS may be one of the first card sketch blogs to hit the net and has always been one of my go-to sites when I'm feeling a little sketch challenged.

For this card I decided to make a cozy little A2 size and pull out Stamping Bella's SNOWY house.

Like I do every time, I stamped it on bella's BESTEST paper and used the following copic markers:

R22, 24, 29, G40, 82, 94, 20
YG93, 95, 97, 99, E42, 43, 44
R59, B0000, BG000, 10, 11
C00, 1, W1

For some extra glitz, I cut the Tim Holtz snowflakes out and completely covered them in glitter. Some Icicle Stickles on the roof top, flowersoft snow on the ground and gel glaze pen on the christmas lights finished it off.

Now don't forget, tomorrow's AJ Monday over at Bloggabella is to make Jayden smile and use a heart on your page, or like I did, use A LOT of hearts...come on there is still time....give it a try!

Happy Black Friday to my American friends

...and a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all too! We have our own recent American Thanksgiving tradition as well and that is to head to Windsor on Wednesday night with friends, dine at the Keg, lose money at the Casino and then head to the Lion's football game on Thursday. Truth be told, I just 'tag along' to the game and I'm only interested in the dinner and Casino part.

I also updated my profile pic with my new 'do'....I will say that it didn't look anything like that this morning. I almost scared myself when I got out of bed. Yesterday for the game I just showered and blew my hair dry without any real concern for style. (really, with people wearing turkey's or blocks of chess on their heads, who is gonna look at my hair) Well my natural waves took over and by the end of the day it was getting a bit 'large', and by this morning it was out of control and i woke up looking like Kramer. EEEK! So I guess it is not quite as blow and go as I thought.

Enough about my adventures...I do have a card, and it's another quickie. This past week I have been focused on getting Mom's Xmas cards done and when I get on a roll like that it is hard for me to switch gears. This is Stamping Bella's reindeer circle and I kept the card very clean and simple turning the circle into a hanging ornament.

I'm lucky to have the day off today so I'm gonna put another card together which is all ready and coloured up. Then head to pickle to get more paper to finish Mom's cards, oh before that I will shower and deal with my hair! And this afternoon, just pull out some images and my copics and relax the afternoon away.

I'm also feeling the urge to get a little creative with product so I may just throw in another no-colouring-required card again. We'll see. Our challenge next week at Bloggabella is appropriate for the first Friday in December and it will be another HOLIDAY card! I don't know about you, but Christmas is most fav season to make cards.

AJ Monday

Our AJ challenge this week over at Stamping Bella was to draw a face. Now I am no portrait artist but I have been practicing a lot this month and I am getting better at it. I also must say that taking a couple of Suzi Blu's online classes have helped to build my confidence.

I drew her roughly, VERY roughly with pencils first. One thing I have learned is that I am more of a sketchy drawer and cannot get that line correct the first time so I sort of sketch with lots of lines. Then I erased some of the extra lines and watercoloured her face and the background lightly. Now the best part...adding some pencil crayon....AHH the control of the pencil crayon after the uneasy looseness of the pencil and watercolour. I started to gain confidence at this point. Then I used a foam stamp with acrylic paint for the flowers building some layers and softness. And of course I used bright happy colours to represent my mood at the time....a new 'do' will do that to me (don't worry...I'll update my profile pic shortly)

That's it....I couldn't even bring myself to journal anything on it! And speaking of journalling, I have had a couple questions on how I do my journalling. It's no big deal really, NO it is not a stencil, not computer generated, no die cuts....here is how I do it...and it turns out different every time depending on where I thicken my lines.

Step 1: just write (or print) what you want to say

Step 2: I use a black Pitt Big Brush pen to start thickening the lines on the left side

Step 3: Start filling in those thicker lines and wherever else you want! Again, I am using my Pitt Big brush but you can also use a Sharpie, pen and ink caligraphy set, whatever. Just be careful that what you use is not going to react with water if you want to seal your work with mod podge or PPA.

Step 4: this is my fun part and I add some shading. Lately I have been addicted to one of my Golden Fluid Acrylic paints. It is such a beautiful rich gold and really opaque. If I have time and/or desire I might even make those words pop more by adding another 'strip' of shading along the gold lines with a browinsh shade of pitt pen and while it is still wet, just soften it off with my finger.

So that's it, my attempt at drawing a face and my journal style. Hope you enjoyed it. Next week our Bellarific AJ challenge comes directly from Emily's daughter Jayden....YAY Jayden...I miss you sweetie....she wants to see hearts on your page. I think I can do that! Stay tooned!

And other stuff....

if you got a 'sneak peek' at my CPS challenge all I can say is OOPS! It wasn't supposed to be posted until NEXT Sunday.
our theme this Friday at Blogabella is FREE FORM! Strutt your stuff and show us what you got.
Emily snuck in a new 'mini' release not even telling us babes about it! How is that for secrecy! My order is going in tonight....go check it out here
I'm signing off because I'm going shopping! (then sleeping...the time change is KILLING ME!)

later, Linda.

I cut my hair today!

Well..."I" personally didn't cut it...my hairdresser Liz cut it. For several years now I have been wearing it in a smooth straight bob and I went in today and said...CHOP IT OFF!...I'm done with the straight iron, I want something simple, longish layers, blow and go that will work with my natural waves, but something I can still straighten to make look sleek and sophisticated if I want...and I brought pictures! I trust my dear Liz to tell me NO your hair won't do that but to my delight she said 'we can do that'.  I was excited! I was ready!

When all was said and done and my hair was lying on the floor I asked her if I thought she cut off a half pound! It certainly feels like a half pound lifted from my head and that might make a good weigh in at WW next week! LOL!!!! OMG...I can't even believe that thought entered my head! But I have been a little 'cheaty' this week, so if a half pound of hair makes up for the sodium laden chinese food I had...I'll take it! I don't know about you, but ONE meal of chinese food, even the slightest bit will tip the scale for me by about 3lbs...so I avoid it as much as I can, but sometimes you just gotta live and enjoy a thai or chinese meal.

Okay...enough about my hair and salt issues...I have a FAB CARD to share today to go with our FAB SKETCH provided by our sketch queen Ebru. I don't know if I've said this, but she is really among one of the most thoughtful and generous people I have ever met and her sketches ALWAYS WOW me. We are so lucky to have her as part of our team. With that out of the way, I bring you Stamping Bella's Pia Puddingtop, one of my FAV holiday images.

I kept with my vintage theme that I've got going on lately and pulled out some non-traditonal paper...Basic Grey curio....as my inspiration. She was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper with memento ink and coloured with copic markers, and shaded with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

These are the copics I used:
EOOO, OO, 11, 51, 53, 55, 23, 25, 27
G12, YG41, 45, 67, 99, Y15, YR 14
B32, 34, 37, CO, 3, RV 23, 34, 17, R85, 89

I finished off by sponging all my pieces with distress ink tea dye and vintage photo and adding glitter around the image. Now...I have had a couple questions about applying glitter, shading, etc and I do have some links on my sidebar to some pseudo-tutorials that I have done. I'm not in the tutorial business because I do have a day job but from time to time I may add something there so be sure to check it out because it may answer some of your questions. On the topic of tutorials, I've had a couple questions about how I journal on my AJ pages. If time permits this weekend I'll put together some pics (sorry no video!) on my processs and post them with my AJ Monday page.

Next week our challenge will be FREE FORM!!!!!!!!!! Let your creative juices flow, personally, I KNOW mine will be anothe xmas card! My stash is low sisters! VERY low!

'till next time, Linda

The tree at Rockefeller Plaza has nothing on this one...

These are Stamping Bella's Christmas PEEP's and LOOK at the size of that tree!

When I did this one last year I paper pieced it but this time I decided to colour it and pulled out some Cosmo Cricket paper as my inspiration. I started by stamping on bella's BESTEST paper with black memento ink and used the following copic markers:

E000, 21, 11, 42, 44, 23, 25, 27

G12, YG41, 45, 67, 99, Y15, YR14, B32, 34, 37

RV23, 34, 17, R85, 89, C0, 3

I then added some turquoise pencil crayon to my tree and blended it out with Gamsol because I wanted to alter the colour slightly to better match my paper. I shaded around the tree with yellow pencils, then sponged some yellow around the edges while keeping my die in place and the two just blend together making it look like I coloured on yellow paper! Once I had the card all put together I added a nice thick glob of Ranger glossy accents to the ornaments to give them dimension. It is crazy, but I love doing that!

Now for some exciting news...Paula is having a birthday giveaway...so you have two things to do...first send her some love because she is getting older! (okay...that is NOT a requirement!!!!) And TWO....play along in her challenge to win yourself some of her fav images in bella rubber.

Here is what you gotta do:

• play in this weeks challenge over at Stamping Bella and your name will be entered into the draw
• play again in next week's challenge and your name will get entered again!

How cool is that...leave it up to Paula to do something so fun and creative. If you want all the details you can read it on this post.

And if you wanna get working on this weeks challenge immediately, here is the sketch...a WINNER!

Now go get crafty, that's an order! 



AJ Monday

Emily has not posted her AJ Monday yet, that must mean she had a good time with Paula on the weekend and is recouperating from all the fun! Speaking of Emily (Stamping Bella, in particular) I've been doing a little shopping for new mixed media products and created the page below primarily with the following:

• SEI Tumble Dyes
• Golden transparent air brush set
• Ranger Adirondack color wash
• gesso
• molding paste
• crafter's workshop stencils

Oh did I have fun creating this one and it put me in a happy place, hence the quote which I got out of one of the MANY quote books I own. I'm a gal of few words but do enjoy finding a good quote to express how I feel at the time. I think that is what my journal is going to be all about. Create a page, and find a quote to define the moment. The thought of doing that excites me! I have 5 blank pages left in this journal and then I can bind it all up and starting January my new book is just going to be full of quotes, and techniques, and happiness.

I actually started this one Friday night and then didn't like the page so I cut it up in squares to use on my 'new' page. There are layers here gals.....MANY MANY layers. I think even at one point I gesso'd over 75% of it and started again. Did it bother me to do that , no way...I know what is under it, and I enjoyed the journey.

Not sure yet what our theme will be next week so be sure to stalk Emily's blog and she will announce it when she posts.

'till next time, Linda

Embossing and pretty paper!

When I started stamping....oh...close to 10 years ago now...I was determined to have a minimal supply of 'tools'. I liked to paint and color so I was DETERMINED to own ONLY a good supply of pencil crayons, tombow markers, a good paint brush, ONE black ink pad, and clear embossing powder.


WELL! 10 years later and DRAWERS full of ink pads, countless embossing powders, overflowing glitter, crimpers, melting pots, punches, dies, a variety of die cutting tools, dozens of paint brushes, embellishments toooooo numerous to mention, prima flowers, brads and eyelets in all shapes and sizes, COPICS!, and let's not forget the storage alternatives! i've been thru them all!

Then of course there was paper! 10 years ago patterned paper or 'DP' was primarily used for scrapbooking. The paper I used on my cards was 'special'...and sometimes expensive! I have a folder dedicated to what I call 'specialty paper'. It isn't your run of the mill basic grey, or cosmo cricket. These are textured, or metallic, some are hand made, oh and then there are the Japanese papers! I regularily 'purge' my papers, but not this batch..it is special.

So for this card I thought I would go back to my 'roots' and create something with those lush papers and use some of those embossing powders. I started by stamping this Penny Black Queen Anne's Lace in Versamagic Sage Ink. After it was dry I stamped it again with versamark, off setting it a bit. (use a stamp positioner for this....another tool in my arsenal!) Then I started applying the embossing powders, picking them up with a tiny straw cut on an angle and strategically applying them to the versamark image. First with dark green, then some japanese laquer (which is a mix of deep red and black), then some VERY OLD PSX terra cotta and ochre tapestry. (PSX is soooo old they aren't even in business anymore...but their embossing powders were my absolute FAVE's). Once my powders were applied to the image I held it up and tapped it underneath to make the powders 'dance around'. This is a technique I learned when taking a class with the UBER talented Fred B Mullet. You won't use a lot of embossing powder this way so just trash whatever doesn't stick. Or, if you are Fred, save it in a mixed barrel!

Finally, for something we did not do in Fred's class. I went over the entire thing with inks applied to a sponge. YES, I started this project on a piece of white paper! Dab that sponge dauber (available at Pickle, or Stamping Bella) into chalk or pigment ink starting with a lighter color and apply it all over your image. Then keep adding to it darkening your colors on the outer edges as you go. NOTE....dye inks WILL NOT WORK HERE CAUSE THEY DON'T BLEND AS WELL!

Once you have finished adding your inks buff the entire thing with a soft cloth. This will remove any ink from the embossing and you will be left with a TOTAL WORK OF ART that will leave the recipient thinking....HOW'D SHE DO THAT???? Well, now you know! Seriously, my hand coloured cards get a lot of love, but these are always the ones that leave them guessing!

FYI....I have NO idea where the brad on this card came from! I just pulled it from my vast supply of various embellisments that I love and will never trash!

:) Linda!

And the winner is.....

*** Lana ***

I want to thank you all  for your wonderful challenge ideas and I will say that some were a REAL challenge but I'm up for it! Send me an email Lana (under my picture there is a like to contact me) and I'll email your bella bucks gift certificate! Since we had so many great ideas, I DO expect a lot of participation...so keep checking the babe's and Emily's blog because you NEVER know when you may see your challenge idea crop up. I'll give you a hint though....the sisters seem to be lovin' a sketch so I am pretty sure you will be seeing a lot more of those in 2012 so stay with us!

Movin' on to Bellarific Friday....I'm sticking with my 'no colouring required' theme and again paired up Stamping Bella stamps with Tim Holtz dies....a match made in 'Heavens'. LOL...pun intended! This time I used Tim's pine tree and Prancing Deer pairing it up with Isabelle's Eclectic music notes, and Isabella's script. Since there were two deer on the die, I made two cards! YAY, more for my xmas stash!

Both cards are pretty much identical except for the deer. I used a piece of Basic Grey paper, (fruitcake I think) from a few years ago and just like I did on my snowman I created the focal background by pressing some distress inks (broken china and faded jeans) onto my teflon pad and this time spritzing it with gold glimmer mist. That gave the background a nice overall glimmer of gold, plus some heavier areas where the glimmer mist pooled. Then I sponged the edges with some brushed corduroy and adding more of the blues. I pretty much 'worked it ' with those colours until it matched nicely with my patterned paper. Once it was dry, I stamped the script with faded jeans.

The music notes on the deer was stamped with walnut stain and then the deer was sponged with antique linen and brushed corduroy...I think a bit of vintage photo too.

The tree was cut once on dark brown, then again on green. I sponged the green piece with some peeled paint, forest moss and vintage photo. I cut the stem off the green piece and glued it to the top of the brown piece. Then I applied some distress rock candy crackle paint to just the green area. Thin in some areas and thicker in others to give a variety of 'crackle' ....NOTE...the thicker you apply it, the deeper and more pronounced your crackles will be. This card actually came together quite easily for me.

Hope you liked my no colouring week because I may be throwing in a few more of these here and there over the next weeks before the xmas mailing deadline. Next week our challenge is A SKETCH!!! YAY! Many shout outs for Ebruabella for coming up with this one because it is FAB....and so not me who always has everything all squared up and equal on every side. I LOVE when these come along. And considering the number of comments I had on the sisters who love them a sketch....I'm expecting great things from you!

Till next time, Linda.

Hanging Ornaments

Keeping with my "no colouring - no problem" theme I have another quick and easy card that requires NO colouring, but still has that WOW factor. I pulled out three different stamps for this card and used an easy technique I'll describe below.

• cutesy ornaments (even though there is nothing cutesy about this card)
• ornament with holly on top
• patterned holly

Now, how'd she do that? I started with a piece of bella's BESTEST cream paper and stamped the holly leaves with versamark, embossing with a gold pearl embossing powder. After the embossing was good and dry I sponged on some Distress ink in antique linen, tea dye, then vintage photo keeping it darker on the left side.

Then I stamped the ornaments, again in versafine and embossing in the gold pearl. I cut them out and for the green one I sponged on shabby shutters, peeled paint and forest moss. The red one has fired brick followed by aged mahogany and finally for the bronze one I went back to antique linen, tea dye and vintage photo.

I played around with a lot of different ornaments and a lot of different colours before settling on this layout...I'm sure I spent a couple hours, but now that I've done it...it will be pretty easy to crank out a few more in limited time. This is also a small card, A2 size, which I rarely do but I like the coziness of this one....and heck....it will probably get a front row on someones mantle so it doesn't get hidden behind the tall cards.

There is still time to leave your comment with challenge ideas on THIS POST for your chance to win $25 bella bucks. I'll be posting the winner tomorrow at 12pm EST.

Now I'd better get to cooking myself some grub here and clean up the kitchen/studio...hubs has been gone all week and I'll spill a little secret....my kitchen table is ENTIRELY COVERED IN STAMPING SUPPLIES and has been all week since he left...heheheeee!!!! I'm pretty darn sure even if he read this it would come as no surprise to him, but it sure was nice to 'pretend' I had my own space and could leave my works in progress on the table for a day or two until I got to finishing it.

see ya tomorrow!!!!!

No time to colour? No problem!

I've got ya covered! This week I am going to show you THREE NO COLOURING REQUIRED holiday cards that hopefully will get your wheels going.

What do you get when you put two brilliant minds together! Pure GENIOUS! And that is what happened when I paired up Tim Holtz dies with Isabelle's Eclectic Stamps from Stamping Bella.

Not only was NO colouring involved, NO PATTERNED PAPER was used either! NOPE! NO WAY! I started with some inexpensive smooth white coated cardstock. I don't think an uncoated paper, like Papertrey white would work as well here. I pressed two Distress ink pads onto my teflon sheet, a piece of acetate would also work, I think I used Tumbled Glass and Broken China. Making sure I had  enough to account for the size of my paper I spritzed the ink with water, then layed down my paper pressing it into the wet inky watery mix. I did this for both the main background piece, and focal background piece. You CAN do two sheets one after the other, but keep in mind, your second layering of paper will be lighter than the first.

Once dry (hint: use a heatgun!) I stamped Eclectic #8 ticket with Pumice Stone on the larger background piece and Mini Checker with one of the blues (can't remember but I think it was the lighter one!) on the smaller background. Then I sponged with the same blue inks to give more depth of colour and finally sponged some Distress Pumice Stone around the edges.

The snowman is a pure rip off (or should I say CASE) from one of Tim Holtz's 2010 12 Tags of Christmas. Okay, not a total ripoff,  I did cut out WISH in snowman's belly and added an eye and some buttons which Tim didn't do. So I guess it is a legitimate case. The snowman was cut out of grungeboard, painted with white Claudine Helmuth Blank Canvas and when dry I sanded it and sponged on some Pumice Stone. Ya, Tim did that. The hat, arms and nose were also cut out of grunge board scraps and rubbed with some distress ink for colour. They were also sanded and glued on to the main snowman with glossy accents....again, that is what Tim used for glue! So in the end, I took some of his ideas, blended them with mine and came up with something that I really love in the end! That is what inspiration is all about and I hope I have inspired you!

Now for my little give away! OMG...you ladies have come up with some FANTASTIC challenge ideas! Sketches seem to be a common theme so I promise we will have more of those next year but we will also include some new ideas based on what you have said! This is so exciting and I'm looking forward to a new, challenging and inspirational year of challenges in the year 2012! Keep those comments coming, because it ain't over yet! You have until Friday!

Does this mean Winter is coming? AND a GIVEAWAY!

Our challenge this week has to do with snow...and we wanna know if there is snow at your house, or at the very least...incorporate some snow on your card. Personally the ONLY snow I hope to see this winter is on my cards. I'm getting older, and the older I get, the more I hate snow. I hate shovelling it and/or tromping thru salt melted mush that ruins my collection of designer boots! I don't care what they say about UGGS, I NEVER want mine to trudge thru salt melted slush because I prefer to keep them in a pristine state and wear them as a fashion statement.

BUT....uptown gal Quinn wears her UGGS is not only fashionable but does not appear to be afraid to stand in snow with them. She is braver than I am that's for sure!

I think this is my FAV uptown girl. Now I love them ALL, but this one really speaks to me and I think it is because of what she is wearing....I would dress like that. heck I do dress like that! Since my UGGS are dark brown, I had to colour hers dark brown too, and her coat had to match...because Quinn would not have it any other way. Now for the other colours....hmmmm.....what to wear with brown? In my opinion anything goes....for me, brown is like black, anything goes. So that is when I went to my paper stash and decided on green to go with this basic grey ambrosia paper. Good choice I thought...after all, I would wear that. In the end she turned out exactly as I had envisioned her. Classy, sassy, and sophisticated! I LOVE those uptown girls!

Next week our challenge is HOLIDAY WISHES. With the holiday season just around the corner THIS is the time to get those juices going and get busy on those holiday cards. I know you need them! I need them! You've GOT to do them, so pull out some of those bella stamps and knock one card off the list, plus play in the challenge for a chance to earn some xmas bucks.

FINALLY ...THE GIVEAWAY!  .....we are calling all creative minds! We know you are out there and we want you to join us! Do you have a great challenge idea? Do you like sketch challenges or do you have something in your head that you would like to see in a challenge next year. Leave me a comment with your idea and I will pick a random comment to be announced on my blog post next FRIDAY. The lucky person will win $25 in BELLA BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! As Reganabella would say...SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! We wanna hear from you!

I'm late! but I have a bonus

Yes, I had full intentions of posting this last night but I taught a class at our local Paper Pickle and when I got home at 9pm I HAD to devote my full attention to Criminal Minds because it is right up there with Dexter as one of my fav shows. Yup, no reality shows for this babe, I'm all about sick criminal offenders. So as an added bonus I'm gonna show you the canvas I taught at class last night. But NOT before show you Irma and Vieno. This is a Mo Manning image available in rubber at Stamping Bella. Do you know there are a LOT of Mo's images available in rubber over there, check them out here.

I poured my heart into colouring this image and I am not kidding when I say I spent much longer than normal on it. This is another one where pencils overtook the copics. I started with my typical E000, 00, 11 on the face, then used some BG's on the blue coat and YG's on the green coat. Again I shaded the reds with some E7 and 9 and a combo of warm and cool grey's for the fur on the hat's. I couldn't even bring myself to cover anything with glitter because this turned out so pretty IRL. The camera never does this stuff justice!

Now for my Paper Pickle canvas class. Over the last several months I have taken a variety of mixed media online classes and this class does not define any one style. It is an eclectic mix of some of my personal fav techniques that I have learned along the way. I do want to say that I was SO PROUD of everyone and they should feel personally satisfied that they went home with something that they should feel proud to hang on their wall somewhere. I love when I come out of a class feeling that way! I think the lesson here is to NOT let the term MIXED MEDIA scare you! The beauty of it is that there is no right, no wrong...just DO IT! You will be happy you did! And did you notice Lulu's hearts on there! I stamped the cluster on some red paper and let them choose which hearts to cut out for the chimney smoke. Then Jenn got creative and cut out a tiny heart for the door knob and the gals went crazy! I think most everyone left with a heart door knob! I LOVE my pickle gals!

Well, although it's not late, I'm tired because I had to drive my hubby to London to pick up his car from service after work today so that was almost 3 hours of driving to and from the dealer after a LONG day at work. I'm tired, and deserve to go to bed early....but hey, that means maybe I can stay up late tomorrow and get in some quality mixed media time!!!!! There is a bright side to everything!

I got to thinking the other day....

...that I only have about 5-6 weeks to get my Christmas cards done and mailed! YIKES! So you know what that means? The Christmas card blitz IS ON and you may not see anything other than Christmas cards for the next several weeks. Are you ready for that?

I spend Sunday colouring like a mad woman...well, maybe not a mad woman...but I did colour three images pouring my heart and soul into every one of them and I hope you enjoy them this week.

How 'bout we start with a Mo to get things rolling. This is a Mo Manning image named Noelle bearing gifts available in rubber at Stamping Bella. You may already know that I love my Mo's, but the Christmas Mo's are by far my fav's of hers. I will also say that if I had a little girl she would SO have had a melton wool coat hand made by yours truly with felt appliqued trees and a snowman! Just like this one.

After stamping the image on bella's BESTEST paper, I started colouring the image with copics, but then used so much pencil that the copic colours kind of became irrelevant. I will say that main body of the coat was started with warm greys, and the trim and appliqued snow hills was done with cool greys. That gave just a bit of contrast, although it is not obvious in the picture....but believe me, it is there! And of course she has her red velvet dress on underneath which was done with R22, shaded with E07 and E09. Love those shade's of E's to give a nice rich red.

Because this card will be mailed, I held back on adding anything bulky but couldn't resist creating some falling snow with glitter.

Well, that's it for today! I'll be back tomorrow with another Mo!

I don't know about you....

...but I'm doin' the happy Friday dance! Tonight we are gonna have a little celebration with friends to bring on hubby's 50th b'day (which isn't until Tuesday). Then Saturday I think I just might sleep until 10am because I have not quite recovered from the West coast time change yet.

On a crazy note while I write this post Thursday night I have reduced myself to watching Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin because our cable adapter is on the fritz in the kitchen and I can't get anything over channel 18 and I'm not comfortable on the sofa typing with my laptop on my lap. I'm missing my art journal too because I have not even opened it in almost two weeks. This weekend I'm gonna get messy with paints I think...I'm needing it.

For Bellarific Friday this week it was all about stripes. Let me say, this babe is NOT lacking any striped paper...I cannot resist striped, polka dot or plaid paper. I'm weak, and there is something really homey and rustic about them that I like. However, I don't go overboard, especially with stripes and usually go with the less is more rule when I use them. Just like I did with Anastasia here! This one is for Bren who always leaves me the nicest comments and she wanted to see what I did with her hair.

I just LOVE those blue frames on her glasses and wish I had the confidence to wear something really funky like that. I matched up with some Basic Grey Pyrus and after stamping her on bella's BESTEST paper I used the following copic markers on her. (and of course some pencils for the shading!)

E0000, 000, 00, 11, 15, R20, B95, 97
E51, 53, 41, 43, 44, 33, 35, 37, 95, 97, 99

In case you are wondering, the doily was cut from a Cheery Lynn Designs die that I picked up at the Stamp Show in Novi. Those dies are SO intricate and I wish I had bought more.

Next week our challenge is a scary one...and not in the halloween way! IS THERE SNOW AT YOUR HOUSE? Yup, that is the challenge...use some snow on your card. I certainly hope there will be no snow here and I hope this doesn't put a jinx on it.

Where's Linda?

I've been MIA for the past few days because I went on a weekend Vegas getaway with 5 of my work BFF's. I'd love to say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but the truth is, we didn't really come home with any memories that I want to leave behind. Not like when I broke my wrist zip lining last year! I've given up on doing ANYTHING that requires me to sign a waiver.

I will say that we had a MOST FABULOUS day trip to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon and I'll show you a couple pics after my card. Let me just say that the Grand Canyon has to be one of the most breathtaking places on earth. Scary, but breathtaking. I don't think I would let myself get within 20 feet of the edge, and I wanted every single person to stand at least 20 feet away from me for fear that someone might lose their footing and grab on to me for balance just to end up taking me down the canyon with them.

The highlight the next day was the Elton John concert. I've seen quite a few concerts in my day, and Elton is FAR from my beloved Dave Matthews but I must say he is one of the best performers I have ever seen. He is so cute,so funny, so humble, and so genuinely appreciative of the audience. And unlike other aging artists, his voice still holds the same magic that it did 30+ years ago. I'd go back and see him tomorrow if I could.

Now for a card! Remember back in September we had a back to school challenge and I coloured up Betty the Bookworm. When I was doing her up, I also did Stamping Bella's Spencer but never got a chance to post him until now, so here he is!

I actually think I like him better than my first card, but it might be the Basic Grey oxford paper that is making me happy. LOVE the colours in that pack. After stamping spencer on bella's BESTEST paper, these are the copics I used on him:

E0000, 000, 00, 11, 51, 53, 13, 15, 17
E31, 34, 35, 37, 07, 09
G40, 12, 82, BG70, 72, 75
RV91, 93, 95, 55, 66, R20
C1, Y23, W9

If you are still with me, and still interested, here are a couple pics from our road trip.

On our way to the canyon I was really taken with the field of cacti. It made me want one for my yard, and if it wasn't for the cold winters here, I could probably grow one because our ground is hard and dry!

This is called Guano Point and you see those little specks on that pointed pile of rock. Those are people! You could hike up there and see a spectacular view of the Colorado River but I didn't take the chance. No waiver had to be signed, but I know a risk when I see one.

Pictures of this place will never capture the beauty or the vastness. Again, look at the far left, about half way down and you will see a little white speck. Those are people!

That's it for tonight. I'm off to watch Dexter that hubby pvr'd for me and I've been waiting for this all week! See ya Friday.