Do's and Don'ts

Three weeks ago my Dad went into Emerg in Windsor with chest pains, and this past Wednesday he was in London having heart bypass surgery. He is doing really well and hopefully will be home later this week. Today I'm going to visit him and thought I'd bring along a card. Families get a brochure (almost a book) describing the surgery and the do's and don'ts during the recovery period so that was the inspiration for my card. We did get a chuckle out of it because some of the do's might come as first for him, and some of the don'ts won't be a problem because he has never done them anyhow!

Here you have it....on the outside Mo Manning the BIG GUY golfing available in rubber at Stamping Bella

And on the inside, SUCK IT UP stella signed by the fam, including the pooch!



I again pulled out the Basic Grey marjolain paper and there is a strong possibility I may use up the entire pad because there is not ONE sheet in there I don't like! Then I used quickutz notebook sheet die and my snap alphabets to create the discharge orders. The handwriting is mine, and although it isn't great you can see from the rest of the fam's signatures it is the best of the worst!

The images were stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and I used the following copic markers:

E000, 00, 11, 31, 33, 35, 42, 44
BG000, 11, 32, 72, 75, 78
R20, 21, 22, 27, YR31(-) 31, 21
G20, YG01, 21, 23
COO, 0, 1, 2, 6, T3, 4, N0, 1, 3, 5

If you missed the 'story' of YR31(-) you can read about it here. I got some colouring done yesterday, so I think I'll put a card together and then go get showered up and ready to visit my dad.

Bellarific Friday on Saturday!

I know, I know! I'm a little late but I just haven't found the time to write my blog this week (or last week for that matter!) Sometimes life just gets in the way and you have to set your priorities. I do have cards though, and hopefully over the next couple weeks I'll find the time to post them all.

But for now, I'll catch up with yesterday's challenge card. Anna and her time out chair is a Mo Manning image available in rubber over at Stamping Bella. She comes along with a sentiment that says 'sometimes, everyone needs a little time out' and I think this would make a great birthday card because I can't think of a better occassion to give yourself a little time out!

She was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper, paired up with Basic Grey hopscotch 6x6 paper and coloured with the following copic markers:
 
E000, 00, 02, 11, 50, 51, 53, 41, 42, 43, 44, 31, 33
R01, 20, 21, 32, 83, 85, YR31(-), YR31
BG10, 11, 72, RV11, C1, 2, 4, N3
 
You might wonder what YR31(-) is. I love YR31 but wanted a lighter version of it. So took an empty marker, filled it with colourless blender and some some YR31 reinker. I started with about 5 or 6 drops of reinker, then maybe added more until I got the colour I wanted. I also found to get an even blend more quickly I added blender, then a drop of reinker, more blender, more reinker, etc. There you go, a custom blend! And I must tell you, this was NOT my brilliant idea because I read it on Debbie Olson's blog many moons ago, before they even came out with the pale '0000' markers. I have done this with a few of my markers and even though copic is releasing some 'missing links' if you have a colour you feel is still missing you can always get it done this way.
 

Next Friday over at the Bella blog is a colour challenge and Ebru found the most amazing palette for us to use in the colour of the March birthstone, Aquamarine! Oh how I LOVE these colours and I hope we get LOTS and LOTS of entries because I wanna open up that post next week and have it look like the Caribbean !
 
Now, I'm off to get inky, figure out what to make for supper and clean up the house. It is a disaster zone!!!!!!!!!!

A new punch always makes me happy!

I bought one of EK's new punches while at Pickle on Saturday and was just busting to use it! Then hubby asked for a baby card for one of his co-workers and I jumped right on it, JUST so I could use the new punch. Stamping Bella's Baby Buttercup stepped up to the plate and it's been a while since I coloured up this one but it remains one of my fav's. And look how lush that woven ribbon border is! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

This card was for a baby boy and I used Basic Grey marjolaine for my colour inspiration, it is one of my current fav's. As always, I stamped with memento ink on bella's bestest paper and used the following copics:

G20, 40, 12, 21, 82, 94
BG11, 32, 72, 75
E000, 00, 02, R20

Now don't forget about our next challenge...get inky with one of those stamps that has been crying for love and has never been kissed by ink yet.

later...Linda.

The big 4-0

If you've been reading my blog for a while you will know that one of my BFF's and partner in crime is Colleen, she was with me during the dreaded zip line accident and we have spent many a great evening with her and her hubby. She turned the big 4-0 on Friday and we celebrated Saturday with a wonderful dinner out and then luring her to the surprise party that Darryl planned for her! I don't know how surprised she was, but it was fun.

Needless to say when Stamping Bella introduced Mo Manning's BBBFF I KNEW that was the card to make for Colleen.

She was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with the following copic markers:

E000, 00, 01, 11, 30, 31, 33, 35

E50, 51, 53, 13, 15, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44

G0000, 000, 12, YG41, 91, Y11

R00, 30, 32, 21, C00, 0, 2 N0, 3, 5, W3

As always I used some pencils to add shading! I just can't help myself! Now I'm off to get inky with a virgin stamp, and you should too because that's our challenge this week!

I'm outa here! Linda.

Wishing for Spring

So what did ya think about our sketch this week. I LOVED it! And with all this melting snow and mild temps I've been wishing for spring so decided to channel those thoughts into my card and colour up Stamping Bella's Posie Pixie.

This is one of my fav's from the new release and I love how airy it is. To keep with the airy and light feeling I stamped a corner punch into each of the four panels and put a soft green paper underneath. It is very subtle, but exactly what I wanted. I also decided to use the 'out of the box' technique with my spellbinders. After i did it I was really having a moment of 'what were you thinking' because that hair was a bit of a challenge to cut out. In the end, I'm glad I did it. Another thing I'm glad I did was put the little bow in her hair. I wanted ribbon somewhere and no matter where I placed it, it just kept gravitating to her hair! Another thing I'm glad I did. Are you getting the drift that I pretty much like everything about this card!

Now do you have any Bella rubber that hasn't seen any love lately, or maybe EVER? Well now is your chance to ink it up because our challenge next week is to use a stamp that has never seen ink, or not seen it in a long while. Email it to Emily by next Thursday to see it up in lights on her blog and even have a chance to win some Bella bucks out of it!

That's it for today!

does it seem llke i have been MIA?

I hope not...but let me just say it has been ca-ra-zy around here for the last few days! Without going into details I'll just jump into my card, okay!

This is Stamping Bella's Flower Garden and sadly I had to use this image for a sympathy card after the loss of a close family friend to cancer. But on the up side, I also used the same image to create a card to celebrate the retirement of a long time member of my work community. It is kinda weird how you can use the same image for such a sad and joyous occasion in the same week! Having said all that, I'll show you one of Stamping Bella's latest release called Flower Garden, and as you might have guessed, I'll be using it frequently because it is perfect for so many occasions.

This is a LARGE card...5x7 to be exact and that embossed background paper I have had for YEARS...yes YEARS...and funny that Paulineabella has had the same paper for as long as I have and she hasn't cut into it yet either! Maybe this will inspire her to do so.

As always, I stamped it on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with copic markers and finished off with prisma pencils and gamsol. I really want to colour these poppies again in red!

Now for a couple questions to answer:

For Aida - I use my beloved Bernina sewing machine to stitch on my cards.

For smd46 - hmmm fav pencil colours...no not really, I use whatever works best with the copic colour i started with. But for shading around the image I often use sand, a soft yellow, or ginger root, a pinky beige. And for grass, definitely limepeel and kelp green but for just a solid colour grounding the french greys are nice. Check out this link for a sample of how I use pencils, and if you want to see me in action, this link contains a video.

That's it for today...Criminal Minds in exactly 18 minutes!

It's Friday night....

...and for a lot of us full-timer's with a day job that equates to 'Happy Friday'! What does that mean to me, well, it means I'm sitting here watching Criminal Minds reruns on A&E, having a glass of Merlot and writing up a belated post! I won't go into the boring details, but let me say I had a BUSY week and this happy Friday is much welcomed!

For today's card I was in a 'thinking of you' mood because one of my team members at work is off on a long term sick leave. I want her buds at work to know we miss her so peachy pixie was perfect and I love how the thinking of you sentiment settles in so cosy under that branch. It all came together for me! BONUS! I can't find that specific sentiment on the website anymore, I've had it for years so it might be gone, but you might be interested in this one which is close
.

I know she is gonna love it and as always I stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with the following copic markers:

E000, 01, 02 11, 30, 31, 33, 35
R00, 20, 22, YG25, 67
E40, 41, 42, 43, 44, BG0000, 000

I used the BG's to 'start' my shading around the image, then softened off the edges A LOT with the colourless blender. Then I coloured the main image with markers and went back in after with some pencil to deepen the blue shading around it. I don't always do this, but if you give a base of marker to the outer shading you might get a smoother blend when you add your pencils. Just remember, if you want to try this, order matters! 1) base of shading around the image, use just one or two colours, 2) main image with markers 3) add some shading to main image with pencils, and finally 4) deepen the shading around the image with pencils.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes! And don't forget about our sketch challenge this week, you can find it here if you missed it.

Later, Linda!

Happy Circle Friday!

Yup today is the day we all reveal the results of that controversial circle card...so, do ya love 'em, or hate 'em? I kinda love 'em! Actually I like all cards done up in anything but squares and rectangles and makes me ALMOST want to get me a grand calibur so I can get me some of those MEGA huge dies and make intricate shaped cards.

But dreaming aside, I still have circle cards to make me happy. This is Stamping Bella's Petunia Pixie and I'll give you a tip right now....avoid the temptation of colouring the outermost branches in a darker colour...your nest will look much better if you keep those branches light, and darken the deeper portions behind them.

My nest got a little darker than I intended, but a little bird told me that Paulabella coloured up the same image so you just may wanna go check out her nest! I'm pretty sure it is BRILLIANT!

As always, I used bella's BESTEST paper and although I didn't make not of all the markers I used, I do recall they were in the E40 thru 44 series for the nest and likely E30 thru 35 for the hair, and my usual E0000, 000, 00, 11, R20 for the face.

Paper is memory box, I LOVE their petite patterns, and I used my creative memories circle cutters to cut 5 1/2 inch circles for base of the card. All other circles were cut with spellbinders.

Next week our challenge is a sketch. YAY! And a wonderful sketch it is by our resident video babe Ebru. LOVE this sketch!!!!

Hope you find time to play along. Just pick a bella image, the sketch is at your fingertips and email your post to Emily by next Thursday.

I'll be back tomorrow. Linda.

Bronte and Louis

It is about 7am here in Chatham on this Sunday morning and for some odd reason I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6! What's with that...so I decided to just get up and take full advantage of the day. I usually get up about 7 or 7:30 on the weekends so this is like getting an extra hour in my day! I've already been productive and put two cards together.

Now I'm in my usual perch at the kitchen table having a coffee and watching the news. And while I am in the warmth and comfort of my home, my CRAZY hubby is on his way to Sarnia to run a half marathon IN THE SNOW! I just don't get the whole running thing, but I'm sure he doesn't get when I have a 4 hour marathon colouring event either.

Enough jabber...this is Mo Manning's Bronte and Louis available in rubber over at Stamping Bella and I paired him up the Basic Grey marjolaine paper. I'm so lovin' the colors in that pad!

As always, he was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and I used the following copic markers:
E0000, 000, 00, 11, R000, 20, 21, 22
E50, 51, 53, 27, 40, 42, 43, 44
G20, 21, 24, BG72, 75, 78
C00, 2, 3, 5, W3, 5, 6

Now I think I'd better go get busy on my circle card! Love 'em or hate 'em...I kinda like 'em!

Later, Linda

Kiss me you fool Friday!

This weeks challenge over at the Stamping Bella Blog was to make a valentine's day card. Pretty easy, since the big day is right around the corner! Do you celebrate? We usually go out for nice dinner somewhere but that's about it and of course there is a card involved. I have made so many Valentine's Day cards lately I'm torn on which one to use. A couple of my other definite maybe's made the trip to CHA with Emily so now this one might make the cut! We'll see what happens between now and then.

This is Mo Manning's kisses for my SWEET available in rubber at Stamping Bella. YES, it is from the latest release and I am fortunate that I received my order in time for this challenge. You KNOW I love MO!

As always I stamped with memento ink on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with the following copic markers:

E50, 51, 53, 55, 000, 00, 01,02, 11

E13, 30, 31, 33, 35, 37, 70, 71, 74, 77

E40, 41, 42, 43, 44, R00, 20

RV10, 11, 32, 34

YG93, 95, 97, 99

C00, 0, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, W00



DP is Basic Grey Sugared and the ribbon charm was in my stash and might have been from the dollar store.

Start spinning around BECAUSE NEXT WEEK OUR CHALLENGE IS TO MAKE A CIRCLE CARD! Love 'em or hate 'em....either way, give it a try!

the kokeshi parade continues....

I can't help myself! I love them!

While I thought yesterdays dolls had almost an 'island' feel to them with the tulip embellishments I  kept the colours vibrant and bright. But today, these gals are Turning Japanese...OH God...that 80's Vapors song is starting to flood into my head! Must play some DAVE IMMEDIATELY!
This is Umeki, Katsumi and AYAMI KESHI. I thought they had more of a Japanese feel to them so I immediately thought...bamboo, grass cloth, natural fibers, cherry wood...get my drift! That was my inspiration for the colours in these gals and I wanted my card to feel like you were walking into a spa! Did I pull it off? I used many tactile papers....faux linen, faux suede, and a couple faux leather papers to get my feeling across and finished it up with some decorative thread that I plucked from my sewing stash. Nothing makes me happier than when my card can portray a feeling. Maybe it's all that thought I put into it that takes me so long to make one! But isn't that what makes them special?

The card deets:
Stamped with black memento ink on bella's BESTEST paper and used the following copic markers:

EOOO, OO, 11, Y21, 23, 26, 28
E11, 13, 15, 18, E33, 35, 37, E51, 53, 55

Pencils were used to shade around the image and for the grounding, and maybe JUST A BIT for some depth on their 'gowns' but not much. Remember...if i'm gonna use pencils to shade my copic colouring, I'll probably use a pencil in the same tone as the markers used, but darker....so for example I might have used just a BIT of dark umber on the dress of the leftmost doll.

Just in case you haven't figured it out....I'm LOVING these Kokeshi dolls!

Later, Linda