Cupcake Princess

Isn't she adorable, and of course I have a little story to tell....don't I always? I colored up Mo's cupcake princess using my copics and shaded with pencils as I always do. Then late one night last week, late being maybe 10pm, I decided to shade around the edges. WELL....the colours I thought would match didn't NEARLY MATCH my basic grey Marjolaine paper that I picked out.

What's a girl to do? Well, I wasn't about to trash an image I spent over an hour coloring so I decided to SAVE it and rubbed some gesso around the edges to tone down my bright green that was hurting my eyes. Then I sponged a bit of a different green...good, but not great so I then rubbed some Claudine helmuth white paint on it. Getting better, now it had a mottled look to it which I could live with, and actually liked. But you could really see the 'line' where my pencil shading ended and my gesso/paint correction started. It was like a shiny to d ullfinish. GRRRRR....so I decided to spray it with a heavy coat of matte finish....well, that evened out the two finishes but you could still see the transition.

Glitter to the rescue! And LOTS of it! I think it covered all of my mistakes and hid that transition line....plus it looks good! in the end I think I could have started the entire thing over again and saved me some time!

I didn't write down the copics I used because I only did a base coat with my markers and the majority was done with pencil and gamsol. But I STILL started by stamping with memento on bells's BESTEST paper.

Now don't forget...no challenge this week due to the Canadian holiday so you have extra time to play in our 'ribbon' challenge due to Emily (Emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday July 7th.

That ends my story of the cupcake princess.

Pickle Class Cards

Hi Everyone!

I have an upcoming class at Pickle and decided to break away from my copics for a bit and do some really techniqie type stuff. You may know everything we are gonna do, you may not, or you may have forgotten that really cool technique and this will make you start using some of the stuff you have been stashing for years.

We will be using all kinds of cool fun stuff including

• chalk inks
• alcohol inks
• distress inks
• dies
• embossing folders
• ultra thick embossing powder
• stamps (of course using many of my Stamping Bella fav's)
• and I'll have lots of tips and tricks

It's gonna be a FUN afternoon so get ready to get inky...and I'll be heading in a bit early so I can go get myself one of Kim's recommended cafe latte's at DeKoKo's! I can't wait!

A sketchy Friday

Not sketchy in that weird kinda don't come near me sorta way, but a good way, as in a card sketch! I will also say that Chicken's sketch really stumped me and I could not find ONE single image in my stash of HUNDREDS that jumped out and said PICK ME! So I flipped it, and changed the dimensions slightly....still counts, doesn't it? Oh well, make it work and ask forgiveness later is what I always say! And that philosophy comes to the rescue in the Information Technology world a LOT!

Let me introduce you to Abby, I have never coloured her before and she was looking so 'naked' having never been inked. And I also had a real desire to colour up a Green Bean Baby this week. 

I matched her up with one of my current fav's, Basic Grey Sweet Threads, stamped her on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured her with copic markers. But not before paper piecing her dress which I also added some dimension with pencil shading. The grass and blue shading was also pencil but these are the copics I used:

E0000, 00, 21, 11, R20, YR000, 01, 02
E30, 31, 33, 35, 53, 55, 42, 44
G20, 40, 12, YG03, 25, R000, 00, 01
RV000, 00, 10, 11, 32, 14, 21, 23

Just a bit of sewing and some glitter on her dress finished it up!

Now I've got some updates...there will be NO bellarific friday next week due to a Canadian holiday and Emily taking some time off (although I'm sure for her it will mean sitting at home cutting rubbah!). BUT....I'm gonna give you a TWO WEEK heads up on our JULY 8TH challenge...that means YOU GET TWO WEEKS TO PREP! And OH MY, are we gonna make it easy on ya! It's all about RIBBON....use a bella image and smack some ribbon on there are you are eligible to enter. You could win yourself some bella bucks and be in the company of the BESTEST peanut gallery on the web. Nothing makes Emily and us Babes happier than seeing LOTS of gorjusness on Fridays.

BUT THERE IS MORE! If you are a weekly player, or never played before and are looking for something to do next Friday you should check out the STAMPING BELLA FORUM because they will be discussing their VERY FIRST bella book club book. Maybe you read it? Maybe you didn't and you wanna know about it. I'm not gonna chime in because I don't read...hmmmm, maybe I'll have my own little discussion out there on what did you cook? what wine did you drink with it? and what mixed media product you just can't live without? What do ya think? Should I? We'll see! Would you be interested? Let me know and if there is interest I'll make myself available one evening to chat about the things Lindabella loves and answer any of your questions to the best of my ability.

Later, Linda.

It's DAD's day!

How's everyone doing on this Sunday Father's Day morning? I've had my coffee, sat on the deck and before I get down to doing nothing I thought I'd pop in and show you the other Father's day card I made yesterday. Talk about last minute...but we have a mail strike going on so I knew it didn't have to get mailed by Wednesday to get there on time. This one is for my father in law, and you might remember THIS one I made a few weeks ago for my Dad. They are similar, but different and I LOVE them both!

This one again was inspired by Isabella's Eclectic stamps and LOTS of distress ink. As a side note, you should really check out Isabella's blog, she is uber talented with a very unique style that just draws me in. I was stalking her blog yesterday and in some ways this card was inspired by her.

The deets:
card size: A6 (4 5/8 x 6 1/4)
stamps (all stamping bella): eclectic #8 ticket, eclectic mini mesh, father definition, shady leaf
distress inks: forest moss, antique linen, old paper, vintage photo, frayed burlap
other: skeleton leaf (come on admit it, i know you have some!), leaf punches

That's it for today, I know I said I was gonna post a Mo but decided to honor the Dad's out there instead. Don't forget about our sketch challenge this Friday over at emily's blog...still LOTS of time to get in on it.

we all need one of these, don't ya think?

I'm talking about a cleaning fairy, and since my own cleaning fairy was under the weather yesterday I could really use one today! But...heck....it's too beautiful outside for me to be stuck in the house and there is yard work to be done. This weekend we are turning over the mulch in our front garden beds and replacing it with stone all in an effort to reduce the number of places for centipedes to nest! After the attack last year we are on a total home defense regime! I say 'we' but it really is 'me' and the fam here knows what makes mamma happy, makes everyone happy!

Back to my housekeeping woes, this is housework FAIRY by Mo Manning available in rubber over at Stamping Bella.

This is a large card....5x7 to be exact. I stamped her on bella's BESTEST paper, paired her up with Basic Grey's sweet threads and used the following copic markers:

E000, 00, 21, 11, 30, 33, 34, 35
E37, 39, 41, 42, 44, 47, 50, 51, 53
G000, 00, 12, 21, YG11, Y000, 00, 11
RV00, 11, 32, 34, R20, 29, W2

It should be a fairly easy week for me in the card creation area because I am sketch challenged and I have TWO sketches to play in this week....first and foremost, our sketch challenge over at blogabella, and Jen's SFYTT...do you know it is sponsored by stamping bella this month!!!!

That's it for this morning...and next up...me think's it might be another Mo!

It's been a LONG week!

I don't know why it has dragged on, but I'm just so glad it is Friday and so far the weekend weather looks promising. Although the pool is still not warm enough for me I can still find some way to relax. I've been bugging hubs for YEARS to get a heater for the pool but he won't bite, maybe because he doesn't use it. I thought he might surprise me with a heater for my b'day earlier this month, but instead he came home with this $16.99 squirt bottle of some stuff called heat saver! AH, honey, that is NOT exactly what I wanted...gotta luv him...but I do have my reflexology gift certificates to look forward to, and the first I will be using next week! It's been a while since I had a treatment and I'm sooooooooo looking forward to it!

This week our challenge was all about bring on summer...and I AM IN THERE! BRING IT ON! Although I really HATE the humidity that we get here in southwestern Ontario it was such a long cold winter I am actually looking forward to {just} a day or two of 95 degree temps with 97% humidity. And I really hope that day comes on a weekend so I can float around the pool in my new chair with a pina colada.

Alright! Besides pool  floating and girly girl alcoholic beverages the other thing about summer I LOVE is flowers!  I would love to be surrounded in them, but my yard is large and so is my deck so to get that cozy feeling I group pots on my deck  in one area and that is where I sit when I want to be engulfed. So in keeping with the 'engulfed' theme I thought I would colour up lulu LOVES POPPIES....it's perfect! She is totally ENGULFED in them!

I stamped her on bella's BESTEST paper, paired her up with Basic Grey's hello luscious 6x6 paper and coloured with the following copic markers.

E000, 00, 21, 11, 30, 40, 41
BG10, 11, 13, 45, YG67
R22, 24, 29, Y13, V17, 09, 99

All shading was done with prismacolor pencils. I even used some white pencil to add highlights to the poppies...try that sometimes! You will be amazed at how awesome it looks.

Next week our challenge is a sketch sponsored by our very own Chicken...Okay....she's not a real chicken but that is what I call her. It's Jeanie Witmer, The Spotted Chick. Do you know that she is one of my idols! YES, I stalk her constantly and strive to come up with not only gorjus colouring, but FAB layouts to go with it. She is like all around perfect!

So get colouring gals, the layout is already done and THAT is the hard part. Send your card to Emily by Thursday at 5pm and your card will have a permanent home on the world wide web forever! You don't need a blog to enter, just snap a pic and send her a jpg. It's as easy as that, AND you may even win yourself some bella bucks!

Be back soon, I've got a Mo to share!

Linda.

What ever happened to my Sunday morning coffee post?

Well, I can only say one thing....warmer weather! One of my most fav things in the world to do in the spring and summer weekend months is to take my morning coffee outside, stroll around the yard, pick weeds here and there, check the temp of the pool and this year, watch the finches eat out of their new bird feeders hanging close to my deck. Because of my purely selfish simple pleasures, my Sunday morning coffee post will have to get put on hold until the snow flys again, or, if we have REALLY crappy weather on a Sunday morning and I'm forced to sit in the kitchen.

With that said, today I'm switching it up to a Sunday evening post while I sit at my kitchen table looking at the early evening sun shining on my yard, finches in my feeder, and Criminal Minds marathon on A&E.

Last week was a pretty busy week for me because I had the work gals over on Thursday night for dinner to celebrate one of us retiring. Of the eight of us, she is the second to go and the remaining six just sit and wait for our turn to come. Another couple should hit the good life within the next two years and for the remaing three of us, well, we've got another 4-6 years to wait. Of course I was in charge of the card for the occassion and decided on Lulu's TWO pies from Stamping Bella's Lulu Collection. Sentiment is from Amuse and I bought it at my local store, Pickle.

Isn't she the cutest! OMG! And the best part was that our retiree gal said that baking pies was one of the things she wants to enjoy when she doesn't have to get her butt out of the house for the day job! The entire evening was perfect!

Little Lulu was paired with Basic Grey curio paper, stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with the following copic markers.

E000, 00, 11, 21, 11, 50, 51, 53
E30, 31, 34, 42, 43, 44, 23, 25, 27
YR15, YG25, R11, 21, 32, 35, 20

Don't forget, our challenge this week over at bloggabella is HERE COMES SUMMER....so whatever summer means to you will work as long as you use a Stamping Bella image. http://stampingbella.com/blog/

Till next time, Linda

Nostalgia

The phone in this little CALL ME PEEP image  by Stamping Bella's Green Bean baby line reminds me SOOOOO much of my grandmother...or Baba, as we affectionately called her. It sat on a little table in her her front foyer. It was black and really heavy, probably not that heavy, but it seemed heavy back then. At that time, some 45+ years ago, there were no cordless phones, no cell phones and only one phone in the house and hers was in the front hall. And it was a party line! YUP, that meant she shared a line with someone in the neighborhood. They each had their own phone number but they shared a line. So if you picked up the phone and heard someone talking you couldn't make a call because the other 'party' was using the line. That temptation was way too much for me to resist and could not help myself and HAD to pick up that phone when I passed thrugh the foyer JUST to see if someone was using the line. I didn't care what they were saying, I just wanted to know if someone was on the phone. Can you imagine kids today (and even some adults) living under such restrictions! O-M-G! Personally, I sometimes miss those days.

Enough reminiscing....in keeping with today's challenge, this card REALLY is paper pieced although it may not look like it.

I chose to pair her up with Basic Grey's Ambrosia and there was a piece of subtle grey patterned paper that worked perfect for my phone. I stamped it again on a piece of white for the dial and again on a piece of brushed silver for the cradle. Then of course I had to shade it with a combo of copics and pencils. Then I had this crazy idea to stitch around those tiny curves and I wish I didn't! I can sew fabric like a pro, but paper is a different animal altogether and it was not an easy task so don't look close okay.

Next week our challenge over at Blogabella is HERE COMES SUMMER and in southwestern Ontario summer is here in full force and it seemed to come overnight! Can you believe that I had our furnace on one day, and two days later I was turning on the A/C...the good thing is our pool is heating up nicely and this weekend I MAY be floating around in my new chair with a pina colada! Life is good!

Happy birthday to ME!

Yuppers...today is my birthday, not a big milestone b'day or anything but once I hit 50 a couple years ago every one of them becomes a milestone from now on. Do I feel 52? Heck NO! Well maybe once in a while when little aches and pains catch up with me but other than that I'm pretty content. And I'll be REALLY content when I enjoy the reflexology gift certificates hubby gave me! Have you ever had that done? OMG...you really should because it is one of my most fav things EVAH and I consider it totally decadent, which makes it a perfect gift.

While most of this week has been spent prettying up the yard I did manage to squeeze in a card. This is from Stamping Bella's May release called LULU's morning fix. I stamped her on Bella's BESTEST paper and coloured her with copic markers.

Her dress ended up being a deeper purple than I originall intended so trashed the original paper I had in mind and paired her up with Basic Grey's Wisteria. No biggie...I've always liked that paper which is odd because I'm not a fan of purple. I didn't bother taking note of the copics I used because I ended up using lots of pencils on it in the end.

Before I go, don't forget about our PAPER PIECING challenge this Friday and I'll leave you with just one of the many things I am enjoying out in my yard on this beautiful warm and sunny day. Ahhhhhhh summertime!

Guy Cards

That was our challenge this week, and I know for a LOT of you out there masculine cards can be a challenge and can make some folk actually cringe! I'm totally with ya! They are HARD TO DO, and a challenge at the best of times. If I had my dithers, I would colour flowers and whimsical little girls exclusively, but the truth is, guys like cards too! My Dad, Uncles, even my hubby, boys and nephews like getting cards that have that personal touch.

Now for the little gaffers, it is usually pretty easy...teens are the hardest but the second easiest of the bunch are those 'mature' men...dads, uncles, grandfathers. Although my Dad and Uncles love my colouring, my next fav thing to do for them is something that I call artsy fartsy with a twist of nature and this is what I created.

How'd I do it? I started on a piece of hot press watercolor paper which has a smoother texture than the more common cold press. Spritzed with some Adirondack color wash and then stamped with Isabelle's Eclectic #8 ticket background and eclectic mini mesh. Sponged the edges with distress inks and trimmed the edges with a gold Krylon Pen. To brighten up the colours I sprayed it with Krylon Matte Finish and then added some texture by spraying some Goosebumps...thanks Kim for telling me I 'needed' this product!

I used the Father Definition block on the tag. Actually I knew the entire definition would not fit into my cuttlebug cut and embossed die so I cut the tag first, then masked the right edge with a post it note and then stamped the definition so it would be 'contained' within the tag. Like who is gonna read the entire definition anyhow! Then I sponged with more distress ink to highlight those raised areas.

Since it was a 'mature' masculine card I had to pull in nature. Somehow maturity and nature seem to mesh for me! This is gonna be deep folks so don't laugh, but I think it has something to do with watching my yard mature and become more beautiful each year that I have that same appreciation of getting older and more mature...we become more beautiful as we age. So embrace those birthdays gals....I know I do!

Enough deepness...you are all probably gagging by now...so I'll get on with the final touch. I bought this SPECTACULAR set of Spellbinders leaf dies at my LSS the Paper Pickle...actually i bought ALL of the Donna Salazar line of dies....they are soooooo {ME}! LOVE these babies! And I pulled out my file folder of 'metalic' papers and came across a piece of glossy paper that I had inked up with some alcohol inks....this was so old I can't even remember the name of the technique! If I recall it, I'll let you know and give you all a tutorial link.

Well, that is pretty much all the details, and if you are are a local...this is a 'hint' of what's to come at my upcoming Pickle class! I hope I didn't give tooooo much away!

Next week our challenge will focus on PAPER PIECING! I KNOW you all love it, and if you've never tried it, now is the time. Create your masterpiece, send it to Emily by next Thursday and you just may win yourself some bella bucks. In the meantime, hop on over to Bloggabella and see what everyone else has come up with for their masculine card! I CANNOT wait to get inspired!

Later, Linda!