Happy 50th Max!

Max, if you are reading, you are a day early! I know it's not till tomorrow, so if you haven't got your card yet....stop reading NOW! That's Maxine, on the left celebrating my big birthday and to the right is Cathy. These girls are the best friends anyone could ever have and after life changes over the years kept us apart I'm so grateful to have them back in my life again.

Enough weepiness...but I seriously do love both these girls!...I agonized over what card to send Maxine. You'd think having hundreds of stamps (maybe even over a thousand!) I'd be able to pick something no problem. But I really wanted something pretty and pink because that is how I think of her, but it also had to have an element of fun and something that represented our life growing up! Since most of those years were spent at the Riveria Hotel on Dougall Ave (aka, the 'Riv') I decided Springtini would be most appropriate.


Usually after a night at the Riv I would head home, grab some clothes and tell my folks I was spending the night at Maxine's. Once there we were either greeted by her mom who would make us grilled cheese sandwiches (like it was 1am!...was she a saint or what?), or her sister Linda who would insist we ate burnt weinie sundaes! Those were the days! And if I was lucky, it would be a Saturday night and I would hang out all day Sunday so I could stick around for the Prime Rib and yorkshire pudding dinner!

Happy Birthday Max! Have a 'tini for me....I'll be having one for you!

ETA: Copic colors:
RV0000, 000, 00, 10, 11
RV21, 23, 25, R32, 37
Y11, 15, 26
YG0000, G20, 40, 82, 94
B60, 63, N0, W3, 7

Shading and grass was done with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Edges were sponged with chalk ink.

Day of Rest

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

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


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

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

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

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

You're only young once....

...but you can be immature forever!

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

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

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

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

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

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

What's Up?....

Besides your age!

BWAAAAAA HHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!


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

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

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

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

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday John!

This is our friend John.


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

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



Happy Birthday!

A Bellarific Weekend!

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

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

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


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

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

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

Birthday Circles!

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


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

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

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

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

Still going places

A special request card!


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

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

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

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

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

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

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