Where it all began

Back in January of 2008 I placed an order with Stamping Bella that got lost in the mail. I rec'd my shipping notice, but after 3 weeks still no rubber. So I emailed emily and happened to attach a pic of one of the bella's I had coloured...Cosmobella to be exact, because I was on a Cosmo kick back then.

Well, not only did I get my rubber, but I got an invite down to the bella headquarters, which weren't even 'official' headquarters yet, to show her how I colour with my markers. Maybe it was more than an invite, I think she begged a bit...LOL!!!! And I didn't even colour all that well back then, I only had my copics for a short time and was still getting my feet wet.

Finally three months later I dragged Paulineabella along with me for company on the three hour drive and we spent the day with Emily. Pauline didn't even have being a bella in her radar back then, nor did I for that matter! We spent hours just chatting, colouring, trying out ALL kinds of different papers with markers, talking about stamps we like, ones we don't, instructing classes (pauline and I both teach) and munching on food. I'm not shy, I told her before I even met her that I would eat anything as long as it was cooked...aka, no raw fish sushi for me! We talked about blogging, being on DT's, why I didn't have a blog, why she didn't have a DT. We were both happy in our skin.

Then I came home and got thinking "maybe I should start a blog"...so about a month later I did and 11 months later Emily started up a DT and I have been there since the beginning along with Paula and Dana. I've made great friends along the way, spent more money that I probably needed to, and have enjoyed EVERY minute of it.

Now that I'm done gushing and reminiscing I couldn't resist colouring up Cosmobella again and one thing I will say is that my colouring skills have GREATLY improved over the last couple years.

As always, she was stamped on bella's BESTEST paper and coloured with the following markers

E000, 00, 11, YG0000, 01, Y00
YR30, E30, 33, 95, 97, 99
R30, 32, 46, BG10, 11, 72, W00

Shading was done with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

Finally, I hope you can join us next week because we have one of your FAV challenges...A SKETCH, and an Ebruabella sketch, AND you get to choose whether you want to do a circle or a square!

Hmmmm....what to choose, what to choose? I guess you'll have to wait till next week to find out! Either way, it's a great sketch.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Later, Linda.

Going to the Chapel

...but I'm not the one who is getting married.

You know that bridal shower card I made the other day, well I had a wedding card that needed making too so I thought what better time than now. For ONCE I am not making a card the night before I need it!

I have used Stamping Bella's wedding gown circle several times in the past and it remains one of my fav's. You can make it really simple, or fuss it up like I did here. I'll admit though...this layout was TOTALLY inspired by this card on Yvonne's blog. Her cards are ALWAYS so pretty....even when they are fussy they still look clean and classic.

I stamped the image twice on bella's BESTEST paper. Once in black, and again in a soft grey. That is because I wanted the little squiggles to fade into the background. On the grey piece I outlined the circle in black, and on the black piece, after colouring it, I cut it out and mounted it on the grey piece. Pretty clever eh? The patterned paper is Basic Grey, from Wisteria I think.

I used very few copic markers, some greys and BG70. The background colour over the squiggles was done with pencil. Then of course LOTS of glitter! I should have maybe used this for the shower, and a stamp with a couple in it for the wedding, but heck...we all know that weddings are all about the bride!

Don't forget about our challenge this week a Bella or a Stella and I'll be back on Friday with a Bella!

I got a little CA-RA-ZZZY with bella's

No life update today, just a card!

This week being our bella or stella challenge I pulled out my Bella/Stella binder yesterday...yes, they share a binder and it's busting! WELL, I got a little crazy and coloured up 5 of them over the last two days. Only two of them made it onto a card front, but the other three are patiently waiting with their paper sitting on the counter until they get all prettied up onto a card.

Since I have a bridal shower to go to in a couple weeks, the first of the bella's for me to pull out was  stamping bella's bridalpartybella's. I've coloured this one before, but heck...a) i gotta get my money's worth out of the stamp, and b) I LOVE it! It is hands down one of my fav bella stamps.

I decided to use the Basic Grey Kokeshi paper and go with a funky colour combo of orange with a splash of purple! It is kind of unconventional, but fresh and fun and I liked the way it turned out. I even think that plaid ribbon is a quirky twist combined with the densely patterned paper. It is like texture, without texture and I love the challenge of combining totally different patterns.

Don't worry, I have another Bella for friday, and a non bella to sneak in before then! See ya later.

Linda.

Exciting News!

Bellarific Fridays are always exciting just because it's fun, BUT I have other news too! You may notice I changed my blog picture...YES, I'm about 3 years older, and I have a bit of a tan thanks to my new floating pool lounger. But why did I change that picture? Not because I really wanted to post an older looking me (I like the other pic MUCH better), but I needed a recent photo because I will be one of the Creative Experts at the Minneapolis Scrapfest at the Mall of America in September. I still won't believe it is real until I actually get there. Paula, Emily and I will be there and while Emily manages the Bella booth, Paula and I will be instructing classes. When we aren't in class, we will likely be at the bella booth, but only if Emily chains us there to keep us out of the stores! Just a warning Emily, I have already plotted out the stores I want to go to. And my gosh...do you know there is an Aquarium there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyhooooooo....if you live in the area, don't be shy....stop by and say hi! I'd LOVE to meet you!

Up next, my Bellarific Friday card using ribbon. I was still in a Ketto kinda mood so decided to colour up Ivy Ketto, she is one of my fav's of the Ketto bunch.

As always, I stamped her with memento black ink on bella's BESTEST paper, paired her up with Basic Grey Sweet threads and coloured her with the following copic markers. No pencil on this card! SHOCKING!

E000, 00, 21, 23, 17, 97, 99
G05, 07, 28, B0000, 000
R20, RV13, 14, 25, BV23, Y15, YR04

TIP! Because I coloured the blue background with markers, I started there first then coloured the main image.

Next week our challenge will be Bella's or Stella's! Just use one of them, maybe pick a sketch from many of the great sketch challenges out there and see your card up in lights on Emily's blog!

 Later! Linda.

A quickie post today

...and some news! BUT no news till tomorrow....hee hee! gotta keep suspense somewhere!

I thought before I throw my she art girls on here I'd show you another journal page I did. As I said in my last journal post, I am NOT into writing anything...NOT gonna happen...EVER...I have no need to put my thoughts on paper....heck, I don't think I have any deep thoughts.

So I mentioned I am taking Christy Tomlinson's 3 Hearts Workshop. I've only gotten thru the end of week 2 (if I even got that far) and as much as I'd like to watch a video, and make a sample of what she did and the product used, I just don't have time to do it. So I watch a few, pick out some of my fav things and get messy.

This one has no particular meaning, except that I LOVE the Donna Downey verse stamp on here. Maybe it explains why I don't actually write anything down.

This page was created using image transfer, paints, some color wash, scraps of patterned paper and rub ons. I really like how it turned out and wish I had made note of what I did so I could do it again!

That's it....told you it would be short!

Did I say I was gonna get crafty?

Yup, I think I did say that on Sunday and I kept to my word and immersed myself in mixed media on canvas ALL DAY...like the ENTIRE DAY! I made two canvases, the first which I have had in my head ever since doing the Stamping Bella make and take at the Kitchener Scrapfest back in April. That was the kicker that sucked me in, I was soooooo happy that day!

This little gem was done on a 4x6 canvas using Stamping Bella's julie's SPRING BUTTERFLIES, a little bit of imagination and a tip from da Bella herself.

How'd I do it? Well I started with a blank canvas and applied a coat of gesso. Then I knew I wanted a green and yellow background so just applied some golden paint randomly (any type of folk art paint would work, come on, I know you have some stashed away!). To add some interest to the background I pulled out my crafters workshop stencils and added some subtle shades of colour, again, with the golden paints and a sponge. I thought I might add some texture so stenciled some flowers with a lightweight modelling paste (like liquitex, or Dreamweavers). But then I didn't like them so sponged on some colour to cover them up. The beauty of mixed media...don't like it....just cover it up...and the texture still remained. You can barely see it in the lower right corner.

Then came the butterflies, I stamped them with stazon black ink on tissue paper, cut them out and glued them on with mod podge...THAT IS THE BELLA TIP that I learned at Scrapfest. Once dry, I painted them up with Claudine Hellmuth paint and added some detail with a black pen and white paint. I've got to say, LOVE that paint...it is soooo yummy and creamy! Finally (well i thought it was final) I added some rub on's here and there, stamped the 'take flight' with a cheapie $1 bin alphabet that I bought somewhere and covered everything up with a coat of matte medium. After I thought I was done I had a final thought to add some liquitex glass beads that I bought at Blick's while in Chicago. I thought I really needed that stuff...but you know what...you could do the same thing with glossy accents and loose glass beads. I'll admit, a total waste of money there! Plus it took FOREVER to dry.

And that's it! I lovinly placed it in a 5x7 shadow box frame, hence the not-so-great pic because of the glare and hung it at my day job desk along with my other canvas stuff! I must say, the day job is becoming a happier place when I'm surrounded with things like this! Speaking of my other canvases, YES I have a few and will blog them here in the next week or so. They make me sooooo happy!

see ya all on Friday for our Ribbon Challenge over at Emily's blog.

Sunday Morning Post

Before I immerse myself into something really crafty this morning (think mixed media!) I thought I'd sit down and say hi. We had quite the thunderstorm roll thru last night and it is still really wet and steamy outside so no sitting on the deck for me yet.

The other day I said I had a couple cards that were going to family members this weekend, well this is the second of them. My parents both celebrate their b'day in March and we usually take them out for dinner somewhere. But this year with my dad having bypass surgery late February that b'day dinner kinda got squashed so we decided to surprise them yesterday with a Tassimo and a truckload of different coffees and teas and I was in charge of the card.

This card was TOTALLY INSPIRED by THIS JOURNAL PAGE from our one and only Bella designer Isabelle Norris using Stamping Bella's FLUFFY FLOWER HEAD. When I saw that page I really almost had to pick my jaw up from the floor I was sooooo IN LOVE with it. She used distress inks on hers and I chose to use my Caran d'Ache neocolor II crayons. Now she did say she put the two page spread together quickly, but me...quick? not so much! Probably cause I putz and play, and add colour, then add more...get my drift. I don't do anything quickly. When I finished it I gave it a good spray of krylon matte finish but it still didn't have the finish I was after so gave it a couple light coats of US ARTQUEST PPA matte. LOVE THAT STUFF and who says it is just for mixed media. I kept it all simple and mounted it on a white card and with that ppa finish it almost has museum quality look to it. Very cool look if I do say so myself!

Still LOTS of time to play in our challenge this week, and it's a simple one....use some ribbon and send that card over to Emily by Thursday at 5pm. And if you are looking for inspiration, check out the gallery over at the Bella Forum...LOTS of yummy stuff to get your creative juices flowing.

till next time, Linda!

A no challenge Bellarific Friday

But I'd thought I'd stop in anyhow! We just got back from a busy few days in Chicago...this was the first time in the last few years that we have been there and not had a concert to go to so we were totally adventurous. It was all about shopping, dining, and entertainment...and we did it all!

I think I'll be skipping WW again because I'm afraid to step on the scale. That means we ate WELL...and when we weren't eating we hit a really awesome blues club called Kingston Mines recommended to us by a co-worker who is a dedicated blues fan...the next night was a martini at the Signature lounge on the 96th floor lounge of the Hancock building with a gorjus view of the city and the last night was great entertainment at a place called Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar with 4 members who play various instruments and sing requests from the audience. I'll admit, they did not have the best voices, although the girl was good, and their musical skills were okay but not great. But they were sure good at getting the audience to dance and sing along. A GREAT people watching night and a lot of fun in a cheesy sort of way.

Other than shopping for mixed media stuff at Blicks, and a new silver bracelet from Tiffany's we also took an Architectural boat cruise and visited the Shedd Aquarium...I LOVE fish! If I had the time (and knowledge) to dedicate to it, I would SO have a salt water aquarium in my house built into an entire wall and I would sit and watch it for hours on end. Okay, so I might need a new house for that too! ...and hubby says I would need enough money for someone to keep it maintained for me. ya, whatever...so his point is that I will likely NEVER have a salt water aquarium and for that reason he always appeases me and takes me to places like this if I want to go. They even had a jellyfish exhibit which was sooooooo cool! Those things just amaze me. I LOVED the aquarium.

Now that I'm done blabbering about Chicago (did I mention I LOVE that city) I'll move on to cards. Before we left I coloured up a couple that are both going to family this weekend and I had to decide who is the LEAST likely to read the blog. Well, obviously it would be my nephew Ethan who celebrates a b'day in a couple weeks.

For this card I chose to pair up Spotty Ketto with the boneflower from Ketto's Dog accessories and I LOVED how it came together. I first stamped Spotty, then masked just below his feet and stamped the boneflower at different heights. I did add some curly lines with one of my copic multiliners to the left flower just to balance off the two sides.

I stamped him with memento on bella's BESTEST paper, shaded with copics and used the following copic markers:

E40, 41, 42, 443, 44, 11, 13, 15
W0, 1, 3, E95, 97, YR15
BG93, G94

Now remember, lots of time to still get in on next weeks USE RIBBON challenge over at bloggabella. I'll be there, and shock of SHOCKS, I already have my card done!

Before I go, I have to leave you with a couple of pics from the Shedd Aquarium....I think I was a fish in my last life because I could have watched these guys for hours.

Seahorse....when I wasn't asking for a pet monkey, I ALWAYS wanted one of these when I was a kid. They still fascinate me.

Jellyfish! This was a special exhibit and honestly, these creatures are totally fascinating.

Mark may divorce me, but this whole experience makes me want to set up an aquarium again! Oh gosh...I'd better immerse myself into some mixed media this weekend so I don't go do something crazy that will take up more time than I have to spare!

While you are reading this, I'll be sleeping and dreaming of swimming with dolphins!