Unique is overrated

LOL!....A couple things lead to the title of this post...first, I had a bunch of images that I had coloured up sitting on the kitchen desk and hubs asked why they are all brunette and why I never do red heads! ????? I said, that I don't like colouring redheads and I prefer to colour nice deep rich auburn hair because that is what I wish I had! LOL!!!!....Besides, my last tea cup baby was kinda a red head so what was his point?



Then last night Paula and I were skyping and colouring and while I was desperately trying to break her mojo by showing her everything I have been doing this week, I told her the story about no redheads....then we kinda chuckled because these Stamping Bella You are Unique girls are ALL coloured with the SAME colour hair and WHAT is unique about that! So I said I would post it today with the title You are NOT unique, then Paula came up with Unique is Overrated! LOL!!!!! So, that is the story of the title!

So yes, they may not be unique, but if you are heading out for a Girls Night Out and you just finished sharing the same box of hair dye, AND you are all wearing a variation of pink and green...who cares if you are unique...you are with your GIRLFRIENDS! AND it's gonna be FUN!

Here is hoping that a GNO adventure is in your near future!...

fyi....the image was coloured with copics and the GNO was cut with my Quickuts Studio Alphabet set.

Peace out...Linda (fyi...NOT a unique sign off...I stole it from Paula)

Adorable on so many levels!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had wonderful holiday celebrations and are now safe and sound snuggled in your dwellings...and if you are REALLY lucky, you'll be snuggling in new comfies that you got for xmas! My family get togethers have come to an end, it was a busy and fun few days, but I'm glad it is now settling down and I'll have time to unwind before I head back to the day job.

Today I watched almost the entire Season 1 of Dexter while I coloured my fingers to the bone. Now I'm watching one of my FAV movies of all time, The Sound of Music. It is right up there with The Thornbirds (really a TV mini series) and Gone with the Wind. Seriously, I think I could recite these movies I've seen them so many times!

Anyhoo...I was so 'stoked' (a teen phrase meaning totally excited!) over my framed batman scene I decided I needed to color another Green Bean Baby to make me happy! This is Miranda the teacup girl and when I was sorting thru my paper the other day I came across this random piece and the vines were a perfect match for this image. She was stamped on bella's bestest paper and coloured in copic markers with the yellow shading and grounding done in prismacolor pencils and gamsol. The adorable definition block was stamped with black stazon on vellum cardstock...the perfect soft suble touch!

Please don't ask what copic markers were used because if I don't list them, it means that I didn't track them...likely because the pile was so large I didn't have the time or energy to try to make sense of them! The crocheted flower is a GEM that was part of a package sent to me by fellow babe Meahni...it was crocheted by her mom and I really think she should start selling them on Etsy because you just can't find exquisite flowers like this anywhere else! Thanks Meahni's mom! They are beautiful!

For the next few weeks many of my cards will be dedicated and sent to some close friends, family, and/or co-workers who are going thru some pretty tough life hurdles and I'm hoping to bring smiles on their faces and a spark to their day!

Now for business...since I have removed the word verification for comments (and I LOVE LOVE LOVE your comments so please don't stop!) I have been getting a lot of spam comments. I manually delete them, but it takes more time than I have, so without having to turn the word verification back on (I know it's a pain!), I have decided to remove anonymous peeps from leaving comments. Hopefully this will save me some time, and if you comment anonymously, please accept my apologies and consider creating a google account. It is free and easy and will allow you to comment on any blog...you DO NOT have to be a blogger to have a google account! Thanks for your understanding.

Regards, and see ya soon!
Linda

To Grandma's house we go!

Well, not exactly...but I'm sure many of you, like myself will be spending time on the road the next three days. For all who are travelling, I wish you safe and happy journeys.

This is another last minute card I made up yesterday for that 'whoops-i-need-another-card' moment. Plus, I had to use my new martha punch that I picked up at Michaels on monday. I went with a 50% off coupon in hand only to find everything I wanted was already on sale. For the Toronto class gals, I'll now be travelling in style with my new craft tote! ....I already gave Paula the colors so she can make me a tag! LOL! So with that 50% off coupon burning a hole into my hand I had to buy something that wasn't on sale. It's a catch, isn't it!



The inspiration for this card came from a scrap piece of paper that was sitting in front of me, and I really wanted to to use the car with a tree on top cause that tree is so grinchy and I love everything grinch-like! How the Grinch stole christmas is my fav Christmas movie of all time. That once a year event that you'd have to wait a WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR to see again because recording devices weren't invented yet! LOL! Did ya notice that I also used Paula's snow globe glitter effect here! I just love it.

While I was on a roll, after I finished up the card I put together this little framed piece of art for our son Alex. He is a batman FREAKAZIOD! I think I have said before that he even has batman sheets on his bed in the dorm, and posters all over the wall, and a lego batmobile..and, and, and...



When Emily introduced us to Ellia, the green bean baby, I headed over to her Etsy shop and came across this little batman that I couldn't resist. I got myself a 4x6 frame and went to work cutting out the trees and grass with quickutz dies and cutting the rolling hills free hand. It turned out sooooo cute! If you ever decide to order anything from Ellia you will be most pleasantly surprised when you get the package. She adds all kinds of little details. This guy came with a little joker face and a bitty batman magnet She arranges it on a piece of paper placed in a cello envelope inside another envelope. That envelope is wrapped in tissue sealed with another green baby surprise and a personal note! THEN...she draws a little pic on the mailing envelope. Let me tell ya, that was a fun package to get in the mail!

Now...I'm heading off to do some last minute shopping and finish wrapping, then settle in for the evening possibly with a giant chai tea latte!

Happy Holidays!

You Decorate my life!

YUP! I'm still doing Christmas cards. Actually, I really like doing them and will probably continue for the next couple weeks. Maybe get a head start on next year! While I was colouring this one up tonight I had this idea that if I make one a week starting NOW, I'll have all my cards done by October. What do ya think? In theory, it sounds like a great plan but I'm not very good at staying on track so I don't hold high hopes!


Today's card uses another adorable Christy Croll image from Stamping Bella called You Decorate my life! Kinda reminds me of me and my brother when we were little, of course, the image would have looked a bit different, maybe with us pulling each other's hair out! LOL!....we were your typical siblings with typical sibling rivalry and no matter what we did it ended up in bickering. Much to my mother's dismay, I'm sure!

I coloured this image with copic markers and used pencils and gamsol for the grounding. Glossy accents were added to the ornaments, glitter on and around the star and some puffed up liquid applique created the 'popcorn' garland. Lot's of markers were used, too numerous for me to keep track of, but I will give you a tip. Whenever I have an image that is 'busy' with lots of elements like this one it is essential I pick my paper first. I usually try to pick one that has a subtle pattern so it won't compete with the image but has three or four colours for me to work with. This paper had pink, green, turquoise and red, and as a bonus it also had the sandy brown that I used on the hair. With this approach I can be certain I won't be pulling in a color that won't work with the paper. It's a tried and true method that always works for me. Give it a try next time you have an image that may overwhelm you.

Faux or Sew!

Today's Bellarific Friday challenge is to Faux or Sew, use faux or real sewing on your card. Now how easy peasy was that! I must admit, if this challenge was three months ago I would have been tempted to faux! Why?...well because I did not have anywhere to keep my sewing machine out on a permanent basis so I would have to drag it out to the dining room table. It's big, and it's heavy, and it's not something I liked to do often. But since the boys went off to school I have put it on Derek's desk in his room!

Todays card uses one of the new Stamping Bella releases and this little cuttie is The Birthday boy from Christy Croll. He is gonna be perfect for one of Mark's little nephews b'days this summer so I'm planning ahead here! I coloured him with copic markers but used my prisma color pencils and gamsol for shading. The happy birthday sentiment was stamped on a spellbinders tag and I was thinking of maybe adding a couple buttons to the upper right corner but decided to leave well enough alone.

Today is my last day at work for a couple weeks and right now I'm just too tired to even be excited! Christmas cards are done and I'll have those in the mail tomorrow but I won't stop making them just yet 'cause I never know when I'll need a last minute one and I have NO spares!

Don't forget to pop on over to the Bella Blog today to see what the sistah's have been up to! And be sure to check out the latest news on her Scrapping Bella designers...i wanna make scrapbook pages just like them when I grow up!

Da Bella needs some luv!

You know I luv Mo, but my heart belongs to Bella! Can you FEEL the luv? I realized that my absolute fav holiday Stamping Bella image, Pia Puddingtop had not made it onto a card yet this year. We did one in class, but since I left those cards at Bella central I did not have one in this years stash. So I finished one. I'll be honest, this is one that I started colouring quite some time ago and did it with a mix of Lyra and Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I think I was trying to hone my pencil skills at the time because last night I wasn't really happy with it so added some deeper shading. For anyone who has ever taken a class with me, you KNOW how I love to add that deeper shading! Hold it at an arms length away, squint your eyes and if you don't see any range of color you don't have enough highlights or shading! How's that for a tip of the day!

I've got a REALLY busy couple days ahead of me and at this moment I'm so wishing I could just hunker down in my house and color! But holiday festivities are upon me and it just wouldn't be 'me' to be anti-social! Plus Alex comes home from school on Thursday and Derek early next week so you know what that means! This sistah will be spending a LOT more time in the kitchen for the next couple weeks. Hmmm....do I miss cooking EVERYDAY for those boys of mine?...well....NO...but I do miss the gratitude 'cause they do know that ole' mom is a pretty good cook and eating residence food for the last couple months I'm expecting a lot of raves!!!!!!!!! Hmmmm, maybe I'll email them this post just as a little hint hint that mamma is expecting raves!

If you can find the time, don't forget to play along in this weeks Faux or Sew challenge. It is our last one until the new year and how cool would it be to win some Bella Bucks to spend over the holidays!

Jingle Bells

This is another one of those beloved Mo's images called Jingle Bells. Now if that was me and my girl singing...Bessie would be howling trying to drown me out! I CANNOT sing to save my soul! I think I once scored a whopping 30 points on Rock Band! LOL!

Speaking of Mo, have you been to her blog lately....OMG...she is KILLING me....soooooo many new images! I need them ALL! Especially the teen boys, you MUST know how hard it is to find images appropriate for boys. I have two myself and I know it's HARD! I wish I could color as fast as she is pushing them out. Darn that day job!

I printed this image on Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured it up with my copic markers. Then I added the blue shading and grounding with my prisma color pencils. The edges were sponged on with ink, a tiny bit of glitter, some stitching, a bow and another card done! Actually I coloured up this image over a month ago but it has been sitting unmounted until this past weekend.

Thinking of stitching, did you know our challenge over at Blogabella this week is called Faux or Sew...come on, how easy is that! Hope you can find the time to play along.

Just like Dad

This is another image from Mo called Boughs for the Wreath. It is really too bad you can't see it in person because the colors look a little faded in the picture and I even tried to fix it but still can't quite capture it. I think I've said it already...I LOVE MO...they are very special for those one of a kind cards because they take me so long to color, there is no way I could mass produce them.

I printed the image on Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured dad and his little son in copic markers, then took a break. I really wanted them to look like they were walking home down a wintery path but was so afraid that the vision in my head wouldn't translate onto paper. So I went shopping!

That little break seemed to work out for me. I got home, put away the copics, pulled out the pencils and VERY slowly went to work. Little by little it was coming together and when it got close enough to my vision I stopped for fear of messing it up!

I'll be keeping this card in the family and sending it to my folks this Christmas...I may even see if I can pry it back after the holidays, but slim chance that will happen!

Got another Mo for ya tomorrow so be sure to come back!