More Bella!

OK So at the moment I am a little obsessed with Bella and had to stamp something today. I answered a question on another site what my favorite SU color is and well at the moment I said Cameo Coral. It is hard to decide on just one color! So I stamped my new FlowahBella with a bunch of cameo coral! Of course on a nice and bright, flirting with Spring, day I had to use green galore and tempting turqouise with it :) Kind of bright but oh soooooo pretty. I also used some glitter on the flowers, I can't seem to leave those flowers alone! Well I have to run, it's time for gymnastics for my little one. Hope you like!

Bella!

I finally have my very own Bella! Stamp that is. I have been seeing tons of these Bellas on splitcoast and ordered one for myself. They are so cool! I got FlowahBella but I have my eyes on JavaBella and WalkaBella (oh shoot and a few more LOL!). There are quite a few of these and you can purchase them at http://www.stampingbella.com Can I have a commission?! (Just kidding!) So this week's color challenge is celery, caribbean and eggplant. I wanted to use the scalloped circle so I had to cut Bella's legs off! I hated to do that and she has such cute shoes too. I used these little heat and stick jewels for the flowers. I don't have that nice new punch yet that makes a neat (notice I said yet...) tab so I took a circle punch and used the edge of it to make the tab for the word 'friend'. Looks authentic I think. OH! I also used liquid applique on the edge of her skirt and then colored it blue with the marker. Looks neat in person. I think I will make another Bella card tomorrow :)

Love this stamp!

This is that new funky birthday stamp I picked up last week. It is hard to tell but the lavender part has double pop-dots over the celery part. I decided to make a matching coaster with the card as a gift. Hey why not use a chipboard coaster for, what else, a coaster! I mod-podged it and then sprayed acrylic sealer on it. If the coaster gets ruined it didn't cost but 10 cents to make! Anyway back to the stamp. It is fun and easy to color too. I know I will be using this one a lot. I have already made more with it, I will post another time. I saw some fun things in the new Paper Crafts magazine that I am going to try and make some time this week. One thing is an apron to wear while stamping. I need to come up with the stamps to use for it though! Wouldn't it be fun for my Stampin Up demo to have a class where we come and stamp our own aprons to wear when we go there! I will have to talk to her about that :)

Cuttlebug

I want a cuttlebug. I have resisted the temptation to get a die cutter or an embosser or one of those incredible Wishblade/Cricut type machines but I am loving the backgrounds these make! This card is made using a cuttlebug that one of the gals at my card class owns. She shared it with us and I made a few things with it. It has been on my mind for a month now! Not sure whether to take the plunge, I have resisted in the past...got to think more about it. Maybe a birthday present :) I love this card!

March?

I am sitting out on my porch and it is warm and sunny and awesome! However the wind is going to blow me away. Is it March? Sure feels like it, "in like a Lion". Today I will post my cards for the swap. I made 7 (did I mention that yesterday?) and I loved every minute of it. I wish I could go into business and sell this stuff! I am getting much quicker at it too. I did use my new whimsical birthday stamp today, loved how it turned out so much that I made two and then a little something else out of it! I haven't taken pictures yet so I will post it tomorrow. See now I am giving everyone things to look forward to every day :)

I hear the water hose running, ugh oh better see what the 4 year old is up to! TTFN :)

Color Challenge

OK so back to the color challenge I mentioned yesterday. Red, black and gold. Non-holiday. Wasn't sure if I could but I did it! Yeah! So here it is. I love the saying. The paper is by Penny Black, a ginkgo leaf design. The paper is really pretty with black around it! By itself it was kind of drab but on the card it is great. I combined it with the sketch challenge which I quite like.

I picked up the cutest, funky birthday stamp today I hope to play with tomorrow. So that might be tomorrow's post, we will see :) Today was running the lil one around day, he certainly has lot's of fun things to do! The older one, oh dear teenagers! Ack! He is very unmotivated lately, ok lazy. I said it. Lazy, lazy, lazy! I try to remember what it was like to be 14, it is not working! So off I go to nag a certain someone into doing homework.

Challenges

I am addicted to challenges now, I admit it. I waited for today's challenge last night with the other "s'talkers". Good grief. Anyway I ended up doing Monday's technique challenge which is a criss-cross card. So here it is. I am also posting a lone scrapbook page I did for another challenge, it was a layout challenge. That is why it is simple without a lot of embellishments. So back to today's challenge that I eagerly waited for, I don't like it! It is the color challenge, for Chinese New Years (which I do like) but anyway the colors are red, gold and black. Love the colors, love them together, just for Christmas and Valentine's which I am so done with this year. So I have to get real creative and think of a way to use them for non-holiday theme! Can I do it? We will see :)

Scrapbooking

I do still scrapbook, even though I make so many cards and other fun things! This is a layout of our trip to SC and NC with my best friend and her daughter. We had a blast, I have an entire scrapbook done of our trip and enjoy looking through it frequently. So today's post is the last layout for that scrapbook. I also completed another 2-page layout and half of another! Seems like Winter is my season to do crafts :)

Monthly Card Class

I go to my friend's house once a month to her card class, she is a Stampin' Up demo. We make five cards and always have a great time. Here are the cards for this month, the theme was "thinking of you". Usually about 10-12 people come, she has three rooms set up with different cards at each table. We make a card and move on to the next table. She cuts all the paper and has all the stamps and supplies out- you can't beat that! Of course we pay a small fee to do this but it is worth it. She always has the prettiest cards for us to make!

Dreamin' of Palm Trees

It is that time of year I start craving tropical locations and this weeks Color Challenge on splitcoast turned out to be the forum for me. The colors are: cranberry crisp, so saffron and certainly celery. Ewww. Not my cup of tea but I think I made it work! Here is the card I made, with my beloved Palm Tree stamp set called Balmy Breezes. I used Perfect Pearls on all the images and it is really shiny, so shiny I had to retake the picture several times so it wouldn't obscure the stamped image for the picture on the web!

I plan to work on some scrapbook pages now I have the challenge done, I really like these challenges! They inspire me and give me guidance to create. I feel better now, I haven't had time all week to do this as it has been a hectic week.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you have a day of "love" or at least some good chocolate :)

ATC's

Here are the ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) I downloaded from my camera. I sent them out today for the swap, I hope to upload the ones I receive when I get them. The one with the frame is actually a technique called Iris Folding, I modified it a tad to fit an ATC. The other one I used Perfect Pearls which makes for a nice shiny effect. I also made the background of the last one with a technique called Brayered Madras. It is raining and you-know-who wants me to entertain him so off I go! Maybe I can get him to take a nap with me, probably not :)

Monday blah

OK all of a sudden on these last two blogs I cant choose my font style or color so now I am stuck with this ugly font. I have spent the last two days making 20 ATC's (Artist Trading Card) and custom made envelopes for an ATC swap. The theme is House Mouse. I love those little mice! I took pictures of them and I guess I will upload them tomorrow because they are on my camera and I am too tired to work on this tonight. Mondays are hard because it is back to getting up at 6 am again, can I just say who in their right mind decided kids should go to school so early???? Goodnight :)

Chipboard Coaster Calendar

I loved this idea! I made it right away, of course had to get some chipboard coasters first. I suppose there are similar things one could use but I am happy with this. I will just post the pictures as there are 11 (didn't do Jan. since it already passed).

Pretty in pink

The card on the far right is one I CASE'd (copy and share everything). I love these colors together! Very bright and cheery. The color combo comes from the Valentine's paper collection from SU that is called Loves me or Love it (I am not a salesperson/demo for them so I dont keep track of names real well!). I think Valentine's Day is my favorite for making cards and things. I have always loved hearts, red and pink. Not something I can do a lot with for boys! So it is my time of year to use those pretty things. Since I am on a theme here, I am also posting the mini-mailbox and gift box I made with this paper and a little candy container as well.

Post -it Note holder

This was a quick and easy little project! I saw this on, what else, Splitcoast. Anyway it is a clear acrylic picture frame turned on it's, for lack of a better word, "back". I stamped a sheet of cool caribbean blue cardstock with my new Autumn Leaves clear acrylic sun stamp and colored it with my Stampin Up markers. Then I slid it in like you would a picture, stuck the post-it pad on and put Velcro on the pen (and the side of the frame) and that's it! Embellish as desired! I can change out the "picture" anytime too.

I am off to the post office, I have a few stamped gifts to mail and then my free time is up. Have a nice day!

P.S. I think I am going to take another picture of this and upload it later. This one is too dark.

P.P.S. I did upload a new one!

Here's the sketch challenge card

I wanted to use several patterned papers but ended up with only two. It's funny how I start with one thing in my head and by the time I am done making it, it looks totally different! It sort of evolves as I work on it. Even with a sketch like this one, it changes. Never could follow directions exactly!!!! Now off to get JP to gymnastics for a snow make-up day and then to swimming lessons. Hopefully he will get some energy out! By the way, the sketch image is from splitcoaststampers.

Tote Bag

Here is a tote bag I made today, it is a copy of one I saw on Splitcoast this morning while waiting for the color challenge. It is actually a gift for someone! (Is it you?!) I made four thank you cards to go inside.

WOW! I did it!

I am nuts, I wasn't going to do this because I don't have enough time but well, here I am! I am making so many things lately I needed one place to put them. Right now I am uploading to my scrapbooking group, uploading to webshots, uploading to SplitCoastStampers and I am sure somewhere else on occasion too! I am tired of duplicate uploading LOL! So here we go, this is it. I love making paper crafts, whether it is stamping, scrapbooking, altering things or who knows what else may come along! It makes sunshine on any day for me hence the name. Thanks for checking out my "blog" (oh dear, did I say "my"!!!) Here we go!

The card is from the SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge (CC). This is the 100th challenge and there is a big prize I would love to have (keeping everything crossed as my friend Tracy says!). The colors are from Stampin Up! Blush Blossom, Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip. The stamps are made by Stampin Up! too. I love these challenges! On Wednesdays the challenge is a sketch challenge so that is my tomorrow project.