Blog Award

I've been meaning to post this wonderful blog award given to me by Deb, Susan, Danni and Kim. Thank you all so much I feel so loved! Please take the time to pay a visit to these talented bloggers their work is inspiring!

This is what this blog award stands for and the rules for passing it on:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement . Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who may then pass it on. I hope you’ll accept this award from me because of our friendship and the inspiration you all give me.

Here are my eight:

Tina - Wooded Views

Nancy - iStamp

Laurel - Laurel's Place

Sharon - PaperFections

Dani - Dani Gets Crafty

Jena - Live, Love, Laugh, Scrapbook!

Tammi - Tropical Dreams

Kelly - Crafting Creatively

If you've already been nominated for this award then great but if you haven't please don't feel obligated to post this, just know that I enjoy visiting your blog and seeing your creations.

Bellaholicsanonymous Anything Goes Challenge

Happy Black Friday everyone! I hope all of you survived and enjoyed your Thanksgiving yesterday! Today is the last Friday of the month which means its my turn to issue a challenge as one of the Challenge Queen's for the Bellaholicsanonymous Yahoo group. Sooooo, this is the challenge: Create a Stamping Bella card or project that uses Paper Piecing. That's it, your card must have something on it that has been paper pieced and for quick step by step, you can follow my first ever mini tutorial.

Step one: Choose your image and paper. I used Stella because she has a larger open area for her dress in order to really show off the designer paper I'm using. Stamp your image onto your white card stock (you can see I started coloring her skin), then stamp your image again onto your desired pattered paper (smaller patterns work best). As you can see I stamped Stella a few times before getting the right flowers for the inside of her dress.

Step two: Take a fine pair of scissors and cut just around the outside of the black line of your stamped image (in this case I want just the inside of Stella's dress).

Step three: Color your image (yes I colored Stella's hair purple, after all it's my coloring book and I can even color outside the lines if I wanna, lol).

Step four: Take and run a line of glue around the outer edges of the back of your cut out piece and carefully glue in place.

Step five: Cut image to desired size, mat and use on your card or project. As the final step for my wacky Stella card I then added purple Stickles in Stella's hair and Spica glitter pen to her crown, wand, dress and shoes.

I'm so excited for all of you to participate in this challenge and can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! This challenge is for anyone, not just Bellaholics members so please feel free to play along! If you create a project for this challenge please leave me a comment on this post and link to your blog or Splitcoast gallery, I'd love to see what you created!

Thanks

Thanksgiving Fun

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Ordinary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

SC204 - Christmas Angel

This card is for today's Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #204. This angel card is pretty straight forward, I colored the angel image with my Copics then added glitter to her wings and a few of the balls in her wreath (see close up shot). The designer paper is from the monster pack of Me & My Big Ideas Christmas paper that I got at Micheal's and I used the stamp set Best Yet for the saying and punched it out using the large oval punch and matted it with the designer label punch.

Well my 28 pound turkey is bathing in cold water in my laundry tub (still in it's wrapper of course) in hopes that it will be thawed out and ready to be cleaned and cooked tomorrow morning. We have 14 people coming for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and tonight is when I do most of my prep work to make sure everything is ready.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving I hope you gobble till you wobble and enjoy your time spent with family!

SFYTT - Grateful

Today's card is for two different challenges, the first one is Jen's Sketch for You to Try over at her blog i{heart}2stamp and the second is to make a card for someone you are grateful for over at the Bella-riffic Friday blog. This card is going to be sent to my mom, my mom and I talk on the phone every day some times several times a day usually just to check in and see how each other is doing and what are plans are for the day. I do realize how lucky I am to have my mom even though some days I'm probably far from the perfect daughter (especially when she calls me super early in the morning before I've had my coffee), but I am very grateful for all she has done for me and our family.
This card was so fun to make, I used my Copics to color Stella and paper pieced her dress, added glitter and cut and embossed her using my Nestibilites die. This is such a great sketch that Jen came up with I know I'll use it again!

Supplies: Gossipy Stella, Just wanted to say - Stamping Bella, The Paper Studio designer paper, Prima flowers, Velvet ribbon, Gems, Copics, Gelly glitter pen, Nesties, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose, Cool Caribbean.

I'm grateful to all of my readers as well for your visits and kind comments on my cards and projects. Thank you!

TECC43 - Snow Swirled

Today's card is for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #43, as you can see I didn't use a cupcake stamp, I used the SU stamp set Snow Swirled. This card really sparkles IRL because of all the red gems that I used (gems never photograph very well). For the swirled tree I stamped it twice and took one image and used two different sized circle punches to punch out the small snowflakes, added gems and then used pop dots and applied them to the front of the other tree image. The large snow flake was also stamped twice with one of the images punched out using the Snow Blossom punch and then a gem was attached and the image was pop dotted. I'm actually pretty happy with how this card came out, usually I'm my own worst critic.

Supplies: Snow Swirled, Bella Rose DSP, Ribbon, Circle punches, Snow Blossom punch, Gems, Pop dots. Colors: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White.

Thank you for your comments, they make my day!

WSC#67

This card is for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #67. This is one snowman stamp that I haven't used yet this year and in all honesty I forgot that I had it. I found this set stuck inside the box that I keep my Bellas in and thought of the cool cards my friend Dawn's been creating with her new MFT sets and decided to use it for Beate's sketch. I really need to find a way of organizing my clear stamp sets, so if anyone has a great way that they use to organize theirs please let me know. All of my Bellas and Stellas I keep in clear CD jewel cases and have them labled on the top and in a box and that seems to really work for me but I'm not so sure about storing some of the other clear sets that I have. The My Favorite Things stamp sets are so much fun to use and are great for paper piecing because of the solid shapes within the image. You can see that I paper pieced the women's coat and snow hill and then colored the rest of the image with my Copics.

Supplies: Baby It's Cold Outside - MFT, Maine Blueberry designer paper, Snow Dots embossing folder, Ribbon, Copics, Gems, Word Window punch, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Small circle punch, Pop dots. Colors: Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, WW.

Fall Goodies

This card and gift set was what I sent last week to my secret Gobbler/Turkey Lorien from the Michigan Mingle group on Splitcoast. Lorien is so super sweet and I can't wait to see her and all the other ladies at the Mingle in March. Last week we were suppose to send an altered gift using fall colors. I'm not so sure this clear paint can would technically be considered an altered item but this is what I did. Inside the can is a bag filled with Thanksgiving blessing mix.
For the post-it note holder with pen I followed the directions that my blogging friend Marilyn had on her fabulous blog My Stamp Habit. Thanks for the great tutorial Marilyn!

Supplies: Clear paint can -LSS, So Many Scallops, Think Happy Thoughts, Ribbon, Buttons, Hawaii Papaya designer paper, Circle punches, Coluzzle, Piercer w/mat, Pen, Post-it note, Pop dots, Tacky tape, Blessing mix. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Very Vanilla.

Michigan Mingle Fun

You & Dessert

These House Mouse cards were made for a few of my friends, I saw this stamp and saying the last time I was at Mary Maxims and knew I wanted to make some cards up for friends. I can't take credit for the bite in the corner of the card because I cased the idea from the sample that was at the store but I sure thought these little mice eating pumpkin pie were so cute. I colored the mice with Prisma colored pencils and orderless mineral spirits (I haven't done that in a while) and stamped the Pumpkin Pie card stock with the Flannel Plaid back ground.

Gift Card Holder

This was another one of our Stamp Camp projects from last night, it's a gift card holder and I found the directions on how to make it on Jill Hilliard's blog. Jill is a very talented lady and has beautiful projects on her blog, I know you'll agree with me if you stop by her blog and take a look. Her tag gift card holders that she created were so cute I knew I wanted to try and make one for a stamp camp project. Thanks Jill!

It's difficult to see but the Real Red was stamped with the snowflakes from the Merry & Bright set and the snowman was outlined with bordering blue ink and his hat has dazzling diamonds on it.

Supplies: Merry & Bright, Best Yet, Ski Slope designer paper, Word Window punch, Tag corner punch, Scallop circle punch, Circle punches, Eyelet, Ribbon, Aqua brush, Dazzling Diamonds, Velcro. Colors: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White.

Box in a Bag

Last night I had a very fun Stamp Camp at my house with a great group of ladies and one of the projects we made was this box in a bag. The picture up top is my sample and the one below is what we made, I followed the directions on Splitcoast on how to make these except I cut the height of my bag down to 4", other than that these were easy and fun to make. We filled each box in a bag with a bunch of Hersey kisses and it seemed like everyone loved them!

Supplies: Ski Slope designer paper, Round tab punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Curly label punch and stamp, Snow swirled snowflake stamp, Circle punches, Scallop circle punch, Gem, Scallop edge punch, Ribbon, Brads, Small hole punch, piercer w/mat, Pop dots. Colors: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White.

I'll be back later with more projects from last nights camp but right now is nap time for my son (thank you God for nap time, lol) and I have get some cleaning in.

Polka Dotted Stella with an Olive on Top

Tonight I made this Stella card just for FUN and for the Bella-Riffic Friday Challenge. If you haven't had a chance to check it out pop on over and take a looky and then make something fun for the challenge! This last Friday the challenge was to create a Stamping Bella card and use Polka Dots, so that's what I tried to do. I love this designer paper with this image of Stella because it almost looks like olives with out the pimentos. If you click on the picture for a close up you can see that I added some glitter to Stella's crown and wand with my Spica glitter pen and a touch of Glaze pen to the olive to make it look wet. The last few days I've spent cleaning up from the boys birthday party, playing with Connor and getting ready for my Stamp Camp tomorrow night.

Supplies: Stella with an Olive on Top, Cheers - Stamping Bella, Think Happy Thoughts - SU (love this set), Green Retro Circles designer paper - DCWV, Ribbon, Nesties, Copics, Circle punches, Spica glitter pen, Glaze pen, Gems, Pop dots. Colors: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Fun

This last Sunday was the birthday party for our sons so I thought I would post a few pictures. Zach technically turns 14 this coming Saturday the 22nd and Connor turned 2 on the 15th so being that their birthdays are a week apart we celebrated both of them together. I think everyone had a nice time, we had dinner, cake and ice cream and watch the boys open their gifts.

Zach got a kick out of his sister giving him a pretend shaving kit for kids and Connor had a blast playing with his balloons after everyone left.

More Mittens

Today is the birthday party for our two sons and we've all been running around trying to get the house cleaned up and things ready. Your probably looking at this card and thinking more mittens, more Christmas, well I'm happy to report that I'm pretty much done with my Christmas cards which makes me feel good that I have them done early this year unlike other years. Now if I can only get all my Christmas shopping done and the kids Christmas clothes and pictures taken I'll really be doing good!

Supplies: Mittens & Seasons Greetings - Lockhart, Nesties, Copics, White gel pen, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Red gem, Green velvet ribbon, Snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder, Me&My Big Ideas paper, Pop dots. Colors: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White.

Hope your having a great weekend!

Frosty Mittens

It was a fun day yesterday getting together with a few of my friends, we shopped, went out to lunch, worked on projects and had lots of laughs. This is one of the cards I made yesterday while stamping with my friends. The image is Karen Lockhart which was colored with my Copic markers and then I used a Spica glitter pen on the cuffs for a little sparkle. Then I cut and embossed the mittens using my square Nestabilities die, added the scallop mat and pop dotted the whole image. The snowflake is my favorite part of this card, I bought a Martha Stewart punch (30% off) and some ghost snowflakes (Hedi Swap) when I was out with my friends yesterday so I glittered the snowflake and layered the two together and added a gem. The Soft Sky paper was only partially embossed using my Swiss Dot embossing folder and the designer paper is Me&My Big Ideas.

How Nice

It's always so nice to have someone nominate you for a blog award. My blogging friend Tina gave me this Kreativ Blogger award, thank you Tina!

Now to pass this award onto some kreativ bloggers:
Bonnie - The Scrappin Bonster
Dawn - Dawn's Special Creations
Marilyn - My Stamping Habit
Melissa - In Stamping Mode

This week has been totally crazy at our house, today alone I had a bunch of errands to run this morning, a dentist appointment for my son, parent teacher conferences for both my older kids and house work as well as taking care of Connor which is a job in its self. I've been getting things ready because this Sunday were having family over for a birthday party for both our oldest son Zach (who's turning 14) and our youngest son Connor (who's turning 2). In all the craziness I'm also planing on getting together with a few friends tomorrow for some down time, stamping and fun so I will defiantly have lots to share this weekend.
Thanks for reading.

SFYTT - Wreathabella

This Wreathabella Christmas card is for Jen's Sketch for You to Try and for someone on my Christmas card list. The Bella was colored using my Copics and then I used Dazzling Diamonds on the pom poms on her hat and boots, Spica glitter pen on her scarf and Glaze Gelly pen on all the berries in the wreath and hat. Then I cut and embossed the image using my Nestabilities die and added the photo corner and gems. The designer paper is a mix of Dashing Christmas paper which is retired and Bella Rose designer paper and the colored card stock I used was Real Red, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White. I'm wishing I had photographed this card in the day light because my pictures always come out better when I do, but today I didn't have a chance. If anyone out there has a photo tent that they use to photograph their work, could you please leave me a comment or email and let me know whether you like it or not. I've never looked into getting one but I would consider it if I thought it would be a great thing to have.

Thanks for visiting!