This weekend also marked the 31st birthday of my cousin Chad. HAPPY BELATED CHADDY! Hope you liked your card. Here it is for all to see:

I borrowed these stamps from my friend Michelle, as I really don’t have many masculine stamps. I already used beerafella for him last year, so what was left! We’ve spent many a nights rockin out to Guitar Hero or Rock Band, so this was perfect. Mind you, I created this when I came home from work Thursday in a blur because I wanted to get it done so I could go to bed. I’m not so keen on the colours, but what can I say! The guitar looks cool with the glittery blue sparkles. I haven’t gotten a chance to use that glitter yet, and I bought it almost a year ago at the Creative Festival. It’s a great guitar colour. I borrowed the sentiment for GUITAR HERO and if you can’t read the border it says, “rock on • rock on” and on and on.

My next card is for a Baptism. The image and colours were requested by my sister’s friend for the card. I think it turned out quite pretty. I like the colours myself I must say! I love the glittering technique from Linda Heavens where you just dot the glue and add the sparkle. It just makes it more magical some how I think. I’m so glad I took her class. I really learned a lot about using my copics.

The beautiful sentiment is from Lizzie Anne Designs.
Of course I made this tonight instead of last week when I could’ve submitted to the Bellariffic Challenge. I was sick I tell you! Sick!

And now there’s only THREE more days until Robbie and I get our house!!! I’m sooooo excited. I’ve almost got my colours picked, but I think the main room I’m going to have to buy some sample paint before I choose. I’ll be taking lots of pictures along the way so stay tuned for those.

Night night all!

I love her! She’s such a hippie. And the paper’s from Abbey Road. Can they use that name? I doubt the Beatles gave them permission. Or Michael Jackson.
I love these stamps. I only bought 2 others, but eventually I’d love to have them all. I can’t wait to make my next card with the Bumble Bee Gorjuss Girl.

Hope you like her as much as I do! If not… I’m sure it won’t hurt her feelings. But you just never know…. woooooooooo scaaarrrryyyyy!!!
Happy Halloween!

This weeks Bellaliffic challenge, and a challenge it was for me, was to create a Halloween/Fall themed card. I didn’t think I really had a Halloween stamp to use, but upon searching through my collection I found my owls! Owls can be kinda spooky, right? I mean it would totally freak you out if you saw these big yellow eyes staring at you when you’re walking through the forest at midnight like you do so often.
It was the colours that I had to use that bothered me. I’m not a big fan of using black, purple, green orange and/or brown together.  So needless to say I wasn’t completely impressed with the finished product, but I’ll leave that up to you to judge.

BOO! Totally scary, right? The only idea I had ahead of time was that I wanted to make a moon using my circle punch and then using the circle punch on that circle again to create a moon crescent. I liked adding the moonlight and darkness to the image as well. It’s just the rest of the card ain’t my cuppa tea. I didn’t think I had a Halloween sentiment to use on it even, but then I remembered a fall/Halloween set my mom  had bought for me last year that I hadn’t used yet. I guess it’s just because I don’t know why I’d give somebody a Halloween card. I don’t want to make Halloween a gift giving holiday to adults (Christmas is just too close by), and I think the kids would rather a handful of candy.

At first I was going to emboss the sentiment and spider web in white on the card but the powder kept sticking in places where it didn’t belong. I tried three times, even used a dryer sheet to clean the area before I stamped. But noooooooooooo! So I stamped with white, which didn’t pop enough, so I used my white glaze pen over top. It’s kinda messy looking but whatcha gon’ do huh?!

But anyway, I got some positive reviews on the card from people which I always appreciate, so thank you.

Now for the scariest photo of all! (no it’s not going to be a photo of me without eyebrows)

Poor guy huh? But cute! It’s not just for aesthetic reasons that I bought this great costume. Dexter won’t move an inch while he’s in it. And that means I can answer the door to the kids and hand out treats without him trying to get out and greet them/knock them over!
Don’t worry, no animals were hurt in the trying on of this costume. Maybe just emotionally a little.
And it’s Dexter’s second birthday today!!! … I just had to break from this post because he’s ripping small pieces of plastic off his bone and this is the second time in 15 minutes that I’d had to shove my fingers in his mouth to get it out. Might be garbage time for that one! I think Kong toys are the only ones that have outlasted Dexter. And what did his daddy buy for his birthday? A Dexter figurine! Not my doggy Dexter though, my favourite TV character Dexter Morgan. Pretty cool. Dexter can only look and not touch though. But tomorrow is the real treat. I’m going to make some home-made treats for him with my niece and nephew! Maybe get a party hat for him too. He obviously loves hats.

Well I hope everybody has a good weekend! Bye for now!

So this is my first time joining a blog hop! Pretty cool I must say. Here’s my submission:

I decided to use “Gertie” as my Lulu stamp of choice. I love it when I can use my “butterfly wishes” sentiment to go with a stamp. It’s just such a fairy tale kind of saying and I think the card kind of carries that theme.

How about a prize? In addition to the fabulous eye candy, we have decided to hide a prize somewhere along the hop! One pre-selected blogger will draw a random winner from the comments on her post, and the winner will receive a $25 Gift Voucher to Stamping Bella!!! The fun part is…we’re not telling you who it is! So as you hop, make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! We will announce the winner on Monday in the Splitcoast forum. MWAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by! (I know it’s the standard post ending but I really do mean it)

Now it’s time to hop on over to Carisa’s blog!

His name is Noah the computer guy and is one of the newest releases from Stamping Bella by designer Ellia!
I thought it’d be a great stamp for my nephew’s birthday’s since they’re at that age where you just don’t know what’s cool with them anymore. So it’s pretty general that I think all 3 could relate to. Of course I can’t give them each the same card, but I’ll work it in somehow.
I wanted to make him a little more punky, so I coloured in the tips of his hair blue, and added an ear piercing. I like his checked shirt too.
I didn’t add a sentiment cause I forgot to see if there were any fitting ones at the shop yesterday. It’s OK though cause I’m not sure what I’ll use this card for yet anyway.

I used my orange chalk ink to fill in the white area, and then used my yellow ink to create a glow casting from the laptop screen.

And for the first time I’ll be participating in a Blog Hop this Saturday! The idea is to create a card using a Lulu stamp. My blog will then be linked from someone else’s blog that signed up, and then I will have a link to the next person’s blog in line. Should be pretty cool! So I’m just working on that card tonight and will finish it up tomorrow once I get my hubby’s opinion on the finishing touches.

So check back on Saturday for my creation!

Ain’t she a cutey pie? Kinda reminds me of a Betty Boop pose while she says “Awwww Shucks…” in that high pitched, low quality voice of the 30′s. Man she’s old.
So of course I picked the cherry patterned paper to go with the cherries in her hair. I think I’m going to switch to using my chalk ink to fill in the white as I did here, as opposed to just chalk. The chalk ink shows up so much better and you can actually see it in the photos. I got these great sponge daubers you fit on your finger that make it so easy to do. Only 3 in a pack though and I’m not sure if I can use multiple colours without things getting muddy. Experiment for another day I suppose.
I followed the branch and berry theme with the cuttlebug border embossing on the brown strip. I coloured in the berries with my copic marker and sparkled up them branches. Even then it wasn’t popping out enough though so I cut two thin strips of the brown paper and edged it. Much better. Looking at it when it’s done though makes me realize I have the border too high. It’s a little top heavy. If I could re-do it I’d move it all down a bit to even it out. But oh well.
I love the big punch I bought that cuts out 4 different shapes to fit your sentiments on. It just happened to have 2 shapes that fit my sentiment perfectly. Took a couple tries to get it even though.
Anyway, it’s almost beddy bye time! That’s what I tell Dexter and he slowly walks into his crate and *harumphs* down on his pillow. I had to give him a bath today because he REEKED. Ew. He got into the garbage last night and I couldn’t even go near his face. What a stinker. But he’s all pretty smelling now and I can kiss his face all over! My little baby. I hope he likes his new home next month.

Night folks!

p.s. I can’t get into my husbands server (and he’s out at work) so I won’t be able to put the large file up to view my image up close. Check back later tomorrow if you’re interested.

I actually have been working on cards, even though there’s a lack of blogging. Only one new design though, so I thought it was worthy for posting. I am in love with this new stamp. Great new line from “Motivet” stamps. They are really fun to colour.

This is a thank you card my sister requested for my aunt. I also made a second one as a birthday card. It could really work for a lot of things. Here’s a close up of the image because I’m proud of my colouring on this one so I must boast.

I really like how the sun flower turned out. I stamped it twice and cut out the second one. Underneath I just used one colour because I intended to cover it all up, but when I put it on top I thought it looked cool turned slightly so it looked even more 3-d.

Aren’t her blue eyes adorable?

I screwed up though and had my cuttlebug folder backward and it’s actually an imprint of the design rather than it being popped out. But I don’t think it’s too visible to someone who doesn’t use card making tools… I hope.

And guess what?! Although I was too lazy to participate in a TWO week challenge from Stamping Bella, I did comment on the cards and I was randomly picked to win $10.00! I guess someone up there knew I wouldn’t have much personal spending money and decided to pass some along to me. So cool. I never win anything. It will definitely come in handy especially with a new release coming up. I suppose I should start some Christmas cards. But do I ever do anything early? Why do you think I didn’t get my Bella challenge done? Because I left it to Thursday and these two Motivet cards took up all my time so I didn’t get one done like I hoped to. Oh well… it all turned out in the end.

Nighto peoples! Thanks for popping by!

I pretty much followed it to a T, other then the rounded upper right corner. Not very creative of me, now is it!

However, I did try to get a little creative with my colouring technique. I used the lessons learned this past Saturday in shading. I’m glad I’ve been using my Colourless Blender copic as just a week ago I was thinking, “why the hell did I buy this?” It came in handy with the hair and blending the browns together to create a softer look on the edges.
One thing I must practice at is choosing which 3 colours produce the matching colour for my card. It’s not perfect in this instance, but it doesn’t look out of place I think.
Here’s a close up shot of the colouring:

I popped out the cake and added sparkle to make it look extra yummy. Cause you know yummy cakes always have sparkles… or sparklers.

I think I’m happy with it… I’m just not sure if something’s missing. I didn’t want to go overboard as mother always says, “less is more”. Should I have added an embellishment the top right maybe?

What did I even do Friday? I tried to see Inglorious Basterds, but there was nooooo way I was sitting in the front row for a 3 hour movie. I ended up going again on Saturday instead. Awesome movie. Everybody actually clapped at the end of it. I didn’t just want to clap though, I wanted to punch somebody in the FACE! That’s how revved up Tarantino films make me. Ok just this and Death Proof, but MAN! I really was pumped after that was over.

Last Friday’s Bellariffic Challenge was presented by Meahnibella. Wonderful artist. Here’s her sketch:

I had a bit o’ trouble with this one, but here’s what I came up with:

And it wasn’t until after I was finished that I thought I’d seen this before… it’s just like my card I made for my sister Katie’s birthday only 2 weeks before! That was a bellariffic challenge too. The only difference really was the embellishment required for the top left. But I made it even worse by using the same exact paper combos! Ah well… I’ll just remember not to give that to Katie.

On Saturday and Sunday was the special guest teachers Lindabella and Paulabella at Stamping Bella. BELLA BELLA BELLA! I say it with Brad Pitt’s Italian accent from Inglorious Basterds. Exquisite.
Anyway, I had a great time and learned a lot. We had 3 images to colour with our copics on Saturday but only got to 2 out of the 3. It takes time to learn the art! I was taught some great techniques on how to shade an image using 3 or more copics. It takes a long time to really achieve a nice effect, but if you have the patience, why not. And if you have a wide range of markers too.
Anyway, here’s what I accomplished in 2 hours:

Cute eh? I love the turtle the best. She had a great technique where you use your colourless blender on the turtles belly to remove a dot and then using your darkest shade you make a C shape underneath to pop it out. I like the colour combination she chose for her shading underneath as well.

Now I hope to start on this weeks Bellariffic Challenge. It’s an interesting layout so I’m looking forward to it. We’ll see how much patience I have to colour. It’s Robbie’s mom’s birthday tomorrow so I shall make this one for her!

Talk to ya later!

I bought this stamp set about a month back and have been very excited to use it. It’s from C.C. Designs Sugarplums Underwater Adventure.

Ain’t she cute? I had a lot of fun colouring this one. I tried to use a few colours on my rocks and I think they turned out pretty neat. I love the pink hair too. The fish were stamped on patterned paper and the two small ones are coloured along the band. The seaweed turned out cool too. I love using my greens. I added some clear gloss to the seaweed as well as parts of the fishes and mermaid to give it a wet look. I layered my glitter paper in the middle so the rock is behind it and the mermaid is layered on top of that with her tail bent out slightly. I added some scales to the top of her tail for some more texture.
Though hard to see, on the top half I used a very light aqua ink on my Stamping Bella swirly circle border to fill it up without it being too busy, and also continuing a sea-like background. Bella dots were used for her crown and embellishment on the top left.

It all glitters so much better in person though. Hope she likes it! Maybe I’ll find some mermaid crafts for her birthday to go with it. Tah tah!