Bella and Stella!

I spent a little bit of time today making some cards. I'm all finished with swaps for the year, so I sat down to stamp and make cards just for the heck of it. It was nice! I certainly enjoy swapping, but it was nice to be able to just sit and do whatever -- and not have any due dates looming overhead.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's a card I made for a swap on Card Cafe. The theme of the swap was Cocktail Time. I went looking for the entire collection of the Creative Imaginations line, but this martini paper was all I could find. I bought it, but wasn't really thrilled about it. Then, after I got home, I was going through my box of stamped images and found Stella With an Olive on Top (by the way, thanks for the images, Cindy!). Then, I realized that the sentiment I planned to use had an olive above the "cheers" - I couldn't believe how well it was all coming together. I guess it wasn't so bad that I couldn't find anything other than the martini paper afterall!

Supplies Used:

Wreathabella Card

Stamp: Wreathabella (from Stamping Bella)

Patterned Paper: Deja Views (Flurries & Frost Collection)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up

Markers: Bic, Prisma

Additional Supplies: Chestnut Roan Color Box Chalk, Crystal Stickles

Stella Card

Stamp: Stella With an Olive on Top, Studio G (sentiment)

Patterned Paper: Creative Imaginations

Cardstock: Bazzill, Stampin' Up

Markers: Bic, Prisma

Additional Supplies: Brads, Red embossing powder, Glaze pens

Another Card

I found another card to share! I made this card for the Tri-fold Swap on Card Cafe. You can find a tutorial for these cards here. I really had fun making these cards - it's nice to do things a little different sometimes, huh?


Here's the outside of the card:

And here it is opened up:



















I used my Creative Memories Custom Cutting System to cut out the circles, including the "frame" on the front of the card. The frame was actually just regular Stampin' Up cardstock. I thought it needed something, so I pressed my VersaMark pad on it, sprinkled some Hologram Highlights embossing powder on top, then heat set it. I liked what it did to the outside of the card... Just gave it a little "pop" I thought. I also added some Stickles to the bird's wing and tail feathers.


I bet you thought I only stamped with Bellas, huh? ;-)



Supplies Used:
Stamp: Autumn Leaves
Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants - Sublime from the Kewl Papers Line
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Markers: Bic
Additional Supplies: Ribbon (probably Offray), Crystal Stickles, Hologram Highlights embossing powder (Stampin' Up!) OH! and the little slot punch from Stampin' Up! too - the little half circle one.

I'm B-A-D!

I am a bad, bad blogger! I've been making cards like crazy, but haven't been sharing them here. I have a couple cards I can share, and I've got more to post as soon as a swap is over...


Here is a Lattebella card I made for one of the 2 for 2 swaps on Card Cafe:
























Stamp: Lattebella by Stamping Bella
Patterned paper: My Mind's eye
Cream cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Brown cardstock: Bazzill
Brads: Making Memories - Copper
Markers: Stampin' Up! and Bic



Here's another card I made. This one is for a Masculine themed card swap on Idaho Scrappers:



















Image Stamp: Docafella by Stamping Bella
Sentiment Stamp: Stampin' Up (I'll have to look to see which set it's from...)
Patterned Paper: Chatterbox
Cardstock: Bazzill (both Navy and Brown)
Brads: Making Memories - Copper
Markers: Stampin' Up! and Bic
Inks: White Signo Gel Pen


That's it for right now, but I'll definitely share more again soon! Hold me to it, okay? : D

My Bella Organization Project...

I don't know about you, but there are times when I want (or need) to stamp some images but I can't quite remember where abouts in my Bella container a certain stamp is located. When I started buying the Bellas, I decided I'd "track" them with a number on the back of the little baggies they come in. Then, when I bought my first Fella stamp, I decided to do the same with them starting at one... Same with my Fella with His Bella stamps... I didn't really have a reason for doing it at the time, but it's been nice for those few times when I don't put a stamp back right away and it ends up hiding somewhere else... The stamps don't stay "lost" for too long after I figure out what it is I'm looking for! ;-)

About 4 or 5 months ago, I decided to buy one of the 7 Gypsies ATC spinners. I really had no clue what I wanted to use it for, but a month or two ago it hit me! I decided to use it for my Bellas! I decided to make an ATC for every single Bella I own. Then, I decided to take it further and put the ATC's on the spinner in alphabetical order. It didn't stop there, though... I then decided I'd put a little tag on the back of each card with the name of the stamp, the number it was in my Bella container -- and what size paper it's best to stamp images on to! (Yes, I'm a little sick in the head, but I thought it'd be a nice reference when I let friends stamp images.)


Anyway, I thought I'd share pics of my project here, so here they are:





Here is the spinner - I figured that, since my stamps are stored by Bella, Fella, etc, I'd put the ATC's on the spinner that way too.























Let's say I want to stamp some images of Snowbunnybella. I'd just flip through my spinner and find her...

...I'd see that Snowbunnybella is #17 in my Bella container.




























So, I'd pull out my Bella container...



























and flip to #17 to find said stamp!




























I'm hoping this will help me out when I want to stamp lots of images at once. Flipping through the container seems harmless enough, but trying to remember which stamps I bought a particular stamp with can be kind of tough - especially when I'm trying to do it quickly!

Let me know what you think of my system!

I'm Here! I'm Here!

Holy cow! Has it really been a month since I shared last?!?! Where has the time gone?

I've been making cards - I've just been horrible about getting them put up on the blog... I should try to be better about taking a pic right away and putting it up... I'll try that out! Anyway, here are some cards I've made in the last couple of weeks.








Halobella - She went out to a friend who was in between jobs. I just wanted to let her know that I was thinking of her and that "someone" was looking out for her. I was so happy she liked the card - and even happier to hear that she found a new job!
















Golfafella - Just a quick "man" card. I made this for my FIL for his birthday. Actually I made two of them and think I might try to give the second card to my DH for his birthday... It's almost two weeks away, so maybe he won't notice if he and his dad got the same birthday card? Okay, okay... I'll try to make a "fresh" card for him - just to make him feel special! ;-)















Teeoffabella - I made this card for a lady I was sending images to. I hope she likes it! I decided to leave the card fairly "blank" so that she could re-use it if she wanted to, and make it her own. I thought she might like to add a sentiment or something to the front...













I-wish-I-looked-so-good-on-a-bike-abella - I made two of these cards just because I wanted to. I had stamped some images for some friends and made it a point to stamp a few extras so I could play a little. She was pretty fun to color, and I just love her little pooch in the basket. Almost makes me want a little lap dog... almost...









Globetrottabella - I made two of these cards for a couple friends. I was going to put "You mean the world to me" but didn't - in case they want to re-use the cards for something else. I almost never write inside my cards anymore. I write on a post-it note and stick it inside the cards. This way, the recipients do get a note from me, but can pass the cards along if they choose to do so. Oh, and I used a sketch I found over on Courtney's blog for these cards. I saw it, liked it, and wanted to try it.


Again, all the patterned paper I used for these cards came out of my scrap-paper tote. It definitely feels good to be using it up instead of just adding to the pile, but I have to wonder if, at this rate, I'll ever need to go shopping for pretty papers again. ;-)

Yogabella and Ohsoprettybella

I decided to sit down and make some cards Saturday night - DH was working (I really hate night shifts!), my oldest kiddo was gone, middle kiddo was sleeping (she was worn out from a sleepover the night before) so it was just the little monkey and me. He decided he wanted to watch movies, so as I "watched" with him, I chatted with some friends online and made cards.

I hadn't used Yogabella to make a card yet - I had only used her to stamp images for friends and for an image swap on the Bella group. I had fun coloring this one - it was pretty easy! Sometimes it's nice having a not-so-detailed image, huh? Anyway, here's what I came up with:

Next, I decided to ink up Ohsoprettybella - another one I'd stamped images of for friends, but hadn't taken the time to make a card with. I actually saw this card over on Splitcoaststampers and couldn't help but CASE it. Here's my take:

I shopped in my scrap tote for the patterned papers before I colored the images - all the patterned paper I used came from that tote! I'm really loving using up my scraps lately! The cardstock all had to be cut from full sheets, with the exception of the blue on the Yogabella card... that was from my scraps too.

I made two of each of these cards - have plans for both the Yogabella ones, but the Ohsoprettybella ones will go in with the rest of my stash o' Bella cards for now. I also made 2 more cards, but I can't share it until after they've been mailed out.

Thanks for looking - hope you like the cards!

Thanks Nej!

I have to thank my wonderful friend, Nej, for the idea for this card! She made a similar one for a card swap on Stamped that I loved. I needed to send my mom some Snowbunnybella images and thought I'd CASE Nej's card idea. I still like her card better than mine, but since I like to make a card out of the images I send people, and because it's for my mom, she'll be super impressed with what she gets -- she's easy to please! ;-)

Anyway, here's my take on the card:























And here's Nej's card:






















... and yes, I got permission from her before posting it here ;-) Sorry about the blur in the photo - I'm not quite sure what is going on with my camera. I honestly didn't realize it was blurred until I saw it here...

Thanks again for the inspiration, Nej!

Aren't friends wonderful?

Some Cards...

Just thought I'd share a couple of cards - one I made last week, and the other I made last night.


The first one is for a swap on Card Cafe. The name of the swap is Summer Day, so you can do anything that has to do with a summer day. I played around with a few stamps, but they weren't working for me, so I went back to my trusty Bella house and pulled out Kinibella.





Yesterday, it was 105* outside, so we set up the kids' pool and other water toys for them. While I was digging in my beach bag for their goggles and snorkles, I found some sand from the trip to the Oregon Coast we took last month. I decided Bella needed some sand since she has a beach towel and all. ;-)
I'm hoping the sand holds up and stays on the cards after they are mailed/received.








I am sending some cards to a couple of friends, so last night I sat down and made these while the kids ran wild and DH played a video game. This was the first time I've colored Bikahbabeabella and was a bit clueless as to how to color the motorcycle... I think it turned out okay, but I want to stamp some more images and see what else I can come up with...

I Scrapped!

So... I actually scrapped over the weekend! Pretty big deal for me considering the last time I scrapped - and used pictures - was last August. Here are the layouts I was able to complete:

The last layout actually goes with an older layout I made quite a while ago - this is the whole layout: Anyway, so there they are - it was fun to scrap again... Hopefully it won't be another 10 months before I scrap again!

More Bellas

These are all cards I made for swaps last month. The first 3 were for Courtney's swap over on Card Cafe and the last one was for LeAnne's swap on the Bellaholics group. I had fun with them all and I hope you like them!

This card was for Group #3 in Courtney's swap. I had never used Kittycatabella before, but after seeing Nej's card (from the swap I hosted) I was inspired to break her out and ink her up. I didn't really think about it before, but it just dawned on me that the kitties would be cute with some flocking on them. Maybe I'll dig it out and add it to them later...

This card was for Group #4. She was so much fun to color - and I can see her being one of my new favorite girls! The brads I used started out as silver brads, but they didn't look quite right, so I used some embossing powder and altered them a bit. I liked that it was so close to the color in the yellowish-orange patterned paper. It's nice when stuff works out that way!

This card, using Daintybella was for Group #6. I had actually just tried paper piecing and decided the only way to get it out of my system was to make another card using that technique again. I used some stickles on the bow in Bella's hair, and again on her dress, then added a small Prima flower over her bouquette. As much fun as it was to paper piece the dress, I didn't think I really wanted to try piecing the small flowers, so I covered them up.

And this card was for the Anytime Swap on the Bella group. Told you Lattebella was one of my new favorite girls! I figured that since I was using the same image on cards for 2 groups, I'd change up the design of the cards so I didn't look totally lazy. This paper (by Basic Grey) was fun to use because of all the colors in it - it was fun to pick out certain colors in the paper and bring them out by using them to color the image in.

One thing I've noticed when I look at the pics of Lattebella is that it makes me want to run to Starbucks and grab a BCWM! I can't remember exactly what the BCWM stands for, but I do know it's super yummy! One of these days I'll ask the barista and actually remember what he/she tells me it stands for... As long as there are no kids with me... Or, as long as I'm not already daydreaming about going home and pulling Lattebella out to make another card...

Okay, so I probably won't ever remember, but as long as I can remember BCWM, I'm all set, right? ;-)

Daintybella

Here's a card I sent out to a good friend - I actually found it under a pile of mail the other day! The envelope wasn't sealed, yet, so I pulled it out and took a quick picture of it before mailing it out.

I paper pieced Bella's dress and added a small Prima flower to cover the bouquet she was holding. All of the paper was from out of my stash o' scraps - ALL of it! Yes, even the base for the actual card. I'm trying to go there more often when I just want to make a card or two instead of cutting a brand new sheet of paper. Yes, I'm a bit of a hoarder, but I'm pretty sure that's a common thing among us scrappers and stampers, right? Please agree with me here... Puh-lease! ;-)

I meant to use a different stamp down in the corner, but my little monkey boy was stamping with me when I made this card and I accidently grabbed his block instead of mine. Oops!

Anyway, patterned paper is from a Stampin' Up pack - a Simply Scrappin' one I believe... Cardstock is Bazzill Bling, and I can't remember who the ribbon is by - probably just a ribbon I found at Michaels, though.

Golfafella

We were invited to our neighbor's house to celebrate a birthday over the weekend, and didn't want to show up empty handed, so this is what I came up with for a gift.

I used a clear paint container (from Craft Warehouse) and filled it with golf balls and tees. Then I added a few strips of paper and a Golfafella image. I made a matching card, but forgot to take a picture of it before sealing it up in the envelope. Sounds just like something I'd do, right? ;-)

It seemed to be a hit, and I'm glad our neighbor liked it! Now he and DH have an excuse to go golfing!

Papers I used are the same as on my Rockabella cards - I was good and created from scraps! Now I'm off to clean my kitchen and pull some weeds...

Cuppacakeabella and Rockabella

Came out to play this weekend... I have been wanting to try paper piecing with the Bellas, and finally did over the weekend. I had no idea it would be so much fun! I'm almost even delusional enough to think that it was faster to paper piece than it is to color the image in the first place... Almost...

All of the paper for the Cuppacakeabella card is by Stampin' Up! The patterned paper is from one of their holiday minis - From maybe a little more than a year ago...? I actually found the ribbon on sale at Michaels a couple of weeks ago and grabbed it because I thought it would go so well with these papers. You can't really tell (because I covered it w/ the image) but it's a pretty close match! I also used a little bit of Stickles on her dress - I want to say it was the Fruit Punch stickles.













And here's Rockabella. On Card Cafe, there's a swap called "Star Struck" and this is what I came up with for it. The majority of the swaps over there are open to your interpretation, so as long as the card has some sort of star somewhere, I'm good to go... Cardstock is Bazzill, patterned paper is Bo-Bunny (Shabby Princess Collection) Star Struck and Star Struck Stripes, stars were cut with my Cricut (George cartridge), Orange Peel stickles, American Crafts rub ons (superstar) and a little crystal for the guitar...

My Super Talented Friends

Our Bella swap is all over and I believe most of the participants have their cards in hand, so I think I'm safe to post pictures off all the cards so everyone can see what was done. And, so that the participants can see who did which card (for those of us who forgot to sign the backs). I had so much fun with this swap and I can't wait until we do it again! Here are pictures of each group of cards:

Group #1:

(Left to Right, Top to Bottom)

Me, Courtney, Lila, Jamie, Paula and Nej

Group #2:

Nej, Lark, Me, Judi V, Heather J and Kim B

Group #3:

Sherri, Sarah (W), Alex, Judi V, Debbie D, Me and Nej

Group #4:

Nej, Cindy K, Courtney, Jamie, Lila, Sandi and Me

So, there they are! If any of you would like to see a pic of one certain card, I did take individual pics as well, so just email me and I'll get them to you. Thanks so much for playing along - and thanks for the Hostess goodies! I really didn't expect anything, but loved what I got! You girls are the best!!!

More Cards!!!

My cards for the Bella swap my friends and I are doing are all finished! They have actually been finished for a little over a week - I just haven't taken the time to get pics of them up and on the blog... Anyway, here they are:





Card #1: Partygirlabella stamp, Cloud 9 Design patterned paper (Sparkle Chocolate Celebration), Bazzill, Crystal Stickles, Happy Birthday is from Stampin' Up's So Many Scallops, and the scallop punch is Stampin' Up too. I also used a 1/8 circle punch to do the petals on the flower. (Thanks for showing me that little trick, Mom!)


Card #2: Huggybella stamp, American Crafts patterned paper (Spring & Summer line; Flowered paper is Scones and the striped paper is Preserves), cardstock is Bazzill bling, the flower is a Prima, and the friends stamp is by Studio G.


Card #3: Mwahbella stamp, Autumn Leaves patterened paper (Viceroy from the Manhatten line), cardstock is Bazzill.


Card #4: You'll recognize from my first post on the blog. It's pretty much the same as before, but I went and got a Cuttlebug and just had to try it out on something! So, I peeled up the cardstock strips from the card and ran them through the bug. I like it! I think it added just a little something to the card, don't you? The embossing folder I used was Spots and Dots.

Oh, and here's a card for Courtney's Quote swap on Card Cafe.

Stamp is Curly Surpriseabella, all papers are by Stampin' Up, flower is by Prima. Oh, and there's a bauble in the middle of the flower.

Partygirlabella

I made this card for the Bella Babe Challenge on the Bellaholicsannonymous group. On Friday there was a sketch posted and we have until 6:00 tonight (Mountain Time) to submit what we come up with.

I have to say, I love sketches! It makes the whole scrapbooking/card making process so much easier for me when it takes part of the thinking out of it. It's like I'm a step ahead - that's how it goes in my little head anyway... After I pick a stamp and the papers I want to use, I like to be told what to do with them. ;-)

Stamp is by Stamping Bella, Patterned Paper is by American Crafts, Cardstock is Bazzill, Sentiment is by Studio G, and of course, some Crystal Stickles!

Goodluckabella

She went out to my best friend today - she's the bestest friend a girl could have! She needs a little good luck right now, so hopefully this Bella will bring her some!

Love ya James!!!

Image is Goodluckabella by Stamping Bella, all papers and organdy ribbon are by Stampin Up, and then just a little bit of the Crystal Stickles

I have a blog!

It's about time, huh? I know, I know... I'm just about the last one to come to the party... (isn't that how it goes?)

So, some friends and I decided to do a Bella swap... If you aren't familiar with Bella, you have got to check her out here: http://www.stampingbella.com/ Some of the cutest stamps ever made! I truly am addicted to them! Oh, and for the record, I'm not looking to get help with my addiction... People can whisper all they want - I refuse to seek treatment!

Anyway, we ended up with 4 different groups and I, of course, had to join all four! Here is my card for Group #4. The stamp is Savvyshopabella (by Stamping Bella), the cardstock is by Stampin' Up and the patterned paper is by Rocky Mountain Scrapbook Co. (www.rmscrapbook.com). I also added some Tropical Algae baubles and some Crystal Stickles. Hope you like the card!