Cupcakes anyone???

My girls and I made 2 dozen cupcakes for Daddy's birthday today so this post is very fitting! My dear friend sent me this cupcake paper and I was waiting for the right time to use it! The cupcakes are rather large and I didn't want to cover up too much of them so I grabbed my Karen Lockhart cupcake stamp and went to work. The cupcake image is colored with color pencils and SU! re-inkers. I covered the cupcake platter in silver gel pen then overcoated with my Stardust gel pen...very sparkly! I traced the image with my soft grey copic marker and added some Amuse Twinkle stickles to the tops. The ribbon is from May Arts and PP is Heidi Grace.

I haven't had too much trouble with these copic markers bleeding, even though I'm using Black Stazon ink. I have found that if your not tracing an outline DIRECTLY on the ink, then no bleeding occurs...just pull your marker brush tip out a little bit and VOILA!

SFYTT...Jen del Muro

So when you jump into this "blogging" adventure you find so many wonderful & talented papercrafters out there and Jen del Muro has not only incredible talent, but some fun sketches to play along with! Plus, HELLO, there is BOOMER SOONER blood in her family...couldn't be a BAD thing right??...lol Anyhoo, back to the card! I've been on this black & red kick lately and had some great cut out hearts to use up. I started with SU! black card base and sewed on the on the patterned paper(Me & My Big Ideas), which is cut in three even pieces. I then tied on the red ribbon(AC Moore) and added the heart and focal image. The heart was more of a primitive red color and I needed it to match the bright red ribbon...so after searching my embellisment bins, the Christmas Red Stickles were staring right at me! PERFECT! I did put it on really thick so it did have to dry overnight. The focal image is SU! Label Frames oval stamp. The "love" is SU! whimsical alpha and I had to squeeze all the letters in by just guessing where it was going to land...should get a stamp-a-ma-jig eh?? I also added more bling around the frame with Diamond stickles...this card really SPARKLES, although its hard to grasp from the photo!

Little tip: When making cards & using dark cs, simply cut a liner inside and adhere! I use thin computer paper so it doesn't add any more bulk to the card. This makes it easier for the recipient to read your ink and not everyone carries a white gel pen for dark paper:)

BIG NEWS!!!! LONG POST....lol!

I've been so excited to share this ALL week and I got the "green light!" I'm thrilled to be on my first ever Design Team and this group is filled with many talented women. You will soon be seeing some of my work featured at:

GLUE-Art & Paper Studio


Design Team: I don't have all their webpages, but can't wait to see their work!

Suzy Haghighi
Susan Liles
Becky Swaiden
Dawn Chau
Taylor VanBruggen
Kris Hankins

A little footnote on this new venture:) I started this blog not only as a creative outlet, but just a little place where I could showcase my work. I have been crafty since I was little(remember puffy paint??...lol) and love to create new things. My family and close friends know how much I enjoy this and although it may sound corny, this truly is a dream come true for me:) Even after going to school and getting certified in something waaay off base from papercrafting, this truly is my passion and I love to share it! I also just wanted to add in a Thank You to a fellow blogger with FANTABULOUS work, Sharon Harnist, she is an incredible artist and was gracious enough to put up a PUB call on her blog! You've got to see her work!These are some fun notebooks I did on request for holiday Teacher Gifts. These notebooks can be purchased at any office supply store and are really easy to alter. Just uncoil, add paper, embellishments, wrap, and you have a nice gift to give. I made about a dozen of these and put them together in an assembly line. This is much easier than putting each one together individually, which really helps out when you have to start and stop:) They are pretty straight forward on design, I just added a little sewing for a more depth. Last of the Bella Week! I made two separate cards because I made a mistake on this one! Can ya find it?!!! Well, its on the bottom...see those silly "ticket" punch corners?? I thought I had my "corner" rounder in hand and went to town! So you can't just have one corner and try to fix it, so I just did up all of them...lol I was about to start over and do a new card, but I like my "imperfections" just the way they are:)
This was the original Bella card I started off with, but I thought the off white watercoloring paper looked funny with the BRIGHT white of the card base. And then it looked like it was missing some ribbon(hence the previous photo), so I made up the two cards and I like the variations!

WHEW!!! This is the longest post EVER!!! I just had lots to share and I usually do my projects a few weeks ahead and then have it planned out when I want to post...so thats why alot is crammed into today! If you've read this far...your money is on its way...lol

Sweet Pea Swap....

These "Sweet Pea" ATC's are for a swap that I joined in with Taylor VanBruggen and they are also the first time I've taken a stab at them(I can see how they are ADDICTING!!). They are like little baseball cards you can refer to for inspiration. I actually turned these into a few cards after I made them up! They are very simple, quick, and easy. I used PTI Green Thumb set and matted the Sweet Pea on a Cirlce Nesitbility Die & Scalloped Die. These are totally cool because you can use them as a stencil as well! I kept the cut circle inside the Nestibility Die and rubbed my chalk ink over the middle circle. Once you remove the steel die it leaves a nice clean, white border around the edge! I also pulled out my sewing machine again:) Lovin' it!!! The ribbon is from May Arts and a recent share from Jody! Lastly, I added some twinkle stickers for bling and Crystal Effects over the little pink peas:)

Rub-A-Dub...

She sure looks comfy in that nice warm bubble bath...awwwww! These Bella stamps have become a favorite in my house and I generally buy them based on some part of my life...here I wish I had MORE time to take a relaxing bath, especially with two little ones tugging on me all day:) After I did this card, I realize I went overboard on the stitching, real AND faux...lol I see waaay too many lines when I look at it now! Anyhoo, she's still cute and I had fun with it! I started with a SU! Pixie Pink card base and matted some Prima paper. The prima paper is double sided, so I used the backside for the bottom half of the card. The Bella is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with SU! re-inkers and watercolor pencils. I used my new Grey Copic maker to add an outline to the Bella image and it really makes it "pop". I added some Diamond Stickles to the bath water and she really SPARKLES! I tucked some sage ribbon from Mike's around the middle and added Prima's with Amuse Twinkle Stickers. The sentiment on the bottom is done with my small and large Karen Foster Snap Stamps. I created the scalloped edge on the bottom with my SU! corner rounder...just take off the guide and VOILA!

This was the first card I tried out my new Copic markers on. I only purchased a soft grey and a skintone peach color, but I'm not too sure I like them. I dislike the fact that now I have to buy yet ANOTHER stamp pad to coincide with these inks. Using stazon ink and copics makes the black ink bleed out, although I learned if you don't get right on top of the image your ok?? Because these are alcohol based, they also have a very strong smell when working with them. As if I don't inhale enough of my Tim Holtz stamp cleaner...which also has a very "toxic" like smell, even though it says its "bubble-gum" flavor...lol Soooo, I'm not sure that I will purchase anymore of these markers...unless I'm able to take a class on them!

A Cool Discovery AND BIG NEWS!!!

I'm finally breaking open my PTI Holiday Treats set and discovered they are NOT JUST for using on the chocolate nuggets! I knew as soon as I saw this set that I was going to play with SU! Alpha Dots to see if it would fit inside...A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN!!!! They fit perfectly!!! Just make sure when using the Alpha Dots that you get down low when stamping...I really hate when it goes outside the line...lol I tried my best to line up the 3 label stamps, stamped the Alpha dots, and added Crystal Effects to act as "page bubbles". It did the perfect trick:) I also added some Amuse Twinkle Stickers for a little bling:)

Stay tuned for tomorrow...another Bella card:)

BIG NEWS ALERT!!!! Oh, wait, I can't share it yet, but ITS COMING! I'm on pins and needles!!!! This is such a wonderful oppurtunity and I'm very excited about my new venture...stay tuned:)

New Bella Card and Mingmei Munchies Winner....

Angel Wilde:

I have to agree with Linda, I am probably most like jammybella. As soon as I feel it's kosher enough, I am in my jammies for the night! I don't own a single bella. I've played with the images of others though and would love to have a few more to play with!!! they are so fun!!!
November 3, 2007 12:05 PM

Thanks to everyone who left a comment:) I loved all the responses...lots of PMS bellas out there too eh??...lol Angel please send me your snail address @ madscrapper24@yahoo.com and I will get your goodies out ASAP:)

Here is my first card to kick off Bella Week on my blog. As soon as I saw this Karen Lockart, "Gardener's know the best dirt" sentiment stamp(Ellen Hutson), I knew she'd fit perfect with Veggiebella. Veggie reminds me alot of Brea Van De Kamp, just missing a basket of fresh bisquits...lol I started off by watercoloring Bella with my watercolor pencils and SU! re-inkers. This SU! watercoloring paper is heavy weight and works well for folks like myself who have no idea what they are doing! I tend to get too much water on the paper then have to go back and add color...and repeat the steps several times before I get it right! After I colored her in, I went over the whole image with my Stardust glitter pen and she's really sparkly! I matted my Bella on SU! Ballet Blue and Certainly Celery and then sewed her on! The PP is from K&CO(Addison line) and I matted again(same colors) and sewed(see a new trend here??) her on as well! For the sentiment I cut my PP just right to give the effect of a "picket fence", added the sentiment, prima's, and an adhesive pearl(Ellen Hutson) which I added Diamond Stickles to for added sparkle. The photo is a little dark, even after doing some photoshop, but you can click on it for a better view:)

I'm having oodles of fun sewing my cards this week. I generally reserve my sewing machine for fabric ONLY, but caved in to try it on CS. I've read several reviews about sewing on cards and getting the needle all sticky with tape etc. My solution for this problem: just put your tape in the center of your CS and not on the edges:) I learned after the first run thru that there had to be an easier way...PRESTO!

"Mingmei Munchies"...

And who doesn't love FREE BELLA'S???? I can't part with my pretty Bella stamps but I can share them:) I have another "theme" week coming up with all Bella's and thought it'd be a good way to celebrate the weekend. As you can also see I changed the name of my "blog candy" to something fun and this is for my oldest daughter who loooooves the book, "Monster Munchies!" We must read this book at least 10 times a week, she's even reading it back to me now! Soooo, all you have to do is leave a comment here and tell me what Bella best describes you???!!!! I have to say for me its probably the Veggiebella because we all have a little "Brea Van De Kamp" in all of us....teehee! I will draw a winner on Monday morning!
I made this cute coordinating envelope with several of my favorite Bella images. They are all stamped in Black Stazon on PTI select cs. This cs is a heavy weight so its also ideal for watercoloring:) Images include: Veggiebella, Bubblebella, Cosmobella, Beachabella, Blingabella, Cakeabella.

The best part about this envelope is you can keep the Bella's for yourself and recycle the envelope for a gift card or a new hand-made card. I made the slot large enough to accomodate a standard size A2 card. This is also my first time EVER to sew on a card...I kept a nice simple line around the PP...lots o' fun! I just love these colors together and that ribbon is super yummy!! Thanks Jody!!

Tired of the BOOTS yet???!!!

Well, I promise this is the last of the "boots" week! These are the last cards in the this collection:) It was fun seeing how many possibilites you can get out of one stamp right? Plus if you decide to make multiples of these its easy to have a reference guide:) Sometimes I will have to tweak them a bit based on supplies on hand, but they still look cute! I will have some "Mingmei Munchies"(blog candy) up on Friday so check back in! I also made a cute bonus card to go with them:))

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! My kiddos have already gone Trick-or-Treating as of 8:45 a.m. this morning! They do a great tour around the base here for the little ones which is a great alternative to having to bundle them up so tight at night, thus covering up their cute costumes as well!

More boots...

Because these boots are soo much fun...lol!!! I used all the same supplies as the previous card and added a few extras. The oval for the sentiment is cut out with SU! oval punches and accented with MM vintage brads(I'm constantly grabbing for these!). The ribbon is from Mike's as well as the buttons. I added a rhinestone on the boots instead of a flower brad this time, and also added the brown scallops using my SU! slit punch. There will be two more cards this week ANNNNNNNND, blog goodies...anyone like Bella's?? So be looking for that on Friday:)

PTI...continued!

More Papertrey ink...at least until the end of next week:) I've had the cards made up for some time now and its really helped me keep up with blogging. It's nice to have time to work ahead and plan the weeks out! I'm dying to get my new Bella cards up, but those will have to wait until the week AFTER Halloween:) Anyhoo, these boots in the Green Thumb set are my ultimate fav's! I've said it before, but I absolutely love blue/chocolate combination. So this upcoming week you will see 3 additional cards with this set, same color combo, just a differnt card concept. This first card is fairly simple with a SU! Bashful Blue cs base and I used PP from DCWV(can be purchased at Target). The dotted bg is from SU! Polka Dot & Paisley set(I use this on almost ALL my cards). The focal image(boots) are stamped with Dewdrops and matted on a circle cut with my Spellbinder's Dies. The brown cirlce matte is cut with my Marvy Scalloped punch. I simply tied on May Arts ribbon, added a prima flower, flower brad, and accented the brown cirle frame with a Stardust Clear Glitter Pen. So here ya go Jillybean:)

I {heart} Papertrey Ink...

Another quick 1-layer card to share. I love these butterflies from PTI and stamped them in Archival Ink "Peacock" shade. All three shades of colors are on one pad and have a soft, subtle glimmer to them. I added a little yellow stickles, bling, and ribbon(from Taylor's ribbon shares) to tie it all together:)