More HYCCT!

Good morning! I have 2 more cards to share today that were made for the Hope You Can Cling To Challenges on SCS.  In case you don't know, it's all in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month and all the cards made are being sent to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in TX.

My first card is for the Butterflies of Hope challenge. I tried something a bit out of the ordinary for me so I'd love to get some feedback on it!  I used the Lacey Butterfly CutUps die and the Flutter By stamp set both from The Cat's Pajamas. The small dies, Mini Exotic Butterflies are also sold in the TCP store and work so nicely with the Lacey Butterfly!

I first stamped my background paper with the Fluttering By sentiment and then right over that with the tiny butterfly and dotted trail stamps. Next I die-cut the Lacey Butterfly and added a piece of pink cardstock behind the cut-out image.  I used the die-cut, which I held in place, as a stencil and sponged on some dark pink ink over the detail of the die.  I also sponged around the edge of the butterfly to give it more presence.

Once that was done I just assembled the card and added the 2 smaller butterflies with their wings folded up off the card. I used the new Circus Border CutUps die on the side and heat embossed the rest of the sentiment that.  Like I said, it's different for me, but I kind of like it! :)

Next up is a card for the Brave Heart challenge.  I pulled out my Stamping Bella images (which shamefully haven't seen much ink lately) and used Addy 'tude Loves to Sparkle. I thought this image was so fun and girly - definitely good for a pick-me-up card!  Lots of sparkle and bling here too! ;)

The dress was paper pieced but I also added a layer of glitter to it.  For the wrap, I used Fun Flock and a wee bit of glitter. The sketch is FTL#162 from Clean & Simple Stamping.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit today!! Have a great day!

Flutter By Lacey Butterfly CutUps die Circus Border CutUps die Mini Exotic Butterflies White Neenah Cardstock Addy 'tude Loves to Sparkle

Flower For You (SSS59)

This is my 2nd post of the day, please scroll down for a special Birthday card!

Welcome to the Saturday Sketch from The Sweet Stop!  It's been a while since I pulled out some fun Stamping Bella stamps and this little turtle, Picking Posies, just called to me - he's just so adorable!  I also really like this sketch - it's totally versatile as you will see if you scroll down to the post just below this one.  

I used some pretty bright colors and some fun Raspberry Fizz felt too.  The flower was made by using some Cuttlebug die cut flowers with patterned paper and felt.  I just stacked them and punched holes in the center so that I could add my ribbon.  

Be sure to visit The Sweet Stop to view the sketch as well as the cards from all the Sugar Babies.  You can also visit each of these totally talented ladies on their blogs.  We hope that you will also give the sketch a try and leave us a link!  Thanks so much for visiting today - Happy Weekend! :)

 Korin Sutherland
Audrey Gonzales
Andrea Vernagus
Candace Mitchell
Renata Elenbaas
Nancy Brown
Kathy Paige
Dana White
Kelli Caslow 

Cardstock: White, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink), Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup, Stamps: Picking Posies (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Felt, Ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Nestabilities, Copic markers, foam adhesive, rhinestones (Taylor's Tiny Twinkles), flower dies (Provo Craft)

Saturday Sketch #46

This is my card of the Saturday Sketch at The Sweet Stop.  This week is #46 and I used this adorable Addy 'tude Loves to Sparkle stamp from Stamping Bella.

I've decided that I need to make a stash of birthday cards.  The busy birthday months are upon us in my family and it seems that I never have enough birthday cards!  I just adore this stamp!! Isn't she wonderful with her ring and her fun dotted dress and those glasses?!  I pieced her dress and one everything was colored I used a Clear Glaze pen on her glasses, ring and shoes.  I love the little bit extra that give it!

The sketch for today is wonderful - I love the scalloped layer!  Go check out all the samples on The Sweet Stop's blog and be sure to visit the rest of the Sugar Babies for more inspiration!

Korin Sutherland
Jodi Collins
Nicole Anderson
Ann Clack
Audrey Gonzales
Andrea Vernagus
Candace Mitchell
Renata Elenbaas
Lisa Hjulberg
Nancy Brown

If you get a chance to craft along with us and make a card using this sketch, please leave a link HERE so we can checking it out!!    Have a great day everyone!!

Cardstock: White (Gina K Designs), Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers), Stamps: Addy 'tude Likes to Sparkle (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Ribbon (PTI), Glaze pen, Scalloped die (Papertrey Ink), Rhinestones (Kaiser)

Beee Mine - SSS41

Happy Weekend!  It's time for another Saturday Sketch from The Sweet Stop.  I'm having so much fun on this team - aren't the sketches great?!  I hope you've gotten a chance to give them a try -and be sure to leave the link over at The Sweet Stop so we can see!

For my card today I pulled out this little cutie Huggabugg from Stamping Bella. This is Beeemine Huggabugg.  The dp is some luscious pink, red and brown Valentine paper from American Crafts - I love it!  I colored the image with Copics and added some Glossy Accents to the little bug's heart.  The little pearls added on her antennae and in the corner are some new (to me) little Zva pearls - very fun!

Take a minute and hop over to The Sweet Stop blog for a look at what the Sugar Babies have done this week.  And visit their blogs to leave them some love!

Korin Sutherland
Jodi Collins
Nicole Anderson
Ann Clack
Audrey Gonzales
Andrea Vernagus
Candace Mitchell
Renata Elenbaas

There's still time to get in on some blog candy I'm offering on THIS post too!  Have a wonderful weekend my friends!

Cardstock:  Dark Chocolate, Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink) White (Neenah), Patterned Paper: I Heart You Honey Bun (American Crafts), Stamps: Beeemine Huggabugg (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories:  Brown Twill Tape (Papertrey Ink), Pearls (Zva Creative), Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Copic Markers, foam adhesive, Glossy Accents (Ranger), sewing machine

It's a Lulu Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the LuLu Blog Hop sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella.

If you read my blog you may remember that at Stamping Around Vermont Joanne Basile taught a class and one of her projects was a Lulu card. I had been wanting to order some but after this class I just HAD to order - plus with the new FREE shipping policy for orders over $55 how can you go wrong . . . a few Turtle Tots and Huggabugs jumped into my cart too - hee hee!

So my card today is with Emma from the Lulu Collection. I used some pretty paper from My Mind's Eye and my Spellbinder's Blossom dies to make a girly girl card! The sentiment is actually from one of my Turtle Tots sets.

I was super excited to get a chance to use my brand new Black Glaze pen for her hair and dress. Joanne let us all use hers in Vermont and I came home and ordered a set right away! See in the close-up photo how shiny and black it makes her hair & polka dots?!! The brad in the center of the flower is something I've had forever . . . just waiting for the perfect project! Love it when that happens!! I cut the leaves free hand and pierced them for some interest. Oh, and the flowers in her hair were cut out and popped up with foam adhesive.

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! Now it's time to hop on over to Tanya's blog!

Cardstock: Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink), White (Gina K Designs), Black, Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, Stamps: Emma (Stamping Bella), sentiment from Turtle Tots Picking Posies (Stamping Bella), Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink), Accessories: Copic Markers, Spellbinders Blossom die, polka dot brad, Berry Sorbey stitched ribbon (Papertrey Ink), foam adhesive, paper piercer, Black Glaze Pen

TGI[Bella]Friday!

Good morning - it's a Bellarific Friday too! :) It's been a while since I had a chance to play along. Ever since Joanne's class at Stamping Around Vermont last weekend, I've had the urge to play with my Huggabugs - seriously, they are just so cute and I loved the sweet Appley Bowl huggabug we used for the class! I don't have her yet though, so I pulled out Cupcake with a Huggabug on Top and some fun new paper from Bo Bunny. The sketch this week was a great, basic sketch that I can see being useful time and time again!

I just love the colors on this card - so soft and pretty with a touch of Kraft! hee hee! I used some glitter to accent the cupcake and of course some bling for the end of the curlies (they're antennae, right?). The corner is embellished with some Bella glittery dots that we got in our cruise goodie bag!

That's all for now . . . I'm hoping to have some stamping time today since I worked hard yesterday!! Hubby was home for the morning so we dug all the baby clothes and gear out of the attic and started getting ready for our new bundle of joy - coming in just 3 weeks now!! WOW! So much to do, but it feels good (and smells good too!) to have some clothes and blankets washed! Have a great day!

Cardstock: Kraft, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink), White (Gina K Designs), Patterned Paper: Kitchen Spice Nutmeg (Bo Bunny), Stamps: Cupcake with a Huggabugg on top, Happy Birthday (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Foam adhesive, Bella Dots Glittery Sky (Stamping Bella), Ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Glitter (Martha Stewart)

Weekend Recap

I thought you might be interested in seeing a few pictures of our fun Stamping Around weekend in Vermont! Kim did a fabulous wrap-up on the Stamping Around website, so check that out or me pics but here are a few of mine.

Welcome to Stamping Around Vermont! By the end of the day the sides of the sign had started to relax - lol!

This is the teacher's table (this was when Cindy was teaching her class sponsored by Our Craft Lounge and eclectic Paperie - cardstock was provided by Gina K Designs)

Jenn Shurkus taught a wonderful class sponsored by AMuse!

Our stampers are hard at work.

Our first class Friday night was so much fun! Erika Martin had us complete an 8x8 canvas board using paint and patterned paper scraps! Each person's came out so unique and beautiful! See the Stamping Around site for a picture of several of them lined up together. My canvas turned out very bright and colorful as I used lots of fun scraps from October Afternoon.

The first class on Saturday morning was taught by Joanne Basile and sponsored by Stamping Bella (patterned paper provided by eclectic Paperie, cardstock by Gina K Designs and die cut box by Jody Morrow). Seriously, how cute are those cards??!!

The second class was taught by Cindy Lawrence and sponsored by Our Craft Lounge (again, patterned paper was from eclectic Paperie and cardstock from Gina K Designs). Cindy made these adorable, uniquely-sized cards with a wonderful box to put them in an envelopes with patterned paper flaps! We had lots of great coloring therapy with these first two classes! :)

Next up, Jenn Shurkus and her wonderful AMuse halloween cards - 5 in all! Yes, 5!! Jenn was ultra organized and the nice, clean style of AMuse made them quick and fun to complete!

Finally, it was my turn! It had been a long, busy day of stamping but we needed to complete this cute, clear box filled with wax pumpkin tarts and a votive candle. My class was sponsored by Kitchen Sink Stamps and we used a brand new set that will be released on September 25 (how fun that we got a sneak peek!!). This project will also be my Project of the Month for KSS so watch my blog for complete details and instructions next week!

I hope you've enjoyed the quick review and pics . . . if are anywhere close to Allentown, PA check out the details or our next event, Stamping Around Philly, taking place Nov. 6 & 7!

Bellarific Friday

TGIF again!! :) I had a bit of time to play with week's Bellarific sketch - YEA!! The sketch was just perfect for this adorable stamp, One Piece Circle we received on the Stamping Cruise (thanks Em!!) I think this stamp is adorable and I had fun searching through my paper stash to find something appropriate.

Another purple card too!! I added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the waves for the "bling effect" - gotta have the bling baby!! :)

Hope you all have a great weekend! Please remember my Jules Jewels (aka Blog Candy) post just below - I'll keep it open until next week sometime.

Thanks for visiting, have a great weekend!!

Cardstock: White (Papertrey Ink), Patterned Paper: American Craffts, Stamps: One Piece Circle, Enjoy Life (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Bella Baubles, Nestabilities, Copci markers, Dazzling Diamonds glitter,

Happy Bella Birthday Hop!

Welcome to the Birthday Blog Skip, Hop & Dance sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella.

It's Em's birthday today and what a fun way to celebrate!!! A hop in honor of the Queen Bella herself! :) Happy Birthday dear Em - have some cake & ice cream for me!!

I pulled out another one of my new stamps from Stamping Bella, Violet Bitty Bloom - is she not sweet?!! And I got another chance to play with purple tones again! The little crocheted flower was made using Nichole's pattern and some DMC floss. I have to say, I'm not a fan of using DMC floss to crochet, although next time I might separate it. It was very bulky and I kept getting my hook caught in one or two threads. I think I may crochet tight (which is how I knit too so makes sense!).

Anyway, I hope you like your card Em - I'll get it in the mail to you soon!! Next stop on the Birthday Blog Hop is Jess' Obsession.

Cardstock: Plum Pudding, White (Papertrey Ink), Patterned Paper: Hip Hip Hooray Crosshatch (Karen Neuberger - Paper Salon), Stamps: Violet Bitty Bloom, Happy Birthday (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Nestabilities, Corner Rounder Punch, Bella Baubles, yellow adhesive pearl, white gel pen, Copic markers, crocheted flower & button, Plum Pudding ribbon (Papertrey Ink)

Bellerific Friday Sketch

Happy Friday!! I had a bit of time yesterday so I was able to participate in Bellerific Friday for the second week in a row - yea!! Here is another of my new Kettos from Stamping Bella - this is Charlotte, so cute right?! Of course, I loved her too because my that's my Anna's middle name (I'm a big Bronte fan!).

This week's challenge was another great sketch from Nicky. I decided to go bold again and used some pretty dp from the Metropolitan line by American Crafts. I feel like there should be something in that bottom right corner, but. . .

I colored her with Copics, except her hair which was done with a black Prismacolor pencil. I also did some highlighting with Spica pens which is hard to see - her shoes and even some spots around her hair are sparkly.

Sorry about the bad photographs lately, I've broken a few lights for my photo tent which need to be replaced asap! If the lighting were better you'd be able to see the cute Ruby Red Bonbons around a pretty marble Bella Dot.

Come back this afternoon - I have CAS (clean & simple) Rubber Romance card to share! Until then . . . have a great morning! :)

Cardstock: Soft Sky, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red (SU!), Patterned Paper: Flower Stand, Skyline (Metropolitan collection by American Crafts), Stamps: Charlotte Ketto, Here's to You! (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Bella Bonbons, Bella Dots, Dimensionals, Pure Poppy Twill (Papertrey Ink), Nestabilities, Spica pens, Copic markers

Bellerific Friday!

Happy Friday friends! We had a HOT one here yesterday, a bit much for me but the whole weekends looking sunny and warm so I'm not complaining!

I got a few new goodies from Stamping Bella last week and decided that Bellerific Friday was a great way to put them to use! I ordered a couple Kettos, have you seen them? I wasn't sure at first but they've grown on me and I love them!! Em's team has done a great job making yummy cards with them - they "made" me buy them (I'm blaming Joanne - lol!!) :) So my card uses Suzette Ketto - cute or what?! The dp is also from Stamping Bella - it's American Crafts Craft Fair collection.


The sketch was by Nicky for this week's challenge - lots of fun!! :) Thanks for visiting - have a wonderful weekend!

Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, White (Papertrey Ink), Summer Sunrise (SU!), Patterned Paper: Craft Fair collection (American Crafts), Stamps: Suzette Ketto, Dare to be Different (Stamping Bella), Ink: Memento, Accessories: ribbon, Copic markers, Nestabilities, Flowers (Stamping Bella), Swarovski crystals, Dimensionals

Bellarific Friday

Did you know that it's a Bellarific Friday?! Em has some new Bella Babes and she's started posting a challenge on Mondays for all who want to play along! I had a wee bit of time yesterday so here's what I came up with using the inspiration piece.

Aren't those owls just adorable! I love them!! The stamp is called Cuddly Owlies and I had some fun piecing the big guy with some felt. Be sure to check out Em's blog on Monday for the new challenge and play along - you could in a prize! :)

I'll be back tomorrow with my Prettie Peek! :)