Life's a Juggling Act

Yup, that's how it seems anyway! There's the fine art of balancing home, work and love! This Bella knows all about that. Today I share with you Jugglabella from Stamping Bella. I love how she is all dressed up pretty balancing all the loves of her life. Or maybe she is just getting ready for Valentine's Day - a nice evening celebration with her hubby! He he, I've got quite the imagination don't I?


I wanted this to look a little dressy, like our Bella so I kept to a simple color palatte of red, black, and gray. Of course, I pulled Bella's Bestest paper first and stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. Then I colored with copics. I added some shading for the ground and around Bella with Prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Now I've gotta share with you that there is a difference in the Verithin and the Premier Prismacolor pencils. The Verithin pencil is a hard, thin core pencil best used for outlining, lettering or detailing. I use the Premier pencils. They are a soft, thick core pencil so they don't dig into your paper and they blend to a smooth coverage of vivid color without leaving lots of lines. There are a variety of prepackaged sets to choose from or you can pick them up individualy at Craft and Art supply stores. Having the right tools can make a difference in your ability to achieve successful results.

Now back to our card. Cardstock is Neenah Classic Crest Solar white and Papertrey Ink. Design paper is Basic Grey 6x6 Oliver. I've decked Bella out with some Bella glitter on her camisole, black glitter on her dress and Viva Decor Red Pearl pen for the hearts. I love how this product shines and is so bright. No coloring was needed for the hearts just the pearl pen. Emily demoed the product during my adventure to Bellaland and I must tell you that I added a couple of these to my last order. Love them.

Two EK Success border punches helped give me decorative edging and a red and black ribbon and a shimmery ivory and gold button finished it off.

No machine stitching...I'm having withdrawal but I'm traveling this week so I'm again working with limited supply. I'm spending my last week in our Rochester home getting it cleaned up and ready for the last U-Haul to take the garage treasures outta here. If you've seen my garage before you know that tackling that project was an undertaking. Top to bottom, front to back accumulation of 20 years of stuff. I brought in a 40 cubic foot dumpster and got rid of a ton of junk. Then I listed items that had value but we no longer wanted on Craigslist and within hours it all went on to new homes. I even received a wonderful thank you from a college student that was able to put our old executive desk with a hutch that was still in the original box to good use. It was refreshing to have such an appreciative note. It also made my husband and I feel better about not filling up a land fill simply because we had out grown the "things".

Now you still have time to participate in this week's Bellariffic Friday challenge. It should be easy for you too...it's a free for all. Color whatever is handy or whatever occassion you need to make a card for. But create and send a copy of your card/creation to Emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday night. And don't forget to head to the Bella blog to see what all the sistahs have to share. Emily is getting ready for CHA and a big release...she's been posting some sneak peaks you'll need to check out as well.

See ya again soon.
Cath