What's Cooking

I had so much fun coloring Turtle Tots Baker from Stamping Bella. Hehe, this was a test run for this week's polka dot challenge. Ha but it didn't make the cut. I do however, think it's still pretty neat.

The October Afternoon design paper was perfect inspiration for me for coloring the apron - the flowers matched! I love when that happens. Then I couldn't resist coloring a bowl of chocolate cake batter. I'll even share a secret with you, I messed up the chef hat. I tried it in shades of red first but then decided it clashed. So I simply stamped another, colored it up the way I wanted and then pieced it on top. Voila, fixed!

I created the sentiment on the computer and sent my Bella's Bestest paper through my printer once I had the placement of the image set. The ribbon is from my Grandma Soporito stash...I love being able to incorporate her supplies into my cards. Each time I pull them out I have such wonderful memories of the woman who saved everything.

Card details: finished size 4 1/4 x 5 1/2, October Afternoon design paper, Bazzil black cardstock, black rhinestones, black grossgrain ribbon, dimensionals copics, prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol

You still have time to create a polka dot creation for this week's Bellariffic Challenge. I'll see you back here on Friday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cath

Some More Bella News

Have you been to the Bella blog today? We have three new Sistahs that have joined the Babes. I've been stalking them for quite some time now so I think that you will be very inspired if you visit their blogs. And please visit them.. so you can help me in welcoming these gals.

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy
Jessica Diedrich - The Whimsical Butterfly
Robin McKinley - Stamper Extraordinaire

To help you find them, I've also updated the links on my side bar.

Now how about a card?


I have been dying for Bessie LuLu from Stamping Bella since I saw Paulabella color her up last year. She finally made her way to my craft room. And I thought she would look great in soft yellows and Kraft which meant I could enter her in Jeanniebella's That's Krafty Thursday challenge.

Inspiration came from a piece of design paper from the Sassafras Ellie's Tale 6x6 paper pack I found online at the Bella shop. I stamped on Bella's Bestest paper and colored her with copics. Of course I couldn't resist adding grass with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Nesties helped me ground the image and an EK Success punch gave me a little contrast with brown cardstock along the bottom.

Check out Jeannie's blog for some more kraft inspiration. She has a huge following now so there is lots to see. You can participate too, just use kraft cardstock on your card. How easy is that?

Edited to add that I have also had a tip from a follower about another Kraft blog...The Kraft Journal. They too have weekly Kraft challenges and this week it's flowers so this fits. I've entered this card there too.

Of course I'm going to prod you to participate in Friday's Bellariffic Friday challenge - polka dots this week folks. There's still time to make a card and send a copy to Emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday night.

I'll be back soon with yet another card using my new paper stash.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cath

Betty Bombshell is in the house

This week lots of goodies have found their way to Crafty Cath's house. I have been dying for all the new 6x6 paper packs and they finally arrived. I could not wait to play. To start the week is Betty Bombshell from Stamping Bella.



Wish I was heading on my way to the beach...instead we've had some more cold weather and even a flurry or two on Friday. We had dinner in the mountains last night and they still have lots of snow. Ok, enough already. I'm ready for spring! I found this funky, exotic looking paper from Basic Grey titled Hello Lucious and thought it would help put me in a warmer mood.

I started by stamping Betty with Memento Tuxedo black ink on Bella's Bestest paper. I colored her with copics and added some soft sunshine with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. You'll notice that I added lots of dots in varying copic "E" shades to create the sand. I then cut this image out using oval Nesties.

Base cardstock is Dusty Durango by Stamping Up and the teal is by Core Dimensions. All three design papers are from the Basic Grey Hello Lucious pad. I placed the bottom layer through the Polka Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder. I also wanted to create the appearance of waves along the bottom so I used one edge of the Ric Rac die-namic from MFT.

Since Betty is a chichibuile fairy I had to add some glitter to her wings with the Quickie Glue pen. I then finished this off with a satin ribbon bow from my Mary Maxim stash and two pink dew drops.

Hope you have some sunshine headed your way.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cath

Stamping Bella News!!!

Have you seen Emily's post on the Bella Blog announcing the latest and greatest? Well for those of you lucky enough to live next to an Archivers store, this should be good news for you...Bella's will be coming to town. Yup, you heard that right. Stamping Bella will be sold at an Archiver's location near you. Of course, I just left Michigan and the convenience of having an Archiver's around the corner...thank goodness Bella's still ship.

Now, are you ready for a card? Today I share Clementine the Teapot girl from you guessed it, Stamping Bella.


I couldn't resist using my new Stella & Rose design paper and coloring with copics. Of course, I started with Bella's Bestest paper and stamped Clementine with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I did add some soft shading using prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Then to dress this up I added teal half pearls, seam binding ribbon and a Bella sentiment.

card details: finished card size 6x5, Neenah Classic Crest solar white cardstock for the base, My Minds Eye Stella & Rose Hattie design paper, Papertrey Ink colored cardstock, Bella's Besstest paper, Memento Tuxedo black ink, copics, prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol, pearls, seam binding tape, Nesties circle dies, machine stitching.

Don't forget that we don't have a Bellariffic Friday challenge this week so you have plenty of time to work on your Polka Dot challenge for April 1st.

Enjoy the rest of your week and thanks for stopping by.

Cath

An MFT Spring Fairy

How many stamps have you bought that have yet to see ink? Be honest now! I know that I often fall for stamps but it's finding the time to create that I fall short on. Take this MFT Pure Innocence stamp for instance, I've had it so long that they have now introduced it in rubber (I bought it as a clear stamp) and now it's new again. I thought it would make a great spring card and paired it with some Webster's Pages paper that has been collecting dust.

Since I'm loving my new fiskars finger cutter, I decided that this cutie needed to be trimmed and then mounted on the stacked circle Nesties. The border is also by MFT as well as the sentiment. I added some pink twine, a big button and a pearl to finish it off.

Hope you can find some time to create this week.

Thanks for stopping by,
Cath

Happy Day

It's finally Saturday! Now that I'm back to a work schedule, can't tell you how much I treasure my lazy Saturday mornings. Well, lazy means I can head to my craft room and indulge myself. Today I created with a purpose. I wanted to participate in Jen DelMuro's March SFYTT and Joanne Basille's 4th blogaversary celebration. To the rescue came Bettina Buttercream, a Chichibuile fairy from Stamping Bella. Her cherry topped cake seemed fitting.

I met a few new crafters in my area last night and brought Bettina along. Since it was too cumbersome to bring all my copics, I brought my prismacolor pencils. Of course, I started with Bella's Bestest paper and stamped my image with Memento Tuxedo black ink. For the first time in forever, I just colored with no particular design paper in mind. It took me a little longer to find something to put together, my turning to my stash of Basic Grey came through. You can see that I added machine stitching, some twine and a cute little sentiment to send wishes Joanne's way. I also added Stamping Up! crystal effects to the frosting, Viva Decor paper pen in red to the cherries and glitter to her wings.

To particpate with Jen, we had to follow the sketch - check
To participate with Joanne, you had to incorporate three elements. I used Kraft cardstock, multiple stitches (straight and some wacky curves) and twine.

Hope you find time this weekend to relax, create and have fun.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cath

Eggs in a Row for Bellariffic Friday

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks. Wow, the week has flown by. Hope you were able to play along with our sketch challenge this week. If not, head on over to the Bella blog to catch a glimpse at what the sistahs did.


Me, I made another Easter card. I couldn't resist the Spring feel of this stamp titled, Row of eggs with Bunny by Stamping Bella. I've turned the sketch sideways to fit the image in the oval panel and think it fits perfectly with the October Afternoon Ducks in a Row design paper. How funny is that - ducks in a row, eggs in a row, see the theme here? He he.

I also rounded the outside edges with my corner punch and matted in black for some pop. I used Copics to color but did add prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol for the grass, blue sky and shading. Notice that I also kept the image in the Nestie die and shaded with VersaMagic chalk ink in wheat for some additional shading.

I love having a sketch to follow, it makes short work of putting a card together. Thanks Dana for a great one!

card details: finished card size, 5 x 6 1/2, Bella's Bestest paper for image stamped in Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with copics, Viva Decor cream paper pen, Bella row of eggs with Bunny stamp and sentiment, black rhinestones, yellow grossgrain ribbbon, machine stitching, dimensionals, October Afternoon Ducks in a Row design paper, Stamping Up! colored cardstock, machine stitching, corner punch, oval Nesties.

The Mini-Bella's played along too and have some fun cards to share...

McKenze has a Ketto


McKenna and Lauren share Meredith the Teacup girl and DaisyBella.




Thank you everyone for your encouraging comments each week. They love to hear from you and look forward to your weekly cheering on.

Next week we're taking a break. We'll be back again on Friday April 1st with a Polka Dot challenge and that's no April fool's joke. So you have plenty of time to create. Don't forget to leave a comment on the Bella blog for your chance to win some Bella bucks! Woo Hoo - it means more shopping money.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cath

Happy Thoughts

I'm hoping that if I think happy thoughts the spring rain will bring spring flowers and green grass. Izzie has a Brelly, a Cristy Croll creation for Stamping Bella, looks prepared in case rain heads her way. I couldn't resist coloring her in a little St Patrick's Day green.

If you've visited before, you know that I have started with Bella's Bestest paper, Memento Tuxedo black ink and copics. I had a color scheme in mind so I hunted through my design paper for some nice yellows and greens. I found exactly what I was looking for in the October Afternoon Thrift Shop and Modern Homemaker 8x8 paper pads. I combined them with some bazzil cardstock and a fiskars border punch. The finished card is 6 x 5 inches. A grossgrain ribbon from my Mary Maxim stash, green dew drops and a Bella sentiment from the Billboard sentiments pack finished this off.

Don't forget that this week's Bellariffic Friday challenge is a sketch from Danabella. You've still got time to create a card and send a photo to emily@stampingbella.com

See ya on Friday with my creation.

Happy early St. Patrick's Day!

Cath

A Birthday Flyby

Happy Sunday everyone. Today I share with you Miles, the dragonfly. He's one of Cristy Croll's Huggabugg creations. I've been jonesing to color him up for some time now but I didn't have the right paper. Then I saw some Echo Park paper from their Little Boy collection titled In the Clouds online at Stamping Bella. Yup, that's exactly what I was looking for. My package arrived Thursday night and I knew this would be tackled this weekend.

I've also been loving using my new fiskars swivel finger cutter so I stamped him on Bella's Bestest paper with Memento Tuxedo black ink , colored him with copics and cut him out. Of course, I also added shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol, some glitter on his wings and Stamping Up! Crystal Effects on his goggles. Then I popped him up on a layer of circle Nesties placed on top of a Tim Holtz die. The striped paper is the reverse of the 12x12 paper. I ran the panel through the Cuttlebug with the Polka Dot embossing folder and then added some machine stitching.

The banner sentiment is also from Stamping Bella. While the one I used isn;t in stock right now there are quite a few more to choose from here. I don't have a recipient in mind for this, I figured it would make a perfect little boy birthday card. Can never have too many of those laying around.

Card details: finished card size 5 1/2 square, paper: Neenah Classic Crest solar white, Stamping Up! Ridding Hood Red, Echo Park In the Clouds dp, Bealla's Bestest white, copics, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Small and Large Circle Nesties, Quickie Glue pen, glitter,Stamping Up! Crystal Effects, Cuttlebug Polka Dot embossing folder, dimensionals Tim Holtz Die, machine stitching.


I'm off to tackle this week's Bellariffic Friday card - a sketch from Danabella. In case you missed it, here it is again. Won't you play along?

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

Cath

Spring Thanks

What a week this has been. Sorry for the non-existant posts. I started back to work this week after the 3 month move hiatus and it hit me a little more than I would have thought. So I'll be back to making cards on the weekends to post during the week. Today I got up real early to make this for you!



Pookie Lollipop is a Lori Boyd creation designed for Stamping Bella. I thought she would be perfect for spring. While I've always colored her in pinks, I decided to give a new copic selection a try...shades of purple. With that in mind I also pulled my Basic Grey Green at Heart 6x6 design paper. I stamped her out on Bella's Bestest paper, inked with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with copics. I then cut the image out using my new fiskars finger cutter and shaded her with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. The sentiment is also from Stamping Bella.

Card details: finished size 5 1/2 inch square, paper: Basic Grey, Bazzil cardstock, glitter, MFT Scallop die-namic, border punch by Martha Stewart, and deckled edge rectangle die from Spelbinders.

Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Cath

Easter Izzie

This week's Bellariffic Friday challenge was Easter. I've been in Easter mode for weeks now so please hang with me. I have a few more images yet to share. Today I couldn't resist coloring Izzie is a Bunny. I LOVE all the Izzie's with their flowing skirts and curly hair and this was no exception.

I started with some nice new Memory Box 6x6 papers sent to me by Paulabella. So nice to have a sistah that shares. No asking either - I just came home the other night to an unexpected surprise. Woo Hoo. The papers helped me with the color direction - blue and green seemed perfect for spring. Izzie was stamped on Bella's Bestest paper, with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored with copics. I also added shading with a combindation of prismacolor and caran d'ache pencils blended with gamsol.

A Martha Stewart border punch, hand dyed seam binding tape, a couple swarkovski crystals, glitter and machine stithching also adorn the card. You might notice that I also added shading aound my image panel with VersaMagic Wheat chalk ink while the panel was still in the Nestie.

Mini-Bella McKenzie found time to get creative this week...here's her Bella bunny.

Next week's challenge is this sketch from Danabella. I love sketches, it makes cardmaking twice as easy. So grab your favorite Bella image and some yummy papers and give this sketch a try. Then send a copy of your card to emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday night. One lucky participant wins $20 in Bella bucks and one lucky commentor wins $10. Now head on over to the Bella Blog to see what the other sitahs have to contribute.

I'm also sharing a creation from my cousin's daughter - mini-bella, McKenna. Love how she used design paper and a sentiment to turn her image into the perfect Easter card.


Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend!

Cath

Create...

I have a fun project to share with you today. I told you that I recently visited a scrapbook store and found tons of inspiration. One of the things they had in abundance was banners. Well, I've decided to channel some of that energy into papercrafting projects to decorate my craft space. I love banners so I've taken some of the paper and embellishments that I hoard and incorporated them into something for me. Understanding why we hoard might help here. I KNOW that I hoard because I find things I love and don't want to part with. Why do I torture myself if I don't also use them? So, I've pulled my Webster's Pages papers because I love the colors and the prints but find that the 12x12 papers I have are too big in scale for my cards. They also had coordinating colors to work with on the back and it made this project easy to do.

Kelly Lunceford makes holiday banners and posts them quite frequently. I remembered that she also posted a tuitorial so I headed to her blog and found exactly what I was looking for here. It's a step by step lesson on how she creates her gorgeous banners. It was easy but time consuming to do this project but I am tickled pink with the result. I did make one slight change to her directions and that was to add large eyelets in soft pastel shades to match each flag. I then tied a bow with seam binding tape to join each flag to the next. Kelly uses staples and I was too afraid that it wouldn't stand the test of time.


You'll find glitter, seam binding tape I hand dyed, buttons, a rhinestone dragonfly, a gold leaf, paper flowers, punched butterflies, and lucious Martha Stewart ribbon adorning this inspirational banner. I even pulled my Slice machine out to cut the letters. I didn't have chipboard letters but thought I would try the tool that sits and collects dust to see if it could finally earn it's keep. It did! The font is from the Back to School cartridge cut 4 inches. They were exactly what I was looking for.

I'm very hesitant to hang things on the wall just yet but this is attached with some straight pins so the impact to the wall is minimal. Woo Hoo. I can definately see me making some more of these!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Cath

Scribble Garden

Sure wish it was time to get into the ol garden. For now I'll have to rely on my stamps. This is one of the January releases from Stamping Bella. Scribble Garden is another pretty big stamp so I borrowed an idea from fellow babe - Danabella and just captured part of it in the Nestie die.

I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge#106 for the layout. If you haven't tried these yet, you should head on over and check it out. Sure makes cardmaking easier. I struggled with a layout until I saw this and had the aaahaaa moment.

Design papers are October Afternoon, Cardstock is Bazzil and some scraps I had around. Coloring was done with Copics on Bella's Bestest paper, stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink with additional shading done using prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Some of the little extras are picket fence border by Martha Stewart, brown pearls by Kaiser craft, cork border cut using MFT die-namic, brown velvet ribbon, computer generated sentiment and a handmade seam binding tape rosette. This was way easy - I even hand died to this color. Such fun.

Hope you enjoy your Saturday.

Cath

Butterfly Delight

When I saw the Flutterby stamp released by Stamping Bella for the January CHA convention I was psyched. I love butterflies and this one looked so whimsical and fun. I will tell you that today's card, like the life of a butterfly, did have an evolution though. I actually made three before I was happy with the result.

It started here...
The stamp is rather large so pairing it with design paper on a card, I found to be a challenge. So I decided to make my own. I stamped the image multiple times onto Bella's Bestest paper using Memento Tuxedo black ink but made sure that I only had one full impression. Then I colored with copics and adorned with a vellum sentiment banner. I liked how the flower embellishment on the button matched the flowers around the butterfly.

My second try came after seeing a photo in Country Living. There were two butterfly portraits done in bright blues and greens matted white on white. Simple, classic, beautiful. Here's my attempt but it reminded me too much of Kimabella's card last week to leave as is. Husband put in his two cents and said that it was too simple, no layers of cardstock, no buttons, bows or ribbon like I usually have.

I took his comments to heart, headed back to my craft room and voila...
this is the result. I love the fun quirky stitching, reminds me of the flight pattern a butterfly might take. I love the sentiment although it's not a Bella but it gave a little simple grounding. I loved the colors of the butterfly and the pretty sparkly glitter.

So we have Bella Babes, Mini's and apparently "Bucks"; Our dear guys that love to impart their opinion in our craftdom. Do you get that in your house too? At least I have found how versitile this stamp can be.

Mini-Bella McKenzie joined us again this week. She inked up Mavis has a Daisy. Great job McKenz on your paper selection and I love your coloring too...Mavis looks like she has real fur. Not to mention that your layout looks like you're a pro.

Next week's challenge is Easter. I've had Easter on my mind for weeks now so this should be easy. If you don't have an eggy or bunny Bella stamp, why not use spring colors and pair it with an Easter sentiment? Just be sure to send a photo of your creation to emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday night.

Have a great weekend.

Cath

An Adventure Pays Off

Yesterday I went for a little adventure with Anne, my new card making buddy in Coxsackie. Actually, she's my only buddy in Coxsackie so far but we happen to share a habit of hoarding cardmaking supplies. So with a mapquest direction sheet in hand I set out for Captured Moments, the ONLY brick and mortar Scrapbooking store in the Capital Region (Albany for all my non-NY followers). It wasn't too far, about a 40 minute drive. We were mesmerized by the creative atmosphere of the place - everywhere you looked, paper altered projects were displayed along side Shabby Chic and Antique finds. I wanted to rush to Marshalls or TJ Maxx to pick some things up myself. The store was really focused on the scrapbooker but I still came home with tons of ideas and some new paper. Next up we headed to JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby (only one week old to our area) and AC Moore. We hit them all.


I was inspired to create something totaly new to me. I love Magnolia stamps. Late last year, I actually acquired my first one but it's sadly never seen ink. JoAnn's had 10% off their magazines and they sent me an additional 10% off coupon so I bought a Magnolia Ink magazine. I love the Scandanavian style of coloring with Copics and distress inks. I know there are lots of bloggers out there that do this but I wanted some hands on photo inspiration. I got it. Today I share Tilda with Piglet. Man I had fun coloring this.

I started with Bella's Bestest paper, Memento Tuxedo black ink and copics. I added additional shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol and Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I then cut her out with my new Fiskars Fingertip Control Swivel knife. Ok this makes cuting images out so much easier. Love it! Then I layered Spellbinders Classic ovals small, large and Beaded to created the image panel. I added distress inks again for a more rustic look and added Viva Decor Paper Pen in cream for the look of pearls. The sentiment is by Stamping Bella and I made it into a banner. Soft blue velvet ribbon and a scrap of white crochet ribbon help to ground the image and again give a shabby chic feel. Cardstock is Bazzil and design paper is the back side of Daisy Dreams from the Jack n'Jill Collection by Prima Marketing.

Here's a closeup...


So what do ya think? Totaly outside my comfort zone but I like the result.

Have a great day!

Cath

Chatty Cathy

If there ever was a statement made just for me it would be this...Chatty Cathy. The Cathy part for obvious reasons but if you've gotten to know me you would also know that I could talk your ear off. I consider myself shy (ok, no laughing from the peanut gallery) you didn't let me finish...until I get to know you. To know you, I can talk a mile a minute.


Back in my High School days, this image by Stamping Bella had me pegged to a "T". My Dad used to give me a three minute talk limit. Are you serious? Do you know how fast three minutes goes when you are talking about Dave and Todd and Bobby? Not to mention what Debbie, Kristen and Eileen said. So I often got "yelled" at to get off the phone. Today, give me my craft room and I'm good. I hate to sit on the phone. Dad, you should have bought me stamps!

I hit a brick wall for this card though folks. I started this image for the Bellariffic Friday Aquamarine color challenge. But it didn't have exactly what I was looking for. I slept on it...well, not literally, but when I woke up today I had a slight vision and this is how it came together. I like how the design paper by K&Company was just lying across my cardstock. To use a die to cut it out, we would loose alot of it. So, I cut off the edges that hung over and glued it down. Then I used my Stamp-a-majig to align my sentiment (also by Stamping Bella) going down the label 14 Nestie die. I was quite pleased with how easy it was to make this linear stamp vertical. I then added shading with VersaMagic chalk ink and a sponge while the paper was still in the Nestie. It creates a nice white border and I like the contrast.

Paulabella and I went on an adventure in August and bought this lovely pink rosette ribbon. It's taken me this long to use it. However, I've taken it out about a gazillion times and it never seemed quite right. I like that it fits my sentiment as well. And of course, so do the rhinestones I added for just a little bling.

Card Details: Bella's Bestest paper, Bazzil cardstock, K&Company baby girl design pack, Memento Tuxedo black ink, copics, prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol, VersaMagic chalk ink, swarkovski crystals, Spellbinders Labels 14,Long Classic and Scalloped rectangles dies, rosette ribbon from Archivers.

I'm off to finish my Bellariffic Friday Challenge card. Ebru gave us a wonderful color photo for inspiration. Need more, you can also google Aquamarine images. Since Aquamarine is the birthstone for March we thought it fitting to use for our first March challenge. Get your rubbah out and get playing. You still have time to send a photo to emily@stampingbella.com. Check out Stamping Bella on Facebook too and upload a photo for the gallery there as well.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cath