Suck-it-up!

It's Friday folks, but better than that, it's Bellariffic Friday. I mean seriously, I get so excited waking up on Fridays knowing that at the end of the day I have two whole days off. But having Bellariffic Friday is a day iced with creativity and inspiration. This weeks challenge was paper piercing..honestly, I would have preferred paper piecing but that's what makes it a challenge right? Suck-it-up Stella called to me this week!


I have so many people/occassions to use this card for that I might have to make a few spares. But mostly it was for me. I bought a new bike to get in shape - it's a lot less impact than walking and believe it or not with Rheumatoid Arthitis, I can pedal easier and have no knee pain. I started pedalling through the rolling hills on a 9 mile course. I'm now up to 12.25 miles each night. Pretty wierd number to stop at right? Well if I go any further on my current route, I'll have the pleasure of flying down a steeeeep hill but I don't think I could get back up it to get home. Some day I'm gonna suck-it-up and give it a shot but for now I'm strengthening my legs...ski season is around the corner!

Now on to the card. I stamped Stella onto Bella's Bestest paper using Memento tuxedo black ink. I colored her with copics and added ground shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. I cut the image out using a Nesties labels 14 die. While keeping the paper in, I also added shading around the image with Versamagic chalk ink in wheat applied with a sponge. You'll see lots of stitching on this card but I was fearful of ruining all my hard work so I wasn't tackling all the curves with my sewing machine...that's where the piercing comes in. I simply added a few swirls with a pin and topped them off with black rhinestones to center your focus.

The center design paper panel was created with pages from Echo Park's For the record 6x6 pack. Machine stitching was used to put it all together. I know I have more thread on this than paper! I backed the panel with a Nestie die in Neenah classic crest soar white. The background paper is from the Basic Grey Jovial line (that's a holiday pack but it worked).

I hope you can join us with next week's challenge. It's time to bring out your Huggabugg's and show them some love. Send a picture of your creation to Emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday and you'll be included in the weekly lineup. And keep your eyes open on the Bella blog because you'll get to see the inspiration from all the sistahs. If that's not enough to have you stopping by, the new release just might be. She says it's Monday but all the excitement could mean she'll go postal, I mean public a little early. I know the new Uptown Girl line will definately be in my shopping cart and then there are some new Green Bean Babies and Paulabella's new line. I'm near bursting with excitement myself!

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Cath