Hannah brings sentiments

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks! This week we had a sketch to work with. I've been watching my fellow babes hack the heck out of images and decided to give that a whirl here since I wanted to ink up the lovely Hannah with Wreath image designed by Mo Manning and released in rubbah through Stamping Bella. She was just a little too big for the circle sketch we had today.

I stamped her onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored her with copics then cut her with a Nestie circle die but left the tails of the bow to trail outside the edges. Then I backed her with a red cardstock scalloped circle and a rectangle scalloped piece of Bazzil cardstock for my sentiment. The sentiment comes from the Happy Family snowmen set by Rheea and I just pieced it to fit in the space with my stamp-a-ma-jig. I have no idea where the design paper is from. It was in my Holiday stash and I just loved it.

Always a sucker for ribbon and snowflakes I added those as well and since the design called for it, I also added three rose colored dew drops. This was quick and easy and I thought it could work as a thank you or for holiday wishes. Just what I like, a double duty card!

Next week our challenge is to use a tag ~ either to your card of just decorate a tag with a Bella image ~ your choice. We also have an anything goes challenge on the Splitcoast Stampers Forum going you should check out. It's a chance to win $25 in Bella Bucks ~ perfect for Holiday giving or for presents for you...simply click my highlighted "challenge" link above to learn all the details.

Have an awesome weekend!

Cath

Peaceful wishes

Hello folks. I promised you my second holiday card from last week's Bellariffic Friday post. I've been eyeing the Peace On Earth sentiment stamp from Stamping Bella for a while now and finally added to the shopping cart with my last purchase. Here it is showcased with Reindeer Circle, another one of my all time favorite holiday images.

I've kept this a soft pallet using the design paper from Stampin' Up! as my inspiration. Pretty easy card - and it would be perfect to duplicate for mass production. I stamped the sentiment with a sage green ink onto cream cardstock and cut with a Sizzix die. The Reindeer was stamped onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored with copics. I added glitter for the appearance of snow and stitched up several circle dies to layer with Bazzil cardstock scraps. A sheer green ribbon bow was added to finish it off.

See, pretty easy right?

I have another one coming using the Merry sentiment so stayed tuned.

Have a great week.
Cath

Woodland Snowman

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks! This week's challenge was to make a Holiday card. Holiday's for me bring snow and a festive down home spirit so I choose to ink up Frostier from Stamping Bella's newest release. I just loved the rustic feel of this image and the not so perfectly round shape.

I stamped him onto Bella's Bestest paper with Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored him with copics. I've used Warm "W" copics for the body and Cool "Cs" for the hat. Shading around the image is Tim Holtz Vintage Ink Distress Ink. The image was cut with a Nestie and matted with black Bazzil cardstock. The dp is from the Jovial Basic Grey 6x6 pack.

Frosty's buttons were accented with a Black glaze pen and a Signo white pigment pen. The vine on Frosty's hat was accented with Viva Decor paper pens in red and green. To add to the rustic feel, I've added real birch tree bark that's as thin as paper (found along the trails in the Catskills) across the background and then topped it with a button with red hemp. Of course, how could I not add glitter right? So I dusted it all over the edges.

Next week's challenge is a sketch. Hope you find time after all the leftover turkey and Black Friday shopping to create with us too!

I'll be back tomorrow with my second holiday card - I had a hard time picking just one image to color.

Ciao for now,
Cath

Posh drops in with Presents...Again!

Hey all!! I have a quick post to share with you. We were invited to a Sweet 16 party today and I decided that Uptown girl Posh has a Present would make the perfect card. So I started by stamping the image onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored her with my copics and then I cut her out. I couldn't help it, I love the way it looks!

So I've had the dp for about 2 years now, it's a soft purple and pink plaid 12 x 12 sheet from My Mind's Eye on Kraft called Life's Stories. I added a little shading with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink around the edges after cutting it with a Nestie die. The background is cut with another Nestie and I inked the edges of that too!

The sentiment comes with the image so I simply distressed around the edges again and placed it over Posh's legs - hated to hide them but I needed to put it somewhere. Of course Posh wouldn't be complete without some glitter so I piled that on too!

Hope you're doing something fun this weekend too!

Cath

Decisions, Decisions!

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks! It's been a busy week in Bellaland. Let's start with our weekly challenge. This week it was a sketch. I've flipped it so that I could color up one of the latest release images. This is Uptown Girl Winona Loves Winter. In fact she loves it so much that she's skating and sledding all at the same time. Hehe.

You probably know the basics by now, I stamped Winona onto Bella's Bestest cardstock and colored her with copics. The Nestie Petite Oval die classic and scallop pull the image center stage. The snowflake border on atop the blue dp is an EK Success punch.
A red and white ribbon take the place of the vertical panel in our sketch - I just really wanted to add a ribbon. In the lower right corner I added a felt snowflake from my stash and topped it with a half pearl. Glitter makes the snow glisten.

Next up is all the Bella activity - Elaine is keeping us busy on all the Social Media sites...here's where your decision comes into play...would you prefer to see us in blogland or on Facebook or on Splitcoast stampers Forum? You've got choices. Lots of you have joined in on the fun in multiple locations, so pick the venue that works best for you and check out all the chatter and ideas being shared.

Last, we have a new Babe in the house. Kim O'Connell officially starts on December 1st but she's playing along and even has a blog give away to celebrate coming on board. Check out her work, I'm sure you're going to love her fun style!

And if you're still with me you might want to know that next weeks challenge is Holiday Wishes or a Winter Themed card.

Have a great weekend!
Cath

New Winter Rubbah...

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks. Mr. UPS man arrived on my doorstep yesterday and that meant I was able to delve into some new rubbah!!!! And you will love the new stamps. They come pre-cut and mounted for ease of stamping. They're even a real pretty blue too!

So with this week's snow theme, I pulled Ramona Loves to Glide. I stamped her onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored her with copics. I cut out a little ice rink using a Nestie Petite Oval die and then hand cut the rest of Ramona out to be added to her skates. With the snow theme, I decided to incorporate paper die cut snowflakes using a combo of Memory Box die and Martha Stewart Arctic Snowflake puch topped with a rhinestone, snowflake paper and a snow sentiment.

Design paper is from the My Mind's Eye Be Merry 6x6 pack and cardstock is Bazzil and Bella's delish Kraft. Glitter adorns the ice rink and machine stitching was added to the seams. For a little extra pop, I topped the buttons on Ramona's coat and the dots of her scarf with a Sakura Black Glaze pen. Her fur bordered hat was given a little extra fluff with white flocking adherred atop Art Glitter glue.

If the Nor'Easter storm we had on the Eastern coast didn't reach you, I hope you can find some snow enjoyment from the rest of the sisterhood. Head on over to Em's blog to see more snowy creations. If you find some time to create with us next week we're back to a sketch. And here it is...hope you can find some time to play along. And I'd love to see what you come up with so don't forget to send a photo of your creation to Emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday night.

Keep a look out for Mr. UPS man in your neighborhood...your orders should be arriving soon and I can guarantee that the wait was worth it.

Enjoy your weekend and Ciao for now!
Cath

Cold Weather is coming....

Hope you've had a productive weekend! I spent lots of time in my craft room. First organizing and finally taking things out of boxes. Now that the house is ours, I thought it was time to see what I have and what I've been missing. What I found is that I still have LOTS of stuff that I just don't need anymore. So I filled a box of items to donate to my local Girl Scout Daisy troop. It's perfect for an activity box when they need fill in time.

I also spent time up on the mountaintop today. There were spots of snow hiding in shady areas but it was mostly just COLD. It was the first time I pulled out the hat and gloves of the season. And I rode my bike for the first time in two months. It felt awesome even if it was cold. No worries, I had a down coat on and the fur hood even fit over my helmet so my head stayed warm. The adventure became the inspiration for this afternoon's creativity session in my now organized craft room. I pulled out Stamping Bella's Hat and Mitts. Ya know that I stamped them onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored them with copics. It was pretty easy actually and I only used 5 copics - R39, R37, R35, R32 and YG97. For the fur I did breakout W1 and W3 and then applied Flocking onto Quickie Glue. Also couldn't resist adding some glitter to the mittens. Of course, I then cut them out and popped them up onto Dimensionals. The side embellishment is paper cut using Memory Box Frosty Border die. I topped it with Kaiser half pearls.

Fellow Babe Marybella is probably loving that I made this into a circle card. Pretty easy with Nesties. I used circles and squares to make the base and image panel. The sentiment is from the Uptown Girl Christmas Tree set. I applied it with VersaMark and then added black heat embossing powder. Design paper is Simple Stories Generations 6x6. And here's a quick view of the inside. This was easy too - it was from the paper pack - Woo Hoo.

Now I'm off to work on Friday's Bellariffic Challenge card....add SNOW. Hope you find time to play along!

Ciao for now,
Cath

The Royal Couple...

Happy Bellariffic Friday Folks! This week we had another great sketch to work with. I used it as an opportunity to color up Queen Mille and King Milo from Stamping Bella. I can't believe it's taken me this long to put some ink to these two. And even better is that daughter came in while I was making it and she fell in love. She has a friend from school getting married this month and she asked if she could give them the card. I love when a creation can serve a purpose too.

So I started by stamping these two onto Bella's Bestest paper using Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored them with copics. I added some Bronze and Red Viva Decor paper pen for the rhinestones in their crowns. The image was cut using a Nestie die and then backed with the scallop compliment. Cardstock is Bazzil and the design paper is a combination of Cosmo Cricket Tea for Two Mini Deck and Authentique Gathering 6x6 paper pads. The sentiment is one of a couple included with the image. I stamped it onto Bella's Bestest paper and then cut it out with a Nestie Tag (from the Ribbon Tags Trio). In following the sketch I then tied it on with seaming binding ribbon and added a bow.

Too, too cute!

Next week our challenge is to add snow to your card. I'm not quite ready for it to be added to my landscape but it should be fun to add it to a card. And of course there's Bella Bucks up for grabs if you email a photo of your creation to Emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday or if you visit the blog and leave a comment. Won't you join us?

Enjoy your weekend!

Cath