Yours Truly,

Happy Bellariffic Friday Folks.  Hope your weekend is off to a great start - that's how I see Friday's anyway...the start to two days full of running errands, sleeping in and having some fun.  Usually in that order too!  Tehe!  For today's challenge we were given a great sketch.  And you had a choice to do a rectangle or circle.  I almost did a circle since this looked pretty easy but I had a vision and decided to run with it.

I colored up a Diane Duda image released in rubber through Stamping Bella called Yours Truly.  I love these images!  They're so elegant and are so girly.  I colored this one with my copics and I still love the way it looks.  As you may recall the last image of Diane's I colored with Distress Markers on Watercolor paper.  Today I stamped the image onto Bella's Bestest paper colored with copics and added shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol.

Design paper is In Bloom by My Mind's Eye, black cardstock is Bazzil and white is Neenah Classic Crest Solar white.  I flip the sketch and added some vintage crocheted ribbon I found at the Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck, NY last weekend.  I had a ton of fun and thought this find was just beautiful.  A double sided satin bow tops it off and some half crystals in the right hand corner finish this off.  Finished card size is 5 x 6 1/2.

For next week's challenge it's Sizzin' Summer.  Just color up your favorite Bella Summer stamp - there are oh so many that can fit this one!  And I'm looking forward to summer if only the dang rain would stop coming down here!  It's been raining for a week now.  I know it means the flowers and veggies are happy but there are pools of water all over my yard!

I'm patiently waiting for my new release stamps to arrive in the mail.  Hope you were able to find something in the latest release that caught your eye.  Or your smile - I love Christine Grove's humor!

Stay dry and have a great weekend!

Cath

Be-YOU-tiful

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks!  Today's challenge was sistahs or friendship - so I made a card for a really great friend.  It's actually one of the new Uptown Girls.  This is Polly.  I think she is Be-you-tiful - just like my friend. 

 

 

I started by stamping the image onto Bella's Bestest paper- white.  I then stamped the chair onto design paper and cut it out.  I added some shading around the edges using prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol.  I then stamped the image again onto Bella's Bestest paper - colored it with copics and cut it out.  I know it takes a little extra work but I love the way it looks.  I love the white space of this card.  It showcases the image perfectly.  I layered this onto pink cardstock and then again onto Bella's Bestest Kraft paper. 

 

Now here's a peak at the inside. 

I generated the sentiment on my computer and cut it out with Nesties.

 

 

 

Now for next week's challenge we have another sketch.  I hope you can find time to play along with us.  And  you have a choice - make it a square or make it a circle.  Hmmm which one should I do?

 

 

Have a great weekend.  We have rain in the forecast but my Mom is in town and plan to head to the Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck, NY.  Can't wait!  We bought the weekend pass. 

 

Keep your eyes posted for Bella news on the release date.  I know I'm excited to get our newest artist, Christine Grove's whimsical farm friends into my hands.   

 

Ciao for now,

Cath



 

It's Bella Release time folks!

I am so thrilled to be sharing this card with you today.  Stamping Bella is introducing a new designer and I had the pleasure of coloring one of her new images for this release. Meet Hot Chick!  OMG I just love her.

I started with my Bella's Bestest paper and Copics.  I also added shading with Prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol.  I wasn't quite sure how to color this chick so I just did a Google search of Chick images and voila there were lots of little cuties to model for me.  I paired the image with some farm themed paper - the green from Farm House Paper Company Country Kitchen 6x6 pad and the black from the Graphic 45 French Country 8x8 pad.  I layered it with Bella's Kraft and made a little flag with the sentiment.  Finished card is 5 1/2 square

Hope on over to the Bella Blog for all the details of this artist and the new images in the Bella family.  I can't wait to see what Emily has up her sleeve.

Ciao for now,
Cath

Life is Good!

Hello Folks...I'm so happy to be sharing this card with you today.  I love the new Diane Duda images released in rubber through Stamping Bella and Life is Good is no exception.  I've been saving this to color once I hear the most awesome words - No more cancer and treatments are done.  So guess what?  My treatments are finally done and the cancer has flown the coup!  Can't tell you how excited I am to share that news with you.

I'll be sending this in the mail so I wanted to keep it flat and I have quite a few to share with family and friends that have helped me through this journey so I also kept it pretty simple.  I started by stamping onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored with copics.  Shading was added with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol.  A simple ribbon topped with a button are the only adornments.  Final card size is 5x7.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Ciao for now,
Cath

Sawyer's Birthday

Hello folks!  Yesterday was a banner day...I found some time to play in my craft room and actually got three cards done.  Of course, they all needed to be out the door like yesterday but I found the energy and mojo to get them done and that left me with a wonderful feeling.  I've missed the satisfaction that comes from creating.  And I reveled in the high that it brought all afternoon.

So first up is a card for our young neighbor, Sawyer, who turned 4.  We were celebrating with his family yesterday and as I'm known as the card girl, I just couldn't bring myself to buy him one - I had to hand make it.  I colored up Arthur from the Arthur and Annie Duo designed by Cristy Croll for Stamping Bella.  I love this little guy!  Well, I truthfully love the pair and have colored them together many times but I thought the boyish charm would be perfect for this occasion.

I stamped Arthur onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored with copics.  I then cut the image out and placed it onto the sentiment panel.  The sentiment was computer generated and printed onto Cosmo Cricket Honkey Tonk design paper and then cut with the Nestie Labels 18 die.  I kind of used the layout from this past week's Bellariffic Friday challenge.  After seeing all the he Babe's cards I was motivated to give it a shot and loved the result.  The addition of the MFT Western Star Border die-namic was perfect for the sketch.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Cath

Big Shoes

It's been ages I know...but I finally spent some time in my craft room yesterday so I thought I would share.  The object of my desire was a Mo Manning image from Stamping Bella called Big Shoes...I thought it would make a perfect Mother's Day card. 

Of course I stamped her onto Bella's Bestest paper using Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored her with Copics.  I also added ground and surround shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol.  The edges were distressed with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress Inks.  The  sentiment is computer generated and cut onto a MFT die-namic Mini- Tabs quartet die.  I added a swirl of clear rhinestones along with fabric rose ribbon to splash this up.  Papers are Lost & Found 3 Oliver by My Mind's Eye.  I framed the yellow print using a Nestie Die and then again added distress inks. 

For the inside, I used the sentiment that comes with the image - no one can EVER fill your shoes.  Perfect for Mom - right?  Well I thought so. 

For those Mom's out there, I hope you have a fabulous day on Sunday.

Cath

Molly ... over the miles

Happy Bellariffic Friday folks.  For today's challenge I decided to go square...yeah while I love the look of circle cards...I'm a little more adept at making them square.  So I pulled out Uptown Girl Molly sitting atop her luggage so she could send birthday wishes across the miles to my Sissy.  I was so surprised at how easy this sketch came together.

Once the image was stamped onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored, a Nestie circle die was used to cut it out.  Then I used a ruler and exacto knife to cut across the stacks of luggage...yes the image really does have more layers.  But with the half circle sketch, I thought her dangling feet would look neat. 

The paper is My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 3 - Ruby.  I added some wacky stitching along the edges and trimed out the hexagon border from the center strip.  A double sided satin ribbon topped with brad finishes this off.

Next week our challenge is a theme - Splendid Spring!  And boy am I ready for that!  Check out the inspiration on the Bella Blog and if you get a chance why not join us?  There's some Bella Bucks up for grabs every week.  Email a photo of your creation to Emily@stampingbella.com by Thursday night.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cath