It's Golf Time

Hello folks.  Today I've made a birthday card for a young man in the family.  Last year he received Big Guy Grilling - so this year he gets Big Guy Golfing a Mo Manning image released in rubber through Stamping Bella.  Hey, I'm trying to stick with a theme here.  Hehe.

 

 

I actually was inspired by a card I found surfing the net for this.  I love having the image pop out of the image panel and I like the way it makes your mind think of a ball so I thought it would tie neatly with this card.  I stamped the image onto Bella's Bestest paper and colored with copics.  I then added shading for definition and depth using prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol.  I then used my Classic circle Nestie dies to make the image panel.  You simply trim up to the outside an inside edge of the Nestie and pop the image outside the die before you put this through your Cuttlebug or other cutting device.  I then layered Bazzil cardstock with additional Nestie dies. 

 

Design paper is from the Simple Stories Generations 6x6 collection.  No machine stitching if you can believe it.  And finally I topped it with buttons and brown hemp just to fill some space.  All this was then placed on Bella's Bestest Kraft cardstock base and the finished size is 5 inch square.

 

Thanks for looking.  Hope you have a great week.  And don't forget, this week we have a sketch challenge for Bellariffic Friday.  Oh and It's Emily's birthday tomorrow so she is have a sale - 25% off the entire shop, including sale items through Friday.  If you had a wish list going - now is the time to get it done...it's Em's best sale of the year.  Use coupon code bellabirthday2013.  Don't forget to send her birthday wishes!

 

See ya Friday,

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 Guy Grilling

Hey folks! Have you checked out the latest Stamping Bella release yet? No, well head on over to the Bella Blog to see them all decked out and shining for you. I mean we've got two new artists, more Mo's and Uptown Girls and Em has even come out with her own new set. Girls, they are all so fantastic! I'll be dying until they make it across the border! Ok now let's move on to the real reason you have stopped by...it's Bellariffic Friday. This week we were challenged to make a masculine card. I pulled three images onto my desk (all from Mo) and my mojo was caught on...Big Guy Grilling! I love this image. I've colored it before so this time I decided to add some paper piecing to the mix.

You've probably guessed that I started with Bella's Bestest paper and Memento Tuxedo black ink. Coloring was done with copics and shading was added with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. But for the shirt, I picked a rather large and wild Basic Grey print from the Wisteria 6x6 pack that reminded me of a vacation shirt. Then I added some design papers that I propably would not have otherwise put together...Basic Grey June Bug and My Mind's Eye Madison Ave 12x12. Cardstock is Bazzil, the border is by Martha Stewart, metal brads adorn the lower corner and machine stitching finishes this off.

Next week our challenge is a sketch...pick your favorite sketch we've used so far and color up any Stamping Bella image. Can't wait to see what you come up with. And I really mean that too...I love to head to the Bella Blog to see what images you've colored and how you've interpreted the sketches. So join us and maybe you'll be the random winner of some Bella Bucks and wouldn't that be great right now so you can buy some images from the newest release.

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Cath

Spencer the Bookworm

I couldn't resist Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge again this week. And to mix things up a bit, I have a non-holiday image colored up. I've read through your comments and have determined that a few more boys cards are in order...it's so easy to do girl cards and I have way more uses for them but I guess a little attention to the boys wouldn't be so bad!

So here's a Green Bean Baby image called Spencer the Bookworm. I love to read! The layout was nice and easy and paper from the My Mind's Eye Lime twist line called Fly A Kite was my color inspiration. I stamped Spencer onto Bella's Bestest paper using Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored him with copics. The ground and surround shading was done with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Believe it or not, I didn't use one Nestie on this card! Now that's quite a feat since I love those dies. But alas, the only adornment is the border cut using an EK Success punch. Oh and I did add some Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects on Spencer's glasses to make them look a little more real.

That's it. Pretty easy!


Now we're almost mid week and I hope you have time to play along with our Bellariffic Friday challenge. This week we have a sketch from Ebru. I must tell you that I found it very easy to incorporate into a card. Yup, I colored like a banshee over the weekend and I have my card done. Now don't forget to send a photo of your creation to Emily@stampingbella.com and you might win some Bucks!

Ciao for now!
Cath

Isn't every day a Beer day?

Well if you're my husband it is. He loves his beer. Not to say that he overdoes it but this image had his name written all over it. I was thrilled that EMily asked me to color him up to bring to CHA with her. This is Beer Peep, a new release from Stamping Bella. It could only have been better if it didn't have the lime so I could make it look like a Coors Light bottle.


So, have you ever colored up beer before? I had not! I merely searched the internet for images of Corona and I found lots of inspiration. So I pulled out my Bella's Bestest paper, Memento Tuxedo black ink and copic markers. I used prismacolor pencils on the label so I could control the shading just a little better and of course used them to shade around the image and for the grass.

I wanted some depth to the image panel so I stamped and colored a duplicate image and popped it up on dimensionals. Then I applied a double coat of Crystal Effects from Stampin Up! to give the appearance of glass. Design papers are a combination of Pink Paislee 6x6 Bayberry Cottage and 365 degrees. Colored cardstock is Papertrey Ink. I used the Cuttlebug dry embossing folder - Houndstooth to give dimension to the green circle panel and of course did machine stitching to finish it all off. Men always make things difficult and frown on ribbon or bows or glittery girly embellishments but this needed something. So I found a metallic elastic cording to create a button looped adornment. Ha, if you look close it does kind of glitter.

Voila - a birthday card for the hubby is done!

Now don't forget that next week's Bellariffic Friday challenge is Valentine's Day. Get your heart stamps inked and send a picture of your creation to Emily by Thursday night ok? I'd love to see what you've come up with. Emily is @stampingbella.com of course. Then visit us at the Bella blog to see it showcased along with all the other sistahs.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cath

I've been asked which copic colors I've used to color the beer. I believe it was Y00, 11,15,17 with a smidge of YR15 at the bottom. Hope that helps!