Bring on the Bling...

That was the theme for those of you who follow the Stamping Bella Bellarific Friday challenges. When I heard that I went right to the Diva stamp designed by Mo Manning that's released in rubbah through Bella. I love this stamp. The expression is so sassy and it just screamed "bring on the glittah." Take a look and tell me you wouldn't agree.



See I told you. Now where did I start? First I knew I wanted to use copics for their nice brillant color. So I stamped the image on Neenah Classic Crest solar white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Then I headed for papers with teal and pink - I wanted the boa to be full of pink and sparkles and teal compliments this color so nicely. Wouldn't you know the new Basic Grey Olivia paper pack had just such a paper for me. My Sissy and her family were kind enough to send me this for my upcoming birthday and I was thrilled. The teal cardstock and background design paper came from an SEI Christmas paper pack called Winter Song. It's full of teals and reds and I couldn't resist it last year.

Then I set about coloring and shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. A Sakura Gelly Roll pen gave me some added sparkle to the strand of pearls and earrings, while Bella glitter accents the tiara and boa. A few rhinestones down the left side are my only other embellishment. I tried a ribbon bow and additional glitter but it seemed to clog the card up. Some Metallic Green Ink by Encore gave me shading along the edge of my image. I kept it in my Nestie as I did this so it would give me a nice white border.

I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the Bella Babes and sistahs have done. Won't you join me in checking it out?

Have a great weekend.

Cath

Dream with me...

Today's post gives me a whimsical feeling. The clarity of Mo Manning's drawings give you the impression that you are alive with the character and Fairy Tabia is no exception.

Last week I stumbled across the Mo DT Challenge blog. You know how much I love to challenge myself so I decided to continue with this week's challenge - things with wings.



I immediately thought of this image and set about bringing her to life Saturday night. Hard part for me was that I have already colored this in soft purple shades. I'm not very fond of purple but it seemed to be how I invisioned this charming fairy. I loved the card then but knew that I wanted to go in a different direction. After heading to Archivers after a day at the Novi stamp show, I found the 6x6 design paper pack from Webster's papers. I've seen this paper around the internet but haven't had access to a store that stocks it locally. As I perused the paper I found this lovely black and ivory piece that I thought would be a great backdrop along with some bright celery green cardstock.

With colors in mind, I set out to coloring this with my prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Of course you might have guessed that I stamped this on Neenah Classic Crest solar white paper with Memento Tuxedo black ink. The only reason I didn't tackle this with my copics was that I was at Paula's house and didn't want to cart the kitchen sink with me so I only brought my pencils. Besides, they are alot easier to transport and Paula IS the pencil queen!

I love this even more than the one I made using the lavender shades. Lots of glitter is used to adorn the wings and stars along her skirt. A simple sentiment has me dreaming that I was spending the day blowing bubbles in a fairy skirt with very little cares to worry me. Ahhh - we can only hope that someday this does come true.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cath

Bella and Bronte

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend...I went to the Heirloom Stamp show in Novi, Michigan and met up with quite a few of my copic buddies...Kimmy, Mary Jo, Rosa, Heather, and Brenda. Glad to see the Mary Maxim crew. I spent the day with Paula though cruising the booths looking for the gotta have stamp and I was actually very selective. I came home with just a few new stamps, a couple packs of 6x6 paper, a new Nestie die set and a pandora knockoff bracelet.

I spent the evening coloring with Paula and have something to share a little later this week but first I thought I'd show you the Mo Manning image we will be coloring in the September Mary Maxim Classes. Bella and Bronte are a photopolymer clear stamp from Stampavie.



You know the drill, I started with Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock and stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored this with my Copics but did lots of shading with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. Big surprise right? The design paper is by Graffic 45 (love it - the square DP is the reverse of the floral print - score!) and the colored cardstock is Prism.

Copic colors are Y000, Y11, Y13, E000, E00, E11, R20, E33, E37, B95, B97, Y21, Y17, E44 R27, R39, YG95, YG97, R00, R02, C1, C2, C5, 0 Colorless blender,E71

Optional shading with Prismacolor pencils -PC1102 Blue Lake, PC1072 French Grey 50%, PC1076 French Grey 90%

This was so much fun to color and I'm pleased with the bright primary colors. A little different from anything we've colored yet. Hope to see you at one of the classes. Don't forget to call to reserve your seat.

Have a great week.

Cath

Paper Piecing 101

So, many of you may have tried your hand at paper piecing and consider yourselves old hats at it. I on the other hand am a newbie. It's been on my list of things that I've been meaning to try but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. This week's Stamping Bella challenge was to create a card using the paper piecing technique so now came sooner than later. I've had a 6x6 paper pad by Autumn Leaves titled Pretty Poppies that I thought would go nicely with the Poppy Bittybloom Stamp. Red, black, white and green is a favorite color scheme of mine anyway so from there I ran with it.



I started by stamping the image on Neenah Classic Crest solar white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. The dress was paper pieced using the DP while the rest of the image was colored with copic markers. The shading around the image was done with prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol and I even added VersaMagaic Wheat Chalk ink to shade the outer edge while it was still in the Nestie circle die. It added a nice white border around the image without a washed out look - love this technique. I backed this panel with green Bazzil paper cut from a Nestie Labels 3 die. This was then layerd over Autumn Leaves DP. The red cardstock is Stampin Up! Ridding Hood Red while the rest is Bazzil.

The sentiment is also by Stamping Bella but I cut it out and pieced it on cardstock because the middle word was belated. I'm trying to get cards lined up and ready to go so that I can eliminate the "belated" sentiment. Hehe - let's just see if I can stay on the roll I'm on.

Anyhoo, I think this poppy themed card is tied nicely together with the red grossgrain ribbon. Whatd'ya think?

Hope you have a great weekend!

Cath

Copic Colors:
R39, R29, E000, E00, E11, R20, E27, N6, YG03, YG00

Christmas in July - Mo style

I came across the Mo Challenge blog and found that they too were looking for a Christmas card. I've had this Mo digital image titled Boughs for the Wreath since last year. I've yet to color it though so I set out with my Copics and LOOOOVE the way this turned out. I really wanted to focus on the earthy tones so I went to an old SEI Christmas paper pack called Alpine Frost. It's packed with rusty reds, deep browns and wood tones. Yum.

Of course I started with Neenah Classic Crest solar white cardstock, Memento Tuxedo black ink and my copics. The ground and surround shading was done with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. I then added some Quickie Glue and Stampin Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter. A satin ribbon was the lone embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Cath

I'm tee'd off...

Hehe. Not really, but I am off and running with a new addition to my Bella collection. For today's card I am sharing Teeoffabella. I couldn't resist her in my last Stamping Bella order. Are you seeing a pattern here? Yup golf is the game!



This cutie will also be part of the assorted gift card collection I will be donating to the golf club this fall. While the outside says "Have a Ball..." the inside reads "...on your birthday". I thought it was a cute sentiment for the ladies and didn't get all mushy or gushy. It's computer generated so I was able to size it to fit perfectly in a Classic Long Rectangle Nestie. I also used Classic Rectangles and Small Labels on the main image panel.

You can probably guess that I stamped this on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored it with copic markers and shaded with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I tried a new technique for me - I paper pieced the shorts and the shirt. I was so excited with the way it turned out. For a first time try - I thought it looked real neat. Can't wait to give this a whirl with some other stamps as well.

The design papers are all from the K&Company Small Wonders 12x12 girl pack. The colored cardstock is Bazzil. A little machine stiching, a grossgrain ribbon, silver brads and the Martha Stewart Deco border finish this off.

Hope you enjoy your week!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cath

Big Guy Golfing...

Having our house back up to a golf course with many of our friends who play gives me plenty of opportunity to use this Stamping Bella image designed by Mo Manning. I've decided to incorporate it into a Birthday Card and will include it in a pack of All Occasion Cards to be given away at the club during the Winter Wine Women Tastings. The owners of the club are our next door neighbors so I thought it might be nice to give Sue something for her door prize packages. They're actually great neighbors...they are always at the club or doing maintenance on the course so we hardly hear them next door and they look out for our house while we are on the go. Nice to have in this day and age.

Anyhoo, I can't take credit for the color scheme or layout. I saw this card on Jeanie Whitmore's blog and thought it was awesome. I actually bought the stamp having seen her card. Then of course I had to do the "hey, I can do that". It was great to not have to do the thinking here except to try to figure the exact prismacolor pencils to use and then paper sizes. I actually already had the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday design paper so I ran with it.

I started with Neenah Classic Crest solar white cardstock and stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Then I colored the Big Guy up using prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol. A little machine stitching finishes this up with a soft grossgrain ribbon. Since it should be somewhat manly, I only tied a knot instead of a bow and I don't think a guy is really going care as long as something is given with this or is included inside... My DH would prefer beer be given but I'm sure he'd take cash if it was offered as well.

I've been real busy in my craft room this weekend so I'll be sharing more with you again soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cath

I also wanted to share with you a picture we took last week while we were home in NY. Some of you know that my Dad finally lost his long battle with Multiple Sclerosis last Sunday. We spent most of the past three weeks with siblings, nieces, nephews and family back in Rochester. It had been a long time since my children were all together so we quick snapped a picture after the funeral. From left to right we are...



DH Shaun, me, Caitlin (Justin's girlfriend), Justin and Jessica. Front and center is Erica