Remember me?????
A little daunting to be back on the 'ol blog after such a long break... but I enjoyed a little card time this afternoon and remembered how AWESOME it felt...
There's a lot going on here - LOL - but I couldn't help wanting to use most of my stuff on ONE card... and hey, I'm allowed, right? hee, hee. Actually I still had this Verve set on my desk from the last time I was making cards so I just carried on with using it again. :)
I love making cards of encouragement... or actually ANY card that's not for a specific reason (secretly not fond of making birthday cards...) Here's the inside:
Forgot how much I loved & missed my dies!! Bought some new paper, lace & ribbon today too and I can't wait to get crackin on that.
So yeah... I'll be back. ;)
Carla.
"One day at a time"... that's how I'm going to take 2013. I love New Year's day for some reason... even more then New Years Eve actually. It's like fresh fallen snow and leaving your footprints in whatever road you choose to take in this brand new year ahead.
It's a new sheet... a clean slate... a new beginning.
It seems like ages since I've made a card and so today I really didn't know where to begin. I dug out my Verve stock and got lucky with sentiments for both the inside and out. I've staggered the Spellbinders Marvelous Squares dies... didn't feel like being all neat and tidy. Button die from Memory Box.
Here's the inside:
I haven`t announced this yet, but I`ve decided to step down from the amazing Stamping Bella design team. I`ve had a change of priorities just recently and I`ve had to move crafting down the list a wee bit... I`m just needing more time to grow & develop in other areas of my life. I have big ambitions for this coming year... but will not giving up stamping completely!!
Wishing you all things wonderful in 2013.
Carla
xox
Hey Crafty Peeps - welcome back for another Bellariffic Friday. This is for Sketch Challenge 25 and I inked up Door with Wreath by Mo Manning.
This Stamping Bella sketch challenge gave me the idea of snow drifts... and of course another excuse to use glitter - lol. Love this Wonderland paper from Studio Calico and the white cardstock is simply Whisper White from SU. Cranberry Crisp bow is made with the Lil Inker Designs mini bow die - great size for cards. Sentiment from Verve.
I love the Christmas feel of this card. It's just simple and a teeny bit rustic. I added a little tulle and a few pearls... not a lot of fussing. Haven't finished the inside just yet... I'm looking for just the right sentiment.
Have a great weekend all!! Grab a coffee & treat yourself to a little browse of all the gorgeous cards on Bloggabella.
Love this little guy... but hate what I've done to his poor eyes... looks like he's been up for days... LOL. This is Bismarck from Stamping Bella.
I think I've had this paper as long as I've been making cards... called Paper Pizazz. It must have been on sale because I've got an endless supply. I coloured up Bismarck with my Copics and added a little glitter, some sheer ribbon & a gem stone. His sleepness-nights-look was courtesy of my black glaze pen.
Love the Marvelous Squares die from Spellbinders! Endless possibilities. I've sewn down a couple of layers and then propped the main image up with double sided foam tape.
Sentiment is from a Verve set and that little snowflake is a die from MFT. Off to work on my Bellariffic Friday card... see you back here then!!
Carla.
Popping in to post last Friday's Bellariffic card for the create-a-tag challenge. I'm running behind this year... 'tis the season. I created my tag in a card format and used Polly Packages as my focal point.
I used various papers including American Crafts (Kringle & Co), Simple Stories (Handmade Holiday) and my all-time fav... Basic Grey (Aspen Frost).
Used dies from MFT: (1) Stacking Stars and (2) Tag You're It... and from L'il Inker Designes, I used the faux stitching rectangles. That gorgeous green piped nylon ribbon is from Martha Stewart (really does what it's told...lol). And as you can see my addiction with glitter is not getting any better.
Kept the inside fairly simple and added Polly once more stamped lightly in SU Mellow Moss. Christmas sentiment from Verve.
Ready to take a stab at this Friday's Sketch Challenge? Looks pretty easy! And you can check out Bloggabella for a little inspiration... amazing cards on there lately - wow!!
Hey crafty peeps - thanks for stopping back! I've got a little non-Christmas Bella card combining 2 stamp sets: (1) Journal your Art Out Happy Silhouettes Graffitti and (2) Mabel is reaching for the stars (sentiment):
I love the freedom of these silhouettes stamps (this is just 1 of 3)... and they are pretty versatile with all the sentiments out there that you would use with them.
I used my Lil Inker Designs faux stitching rectangle dies along with the mini bow die. The stars are MFT. Didn't add much to this, a few pearls and some glitter.
Finished off the inside with a lighter version of the Stamping Bella silhouette stamp and another die cut star.
See you back Friday for the theme challenge of "create a tag". You can either create the tag alone or use it as a focal point on your card. And as always... check out Bloggabella for your chance to win!!
Later gator...
c
Welcome back for Bellariffic Friday! Christmas crunch is on and as usual... for me anyway... I'm behind on my orders and my own Christmas cards. So using this week's sketch challenge I used cling mounted Uptown Girl Eve under the Mistletoe.
This weeks card is based on Sketch 24. Just bought This American Craft paper... the printed portion was just begging to be distressed, but I was paying more attention to Blue Rodeo at the time and completely forgot. Duh. The sketch was pretty easy to follow, so I hope you had a chance to try it out.
Love this gorgeous ribbon!! It's probably May Arts, not sure... bought at my LSS. Dies used were Spellbinders Marvelous Squares, Classic Circles, Classic Edges One and Memory Box Loop Border. Coloured Eve with Copics and added the sparkle. For interest I added a few dots with my white opaque pen.
This stamp also comes with the sentiment that I included on the inside:
Have a fabulous weekend all... and thanks for stopping by!! Don't forget to head on over to Bloggabella to check out the cards for todays challenge...
Toodles.............
Carla.
An oldie but a goodie... and another Christmas card for the growing pile. I used my Copics to colour up Jinglebellabella from Stamping Bella for this one:
I used the Spellbinder rectangle die for the image and then layered onto pieces cut with my new faux stitching die from Lil Inker Designs. I also used the MFT fancy flourish & Spellbinders Classic Edges one for the scallop border.
Added lots of pearls, some velvet & satin ribbon... and of course glitter.
I thought the sentiment from Penny Black on the inside went well with this little Bella image.
Quick post from me tonight, it's a busy week coming up and wanted to share another card before crazy-town took over. Wishing you all a great week!! Meet you back here for Bellariffic Friday (sketch challenge in post below).
Till next time,
Carla.
Happy Bellariffic Friday all!! Happy to be back with a post today. Today's challenge was to make a Holiday Wishes/Winter Theme card. With all the incredible Christmas stamps at Stamping Bella it was hard to choose, but I inked up my brand new Uptown Girl Charlie waits by the chimney. This stamp is part of the new arrivals that are now cling mounted... and stamps like a dream.
Yep, I think I came dangerously close of running out of glitter on this one...lol. Her entire skirt bottom is covered in glitter as is the top of the dress & trim on hat. And getting carried away... (as I tend to do)... I softened the edges of the Authentique paper with white ink, added glossy accents and then more glitter all the way around. This one is a sparkly one for sure!
Here she is in all her glory. Is there not a more fun Christmas image? Love her! Coloured with Copic Markers and mounted on Cherry Cobbler cardstock from SU after running it through the die cutter with the Spellbinder Card Creator A2 Fancy Weave die. I used a black glaze pen to outline the bricks & added the mandatory (for me...) glossy accents to the bricks, some pearls and ribbon. Sentiment is from Hero Arts. See that little fuzzy white ball I added to her hat? Well I bought a HUGE bag of those at Michael's about 10 years ago and I think that's the first time I ever used one. Success!
Here's the inside. A little paper matching and sewing, kept it simple.
Hey don't forget to stop over to Bloggabella to check out all the wonderful Christmas & Winter themed cards. Be sure to leave a comment on Bella's blog for a chance to win some Bella Bucks.
Next week we're onto Sketch #24:
Hope you can join us!! If you can, e-mail Emily your card by this Thursday evening.
Hello lovers of all things crafty. Just sharing a quick card today that I made for a neighbour in my condo where I live. I've just learned that he has been dealing with cancer for some time and is now in hospital as it has spread rapidly throughout his body.
I don't know him that well, but I don't think he's older then me (I'm late 40's). For all the times I think to myself in a negative way about "how old I am"... the first thought that struck me when I heard his news was... "he so young". He certainly has lots of support between his family and his partner, but I just wanted him to know that he was in my thoughts too.
I love this beautiful sentiment from an MFT set I have: "Vertical Greetings". I sponged the edges of the Spellbinders Nestibilities 8 and then layered onto Decorative Labels 8. Paper is from American Crafts (I think). Butterfly of course is a combination of Memory Box Darla and Vivienne.
I finished the inside with a sentiment from the Verve set "Words of Wisdom" along with the small butterfly die "Butterfly Delights" from Memory Box and their Loop Border die as well.
I think I stared at it for 30 min before deciding what to write.
Well, long day and I'm totally pooped but decidedly not feeling as "old" as I would normally tend to feel. It's odd that it sometimes takes a tragedy in someone else's life to make us appreciate the life we already have.
Really hope you're all having a good week.
'Till next time,
Carla.
Hi again!! Didn't expect to be back so soon but I stumbled across this cute Whipper Snapper Christmas bear in my stash and thought I'd try my luck.
I thought I'd try a little glitter on him... but my internal-glitter-stop-light wasn't working so I glittered him up entirely. He sparkles so much IRL.
I used a fine glitter on the bear and a courser glitter on the snow flakes. Christmas paper is from my Christmas scrap heap from 2 years ago and I haven't a clue of the origin.
I used Spellbinders Classic Squares & Eyelet Squares along with MFT's let it snow snowflakes die. I love the little corduroy blue/green button from SU (I horde them, but was willing to part with just one for this card...lol).
For the inside I used a sentiment from a Hero Arts set:
Well that's it from me. Happy Sunday all and thanks for stopping in. I might try another Christmas card later this afternoon... if I don't get too bogged down in all of my have-to-do-stuff. Hate it when life gets in the way of some good crafty fun!!
Is it possible to use a stamp too much...lol? Well I'll find out with this one... Little Birdie by Jane Davenport by Stamping Bella. I just love her. Can't find it on the site just now so I can't provide a link for you. It just may be out of stock at the moment.
I wanted to paper-piece her and loved this beautiful small-patterned polka dot paper by Pebbles (has gorgeous texture too).
I added sparkle to her dress to the dots only and broke up the sentiment and layered the words individually. I used Spellbinders Labels 8 with Decorative Elements Labels 8. (I think that's the shadow of my head in the picture -- LOL -- just noticing that now... so much for attention to detail).
Kept the inside simple (for whatever the birdie said... lol) and lightly stamped the image again in SU Groovy Guava.
Now for some Bella News!! We've had a new BABE join our Bella Design Team: Kim O'Connell. Kim officially will start on December 1st, but she joined us early for yesterday's Bellariffic Friday challenge. She really does create such beautiful works of art... please check out her blog here... you're in for a treat! Also, she's offering blog candy on this post and you don't want to miss out on this - trust me!!
Have a great weekend everyone!!
Carla.
Whoops!... I mean Bellariffic Friday!! (but with a margarita twist... lol)
In my goal to get moving on some Christmas cards, I've decided to do a Christmas-y version of Uptown Girl Madison has a Margarita (I'm secretly thinking of changing this to Carlabella has a Margarita... I think it's important that I really identify with my Stamping Bella stamps, you know???... especially this one... I should really be drinking a margarita while making a card like this... yes, I'm THAT dedicated!...)
LOL! I'm teasing actually because I'm not much of a drinker to be honest. But I do have a lot of great memories of margaritas shared with really good friends at The Lone Star here in Kingston.
Okay - enough boozy chat. Today's card is based on Stamping Bella's Sketch #23. I only used the top portion of Madison (sorry Madison...) and coloured her with Copic Markers and used papers from Basic Grey & Authentique. I used the MFT notebook edge die along with Spellbinders Classic Ovals. I was thrilled to have a bit of ribbon with the words "Christmas Cheer" and of course it goes without saying that I need to replenish my stash of pearls..............
For my inside I used only the upper portion again of Madison just lightly with SU Cranberry Crisp & stamped the sentiment with a Hero Arts Christmas set I have.
Hope you had a chance to play along with this week's Sketch Challenge. If you did, can't wait to see your card and good luck at winning some Bella Bucks!! And if you couldn't play along, be sure to comment on the Bloggabella post for today for another chance to win. That's what's called a win win situation!! LOL
If you can't seem to get enough of Stamping Bella and all things card-y and craft-y you can check out more great links for some awesome tips, tricks, techniques and inspiration at these following spots:
1.
Facebook chat group
2.
Splitcoast Stampers Forum
3.
Pinterest board for inspiration!
Next week we have a theme card as our challenge. Hope you can join us to make a card with a Holiday Wishes/Winter Theme. Remember to e-mail your card to Emily by Thursday night to enter.
Have a fab weekend everyone... and remember margaritas count as your daily serving of fruit!!
Carla.
I finally got a chance to try some of my new rubbah from Stamping Bella!! Love it to pieces!! Such a pretty colour and stamps so beautifully. I absolutely had to have the journal your ART out happy silhouettes graffiti stamps (3 in the set).... and as you can see I was determined to try it in a Christmas card.
I used a few dies here including the Memory Box winterland tree, MFT fancy flourish as well as MFT let it snow snowflakes. Paper is from a 6x6 pad of Authentique along with SU Ruby Red. I used both course and fine glitters and added beige linen thread to the sheer red ribbon and a few pearls throughout. Lots of SPARKLE!!
I used the same stamp again on the inside and combined it with a Hero Arts sentiment (which I also stamped the beginning of on the front directly on the Silhouette).
Well I hope I've made her Christmas-y enough! I might try another of this 3-piece-set for this Friday's Bellariffic Sketch Challenge - here's the sketch:
Hope you get a chance to play!! If you do, remember to e-mail your card to Emily by Thursday night.
Thanks for stopping by!!
Carla.
Hi All! Thanks to all of you for such a warm welcome back. You sure know how to make a crafter feel good!!
Welcome back to another Stamping Bella Bellariffic Friday card challenge - this week is to use snow on your card. I picked an easy stamp... and one of my all-time favs: Door with Wreath by Mo Manning.
Love the warmth of the red and I matched it up with some Basic Grey Wassail paper from a few Christmas's ago.
Instead of the usual fine glitter, I used a chunkier one and I find it looks more like snow.
I double stamped the wreath and then attached it with double sided foam tape.... and more glitter there too. I used Spellbinders "Classic Edges 1" die for the scallop & MFT "Let it Snowflake" die. Sheer ribbon, velvet ribbon, lace and a big 'ol pearl finish it off. Here's the inside:
I finished off the inside with a couple of sentiments from an MFT Christmas set and a little sewing.
Well thanks for stopping by and checking out my card - hope you like it. I'm loving these challenges that are getting my butt in gear to get going on Christmas cards. Don't forget to head over to Bloggabella to see all of the snow creations (they are SNOW FANTASTIC!!... sorry, couldn't resist) and be sure to leave a comment there for a chance to win some Bella Bucks.
Have a great weekend everyone...
Carla.
