Time to get Organized

Happy Monday everyone! It's Memorial Day here in the US which means a long weekend of course. Usually people have all kinds of fun things planned for the long weekend but we are at home getting organized for the upcoming week after returning yesterday from a fabulous vacation to San Francisco and Hawaii!!! Betcha didn't even know I was gone, eh?!? So I guess I can't really complain that I have to do laundry and household chores today.  :)

I decided to make a card with Execubella from Stamping Bella in honour of getting back into the daily grind. I wish I had a fun chair like hers!!! She's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured with copics. I added a little green sparkle with my Spica glitter pen and a little shine to a few of the elements on her desk with my clear Glaze pen.

I cut her out with square Nestabilities and layered her onto a big scallop square of intense teal. I coloured the image to coordinate with my Quite Contrary paper...I still adore this collection! I kept the layout really simple (as I always do if I'm not using a sketch, which is why I'm such a sketch junkie!) and added a pink layer punched with a new EK border punch. I couldn't resist adding more pink with a fun bow and two Glitter dots.

This week's Bellarific Friday challenge is Here Comes Summer. Create a summer themed project using Stamping Bella stamps and email your submission to Em by Thursday evening to be included in the Friday round-up.

Stamping Bella is having a release today too, so be sure to head over to the store to see what's new.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Medicine

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC71. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog, The Sweetest Thing.

Isn't this little nurse the absolute cutest thing you've ever seen?!? She's from the Pure Innocence line from My Favorite Things and the set is called Best Medicine. Seriously, I just wanna squeeze this card, I love it so much!!! I stamped the little nurse with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream then again onto the yellow patterned paper from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop 8x8 pad so I could paper piece her apron. The rest is coloured with copics and I added shine to the red crosses with my clear Glaze pen. Oh, and I gave her red patent shoes with my clear Glaze pen too...fun! I tried my hand at sponging around the image...all I can say is that I need more practice because it's pretty heavy in places.

The red polka dot paper is from October Afternoon's Report Card 8x8 pad...I love how the different collections can be mixed and matched. I cut the cork layer with my scalloped scallop Die-namic and the yellow layer with the jumbo scallop Die-namic...sweet! I finished with some black polka dot ribbon (can you ever have too many polkadots???) and black Tiny Twinkles in the corners.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now let's go see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers created with today's sketch.
Jen Tapler
Joanne Basile
Laura Fredrickson
Lynn Put
Nancy Riley
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Father, defined

Happy Bellarific Friday!!! This week's challenge was For the Boys/Men...create a masculine project. This was a perfect challenge with Father's Day in just a few weeks.

I decided to use my Father Definition from Stamping Bella. I love love LOVE all the definition stamps and what's fabulous is that they're large enough to be the focus of a card. I stamped the definition with Memento Tuxedo Black onto kraft then sponged the edges with Memento Desert Sand. I used two new EK border punches, chain link and round binding. Woo hoo...now I have something other than a star border punch to add to masculine cards!!! The patterned paper is from the new Basic Grey Max & Whiskers 6x6 pad and I paired it with intense teal, suede brown medium, and suede brown dark. The card needed a little something besides layers of paper so I wrapped some twill and twine then tied on a brown button. While I was looking at the button I thought it could be a masculine flower, if there is such a thing! So I cut out and layered  some leaves which I crumpled and sponged for a distressed look then I finished the card with two Glitter dots.

Next week's Bellarific Friday Challenge is Here Comes Summer. Create a summer themed project using Stamping Bella images and email your submission to Em by next Thursday to be included in the Friday round-up. Now, don't forget to hop over to Bloggabella to see all of this week's submissions and leave some love while you're there...you just might win Bella Bucks. I can't wait to see all the masculine ideas!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Hangin' Out with You

I love the new Hangin' Out set from Taylored Expressions...there are soooooooooo many possibilities for this set!!!

I made this card to give to hubby in June for our anniversary...it'll be 12 years already! Wow! And he doesn't read my blog so I know it'll still be a surprise when I give it to him. I thought he'd get a kick out the underwear "hangin' out" on the line. I stamped the undies with Memento Tuxedo Black onto patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary line then cut them out (I added the waistband on the boxers afterwards). The poles are stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa onto Choice Snow White. All the elements are cut out and popped on foam tape for dimension and I layered them onto a panel that I stamped with Memento Summer Sky using my Cloudy Days Big Background. I used hemp to create the clothes line.

The grass is layers of patterned paper that I punched with my MS grass punch. I love how it feels like the underwear is blowing in the wind in the middle of a field! The layout for this card follows SSS55, a sketch from a  few weeks back on the Sweet Stop blog. The solid cardstock colours are Prism intense teal, intense pink and suede brown dark then I added a pink scallop gingham strip and topped it with some fun polka dot ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

A Plane (not plain) Birthday Card

A few weeks ago in this post I mentioned how I was all over the April release from Papertrey Ink because of the masculine sets.

Well this little gem, Fly Away, caught my attention because it's absolutely perfect for one of my brothers...he's a pilot and has his own plane. Although it's a float plane, but this is close enough.

His plane is white and orange so I coloured this one with plenty of orange and a touch of yellow...leaving it white just seemed wrong when I love colouring so much! The layout is SSS56 from the Sweet Stop Sketch blog and it's a sketch with a spin, to make a masculine card. I was also totally inspired by Stacey's Curtain Call Act 29 from a couple weeks ago...the colours were perfect for my vision of this card (and that's also where the yellow comes in...LOL!).

I used patterned papers from my Basic Grey June Bug 6x6 paper pad and paired them with Summer Sun, Bordering Blue, and a little Basic Grey for good measure. The sentiment banner is stamped onto Tangerine Tango and I tied it to the plane with black hemp. I used my new MFT cloud trio Die-namics and some fabulous white felt from the Necessary Neutrals for a nice texture.

That's it for me today...have a fabulous day.
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Christmas, Bella Style!

Happy Monday!!! I'm doing my best to stay on track with my Christmas-card-a-week and for this week's card I used my new JingleBella image from Stamping Bella. Isn't she just so cute in her little Santa suit?!?

I stamped JingleBella with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Cream Paper and coloured her with copics. I added sparkly berries with my red Spica glitter pen and gave her furry trim with white liquid applique that I sprinkled with Glamour Dust before heating. There's also a little sparkle on the tree thanks to yellow and pitch black Spica glitter pens. The layout for this card is SSS54, an older sketch from the Sweet Stop blog and I used the mirror image of the sketch.

The patterned papers are from my much loved October Afternoon Good Cheer 8x8 pad...I've gotten a lot of mileage from that pad of patterned paper lately! I ran the sentiment circle through my swiss dots Cuttlebug folder to help it stand out a little because I didn't want to layer it with another colour. I'm really happy with the embellishments on this card...the ghost snowflake topped with a marble Bella Dot and the groupings of three ruby red Bonbons add just the right touch, IMHO.  :)

Don't forget to play along with this week's Bellarific Friday challenge...For the Boys/Men. Create a masculine themed project using Stamping Bella images and email your submission to Em by Thursday evening to be included in the Friday round-up. You might win some Bella Bucks just for playing along!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Onesies

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC70. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog, The Sweetest Thing.

For my card today I reached for my Hangin' Out set from Taylored Expressions. The sweet little onesie image seemed perfect for the three square elements on the sketch. I stamped the onesie with Memento Tuxedo Black onto three different patterns from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary then cut them out. I layered them onto a little scallop square of Choice Buttercream followed by a square of Prism frosted pink.

I love love LOVE the flourish element on this sketch and I knew I wanted to use some Zva crystal swirls. I thought I had a bigger swirl in my stash but I could only find the small swirls so I ended up cutting them apart a little and adapting the swirls to fit my vision. Then I added three punched flowers and for the center of each flower I coloured a Crystal Twinkle with a green copic. The sentiment is stamped directly onto the patterned paper and there's another smaller Twinkle in the center of that flower too.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation to Karen's blog. Now let's go see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers came up with for this sketch.
Jen Tapler
Joanne Basile
Laura Fredrickson