My First "Bella" Stamps

Hi everyone and happy Wednesday,

I received my first Stampingbella stamps on Friday so I had to make a couple cards this past weekend using them.  They are SO fun and cute!  I know, what took me so long to order bellas?  I bought six, and I already have a list of more I want.  Do you find that you just have to have new stuff, even though you already have a room full of stuff?  I think we're all the same that way. LOL.

The first card I've made with my sister in mind.  She used to do lots of sewing, mostly quilt making, but kids and work now take up most of her spare time.  So, here is fashionistabella for my sis:

Other Supplies
Card stock: bright red and choice snow white from Taylored Expressions
Patterned paper: Material Girl by Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and Color Box chalk in tangerine sponged around bella
Other: curved rectangle nesties, Material Girl buttons, SU linen thread, glue dots, red ric rac, the big shot and dimensionals

See you tomorrow with a second "bella" card.
Colleen

Summer Afternoons

How does the song go?

"Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.  Those days of soda and pretzels and beer. Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. You'll wish that summer could always be here."  

Well, my card doesn't have any soda, pretzels or beer on it, but it does have other images of summer; a pretty field of flowers, a bird and a dragonfly.

These images come from the newly released "Summer Afternoon" set by Taylored Expressions and I've used it to make a card for the TESC118 sketch challenge. Combined with October Afternoon's Go Fly a Kite patterned paper, it depicts summer pretty well, don't you think?

This is my first attempt at the gathered ribbon look. I wasn't really sure how to make it work, but I think it came out pretty well.  I used a strip of double sided tape on a piece of card stock cut to the length I needed, then just pulled up loops.  There's probably several instruction sets over at splitcoaststampers, but I was too lazy to look it up.

Supplies
Stamps: Summer Afternoon set by Taylored Expressions
Card stock: Bright yellow and choice buttercream from TE
Patterned paper: Go Fly a Kite by October Afternoon (June's Key Ingredients)
Ink: Color Box chalk in warm red and tangerine, SU marina mist and memento tuxedo black
Other: Classic circle nesties, SU crushed curry polka dot ribbon, SU scallop border punch, All Night Media corner punch, Lime smooch, silver pearls, the big shot and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in today.  Tomorrow I have a card made with my first "bella" stamp.  Have a good evening all,
Colleen

Happy July 4th - SSSC75 and CIC65

Happy Monday evening all,


I find the process of working up a design to fit more than one challenge kind of fun, so this week, I have a card that fits the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge 75 and the Cupcake Inspiration challenge 65.  The theme for the CIC is patriotic, this being the week before July 4th.  It gave me a chance to ink up my new SU "July 4th" stamp set.  I paired it with the papers from the TE July 4th Project Pantry kit to complete this very patriotic card.

As for the SSSC, Karen's layout was a fun one again this week, and thinking of what would work for the 6 small elements at the bottom was rather "challenging".  After finishing the first card, I decided to make a second, since once I got the sketch in my mind, I was on a roll.  Both are totally different and I love the way they turned out.

Card#1:  Happy 4th of July

I think the stars work well for the bottom elements.

(Aren't these cupcakes sweet?)

Card #2: Happy Birthday

I used the new SU wheel builders from the Summer Mini in the square behind the circle. It was the first time I tried them and it took me awhile to get the middle wheel to ink up. Eventually, it worked. Like all the SU wheels, they're pretty fun and easy to get a quick background when you want something besides patterned paper. This very bright and fun card uses retired, retiring and new SU products.

Close up of the bottom of the card:

Supplies
Card One:
Stamps: SU "July 4th" set
Paper: Card stock and patterned papers from Taylored Expressions "4th of July Project Pantry kit"
Ink: SU cherry cobbler, marina mist and baja breeze
Other: SU small star punch, SU polka dot embossing folder, classic circle and big scallop circle nesties, star rhinestones, the big shot and dimensionals

Card Two:
Stamps: SU "Birthday Whimsy" set (retired), SU wheel builders: candle crazy, birthday and so many stars from the Summer Mini catalog
Paper: SU whisper white, melon mambo, bermuda bay, crushed curry card stock and melon mambo DSP
Ink: Melon mambo, bermuda bay and crushed curry
Other: SU polka dot ribbon, round paper clip, classic circle and big scallop circle nesties, SU 1" round punch, SU small corner rounder, yellow stickles, the big shot and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Just A Little Note for Thursday

Happy Thursday to you all,

One more work day to go.  As promised, I have one more card made with the new SU set Apple Blossom.  This card was super quick to make and I really like how it turned out.  Again, a little of that "country" feel to me. Especially with the patterned paper I found in my stash which just happens to match these SU colors perfectly.  I got this paper free a few years ago when I ordered some supplies from a scrap booking and paper crafting website.  I don't remember which and I don't remember the name of the paper unfortunately.  Oh well.  Here's the card.  Oh, and absolutely no challenges for this one.

Supplies
Stamps: Apple Blossoms from Stampin' Up
Card stock: Marina mist, cherry cobbler and very vanilla from Stampin' Up
Patterned paper: sorry, don't remember
Ink: SU garden green and cherry cobbler
Other: SU scallop trim border punch, vanilla ribbon, Kaiser rhinestone (tiny one in the center of the flower), and dimensionals

Have a wonderful day and a fab weekend.  Thanks for looking in.
Colleen

Happy Thoughts

It's "hump" day.  I hope the weeks been good to you so far.

Today I have a quick post.  I was playing with a new stamp set from
Stampin' Up called Apple Blossom.  It kind of has a "country" feel to me so I thought it would be perfect on Kraft paper.  That being the case, the card is perfect for Jeanie's Krafty Thursday challenge over at her The Spotted Chick blog.

Supplies
Stamps: Apple Blossom set by Stampin' Up
Card stock: Kraft and chocolate chip by Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper: Pebbles Treehouse
Ink: Wild wasabi, ridding hood red, chocolate chip by Stampin' Up
Other: SU corner punch, SU yellow brad, chocolate ribbon and dimensionals

Tomorrow I have one more card made with this set.  See you back here then.  Have a great day,
Colleen

Life Is Good for Ms. Cuppie

Happy Tuesday all,

Today I'm happy to be participating in Taylored Expressions "Blast from the Past" blog hop.  This month, we are all showing projects made with TE stamp sets released prior to March 2010. Taylor provided a color challenge for our projects, which is shown below.  

For my card, I chose to use the Beach Bum stamp set, released a year ago in June 2009.  It's a really fun stamp set with such cute images.  My card has Ms. Cuppie taking it easy, probably on vacation in some exotic, tropical location. She is dressed in her favorite beachy attire, including the appropriate hair bling. Her lounge chair is placed under a shady palm and I imagine she's waiting for a young, hot, cabana boy to bring her a cool refreshing Mai Tai.  She's all set for a day of relaxation with the latest romantic thriller tucked into her beach bag.
Yes indeed, Life Is Good!

For the most part, I kept to the color scheme although I incorporated a few additional colors.

Cuppie and lounge chair are stamped in memento tuxedo black. I masked the image so the palm tree could be stamped behind the lounge.  The palm tree was stamped 3 additional times and cut out. Two palms are used on the side panel and the third's palm fronds popped up on the tree behind the lounge. All images are colored with Copics.  Cuppies cupcake paper is paper pieced. Light blue and tan ink are sponged around the white circle.

Supplies

Stamps: Beach Bum set from Taylored Expressions

Card stock: Medium blue and choice snow white from Taylored Expressions

Patterned paper: Snorkel collection from Cosmo Cricket (from the Beach Bum key ingredients released June 2009)

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, bashful blue and creamy caramel classic ink pads

Other: classic circle and scallop circle nesties, blue flower rhinestone, SU word window punch, the big shot and dimensionals.

Please be sure to check out all of the other blog hop participants.  They are listed below for your convenience.

Thanks for stoping by today,

Colleen

SFYTT & CCI64 - "Women are Like Tea Bags"

Good Monday morning all,

Today's card is made for two challenges. This week's Sketch For Your To Try and the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #64.  I had a bit of a struggle getting the design to work for me. I played around with several looks before settling on one.  For this card, the embellishments definitely make the whole thing come together, and in the end, I think it worked quite well. Hopefully you will too.

Supplies

Stamps: Favorite Thoughts by Stampin' Up

Card stock: Choice buttercream, kraft and taken with teal

Patterned paper: Crate Paper Brook

Ink: Memento rich cocoa

Other: Top note die, perfect polka dot embossing folder, 1 3/4" circle, boho blossom, small corner punches, teal buttons, chocolate chip corduroy button, the big shot and dimensionals all SU, Butterfly brad, polka dot ribbon and brown sparkly fluff by Taylored Expressions, and classic oval nesties.

Thanks for looking in today,

Colleen