Just My Type

Here's a fun card that I made with my new Just My Type image from Stamping Bella. It comes with five sentiments too, perfect for so many occasions. I just love these old typewriters...you really never see them anymore, except maybe in movies, but I did see an old style cash register last week at a diner in NYC. The layout for this card is Bella Sketch Challenge #78 from the Bella Forum on Splitcoast. 

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black onto white cardstock then coloured it with copics. I wanted the piece of paper in the typewriter to stand out so I used E41 all around the image so the white would pop. Then I cut the image out with rectangle Nestabilities and layered it on to a scalloped rectangle of blue bayou. 

The patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket's fabulous Early Bird line. I love the antique feel of these papers...the colours are bright but muted (does that even make sense?)...just gorgeous! There's a little riding hood red peeking out from underneath the yellow polka dot strip. The Prima flowers are layered onto a scallop circle of riding hood red and I added a Baby Blue Bella Bonbon to the center. 

Don't forget to pop over to Bloggabella for this week's Bellarific Friday sketch. You could win $20 Bella Bucks just for playing along and emailing your submission to Em before Thursday at 5pm EST.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Rockin' Rollanda

I haven't played with the sketches in the Stamping Bella forum on Splitcoast for a long time, so decided to use this week's sketch, along with this week's colour challenge on Splitcoast (chocolate chip, riding hood red, pink pirouette). 

I simply adore all the Kettos from Stamping Bella, and I've been dying to use Rollanda for a while now, so this sketch is perfect for her! I started by stamping Rollanda with Memento Tuxedo Black and colouring her with copics. I paper pieced her dress with some patterned paper from SU's  Candy Lane DP. I pencilled in the floor then coloured it with shades of light brown. Rollanda is cut out with rectangle Nestabilities and layered onto a scallop rectangle of riding hood red, then chocolate chip. I finished the image with some Stardust Stickles on her wings and her roller blades.

The card base is riding hood red, followed by chocolate chip, then the fabulous striped paper from Candy Lane. I used my new EK Success slim border punch along the piece of pink pirouette and added the sentiment from Stamping Bella. 

The card is already so linear with all the stripes and rectangles and the sketch called for another linear element along the right side. Well, I couldn't make anything linear work along the right side...I felt like it needed something softer. So I punched out some flowers, lined them up, and added some 5mm marble chocolate Bella dots to the centers. I used my Micro Dots again to adhere the dots to the flowers. I find I'm reaching for them all the time now because even mini glue dots are a smidge too large for most embellishments. 

Don't forget about Bellarific Friday. You have until 5pm EST Thursday to submit your card to Emily via email for a chance to win some Bella Bucks. The only requirement is that you must use Stamping Bella stamps. Click here for this week's inspiration piece and scroll to the bottom of the post. Have fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Karen 

Bellarific Biker Babe

Happy Bellarific Friday! I just love the weekly Bellarific challenges. It's always SO much fun to see what everyone came up with. On Monday, Em posted this inspiration piece on Bloggabella...we had to use these colours and we had to use a button on our creation...and this is what I came up with!

As I was flipping through my Bella stamps (no wait, that would be Dana's Bella stamps) Bikababeabella caught my eye...I thought the colours would be perfect to have her dressed in red and black (or dark grey cause the black looked funny) with a blue hog. After all, she's way too cool to be driving anything but a custom Harley tripped out with flowers.   :) 

I stamped Bikababe with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her with copics. To get the dark grey for her jacket and the tires I used C3 and touched it to the tip of the black copic then coloured. I repeated this until I achieved the level of dark grey I wanted. It's a great way to get by when you don't have the right shade and it doesn't ruin your lighter marker either. 

The image was cut out with rectangle nesties and layered onto black. Then I pulled some patterned paper from the Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letters collection. The red lines remind me of the lines in the inspiration piece and I really like how the image pops on the light grey floral...it adds just the right feminine touch. Some black grosgrain ribbon, and Heidi Swapp ghost flower and a red button finish it perfectly. I should also say that I used this week's Bella Sketch Challenge #71 from the Stamping Bella forum on Splitcoast for the layout. 

Be sure to pop over to Bloggabella to see the rest of the Bellarific Babes' submissions, as well as all the submissions from the Sistahood! I wonder who will be the lucky Bella Bucks winner this week!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Polly's Happy Holidays

I know, I know...another Christmas card. But really, I can't help it. I still have uninked Christmas rubber and full sheets of wonderful holiday papers! Let's just say, I'm starting my stash for next year.   :)

The sketch for this card is from the Bella Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoast. There's a new sketch each Monday. I decided that Polly Packages from Stamping Bella was the perfect image for this card layout. 

Then I chose my Scenic Route Garland papers for colour inspiration. The image was stamped with Memento black onto Gina K Pure Luxury cardstock then cut out with oval nesties. I made sure the image wouldn't slip this time...wink!

The card base is Gina K's fabulous 120lb cardtock...it's soooooooo dreamy! I couldn't seem to incorporate any ribbon on the card...gasp! but the left side looked a little plain so I added an Artichoke snowflake using my Martha punch, with a red Bella Bonbon in the centre for some bling. I finished off the image by adding a teeny bit of sparkle to the holly berries on her hat, with Christmas Red Stickles. 

Oh, and I should tell you, the yellow strip is So Saffron and the green is Always Artichoke.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Sassy Celery Shopabella

I combined two challenges for this card. It's a product of the Bella Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast and Kristina Werner's colour inspiration challenge on her blog. These are great colours to work with, Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, and White. Notice the chocolate's in there again!  :)

I just had to use a Bella for the Bella Sketch Challenge, so I chose another one that hadn't been inked yet...sigh...Savvy Shopabella. I stamped her with Memento Black onto Gina K. Pure Luxury white (love, love, love that paper for copics!). 

She's coloured with Copics, cut out with an oval nestie and layered onto two more oval nesties. 

Funny...when I layered the pieces the first thing that popped into my head was "mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all". LOL! I think it's cause the chocolate piece looks a bit like a frame, or, it could be my conscience wishing that was a refection of me. Doesn't she have the cutest little tooshie though!

The card base is chocolate chip, then I ran a piece of celery through the Big Shot (aka: Mr. Big) with the Houndstooth embossing folder from Cuttlebug. To accentuate the houndstooth pattern I sponged white ink onto the raised parts. She's such a stylish Bella...I thought the houndstooth tied in nicely with the whole fashion theme. 

The card's finished off with some layered Primas and Bella Bonbons (in pumpkin of course) as the centres. I also added a bit of shimmer with my Stardust pen and one small Hero Arts gemstone on the shopping bag. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Holiday Birds

Yes, that's right...birds. No surprise to those who know me, and if you don't know me, you'll quickly learn that I love birds.  {grin}

You'll need your sunglasses for this card though, it's pretty bright! Especially if you compare it to my last post using soft subtles colours. I've had this lovely image, Santa's Birdhouse from Stampingbella, for quite some time now. 

I think I ordered it as soon as it was released, so it was high time it got inky. And, in honour of it being a Bella stamp, I decided to choose a layout from the Bella Sketch Challenges on Splitcoast. This layout is BSC14.

I began by pulling colours from this lovely bright Basic Grey Sultry striped paper. The image is stamped with Memento black onto PTI white then coloured with copics. I cut the long chocolate rectangle with a nestie but I didn't have the coordinating straight one so had to do a bit of measuring to make sure it would fit nicely, and chop it with a paper trimmer. Oh my...'chop' sounds a bit extreme, but I was using my guillotine trimmer from SU.   :)

The card base is Pink Passion which I ran through the Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder for added interest. Then I used my circle cutter on a piece of Kiwi Kiss and a smaller circle of the BG paper. I sewed those layers together and then sewed the strip of Kiwi onto a strip of Chocolate. Have you noticed...I can't seem to make a card without chocolate? LOL!

I finished off the details by tying a pretty bow (isn't that ribbon just perfect!), adding some Hero Arts gemstones to the corners of the focal point and also adding some sparkle to the image with my clear Gelly Roll pen. 

I love non-traditional colours for Christmas and this is one of my fave combinations.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

For a Fabby Friend

Happy Thanksgiving for those in the USA, otherwise, happy Thursday!

I made this card 

to send to my friend Em, as a 'thank you' for hooking me up with my new friend Joanne when we moved from Ontario to Massachusetts. Aren't I just SO lucky to know BOTH of these fabby stampers! Em, keep your eyes closed so you'll be surprised when this arrives in your mailbox.  :)

Doesn't this sweet little image make you wanna jump for joy! There's no way I could do the splits like that though. LOL!

The card layout is from this week's Bella Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoast. The image is stamped with Memento black ink and coloured with Copics. I painted on a little shimmer on Fabby's skirt and purse. The flowers are from Stamping Bella and I attached them with my kajinker tool.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen