Huggabugg Cupcake

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Can you believe this...I haven't made DH's Valentine card yet...yikes! So I'll have to show it to you either later today or tomorrow cause I'm off to work on it as soon as I finish this post. He's so sweet...he asked to "book some time" in my stamp room this afternoon so he could make my card today...gotta love that! He's only ever made me one card (for my birthday a few years ago and it took him about 3 hours) so I'm excited to see what he comes up with. Heck, a handmade card from him is better than any gift!   :)

Ok, on to my card for today...I've used the sketch from Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #55 and my sweet little Cuppycake with a Huggabugg on Top image from Stamping Bella. I truly {heart} Huggabuggs!!!

The image is stamped with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury and coloured with copics. I added some orange Stickles to the cupcake top and two 5mm Aqua Bonbons to the antennas. The image is cut out with circle Nestabilities and layered onto a scallop circle of chocolate chip. 

The patterned papers are by Little Yellow Bicycle and I picked those up on one of my last trips to Bellaland before we moved way back in June of last year. The papers are so pretty (the floral one on the right is full of sparkle and shimmer), I hadn't wanted to cut into them, but I'm trying to keep with my goal of 'using my stash' so it was high time to get them onto a card. And really, at the time I picked up three of each paper so I still have some full sheets to 'visit with'...giggle! In the middle of the grid of beautiful papers I stuck a little rectangle of Orchid Opulence...gag!...definitely not a colour I reach for very often but it really works nicely with these papers.  :)

A little paper piercing and three 5mm Orange Crackle Dots finish off the base layer. The ribbon is from my stash and the cute orange flower in the center was attached with my Kajinker tool. 

This was a fun sketch to work with, to show off lots of great patterned papers. Now...back to work for me cause I need to give DH a Valentine at some point today!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

You're Da Bomb!

This one knocks off two challenges with one card. Kristina's Colour Inspiration and Karen Giron's Sunday Sketch. The colours are absolutely perfect for continuing my Valentine's cards, so that's the direction I took. My original thought with the sketch was to use the SU set 'A Happy Heart' but the tic-tac-toe image was too small for my vision.

Then I remembered I picked up these two great AMuse stamps at my LSS, Right at Home Scrapbooking, last week and the card evolved from there. 

The base is Gina K's super sturdy 120lb pure luxury cardstock, and let me tell you, this card is heavy with two big silver brads and a heart gemstone, but it stands up beautifully because of the cardstock base. Next I added a layer of SU Riding Hood Red designer paper then a square of black. The circles are punched from Basic Grey cardstock with my 1 1/4" punch and I pierced around the edges using the circle template from this handy little package. 

Then I played around with different embellishments for while, trying other combinations until I landed on this design. The red flowers are Primas with a 5mm Platinum Glitter Bella Dot in the center (LOVE the dots, baubles and bonbons from Stamping Bella...there's just SO many uses for them!). The big silver brads are from SU. The image and sentiment are from AMuse, stamped with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury then punched with a 1 1/8" circle. The X and O are Maya Road chipboard letters (from my LSS) which I inked with Brilliance Moonlight White then embossed with Iridescent Ice powder. And finally, the heart gemstone is from my stash. 

This card came together quite quickly and I'm really pleased about that! I love both the colour combo and the sketch. Thanks ladies for the challenges!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Butterfly Kisses

It's been a few days since I used any Bella stamps, so it was high time to ink one up. I've had this sweet Butterfly Kisses (Alice in Paris) stamp from Stamping Bella for a while now, so I decided to use it cause I still have a few Valentine's to make for friends {groan! yes...they'll be late...but my friends would expect nothing less}.  :)

I chose the layout for this week's Mojo Monday sketch #73. Alice is stamped with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury and coloured with copics. You can see in the detail picture that I added shimmer to the butterflies with  some Bella Liquid Watercolour Glitter. I created the opening for the ribbon with my SU horizontal slot punch because I didn't want the opening to be too large. But I used my word window on the chocolate layer underneath because it's hidden so precision wasn't an issue. 

The card base is Gina K 120lb pure luxury followed by a layer of Basic Grey Sugared patterned paper. My focal image is so large that I didn't have enough room for a layer of chocolate under the patterned paper so I inked the edges instead with Memento Rich Cocoa, to give it a little definition. I ran the Pink Pirouette piece (say that 10 times fast!) through my D'vine Swirls cuttlebug folder. 

For embellishments, I cut out a flower from one of the other Sugared patterned pieces and layered a 10mm Strawberry Parfait Bella dot in the centre. I finished off the details with three 5mm Strawberry Parfait Bella dots on the left side. I LOVE that most of Em's emBELLAshments are available in two sizes!

It's so windy here today...a good day to stay inside and stamp. Apparently I have a couple more Valentine's to make so I can at least get them in the mail before Feb 14th..LOL! And, my mom's birthday is next week...gotta get going on that one too. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Going Somewhere?

The suitcases are packed and the plane's ready...Wish you were here! This was a really fun card to put together...it didn't start out as a 'scene' like this but it ended up much better than my original idea. 

Since the chocolate, kraft and Collage Press papers were still on my stamp table, I decided to use them again instead of cleaning up (really, that was a no-brainer decision for me...LOL!). I added a little Baja Blue to the mix and some more great ribbon that I picked up recently at AC Moore. 

The stamp sets I used are both from MFT, Going Places and Essential Sentiments. The layout is from the MFT sketch challenge #67 in the forum on Splitcoast. I ran the chocolate layer through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder then stitched around the perimeter...I went for a wonky double line for a bit of whimsy. Don't you love the little banner that's attached to the plane? That's my favourite part of the card and it was a complete afterthought. It's attached with Linen Thread and a Marble Chocolate Bella Dot. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Bean Thinking About You...

My friend Joanne is running a 'Get Krafty' challenge on the Gina K. forum on Splitcoast...basically, use kraft paper on your creation. I love kraft paper too, so I figured this was a challenge I could definitely tackle. 

My original plan was to use kraft paper as my main panel, but the idea morphed into this instead. I stamped the coffee beans and bag from the Gina K Designs set My Cuppa Joe onto Gina K pure luxury cardstock then again onto kraft cardstock. I misted the kraft paper with water then crumpled it up into a little ball. I flattened it back out and set it aside to dry. Once it was dry I cut out the bag and added the word 'Beans' (and that's supposed to be a little coffee bean beside the word but it's kinda distorted cause I only thought to add it once the paper was all crumpled). I coloured the image with copics and drew in the counter line and the wall (like I've seen so many other people do). It's supposed to look like wide bead board...but it kinda looks like jail bars to me...hmph...I'll have to work on that technique. I layered lots of copic colours on the 'wall' to try and get shadows and depth. 

The patterned paper is from Collage Press, Jackson Lodge line. It's hard to see in the picture but I zig-zagged around the edge of the patterned panel, then straight stitched inside the zig-zag. It's subtle, but I like it. 

I picked up the ribbon yesterday at AC Moore and I think I'll go back for more...it was on sale and I really like it! I added a row of Marble Chocolate Bella Dots under the sentiment and pierced a photo corner in the top right. 

This is the last of the Valentine's cards for my brothers. Really, this one isn't Valentinish at all, but both he and his wife love coffee, and I've been thinking about them cause we'll see them at Easter when we're back home for the long weekend. I sent the Cookie Love card to my other brother, cause he loves cookies. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

To The Moon...

I LOVE colouring, and I'd like to get better at the shading part. I really admire Paula's colouring...it's absolutely out-of-this-world gorgeous! This lovely card totally inspired me and I wanted to try my hand at her shading technique. Believe it or not, I spent about half an hour studying the images on her blog, going from card to card, trying my best to notice everything...I felt like I was stalking her or something! LOL!

I ended up completely CASEing her card...it was tough enough doing the colouring part, I didn't want to have to come up with a layout too. I stamped my brand new Moon Girl Elzybell onto Sahara Sand with Memento black and coloured with my Lyra pencils, odourless mineral spirits and a stump. I just kept layering and shading, layering and shading...it ended up taking me a lot longer than it would have with my copics, but I'm really pleased with the result. It's still nowhere near Paula's, but I'm happy with it for my first try. 

When I picked up the Elzy stamp on Friday I also grabbed the sentiment (also from AMuse) cause I thought they were perfect together. The little star stamp is from the retired SU set Bundle Up. 

This card's going to my parents for Valentine's Day, cause I really do love them to the moon and back! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Love Bugg

I'm really not usually a 'Valentines-y' person, but I seem to be making cards for everyone this year. There are just SO many adorable Valentine stamps, or maybe I'm paying closer attention to what's out there...not sure which. All I do know is that I simply could not resist this adorable LOVEbeetle Huggabugg from Stamping Bella. These sweet Huggabuggs have my heart! As soon as I saw this one I knew it would be a card for one of my brothers...ack...phewy...gross...did I really just say that? {{{grin}}} Seriously though, he's a Beetle fanatic (has two old beetles, a beetle dune buggy, a toy beetle collection...you get the picture). So I thought this would be a perfect card to send to him and his family, just to let them know we miss them.

The layout is from Jen's Sketch For You To Try. I stamped the image with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury and paper pieced the car, then coloured the rest with copics. The two larger heart gemstones on the wheels are from my stash (I've had them forever) and the three small ones on the antennas are from AMuse...they were brand spankin new stock at my LSS and I knew they'd be perfect for this image. I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the stars and dots coming out of the box. 

The card base is a layer of Baja Blue followed by So Saffron, which I ran through my Big Shot with the Hearts Retro Sizzix Texturz plate (then I covered most of it with other layers...LOL!). This was my first time using a texturz plate...the result is definitely more subtle than Cuttlebug embossing folders but I like the fact that the texturz plates are larger than a card front, so I could do the entire 5x5 inch piece in one shot. 

The patterned papers are from Imaginisce's Twitterpated line...LOVE them! The white shimmery flower is from MFT and the red button and ribbon is from my stash. 

I guess now that I have a card for one brother, I'd better get to work on cards for the other two. Or maybe I could set up our new Wii and play all day! We ended up getting Guitar Hero World Tour because Rockband is sold out everywhere. That's ok though...the drums in Guitar Hero include cymbals, so I'm good with that.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen 

Bling-alicious Cupcake

Get your sunglasses...this card is pretty shiny, shimmery, and blingy!!! I must be in a glitzy mood or something. Really though, who doesn't love bling? The layout is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #54. 

I stamped one of the cupcakes from the MFT set It's a Cupcake Kind of Day with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury. 

I paper pieced with the 6x6 Basic Grey Bittersweet paper and coloured the rest with markers. I cut out the image with my Labels Two nesties and layered it onto some Chocolate Chip. I had to try out my new Summer Collection Adornments from MFT so I added the rose colour as a border around the image. Next I put pink Stickles on the frosting then added crystal effects to the cherry, which is popped on a dimensional. 

For the card base I used 12x12 Basic Grey Bittersweet patterned paper, layered on chocolate chip. There's a strip of pink under the chocolate ribbon and I finished it off with a Prima hydrangea embellishment and a super sparkly button by Chatter Box, the Artsy.licious line. 

I think we're heading out to purchase Rock Band today. I'm kind of obsessed with it now after playing last weekend (it was set up in the hospitality room at the hotel). I sat down to play the drums and actually rocked the song, Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, on my first try. Who knew I had an inner drummer just waiting to escape! The people we were with call it the anti-alzheimers activity cause it works your hand-eye coordination. So really, medically speaking, we need it.    :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Have You Caught The Bug?

The stamping Huggabugg that is! Oh my...I simply adore all the Huggabuggs from Stamping Bella, but this little Stamping Huggabugg (with sentiment) could come and stamp with me any time. How could anyone resist this sweetness! Take a peek here for all the Huggabuggs...I'm pretty sure they'll tug at your heartstrings too.  :)

Edit to add: Em has just released a new stamp line over at Stamping Bella. Click here for all the details and she's offering free shipping! Woo Hoo!

For this card I pulled out one of the sketches that I never had time to play with from Taylor's Cupcake Challenge Anniversary. This sketch is from Monika Davis. Eventhough it's well past contest time, I still like to play. After all, the prize really is the card I've created in the end.   :)

I stamped the Huggabugg with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury and coloured it with copics. I used R00 for the wings then painted some Bella Liquid Watercolour Glitter for a little shimmer. I added two ruby red Bella bonbons to the antennas...cute!

For the card base I dug into my stash of retired SU stuff and pulled out these Wild Wasabi carousel notes. I scored the top at 1 inch, adhered them above the score line, then punched holes and tied some Baja ribbon. I pierced around the edges of the base and the red layer. Don't look to close though...I had to do it freehand and it's not perfect. The base was screaming for more bling so I added baby blue bonbons around the edge. 

This card is totally out of the box for me...I like circles but I don't usually use them as a card base. Who am I kidding...that pack of retired carousel notes was unopened until yesterday! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Digital Girl Goes Retro

This is the fabulous new Who's That Girl release from My Favorite Things...Digital Girl. I was lucky enough to be able to purchase it a week in advance, so as soon as it arrived I just HAD to play! You won't believe all the cool sentiments that come in the set. It's truly a must-have for the computer addict in all of us! LOL!  :)

The image is entirely paper pieced, except for her skin and the wheels/pole on the chair. The paper is a fun new pack from SU, Good Morning Sunshine. I just LOVE the colours, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point and Summer Sun. I chose to use the papers with all the circle patterns...I like the retro feel. There's also chocolate chip on some other patterns, but I opted not to add any chocolate to my card...shocking!!! Maybe that's cause I was eating a chocolate chip cookie as I made this card...I just couldn't resist after my Cookie Love card from yesterday.  :)

I wanted a blue embellie for the bow but I didn't have anything the right shade, so I pulled out my much neglected build-a-brads, punched a little circle from the blue paper and created my custom embellishment. To attach it I just wrapped the brad ends around the bow. I did put a glue dot under the bow because it seemed to sag a bit with the weight of the brad.

At first my plan was to have the sentiment banner at the bottom, but once I tied the bow, it just seemed to look more appropriate coming off the desk. Again, I made a custom flower embellishment with some patterned paper and the retired SU three-flower punch. I added a 7mm Olive Bella Bonbon to the center of the flower and three more at the top of the card. It's funny...as I was editing the photo I noticed that you can totally see the reflection of my camera in the bonbon on the flower...too funny! I finished off my sentiment banner with some Lime Green Stickles (and it didn't even take that long to dry, cause I used it sparingly). 

I don't know about you, but I only wish I looked this fabulous while at my computer desk. Thankfully, those who know me accept me in jeans!   :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen