Happy Birthday StampingBella.com!!!!

Today's the big day we've all been waiting for. Did you have fun on the Bella Blog Hop this weekend? I know I did!!!! There were so many wonderful cards to oogle over, and I'm sure you noticed the sneak peeks too!!! I'm SOOOO excited for this release...my list is long already and I haven't even seen everything yet!!!

I have another new image to share with you today. She's one of the new Tea Cup girls, from the same illustrator as the Green Bean Baby line, and her name is Meredith! Isn't she just darling!!!

She's coloured with copics and I paper pieced the two butterflies. Once I started assembling my card I realized she should have been on Cream Paper instead of White Paper, so I coloured all around the oval with my E41 copic. I glitzed her up with Black Diamond Stickles on her headband and a few yellow gems on the flowers and the large butterfly. She's cut out with oval Nestabilities and layered onto a scallop oval of Prism Island Mist Dark.

The patterned papers are all from my Cosmo Cricket Early Bird 6x6 deck. The yellow is Sunflowers Medium and I wrapped the card with a blue bayou bow.

Don't forget to head over to Bloggabella to see all the new release images along with the winners from the Birthday Bash Blog Hop and Contest!!! I'm wishing you the best of luck on winning one of the fabulous prizes!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Snowman

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC47. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog, The Sweetest Thing.

As I type this we're smack dab in the middle of the first winter storm of the season. There are already a few inches of wet snow accumulated on the ground, and it has completely covered the trees...they look SO pretty!!! So I think this card is absolutely perfect for our first winter storm. Not to mention, my willpower finally ran out and I recently ordered a few of the adorable snowmen from Whipper Snapper. I've been wanting them for so long...I had a wee bit too much free surfing time on our recent vacation to Vermont, and these guys magically appeared in my mailbox this week! grin! :)

I stamped Just Chill'n Snowman with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White and coloured it with copics. I turned him into a Snowgirl though with the pink hat! I paper pieced the bucket with one of the patterns from my Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses 6x6 pad. Then I added the red heart and gave it two coats with my clear Glaze pen for some shine. I finished the image with some white liquid applique and sprinkled on some glitter before I heated it. I tried to get a close-up of the shimmery glitter because it's quite pretty IRL. Photos never really do a card justice IMO.

Snowgirl is layered onto Prism Blush Red Dark. Then I stitched the same patterned paper to some Baja Breeze before layering it onto the Prism Frosted Pink. The ribbon is Baja Breeze and if you look real close you'll see the ghost snowflake I tied to the bow with a button.

I think that with all the snow that's falling, I'll be Just Chill'n on Sunday...I feel a Lulu and hoody day coming on...perfect for stamping, or addressing all my Christmas cards...ugh! You already know I got them done early this year, but that doesn't mean they'll be mailed early (or even on time)! LOL!!!

Let's go see what the other Sweet Sunday Stampers came up with for this sketch.

Jen Tapler

Laura Fredrickson

Lynn Put

Vicki Burdick

and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Stamping Bella Blog Hop-I have a SNEAK PEEK to show you!

Welcome to the Stamping Bella Birthday Bash Blog Hop!!! We're celebrating because on Monday, StampingBella.com turns three!!! You should have arrived from Amber's blog, but if you didn't then start at the beginning of the hop, Bloggabella. And let me tell you, it's worth hopping because there are THREE fabulous $100 gift certificates to Stamping Bella hidden along the hop. So be sure to leave some love along the way. Three lucky commenters will be randomly chosen from three blogs along the hop, but we're not telling you where the prizes are hidden. The winners will be announced on Bloggabella on Monday, Dec 7th.

Does this darling image look familiar? Well, it shouldn't, because this little Birthday Boy is a brand new image that will be released on Monday!!!! Be sure to visit Bloggabella on Monday to see all the new releases!!! Doesn't he look all set for the party?!? I couldn't be happier about this image...you see, the first three months of the year are major birthday months in my family, but mostly for boys and men. It's always so difficult to make manly/boyish cards, so this image is absolutely perfect!!!

I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch, MTSC50, for the layout. He's coloured with copics and I added just a little shimmer to the bows on the presents with my Spica glitter pens. The fun and bright patterned paper is October Afternoon Night Light, and I'm lovin' my MS star border punch!!!

The Birthday Bash Contest is still open until tonight (Dec 5th) at 10pm EST. There's a giant prize at stake there too so get your card into the contest for a chance to win. Read all the details here.

Now you're off to see what fabulous creation Christy has to share and here's a link to the Master List of hoppers in case you get lost or the chain breaks.

Thanks for hopping by!

Karen

Taylored Expressions Release Day-Sweet Occasions

Woooo Hoooo!!!! It's release day at Taylored Expressions and all the wonderful new stamp sets will be available for purchase...simply click on the Fresh Out Of The Oven tab to find all the new products. But before you go shopping, the Baker's Dozen has some wonderful Taylored Card Kits to share. As you hop along today you'll see card kits made with all three new sets, Discover Your Wings, Crafty Cuppie, and Sweet Occasions. Taylor has hand-picked a selection of patterned papers, cardstock, ribbons, and pearls to coordinate with each stamp set and has also included a Perfect Package Card Box to wrap up your set of cards.

Today I'm showing you the Sweet Occasions card set that I created using the Pretty Please Card Kit. Each Taylored Card Kit comes complete with enough supplies to create 10 cards with plenty of layering. I love love LOVE how this card set turned out...the stamp set is sooooo sweet and perfect for so many occasions and the colours in the Pretty Please Card Kit are perfectly cheery!!!!

I think it's important to note that the only supplies I added to my Taylored Card Kit were copic markers, a border punch, dry embossing folder, sewing and adhesive. Each Taylored Card Kit has endless opportunities for card design and layout. I chose to use the same layout for all my cards, but there are plenty of supplies included in the kit so you could shake it up if you wanted.

Here's a shot of each of the cards. I did a crazy wave stitch around the perimeter of each card to tie in with the wave frame around each image. I added pearls to the top let corner on each card, except for the Friend card. I added them to the actual image for that one.

And here's my decorated Perfect Package Card Box.

And I thought I'd show you all the supplies I have left after making my 10 cards...there's still plenty to work with.

It took me about four hours to make all these cards and decorate the Perfect Package Card Box...not too bad IMO! Best of all, now I have a gift ready to go for either a family member, a friend, or a hostess!

As you may have guessed, we have another prize giveaway today. Come blog hoppin' with me to see what the Baker's Dozen girls have cooked up with Discover Your Wings, Crafty Cuppie, and Sweet Occasions.

Charmaine Ikach

Dawn Easton

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Laurie Schmidlin

Sankari Wegman

Sharon Harnist

and Taylor VanBruggen

Be sure to leave some love along the way because one lucky commenter will win a Crafty Cuppie stamp set!!! How cool is that?!?

All you have to do is leave a comment on each Baker's Dozen blog today for the best chance to win! One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all of the comments on one of the blogs, but the trick is that nobody knows which blog it will be! You have until 6am PST on Saturday to enter. The winner will be announced on Monday morning on Taylor's blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek Day 2-Crafty Cuppie

Today the Baker's Dozen is showing you sneak peeks of a couple of different sets. I'm sharing Crafty Cuppie and Crafty Expressions and there's another prize announcement at the end, so read on.

We all love to craft, right? Well, so does Cuppie!!! Cuppie's into all sorts of crafts though, stamping, scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, and painting. This set is absolutely perfect for the crafty person in your life, or even the non-crafty person.

I intend to send this first card to my Mom, and she definitely does not have a crafty bone in her body (I'm still wondering to this day where I got my craftiness from). But, she likes to knit little square dish cloths when her and my Dad are on road trips. He drives...she knits...it's cute! My supply of dish cloths is getting low though so I thought I'd send this as a hint! Hey, maybe they should take a road trip to see me...she can get quite a few dish cloths knit on a two day drive! LOL!

I used the Sweet Stop Sketch, SSS32, for this layout. All the papers, cardstock and ribbons are from my Winnie's Walls Key Ingredients. I started by stamping Cuppie with Memento Tuxedo Black onto the patterned paper, then I stamped him again onto Choice Snow White (from the KI kit). I coloured Cuppie and the bowl of yarn with copics, cut them out and adhered them to the patterned chair with my Xyron Sticker Maker. The sentiment is from Crafty Expressions, a companion set to Crafty Cuppie. It's full of fabulous phrases that you can insert various crafty words into, like "_______ is cheaper than therapy" (insert sewing, stamping, painting, etc.). It's such a fun set! I used my Tags 5 to cut out the sentiment.

The sentiment on this next card (which is part of the Crafty Cuppie set) is kind of a crafter's motto IMO..."Do something creative every day!" LOVE it!!! And I do try to abide by that motto.

For this card I stamped Cuppie with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White, then again onto the green patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Delighted collection (so I could paper piece the cupcake liner). Then I stamped Cuppie a third time so I could cut out his paint brush and layer it over the cupcake liner. After all, the layers need to be in the proper perspective, right? The image is coloured with copics and cut out with circle Nestabilities then layered onto the largest shape in my Labels Three Nestabilities. I added some sparkle around the image with Lime Green Stickles and I couldn't wait to use my new MS star border punch. :)

Come blog hoppin' with me to see what the Baker's Dozen girls have cooked up with Crafty Cuppie and Sweet Occasions (I'll be showing this set tomorrow).

Charmaine Ikach

Dawn Easton

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Laurie Schmidlin
Nancy McKinney

Sankari Wegman

Sharon Harnist

and Taylor VanBruggen

Be sure to leave some love along the way because one lucky commenter will win a Sweet Occasions stamp set!!! How cool is that?!?

All you have to do is leave a comment on each Baker's Dozen blog today for the best chance to win! One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all of the comments on one of the blogs, but the trick is that nobody knows which blog it will be! You have until 6am PST on Friday to enter. The winner will be announced on Friday morning on Taylor's blog.

Tomorrow is release day and I'll be back with a sweet card set using Sweet Expressions. See you then!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek-Day 1-Discover Your Wings

Today the Baker's Dozen is sharing projects made using the brand new set Discover Your Wings. I have lots of info to share today so grab a coffee and please stick with me...there's a prize announcement at the end! ;)

Every three months Taylored Expressions introduces a new set in the TE Giving Tree Program. Discover Your Wings is the new charitable set, designed by Nancy McKinney. The set will be available for purchase in the TE Store on Friday, December 4th from 8am PST. Proceeds from the sale of this gorgeous set ($7 from every set sold) will be donated to the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (more on this in a sec.). The possibilities for this set are endless with the beautiful butterfly, dragonfly and flower images, not to mention the wonderful sentiments that are included in Discover Your Wings. I can see myself using it any time I need an uplifting card, or how about a classy graduation card, and it would make a beautiful set of notecards too!

Here's a little more on the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. It's a charity that serves families dealing with infant death. Their mission statement is "To introduce remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the free gift of professional portraiture. We believe these images serve as an important step in the family's healing process by honouring their child's legacy." NILMDTS administers a network of almost 7000 volunteer photographers in the US and 25 other countries. This is a wonderful charity that Taylored Expressions is honoured to support and I would encourage you to learn more about them by visiting their website.

I have to say that I had never heard of this charity until Taylored Expressions brought it into the spotlight. Thankfully I've never had to deal with an infant death and I can't even begin to imagine the loss a family feels. But that's what I love about the TE Giving Tree...they bring charities into the spotlight and I get to be a part of supporting these charities just by doing what I love, stamping!

How about a few details on my cards. On the first one I stamped the butterfly with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream then again onto the Spring Fling patterned paper and I paper pieced the inside of the wings. I coloured the outside edge with a purple copic. Only the butterfly body is adhered to the circle so I could bend the wings up. The layout is Mojo115. I used my Fancy Tags to cut out the sentiment then sponged it with Memento Desert Sand and added two brown Zva crystals (leftovers from the crystal swirl on the circle. For the background I ran the paper through my textile Cuttlebug folder then sanded it lightly. The card base measures 5.25 inches square and there's plenty of dimension because each layer is on foam tape.

The second card whipped up super quick! I inked the flower image with Memento Sweet Plum and Memento Cantaloupe then coloured the stems and leaves with my artichoke marker and stamped it onto Choice Snow White. I layered it with the following Prism colours: Frosted Amethyst, Herbal Garden Dark, and Papaya Puree Medium. The layout is today's Splitcoast sketch, SC257. The butterfly was stamped with Memento Grape Jelly. I added some Diamond Sitckles and Black Flower Soft to the flower centers and two purple Tiny Twinkles on the diamond squares. The center panel is popped on foam tape and so is the butterfly.

Are you ready for the prize announcement? I know you deserve it!!!

Come blog hoppin' with me to see what the Baker's Dozen girls have cooked up with Discover Your Wings today.

Charmaine Ikach

Dawn Easton

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Laurie Schmidlin

Nancy McKinney

Sankari Wegman

Sharon Harnist

and Taylor VanBruggen

Be sure to leave some love along the way because one lucky commenter will win a Discover Your Wings stamp set!!! How cool is that?!?

All you have to do is leave a comment on each Baker's Dozen blog today for the best chance to win! One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all of the comments on one of the blogs, but the trick is that nobody knows which blog it will be! You have until 6am PST on Thursday to enter. The winner will be announced Friday morning on Taylor's blog.

I'll see you back here tomorrow for day 2 of Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Somebunny Loves You

Actually, Somebunny LOVES Stamping Bella and that's ME!!! I hope you love Stamping Bella too because there's a big birthday bash underway and lots of AMAZING PRIZES (like four $100 gift certificates, the entire new release, and being a Guest Bella Babe for January)!!!

Bella Birthday Bash Contest: The deadline to enter is Dec 5th and the prize is PHENOM, so get stamping ladies!!! Click here for details.

Bella Birthday Bash Blog Hop: Have you signed up yet? If not, click here to sign up and join the Dec 5th blog hop. More PHENOM prizes to be had!!!

Bella Birthday Release: Mark the date...Dec 7th Em will be releasing a bunch of new images on Bloggabella and will also announce all the winners then too!

I couldn't resist using sweet Presley Lollipop for my card today. The layout is from the Clean & Simple blog, FTL70, and I love the simplicity of it!

I paper pieced Presley's nightie then coloured the rest with copics. I used the fabulous 'Lollipop Face Colouring Tutorial' from the Stamping Bella forum on Splitcoast. The pretty yellow polka dot paper is Bo Bunny Double Dot, and it's available in every colour of the rainbow! The stitching, ribbon and brown layer all look really dark (almost black) in the photo but they're chocolate IRL. The crocheted flower is from a friend and I added some bling to the center. I didn't want to add in any other colours so I layered the main panel onto kraft before adhering it to the white card base.

I hope to see you on the Bella Hop next weekend!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Sweet Sunday Flurry

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC46. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog, The Sweetest Thing.

I simply couldn't wait any longer to ink up one of my Pure Innocence girls from MFT. Seriously, how can anyone resist these little dolls!!!

And guess what...I have enough Christmas cards for this year so I'm already starting on my cards for next year. How stinkin' cool is that! Now, who knows when I'll actually get them in the mail this year, but they're all made...wooo hooo!!!!

I mostly followed the sketch with this card, but I just couldn't put my circle off-center like the sketch showed. I tried and tried, but it kept sliding back to the center...wink! I stamped Flurry of Love with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White, twice. I coloured one of the images with copics, cut it out and adhered it with foam tape to the base image. I added some white Liquid Applique to her hat and boots and sprinkled some glitter over it before I heated it. I also glittered the falling snow behind her and added three Tiny Twinkles to her jacket.

The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye Be Merry. I layered it with Baja Blue, pink and Prism Blush Red Dark. A little stitching and some buttons added just the right detail.

Let's go see what the other Sweet Sunday Stampers came up with for this sketch. I wonder if I'm the only one who just couldn't do the off-center circle. ;)

Jen Tapler

Laura Fredrickson

Lynn Put

Nancy Riley

Sarah-Jane Kale'

Vicki Burdick

and Karen Giron

ETA: Apparently I went awry on this sketch even more than I realized. My printer must have cut off the bottom of the sketch when I printed it because I thought the center square was lined up with the bottom of the base...sigh. So definitely go see the REAL SKETCH on Karen's blog! Hopefully I'll have better luck next week!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Blog Birthday Candy WINNER!!!!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my blog candy post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every reason why you all love rubber stamping!

Random.org generated the winning entry, #25, and that's LAURA!!! Congratulations!!!! Here's what Laura said:

Laura said...

Happy Blogoversary, Karen!!! I love your blog... it is a must read every day!! Why do I love rubber stamping....there are so many reasons!! I love getting to play w/ ribbon and pretty paper!! Also, I love the chance to be artistic by coloring and mixing patterns and textures... I can't draw to save my life so this lets me show an artistic side!! I also love the people I've met!! Congrats again!

Laura, please email me at karen_motz@yahoo.ca with your mailing address so I can get your prize in the mail, and I'll need your email address for the two gift certificates. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Bellarific Bloom

Happy Bellarific Friday!!! Today we're headed home from spending this past week in Vermont. We'd been hoping to get in a little early season skiing but Mother Nature had other plans for this week. It was so warm all week that I nearly expected to see spring blooms. But, we did end up going to the movies twice in Stowe...New Moon and The Blind Side. If I had to choose just one to see, definitely The Blind Side. What an amazing story and a wonderful movie!!! Sorry all New Moon fans...it was good, but not AS good. :)

Ok, enough chatter...on to my card for this week's Bellarific Challenge. The sketch was provided by my BFF Danabella.

I made the card before we left last week and you'd think I was predicting the weather or something! LOL!! I stamped the Stamping Bella image Daisy with a Ladybug with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured it with copics. I added a little Glamour Dust to the flower then stitched around the edge...confession...I thought my machine was set to a straight stitch so the zig zag caught me off guard...too late to change it though and I like the end result.

For the card base, I ran the patterned paper (from My Mind's Eye Pretty Please collection) through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder then sanded the embossed dots a little to add texture and to expose the white core. I used my threading water punch to accent the green piece then stitched on a strip of red before adding five String of Pearls Baubles. The sentiment is from the Mini Words set.

Here are a few important reminders:

1. Pop over to Bloggabella to see this week's entries!
2. Em has a Thanksgiving Sale for everyone! Spend $50 and receive a $10 coupon. Click here for details.
3. Birthday Bash Blog Hop: Join the Dec 5th blog hop here. There are four $100 gift certificates to be won!
4. Birthday Bash Contest: Submit your project before the deadline for a chance to win the entire new release!!! Click her for details.

I'll be back later tonight to announce the winner of my Blog Birthday Candy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen