Mavis at the Beach

For today's card I reached for my new Mavis Builds a Sandcastle image from Stamping Bella because I wanna be back at the beach like yesterday.

Remember I told you I picked up an extra flying lesson yesterday...well we flew to the south side of Martha's Vineyard and landed on a grass strip then followed the signs to "Beach Parking" (yes, that would be beach parking for planes!!!!). We locked up the plane, crossed the street and were at the beach!!! Nobody else was scheduled to fly the plane we had so we were in no hurry to get home. Needless to say, we hung out at the beach for a couple of hours before finishing my lesson and flying home. What a FUN way to spend the day, and the best part is we weren't stuck in traffic! Today though it's back to reality for me...in my stamp room creating so I have things to share this week.  :)

I used today's Mojo sketch for the layout. Mavis is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured with copics. I gave her goggles a coating of clear Glaze pen for shine and added touches of yellow and orange shimmer with my Spica glitter pens. 

Don't forget about this week's Bellarific Friday Challenge...Huggabuggs!!!! Email a picture of your creation to Em by Thursday evening to be included in the Friday round-up. Ok...back to stamping for me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Sweet Sunday Emelia

Happy 4th of July!!!!
It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC76. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog The Sweetest Thing.

For today's sketch I didn't make a card, instead I decorated a DVD tin. You see, for my flying lessons I need a notepad in the cockpit so I can take notes on weather and airport conditions for take-off and landings, and being a stamper, I couldn't just bring a plain notepad with me. So I cut down a junior legal pad and tucked it into an empty DVD tin.

I've been waiting to decorate it until my Emelia stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie arrived, and I'm happy to report that she landed in my mailbox on Friday! So I inked her up with Memento Tuxedo black and coloured her and the plane with copics (the little bi-plane image is included with Emelia). I cut her out so I could add in some clouds behind her (I cut them with my cloud trio die-namic from MFT) and I popped her on foam tape for dimension. The patterned papers are from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite 8x8 pad. I used a couple more of the scallop die-namics for the scalloped strip then added plenty of Crystal Twinkles around the plane. I'm not sure how well this will stand up to use over time, but it sure is cute to carry around right now!

On the inside I added a simple pouch for my medical certificate (but I'm showing it with cream cardstock because that would be too much information...LOL!) and jazzed up the note pad with a strip of patterned paper. I swear, that strip of paper was made for the notepad because I didn't cut it down at all...that was exactly the size of the strip I had left! I picked up an extra lesson today and we're flying to Martha's Vineyard...cool! I'm excited because I've never been there and yet I live only an hour from Cape Cod.

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.
Jen Tapler
Joanne Basile
Lynn Put
Nancy Riley
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Bellarific Tabitha

Happy Bellarific Friday!!! Today's challenge was square cards...woo hooo!!! I love making square cards!!!

I reached for one of my newest Stamping Bella Tea Cup girls, Tabitha. I'm not even a tea drinker but I love love LOVE the Tea Cup girls!!! You can use them for so many different occasions. I usually leave mine without a sentiment for just that reason...this could be a birthday card, a friendship card, a thank you, a hello, or just a note. Any way you slice it, this sweet image is gonna make someone smile!!!

Tabitha is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured with copics. I paper pieced the cup with one of the patterns from Cosmo Cricket Delovely. I recently watched this hair colouring tutorial on how to create shiny black hair so I gave it a try with brown hair...not bad for my first try! She's cut out with rectangle Nestabilities and layered onto Melon Mango. I added a little stitching for some interest then punched a row of flowers with my Daisy Chain border punch. I topped each flower with some Bonbons for shine. I used this week's Splitcoast sketch challenge, SC287, for the layout.

Stamping Bella is having a sale right now...20% off your entire purchase!!! That's the largest discount Stamping Bella has ever offered so take advantage of it! Enter the code emily38 at checkout...and hurry because the sale ends at midnight on July 5th!

Next week's Bellarific Friday challenge is Huggabuggs!!! Dig out those little sweeties and create anything using Huggabuggs then email a picture of your creation to Em by next Thursday to be included in the Friday round-up. And don't forget to pop over to Bloggabella to see all of today's submissions.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Happy Birthday Kim!!!!

Today we're celebrating Kim, the MFT lady's, birthday...a few days early but that's because the MFT girls will be busy busy busy with previews soon!

Happy Birthday Kim!!!!!

I chose to use Make Mine a Double for Kim's card for a few of reasons:
1. the Pure Innocence line just makes me smile and melts my heart!
2. this particular one hadn't seen ink yet.
3. Kim really does make life sweet!!! I've had the pleasure of meeting her a couple of times now and both her personality and adorable images make my life sweet!!! Hugs Kim!!! (I'll give you a real hug at CHA).

Her dress is paper pieced and the rest of the image is coloured with copics. I don't know if you can see in the close up or not, but the hearts are shimmery and I gave her shoes a coat of clear glaze pen for a red patent look, then added two Tiny Twinkles for the buckles. Of course I just had to use one of my Die-namics and the grass seemed like a natural fit. The swirly Zva bling was a last minute addition but I love how it helps make this little sweetie pop.

Be sure to pop over to Kim's blog and leave her some birthday love. Here's the list of everyone else who's wishing her a BIG happy birthday!!!

• Alex Maldonado
  
• Alma de la Rosa
  
• Amy Sheffer
  
• Barbara Anders
  
• Beate Johns
  
• Bonnie Ratzloff
  
• Carole Burrage
  
• Carolyn King
  
• Cassie Trask
  
• Chris Veneruso
  
• Christina Fischer
  
• Cindy Haffner
  
• Dawn Barghorn
  
• Dawn Easton
  
• Erin Smetak
  
• Frances Byrne
  
• Gabrielle Howey
  
• Gretchen Belknap
  
• Jen Davis
  
• Jen del Muro
  
• Jenn Balcer
  
• Jessie Rone
  
• Joanne Basile
  
• Jodi Collins
  
• Jody Morrow
  
• Joy Stagg
  
• Julie Dinn
  
• Kelli Hull
  
• Kerry Johnson
  
• Leigh O'Brien
  
• Leslie Rodriguez
  
• Lisa Henke
  
• Lori Craig
  
• Megan Lock
  
• Melody Rupple
  
• Michele Boyer
  
• Michelle Lanning
  
• Sherrie Siemens
  
• Susan Liles
  
• Tammy Hershberger
  
• Wendy Bond

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Happy Birthday, Eh!!!

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and readers!!!

I've discovered that just about everyone I talk to here in the USA around July 4th has no idea that Canada Day is celebrated on July 1st. I feel good when I get to educate a little about Canadian traditions and holidays.  :)

This is a card I made for last year's Canada Day...I had good intentions of making a new one for this year but even the best laid plans fall through, eh?! If you're looking for some fun Canadian themed imaged check out this post on my friend Nancy's blog. She's offering really cute digi stamps at a rock bottom price in her Etsy store. Unfortunately it's not a long weekend celebration in Canada this year, but there will still be plenty of fun celebrations. Enjoy the day everyone!!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Karen

Buzzin By...

Gosh I've been a slacker blogger with no posts since Sunday. I think the gorgeous summer weather has stolen my mojo because I have no desire to spend any time in my stamp room. Well that, and I've taken up a new hobby...I'm taking flying lessons so I can get my private pilot's licence!!!! It's soooo much fun!!!!

Anyway, for my card today I dug out sweet little Buzzy Huggabugg...the entire Huggabugg collection from Stamping Bella is so adorable, but this little guy spoke to me last night. I used Mercy's Tuesday sketch, MTSC80, for the layout.

Buzzy is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Cream paper and coloured with copics. I mixed and layered blues and greens to get the colour of his hat and pants...that's the fun of copics! I added sparkle with a couple of Spica glitter pens then cut him out. I adhered him to a circle of Prism Sunflowers Medium, going for a little bit of a "sun" look. The patterned papers are My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary and I used my MS Modern Garland punch along the bottom. A couple of Bonbons finish the card nicely.

Did you see the Stamping Bella release on Monday? So many fun new images to play with and you'll find them all in this post!!! AND, Em's put the entire store on sale at 20% off until July 3rd in honour of her birthday. Enter the code emily38 at checkout.

And don't forget to play along with this week's Bellarific Friday Challenge - Square Cards!!! Email a picture of your card using Stamping Bella images to Em by Thursday night to be included in the Friday round-up.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Reindeer

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC75. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog The Sweetest Thing.

For today's sketch I made my weekly Christmas card (although I skipped last week, so if I'd been smart I would have made two of these...but I didn't...oh well!). I've had this sweet Elzybells image for over a year now and I knew it would work nicely with this sketch. The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White and coloured with copics. I sponged an evening sky to make the stars pop a little more. The large star is popped for dimension and I covered the snow with diamond dust.

The patterned paper is from my stash but I don't know the name of it. The dark blue layers are Not Quite Navy. This was the perfect sketch for plenty of ghost snowflakes and punched snowflakes all layered with buttons and bling.

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 other Sweet Sunday Stampers created.
Jen Tapler
Laura Fredrickson
Nancy Riley
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Bellarific Baking Turtle

Happy Bellarific Friday and HAPPY BIRTHDAY EM!!!!!!!!! Yup, that's right...today is da Bella's birthday and I think she might have a little present for us with a wee surprise release!!! I'm so excited to see what she's got up her sleeve!!!

But first, my card for today. This week's challenge was a fun sketch by Jodibella and I chose to use Turtle Tots Baker, cause she's baking up a birthday cake to celebrate Em's birthday!!! And Em, this card's in the mail to you but it'll be a little late arriving...I'll blame it on cross-border snail mail...wink!

I stamped the sweet turtle with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Cream paper and coloured it with copics. I added some fuschia sparkle with a Spica glitter pen and gave the mixing bowl a glossy look with my clear Glaze pen. The colours are pulled from the October Afternoon Thrift Shop patterned papers. I added plenty of stitching on the patterned layers and used my new Martha Stewart Modern Garland border punch on the vibrant pink layer, which gave me the perfect opportunity to add some Bonbons along the punched edge.

Next week's Bellarific Challenge is square cards. To play along simply create a square card using Stamping Bella images and email a picture of your creation to Em by next Thursday to be included in the Friday round-up. You could win Bella Bucks just for playing along! Now let's hop over to Bloggabella to see today's round-up and maybe, just maybe, Em will have some new images to share too!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Tissues Tissues Everywhere...

Welcome to the Blast from the Past blog hop sponsored by Taylored Expressions!!! Hopefully you started at Taylor's blog and have seen fabulous creations as you've been hopping along.

For my card I just couldn't decide which set to use...they're all so fabulous...decisions, decisions, decisions....but I ended up using Doctor's Orders and pairing it with SC285.

You know what's really bizarre though, as I was typing up this post I realized that I used the exact same stamp set for last month's Blast from the Past blog hop!!! How freaky is that!!! I pulled out my In the Kitchen Project Pantry for all the papers and added in a smidge of kraft.  Because of the kraft cardstock, my card qualifies for my bud Jeanie's That's Krafty Thursday #31 challenge. The tissue boxes are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with copics. I added a little sparkle with my orange Spica glitter pen then cut out the tissue boxes and popped them on foam tape. I used my deco scallop border punch on a strip of kraft and added Crystal Twinkles for some sparkle.

There's plenty more eye candy to see on the hop so get going...happy hopping!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

It's a Purse Thing!

Happy Monday! I have a gorgeous pumpkin patterned purse to share with you today...I know a certain someone (Dana) who would probably love to have one just like this in real life! Actually, I've missed my BFF Danabella the past almost two weeks because first I was away then she was away (you need to understand that we chat every week day on the phone) so I think I was channeling Dana when I made this card last night. Glad you're home my friend so we can chat this afternoon...I've missed you!  :)

The image is slouchy purse from Stamping Bella and it's quite fun to work with. I decided to paper piece the image with papers from my 365' Degrees 6x6 paper pack by Pink Paislee. The buckles are coloured with a dark blue Spica glitter pen. The layout is Jen's Sketch For You To Try from Saturday.

I used my corner chomper to round the bottom corners before stitching the layers together. My sewing machine's acting up a little...see that one missed stitch in the bottom left corner??? Argh!!! WHY is it doing that??? I can't figure out what the problem is with my Janome so if anyone knows, please help, because it's driving me bananas!!! So after that little sewing mishap I put myself in a good mood again by making a rolled paper flower for the accent. I finished it with a hyacinth Bonbon in the center for a little shine.

Have you already got your card done for this week's Bellarific Friday? If not, there's still plenty of time to play along...simply email a photo of your card (using Stamping Bella images) to Em by Thursday evening to be included in the Friday round-up on Bloggabella. Here's the sketch for this week's challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen