CrAzY for Easter - C4C84

Time for another challenge with the Crazies this week! Our April hostess is Silke Kittman, and for this week the challenge is to create an Easter card! Stop on over at the http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/if you'd like more details, and play along! We'd love to see your creation!

For my card, I had no choice but to pull out Eva Bloom from Stamping Bella! She's the best Easter stamp in my collection, so I got her inky for today along with some yummy new Springtime paper from Echo Park. Oh my wow, I'm so in love with these papers! :)

See what the other Crazies have made today for more inspiration...

Barbara Anders

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Jessie Rone

Joanne Grzelak

Jocelyn Pelkey

Lynda Benden

Maria Bell

Silke Ledlow

Silke Kittman

Vicki Garrett

Happy Easter, and thanks for visiting my blog today!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Bellarific Friday "Free for All"

Thank God it's Friday, for a number of reasons! The biggest one is that I am hitting the road with my hubby and my daughter today and going to VIRGINIA where I will be meeting FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME one of my bestest stamping friends EVER! Barbara Anders and I have been online, stamping friends for... omgosh, about 3 years, I think! And WE'VE NEVER MET! Can you believe it!? And FINALLY we're meeting for the first time this weekend! I. CAN'T. WAIT!!! (And yes, all the caps mean I AM EXCITED!) So when you hear screams coming from near the East coast later today, that will be the two of us!

The other reason I am happy that it's Friday is that it's time for another Bellarific Friday challenge with da' Babes! This week is a glorious free-for-all in which we could create anything we wanted using Stamping Bella stamps! So for my card, I decided to use the cute little Arthur here in his fishing gear, since I just picked up this cute Cosmo Cricket "fishy" paper over the weekend in Erie, PA! I just love his lil' towhead hairdo, bagging overalls and big boots! Isn't he the cutest? Arthur is colored with Copic markers on Bella's Bestest White paper, and the layout for my card was inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch for this past week.

So take yourself over to Bloggabella and check out all the Bellalicious creations today! Don't forget to leave a comment too, because one lucky commenter will be selected to win some Bella Bucks! And then, get busy creating and play along with us next week because another person who joins in will also win some Bucks! The challenge next week is Mother's Day!

And, if you need something else to do, stop and check out the newly revitalized Forumabella! That's right... we've got our own spot to chat, share ideas, upload creations and everything! Our own Jessabella has been hard at work keeping things organized and active over there and we'd LOVE to see your smiling face! And beginning May 15th we're going to be introducing a Forum Challenge too, that you won't want to miss!

Happy stamping! Thanks for stopping by today!

TSG103 - Monochromatic Magic

Karen Giron is our Trendsetter of the Week on the There She Goes blog, and her challenge for this week is to create a Monochromatic card. In order to do that you would choose one or more shades of one color along with ONE neutral color to use in your creation. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

To be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a card that utilizes monochromatic coloring, and then come back to the TSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the InLinkz that is located at the bottom of this challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Apr. 25th). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)

You do not need to have a blog to be able to participate in the TSG Challenges! You can simply add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery. If you upload your card to an online craft gallery, please use the keyword TSG103 so we can check out your beautiful work!

For my card, I pulled out this sweet new "Springtime" paper from Echo Park and combined it with this cutie-pie from the Under the Weather stamp set. And I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch again for the layout, keeping my design on the clean and simple side.

There's still time, so play along with us this week and make some Monochromatic Magic!

Happy stamping!

Mavis in her 'Kini

Hey Cindy! This Mavis is for YOU! :) And I used the colors I told you about on Tuesday!

I got the new Summer Days paper today from Echo Park, so I thought Mavis in her 'kini from Stamping Bella would be a perfect match for these bright, Summer papers! She's colored with Copics on Bella's Bestest White paper, and the "what's mew?" sentiment is also from Stamping Bella. For the layout I used Jen's Sketch for You to Try for April.

And speaking of Stamping Bella, there's still time to participate in this week's Bellarific Friday challenge! The theme this week is a free for all.... create whatever your little heart desires using any stamps from the Stamping Bella store! Email your creation to Emily before Thursday evening to be included in the line-up with the Bella Sistahood!

Here are my Copic colors (just for you, Cindy!)
Happy stamping! Thanks for stoppin' by!

Color Throwdown #138

Time for another Color Throwdown! Are you ready? Can you handle it? :) We have a special twist to the challenge this week! I'm the hostess this time around, and my challenge is for you to use Navy Blue, White and any ONE other color! I think navy and white is such a classic combo, and works well with any other color so this week I'm giving you a little freedom! Let's see what YOU would combine with navy blue and white!

And as an added bonus this week, our challenge is being sponsored by our own Laura Pryor from Lil' Inker Designs! One lucky participant this week will win their choice of either the Sentiment Flag die and matching stamp set, or the brand new Pinwheel die and matching stamp set! So there's more incentive to play along... what're you waiting for?

For my card, I decided to add this bright Spring green to my navy and white combo, using some designer papers from Stampin' Up! I never got time to make my hubby an anniversary card last week, so this might just get tucked into his lunch box tomorrow!
Stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and to link up your own creation! And see what my Throwdown sisters have created for more inspiration...

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Cathy Rulli

Danielle Kennedy

Kisa Peters

Kristin Eberline

Laura Pryor

LeAnne Pugliese

Carole Burrage, April Guestie

Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #114

Hello everyone! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! I spent all day Sunday in Erie, PA at Monkey Business Scrapbook Lounge with a huge bunch of wonderful stampers, all anxious to learn more about Copic markers! It was a great day of coloring and stamping!

It's time for another Timeless Tuesday challenge, and this week Cindy Haffner is our hostess. She's chosen a color challenge... use aqua, yellow and brown on your card! I decided to go bright and Springy with these colors and pulled out my new April Showers stamp set. I love tulips, and especially yellow ones so this was a perfect choice for my card, along with a sentiment from the Tag Lines stamp set, and some Nestabilities dies. The layout is from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #113. And with my Kraft cardstock base, and scalloped circle, this card also works for Jeanie's "That's Krafty Thursday" challenge #50!

For more colorful inspiration, see what the other Timeless Tuesday designers have created for today...

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Pattie Goldman, April Guest Designer

We hope you'll join along with the challenge this week! There is always a $10 Flourishes gift certificate up for grabs for one lucky participant, so give it a try!

Happy stamping!

stamps - April Showers, Tag Lines (Flourishes); cardstock - Stampin' Up!; designer papers - Echo Park, SU!; Copic markers; Spellbinders Nestabilities; brads - Doodlebug; ribbon - May Arts; Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

CrAzY for Easter Baskets - C4C83

It's time to get CrAzY again this week! Silke Kittman is our hostess for the month, and for this week our challenge is to create an Easter gift.... a basket, box or other gift-giving idea.

Being the third Saturday of the month, this week's challenge is a sponsored challenge. This month our sponsor is Krisi's Kreations. Krisi's store sells templates which are available in a number of different formats, including PSD, TIFF, PNG, PDF & SVG.

I chose to use the Box It Up: Handle for a quick little Easter treat. I decided to use my Nestabilities oval to cut a window in the front of the box, and picked up some sugared gummi rabbits to put inside. The stamps I used here are an old set from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Stop by the C4C blog for all the challenge details, including plenty of inspiration from the design team!

Happy stamping, happy weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Bellarific Friday

Yeehaw, it's FRIDAY! And that also means it's Bellarific Friday! I hope we've got a LOT of Bella fans that played along this week with Linda's wonderful sketch challenge! Hop on over to Blogabella to see all the entries this week, and don't forget to leave a comment! Each week, Emily awards one lucky participant and one lucky commenter with some Bella Bucks to spend! Easy money, girls!

And before I get to my card, I also want to mention that Forumabella has been revived! Stop by soon and check it out! We'd love to get to chat with Bella fans from around the world! There is also a gallery where you can upload your own creations!

Now, for my card today I just had to use Mavis again! I know... I know... I just LOVE her so! This is Mavis has a Daisy, and I have been just dying to try coloring her with some stripes like Jeaniebella does so perfectly! So I got a mini lesson from her, gave it a try and LOVE how Mavis looks with her kitty stripes! I paired her with some really pretty new Prima "Sweet Fairy" papers.

Now, if you didn't get around to it this week, make it a point to play along with us next Friday! The challenge next week is Free Form.... do whatever you want, but be sure to use a Bella image! Email your creation to Emily by Thursday to be included in the line-up!

Happy stamping!

Bella-liciousness

Hi everyone!

I thought I would let you know about some exciting news! Stamping Bella is revitalizing Forumabella....I know, you forgot there was a forum? Or didn't know there was one? It's our own private watering hole, where we can chit chat, and post cards! Em opened it last year, but then was having some spam problems with it. Well, everything is dusted off now and shined up nice and purty, and ready to go!

AND there's a contest to win some Bella Bucks! You should definitely go to the Facebook page HERE and become a fan. Then, hop on over to THE FORUM and register yourself. Once you are a member, click on the chattering topic called "Off Topic", and you will see a couple of posts about the contest to win the moolah!

There already seem to be a lot of newbies, which is so exciting - don't miss out on the chance! And we will be having more chances in the future as well!

Don't forget to visit the Bloggabella to check out the last Bellarific Friday post. You have until tonight to send Em your creation using Linda's sketch:

Happy stamping!

Color Throwdown #137

Welcome to another week of Color Throwdown! Cathy is our hostess this week with this cool color palette! Stop over at the Throwdown blog to check out the challenge and play along!

For my card, I couldn't resist inking up this new stamp set from The Cat's Pajamas called Wet Puddle. I paired the images with some October Afternoon and Stampin' Up! papers, and die-cut clouds.
My Throwdown sisters have some sweet inspiration for you too, so be sure and stop by their blogs...

...and Kisa played again this week, too!

Happy stamping, and thanks bunches for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #113 and a JUG-Head Birthday Blog Hop

It's time for another Timeless Tuesday challenge with the Flourishes Blog Team, and this week Dee is our hostess. Since Spring appears to finally be showing up around the country, Dee is challenging everyone to show off their best floral creations. Stop over at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details and to link up your own creation!

My card today is showing off the beautiful flowers from the recently released Lenten Rose stamp set, and it's also a birthday card for the fabulous Elise Durenberger! I got to know Elise when she was a Guestie on the Color Throwdown team last year and she is an absolute joy to know! Her enthusiasm and her smile are so infectious! Today is her birthday, and the girls on the JUGS Challenge team have organized a blog hop to help her celebrate and I was asked to join in. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Elise! You are so super-sweet, and I hope your birthday is fabulous!

I incorporated some Basic Grey "Lemonade" papers in my design, some hand-dyed seam binding tied off with a vintage button, some butterfly punches, stitching and KaiserCraft pearls. The birthday sentiment is from Tag Lines.

First, please stop and see the other Flourishes Bloggers cards for plenty of floral inspiration...

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Pattie Goldman, April Guest Designer

Then, check out all the cards in Elise's Birthday Blog Hop and finish up at Elise's blog and be sure to wish her a very Happy Birthday... (You can join in and make a card for Elise too, then link it up to get added to the list!)

And finally, thank you so much for stopping by today! I greatly appreciate your visits!

TSG102 - Vivacious Vellum

It's time for another challenge with There She Goes! This week’s challenge is brought to us by this month’s Guest Trendy, Marisa! It’s time to pull out that rarely used, but always elegant vellum. There are all sorts of techniques you use that will showcase the vellum stunningly, or you can simply stamp the vellum as use it as a focal panel…your choices are limitless! We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

To be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a card that utilizes vellum, and then go to theTSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the InLinkz that is located at the bottom of the challenge post. The challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Apr. 18th). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlightthat shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)

You do not need to have a blog to be able to participate in the TSG Challenges! You can simply add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery. If you upload your card to an online craft gallery, please use the keyword TSG102 so we can check out your beautiful work!

For my card, I punched out some scalloped circles from vellum and used them to make a poofy flower for an embellishment on my card. Each layer was crumpled up and sponged with Antique Linen distress ink. Then I kept this card very clean and simple by using a sentiment from the Sentimental Thank You stamp set. The designer papers I used here are from the Cosmo Cricket "UPcycle" collection.

Thanks for stopping by!

CrAzY for Color - C4C82

Time for another CrAzY challenge this week, with Silke Kittman as our hostess once again! This week, she's challenging us to use some nice earthy colors in our creation... green, brown and cream. Stop by the C4C blog for all the challenge details, and play along!

With these colors, my mind immediately went to some October Afternoon paper in my stash, so I built my card from there along with this adorable new image from the recent new release at Stamping Bella! Did you catch the new release this past week? Lots of fabulous images you don't want to miss out on! And through Monday you can get some free gifts with your purchase! Check it all out at Blogabella! Now back to my card... this is the new "Sprout" by Mo Manning, and it comes with the sentiment, too! Little Pauline is colored with Copics on Bella's Bestest Cream paper. I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge #111 for the layout, turning the sketch sideways.

Check out what the other Crazies have created today for inspiration...

Barbara Anders

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Jessie Rone

Joann Grzelak

Jocelyn Pelkey

Lynda Benden

Maria Bell

Silke Kittman

Silke Ledlow

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

A Monochromatic Bellarific Friday

Happy Friday everyone! It's time for another Bellarific Friday challenge, and this week our challenge was monochromatic designs! If you stop over at Blogabella, you can check out all the colorful goodness of the Babes cards, and the Sisterhood, too! Don't forget to leave a comment too, because one lucky person wins a little shopping spree in Bellaland every week, just for leaving a comment!

Now, I have to admit my card took a little non-monochromatic turn, I guess you could say. My first thought for a card for today was that I so badly wanted to ink up these precious Turtle Tots, thinking I would go with a green-theme on my card. However, I think in my head I thought their little beach outfits were skimpier than they actually are, so there's a lot of *other* colors showing on my card, as well as the green! You know those cute "Summer Girls" are already out trying to get a good tan on their little green bodies, so I just couldn't put green clothes on them too, know what I mean? They're cruising the beach with their sweets, looking for some cute boys to hang with! They gotta' look their best!

My turtles are stamped on Bella's Bestest cardstock and colored with Copic markers. I did the grassy border, and the background shading with Prismacolor pencils and OMS... (it's a work in progress. I definitely need some lessons from Paulabella and Lindabella, I think!)

I didn't really leave a lot of room on the card front for my sentiment, so I stamped it on a green oval and tucked it on the inside! This sentiment comes with the "Scoops of Love" stamp, but I thought it went well with my turtle girls, too!

So again, be sure to stop over at Blogabella to see all the other monochromatic cards today! And why not play along with us next week? The challenge will be this sketch from the fabulous Lindabella!

Color Throwdown #136

Another Wednesday rolls around, and it's time for the Color Throwdown again! This week Laura is our hostess and, inspired by the new "Mabel" paper pad from My Mind's Eye, she chose these awesome colors! Stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and link up your own creation!

For my card, I decided to make it easy and pulled out my Mabel paper pad. AND as luck would have it, my new Pinwheel die and coordinating stamp set from Laura's Lil' Inker Designs arrived in my mailbox just in time to use on my card!
You MUST get your own Pinwheel die and stamps! You simply must! This was a quick and easy card to put together, and you'll love how fun it is to pick out papers and patterns to make your pinwheel! I love that you're not limited to just one piece of cardstock or color for your pinwheel, since it's made from 6 separate "petals." And the sentiments in the stamp set are just the sweetest!

Stop and see what my Throwdown sisters have created with the colors for this week, including our fabulous new Guestie...

And KISA played again this week too, so be sure to check her out as well! (Kisa is our graphics person and does the fabulous banners and color swatches for us each week, but every now and then she gets inky and joins in, too!)

Happy stamping, and thanksabunch for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #112

It's time for another Timeless Tuesday challenge, and this week I am the hostess and I have an inspiration challenge for everyone to try! A few weeks ago I saw this photo of this really cute quilt, and decided to use it for inspiration this week. You can be inspired by the circular pattern, or the patterns on the circles, or the colors, or whatever your creativity brings out! Then stop over at the Flourishes blog, link up your creation, then leave comments for all the designers are specified and you can be eligible to win a $10 gift certificate to spend in the Flourishes online store!
I went with the bright, bold colors in the quilt for my card, using the new Hello Hyacinth stamp set as my focal image. The papers I used here are My Mind's Eye and Stampin' Up for some bold pops of color, and I added in the some hand-dyed seam binding for more color.
Stop and see the other Flourishes designers, including our new Guest Designer for April for more inspiration...

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Pattie Goldman, April Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by!

Silk Flower Elegance

I have this card to share with you that I made earlier this week. Back in the Fall my friend Kristin and the other girls on the JUGS team had a challenge to make fabric flowers. Some of the girls tried this technique where you use a silk-type fabric and burn the edges to make them curl. Well, several of the girls on the Color Throwdown team thought this was such a neat idea and wanted to try it too. But for me personally, I never put "buy fabric to make those cool flowers!" on my list of things to-do! Luckily, my sweet friend Broni DID put it on her list and she sent each one of us some different colors of fabric for Christmas! So this past week I decided to give the technique a try, and here is the result! Simple, gorgeous and elegant, don't you think?

The hardest part of this is just trying not to burn your fingers! LOL I found two tutorials if you want to give this a try.... here and here. I secured the center with a large pearl brad, added some bling and a sentiment from Kitchen Sink Stamps "Simple Sentiments."

Give this a try sometime! You'll love the results!

Thanks for stopping by!

CrAzY for a Sketch - C4C81

We have another sketch challenge for you this week on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog! Stop over at the blog to check it out and play along!

For my card, I colored up this sweet bear and bunny chasing some butterflies from the Back in 10 set from There She Goes. I got this new Girls' Paperie paper recently, so I couldn't resist using them for today's card. I decided to go with a square for my interpretation of the sketch with a circle in the center.

I'm battling a sinus infection this week and need to get to bed, so instead of linking everyone this week, I would just encourage you to stop by the C4C blog for more inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!

Polka Dotted Bellarific Friday

Can you feel the excitement in the air? The anticipation of the BIG day? OK, well maybe it's just on my end.... I'm excited because it's my first Bellarific Friday as a Bella Babe! :) Yahoo! Today's challenge was to use polka dots in your creation, so I think I accomplished that in a nice balance... I was afraid of going overboard in my excitement!

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Mavis is my favorite of all the Stamping Bella images! I just love her sweet lil' kitty cat face! So Swingin' Mavis in her polka dot dress was my natural choice for today's card. She is stamped on Bella's Bestest cardstock and colored with Copic markers. And my new "Emma's Shoppe" Crate Paper (one piece with a few more polka dots) has become my go-to paper lately. I added more polka dots with the embossed background, and the pink ribbon.

Be sure to stop over at Blogabella to see all the other fabulous entries for today's challenge! And join us next Friday when our theme will be monochromatic cards! All you have to is create a card using stamps from Stamping Bella in a monochromatic design (different shades of the same color), and email it to Emily by Thursday evening to be included in the Bella-licious line-up next week!

Happy stamping!

stamps - Stamping Bella; designer paper - "Emma's Shoppe" Crate Paper; cardstock - Stampin' Up!, Stamping Bella; Copic markers; Die-Namics - My Favorite Things; Sentiment Flag die - Lil' Inker Designs; Spellbinders Nestabilities; SU! ribbon; Divine Twine; button.