Bella club with Content-a-Bella and some fantastic blog candy!

Ok, first off, you would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in my craft room today because i'm sure it was quite funny to anyone but me! I have quite a few projects i was determined to get done. Which means a lot of stuff out. My hair disheveled. etc. Thats funny enough, i'm sure. But now add Mr. Fussy Britches into the mix. This would be my baby (who turns 8 months old today!). Poor little bugger is cutting his first 2 teeth. His gums are so swollen and red with the little white peeks showing his teeth trying to burst free. He is just miserable. He doesnt want to even nurse because they are so sore. He's not very happy even with me holding him, but putting him down just turns him into a mess. SO... today i became the Amazing One Armed crafter! I did things with one hand that i would never have thought possible. And let me tell you, using a guillotine trimmer with only one arm, all while standing in a precarious position to make sure little baby fingers could in no way even come close to the blade... that takes some talent! I also resorted to using my chin to get the cuttlebug crank started until it was in there enough that it could hold itself while i cranked. Yes... i'm sure it was hilarious.

But, amazing enough, i did get my projects done today. A secret sister gift that i have to deliver tomorrow (in my local group, and of course the deadline is tomorrow... whew). A card for a friend that i'll post probably sometime next week because I wouldnt want them to see it on my blog before they get it! And then the card i'm about to show you. :)



I present to you, Content-to-be-a-bella! Isnt she cute. I love her. She's from Stamping Bella. Bella stamps were my first "love" in the stamping world. I own so many it's not even funny. And sadly, they've been getting lonley the past couple of weeks. it's was nice to get a little bella boost. She always looks so happy. Well, unless she's grumpabella. hahahha.

Contenttobeabella is part of the May Bella Bundle available for Southernbella club members. You dont have to live here to be in the club. You can check out the blog to get more info about this deal, the club, and all that. And really... you SHOULD go check it out because there is some FABULOUS blog candy going on over there. I mean like, over $200 bucks worth! It's INSANE! You have to check it out! :) You dont have to be a club member to win the candy, or participate in the challenges for that matter.

OK... i'm wordy today! :) Close up view! Card details! Keep reading!



Copic Colors
Skin: E00, E31, R01 (cheeks)
Shirt: R00, R01, R02
Pants: B21, B23, B24
Flower: Y11, Y15, Y18, yellow spica
Hair: E33, E35

Cardstock: Sweet Blush (papertrey ink) Solar White (Neenah), um... a blue from SU (i'm sorry i have no idea which color it is!)
Patterened Paper: Yellow is from BoBuny textured cardstock, the blue is from one of those enormous paper slabs i got um... like 5 years ago!

Stamps: Image (Contenttobeabella) and sentiment are both from Stamping Bella

Accesstories and Tools
Nestabilities in Petite Scallop Circles Large
Bling from Studio G
Rose chalk ink from Cat's Eye by Colorsnap

Have a Bellariffic Day!!!

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Wednesday with the Greeting Farm

Good Wednesday everyone. I cant believe it's already the middle of the week! Where does the time go?

My card for you today is a simple one, but i really liked how it turned out. I used another image that we colored for the class i taught at Scrapbook Heaven this past saturday. Man images that are already colored make for quick cards! haha. The image is from The Greeting Farm. Isnt he just the cutest??


No spiffy techniques for this card (other than copic coloring) so the layout is pretty self explanatory. I used the Nestabilities petite scallop circle for the image mat. I also chalk inked all of my edges with a Cat's Eye Chalk Ink in Charcoal.

COPIC COLORS
Owl Tummy & Eyes: First with E33, then shaded with E35 with a smidgen of E37 on the tummy. Also used the Colorless Blender on the eyelids for a highlight.
Rest of the Body: E30 then shaded sparingly with E33.
Leaves: First with G21 leaving the tips bare. Shaded with G24 and then blended everything (including bare tips) with G20.
Outlined entire image and inside the white of the eyes with N0.

Other essential elements
Cardstock Base: Kraft by Papertrey Ink. Green is Grasshopped by Bazzill, Orange is Festive by Bazzill. White is Neenah Solar White.
Stamps: Image and Sentiment by The Greeting Farm
Tools: Nestabilties Petite Scallop Circle large, Window Word punch by Stampin Up.
Accessories: Bellas Baubles in Espresso

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Rest in Peace, Kayleigh

Today is a sad day. Sweet baby girl, Kayleigh Freeman, left our world yesterday to be rid of her broken body and to at peace in Heaven. For those who do not know Kayleigh's story. You can read about her life, here.

You may remember a post I made a bit back showing a digital stamp from Paper Makeup Stamps called "A Fairy for Kayleigh". This stamp was created in order to raise funds for the Freeman family. The digital stamp is still available here and all proceeds from it will continue to go to the Freeman family.

I had a card ready to post this morning, but you'll have to see it tomorrow. Of course, upon hearing of Kayleigh's passing I wanted to make a sympathy card to send to her parents. It was a very hard card to make. But lucky for me, all of the ink on my card is waterproof.



I have no more words that I can even write. My heart is absolutely broken for this family. I can not even begin to fathom what they might be going thru. I pray for God's arms to surround them at this time.



Rest in Peace, Baby Girl.

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PMS monday Challenge: Puttin on the Glitz!

Hello Everyone! It's monday so that means a challenge over on the Paper Makeup Stamps blog issued by one of the design team members. This week it's Lisa Kind's turn! her challenge was pretty simple... just make it sparkle! Rhinestones, stickles, glitter, spica, shimmerz, whatever you got that puts a sparkle in your eye... and sticks to your finger... put it on the card!

Simple enough, right? Well i think i permanently have some glitter in my lungs from an experiment i tried for the card (note... it is NOT on the card!). And after a much longer weekend than i had planned, i just wasnt feelin' the mojo last night so i ditched the glitter science project and stuck with what i knew!




First, i decided to use the image that I had used in class on Saturday. Her name is Lily and you've seen her on my blog before. I just love her ice cream cone! I had also demonstrated spicas in the class, but i added an extra layer to really make her dazzle. I sponged Brilliance ink (yes... shimmery ink) to the edges of my image card. I then matted everything on Bazzill Bling cardstock. I added some extra bling butterflies (darice) and rhinestones (um.. not sure, probably also darice) to the card and the flowers which were punched out of more bling cardstock using EK Success punches.

Here's a closer look of the image itself.. OH, i almost forgot! I put liquid glass over her ice cream. :)






For those who skim and need quick info!
Stamps: Image, Lily from paper Makeup Stamps, sentiment from My Favorite Things
Cardstock: Flat Broke, Flirty Bazzill Bling cardstock, Neenah Solar White
Coloring: Copic Markers
Skin: E00, E21, R20 (cheeks, tongue)
Shirt: V12, V15, V17, purple spica
Skirt & Shoes: E35, E37
Hair: Y21, YR23, Colorless Blender, clear spica, gold spica
Wings: B000, B00, clear spica

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A quickie post

I dont have any new creations for you today. My head is still in a tailspin from this past release from PMS and I have to go teach a class today in Lexington SC. BUT i did get a super sweet award from Randee that i want to spread the love from! :)



The award is given to those that show positive attitude and gratitude daily.

Now Iit's my turn to chose 5-10 bloggers that I feel are worthy :0) . The ladies listed below are not only talented, but they are also gratious and have a postive attitude. They have either provided wonderful (very appreciated) comments to my blog entries, provided inspiration in their designs,and make me laugh and smile with snap shot posts into their daily lives. Thank you for sharing with me and for being wonderful!

Visit their blogs for your own inspiration.

Christi THorsen

Nancy Bush
Ashley Newell

Anita Hovey
Heather Lee-Reppen
Andrea Vernagus

Thank you ladies for your contributions to the crafty online world!

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Happy Friday Everyone with CC Designs

Summer is almost here!  I'm so excited!  I love summer.  Now granted, it gets really really really hot here in the summer and thats not always fun.  But last summer i was waaaay pregnant during it so this summer should be a piece of cake, right?

Jack's preschool is doing a silent basket auction.  Yes,  i mentioned a basket auction before.. this is a different one.  Same church though, so same idea.  Each class does a basket.  The 2 year old class is a pool theme basket.  So my donation was to make 8 pool party invitations.  I wanted to keep them easy enough ( i didnt have a lot of prep time!) and generic.  Not birthday pool party invites, just a hey, come to the pool with us!  The winner of the basket can use them in singles or all together.  Their choice.  :)

Card Info
Stamp: Image is CC Designs Summertime Fun (FYI its on sale right now at www.allthatscraps.com), sentiment is just something i printed out form my computer using one of my favorite fonts from www.kevinandamanda.com
Paper: i dont have a clue! It was all scrappy paper! :)
Copics: E35, E37, E39 for my monkey friend; Y18, G16, R27, B00, B02 I kept the colors simple because i was doing a lot of them. :)



**This weekend I will be teaching a copics class at Scrapbook Heaven in Lexington South Carolina. Just wanted to throw that out there. :)

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Paper Makeup Party Day and a blog hop!

Whew! Sorry for the lack of posts the past couple of days. I have been bizzy bizzy bizzy getting ready for the PMS party tonight in the PMS forum! So it's definitely been a crazy week of posting on the website, getting the forum set up, doing a new newsletter and cutting a LOT of rubber!

But no one visits this blog to hear all that! You wanna see something, right?

Ok, well let me first say that I am your LAST stop of the blog hop. SO if you are starting here, you need to start at the beginning! Why?? Because it's the only way you can be entered to win the entire May release from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Here is my card... Stephanie at Funkie Munkie asked for me to do something with her black and white stuff. I took her quite literally. :) Now for those that have followed my blog since the beginning might remember a bella card i did what seems like eons ago that was all black and white. I used graphite pencils for that. But this time i used the amazing blendability of Copic Markers! :)

Now i promise you, i did not just turn my picture into a black and white photo!

I used Mary Fairy (what an appropriate name for a bride, huh?) and colored her with N0, N2, N4 and N8. Oh, and the colorless blender, of course. I also loaded her up with clear and silver spica pen.

Here i tried to angle her a little to the light. See my thumb?! It IS a color picture! :)


This one does a little better as showing her sparkles, but it's a little out of focus


Ok, so if you havent figured out the letter you need yet for the discount code and chance to win the release... you might be colorblind (which makes this whole post funny!) So let me just say, i only like to stamp on days that end in ___!

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There's still time for Bella!

Hi everyone!!! For my bella lovin' sistahs.... there is still time for you to join the Bella Club at Funkie Munkie. Yes Funkie Munkie is a store, but they are doing their bella club online! You can check out the club blog here or use the picture link in my sidebar.

When you join the club you get this LOVELY bella sampler in a kit.


Now I cant take full credit for this beauty. Stephanie (owner of Funkie Munkie) went to a convention in Boston where she met the Queen of Bella, Emily herself. They made an adorable Bella sampler there which was pretty much just like this one. But since we wanted to do this as the bella club kick off, we needed to recreate it using products we had. Some a few things are a little different, but the creative genious behind this project stems from the highest of Bella powers. hahahahaha.

Lisa (stephanie's sis-in-law) and I worked on finding some substitutes for things and then I put it together and colored bits and pieces of it with my trusty copic markers. :)

Over the weekend, this bella sampler was available as a make n take for $8 but was free for all club members. Club members that have joined but arent able to make it to the store will have the kit mailed to them. And there is still time to join to get your kit for free If you are interested send an email to funkiemunkiescraps@gmail.com The club is well worth your monthly fee to get free make n takes, and up to a 30-35% discount on some preorders. Different discounts available all the time. Email steph for more info.

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Paper Makeup Stamps Sneakie Peekie

This is my 2nd post for the day! It's a fun and busy day for me! Thank GOD for scheduled posts! :)

Well, yes it's national scrapbook day - a wonderful day filled with sales and challenges, prizes and inpsiration. LOVE this day. My hubby doesnt get it, but he supports it. :)

BUT it's also 5 days before the Paper Makeup Stamps may release which means.... SNEAKIE PEEKIE time! I'm really really excited about this release! Go on over to the PMS blog to read more about it.

I have a creation that i actually made a few weeks ago as a housewarming gift for a dear friend of mine. It features the cottage stamp from a BRAND NEW COLLECTION from PMS called the Cottage Collection drawn by the wonderfully talented and super supportive all around wonderful friend and gal, Lindsey Spencer!. Lindsey is so super fab. I know she will not disappoint you with this new collection!

Here is my little wall hanging...


In hindsight i really should have hung it some other place than my pegboard for the picture, but since i gave it away, i have no option to retake the picture. Ok, thats a lie. I was at her house yesterday, but i didnt realize the picture looked so bad then. hahaha.

Isnt Lindsey's cottage just charming?! I want to move right in! The quote above is also a new release from PMS to be released May 7th!!!!


To make the wall hanging... i took a regular cheapie plastic frame and broke off the part that makes it stand up. Ok, correction, i had a frame that my child broke the part that makes it stand up and i just tossed it into the trunk of alertables figuring one day i'd do something with it. I took the cottage stamp and colored in the image with copic markers. I also used the large Home quote and matted both on a piece of 4x6 cardstock. The top i tied some pretty twill ribbon (to mask where the frame was broken. I used my cropadile to punch holes in the acrylic frame to thread my PTI twill ribbon through. And it was just that easy! :)

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Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone!!!!! I'm sure you all have gobs going on today! Most local stores have crops and make n takes. For those that dont live near a store, there are online crops and challenges and more galore! It's just a fun weekend!

Today I will be at the Funkie Munkie for a good portion of the day having fun with the crafty ladies of G-ville! :) There are so many make n takes its not even funny! I was there last night and OMG, i really hope i have time to do everyone else's make n take! I recreated a Bella Sampler (i love it... took a picture but it's not uploaded into my computer yet so you'll have to wait on it!) so i'm helping Kim Murphy out with that, then there is a easy peasy copic make n take using "Color Me" paper by Luxe. This stuff is so much fun! And so many different designs!

Here's the one i made...


You can use the enormous amount of copic colors to make this perfectly custom for you. There is some fun paper that is coffee cups, tea bags, etc. I think i'll do that one tomorrow to put in my kitchen! :)

I should remind you that if you live in or even near Greenville, Funkie Munkie is having a 25% off the entire store (inluding clearance) to celebrate this wonderful day. You get a free bottle of stickles just for coming in. And there are prizes called out every half hour! Fun times folks... fun times! :) The store is open from 9-9.

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