Bella Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Bella Birthday Bash Blop Hop sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella.

I decided to make an ornament with my wreathabella stamp. Sorry about the photo, but it was really hard to get a good photo of a glass ornament with acetate in the middle ;)





First, I stamped the image on acetate using palette ink, then I flipped it over and coloured the image with sharpies. Copics would work, but I don't have any, and sharpies work too. any permanent marker that will work on non-porous surfaces would be okay.

I punched a hole in the acetate, threaded it with ribbon and used that instead of the metal hanger that comes with the ornament.

Before putting the top back on, I added some faux snow to fill out the glass globe a bit more.



I hope you enjoyed this ornament, and that you will give it a try. If there are any questions, please leave me a comment and I will try to answer them for you.


Three gift certificates for $100 in Bella Bucks will be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! Make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! The winners will be announced on Monday, December 7 at the Stamping Bella Blog. MWAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Brandi - Sparkle Shimmer and Twinkle.

December Daily

For the past few years, Ali Edwards has been creating her December Daily albums as a way to keep track of everyday events around the holidays. Here is her 2008 album.

This year I decided to join in.

I don't have my first page ready yet, but I wanted to let you know that if you are participating, it doesn't have to be a huge holiday event that you document every day. yesterday, December 1, was our first real snowfall of the season, so I am going to write about that, and Deron took a photo of the snow on our fence, so that is the picture I am going to use.

Candy Candy Everywhere!

Disclaimer: I lost my camera a couple of months ago, and am borrowing one that I don't know how to use as well, so my photos are blurry and not as good as I would like.


This week's challenge from Lauren is to use one of the my timeless templates to create a package for candy.



I decided to use the Milk Made template (small version) to package up some Jelly Bellies. A couple of weeks ago, Deron and I took a road trip to Chicago, and on the way, we stopped at a Jelly Belly warehouse



We bought 3 bags of Belly Flops that we had planned to repackage and give as gifts to friends.

Here is what I made.






I used kraft cardstock and stamped the images from Little Pieces (SU) in bright colours.

Then I used stickles and liquid pearls to add some dimension to the box.



I love the people that can make very elaborate and multi layered cards and gifts, but that is just not me. I like the quick and simple projects that can easily be re-produced. This fits in that category.

Please visit the rest of the design team, and play along with our candy gift box challenge.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Fall colour challenge

I have a card done for this week's colour challenge, but I haven't had time to photograph it in natural light, and now we are off to visit Deron's parents in Moose Jaw (yes, that is a real city) for the day, so my card will be up probably tomorrow.

Please check out what everyone else did with this challenge!

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Simple flowers

A super quick post for me as I am actually almost 2000km from home. Deron and I are on a road trip from our home in Regina, SK to Chicago, IL. We are going to see the U2 concert, and visit a friend from University that is a lawyer in Chicago. I made this card before I left, and am just now uploading it from the road.



This is how I got inspired from the photo below.




Please join in and play along. You don't have to use the colours in the photo, just be inspired by the shapes, colours, design element, texture, anything.

Visit the rest of the team to see how they interpreted this image.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

scrappy sketch

It's a Saturday sketch challenge! I made a scrapbook page using this sketch as the inspiration, but I am having camera issues and will have to post the photo in the morning. Update - I was able to finally get the photos to upload to my computer, but they aren't as good as I had hoped.



This is a photo of my sister and her husband in Rome at the coliseum. I distressed the page to give it an aged feel to compliment the coliseum.




The Rome is chipboard covered in white craft ink, then 3 layers of glassy glaze to make the letters look really shinny and stand out against the distressed background.

For now, please try out the sketch yourselves, and make sure you go to Lauren's blog to add your creation to Mr. Linky on her blog.

Also, be sure to check out the rest of the team's creations.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Butterflies Flutter By

Welcome to another My Time Colour Challenge.

This week I got my sister to play along as well!! She has spent the past year in England, and just recently got back to Canada and is staying with me for about a month before her wedding.

This is the colour image we were given

and Heather (my sister) and I also added butterflies to our projects in addition to the colours.

Heather made a welcome card for her future mother-in-law who is coming from New Zealand for the wedding.


The background is stamped using Shapes by Design with Barely Banana ink on Barely Banana cardstock. The butterfly is from Unity, but is discontinued. It was stamped in versamark, then heat embossed with silver powder.



The sentiment is stamped and clear embossed, then punched out with the word window punch.



My card also has a butterfly, but the focus is the Dream Tree Background from Unity.



I stamped it on glossy cardstock in versamark, then heat embossed it with clear powder. I sponged, and rubbed ink (Barely Banana, Rose Red, Lavender Lace, and Cool Carribean) across the background randomly to make the tree pop.



The butterfly is a tiny one, also from Unity, that was stamped on velum, then embossed with glittery EP.

Please leave some love and let my sister know that her card is cute, and since it's only about the 10th card she has ever made she shouldn't expect to be perfect!

Also, visit the rest of the My Time Team, and be sure to visit Lauren's blog to see who she has highlighted this week.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Colourful Background!

This inspiration challenge image was *perfect* for me because I worked on my project just a couple of days after reading this post from the fabulous Michelle Wooderson.



I chose to use the variety of colours and patterns as a jumping off point to create this card that was also inspired by Mish's post.



I used 4 different backgrounds from CHF and stamped a full card front of each, then cut them apart to create this card.

The sentiment is from the Mona Lisa Moments Motivational Centres set. It was stamped in white ink, and embossed with white ep. I added the dots and doodles with markers in the same colours of the backgrounds to tie it in.



I also added the ribbon, and brad to tie the colours of the backgrounds together in one card.



Please visit the rest of the My Time Design Team, and leave them some love.

Also, we are starting something new, and Lauren will be featuring some of the participants on her blog, so please play along!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Adventure Basket

I love the weeks when Lauren's My Time design team has template challenges. It's such a great excuse to use one of the amazing templates that Lauren has designed for PTI. They are super easy to use, and always make amazing projects.



This is what I came up with using the mini version of the Pack a Picnic template. Lauren provided us all with this image, and although I didn't use all of the colours in the image, I did gain inspiration from it. The woven placemat provided the inspiration for me to weave the basket.



If you want to join us this week, the lovely Pam is hosting, and Mr. Linky will be on her blog.

I used cream, soft sky, and river rock as my colours, but did not use any grey at all in my project.



I printed the template on both cream and river rock cardstock, then cut both templates into 1/2 inch strips.



It was a very time consuming process, but I am really happy with the end result.



Unfortunately, I was so focused on the weaving, that as I folded the top flap down, I did it backwards, and my score lines ended up on the outside of my basket.

In order to mask my error I covered the edges with White Opal liquid pearls.



The river rock edge was cut with decorative scissors, and the sky blue piece was also trimmed then added under the edge to create another layer. I really like the pop of colour it adds.



The medallion was created using my new Labels dies from spellbinders, and stamped with a pre-inked stamp from JustRite that I got from the dollar spot before they were sold out.

The foam flower is from American Crafts, and has a liquid pearl centre the same as the edges of the basket.

Take a look at these amazing peeks provided by the rest of the design team, and leave them some love as you visit their blogs.

If you want to join us this week, the lovely Pam is hosting, and Mr. Linky will be on her blog.



Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Christmas in July

The 3 Clovers Thursday Challenge on Kerry's amazing blog last week was Christmas in July. This gave me an excuse to pull out my adorable Oven Fresh set from Claire Brennan.



I had originally planned to make a 4" square card, but when I went to score the card, out of habit, I scored it at 4.25", so the front was much shorter than the back. I made it work by using some scalloped scissors to create the edge, and putting some decorative paper on the inside to add to the design. It was a happy mistake :)



When the card is open you can see the paper on the inside, and the scallops from the front.

The gingerbread woman is stamped on brown foam for something a little different, and maybe to make it somewhat more realistic than paper.



I used Liquid Applique on the shoes, and the icing on the arms. I didn't let it dry well enough before heating, so that is why there are the little "bubbles". I don't mind it though because it looks like dabs of icing decorating the cookie :)



The frame for the image was created with my Labels 2 nestabilities die , purchased from Treehouse Stamps. I embossed the die, then leaving it in place, I sponged all around it to create a frame that remained the base colour, and is embossed.



I then carefully used my xacto knife to cut slits along the embossing for the ribbon to thread through.



The tag was stamped on shrink plastic, and the candy canes were stamped on the back of the shrink plastic, so they appear more faded. This is the first time I have used shrink plastic, and I had a really good time watching it crinkle up, then straighten out. I see much more of it in my future.

Raspberry Suite Colour Challange

I am totally *in love* with Dawn McVey's bright and unique colour combinations, and every week she posts her Raspberry Suite colour challenge, but this is the first time I have played along.



Dawn gave us this wonderful photo, and the colours above. And here is the card that I made.



I chose Pixie Pink as my bright pink, and Bravo Burgendy as my dark red.

It's hard to tell, with all the sponging, but the Bubble Gum Tree image is stamped on cream cardstock and the base is also made of cream cardstock.



I added Prima flowers, dew drops, and crystal effects to add dimension to the various parts of the tree. The tree trunk is sponged with burgundy, and the background is sponged with Certainly Celery.



The ribbons are a cream grosgrain from Stampin' Up, and a burgundy velvet ric rac from May Arts, purchased from one of Jody's previous ribbon sales.

Quilted Canvas

I am totally in love with this project, and I hope you are too!



This week Lauren gave us all this graphic as our inspiration piece.



Although she pulled out the colours, it is not a requirement that you use these colours. The point is that you take some kind of inspiration from the image. It can be the pattern, texture, shape, colours, anything!

I decided to paint a canvas, inspired partly by the canvases Erika Martin has been promoting lately, that copied the photo as close as I could with the stamps I had on hand. Here's a side by side comparison.



I taped off the different sections and painted them with acrylic paint. I have *really* been loving my paints recently, but I also wanted to make sure I had good coverage on the canvas. All of the stamping was also done with paints.



The sections on the left used Shapes by Design from PTI, and the section on the right uses 3 step Hearts and Roses from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I *love* how easily it is to get roses that have interesting colours and shading with just stamps.

The pink paint is pearlecent, and has a nice shimmer to it. The green centre section has stickles around the circles, and the blue lines on the bottom section are covered in fun flock.



After the canvas was painted, and dried for a night I added the text. The "Sister" was cut out using the Sunset sizzlits alphabet. (it doesn't show up on the Sizzix website, so it may be discontinued)



The rest of the text was stamped with cheap dollar alphabet sets from Michael's and reads, "My Sister a special part of our family fabric"

I know that it is somewhat difficult to read the rest of the text, but I wanted to make sure the background was still really visible.



I will be giving this to my sister before she moves to New Zealand in September with her new husband. She has been living in England for the past year, and is coming back to Canada for a month, primarily to get married, then moving with her husband to set up a life in New Zealand. I want her to have this to know that even though she will be half a world away, we will be thinking of her, and she will know that we value her as a member of our family, and that doesn't change with distance.

I know that when she looks at this Heather will think of me, and our family and that makes me feel great.

Now that I have talked for WAY too long, I hope still have energy to visit the rest of the design team and see their take on the inspiration. The peeks below look AMAZING, and I can't wait to see how everyone else was inspired.





Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia