Bella Carta

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Shell-a-brate!

This month's theme: "Christmas in July" at Friends Having Fun.  The challenge for this month is to:

- make a holiday card (it can be Christmas, Hanukah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, etc) or scrapbook page
- make your card long and narrow to fit a business sized envelope (4 1/8 in x 9 ½ in). An easy dimension is to cut your 8.5 x 11 cardstock to 8 in by 9 in and score the long way down the middle (yields a folded card size of 4 x 9). If you are scrabooking, one of the elements in your layout should be this size.
- incorporate your favorite technique.

As an optional element / ingredient - create something "holiday"  representative of your home state.   So, I crafted this beach theme Christmas tree. 

My favorite techniques (I used three all together for this card):  watercoloring, embossed foil, and sanding. 

The cardstock is Baja Blue - it is embossed and then I ran the ink pad over top, let it dry, then sanded it.  The seashell Christmas tree from the retired set "Shellebrate the Season", white satin ribbon completes it (all supplies from Stampin' Up! except for the stickles).  I used distress stickles in antique linen for the sand.  Here's a little ornament I made wiht this stamp set, too  <----- click

 
The card colors was Etsy inspired by the Mermaid Tears store and this fabulous sea glass necklace:

June's recipe for Friends Having Fun

I've been having an absolute blast with the Friends Having Fun challenges! Having fun is what its all about, isn't it?

Our challenge was to make a birthday card and incorporate the following elements:

• brads or eyelets to make a shape (I made the heart shape)
• use numbers (paper from Cosmo Cricket Material Girl 6 x 6 stack)
• use a tag
• have a bow on it  (I did a knot in the button twine)

The details:  Stamps used are from Unity, the paper is Cosmo Cricket Material Girl 6 x 6 stack), the ink colors are black, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron and Ruby Red (SU), the brads are Ruby Red from SU.  The button is from PTI Ocean Tides color family.  The size ... it fits a business size envelope its 4 inches by 9 inches.

Please take some time to check out  the other "Chefs" in the kitchen cookin' up some fun, and don't miss out on our Design Team (DT) call :   http://friendshavingfun.com/2010/06/562/

Our Fearless Team Leaders:
Sara  www.scraphappie.blogspot.com
Margie www.ohbumbleismemargie.blogspot.com

And the Recipe Design Team:
Juanita  www.stampintwilghtmom.blogspot.com
(me) Rebecca www.bellacarta.typepad.com
Jeri www.craftyjsplace.blogspot.com
Piali www.touchofcreation.blogspot.com

I've been having an absolute blast with the Friends Having Fun challenges! Having fun is what its all about, isn't it?

Our challenge was to make a birthday card and incorporate the following elements:

• brads or eyelets to make a shape (I made the heart shape)
• use numbers (paper from Cosmo Cricket Material Girl 6 x 6 stack)
• use a tag
• have a bow on it  (I did a knot in the button twine)

Inspired by color for this "simply charming" project

For the Friends Having Fun June color challenge - I made a charm bracelet!  I had some brass findings that were in need of a project and I thought these great colors (thanks for choosing this Alison!) were a wonderful complement to the warm metal.  The swarovski crystal is fuschia, light amethyst AB, crystal AB, and olivine. 

I also played along with Etsy Inspired ... this week's Etsy Seller is MyZoetrope :-) and they are amazing technicolor drawings, these colors just pop right off the page.   This picture isnpired me .... and this one:

Thank you! {Memorial Day 2010}

Thank you to all that are serving, and all those that have served.   

Friends Having Fun have a little challenge for all of us :-)

 It’s Monday again which means another Friends Having Fun challenge, but this isn’t any ordinary Monday. Since this is the 5th Monday of the month, we here at FHF are doing a special challenge. Since it is Memorial Day, we have decided to celebrate the day! We want to see what Memorial Day makes you think of. Is it the colors, picnics, a day off, swimming? Whatever it is that inspires you about Memorial Day, we want you to make a project reflecting that.

Red, White and Blue is the theme of the day.  I hung all my red, white and blue Americana outside for this weekend so I though I'd use those colors for my cards.  While making this card, I made several cards for the "Any Hero" program for Operation Write Home, these will get into the mail next week.

All supplies from Papertrey Ink (except the argyle embossing folder used for the kraft cardstock)
Stamps   Fillable Frames #1 (and matching die)
Cardstock:  Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy and Kraft
Ink:  Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy
Ribbons and Buttons:  Pure Poppy and Enchanted Evening

Faeire friends having fun ~ May challenge

Our challenge for Friends Having Fun this week is sponsored by Stampin' Insanity Stamps, with embossing, a flower, and pastel colors (pink, green, blue, purple, etc).   I made a fabric flower for my card out of petal soft pink organza and hand beaded the center.

Meet Bumblina, she's from StampInsanity Stamps these are available at the Stamp Happens Shop.<----just click to go check it out.  The sentiment "spread your wings and let your faerie fly" is part of the Simply Supernatural collection.

Cardstock:  Coredinations Whitewash cardstock in pink, lavender
Stamps:  Digital stamps from Stampin' Insanity - Bumblina and Simply Supernatural
Other:  Shimmerz, stickles

If you haven't met the other "Chefs" in the kitchen cookin' up some fun, please check them all out!

Our Fearless Team Leaders:
Sara  www.scraphappie.blogspot.com
Margie www.ohbumbleismemargie.blogspot.com

And the Recipe Design Team:
Juanita  www.stampintwilghtmom.blogspot.com
(me) Rebecca www.bellacarta.typepad.com
Jeri www.craftyjsplace.blogspot.com
Piali www.touchofcreation.blogspot.com

Thanks to Tonya and Beth for generously sponsoring the challenge!

Fly ... sweet sparrow

 
Its time for another Friends Having Fun color challenge!   Allison picked for us the colors of a desert sunset .... turquoise, terra cotta and lemon yellow.  I had several great paper packs to choose from  in these colors Cosmo Cricket Halway Cafe, Wanted and Crate Paper Crush and I went with Cosmo Cricket's Halfway Cafe.  I sanded the paper edges just to make it a bit softer.   The textured background is made by using an embossing machine, and then inking the raised portions.    This card is also from Unity Stamp Co's second anniversary challenge - Unity Takes Flight.   The bird and sentiment are stamped on oak veneer (very, very thin wood).  I had a card posted yesterday that used these colors, too! 

Stamps:  Sweet Sparrow from Unity Stamp Co.
Cardstock:  Aqua Mist and Lemon Tart from Papertrey Ink, Halfway Cafe paper from Cosmo Cricket
Ink:  Terracotta from Papertrey Ink, Cocoa Bean from Memento, and Broken China from Tim Holtz distress inks.
Accessories:  a little brass key that I dipped in versamark and heat embossed to a copper patina, wood veneer, ribbon.  

 

getting sketchy with Mother's Day and Speedy the Cat!

On Sunday I mentioned that earlier this week I came home from work and jumped on Facebook to check out what my friends were up to.  A post came up with a contest question from Faith Hofrichter asking who the mascot is for  Mark's Finest Papers?  I knew that! {picture me jumping up and down!} its Speedy the Cat!    I received my package Saturday (super quick shipping) and was amazed at her generosity!  She sent me two stamp sets!  I received "Speedy the Cat's Friends" full of cat images and "Daffodil and Anise" which has a Mother's Day sentiment!  I was looking for exactly that week ... I don't have any Mother's Day stamps and then they magically appeared in my mailbox!  Thank you, Faith!

The sentiment and the hummingbird are from this set.  The green floral paper is from Graphic 45 (its the reverse of the red/blue floral) and are is cut using my new Tim Holtz alterations - "on the edge die" in scrollwork.    I used the sketch from Friends Having Fun sketch challenge last week. 

FTC Disclosure

Friends Having Fun - April's Recipe Challenge

Hi everyone!  

I've been having a BALL with the Friends Having Fun challenges and I am tickled to join up with my former Twilight Tuesday design team and make some new friends!   Make sure you leave a comment on the Friends Having Fun post for a chance to win a gift certificate!

Our challenge was to use:

• a shiny application (stickles, glitter, shimmerz, glimmer mists...)
• 3 different patterned papers - and handcut your patterned papers!!!!
• a funny quote, phrase or sentiment

So here's mine!  I used my DCVW glitter stack for the sun and the shiny/glittery element.  To make it, I sketched it first on a sheet of paper (I swear a pencil is my best friend!) and then I cut it out and traced it on the glitter cardstock.  For real easy drawing, I drew it on the back of the sheet (where its plain white) not on the glitter side.   I used three different pieces of paper for the background, from my K & Co Que Sera pad - I just layered them light to dark.  The sentiment I found - its from William Thackeray - and just printed it on matching cardstock.   I smudged the edges with TH Distress Inks in Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade.

If you haven't met the other "Chefs" in the kitchen cookin' up some fun, please check them all out!

Our Fearless Team Leaders:
Sara  www.scraphappie.blogspot.com
Margie www.ohbumbleismemargie.blogspot.com

And the Recipe Design Team:
Juanita  www.stampintwilghtmom.blogspot.com
(me) Rebecca www.bellacarta.typepad.com
Jeri www.craftyjsplace.blogspot.com
Piali www.touchofcreation.blogspot.com

Are you having fun? How about a cup of tea??

Stamping should be all about fun, right?   So have you checked out the new Friends Having Fun blog?  They will have weekly challenges paired with all sorts of other stuff - including "q tips" quick tips aimed at stampers and crafters!  Each week in a month will have a main challenge - i.e. week one is all about color, week two is a sketch, week three is a "recipe" and week four is something from pop culture.   And you're welcome to participate with ANY craft, this is limited to only papercrafters.  I'm very pleased to announce that I'm reuniting with several of the Twilight Tuesday peeps on this new adventure!  I'm part of the "recipe" challenge team (the third weekly challenge each month) in which  we'll be showcasing a papercrafting "ingredient" into our projects.  For example, our challenge might be to incorporate lace into our project.    There are different teams assigned to each of the challenges - so you'll be seeing some new faces as well as some familiar faces <---click to go check them out. 

This week's challenge is color and the challenge is to use China Blue, Sunshine Yellow and White all in your creation. 

 I'm really liking my card, blue isn't a color I use often, nor is yellow but I really like how my card came out!  I embossed my yellow cardstock and then smudged blue ink over top.  My tea cup has several shades of blue in it and I found a perfectly matching tea bag to go into it.  I love Tim Holtz distessing inks, there colors always blend marvelously and just melt into each other - so I thought that the TH "Broken China" distress ink pad was the perfect color for this project!

Want the deets?

Cardstock:  Barely Banana (SU)
Stamp:  Unity Stamp Co. "mega tea cup"
Inks:  Broken China and Chipped Sapphire along with Vintage Linen and some Tea Stained (all Tim Holtz distress inks) 
Accessories: SU Window Punch for the area where the tea packet fits, foam dimensionals and Barely Banana grosgrain ribbon (SU)

PS I'm also doing this card for the "All Things Unity"  third challenge.