Bella Carta

a fun little giveaway!

Who went to the movies last night to see Breaking Dawn, Part 2?   Did you love it or hate it?  Plan on seeing it like this weekend like I am?  Just leave me your thoughts in the comments section about the movie and whether or not you've seen it, going to see it or skip it.  You don't have to see the movie to leave me a comment :-) its that simple. 

Just for fun - I'm giving away a pair of handmade (by me!) amber earrings to match Edward's topaz eyes!   Just leave you name below in the comments (make sure your email address is included and I will post the winner next weekend!).

a little something different

I haven't papercrafted in a while, at least not in the traditional sense of cardmaking.  But I have been making these earrings, they are light as air cause they are on watercolor paper.  They're from a watercolor sketch that a friend of mine was going to throw away. And since I seem to enjoy dumpster diving, I thought to myself - hmmmm, I bet I can make something out of those!

I sealed these with Golden's gel medium, and added a little crystal charm.  They are punched to 7/8in square and I used a silver leaf pen around the edges.

 

on a roll ....

 

 
Do you have these?   Those little cardboard rolls leftover from your toilet paper?   Yep - I thought so.   Do you realize you're sitting on a gift wrapping goldmine?   Yep ... its true.  With a little glue or that lovely "pink" tape - the double sided sticky stuff (i.e Sookwong tape) or a hot glue gun (or your choice of adhesive).

Simple pinch one end of the tub shut and use some double sided sticky tape on the inside.  Place your gift in there (these are perfect for jewelry, anything little or a gift card), pinch and tape together the other side.  You can make these flat or you can pinch the other end in opposite direction like a sour cream packet. 

I wrapped mine up with some twine, and if you really want to get fancy - you can add a button.  You could use yarn or some ribbon or some plain twine to wrap these up too.

 

Imagine these with a fun halloween treat inside or maybe a praline?  yum!!!

 

batty!

 

What happens when my papercrafting and jewelry making worlds collide??? earrings!!! 

These are punched from Echo Park (Apothecary 6 x 6 stack) using a Martha Stewart punch, I added a few seed beads - and they have MOTION!  They'll swing and sway with your every move.

 

 

chocolate cherries button bracelet

over at Papertrey Ink they are celebrating their fourth anniversary - do you remember your first PTI experience?  I sure do!  I've always been drawn to their style, but there's alot of things that keep me coming back.  One of those things that always draws me back is their product coordination in the Perfect Match system:  ink, cardstock, ribbon, felt, and BUTTONS!  PTI offers buttons in thirty (yes, 30) different colors - all coordinating with their other products.   The buttons come in these wonderful assorted colors, shapes and sizes.

I haven't been able to play along with all the challenges this week due to some work related stuff (which I just hate it when work interferes with play :-) !) But, I did spend some time to play along with the button challenge for today - which was to make a project using their buttons in a creative, unique way - so here's mine - a button bracelet!   I used PTI's "Pure Poppy" red buttons on a piece of chocolate brown felt.  I went with simple and used some self adhesive velcro as my closure.

 

in FOCUS

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.   Martin Luther King, Jr.  

 

 

So, after weeks of searching - I haven't found a stamp that says "focus".  I'm thinking about making my own stamp - but if anyone knows of a stamp with the word "focus" - please let me know!

In the meantime, I created some simple word art and printed it on this new Stampin' Up! paper called First Edition.  Its creamy and well, quite dreamy, with vintage looking text and a few graphics in simple vanilla and black.

I cut the paper down to the glass tile size (its 1.5 x .75 in) and I used a copper bail on it.  I didn't have any matching ball chain, so I took some of my silver chain and used my Adirondack alcohol inks in Caramel, Butterscotch, Ginger and Terra Cotta. The end result?  This chain with several mottled golden coppery colors on it (and  a bit of silver peaking through here and there).

To color the chain, I let it pile up, then dropped different colors, when inked - you can always go over it in more colors.    I then moved it aside to dry.  When working with alchol inks, if you don't like the color - you can remove it by adding some isopropyl alcohol or the Adirondack alcohol blending solution.   If you missed any areas, just repeat.

 
 

Christmas Trees sold here {eic118}

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge features the store of Tzaddi Shop; amazing jewelry pieces and items for your home.  I was inspired by their beautiful glass pendants to go craft!

Here's what I made - I used the "Vintage Winter Signs" from Cornish Heritage Farms (I miss them, this is a great set!) advertising the Christmas Tree Farms stamped with Versa mark in dark green on some christmas themed paper and turned it into a glass pendant. 

 

Go check them out and get Etsy inspired!

Chiclets!

 

Remember chiclets? Those little square gum pieces?  Well these earrings remind me a pink chiclets!  These are kiln fused dichroic glass earrings made by me, the dichroic layer is irridescent and will reflect whatever you have on.  For example, the blue dots in the picture below are reflecting the camera - you can see in the first pic they are more towards the tops and then in the bottom photo I changed camera angles to the side.

 
 
 

They're quite light and easy to wear.  They are on silver plated earwires, available in my Etsy store (one of a kind!) for just $8.  If you prefer sterling silver - they are available for just $5 more.  Or if you wear clip-ons (and I know that some of you are out there cause I've had requests) I can switch these to clip-on style at no additional cost.    And they come packaged for gift giving in a watch makers tin. 

Click here to go check them out:   Pink Bubblegum glass earrings

 

fused glass jewelry on Etsy

I've *finally* gotten around to adding some of my fused glass jewelry into my Etsy store:  Handmade by Rebecca.  And I'm offering 20% off of your purchase - use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY2010 when you check out!

 
 
 

 

Halloween is just around the corner!

I am seeing Halloween projects pop up everywhere  these are hand stamped halloween pendants, available through my Etsy store:  Handmade by Rebecca in two shapes/sizes, large square and rectangle!  Hand stamped, on glass tile pendants, complete with a chain.