And I mean it.  One person makes fun of me and that’s it.. I will never blog again.. (like that would EVAH stop me).

We had an AMAZING NICKY cardmaking party here at DA BELLA BOOOTIQUE last friday night in honor of the CUTEST sarah EVAH.. take a looky at her blog here!  Happy birthday Sarah!  Christine who owns/runs www.scraptime.ca also came along with Penny and Amanda and Diana and and and..!  We had a wonderful time laughing our heads off.. EATING our heads off and dancing OUR HEADS OFF! AND THEN IT HAPPENED.

It was almost midnight.. we were a little giddy and Sarah HAD to mention Christine’s collection.  Ummmm DO THEY KNOW ME?  DO THEY KNOW THAT I AM AN OBSSESSIVE COMPULSIVE SHOPPAH?  DO THEY KNOW THAT I LOVE WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT?  Yes.. they knew.  OHHHHHH they knew.

They were discussing Christine’s Blythe Doll Collection.. So I “says”.. WHAT”S A BLYTHE AND DO I NEED IT?  And THEY “says”.. YA you so need THEM.. Ummm THEM??? there are multiple BLYTHE thingies?  And they said YES.. they are DOLLS.. and they are sooo cute and cool and funky.

So off we went to the internet and searched them all and oohed and ahhed.. 4 GROWN women… oohing and ahhing.  COULD YOU BELIEVE?  but I really can’t help myself when it comes to dollhouses, dolls, miniatures etc.. CANNOT help myself.  THEN Christine tells me that this Blythe collection has a HUGE following!  There are outfits made and sold on ETSY, there are BLYTHE DOLL  PARTIES.. furniture etc…  The blythe doll originated in 1972 (my birth year) and were stopped in production a year after.. well 20 years later a RESURGENCE came about and here we are..the history is actually quite interesting and can be found here if anyone is as CUH-RAZY as I am.. Now some are QUITE CREEEEEEPYYYYYY.. so I was turned off for a minute.. and then Christine told me that they come in a PETITE SIZE.. and then I was sold…

So.

Whaddya think I did on Saturday Morning?

Yes they are sitting in a cubby in front of my desk keeping me company! LOL.. would YOU WANNA SIT AND STARE AND NICKY AND RYAN ALL DAY? LOL.. just kiddinK 🙂

And YES.. I am COLLECTING THESE for my daughter when she is older :). And that is the story I am STICKING TO.

Mwah to da sistahs who likey da blythees

Em

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you get the picture.. LOL.  We decided at Stamping Bella to help out our sistahs all over the world and help you save wherever we can.  SOOOOOO we have developed the Anytime Anywhere $4.99 shipping for orders over $50.  Yup, you heard right.. you order any time (24/7), and we will ship anything anywhere for that one price!  Kinda like “subsidized shipping” where we share the costs.. Shipping from Canada is quite pricey but we know what everyone is going through financially and how unsteady the economy is so this is our way to help.  Free shipping will be very rare now as this constant program will replace it.  There is no time limit, no code to enter.. if your order is entered and over $50, you will have the Bella shipping special offered as an option.. choose that and we pay the rest!

We hope this helps.. especially before the holidays 🙂

Mwah to da sistahs who LOVE the number $4.99

Em

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helllllooo my sistahs!

hope you all had a great day. We had fun at da bella’s today.. I finally had a moment to upload most of the GARTER ribbon collection which is PHENOMALICIOUS.. different widths and colours.. YUMMM!!!

I also received a very limited quantity of new nestabilities!  I have the Large Labels, small labels, labels one and labels two! Also received the nested flowers and nested birds.. YUM! you can find them all in the “what’s new” section

We have also created a new card kit.. monochromatic and beautiful.  Great for gifts!  More colors to come tomorrow

I hope you will enjoy the new goodies 🙂  We are always up to something  (we are in the midst of working on a whole new project) and stay tuned for Nov. 24th!  We will be releasing a new small line of the CUTEST stamps evah!

Mwah to da sistahs who can’t wait 🙂

Em

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Ever have one of those “light bulb moments”.. when you look at something and then realize you can use it for a multitude of things?  I have those ALLLLL THE TIME.

here’s a little blurb about ATCs which I thought was interesting.

Artist Trading Cards (A.T.C.) are individual art miniatures which pass hand to hand. Some sources have credited M. Vänçi Stirnemann, who began trading sessions in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1997, as popularizing ATCs in the modern era, although modern ATC’s can be traced back to portrait miniatures and to a kind of business card popular with Impressionistic era artists.

Artists have produced miniatures for trade or self-promotion in many eras and places, and the current trend is thus part of this larger context. Historically there were few standard rules or guidelines to art trading cards, and many variances in sizes can be seen in older cards. The standardization in size of baseball cards is credited with creating the standardization in size for art cards. Today the only rule for these cards is their 2.5 by 3.5 inch size (64 x 89 mm), same as baseball cards and collectible card games. There are, however, certain conventions usually observed by those who make and trade these cards, such as the expectation that they be traded, not sold, and that they be created as unique works or small limited editions of prints. Artists generally sign and date the back, and may also include a title and contact information. For many, the face-to-face trading session is considered an integral part of the concept, although others find each other via the internet and trade by mail.

Artist Trading Cards are typically made on a base of card stock. However, ATCs have been created on metal, stiffened fabric, plastic, clay, glass, balsa wood, leather, embroidery canvas, acetate, heavy watercolor paper, and many other materials. The art on the cards can be done in any media: pencils, watercolors, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed media,assemblage, digital art, calligraphy, beadwork, rubber stamps, carved soft block stamps, pen and ink, colored pencil, airbrush, pastels, and many others – anything artists use.

Another great thing about ATC’s is that you can use them as card fronts.. they are ready to layer and put on your card!

So now we get to wonderful storage.. .OMG.. you know me and storage.. we are BFFFFF”s

I LOOOVE this book… it’s called the QUEEN’s COLLECTION and I have another style as well!

but of course I bought this one for myself cuz of the colors and the attitude *winks*

This is the closed album with several of my colored "ATC's"

Here it is opened to the first page and shows you all different size card fronts inserted in there

What’s really great about this system is (a) it is pretty to look at.. I take it everywhere with me! Second of all, the refills are PHENOM quality.. all sewn and the reinforcements are made of muslin fabric.. PHENOM!

here's what it looks opened.. shows the refills

Another great thing about this is that you can fit full cards in there for storage, you can put your card pieces in there (I love to color so while I am watching tv I color and then I put them in the book so when I am ready to make a card, I pull what I need out!)

You can “grow” with this book and add pages.. each insert refill comes with a post.. GREAT!  I also put my receipts in here… ya know the ones I don’t wanna show anyBUDDY? LOL

here it is opened showing different sizes and a full card!

Did I mention I love this thing???? OMG.. LOOOOVE IT.

Hmph.

I’m in love with a BOOK.

An ATC BOOK.

Mwah to da sistahs who MUST HAVE/NEED this booky

Em

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Sistahs

don’t forget to leave a comment by friday here for a $50 gift certificate to DA BOOOOOTIQUE!

I discovered another way to store da stamps!  LOOOVE this!

you use Aleene’s Tack It Over which is a removable GLOO

Prepare your rubbah naked stamp, a paint brush or foam brush.. I use my fingahs.. shhh don't tell

Dip da brush into da GLOO

brush da GLOO on da RUBBAH

Let da GLOO dry.. it goes on white and dries clear.. once clear you can place on your acrylic block and ready to peel on and off!

place it in the new STAMPBOOK!

see how thin it is? I WISH I WASSSSSSS hmph

GUESSSS WHOOOOOO?

The stamp books are PHENOM.. I LOOOOVE THEM!! They fit in a craft binder by Cropper Hopper which I find TRES bulky.. so I would carry them loose or put them through a big binder ring 🙂

Mwah to da sistahs who wanna look like a stamp book 🙂

Em

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Sistahs, do you remember the BANGLES?  I LOVED manic monday!!

It has been a whirlwind of a weekend!  We ran around all over the place for a change.. went to scope out a VERY interesting show in Toronto called the National Women’s show and we will be participating in this show next year.  It was a wonderful array of vendors from food to exercise to product.. YUM! so we went to do some scoopage and walked out doing a little DAMAGE!

of course I had to buy this garlic chopper.. so cute and with a TWIST of DA WRIST you can chop chop chop!  WIll I ever use it you ask?  I Hope so..LOL.. well at least RYAN hopes so!!

Also saw a WONDERFUL new exercise machine that works on vibrations… 15 minutes on this BABY and you lose inches and cellulite.. was 2 SECONDS close to joining the gym that carries this machine..LOL

Then bought some vitamins, ate some yogurt and VOILA, the day was ovah!

Yesterday we took the kids to see Madagascar 2.. OMG.. it was HILARIOUS.. Ryan and I loved it more than the kids! If you have little kidlets, I recommend you take them ASAP!

That was it for the weekend.. getting chillier by the second..  how’s the weather at your neck of the woods?  HUH??

On the BIDNISS side.. things are CRAZY .. we have LOTS of IDEARS that seem to be coming to fruition so you will alll be soooo very happy! Between Scrapping Bella coming alive and this new little venture we may be doing, I will have VERY HAPPY SISTAHS indeed (always wanted to use that word and never had DA opportunity)

We will definitely be posting more samples and tutorials as the weeks progress to get your juices FLOWING.

So NOW for the blog candy… $50 gift certificate to bella’s store if you place a comment and tell ME what you did this weekend

Mwah to da sistahs who did SOMETHING this weekend

Em

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