WELCOME TO BLOGABELLA

Hi sistahs!  I hope you will enjoy this post.  It was such a pleasure to post and the entries were more than phenomalish!!  I am glad to see that da sistahs enjoyed the challenge.. more sketch challenges to follow!

First I am so excited to introduce all of you to our newest Scrappy Babe!!! She will be interpreting our challenges into scrappy projects!  She is teaching at Bellaland and she is sooo amazing and scrumptious.  We lovey her!  so please welcome Sarah Pendergrast.  Please add her to your blog addictions as her projects are SOOO much fun!!

Here is a little bio on her

“Having always been uber crafty, I have dabbled in several crafts over the years.  I think I made my first scrapbook in junior high by pasting in little bits of memorabilia, girl guide badges and various ribbons into linear and organized pages, but obviously nothing that rivals the pages of today.  I tried scrapbooking again after I got married, when I attempted to make a wedding album.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the essence of scrapbooking is to tell a story and in my quest for completeness, tried to find a way to incorporate over 700 photos into my book.  After that frustrating and disappointing experience, everything was packed into a box, and shoved to the back of a closet, with the realization that scrapbooking wasn’t for me.

However, after my daughter was born a few years later, I decided to give it a try again after going to a Friday night crop.  With a little guidance from my fellow croppers, I fell in love with the hoppy as it is today.  I couldn’t resist the beautiful patterned papers, tiny brads and most of all the endless creative potential.  Not long after I took up the hobby with a passion, I began teaching classes, and looking for ways to develop my skills and learn new techniques.  After much thought, I invested in a Quickutz die cutting tool, which opened up a whole world of creative possibilities.  You can find Quickutz designs incorporated into many of my projects, and I had the honour of serving on their design team in 2008.  These days, I try to eek out little bits of time for scrapbooking as I am home with my 2 kids, in search of that elusive thing they call “balance”.  I love to tell stories, and I love to create.  I’m thrilled that I’ve been asked to be part of the Bellarific team and share my passion and projects with all of you! “

So here was the sketch challenge this week

How much fun was this challenge?  it was so much fun that I couldn’t even figure out how to make the card..LOL.. I kept on asking Nicky does this look right? the square’s too small.. where do I put the circle? LOLOL.. just couldn’t get it.. so I’m  out this week.. I have VOTED MYSELF OFF cuz really? if you woulda seen what I concocted?!?!? OMG terrible.

So let’s begin with DA NEW KID ON DA BLOCK

Sarahbella made a gorgeous layout following the sketches’ guidelines. Isn’t it stunning?? Sarah used Collage press Sweet Shoppe papers, American Craft LAX THICKERS, prima flowers, glimmer mist.. YUM!

Nickabella made a gorgeous card using flutterby huggabugg.  For the circle she used was the Marvy Extra Giga 3.5″ circle punch, she texturized it using the new QUICKUTZ embossing folder POLKADOTS and used the beeyootiful Basic Grey WIND CHIMES paper from the wisteria collection. Gorgeous!

Danabella made a BEEYOOTIFUL CARD using QUEEN BEE HUGGABUGG and our crystal bonbons.  Stunning!

Jenabella used Cakey Watt and our sentiment for her sketch.. isn’t it adorable??? She also used  American Crafts SPLASH paper for her circle, and bo bunny WASABI dot paper from the double dot collection of papers.  Her scalloped punch in the background used is the FISKARS APRON LACE punch.. isn’t this card just PHENOM?

Joannabella made the CUH-UTEST card using our TURTLE-TOTS CHEERLEADER and our sentiment.. check out the pompoms.. OMG.. all frilly and sticking out… could you just faint??

Karenabella made an absolutely stunning card using TOOL TIME.  Is this not a the most perfect father’s day card?? and the hardware?  YUMMALISH!  LOVE THIS CARD!

Lindabella made a STUNNING card using our SUNDAY DRESS stamp (but the sunday dress is discontinued.. shhhhhhh).. IT’s GORGEOUSSSSSSS! Linda used our gorgeous light cocoa flat backed glass pearls, cuttlebug swiss dots to texturize the square, the  dotted scallop slim edger punch for the pink porder under the sentiment.. PHENOM!

Paulabella made a SCRUMMY (Dena’s word mixing Scrumptious and Yummy together- please add this to DA BELLA dictionary pronto) card using CHARLOTTE KETTO.

Paula also used Basic Grey’s Urban Prairie collection for the background.. did I not promise SCRUMMINESS?

Shannanabella made a gorgeous card using ALTEE ‘TUDE and our light cocoa dots.. BEEYOOOOOTIFUL!!!

So how’s DAT for da BELLA BABES EYE CANDEEEEEE???? HMMMMM?????

Now let’s discuss da SISTAHOOD’s contributions.. OMG OUTSTANDING…!! thank you again for participating.. it means DA WORLD to me!!!

Now how’s THATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT for eye candy.. I bought a membership to mr linky shminky dinky.. but honestly, you don’t get THIS much happiness from it, do you? LOL (just humour me)

The WINNAH of the QUICKUTZ TREE DIE is Lisa!! Please email me your info and we will send it out to you!

1. Lisa V Says:
   May 19th, 2009 at 8:04 pm eCongrats to the winnahs and great job on your project it turned out well

I hope you have a BELLARIFIC weekend sistahs

MUCHO MWAHS

Em

Sistahs,

As you all know I am an American Idol Junkie.  I am constantly in awe of the fresh talent portrayed on this show.  I am quite disappointed with the results last night, but that is another entry 🙂

For now, if you didn’t watch it and just want to have a HAPPY DAY.. a FEEL GOOD DAY.. A YUMMY and INSPIRATIONAL day, here is a highlight of my favorite happy moments of the show.  I was on the phone with my BFF Mel as the show went on blablabla’ing when all of a sudden we were both quiet.  That’s weird.  I mean REALLY quiet.  This was when Steve Martin came on playing the banjo and having one of his ballads sung by Megan Joy and Michael Sarver

This song was OUTSTANDING.  Mel has an obssession with knowing the words to songs so she can sing to her hearts content.  This was the email I received this morning

Pretty Flowers

If I gave you pretty flowers

If I took you out to dinner

If we walked on by the river

would you invite me in

If I sat down on the sofa

If I told you funny stories

If I moved a little closed

Would you put your hand in mine

If I told you, you were lovely

If I put my arm around you

If I touched you on the shoulder

Would you rest your head on mine

If I took you out to dinner

If I moved a little closer

And I touched you on the shoulder, 

would you make love to me.

Oh my darling, I have loved you

since you took me out to dinner

Since we walked down by the river

Over 30 years ago

When you told me that you loved me 

I hadn’t felt so lovely

Since the day I decided that I would marry you

Well I took you out to dinner

And I told you funny stories

And I moved a little closer

And you made love to me

If I gave you pretty flowers

If I took you out to dinner

If we walked down by the river

LA LA LA LA LA

Pretty Flowers

Me so happy.   I just feel 19 again and in love.  Hope you are in love too 🙂  

Happy Thursday Sistahs

Mwah

So I says to myself.. “SELF”… you have SOOOO many goodies in Bellaland to make scrapbook layouts etc.. why not SHOW THEM OFF??? So I respond to myself.. “SELF, you are 1000% right”.. and hence, SCRAPPY TOOSDAY was born (ahem yesterday) and a bit of a schizophrenic was born as well (lol).
Every tuesday, we will be showing layouts, canvases, altered items etc showcasing our different papers, tools, embellishments.. just MO’ eye canDEE… so what do da sistahs THINKY about this?  (please say you love the idea..LOL)

So here goes.  Here is my piece to resistance 🙂

It’s a canvas and it makes me SOOO VERRRY HAPPPPPY. I had a 12*12 canvas which I painted with Claudine Helmmuth’s TRADITIONAL TAN.  I absolutely LOVE her paints (we carry the whole range of course!) and if you don’t know who she is, take a looky here and DROOL.. she is AWESOME!!  We carry her paintbrushes and all her mediums as well.  So what I did here was paint the canvas with TRADITIONAL TAN.  Allowed it to dry.  After it dried (about 1/2 hour), I chose my papers (THAT is a happy bella moment).  I decided to use the Fancy Pants collection.  I used 2 borders from the ON A WHIMSY STRIPS paper.  I used the “this is a crazy life” for the top portion and the vertical stripes strip for the “grass”.  I also used the cloud border under the this is a crazy life. (CLEAR AS MUD? LOL).  I applied everything with Claudine’s GEL MATTE MEDIUM to adhere to the canvas.  I then cut out the QUICKUTZ TREE out of the scraps.. dark brown prism as the background, some Prism LIME and snippets of fancy pants BUNCHES paper and FRESH AIR paper. This die is one of my new faves.. I just love it.. and you can use the head of the tree as clouds as well (2 sizes).. I’m telling you.. not just a hot bod and gorgeous FACE .. but there’s a BRAIN in there too! (LOLOL).  Take your pick of buttons (another little obssession of mine) and VOILA!  I adhered all of the buttons with the MATTE medium and I painted a thin coat over the whole piece.  Dries beautifully and NOT tacky.. LOVEY IT!

Such a simple Happy project!  Hope you LOOVE da scrappy tooosdays (as this is the first..LOL)

DOES ANYONE WANNA WIN MY FAVORITE QUICKUTZ TREE DIE?

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WIN ONE ($24.99)  please put a comment and tell us what you thinky of the project and if you would like to see more!  This contest will close on Friday May 22nd.  ENJOY!

A couple of other bits of Info!

Stamping Bella is a sponsor this week at CPS (card positioning systems) HQ.. They are an awesome bunch of sistahs, so much TALENT and SOOO VERY SWEET!  So take a looky and I believe you can participate in the sketch too!  SUCH A GREAT SITE!

THE WINNAHS FROM LAST FRIDAYS BELLARIFIC CHALLENGE! (IT WAS SO HARD AND I HATE THIS PART)

STEFANIE SUMMERER!  Your card wins!  Great use of the treading water punch, the coloring, the stamp!  BEEYOTIFUL! You will be receiving a $20 bella bucks code shortly!

now the winnah from the PEANUT GALLERY is #22 (chosen by Nicky!) so

JENN DIAZ you win $20 in Bellarific Bucks!!  you should receive shortly!

FINALLY, let’s take a looky at what our BABES have been up to!

Danabella made a gorgeous card using MADELINE KETTO.  She also used the gorgeous American Crafts SOPHIA TUCKETT PAPER (I LOOOVE IT!) and of course DA  OLIVE BONBON in the center of the flowah!

Jenabella made a stunning card using cuppycake with a HUGGABUGG on top.. sooo cute!  She also used our crackle orange dots around the circle, our sentiment and cuttlebug BLOOM DOTS to emboss.. YUMMY!

Joanneabella made a LUSCIOUS FABBY DABBY CARD using ADDY ‘TUDE.. I just love addy.. she has such personality, no?  And on this card, her boa was made with FLOWERSOFT.. How incredible is DAT? LOVE IT!

Karenabella made the CUH-UTEST card using Lady Owlie and her sign.  Is that YUMMALISH OR WHAT?  Love the use of the  cocoa and poppy BELLA DOTS! And how clever to add in the SMOOCH siren to accent the flowers?  YUM! I wanna be a SMOOCH when I grow up 🙂

Paulabella made 2 BEEYOOOTIFUL cards.  One  using Julia’s DIAPER BAG (YUMMMALISH) and one with CUPPYCAKE WITH A HUGGABUGG ON TOP.. .could you FAINT? LOL.  I could.  right into a pool of chocolate..LOL (self reminder: WEIGHT WATCHERS.. not so much a pool of chocolate..HMPH).. LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!!!!

Lindabella made the most amazing card using ALL BUMMED OUT BABY.. is it not amazing?  It’s for Anyone.. friends, family.. JUST LOVE IT! And the COLORING?  triple HMPH.

Shannanabella made a DEELISH card using AMPLEE ‘TUDE.. how cute is this card????

Ok, QUADRUPLE HMPH… I am out of BREFF (breath).. I talked WAY TOO MUCH

Now, don’t forget our BELLARIFIC FRIDAY CHALLENGE you can find deets on here.. would love to see what you come up with!!

and don’t forget to place a comment on this post.. you can win a beeyoootiful die!

Mwah to da sistahs who are excited cuz there will be anothah surprise next wednesday!!
Em

Hiya sistahs!  Its FREEEEEZING in Toronto 🙁  WE had Jayden’s 4th birthday party and it was a blast 🙂 will share pictures tomorrow or Tuesday 🙂  she was a little princess!

I wanted to present you with the next challenge!  It is card sketch made by Nicky but translated into computer-dom by Shannanabella!  Thank you Nicky and Shannan!!  MWAH!

The entries are due by Thursday May 21st 5pm EST.  Please email them to MOI emily@stampingbella.com.  You can win $20 in bella bucks!!

you likey?  I LOVEY!

Mwah to da sistahs who will participate

Em

Hiya tootsies

How’s everyone doing?  This challenge was a bit of a “challenge” lol for da sistahs.. I am thinking you didn’t like it so much.. so I PLOMISE to do a bettah one for next week!  I just thought the glitz and the bling was so exciting… but I guess not so much..LOLOL.  So it’s gonna be a shortish post today BUT I have a little NICKY NUGGET at the end of the post to help you with your embossing and glittering.. how’s THAT for a treat? MWAH!

Ok so the less than luscious (lol) challenge  was

I wanted BLING BLING BLING and some gold 🙂 but I LOOOVED the interpretations this week .. the cards were absolutely PHENOMALISH!

Let’s see the BABES’ interpretation

Nickabella made a STUNNING card using our happy flowers (mini one). The purple layer is embossed with our new quickutz polka dot embossing folder. She also used our QUICKUTZ labels in polkadot.  The mini image is stamped in the brand new to our store FANCY SQUARE SMALL and layered onto the fancy square large.. I just love those fancy squares :)! She also used ZING gold embossing powder for the sentiment and our gold bonbons.. lots of amazing product on one little gorgeous card!

Danabella made a gorgeous card using PEACE HIGHTOPS.. check out the gold embossing the prima flowers and the hot lips baubles!.. YUM!

Jenabella made a stunning card using ANISE KETTO. I love the layout, the bling and the coloring!

Karenabella made a stunning card using Minty Coffee.  The gold embossing is luscious and the cotton candy bonbons yum!! she also used D’VINE swirl cuttlebug embossing folder.  So colorful!

Lindabella oh sweet Lindabella (LOL) made a yummalish card using YOKO AND ONO KETTO. Love the coloring the shading the paper the gold! OMG!  I am sure she used our famous Lyras 🙂  Gorgeous!

Paulabella used our cutesy ornaments for her card.  So shiny… so Sparkly… SO Blingy… Gorgeous card angelbella!

Shannanabella made a BEEYOOOOOOTIFUL card using KENYA KETTO so simple and elegant I just love it!

and here’s mine 🙂 I decided to use my favorite new paper in the store by Collage Press.  The SWEET SHOPPE collection.  I embossed the sentiment with GOLD ZING.. have I mentioned I love this powdah? and our gold bonbons.. YUM!

So how’s that for Babe o Rama eye CANDEEEEE?

Now for our SISTAHOOD contributions! If I missed yours, please email me and I will post ASAP!  Excellent job by all of our sistahs!

So how’s DAT for some eye candeeeee??? LOVE IT!

So don’t forget to post a comment on this post and you can win a $20 giftvoucher to BELLALAND!

One of our lucky contributors will also have a chance to win $20 so stay tuned!

And now for Nicky’s Nugget!

A great tool for controlling “flyaway” glitter and embossing powder is to use this BELLA STATIC BAG to treat your paper. I call it the “POOF AND SHMEAR” technique..LOL  I am so professional.

I hope you enjoyed this post 🙂

Mwah to da sistahs who will enjoy a LONG WEEKEND here in Canada!

Em

Nickabella has been BiZzy.. check out these gorgeous cards! This one is using our brand new Tiddly DAISY HIGHTOPS.  isn’t it ADORABLE?  Colored with copics and the flower on the top left is one of my faves.  They come from PRIMA in either a TUBE or a BAG in white.. SO versatile! Nicky used her copics to dye these flowers to match the paper.  We will show you another tip with these flowers tomorrow.  You get a KAJILLION of them.. the one in the TUBE are larger than the ones in the bag.  Isn’t it great?  This is so great for a little girl, a teen, an exerciser (what is THAT? LOL).. an EXTREMELY versatile stamp!

Nicky used PEACE HIGHTOPS in the following card.  Also colored with her COPICS and she used our new American Craft ZING embossing powders for the sentiment.  In my humble weight watchered opinion (lol) the TRUE test of using an embossing powder and making sure the quality is top notch is to try it on an itty bitty image or a sentiment to see how detailed it is and make sure the words are legible.  WELL GUESS WHAT?  These powders are absolutely fantabulous.  First, the pallette is gorgeous (45 colors).. 2nd, the fine-ness of them and quality is not to be beat.  Why do you think I brought in EVERY SINGLE COLOR? LOL.. (go big or GO HOME.. my philosophy).. I will show you another tip tomorrow on making embossing and glittering easier..

I love reviewing products.. I am a PRODUCT QUEEN.. I will try my bestest to feature some of my favorite things and see what you thinky

Mwah to da sistahs who LOOOOVEY da cards and who need a little….. ZINNNNGGGG!

Em