WELCOME TO BLOGABELLA

[photopress image=”unmounted_1.jpg”] 

hello ‘all ‘ (I got a little embarassed of counting the people who read my ‘shtick’ (a jewish term meaning idiosyncrasies (I confirmed the spelling at www.dictionary.com   lol) or individual mannerisms of a specific person))

Before I started this adventure I was an avid ‘collector’ (fancy term for spendthrift, shopaholic or pure addict) of rubber stamps, tools, organizational  apparatuses (or is it “apparati” (I confirmed the spelling  ‘apparatuses’ again via www.dictionary.com– weird spelling, no?).  Oh I forgot about the paper and the ‘bellies’ (new fave word as per previous blog post).  Ok, so with all of the stamps I have purchased, I cannot even begin to explain how much money was spent and yet I still felt there was a missing ‘link’ in the stamping world today.. backgrounds, frames, oh ya and DA BELLAS.. ladies with personality.. ladies with pizazz… ladies with a CAREER.. ya all get where I am going?  So that’s how they were born. 

Now the next step was.. how should I have them manufactured? In what material?  Like I said I was a DIE HARD wood mounted fan and I had just put away about 3-4 rubbermaid boxes of them-and boy were they *HEAVY* (as if I lifted them..LOL).. you get what I mean ;).  The thought of mounting each stamp gave me heartache though.  I had no time!  I had to get the Bellas OUT THERE! I had plenty of unmounteds that were never used and thrown in a drawer (under the paper, the organizational tools, the ‘bellies’, the wood to mount them, the velcro, the ribbon.. *giggles*).  So what did I do?  I bought ‘meself’ a polymer making machine.. OMG.. I could go on and on..LOL.. my darling husband redid my ‘office’-the laundry room.. put halogen lights in, racking, pans, tape, etc.. set me up.  And there I was.. STOOPED over a table, pouring polymer, baking, taping, rinsing …you could imagine the rest.. Sure enough there was a prob with the machine and I was able to return it.  So there I was… with a huge PIT in my tummy…. lots of great designs, a backache from the stooping, blind from the halogen lights and STICKY from the polymer.  A beau-tiful sight.  I was scared.  The new trend WAS polymer , I didn’t wanna mount my stamps due to the work involved and the obvious storage issue.  I wasn’t particularly impressed with the crispness of the image of the polymer and I did love the rubber… Don’t get me wrong.. I **ADORE** polymer for alphabets.. you can’t compete with that.. they are amazing and there are great quality polymer stamps out there too..

Sooo, the thinking cap went back on.. I wanted the best of all worlds.. I wanted rubber.  I wanted the ability to place it on an acrylic block and see through it for placement and i did not want to permanently mount them to wood… Ok, I was getting somewhere here.  I did not like the fact that the unmounteds I bought I had to cut myself (little did I know that my FUTURE would be cutting rubber..LOL), so another feature I wanted was to have rubber closely trimmed, highly etched, great quality with no need for cushioning (do not like cutting ‘icky’ stuff).. that way I am GUARANTEED that people will use my stamps and NOT throw them in the same drawer I have with the bellies and the paper and the and the and the… (you get the pic).

So that was how I made the decision of unmounted, closely trimmed, highly etched RUBBAH. 

Ok, so we know about the storage.. I store mine in sports card pockets in a binder.. I have about 200-300 in a binder.. my sentiments are in slide pockets.. they are perf!

easy to clean.. no worries about using solvent inks (cannot use solvent inks with polymer/acrylic)

no need to cut as they are already done for you

now  my FAVORITE plus is that you can use the ‘puzzle method’ with unmounteds.. see the pic above (please forgive the *well loved* stamps above).  I would take any image, border, sentiment etc that I want and just place it on the cardstock!  If I feel that it doesn’t work or needs something else, I remove one stamp and add another until I like what I see! Isn’t that amazing!  I do that all the time!  And especially since the stamps are closely trimmed, there is no guesstimating… what you see is what you get!  LOOOOVE IT.  So now you see how I work.. you should try it too! it really saves a lot of grief.

 OMG.. can I talk more?  Will I have anything else to write tomorrow????

 Of COURSE I will!! 

toodles to my ‘all’

Em

[photopress image=”flowahbella_with_ribbons_ca.jpg”]

My dearest ONE (you know who YOU are).. I am afraid I have lost my captive audience.. I have been away *way* too long and I miss you!  I hope to restore my confidence and bring my audience back to the high volume it was at before (9.5).  I am so sorry I stranded you (Natanya) but I am back with a vengeance.. I am hoping to bring this blog to new and higher places!  So this is the scoop.  I have been away for a while.. we decided to spend some time with our families in Montreal.. oh boy..it was non stop.. first 6 hours in the car and plenty of BARNEY and DORA (I now can recite every song backwards and forwards and upside down), snacks being flung to entertain, singing (you get the idea).  Once we got there it was a tug of war between two families of who gets who for how long and what percentage of time spent.. we had to work on our calculus skills (*giggles*) to figure this out.. there was lots of inspiration there, no sleep and lots of shopping!  I got to ‘escape’ several times with Tema  (my Montreal crafty friend) and she took me to scrapbooking shops where I loaded up on funky ribbon (nothing i love more) and of course the new AMM storage tins (I needed at least 14 of them–ARGH) cuz they were cute and they hold things and they are neat (unlike my office-hmph).. I bought some paper and some ‘bellies’ (LOOOOVE that term I read on SCS for embelishments.. whoever coined this term should win an award –*LOVE* it)

I will go into more detail during the week regarding the embelishments and other goodies but enough about me.. let’s talk about this card.. I JUST LOVE IT!

 I am busy working on designs for some mags and I feel like I am accomplishing SO much and then at the end of this production I take a look and what do I see??? satin, bows, ribbons, knots, green, pink on EVERY CARD… LOL.. I just get fixated and can’t stop?  DO any of you ever feel like that?   I just love green and pink.. I just love ribbons, knots and bows… should I really get out of it or should I just continue.. since it makes me happy.. I think I will continue (*wink*).. but it is annoying, I must say.. SOOOO nicky and I created a challenge where we have to use other colours and boy is it working.. I am reinspired but I have to tell you that somewhere just somewhere teeny tiny.. you will always see a hint of me.. no matter what colour chosen.. so rest assured there will always be a bow, or a hint of lime, or a little baby pink!

Ok, so I LOVE this card–back to the card– (I always seem to get distracted, don’t i?)  I made a pink back to rest the white cardstock on (I love this look–NIcky taught it to me-of course). made the white card 1/4 ” smaller than usual and glued onto the pink back.. I stamped my stitches on the Bazzill parakeet (one of my fave colours) lengthwise and crosswise to create a type of plaid.  I stamped small flowahbella and colored her in with my Copic markers (LLLLLOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEE them-you get the picture?)  they color in without streaks and have a pallette of colours not to be believed.. oh ya, and they are so easy to color with.  then I GLITTAH’ed the edges around the flowahbella card (I always glittah the sides and edges–it adds such SPARKLE and is very discreet).. then I took my pink and green stitched ribbon and made ‘v’s and layered under the image, then I added my sentiment “thanks a bunch” and voila!.. YOU LIKEY??

 I hope you like the card and I hope you have a phenom day

love to the 1

Em

[photopress image=”arivedercibella.jpg”] 

Hello fab 10

 I just wanted to let you know that I will be away for the next few days.. going home to be with family in Montreal!  Wish me luck on a 6 hour trip with 2 little ones!  We will be well prepared though.. games, snacks, blankies, milk, books, coloring books.. oh did I mention snacks?

I also wanted to let you know that a lot of my Valentines images are up!  I hope you enjoy them!  Also wanted to let you know that a few new bellas are up too!  There is causabella, sellabella, and loveybella.

 and there will be a new surprise one put on tonight.. hope you find and *love* her cuz I DO!

 Hope you have a great few days and I promise I will write back as SOON as I return!

Toodles

Em

Joann!  Ryan (my hubby) took the plunge and decided to be the judge.. he wanted to see how women think and what kind of nonsense (as he says it) they can come up with and he liked them all but chose Joann’s.. I think the part of her little girl sitting on her lap ‘got him’.. so Joann… send me an email and let me know which bella you would like!  On the house!

Congrats and I will host yet another contest very soon!

Merry holidays everyone

Emily

 [photopress image=”niagara_card_001.jpg”]

hello my wonderful ’10’ (this is including a little girl who sits on her mother’s lap and watches the pretty girls on my website).

I went on an overnight ‘excursion’ with my hub to the Niagara falls resort casino.. what fun!  This gag card I made is actually made with the room key.. (*giggles*).  Just wanted you all to know that I ‘think’ cards at every opportunity!  I see upholstery, I think of a layout.. wallpaper (does that still exist?  Actually I think it is making a comeback), beauty products.. you name it.. I think it ‘in a card’.. do any of you think that way?  When I knew I hit rock bottom was when Nicky and I were in the parking lot of our LSS and we both look down and see a shiny buckle.. we both took a dive for it and then realized how disgusting that really was and LAUGHED our brains out…  no words were exchanged and we never spoke about this again.. LOL.

The hearts in the background of the card and the sentiment (I use this all the time) are authentic though!  All STAMPING BELLA.. you got it!  I just felt like having fun today!

 We had lots of fun in Niagara.. We went crossborder shopping.. had a coffee in peace.. played a little at the casino (ok LOTS).. and it was just fun to get away.

 That is my today candy.. hope you *LOVE* the layout (hee hee) and the image and just remember… NEVER stop thinking cards.. that’s what keeps us going!!

I will announce the contest winner later today.. my husband is deciding what the best ‘lie’ is.. maybe he’s not the best judge…

 Toodles to you 10

 Em

hello my now dear 9

 [photopress image=”jumbo_happy_card.jpg”]

First I would like to apologize for the lack o’ valentines images… it’s been a crazy crazy weekend….My daughter Jayden has been soo sick.. and a ‘magnet’ so I was unable to do much in terms of work this weekend.. My DS Tyler has more of a social life than I do , and he was at birthday parties all weekend.  Having said that.. I have put in some images in my “jumbo words and fillers” category and I am still putting a few more in to complete the collection.  These are **SO MUCH FUN**!  when you don’t feel like making a fancy embellished card but just want to make a BOLD statement.. this is the way to go.. I fell in love with this when I designed it and the rest is history.  I don’t have much time to blab today as I have to pack!  I am just going on an overnight ‘jaunt’ with hubborama until Wednesday.. can’t wait!  But no worries, orders are a priority so anything ordered will be shipped the next day!  Even if I have to stay up all night (I am up working anyway).  I promise that Valentines will be up soon so please check every day.. I don’t think you will be disappointed!

 This card was designed and executed by Nicky Manel (my design team-LOL) and I just love it.  You will be seeing a lot of her work on my website as we share the same mind, talk stamping and just have a wonderful relationship.. oh and yeah, I think her work is ‘a’ight’.  Actually I will be posting a link to her DVD INK IT UP!.. just go on the link and click.. they are the cutest bloopers ever!  But I will do a critique on the DVD at some point.. perhaps when my audience reaches ’10’..LOL

 Ok, I digress.. this card was made with my JUMBO HAPPY and my FILLER-Birthday.  in black cardstock and soft lilac Marvy Ink.. She also used my 3 roses  ( I LOVE THIS STAMP) and coloured it in and GLITTAHED it, just the way I like it :).. that’s my girl Nick.  Oh and don’t forget the little stitched ribbon around the neck of the vase.. I LOVE IT!!

I hope you all love it too.. and promise to write more when we meet again

P.S  I NEED MORE ENTRIES FOR MY CONTEST PLEASE!!! lol (no pressure)