WELCOME TO BLOGABELLA

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I am in love.  Remember a coupla posts back I wrote about the whole remorse, should-coulda-woulda-don’t-need-it fiasco???  Well, I forgot to mention.. “i shoulda gotten two of them”… “should I get another”?  Usually, when I find something I ADORE, I need to have multiples.. YES I KNOW I AM NUTS but that’s how I feel?  If I can’t tell you, who can I tell?? LOL.  So this is it… Nicky and I grabbed 2 at Joann’s and now of course, guess what?  I SHOULD BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!! WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.  As I mentioned in my last post, I LOVE prismacolors.. I have never bought a set of them.. actually, I have never bought a set of anything in my life!  I pick and choose how I like it and I usually tend to build my own collection… My philosophy on sets is that you absolutely KNOW that there will be something in the ‘set’, whatever the set may be, that you don’t like.. so what’s the point.. be free ….CHOOSE!  That’s what I tell all my clients… it’s better to build your own even if it has to be little at first.. at least you know that it is handpicked by you..

 So this is it.. the fiskars Caddy (cannot find it on their site.. otherwise I would totally link it on here).. I love the color (my lime green) and I put most of my prismas in there.. actually I have more to go in there but you get the picture..

 So I shoulda bought 2 huh?

hmph

emma-doubtful-bella

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I certainly am NOT the next American idol but I am having THE BEST time watching it!  I feel like it has become a little more heartless per se, and I really don’t know what is UP with Paula, but I blame all mothers out there who disillusion their children (* BIG FAT JUICY GIGGLES*).. “oh honey you have the voice of an angel… honey you are THE BEST SINGER.. I mean, we are all meant to build up our children but what if they are really not good at a certain something?”.  These participants come there FULL of confidence and then they open their mouths.. OMG.. I am actually cringing and muting at times… YIKES.. ok enough about American Idol.. although I can go ON and ON and ON .

I actually entitled this post “baby love” thinking of the baby theme of the card above and then I get into this whole tangent about American Idol.. only me, I tell ya (as I was singing the song out loud writing this.. hmph)

Ok, the card above.  There are many things to do with my 3 line borders.. I just LOVE THEM and I have created them in several themes… this one happens to be baby.. oh and I just love baby noises so of course I had to include “goo goo and ga ga” in the baby 3 liner… YA, I AM SOO WEIRD but you love me anyway, no?

Ok again, the card… Nicky designed this card using my 3 line baby border and my baby booties.  I love booties because they are not gender specific and very versatile.  So started with a square white card (5*5) and stamp the baby 3 line across the card in lilac ink.  Then take square of lilac and black and glue to middle of card.  Stamp booties in black and color in with Bella spirits (how cool am I?!)– bella spirits are odorless artist quality mineral spirits and that combo’d with prismacolor pencils?  MWAH! (Em kisses her fingers and raises hands in the air–do you get the image?  Like an Italian person saying MAMMA MIA, clenching his/her fingers together, kissing the tips and raising their hand in the air).. oh I do hope you get this picture! (BIG FAT LOL right  about now).. at least I entertain myself.. this technique (not the kissing the fingers but the mineral spirit technique) is absolutely wonderful.. I would say about 90% of my coloring work is done with prismacolors and the bella mineral spirits… I ABSOLUTELY LLLOOOOVEE IT.  I cannot watercolor although I have every watercolor imaginable (you can just imagine) and the first time I did this technique, I fell in love! it was like immediate watercoloring with no effort!!  A lot of people call this the Gamsol technique.. Gamsol is the actual brand name of the mineral spirits.

Once you color the booties in, you , of course MUST sparkle the top and laces… Beautiful (mwah thing again)!  Almost finish off the card with “congratulations”, which is part of a plate called ‘mini words’–LOVE that plate.. you can see it here.  Final step is silver edging all around the card.. you need a silver marker with a flat tip (broad).. by rubbing it against the paper, you develop a notch in the middle of the feltish tip  (NO NOT FETISH, n’k?).  Once you get that ‘notch’, it is easy to just edge your whole card!  Slip the notch of the marker on the card edge and Go for it!

Most other people’s blogs have their cards showing with TEENY TEENY TINY words describing materials used etc.. Mine, happen to take up the whole blog…LOL

That’s it for 5 minutes, I am gonna post a pic of what i bought in Buffalo

love to DA SISTAHS

Em

Hiya sistahs

just to let you know, I will be trying to post more images over the next coupla days.. I know I have said that for a while but I PROMISE this time!! So please check back!!  I just posted “MAMABELLA” on my homepage.. I hope you love her as much as I do!

love, hugs and kisses

emmabella

after MUCH deliberation with my lovely and talented mother in law (she’s reading-*wink*), we came up with the winners.. first I am COMPLETELY surprised but someone did get the answer..LOL

grammastamper:  I AM the chief Cook and Bottlewasher! LOL

Alli – I AM a completely crazy bella– so you definitely win too

Everyone’s answers were superfantastic.. really I was laughing my A** off!  so congrats to all and I thank you for participating!  Please continue reading my blog as I will have lots more contests.. I like them!

So Alli and Gramma, please email me @ emily@stampingbella.com directly and we will discuss your choice of prizes!  (oh ya and they are DELISH)

Emmabella

chief cook and bottlewasher AKA. completely crazy bella

and BOY did we have fun.  Even if you DON”T feel like reading about our capers, I will definitely still share.. (*giggles*).  It all started at 8:30 where I was waiting impatiently at the door for Nicky to arrive.. when she finally did, I took my pully (rolling bag–that’s what we call it), threw it in the car, stopped  for our coffees and off we went! 

We get to the border and I decide to declare my sale to the store to the US customs authorities.. they pull me over and advise that I must go to the warehouse and declare my entry.. they point to this warehouse about 1 mile away and I could not just park there, I had to walk there.. so it’s -789 degrees, I have no jacket, lots of makeup and cleave (short for cleavage) showing…   How the *()*% was I supposed to get to the other side (where the warehouse was) by foot with literally 18 lanes of traffic between me and the warehouse?  I TOOK A RUN FOR IT, dodging traffic, jiggling everywhere (LOLOL), holding my hand out motioning for people to stop.. you get the pic. I get there, have all the wrong paperwork (please don’t forget I am a customs broker by profession–apparently not a good one–LOL).. actually just played DUMBABELLA to get my stuff through and it worked!  1/2 hour later after dodging those same darned 18 lanes back to the car, we were finally free to go!!  (YIPPEEE)

 Off we went to our first craft store (joann’s).  I was still in the car and told Nicky to go in without me.. that I would meet her there…ya know, there are some times when people need constant surveillance as you never know what they will be up to… This is what I am getting at.  I walk in to Joann’s and see nicky holding this green thing.. she is bopping up and down and the tears are streaming down her face from laughter.. I am like, WHAT is WRONG with this PICTURE???? I go towards her.. and this is what I see her holding

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is this the tackiest thing you ever saw?  This FROG jumps up and down to the tune “jump for my love” by the pointer sisters.. SHE WAS HYSTERICALLY laughing (not that funny-a little scarier than it is funny–LOL) and proceeded to throw it in her cart for her little granddaughter Maya.  Of course I shoulda bought this tacky thing for Jayden too but there were crafts to buy! (I am meeeeeaaaaaannnnnn.. but if I have one more creepy jumping character that sings songs in my house I will explode!).  So this was the beginning of our journey!

We bought a few goodies I will try to post later on but really nothing much… We then went to ANOTHER craft store (AC moore) and guess what Nicky found?? A NEW PULLY!!! that makes it pully # 4356 that is “JUST PERFECT FOR MY CLASS EMILY, I THINK I SHOULD BUY 2 MORE!”.. I , on the other hand, only have 3254 pullys but LOVE the one I am in right now.. I have to post a pic of that.. most of you who know me by now will see how PERF it is for me!  Ok, so we always go for the same things.. we then look at each other and say “DO WE REALLY NEED THIS”? and we both chime in “NO”.. and then the next sentence is “WE ARE GOING TO REALLY REGRET NOT BUYING THIS” and we put it back in our carts.. by the time we are back at the cash, the questioned items are out of our carts again.. we then check out, get in the car and say “WE SHOULDA BOUGHT IT”.. LOLOL.. and the whole ride home, we don’t talk about what we BOUGHT.. we talk about WHAT WE DIDN”T BUY and are miserable.. is this not SICK???? SICK I TELL YOU!!

Ok, we get to Sharon’s place and we ended up having a FULL HOUSE!  I was the usual goofball and Nicky was the composed teacher who really led a wonderful class and taught BEAUUUU-TIIIFUL cards which you would think would be posted already but are not… After all, I am a gossip site, not a cardmaking site (*wink*).. A good time was had by all.. surrounded by beautiful stamps (not mine but still beautiful–LOL), lotsa paper, accessories, you name it, Sharon has it!  We shmoozed, we colored (with mineral spirits that I happened to cross the border with too… SHHHHHH).  I think it was a successful day.

Ok, business was taken care of.. what was the next step you ask?  TARGET.. went and did a little walk through and started all over with the “do we need this” thing.. and left with nothing and went to the car complaining that we shoulda….. (LOL’ing as I write this)

 We then go for supper. Easy no?  Well, we must SCHLEP (means to ‘drag’) all of our stuff in the restaurant (new red pully included) and remove labels and tell eachother why we think this stuff is not recently purchased (for border purposes), remove labels and proceed to stuff red pully with new purchases that are now “old” and have been used for eons.. LOL

Next step, driving home…. We get in the car and start blabbing about what we bought (buyer’s remorse) and what we shoulda bought (refer back to the whole shopping cart fiasco), talked about the class and how great it was.. talked about food (of course).. and just what a great time was had

Don’t cha just *LOVE* days like that?  I do!

your chief shoppabella

Em

it’s off to buffalo stamps I go.  The most wonderful and talented Sharon Klima (owner of buffalo stamps) has offered to feature me on her make and take/demo day tomorrow (Sunday)!!  Nicky and I are all packed an ready to go.  We have the most luscious cards to make with the fine ladies that have signed up!  We are psyched!  Now, the class starts at 1:30 PM.. it takes approximately 1.5 hours to get there so you would assume we would be leaving at 11’ish right?  NOPE! We are leaving at 8:00AM.. YUP 8:00.. you know why?  come on.. ask me.. ASK ME ASK ME!!! We are going SHOPPING.. going to all the craft stores to get some goodies before we go to Sharon’s.. ask me if there is something I am missing.. COME ON… ASK ME.  the answer is absopositively NOT.. but you know that if there is something that is in a container and has lots of color.. I am in!! oh, and if it is a die of any sort.. I am IN or if it is a BOX of any sort.. I AM IN.. or if it is something sparkly.. I’m in.. shall I go on?  Needless to say, I will HAVE to come home with SOMETHING and I will be sure to share with all of you.. I promise.  Oh and I am also sure there will be some sort of story to go with this whole adventure.. IE.. car seizure at the border… NOT. or tripping and falling or glitter all over my body OR OR OR.. you get the pic.

SOOOO.. will write more tomorrow.. PROMISE (maybe)

 emma-so-excited-to-get-goodies-a-bella

 hope you are all well and can’t wait to announce the winners on Tuesday..

OH.. and HAVE YOU BOUGHT THE DVD YET?  What the (*%(*($% are you waiting for?