a mishap and a card

Hi.  Hope all is well with all of you.  I have been out of commission for a week or so, I took a terrible fall last saturday while we were at the Cheltenham Badlands.  I lost my footing slid down a cement embankment (it's made up of shale and limestone - so basically it's hard and rough like cement)and litterly tore off the skin on my right lower leg from my shine over about 4 inches wide and 5 inches long, as well as a couple of huge spots down by my ankle. If you look at the link for the badlands the rolling hills don't look that steep, but let me tell you I was a the top and they are much steeper, I'm estimating I slide down about 10-12 ft. I was able to go to work, but found with sitting at my desk job all day long my foot would swell, so at night I elevated and applied ice.  The pain got worse to put any pressure on my shin when I would stand up after sitting for a while or laying down I ended up going to emerg saturday night.  I was given some antibiotics, so today is day one one them, I hope I feel some relieve soon.  It's starting to scab over, but still very tender. I'm sure I have badly traumatized my leg- hence the pain and the swelling. Okay enough about me, lets get on to the real reason for my post. 

I thought I would pop in today to show you a baby card  I made for a gal at work.  It was so simple I ended up doing 5 of them.  If you are a local and would like to see it up close and personal, then stop in at Paper Pickle.  Kim has one in the store on display (or maybe for sale, I'm not sure).

 

I used white card stock 100lb weight, and these are the dies I used:

Memory Box - baby carriage

Spellbinders - Floral ovals

Justrite dies - vintage label  & banner dies

SU - embossing folder

Verve - small phrases - sentiment

Other supplies - white 1/4" silk ribbon - PTI, pearls, and a small yellow rose.

I used some pop dots to pup up the carriage, just to give it some dimension. For the sentiment, because it is a clear stamp I was able to kind of mold it to the curve I needed to fit in the banner piece.

Now how simple is all this??   

Well that's it for me for this time around.  Off to lay down for a bit and give my leg some ice.  

Thanks for stopping in, and have yourself a wonderful week.

Pauline

 

Happy anniversary...

Hi everyone!  I just thought I would do a quick post to share a card I did a couple of weeks ago.
I had a request for some Anniversary cards.  Not sure what I really wanted to do for the cards, I searched out Pinterest - WOW you can find anything on there.  I must say I spend many hours looking through all the card galleries.  Lots and lots of talent there for sure.

I came away with quite a few ideas.  This is one that I did.  I should of booked marked the person so i could of given her credit.  Will remember that for next time.

So this is what I came up with,

It was a rather quick card to put together.  Card measures
 5 x 5.  DP is from Kaisercraft - Devonshire Collection. Sentiment is from Verve - Small Phrases.
Dies used are Spellbinders - Floral ovals, and oval, MFT - Fishtale Flag stax, Memory Box - tender leaves, Marianne designs - for the leaves at the top and bottom - sorry no name on the package. Martha Stewart border punch. Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts in the UK.

Finished off with some pearls, and I used some glossy accents on the leaves to resemble water droplets.

Thanks for stopping by, see you again real soon.

Pauline

Life changes......

Hey everyone.  Today is another bellariffic challenge but it is also a sad day.  I'm not good with expressing what I have to say, so I'll do my best.  Today will be my last post as a bella babe.  Yes,  I am stepping down after 3 awesome years working with Emily and all the bella babes - past and present.  A special thank you to Emily for bringing me on board.  I was thrilled beyond words when she asked me to be a 'babe'.  Life brings many changes, and I have been finding it harder each week to push myself to be creative. 
My heart just isn't it in like it should be.  Maybe someday it will come back, but for now I choose to step down so I can concentrate on other important areas such as family.

I'm not going anywhere, and will still post when the mood strikes me. I thank all my followers for all your support and I hope you continue to stop in once in a while. I do a lot of traveling with Bill on weekends, so I will keep you posted on our travels with new photos as they come along.

Okay, so lets get on with today's card.  It was a sketch challenge this week, and lucky me received my new bella stamps from Emily's last release, so I coloured up one of the new Uptown girls.  Let me introduce Uptown Sandy and her sombrero.

I stamped Sandy on bella's bestest paper and coloured her using copics and pencils.  I used spellbinder skinny rectangles to cut her out. Designer paper is Cosmo Cricket - Salt Air.

I turned the sketch upright to make it work for me.  I love when you can do this!  I added the sentiment that comes with this stamp set.  It was cut out using one of dies from Spellbinders Spendid Circles, then I cut another circle with a teal c/s and then layered it behind.

Finishing touches - ultra fine flower soft for the sand, glossy accents on her glasses and some amber rhinestones.

To see more samples done using this sketch layout, stop over at bloggabella to check them out. Leave a comment for a chance to win some bella bucks.

Next week your challenge will be to use buttons on your card.  You can email Emily your card by thursday night.

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a wonderful long weekend (for us Canadians). 

Again, thanks for all your support over the 3 years. 
See you soon,

Hugs, Pauline

Fun in the Sun...

Hi everyone.  TGIF!! and welcome back to another bellariffic challenge.  This week our theme was 
Sizziln' summer, and I found the perfect image to colour.

Here is Little Umbrella.

This is a Mo image which I've had since it was released and never had the chance to colour her up.  I used copics to colour and prismacolour pencils for shading.

After cutting her out and layering her on papers I added some sand around her towel.  It's actually ultra fine flower soft - sand colour, I thought it worked perfectly.

Paper is from Fancy Pants - Beach Babe - it's the perfect paper for fun in the sun images.

Finished off with some glossy accents on her glasses - (love the white reflection in her glasses), some peach seam binding ribbon and a button.

For more sizzlin summer images be sure to hop over to bloggabella to check them out.  Leave a comment for a chance to win some bella bucks as well.

Next week our challenge is back to a sketch, if you get a chance to play along you can email your entry to Emily by thursday night.

 
Well, that's about it for me, wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, keep cool!  See you again real soon.

Pauline

Sketch #12

Hi everyone! Welcome to another bellariffic challenge.  This week we had a sketch to follow.  We had a choice of either a circle card or a rectangle, and I opted for the rectangle.  

Here are the sketches:

 And this is what I came up with:

You will noticed I flipped the sketch to make it work better with my image.  The image I'm using today is called Flower Bottles.  I have used this one many times, just love the simplicity of this stamp.
I stamped it on bella's bestest paper and then coloured using pencils.  After cutting it out using spellbinder labels 22, I left the die in place and lightly sponged over the image using  Soft Sky (SU) ink. I then went along the edges of the die with antique linen (I used the same sponge that had the soft sky on it, just to give it bluish hue to it).

For the punched border strip I used a Martha Stewart punch.  Designer paper is MME- Notable. Finished off with some soft aqua seam binding ribbon, glossy accents (flower centers), glitter and pearls

You can see more inspiration for this weeks sketch challenge over at Bloggabella. 

Next week our challenge is 'SIZZIN' SUMMER'.  All you have to do to play along is use a Stamping Bella image, then email your card to Emily by thursday night, and your card will appear on bloggabella on friday as well as your name gets entered in for the draw for $20 in bella bucks.

Thanks for stopping in today.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Pauline

Algonquin Park - Part 2

I have a few more pictures to share with you today from our trip to Algonquin Park back in April.
It was a rainy day on the Sunday, so we took a side trip to Quebec to  Parc Omega, since the weather forecast for that area was sunny.  It was simply amazing with all the wildlife that roams there. 

Here are some of our favourite photos of the trip:
(click on the photo to enlarge)

 Enjoy,

Friendship

I hope you had a chance to see some of the sneak peaks we had going on this week, and there are probably still more to come. Are they cute or what?? Don't forget to win these stamps you can leave a comment on the posts over at bloggabella.

Now for this weeks challenge.  Our theme was Friendship.  I have wanted to colour this image but never seem to get around to doing it, so I did so this week.

This is Uptown Belinda and Bernadette the bench buddies.

 

I started by stamping them on bella's bestest paper and coloured using prismacolour pencils and blended with gamsol.

Designer papers are from MME - Collectable- Unforgettable.  Other papers used were Kraft and Aqua Mist (PTI).

Finished off with some bella dots. And I just realized I didn't even use glitter on this card - ACK!! I was going to add some to the bottom frill on her skirt, oh well, I guess I still can.  I just loved how this turned out, I guess I got a bit excited and forgot about the glitter - hehe!

To see some more deliciousness be sure to stop over at bloggabella and check out all the other entries.  Leave a comment for a chance to win some bella bucks.

Next week, not only should we be having our release, but our challenge is back to a sketch.  You can go round or square, the choice is yours! You can email your card to Emily by thursday night.  This will qualify you in the draw to win some bella bucks.  Who couldn't use some bella bucks with a release coming up!

Thanks for stopping in today.  Love hearing for you, so keep your comments coming.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone.  See you again real soon.

Pauline 

MIMI - Sneak Peak

Hi all my blogging friends. If you have been following Emily over on Bloggabella, you would of read that she is coming out with a release sometime next week.  So today I am here to give you a taste of what is to come.  This adorable image is from a 'new' artist - yet to be revealed.  This is MIMI the chicklet!!

I'm using bella's bestest paper and to colour I'm using  prismacolour pencils and gamsol for blending.  See those funky blue streaks behind her?, well I was trying to make some clouds and it didn't quite turn out how I anticipated!! LOL - so just added a bit of glitter, but not sure it it made it worse or not.  It almost looks like this chick has wings - oh my!

Anyway, designer paper is from Prima called Doodle Duex.  I used an EK success wavy border punch for the blue strip and also a Memory Box die for the intricate black bow on the left side. This image also comes with a sentiment  " I need to see you badly".  Added some rhinestones on the bow to finish it off.

Is she not the cutest?? Would you like to win her? Make sure you leave a comment on any of the blog posts over at bloggabella featuring  the new images because Emily is going to draw a random winner .

Be sure to check out all the other Bella babes blogs over the next week for more sneak peaks.

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day,

See you back her on Friday for our Bellariffic challenge - you still have time to play along - our theme is friendship. 

Pauline

Summer Days

Ah! summer days.  I love them, but not with all of this humidity.  The humidex has been quite high these last few days, with temps reaching in the 90's with the humidex factor, but I have not turned the air on yet.  Next week looks quite a bit cooler with temps starting out in the high 50's for Monday, the slowly rising to the 70's be weeks end.

Okay enough about the weather, that's really not why you stopped in.  This weeks bellariffic challenge was a sketch - and a very easy one at that.  Here is the sketch we had to follow:

and this is my card

The stamp I'm using if from a set of four called Summer Days.  I just love this set, it is so versatile, I have used it many times and will continue to do so.  Image was stamped on bella's bestest paper and then I coloured the image using prismacolour pencils and blended with gamsol.

Designer paper is from MME- vanity fair.  Finished of with a bit of glitter on the flowers, a piece of twine made into a bow and then added a button.

Emily is giving away some bella bucks just for leaving a comment over at Bloggabella, so be sure to stop by and see all the other gorgeous creations for this weeks challenge and leave a comment.

Next week our theme is "FOR MY SISTAHS - FRIENDSHIP", I know there a lots of Stamping Bella images that would fit this category.  You can email your entry by thursday night to Emily for it to be posted on bloggabella on friday.

Thanks for stopping in today and love that you leave comments.  Have a wonderful weekend.

See you again real soon,
Pauline

Inspiration challenge #3

Hi and Happy Friday!! Welcome to another Bellariffic challenge.  This week we had an inspiration picture to help us along.  Here is what we had to work with, I love the pinks/yellows/oranges and greens.

and here is what I came up with:

I pulled out Uptown Flora the Cyclist for my image. She was stamped on bella's bestest paper and the coloured with prismacolour pencils and blended with gamsol.  Skin tones were done with copics. 

Designer paper is MME - In Bloom  (purchased at Micheals). To kind of fill in some of the white space around Flora I used MFT's fishtale flags layers stax, then added a small bow (made with my bow maker) using pink silk ribbon, then added a small yellow rosette.  Glitter was added to the ruffle on her dress as well as the basket of flowers to finish this off.

Be sure to stop over at Bloggabella to see what the other babes and sistah's came up with this week.  Leave a comment for a chance to win some bella bucks.

Next week we are back to a sketch challenge.  You can email your card to Emily by thursday night for your card to appear on bloggabella on friday. Here is next weeks sketch:

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend. Till next time....

Pauline
 

Algonquin Park

Hi everyone.  Hope your enjoying your weekend.

As promised a couple of months ago, here are some of our favourite photos Bill took while we spent Easter Weekend up in Algonquin Park.

To enlarge, please click on each picture.

Enjoy!

Would love to hear which is your favourite.

Pauline

thinking of you

Hi, hope you had a great week. For the most part the weather was great, 80's today, a bit breezy, just perfect and it looks like it is going to be a fantastic weekend as well.  This weekend is a 3 day weekend for us Canadian's, as we celebrate Victoria Day on Monday. I'm so looking forward to the long weekend! 

For our bellariffic challenge this week we had a sketch to follow, and it was a fairly easy one at that, at least I thought so.  This was our sketch:

and this is what I came up with:

Basically no stamping except for 'thinking of you' which was taken from the stamp set: matilda on her swing.

Designer paper is from Prima papers - Tea-thyme 6x6, Dies used are Spellbinders- A2 scalloped borders one, and one of the dies from the 5x7 detailed scallops set.  Finished off with some pearls and a piece of dusty rose ribbon.

Be sure to stop over at bloggabella for me inspiration from this weeks challenge.

Next weeks challenge is another inspiration - see below.

You can get your inspiration from the colours, or the image.  You can email Emily your card by thursday night to be included in the showdown on friday.  Also your name will go in for this weeks draw for $20 in bella bucks!

I guess that's about it for me for today.  Thanks for stopping by, and I really appreciate your comments.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone.  See you again real soon.

Pauline  

Kraft-tastic challenge

TGIF, and a rainy one at that.  This week our bellariffic challenge was to use Kraft  on your project. It was one of those weeks, where I didn't get a chance to do much in the line of carding, so last night I finally manged to get my card done.  I used this image with birthday's in mind.  I'm show casing Funky Plants hanging block image today. This stamp is also on sale!

I stamped the flowers on bella's bestest paper and the coloured it up using copics.  After cutting out the image and sponged some distress dried marigold around the edges. Designer paper is a piece from my scrap bin called Sassafraslass.  

I also used a new Spellbinder die for the triangle decorative piece on the lower left side.  This die set is called Gold Elements One.  I just love the intricate swirls to this die set.  I used Kraft for my card base as well as the scallop layer behind the image.

Finished off with a beautiful silk bow and some glitter on the flowers.

Want to see more inspiration? Then be sure to hop over to bloggabella and check it out. Leave a comment for a chance to win some bella bucks.

Next week our challenge is back to a sketch. If you get a chance to play along, you can email it to  Emily by thursday night.  Again by doing so you have a chance to win $20 in bella bucks.

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by, see you again real soon.

Pauline

With Sympathy

I saw a similar card like this on Pinterest (absolutely love this site, so much inspiration) and knew I had to give it a whirl.  One can never have too many Sympathy cards on hand, so I always like to keep a few on hand.  This one was fairly quick to make, so I ended up making 4 more.

 

Dies used are Memory Box- Arboscello tree, MFT - Fishtale flag stax, Spellbinders - A2 Bracket Borders One. Sentiment is from MFT as well.

Finished off with some pearls and some white silk ribbon.

Card size 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.

Hope you have a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping in.

See you back here on Friday for our Bellariffic challenge - Using Kraft in your project.

Pauline   

Sketch challenge #9

Hello!  It's Friday, and that also means it's another bellariffic challenge day.  This week we had a sketch to follow - I love sketches, it sure helps speed up the card making.  I think most times that is what takes me the longest is what layout am I going to use.
 So this week the thinking was already done for us.  Here is the sketch:

 
And here is my card:

 For my image I used Little Peep's flower vase. 

I stamped her on bella's bestest paper and coloured using copics.
Designer paper is Basic Grey- Lemonade.  Finished off with a prima flower, pearls and glitter.  I even paper pieced her dress - it's so small you probably didn't even notice - LOL.

Okay, so for next week our challenge is KRAFT-TASTIC.  So use kraft paper on your card and your all set.  You can email Emily by Thursday night to be included in the show down on friday.

You can view more of this weeks challenge entries by stopping over at bloggabella.  Leave a comment for a chance to win some bella bucks.  Could be useful for Emily's upcoming release.

Thanks for stopping by, and hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Weather is co-operating - lots of sunshine and warm conditions for the weekend!

See you again real soon,
Pauline