Mojo Monday Surprise!

Happy Monday, y'all! Some of you might know Julee Tilman, the owner of Verve Stamps. I was lucky enough to be paired with her back in 2007 for a round of secret sisters, and we have been good friends ever since! Julee and her husband, Mark, are expecting TWIN BOYS in a few weeks, so the Verve divas, mojo makers, and some super supportive friends of Julee's' have come together for a hop to honor her and the arrival of the new babies.  I hope you enjoy the hop Julee, we have each offered up advice and words of wisdom for you.

My card will be coming along shortly, but I wanted to go ahead and post. The advice I took most seriously (and still do, even though my "baby" is 9) is to sleep when the baby sleeps. Now, maybe you and Mark will have to each pick a baby to do this, because I've heard that twins sometimes like to keep you on your toes with their schedule...but sleep is a very important part of sanity, my friend! Also...cuddle them as much as you can those first few weeks...those are so precious. I'm so excited to finally see the new Verve babies, as I'm sure you are, too! Y'all are going to be amazing parents.

Here is the entire blog hop list, be sure to visit each gal and read there well wishes and advice!  The next gal on the list is my friend Lori, who I'm sure has something fabulous for you!

Julee Tillman
Teresa Kline
Laurie Schmidlin 
Jen Tapler
Andrea Ewen
Debbie Carriere
Charmaine Ikach
Sankari Wegman
Shannan Teubner
Lori Craig
Maureen Plut
Toni Storie
Wanda Cullen
Amber Hight
Marisa Ritzen
Janelle Stollfus
Tosh Leyendekker
Jackie Pedro
Betty Wright
Jen del Muro
Lynda Benden
Stephanie Kraft
Mary Fish
Sarah Bigelow
Alma de la Rosa
Carole Burrage
Susan Lilies
Amy Sheffer
Taylor Van Bruggen
Clarire Brennan 

Say, Say my playmate...come out and play with me, and bring your dolly three...

Happy Friday, sistahs! It's time again for Bellariffic Friday...this week was ANYTHING GOES! I received some new rubbah this week, so I had to ink up Ramona and her Wagon from the new release. Isn't she cute??


She's stamped on Bella's Bestest paper in Memento Black, and then colored with Copic Markers. The little wagon reminds me of one that my Granny has for her garden. Happy memories.
Here's a little closeup:

Well, that's about all from me today...I hope you can play along to next week's challenge, which is a sketch...love the sketches!

All you have to do to play along is create a project with the sketch using Bella Stamps and send your card to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night! You'll be entered to win some Bella Bucks $$$, and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!  Also, if you upload to your gallery on Splitcoast as well (it's free!) using our keyword (you can find that in our forum HERE) you have two chances to win some BUCKEROONIS! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. Don't forget to check out the other goodies posted on Emily's Blog HERE, and post a comment for another chance to win some Bucks. Have a fabulous day!

Here we go again...I kinda wanna be more than friends...So take it easy on me...

Happy Friday, sistahs! It's Bellariffic Friday here again, and this week was a sketch challenge!


A fun one for sure!! I have been missing my Kettos, so I pulled out little Missmatch Ketto, and watercolored her for this week:


Isn't she so adorable?? I have an outfit *just* like that. (hee)
She was stamped in Black Stazon on watercolor paper, then colored with various dye inks. I love the way the wash of yellow around her turned out, if I do say so myself. I cut and embossed the image with the Curved Rectangle Nestabilities and sponged around the edges. Of course I had to add some Diamond Stickles...you can't color a girl with a pink tiara and NOT add glitter. Seriously.


I found a couple of scraps of paper (from Crystal Wilkerson and October Afternoon) that coordinated perfectly, and then added a big pink bow around the card base. This was such a fun layout...it's definitely going to be one I use again!

Well, that's about all from me today...I hope you can play along to next week's challenge, which is:

A FREE FOR ALL...ANYTHING GOES!!

Now, come on...I know you can do that one! All you have to do to play along is create a project using Bella Stamps and send your card to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night! You'll be entered to win some Bella Bucks $$$, and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!  Also, if you upload to your gallery on Splitcoast as well (it's free!) using our keyword (you can find that in our forum HERE) you have two chances to win some BUCKEROONIS! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. Don't forget to check out the other goodies posted on Emily's Blog HERE, and post a comment for another chance to win some Bucks. Have a fabulous day!

Don't think of yesterday, and I don't look at the clock...I like to boogie woogie...

Happy Thursday, y'all! I was so inspired by Emily's Art Journal Monday post this week that I spent some downtime playing yesterday...boy did I have fun and make a huge mess! I recently got my first Moleskin journal, and I chose one with watercolor paper because I love the texture.

I started by doodling with some graphite pencils, and I ended up with the music note and the word "music." Then I used a black Faber Castell pen with a brush tip to add some faux calligraphy to my sketching.


Next I started layering color using liquid watercolors. I added lime grean, turquoise, purple, and some tangerine in various places and strengths all over the page. Once that dried, I stamped the eclectic mesh image in black Stazon, and the bubble wrap image in Antique Linen distress ink onto various areas of the page. I also had this great diamond border stamp (can't find it on the Bella website at the moment) that I added along the line under 'music' in gray Memento ink. At that point the mesh looked a little stark, so I decided to add some sprays of Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist, also incorporating the Mini Chickenwire template from Crafter's Workshop.


That was definitely MUCH closer to the look that I was going for...this was a total experiment, by the way! I cut out a few words from some vintage dictionary pages to create my quote, highlighting it with Copic Opaque White. I liked the look of that so I added it in a few more places. I probably should have used Gesso, but oh well...that's why this was play! I wanted to add a few more details, so I spritzed parts of the page with water, and I also used some Studio Calico Mister Huey in white as well. I have some SEI Tumble Dye Spray on its way to me as we speak, and I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about!


The last few details I added were the canvas bits, glitter (of course), and some Rock Candy Distress Stickles. The Stickles were still wet when I took this photo, so they ended up a lot less shiny...much more in keeping with the rest of the page.

Ok, so....what do you think, y'all? I know it's nowhere NEAR my usual style, but it sure was fun to make a mess and just PLAY. Definitely inspiring to try different things and stretch my creative muscles a little. I'd love to hear what you think, and if you'd like to see more...I do have a whole empty journal, you know! Do you want to see painting? Sketching? Journaling? More cards? LOL

Anyway...that's it for me today...I hope you have a fabulous Thursday!

You can kiss me in the moonlight, on the rooftop under the sky...you can kiss me with the windows open while the rain comes pouring inside...

Happy Tuesday, y'all! It's time for another Skipping Stones Design Sketch Tuesday, and we are welcoming the fabulous Kazan Clark as our guest sketch artist for the month of February, as well as Barb Turpin and Cyndi Bundy as our guest designers. Welcome, ladies! Here's our first sketch of the month:

Which I *ahem* LOOSELY interpreted into this card, using the Garden Kiss set:


See, it works, right? I stamped the circle background in Versamark and embossed it in clear onto olive cardstock. The butterfly was stamped first with the script image, then the image of the butterfly was stamped over the top and clear embossed. I cut out the butterfly, leaving a little border for sponging, and added some twine for antennae. The sentiment is a favorite from Everyday Blessings. Here's a closer look:


Thanks for stopping by today...I hope you like my card! I have one more thing before we go...Heather (the owner of SSD) is having a very cool SALE this month! If you buy any 3 stamp sets, you will get Heartsong 2 FREE. It's a new set...want a peek?

I know....fabulous right?? This set is set to be released in April...but you can have it in your hot little hands early through this awesome "Tweetheart Special!" The sale starts on today and ends Tuesday, February 14th at midnight. For more details and for links to all the fabulous designers showcasing this week's sketch, check out the SSD Blog. Have a fabulous day!

I wanna be kissed by you, just you, and nobody else but you...I wanna be kissed by you alone...

Hey Sistahs! Please forgive me for just now posting my Bellariffic Friday card...I didn't want it to get lost under my Verve Inspiration Hop post, and I haven't been out of bed since Thursday!! My kids are bringing home germs like little mice...craziness!! Anyway...if you have not checked out Emily's Blog, please do so...there is some AMAAAAZZZING eye candy over there for this week's theme which was Valentine's. My card this week uses  and old Saturday Sketch of Chupa's...I collect them.


Here's my card, using Cherry Blossom Bittybloom:

Isn't she precious?? I stamped her in Memento Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper, then colored her with Copics. I added a felt heart where her cherries were, then added some red lace and twine for a loopy bow. The paper behind her is Echo Park Yours Truly...love that paper. Here's a closeup:


Thanks for stopping by...next week our Bellariffic Friday challenge is a Sketch...yay!!

All you have to do to play along is create a project to fit the challenge and send your card to Emily (emily@stampingbella.com) by Thursday night! You'll be entered to win some Bella Bucks $$$, and your card will be published on the Bloggabella!  Also, if you upload to your gallery on Splitcoast as well (it's free!) using our keyword (you can find that in our forum HERE) you have two chances to win some BUCKEROONIS! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! Don't forget to check out the other goodies posted on Emily's Blog HERE, and post a comment for another chance to win some Bucks!! Have a fabulous day!

My eyes are green cause I eat a lot of vegetables...it don't have nothing to do with your new friend...

Happy Sunday, sistahs! I had this post scheduled for Wednesday but something happened and it didn't post. Yikes! I used an for You to Try for this card...here ya go:



And here's my card, using an old fave, Goodluckabella...



I also used the large Dark Cocoa Glitter Dots...love adding these to cards because there are no lumpy backs to worry about. Here's a closer look:



Short and sweet for me today...Have a fabulous day!