Bella and her Fella

Wanna see what Todd and I look like when we are Christmas shopping? Yep, that is us! LOL! Nah...I am not even close to being that thin although Todd is almost there...he's lost a ton of weight recently and he looks great!

I made this card for a swap that I joined on Bellaholics Anonymous. We are supposed to take a Bella or Bellafella stamp that isn't specifically for Christmas and turn it into a Christmas card. (Wow! Long explanation on that! LOL!) I love this Retailfellabella stamp so I decided I must use this one. All of the cards that I made have different little saying squares at the bottom left of the card. I used my Copic markers to color these guys in and then with this one I used the colorless blending marker on Bella's jeans. Unfortunately, it bled the black ink a little so I didn't want to chance it on the other cards and didn't try to blend the pants on those. I just, last night, ordered a different colorless blender that looks to have a smaller tip so hopefully it will be easier to use in small spaces such as these. Isn't this just cute? Simple but still a great card...at least I think so!

I think I'll try my other Thomas Kinkade stamp today and see what I can do with it. I hope everyone gets lots of stamping time in today!!!

How I made this card:

Cardstock: Shimmery White, Wild Wasabi, DSP from Winter Bright Simply Scrappin' Kit
Stamps: Retailbellafella
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Real Red
Accessories: Silver Brads, Die Cuts from Winter Bright SSK, Dimensionals, and Fiber-Art Stencil

Thomas Kinkade

You may or may not know that we like Thomas Kinkade paintings out our house. As a matter of fact we have a Victorian Light Gallery Proof signed by Mr. Kinkade that hangs in our living room. Anyway, when Cornish Heritage Farms came out with TK stamps awhile ago I knew I had to have at least one and went ahead and bought Forest Chapel and Village Christmas stamps. I finally worked up the courage to try to use my Forest Chapel stamp today and well...it was a little more difficult than I had hoped but over all I think this is pretty good. I had a heck of a time getting the stamp to be level on the paper. The SAMJ wouldn't work so I did best by eyeballing it but never got a straight image. I also really wanted to use the scripture verse but wasn't sure what to do with it so it kind of looks like an after thought. Why am I telling you what I don't like about it? Because, I think it helps others to make better choices and we all need to know that everyone makes things they aren't necessarily thrilled with. I am encouraged enough to try again though.

How about seeing something I do like? LOL! I made this 12x12 scrapbook page at Regionals last weekend with the stamp set So Much. I really like the simplicity of this page and the amount of room it gives you for either two pictures or one picture and some journaling. See the embossed 'dots' around the Soft Sky circle? That was made with a Crop a dile! How cool is that...you can emboss with it too! It is quite the tool, I'm tellin' ya!

I hope you all have a great Friday night and I'll see ya tomorrow!

Pokemon

Isn't it interesting how from one child to the next fads and interests change? Isn't it even more interesting when your children that are 10 years in age apart end up liking the same thing? In my house...it is Pokemon and Legos. Although Legos are something new that Kyler has decided he likes Pokemon is something he's loved forever and that Scott loved when he was a kid. It is funny to hear them talk about it sometimes!

So, remember when I told you about JoAnna? JoAnna is the very talented girl who set up her own blog for a school project and is just rockin' it now! I love her work! You must go see it HERE! Why am I mentioning this again? Because on one of her posts she had shown a picture of a cute Pokemon frame that she had made with extra Pokemon cards. Now...in my house there is no such thing as extra Pokemon cards so I knew there was no way I could make one of those for Kyler. I left a comment for JoAnna about how cute I thought it was and that Kyler loves Pokemon. You know what she did? She e-mailed me to see if she could send it to him! How sweet is that? Well, we got it yesterday! Kyler was just so enthralled that she made the frame with the cards and he LOVES it! The frame is currently sitting at Kyler's spot at the kitchen table but won't be able to stay there indefinitely. I'm sure we will find the perfect spot for it in his room!

So...I have found out that JoAnna loves purple and I'm going to put together a little thank you package for her. Of course it will have to be purple! Kyler wants to make his own thank you card too so I'll post it all when I know JoAnna has received it!

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your kindness JoAnna!!

Regional Projects

These two cards were made at Regionals with the stamp set that we got with our registration, So Much. Although the smaller card's photo turned out well, the other one sure didn't. Sorry about that!

The first square card is actually a special fold that I think I'm going to do a tutorial on. When you open it up there is a diagonal pocket for a gift card or cashola. Very cute!

The other card is a special "fold" as well but it is easier to explain. The Kraft card stock in 4 1/4 "x 5 1/2". The Purely Pomegranate Textured paper is 3 1/4" x 8 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" and then just adhere the back portion to the Kraft card stock and you are all set! Simple but neat affect. You can add the scallop to the bottom by using your corner rounder on a 1" x 4 1/4" piece of card stock (here it is the Soft Sky).

I've already made a couple of cards using the 2nd layout and I love them! Hope you all have had a great day!

It's Official

If you are coming to visit me...stay off the sidewalks for a little while! Jon got his learners permit today! Holy cow you guys! No, really he only got 3 wrong so that is great and I'm super excited for him! Just had to share the fun news!

More about Portland

As you know at the SCS dinner I had the chance to meet lots of fun people. One of them was Abbie. She sat at the table next to us and was, initially, by herself. We chatted and she was nice enough to give us one of her cards that she was going to swap that night...cool! The card is made with the stamp set Simply Said with Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, and Chocolate Chip cardstock. On the bottom she used a piece of vellum and stamped it with the little flowers. You can check out her blog HERE.

The other fun thing I received at the dinner was a door prize. Everyone was supposed to bring a door prize and then during the evening they would just pick one of the door prizes up off the table and call a name of a person there and they would receive that door prize. Quick, easy way to do it! Funny thing is...I felt like the girl who is last to be picked in PE class. Okay, I wasn't last but pretty darn close! Anyway, this is one of the clear window tins that are so hot right now. Papertrey Ink has some of the smaller size HERE. What is neat about this idea is that all you have to do to make this a really neat gift is wheel some address labels with the theme of your choice and then wrap the labels around your Hershey's Nuggets candy. Add a ribbon or two and you are all set. The person who made this must have known it was coming to me because in the little envelope is a Starbucks card. She also personalized the envelope by adding a stamp from the set Be Happy. What a fun and quick gift this is! the best part is that the receiver could reuse the tin if they'd like!

I'm taking one more day to kinda chill out. The doctor said I have a sinus infection...which I could have told you and I'm on double strength antibiotics. I can't totally chill out though because I have to take Jon to the DOL today to get his driver's permit. Yep, that is right...we'll have another teenage driver in the house soon! So, did you know that since our last names are different I have to 'prove' that I'm his mom? I'm trying to figure out how to go from last name #1 to last name #3. That is a lot of paperwork! I'm going to go through my files this morning to see what I can find to help me out. I'll also take pictures of the projects we made while in Portland so you guys can see them. While I was making them I wasn't sure if I liked them but now...I do!

So, you guys have a fantastic day! See you later! :o)

To Portland We Went

Alright a post about the trip to Portland, then the shower and doctor for me today. The trip itself was quite uneventful. It isn't to difficult to get to Portland itself and we found the exit for the hotel just fine. I do think we went around the same block three times to find the hotel though. It is in a very downtown part of Portland and just looks like any other business. Their sign was very small compared to what you would normally see. Anyway, we drove in and Richelle and I just looked at each other...then Richelle said..."what did you get us into?". Okay, now honestly, the hotel looks just fine on the internet. It is three stars (although priced much higher than that) and says it is a modern type of hotel. Really, it is a Motel 6 remodeled and not remodeled well. The first room they sent us to smelled HORRIBLE. Just like a barn...it was great. Oh, and my favorite thing. They provide you with a condom for use during your visit. How special! We decided we couldn't stay in that room so we asked for another. This one didn't smell quite as bad but still bad enough. They did find us another room but it wasn't ready yet so we had to leave all of our stuff in their office and when the room was ready they put our bags in it for us. We took a cab to Rock Bottom Brewery where the SCS dinner was being held. That wasn't so bad. Honestly, it was the most calm cab ride I'd ever taken. Whew! So the dinner was fun and I got to meet several of my favorite stampers on SCS. I'll tell you who everyone is in the pictures in just a minute. I must tell you about our return to the hotel.

When we returned to the hotel the lady at the front desk was canoodling with some guy (oh, did I tell you that their t-shirts say...get a room...nice, huh?). When we walked in she told us she had our room ready and our stuff was in it. I looked at the guy and said that surely he would walk us to our room since we were two women alone. He said of course he would. In the meantime I had my pepper spray out and in my hand and told him loudly I would spray someone and he could beat them if necessary. This 3rd room they gave us was way back in the corner and we were told it would be nice and quiet. NOT!!! Once we got in the room we locked the door and before we went to bed I put my suitcase and two chairs in front of the door! I slept with my cell phone and pepper spray by my side and when I'd roll over...they came with me! We were never more thankful to leave a hotel in our entire lives!! Aren't you glad you didn't go with us?!

Anyway, onto the pictures. The top picture is Joy, Jessica, Jami, and me. Next I am with Cambria. Then, I am with Beate. Then I am with Lori and Beate. And finally I am with Sharon. Now, I know most of these ladies have great blogs of their own and I will come back and link to them for you but I really need to go get in the shower here pretty quick. All of these ladies were so super nice! I had a great time and like I said...it was neat to meet everyone!

Tomorrow's post I'll have some artwork to show you! Oh, do you like my hair? That is the color I got on my birthday day at the spa. Isn't it great?!

Alright everyone...have a great day!

Guess what came on Saturday for me?!

I got my box from my Halloweeney Sister! Oh my goodness everyone! It is absolutely amazing! As you can see from the first picture I got a Halloween box FILLED with cool stuff! Included is a Halloween towel, some Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, an orange post it note pad in an absolutely adorable holder, a Halloween 2-5-7-10 box filled with Dove chocolates (yummy!), a very cute purple springy spider, some fall scrapbooking accents, a super cute card, an a countdown to Halloween clipboard for my fridge!!! The second picture shows the clipboard up close. Can you believe it? I feel so spoiled!!! Please click on the pictures so that you can see everything up close.

So, I want to tell you guys all about Regionals as it is quite the story but while gone I seemed to have caught a bug that is affecting my sinuses. Wow do they hurt! Thankfully some Sudafed helps but I'm tired and just want to go to sleep right now. Please know I intend on giving you a full report WITH pictures very soon! I do have to tell you that I got to meet some of the wonderful people that run SCS at the dinner on Friday night and got pictures with some of them so it will be fun to share that with you guys!

Have a great Sunday everyone and I'll be back soon! :o)