Thursday, March 29, 2007

More DaintyBellas



Finally some computer time at home when I can post some more pictures. Work during the day and doing my taxes at night (actually I did Ian's tonight) really cramps my style.

Anyhow, here are 2 more of the bellas that I made with the March Paper Pretties Box.
All supplies from the first DaintyBella from Stamping Bella was watercoloured with markers. All supplies were from the March Box except the pink prima and the brad in the prima flower is from the dollar store.



The second DaintyBella was coloured with yellow stickles. The stamp is from Serendipity stamps and all other supplies are from the March Box.







The third DaintyBella skirt was cased from Christie at Paper Pretties, this card was in the members only gallery so I won't post a link of here card as you won't be able to see it. I changed it up but putting patterned paper which is from Crate Papers on the skirt and then using seafoam organdy ribbon from CTMH for the skirt. I used frosted lace stickles on the top of the dress. The brads are from the dollar store. Other than the organdy ribbon and the brads all other supplies were from the March PP box.


This last DaintyBella was a slight variation of the others. Here dress is done in the frosted lace stickles and the primas were added. Again, all other supplies were from the March box.

I have 2 other DaintyBellas left to post from my bella marathon with the March Box. I am emailing them to my work so that I can post them for you tomorrow.

So have you signed up to get your own Paper Pretties box. If you do - make sure to say that 'Shannon Grant' referred you. I get a copy things for this and I think Christie waves your membership fee.

Watermark Designs

Did you ever notice the great watermark that I use on my cards?

Well you can get your own. Cindy Kerry will make you your very own. Visit her at her new blogspot Watermark Designs. To celebrate here new site and business she is giving away blog candy as well.

Cdn Ribbon Share

Janet at Seasoned Stamper is doing a polka-dot ribbon share.

I'm doing option #1 - more ribbon for me!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Clapton was fablous!

Eric Clapton was great last night. He started off a bit slow with a lot of instrumental music but he got me in the middle when he sat down and did a acoustic session than he ended the concert with a bang doing all the very popular Clapton songs.

More DaintyBellas when I get home from work - which is after I do spin class at the gym with the fiance and perhaps get some groceries then make dinner etc etc .....

Monday, March 26, 2007

Eric Clapton

Tonight is the Eric Clapton concert in Calgary. My fiance is a huge HUGE music buff actually I should say he is a huge guitar guy - the person doesn't even need to sing to make him happy, the instrumentals are his favs. Since, I've been dating Ian, I have gone to so many concerts.

So far this year we have seen:
Colin James and his Little Big Band (@ Jub, Feb 23)
Van Morrison (@ Saddledome, Feb 27) This was Ian's xmas present.

Eric Clapton is tonight.

The we have tickets to Jesse Cooke on May and Keith Urban in Sept (ok this one was more my doing than Ian!). We are heading to Vegas at the end of April and plan to go to the Blue Man Group and see Cirque de Soleil show Love, which is a tribute to the Beatles.

We would be at a concert or pub with live music every night if Ian had his way but well we do have to work sometime plus if we did that when would he play his guitar which leaves me in peace to stamp?

Who have you seen lately?

Dainty Bella


This first bella card (from StampingBella) is the example that Christie sent in the Paper Pretties card box. I had to make one of the original idea of Christie's then I have now made 7 others with basically all the supplies that were in the card box. I think I could get 2 more as I have a piece of yellow bazzill that hasn't been cut into and some more Crate paper and ribbon left. Plus I have some parakeet bazzill in my own personal stash that was in the box as well. I tried to create all my cards with just the supplies in the box but there were some embellishments that made their way on to the cards.



Once I saw the card of the week at Paper Pretties - I knew I had to use stickles on these gals. Christie sent along some Frosted Lace stickles. By using that my Dainty Bella has now become a bride. Everything on this card was in the card box. However, I realize that from the picture you can't see the stickles so your going to have to take my word for it that the dress is covered in stickles and is very sparkly.

If you want to know how to get a card class in a box. Check out Paper Pretties. One box has Bellas and the new box that Christie introduced has stamps from My Favorite Things.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Paper Pretties and Distressed Recollections

I am happy to report that I was able to get going on my card class box from Paper Pretties. The cards are so fun to make. I will be uploading the card class that Christie based the card on later today. (I have to do my taxes first but before the taxes I need to clean the computer desk so that I have some space to the taxes.) I then have at least 5 more cards to upload through this week that I made with the supplies in the box. I tried to use just the box supplies but some primas popped onto a few cards. If you want to get in on the card class in a box, today is the final day to order your subscription for the April box. Christie has 2 options now, the bella box which is featuring jammiebella for April and diplomabella for May - the other box is using a stamp set from My Favorite Things. Members get lots of extras such as a rak list, a members only gallery, plus discounts in the members store. I've also got some adds on purchased for my April box. Make sure to visit http://www.paperpretties.net to get in on yours.

Now on to today's card.


This was another of the card that we made at Stamp Club on Thursday. We used a sanding block to distress the patterned paper from Stampin' Up. I crumpled the Recollections Designer Series paper and then used the sanding block to sand the ridges. The rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory.

Supplies (all supplies are Stampin' Up)
Stamp set: Lexicon of Love
Ink: cranberry crisp
Paper: recollections designer series, very vanilla, mellow moss, cranberry crisp
Accessories: cranberry stitched ribbon, sanding block

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Gift Card Holder



When I first saw a gift card holder, I thought to myself and here I thought I putting them in the card was enough - now I can have a matching card and gift card holder. This is our 'other' type project tonight for stamp club. Finished size is 3 1/2 x 4 - I used a sheet of 3 1/2 x 8 1/2 and scored at 3 and 7, folded, taped the sides and decorated.

Supplies (all Supplies Stampin Up)
Stamp set: Tagger's Dozen from Winter Mini
Paper: Au chocolat designer papers from Spring Mini, very vanilla, pretty in pink
Ink: chocolate chip
Acessories: small tag punch, tag punch, light pink grosgrain ribbon

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Stamp Time Somewhere

Jeanna is giving away blog candy at her blog - Stamp Time Somewhere. There is an awesome selection there to win. Be sure to stop by and don't forget to tell her I sent you!

Cracked Harmony


I made this card back in February for my first Stamp Club. It used the Happy Harmony stamp set from Sell-a-bration (SAB) and the cracked glass technique. If you don't know this technique - Beate's instruction on Splitcoaststampers (SCS) for Cracked Glass are really easy to follow. However, she said to leave it in the freezer for 1 minute - I think this was a typo as it really should be 10 minutes then you take it out and crack it. I used clear embossing powder in several layers (I think 5) and had to re-freeze it a couple of times to get the cracks I wanted. Then I sponged perfect plum ink into the cracks so they were more apparent. I think I need to get myself some ultra thick embossing powder before I do this again as I think it would crack a bit better and you won't have so many layers. Regardless, the gals at my club thought it was a really cool technique.

Supplies (all supplies Stampin' Up)
Stamp set: SU Happy Harmony
Ink: perfect plum, elegant eggplant
Paper: perfect plum, pale plum, naturals ivory
Accessories: clear embossing powder, embossing buddy, eggplant grosgrain ribbon

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Measure of Life



This is 1 of the 3 cards for my stamp club on Thursday night. I couldn't resist doing another taken with teal card. The teal with the black is so vibrant. I used the wax paper resist technique for the background.

Supplies (all supplies by Stmpin' Up)
Stamp set: Measure of Life stamp set by Stampin' Up, Level 2 hostess
Ink and Paper: basic black ink and paper, taken with teal ink
Accessories: black grosgrain ribbon and taken with teal and tempting turquoise chalk

I am very excited for my girls to make these 3 cards plus I have a gift card holder to do. This will be our second meeting. I am converting some die hard scrapbookers to stampers. Its going to be fun.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Laughing CosmoBella



The bellas from Stamping Bella are so much fun to create with. I can't wait for my box from Paper Pretties to arrive this week. If you don't know about Paper Pretties and Stamping Bella, they are both a must to check out.

Stamps: Cosmobella and martini glass by Stamping Bella, Laugh by TAC
Paper: apricot appeal, rose red, cool caribbean
Ink: basic black
Technique: watercolored with reinkers
Accessories: paper piecer, perfect layers tool, dimensional magic on glass in bella's hand

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Pink Paisley


I stamped this card about a month ago but then abandoned it as it needed something. Tonight in the wee hours of the morning, I have managed to salvage the card. The color combo of tempting turquoise, apricot appeal and pink passion came from the February demo challenge. The layout was also from there however I added an addition pink passion layer under the image to tie in the stamped area to the background. The stamp set is Polka Dot & Paisley from the Spring Mini.

It isn't a color combo I would ever pick. I had never used a sheet of pink passion or tempting turquoise. I can say that I would used some TT again especially now that I have a new found liking for Taken with Teal.

Stephaine's Bling Candy

Stephaine has some bling candy on her blog, Creative Expressions.

Stop by and enter - and make sure you tell her I sent you.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Teal Harmony


This isn't the best picture - I was in a hurry to take on my way to work the one day so that I could mail the cards out on Monday. I'm always in a hurry in the morning as I dislike mornings especially Mondays. I had to get the card into the mail to my Mom. I figured she need a little pick me up and what better than a homemade card by your daughter in the mail.

My color combo is the same as the card before taken with teal, cool caribbean and regal rose. I used the buckle for the hodgepodge hardware. The stamp set is Happy Harmony which was a SU! SAB set. The background was run through my cuttlebug using the script embossing folder. Rose ribbon and primas embellish the card.

More cards tomorrow. I have 4 cards from my stamp club that was at the end of February. Our theme for that club was heat embossing including embossing resist. My next stamp club is on March 22. I am going to do backgrounds with them this time.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Flowahbella


This was my first stamped card with a 'bella' from StampingBella. Emily has some amazing creations over at her website and her blog is a riot to read everyday.

I did this swap for CST (Canadian Stamp Talk) which is a yahoo group for Canadian stampers. The List Mom is Nancy, who also lives in Calgary like me. Actually, she doesn't live far from our new house in Kincora. Her blog always has some great cards on it.

The color combo is Cool Caribbean(cc), taken with teal (twt) and regal rose (rr). I took a piece of natural ivory and ran through my cuttlebug and the stylized flowers embossing folder. I then sponged twt ink on the embossed part. I mounted that on to rr and the cc base. I stamped the bella with black staz on onto natural ivory again and cut that out with my Creative Memories oval cutter. I coloured the image with prisma pencil crayons and then used OSM and stumps to blend the colours. I then mounted the oval on another oval with twt. I finished it off with three different shades of pink primas.

Finally my first pictures to post




Finally, I have the computer working perfectly. I can download my camera and get my creations up on my blog.

First, these are the doorhangers and cards I made for my niece and 3 nephews for Valentine's day.

Notice my gorgeous watermark that Cindy Kerry made me. You can go to her blogspot and get her to make you one as well as she now has a custom watermark business. I don't have any software for png files but there is freeware called Gimp that is easy to use that I figured out to get my watermark over my jpg.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Stamping away

I have been stamping a lot lately. I have gotten the prototype of my wedding invites finalized. I did my first stamp club class on Feb 24th and I stamped this weekend as well. However, I am still having problems with my computer and haven't found the drivers for my camera so I can't post any pictures. My mission this week is to get my camera downloaded!