There'll be parties for hosting...marshmallows for toasting...and caroling out in the snow...

ETA: Got a new, clear pic for you! Hooray!

Hey, y'all! Thanks so much for all the love you left me on my last few posts. You gave me warm fuzzies!
Speaking of fuzzies, I have a card for you...and the picture is horrid, I know. I'll get a better one in the morning, but it'll do for now, k? And welcome back the Shannan you all know and love...yes, the one who takes a sketch, twists it, turns it, and makes a card completely opposite of what it's supposed to be. Here's the sketch:

See? Turn your head, cross your eyes, and you might see the resemblance in my card:


No? Well, let's look.
Large rectangle panel...CHECK.
Two small offset rectangles...CHECK, CHECK.
Three little dots on one corner...CHECK.
Square card...CHECK.
Seeeeeee???? I did it right, didn't I??? *wink*

Anywho, I used a new image from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...her name is Piper. Isn't she adorable?? I stamped her in Black Stazon on Arches Hot Press Watercolor paper, then watercolored her with a water brush and reinkers. Except for the hair, which was done with Copic markers. I was dead set on using this image, so most of the time I spent on this card was trying to make everything fit on my 5 1/4" card base. So, Mercy, you can blame Piper. It's all her fault. Here's a closer look at her:


Don't forget to go visit Mercy and see her fabulous card, as well as Jessie's...our December guest! While you're at it, check out the rest of the muses, who I'm sure did not butcher the sketch like I did! *giggle*

• Cindy Haffner
• Crystal Birr
• Jessica Diedrich
• Julie Lacey
• Pam Speidel
• Pam Varnell
• Jessie Knight (our Fabulous Guest!)
  

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Happy Birthday to you...you live in a zoo...

Good morning, and welcome to Bella's THIRD BIRTHDAY BASH! We're doing a blog hop to celebrate...are you excited?

To celebrate, I used a new image called Rumball with Candle to make a birthday card, and the sentiment Make a Wish. Hope you likey!

Three gift certificates for $100 in Bella Bucks will be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! Make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! The winners will be announced on Monday, December 7 at the Stamping Bella Blog. MWAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to my sistah Gaby!!!

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir...and folks dressed up like Eskimos...

Hey, y'all! Long time no talk! Don't faint, but I actually made a card for this week's Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge. I KNOW! I haven't done much stamping lately, but I wanted to sneak away for some "me time," so I thought I'd play along with Mercy and the other Muses.

This week our sponsor is StampInsanity...what fun images! You'll want to play along this week because there's a free stamp set up for grabs for one lucky participant. All the details are on Mercy's blog, so go check it out!

So without further ado...here's this week's sketch:

And here's my creative version:

Sorry for the crummy picture. My memory card for my regular camera is lost, so I had to use an old backup, which doesn't have a macro setting. *frowny face* Anywho, the image I chose is Morgan from the Naughty and Nice set...isn't she cute? I stamped her in Memento Black ink on Bella's Bestest Paper and colored her with Copic markers. Then I cut and embossed the main image with my Oval Nestabilities and added a scalloped mat.

For the base layer of my card, I cut a 5" square of light pink Bo Bunny Double Dot paper and matted it with black. Then I cut a strip from my Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses 6x6 pad that matched my color choices perfectly, and matted it with black, punched with a Fiskars Upper Crest border punch. For the bottom strip, I chose a piece of Spring Rain cardstock from Papertrey and embossed it with the Snowflakes embossing folder before adding a black mat. I wrapped some white 5/8" grosgrain ribbon around the panel, then popped it up on dimensionals.

The sentiment that comes with this set actually reads "Merry Christmas, you sweet thing!" But I really just wanted the Merry Christmas portion, so I cut the sentiment apart to create what you see here. To make it stand out a little bit more, I added some light green rhinestones along the bottom. Then I popped the main image up on more dimensionals, leaving a little room on the right side for my extra special embellishment. I painted a Maya Road chipboard snowflake with pink acrylic paint, and then dipped it in Diamond Dust to make it sparkle. I adhered a pearly white button to the center, and tied it all to the white grosgrain ribbon with crochet thread. The finishing touch was a self-adhesive pearl in each corner, colored black with a Copic marker.

Whew! I sure made this one complicated, didn't I? *grin* I just got started and couldn't stop...but I had fun, so that's what's important, right? And for even more fun, make sure you check out Mercy's Blog for her sample and our December Guest Muse announcement, and THEN go visit the rest of the Muses:

Pam Speidel
Cindy Haffner
Pam Varnell
Julie Lacey
Crystal Birr
Jackie Pedro
Jessica Diedrich
Jessie Rone (November Guest Muse)

Are you ready to play along with us? What are you waiting for? Create a card or scrapbook layout using the sketch above, and link your creation in the Mister Linky form on Mercy's post. Also, don't forget to use the keyword MTSC50 when uploading to a public gallery!

Thanks for coming by today, and I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Just a quick PSA

Hi guys! I just wanted to pop in here to say hello and let you know about something fun that's happening soon! Stamping Bella is turning THREE!! The big day is December 7th, and we're celebrating with a Birthday Bash contest, blog hop and a new release!!! Wanna know more? Then keep reading!

Birthday Bash Contest:
We're looking for the most delish creation in Bellaland!!! Let your creativity guide you to create a project that celebrates Bella's 3rd Birthday. You must use only Stamping Bella stamps in your creation and you can choose to use any of the lines that Stamping Bella offers.

Upload your project to Splitcoast using the keyword "BELLABDAY3" before the deadline of 10pm EST on Saturday, December 5th. The Bella Babes will scour the gallery for the most delish project in Bellaland. Only projects that are uploaded to the Splitcoast Gallery before the deadline, using the keyword, will be considered for the grand prize. Don't have a Splitcoast Gallery? What are you waiting for?! Sign in and create one free!

Grand Prize (And it's a BIG ONE!!): The winner will receive the entire new release from Stamping Bella, a value of lots of mooooolah!!!!! The winner will also be featured as a Guest Bellarific Babe on Bloggabella during the month of January. The winner will be announced on Bloggabella on December 7th.

Birthday Bash Blog Hop:
You're invited to join the Birthday Bash Blog Hop on Saturday, December 5th. Please use any Stamping Bella images and sentiment for your blog hop post. We’re celebrating all the adorable lines that Stamping Bella has to offer!!! Your post should go live at 10am EST on Saturday, December 5th.

Prizes??? Of course!!!! Three gift certificates for $100 in Bella Bucks gift certificates will be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! But wait...there will be another $100 in Bella Bucks given to one random blog hop participant so be sure to sign up for the blog hop on THIS THREAD in the Stamping Bella Forum on Splitcoast. Get all your friends to sign up too because we know they’d love a chance to win a Stamping Bella Shopping Spree! Let’s make this THE BIGGEST Bella blog hop EVAH!!!! The winners will be announced on Bloggabella on Monday, December 7th.


Birthday Bash Release:
Em has an awesome release planned for the Stamping Bella Birthday on December 7th featuring a little bit from MOST of the artists!! So be sure to pop onto Bloggabella on December 7th to see all the new rubbah goodness along with the winners of the Birthday Bash blog hop and contest.


Birthday Bash Blog Photo:


Feel free to add this birthday bash photo to the sidebar on your blog to let everyone know you’re coming to the Bella Birthday Bash! Please link the photo back to THE BIRTHDAY BASH THREAD on Splitcoast for all the Birthday details.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American sistahs. MWAH!

Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar...

Hey everyone, thanks for all the love and prayers over the last month. I have been truly touched by all the emails, calls, and cards I have received. You guys are awesome.

I wanted to take a moment to let you know that I'll be taking a break from design work for the next few months, so I probably won't be posting here much. I certainly am not giving up stamping...I love it too much! But I need a break, and want to spend some much-needed time with my family for a while. With all that has happened physically, I really have come to realize that I need to take some time and focus on getting myself healthy so I can properly take care of all the people I love so much. I didn't end up having surgery, but am still in quite a bit of pain. It's my understanding that the healing process will take several months...no fun! But my goal is to be healthier and better...hey, I've already lost 20 lbs! *woohoo!*

Anyway, I love you all, and hope you'll be back to visit me in January. Hugs!

Thanks, y'all, and yes, I'm alive!!

Hey y'all, I just wanted to hop on real quick to say I got home from the hospital on Friday of last week and am recovering quite nicely. The first part of the week was rough, but I'm up and moving around better now. Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, emails, cards, and EVERYTHING! Y'all are the best :)

I was hoping to feel up to stamping today, but so far, no luck there. I'm still not very comfortable sitting up for long periods, and twisting and bending isn't the most fun. So I don't have a project for the Serendipity October Challenge for you yet, but I promise I will in the next few days, k?

While you're waiting, you can check out the Serendipity Blog and the rest of my SSDT teammates for some amazing Holiday gift ideas!

Amy
Anya
Jennifer
Kathie
Sue
Yvonne

Have a fabulous day!

From the land of Blynkin and Nod...

Hey y'all...yes, it's me...sorry I haven't been around lately. I came home Saturday night from Waco, and we had some awesome classes at Crop Paper Scissors. Exhausted, we all rolled into bed and off I went. But at about 4 am on Sunday monring, I woke up with horrifficccccccckkkk abdominal pain. I couldn't stand or breathe, so we went to the Emercency room. They admitted me to the emergency department and did CT Scans and test. The results aren't really in yet, but it looks like a bad infection in my abdomen. Since then I've run fever of up to 103.1, and have enjoyed  lots of bending and stretching (ICK!!) I'm finally allowed to eat ice, so that's good.

Anyway, I'm not sure yet if I'll have to have to have surgery, but stay tuned and I'll let you know as soon as I find out, ok?
Either way, I'd appreciate your prayers...I'm a very sick girl. Thanks: