Here's an interesting color combination challenge that I came across. Brown, orange, green and some white. It was a tough one. I was going to give up on it then said to myself what is a challenge for! So I set my mind to making this fella. You can find the challenge at Stampin Mami's site. She chose the colors from the ingrediants in a drink she loves. Well now that I've done the card I think I'll try out the drink :-)

Well I've jumped on the band wagon, as they say. On two things actually. First being that I bought a crop-a-dile last night. I figured out how to use it on the bigger eyelets but still don't know how to do the smaller ones. I'll have to search and find some better instructions than what is on the packaging. And secondly I did my first Beate's Weekend Challenge today. I think its adorable!! But then again, anything with Bella tends to be.

I think Clickabella is my favorite Bella. Mostly because it reminds me of me. I'm always sitting at the computer, and I'm happy too. The layout on this card is from my first daily challenge on Splitcoast and I need to credit Genie for it. And the challenge can be found here. I think having someone dictate what your layout should be makes creating the card so easy. But then again, it was my first challenge. So I probably will end up with a pretty tough one next time I try it.
On a personal note. I have been having some major back issues with no answer to why. So today I was put to sleep and had some injections directly into the area around my lower spine. That was done at 8:00 this morning. Afterwards I felt great. Then 2:00 came around. I am guessing something started wearing off because I definately needed some asprin. Now it's 3:30 and sitting at the computer is not a happy place. :-( Back to the heating pad and watching TV.
toots for now!

I have finished my submission into the Splitcoaststampers Holiday cards. We are to create ten holiday cards each month. I had run out of the pink and red paper so sadly I had to go to the stamping store this morning to pick some up. I found a fabulous stamp, while there, to make my husbands valentine card. I wish I could show it to you, but yesterday I caught him reading my blog!
This is the Valentine card set I made for the challenge. It was a long process...First I water colored the hearts with watercolor pencils. Then scanned it into my computer and colored in the
ribbons holding the hearts. Printed them out and put crystal lacquer on the hearts. Of course I had to wait for them all to dry. Once dry I used layers of red and pink bazzill paper and offray ribbon and there you have it.
When I was working on getting a picture of my card to upload, Liyah saw the camera and just had to get into the picture. Thanks for peaking!

Here is a fun poem that really hits home to most of us~

If You Give a Girl a Stamp
By Tracy Harp

If you give a girl a stamp she‘ll want to make a card…she’ll need an ink pad to go with it. She will spend hours pouring over colors trying to decide just the right one to buy. In the end she’ll decide she just can’t choose so she’ll buy them all.
Then she’ll remember she’ll need card stock to match the ink so she’ll quickly add four packs of assorted paper to her list, oh and white, vanilla, black and kraft!
Thinking about certainly celery, purely pomegranate, pale plum and pumpkin pie will make her hungry so she’ll go to the kitchen for a snack. While munching on cookies she’ll realize she needs ideas of what to do with the stamp. She’ll go to her computer and google rubber stamping.
She’ll find a site called Splitcoaststampers. Wow!! So many techniques and ideas and a gallery that never ends. She’ll spend hours gazing at beautiful cards and projects. Her eyes will become dry from staring at the computer screen. She’ll go to the bathroom for some eye drops.
On the way, she’ll pass her family sitting at the kitchen table waiting for dinner. She’ll quickly heat up some leftovers and try to pretend she hadn’t forgotten. While talking about the days events, her son will bring out the school pictures he had gotten that day.
That will remind her she wanted a digital camera to take pictures of her cards so she can start her own SCS gallery. She’ll convince hubby of all the reasons the “family” needs a new camera. He will finally agree and she’ll head to the store to buy one.
On her way home she’ll pass by Joanns and remember she needs an Ott-Lite to go with the camera she just bought. While shopping for a light she’ll see aisles of paper, punches, embellishments and ribbon. She’ll pick out a cart full of items but realize they don’t carry THE punch she saw used on a card she saved to her favorites. She’ll return home and go back to Splitcoaststampers to find out where to get THE punch.
Her search will lead her to someone’s blog where she’ll see a Starbucks bottle made into a cute candy container. That will remind her she has some bottles in the recycling bin so she’ll go to the garage to rescue them from the trash.
While in the garage she’ll see her son’s bike which will remind her she needs to buy a new helmet for his birthday. Thinking about birthdays will remind her she wanted to bake some cupcakes for him to take to school.
As she walks to the kitchen she’ll pass by the table and see the stamp. The stamp will remind her that she wanted to make a card and she’ll probably want some…

Well here it is, my finished wallet photo album . It was the second challenge from our group at the Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers 7 The original challenge can be found on Splitcoast.
I decided to make the album for my daughter who is back at school. I have a gazillion pictures of her dog so that was an easy choice to use the pup. "Our" dog's name is Liyah and she is a Jackapoo. What is a Jackapoo, you ask. It's a mix of a jack Russell terrier and a poodle. We used to live in NH and Liyah loved to run and play in the snow. She would always chase snowballs and bury
her head in the snow. The first picture is her with her face covered in snow. Next, she's all snuggly with a blanket and pillow. Ciara often calls her Wubby and they snuggle together quite often.
Now that we are in Florida, Liyah gets to go swimming in the pool. Whenever her little heart, or mine, desires. The last picture is a classic Liyah look. Once I adheared all the pictures, then the fun began with decorating. I used little paper flowers with rhinestones in the middle.
I think Ciara is going to love this little album.

Happy weekend all. Here is a picture of my newly blinged phone. Ciara (DD) hasn't finished hers plus she has gone back to school, so no pictures of her phone.
As you can see I used pink rhinestones embedded with crystal laquer. Once that was dry I put more CL in the spaces between the stones and sprinkled microbeads onto the phone. And there you have it. Ciara is using Modge Podge on her phone. So it is going to look quite different than mine.
I haven't made any cards in 3 days! Gosh, have I lost my mojo?? Actually I recieved quite a few Bellas in the mail and have been working on organizing them. And at the same time my hubby is changing out my computer for his old one, which is better than the one I have been using.
I want to thank Dawn Marie for sending me a fabulous package.
ThAnk YOu DawN MaRie!!

Here's another card we made at the Stampin Up! party. The colors are beautiful. When I got home I had to give it some bling! I also recolored the flower to make it stand out a bit more.
Last night my daughter decided we needed to put some decorations on our cell phones. She used modpodge to adhere papers and sayings. I stayed safe and used rhinestones. Once she wakes up, I'll take some pictures to share.

I went to my first Stampin Up! party last night. There were eight of us and we got to make three different cards. I love the color combination we used on this one. And check out those cute gingham ribbons.

Another lovely Bella. I made this cutie as a thank you note to Wanda, who's website I am in charge of. Anyone looking to purchase a home in New Hampshire? Here's the place to look.
I love this clickabella, she is so me!

My blogging sister, Dawn Marie, nominated me for this You Make My Day award, isn't that nice? Well Dawn thanks so much for the award it was sweet of you to think of me. Now I'm supposed to nominate 10 other bloggers, wow 10! So many bloggers have already been nominated for this award so if I happen to nominate you and if this is not your first time consider yourself really loved!

So a big thank you goes out to Ms Dawn Marie for making me smile, today!
I pick:
Tina
Andrea
Caz
Chaz x
Mealya
Jennifer
Wendy
Ellie
Vivian
and back at you Dawn Marie!

Who needs a Bella fix? Here ya go! I had some fun paper but I thought the print was too big, so I scanned it then used Photoshop to shrink it down a bit. Added a few layers then Miss Bella and Retail Therapy. Who doesn't love a little Retail Therapy now and then. And ribbon and glitter were added last. I hope you can see the glitter because it ads a lot to the card.
I've had a busy weekend. My sister came for a short visit. My son is also here for the weekend. Then my daughter is coming home today. Hubby and I switched desks so now I can swivel my chair from computer to craft table. And the printer is also in an easy reach. I just need someone to bring me food and I am all set.

It's Bella time again. :-) This one I used PS to give her a new dress, put a smile on the puppy's face and shrunk down the background paper that I had. The argyle print was way too big for the card. I shrunk it down even further to create her spiffy new dress. Please click on the picture so you can see the card better. I am proud of this one and will have to make some more of them to pass around.
Enjoy your day
Time for me to clean up the mess I always make when I am creating.

Tag I'm It....
I was tagged by Annie this morning. So here are 7 things about me that you may not know.

1. I was born in Germany. Made there too...I should get that tattooed somewhere.
2. I hate that we have to eat to stay alive. I wish we could just take a 'chewable' pill once a day.
3. I can't swallow pills, I have to chew em up.
4. I love the summer time when I can crawl out of bed and go right into the pool with my nightie on.
5. I don't like to have projects hanging over my head, I have to finish things, like yesterday.
   
6. I am addicted to almond M&Ms. I'll make a special trip to the grocery store just to get some.
   
7. I don't like clutter...everything has a place ya know.
   
8. and one for luck I am very organized, because I have no clutter...see how that works

Here's my seven I've tagged: Sharon, Ellie, Tammy, Vivian, Emily, Chrissy, Kim
It was hard to narrow it down to seven though because there are several blogs that I visit and love!

I forced myself to stay away from Bella today and this is what I came up with. I wish I had the right size punches for the circles, but I don't think they came out to bad cutting by hand. The Fleur de lis is a stamp from Michael's dollar bin from last summer and this is the first time I use it. I guess I'll keep it. It certainly doesn't take up much room. The sentiment is from Hero and the ribbon from Arctic Antics, another Michael's dollar find.

Another Bella card to add to my collection. She is so much fun to create with. I only have the two Bellas, puppybella and flowahbella, but expect to be getting quite a few more through my trades at the new yahoo site I belong to called bellaholicsanoymous. And now I have another addiction over on Splitcoast. They have a crazy group that swap images with each other. It's call PIF images Stamped images are swapped in a game like setting. And while that is going on so are conversations. I warn you ~ it's hard to walk away from the computer once these ladies have sucked you in.

I've been negligent in posting as well as creating. So here is a Bella to tide you over. The rhinestones don't show well on the scan, but quite nice on the card.
Yesterday, hubby, Mom, Dad and I went to see Chubby Checker at Cyprus Gardens. What fun! I wasn't too sure that I would enjoy it, since it's a little bit before my time. But everyone knows oldies! He put on a great show by getting the audience to sing parts of his songs. He also came into the audience and lots of women got to give him a hug. Later on he had people come on stage with him to dance. Hubby was one of the wild twisting men up on stage.

Another card finished. I strung seed beads on wire and created these flowers. I think they came out rather cute.

I look like I am in a pink mood. Here are two cards that I completed today. Miss FlowaBella holding her bouquet of planted flowers. And the second, a cuddly robe that I added flocking to make it even more cozy.