Stamping Creations by Nicky

Happy Tuesday

2011-12-13T01:02:00.002-05:00

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a great weekend. I am so happy to have a new laptop. My old one stopped working after only four years. I guess nothing is made to last forever. Now that I have my new computer, I can finally post again. Can you imagine being without a computer for nearly a month?

The card I am posting is another image by Dreamerland crafts sold exclusively at http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/, and it is called Guitar Boy #1109014. I love this image. It is so difficult to find stamps that are geared for boys or men, and this one is so cute and is so quick and easy to colour. I used Prismacolour pencils and odourless mineral spirits to colour, and an embossing folder for the background. I love combining Kraft, baby blue and brown together and I use this combination very often. I put the buttons (die from Papertrey Ink) on at the last minute, but I'm not sure that I'm happy with the way it looks. I didn't really have another embellishment, and since I love the button die, I decided to use it. Even though it is a masculine card, I added a bit of glitter to make it "pop" and I am very happy with how it turned out.

I hope you like the card and thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

New Stamp Line

2011-10-28T20:09:00.008-04:00

Hi Bloggers,

It's unreal how fast time flies when you are having fun. Summer just flew by, and, can you believe that Christmas is just two months away?

I have been very busy demonstrating and doing make-'n-takes at Scrapfest in Oshawa two weeks ago, and last week, I helped to both teach and demo at the Creative Festival. I've also been designing my Christmas Magical Card class, Christmas Tag class and I'm almost finished designing my Sparkling Christmas Card class. This has kept me so busy.

I am so excited to share with you, that, the owner of Pointer Scrapbooking, Simon, surprised us with an adorable line of new stamps called Dreamerland Crafts. He collaborated with an amazing illustrator and kept it very hush, hush, even from us teachers. I only got to see the entire line the night before Scrapfest, and, of course I had to run home and make a few cards with these sweet little characters. The stamps are deeply etched and are so easy to stamp with, and they have just enough space to colour. They are machine-cut and are mounted on cling. The indexing is also amazing, as they are coloured. So, if you are colour challenged, just look at the indexing, and you will have a great example of how to colour the image. Can't you tell how excited I am about these stamps.

The store also now carries Odorless Mineral Spirits, a beautiful selection of Prisma Colour pencils, paper stomps and the hand-held sand paper to keep the stomps sharp. I am presently working on a class, teaching you all about colouring and shading using these pencils and mineral spirits.

Here is one of the cards I designed using these adorable stamp named Tender Care. I have used this layout before, but I thought it suited the image. I added a bit of glitter, some ribbon and the two pearls. I had so much fun colouring her. She reminded me of one of my grand-daughters.

If you live in the Toronto area, come into the store and see all fourty-five images. If you can't come in, you can shop online, and Simon and Heidi will be happy to ship your order to you. The website is: http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/

Telephone: 905-940-8900

I am also posting the index, so you could see how fabulous it is.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the stamp.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

It's a girl!!! I am back from CHA

2011-08-02T20:55:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

It's another girl, and we are thrilled. She weighed 8 pounds 4 oz. and is absolutely gorgeous. All are doing really well and I am beyond thrilled to have my three little grand-daughters. Her name is Nora Taylor. Don't you just love that name. My daughter-in-law is amazing. She is already wearing her regular clothes; teeny tiny, you would never believe that she just gave birth a week ago.

I would like to thank all of you who emailed me privately asking if the baby was born yet.

I got back from CHA last Friday, exhausted, but had a great time. It was delightful to see old friends and meet some new ones. I was so worried the whole time that my daughter-in-law would give birth, and that I wouldn't be there, but she kept to her word that she would wait for me to get back. She gave birth right on her due date July 24th , two days after I got back. Is she the best or what?

The trends, at CHA, still seem to be lots and lots of flowers in all shapes and sizes. Kraft paper is huge, birds and bird cages are still strong and lots of beautiful patterned papers. My favourite booths were Penny Black, Hero Arts, La Blanche, Rangers, Prima's , and My Favourite Things. We bought merchandise from all of them and hopefully they will be at the store really soon . So check out http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/ to find out when the goodies starts to come in.

It was soooo hot and humid the whole week that we were there, and my hair, well let's just say I had very bad hair days, but I will still post some of the pictures I took. Don't laugh when you see how horrible I look in these pictures.

This was Cheryl's first CHA and I just had to take a picture of her when she first stepped into the convention. The look on her face is priceless, and shows you how excited she was.

The next picture is of Kim owner of My favourite Things and Jodi Morrow one of her very talented Design Team members.

The next one is Jacqueline of La Blanche, an amazing artist and owner of the company. I just loved her and must have spent at least five hours just watching her colour. We became friendly and she gave me one of her fabulous books that she published.

I would like to thank Heidi and Simon for inviting me to join them and allowing me to order all of the stamps I wanted to teach with. We really had a great time. we laughed a lot, worked hard and ordered tons of goodies.

I will post more pictures later on.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

CHA bound

2011-07-15T22:08:00.003-04:00

Hi Guys,

Hope you are all enjoying this hot sticky weather. The month of June flew by and it being my birthday month, I was wined, dined, lunched and brunched all month. There are ten of us that celebrate our birthdays in June, and we had a blast.

I am so excited that Heidi and Simon invited all the Pointer teachers to join them at the summer CHA show in Chicago, and we are all able to make it. It should be so much fun. We are leaving on Sunday and returning home on Friday. I hope to come home inspired and full of new ideas.

Simon (Pointers store owner) is making his own line of stamps that are absolutely gorgeous. You can purchase them either wood-mounted or unmounted with cling. They are so deeply etched that your image comes out very crisp and clear. I just love them. So I thought that I would use one of the stamp images to make this card. If you are in the Toronto area, come into the store and check them out, and while you are there check out my sample cards for the next class.

I used Black Onyx Versa Fine ink. I stamped onto craft card stock and then layered it onto embossed layer. I used glitter to frame the layer, and in the center of each flower. I outlined each flower with white Prisma coloured pencil to pop the image t hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me know you were here by leaving a comment.

Hugs,

Nicky

3rd Bloggaversary

2011-05-26T23:29:00.006-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe that it's been three years since I started Blogging. Although I don't Blog as often as I would like to, I am still having so much fun sharing ideas, meeting great people, and being inspired by all of you. I can't thank you guys enough for all of your support and loyalty for the last three years.

Recently, I have been teaching a class in water colouring with my Distress Inks, and I wanted to use these inks in a different way. So, I took out my sponges, and sponged Broken China, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap onto white card stock. I misted the card and got these great water marks all over the card to give it some texture. I then stamped the Hero Arts Envelope pattern in the frayed burlap, and sponged it to distress the edges, added some glitter and a sentiment to finish the card. I am very happy with how the card turned out, but I am not quite sure that all the details will show up on screen.

I used a La Blanc stamp and Hero Arts Envelope pattern .

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Your comments mean a lot to me.

Thanks,

Nicky

Happy Monday

2011-05-16T00:08:00.004-04:00

Hi Guys,

I know! I know! I keep promising that I will get better about posting, and I will. It has been a very busy month and a half, and finally, things have quieted down enough so that I could post.

I wanted to share this card with you that I designed for my current class. I used one of my favourite techniques, and then used masking tape and Pebble chalk to colour it. I glittered the edges of the image and embossed the background. I used a McGill punch for the label with the sentiment, and then adhered it all together.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

You're a Great Friend

2011-03-28T23:11:00.005-04:00

Well , I think it's about time that I Blogged, don't you. The last month has been so busy. I've been to Florida with my fabulous daughter and we had a blast. I'm working on my upcoming water colour class with Distressed Inks and Tombow markers. In addition to my favourite pastime, spending as much time with my adorable two granddaughters, soon to be three.

I would like to share a card with you that I designed for my "Black and White with a Splash of Colour" class. I started by creating a template so that I could trace the black line. I cut the rectangle with my Fiskars cutter. I didn't use my Nestabilities as a template 'cause I didn't have the right size. I used an embossing folder for the dots and a Hero Arts sentiment and flowers. I punched the vase (punch bunch), and used Marvy markers to colour the flowers. I then put a bit of glitter on the flowers. Lastly, I attached a turquoise bow on the vase and a bit of chalk on the words.

I hope you like the card and I have a few more to share with you, so stay tuned and I will post again in a few days.

Hope you have a great week.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Nicky

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2011-02-14T16:23:00.007-05:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all showered with lots of love, chocolate and stamping goodies. I bet you are shocked that I am actually blogging, but the last month has been absolutely crazy, what with designing, stamping, cutting and making kits for my classes. Now that I am caught up, I will have more time to catch up with you and blog more often.

What have you guys been up to? How did you celebrate Valentine's Day? I would love to hear from you.

Today, I would like to share a card I made for one of my classes. You could easily change the flower with a heart, and make it as an anniversary card or for Valentine's day. I needed a birthday card, so I stamped the birthday sentiment .

For the card, I used a new Hero Arts background stamp and a PaperTrey Ink polka dot stamp on the strip of red card stock. I have so much ribbon, but I never seem to have the right shade to match, so I cheat and use a strip of card stock and then stamp on it so it looks just like ribbon. A perfect match every time. Does that ever happen to you? The Sentiment is also by Hero Arts. I used Prismatics card stock, Versa Fine black ink and lots of glitter.

To those of you that kept on emailing me with the "knock, knock", it worked 'cause here I am posting. Thanks for not giving up on me. I really will try to be better at posting.

Have a great day.

Nicky

Happy New Year !

2011-01-02T23:29:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope this year brings, all of you, lots of love, health and lots of time to stamp. This is going to be a fabulous year for my family, as I found out that we are going to be grandparents for the third time. My son and daughter-in-law are expecting their third child in July, and I can hardly wait.

One of my New Year resolutions is to post more often and to join some of the sketch challenges. If you have a chance, please let me know if you made any stamping related resolutions.

I have been working with the QuicKutz Fashion Doll die set for the last two months designing a whole wardrobe for these dolls, and I have to tell you that I have been having a blast. It brings back memories of my childhood when I used to play with my paper dolls, designing, cutting, gluing and embellishing them. They make great all-occasion cards and I have been making sets and putting them in clear boxes, and then giving them as gifts to some of my friends. So far everyone has loved them. I have actually been commissioned to make ten sets for a good friend of mine, so that she could give them to her friends for their birthdays.

I am sharing just two of the twenty cards that I designed, with you. I also designed some extra outfits which do not come with the die. I glittered the pink patterned paper and it turned out great. I don't know whether or not you can see it on the screen. I have to warn you that this die set is very addictive and so much fun. This is a great way to use up all of your scraps of patterned paper.

I showed them to some of my students and they insisted that I teach a class, which I am going to do on January 5 and 19. So if you are in the Toronto area come and join us at Pointers (http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/). I would love to see you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

P.S. The QuicKutz Fashion Doll die set can be purchased at Pointers.

Season's Greetings

2010-12-23T22:48:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope by now all of you are finished shopping, wrapping, baking and cooking. I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a Happy, Healthy, New Year.

I want to share one more Christmas card I made and I sure hope you can see all of the glitter that I used. It made the silver ink look darker, and, so when you look at the card, it looks like I shaded the image with two shades of silver ink.

The images are from Hero Arts,.I used Encore silver ink and Glamour Dust glitter.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Hugs,

Nicky

Holiday Tags

2010-12-07T19:49:00.004-05:00

Brrrrr!!!! It is freezing here in Ontario. There is nothing more beautiful than being inside, sitting beside a roaring fire, drinking a cup of Earl Gray tea and watching these fluffy large snow flakes falling down. Then, reality hits when I have to go out and shovel that fluffy snow (yuck).

The last two months just flew by and I can hardly believe that Christmas is just a couple of weeks away. I finally broke down and bought a Cricut machine, and, I am having so much fun playing with it. I also got the Sure-Cuts-Alot which allows me to download any font from my computer.

I have also been designing cards with the QuicKutz Fashion Dolls and having a blast doing it. I will be teaching a class with them in January. As soon as my samples are ready I will post some of the cards to show you.

Today I am going to share two tags that were a part of my twelve tag class. When I saw the music note patterned paper from Teresa Collins, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, and I was so happy it turned out as I imagined. I used distressed ink around the edges and stamped my sentiment. Then I added the scallop border and green ribbon to finish off the tag.

The next tag features a Penny Black stamp, white Versa Magic ink pad and lots of glitter. I stamped the first tree and then masked it . I then lowered the tree a bit and stamped it so that the trees look like one is in front of the other. These two tags are quick and fairly easy to make.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

happy monday

2010-11-14T21:57:00.004-05:00

Can you believe it's the middle of November already??? Where has October gone ? I have been so busy between preparing for Scrapfest, doing demos and 'Make and Takes" during Scrapfest, teaching Christmas card and tag classes, in addition to lots of baby sitting my two gorgeous grand-daughters, time just flew by. Sorry for not posting sooner. I would like to thank those of you that emailed me personally to see if I am okay and to remind me that I haven't posted in a bit. I really appreciate it and will post more often.

Here is a card from my Christmas card class I would like to share with you. The stamp is from Stampendous , glitter is Glamour dust, the tape I used is Swookwang, and I used a Cuttlebug Swiss dots for the background.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I would love to hear from you .

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Sunday

2010-09-26T19:41:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend. I had my 2 grand-daughters for a sleepover, and we had a blast. We stamped, coloured, designed clothes for the paper doll I bought them, read stories, made up some other stories and just had the best time ever. I love spending time with them.

Here is a card that I designed a few months ago and I thought I would share it with you. I had decided to use some of the G Studio $1.50 stamps which I have so many of . I needed to make a bunch of Birthday cards in a hurry and wanted to design a card that just took a few minutes to put together, and, this is what I came up with . I was so happy with it, and in less than an hour I made ten of these cards to send out.

I used one of my favourite background polka dot stamps from PaperTrey Ink stamps and my favourite scallop punch from EK Success to enhance the card. And, of course I used some Glamour Dust glitter to finish the card. Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Hugs,

Nicky

Enjoy

2010-09-06T15:03:00.003-04:00

Happy Labour Day! The weather here in Toronto is cool and wet, perfect weather to stay home and stamp.

I wanted to share a card I made for my Beautiful Blooms class that I had so much fun designing. I wish I can take credit for the technique I used, but I can't, it was Tim Holts that came up with it, and I love it. I chose cloud blue, willow & seashell pink alcohol inks, and with the air can, began to aim and press the trigger. I instantly loved the results and decided to pick up Penny Blacks solid image to stamp with Versa Fine Onyx Black (my favourite black ink pad). For the background, I chose Paper Trey Ink script and aligned it three times (very easy to align) to fill up my blue layer. I used a large Fiskars corner rounder and ribbon for extra interest, and to finish the card, I used a bold Hero Arts sentiment and blue baubles to balance out the card.

I don't know how well the colours will show up on the screen, but it is a very pretty and colourful card, and what I love about this technique is that each time you do it, you will get a different result.

Christine and Susan , it was so much fun spending time with you, we have to do it more often.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Tuesday

2010-08-16T22:54:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone is having a great summer. Can you believe it's the middle of August already? The days are sure flying by, and I can't believe that I haven't blogged since July (oopps). I have been so busy designing cards for my upcoming classes, enjoying my two gorgeous grand-daughters, and the outdoors.

Even though I said that I would never renovate again, I decided to redo my computer room into a guest room/office. So I went ahead and had my wonderful husband pull up the carpet, and then we put wood floors. I bought a couch that opens into a double bed, a new computer table with two shelves and my hubby painted the room a very pale blue. He did a great job, and we are just about finished. I need some art work on the walls, and plan on painting a couple of them myself. If they turn out, I will post them on the blog.

I want to share this card with you . I started with Bazzil metallic purple card stock and punched a 2" circle out of it. I stamped the cluster of flowers (Imagenese) with Versafine onyx ink pad (my favourite black) and coloured with odorless mineral spirits and Prismacolour pencils. I used fine glitter around the flowers, and, for the background I used a new line of stamps made by Simon and Heidi which you can order at http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/.

He is designing gorgeous stamps, especially his background stamps, which I love. They are great quality and so easy to stamp with. I used Versamagic white ink and the plaid background stamp.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

Wish Big

2010-07-19T21:13:00.005-04:00

Hi Guys,

I hope you are all relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. I have been very busy designing cards for my August classes, and wanted to share one of them with you. I first used this technique about eight years ago, and decided to try it again with this Hero Arts Butterfly.

I love this image 'cause it has just the right amount of space to colour. I used my Dove Blender with Lyra watercolour crayons to colour and shade. I don't know how well the shading will show up on the butterfly, but I am happy with how it turned out. I used blue chalk with a cotton ball, and applied shading around the images. The background image is also by Hero Arts, and I randomly stamped the circle in Memories baby blue. I then added green rhinestones to the heads of the butterflies for a little shimmer.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Monday

2010-07-05T16:45:00.002-04:00

Hi guys,

Hope you are all keeping cool on this very hot and sticky day. I can't believe that it is July already. I had such a long list of things I wanted to do this summer, and I feel like summer is just whizzing by.

I wanted to apologize to the wonderful ladies that came to my Birthday Party at http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/ for not putting up their pictures and the rest of my birthday cards. I forgot to bring my camera, and, Heidi (owner of pointers) took all of the pictures and sent them to me, and for whatever reason, we just couldn't download it. however, the pictures are on Pointers website. Thanks so much for your support and good wishes.

On the today's card, I decided to revisit one of my layouts that I did last year by punching out this gorgeous BoBunny patterned paper with EK success circle punches and Gina K "Friends Are Forever" stamp set which I love. http://www.ginakdesigns.com/

I stamped the flower with black Memento ink and then stamped the heads of the flowers again, cut them and then layered them onto the card. I coloured the flower with Prismacolour pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I used green rhinestones in the flower and pink rhinestones on the side. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I don't know how well the rich colours of the paper and my colouring will show on screen, but the colour is a rich plum, pink and green, and ,I coloured the flower with plum and pink.

Hope you like my card and thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Hugs,

Nicky

Birthday Bash

2010-06-24T21:41:00.007-04:00

Hi Guys,

I hope you've all been enjoying your week so far. My week just flew by and was so hectic with getting together with friends to stamp, designing cards for up-coming classes and teaching.

I wanted to share with you pictures of the Birthday Party that the owners of the store where I teach, Heidi & Simon, threw for me. Check out their website for more pictures http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/ .

I really want to thank Heidi and Simon for inviting me to teach at their store and for their kindness and generosity. Heidi really out-did herself, and, made me the most gorgeous autograph book and she got all the 28 people that came for the whole day, and other friends that dropped by but couldn't stay, to sign the book. We had a great lunch (pizza, sushi, wings) and Heidi even made loot bags and gave them out to everyone whom attended. There were specials and make 'n takes, and everyone had a great time. This meant so much to me. I am so grateful to have been able to spend the day with everyone.

These women are so talented and so wonderful that I will share with you some of the cards I received. Thanks so much ladies for the beautiful cards, flowers, gourmet cookies, home-made biscotties, gift certificates, a fabulous stamped pad. Your generosity and friendship means the world to me.

Here are the pictures, in no particular order, of the most wonderful friends ever. Enjoy!

Have a special day

2010-06-15T00:05:00.003-04:00

Hi Guys,

I hope you all had a great weekend and had lots of time to stamp. My weekend flew by between teaching on Saturday, and, Sunday was spent with my kids and grand-daughters. We had a blast.

There have been such fabulous challenges and sketches in blogland lately. I fell in love with this one sketch by Mercy, and I was so inspired by a card my friend Irene made, that I just had to try it out and see what I could come up with. This is the card I am posting . What do you think ?

I used a Hero Arts thistle stamp and coloured it with a Dove Blender and metalic Pebbles chalk. I also glittered it with glamour dust. The polka dot image is by Great Impression and I used soft baby blue by Memories. I wanted a very soft and subtle look on the kraft card stock.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

The winner is.......

2010-06-01T23:51:00.002-04:00

Thanks so much to those that left me a comment sharing your favourite colour combos and favourite techniques. I had my husband pick a name out of a hat and he picked......... Nancy.

Congratulations Nancy ! Please email me and give me your address.

I have been busy working on cards for an up coming class and I will post one tomorrow. Hope you all have a great night.

Hugs
Nicky

2 year Bloggaversary & Blog candy

2010-05-28T17:56:00.006-04:00

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone is well and enjoying our beautiful hot weather. I am so excited and thrilled to tell you that I am the Guest Artist for the June issue of Take Ten Magazine. This is the best Birthday gift I could have received ever (june 2). Can I tell you how excited I am? If anyone wants any of the images that I used on the cards, they are all by Stamping Bella. For some reason, it wasn't mentioned in the magazine.

I am also celebrating my second year Blogg-aversary (where has time gone), sooooo, I am in a mood to give someone some blog candy. All you have to do to win, is to leave me a comment telling me what is your favourite colour combo, and, what is your favourite technique. You won't regret it. I will pick a winner and post it on Tuesday.

I also wanted to share this card with you. I used both an embossing folder and EK success border punch. The stamp from Penny Black was coloured with Tombow markers and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. Ribbon is May Arts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

2010-05-02T20:55:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed a fabulous weekend and had lots of time to stamp. My weekend flew by, spending time with my two beautiful grand-daughters, my kids and designing these boxes.

I wanted to design boxes that fit my A2 and my 5 x 5 square cards, and after ruining ten sheets of card stock, I finally figured out how to make these boxes which fit my cards perfectly. I decided to teach this box class for the month of May along with five cards and matching envelopes . It's a perfect gift for any occasion and is so easy to make. I had so much fun making these sets, that I couldn't stop making them. If you are in the Toronto area, come and join us at Pointers Scrapbooking store http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/ for this fun filled class.

I fell in love with Basic Grey Kioshi paper, Graphic 45 and Fancy Pants paper. Aren't they gorgeous. I also used EKsuccess border punches, Maya Roads satin ribbon and Jollee's rhinestones.

The cards are packed away for my class but I will post them in a few weeks. 'till then I hope you enjoy the boxes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

TGIF

2010-04-23T20:48:00.003-04:00

Hi Guys,

Scrapfest was a HUGE success for everyone. Our booth at Pointers Gift and Crafts (http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/ was so busy the whole time, that you could hardly fit into our booth. If you want to see some of the pictures, go to Pointers website and you will be able to see them. It was great to see so many familiar faces and really nice to meet new ones. Especially those that insisted on having pictures taken with me (wink, Trish Hill and friend).

The card I am posting today features a Hero Arts stamp. I used a new Martha Stewart Punch for the border, and stamped a checkered image on the purple card stock with Versa Mark, but I am not sure if it will show up very well. I wanted a very subtle background and I was hoping it would show up on the computer. I coloured the roses with Prisma colour pencils and odorless mineral spirits. For an embellishment, I used three purple baubles to finish off the card.

Hope you enjoy the card and thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Nicky

Faux tearing

2010-04-10T22:23:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all enjoyed celebrating Passover and Easter with family and friends . I know it has been awhile since I blogged and I apologize for that, but I have been so busy designing new classes, preparing both samples and Make and Takes which I will be doing for Pointers Gift and Crafts at Scrapfest in Kitchner next week. If you are going to attend, please come and say "Hi", watch the demos, and make the fabulous Make and Takes with us. We are going to be in booth 630, and I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

I decided to incorporate some old techniques and change them up a bit for some of my classes, (I am now teaching at Pointers Gifts and Crafts http://www.pointerscrapbooing.com/). Here is one of the cards I made using distress inks. Did you guys see the 12 new colours? Of course, I had to buy them all, the colours are gorgeous, and I plan on using them often.

I used Hero Arts leaf stamp, Rangers Distress Inks Broken China and Shabby Shutters, Sizzix embossing folder, and torn masking tape to create this card. Let me know what you think. I am working on a few other cards which I will post in a few days, so stay tuned.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Hugs,

Nicky

I'm baack!!!!!

2010-02-16T19:37:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone,

Firstly,I would like to thank all of you that have emailed me privately to see how my husband is doing after having both his knees replaced and also,how I was doing after fighting the flu for the last 5 months. I am thrilled to say that my hubby is home and doing really well, He is walking around with the aid of one cane and getting stronger every day. I'm finally starting to feel like my old self again. And, let's not forget the renovations from Hell that were supposed to last 3 weeks and lasted 4 months instead. They are finally finished except for finding a vanity and sink for my powder room. I have been trying to unpack and organize my house, on top of trying to take care of my husband and myself. Things have been very crazy hectic around here.

It is so much fun to unpack my crafts and organize them, although it's a lot of work. Every time I open up a box, I get so excited about the stuff in it. I purged a lot of paper, wool, old stamps that I donated to friends and a school. There is no way I could have kept all of the things I have accumulated over the years, and I feel so good that my things were so appreciated.

I know that I am late, but I hope that everyone had fun on Valentine's Day. Since I haven't unpacked my colouring mediums yet, I decided to make a card with the supplies I had on hand.

Can you believe that I actually designed a card without either colouring or glitter .....

To make the card, I used an embossing plate to emboss the red heart, and to cut the heart I used a Quickutz cookie cutter. The white ploka dot heart was cut with a Marvy punch and stamped with Penny Black polka dot border stamp. The large scallop was done with EK success border punch and the bauble was from Stamping Bella.

Let me know what you think about the card, and I will post more often as I unpack my stamping supplies and start stamping again.

It feels so great to be posting again.

Huge Hugs

Nicky

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2009-12-24T13:06:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I want to thank you so much for being so patient with me while the renovations are going on at my house and all of my stamping stuff is still packed away, and I haven't been able to design any cards to put on my blog. Hopefully, one more week, and I sure hope it will all be over.

I would like to wish all of you a very safe, healthy and wonderful Holiday Season and hope that you spend lots of time with your family and friends.

I would like to share with you this card that I taught in my Christmas card class. You can't really see all of the glitter on the dots on the tree which make it so pretty and sparkly. I decided to make this one monochromatic and was lucky enough to find the ribbon, card stock and ink that matched perfectly. I know that most people need to make lots of cards so I wanted this card to be quick and easy to replicate. Hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the weekend. Let me know what kind of gifts you got.

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Monday

2009-11-30T21:00:00.006-05:00

Hi Everyone,

My renovations are still ongoing and should be over by the end of this week. So many of you emailed me to ask why I wasn't posting cards on my blog, and the reason is that all of my stamping stuff is packed in boxes 'till my renos are done. I am so looking forward to unpacking and organizing everything again.

I took a few days and went to Montreal to visit my family and friends and help Sherrie Seimens with the Copic class she was teaching after her Certification class. My BFF Tema and I really enjoyed spending time with Sherrie and getting to know her better. She is an amazing teacher, so talented and creative and so down to earth. We had a blast.

We took some pictures at these classes. The first picture is of Sherrie, Tema (sitting) Natalie (the store owner) and me. The second is with some of the ladies that took one of the classes.

I am hoping to be back in a few days with some cards for you.

Have a great week,

Nicky

Magnolia

2009-10-29T22:04:00.005-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I know it has been awhile since I have posted, but have been really sick with a horrible virus that the Doctor thinks was the H1N1 virus. It came suddenly and hit me really hard in my chest, ears, & sinuses. It is almost 4 weeks and I am still not feeling great, but am starting to feel a bit better. During this time my hubby had surgery and thank goodness is recovering very well, and, if that wasn't enough, the renovations on my house started last week.

I must have my whole main floor of my house totally packed by Monday 'cause they are going to start installing my hardwood floors. That means all of my stamps and stuff will have to be packed and put in the basement. What a job! But I am sure it will all be worth it in the end. I can hardly wait to see the results.

I made the card I am posting awhile ago, and thought that I would share it with you. I stamped the image with Memento black ink and used mineral spirits and Lyra and Prisma colour pencils to colour. I stamped the bow on her head twice and cut one out and popped it up. I also used the Stampin Up slot punch and the oval Nestabillities and the Cuttlebug circle embossing folder. I glittered the Lilacs and used the blue baubles for the embellishment.

Thanks so much for visiting my Blog.

I would love to hear from you.

Hugs,

Nicky

Let's Celebrate

2009-09-27T23:04:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a great week. I told you I would try to post more often, and here I am. I made a few cards, and I wanted to share one of them with you.

Most of you know how much I enjoy collecting stamps of polka dots, circles, & cupcakes. I really liked the cupcake image from this set from Gina K designs called Sweetest Blessings, which is a perfect set for celebrations. The stamps are so deeply etched and very easy to colour.

I coloured the cupcake with Prisma coloured pencils and odorless mineral spirits and used glitter and Glossy Accents on the cherry. I don't know if you will be able to see it on the screen. I also used the circle embossing folder and the Fiskars border punch. The sentiment is from

My Stamp Box.

I am making this post short and sweet as I still have to design a few more cards for my upcoming class then have to cut and package them, it's a lot of work but I love it. I will post another card in a few days so stop by.

Thanks so much for coming to visit

Hugs

Nicky

Friend

2009-09-18T23:45:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

It has been such a crazy busy month with lots of babysitting my adorable grand-daughters, visitors from out of town, getting ready for my classes and teaching, and shopping, shopping, shopping, that it left me very little time to post. I apologize for that. I just don't know how you all find the time to post everyday. I am going to try harder to post at least a couple of times a week.

I received my Gina K stamps and I knew that I would love stamping with them. The stamps are so deeply etched and they give a beautiful imprint . I chose this orchid stamp from Asela Hopkins "Botanical Dreams". It is a gorgeous set, I love it. Gina's stamps are open lined and are perfect for colouring.

For this card I used a border punch for the brown layer and Prisma and Lyra pencils with odorless mineral spirits to colour the image. I chalked around the flower and used some glitter. I don't know if the glitter will show on the screen. Hope you like it.

I am sorry I have been MIA and promise to post more often.

Keep in touch , I would love to hear from you.

Hugs

Nicky

Happy Wednesday

2009-08-12T18:36:00.004-04:00

Hi Guys,

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted, sorry... I hope you are all enjoying the summer weather, relaxing, stamping and having fun.

My daughter the Dr., has moved back to Toronto from Windsor and is living with us (love it) for a few months 'till she can find a place to live. I hope she takes her time and stays with us this year and saves her money, so she can buy a condo or town house. I love having her home again, she is so much fun to be with, and she is a great stamper to boot.

I did my first Demo at Pointers Scrapbooking store and want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting me. It was great to see all of you.

I am so excited that my new Copic Markers came last week and my Flourishes stamps came the same day. I really haven't shopped on line much, as I am a feelie touchie kind of person, but Man oh Man is it ever easy and fun to shop on line with just a push of a button. I am hooked (where have I been).

All of my other purchases should be arriving in the next couple of weeks and then there will be no excuses for not posting a few cards a week. I am slowly getting my mojo back, I think.

I redesigned an old card of mine with a Penny Black flower stamp in black Versafine ink, and Chalked around the flower with a cotton ball using blue chalk. I then edged the card stock with a black marker. I used Stampin'Up patterned paper in Baja Breez, and embossed the white card stock with Sizzix dot embossing folder. I also used EK success scallop border punch on the bottom of the black layer. The sentiment is Stampin'Up.

I am off to Montreal for a few days and will be back on Sunday, and hopefully I will have another card for you on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

Happy Thursday

2009-07-23T20:39:00.008-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I am so sorry that I have not posted lately, but I have been under the weather and I am feeling better now. Thanks so much to all of you that cared and worried about me, you will never know how much it meant to me.

I wanted to share a tip with you that I share with my 101 students. When you cut your card stock and patterned paper, don't just cut for one card, since you have everything out, you might as well cut enough to make a few cards. Then when you need a card, all you have to do is piece it together and change the image and sentiment to suit your occasion. It is so much faster to make the card rather then taking everything out and starting all over. I keep these layers and my original sample in a baggie, and keep the baggie in a plastic shoe box.

Here, I made my first card using the MarchingABellas by Stamping Bella. Since I really liked my layout I cut extra layers. I needed a Birthday card for a friend, and all I had to do was find an image that suited the person, (in this case I used Stella Looves Ribbons from Stamping Bella and the sentiment is from Stampin Up), colour it up and piece the card together, easy peezy. Since the cards go to different people they will never know that you used the same layout.

I used clear glaze pen on Stellas scissors, crown, wand and the spine of the books. (I don't know if this is going to show up ). This gives the image dimension and sparkle. I coloured the images with mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils. I also used the Sizzix dot embossing folder on the pink panel.

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Nicky

TGIF

2009-07-04T23:44:00.004-04:00

Can you believe it's Friday!!!! I just can't believe how fast this week flew by. Well, Friday means it's Bellarific Challenge at Stamping Bella. Once again everyone made amazing cards. Linda Heavens came up with this great sketch, and it is unbelievable to see how everyone interprets it.

I decided to use Stella Digs It, and this image comes with a mini as well. I bought new colouring pencils by Brunzel and I love them. They come sharpened already in such a cute box with 4 drawers. I find them more pigmented, and when used with mineral spirits, they don't spread as much as the Lyra's and Prismacolour pencils. You end up getting rich, more opaque colour. I don't know if you can see it but when Paula came to visit us at the store, she introduced us to the clear glaze pen, and man, do I love it. It gives a glossy clear look just like diamond glaze, but is so easy to use in a pen style. Paula also showed me how to add the grass, I am not that good at it, but I will keep on trying. The Paper is from My Minds Eye .

Well, that's it short and sweet.

Thanks for visiting. I would love to hear from you.

Have a great weekend

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Monday

2009-06-29T22:04:00.003-04:00

What an exciting and a whirlwind of a weekend we had at Stamping Bella store. Paula Tracy, Linda Heavens, Pauline, Mary, and friends came to visit us and we had a blast. Paula and Linda were kind enough to demo some of their techniques, and, they actually let me keep their samples. They are all so talented and creative, and, sooooo nice to boot. We also had my good friends Toni S., Marjorea, Carolyn, Christine and Tanya spend the day with us. It was a great day!

The image on this card is called Atty'tude Cupcake Diva and is a part of the new release at

http://www.stampingbella.com/ . I just love her and loved to colour her. I used odorless mineral spirits, Lyra coloured pencils, Bella card stock and C1 Copic marker for the shadow. I cut the cupcakes from the patterned paper, and used them as embellishments. I also used chalk around the image to soften the white card stock, and then glittered around the white layer to frame it.

Since I didn't have enough ribbon I cheated and put a strip of blue card stock to match the ribbon and then tied the faux bow on top of it.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I would love to hear from you.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Birthday Emily

2009-06-24T23:32:00.003-04:00

Emily , hope you have the best Birthday ever!!!!

In honour of Emily's Birthday, Shannan organized a Blog Hop that starts with Emily's Blog. Please join in the fun and hop on over to Shannan's Blog, and check out her amazing card.

For my card, I stamped Amplee'tude and coloured her with Lyra pencils and mineral spirits. I used Bella paper which I think is the best card stock for both mineral spirits and copic markers. I used chalk around the image to give her some depth, and, white pen on the ice cream and shoes to give it some highlight. I drew a black line to ground her. I also embossed the circle and used a border scallop punch on the pink card stock.

This is the first time I didn't use any glitter at all, shocking. LOL

I love pink, green and brown colour combo and hope that you do also.

I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment. Don't forget to hop on over to Shannan's blog. Enjoy.

Hugs

Nicky

Happy Friday

2009-06-13T00:18:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a good week and found some time to stamp. It is Friday already and you know what that means.... Bellarific Friday. The submissions are gorgeous and I hope you go on over to Stamping Bella's Blog and check them out.

This is going to be a short post. I want to thank Jen Delmuro for the great sketch she designed for us. It was a lot of fun and very easy to follow.

To make the card I first started with the Sizzix Embossing folder and embossed the first layer. I then used my oval nestabillities in oval and then stamped Queen Anne Bittybloom. I coloured her with Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I also used the Fiskars border punch and some of the Button's Galore buttons. I glittered the center of each flower.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you like the card.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Nicky

It's my Birthday

2009-06-05T21:34:00.005-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a great week. I know that I had a fabulous week celebrating my birthday which was on Tuesday. One of my best friends; hi Tema, came from Montreal to spend a week with me (not long enough), and we had such a great time. Although we thought that we would have lots of time to stamp, it never happened. On Tuesday, Tema and Emily (owner of Stamping Bella) took me to Buffalo on a shopping spree. We shopped 'till we dropped, and had a fantabulous time.

On Thursday Emily and Ryan ordered Sushi for lunch, and my good friends and lunch bunch group brought me a deeeelicious cake and we spend the afternoon stamping, eating and laughing. This weekend I am going to spend time with my 2 gorgeous grand-daughters and my kids. I was really spoiled with gifts, cards and an yummy Edible basket from my family. These are chocolate covered fruit in a beautiful basket. Like I said, what a fabulous week.

It is also time for the Bellarific Challenge, did you check it out? If not, then go on over and see all the great cards everyone made. If you didn't have the chance to join, make sure to check out the challenge on Monday, and all you have to do is submit it to Emily by Thursday at 5. You might be the lucky winner of Bella Bucks. Try it, you won't regret it.

With all the excitement I totally forgot to make the card for the challenge, soooooo at midnight on Thursday, I sat down, and thanks to Karen Motz, a Bellarific Babe's sketch, I quickly made this card and submitted it. Karen's sketch was very clean and easy to follow, and I did it in exactly 10 minutes. It isn't my best card but I do like the colours I chose. Purple and black make me very happy.

Everything I used on the card is from http://www.stampingbella.com/

I used Quickutz embossing folder to emboss the purple layer for texture and LuLu Ketto for the image. I coloured her with Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I also used glitter on the wings ( don't know if it shows on the screen). The embellishment in the center of the flower is a frosted Bon Bon.

I hope you all enjoy a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you so leave a message.

Hugs,

Nicky

Blog hop

2009-05-30T00:15:00.007-04:00

Well, it's Friday again, and it's Bellarific Friday at Stamping Bella. If you haven't checked out the submissions, you are really missing some fabulous cards. It was so much fun to see my sketch interpreted in so many wonderful ways . Thanks again to Shannan Teubner for doing that for us.

I am participating in the Ketto Blog Hop today, so please hop on over to Shannan's blog to see her Beeutiful card. Don't forget to start the hop with Emily at Stamping Bella. Her card is fabulous. Then hop on over to all of the other designers blogs to see their creations.

For my card I used Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I Cuttlebugged the green strip and layered a thin strip of gray . I then mounted the buttons on as an embellishment. I also used chalk to warm up the white area around Suzette (name of Ketto image).

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great weekend,

Hugs

Nicky

Flutterby Huggabugg

2009-05-22T19:03:00.008-04:00

Hi Guys,

Hope you all had a great week! Mine flew by again, and I can hardly believe that it is already Friday.

I was so flattered to be asked to sketch for the Bellarific Friday Challenge, and those of you that know me, know how computer challenged I am. So, my friend and Bellarific Babe, Shannan Teubner came to my rescue and computer generated a sketch from a card that I made. Thanks ever so much Shannan.

I used Basic Gray Wisteria patterned paper (love this paper), Prism and Bazzill card stock. I stamped Flutterby Huggabugg and paper pieced the little polka dot suit. I coloured the image with Lyra coloured pencils and odorless mineral spirits.

I also embossed with the new Quickutz embossing folder, and I loved the results. These embossing folders are so easy to use. I added glitter to the wings to finish it up.

I hope you like the card. Have a great weekend.

Hugs

Nicky

Happy Friday

2009-05-16T00:03:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone,

Do you believe it is Friday already. Time just seems to be flying by so quickly. Well you know that Friday, my favourite day of the week, is Bellarific challenge at Stamping Bella, and, this time the challenge was to use gold and lots of bling or glitter.

I decided to use the mini Happy Flowers stamp and the Circle Shadow stamp. I coloured the flowers with Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits. On the shadow stamps I used Memento ink in 3 different colours . I punched the 2 fancy squares with McGill punches and the polka dot card stock with the Label die from QuicKutz. I also embossed the purple card stock with QuicKutz embossing folder circles (I think that is the name). I edged the purple card stock with a gold Pilot marker, and heat embossed the sentiment with the new Zing embossing powder. I just love this embossing powder. It is so detailed, and I find it so easy to emboss. The gold BonBonz and purple ribbon finish off the card.

I find myself using dies and punches more and more often. I find that they make card making so much easier and add so much to the finished look of the card.

Don't forget to check out the great cards that everyone made at http://www.stampingbella.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Nicky

Bellarific Birthday Challenge

2009-05-09T22:07:00.004-04:00

I hope you are all enjoying a great weekend. The submissions for the Bellarific Friday Birthday Challenge were so much fun and everyone submitted fabulous cards. Thanks so much Bellarific Babe Dana for the topic . We all need Birthday cards, so go and check out everyone's cards at Stamping Bella's Blog for inspiration. They are all great.

I decided to use BFF-ABUGG 'cause they looked like they were celebrating at a birthday party. I coloured the images with Lyra coloured pencils and odorless mineral spirits, and then layered with Bo Bunny polka dot paper and Prism card stock. I added ribbon, Bon Bonz and glitter to finish the card.

I am making this post short and sweet. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Wednesday

2009-05-05T22:33:00.005-04:00

Hi Guys,

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted, but things have been so busy at the Stamping Bella store with both the free shipping and the launch of the amazing new stamps, that this is the first chance I have had to post.

I hope that you go and check out the new challenge for this week at http://stampingbella.com/blog/. The challenge is Happy Birthday and it was picked by our very own Bellarific Babe Dana. Who knows, but that you might win some Bella Bucks, if you either leave a comment or participate in the challenge.

I decided to re-do one of my cards, which originally was a square card in yellow, pink and blue, to a rectangular card in turquoise, black and kraft card stock. I used Rollanda Ketto and paper pieced both Rollanda's dress and roller blades . I used Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits to colour the rest of the image. The glitter, ribbon and bonbonz finish off the card. I just love this colour combo. What do you think ?

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you, so leave a comment.

Hugs,

Nicky

Pink & Brown Challenge

2009-04-24T19:27:00.005-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Can you believe it's already Friday !!!! This week just flew by and it is Bellarific Friday Challenge time again. So go and check out the gorgeous cards made by the Bellarific Babes and other Bellarific lovers. You will find these cards at http://stampingbella.com/blog/. It is amazing how many talented and creative stampers there are out there.

This week the challenge was pink and brown, and I just love these colours together. I used Little Emmy, a sneak peak of what is to come next week, for the Bella release . I just love this little girl especially that she looks exactly like my adorable granddaughter.

I used Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits to colour Little Emmy, and put little dots on her skirt with a micro black pen. I layered with Bo Bunny brown polka dot card stock and pink prism card stock. I used a Fiskars scallop punch and a Marvy flower punch along with Bon Bons as the embelishment. Of course all supplies are from http://www.stampingbella.com/.

Can you believe it no glitter!!!!! I felt that she was so cute that it didn't really need any glitter at all.

I can hardly wait to see what the next challenge will be and I hope you will all participate. You might be the lucky winner of $20 in Bella Bucks if you do .

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a fantabulous weekend.

Hugs,

Nicky

Bellarific Friday Challenge

2009-04-17T23:51:00.002-04:00

It's Friday already, can you believe it !!!!! The colour challenge at http://www.stampingbella.com/ was so bright and happy and I just loved the colours. I chose the purple and lime green as my main colours.

To make the card I used the EK success border punch called a wave (I think), these border punches are just great and add so much to any card. Emily got them all in and I just had to buy all of the border punches of course. I then stamped the medium shadow circle with VersaMark so that you get a darker shade of the card stock. I used the oval Nestabilities to punch and emboss the white layer and also for the green scalloped oval.

I then stamped and coloured the flowers with Copic Markers

R32, 43, YR12, 14 YG 21, 23, and BVoo, o2.

I actually cut out the whole bunch of flowers and adhered it to the oval layer, and then stamped and coloured the flowers a second time, and cut out 3 of the flowers and popped them onto the bouquet. I used a C2 Copic marker to shade the whole outside of the bouquet, stamped the sentiment, and that's it.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by and make sure to leave a comment on http://www.stampingbella.com/ go to Blogabella and you might be the lucky winner of $20.

Hugs

Nicky

pretty in pink

2009-04-13T23:19:00.002-04:00

Hope you all had a happy Passover and Easter with family and friends. I had a fabulous weekend with my kids and grandkids and enjoyed every second.

I wanted to share this card with you which I made a while ago. The stamps are from Stamping Bella, and they are called Big Fat Present (with Mini). You get a Mini Present stamp with it, so you can stamp the inside of the card or the envelope.

I started by punching a square in the center of my layer, then I crimped the center with a crimper. I don't know how well you will be able to see it on the screen, but it really is crimped. If you don't have a crimper, you can use your Score Pal. I then popped up the crimped layer, and stamped the present in the center. I coloured it with Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits, and, of course used a lot of glitter to finish it off. This card was inspired by my friend Irene.

Hope you like this card

Hugs

Nicky

Colour challenge

2009-04-04T15:14:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all having a fantabulous weekend and have lots of stamping time. For a change, I am doing all the cutting and other prep work for my up coming Ketto 2 class next week. I still have at least 2 more days of work, and then onto the next class. I do take a few minutes here and there to design new cards, and yes , I still do LOVE it.

Here is the Bellarific Friday challenge card that I did for this week. The colours were so yummy and happy that I knew exactly what I was going to do. I felt that flowers would be perfect to colour in, and that patterned paper would finish the card off. Emily, at Stamping Bella, got in these fabulous pouches of different, incredibly, coloured buttons, and they are flat-backed, so thay are very easy to adhere to card stock (which I bought every one of them), so I used the orange button as an embellishment.

I used Lyra pencils and odorless mineral spirits, glitter in the center of the flowers, and Collage Press patterned paper for the background.

Thanks so much for stopping by, please leave me a comment and let me know that you were here.

Hugs

Nickabella

Bellarific Friday

2009-03-20T21:14:00.005-04:00

It's Bellarific Friday and Emily posted some beautiful cards on her blog.

www.stampingbella.com/ go and check them out , they are amazing .

For my submission I used Charlotte Ketto (just can't get enough of these Ketto cuties). The patterned paper is from Dream Street and the card stock is Prism. I used Quick Kutz Label 1 to cut out the shape of the layer. I used orange rhinestones , ribbon and lots of glitter to finish and pop the card. I also used Fiskars scalloped punch for the bottom of the paper.

These are colours I would not normally pick to use on a card and that is why I love to participate in the Bellarific Friday challenges. It forces me to try new colour combos and now I really like orange and plan to use it more often.

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Hugs

Nicky

Sketchy Wildflowers

2009-03-16T22:12:00.003-04:00

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!!!! The weather was beautiful, the snow was gone and I am finally caught up with class designs, cutting and packaging them. Now I have to start doing it all over again for April's schedule . It's a good thing I absolutely love and adore what I do.

Here is the card I made for last week's challenge at http://www.stampingbella.com/. I decided to use a new release called Sketchy Wildflower (you get the large flower stamp and includes a mini version of the stamp). I really love stamps of flowers, as they are so versatile and can be used for any occasion. I used mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils to colour. The patterned paper is by Jillibean and Prism card stock. I stamped the image twice and cut out the flowers and popped them up. The third flower I glued to the button for extra interest.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment.

Hugs

Nicky

New Banner

2009-03-10T20:28:00.007-04:00

I am so excited about the new look of my Blog, what do you guys think ? Isn't it Fabulous!!!!!!! I want to thank Monique our Bellarific Babe, amazing stamper and good friend for designing it for me. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you sooooooo much. I would also like to thank Stephanie , stamper extraordinaire for assisting and keeping us company. Thanks so much Stephanie for all of your help today.

By now you must all know how very untechie (don't know if that is even a word) I am. Monique and Stephanie took pity on me and helped me improve the look of my blog and they did an incredible job.

I made this card with Mazie (one of my favourite Ketto images) and Fancy Pants Garden patterned paper, love this paper. I pulled the colours from the patterned paper and used Lyra coloured pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I glittered the wings, crown and flower. I punched out 2 flowers and glued them together. In center of the flower I used a blue Bella BonBon (love these things), and attached 2 peices of ribbon under the punched out flower. The brown scalloped layer is the back of the Fancy Pants paper. I also used a Fiskars corner rounder on the layers.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of both my new Blog and my card. Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a great day.

Hugs

Nicky

Bellarific Friday Challenge

2009-03-08T21:43:00.002-04:00

Hiya Sistah's,

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and had lots of time to stamp. Me , not so much as I taught a stamping class at Bella store on Saturday all day and then saw my gorgeous adorable grand-daughters later on. Today, I am trying to come up with cards for my next class, but I am having blank moments.

Did you check out Stamping Bella there are over 20 new releases . They really are yummy and fabulous. I loooooove them and would have such a hard time just picking one of them. So guess what, I own them all :o).

Don't forget to also check out the Bellarific Friday Challenge on http://www.stampingbella.com/. The deal is that you have to submit your entry to Emily before 5 EST on Thursday, and she will post all entries on Friday. One winner is picked and will win some Bella Bucks.

Here is one of the cards I submitted for last weeks challenge and will post the other one tomorrow. This is one of the new releases and this is Kenya Ketto . Kenya and Mazie are 2 of my favourites, although I really do love them all. I decided not to use any layers and make a pretty and crisp card focusing on Kenya cause she is so adorable . The colours for the challenge were Sage, Turquoise and Yellow. I left the yellow out and focused on the turquoise and sage colours, as they are colours I use all of the time, and I really like the combo. The wave shadow stamp ( I LOVE SHADOW STAMPS) was inked with VersaMagic Sage ink and then I glittered all around it to give it a finished look. I really love the font of this sentiment and thought it would be a perfect stamp to colour and to fill in some of the white space. I used sheer sage ribbon and turquoise ribbon to finish the card. I am very happy with how it turned out. Let me know what you think okay!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I would love to hear from you

Have a great week

Hugs

Nicky

Happy Thursday

2009-03-05T00:09:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it's Thursday already ? This week just flew by. I have been so busy designing, cutting and packaging my new classes for March which I am teaching at Stamping Bella Boutique. So much work! So little time! LOL

I made this card a while ago and I just love Elmer. He is so preppy and cute. I didn't have many embellishments at the time, so I used my circle punch and button as an accent to finish off the card. I love how the green and blue colours are so vibrant. It's just perfect for my Son's Birthday card.

All supplies from http://www.stampingbella.com/

I would love to hear from you so please leave a comment.

Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Nicky

Bellarific Challenge

2009-03-02T22:09:00.000-05:00

Here is the card that I made for the Bellarific challenge. Every week there will be a different challenge and you should all give it a try, it is so much fun to participate. You could win Bella Bucks. Check it out at http://www.stampingbella.com/.

This time the colours were yellow, green and taupe. I used a white card, and then kraft coloured card stock as the base. I used nestabilities for the yellow layer, and my Big Shot with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder. I also used glitter and a small green rhinestone in the center of the flower. I coloured the image with Lyra pencils and mineral spirits.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment.

Hugs

Nicky

Celebrate

2009-02-26T00:44:00.000-05:00

Hey guys,

I hope you guys have checked out http://www.stampingbella.com/ for the colour challenge. You still have time to participate till 5 P.M. tonight, and have a chance to win some Bella Bucks.

I wanted to post this card 'cause I thought it would make a great masculine card. This card was published in Scrapbooks and Cards magazine . I designed 20 different cards using this one stamp . I love using the faux tearing technique and I LOVE Stamping Bella Celebtate 3 liner words stamp . This happens to be the Celebrate which could be used for any occassion.

I used low tack masking tape that I tore on one side, and put it down on the card to form a rectangle. I then used a stipple brush and Marvy ink pads . I stamped the 3 liner stamp two times with brown ink. I wanted to anchor the Prima flower so I chose a brown circle to mount it on, and a bronze brad to put in the center of the flower. I also edged the cream card stock with a Krylon gold marker.

Thanks so much for coming by and please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Hugs

Nicky

Dare to be different

2009-02-17T22:16:00.000-05:00

Hope you all had a fab Valentines Day !!! I spend mine with my family and had a great time.

I fell in love with these "Branching Out Owlies", and I LOVE this particular "Collage Press" patterned paper, and I thought it would be perfect for this image. Blue, black and cream are some of my favourite colours, and I don't use them often enough. I paper pieced the upside down owl, and I coloured the rest of the owls with black Lyra pencils and mineral spirits. The branch is glittered to make it pop.

I am so excited that Bellarific Fridays are back !!!!! Check it out at http://www.stampingbella.com/. Click on Bloggabella to see the first colour challenge. All you have to do is scan a picture of your card to Emily by Thursday 5 p.m. EST and your card will be shown on her blog, AND, you have a chance to win a gift certificate. How cool is that? I gave her my card today and I hope you guys will go and check it out.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment so that I know you visited.

Hugs

Nicky

Late Bella

2009-02-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

It has been such a busy time at Bellaland with all of the CHA arrivals and the launching of the new stamps. I thought that all these gorgeous papers were fab when we saw them at the convention BUT they are more stunning in the store. Go and check them out at http://www.stampingbella.com/ .

I have also been sooooo busy making boards for the stores that buy from us and designing my new classes and for the store. So please forgive me for not posting for a few days. I do have a few cards lined up to post for the next few days, so stay tuned.

The card that I am posting was published in Scrapbook and Cards magazine this past summer and I thought that I would share it with you. I paper pieced the pants and coloured the rest with Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits. I used green flock on the seat of the stool. I also used glitter here and there to pop the image. The blue Bon Bonz and the ribbon are also from Stamping Bella and the scallop punch was from Stampin Up.

Please leave a comment and let me know you were here.

Hugs

Nicky

A card and more CHA pics.

2009-02-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

I just love this image of these adorable "Rumor has it Girl" from http://www.stampingbella.com/, and the image comes with the sentiment as well. When you go to Stamping Bella's site, don't forget to leave a comment on her blog for a chance to win a gift certificate. A winner will be picked on Friday, so check back to see if you won.

I coloured the image with Copic markers, and used Label 1 Nestabilities for the layers. I don't know if it will show on the screen, but I chalked the background behind the girls with baby blue chalk, and used lots of glitter to highlite the girls. I had a few scraps of paper left, so I punched the flowers out, and adhered them to the card. I put a sticky backed rhinestone in the center of the flower. The patterned paper came from a paperpack, and I apologize, I just don't remember which one it was.

Now here are some more pictures from CHA, enjoy.

1st pic. - Kerri Serrika , Cindy Lawrence and Jen Balcer and me. These ladies are soooo nice and talented.

2nd pic. - Shannan, Alma (owner of the Cat's Pajamas), me and Emily

3rd pic. - Me , Linda (owner of Amuse ) and Shannan

4th pic. - Kim Hughes, me and Julie Ebersol

All of these ladies are so special, talented and so down to earth , I loved spending time with all of them.

Hugs

Nicky

Back from CHA

2009-02-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Hi there, I am back from CHA and had a fantabulous time. It was a lot of work, a lot of laughs, and a lot of shopping. Emily and I started laughing, from the time we got to the airport, to the time we returned home. Although we had to change our flight three times going there, and twice coming home. I was so worried that our luggage would end up in Hawaii or somewhere exotic, rather then L.A., but the luggage was there waiting for us (phew).

Emily (stampingbella) bought the most beautiful things, which hopefully will start coming into the store in the next couple of weeks. The pattern papers were so gorgeous, it was hard not to order all of them, but we did leave a few behind. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I will wait till Emily launches all of the new product line on her Blog http://www.stampingbella.com/.

It was also so nice to meet up with old friends that I love and adore. I also got to meet a few new people. Here are a few pictures that I took, hope you enjoy.

You all know how bad I am with names so if I misspelled or put the wrong name I am so soweeeee!!!!

First picture: Emily (owner of Stampingbella store ), Shannan Teubner (Steuby), and me.

Second picture: The Designer for Webster Pages (such a nice person and so much fun),Shannan, Emily and I.

Third picture: me, Caroline King (Cammie), Deb Anton . I just love these two.

Fourth picture: Lisa Johnson ( what a talent ), Emily and I at the Marvy booth.

Fifth picture: taken in front of My Favorite Things Booth, me, Michelle Giraud, Laura Canaly, and Kim owner of the MFT booth. Besides being so talented these ladies Rock.

I will have more pictures tomorrow , my blog only allows me to post 5 pictures at a time.

Have a great evening.

Hugs

Nicky

CHA bound

2009-01-23T23:20:00.000-05:00

I am so excited that I am leaving for CHA tomorrow and wanted to post this card before I leave. Hope you like it. I will be taking lots of pictures with my new camera, and will post when I get back.

I coloured the image ( Stamping Bella ) with Copic markers, but noticed that it looks streaked on the screen. It's really very smooth and I don't know why that happened.

Polka dot paper is BoBunny

pearls - Stamping Bella

Have a great week

Nicky

No Fair Girl

2009-01-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

"No Fair Girl" is the name of this image from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

I fell in love with this little girl. She reminds me of my 3 year old Grand-daughter when she doesn't get her way. Is she the cutest or what? I used mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils to colour her. This card is pink and green, my fave colours . I chalked around the image with green chalk to warm up the white card stock. I don't know if it will show up on screen. The polka dot paper is from BoBunny and the card stock is Prism. The green pearls are from Stamping bella (love these pearls) and of course, if you know me, there is lots of glitter. The image comes with the sentiment "I can't believe" and, inside the card I stamped "I missed your birthday".

Hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

Twinkle Toes

2009-01-15T22:34:00.000-05:00

Hi guys,

I can't seem to get enough of these Huggabuggs. I love all of them but particularly fell in love with this Twinkle Toes Huggabugg, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with her.

Before I go on to explain how I made this card, I want to let you know that I am trying to figure out my new camera and it will take a while before I get sharp and clear pictures. I find that the pictures on line don't exactly look as vibrant as they do in real life. Hopefully this weekend I will have time to read the instructions that came with the camera. What happened to the cameras that you just aim and shoot (goof proof), without a million different features. LOL

I love the shape of the Nesties that I used on the card and only embossed the white layer. I stamped and coloured the image with Lyra coloured pencils and Odorless Mineral spirits. I looked everywhere for buttons that I could use as embellishments, but couldn't find the right shade of pink, so I decided to use my QuicKutz 2" die, and cut them with my Big Shot. The oval layers are also Nesties. Of course I used glitter to give Twinkle Toes some sparkle. Isn't that the best sentiment for this card?

Thanks so much for visiting.

Please come back on the weekend and see some more cards.

Have a great weekend,

Nicky

Love Bug

2009-01-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I finally bought a new camera, and I now hope that the cards I post will be much clearer and better than those taken with my old one. It is the cutest little camera and I hope it works well. It is the Canon Power Shot 880 Digital Elph. My close friend Tema told me about it, and, as her husband and son are camera buffs, I listened to them, and so far so good. Thanks guys.

Today's card is the Love Huggabugg, and I thought that the 7 gypsies patterned paper was perfect for the background. Are these Huggabuggs not the cutest bugs ever?

I will be posting more cards on Thursday so please come back and check them out.

Stamps by Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

Card Stock - Prism

Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits

Ribbon - May Arts

Thanks for stopping by,

Nicky

The winner is ....

2009-01-04T23:18:00.000-05:00

I actually have 2 winners:

Toni Whitnell was my 10,000 post. Thanks Toni, I think you deserve a prezzie .

Deanna (Tuneman) you won my blog candy. My husband picked your name so please email me your address as soon as possible to nmanel@rogers.com

As I am listening to freezing rain falling outside I thought I would post a nice and sunny card that I actually taught on the cruise. I hardly use yellow and I really like how it turned out. What do you think ?

All stamps by http://www.stampingbella.com/,
embellishments : dots,
coloured with Lyra pencils and mineral spirits,
extra giga circle punch.

Keep warm
Hugs
Nicky

Blog Candy

2008-12-31T23:37:00.000-05:00

I would like to wish everyone a very healthy , peaceful and happy New year!!

I am so excited that I am almost at 10,000 hits and would like to celebrate by offering an amazing Blog Candy to one random person, and all you have to do, is leave me a comment and tell me what your New Year's resolution is. Please spread the word!

I will post a card tomorrow so please come back.

Hope you are all having an amazing night.

Hugs
nicky

Happy Holidays

2008-12-21T18:29:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take time to wish everyone a very healthy, peaceful and wonderful Holiday Season and a year filled with lots of laughter. My New Year's resolution is to blog more often and to participate in more card and sketch challenges.

All stamps and supplies for both cards are from Stamping Bella.

The blue swirls are a fabulous background stamp from Stamping Bella that I love and use very often. It aligns perfectly every time, as you can see in this card. I used the snowflake Cuttlebug folder, and coloured with Lyra pencils and Mineral Spirits.

What are your New Years Resolutions ?

Hugs

Nicky

Here's to Huggabugg's

2008-11-24T22:13:00.000-05:00

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted but things have been so hectic and busy. I apologize and will try to post more often.

Emily at http://www.stampingbella.com/ has launched the sweetest, most hug able and lovable little creatures that you are going to want to own, stamp and colour, so go over to her blog and look at the sample card I made with one of the Huggabugg's and check out all 8 of them . Emily is also giving away blog candy if you leave a comment on her blog.

Meet Fluey Huggabugg (the image on my card ) and tell me he isn't the cutest ever, I just love this image. I used Mineral spirits and Lyra pencils to colour and olive green pearls as the embellishment. I popped up the image and used the Gigga circle punch for the circle. Hope you like it.

I will try to post the Lovey Huggabugg card I made, tomorrow. It would be nice to hear from you so leave a comment and let me know that you were here. Have a great week

Hugs

Nicky

cruise pictures

2008-10-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

I can't believe the cruise is over. We had the best time, the weather was glorious , the classes went well and I had the chance to meet and hang out with the nicest, most warm , friendly and fun loving people ever. There is so much to tell and I don't exactly know where to begin. I will follow with pictures at the end of this post. Stampers Rock.

Emily and Ryan are 2 of my favorite people in the whole world and they made this trip so special for Joe and I. We had a blast with them and I don't remember ever laughing as much as we did together. Joe and Ryan were inseparable and were hysterical. Thanks so much Em and Ryan. These are memories we will treasure forever. Can hardly wait til the next trip

Emily (http://www.stampingbella.com/) and I went a few days before the cruise to help Gina K from (http://www.ginakdesigns/) and Nichole from (http://www.papertreyinc.com/).

The 2 days at sea we started classes at 9 A.M. and we finished at 11 P.M. We broke for lunch and dinner, and finished the night meeting for drinks after the last class. The 4 days at port we relaxed, slept in and sat by the pool soaking up the sun. It was heaven on earth.

Emily had a brilliant idea of giving everyone a necklace and filling it with beads. What these women and gentleman wouldn't do to fill their necklaces, they screamed , flirted with Ryan (Emily's hubs) , and showed up in PJ's for the classes. It was soooo much fun. The people with the most beads won prizes.

There is so much more to tell, but I would be typing for the next few days, so I think that I will stop and post my pictures now, and just trust me, that if you ever get the opportunity to come to one of Emily's, Gina's and Nichole's events, just come, because they are FANTABULOUS and you won't want to miss out.

Thanks so much for reading this far. Here are the pictures I promised. I am sorry but my computer doesn't have a caption button so I had to download the pictures and the caption separately.

pictures:

#1 -Gorgeous and adorable Rina & Alicia (Gina's daughters). Just love those girls.

#2 - Our Hubbies - Tom (Gina's), Ryan (Emily's),(David (Nichole's) and my cutie patootie, Joe.

#3 - Alma (The Cat's pajamas), me and Kim (My Favorite Things). I really miss you guys.

#4 - Me, Julie, Charmaine % Amber. The nicest girls ever.

#5 - Gina, me & Nichole (I love you and miss you).

#6 - Ryan and his Girlfriend (How cute are they .....).

#7 - Sweet Charmaine and little old me.

#8 - Me, Emily, Irene and Michelle (Thanks for the support).

#9 - Kim, me, Alma and Emily

#10 - Our adorable Calgary group Brenda, Charlene, Wendy and Rhonda

#11 - My favourite girls Gina, Emily, Nichole and me

#12 - And last but not least Gina, Nichole and me

Thanks so much for stopping by

Mwah & Hugs

Nicky

I am cruise bound

2008-10-15T23:22:00.000-04:00

Well it is finally here, the boxes are shipped, and I am finally packed and I am leaving in the morning for the StampingBella, Papertrey and Gina K stamping extravaganza cruise and I can hardly wait to meet everyone. Please keep checking Emily's Blog for reports and updates on what's going on everyday www.stampingbella.com
Stamping Bella will also have all kinds of exciting challenges and specials going on all week on her blog while we are away, so don't miss it.

I will post cards, pictures and tell you guys all about the trip when I get back so stay well and I will post again in a weeks time. Did I tell you how excited I am ...

Hugs
Nicky

Challenge Sketch

2008-10-05T21:18:00.000-04:00

I had so much fun in the Bella blog challenge that I decided to try Beata's sketch challenge and here it is.

I coloured Polly Packages a Stamping Bella stamp

http://www.stampingbella.com/

with Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits. For the embellishments I used 3 Bon Bonz and variegated ribbon also from Stamping Bella. Lots of glitter makes her pop.

Hope you like it.

We have been so busy getting things ready for the cruise and finally see that there is an end to all of the cutting and packaging. I can hardly wait to meet everyone.

Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment.

Hugs

Nicky

http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/10/03/weekend-sketch-challenge-60/

Bella Blog, Hop and a Skip

2008-09-25T23:49:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to participate in my very first challenge. Shannan Teubner our very first Guest Designer challenged a few of us to come up with a gift item using the holiday Bellas.

I decided to use a paper acrylic block from the dollar store and stamped the new prezzie Stella on the top of the box and the mini presents around the border of the container. These paper blocks make the best hostess gifts, teacher gifts are great for masculine gifts (dad's day, teacher etc.) just change Stella for a Fella and voila a masculine block.

I used a cotton ball and green Pebble chalk to warm up the white card stock, Stamped Stella and the presents with Tuxedo black Mementos ink and coloured in with mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils. I finished the card with glitter and variegated sheer ribbon. Hope you like this project.

Please hop on over to the other sistahs and check out their blogs

Happy long weekend

2008-08-30T23:56:00.000-04:00

Hi there, hope you are all enjoying this fabulous long weekend. Finally beautiful weather that we can enjoy without rain and humidity. I am sorry that I haven't posted in awhile but the summer has been so busy with family, friends and work. I am very busy designing for my upcoming classes and for the cruise that I am going to teach on Oct. 19. This cruise is being sponsored by Stamping Bella, Papertrey and Gina K and I am so excited to be a part of it .

I made these 3 cards awhile ago and thought that I would share them with you.

All Stamps and supplies are from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

The first card is Matilda Muffinbread and this is one of the first images I used my Copic Markers to colour with. For the background I stamped the " 3 separate dot backgrounds" in Mementos Pear Tart ink and used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots for the pink layer. The glitter and pink Bon Bonz add the finishing touch.

The second card I used Pots O Stuff from the Cilla Rose collection. I just love this stamp it is so cute and easy to colour. I used Copic Markers here as well. I stamped the pots twice and cut out the middle pot and used it as an embellishment to put the happy birthday coming out of it and of course once again the glitter and rhinestones finish the card.

The third card is the Balloon Circle . I used my Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits to colour and pulled the colours from the decorative paper. I added the glitter and ribbon for that last touch.

Hope you like these cards, I will try to post again in a few days. Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment or email me at nmanel@rogers.com I would love to hear from you

Hugs

Nicky

Happy Thursday

2008-08-07T22:49:00.000-04:00

I finally have my camera figured out and working. Thought I would post these 2 cards, by now you must have figured out how much I like to use pink, kiwi green and black.

All stamps are from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

embellishments, patterned paper and ribbon also Stamping Bella

The you're tea-riffic card is coloured with mineral spirits and Lyra pencils and I put glitter around the hearts, lid and flower on the tea pot. Did you see the faux pink eyelets at the bottom of the card.

The true friend card , I used Copic markers to colour and shade the image. The pink BonBonz are so pretty in the center of the flowers and I framed the image with glitter. I don't know if the glitter shows but it really sparkles and finishes the card.

The Bella store just got in the new Cuttlebug embossing folders and I am really looking forward to using them , aren't they great ?

Are any of you going to Novi convention in Michigan next week ?

Email me www.nmanel@rogers.com

sneak peek

2008-07-26T15:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Saturday everyone.

Emily at http://www.stampingbella.com/ loaded some new images to her website, and these are 2 cards that I designed with some of these stamps. If you go to http://www.stampingbella.com/ the cards will be posted there on Monday so that you could have a better look .

There is something wrong with my camera so the images might not be as clear as they should be. Sorry about that (it's a fairly new camera also aargh).

The first card is with Tiny Tina Teacup, don't you just love this image.

I stamped the image with Memento's Tuxedo Black (my new favourite ink)

and used mineral spirits and Lyra pencil crayons to colour the image. I then stippled Memento's Lulu Lavendar all around the image to soften in some of the white space. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder with my Big Shot to emboss the Lavendar panel (can I tell you how much I love my Big Shot ). I then attached the lavendar satin ribbon and punched the tiny flowers and used glue dots to attach the green BonBonz.

The second card is with this sweet Is that a Cupcake on your head ? image.

I stamped it again with tuxedo black Memento's ink and coloured with mineral spirits and Lyra pencil crayons. The background is the heart border that I kept stamping across the card so that it looks like one big background image. With the Bella Borders it is so easy to align them and they stamp so beautifully. I don't really know that it shows that well in the picture so hopefully Emily's camera works better then mine and you will be able to see it on her blog on Monday.

The small green strip under the sentiment is punched with the Big Bite just to add a bit of texture and the oval was punched with the Fiskars punch. I also popped the top part of the cupcake up with double sided pop dots. I stamped the image twice and cut the cupcake from one of those images, after I cut it out I rolled it around my fingure to make it easier to put the pop dot in. Clear as mud ?????

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you are all enjoying a great weekend.

Please leave a comment and let me know that you dropped by , if you have any questions email me at www.nmanel@rogers.com

Hugs

Nicky

back from CHA

2008-07-22T22:30:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,
I am back from CHA (craft & hobby association trade show), and although it was an amazing trip , there really is no place like home. Emily and I had a very productive trip and bought some incredible things that you will read about on www.stampingbella.com .

There were lots of gorgeous patterned papers, acetate is still very popular as are chip board books and shapes. I found that blue/green and pink/blue colour combos were everywhere. Owl's, butterflies and elephants were on many of the patterned papers. There was so much to see that it will take me a few days to process all of the things I saw.

It was so nice to see good friends and meet some new ones. I will try to post some of the pictures I took in the next few days. I am really pooped tonight but wanted to let you know that I was back.
Hope you all have a good night.

Hugs

Nicky

It's a Girl !!!

2008-07-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

My Son and Daughter-in law had their second daughter last Monday and all are doing well. How lucky am I to have the two most fabulous and gorgeous Grand- daughters. Now you know why I haven't had the time to post.

Here are 2 cards that I recently taught in my class. Hope you like them.

In the first card , I used the FUNKY POTTED FLOWERS from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/.

I used mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils to colour the image and I just love this patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle (roses) . I embellished the card with ribbon and Bon Bonz also from Stamping Bella.

These Bon Bonz are mirror backed and are so sparkly, they

really pop the image. Of course I used some glittah here and there.

I used the Stamin Up word slot punch for the sentiment.

Second card is using SLOUCHY PURSE ( one of my favorite purse image )

by Stamping Bella. I used Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits.

The patterned paper is S.E.I and I used the front and back of the paper, don't you love the pattern and colours. For the embellishments I just had to use these great dots also from Stamping Bella. You can't really see in the picture but the dots are all glittery and I used the small size. They come in the most yummy colours, it's hard not to want to have all of them.

That's it for now and I will try to post again in a few days. Have a great week everyone. Please leave a comment or email me at www.nmanel@rogers.com

Nicky

Happy Birthday

2008-06-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

I thought that I would post 2 birthday cards tonight as it is Emily's (owner of Stamping Bella's) Birthday. Happy Birthday Em.

The card with Stella was one from the Stella class that I taught last month. I love the attitude and spunk that Stella has. The mark that you see next to the cupcake on the left side is a crease in the card stock. I didn't notice it when I took the picture but saw it when I uploaded it (ooops!!!). I watercoloured with Lyra watercolour crayons , used lots of glittah of course and the BonBon for an embellishment. Whenever I can't find ribbon that matches my card I use a thin piece of co-ordinating card stock and it works like a charm .

I tore the Coordination card stock to reveal the core colour .

The pink and brown card, I made last year and it was published in Take Ten Magazine. I used American Crafts pattern paper and Prima flower. The sentiment is Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

This is such a quick card to make. I used the Quickutz Revolution to cut the circle out.

Hope you like these cards

Please leave a comment or email me at nmanel@rogers.com

Thanks

Nicky

Another great day at the Bella store

2008-06-17T21:53:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy making samples for Emily's gorgeous new stamps and loving every minute of it. Go over to her Blog at http://www.stampingbella.com/
and check out the new stamps and the samples and let me know what you think . The cards always look so much better in real life, you can't always see the glitter and sparkle on the cards.

On the Happy Birthday heart card I started by making myself a template of the heart and then I stamped the Happy Birthday 3 line over and over to make it look like one large stamp. I just love the 3 line stamps and use them all of the time. They are so easy to align and make a wonderful background. I then stamped the Juicy Chubby Heart in red versa magic chalk ink and really liked that it was transparent enough to show the words . I wanted to add some more embellishments and aside from the rhinestone added the clipiolla on the side of the sentiment.

The Ballerina card I used My Minds Eye patterned paper and loved the combination of the orange and blue colours. I coloured the ballerina with mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils.

Some of you inquired about the golf bag stamp that I used in the last post , if you want it please contact Emily at http://www.stampingbella.com/ and she will tell you where to find it on her site.

I have also been really busy getting ready for a new class that I am teaching called Cuttlebug your Art out. I sure hope they like it..
Thanks so much for visiting my Blog, please leave a comment so that I know you were here. If you want to email me privately nmanel@rogers.com

All stamps Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/
Embellishments - stamping bella
Card stock - Prism, patterned paper My Mind's Eye

Hugs
Nicky

Happy Wedensday

2008-06-11T19:39:00.000-04:00

I know that it has been awhile, sorry , but I was away visiting my beautiful daughter in Windsor . We had a great visit even though the weather was soooo hot and sticky, thank goodness for air conditioning . I will try to post every few days. I hope that the pictures I posted come out cause when I previewed them they were huge. I told you that I wasn't that great with this computer thing..

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment or email me privately nmanel@rogers.com

I thought that I would share a masculine card with you as it is Father's Day this weekend. All stamps from http://www.stampingbella.com/

I made this card awhile back and just love the splooch under the golf bag and the scalloped circles for the background are so much fun and so easy to align.

The second card is the daisy within daisy . I chalked the background and stamped the daisy with black permanent ink (Memories), I really like the soft subtle colours and I am not sure if you can see the glitter, but there is lots of glitter in the center of the daisy and around the sentiment.

As you can tell by now I love square cards. This card is actually Bazzill Dahlia (purple) but I don't know if the colour shows as the true colour or blue . I used mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils to colour the vase and flower .

I hope that you all explore all of the fabulous background stamps that are in the Stamping Bella line. I use them all of the time in my classes and everyone loves them.

All supplies from http://www.stampingbella.com/

Card stock - Prism , Bazzill

Hope you enjoy

Hugs

Nicky

It's my Birthday

2008-06-04T20:13:00.000-04:00

I planned on posting these 3 cards on Monday June 2, as it was my Birthday but ooops had some technical difficulties loading them up. Hopefully this time when I post them they will turn out.

I had such a great day. I was really spoiled with lots of hugs, kisses and lots of prezzies from my wonderful husband, co-workers, friends and students. My kids send me a fabulous chocolate covered strawberry basket that was so yummy and very pretty to look at. Emily and Ryan ordered sushi for lunch double yum (thanks, I love u guys.)

My celebrations really started on Saturday while I was teaching my classes 3 of my students also really good friends ,that I love and adore (Maralyn, Esther and Karen) brought me 2 not 1 but 2 delicious cakes, prezzies and lots of laughs and I had the best time.

Back to the cards . When I first saw this Wedding gown circle by http://www.stampingbella.com/ I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, and hoped it would turn out to look soft, feminin and elegant. I think it did.

I don't know if you can see clearly that I used the cuttlebug embossing folder and then glittered around the flower and stem. I cut the bow and used a pop dot to raise it. I used Lyra coloured pencil and mineral spirits to colour. Of course I had to add some more glittah on the bow and around the white circle.

The second card was inspired by my friend Irene and was done by first punching a square in the center of the pink layer. I then crimped the center only and adhered it with pop dots. I stamped the happy birthday 3 times and stamped the slouchy purse from the Cilla Rose collection from http://www.stampingbella.com/ then cut it out and popped it for dimension onto the pink layer. Then layer that onto the black cs and then to the pink base card, the 3 pink baubles just finish the card.

The 3rd card is Betty Bombshell, don't you just loooove her.. I used the swirl cuttlebug embossing plate cause it reminded me of waves and thought that it made the perfect background. I coloured with Lyra pencils and mineral spirits.

I just love these Bella stamps so much . They really are my favourite stamps, cause they are so versatile, whimsy and sofisticated all at the same time. The sentiments are fabulous and are perfect for the images . I hope that you guys try the other stamps as well and not just the characters , they are great for any occassion.

I promise that I will get better at posting and will not ramble on and on like this. If you have read this far thank you.

Mwah & Hugs

Nicky

All supplies from Stamping Bella

Stamps:

wedding gown circle;

slouchy purse;

happy birthday;

betty bombshell

Ink: memories black

Paper: prism

Ribbon: May Arts

Bella glitter

Baubles pink

Thank you

2008-05-28T19:51:00.000-04:00

I want to thank everyone that posted a comment and emailed me privately sooooo much, it means so much to me.

I will try to figure out how to link each image used in my cards to Stamping Bella, so that you can find the images easier.

I thought that I would share these 2 cards with you.

All images, ribbon, baubles , crimper, 2" punch and card stock from Stamping Bella. http://www.stampingbella.com/

The purse card I coloured with bella spirits and Lyra coloured pencils.

The second card I used Copic markers.

Thanks

Nicky

2008-05-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

I like to see how many different cards I can design with one sheet of patterned paper. In this card I used the scraps for the rain boots, the punched out flower and the umbrella.

All images coloured with Bella spirits and Lyra coloured pencils

all supplies are from Stamping Bella www.stampingbella.com

My very first post

2008-05-26T21:04:00.000-04:00

Hi there and Welcome ,

I am so excited to finally have a blog. Thanks so much to Vicky for making it happen.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Nicky and I am a confessed Stampaholic. My first passion is my family, wonderful husband of 35 years, beautiful daughter, daughter in law, son and the love of my life my 3 year old grand-daughter.

I started stamping about 9 years ago and shortly after I started I was invited to teach and have been teaching stamping classes ever since . Teaching has given me the opportunity to meet the most wonderful , amazingly talented people that share my passion of stamping and paper crafts.

I currently have the BEST Job in the world , I work full time as Creative Director and designer for Stamping Bella, where I also
teach stamping classes. Emily the owner and I met when she signed up for my stamping 101 class and the rest is history. We instantly bonded when we found out that we were both from Montreal and new mutual people. Emily reminds me so much of my daughter (which is getting her PHD out of town), that I just had to adopt her as my other daughter. Our adventures have led us to lots of laughter, great endeavors and wonderful stamps and products that we are so passionate about. I hope that through my blog I can share some of these adventures with you.

Please feel free to comment or ask any stamping related questions that you may have.

P.S. As you will soon see I am not very computer savvy, so please bear with me and let me know if I have broken any Blogging etiquette.

hugs
Nicky

2008-05-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

2008-05-26T20:59:00.000-04:00