Tagged again, but this time I'm playing! lol

I was tagged both by Barb and Leslie to reveal 7 facts about myself and then to tag 7 others... so here we go:

1. I'm an only child. Yes, that's why I'm a complete brat sometimes... havent you noticed?
2. I dont know where I got this attitude from, but I can be rudely blunt sometimes. I cant help it, I've tried to refrain from sticking my foot in my mouth, but it doesn't happen. I think of it as "saying what others think, but are too afraid to say themselves."
3. Though I haven't been faithful to it, I am big into collecting 80's toys. I have the entire collection of the 20th Anniversary Care Bears that came out a few years ago. :)
4. I currently work at my underpaid retail job: Carlton Cards. Oh the irony! Shh you.
5. ^ I am also currently working on finding a career as I will be graduating in June from university.
6. I travelled with my mom to Vietnam (home country) in May 2004. Can we say culture shock?
7. I absolutely hate doing dishes! Unless I feel motivated to do them everyday, I wash them every other day.
   

The exact instructions as copied from Leslie's blog are: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their seven facts, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.

Alrighty, I am tagging the following people:

Julie @ The Land of Lost Luggage

Kaylyn @ Crazy Creative Kay

Teresa @ Aunt T's Paper Designs

Kelly @ Everyday Life

Suzi @ Suzi Scraps

Erin @ ErinK Creations

Kim @ Hutchink Designs

(LOL I would have tagged you Mrs. Flip Flops Sherri, but I noticed that Barb already tagged you). Im trying to pick all those who havent been tagged. Alright, get at 'er!

Some Quickutz Love

I thought it was about time I dusted off my Quickutz and squeezed it some! lol. Ahhh... I can hear the dissapointment right now in Kaylyn and Debbie's head. But looky what I made though! The idea I had for this card was an any day occassion to send to someone to let you know youre thinking of them. I think it came out a bit Valentine's looking though? Might just have to save those for next year.

Supplies:
Quickutz mailbox + envelope, sentiment stamp = Hero Arts, heart = Monkey Business Stampin Up, Bazzill cs, Versacolor inks.

Tagged!

I have been avoiding the blog tag for a couple days, but I figured that I should address it now. Thank you SO much to Sherri and Jovi who both tagged my blog as creative inspirations. It is such an honour to be picked by two beautifully talented women.

So why have I been avoiding this post? Well simply because I personally think that these "games" are often used to directly point out elites and play favourites. I am not stating that most or all (or even the two women who tagged me) had these intentions, but through growing up in a cliquey small town and being apart of several blogging and journal communities, that has been my observation. While I do have my own blogs that I check often more than others (normally because they update more often! lol), I cannot pick only five blogs out of all the ones I visit. As you can see, the list is fairly long and continues to grow. The ones I have on my blog roll aren't even all the ones I visit from my bookmarked list.

So where am I going with this? Simply that I am boycotting the tagging game and that all of you inspire me in your own creative ways. Each person on my blog roll has their own style and creativity that they bring to the paper crafting world and I am so thankful to know each and and everyone of you. Knowing that I can seek inspiration from so many different varieties of styles delights me to no end. So unless any of you object to this, I am not going to post 5 of my fav blogs, but instead want to let you know that I appreciate all your blogs and they continue to inspire me on a daily basis. Thanks once again to Sherri and Jovi for tagging me, I really did feel exhilarated to be picked!

An afterthought: Hmmm... I'll never be tagged again for anything! lmao. But that's ok, as long as you all stop by to visit my blog, that is enough love for me. ;)

My Try at Polka Dots and Paisley

Alrighty, so I finally got a chance to play with this set. The idea I had for these cards was to use plain cardstock and stamp them up to their full potential. I had to use some Bazzill Bling to add in some shimmery pizazz. Originally I started with dark purple cardstock and had a strange feeling it would look at tadbit Halloween-ish. Kelly just happened to be online and she suggested to use more of a lilac or lavender purple. She suggested, I listened. ;)










---> For card #2, I used my corner rounder from EK Success to make the scallop. What can I say, I'm a sheep. I've been seeing these scallop borders pup up everywhere on blogs and galleries. I had a hard time cutting through the Bling because it's so thick! I'm more partial to my edge scissors, but that's just my opinion.

<--- Note the use of Stickles on card #1 and 3! lol, I love my Stickles...

Supplies: Polka Dots and Paisley from Stampin Up!, Bazzill Bling cs, white and black cs from Michaels, ribbon from Michaels, Versacolor and Clearsnap Ancient Page inks, brads unknown, Sakura gelly glitter pen.

My first "paid" card

This card was case'd from Kyla Maestas' blog. You can see the original card here.

While stopping by my work the other day, my manager asked me if I could make her a new baby girl card. I found this somewhat ironic as she is a scrapbooker and is more than capable of making a decent looking card. What it came down to was of course the time to sit down and make one. Her request gave me an excuse to sit down with my new Bundle of Joy set from Stampin Up. I was so ecstatic to get this set, I mounted it the first day I got it. The bear is just too cute.

Supplies: Bundle of Joy from Stampin Up, Bazzill cs, *cant remember where I got the pp from* (it was scrap leftover), Pebbles Inc chalk, Michaels and unknown ribbon, Memories ink.

Happy Birthday Dad!

This card was made for my Da-da ;) whose birthday is exactly today. Because I was super busy last week, I had to stay up late making this on Sunday to have it mailed out Monday. *sniff* It still didnt make it on time, I think he will be getting it tomorrow. So yes, you are getting an exclusive sneak peek. How fun, it's my first masculine card on the blog as well! See, I can make "non-girly" cards!

My dad is big into fishing, no exaggeration. He is away on the lakes and in the mountains almost every weekend with his fishing buddies. I thought it would be wise to invest on the fishing stamp set from Darcie's Heart and Home back when they were having a sale in February. They are umounted stamps that come in a clear DVD sized case with an idea sheet. Originally I meant to use the big image, but couldn't find a big enough envelope to mail, so I had to resize my card. Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies: Bear Fishing stamp set from Darcie's Heart and Home, "for my dad" is from CTMH Atomic alphabet, Bazill cs, Karen Foster pp, Coloured with Prismacolors + odourless mineral spirits, Doodlebug brads, Clearsnap Ancient Page and Chalk inks, Tsukineko clear embossing powder, ribbon unknown.

Bella Swap: Part III

Alrighty, here are the rest of the cards for that Bella swap I participated in. Thanks again to Christie for hosting and all the ladies that participated. You can see the first of half of the cards here... and you can see the card I made here.

Photo 1
Imeldabella - Made by Karen
Bellabustah - Made by Jane
Frizzybella - Made by Cherrie

Photo 2
Top:
Javabellas - Made by Susan
Lisabella - Made by Lisa
Left to right:
Balloonabella - Made by Renee
Beachabella - Made by Leigh
Minivanabella - Made by Alanna

Okay, that's it! lol Dont worry, you wont be seeing anymore Bella's for awhile... however, I do have another order coming any day now...hmm...

Flower ATC swap

I am hosting a flower themed atc swap at the Stamp Shack and this is (obviously lol) what I came up with. I rarely work with greens and browns so the fact that I came up with this sort of surprised me. It was the Basic Grey patterned paper, I tell ya. I'm happy that I'm learning new things and using "new" colours because that means I'm leaving my comfort zone. Hah, if I stuck to my comfort zone, this blog would be disgustingly girly and bright.

Supplies:
Stamps: Rhonna Farrer $1 stamp, Stamin Up! CS: Bazzill PP: Basic Grey Ribbon: Michaels Inks: Stampin Up! and Clearsnap Fluid Chalk

Bella Swap: Part II

Ooops! With finishing up my last week of school, I have completely neglected to post anything! As promised, here are the cards for Christie Ortman's Bella swap. Such an awesome swap! Thank you ladies for all your hard work. These are only half the cards, I will post the other half tomorrow. You can see my card here.

Photo 1 - left to right
Bridal Party Bellas - Made by Lauri
Blingabella - Made by Melli
Sposabella - Made by Christie

Photo 2
Top :
Cosmobella - Made by Jennifer
Left to right:
Parisabella - Made by Anouk
Shoppingbellas - Made by Dorina
Cakeabella - Angela


Photo 3
Left to right:
Grumpabella - Made by Sondra
Spabella - Made by Carole
Flowahbella - Made by Bridget

More cards tomorrow!

Bellas: How it all Started

I know what you're already thinking: "another Bella post," but this is about a lil' something more. I bet you didn't know that Stamping Bella was the reason I started stamping!

My stamping obsession started in August 2006 when I was visiting my boyfriend in Ontario. I had been working on a scrapbook for him for all summer long and was just in a complete doozy with all the supplies. From internet resources, I just had to visit one of the LSS there. It was a hot summer day and so he wasn't too upset to sit there for about an hour while I shopped. (Hey, it was only about an hour... could have been longer! lol) So I'm looking and looking... and I get to the stamping section and stopped dead in my tracks.

"Oh my gosh, what the heck are these???" I said to myself, or something like that. ;) As I was a complete newbie to stamping, I asked one of the ladies how these "bella things" worked. She said I needed to get an acrylic block and something tacky to get the rubber to stick on the block itself. Whaaa? My boyfriend even asked me if it was worth it as I needed to get so many different components to "get the stamp to work?" I looked at him and was like, "Uhhhh hello, look at how cute they are. I want them!" So that day, I went home with two flowers, Tinkerbella and Emmybella (among a lot of other things!)

Months later, the website went live and Bella's have now travelled all over the world. I have a fantastic relationship with Emily, the creator/owner/Bella-extraordinare of Stamping Bella and I now own many Bellas lol. Not only do I own Bellas, I have fully submersed myself into the stamping world and own way too many other stamps from numerous companies! Hmmm, but I know that my collection doesn't even compare to some of your collections! So that's how I started in my journey of stamping.

This particular card was made for Christie Ortman's Bella Swap. The details can be found here. I had to make 20 of these stinkin things! lol But well worth it as I received 19 other fantastic cards back. I will be showcasing those tomorrow. My goal for this card was to really play Bella up and make her look like the real Tinkerbell.

Supplies used: Tinkerbella from Stamping Bella, sentiment from Just for Fun, Bazzill cs, Autumn Leaves pp, brads unknown, Michaels ribbon, coloured with Prismacolor pencils + odourless mineral spirits, Stickles glittuer glue.

Latte meets Cuttlebug

Ta da! My first showcase using the Cuttlebug. The funniest thing about getting the Latte set was the fact that I didn't even like it in the very beginning. The sample shown in the SU! winter mini was so-so... but then I used the set on a scrapbook layout and fell in love. It was a match made in heaven since I love a good Chai tea latte and so many of my other friends drink coffee. I had to make something to stay sane... studying is buggering my eyes out. Of course you're probably thinking "another girly card?" but this card was made for dbf's sister to say thanks. I will get to a masculine card one of these days...

Supplies used: Like it a Latte Stampin Up, Bazzill cs, D'vine Cuttlebug embossing folder, Doodlebug brads, Versacolor inks, Stickles glitter glue

Exhausted.... "like no udder"

I have completed my final week of school ever! Final exams are next week and then c'est fini! No more school unless I decide to go to grad school. The stinky part of this whole process is that I will not even convocate until June. That is, if everything goes to plan and I pass every class. ;)

This card was made for a heat embossing swap I am in at the Shack. Loveeee the Very Punny set. Come to think of it, what stamps do I not love (that I post here)? Geesh.


Supplies used:
Very Punny stamps from Stampin' Up!, Bazzill cs, Making Memories eyelets, Versacolor inks, Tsukineko black and clear embossing powders, ribbon unknown, Marvy Uchida pen.