Belle Papier {pretty paper}

I designed this card for a friend’s birthday as well as today’s SCS color challenge: real red, black and gold… In honor of Chinese New Year. I must say, I did struggle with this color combo. I tried twice to make Asian themed cards and it was either my awful sinus or perhaps that style is just not me. After it hit me that I did not have to do Asian…duh….a French theme popped into my head. I did sneak in a little close to cocoa to distress the edges.

To make this card:

This card is 5.25″ square. I took the card and embossed the lower three quarters of my front panel for some texture. The Cuttlebug embossing folders are darling but one drawback is they only measure 4 x 5.25. To combat this, I came up with the idea a few weeks ago to only partially emboss the front of the card. This actually helps in the design process by breaking up the space. Along the edge of the embossing I adhered some gorgeous deep red velvet ribbon from Starlitstudio’s ebay store. The main stamped panel is very vanilla cardstock stamped with French Flair in black and the flowers from Carte Postale in Close to Cocoa. The bird image is embossed with gold embossing powder. I used my Cuttlebug again to make a little sentiment tab at the top and the gold brad is from K & Company. I believe the gold circle frame/charm is a retired piece by the same company. I discovered that it fit perfectly with this image and it worked perfectly to highlight the floral centre.

Wow! Tuesday already! . I JUST want to remind you all ….tonight at 11 pm EST marks the end of the WT100 challenge. You may enter as many times as you wish before then. For those of you who have already entered…WOW! So many fabulous ideas…thanks so much for playing along. I am SO glad that I have three of my fellow Dirty Dozen Alumni friends to help me out! Trudee Sauer, Michele Boyer & Lindsey Botkin.

 There will be two “best of show” winners and two random winners so the more you enter, the greater your chances! With some darling Bellas and some fabulous gift certificates from Jacksonbelle’s ebay store here you are sure to want to play along!

 For more information, check out my WT100, Way’s to Use it Celebration Challenge here.

Criss Cross Applesauce….I never heard this expression until my fourth child went to school this fall. He loves little phrases and always comes out with the cutest sayings. Now the expression seems to be popping up in the SCS forums. Funny how that is.  

Someone Like You

This card was designed for the TEchnique Lover’s Challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com TLC104 Each Monday, Beth (showmestamper) posts an awesome Technique Challenge. This week the challenge was to make a Criss Cross Card originally designed by Michelle Wooderson. Michele’s original card and instructions here

This card is made from one whole sheet of Old Olive cardstock…cut in half vertically and then scored. The back of the card is doubled over and the two sections adhered together. The remaining front panels are trimed from corner to corner and crossed over. I covered both these panels with some beautiful new paper I just couldnt’ resist by Autumn Leaves. The front panels are glued together and then the bottom of the card stitched together with my sewing machine. You can also use Sticky Strip instead if you don’t sew. All edges were sponged with Close to Cocoa ink by SU. The beautiful pink velvet ribbon is by Flair Designs and I bought it here. The inner card of regal rose was trimmed to 4 x 5.25″ and the top corners rounded. I then ran it through my Cuttlebug die cut machine with the Stylized Flowers Embossing Folder. The beautiful brown paisley paper is also by Autumn Leaves and the light red polka dot paper is Making Memories. The little scalloped edge peeking out at the top of the designer paper layers is created with a small corner rounder punch. The punch by EZSuccess has a little removable base. This allows you to slid the punch along the edge of your paper and create a little scalloped edge with repeated stamping. The image from SU’s Happy Harmony Sellebration set is stamped with first and second impressions. The darling little file tab at the top is a QuicKutz tab die that I ran through my Cuttlebug. The QuicKutz dies are easily used in the Cuttlebug with the “C” plate paired with a “B” plate. Makes it more veratile than I have even thought when I bought it!

I’ve been busy trying to install Feedblitz for e-mail updates to my site for those who want them. It is not looking quite right yet but I do believe it IS working….I think. Just click on the Feedblitz tiny tab on the right sidebar and you can enter your e-mail address. This will give you an e-mail update everytime my blog is updated. I’m hoping that some kind soul will be the first to try it out for me! Thanks!

I just couldn’t resist making a card with my scraps. Thanks Lindsey for sending them my way!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Vellum - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers

Stamps: Everyday Flexible Phrases,

Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip - SU

Other: Oval Punch, circle punches, eyelets, brad, Crop-a-dile, Ribbon

I found the coolest libary card link on Sarah’s Kindred Spirits blog http://kindredspirits.typepad.com/ You can create your own personalized card at the following link http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/ These are just a few verses and thoughts that have been on my mind lately, helping me get through a hard time.

I decided to take a little stamping break yesterday morning while the little boys were behaving and everyone else was off skiing. I just love this Crate Avenue paper by Crate Paper. So elegant and so very flexible. I paired it up with So Saffron cardstock by SU and brought out one of my favorite flower stamp sets that has just not seen enough ink lately. I just love the Roses in Winter set, especially with the rock and roll inking technique. There are three stamps to make up the rose. The two largest layers were inked up with so saffron and the edges rolled in more mustard ink to give a soft look with lots of depth. The third layer is completely the more mustard. The leaves were stamped in Certainly Celery ink and the matching celery ribbon is available (as well as the Crate Paper) from Jacksonbelle. http://stores.ebay.com/Jacksonbelle-Embellishments

Yesterday was not a good day for me so I took a little time last night to stamp a card and relax. I love how stamping does that for me! Even fifteen minutes of creative time is just what I need to unwind. What is it that I like best? I’m not sure but I think that it is the act of creating some new, making something beautiful, putting a little piece of myself into everything I make. This is why you won’t find me joining any swaps…I just can’t DO it. Making more than one card the same would drive me crazy. Sometimes I do reuse a layout, repeat a concept but always in a different color scheme, different stamp set, different style. I love it that this hobby is so flexible! Give two different people the same paper, ink and stamps and you can get something entirely different. Actually that sounds like a very fun challenge! Perhaps you and a friend would like to take me up on it.

BLUSH BONJOUR - Misting Technique

I had this piece of the beautifu Basic Grey Blush paper sitting on my desk so that is what I went with. I believe this may be one of my favorite designs in the whole pack. I paired it up with scraps from my 6×6 paper pack of Basic Grey Blush. I just love how they released the exact same designs scaled down to 6×6 size from the 12×12. It is perfect for card designers like myself. I bought this paper from my favorite ebay store http://stores.ebay.com/Jacksonbelle-Embellishments Please note: I will be linking this store often as I buy a lot from Jacksonbelle. I am not affiliated with this site and do not profit from any purchases made there.

This stamping on this card is a very simple fun technique. I used a little flower cluster stamp from Stamping Up’s Happy Harmony set. I just love this darling image paired with great sentiments and the best thing was that I got it free as part of SU’s Sellebration promotion. The stamp is inked with markers and then sprayed lightly with water before making a impression on the paper. This is caled Misting. I “huffed” /breathed on it to moisten the stamp without reinking and made second and third impressions to get a faded overlapping look.

For 100 week’s now I have posted the Way’s to Use it Challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com The Ways to Use it Challenge is a product challenge where you are challenged to think of new ways to used products you may already own. Who doesn’t want to be more creative with their supplies. I’m always very flexible too! If you don’t own it…go faux! This week’s Challenge was to use something everyone viewing this has….the internet. For more details and the link to the challenge click here We have some great prizes this week for a few lucky participants, so feel free to join in the fun. Everyone is welcome!

Bella Smile

Who me? Blogging! I’ve surprised myself! But here I am and having fun. This blog is a papercraft gallery and design journal that I’d like to share with you. I started papercrafting about 5 years ago with scrapbooking and then moved into rubberstamping and card designing about 3 years ago. Lately I’ve been trying out new embellishments and rub-ons….I just love to try new things, new products, new ideas. I’m hoping you will enjoy the journey along with me. My main focus is usually rubber stamping. I love Splitcoaststampers.com and have an on-line gallery there.  To see my gallery there click hereFor the past 9 months I have been part of the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club Design Team! What a fabulous experience!

As for the name of my blog, Belle Papier….I took a few liberties with the French language. Belle Papier means pretty paper in French and I love the sound of the words themselves as well as pretty paper. In Canada, we have two lanuages, English and French. I only speak a small amount of high school French but I do have one boy in French Immersion. That being said, I DO know enough French to know that I have taken a little creative license with the grammar. Belle should actually be beau but it doesn’t sound quite as pretty.:) Seeing as this IS a creative blog….I’m sure you’ll allow me the small liberties.

This card was inspired by this beautiful Anna Griffin paper. I loved the rich European look to it and paired it up with Stampin’ Up’s beautiful stamp set. I love there Martinique Prima flowers….you will see them repeatedly in my design work! For the moment I just can’t get enough of them. I designed the vanilla stamped piece to be about the same size as an old-fashioned calling card. The bottom of black horizontal layer was distressed….unfortunately that detail was lost in the picture. Most of you who aleady know my work, know how much I love sewing. i just couldn’t resist adding a bit of freeform stitching to the top of this card.

 Supply List;

Paper: basic black, very vanilla - Stampin Up, Anna Griffin

Rubber Stamps:

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, old Olive - Stampin Up

Other: Prima flower, K & Company pearl brad, dotted Organdy ribbon - Michael’s, brads