Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Remember my blog comment woes? As picking my winner of the Birthday Celebration blog candy I offered up a chance to win to anyone who had their comment wiped out due to server upgrades. I ended up with only 12 responses so the odds were pretty good! I’ve actually never seen such a low number picked with the number generator! So….number two…you’re the winner of the surprise package.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2

And this is the winner…Kerry!

Hmmm.. I searched and didn’t find mine! Hope you had a wonderful birthday and are feeling better soon! I know you’ve been talking about your kitchen progress - but how’s your stamp room coming???

Thanks Kerry! Glad you tried again! Please e-mail me with your address! I did have a wonderful birthday and today I’m actually feeling human! As for that stamp room…it has drywall but that’s about it. The priority has been getting back into the kitchen. I’m thinking it will probably be June before we have a chance to start on it again as there is still a lot to do in the kitchen and then we want to finish a bedroom for my middle child. It’s that baby steps mentality…I need to keep focusing on what we get accomplished each day rather than being frustrated with how long it all takes.

Have a great weekend!

Well it seems with the blog server upgrades, that my comments are still MIA. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of a problem but in this instance, it means that almost half of my blog giveaway comments are gone. Since I have no way of knowing when they will appear, I’ve decided you’ve waited more than long enough! Here’s my solution! I’m drawing from the 108 comments I still have on that post. If your comment does not appear on that list meaning yours was wiped out…please comment again if you wish on THIS thread. I’ll choose another winner for some surprise goodies Friday morning. Sound fair? And so finally!….

The winner of my birthday celebration goodies is number 12. Please e-mail me with your address so I can get these on their way!

stampmonkey

Happy {belated} Birthday, Julia! Sorry to hear your celebrating consisted of hours of grouting tile, but at least now you’re a little closer to having a completed kitchen. Hopefully you were blessed with a birthday cake/pie/cupcake and happy hugs and wishes from your family and friends somewhere in the day as well. And thanks for sharing your special day with us by giving us the opportunity to win some cool goodies!

Apr 8, 3:33 PM — just edited to remove the delete links which actually deleted the original comment post because I thought huh? WHy can I click on this? Grrr… technology…I have a love/hate relationship with it!

Thanks so much everyone for the lovely birthday wishes! While I had a very busy birthday…my kitchen floor is now looking lovely and the kitchen is slowly coming together. As of Saturday night I finally had a working sink and dishwasher too. It is amazing how we take all these things for granted! Thanks also for all the great questions. I’ll be answering these as I can in the upcoming weeks.

Again…my apologies for the missing comments. It was totally out of my control. Good luck to those who don’t have comments on the original post.

Have a great night!

Julia

PS If you’ve been trying to get a hold of me…I’m working my way through my inbox. I’ve had a dreadful cold and am only functioning half the time.

Well…yesterday was my birthday and I’d like to celebrate.  Another year older and hopefully, another year wiser. I had planned on posting this last night but it just didn’t happen. Things got kind of crazy. The renovation doesn’t stop at this point as there is too much scheduled to take a night off. We were really busy grouting the tile until 11:30 before we called it a night. Sad thing is….we’re only half done so that will be tonight as well. But enough rambling. I’d like to celebrate with you today by sharing some goodies with you. You have until Thursday April 10th at 10 pm EST to comment on this thread to be entered to win. What to ask me a question…now’s a perfect time. Winner will be randomly chosen by an on-line number generator and will be announced Friday morning.

So what am I sharing? Some of my favorite things!

- package of 5×5″ Daisy D’s swatch papers

- one package of Prima flowers - Martini collection

-8 white embossed cards with envelopes

-a great misc. sampling from all my favorite Maya Road embellishments

Good luck!

Julia

It’s been awhile since I’ve had some Belles Bonbons on my blog. Again I’m shocked at how fast the time goes by! Four months to be exact. How can that be? And so…today instead of a Sunday {C’est Bon} entry…I’d like to spread a little love with you my readers! Thanks so much for stopping by each day. I truly appreciate each of you!

As for the details of this giveaway… I have two set of goodies to give away this week. To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this entry by Tuesday March 11th 10 pm EST and you’ll be in the draw. Winners will be posted on my blog Wednesday morning. Please only comment once to be fair to everyone! Thanks!

Belle Bonbons #1 … Basic Grey Two Scoops 6×6 paper pad and Two Scoops Chip Stickers + velvet ribbon not shown in pic

Belle Bonbons #2 …. So Many Sayings stamp set and Purely Pomegranate Dye ink from Stampin Up

Wishing you a fabulous day!

Do you like stamping? What to party? Do you love backgrounders…today’s post is for you! Cornish Heritage Farms is releasing SIXTEEN new backgrounders today. Designed by Lisa Strahl, you’re going to love these new background stamps. They are fabulous to work with and the perfect size for a card front. We’re also celebrating Lisa’s big 3-0 today. Happy birthday Lisa! Make sure you join us at the party today at Cornish Heritage Farms…so much fun, lots of stamping challenges and lots of great giveaways. Its all taking place in the CHF forums…right under the Fun Forums. Stop by, say hi and check it out.

I now it is a long way to scroll but check out the new backgrounders…gotta love them! I’ve got a few faves…which are yours?!

pAR

Wow! Thanks so much everyone for entering my Spreading a Little Christmas Cheer Card Kit giveaway! I had so much fun reading all the entries! What great Christmas ideas and traditions, recipes and and tips! I am SO in the Christmas spirit now. I just need to go back through with a notebook and write down all my favorite ideas. I’ve had Christmases where I was ultra-organized but sadly, the past few have been less than that! LOL With all these tips, I’m hoping to get started now. If you haven’t taken the time to read through the list of comments…you just may want to find a notebook and a coffee and sit down and enjoy all the fabulous ideas. I wish I could send you ALL a Christmas Card kit!

My first winner, the winner of the Basic Grey 6s6 Figgy Pudding pad and the Lizzie Anne Designs Joy to the World stamp set and a few other goodies, is number 135. Congratulations Lastel!

My second winner, of the Flourishes Peace stamp set, Figgy Pudding pad etc, is number 33 - Suzanne!

Please e-mail me ladies with your addresses and I’ll get these out to you ASAP! My e-mail link is at the top of the sidebar, right under my pic.

Thanks again to everyone who shared so many wonderful ideas! I love to hear from you! Have a wonderful day!

Today I just wanted to spread a little Christmas cheer. I have some goodies to share with you to help you get a head start on your Christmas cards! My little early Christmas gift to you! I love making Christmas cards and nothing is better than some new stamps and paper. I have two prizes to give away to two of my readers. How to enter? Christmas is such a fabulous time of the year but also a very busy one as well. I’d love to hear some of your tips for organizing for Christmas, any ways you make special memories, a great Christmas recipe…anything at all you wish to share. I can’t wait to read all your ideas! Please, one entry per person! You have until Tuesday November 13th at 10 am EST to enter. I’ll be announcing my winners shortly after. Winning entries will be chosen by a random number generator. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Good luck! Have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Card Kit #1

Joy to the World stamp set by Lizzie Anne Designs

6×6 paper pad of Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey

red velvet May Arts ribbon

snowflake brads

Christmas Card Kit #2

Peace stamp set from Flourishes

6×6 Figgy Pudding Paper Pad by Basic Grey

Red Velvet May Arts Ribbon

snowflake brads

Thanks so much to all of you who took part in my Gina K Make a Wish blog prize entries. WOW! I was so inspired reading all the wonderful things you all were doing! So many people going through hard times too. Sometimes it is so easy to feel so alone in it…I’m sure all the wonderful things that everyone was doing to help out, make someone’s day or just showing you cared really made a difference. I wish I could give you all the stamp set. You are ALL winners. Unfortunately…I only have one. And so, I used the www.random.org number generator to pick a winner. The winning number was number 46… Catherine. Congratulations Catherine! Please e-mail me with your address and I’ll get this in the mail for you as soon as I can! Catherine wrote…

Catherine

HAPPY 18 ANNIVERSARY :D! The nice thing that I did today, was make a meal that would last my parents a few meals and so my mom could focus on getting some rest and getting my father back up on his feet. Thanksgiving weekend my dad had a heart attack, one of his arteries on the back of his heart was clogged 99% and so he had a balloon thing done and also a stint put in. He is at home recovering, but felt they needed help in terms of meals :)!
Thanks for this chance at a great stamp set :), have a super day :)!

I wish you all a great evening! It has been another one of those days! A car had to be dropped off at the garage this morning, some major details sorted out pertaining to the renovation. I’m so excited that my stamping room is back on plan for this addition. It had been relegated to addition phase two but now what was going to be storage is now big enough to hold a small 8×8 foot space. It will be in the new basement but….it will be ALL MINE! So I’m pretty excited!

I know I just had a giveaway last week but…..I was so blessed to get two of this great Make a Wish stamp set, I’ve decided to share the wealth. It is such a darling set, so flexible! Perfect for so many occasions. Gina K released this set a couple months ago as her latest Stamps for a Cause set. $7.00 from each purchase of this set is being donated to the Make a Wish Foundation for children with life-threatening medical conditions.

I was so excited to be asked to be part of the design team for this set release. These sets are still available and will be for some time. To date over $3000 has been raised from purchases of this set. If you’d like to own this set and be part of the fundraising effort…make sure you visit the Stamps for a Cause site.

The Make a Wish set I’m giving away is the full wood block set of nine stamps…four images and nine sentiments. The set comes unmounted in a plastic case and you can mount it how you wish. For this stamp giveaway, I’m going to make you work for it! Don’t worry…not too hard. Just do something nice for someone today! Spread the love around a little. Send a card to let someone know you care, take them out for coffee, go fly a kite with a child, just pick up the phone to let someone know you care. It can be very simple…don’t stress. Leave a comment sharing what you did and you’ll be entered to win. I can’t wait to read all the comments. Just think how many people will be blessed. And you know what? Even if you don’t win, you’ll find that you will be blessed too!

Make sure you comment with what you did that was special for someone by Tuesday October 16th at 9 pm EST for a chance to win. I’ll announce the winner shortly after. Winner will be chosen by an on-line random number generator. Have a wonderful Sunday! It’s my 18th anniversary today and so, I’m taking today off! The {C’est Bon} entries will resume next Sunday. I guess {C’est Bon} that I spend today with my husband and family. LOL I just looked at this article…what a LOT of smilies! Have a happy day!

It’s Saturday and time for another simple design. You’ll have to forgive me…this card is one of my faves. It is simply beautiful…unfortunately…you’re going to have to trust me on this one because taking a picture of it was NOT so simple! I’ve tried and tried….sigh…. You’ll just have to use your imagination…or better yet…try it out for yourself!

Vellum Daisies

I’ve long been a fan of vellum cards….so soft and subtle…a little bit elegant and just that touch of uniqueness too. Try stamping on vellum with white craft or hybrid ink…gorgeous! I actually designed this card in September so I’m madly trying to think exactly which ink I did use. I think it was the cloud white Versamagic Ink by Tsukineko. It is specially designed to stamp on vellum.

For this design I used a smaller 4.25″ square format and stamped my cardstock vellum with the solid daisy stamp from the Daisy Dots set by Lizzie Anne Designs. In the center I added the circle stamp with the starburst shape.

The sentiment panel was then added by stamping the sentiment from the Au Naturale set onto a square of Soft Sky cardstock and then simply matted with white and then some more Soft Sky. Three little white brads were inserted in the top left corner for a subtle embellishment. I punched out a double flower from some vellum cardstock scraps and attached it to my card front with a simple silver eyelet.

Quick Tip: When working with subtle colors and design, make sure you keep your embellishments subtle as well so as to not overwhelm the design.

For the inside, I stamped the line daisy image onto a larger panel of whisper white cardstock and matted with Soft Sky cardstock. I stitched the panel to the inside of my card. When designing this panel…I created it just a little larger than my front panel so that when closed…the panel and stitching peeks subtlety through the vellum.

A Contest You Don’t Want to Miss!

Lizzie Anne Designs is having a card contest! You can check it out HERE. There is still time to enter and there are fabulous prizes to be won. Winner receives $50 Lizzie Anne Designs gift certificate, plus the new World Cardmaking Day set, PLUS your design featured in November’s newsletter. There are also going to be 10 runner-up prizes of the new WCD set so make sure you enter today. Hurry though…all entries must be received by Oct 28th. What are Meridith and Tricia going to do with all the cards? All entries will be donated to Cards for Cancer…what a great cause!

Wishing you a wonderful Saturday that is simply filled with beauty.