Hey there,

I hope you are all having a good start to the week! How fast did that weekend go? I enjoyed Saturday, and my Bella Blog Hop, but wow, I haven’t seem my in-box that full ever! 133 comments, and it was well overflowing. But that is a nice thing, I mean who doesn’t love a little comment love now and then right?

So I have been playing with a few sketches this past week…..I am a total challenge junkie! There are so many wonderful ones out there, I just wish I had time to sit and play with them all!

This weekend I worked on the Mojo Monday, Beate’s and Taylor’s Sketch, and whilst each of them where a little different, I was happy with the end result.

First off the Mojo Mondaysketch from last week. Funny thing was that I showed this card to my hubby Rod, and he goes, “Oh that is a real barn like card!” I then said, you mean rustic? Oh yeah that is what it is, he says. But then he goes on to say, “It has far too much bling if you ask me” ……Who even knew that he knew what the word bling was…..LOL! Well I have to give it to him, he is definitely learning the stamping lingo

So here first of is my “barn-like” creation:

For this one, I have used Teal, Vanilla, Mustard and Chocolate cardstock from Stampin’Up. The DSP is from My mind’s eye on the base. The stamp sets I have used is from Verve stamps, (the flowers) and the greeting is from the Wonderful Favourites stamp set from Stampin’Up. I have used some chocolate wide stitched ribbon and twine, along with large chocolate brads for embellishments.

Next off I made this creation for Beate’s sketch this week. At first I had no idea what to do for this one! You have to check out the sketch and you will know what I mean

For this creation I have used Bordering blue cardstock, and the Bella Bleau DSP both from Stampin’Up. The flower I created by stamping onto the dsp and then cutting 3 of them out and layered them on top of each other. I have dressed it up with a build a brad with a large half pearl in the centre. The detail at the top is the Eyelet border punch, and a strip of Kraft cardstock dressed up with some small half pearls. And last of all the ribbon is Vanilla taffeta ribbon from Stampin’Up and the greeting from Papertrey’s mega mixed messages stamp set stamped in Stazon ink.

Then last of all I made this creation with Taylor’s Sketch. I would never normally do a greeting cut up like that, but that is the good thing about challenges……they get you out of your comfort zone!

I have used Rose red cardstock, and the DSP is from Basic greys nook and pantry (cupcakes), and My minds eye (pink spotty). I have used Taylor’s, For the love of cupcakes stamp set for the cute cuppies. I coloured them in with my Copic markers, and dressed them up with a button each. The greeting is the Sweet little sentiments stamp set from Stampin’Up. I have also added some pink taffeta ribbon.

Thanks to Mojo, Beate, and Taylor for keeping me challenged and inspired over the weekend!

Have a great night!

Happy Saturday everyone!

I hope you are having a great start to the weekend! I have had a lovely afternoon of stamping today, singing with my iPod, and am feeling really relaxed!

Today Stampingbella is celebrating their 3rd birthday! To add to the fun they are having a Blog Hop, and I am happy to play along. NOW there is quite the list, I am numnber #81 in the Hop, and if you started at the beginning, you should have come to my website, from Terri.

I have made two cards for the Blog Hop. This first one is using the Lovebettle - HUGGABUGG stamp, which I have coloured it with my Copic markers on papertreys copic vanilla cardstock. The DSP I have used is from My mind eye, called Be loved. I have embellished with Chocolate gingham ribbon.

The second card I made is using my all time favbourite colour combo…..how could I resist ey? The base is Chocolate chip, and I have used Stampin’Up’s Sweet Always DSP.  The stamp is Cuppacakeabella, which I coloured with Copic markers. I have used my Nestabilities to cut out all the circles, and mounted with dimensionals, Lastly the greeting is Sweet little sentiments from Stampin’Up, and embellishments are the wide chocolate stitched ribbon from Stampin’Up layered with Regal rose grosgrain ribbon.

Okay from me you will want to head on over to Simone’s Blog next and see her Bella creation!

Have a great rest of the weekend gang!

Hey again!

Oh it has been fun doing all these new announcements the past few days! I feel like I have had all these secrets, and now I get to finally share them with you.

Along with our new Design Team member we have a new Guest Designer for the month of December and January. This past month we had the very talented and wonderful Tracey Old as our Guest Designer, and i want to say a very BIG thank you to Tracey for her efforts on the DT. I think Tracey had fun, as she said in an email to me this week, that if I was ever in need of a new DT member, she would certainly put her hand up! LOL! Thanks for that Tracey, and for inspiring us all each week in the month of November.

So like I said we have a new Guest Designer for Dec/Jan…..which also brings me to let you know that the DT and myself will be taking a wee break over Christmas from the Challenges. One more week after this one! I am sure you are happy about that too, as it really is the silly season, and whilst I am sure we would love to be stashed away in our stamping studios, the likely-hood of getting that time at Christmas is definitely going to be slim! There is so much fun activities at Christmas time, and I always love all the festivities!

I am very excited to introduce you to our Guest DT, the UBER talented Anthonette Chavezfrom California! You may have seen lots of Anthonette’s work whilst playing with Kristina Werner’s colour challenges, as I think she participated in every single one, often winning a place in the top ten picks each week! I have always LOVED Anthonette’s amazing creations, as she has an amazing ability to think outside the box!

Her is a little photo of Anthonette and her Bio:

My name is AnthonetteChavez. My blog is Chavez Designs. I live in the heart of Silicon Valley in California about 1 hour south of San Francisco. I’m originally from Taos, New Mexico. I moved to California after graduation from college. I”vebeen married to Enrique, a very sweet, creative, super technical engineer, for over 8 years. We have a 6-year old son, Kalino, who is the greatest gift ever. He loves everything related to robots. I’m a former Software Technical Writer. I worked for a large mainframe computer company for almost 14 years. I’m currently a full-time mom. I volunteer at Kalino’s school several days a week. I work in the school’s library once a week. I’ve been stamping for over 12 years. Rubber stamping became my true hobby when one of my best friends showed me a PSX rubber stamp catalog. I fell in love with all the stamps and the samples. Shortly after that, one of my coworkers became a Stampin’ Up demonstrator. We started going to craft shows and free demonstrations at stores. I was hooked. I love this hobby! Thanks for this fun opportunity, Keesh.

Please be sure to welcome Anthonette to the DT!

Okay so now all the announcements are done it is time to get to business with this weeks Challenge! This week we have a lovely Inspiration image to work with. If you love your girly colours, I am sure you will LOVE this one!

Here is the Inspiration image for you:

Isn’t this bedroom adorable?

Here is my inspired creation:

I actually skipped a lot of the green on this one, and used the flower with the love heart centre on the end of the bed spread as my inspiration. The product deets will be at the end of the post.

Be sure to go and check out the Design Team members creations and give them some comment love!

Dawn

Cindy

Kirsty

Renee

Chantelle

Sarah-Jane - Is on holidays, but will still try to play along!

Anthonette Chavez - Guest Designer

Want to play along? - here are some guidelines.

If you would like to play along, all you need to do is follow the directions:

1. Make your creation following the challenge ie, sketch, colour, or inspiration image.

2. Load your creation up onto your blog or a public viewing forum like Splitcoast Stampers, with a direct link back to the post on this website, so that others viewing the post will know where the challenge has come from, and it is courtesy to do so.

3. Then come back to this post so that you can add your name and link in the Mr. Linky!

You have until the Thursday the 10th December midnight to get your entries linked.

I will be announcing the winner and honourable mention on Friday the 11th December in the afternoon.

I hope you have lots of fun with this one, and I look forward to seeing your creations!!!

Hey Peeps,

As you may remember a couple of weeks ago we had the sad news that our very talented Design Team member Amy Fleming was stepping down from the DT to give some more time to her family. Whilst we are really sad to see her go, we wish Amy all the very best with her new ventures, and thank her so much for her time on the DT and for inspiring us each week with her AMAZING creations!!!

When one leaves we need a replacement, and I am soooo very excited to introduce you to our newest Inkspirations Design Team Member, the very lovely and most talented Dawn Easton! Dawn is from Edmonton, Canada (that country has some serious talent!!!) and has so much stamping talent she is sure to blow us away each week with her creations!

Here is a gorgeous pic of Dawn, and her Bio:

Hi, my name is Dawn and I’m a stamping addict! I’ve been stamping for about 5 years and can’t imagine ever giving up this hobby. Each day I like to sit down and create. It used to be something I did to pass the time but now that I’ve gone back to work full time, it’s more of a form of relaxation. I was so excited when Keesh asked me to join the DT! I’m a challenge junkie, just like most of you) I’m always inspired by all the creativity out there and I hope that you will find some inspiration in what I create.

You can view all of Dawn’s fabulous work on her blog Treasure Oiler Designz. Be sure to welcome her to the Team, and give her some comment love!

Welcome Dawn!

Hey everyone,

WOW, after my personal post yesterday, I have been truly touched by so many of you that have left me comments or emailed me personally! At times I even had tears running down my cheeks, as my heart was so touched by the many things you have said. I really don’t know how to Thank you, other than using those very words. All your encouragement, congratulations and support have really touched me, and made me feel really confident to keep going forward in the new directions we are taking as a family!

I will endeavour to keep inspiring you all, and sharing my creations, no matter where I live, but it certainly makes it far more enjoyable and worthwhile when I know you love it, and leave me comment love and support!

So a very big

THANK YOU!

Now I am the one to usually pick the Challenge winner each and every week, however the Inkspirations Design Team are going to help mix it up each month! The last friday of the month, one of the Design Team members are going to pick that weeks Challenge Winner and Honourable mention! It is sooooo hard for me to pick sometimes, and this way we have a variety of choices!

This week we have the adorable and most talented Cindy Major checking out all your fab creations, and doing the picking! I just know Cindy had good taste, so we will LOVE what she picks out.

Since Cindy will be hosting the Challenge winner picks, you will be able to view the picks, and slide show on her blog this week! So be sure to go and check it all out HERE!

Now I did also make another wee creation with this weeks colours, and I haven’t had the chance to show it to you yet! Here it is, using that colours from the challenge, Pumpkin pie, Real red, Taken with teal, and Whisper white……hope you likes

For this creation I have used all Stampin’Up cardstock and embellishments. The background stamp is Polka dot from Stampin’Up an the main image stamp is from Taylored Expressions, coloured with my Copic markers, and dressed up with some glitter.

Okay be sure to head to Cindy’s website to see who won this week’s challenge, and I will be back in a moment to introduce you to our newest Guest Designer, and brand spankin new Design Team Member!!! WOO HOO!