Christmas in July for Elisabeth Bell's World

Oh, there's something refreshing about Christmas in July!  Just the thought of it kind of breaks up the year and gets me thinking about all the things I need to get done before the actual holiday gets here!  This challenge over at Elisabeth Bell's World is themed Christmas in July.  I love older things and decided to pull out one of my all time favorite Christmas paper and stamp to ink up.  Hope you enjoy them!

This is Star of Bethlehem from Belles n' Whistles and it's currently not available.  I hope these images can come back because they're just so enchanting and I loved every single one of them.  I fell in love with this stamp when it first came out.  It was for our first Christmas release and gosh, I just love the serenity and innocence here.

When I decided to use this one, I knew exactly the paper I wanted to use, an older paper pack from BasicGrey called Wassail.  I actually won this from my dear stamping idol, Suzanne Dean, and I am very fussy about when I use it!  These adorable baby dolls are colored with copics and I added some Stickles to the star, garland, and to the bear and gown of the youngest cutie pie. I did just a touch of Diamond Glaze on the ribbon in the oldest's hair.  The poinsettia and Christmas ball are from Prima and the ribbon and pearls are from Cloud 9.

Don't they look just too adorable parading the Star of Bethlehem around?

I think these are two of the prettiest babies that Ms. Bell has ever created!

Here's a couple more looks before I leave you.

I hope you'll come on over to Elisabeth Bell's World and join in on our challenge.  We love to see what you create and with the temperatures rising, I think everyone deserves to cool off with a little bit of holiday spirit!  Have a great day!

New Beginnings for Children with Bubbles for Elisabeth Bell's World

I love this theme for this month's challenge over at Elisabeth Bell's World!  Who doesn't like new beginnings?  I have had a bazillion new beginnings in my life and can only imagine how many some of you have had.  It's renewing and the possibilities are endless.  For me, that's the magic of starting over.  Sometimes it ends up good, sometimes not so much.

Children have new beginnings just about every day.  I'm learning more and more since I've been spending so much time with Allie.  Sometimes children aren't quite sure as to what to do with new starts and new friends.  One thing I've found out is that for kids, a bottle of bubbles is just the thing to break the ice.  Who doesn't love bubbles?  Come on, admit it.  We all blow the first bubbles when we open up a bottle for the kids!  It connects us all together.  I love it when kids take their bubbles to a guy to open.  Even men can't resist releasing the first opaque circles in the air from a new bottle of bubbles!

This is Bubbles from Elisabeth Bell for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design and I think she's everything good and sweet in children!  She's colored with copics and the papers are some of my favorite from BasicGrey and Imaginisce.  The border was made using a scallop edger from Stampin Up, the ribbon is from Hero Arts, the gems are from Studio G and the flowers are a mix of Recollections and home made.  The die cuts I used are from Nestbilities.  Of course, I used some Stickles on the bubbles and her sweet shirt!

Here's a closer look at this sweet thing!  I absolutely love her and can see her slowly letting down her guard and making new friends.

Make sure to stop over at our blog and see the fabulous projects that my designing sisters have for you.  All of their projects just make my jaw drop and I can't believe that I get to design with such great talents!  Come on and show us your new beginnings!  Someone is going o be lucky enough to win a couple of really sweet stamps from on of the ever talented Ms. Elisabeth Bell!  Hope it's you!

A Sweet Emma from Elisabeth Bell for Susana's Custom Art and Card Designs

Sometimes I think you just need to go back and revisit some good times in your life.  In my creative life, it brings me back to when I first saw a Whiff of Joy stamp that Elisabeth Bell had designed and I fell into instant love!  There was such a sweetness and purity about her designs and I knew they were for me!  One of the happiest times for me was when I was first started on a couple of design teams and Susana's Custom Art and Card Designs was one of my first design teams and I absolutely loved it!  In got to work with some wonderfully creative people, some of the best in our field, Suzanne Dean, Danni Bindel and lots of others.  When I heard we were going to be doing of of Elisabeth's brand new lines, I was so ecstatic that I jumped up and down and yelled and hollered!  Crazy, it may have been, but I just couldn't believe my good luck.

For our challenge over at Elisabeth Bell's World Challenge Blog, Lynda has challenged us with a theme of "April Showers Brings May Flowers", and asked us to use lots of flowers and springtime colors.  I pulled out my sweet "Emma", who is one of the gorgeous images from that first release with Susana's Custom Art and Card Designs.  You can see all of Elisabeth's available stamps at Susana's shop here.

She's still one of my all time favorite images of all time!  I love her innocence and sweetness.  She's colored with copics and has some stickles on her pants and top, and some Diamond Glaze on her headband and ribbon on her top  She's cut out and framed with Nestabilities and the gorgeous papers are from My Mind's Eye.  The ribbon and pearls are from my stash and the flowers are handmade and I added some Martha Stewart branches to her.

Here's a couple of close ups of this cutie pop.  I could just eat her up!  I am going to enter her into the following challenges:

Link Up For Pink - Breast Cancer Awareness, inspirational, healthy reminders, "celebrate more birthdays", you're in my thoughts, encouragement, etc.
Crafting by Design - Anything Goes
Nutcrafters - Anything goes
365 Cards - Soft
Color Throwdown - color challenge
Creative Card Crew - handmade flowers

Stop over at our Elisabeth Bell's World Challenge Blog and see the beautiful creations my sisters have come up with for your viewing enjoyment.  Inspiration and flowers and spring colors are popping up all over the place over there!  Hope everyone has a fabulous, springy day!

Carrie Princess Thoughtful Breeze for Elisabeth Bell's World Challenge!

It's time for another challenge over at Elisabeth Bell's World Challenge Blog!  Gosh this one was fun!  We had a fabulous sketch to work with and I had a blast with it!

I used Carrie Princess Thoughtful Breeze from Elphine House Austrailia by Elisabeth Bell and I think she's an absolutely stunning cutie pop!  I was in Atlanta this weekend to spend some time with Nichole, Branden, and my sweet Lainie Loo and I put her together while I was waiting for them to arrive and check in!  

She's colored with copics and I added stickles to her top, pocket and flowers in her hair.,  The papers are from a My Mind's Eye pack and the pearls, big circle flower behind the image, and flowers are from Recollections.  

Here's a close up of her sweet face.  I just love that thoughtful, dreaming look she has in her eyes.  I'd love to know what's weighing on her mind!

Make sure to stop over at the Elisabeth Bell World Challenge Blog and see the fabulous creations my fellow designing buddies have come up with to inspire you.  They're simply stunning!  I really hope you join us and I can't wait to see your take on this fun sketch!

Sweet Love for Elisabeth Bell's World

There's just something about Valentine's Day. Whether you're in love or not, you can always find someone who is special enough to make you think sweetly and lovingly of them on February 14th! It's that time over at Elisabeth Bell's World to share a new challenge and some inspiration and how appropriate to work up a vintage valentine! I used "Sweet Love" that Elisabeth designed for Belles n' Whistles and while it's not available, it's still one of my all time favorites of her designs. This sweet couple is colored with copics and I cut out the hearts and distressed the edges of them. The papers are from an old K&Company paper pack. The flowers are from Recollections and I added lots of stickles all over so this sweet couple could shine on their special day! Make sure to stop over at our blog and see all the fabulous works of art that my designing sisters have come up to share with you all! Make sure to join in. There's always someone valentine worthy!