Happy New Year!!!

Hello and thanks for stopping by! Hard to believe it's the last day of 2014! I hope you have a fun time planned for today. I will be spending it with my family at home, playing games, eating and watching New York :-)

First up is a quick card I created last night using the stamp set "Christmas Scene Builder" from Whimsy's SC designs.

I simply stamped the sentiment 3 times, but only inking it once. Next I used the starburst stamps (there are two - one slightly smaller than the other one), and randomly stamped onto the card stock using SU and distress inks. The little dots are also from the same set. Finished it off with a little glitter and some sequins.

The next card I meant to share some time ago, but somehow I just noticed it was sitting in "draft" mode, so I decided to share it today. 

It is a Christmas card I made using stamps from the Whiff of Joy Winter Stamp kit.

This is also my last Whiff of Joy creation as a Designer. It has been a fun year creating with the cute and gorgeous stamps from their exclusive Stamp Kits, and I am very lucky I got to add each one of these kits to my stamp collection. The image has been fussy cut after coloring. Sentiment is part of the set. I simply embellished with some ribbon and gold glitter. 

And that is all from me for today.

Wishing all my followers and visitors a

Happy and Healthy New Year 2015!

Looking forward to another crafty year with you!

Whiff of Joy Christmas Inspiration

Happy Thursday! 

I  just noticed that my post wasn't scheduled, it was sitting in "draft" mode instead, so I am posting this a little bit late than I should have.

It was my turn to share something today on the Whiff of Joy blog, and since I just recently received my Winter stamp kit, I decided to share two cards.

First up is the very cute Henry the mouse as an angel.

He has been stamped onto copic xpress blending card and colored with copic markers. Other papers/card stocks are all from SU. I finished it off with a little bit of glitter and some twine. Sentiment is part of this cute set. As you can see, I also stamped a design onto the kraft card stock using stamps from the kit. 

Here is my second card, using the cute Henry as a shepherd.

Copics on xpress blending card were used again, and I fussy cut the image. The pinecone embellishment is also a stamp from this kit, as is the sentiment. Papers are all from my stash

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Believe in the Magic of Christmas

Happy St. Nicholas' Day!

I just recently received my Whiff of Joy Winter Stamp kit - my last one as a Designer for WOJ - and luckily I found some time yesterday to play :-) 

And since today is actually St. Nicholas Day, I decided to share this card with you. 

It's been stamped onto copic blending card and colored with copic markers. Sentiment is part of this cute stamp kit. It was a available as a pre-order only, I don't think it is available anymore. 

The card has been kept pretty simple. I just simply distressed the edges and added some gold cord.

What about you, do you celebrate St. Nicholas Day? Here in America my kids get a little bit of candy and usually also a pair of gloves, or maybe some fun warm socks left in their boots by the front door. When I was a child, growing up in Europe, it was quite different. St. Nicholas, we called him "Nicholaus", would actually come to our house on the evening of December 6th. I remember I had to sing a song and say a poem, then he gave us some candy and walnuts.  It was always a day I couldn't wait for although I was always scared to death of him :-)

I'd love to play in these challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. -  Christmas
Divas by Design -  Festive

 Paper Shelter Challenge -Special Celebration

Sisterhood of Crafters  - Santa Claus

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great Saturday, and I'll be back bright and early tomorrow with a new card. 

Happy Autumn Days

Almost a week into November now, fall has surely arrived here in the midwest. Not much longer until snow, I think...

I wanted to share another card made with Whiff of Joy's Fall stamp kit before the season is over. Isn't Henry adorable playing in the leaves? That's always been a favorite thing to do in fall!

He's been colored with copic markers. Not sure why, but somehow the marker  kept bleeding out of the line :-(  I am just not having too much luck recently with my copics. Might have to do more pencil coloring again, if this keeps up.

All sentiments are from WOJ's fall stamp kit. Papers from stash. I simply embellished with twine and a button to complete the card.

I'd love to play along here:

Loves Rubber Stamps - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly W -  Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash - Leaf Me Alone  (use leaves)

Try It On Tuesday - Colors of Autumn 

Thanks so much for visiting, and don't forget, you can now pre-order your Winter 2014 stamp kit from Whiff of Joy! 

Too Cute to Spook

I am back again with another card. Today is my turn to post to the Whiff of Joy blog, and today's theme there is "Scrap your stash".

I don't even want to tell you how many designer paper scraps I have, it's ridiculous - not to mention ribbon scraps and old unfinished card scraps that I have been wanting to take apart....but I was so afraid that I wasn't going to find much Halloween themed paper. I was so wrong, as I found plenty and so I remembered a card sketch I saw which used  several designer paper scraps, and so I created the card following that sketch.

I only used 3 different designer papers, although I found plenty more I could have used. But I wanted to just focus on the colors I used for coloring the cute image. 

By the way, my little squares are just 1x1 inch each, so this sketch really is perfect for all those small paper pieces you have left over from other projects.

The cute image is from Whiff of Joy's Fall Stamp Kit (Kit No. 3). It's been colored using copic markers and fussy cut. Sentiment and leaf stamped over the sentiment are also part of the cute kit. I added some diecut bats to my card to finish it off. 

Playing along here:

Bloggers -  Halloween
Fairy Tale -  Happy Halloween
Keep It Simple! -  Use things 3 times
Simply Create Too- Halloween or Use Lots of Orange

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you liked the card I created using my scraps. 

Enjoy your day!!

Trick or Treat

Today's card was made using one of the cute stamps from Whiff of Joy's Fall Stamp Kit (Stamp kit No. 3). I don't think this stamp kit is available for purchase anymore (as it is only available through pre-order.) But do keep an eye open for the next stamp kit, the winter stamp kit. I am sure it is going to be just as cute as the the first 3 stamp kits of the year.

 

It has been along time since I used my Derwent coloursoft pencils, and also a long time since I colored on kraft card stock, so I decided to use them again on today's card. These pencils used to be my favorite coloring medium at some point, and I very much enjoyed  using them again!

The sentiment is part of the stamp kit. Designer paper from my stash, I believe it is by Basic Grey. Simply embellished with some twine.

I would love to play along in the following challenges:

Sweet Pea Stampers - - All Creatures Big and Small 
4 Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes
Art Impressions Stamps Challenge -Orange, Purple and Black Challenge
Mod Squad Challenge - Sweets

Autumn Greetings

Well, it's September, not quite Fall yet, but everyone at the house already has a cold :-( On top of that my cat Thomas isn't feeling well...wish there was something I could do for him. He has been sleeping/resting all day, and acting strange and maybe in pain since he came home last night, although he usually is up and running around all day and very vocal. Just hope he and all of us will feel better tomorrow...

  I finally have something new to share using a the new - Fall - Stamp Kit by Whiff of Joy. Another super cute stamp kit, with several cute "Henry the mouse" stamps, some little matching accessory stamps and then of course it also includes matching sentiments too. 

Image has been stamped onto xpress blending card and then colored with copic markers. Designer papers are from an old 6x6 paper pack by MME.

The little leaf and lady bug and the sentiment are both part of the set. 

I simply embellished with a little flower and rhinestone, and did some stitching.
 Here is a close-up, sorry about the blurry photo.

I would love to play along along here:
Simon Says Stamp -   Stamp (no digi)
Penny's Paper-Crafty - Anything goes
Artistic Stampers -  Autumn Colours
Bastel-Traum - animal motifs
Thanks for visiting!

Whiff of Joy - monthly project

Finally I have a Whiff of Joy card to show you. The Stamp kit no. 3 had been a bit delayed, I didn't receive it in time to create a "back to school" card for our monthly project on the Whiff of Joy blog. So I decided to use the Summer Stamp kit and create a card in the shape of a chalkboard/easel.

The sentiment has been heat embossed. Image was stamped onto mixed media card stock, and colored with watercolors and pencils. It's been adhered onto the card with dimensionals. 

I embellished with red cord and some sequins. 

All stamps are from Whiff of Joy's Stamp Kit No. 2. Sadly the stamp kit was available as a pre-order only, and can no longer be purchased. But I do believe that you can now pre-order stamp kit no. 3. I did receive my design team kit no. 3 in the meantime, and I can say that it is another super adorable kit. I already have one of the cute images colored, and will be creating a card with it soon! Sorry I wasn't able to show you any sneak peeks.

I would love to enter my card to the following challenges:   

My Craft Spot - Back to School
Lexi's Creations - Back To School 
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes

Going Grey With Scrap-Creations -Back To School

Thanks so much for visiting!

 Have a great weekend!!

By the Sea

Today I am sharing a card created with stamps from the Whiff of Joy Number 2 stamp kit. I've had so much fun coloring up these cute images from the stamp kit.  Hopefully you had a chance to pre-order this kit. All the  stamps are so very cute, and matching sentiments were included too!  It's too late to order the kit now, but keep your eyes open, soon the pre-order starts for the secret stamp kit Number 3. I know I am already looking forward to it!

The image has been stamped onto xpress blending card using memento black ink, then colored using copic markers. It's been fussy cut. The beach and sea were cut out using some very old templates that I've had forever. 

For the half circle background added some gesso to the light blue designer paper, and stamped one of the sentiments all over it using very light ink. Then  I layered it onto a circle doily diecut. 
I did some sewing around the edges, added a matching strip of card stock, and then the anchor with some twine. The anchor was also stamped onto xpress blending card, colored with copics and cut out. It is part of this cute stamp kit. 

And that would be all from me for today. Thanks so much for visiting. 
Hope you have a fabulous day!!

More Beachy Things

I colored some more images from the Whiff of Joy No. 2 kit (Summer Kit) and had some time today to make it into a card. I wanted to create a beachy scene so I used a couple different mediums for it.

I started out with a piece of designer paper from basic grey as my background paper. But I applied gesso to it so now the pattern is barely there (it's the light, dark and black swirly things that you see.) 

Next I held a chickenwire stencil over the paper and spritzed some dylusions over it (top corner). I tore some craft card stock, and some blue designer paper to create the "beach" on the bottom part. Stamped a tiny dots stamp over the kraft cardstock for a sandy impression. 

Images  have been colored  using copics on xpress blending card and then fussy cut. The sentiment which is part of the Summer stamp kit has been cut apart and then adhered onto my card front. I layered the card front onto white card stock and then island indigo. I added a little bit of cheesecloth behind the white card stock.

Here is another view. 

Would love to play along in these challenges:

Mixed Media Monthly (this is a brand new challenge blog which I was so happy to discover as I am pretty new to mixed media), their theme this month is spray inks - I used dylusions.

At Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge -the challenge is for the boys. I think this makes a great masculine card. 

 Outdoors is the challenge at Fussy and Fancy . At Penny's Paper-Crafty the theme is Bears or Mice (I used the cute Henry the mouse as my focal image). Masculine is the theme at Stampin' Royalty. And then at City Crafter Challenge this week's theme is Nautical.

                                                         Thanks so much for visiting!
                                   I hope you'll have a fun-filled weekend with lots of sunshine!

Near the Sea...

Today I am sharing another card made with the Summer Whiff of Joy stamp kit. I decided to go for a one-layer card with a watercolor wash background. 

I very rarely make one-layer cards. They may look simple but it is so hard not to mess it up! Being a very messy papercrafter doesn't help either. I actually had to trim some card stock off the edges because I ended up with ink marks.

I started out by masking all the edges of my watercolor card using post-it notes. Then I started to create my watercolor background. Since hubby has his expensive watercolors in his car (and he is at work) I ended up using my children's crayola watercolor paints for the background. I first made the bakground wet using a clean brush. Then I added the watercolor. I used a darker color on the bottom portion. Before removing the post-it notes, I flicked some more color onto the background.

The image has been colored with copic markers and fussy cut. I cut the waves and clouds away so I simply stamped the image onto my background before adhering the fussy cut image. 

Sentiment is part of the Summer Stamp kit. I finished it off by simply adding some twine.

I hope you had a chance to pre-order the kit. There are so many fun image included, plus matching sentiments.Already looking forward to the Fall stamp kit, but it is going to be a little while before it will be available :-)

Playing along here:

4 Krafty Girlz -  Anything Goes
Delightful Challenges - It's a Guy Thing
Addicted to Stamps and More -   Coloring
Crafty Creations -  Use something that begins with "S" (I used a seagull image)
Creative Moments -  Anything goes/twine (2nd week)

Sweet Stamps - No Designer Paper
Card Mania - Clean & Simple
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge -One of the Guys Big or Small

Thanks for visiting!

Whiff of Joy - Summer Stamp Kit

Happy Friday!

A couple days ago I received my Whiff of Joy summer stamp kit, and of course I couldn't wait to start coloring! Such adorable stamps in this kit! I apologize for not showing any sneak peeks this time, but shipping was delayed and since my printer just smears when using copic xpress card, I had to wait for the rubber stamps to arrive. 

I used dylusions spray inks, gelatos and gesso to create the sea and sky. Then I stamped some old SU stamps around the image panel. 

The cute whale and Henry image was stamped onto copic xpress blending card using memento tuxedo ink and then colored with copic markers. Then fussy cut. 

Sentiment is part of this awesome kit, which includes several large image stamps and several sentiments. Designer paper is from SU. I sewed the edges, added a button with some matching red twine and adhered it onto a white card front. 

I'd love to play along here:

Brown Sugar –  Anything Goes
Jo's Scrap Shack -  Life's a Beach
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
4 Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps and More -   Anything goes
Papertake Weekly- Ohhh So Cute!

Top Tip Tuesday -  Here Comes Summer  
MarkerPOP Challenge -  Anything Goes with markers
Cupcake Inspirations - Nautical **

Thanks so much for visiting!

 Hope you have a wonderful day filled with lots of sunshine!

Whiff of Joy - Tag, you're it

Happy Tuesday and thanks for stopping by! Today is my turn to share something on the Whiff of Joy blog, and since it's a Tuesday it's "Tag you're it" day.

For "Tag you're it" day the Design Team member is to look around the web for a tag creation using whiff of joy products and then ask the designer's permission to use their creation for inspiration on the Whiff of Joy blog.

Below is my tag using a stamp from the Spring Secret Stamp kit, that is sadly no longer available now. But you can now pre-order the Summer stamp kit, which I am sure it just as adorable, although I haven't seen it yet. 

I colored the image using copic markers. The blue paper in the back is actually a basket style coffee filter, that I inked up using dye inks. You can read about the technique that I used HERE. Fun and very messy :-) After the ink dried on the filter, I stamped the music note onto the paper using gesso.

The circles were cut using a die from Whimsy stamps, as you can see I only used parts of the die on the right side and the top left. This time I stamped the music note image onto the white paper using very light turquoise ink. And sponged it a little bit using turquoise ink.

The sentiment was also cut into a tag, and tied onto my sparkly tinsel ribbon with some twine. Both the music note and sentiment are part of the spring stamp kit. I added some lace, glitter and a few rhinestones for some sparkle.

Of course I wanted to show you the gorgeous tag that inspired my creation. It was made by the amazingly talented Alice. I am sure many of you are familiar with her work, if not be sure to visit
 her blog. She created the tag below a few years ago. I simply fell in love with the sketch and of course her coloring is simply stunning.

I would love to play along in a few challenges as well:

Addicted to Stamps and More -   Anything goes 
Crafting By Designs -  Anything goes
Crafting for all Seasons - Ribbons and Lace
Simon Says Stamp - Animals

Have a great day and thanks for visiting!

PS: Don't forget - the Secret Stamp kit No. 2 is now available for pre-order!!

Tweet Follow @ellibelle76

WordPlay Saturday - March Challenge

Happy Saturday and thanks for stopping by! 

It is already the second saturday of the month, and that means it's time for a new wordplay saturday challenge here on my blog.

But first it's time to announce last month's winner. Random.org chose # 33.

That is kbrandy4.

Congratulation, please email me (ellibelle_blog at yahoo dot com) your mailing address so I can get your prize mailed to you.

-----------------------

 I have decided that this month's challenge will be the last one for now. It has been a long long winter and I am really looking forward to warmer weather and a little more time outside.
Thank you everyone for your support and for playing along in my challenges over these last 12+ month!!

For this month the challenge word I have chosen is...

Anything.

So anything goes this month, just be sure it is something new and not backlinked.

Here is what I made.

 For my card I used one of the Henry the Mouse stamps from the 

Spring Whiff of Joy secret stamp kit. 

The kit was only available for pre-order and cannot be ordered any longer. 

But soon the Summer Stamp kit will be available for pre-order, and as soon as I get my kit I will be showing some sneak peeks.

This month I am giving away this adorable stamp from Whimsy - Love you Mice, from my personal collection, so it has been slightly used.

I will select a random winner on Saturday, April 12.

To play along this month simply link up your creation below.

Tweet Follow @ellibelle76

Whiff of Joy -Tutorial Thursday

Today is my turn to share something on the Whiff of Joy blog (my very first time), and since today's theme is Tutorial Thursday, I am showing you a few step by step photos on how to do the marbling technique using Shaving Cream. This is also my first time ever doing a step by step tutorial, and I have to admit I was a little bit nervous.

This is a photo of what you need: 

regular shaving cream (not the gel kind)

2 - 3 re-inkers (I used SU, but you can also use distress inks, memento, etc.)

white heavy weight card stock or glossy card stock

plate

mixing utensil

paper towels (not pictured)

Step one:

Place some shaving cream onto your plate.

Add 2 to 3 drops of each color onto the foam.

Step 2

Using your mixing device mix is slightly to create a texture. 

Tip: Don't mix it too much or it will all turn one color. 

Step 3

Now place your  card stock onto the shaving cream. 

Move it around to cover the whole front with cream.

When you are done it will look like this.

Step 4

Using a paper towel start wiping the shaving cream off of the card.

When finished it will look like this. 

I made two pieced, and note how there is a different pattern on each. 

 The papers do curl up a bit, and you have to let them dry for a few minutes. Be sure to use strong adhesive when adding to your projects. I used my regular liquid glue (tombow mono multi).

Finally here is my completed project using the super cute Henry Mouse with Guitar from the
 new 2014 Whiff of Joy Spring stamp kit. I hope some of you were able to pre-order this cute kit.

Henry has been colored using copic markers. As you can see, I used the little music note stamp on my background paper for some extra texture. Added a few scraps, and a little button to finish it off. And of course I love sewing on cards, so I have included some sewing here too.

I hope I have inspired you to try this shaving cream technique. It's so super easy and fun to do. Something I learned way back when I first started stamping years ago at a stamping class.

And here a little close up. The sentiment and the music note stamp are also both from the same kit.

Have a fabulous day!!

Products used:

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Spring 2014 stamp kit

Inks: SU re- reinkers, memento black

Papers: SU, recollections 110lb, designer paper from stash

Embellishments: button, twine

Life is a song...

Finally is time to share a complete creation using one of the cute Henry the Mouse stamps from Whiff of Joy's Spring stamp kit. Absolutely love this kit, as it is musical themed, and I didn't have any music themed stamps besides a large background stamp. And it's perfect to use for those hard to make masculine cards, especially for guys who don't fish, hunt or love race cars.

All stamps I used here are from the kit -  the mouse itself, the music note and sentiment on the white circle, and then the sentiment itself. 

I colored the image using copic markers. Cut out with my cutterbee scissors.  Designer paper is from MME. The polka dotted paper is washi tape. I did some sewing, and added some twine too.

I'd love to enter my card to the following challenges:

 Inklings and Yarns where  Anything Goes

Craftitude where the theme is Anything Goes or Hit The Right Note (Music Themed)

 Color Me Creative Challenge where anything Goes

Crazy 4 Challenges  it's inspired by Music

This stamp kit was only available for pre-order until the Feb. 14th, and you can now no longer purchase it. But the good news is,  in just a little over a month there will be a brand new secret stamp kit for you to pre- order. I personally can't wait to see the next kit, I am sure it will be just as much fun! 

Be sure to stop by the Whiff of Joy blog today, where you will see what the rest of the Stamp Kit contributor's created with the kit.

 

Another little sneak peek

Time is almost up to pre-order the Spring Whiff of Joy Secret Stamp Kit, so I thought I'd post another little sneak peek.

The kit can only be pre-ordered until February 14th, after that it won't be available to order any longer. Here is the direct link to the kit in the Whiff of Joy shop. The kit will then ship to you on March 3rd. So many cute Henry the Mouse stamps in the kit, along with matching sentiments and a few smaller fitting stamps.

Finally another little sneak peek

I really wanted to post this a lot sooner, but somehow got hit with a bad case of no mojo, probably from this awful weather and school cancellations because of it, but finally today I just decided to sit down and get creative. I can't show you my whole creation yet, as this is a secret stamp kit, but here is a little more of the image for you to see. 

As I mentioned before, this secret kit will only be available for pre-order. And pre-order is only available until February 14th. The kit contains 6 large Henry images and several several sentiments to go with the images. It's so cute and fabulous!! If you'd like more sneak peeks, you might find them in my Stamp Kit Contributer Design Team mates blogs, listed on my side bar. 

And that is all I have to share today, I think I am off to do some more coloring.

Have a great day everyone!

A little Whiff of Joy Sneak Peek

I just got my Whiff of Joy Spring Secret Stamp kit in the mail yesterday, and of course I couldn't help but start coloring. Such cute stamps in this kit!! Wish I could show you, but it is secret. I haven't finished the card yet, but took a little sneak peek photo of the coloring.

Finished fussy cutting too, so I might turn him into a card later today. And maybe I'll add another little sneak peek soon.

Don't forget you can only pre-order the kit until February 14th, after that you cannot get it any longer. The kit includes 6 different super cute Henry the Mouse stamps, some matching sentiments and a few little accessories too. The stamps come on a 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of rubber.

The kit can be pre-ordered here in the Whiff of Joy shop.

Can you guess what Henry is up to here??

Whiff of Joy News-- Get Excited!!

Good Morning and a happy Thursday to you all!! Hope your are staying warm wherever you are!
It has warmed up a little over here, not much, but at least we are no longer at record lows. We actually had a water pipe freeze monday morning, luckily I convinced my husband that we do need to call a plumber since we wouldn't find the frozen pipe, and the plumber fixed the problem pretty fast.
It was awful though not having running water for a few hours, and I don't even want to imagine the mess if the pipe would have busted.

Again, no card today, but I have some very exciting news!!

You can now subscribe to the new Whiff of Joy  Stamp kit!
 I don't have mine yet but it will ship next week! Can't wait to show you some sneak peeks!!
The first kit will ship to costumers the first week of March.

Here is a photo of last year's 4 kits, and I heard that they are going to be even more gorgeous this year!!

Here is what is posted about the kits in the WOJ store :

1. Our delightful stamp kits are illustrated by the amazing, international illustrator Alison Acton: Have a look at her work HERE. The stamp kits will be "Henry the mouse" themed.
2. Never miss one of our fantastic, cost-saving stamp kits by subscribing now!!
3. NEW!!!
   You can subscribe to our quarterly stamp kits throughout the entire year. Your subscription always starts with the next stamp kit due after we received your first payment.
4. unlimited duration

Happy Stamping!!