Blog Candy

I would like to wish everyone a very healthy , peaceful and happy New year!!

I am so excited that I am almost at 10,000 hits and would like to celebrate by offering an amazing Blog Candy to one random person, and all you have to do, is leave me a comment and tell me what your New Year's resolution is. Please spread the word!

I will post a card tomorrow so please come back.

Hope you are all having an amazing night.

Hugs
nicky

Happy Holidays

I wanted to take time to wish everyone a very healthy, peaceful and wonderful Holiday Season and a year filled with lots of laughter. My New Year's resolution is to blog more often and to participate in more card and sketch challenges.

All stamps and supplies for both cards are from Stamping Bella.

The blue swirls are a fabulous background stamp from Stamping Bella that I love and use very often. It aligns perfectly every time, as you can see in this card. I used the snowflake Cuttlebug folder, and coloured with Lyra pencils and Mineral Spirits.

What are your New Years Resolutions ?

Hugs

Nicky

Here's to Huggabugg's

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted but things have been so hectic and busy. I apologize and will try to post more often.

Emily at http://www.stampingbella.com/ has launched the sweetest, most hug able and lovable little creatures that you are going to want to own, stamp and colour, so go over to her blog and look at the sample card I made with one of the Huggabugg's and check out all 8 of them . Emily is also giving away blog candy if you leave a comment on her blog.

Meet Fluey Huggabugg (the image on my card ) and tell me he isn't the cutest ever, I just love this image. I used Mineral spirits and Lyra pencils to colour and olive green pearls as the embellishment. I popped up the image and used the Gigga circle punch for the circle. Hope you like it.

I will try to post the Lovey Huggabugg card I made, tomorrow. It would be nice to hear from you so leave a comment and let me know that you were here. Have a great week

Hugs

Nicky

cruise pictures

I can't believe the cruise is over. We had the best time, the weather was glorious , the classes went well and I had the chance to meet and hang out with the nicest, most warm , friendly and fun loving people ever. There is so much to tell and I don't exactly know where to begin. I will follow with pictures at the end of this post. Stampers Rock.

Emily and Ryan are 2 of my favorite people in the whole world and they made this trip so special for Joe and I. We had a blast with them and I don't remember ever laughing as much as we did together. Joe and Ryan were inseparable and were hysterical. Thanks so much Em and Ryan. These are memories we will treasure forever. Can hardly wait til the next trip

Emily (http://www.stampingbella.com/) and I went a few days before the cruise to help Gina K from (http://www.ginakdesigns/) and Nichole from (http://www.papertreyinc.com/).

The 2 days at sea we started classes at 9 A.M. and we finished at 11 P.M. We broke for lunch and dinner, and finished the night meeting for drinks after the last class. The 4 days at port we relaxed, slept in and sat by the pool soaking up the sun. It was heaven on earth.

Emily had a brilliant idea of giving everyone a necklace and filling it with beads. What these women and gentleman wouldn't do to fill their necklaces, they screamed , flirted with Ryan (Emily's hubs) , and showed up in PJ's for the classes. It was soooo much fun. The people with the most beads won prizes.

There is so much more to tell, but I would be typing for the next few days, so I think that I will stop and post my pictures now, and just trust me, that if you ever get the opportunity to come to one of Emily's, Gina's and Nichole's events, just come, because they are FANTABULOUS and you won't want to miss out.

Thanks so much for reading this far. Here are the pictures I promised. I am sorry but my computer doesn't have a caption button so I had to download the pictures and the caption separately.

pictures:

#1 -Gorgeous and adorable Rina & Alicia (Gina's daughters). Just love those girls.

#2 - Our Hubbies - Tom (Gina's), Ryan (Emily's),(David (Nichole's) and my cutie patootie, Joe.

#3 - Alma (The Cat's pajamas), me and Kim (My Favorite Things). I really miss you guys.

#4 - Me, Julie, Charmaine % Amber. The nicest girls ever.

#5 - Gina, me & Nichole (I love you and miss you).

#6 - Ryan and his Girlfriend (How cute are they .....).

#7 - Sweet Charmaine and little old me.

#8 - Me, Emily, Irene and Michelle (Thanks for the support).

#9 - Kim, me, Alma and Emily

#10 - Our adorable Calgary group Brenda, Charlene, Wendy and Rhonda

#11 - My favourite girls Gina, Emily, Nichole and me

#12 - And last but not least Gina, Nichole and me

Thanks so much for stopping by

Mwah & Hugs

Nicky

I am cruise bound

Well it is finally here, the boxes are shipped, and I am finally packed and I am leaving in the morning for the StampingBella, Papertrey and Gina K stamping extravaganza cruise and I can hardly wait to meet everyone. Please keep checking Emily's Blog for reports and updates on what's going on everyday www.stampingbella.com
Stamping Bella will also have all kinds of exciting challenges and specials going on all week on her blog while we are away, so don't miss it.

I will post cards, pictures and tell you guys all about the trip when I get back so stay well and I will post again in a weeks time. Did I tell you how excited I am ...

Hugs
Nicky

Challenge Sketch

I had so much fun in the Bella blog challenge that I decided to try Beata's sketch challenge and here it is.

I coloured Polly Packages a Stamping Bella stamp

http://www.stampingbella.com/

with Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits. For the embellishments I used 3 Bon Bonz and variegated ribbon also from Stamping Bella. Lots of glitter makes her pop.

Hope you like it.

We have been so busy getting things ready for the cruise and finally see that there is an end to all of the cutting and packaging. I can hardly wait to meet everyone.

Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment.

Hugs

Nicky

http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/10/03/weekend-sketch-challenge-60/

Bella Blog, Hop and a Skip

I am so excited to participate in my very first challenge. Shannan Teubner our very first Guest Designer challenged a few of us to come up with a gift item using the holiday Bellas.

I decided to use a paper acrylic block from the dollar store and stamped the new prezzie Stella on the top of the box and the mini presents around the border of the container. These paper blocks make the best hostess gifts, teacher gifts are great for masculine gifts (dad's day, teacher etc.) just change Stella for a Fella and voila a masculine block.

I used a cotton ball and green Pebble chalk to warm up the white card stock, Stamped Stella and the presents with Tuxedo black Mementos ink and coloured in with mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils. I finished the card with glitter and variegated sheer ribbon. Hope you like this project.

Please hop on over to the other sistahs and check out their blogs

Amy Rysavy

Carole Burrage

Debbie Olson

Jen del Muro

Lauren Meader

Michele Boyer

Shannan Teubner

Taylor Van Bruggen

The Bella Blog

Happy long weekend

Hi there, hope you are all enjoying this fabulous long weekend. Finally beautiful weather that we can enjoy without rain and humidity. I am sorry that I haven't posted in awhile but the summer has been so busy with family, friends and work. I am very busy designing for my upcoming classes and for the cruise that I am going to teach on Oct. 19. This cruise is being sponsored by Stamping Bella, Papertrey and Gina K and I am so excited to be a part of it .

I made these 3 cards awhile ago and thought that I would share them with you.

All Stamps and supplies are from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

The first card is Matilda Muffinbread and this is one of the first images I used my Copic Markers to colour with. For the background I stamped the " 3 separate dot backgrounds" in Mementos Pear Tart ink and used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots for the pink layer. The glitter and pink Bon Bonz add the finishing touch.

The second card I used Pots O Stuff from the Cilla Rose collection. I just love this stamp it is so cute and easy to colour. I used Copic Markers here as well. I stamped the pots twice and cut out the middle pot and used it as an embellishment to put the happy birthday coming out of it and of course once again the glitter and rhinestones finish the card.

The third card is the Balloon Circle . I used my Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits to colour and pulled the colours from the decorative paper. I added the glitter and ribbon for that last touch.

Hope you like these cards, I will try to post again in a few days. Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment or email me at nmanel@rogers.com I would love to hear from you

Hugs

Nicky

Happy Thursday

I finally have my camera figured out and working. Thought I would post these 2 cards, by now you must have figured out how much I like to use pink, kiwi green and black.

All stamps are from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

embellishments, patterned paper and ribbon also Stamping Bella

The you're tea-riffic card is coloured with mineral spirits and Lyra pencils and I put glitter around the hearts, lid and flower on the tea pot. Did you see the faux pink eyelets at the bottom of the card.

The true friend card , I used Copic markers to colour and shade the image. The pink BonBonz are so pretty in the center of the flowers and I framed the image with glitter. I don't know if the glitter shows but it really sparkles and finishes the card.

The Bella store just got in the new Cuttlebug embossing folders and I am really looking forward to using them , aren't they great ?

Are any of you going to Novi convention in Michigan next week ?

Email me www.nmanel@rogers.com

Leave a comment

Hugs

Nicky

Whooops!!!! Here are the images. (see blog below).

sneak peek

Happy Saturday everyone.


Emily at http://www.stampingbella.com/ loaded some new images to her website, and these are 2 cards that I designed with some of these stamps. If you go to http://www.stampingbella.com/ the cards will be posted there on Monday so that you could have a better look .


There is something wrong with my camera so the images might not be as clear as they should be. Sorry about that (it's a fairly new camera also aargh).


The first card is with Tiny Tina Teacup, don't you just love this image.

I stamped the image with Memento's Tuxedo Black (my new favourite ink)

and used mineral spirits and Lyra pencil crayons to colour the image. I then stippled Memento's Lulu Lavendar all around the image to soften in some of the white space. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder with my Big Shot to emboss the Lavendar panel (can I tell you how much I love my Big Shot ). I then attached the lavendar satin ribbon and punched the tiny flowers and used glue dots to attach the green BonBonz.


The second card is with this sweet Is that a Cupcake on your head ? image.

I stamped it again with tuxedo black Memento's ink and coloured with mineral spirits and Lyra pencil crayons. The background is the heart border that I kept stamping across the card so that it looks like one big background image. With the Bella Borders it is so easy to align them and they stamp so beautifully. I don't really know that it shows that well in the picture so hopefully Emily's camera works better then mine and you will be able to see it on her blog on Monday.


The small green strip under the sentiment is punched with the Big Bite just to add a bit of texture and the oval was punched with the Fiskars punch. I also popped the top part of the cupcake up with double sided pop dots. I stamped the image twice and cut the cupcake from one of those images, after I cut it out I rolled it around my fingure to make it easier to put the pop dot in. Clear as mud ?????


Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you are all enjoying a great weekend.

Please leave a comment and let me know that you dropped by , if you have any questions email me at www.nmanel@rogers.com


Hugs

Nicky

back from CHA

Hi Everyone,
I am back from CHA (craft & hobby association trade show), and although it was an amazing trip , there really is no place like home. Emily and I had a very productive trip and bought some incredible things that you will read about on www.stampingbella.com .

There were lots of gorgeous patterned papers, acetate is still very popular as are chip board books and shapes. I found that blue/green and pink/blue colour combos were everywhere. Owl's, butterflies and elephants were on many of the patterned papers. There was so much to see that it will take me a few days to process all of the things I saw.

It was so nice to see good friends and meet some new ones. I will try to post some of the pictures I took in the next few days. I am really pooped tonight but wanted to let you know that I was back.
Hope you all have a good night.

Hugs

Nicky

It's a Girl !!!

My Son and Daughter-in law had their second daughter last Monday and all are doing well. How lucky am I to have the two most fabulous and gorgeous Grand- daughters. Now you know why I haven't had the time to post.

Here are 2 cards that I recently taught in my class. Hope you like them.

In the first card , I used the FUNKY POTTED FLOWERS from Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/.

I used mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils to colour the image and I just love this patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle (roses) . I embellished the card with ribbon and Bon Bonz also from Stamping Bella.

These Bon Bonz are mirror backed and are so sparkly, they

really pop the image. Of course I used some glittah here and there.

I used the Stamin Up word slot punch for the sentiment.

Second card is using SLOUCHY PURSE ( one of my favorite purse image )

by Stamping Bella. I used Lyra coloured pencils and mineral spirits.

The patterned paper is S.E.I and I used the front and back of the paper, don't you love the pattern and colours. For the embellishments I just had to use these great dots also from Stamping Bella. You can't really see in the picture but the dots are all glittery and I used the small size. They come in the most yummy colours, it's hard not to want to have all of them.

That's it for now and I will try to post again in a few days. Have a great week everyone. Please leave a comment or email me at www.nmanel@rogers.com

Nicky

Happy Birthday

I thought that I would post 2 birthday cards tonight as it is Emily's (owner of Stamping Bella's) Birthday. Happy Birthday Em.

The card with Stella was one from the Stella class that I taught last month. I love the attitude and spunk that Stella has. The mark that you see next to the cupcake on the left side is a crease in the card stock. I didn't notice it when I took the picture but saw it when I uploaded it (ooops!!!). I watercoloured with Lyra watercolour crayons , used lots of glittah of course and the BonBon for an embellishment. Whenever I can't find ribbon that matches my card I use a thin piece of co-ordinating card stock and it works like a charm .

I tore the Coordination card stock to reveal the core colour .

The pink and brown card, I made last year and it was published in Take Ten Magazine. I used American Crafts pattern paper and Prima flower. The sentiment is Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/

This is such a quick card to make. I used the Quickutz Revolution to cut the circle out.

Hope you like these cards

Please leave a comment or email me at nmanel@rogers.com

Thanks

Nicky

Another great day at the Bella store

I have been so busy making samples for Emily's gorgeous new stamps and loving every minute of it. Go over to her Blog at http://www.stampingbella.com/
and check out the new stamps and the samples and let me know what you think . The cards always look so much better in real life, you can't always see the glitter and sparkle on the cards.

On the Happy Birthday heart card I started by making myself a template of the heart and then I stamped the Happy Birthday 3 line over and over to make it look like one large stamp. I just love the 3 line stamps and use them all of the time. They are so easy to align and make a wonderful background. I then stamped the Juicy Chubby Heart in red versa magic chalk ink and really liked that it was transparent enough to show the words . I wanted to add some more embellishments and aside from the rhinestone added the clipiolla on the side of the sentiment.

The Ballerina card I used My Minds Eye patterned paper and loved the combination of the orange and blue colours. I coloured the ballerina with mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils.

Some of you inquired about the golf bag stamp that I used in the last post , if you want it please contact Emily at http://www.stampingbella.com/ and she will tell you where to find it on her site.

I have also been really busy getting ready for a new class that I am teaching called Cuttlebug your Art out. I sure hope they like it..
Thanks so much for visiting my Blog, please leave a comment so that I know you were here. If you want to email me privately nmanel@rogers.com

All stamps Stamping Bella http://www.stampingbella.com/
Embellishments - stamping bella
Card stock - Prism, patterned paper My Mind's Eye

Hugs
Nicky

Happy Wedensday

I know that it has been awhile, sorry , but I was away visiting my beautiful daughter in Windsor . We had a great visit even though the weather was soooo hot and sticky, thank goodness for air conditioning . I will try to post every few days. I hope that the pictures I posted come out cause when I previewed them they were huge. I told you that I wasn't that great with this computer thing..

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment or email me privately nmanel@rogers.com

I thought that I would share a masculine card with you as it is Father's Day this weekend. All stamps from http://www.stampingbella.com/

I made this card awhile back and just love the splooch under the golf bag and the scalloped circles for the background are so much fun and so easy to align.

The second card is the daisy within daisy . I chalked the background and stamped the daisy with black permanent ink (Memories), I really like the soft subtle colours and I am not sure if you can see the glitter, but there is lots of glitter in the center of the daisy and around the sentiment.

As you can tell by now I love square cards. This card is actually Bazzill Dahlia (purple) but I don't know if the colour shows as the true colour or blue . I used mineral spirits and Lyra coloured pencils to colour the vase and flower .

I hope that you all explore all of the fabulous background stamps that are in the Stamping Bella line. I use them all of the time in my classes and everyone loves them.

All supplies from http://www.stampingbella.com/

Card stock - Prism , Bazzill

Hope you enjoy

Hugs

Nicky

It's my Birthday

I planned on posting these 3 cards on Monday June 2, as it was my Birthday but ooops had some technical difficulties loading them up. Hopefully this time when I post them they will turn out.

I had such a great day. I was really spoiled with lots of hugs, kisses and lots of prezzies from my wonderful husband, co-workers, friends and students. My kids send me a fabulous chocolate covered strawberry basket that was so yummy and very pretty to look at. Emily and Ryan ordered sushi for lunch double yum (thanks, I love u guys.)

My celebrations really started on Saturday while I was teaching my classes 3 of my students also really good friends ,that I love and adore (Maralyn, Esther and Karen) brought me 2 not 1 but 2 delicious cakes, prezzies and lots of laughs and I had the best time.

Back to the cards . When I first saw this Wedding gown circle by http://www.stampingbella.com/ I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, and hoped it would turn out to look soft, feminin and elegant. I think it did.

I don't know if you can see clearly that I used the cuttlebug embossing folder and then glittered around the flower and stem. I cut the bow and used a pop dot to raise it. I used Lyra coloured pencil and mineral spirits to colour. Of course I had to add some more glittah on the bow and around the white circle.

The second card was inspired by my friend Irene and was done by first punching a square in the center of the pink layer. I then crimped the center only and adhered it with pop dots. I stamped the happy birthday 3 times and stamped the slouchy purse from the Cilla Rose collection from http://www.stampingbella.com/ then cut it out and popped it for dimension onto the pink layer. Then layer that onto the black cs and then to the pink base card, the 3 pink baubles just finish the card.

The 3rd card is Betty Bombshell, don't you just loooove her.. I used the swirl cuttlebug embossing plate cause it reminded me of waves and thought that it made the perfect background. I coloured with Lyra pencils and mineral spirits.

I just love these Bella stamps so much . They really are my favourite stamps, cause they are so versatile, whimsy and sofisticated all at the same time. The sentiments are fabulous and are perfect for the images . I hope that you guys try the other stamps as well and not just the characters , they are great for any occassion.

I promise that I will get better at posting and will not ramble on and on like this. If you have read this far thank you.

Mwah & Hugs

Nicky

All supplies from Stamping Bella

Stamps:

wedding gown circle;

slouchy purse;

happy birthday;

betty bombshell

Ink: memories black

Paper: prism

Ribbon: May Arts

Bella glitter

Baubles pink

Thank you

I want to thank everyone that posted a comment and emailed me privately sooooo much, it means so much to me.

I will try to figure out how to link each image used in my cards to Stamping Bella, so that you can find the images easier.

I thought that I would share these 2 cards with you.

All images, ribbon, baubles , crimper, 2" punch and card stock from Stamping Bella. http://www.stampingbella.com/

The purse card I coloured with bella spirits and Lyra coloured pencils.

The second card I used Copic markers.

Thanks

Nicky

I like to see how many different cards I can design with one sheet of patterned paper. In this card I used the scraps for the rain boots, the punched out flower and the umbrella.

All images coloured with Bella spirits and Lyra coloured pencils

all supplies are from Stamping Bella www.stampingbella.com

My very first post

Hi there and Welcome ,

I am so excited to finally have a blog. Thanks so much to Vicky for making it happen.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Nicky and I am a confessed Stampaholic. My first passion is my family, wonderful husband of 35 years, beautiful daughter, daughter in law, son and the love of my life my 3 year old grand-daughter.

I started stamping about 9 years ago and shortly after I started I was invited to teach and have been teaching stamping classes ever since . Teaching has given me the opportunity to meet the most wonderful , amazingly talented people that share my passion of stamping and paper crafts.

I currently have the BEST Job in the world , I work full time as Creative Director and designer for Stamping Bella, where I also
teach stamping classes. Emily the owner and I met when she signed up for my stamping 101 class and the rest is history. We instantly bonded when we found out that we were both from Montreal and new mutual people. Emily reminds me so much of my daughter (which is getting her PHD out of town), that I just had to adopt her as my other daughter. Our adventures have led us to lots of laughter, great endeavors and wonderful stamps and products that we are so passionate about. I hope that through my blog I can share some of these adventures with you.

Please feel free to comment or ask any stamping related questions that you may have.

P.S. As you will soon see I am not very computer savvy, so please bear with me and let me know if I have broken any Blogging etiquette.

hugs
Nicky