Calendar Girls : February

Hello my darlin friends and followers,
it is the 28th of the month and ,a s such, it's also time to disclose our 'Calendar's project' for the month of February.
In case you are new to my blog ,you can find all about us 'Calendar Girls' here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/blogging-groups-f290/calendar-girls-blog-group-full-10-members-t512917.html

This month is hosted by Miss Kelly ,and she challenged our creative minds big time! :o)
In her own words, see below, are the fun guidelines for us 'Belles' to follow :

" Hear ye, hear ye! By royal proclamation …… I Welcome you all to Ms. February’s Ball!
Each of you beautiful belles – our lovely Calendar Girls - are cordially invited to the Calendar Girls Ball! It’s a month of love, admiration, and red hearts, my lovelies!
What will you wear to this ball? More like what will your CARD wear?! This month – fabulous Calendar Girls,- show us your STYLE! Your card should reflect a representation of what your dream dress would be and the moment each of you beauties walks into the ballroom, we’ll be dazzled by what you (your card!) has on!
1. Challenge 1 -- What’s your style?! will your card be sleek, sexy and black?
Will it be a pink and frilly with flowers? Lavendar and lace?
Will it have Bows? Buttons all down the back? {etc!} You may use any stamped image you like - it should not be a dress stamp, lol – your card should speak for itself with it’s colors and style! Make sure your card has the representation!
2. Challenge 2 -- Show us your true colors at this ball! Add your favorite color somewhere to your card, even if it’s the smallest of a brad or a little flower – it might not match your “dress personality” but that’s the whole challenge! In the words of Tim Gunn, “Make it work!”
3. Challenge 3 -- Shape up for this ball!! Well, this will be one of your EASIEST shape ups evah! Tee hee! on the same card, you must use a SHAPE somewhere on your card! Make your regular card but add a Big-shotted, Cuttlebugged, hand cut out shape to your card. (Ms Feb. will find samples and post to the thread!) Add your image to a nestie, to a hand cut heart, to a circular pattern – etc! Shape up, show your true color and your style!! "

With all that in mind ,I started to mulch ideas in my head and after two failed card's attempts I resigned myself to start all over again...when..*poofff*...!!! HOLLAAAA...(as Kells would say...lol)
I remembered a fabby card that strucked my fancy a lil while back and that I saved in my SCS favorites for eventually try and case it, so I decided it was time to try and case it now...

This is the card I cased:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1881861?&cat=500&ppuser=151102

And this is my interpretation for the Grand Ball to which, of course I was escorted by a very dapper date :

 My favorite 'evening' color is the classic,elegant black, but I do alternate  and wear dark burgundy/wine color too,which is my fav color amongst all colors. Rich,vibrant, warm...

and, in this particular card it's even 'plungy' at the front as well...eheh
I paired up my colors w/ some sparkly gems in lieu of real diamonds...lol which,apparently, are girls' best friends :o)
As you can see, my 'date' is quite elegant and ready to go too.
He just needs to get the Jaguar's door open for me and we'll be on our way...*wink*



For more informations, and step by step video instructions on how to make this hearts' couple and much much more, please check  Valita's Utube videos...she is absolutly a truly FENOMENAL punch art paper artist!
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=DIl1SXG2IOs&feature=BF&list=ULIPSxFOVnXX4&index=16

Here you have it...I enjoyed making this card, its challenge and its result.

Learning and discovering new tecniques and striving to better myself as a cardmaker.

I hope you like my crafty creation too

my friends :o)

Looking forward to your critiques...

Have a blessed day!

~Hugs~****~Paola~

Card Deets:

C/S: Black,Pearly Ivory Bazzil,Burgundy Wine,Blush Blossom,

       White, Basic Gray

Ink:Bravo Burgundy, Onix Black, Pink Piruette,White chalk

Others: SU Textured Expression 'Elegant Bouquet' ,1" punch, Heart nestie, sm. black pearls by Kaisercraft,Large glitter gems,'diamonds' , Silver ribbon, dimentionals.
Tecnique: dry embossing,layering,sponging

Please go and check the talented
Calendar Girls Blogs here:         
April   April's Alley

Barbara  Barb's Inkin' into Retirement

Carol   Lost in my craft room

Debbie   The Ink Igloo

Jeanette   Cre8tive Play

Kelly Sandcastle Stamper

Michelle  Ink'n General

Paola  That's Amore *you are here*

Tami  BlueInks Design

Terry  It's Totally Terry

This card was submitted for the following Challenges:
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/02/challenge-17-love.html
http://trulyscrumptiouschallenges.blogspot.com/
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/
http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/
http://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/
http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/
http://doyoustackup.blogspot.com/2011/02/dysu-challenge-8-anything-goes.html
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/
http://paperromancechallenges.blogspot.com/

It's a *H*O*P*!!

Quite an EXCITING Day Today!

Read on *WHY* :o)

WELCOME TO CLAUDIA & CO. FIRST EVAH CUSTOMERS BLOG HOP! 

please follow the link provided below, it all starts there :

http://claudiaandcompany.blogspot.com/2011/02/customer-blog-hop.html

I feel very honoured and excited to participate to

                                        C&C First Customer's Blog Hop!               

                          Thank YOU Kadie for such wonderful opportunity!

The adorable featured  image design has been created by Lori Boyd

       It is called : Puddle Jumpers Princess Chloe

Why Did I Buy This??



*click on any picts if you wish to enlarge*

"Why Did I Buy This?"  -Swap-
My sweet stamping friend Darlene, hosted her very first fun swap and it was a gem!
She encouraged all of us partecipants to use any crafting items we bought for a 'purpose' but never really follow through after purchasing...
All items used for this swap have to have been owned for over 1 year and  never been used before .
Well, if you are like me U will probably have a good stash of items that meet that criteria.

I ended up choosing ten items  to incorporate on my card  and I just noticed  that I missed adding a couple of things to the photos as well...
See that cool Quick Kutz puzzle die ? It was brand new, bought two summers ago at one of the crafting garage sales I like to attend and where I usually find real good treasure bargains. I finally got to ink three new stamps from one of the several brand new UM rubber sets I own too,  used some of  the silk flowers I had for a good couple years -did use them before too but not in a  veryyyy long time, as well as the small brads and the large buttons I chose for the cards. The CB folder name I think is 'Flowers and Circles' (?)  and it sat dormant in one of my drawers for at least two years, the green stickles lil container finally got cracked open too. Did you notice the smaller  and much older version of SU inkpad??...Luscious Lime is its name....lol...it kind of reminds me of the name for a  lemon dessert of some sort...not to mention my Almost Amethist that I should actually rename 'Almost dried up waiting for you to ink me again'....lol
Ohh and those three lil bunches of cotton threads?? I have NO clue how in the world they ended up amongst my ribbon stash...frankly no clue at all I even had them but hey, sure did come in handy though...Last but not least...the designer paper is all from SU 6x6 pack..and guess what? Released in 2006!! I suppose that makes it over a year old uh?! LOL
 All in all I believe I used ten UNused items that needed and deserved a good 'dusting off'....

I decide to leave the card front fairly simple as adding any stamped image it would cover up the puzzled background. Instead, I cuttlebugged it and only stamped a smaller flower on a small c/s strip below which I studded w/brads. Unfortunatly, in the few extra card I made to keep for myself ,that same bottom strip tends to lift up!  Most likely because of the brads...ggrrr.....:o(
If you receive one that does the same I apologize in advance...this never happened to me before....
perhaps I should have put dual  strips of c/s? :o(
I wonder if that would have made a difference...

Thank YOU Darlene for being such a fabulous hostess and for nudging us to use what we already owned amongst our lil hidden treasures in need of a lil dusting and inking too... :o)

Hope you like how these cards turned out, they are somewhat simple but,as I said, I wanted to truly showcase the puzzle pieces......Please LMK what YOU, my peeps think....

                               Have a blessed day, afterall it is the Lord Day...Happy Sunday my Friends.....

                                                                   ~*~   Paola ~*~

February *D*D*D* duel~~~



*Click on any picture if you wish to enlarge*

 Hello Friends and Bloggers....

Yeahhh! It's THAT time of the month again! :o)
Each month, and on the 15th day to be exact, we Dueling Dazzlers 'battle' with the Dueling Divas 
to compare ideas, learn new tecniques, and creating DARLINGS' cards together .
If you're new to my blog and like to read more details about what it's all about, please check the link to the post *see below*...you won't be disappointed :o)http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-duelling-darlings-timeo.html

This month our darlin hostess is April. She provided us DAZZLERS with an awesome kit, featuring a ' LOVE ' theme ...kind of appropriate for celebrating this month, don't you think?? :o)<-------{ Look here how many fabs things there are in the kit .

I was actually quite nervous to use the metallic c/s and the
black glittery one too...I never use any of these fancy items before...but decided to face my fears of the 'unknown' and go for it! lol
Kit Deets from April:
stamped images from Close to My Heart ,d/p from ColorBook at Target - ribbons and pearls from Michael's,glitter d/p,metal d/p
I added the following:
*Card Stock: kiwii kiss,Cranberry Crisp & Pink c/s;
*Ink: cranberry Crisp ,Red Staz on,Black Staz On, SU Markers
*Accessories: 'Allegro' CB folder, Heart Nesties,Glue dots,
dimentionals, 'Merlot' micro fiber glitter,Dazzling Diamonds with a touck of  Sky  Blue glitter too.
Tecnique: sponging, layering, distressing using ink, precision cutting,

I chose to use the cherubs as the focal part on my card and applied it on top of the metallic nestied heart previously dryed embossed using 'Allegro'

CB folder that I had dabbed here and there with both red and black Staz-On ink. I do like the final result obtained....besides...music is such a big part of romance and I though this would really work out to use it on my 'dueling' Valentine card...:o)
I also cut out each ind. fuzzy white lil balls and glue dot them on the ribbons,plus added some glitter to them for some jazzy sparkles...
The most pain in the b*tt was to cut out around the many curves of such 'healthy looking' cherub...lol

Hope you like my contribution to the monthly *DDD Club*....Now go and feast your eyes

and check out what all the other Dazzlers and Divas created. Jamie was the hostess for the Divas

and 'dueled' w/ our own April .Both hostesses achieved an even,wonderful succes!

Can't wait for next month,when another wonderful

stamper friend is going to join us in our dazzling duels against the divas...

♥ Welcome aboard DARLENE!! ♥

♥I'd love it if you could leave a sign of your visit...I sooo appreciate hearing from you and reading all of your comments...*wink & smile & thanks*

*~*♥Blessings to all of you♥*~*

                         ~*Paola*~

The DAZZLERS :

with our Jeanette at the helm here:
 http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-dueling-darlings.html
♥ April ♥ Debbie ♥ Melina ♥ Michelle ♥ Paola ♥ Terry ♥

The DIVAS :
♥ Barb ♥ Carol ♥ Jamie ♥ Joan ♥ Judy ♥ Kelly ♥ LJ ♥ Tami ♥

***This card was entered in the following challenges ::
C4C 'Hearts'  http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/2011/02/crazy-4-challenges-c4c74.html
One Stitch at a Time 'Bling it up'  http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/
PWCO 'Hearts' http://paperworksco.com/blog/?p=10566
Everybody Art '3 Papers.Ribbon' http://everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/
Craft your Passion 'Pink' http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/
Stamps R Us challenges 'Valentine/Hearts' http://www.stampsruschallenges.blogspot.com/

Lets Ink It Up 'Romance/Valentine' http://www.letsinkitup.blogspot.com/

The Pink Elephant 'Valentine' http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.co/

DYSU 'Ribbons' http://doyoustackup.blogspot.com/2011/02/challenge-6-ribbon.html
Craft Us Crazy 'Anything Goes'   http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/

Calendar Girls Debut ! Hurrah~~



*Click on any picture to enlarge*
Note: my camera has been  acting out lately :o(
...the horizontal  and vertical lines you can see in most
of the pictures here, are actually NOT on the card itself!!

 Well, truth is the debut of the new Calendar Girls bloggers' group happened last January 28th...yes I am a bit tardy with my card but ,as the saying goes...it is always better later than never, n'est pas? :o)

soooooo...Who are the Calendar Girls? you , the readers may ask
Well...we are a group of avid stampers/card makers /bloggers who have known each other for a couple years now ,via the wonderful web world. Jeanette is the creator of this wonderful idea. Each of us partecipants has a month assigned ,to host and challenge the rest of us. I chose to represent the month of September , thus I am now Miss September in our Calendar Girls group :o)
Here's the site with much more informations about this awesome group of creative gals
and what we are all about:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/blogging-groups-f290/calendar-girls-blog-group-full-10-members-t512917.html

Miss January, aka Jeanette, led us all into our very first challenge which was to :
1* Create a card (or anything but a card) that reflects our chosen month,in my case September.
2* Use our favorite embellishment on our creation.
3*Use our newest papercrafting tool/toy in making our creation (but it cannot be something 
 purchased specifically for this challenge.)

Naturally, I wanted to implement an autumn
'feeling' to my card with the beautiful colors of fall, plus -here where I live- schools reopen their doors at the beginning of September, and of course I wanted to incorporate that into my card too,especially when I realized I had the perfect WS image of a very cute lil school house  that looks great to represent my month ,since I work in the Educational field .  *Thank you Jeanette*  that image was part of several WS you gifted me a while ago :o) As far as my favorite
embellishment, mmmmm...tough to narrow it down to just one!.. I have to say that I have at least three favorites: glitter of course! lol.. rhinetones jewels, ribbons ,pearls, buttons...opsss.. six favorites! LOL :o)
As you can see, this type of cards doesn't really call for glittery items, as they would be out of place here, therefore I opted for lovely ribbons...a few strips of different textures,width and depth.Most of them I tied up on powder-embossed paper clip -another of my favorite accessories that I actually haven't used in a while...should remedy that :o)
As far as my latest tool, I had a few I could chose from. My new awesome Cricut , which I call
'Pinky' was the most likely contender..and yes, my friends lovingly nudged me to use it.... well I
finally did..lol...You see...in my mind I had the card all layed out :could see apple trees ,some frolicking children and a school bus too on it. Problem was, and still is, that I REALLY do not know how to use 'Pinky'   properly yet!( All I accomplished  to do was wasting some good cardstock... but, hey, at least I DID try (Jeanette! lol wink*) Once I get the 'feel for it'...watch out....lol

 







Instead, I choose to use two out of the five brand new Spellbinders I recently purchased. I sooo {heart} them!!:o)
Admittedly, I really like how the whole package
turned out. Take a glimpse of the inside of the card too...Do you think it 'spells' September? :o)

Close up of the inside sentiment above...
I owned both inside and outside sentiments stamps
 for over two years, and still new- luckily they are now both blessfully 'christened' in ink...hallelhuja :o)
Perfect addition for this card, don't you agree?

Here are a few details :card's tridimentional thickness and distressing on my left,and on the right, a close up of the ribbons accessorized top corner
looped over my paper clip previously embossed w/dark green embossing powder...another tecnique I tried a few yrs back which works wonders with small metal objects.

Thanks for your visit! Come again soon... and remember :we Calendar Girls will have a new month to showcase on February 28th...
Another fabulous challenge ahead with Kelly (Miss February) at the helm...You sure won't want to miss what she's challenging us with! 
I promise it will be quite dazzling ! :o)
Do stay tuned ...*wink*


ohh ,and you must know that
comments are ALWAYS appreciated!! :o) Leave a
sign of your visit, will ya?? *wink*



Have a wonderful , inking week end ya all!!  ~*God Bless*~

Card Deets:
Card Stock:Really Rust/More Mustard
Designer Paper: double sided 'Bountiful' by Creative Memory
Stamps: Teachabella (by Stamping Bella), WS lil school image (txs Jeanette),
Heart and Home (SU 2003), School Set (SU 1993), outside sentiment = no name (?) ,
Inkadinkado 6715-N Kathy Davis Collection (inside sent.)
Inks:Archival Onix Black, Crushed Curry,Soft Suede,Mellow Moss,Kiwii Kiss,Pumpkin Pie,
Soft Sky,Baja Breeze; Spectrum ink pad: Pumpkin Patch , SU markers.
Accessories: green embossing powder,corner punch, distressing tool, 3D adhesive, ribbons variety,
Spellbinders: Lacey Circles, Wonky Squares and...introducing 'Pinky' too :o)
Tecnique: sponging, layering, distressing.

********************************************************
Entered this card in the following challenges:
 DYSU 'Ribbon' challenge:
http://doyoustackup.blogspot.com/2011/02/challenge-6-ribbon.html 
Little Claire's 'Anything Goes' challenge: http://littleclairesdesigns.blogspot.com/
Craft your Passion 'Anything Goes' challenge:  http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/
Stamping With The Dragon 'Anything Goes'challenge: http://stampingwithdragon.blogspot.com/
Craft Us Crazy 'Anything Goes'    http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/
ABC challenge 'N is for Nesties' http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/
Alphabet challenge 'O is for Orange'  http://alphabetchallengeblog.blogspot.com/
Delighful Challenges'GetPunchy'        http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/

********************************************************

*Mistery Numero Tre*



* All picture can be enlarged by clikking on each*

 ~~* Hello wonderful friends and peeps :o)

My stamping friend Gael (mamadwawa) is the hostess for the new, fun round of mistery.

She sent us all beautiful stamped images of a young girl intent in reading

a book and one of a lil kitten too {Think Big, from Artful Inkables}

I strongly suspect it is in honour of her own Princess's ( aka daughter Alafair)

passion for books and her loving furry,cuddly friends too...n'est pas Gael?? *wink*

The due date of the swap also coincides with Alafair's Birthday, so I am sending

her very *HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES* across the miles,even if I'm a bit early :o)

*For further details about this 'Mistery Swap'please check this link :

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/cards-f107/%2Aclosed%2A-february-18th-mystery-image-challenge-t515304.html


I absolutly LOVE this image and had so much fun coloring it with chalks -one of my favorite medium- For these card I wanted to somehow capture a lil scenery in a flowery meadow...
Well,the blue backround was too much ...'blue'
for my liking, so I added striped designer paper that combined with a flowery d/p bottom (although most gets hidden by the cut out images and embellishments)...
Nonetheless, I  still like the obtained results Cards turned out bright and cheerful, and I hope that YOU,my friendly followers ,like it as well....
Unfortunatly my camera has been acting out quite funny lately...It seems that sometimes it works still fine but other time it PMesses too!! LOL

Cards Deets:
Card Stock: SU- Rich Razzleberry;Marina Mist;Certainly Celery
Designer Paper: by Ink Boutique 'Always In Bloom' -Mini Papers
Ink: SU Markers (used only for small details and kitties) ; Colored Chalks
Stamped Images: 'Think Big' by Artful Inkables
Accessories: fancy scissors by Provo Crafts,Corner punch, sm. Butterfly punch, stickles, dimentionals, fabric flowers,  metal flower brads, Brocade Blue grosgrain ribbon by SU.
Tecnique: precision cutting, chalking.

Lastly...I used the last image  to make  a card for my oldest granddaughter imminent Birthday.
She too ADORES reading...such a smart little girl she is!! Last October her school wanted her tested - she's in kindergarten- resulting that she was ,then , already reading at grade FIVE level,with word conprehension vocabulary at beginning of grade SIX!! Am I boasting?? OF COURSE!! ...And gladly too! Miss Mari (short for Mariangela) will turn six soon....she's a sweet,cute,bubbly brunette that loves the color purple ,going barefoot ,and has a black cat name Xena. Besides her love of reading (especially chapters books) , she also loves to write stories and to craft too...Mari also reads in italian and is presently taking italian lessons weekly as well as her tap lessons....
I better stop here!! and Yes...she also tends to be quite the diva, and is such a social butterfly too!
We'll be in trouble for sure!! LOL~~~

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THANK YOU FOR VISITING!!  :o)