In this Together....

Good morning!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! My husband finally returned from a marathon business trip from Japan, and we took the boys out to go pick apples. YUM! And the event was full of lots of wonderful photo opportunities!

Since I didn't get any time to stamp anything brandy new, today I'm sharing one of Stamping Bella creations that I added to the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Gallery.

My Dirty Dozen creations are some of my very most favorite projects, so I hope to share some of them from time to time.

The most recent gallery "Winged Things" opened up on the 15th, if you're a Fan Club member, be sure to go leave those girls some love. If you're NOT a Fan Club member, all I can say is what are you waiting for? I just love that place, I have SCS to thank for SO much, inspiration, friendship and yes, purchase enabling too!

This uses some designer paper that was one of my very FIRST stampy purchases, which I kept scraps of for two years, just in case (you do that too right?)

I made this card with my friend Carole in mind, we overlapped on the Dirty Dozen for one month, and she's a Bellahollic like me. She's also my sister in all things preppy! Lots of littles here this morning, its me and five two and three year olds, they're now bored with their little art activity. I'm going to down the rest of my coffee and go PLAY!

Have a wonderful day!

Promises and Memories.

I made a promise to my friend and Dirty Dozen roomie Bev that I'd play along in the Dirty Dozen challenges with her once our term was over.  And, yipes - I'm super late on this one - she posted hers like two weeks ago - sorry BEV!!  But, I've been able to get it done before the next gallery has opened, so I didn't break my promise!! 

Sadly, I need to send a sympathy card this week, and I wanted it to be an extra special one.  I reached for a very thoughtful set created by Gina titled "Not Forgotten"  The sentiments are so very thoughtful, and the font she used is just so perfectly suited.

And I added blossoms from Asela's set "Friendships Garden" - inking only the blossoms a few times, versus the entire potted plant.  

The sketch is the monthly Dirty Dozen sketch. Did you know that each month all the Splitcoast Fan Club members are invited to play along with the monthly theme, sketch and inspiration challenges?  I'll be playing along monthly now that I'm on alumni status.  Sometimes with the theme, but this time, I completely loved that sketch!  You can find this month's challenge thread HERE and I totally encourage you to play along!

A Busy Day!

Just a quick post to let you know about two other things going on today in addition to the beginning of the January previews for Gina K Designs!

Dirty Dozen and Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge - Feel the Love Hosted by my friend Jodi!  The rules were fun - a lovey dovey card with some texture to it.  I have embossing, crystal effects, ribbon with embossed polka dots, an eyelet border, lots and lotsa layers and crumpled paper for my paper pieced cupcake liners.  The exclusion this month... no red!

Here's just a snippet of my submission you can see the full card HERE. Please see the gallery on Splitcoast HERE to see all the amazing creations by my Dirty Sisters!  

Its also Celebrate MFT Day - a day just to adore your MFT stamps and get all inky! No special requirements, if you're really feeling the MFT love, use Pink Black and White on your MFT creations. I've got just a snippet of this creation too, to see the rest of my MFT love of the day click HERE.  

I was feeling in a flopsey mood for some stamping, and a pink cupcake -mmmmm.  Since my cuttlebug embossing folder was already handy, I put it to good use on my second card.  I found this adorable ribbon on a local excursion and knew it would be handy for MFT themed cards!  The cupcake is painted with Pink Poinsettia Shimmerz  - looks like a real sugary, tasty treat!  Show your MFT stamps a little love today and upload your creations using the keyword "MFTJAN09" to the Splitcoast Galleries.

My Favorite....

Here's the full card that I gave you only a teeny sneak of yesterday, this was my favorite card I created for the December Splitcoast Dirty Dozen gallery, which is now open! 

Each month a rotating team of twelve designers load six to eight creations each based on a specific theme to a hidden gallery.  Usually this gallery is  only available to those members who have subscribed as members of the Fan Club.  However, as a special treat, this month, the gallery is open to all registered members of Splitcoast Stampers.

If you'd like to see what the twelve of us have been up to for the last few weeks, you can see everything here. You'll also be able to congratulate the two newest members of the team!  Hooray to my friends Amber and Dawn. 

Each month, guests are invited to participate in our challenges, and upload their creations too!  I'd love to see what you can create based on this month's theme, sketch and inspiration piece!  

If you like what you find in the December gallery, I hope you'd consider signing on as a Fan Club member. This week only, the price has been reduced to $19.95 for a one year subscription.  You'll have access to prior galleries, instant upload privileges and most of all, you'd be helping to support the greatest stamping community ever!  You can learn more and sign up here!

Splitcoast's Gift to You

Admittedly, I've been a little quieter around here than I'd like lately.  Yes, the Christmas cards, and general Christmas preparation around here has been keeping me busy.  But I've also been working on my cards for the Dirty Dozen Gallery on Splitcoast.  Usually these galleries are visible only to members of the Splitcoast Fan club, but I have some really fun news for you.....

As an extra special gift, Splitcoast Stampers is opening the December 2008 Dirty Dozen Gallery for all registered members, not only the members of the Fan Club.  If you're not a Fan Club member and wondered what the Dirty Dozen galleries contained, here's your chance to get a little sampling!!

Also wanted to mention that Splitcoast is also running a terrific special this month.  For this week only, purchase a one-year gift subscription (or renew your own) for just $19.95. Subscribe today and you'll get access to past Dirty Dozen galleries as well as next year's.

I'll have this full card to share tomorrow, but if you're really interested, you can see this card, and all the Dirty Girls December creations tonight at 12pm CST!

Thankful Hearts

How could I not play in the Dirty Dozen and Dirty Dozen Alumni monthly challenge?  Oh my goodness am I ever so excited to be in the presence of these fabulously talented stampers!

This month's challenge was to create some sort of table decor, or a hostess gift for Thanksgiving incorporating a heart into your project.  

I had picked up this beautifully boxed candle on a recent excursion to Target.  Its a pumpkin scented soy candle, so in addition to being beautifully packaged, it meets my green criteria (lead free wick!) Yahoo!!

I created a little bellyband to cover the label, adding a nestie diecut oval and scalloped border adding the "thankful" from Cornish Heritage Farms.  Then added a little felt flower petaloo love from My Favorite Things.  I stamped the little heart from Cornish Heritage Farms "Heartwarmers" set colored it with copics and then gave it some sine with stickles.  It is attached to a Cuttlebug Tiny tag die and then attached with some linen thread and a button. 

Glitter always looks so much better in person, it has totally befouled my photograph, in real life its so sparkly like a little ruby gem! The whole box is tied up in some pumpkin and chocolate ribbon.  

However, the more I looked at this project, I felt like the heart was really just tucked onto there, and not integral to the design. And, being the

 over-achiever I am, I had to try again.

I still had plenty of this October Afternoon paper leftover, and I had just received my order from Just Rite Stamps of the Brayton font as well as the rectangular stamper.  What a great excuse to put them to work!!  

Following Sharon's Tutorial on Rubber Stamp Conditioning, I cleaned and sanded the stamp surface to really condition that rubber to take to the ink.  I zig zag stitched all my edges on the card for a really homey feeling and then added a Cosmo Cricket chipboard heart shaped button finished off with a felt flower and button from Making Memories.  Although I loved the altered candle, I thought in the end, that this project was really more reflective of the Thankful Hearts challenge.

Thanks so much to Sharon Harnist for hostessing this challenge - please be sure to check the Splitcoast Galleries with the keyword "DCTH1108" to see what all the other Dirty Girls and Alumni have to share today!

Big Dirty Secrets

Oh my goodness, have I ever been holding onto a BIG secret.  HUGE!

When I first seriously began stamping, I made a few goals for myself, some of them I thought would be achievable with hard work, and one of them, was just out of the park, a real longshot, and even with all the hard work in the world.... I didn't think it would ever come true.

I'm bouncing with excitement because now I'm part of the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen!  Me?? A Dirty Girl! 

I can't even stand it! aaaaaggggghhhhh!!!!

If you're not familiar with the Dirty Dozen, well then I'll fill you in.  Each month Splitcoast adds two stampers to their design team, and there are a total of twelve girls at any time.  (duh, a dozen right?)  It is a six month term, during which each girl posts between 6-8 creations to a gallery that is just for the Fan Club of Splitcoast.  

I honestly have learned SO much from Splitcoast. When I first started stamping on my own, that is outside of the SU workshop that I religiously attended at my friend Erica's house, Splitcoast became my source for inspiration, and education.  I never realized I'd find such fabulous FRIENDS there too.  I began challenging myself to complete at least one of the challenges each week, usually sketch or color challenges were my go to.  I signed up for the newsletter and became hooked on trying out the different techniques on the resources tab.

Then, I noticed that the girls that I loved watching on the Dirty Dozen also had these things called blogs.  Akkk.  And here I am.  Blogging, stamping every day (okay, any MINUTE of the day I can conjure up) and now, A Dirty Girl!

The Dirty Dozen gallery is only open to members of the Splitcoast Fan Club.  That is a $25 memership for one year. It gives you access to the amazing Dirty Dozen Galleries, both present and past, you get instant upload privileges too!  Nevermind, you're supporting the most amazing source of inspiration for stampers!  I'm so thankful to Splitcoast and so happy to have a chance to give back.  The most recent gallery just opened, three minutes ago!  I hope you like what you see.  If you have any questions at all, you can find a link to the Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club FAQ's HERE.

I hope all my online friends aren't aren't mad at me for keeping such a secret - but really, how often in life do you get a REAL surprise like this. 

Thanks to everyone at Splitcoast for having such faith in me!  I'm going to soak up every minute of the next six months....  I'm afraid its going to go too too fast!

I'm off to give some love to all my bunkmates in the pile!