This week's Stamping Bella challenge was a sketch from Julee Tilman so I was hoping I'd have time to give it a whirl. As I was trying to decide which Bella stamp to ink, I spotted Craftybella on my work table. Which I had left out in the hopes to use it because, prepare yourself - it had never seen ink yet. This is shameful because I got this stamp the last time I was in Toronto visiting Makeesha. That has to be a good five years ago, if not more. And it's a crafty bella, so there's really no logical reason why that would not have been used yet. But it had not and it was high time to reverse the situation.
Once the image was selected, it didn't take long to think of the right papers to get out. I had spotted some crafts-themed papers from My Little Shoebox the last time I was shopping my stash and they weren't hidden far, so I pulled them out and drew from there. Selecting the back paper, adding the washi tape and ribbon in a diagonal, coloring the image to match, deciding to change the circle into a heart (because I *heart* crafts) and selecting my sentiment didn't take long. Finding a way to add the sentiment to the card did, though. This must be the fifth option I tried. Nothing else was really working, but I finally found something I liked. By the way, the sentiment reads, "I think therefore I create." Don't ask me why, but this popped into my head about a week ago and I thought it would make for a good card or scrapbook page, so I wrote it down on a piece of paper, and when I got the Craftybella image out, they just seemed like the perfect pair.
Fun details about the card that the picture might not capture: I added glitter to the floor and to the Bella's hair. Because anyone who's ever crafted know that glitter gets everywhere and that it takes quite a few vacuuming sesssions to get most of it off of the floor. (Most of it.) I also have no idea what the right thing she's placing her hand on is - been wondering since buying the image. A table? A mini-fridge? A big hunking bottle of something? (Emilie, if you're reading this, please spill!) Either way, there's a little shine spot of the right of it, which made me think it looked like something shiny, so I got the Crystal Effects and covered the whole thing out.
And here's where tragedy almost struck. I changed the cap on my bottle of Crystal Effects with those new caps that have a top cap with a fine needle that you leave in when the bottle is not being used. When I added the new top on the bottle, I made sure to secure it in place, but not too tight so that I could twist the cap off to use on my next bottle once I'm done with this one. I was covering this big surface on my card through this little needle tip and once I was hald-way done, I saw a big drip fall off of the bottle - onto my scrap paper, half an inch from the card. I was a little puzzled as to where it was coming from so I looked at the side of the bottle and saw that Crystal Effects was oozing through the bottom of the cap. There was a huge amount there and it had started to drip. I can't believe how lucky it was that the drip fell on the side of the card and that I noticed what was happening and was able to wipe the bottle (and clean out the whole nozzle so it wouldn't stick in place when it dried) before ruining my finished card. Thanking my lucky stars on this one!
By the way, is anybody else missing the Bellas? I wish we could see a couple more get released, for old time's sake. They were so adorable with their ear-to-ear smile!



Supplies
Stamps: Craftybella (Stamping Bella), Remerciements (Stampin' Up!), alphabet (Studio G),
Tiny Strips Alphabet (Papertrey), Tidy Alphabet (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Soft Sky
Patterned Papers: Sew Cute (My Little Shoebox)
Ink: Regal Rose, Taken with Teal, Basic Black Archival
Accessories: Sequins, Linen Thread, Designer Buttons, Regal Rose Grosgrain Ribbon,
Crystal Effects, Dazzling Details, Markers, Layering Squares Framelits Dies,
Gold Foil Paper, Sweet & Sassy Framelits, White Medium Envelope