Welcome to Inkabella!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to really work on my business this year. I have to admit that I haven't been moving very fast the first half of the year, but then I've had a lot going on. My husband and I are in the process of adopting my cousin. My uncle is no longer able to care for his children and so rather than letting him go into the foster system, my husband and I decided to take him in. We hadn't planned on children for at least another year so this is a big life changer for us.

I have great plans for the 2nd half of the year, even though Convention is not one of them. My cousin needs us right now and so its much better that I stay home this year and settle him in.

To start things off, I decided to name my "company" Inkabella and registered the domain, Inkabella.com. Unfortunately, the blogger name was already taken, so for the blog I went with Inkabella Designs. Until I decide how I wish to utilize my new domain, it will point here, to my blog.

I look forward to sharing many ideas and creating some lasting friendships as we explore the wonderful world of Crafts and all that Stampin' Up! has to offer!

Shoebox swap and retired colors

I'll be heading out the door momentarily to a downline meeting where we'll be doing a shoebox swap. I've been struggling for nearly two weeks trying to decide what card I will do.

It was literally last night around 4:30 pm that a I decided on a layout and a stamp set. However, thats as far as I got and it was a couple hours later that I came up with the card below.

All colors in this card are retiring at the end of June this year. The only color used here that will remain is Pumpkin Pie.

Here is a list of what I used for this card:

Stamp Set: Circle Circus

Ink: Sage Shadow, Handsome Hunter, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie

Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Handsome Hunter, Whisper White

Die-Cut: SU! Top Note

Ribbon: 1/4" Grosgrain in Sage Shadow

I'm off to share! Happy Stamping!

Ceramic Coasters

I have a craft faire coming up (my first ever!) and I decided to try and make some ceramic coasters. I have been wanting to use my Medallion stamp and so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

I stamped these ceramic tiles using close to cocoa craft ink. I heat set the ink by baking them in the oven for about 30 minutes.

What do you think?

Free Technique DVDs Special Offer

FREE TECHNIQUE DVDS SPECIAL OFFER

Special Offer Dates: April 1-May 31, 2010 (or while supplies last)

Special Offer Details: From April 1-May 31, join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator and receive two FREE technique DVDs.

Free Technique DVD Details

	Description	Retail Value
	Workshop Wow DVD 2008-2009 (140 min.) Includes 19 demonstrator presentations of "WOW" techniques. Item # 118082	$24.95
	Workshop Wow 2007-2008 DVD (117 min.) Includes 18 demonstrator presentations of "WOW" techniques for use in preparing for workshops. Item #113106	$17.47
Total Value	Over 250 minutes of stamping and paper crafting ideas!	$42.42

*DVDs are in English only

Contact me today to learn more!

Its a Color Renovation!

Stamping Up! announced on Tuesday that they were revamping their color families. This would mean we'd be saying a fond farewell to a number of colors. This has sparked many many discussions on all the online communites I belong to.

I wanted a couple days before posting this to see how the "hype" among my fellow demonstrators would pan out. I've been reading different forums discussing Stampin' Up!'s announcement and everyone is reacting on both sides of the spectrum ... from VERY upset to down right "almost peeing my pants" excited. I have to admit, I'm in the middle. I'm very excited about the changes, but also a little disappointed at the loss of some of my favorite colors.

Thanks to Amy for making and sharing these great images.

Late Night Stampers - Challenge 64

Today begins a new challenge over at the Yahoo Group, Late Night Stampers. This week is Challenge 64 - Sympathy Cards.

Most of my day today was spent running errands for family. But I was able to work a few minutes here and there to create this card. Not my best work, but I'm happy with it.

If you're not a part of Late Night Stampers, you really should visit and join the group. Its filled with a lot of great people, both demonstrators and non-demonstrators. If you are already a part of the group and haven't done your own card yet for this challenge, what are you waiting for!? :)

Happy Stamping!

Eggshell Easter Basket

Its been a while, but I found the time to get some craft time in. Challenge #63 for the Late-Night Stampers Yahoo Group is "Anything BUT a Card". So I made an Easter Basket. But not just any easter basket, I made it look like the bottom half of an egg.

This is accomplished using a 8x8 sized sheet of cardstock. I've considered creating a tutorial for this if others are interested. I'll try to work on this tomorrow and get it up soon.

I hope you enjoy my basket! Happy Stamping!

A use for retired cardstock

I'm doing a fundraiser at work for March for Babies. We'll be having a used-book sale on Wednesday and so I decided to make some bookmarks to sell in hopes of raising some more cash. These were inspired by my upline, Teri Wells, who shared the idea with us as a past stamp camp. these were made using the Bigshot and the Table Settings Bigz Die-cut.

I also felt this was a great way to use up some of my retired cardstock. Handsome Hunter is still current, but Cool Caribbean has been retired for a couple years now. I used the Very Vintage jumbo wheel on each.

These are magnetic bookmarks, as seen in the bottom picture. They were decently easy to make (just tedious at the volume I was cutting, running through the bigshot and then running the wheel over). I really hope these are a hit.

If you're at all interested in helping out, please stop by and sponsor me for the walk on April 24th. Visit Marchforbabies.org and see if there is a walk near you!

Finally ... a post!

After a long while, I finally created something!



This card was inspired by Wendy Hawkinson. The file is an animated gift so that you can see the inside and outside (Hopefully it works). I'm still learning how to use a photo box I've made to try and take better photos.

Enjoy and Happy Stamping!

Baby Shower Banner and Party Favor

The Baby shower went very well. I decided to make a banner for my sister. They decided to name their daughter KaeLynne. I know the name is a hybrid of two names, the only one I'm sure of is my sister's middle name.

I used the Serif Essentials Alphabet and cut out each letter in Melon Mambo cardstock. I used the Designer Series Paper Pad, Welcome Neighbor from the Sale-A-Bration. I decided to use the Pretty in Pink sheet with white hearts, and cut out 3x3 sheets to adhere each letter to. I then attached each square to the Melon Mambo polka-dot grosgrain ribbon.

I used a key-ring and folded over the end of the ribbon to allow my sister to hang it from a hook or push pin.

I wanted to add a few little elements to the banner to really make it stand out and so I used the Love You Much stamp set and the Heart to Heart punch, as well as the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die from the Occasions Mini. I stamped the three hearts in Rose Red on White cardstock and then used the Heart to Heart punch. I used the Beautiful Wings embosslit and punched out butterflies in Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, and So Saffron. I also used the Butterfly punch with So Saffron, spraying it with a mixture of alcohol and Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint to add a little sparkle.

The banner was such a hit, I was asked by several people to make one for them or their children.

For the party favor, I enlisted the help of my niece who I've hooked on crafts. There wasn't an "It's a Girl!" paper from SU!, so my niece choice the paper we used. We cut them into 4x4 squares to cover a coaster, using the 3/16" corner rounder punch to match it to the coaster.

We used the Whimsical Words set from Sale-A-Bration, stamping "happiness always" in rose red. We then punched it out with the Scallop Oval punch and sponged the edges with Rose Red. The flowers are from the Vintage Vogue set in the Occasion Mini. We stamped the small flower in Pretty in Pink and the large flower in Rose Red. We cut out both flowers and then pierced them together with a gold brad.

These were also a big hit, my sister making sure there were extras that she could take to work and hand out to co-workers who weren't able to make it but had sent gifts.

It was nice to finally get the time and motivation to be creative again. Since my uncle's passing in December, the fire just wasn't there. I do have a couple more projects to share and will post soon. I also hope to have new projects to share in the coming days as well.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy my share.

Happy Stamping!

Raberta

Sacramento, CA

Turtle Punch - Using MDS

At last, I'm sharing what will be my first insert in my chipboard album, a punch animal!

Isn't he adorable?!

As I was trying to decide how to create this cute guy with current punches (we no longer have the 1/4 and 1/8 inch circle punches), I realized that with My Digital Studio I had a whole new area I could explore.

I played with the different punches available in the program, calculating the width and height for each type of circle needed.

Below is the sheet I will be printing out to insert in my album. I gave the measurements for each circle, converting from the 1.25 inch.

The modern label, 3/4, and 1 3/8 inch circles are Garden Green with a mat of Always Artichoke.

The 1 1/4 inch circle is Always Artichoke.

The 1/4 inch circles are Certanly Celery with a mat of Old Olive.

I hope you enjoyed this share!

Happy Stamping!

My Chipboard Album

I’d like to share with you today a project that I’ve started in which I hope to collect and share many different punch creations using Stampin’ Up! Punches.




To store all these ideas, I decided to create my own album using one of my favorite papers currently available, Razzleberry Lemonaide.

I was able to make this album using 99% SU! items. The only item we don’t sell are the posts. J You can get those at any craft/scrapbooking store.
This paper set uses mostly the new in-colors, and contains my two favorite from that set, Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo.





Using the On Board Basics, you can create your own album.

As you can see in the pictures below, for the cover I actually cut off about an inch and put maybe a 1/16 of an inch between the two pieces of chip board to allow for the cover to bend.

The inserts are 6x6 post album inserts (item #103687, $6.95). Each package comes with 20 sheets.


This is the outside view of the album. Once I start filling in the page, I suspect that the posts won't show so much. But then, I'm also hopeful that I'll have a lot to share and will need to buy post extenders at some point.

Here is the view of the inside of the album. I covered the inside using Rich Razzleberry.









And finally, here is a viewshowing how the cover bends after I cut off about an inch of the chipboard and then left about 1/16 of an inch between the two pieces when I covered it with the paper. I'm sure you notice the slight shine to the paper. I decided to cover it with contact paper in order to protect it.







I hope you've enjoyed my little share here. Now its time to decide what will be the first punch project to share and place inside!

Thank you so much for visiting and Happy Stamping!
Raberta Gannon
Sacramento, CA

(P.S. Perhaps its time to play with MDS again and create a signature :))

Sale-A-Bration 2010 and Occasions Mini Begins!

Today begins Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration 2010! This is a great opportunity to earn some lovely stamp sets, paper and this year, a new punch!

For more informaiton on Sale-A-Bration, you can visit here. If you would like to see the supplies used for the projects in the Sale-A-Bration cataloge, you can download them here.

One of the newest products I would like to share with you are clear stamps!

Each of the stamp sets available in both the Sale-A-Bration cataloge and the new Occasions Mini are available in the traditional wood mounted set, as well as a clear stamp set. The clear sets come in a DVD sized container for ease of storage. To learn more, please visit here.

As I shared, along with Sale-A-Bration begining today, the Occasions Mini is also available today. You can download a copy of the pdf file here.

I'm very excited for the new offerings Stampin' Up! has provided for us and cannot wait to share projects with you.

Happy Stamping!
Raberta Gannon
Sacramento, CA