Introducing Lily!!!

I would like you all to meet sweet little Lily. Lily is actually Willow's baby niece (Willow's father is Lily's grandfather). Lily is 16 weeks old and . . . well I don't have to tell you . . . absolutely adorable!!! Lily is staying with us until she can go to her new permanent home. A few people have wanted to take Lily home with them . . . I mean who wouldn't . . . but Lily's breeder has to find the perfect home for this little cutie. For now we are giving her lots of hugs, kisses, and love as I try not to become too attached to her and not want to give her up. My sweet little Willow has taken Lily under her wing and is being the perfect auntie to this sweet little baby. They play together, eat together, and I even just caught them napping together on Willow's bed. It doesn't get any cuter than this!!

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for leaving a comment about your big weekend plans. Sounds like you are all keeping busy and having some fun this weekend too. The cleaning didn't sound like much though. The winners of the card giveaway are Tami Wood, Rita, and Michelle. Ladies, please send me your snail mail addresses and I will get those to you right away.

Thanks again for stopping by and for all your fun comments. I am just finishing up a fun project and I will try to get it posted in the morning.

Big stamping hugs from Pegi, Willow, and baby Lily!

Friday Card Giveaways!!!

Hello everyone!!! Did you think I forgot about our little tradition here at BellaWillow? I know . . . a day late and a dollar short as always . . . so today I have three cards for our Friday Card Giveaway.

I designed these cards for my first month of card making classes at Memory Creek where I am a card instructor. The classes were fun and I met some wonderful women. We had a lot of fun trying out some new stamps, punches, and techniques. I hope they will join me again next month.

My cards were made using Bazill paper for the bases and the designer paper is from Bo Bunny's Shabby Princess line. The stamp set is Just Picked from Technique Tuesday. I am loving these Technique Tuesday stamps. Oops . . . the first card is made using the Hippie Flower stamp from Limited Edition and the sentement is from Amuse. The other two cards are Technique Tuesday and the sentement is from my computer. Hey . . . if you can't find the right stamp . . . wing it!!

If you would like a chance to win one of these cards, please leave a comment on my blog and tell me about your exciting plans for the weekend. I will put all the names in a hat and draw three lucky winners out tomorrow night and announce the winners Sunday morning.

I hope you all have great plans for the weekend and thanks again so much for all your kind words.

Big stamping hugs,

~ Pegi

Bridal Party Bellas Dressed In Stella Ruby

When my very dear sweet title closer Cassie first approached me about making six cards for her bridal attendants, I was flattered . . . but a little apprehensive. All I could think of was wedding . . . white . . . lace . . . fru fru . . . yuck. How could I come up with something for that? She then explained that they were going to be part of the girls' thank you gifts, that her colors were red and pink, that she really liked my style, and to do whatever I wanted. We did agree that it would be nice to somehow incorporate each girls' name or first initial on the card to really make it their own. Okay . . . I could do that.

Bridalpartybella . . . that was my very first thought and so I took her to the Stampingbella website and she loved the stamp and immediately ordered it for me to use. My next big challenge was finding a designer paper that worked well with The Bellas, had red and pink in it, and was true to my funky vintage style. OMG . . . Basic Grey Stella Ruby was perfect and she loved it too!

So now that you know how the planning went, here is the card I came up with. Thirty paper pieced Bellas, each with their own unique dress on, 84 corner punches, 60 Swarovski Crystals, and 12 ribbons just to name a few.

Big hugs go out to my very dear sweet friend Kristina Lewis of Balance for helping me with the initials. She picked out the Quickutz letters from her magic bag of tricks and punched each one out for me. Thank you Kristina!!! I think these letters put the finishing touch on these cards. The funky style lettering goes very nice with the Stella Ruby paper and the Bellas.

And of course my dear sweet little puppy had to get in on the action too. "Look Momma . . . you dropped something!!" Do you remember the story of how Willow sits under my stamping desk and waits for any piece of paper . . . no matter how small . . . to drop from the sky? Well it looks as though she has caught herself a little paper treat. In case you can't see it . . . Willow has a small piece of paper stuck on her mouth. Can any Stampin' Up! fans tell what that is stuck to her sweet little face?

I hope everyone is having a great week . . . I know I am!!! Lot's of fun stuff going on here and I will have to sit down later and tell you all about it. Have a great day everyone . . . and thank you all so much for continuing to read my blog and for all your wonderful comments as I continue to grow in this craft. A very special thank you goes out to Kristina Lewis for all your beautiful compliments. You make me want to try new things as I continue to spread my wings and come out of my shell in this whole crazy stamping/papercrafting world. Big hugs to you and your beautiful family!!

Big stamping hugs to everyone from me and Willow!!

~ Pegi

I've Been Tagged . . . And Then Tagged Again!!!

There is a lot of blog tag going on right now and I'm happy to join right in on this fun game!!!

First of all I was tagged by Taylor and here is how her little game of tag works.

1. YOUR ROCKSTAR NAME (first pet, current car): Mia Jetta . . . okay this game might be kinda fun . . . that sounds like a famous rock star or a rock star's daughter.

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie): Chocolate Chocolate Chip . . . okay that's really gonna impress all my gangsta friends. "Word up . . . Chocolate Chocolate Chip here . . . holla back if you wanna go to Archivers and stamp with me tonight".

3. YOUR FLY "GUY/GIRL" NAME (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name): P-Tay . . . P-Diddy . . . okay that might work.

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Pink Cat . . . okay I guess that works . . . wasn't the Pink Panther a detective?

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Sue Lincoln

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters last name, first 2 letters first name): Taype . . . not a big Star Wars Fan . . . would that be pronounced TAY-PEE or just TAPE? Either way . . . it sounds stupid!

7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, & add "the"): The Blue Fresca . . . what kind of a crazy superhero is that?

8. YOUR NASCAR NAME (first names of your Grandfathers): Harold Heye . . . okay . . . I think Harry drives a mean race car.

9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME (favorite perfume, favorite candy): Chanel M&M's . . . I better do like Cher, Prince, and Madonna . . . use my first name only!

10. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (Mother's & Father's middle names): Louise Lee


I was then tagged by my dear friend Kristina and here is how her game of tag works.

Four Tidbits

Four Places I have worked:
1) IMS Mortgage Services, Inc.
2) Midwest Lending
3) Men's Wearhouse
4) Sears

Four Places I have lived:
1) Minneaolis, MN
2) Des Moines, IA
3) Columbia, SC
4) Lincoln, NE

Four Places I have been on Vacation:
1) St. Thomas US Virgin Islands
2) St. Maarten
3) Sanibel Island, FL
4) Seattle, WA

Four Favorite Foods
1) CHOCOLATE!!!
2) Pizza
3) Mexican
4) Chineese Buffet

Four Friends I'm tagging that are most likely to respond:
1) Paris Otremba
2) Sheila Oliver
3) Michelle White
4) Tammy McBeain

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and now I am off to go stamp and will hopefully have some fun cards to post.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Pegi

The Blogger Babes Are At It Again!!!

I had another fun evening with one of my very dear friends . . . Kristina Lewis. She came over to my house tonight for dinner and an evening of stamping. Why is it . . . whenever us Blogger Babes get together for stamping . . . we do everything but stamp? Kristina and I had so much fun talking and laughing and playing with Willow and Izzy. They absolutely adored her. I can't wait till we can do it again Kristina!

This card started out to be a sketch challenge over at SCS . . . and it just got a little outta control with all the layers . . . 14 to be exact. It has so many layers it won't even stand up on it's own . . . it keeps tipping over. It sure was fun to make though. I was in the mood for something Fall looking and I don't have any leaves, so I made a Fall looking flower instead.

The card base is SU's Close To Cocoa and the dp is Basic Grey's Aged&Confused Vagabond line. I used SU's 5/8" Chocolate Chip ribbon and added brown organdy ribbon over it. I used some Hodgepodge Hardware from SU and the flower is from the SU Doodle This set. The sentement is from SU's Short & Sweet.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Pegi

The Blogger Babes Enjoy An Evening Of Stamping ! !

The Blogger Babes . . . what kind of a silly name is that you ask? Well that is what we call ourselves . . . Kristina, Kathleen, Michelle, Paris, and myself. Ever since our dear friend Taylor came to town last weekend for Scrapfest at the Mall of America, and got us all together for dinner, we have been e-mailing each other, calling each other on the phone, checking out each other's blogs, and last night we had a stamping evening at Archivers in Apple Valley. Paris couldn't come because she was out of town ((((((((we missed you Paris and we hope you can come to the next Blogger Babes' outing))))))). So Kristina, Kathleen, Michelle, and myself each rolled, carried, carted, and toted half the contents of our stamping rooms over to Archivers and piled our table up high with all kinds of stamp sets, inks, paper, ribbons, embellishments, tools, etc. and settled in for a six hour stamp fest.

Okay . . . so I bet you are all thinking that we sure got a lot of stamping done . . . well I am sorry to disappoint you but there was more laughing, talking, and shopping at Archivers going on than there was stamping. We had most of the inventory from Archivers and Stampin' Up! already on our table . . . but we are all out in the store checking out what we might be missing for our big evening.

Okay . . . so it wasn't all laughing, talking, and shopping for the entire evening. We did manage to get some things done . . . we made a card. Yup . . . thats right . . . we made "a" card . . . "one" card . . . in six hours! LOL. It was probably the most fun card I have ever made though because all four of us designed it together, and shared in the making of it. We had so much fun making that little card and each one of us are going to share it on our blog.

Our Halloween card is made using Bazill "Parakeet" paper for the card base, Daisy D's "Taylor" designer paper ((((((((((((((Taylor did you hear that . . . you were with us in spirit)))))))))). The cute little cat on the broom is from SU's Haunting Halloween stamp set. Michelle reached into one of her many bags and pulled out that cute little sentement. I am not sure where it is from, but it worked perfectly ((((((((((thank you Michelle))))))))). We used two kinds of ribbon from Anchor Paper and layered it. Kathleen showed us how to use the watercolor crayons on our cute little cat. We used a black watercolor crayon and you have to dab it on a piece of paper or a napkin before you bring it to your paper, otherwise it goes on way too dark (((((((((((thank you Kathleen))))))))))).

So that was pretty much our fun filled evening. We did take a little break half way through the night and the Blogger Babes came over to my house (two miles away from Archivers) so they could see my townhouse, my stamping room, and of course my sweet little Willow. Willow was a little shy at first (she hid under the couch and kept peeking out) but the more they come over to visit the more she will warm up to them. She did manage to give Kristina lots of kisses though ((((((Kristina . . . I can't wait for our next stamping fest on Wednesday))))))).

And here is a picture of Willow standing on my stamping bag all ready to go on the next outing of the Blogger Babes.

Have a great week everyone and I will be back to share more creations, stories, and pictures with you.

~ Pegi

Technique Tuesday vs. Stampin' Up!

I have been using mostly Stampin' Up! stamps because I really like the quality, and that's what my friends use, and I'm a demonstrator and I get a great discount. However, recently I was asked to be a card instructor at Memory Creek in Farmington, Minnesota and I can't very well be teaching card classes using my Stampin' Up! stamps. The owner of the store, Ann Manthey, has also asked me to sell some of my cards in her store, and I can't sell any Stampin' Up! images either. So because of these things, I had to search out some alternatives. I came across Technique Tuesday and instantly loved the way they stamped. They are not rubber like SU, and I have just found out that they are not acrylic either. They look like acrylic stamps, but Technique Tuesday claims they are not acrylic, and according to the nice young lady that I spoke with, they aren't giving away their secret sauce recipe. So I have no idea what these wonderful little stamps are made of, but I love them all the same. There are so many stamps out there on the market, and some of them stamp like crap, so it is always nice to find a stamp that works good.

Now don't get me wrong . . . I do not plan on giving up my Stampin' Up! stamps anytime soon, but it is nice to know that we do have choices. And it's nice to know that there are other stamps out there just as nice as our beloved Stampin' Up! So if you find yourself in a situation where you can't use SU products or you just want to try something new, I recommend you give Technique Tuesday a try. I think you will like them.

So for this little card I used my Just Picked set from Technique Tuesday. The card base is Bazill paper and the dp is from Bo Bunny's Shabby Princess line. The ribbon is from SU and the brads are from Karen Foster.

I hope everyone is having a great week, and thank you for stopping by.

Big stamping hugs.

~ Pegi

Funky Shabby Chic Sassy Stems

Everytime I look at this Infuse Paper I think of Funky Shabby Chic. I love the paper . . . I love all the Basic Grey papers. I can't wait for Basic Grey's new Christmas line to arrive next month . . . Figgy Pudding.

I made this card using SU's Chocolate Chip cardstock for my base, I layered Basic Grey's Infuse paper for the rest of the card, and I used SU's Sassy Stems and Warm Words sets for my image and sentement. I stamped them on the Basic Grey dp and instead of coloring in the flower, I paper pieced it. I used SU's Hodgepodge Hardware for the sentement. The brown ribbon is from SU and the pink ribbon is from Archivers.

I hope everyone enjoyed the recap of Scrapfest. We had so much fun and I am so excited to stamp with Kristina, Kathleen, and Michelle at Archivers on Saturday night. We are going to have so much fun. I will post pictures of our stamping night and hopefully a project or two for you all to see.

Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for continuing to read my blog and for all all the wonderful comments you leave.

I thought you might enjoy seeing this picture of my little stamping helper. She sits right here next to my stamp table chewing on her flossie anxiously awaiting any small scrap of paper that might fall off my desk. That's her cue to grab it up real quick, run out of the room, and then run around with it in her mouth for the next 10 minutes taunting me and just daring me to try and get it from her. When she has had enough of the game, she takes her new prize under the couch where Mama can't get to it and stashes it away and then she comes out and waits for the next piece of paper to fall down from the sky and we play that silly game all over again. It's a wonder I get any stamping done at all.

Have a great day everyone!!!

~ Pegi

Welcome To Scrapfest '07!!

For those of you who didn't get to attend this year's Scrapfest . . . the nation's premier scrapbooking and paper-crafting event! . . . let me be your guide for this fantastic three day event that was sponsored by Archivers and held at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota . . . 15 minutes away from my house.

Our first stop on the Scrapfest tour takes us to the Stampendous booth where our dear friend Taylor VanBruggen is hard at work making sure everyone is having fun doing the make and take. The first picture is of Taylor (in the middle) with the two Stampendous girls she came to Minneapolis with. The second picture is of Taylor working at her table and Michelle, Kathleen, and Kristina taking part in the make and take.

Our next stop on the tour is the Daisy D's booth where Paris and I were so lucky to meet designer Kelly Taylor. Kelly came all the way from Utah to host this fabulous card making class using paper that he had designed. We had a wonderful conversation with Kelly and he told us that he had just gotten back from a trip to Boston where he was scouting out fabric for the upcoming 2008 line of paper. He works about a year ahead of time. I can't imagine working a year ahead of time . . . well of course not you say . . . you're the day late and a dollar short girl. We asked him to tell us about what me might see in the future at Archivers and he told us to be watching for the 2008 line of Valentine paper from Daisy D's called Maybe Baby. I love Daisy D's paper and I can't wait to see what wonderful paper Kelly has designed for us. Here is a picture of the card I made at the Daisy D's booth and Kelly was so gracious and autographed it for me.

Our next stop on the Scrapfest tour is the Cosmo Cricket booth. Does Cosmo Cricket remind you of anything? Don't you feel like you have seen it somewhere before? Well if you said yes then you probably know that Cosmo Cricket is the creation of married designers Eric and Julie Comstock. You might have heard of Comstock before. Eric and Julie are the original creators of the Comstock Collection. The Comstock Collection is still being featured by We R Memory Keepers at scrapbook stores all over the country. They have recently decided to go on their own and Cosmo Cricket was born. Same look . . . but a different name . . . and their very own company. Cosmo Cricket you ask . . . how did they come up with that name? Cosmo Cricket is an anagram of Eric Comstock. He typed his name in wordsmith.org and that's what came out.

Look at these beautiful items featured at the Cosmo Cricket booth. I especially love the ornaments and that cute little birdhouse.

Our next stop on the Scrapfest '07 tour is the Westrim/Autumn Leaves booth where we met the sweetest woman, Illiana. It was nearing the end of the day and the lines were still very long at each booth. Paris and I started talking to Illiana about the cute little Rhonna Farrer butterfly stamp they were featuring and that I was going to go up to Archivers after the event was over and try to find it. Illiana informed me that Archivers had already sold out of it but if I came back to her booth in a few minutes she would give me that cute little butterfly stamp to take home with me. How sweet is that!!! So I went back and Illiana gave me the butterfly stamp and the word flourish stamp that she had used all weekend at her booth. She took great care in cleaning them up for me and was concerned that they were a little dirty still. I told her that they had received much love over the last few days and I was honored to be receiving them. Illiana was fabulous and I hope we see her again.

I hope everyone is enjoying their guided tour through Scrapfest '07. Our final stop on the tour today will be some of the display boards featuring some of the wonderful projects that were offered in the workshops. Enjoy!!!

This concludes our Scrapfest '07 guided tour. I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

~ Pegi

Priceless!!!!

That's what good friends are . . . Priceless!!! I had such a fun evening last night with my stamping/blogging friends at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) that I wanted to make this card in their honor to let them know how special they are to me, and how much fun I had last night.

Hello everyone . . . I know it's been a couple of weeks since I have been able to share anything with you. I hate not having time to stamp and blog and talk to all my friends . . . but my new job at the bank has been very busy. Once I get settled in a little more, and learn my job a little better . . . I will have more time to stamp and chat!

It's Scrapfest weekend here in Minnesota, which is an event sponsored by Archivers, and a lot of women from all over the country are here for the workshops and make and takes. We are very lucky this year to have our very dear friend Taylor VanBruggen from tayloredexpressions in town with us and we had dinner last night in her honor. There were about 15 women at dinner and we had such a fun time. It was so nice to finally be able to meet so many of my stamping/blogging friends and be able to sit down with them and talk and share and get to know everyone a little better. I am excited to say that we are planning on doing it again in the near future.

This set is the new SU Priceless set and I have to say I was a little stumped at first on how to put something together with it . . . but once I started inking up the stamps . . . the card just flowed. I really like the fact that it has 11 stamps with it and you can not only make your main images, but you can make fun backgrounds too. Can you see how I took some of the stamps and used the SU White Craft Ink to add to the dp?

I also broke out my new 2007-2008 SU In Colors and used Wild Wasabi for the card base. I also used Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranate inks, and Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon. The dp is from the Basic Grey Perhaps line. I used one of my 6 x 6 pads. I really like those pads.

So whether you are at Scrapfest this weekend, just enjoying time with your family, or sitting in your stamp room creating something special, I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! I am looking forward to tomorrow when Paris and I are going to Scrapfest and meeting up with Katheleen and Kristina. I will try to post some pictures this week of all our activities.

Good Night!!

Pegi