Bellarific Friday at Stamping Bella and an Announcement

Hello all!  Welcome back!  Today I'm sharing a card for Bellarific Friday at Stamping Bella.  This time we were asked to create a card using this inspiration pic you see above.  Immediately I was drawn to the colors on her vivid dress so that was the direction I went in.  

I used Uptown Girl Faith the Fairy.  You can find her in the Stamping Bella Shop along with all her sassy Sistahs.

Be sure to visit Blogabella so you can feast your eyes on the glorious creations from the design team. So much wonderful stuff to see!

Speaking of design teams...I have decided to take the Summer off.  My husband and I own a small BBQ Sauce and Spice Rub business, AlbuKirky Seasonings, and when the weather gets warm that's our time to shine.  Grilling/smoking season is in peak swing right now so we are up to our barbecue aprons in pork butts, ribs, briskets, chicken, and anything else you can toss onto hot coals, or into a smoker box.  Kirk has been demoing at as many stores as he can and we've been hitting the local Rail Yard Market every Sunday to sell our wares.  This weekend he'll be at a video shoot for Disc It.  A Disc-It is like an outdoor cooking wok and we LOVE ours.  Anything you can cook on top of the stove, you can cook outside on a Disc It.  Needless to say, I'll be blogging a lot more on his cooking blog.  You see, the one thing I love more than Copics, paper, stamps, buttons, ribbon, etc...is cooking, particularly baking bread.  There is no better feeling than sitting down with family and friends and sharing a meal that you created from scratch with them.  It's a culinary love letter letting them how important they are to you.

I'll be popping in from time to time with a card, but probably not with any regularity.  When Summer fades and gives way to cooler weather you may see me apply for some teams, but in the meantime you'll find me in the kitchen :)  Visit me at AlbuKirky Seasonings, the Blog.  

Oh, no you didn't...!!!

...and so it begins. The war of the camera. You see, my husband has just started his own blog about barbecuing, grilling...in general, just cooking damn good food. He is a mighty fine cook, has an adventurous palette, and loves to rummage around in the spice cabinet for new combos, certain to bring any meal alive with sizzle and zing. That's not my beef (I made a funny...hahaha!), he can cook for me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I would be perfectly fine with that...who wouldn't? My problem is...the camera.

I take pictures of cards. I take them in a controlled environment and I usually don't have to worry about getting a great first shot, because there is some hungry person breathing down my neck in the background waiting to physically devour my creation. By the way, that hungry person is usually me. In other words, when photographing food, there is no opportunity to go back in for more photos if the first group doesn't turn out, because that tasty culinary delight will soon enough be gone! Poof! Nada! Zip! CHOMP!

In light of that challenge, Kirk has been doing a little Internet recon, and a bunch of trial and error picture taking to improve his food photos. AND...he's doing a great job! BUT, in the process, settings get changed on the camera and totally screw up MY PHOTOS! For instance, my colors have been coming out wonky (it's a word, look it up. Actually, nevermind, I'm pretty sure it's not.), especially the reds. I have, seriously, taken approximately 300 hundred photos of the same card tonight and each time the reds look odd. A bit off. Finally, I notice on the camera that the Red Eye Correction setting has been turned on. It literally takes 10 steps to get to the Red Eye Correction setting, so he must have gone there intentionally. And why?! I haven't the foggiest, I guess to prevent red eye from showing up on all that food he's cooking, or perhaps he thought it said Rib Eye instead of Red Eye...who knows! Other than potatoes, does food even have eyes?

Anyway, just about the time I figured that little snag out, my battery died on my camera, no doubt from all this use, not only on my end, but Kirk's, too. So now I am waiting around for it to charge so I can take more pictures of the same card and try to figure out what other settings have been changed.

*******WAITING********WAITING*********WAITING********WAITING******

Okay, it's charged enough, let's see what we've got. Well, this is much better. Phew!

Let's move on, shall we? The image I used on my card is a brand new release from Bombshell Stamps and I think she's a beauty! Bombshell has 3 new sets available and the Design Team has some inspiring creations over on the Bombshell Blog that will certainly entice you. Be sure to check them out!

Thanks for your patience today. I appreciate the virtual ear ;D

I'm in a Kenny K. state of mind...

Hello, everyone! Welcome to a new week. I hope yours has started off great! I'm in a Kenny K. state of mind, so I decided to do another Christmas card, this time using Miss Fortune. Kenny has a new Christmas accessory pack out that allows you to turn almost any of the images into Christmas images. I didn't use it this time, but I really like it, so I'm sure some elements out of that set will be turning up in my cards very soon.

I colored up Miss Fortune with my Copics and then couldn't help but add red Spica to her bodice. You can see some of the glittery goodness in one of my pics. I'm also on a Giant Scallops kick right now and have been adding these fab die cuts to everything. I just love them!

I'm going to keep this post short, but before I go, I want to let everyone know that my husband has started a blog of his own. Yep, my hubby is a blogger ;D He is an amazing cook and his blog focuses on his adventures in grilling. He grills year round and I am the lucky taste tester. Let me tell you, this boy can cook! Check out his blog at AlbuKirky BBQ & Other Stuff. Today's post features the homemade green chili turkey sausage he made this morning. It was divine! Seriously drool-worthy ;D

Okay, ta ta for now! Catch you tomorrow ;D