have yourself a merry Christmas

Hello!
Woo-hoo...I'm making progress with my Christmas cards, I think. Not as fast as I want, but I'm slowly getting there. This one is using one of my favorites color combos--I have several favorites...LOL--black and white, plus one other color. The other colour is of a rich deep red, burgundy. At least it looks burgundy in real life...haha.


I made my own DP's for this card--not that I wanted to, sort of had to...LOL. I started with colouring Tilda first and after I finished, I realized that I didn't have any designer papers with the same shade of red/burgundy, but thank goodness I do have a stamp pad with the right colour.

The first paper I simply started with a white cardstock and using a sentiment rubber stamp and a Tim Holtz distress ink stamp pad Aged Mahogany, I stamped the entire page with the sentiments.

For the second paper, I punched out a variety of snowflakes--different sizes and shapes--using post-it notes (only using the section that has the sticky back). I then randomly placed the snowflakes on a white cardstock. Using a make-up sponge and the same Aged Mahogany stamp pad, I dabbed colours all over the paper. Then I did the same using a Black Soot stamp pad this time. Once I was satisfied with the way the colours look I removed the punched snowflakes and voila!

The houses in the background is done using a Dreamweaver brass template, white embossing paste and glitter.

This adorable image is of Something For You Tilda. She is from Magnolia's Sweet Christmas Dreams Collection 2011. Check out the Collection at Diana's on-line store Magnolia-licious. Diana has a fabulous selection of everything Magnolia (stamps--regular size and mini version, doohickey cutting dies, magazines ...) and excellent services (including discounts and store credit too)!

I've made this into an easel card. Here are full view of the card from different angles.




I am entering the following challenges with this card:

Just Magnolia hAnglar & sTanglar - Week 132 - Black/Grey, Red & White
Allsorts Challenge - Week 129 - Black and White Plus One
Totally Gorjuss - Challenge 104 - Christmas Traditions
Papertake Weekly - First Christmas
ABC DT Challenge - for November - Christmas Card
Magnolia Stamp Lover Challenge - Christmas
Simply Magnolia - Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sunday - Challenge #138 - Punch it!

That's all for now. Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by. Your visit is very much appreciated. Have a wonderful and productive week!!


Materials and Tools Used:

Sentiment stamps: Magenta 'Christmas...'; Studio G 'have yourself a merry Christmas'; Hero Arts 'Wishing Peace and Joy'

Dies: Spellbinders Labels Twenty-One and Fancy Tags 2; Tim Holtz Sizzlits Festive Greenery

Punches: Martha Stewart snowflake punches and corner punch; EK Success snowflakes punches

Miscellaneous: Dreamweaver brass stencil (houses); Dreamweaver white embossing paste; Jewel Glitter Ritz cool highlights micro-fine glitter; Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter; Vintage Attic Treasures pearls; ribbon from my stash

Medium: alcohol-ink based markers (Letraset Promarkers and Pantone Trias; Shin-Han Touch markers); coloured pencils to deepen the shadings.

Thinking of You

Hello! It's the second Tuesday of the month and it's time for a new challenge at the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog.

Woo-hoo...I'm the hostess for this month of May and for this colour challenge I've chosen one of my favorite colour combos: black and white plus one other colour. Here's my DT card.


When I first thought of using this colour scheme, I thought I would probably choose for my other colour either red, pink or purple. Then I bought this DP that the craft store was clearing out--it's part of a Halloween paper collection...heh heh. I like the shade of green and I thought it looks good combined with the black. It's sort of a medium olive green. Hmm...I've thought of a more elegant name for this...chatreuse green--yeah, that sounds better! LOL. The combo is a bit out of the ordinary, but I like trying new stuff.


I've used this Magnolia image called Tilda With Butterfly Jeans from their Butterfly Dreams Collection 2011. It is available from Magnolia-licous on-line store, as well as the other stamps that I've used on this card. For the background, I used Lazy Summer Flowers from the Lazy Summer Days Collection 2009 and the sentiment stamp is Just Sittin' Here Thinking of You.

As with most of my Tildas, I've cut her out and mounted her on pieces of foam tape to give the card a more 3-dimensional look. I've added some stickles to the butterfly on her jeans. I've decorated the underside of the card front with more of the DP and a blank space to write personal messages.

A few challenges that I am entering with this card:

PaperPlay Challenges - Week 18 - Show us your style. My style is using Magnolia Tilda images--my favorite, paper edges distressed with ink, hand-made flowers and easel cards are my favorite type of card.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 101 - Use 3 different stamps. Got that covered--see above.

ABC DT Challenge - April showers bring May flowers.

7 Kids College Fund - Challenge #20 - April showers bring May flowers.

Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar - Week 105 - Anything goes.

My Mum's Craft Shop - Challenge 4 - Cute & Girly.

Polka Doodles - Week 18 Challenge - Easel Cards

Everybody-Art-Challenge - Challenge #141 - Flowers

Papertake Weekly - Fancy a Punch?


I hope you will join us in our Challenge. The prize is a $25 Gift Certificate from Diana's Magnolia-licious.

And to inspire you, please hop over to the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog and have a look at the fabulous cards and projects of the other DT ladies--really...they are fabulous!

DP's: Cloud 9 Design Witches Brew Luster Eye, DCWV Black & White Splats.

Tools: Marianne Design Creatables, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles and Classic Scalloped Circles and Grommet Tags, Coluzzle Circle Template, Punch Bunch Daisy punches medium and small, Martha Stewart Daisy Dot Edge punch (used the small flowers for the flower centre) and Rose Leaf punch.

Embellishments: Making Memories brads.

Misc.: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Stamp pads Black Soot and Crushed Olive, Studio G glitter glue.

Lady in Red

Hello!

I've made a birthday card for a very special lady. I hope she gets this in time for her birthday. I was cutting it very close to the wire--I probably...yikes...have not mailed it out soon enough for it to reach her before her birthday. Oh well... I hope she likes it anyway.

I have also made this card with the following challenges in mind:

All That Scraps Magnolia Challenge --Challenge #1 (new challenge, so this is for their very first challenge) - open theme.

Crafts and Me - Challenge 11 - petals and pearls.

Charizma Cards - Challenge 33 - die cuts.

Just Magnolia - Week 69 - let's get sentimental. I've put the sentiment in the inside of my card: The beauty within you brings joy to those around you.

Friday Sketchers - Challenge 116 - sketch by Beatrix. See her sketch on her blog here.

Magnolia-licious Highlites - Birthday celebration blog hop challenge.

Hmm...I'm not really sure if the shape of the die cut works with this sketch, but I so wanted to try it out and see how it looks on a card. This is a new die cut that I bought while I was on vacation this summer. I haven't seen that shape before.

I don't usually decorate the full pages of the inside of my cards. I normally only put something on half of the pages and left the other half blank to write my personal messages on. But this time I decided to do it differently.

Although I find all the Tildas adorable, I usually have a favorite or two from each collection. This one might just be it from the new Bon Voyage Collection.

Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by. I appreciate your visit very much. Enjoy your day and your week! myblog.

Stamps: Magnolia Tilda with Flowing Hair from the Hoppy Easter/Spring 2010 Collection, Magnolia Travelling Tilda from the Bon Voyage 2010 Collection,
DP's: Art Impressions cherry blossom, Mustard Moon old red tractor small plaid, Hot Off the Press Paper Pizzazz mixing masculine papers.
Tools: Nellie Snellen multi frame's die cut, Martha Stewart large circle cutter, Punch Bunch flower punches, Carl Carla Craft sun punch, EK Success retro flower small punch, Martha Stewart hydrangea smalll petals punch, McGill twig punch.
Misc.: Pearls from Recollections, Mark Richards and Vintage Attic Treasures.

Lady Tilda

Hello!

I tried to post this last night, but Google Blogger was down...at least I think it was. I just wasn't able to post it. I wonder if anybody else was having the same problem. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just me...LOL.

I have a card here featuring this oh, so adorable Lady Tilda from the Magnolia's 2010 Fairy Tale Collection.


I have used this sketch of Janneke's that she has created for the Challenge #105 at Friday Sketchers.

The colour scheme is for Week 23 colour challenge at Create4Fun - black and white and one other colour of my choice. (Sorry, but I simply just have to use a touch of green for the leaves.)

A few other challenges that I am entering with this card:

Crafts and Me - Challenge #5 - Distressed

Charizma Cards - Challenge #22 - Flowers

Fun with Shapes and More - Challenge #56 - Handmade Background

I have added some glitter to Lady Tilda's bodice and underskirt.

The two designer papers are self-made. Using the same stamp image, I have stamped using black ink on white paper for one of them and for the other stamped white ink on black paper (also used white embossing powder here).

The single rose I have made following this tutorial -- you can find a similar tutorial in the Fairy Tale issue of the Magnolia Ink magazine.

Thanks for your visit. Enjoy the week!

Stamps: Magnolia Lady Tilda, Hot Off the Press clear stamp set Botanicals.

DP: Mustard Moon old red tractor small plaid.

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities circles and scallop circles, McGill twig punch, EK Success flower punches and centre flower punch from Michaels $1.50 bin.

Misc.: Recollections pearls and brads, Tim Holtz distress ink pads black soot and aged mahogany, ribbons from my stash.

Black Pearl Tilda - Cute Card Thursday Challenge #94

Happy Thursday everyone!

Woo hoo!! I've been given the privilege of being a Guest DT at the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog for this week and the next. Thank you Caz for the opportunity.

The challenge for their Week 94 is: All New - they want to see your cards/projects that feature something new. It can be new stash, new year, new baby, new school term...really it is up to you...as long as there is something NEW! And this is my card.

I have actually used three new products for this card. The Magnolia image of Dinner Tilda I have actually bought from Magnolia-licious a while back, but this is the first chance I have of using it on a card, so it's newly used..LOL.

A couple of new tools I have acquired over the holiday season. One of them is the Martha Stewart border punch featuring flowers. I made the paper lace with it and you can probably figure out how I did it. Here's how anyway: cut a 1" in strip of paper and punch on both sides of the strip as shown below.

***Edited: I've now done a sort-of tutorial on Paper Laces. If you're interested, click here: Paper Lace Toturial. ***

The other new tool I got is a Spellbinders Nestabilities.

I have used one of my favorite colour schemes for this card, which is to take black & white and then add one other colour.

I gave Tilda a bit of style by having her wearing her black pearl necklace and bracelet... hee hee.

I am not really sure what I am going to use this card for, so I have left it blank with no sentiment. I can easily add a sentiment to suit the occasion at a later date.

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your day!

Stamp: Magnolia Dinner Tilda from the Yummy for Your Tummy collection .

DP's: Chatterbox Studio Poppies, DCWV 12x12 BLK & WHT Splats, don't know what the purple paper is called--no writing on the back.

Tools: Martha Stewart border punch Flower, Spellbinder Nestabilities Labels 2 die-cut with Big Shot, EK Success retro flower punch, McGill Flowers-Petite Petals punch, McGill twig punch.

Misc. Vintage Attic Treasures, Mark Richards and Reflections Autumn pearls.

From the Heart

Happy Saturday! Ladies, thank you for all the lovely comments that you've written me. I really do apppreciate them. They make my day.

I've created this card using this marvelous sketch that Sharon herself has provided for the Truly Scrumptious Challenge Blog, their challenge 11. This week there's an added theme to this challenge: "...to use only black, white plus one other colour (excluding skin & hair)." How simply wonderful, since that colour scheme is one of my favorites.

And that is exactly the challenge at Papertake Weekly Challenge: My Favorites Things -- "use anything you want as long as there is something favourite of yours on there. So it could be a stamp, or your fave colour combi or papers. Or all of them put together." Now, I can't truthfully say that the black-and-white-plus-one-other-colour colour scheme is my absolute favorite, but it's right up there. I also have a favorite stamp that I want to use, the Tilda with Heart from Magnolia.

With that stamp, I've snuck in a third challenge, A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 58 - Hearts. "...you could use DP with hearts on Heart border punches etc, anything goes as long as it has a heart somewhere on the design."

The additional colour, as you can see, is red (or rather shades of red, from deep pink to red--oh let's just say pinkish red or redish pink. LOL. Take your pick!). The black and white DP is a self-stamped paper using a clear stamp from Autumn Leaves. I've added the flower again, that I learned how to make from StampARTic tutorial provided by Marianne.

And this is how I decorated the inside of the card.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a lovely weekend.

Stamps: Magnolia #281 Tilda with Heart (from the Pink Collection), Autumn Leaves Stampology Block Stamps 1 clear stamp set; Hero Arts From the Heart Greetings stamp set, Hampton Art G Studio Kolette Hall Design For you.
DP's: Basic Grey Bittersweet Raspberry Cream, Hot Off the Press Mixing Masculine papers (black stripe).
Tools: Martha Stewart border punch Hearts. Marvy Uchida scallopped circle punch. EK Success retro flower punches.

Post-It Note Holder & Gift Box

Hello. I wasn't sure I was going to do this challenge, but I actually did it and got the entry in by the skin of my teeth. Now I'm back editing my postings. LOL.

The Challenge is at Magnolia-licious Hilites. And this is it:
"How do you play?-Create your own "Post-It Note Holder & Gift Box"--Tutorial and instructions on Bridgett Owens blog HERE (thankyou Bridgett). Make sure it includes a fabulous Magnolia image and of course if it's summer themed that's great but not required."

I wasn't sure I was going to do this challenge, but decide at the last minute to try. You see, I don't have a scrol-pal so had to try to figure out the measurements. It looked like such a nice project that I wanted to see what it looks like in real life. Wasn't too sure if I could do it in time, by I gave it a shot.

This is my version of the post-it note holder and gift box.

I used the Tilda with Tag image . The DP that I used was purchased at Michaels at a really, really cheap price--part of a package they have at their bargain aisle. I made 2 post-it note holders, but the one that's sitting inside the gift box is unadorned with a Tilda--only manage to colour 2 images in the limited time--hee hee hee, that'll teach me!!!

Anyway, phew, I made it!

Now, bye!

PS. Well look at that, I was so rushed that I forgot to put something on the tag that Tilda is holding. I was going to write down "Leave a note" or "Take note". Oh well.

Stamps: Magnolia #325 Tilda with Tag.

Spot the Dots

Happy Friday! I'll keep this short and sweet.

I've made another card and this one is for the Magnolia Down Under Challenge #9. This weeks theme: Spot the Dots….

I was at Michaels going through their bargain aisle. They've got these cheap packages of scrapbook papers for $1.50 and there are 8 sheet of paper in each package. Honest! Admittedly the papers are very thin, thinner than your normal DP. Well you know...you get what you pay for--LOL. But a couple of the designs fits the theme of challenge, so at that price why not! I've kept this card very simple.

And for the inside of the card:

Thanks for stopping by here. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Stamp: Magnolia #285 Giggling Tilda

Papers: Colorbok 55057 12x12 paper pack

hello! hello! hello!

Happy weekend! I hope you're having a good day.

Here's the next card to be added to my black and white plus ...collection.

I've created this card using this wonderful sketch provided by Marlene for the Stamp with Fun Challenge #3, however I've flipped the sketch over to its side.

I wanted to use green this time to add to black and white and I chose this shade of green to match the green on the Basic Grey designer paper that I wanted to use. However when the ink dries, it wasn't the same! Agghhh!!! Oh well, close enough--limited markers, no exact match.

And the inside of the card.

I kind of like using the same Tilda image for the insides. Sort of do a practice run in colouring the image first--this I use in the inside. And hopefully the 2nd one I colour will be better than the first and I can use that for the front of the card.

Enjoy your weekend!

Stamps: Magnolia #254 Cross Stitch Tilda, Autumn Leaves Stampology AL3180 Block Stamps 1, See-D's #50136 Say It Again

Papers: Basic Grey Boxer Hipster, Chatterbox Botanico Green Oak

Tools: Fiskars border punch (don't know the name)

Carrot Cupcake

Hello everyone! Another card and a yummy one I hope.

This week's theme at the Magnolia Down Under Challenge is: Cupcake. Since this isn't a colour challenge, I can do another card for my Black & White Plus ... Collection. (And you thought I had finished with it. Sorry, but no, and I also have a few more colours I want to try out later, so bear with me please ladies.)

It was probably obvious that eventually I would choose orange as the additional color--black and orange go together, them being Halloween colours. (Is Halloween celebrated down under? Pumpkins, jack o' lanterns, ghosts and goblins, Ichabod Crane and all that stuff. Or is it strictly a North American thing?) I didn't have to improvise on this one as I do have a Tilda-holding-a-cupcake/muffin stamp--an obvious choice to me. Here's the card and I think I'll call it Carrot Cupcake card, or should that be Carrot Cake Cupcake card? LOL

And I did a bit more work for the inside of the card.

Woohoo...weekend coming up! Planning to sleep in tomorrow morning. Have wonderful weekend everyone!

Stamps: Magnolia #255 Tilda with Cowberry Muffin and #531 Shelf with Kitchen Towels, Stampendous TC51 Foliate Quad Cube, Inkadinkado clear stamp set 97628 Birthday Cupcake

Papers: Basic Grey ambrosia fresh-squeezed, making memories (note) worthy Delaney Ledger Circle, Hot off the Press Mixing Masculine Papers

Happy Thoughts

Happy Day everyone! You would think that having Easter Monday off from work, I would have more time to do crafty stuff, but no….. I keep thinking that today is yesterday--if that makes any sense to you. It feels like I’ve lost a day this week--LOL. Ah…well.

A wonderful sketch provided by Jacqueline this week at the Friday Sketchers Challenge blog. (I hope her computer is up and running again.)

I saw handbag in a store window. It was purple with black trim—looks quite fetching I thought. So I’ve chosen purple to add to the black and white for the next card for my B&W+…collection.
I wanted to do a Tilda with black hair. I’ve chosen a Tilda image with straight hair, as I thought this would be the easiest to do. As you can see, it’s not quite there yet. I have to use darker greys next time I think. It’s hard to judge—the colour lightens up when the ink from the markers dries.

Have a wonderful day!

PS. 2 postings today. If you’re reading this one first, keep scrolling down for the how-to on the flowers (but only if you’re interested).

Stamps: Magnolia #278 Ice/Ballet Princess from the Pink Collection, Inkadinkado clear stamp set 97634 Dot Flourishes, MSE My Sentiments Exactly M101 thinking of you
DP's: DCWV Blk & Wht splats, Mustard Moon (grey plaid)

Blossom

I'm still on my black and white kick. This is another card for my B&W+... collection and I've chosen pink to add to the black and white. I actually had a different shade of pink in mind for this card, a sort of softer more pastel pink, but somehow ended up with this sort of fushia colour.

This is a lovely sketch that Mina has provide at the Truly Scrumptious blog. The theme for their Challenge 4 is Flower Power. Yes!!! I simply love to use flowers.


As you can see I've used the Tilda-with-sunflower image. Yes, there is a sunflower hiding under that daisy-like flower that Tilda is holding, but I can't have a pink sunflower now, can I? Or maybe I can, artistic licence and all that, hee hee. Nuh, I think this looks better.


I made a flower that's just big enough to cover the sunflower and attached that to the sunflower with the brad that I use as a flower centre. The card has a more 3-D look now.

I wasn't too sure about adding the flowers at the corners, but the challenge says to "go crazy with those flower embellishments!!", so that's what I did--LOL. Besides it seemed a shame not to use the flowers after I spend all that time creating them--I like too make my own flowers. It did look pretty okay to me without the flowers though.

And this is what the inside of the card looks like.

Have a good Easter Monday!

Stamps: Magnolia #284 Tilda With Sunflower, Hot Off the Press acrylic stamps Botanicals, Inkadinkado Clear Stamps 97623 Garden Delight, Imaginisce Twitterpated Collection Blossom DP: Colorbok 55057 Paper Pack

Congrats - Baby

Happy Good Friday!

This card is for the Magnolia Down Under Challenge, their #6 challenge is set by Kristy's theme: A Baby is Born. Boy, this one was a real challenge to do. I had a mental block there for a while. That's why I'm so late with this entry. I think I now have a brain sprain--LOL. I have no baby Alvin or Tingla in my stamp collection, so no obvious Magnolia stamp to use here. I decided to use Tilda Standing with Hair Bow for no particular reason except that I haven't use this before, so might as well be now. To make this card a baby card, I had to use other stamps that have a baby theme to them--don't have too many of them either.

Re colour, this was going to be the 2nd card for my B&W plus... colletion, so I had one colour to choose. Instead of the obvious pink for a girl or blue for a boy, I went with yellow for either or. Hope you like this card.


I have this punch for a baby suit (don't know what you call it). Bought it a long time ago at a clearance sale and at the time I had no idea of when I was going to have a use for it. Isn't it just the cutest thing?

Have a Happy Easter everyone and a wonderful weekend too!

Stamps: Magnolia #209 Tilda Standing with Hair Bow, Autumn Leaves AL3180 Block Stamps 1, Studio G clear stamps
DP: Chatterbox Eclectique Sunny
Punches: Martha Stewart border punches, EK Success (baby clothes)

Red Jumper Tilda

Happy Thursday!

This was made with the Friday Sketchers challenge blog in mind.

I’ve been toying with the idea of a black-and-white-card collection. A card using just those 2 colours—do they really call them colours or something else?--can actually look quite striking. But what I was thinking was restricting myself to using black and white (and shades of gray) and one other colour. This is unless a challenge asks for specific colours. I’ll label this my 'Black and white plus... collection'. I'm planning to do several cards--I'll probably be sick of B&W by then--LOL.

This one is going to be the first one using the colour of what else....red.

This is the very lovely sketch that was provided by Heidi for the Friday Sketchers challenge.

Tilda’s sweater is white, but instead of just leaving it as is from the white of the paper, I’ve taken my light grey marker to add shadows and then used my glue stick pen to go over the entire sweater, dumped some transparent micro-fine glitter and shook off the access glitter. So now the sweater has a shimmery-white look to it. Oh the same with the heart in the centre of Tulda's jumper.

PS. Oh okay, I lied. Hair colour can be any colour, okay? I’m still experimenting with colouring black hair. Haven’t done a creditable job yet. I guess I can’t really use the black marker or I’ll drown out the lines from the stamp image, but I don’t want to make Tilda looking like she’s got grey hair, hee hee.

Stamp: Magnolia #215 Heart Jumper Tilda, Hot Off the Press acrylic stamps Botanicals

DP's: DCWV Blk & Wht splats, Making Memories Scroll Dark Deep Read Heritage Collection, Mustard Moon (grey plaid)