3 New Cards

What a busy time! Between birthdays at work, an anniversary, Halloween and Thanksgiving, I've been spending a lot of time in the craftroom!

Here's my first of three cards to show you today:  a birthday greeting for a co-worker who is a fellow cat lover:

I chose some nice flocked polka dot paper by DCWV topped off with one of my favorite Penny Black cat stamps, cut out with my scalloped Spellbinders die. I used Aleene's Tacky Glue on the hearts and added Martha Stewart's fine red glitter for a touch of sparkle. A polka dot ribbon from my stash and round black jewels added to the dots design. Colouring the cat was done with Copics C1, C2 and C3. N1, N2 and N3 for the cup and some R21 for the cat's nose and ears. The sentiment was cut using a Cuttlebug Emboss Plus die set.

Here's another co-worker card, this time a Get Well Greeting to cheer her up:

This card uses an Inkadinkado stamp, Memento ink, Fancy Pants "Baby's Breath" paper and Copics G20, G21, G24, G82, G85, Y11, Y15 and Y17. The stamped image was cut out and popped up using foam dimensionals. The sheer ribbon is Celebrate It from Michaels.

And speaking of "Celebrate", here is a simple card I made for my Mom and Dad's 63rd anniversary!

I used my Cricut for this one, cutting out the "Celebrate" from the "Tie The Knot" cartridge. Wild Orchid flowers were coloured with Y21 Copic and the sheer ribbon was again Celebrate It from Michaels. The beautiful paper is K&Co.

Whew! I have also been busy making a whole slew of my very first ATC (Artist Trading Cards) and will post those when I can (I want them to be a secret to the recipients).

Trick or Treat!

"O" is for October, Orange and Octagon!

Here's a sketch I came up for the front of my easel card:

And here is what I have been working on for a few days:

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (second only to Christmas), I wanted to create a "costume parade" of sorts with my stamps. Here we have Pirate Tilda, Sherwood Edwin and Princess Tilda all ready for Trick or Treating!

Each one also has their very own treat bag to collect some yummy goodies; these were made on my Cricut and decorated with die cuts from the Cricut as well. I also used it for the front sentiment and the little bat on the back. Pirate Tilda is sitting on my set of three pumpkins and another pumpkin with leaf is set forward of those. If you want these digital images for your own Halloween / Fall cards, you can get them HERE at my DigiDrawn site! Both Edwin and Princess Tilda fold down to allow the card to close flat, with the Trick or Treat flap holding down the front of the card.

I used K & Co. papers, Recollections sparkly wires (recoloured with my Copics), Recollections ribbon and a black cat button on the title bar. Other supplies used was some gold Stickles and Memento ink.

Here are the Copics I used:

Pirate Tilda:
E0000, E00, E01, E02, E99, C1, C3, C4, C6, N2, N3, N4, N6, R43, R46, R59, Y11

Princess Tilda:
E0000, E00, E02, C0, C3, Y11, Y28, V000, V12, V17

Sherwood Edwin:
E00, E01, E02, E31, E35, E37, E55, E57, E59, G20, G21, G24, G28, Y15, Y17, Y19

Pumpkins:

YR02, YR04, YR07, YR09, YR24, G20, G21, G24, G28

September Already???

Yay! My favorite time of the year is approaching... the crunchy leaves, the cooler nights, the return to hot dinners and NO MORE SWEATING!

I've been sweating a lot lately for daughter and I switched rooms. She's back in her old bedroom upstairs, and I moved my scrapbook room to the basement. I have more room AND a TV to watch while I craft! Woot! She has her comfy room back which makes her happy too. So it's a win-win! But MAN. What a lot of work! Moving all that crap, er stuff was tiring. And setting everything up again was time consuming... if you're ever going to do this madness, here's a hint for you. Take photos BEFORE you move your crafting stuff.

Luckily, I did this and it saved me so much time. I knew exactly how I had my wooden stamps displayed in their printer's drawers (mounted on the walls), how I arranged all my inks, glitter, and tiny bottles in the Embellishment Center, how I had my punches organized and how I had my desk set up. Whew! It could have been a lot worse without those reference photos to use.

Since I LOVE Fall, here is a new card:

I chose Edwin With Butterfly, except I guess I should really call it "Edwin WITHOUT Butterfly" for this card. Yeah, I cut off the butterfly and added a pine cone for Fall. I love stamps I can change up easily. With Edwin's hand out like this, it's a breeze to put anything in it!

After I chose the stamp to use, I hunted through my papers for a Fall-themed design. I found this ProvoCraft "Fluttery Things" paper and cut out a corner, carefully going around the leaves to create an interesting shape. I mounted the patterned paper onto three layers of cardstock.

Using my Cricut, I got out the "Give A Hoot" cartridge and cut out the pine cone in brown and green. I used All Night Media's Clear Gloss for the pine cone and some Peeled Paint Distress Stickles on the pine cone cap.

I also used my Cricut and the same cartridge for the sentiment; I thought this would make a good Boy's Card.  A simple bow (made with my Bow Easy, natch) from some Celebrate It Harvest ribbon is all the other embellishments I added.

Here are the Copics I used:

Skin:  E000, E00, E01, E02
Hair:  E71, E74, E77
Shirt:  R000, R46, R59
Jeans:  B91, B93, B95, B97
Shoes and cuffs:  N1, N2, N3, N4, N5
Shading:  W2, W3, W5

Summer Fun

Here's a card for a hot summery day:

I chose Beach Tilda for this project as she's just the right size to sit on her majestic sand castle! I simply used cardstock for this project; layering it multiple times for the sky, water, clouds and beach.

For a textured sandy surface, I added a solid piece of Scor-Tape (cutting down one of the sheets to size) to a beige cardstock piece. I then pressed a mixture of white and yellow flocking powders onto the exposed tape - Viola! It worked perfectly! The wave whitecaps were added with dimensional white paint.

I printed the sentiment onto white cardstock and cut cloud shapes, stacking them and adding dimension with foam tape.

I finished off the beach scene with a beachball and starfish from the same Recollections sticker package.

Here are the Copic colours I used for Tilda (I used darker than normal skin tones for a slight sun-kissed effect):

Skin: E00, E01, E02
Hair: YR21, YR23, YR24, YR 31
Bathing suit: C1, C3, R81, R83, R85

With the temps at 34 to 36C this week, I definitely WANT to be joining Tilda at the Beach!

Well, Hello There!

Here's a card I wanted to make for my niece -- she and her husband recently moved back to our city and it was the first chance we got to meet their 7 month old daughter! So I didn't want to do the typical "new baby" card. Instead I thought this Tilda With Lace Jeans stamp was just perfect; it's like she is saying "Why Hello There!" to a little one.


I started out by using one of my favorite double-sided papers, GCD Studios # 210 "Tinted Rose Stripe" and used the front striped side for the center panel. But the other side was quite plain and I wanted to have some soft swirls on the side panels to offset the hard stripes, so I added the pattern myself using Memento's Angel Pink ink and a foam stamp I got years ago.

I distressed and inked all the paper edges with ColorBox Magenta ink, added some pink polka dot ribbon from Michael's (using my Bow Easy, of course!) and a teenie button from my stash was sewed onto the sentiment tag.

I used my wonderful Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot software to create the center hexagons and made the tag using my Cricut with Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. Foam dimensionals were used to pop the hexagon up over the background papers.



Copics used to colour Tilda were:


E0000, E01, E02, E21, E25, E27, E29

C0, C3

R20, R21, R22 and R24






I just LOVE making these girly cards - and it is so cool to have them really appreciated by the recipient (they loved it!)

But how can you go wrong with such a cutie....

Black & White with a Pop of Red!

Here's a card that's just black and white ... with a pop of one colour; I love the POP! of red against the stark black and white, so each section of my accordion card has a touch of red.

I used two Mini Magnolias on this project: Secret Tilda and New Years Edwin. I also kept the colouring of these two stamps monochrome (Copic list is below).

I didn't use any patterned paper again! Instead, I cut and folded black Bazzill cardstock for the base. The front of each section has a panel that's been embossed using my Cuttlebug. I kept to a dot pattern both in the embossing and in the ribbons for continuity.

Spellbinders scalloped circles were cut and some Michael's pearls in both black and white added. A few other stamps from my stash were used here and there, including one that had balloons in it. After colouring with Copics, I added some gloss with All Night Media's Clear Gloss, then attached six strings of white thread so Edwin could hold them. Dimension was added with foam under Tilda, Edwin and the balloons.

Here are the Copics I used:

Tilda:  C0, C1, C2, C3, C4
Edwin:  N0, N1, N3, N4, N5
Balloons:  R20, R29, R46, R59

Happy Birthday Pardner!

I made this barn card for a western-style birthday. If you look closely, I have scored it to create the wood panels on the barn, doors and even inside on the wooden floor.

There is no patterned paper on this card; just Bazzill cardstock. I attached the white framing with 1/8" Scor-Tape; it made it so easy to do!

I also got my Cricut going and cut out my text using a Western font. Some Dollar Store sheer ribbon, Michael's roses, brad, clip and string was all that was added.

Here's a closeup:

Copics used:

Tilda:  E0000, E00, E01, E33, E37, E50, E53, E55, R000, R32, R37 and C4

Horse:  C4, C6, C10, Y11,  E30, E33 and E37

That was fun!

It's Not Just About The Card...

I'm proud to say that the Canadian Red Cross, to whom we donated, raised over $ 1 million for the Japanese Relief Effort in just this past weekend alone. Here's a list of organizations from Yahoo Canada and Yahoo US frontpages in case you'd like to help too.

• Canadian Red Cross: Call toll free at 1-800-418-1111 or visit the webpage dedicated to providing relief in Japan. Donate here.
• American Red Cross: Emergency Operation Centers are opened in the affected areas and staffed by the chapters. This disaster is on a scale larger than the Japanese Red Cross can typically manage. Donations to the American Red Cross can be allocated for the International Disaster Relief Fund, which then deploys to the region to help. Donate here.
• CanadaHelps: Check here for an indepth listing of Canadian charities providing aid to those in need. 
• Oxfam Canada: Teams and partner organizations are on-site and monitoring the situation from the ground. Donate here.
• Global Giving: Working with Save the Children, International Medical Corps and others to provide support on the grounds of Japan. Donate here.
• ADRA Canada: ADRA Japan has extensive experience with providing national and international support to those affected by such disasters. Donate here or call 1.888-274-2372.
• UNICEF: Closely monitoring the situation in Japan and prepared to provide assistance and relief. Donate here.
• Save The Children: Mobilizing to provide immediate humanitarian relief in the shape of emergency health care and provision of non-food items and shelter. Donate here.
• Salvation Army: The Salvation Army has been in Japan since 1895 and is currently providing emergency assistance to those in need. Donate here.
• Americares: Emergency team is on full alert, mobilizing resources and dispatching an emergency response manager to the region. Donate here.
• Convoy of Hope: Disaster Response team established connection with in-country partners who have been impacted by the damage and are identifying the needs and areas where Convoy of Hope may be of the greatest assistance. Donate here. 
• International Medical Corps: Putting together relief teams, as well as supplies, and are in contact with partners in Japan and other affected countries to assess needs and coordinate our activities. Donate here.
• Shelter Box: The first team is mobilizing to head to Japan and begin the response effort. Donate here.

Yep. I'm thinking of you, our Japanese friends (and pets, animals and wildlife too!) in your dire time of need.

Card details:

I used  Japanese Tilda, with some beautiful Japanese Yuzen Washi paper a dear friend gave me as a gift. I cut it out and layered it over a "half easel" blue cardstock base. That same wonderful friend also ran off some black oriental bridges for me on her Cricut so I layered two of them with some black-coloured dimensional foam in between.

I pulled out daughter's Origami book and made a bird (called "First Flight") with gold paper. The ribbon is from my stash; you may recall it on my last card. However, I didn't want it pink, so I took my Gold #Y28 Copic to it and coloured it.

A gold leafing pen gave it some shiny gold highlights, which was also used on Tilda's kimono. The stamped sentiment is from Stampendous. Cherry blossoms are from Wild Orchid and I used my Martha Stewart punch for the gold leaves.

Copics used on Tilda:

BG93, BG99, E0000, N3, N5, N6 N9, R21, R29, R46, Y11, Y28, Y35

Sweet Dreams

Finally! A new scene has been added to the Scenarios and Accessories section over at DigiDrawn.com!

One of my most requested images has been a bed for our dear Tilda (ever since I created one of my first Magnolia cards with Happy Tilda jumping on her bed). Well today I unveiled "Sweet Dreams", 2 sets of six images each scaled for both regular and mini Magnolia stamps. It includes the bed and nightstand (as seen above), a bed without the nightstand, matching dresser, a big comfy floor pillow and two new toys: a puppy and a kitten!

The sample card above was created using a 6 X 6 easel card as the base. The full size "Dreamy Tilda" fits perfectly on either the bed or pillow! I used a piece of clear plastic scored and shaped into an "L" to mount Tilda, the pillow and the toy cat to the base of the card with Scor-Tape. She folds flat when the card is closed, and holds the front when the card is opened!

The paper I chose for her bedroom wallpaper is Basic Grey's "Oh Baby! Girl". My Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch was used on the base, and Gold Stickles were added to Tilda's wings. Ribbon is from my stash and the sentiment is computer generated. I added three other of my digistamps to this card; the pink teddy bear, baby fox and fuzzy bunny have joined the fun in Tilda's room.

Copics used (whew, it's a long list!):

Tilda:  E0000, E00, E01, Y000, Y11, Y21, E11, E13, E15 and E17
Bed:  R30, R32, R35, R37, G20, G21, W3, C0, C1, C2, C3 and C4
Pillow:  G20, G21 and G28
Teddy on nightstand:  E30, E31, E33, E35 and E37
Nightstand:  C0, C1, C2, C3 and C4
Teddy on floor:  RV10, RV11 and C2
Bunny:  Y32, Y35, RV10 and C2
Fox:  YR02, YR07, C3, C6 and C10
Puppy:  RV13, B000, B02, C2, C6 and C10
Kitten:  RV11, C1, C2 and C4

So if you'd like this bedroom scene for your Tilda, head over to DigiDrawn HERE to order!

Spring Can't Be Far Off

Time for a pop-up card. I love doing these, so about a week ago I began with a mock-up to test out some ideas that were floating around my head. Dakotah wasn't too thrilled with the design it seems; she chewed up a fence I made using the Martha Stewart Garden Trellis punch!

After I decided what would work and taking "Approval Cat's" recommendation to heart, I began to build. Using a Mini Lazy Summer Day Tilda I made her a frosty window to stare out into the snow, wishing Spring would finally arrive. I started out with clear cello, used my MS Garden Trellis punch (shhhh... don't tell "Approval Cat"!) to create a stained glass window (Copic colours RV34, BG45 and Y15), layered some white cardstock for the window frame and popped it up on foam over Tilda's image and some background wood panelling paper. No-name white flocking with clear Aleene's glue added the frost on the window and Frosted Lace Stickles was used for snow.

Inside the card, her wish is granted! Tilda and Edwin go on thier first Spring bike ride through the countryside. I used Mini Edwin with Bike and Mini Tilda with Bike.

I started by using my new Copic Airbrush to do the sky in B000 and B02. Then I airbrushed the path with E33, E35 and E49, adding texture with the Colourless Blender. The hills were airbrushed using G21, G24 and G29.

Next I cut out some dark green flocked paper for grass. The bushes are covered in Flowersoft Sage and Raspberry Fizz. You may notice Tilda's been picking the flowers off the bushes; in her hand is a Raspberry Fizz bouquet.

The bunnies were hand-drawn and coloured with W00, W1, W3, W5 and R21.

I knew the tree would have to "telescope" to fit inside the card when folded up. I used brown and green cardstock, added dimension with Copics (leaves: G24, G28, bark: E33, E35, E44, E47) and then added two birds (W6, W7, Y19, Y21 and Y38).

Tilda and Edwin's Copic colours are: E0000, E02 for their skin, E55, E57, E59, B91, B95 and B97 on Edwin, C0 - C10 and YR24, YR31 for the bikes, RV91, RV95, RV99, Y11, E97 and E99 for Tilda.

After all that, I am pleased to find it DOES fold up!

And I guess "Approval Cat" was right after all; Tilda and Edwin's Spring Bike Trip definitely didn't need a fence along the path...

Tilda Writing Diary

Over at my DigiDrawn digital stamp site, I have been asking for ideas and a pile of books was one suggestion... so I thought they would go great with my Tilda Writing Diary stamp.

I have created two images in the set; one with ten books and a shorter stack of five books. You can use them together, separately, flipped, with Tilda or Edwin perched atop or beside them! The great thing about digistamps is you can also resize them to use with the adorable Mini Maggies too! These would be great for school images or to celebrate "I Love To Read Month" THIS month!

If you look closely, you'll notice my little special effect; I replaced Tilda's quill with a real feather. I simply cut down a feather I got at the Dollar Store (I bought a few bags of them when I did my Native American Tilda card - so they are going to last me a long time! Ha!). I cut two slots around Tilda's hand and slid the feather into place.

I'm amazed my cats never stole it before I taped it down  ;)

I can't recall the patterned paper I used, but with the script image it seemed to work. I matched the mats to the colours in the pattern and inked them with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. The green vine is made using Martha Stewart's Vine Trim punch.  The roses are from Wild Orchid, natch.

Funny story about the ribbon though. My family will confirm (with a huge sigh and rolling eyes, I must add) that I throw NOTHING away I think I will use again. This ribbon is proof of that. It is one of four long pieces I had kept when I bought some soft plush blankets for the chair in my craftroom. Each piece had two velcro ends so they would hold together when wrapped around the blankets... so I just clipped off the velcro on one piece and used my Bow Easy to make the bow. Another piece was wrapped around the card. I LOVE the thick width and the colour was perfect!

Here are the Copics used on Tilda (I used a whole variety of colours on the books and won't list them all here!):

Tilda skin:  E0000, E000, E00, E01
Hair:  E29, E50, E97, E99
Dress:  V000, V12, V15, N1, N3
Book:  B34, B37, W0, W3

If you want these books for your own creations, head over to my DigiDrawn site here!

Tilda's Dolly

The other day when I was making my recent Magnolia cards, I had a crazy thought. (I will admit I DO have those way too often....)

* Ahem. *

Anyhooze.... I thought, I wonder if those new Mini Maggies are small enough to be a doll for a regular size Tilda?

And you know what?

They are!

What do you think?

I think the Easter Bunny has left dear Tilda a new toy!

I cut off the rose, cut around her arm and also cut around the arm of the adorable Mini Little Bunny Tilda to wrap them around each other.

I added Bazzill cardstock to the patterned paper and inked each piece with ColorBox white ink. One layer is sewed with a zig zag stitch on my regular sewing machine. Recollections pearls were added to the scalloped circles cut with my Spellbinder dies on my Cuttlebug.

Wild Orchid cherry blossoms were used on the bottom, along with some Martha Stewart punched oak leaves. The lace was from our local Dollar Store and the bow was made using my Bow Easy (I LOVE that tool!). I also finished it off with Diamond Stickles to Tilda's wing.

Here are the Copics used:

Tilda with Rose:  E0000, E00, E01, E30, E31, E33, E34, G20, G21, G24, G28, C3

Mini Bunny Tilda:  E0000, E00, R81, R83, R85

Spellcaster Tilda

Today I took a short break from drawning images for my other site, DigiDrawn and got back to creating another Tilda card! This Spellcaster Tilda was purchased months ago, but I had yet to ink her up!

This card was kind of an experiment. I really didn't know what colours to use... so I DIDN'T! I decided on simply Copics C0 to C6. The only colours this card has is the reflective rainbows the beautiful prism paper gives off. I thought this paper, which was a gift from a new friend, would give the card it's magic; it changes depending upon how you hold it!


This stamp is too cute -- I love her sheer apron; so I used a Copic Clear Spica pen on it, her wings, the star and the sparkles around her wand to give them a bit of bling. It's hard to see on camera; you  may be able to see this effect better here (especially if you click on it to zoom in):

The prism paper was used as the mat under the TPC Studio Class Act Dots patterned paper. I punched out 16 Martha Stewart's Deco Fan corners and taped them individually around the Spellbinders die-cut Tilda image. I inked the edge with Color Box silver ink and popped it up on foam dimensionals. The ribbon is from the Dollar Store.

Inside the card it says "a very magical birthday!"

Now that was a fun break!