Autumn's coming!

Hello. Happy Saturday!

I am enjoying my summer, so I'm really so not ready for fall to come calling yet. But don't you just the colours of autumn? I sure do. Warm and rich colours and well...earthy...LOL. Here's a card I made in those colours!



I've created this card for Passion for Promarkers Challenge - Week 66, using Debs' sketch with the added theme autumn colours.

I am also entering this in the Papertake Weekly Challenge. Their current challenge is a 3-2-1 recipe challenge. The items are of your choice, so mine are 3 DP's, 2 flowers and 1 ribbon.

The image I used here is from In2stamps Elmit and Littlebell Collection. She is called Cute Littlebell. She can be purchased from In2stamps on-line store here.

That's it. A short and sweet posting for today. Thanks for taking the time to drop by for a visit. Appreciate it. Enjoy your weekend.

DP's: KC & Company Tim Coffey Fall Pumpkins and Fall Stripe, Provo Craft Fluttery Things.
Tools: Ek Success retro flower punches medium and small, Punch Bunch leaf punch, Martha Stewart twig punch.
Embellishments: Recollections Autumn pearls, ribbon from Michaels.

Promakers: blush, sunkissed pink, pastel pink, ivory, chesnut, henna, spice, burnt orange, honeycomb, apricot, olive green, moss, raw sienna, gold, mustard.

Flowers (side-view) - a very short tutorial

Hello.

I made these flowers for a card in a recent posting. Renkata asked me how I made them. And since I was going to show her how with this very short tutorial, I thought I might as well post it, in case anybody else is interested.


Anyway, I needed some flowers that I could make very quickly as I was running out of time. It was probably simpler if I used already-made bought flowers. However, if I don't make them myself, I feel terribly guilty because I have invested so much on those punches (yup, you're looking at a punch addict here...LOL) that I feel I have to make use of them. Besides, I love love love making my own flowers, although most of the time this is the most time-consuming part of my card-making.


This is of a very simple flower--viewed from the side...and it's very quick to do.

I thought I would just show you a picture of the steps that I have taken to make the flowers.

You just need 2 punches. These are the ones I used:

1. A leaf punch or something similar for the sepal. The one I used is a Martha Stewart leaf punch.

2. Any daisy-type flower punch. The one I used is a Fiskar one.

I think the picture is actually self-explanatory, but here are the steps anyway:
(The top row of flowers is for the flowers on my card.)

1. Punch the flower.

2. Fold in half. Curl the petals.

3. Fold again in half. Glue.

4. Glue on the sepal.

And you're done. How simple is that!

The bottow row of flowers is for a more open flower.

Make a cut to the center of the flower and instead of folding in half, fold in a third.


Have fun with this!

Enjoy your day!

Berry Christmas Tilda

Hello everyone!

Oh yes! Today's the 25th of the month! It's time to post another Christmas card for our Christmas All Year Long Group--this is for the August monthly blog hop. The Christmas group is part of Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group and to quote Julie who organizes it, "this group was created for Magnolia lovers who want to get a jump on the Christmas season by creating a Christmas card each month."

You can find a list of the participants and also the start of the blog hop at the Christmas Group's blog here.

If you're already following the blog hop and have arrive here from Monique's blog, then you are in the right place. And your next blog to visit, after mine, will be Robin's.


It seems like such a looong time since my last Christmas card, because I have missed posting a card last month as I was on vacation. I feel like I should make another one--soon-- just to make up for it...LOL. Anyway for the colour scheme of this card, I chose the traditional Christmas colours of red and green.

This Magnolia image I'm using is called Sweet Tilda from the Raising the Ceiling 2010 Collection. She's so adorable that I just want to hug her...LOL.

There are a few challenges that I am using this card to enter with:

Creative Inspirations Challenge 41 - Christmas in August.

Stamp with Fun Challenge 73 - Card for a girl.

7 Kids College Fund Challenge No. 2 - Strip it down, no more than 2 layers of DP.

I've put a different Tilda for the inside of my card.

This one is called Sparkling Tilda from the So Jolly & Under the Mistletoe 2009 Collection.

Thank you so much for taking the time to drop by. I appreciate the visit. Enjoy the rest of your week. Now, for your next Christmas card, hop over to Robin's blog.

Stamps: Magnolia Sweet Tilda and Sparkling Tilda, Rubber Stampede etched holly.

DP: from the Paper Company Holiday Paper Pack: red & green stripe, and green scroll.

Tools: EK Success scalloped scallops border punch, Spellbinders Nestabilities oval and scallop oval, Marvy Uchida scallop oval punch, Coluzzle oval template.

Misc.: Pearls from Michaels and Reflections, ribbon from Michaels.

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.

Smell the Flowers

Hello!

I have a few cards that I have made for In2stamps before I left for my vacation, but didn't have the time to post them before I left. This is one of them. This card features Emily Sniffing Flower from the April Releases Collection. This is more or less a general card. I haven't added any sentiment to it. I'll probably use it as a birthday card. Or...I can use this as a retirement card and add the sentiment 'Now you have time to smell the roses/flowers...Happy Retirement!'


I am entering a few challenges with this card:
Everybody-Art-Challenge - Challenge 104 - In the garden
Stamping for the Weekend - Challenge 45 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Challenge 81 - Butterflies


Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


Stamps: In2stamps Emily Sniffing Flower (can be purchased from In2stamps on-line store here).
Designer Paper: from Provo Craft Super Slab 10 Spanish Forks paper pad.
Tools: EK Success border punch scallops with dots, Fiskars flower punch, Punch Bunch leaf punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch.
Embellishments: Making Memories brads, Vintage Attic Treasures pearls.

Hello

Hello!

I am back from my vacation! Ooh, I have missed my card-making and blogging sooo... much. I am so glad to be back. I flew back home a week ago and surprised myself that I didn't go straight to my craft room and get into the business of creating a card. But it took me several days to recover from jetlag and then I took a few extra days to take care of things--unpack, restock my empty fridge and depleted food cupboard, check for dead plants in my garden plot, take care of huge load of laundry and ironing, and just getting back to a more normal routine. Anyway, I am more or less back on track now. (To those of you who have e-mailed me, I will reply soon....I hope.)

2 challenges for this card:

Crafts and Me Challenges. Challenge #10 - purple and green.

Cupcake Craft Challenges. The theme for their Challenge #104 is Happy 2nd Birthday Cupcake - 2 papers, 2 ribbons and 2 flowers (I'm using the flower Tilda is holding as one of the 2 flowers--hope that's okay) .

I used my markers to colour Tilda's face and my coloured pencils to colour the rest. I am still learning to colour with my coloured pencils and I have not been able to get a good result on Tilda's face with them--at least one that is satisfactory to me. I still have much practicing and experimenting to do.

Stamps: Magnolia's Loves Me Tilda and Lazy Summer Day Tilda from the Lazy Summer Days 2009 Collection. The sentiment is computer generated.

DP's: Hot Off the Press Paper Pizzazz Jacie's Vintage Papers.

Tools: Martha Stewart border punches, Nellie Snellen floral punches - large flower petals and flower centre, Joy! Craft cutting and embossing template - leaves.

Chocolate Tilda

Hello!

Woo hoo! I've managed to pre-post this while I still had internet connection. I started this card when I was back home. I finished the base of it (the layout, the cutting, the glueing, the punching, the flowers, etc.) before I left for vacation and took the card with me. All I had left to do was colour the Tilda image and cut her out and mount her on the card. I finally managed to do that...hurray! (LOL...it doesn't take much to make me happy.)


I made this card for the new challenge blog site Totally Tilda. This is for their first challenge and the theme is Chocolate Tilda. The thing is I don't know if I can link this posting to their website. Because the internet connection (not my own but the hotel's) is rather iffy with this little laptop, whenever I've tried to do it before with an earlier posting, I wasn't able to do it. But I've got a link on my side bar--look for it there!

Au revoir for now. I am having a wonderful vacation. For those of you who are on vacation too, I hope you are having a wonderful time also. Happy weekend to the rest of you. Enjoy! And thanks for dropping by. I appreciate your visit.

Stamps: Magnolia Happy Tilda from Raising the Ceiling Collection, the sentiment is computer generated.
DP: Hot Off the Press Paper Pizzazz Masculine Papers.
Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (not sure which label number), Martha Stewart daisy and leaf punches, McGill daisy and twig punches, EK Success retro flower punch small.
Embellishments: pearls (don't know which brand).

Elmit has a Toothache and I'm on vacation

Hello from Annecy, France!

Sorry, I meant to post something before I left as to the time I was leaving for my vacation, but time got away from me. We flew from home 6 days ago for Europe! Woo hoo...how cool is that! And we will be here for a month!!!

Internet connection is pretty iffy while we are roaming around Europe. At least in the places where we are staying. This is the first chance I have of posting something on my blog. Sorry for not e-mailing back to those of you who have e-mailed me--I'm not ignoring you!!! And I only have a tiny laptop with me and it keeps kicking me out!!! So frustrating!

For now, I don't have a new card to show you, but I have made this card for In2stamps before I left. This oh-so-adorable image from In2stamps is called Elmit has a Toothache.


I have used my Prismacolor pencils to colour this image.

And speaking of Prismacolors and because I knew I was going to miss doing my card making, I at least took some stamp images with me and some of my pencils (not all of them though, as I am trying to travel light--we're backpacking...yikes!). I can fill up my time during long train rides and during the evenings when we have nothing better to do. Doesn't that just shows you how obsessed I am?...LOL.

I must say bye for now before I get kicked out again. Tomorrow we are moving to a place where we won't have internet again and we'll be there for a week. Thanks for dropping by. I appreciate your visit.

Stamps: In2stamps Elmit Has a Toothache from the April Releases Collection.

Tools: EK Success border punch.
Embelishments: Making Memories brads, ribbon from my stash.

Summer Romance

Hello.

Sorry, sorry, I've been neglecting my blog here. I'm getting ready for my vacation and there are just too many things to do and too little time left. LOL...same old same old complains, right? I've been getting things together for my trip and at the same time try to have a few cards done.

Here's one of them. For this card I have used this adorable image from In2stamps. This is called Tender Bear Kisses.

I have coloured this with my Prismacolor pencils. I'm sure enjoying exploring that medium.

I'm keeping this posting short. Enjoy your day. We're having a heat wave where I am--in fact the entire country is in a heat wave.....Yikes!!!

Stamps: In2stamps Tender Bear Kisses (available from In2stamps on-line store here), sentiment from Just Rite Friendship set. Designer Paper: Hot Off the Press Paper Pizzazz Joy's Vintage Papers, Chatterbox Pink to Heart and Scrapbook Walls Sky Cottage Plaid. Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Nine, Standard Circles Large and Small, Big Shot Machine, EK Success retro flower punches medium and small, star punch from Michaels $1.50 bin, Punch Bunch leaf punch.

Red, white and blue theme (with a twist)

Hee hee... I bet you thought you were going to see a patriotic card. Surprise!!!

Happy Canada Day to us Canucks. Hope you had a wonderful Canada Day yesterday.
And to our neighbours south of the border, Happy Independence Day! Hope you have good weather coming your way for your long weekend.

LOL, I took the red, white and blue theme and made a Christmas-in-July card instead.

I have made this card for the challenge at the Magnolia-licious Birthday Bash blog, celebrating the 2-year birthday of Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group. The theme is Red/White/Blue.

There's also this sketch that I was supposed to use. I didn't have a picture of the sketch in front of me when I was putting the card together--I had the picture in my mind. So when I was finished and compared my card to the sketch...yikes, I had used an extra background paper!!! Maybe this will disqualify me?!?!
Oh well, thems the breaks. I want to share this card with you anyway.

I am also using this card as my entry to Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge 14 - Christmas in July.

I have used this image of Cozy Tilda from Magnolia's So Jolly and Under the Mistletoe Collection 2009. I have again used my Prismacolor pencils to colour her. Lots of glitter that I have added to this card: Tilda's wings, white fur trim on her outfit and on the snowflakes.

Thank for dropping by. I appreciate your visit. Enjoy your weekend! woo hooo.....

Stamps: Magnolia Cozy Tilda, Inkadinkadoo swirls and snowflakes, sentiment is computer generated.
DP's: Making Memories Heritage Collection scroll dark navy, Provo Craft paper.
Tools: Martha Stewart border punch snowflakes and single huge snowflake punch, EK Success snowflake punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder Snowflakes, Spellbinders Nestabilities standard circles small and large, Big Shot machine.
Embellisments: Kaiser Craft pearls, Making Memories eyelets.

Hip Hip Hooray

Schools are out.....summer vacation.....happy days for the kids--not sure about for the parents, though...LOL.

I have used this In2stamps image called "Happy Cats' from their Cute Animals Collection.

This is the sketch that I used for this card. This was designed by Maggie for Sunday Sketch & Stamp Challenge #31.

A couple more of challenges that I am entering with this card:

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #65 - Stars and Stripes.

A Spoonfull of Sugar Challenge 110 - Animal crackers.

That's it for today. Keeping this short and sweet.

Have a wonderful day. Thank you for your visit. It' very much appreciated.

Stamps: Happy Cats from In2stamps Cute Animals Collection, sentiment from Studio G clear stamps set.
Designer papers: Creative Imaginations.
Tools: EK Success border punch morrocco lace.
Embellishments: Kaiser Craft pearls, Vintage Attic Treasures pearls, ribbon and button from my stash.
Medium: Prismacolor coloured pencils.

White Christmas

Hello! Happy Friday, June 25th!

Time for another card for the Magnolia-licious Christmas All Year Long Group of the Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group. This is my June Christmas card for our monthly blog hop. If you would like to follow the hop, the start is at Julie's blog (thanks to Julie for once again organizing this). If you're already following the blog hop, you would have come here from Monique's blog.

I like doing white-on-white cards--it's just hard to show it properly in pictures...LOL. I also made this card for the Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club Challenge #22 - All White Christmas.

I've used this wonderful sketch created by Tina for Stamp With Fun Challenge 64.

At Magnolia Down Under, their theme for Challenge #51 is Embossing. The background paper I used is dry-embossed with vines, but you can hardly see them due to the all white. And what's more, I've covered them all up...LOL. but I've used the paper in the inside of my card, so you can see the embossing better there, I think. (I missed you guys!!!)

I've added glitter to Tilda's wings and halo.
And I've tried something new. For the computer-generated sentiment, I've covered it up with sugar beads (have you used them?). I did this to tone it down a bit, so that the black printing isn't so blatant among all the whites.

Your next stop in the blog hop is at Peggie's blog.

Thanks for dropping by. Your visit is very much appreciated. Enjoy the rest of the hop and have a wonderful weekend....woo hoooo!!!

Stamps: Magnolia Sparkling Tilda and Tilda as Christmas Angel from the So Jolly & Underthe Mistletoe 2009 Collection. Sentiment is computer generated.

DP: Embossed Vine White cardstock from Michaels.

Tools: Martha Stewart Lattice border and corner punches, McGill Holly punch.

Misc.: Mark Richards Pearls, Vintage Attic Treassures pearls, ribbons from my stash, sugar beads.

Happy Gardening

Hello.

Oh, I finally have a new card to show you.

I had such plans for this past weekend for my card-making, but it turned out to be a total bust. A big fat zero in the output department...LOL. And then there was that little incident of my not being able to find my camera after a wedding party I attended. It was finally found in my brother's car (phew!)--slipped out of my pocket while I was sitting in the back seat. Thank goodness, but it was still a wasted weekend--at least it felt like it.

Okee doke....sorry for my rambling on, but just had to get that off my chest.

Here's my card.

I have used an image called Jimmy and Grandpa Gardening from the In2stamps April Releases Collection. The stamp can be purchased from the In2stamps on-line store here.

I am using this card as my entry to the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 57 - I have used Emma's wonderful sketch shown to the right here.

ABC Challenge Blog - W is for Weather.


I have made this a general card and did not put any sentiment on it. I can easily add the required sentiment for whichever occasion arises.

I've also used my Prismacolor pencils again to colour the image. I'm enjoying myself experimenting with them, but I do miss my markers.

Except for the 4 tiny brads at the corners, I didn't put any other embellishment. I thought the design of the DP is quite busy that any embellishment would probably get lost in it.

Thanks for stopping my. I do appreciate your visit. Enjoy your week!


DP: from Me&My BIG Idea Value Pack paper pad.
Misc.: Recollections brads. Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large and Petite Scalloped Circles Large.

Blowing Bubbles

Hello! Happy middle of the week!

I've started experimenting with coloured pencils and this is my very first Tilda card coloured with my Prismacolors. I luuvvvv colouring with my markers, but I'm beginning to love my Prismas also.


This image from Magnolia's Fairy Tale Collection--I love that collection--is called Bubbling Tilda. Awww... isn't she adorable?

This card is my entry for the current challenge at the Magnolia-licious Birthday Bash blog of Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group. The theme is Bling it!

I have used Mina's wonderful sketch that she created for Week 59 of Just Magnolia Challenge Blog.

I am also entering the challenge at Stamp Something - this week it's a Happy Somethings challenge.

Also, this is for Sir Stampalot Challenge, a monthly challenge blog and their theme for June is Punch It!

Since I was actually just fooling around with coloured pencils with this first Tilda image, I didn't have the proper paper. I was using a plain cardstock that you would use for your printer--hardly any tooth, too smooth for me. The resulting colours here aren't as solid as I would like them to be. For the next time, I will have to use a different paper with more tooth on it--probably bristol board/paper.

I have added a gloss medium to the bubbles to make them glisten. You have to blow up the picture to really see that.

Sigh...my laptop is still acting up. I did managed to restore it...somewhat, but now it's soooo.... slowwww..... Everything is taking about 5 times longer to download, so there's still something wrong with it. More for me to do--if I can only figure out what...LOL.

Thank you so much for dropping by for a visit. Enjoy your day!

Stamp: Magnolia Bubbling Tilda from the Fairy Tale Collection.

DP's: Creative Imaginations Sonnets Sea, a page from Me& My BIG Idea Holiday Stack.

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities standard circles large, Sizzix Sizzlits die decorative strip Circles, Provocraft Cuttlebug Asterisks.

Misc.: Michaels Stores' rhinestone stickers, Studio 18 rhinestones, Deserres gloss medium.

Medium: Prismacolor coloured pencils.