It has been a busy crafting week but totally fun. Thank goodness I am making cards that I can send to family because it sure seems nothing much is selling at my Etsy.com store.

This cute little Tilda is for the Magnolia Stamp Lovers group and Flutterby Wednesday Challenge. She was hand colored with Copic markers but wears a cute little paper pieced dress of pink gingham. This technique seems to be taking the card world by storm lately. I started using this technique on scrapbook layouts last Fall so am really happy to see the transition to cardmaking!

I pop-dotted my cute little Tilda on top of a pieced background of MME's Ooh La La papers along with bits from my stash. Her dainty pair of wings were delicately colored with a dash of Stickles for bling, wire antenna added. I stamped small butterflies on the green dotted background and white cardstock, the hand-colored white ones were cut out and applied over the stamped background. A row of hand-punched, embossed lace was added along with some ribbon a chipboard diecut and a pink button to finish things.

I made this fun little stocking for two challenges! Just Magnolia's #65 Vintage and a double-pocket All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge. It was a fun endeavor for sure and quick too!

I sketched a freehand stocking on a 5" x 8" card and cut around both layers making two sides of the main pocket, then traced & cut pieces to decorate the front side from MME's The Merry Days of Christmas collection. The cuff was trimmed with old lace, ribbon & a button from my stash. I notched the top with a partial cut from a circle punch to make taking items out of the stocking easier and stitched the toe/heel & around the outside of the stocking. A diecut from the same MME collection was used to make the front pocket which was sewn to a layer of green cardstock, 3 corners were punched, brads added & glued in place on card top to finish. The edges of the main section were glued leaving the top open for stuffing with loot!

My vintage Tilda Santa rubber stamp was hand colored with Copics and pop-dotted him on the small outer pocket. The seal, also a Tilda rubberstamp, warns all little children that "Santa is Coming to Town". I decorated a grungy tag by 7 Gypsy's added Prima flowers and MS punched evergreens along with some vintage buttons & ribbon. The ruler was made long ago for a back to school project. I thought it looked perfect inside!

What a perfect Christmas stocking for any boy or girl with double pockets for a giftcard, lollipops and loot...I know a bunch of little ones in my family who are getting this at Christmas!!

Anything But...

All That Scraps is having a challenge for anything BUT cards and this is my entry! My Surfer Emma is a digital stamp I enlarged to about 6" and printed on Bristol board. The coloring is a combo of Copics & watercolor pencils...neither work so well on Bristol so I'm switching back to Neenah cardstock. I festooned a kraft handle gift bag for a special summer treat, added an assortment of Prima and other flowers with some wispy mesh iridescent ribbon, aqua ricrac, & a raffia bow on the handle. Papers are K & Co. Seaglass and treasures from by scrap box! I added a number of starfish & sand dollars which are Cricut diecuts to finish the beach theme...my favorite.

Check out the challenge with the link on the right column.

Here's my entry using this Tammy Wark sketch as my guide for the Imaginisce challenge...

I used the Imaginisce Snag 'Em stamp with scraps from my stash on a 5.5" square black card with a layer of blue bling paper by Bazzill added some sheer irredescent ribbon, black hand punched paper lace, and a double Prima flower with a little Stickles for more bling with a K & Co. pearl brad and a matching Dew Drop for the pupster's ear...voila' quite literally...now off to find Happy Birthday in French to give this to my Europe-bound daughter for her b'day in a week!

Check out the cool freebie I got from Generations Crafting!

All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge

Being a big lover of color I figured I'd be in trouble with this week's theme "monochrome" but it turned out to be one of my favorites thanks to the video ATS provided. Check out Katie Cotton's video. I learned something new and loved it!

For the card I'm submitting I used a digital download of "Coffee Kiki LaRue" in rollers with a cup of coffee. I took my cues from "black coffee" and "monochrome" and placed Kiki inside an old black and white TV with her cuppa joe, bathrobe, and hair in rollers. Sitting on top of the TV is another big mug.


Here's how I made it:
The main image is ATS's Coffee Kiki La Rue. As a base, I used double layers of old papers from my scrap treasure trove on a black 5.5" square card...one layer being from a grungy Tim Holtz 8x8 sheet I've had for years. 3 Prima Sprite flowers with black & white epoxy brads by Making Memories. The TV is my own creation which I pop dotted over Kiki with a cellophane screen & 2 white knobs I slathered with a tinted dimensional glaze. The coffee mug is a Paper Co. clear stamp which I cut out and Stickled the steam then coated with dimensional glaze. I used walnut brown pigment ink pad to antique all the paper and flowers to give the finished card a cohesiveness I thought was lacking with the warm & cool shades of gray. The sentiment I made myself using Curly MT font. Inside the card I used a Stampin Up border with hand punched black lace MS border.

This is a 5.5" x 5.5" card I made for two Magnolia challenges using a template provided by the Just Magnolia Challenge blog. This is Tilda in her swimsuit sitting on a dock stamp I disassembled and reglued by Art Impressions, a sentiment stamp from C.C. Designs, and my own hand drawn and original fish. I colored the images with Copics, and pop-dotted Tilda, the fish, & sentiment. Her little wings have a touch of Diamond Stickles for some shimmer. I used all Bo Bunny papers, ribbons, & brads and Prima flowers.

Theme at the 2nd challenge blog is "travel". Check it out at the Magnolia Stamp Lovers blog. Wish me luck!

Cards for Kids

Be sure to visit the Card for Kids campaign. Click the enclosed link to read more about it or visit Jennifer McGuire's blog at http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/.

Cards for Grace...

Please be sure to stop by Jennifer McGuire Ink to read more about Grace and how to help with her card drive or to see more about Cards for Kids.

My pocket full of playing card size images to color was inspired by a heart pocket shown on Jennifer's blog.

I made mine by: stamping leaves on the front of a store-bought 5.5" x 5.5" card and cutting around the leaves to make a 5" slit across the card for a pocket. I restamped the Magnolia Tilda Jungle leaves on green cardstock, added a few punched flowers, & glued over the white stamp so the vines showed nicely. I used a rounder on the corners then glued together the inside of the card making sure to only glue around outer edge of the bottom to form my pocket. A 5" x 5" square of yellow gingham with rounded corners was slipped & glued into the pocket to form a lining. I added bits of paper from my stash, spelled G-R-A-C-E in wooden tiles, looped ribbons on either side and voila!

I hope you enjoy my small gift. I'll be posting cards tomorrow.

Life's Not Always A Beach...

I had a ball creating these criss-cross cards that I were part of the Just Magnolia blog challenge last week. I haven't entered a challenge there yet but hope to one day soon.

I constructed the cards using vintage Bo Bunny Beachy Keen papers, Cricut diecuts from Life's A Beach, Prima flowers, and ribbon from my stash. The stamps used are Magnolia Tilda in her swimsuit which I colored with Copic markers. The pier stamp is by Art Impressions, #M2731.

Tilda Beach Babies!!

My daughter, sister and I spent all day Sunday lazing on the beach in Rehoboth Beach, DE...a wonderful, quaint, little beach town. Rehoboth Beach has been a family destination since my sister and I moved to Delaware with our family in 1960. In the 1970s my father spent Monday thru Friday in Rehoboth working at a seafood processing facility in town. The plant is long gone and it's hard to imagine there was ever any other industry besides tourism.

Growing up in Delaware has given me an appreciation for the ocean and I often draw and make items like this Tilda card to celebrate that love.

Naughty Neopolitan

The NEW Totally Tilda blog is having a challenge called "chocolate" and are the cards entered ever beautiful! Being fairly new myself to entering challenges, I thought it would be fun to enter one in time to be considered for the new design team. My "Naughty Neopolitan" has a little bit of pink which I hope isn't too much as they indicated. I found it difficult to locate brown papers so I took my inspiration from the pink-edged ribbon I had in my stash and went to work finding bits of paper that would work. The Bo Bunny Double Dots in Decaf, and an SEI Dill Blossom brown set the backdrop in shades of brown with a vintage American Crafts diagonal stripe in chocolately colors with just a hint of pink as the base card, the interior is solid brown. I hope you enjoy!!

Yummy Blog Candy!!

Stumbled across a fun blog today that is offering some wonderful blog candy. Be sure to check out Inked Inspiration for your chance to win some wonderful candy. Wish me luck, I entered too!

I like this one better! I redid the Hero Arts stamped sentiment on quality Neenah cardstock because the other quickie version was bleeding with the Copics. It pays to use good cardstock!

For this fun, easy card I used the Hero Art's sentiment stamp, DCWV papers, Wright ricrac & ribbon, Neenah & Bazzill cardstock, and Copic markers.

Here's a quick greeting for a soldier, dad, or any male done in patriotic, 4th of July colors. I colored "SMILE" with Copic markers to make it feel patriotic, backed it in a lighter blue punched a few coordinating stars which I pop-dotted to add fun dimension, added a ribbon to finish the card. This HA stamp is handy to have and works for lots of purposes.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Made this cute little card today for the Magnolia stamp challenge but made it to the finish line about 4.5 hours late. I forgot to check the end time and allow for the time difference in the UK. It is now Friday, July 2 there. Oh well, I have a cute little card that I hope to use for another challenge someday.

I am loving all the nice comments from fellow Flickr cardmakers on the Asian-themed card below!