Tilda is distressed!

So, flushed with success, I made another easel card but I promise not to get stuck in this rut!

I've been admiring lots of wonderful cards with the distressed look on various blogs lately, probably in the main those of the wonderfully talented Hanna and Kim, so I thought I'd give it a proper try. I've never been over impressed with my attempts with this technique in the past so told myself I musn't give up but just try harder.

Anyhoo, just to make it more of a challenge! I didn't want to use distress inks on this occasion, I wanted to use my Copics so, I consulted the videos in my Color me Creative Classroom set up by the uber talented Suzanne (there's a link in my sidebar). Suzanne does some very good tutorials on how to colour with Copics to look like distress inks. (There are also some videos on You Tube for the same technique.) So colouring Tilda was helped very much by these tutorials, although I don't feel I obtained the right look with the (part of) Spring Background but, better next time, hopefully.

There is Glossy Accents on Tilda's bicycle frame, the flowers are from the wonderful Wild Orchid Crafts (another link on my sidebar), the pearls are from The Hobby House, the corners are produced with a Cuttlebug die and the leaves are from a McGill punch, also from The Hobby House. The 'stopper' for the main panel is cut with a Nestie and the sentiment is stamped on to shapes from a Stampin' Up Word Window punch. The layered lace is cut from an EK Success punch called Diamond Lace from, yes - you guessed it - The Hobby House!

I was going to list the Copics I'd used for you but I ended up with as many on the desk that I'd used as I seemed to have still in the containers so I won't bore you with that detail! I distressed all the edges with scissors and Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

I'm going to enter this for the following challenges:

Crafts and me - Distressed
Cute Card Thursday - no designer papers

Thank you for taking the time to look - it's a long weekend here in the UK so enjoy the rest of it!

I finally made one....

... an easel card, that is and I can't believe that it's taken me so long to get around to trying out this design because it's so easy and effective.


So, here she is - Tilda with Tulips perched on the Watercan (sorry for the rather dark photograph). The sentiment is hand printed on the Lace Banner. The pearls are from The Hobby House. The diamante (on the butterfly's wings) are from my stash and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and The Works. I punched the leaves with my McGill Pine Branch punch and used Pumice Stone Distress Ink for the distressing. The lovely papers are from the Papermania Rose Garden collection, which is one of my favourites at the moment.

Now, wonder of wonders, I remembered to note down the Copics I used for the colouring - it's rather a long list:

Tilda's shirt, socks and bow: BG000,00,01 & 05
Tilda's dress, the pink flowers and the butterfly: RV000,10,21,34,95. R20,83,85
Tilda's skin and hair: E50,00,21,11,13,31,25,29
Tulips: Y17 & 21
The grass and leaves: G20,21,24,82 & 85
Watercan: C1,3,5,7 & 9

I hope you like it - I had great fun making it and I definitely won't be so slow to make another easel card!

Thanks for taking the time to look and please leave me a comment so that I know you've called in and I can visit you!

I'm entering this card for the Paper Take Weekly Challenge which is 'Say it with Flowers'.

Lilac time

I've been itching to use this image for ages - you know how you do? Anyway, this seemed like the perfect time of year to use it.

The original plan for the design was totally different, Tilda was going to be set into an early summer scene but ... the best laid plans of mice and men..... so this is how she turned out. I'm not one hundred percent sure about this card because she seems a bit swamped by the curly rose from Wild Orchid Crafts - I just can't resist them. It's difficult to see thatI spritzed the rose amd the asters (from the same source) with Glimmer Mist in Juneberry Wine to glitz them up a bit.

The design is based on a sketch by the lovely Mina although I can't remember where I picked it up (sorry Mina!) I just always loved it so stored it for future use.

The ovals were cut with my trusty Nesties and the smaller one was embossed with a folder from Indentz - a new range of embossing folders by Samuel Taylor, a retailer here in the North of England. The pearls are from The Hobby House. The ones in the bottom right corner started off cream but I coloured them with my Copics.

I hope you're all having a lovely, restful Sunday - thanks for visiting today.

Theatre Box Card

I found a tutorial for making this card on the lovely Deb's blog and I knew it was just the card I needed for a special friend who was in need of a hug at that time. I spent so much time making the card that I didn't have time to take any photos before I needed to give it to her so the pictures below were taken by her (thank you, dear friend!) This is how the card looks when it's closed: and this is how it looks when it's open: and this is the back of the card which is really the only place to put a greeting: This card was really such fun to make and I would like to sincerely thank Deb for her idea and inspiration. I coloured the image with Copics but I'm sorry that I didn't make a note of the colours and decorated the petticoat and Tilda's tiara with my Copic Spica clear. It involved much use of the Nestie's and Big Shot and the papers are from the Basic Grey Porcelain Collection, MME Wild Asparagus Collection and the Papermania Exquisite Collection. I distressed all of the elements with Frayed Burlap Distress Inks and blinged up the flowers with stickles gold and stardust. I used my MS Doily Lace punch on the edgings for the back of the card and punched the hearts on the front from a Sizzix die and the Maidenhair Fern is from a Leon Em punch. I do hope you like it - I seem to be posting lots or not at all. Note to self - must do better! Thanks for stopping by!

Weekend away and a birthday

Yesterday was my good friend, Alison's birthday and here is a picture of the card that I made for her.



As with all my Magnolia cards, I had great fun making it. The images are Sweet Tilda, Tree Corner, Open Gate, Tilda's Butterflies and Bees. It has all been coloured with Copics, which I won't list for you because you'd simply be reading for too long - I seemed to have nearly all my pens out on the table by the time I'd finished!

With 20/20 hindsight (always a major benefit! Lol!) I would have watercoloured the background I created with the various stamps, simply because I think it would have been quicker and easier but I'm happy with the result I achieved. Not so happy with the dull photos taken on a dull day. Here's another one of the inside of the card.



Anyway, since it has a summery feel to it, I thought I'd enter it for the Lili of the Valley Challenge. Also, because it has butterflies and flowers on it, I'm entering it for the Sir Stampalot Challenge

The weekend away? Alison and I went to an Art from the Heart Journalling 1 weekend. It started on Friday evening and finished on Sunday afternoon and was packed with information and fun. Dyan taught us all so much and stretched us all into producing work of a type that virtually all of us had not tried before. If you haven't tried Art Journalling before, I heartily recommend it (sorry about the pun!!) Anyway, I know we'll both be going back for more.

When I feel a bit more confident about what I'm producing, I'll upload some journal pages for you all to see.