Picking Lilacs Tilda...Goodbye Mommy and Daddy, again!

Well, they were supposed to be lilacs, but I don't have the right colors of Flower Soft.

I began working on this card last evening and actually ended up doing it twice. My first was done with Copics, but the colors just weren't right, so I thought I would stamp it again on water color paper and use Distress Ink and Dye Ink refills. It was much tougher than I anticipated. Since we were waiting for Lisa and Earl and the children to arrive after a gruelling journey from Florida, I had hours to work on this one. I still didn't get it finished until tonight.

Here is a view of my Copic attempt (image only, no card made - yet):



Here's my second attempt (Card Completed) and a much better match for my DSP:



Working with Copics is becoming second nature for me. They move around your cs so easily and blend so well. But after coloring the first image, I realized that the colors I'd used weren't a true match for my DSP. I was following an older Friday Sketcher's Challenge sketch and I had everything in place, but somehow the colors were just off to me. So I started thinking about using a water color technique and I dug out my little used SU reinkers. Sage Shadow, More Mustard, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana and a little Chocolate Chip were used for all parts of my image except the face, where I used Distress Inks.

Here's a closer view of my Tilda...



I really need several lessons on watercoloring with reinkers. I have a long way to go on that. I only have two colors of Flower Soft, Baby Blue and Summer, so I chose the Summer for my final card.

The ribbon is May Art, the brass clip is generic and the buttons are SU. My cs is SU also, More Mustard and Really Rust and Whisper White.

Goodbye again...

Now, here is a picture of Earl and Lisa just before they said goodbye to Jordan, Josslyn and Brielle. It was so hard, for them and for us! It will be another 6 months before they can see the children again, and the babies will be 18 months old! How I ache for them, but know that they trust us with the love and care of their precious littlest ones. The other little girl in the picture is Shayla, Earls' daughter who is 6.



They dropped off Lisa's other daughter in Alabama, so it's been a rather long farewell to the 5 children.

Thanks for dropping by, for taking the time to read this rather lenghty post, and for your wonderful supportive encourangement...

Baking Pie Tilda...

This card was made for the Just Magnolia Challenge #11.

I spent entirely too much time on this card, and wasted/cut too much paper, not being satisfied with anything I was putting together. I have lengths of ribbon cut which I decided not to use, scalloped circles which I also didn't use and all different sizes and shapes of dsp, now a part of my scrap bin. Sigh:(

So here's what I've ended up with, and in the end I'm quite happy with the results...




After I colored my Tilda with Copic markers, I had changed my mind about the cardstock I was going to use, which meant that some of my colors were a little off. I went with retired SU In colors Bayou Blue and Wild Wasabi as they ended up being very close to my dsp, which is from My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus collection. Since Tilda no longer matched I pulled out my Bayou Blue and Wild Wasabi ink pads and colored the shadowed areas. It worked pretty well! Surprised me, as I was just experimenting and was prepared to recolor the entire image!!

Here is a closer look at Tilda with her pie (yum)...



My final struggle was to find something to embellish the card with. The sketch actually calls for two embellishments on the side, but I hunted out this large button from my meager stash and thought it might work, being the size of two flowers. I tried my SU matching ribbons, but it just wasn't working. Then I spied this ribbon, which I had bought on sale but never opened. It was the right color so I threaded it through the ribbon and tied it in a knot. I placed a paper doily behind my focal image to kind of match the lace punch I used on the bottom of the dsp. The gold color behind Tilda was done with Adirondack Lights Ink - Sandal.

Next was the sentiment/text for the bottom of the card. I didn't have much room left and I needed something rather small. The first stamp set I pulled out was Summer By the Sea, a retired SU set. The sentiment is actually in a block, but I used my Big Ugly SAMG and lined up the words on the bottom. Here's a close up view...



So that's it! At last, my card is complete! WHEW!

My Second FSC Card...

I was experimenting the other day trying to find a coloring medium for these darling hAnglar images sent to my by Regina who lives in Brazil! She was so generous in sending me images on different papers with different inks so that I could play.

I think today's sketch over at Friday Sketchers Blog is terrific.

I do readily admit that Ican never follow instructions to the letter, and I didn't put an embellishment in the upper right hand corner on either of my cards. There just didn't seem like there was enough room.



This card was a little difficult to both color and photograph. The ink is a reflective copper color, which is just beautiful, but it does reflect the light from the camera.

Here is a close up view of the sweet image...



As you can see the surface of the paper was a little slick and the Prisma's didn't quite cling to it. It was a little hard to blend the colors well.

Here is a close up of my "Cheers" banner. The sentiment is from a retired SU Christmas set called The Snowflake Spot.



Since the ink was a copper color I chose to use Copper Thread and a copper charm with a brown button to repeat the brown/caramel/blue color scheme.

Thank you for dropping in and feel free to leave your comment. I love to hear what you have to say - it really makes my day!

Friday Sketcher Challenge - Tilda's Yellow Rain Boots

I had colored most of this Spring Rain Tilda last night, waiting to see what the Friday Sketcher Challenge for the week would be. I had so much fun doing this card using my sewing machine again, using some new Tulle I bought and a new charm. This Tilda is so fun for me to color, I love all the stripes. Here, have a look:



After I finished coloring her, I added Crystal Effects to her boots to make them like real rubber boots. Here is a close up of them:




The little charm says "Made With Love" on both sides, but you can barely see it beneath the Tulle bow. I found a bead shop that sold tons of these little charms and hundreds of others. Needless to say I bought quite a few for my cards and they were only $1 for 10 charms! Now that's a deal!!

My paper is Whisper White, Groovy Guava (love it) and Taken With Teal. The dsp is just some I had in my stash from somewhere.

Thanks for stopping for a visit. Tilda in the Rain enjoyed it too!

Firday's Blogger Challenge - Alter It!

I don't even remember anymore what number this challenge is! My 10 days without the kiddo's is fast coming to an end, and I've been cramming my days full of all kinds of stuff. I did manage to alter this clear clip board though. I'm not very talented when it comes to altering something, and I realized after it was done that my Tilda hardly showed up since I had used the same paper as the background. This is going to my Secret Swap Sister at Magnolia-licious along with a bunch of other goodies. I hope she will like it.



The paper is from My Mind's Eye. I added some inside the barrel of the pen to match.
Tilda's dress is paper pieced and she is colored with Copics. The ribbon is some SU and some generic.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

My first Hanglar card

I received some absolutely adorable images in my mail box today from Regina in Brazil. We did an image swap and it's been so fun! She sent me a bunch of adorable images, several of each that she had. You can only buy them in Norway and Sweden. They won't sell them outside those countries, so having access to them is absolutely a blessing. She happened to have a friend in Europe who was able to get them for her.

I used my Prisma Color Pencils on this gal, as the ink used doesn't take well to Copic Markers. That's okay by me, I can really hone my coloring skills with these sweeties.

I wish now that I had chosen some different colors for the skirt, and the ribbon I used, but, well, it's done now - no going back. Next time I'll try some different colors.

This card sketch is a rather loose rendition of an old Friday Sketchers Challenge sketch. So without further ado, here's my card:

Friday Sketch Challenge - not quite...

After working on this Edwin all day I finally posted him without the button embellishment. I went shopping for some buttons and found these and they are almost an exact match in color. I used Crafter's Floss, which I bought at the same time, to tie the buttons with. Here is a link to the Sketch Blog - lots of beautiful samples to feast your eyes on. Friday Sketcher's Challenge

NEW EDWIN! I WENT SHOPPING FOR SOME BUTTONS AND CRAFTER'S FLOSS AND HERE IS THE NEW UPDATED EDWIN:




While I was in San Antonio over the weekend I visited a couple of neat shops with my daughter. I purchased these tiny eye glasses, which were actually a 3-D charm, and thought they would look so cute on an Edwin. I don't have the image of Edwin with the eye glasses, so I cut off the arms of this pair and glued the rims to his face.

I find it so hard to embellish "guy" cards and had a hard time with this little guy.

I didn't want to color his pants denim, so I was thinking brown corduroy! Lots of blending on this pair. I had first picked out the dsp scrap from my stash and the matching brown circle dsp and the teal color also. That's where I got my "inspiration" for my Edwin. I was trying to find the exact sentiment to go on this card, the alphabet being a hard theme to accessorize, but I have the SU Defining Alhabet and Define You Life sets, so, light bulb moment! I also had the little charm which reads "inspire" so I attached it to the sentiment.

Here is a close up of Edwin in his sporty eye wear!



I used Stickles on his wings, and ran my tracing wheel around the edges of the Alphabet DSP twice. It's almost impossible to see in the photo.

I was inspired and I hope you are too!

True Friend Edwin...

I was challenged last week to create a Magnolia card using my Prisma Color Pencils instead of my Copic Markers. I'm always up for a challenge and so here is the card I created. Thanks Pam for challenging me...



I think I'm doing this all backwards. I am coloring my images first,then trying to find a dsp to match. I'm going to have to change that up. Fortunately I just happened to have some paper with the right orange, blue and green it in. I very loosely followed a "Spoon Full of Sugar Sketch" for this one. I didn't use three different shades of the same color to create my Edwin as I do with my Copics, instead I used the same color and varied the shade by density. Quite a challenge...

Here is a close up of Edwin. I don't know where the spot on his mouth area came from, it's not there on the card, at least not to the naked eye:



My DH and I had a wonderful time in San Antonio this weekend, and now I will have to get busy and count my Points again with great diligence.

The babies and Jordan arrived safely in Florida tonight, a day later than expected, so after several phone calls to DPS to find out if there had been an accident - we were worried sick - all arrived in good shape, and are glad to be out of the car...

I hope you enjoy what I've done with Edwin and will leave a word of encouragement...

Little Black Tilda...

This is my Little Black Tilda... I started working on her late Tuesday, before the kid's parents got here. I was able to work on her some last night, and finally got it finished tonight. I had quite a time deciding which side of this sweet paper to use, since I paper pieced the dress using the polk-a-dot dsp. I have a ton of different sized circles cut trying to get the right size for the middle. I hope I'll be able to use them for another project sometime.

I really need someone to make a YouTube video on how to color black skinned Tilda's. Any takers?

So here is my card:



Here is a closer view of her:



This is a view from the side to show the different layers of the circles. There are actually 4 different circle layers. The yellow circle in the center, then the pink scallop, the Polk-a-dot layer and finally the pink circle in the center over all of it. The little bow is wire edged ribbon (isn't it yummy?) tied around the three layers of circles.



I'm off tomorrow after lunch for a wild weekend away with DH! Yipppeeeeee!

While I was waiting.....

We waited all day Tuesday for Lisa and Earl to arrive and our level of excitment was very high. They didn't get to our house until 11:30 P.M. so while we were waiting, I got busy and made this card:


This is one of the images that was sent to me to help me get my feet wet. Slowly but surely I'm getting those images made into cards. And as luck would have it I'm finding all kinds of reasons to send people cards. Funny how that works...

Here is a closer view of my sweet Tilda:



For the ground I used some green copics and the grass and flowers were added using Marvy Markers colored directly onto Art Impression stamps. The blue background is done with copics.

NOW TO THE CHILDREN...

Yesterday we had a birthday party of sorts for the twins, who turned ONE! We went to Peter Piper Pizza and a few people from Bills work showed up plus the sweet gal to cares for them on Sunday mornings at church. The older three children, Shayla, Nia and Jordan had a blast playing with all the games and such they have there. This twins had the most fun eating their Birthday Cake...

Brielle and Josslyn get a glimpse of their First Birthday cake...



Brielle - m-m-m-m--m good



Yummy cake...



Josslyn loved the icing...



After the party, my living room became the toy room:



This morning, Earl and Lisa with all five children loaded into a van, drove off for their two weeks vacation. They're young, they can handle the drive to Alabama and then on to Florida with five youngsters! My house is so quiet that I'm having a hard time knowing what to do first. I have a lot to do though, just getting the toys sorted out and put away, there's tons of laundry and more cleaning. Now I will have the freedom to get it done and hopefully lots of stamping to, but for now....back to the cleaning and sorting and laundry...

Not a Tilda, not a Copic

In a few stolen moments today I found some time to create one more card. My time for stamping will be very limited if at all over the next few days, as we anticipate the arrival of the kids parents some time tomorrow. I decided that my Gorjuss girls were sitting on the shelf never being inked because of my insane obsession with Maggies. So I pulled one out and thought I would give water coloring another whirl. I used Marvey Markers and a watercolor brush.


So, here is my little card:



It's quite a different experience using the water color technique. I've grown so accustomed to the Copics and the way they move on the paper, that water coloring was a bit of a challenge.

Here is a closer view of my image:



I used Water Color paper, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, and Art Impressions stamps for the grass and flowers.

I'm Singing in the Rain....

Oh if only we would get some rain I just might sing!!! After countless interruptions (life) I'm finally able to post my Spring Rain Tilda. I've had a set of Scalloped Edge Paisley Nesties for almost ever, and have never used them, maybe because I don't have the plain edged ones. I thought that it would look a little like a rain drop - okay, stretch your imagination with me here - so I used the largest one to cut out my Tilda. I was looking for some DP that would allow the shape to easily be seen and so chose this chocolate/teal/blue/mustard color with matching plain teal along with So Saffron cs.




Then came the really hard part. How was I going to finish off this card? I was happy with the layers, the coloring of my Tilda (even the black hair!!!) but I just couldn't come up with any embellishements that looked right with the rain drop shape. I decided at last to use my little silver pearls. I decided to sponge the edges in a light blue, kind of like a rain drop, and then added 31, YES 31, little-teensie-weenie-ever-so-small silver pearls to each scallop. I'm still not sure if this was the right choice, but it's done and the adhesive is too strong to take them all up again.

Here's a close up of my coloring:



So many markers for one little card:



Thanks for looking at my latest creation, for leaving your encouragement and letting me know what you think.

Tilda with Puppy

I love this sweet image. It is one stamped for me by Claudia Kroll before my very first Magnolia-licious order arrived. She sent me lots of images, so I'm really enjoying making cards from them.

While I was shoping a while back at my local Scrapbooking store, I found several absolutely delicious papers. These two sheets are by Bo Bunny and are called Pet Shop Words, and Pet Shop Doggy. They are both double sided, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with them. What fun!! I have had the little paw buttons (I cut the shank off) for a couple of years. Finally have a place to use them. I used Pacific Point cardstock for my card base and for the scalloped layer. I used Kiwi Kiss behind the Pet Shop Words panel.

This is also my submission for the Friday Sketch Challenge Blog. If your interested in seeing what their sketches are, please click on this link. A new one is posted every Friday...

Here is my Tilda, holding her puppy:














I actually colored Tilda's hair first this time!! Wow! I'm always so hesitant to do the hair, but I'm happy with the way this Tilda's turned out...



Here are the Copics I used:



So I'm already working on my next card, and can't wait for it to come together and be posted...

Blogger's Challenge Friday - Sketch

This week, Challenge "Mom", Lisa S., has challenged us with a very interesting sketch. I really had a hard time imagining this sketch, so it really was a challenge for me this week.

As I've been riffling through my stash of cut DSP pieces in a box I kept seeing these red, black and white, scraps that just seemed to go together. So I pulled them out and started playing with size, placement, and various combinations of ribbon. The little black hearts were perfect with the ladybug piece, the black and white gingham and the red and black ribbon just seemed to tie it all together.


This is what I came up with.

As I was digging through a drawer I found a whole sheet of these sweet images my friend had stamped off for me some time ago. It's a retired SU stamp the name of which I know not, but I thought she would be so cute with my paper choices.






My image is colored with both Copics (face and hands) and Prisma Color Pencils (blouse). I used my distressing tool to rough up the edges of this piece and adhered it to a piece of Real Red cardstock.

The ladybug was made by punching a 1" circle each of red and black, cutting the red in half. The head of the ladybug is made using a 3/4" circle and adhering to the back of the 1" black circle. I put black dots on the wings (red 1" circle)and sponged black ink on the edges then adhered them to the larger black circle. The anteana are very thin strips of black card stock. Both the focal image and the ladybug are adhered with dimensionals.

Thanks for taking a look today and I hope you will check out the other talented lady's work by clicking on the Blogger button on my sidebar then click on a name.