**The Official Magnolia Inspiration Challenge - coming June 6th**

Hi everyone! We are so excited to share our news! The 1st official Magnolia Challenge blog called TOMIC (The Official Magnolia Inspiration Challenge) is starting on June 6th where each week you will find a new challenge waiting for you with terrific creations from Magnolia DT members.

So let's meet there for our grand opening and first challenge on Monday 6th june with a secret prize coming directly from Magnolia!

We would love you to advertise about the event and grab the blinkie to put on your blog.

Hope you will enjoy this adventure as much as we will...

Edwin Fishing

Oh dear, I'm off to a bit of a slow start this morning. Our power went off some time during the night so when we woke this morning we had no idea what time it was, the clock was flashing. But the sun was shining, lol, so we managed a bit of a sleep in thanks to the power company, haha.

My card today is for Magnolia Down Under Challenges. This week the challenge is a sketch by me.  I was sitting at my desk earlier in the week unsure what image to colour or where to start with this card, then my friend Karen challenged me to make a card using an Edwin stamp so out came this oldie but goodie. He is "Edwin Fiskar" from the Summer 2007 collection. Have you seen the new "Waiting for Fish Edwin" from the Sweet Rainbow Collection? Too cute. I think I will have to order him as well :) And the matching Tilda "Gone Fishing". Actually, I love all of the new stamps in the Sweet Rainbow Collection. Oh my poor credit card :)

Can you tell I have a new punch around the page set? lol. Its been getting a little work out lately. The papers are all Websters. Edwin was coloured using Copics and the background done with Prisma pencils.

It was great fun playing with an older stamp and making a male card for a change. I hope you get a chance to come and play at MDUC this week and try out my sketch for yourself :)

Thanks for visitinng me today! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs xx

Tilda with Hawaiian flower

Hi there, thanks for visiting me today.

This is Tilda with Hawaiian flower from the Butterfly Dreams collection. She is such a sweetie. I think she has to be my favourite stamp from the collection.

The papers are a mix of Prima Annalee (my fav) and Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup. The bookpage is from Little Women. All have been given a bit of a white wash to tone them down a bit and make them look a little shabby.

I had a bit of fun with this card :)

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of the week!

Hugs xx

Christmas in May

Good morning! I hope you are having a great weekend so far.

My card today is for Magnolia Down Under Challenges #97 - Christmas in May. I've inked up cute little Tilda with Star and watercoloured her. I messed her dress up a bit (hehehe) so I've paper pieced it to cover it up.



The card shape was cut on my cricut and I've distressed and stitched all of the edges.

I don't know about you, but I bought so many stamps from the Merry Little Christmas collection last year and a lot of them didn't get much love (very bad!) so this challenge was a fantastic opportunity to have a little play and to get ahead for this Christmas.

We'd love to see you join us in getting into the Christmas spirit this week. The DT has done an amazing job once again, so please pop on over to check out their work.

 

Thanks for visiting me today! Have a great weekend.

Tilda gets krafty

Hello! Its almost Friday again! Just a quick post today.

I've had a little attempt at colouring on Kraft cardstock.... I found this a little challenging... my first attempt was with Prisma pencils and wow, it looks terrible. hahaha. I'm not sharing! This is my second attempt.. and I coloured with both Copics and Prismas. I coloured most of Tilda with copics as I normally would, then went in with a white prisma pencil to lighten up some areas and do the surround.  I need a lot of practice colouring with Prismas :)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit :) It means a lot to me.
Have a great day!

These are a few of my favourite things....

Do I have you singing yet? hehehe. The song is definitely in my head :)

The challenge this week at Magnolia Down Under Challenges is "Your Favourite Things"... and well, lets just say I packed a few of mine onto this card.  If you are looking for inspiration, the DT has done an amazing job this week, as they do every week so I encourage you to check out the Magnolia Down Under Challenges blog.

I have used the most adorable Magnolia stamp I own - this is "Lilla Ballerina" from Summer 2006 - wow hey? I just adore the early Maggies. I've coloured her with Copics but the blue hue and the grass is done with Prisma pencils. Something I love to do is use a fun Doo Hickey die on the edge of my card and kraft is usually the cardstock I choose for my card base. It is a great neutral cardstock that I pick up again and again. Some more of my favourite things on this card are.... stitching, lace, pearls, a charm, Magnolia papers (gorgeous texture and quality), and flowers (from Wild Orchid Crafts).

The sentiement is also a Magnolia Stamp from the Pets and Animals 2009 collection - and I just love it, my friends are a one of my favourite things ;)

So enough chatter from me ... Please join us this week at MDUC, we would love to see what your favourite things are.
Well.. that is it from me today. I am working on projects for the next Magnolia Ink magazine right now (yep! the autumn edition already!) so I may be a little quiet for the next couple of weeks.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Kylie

It's so Distressing!

Oh my goodness - with blogger going down for a couple of days the interuption to our crafty lives was certainly a little bit distressing wasn't it? hehehe - I suppose we all found our ironning baskets and dusting and at least have the housework back up to date :)

This post was supposed to go live on Thursday night but I am at least able to share it with you now :)  I had a bit of fun making a more 'kiddie' style card. This is Tilda with Skipping Rope.

The card itself is just a basic 5 x 6 card with a triangle attached to the top for the roof, nothing especially tricky :)  I cut out the window with a Nestie and just added some strips cut with doo hickeys for decoration. All of the edges have been distressed with my scissors instead of my distressing tool.

The grass was cut with my cricut and the sentiment was just cut from a piece of DP from the Prima Annalee stack.

Thanks for hanging around :) I'll be back tomorrow with my MDUC card to share.
Have a great weekend!
Kylie

Happy Mothers' Day to all the Mums out there, even if it isn't Mothers' Day where you are :) I have had the best morning so far. I had my first sleep in since... well since we had the kids, lol. I woke at 9am with the boys climbing into bed with me for a cuddle and then was spoiled with croissants and coffee waiting for me for breaky. Perfect! What more could I ask for :)

My card this morning is for Magnolia Down Under Challenges - So Krafty. I had a little play with a "Magic Card" (tutorial HERE) and this is the other image that I coloured with water colours. Her hair looks a bit odd... lol, I went a bit mad with the white gel pen after I made her hair a bit too dark.

The papers are all Magnolia as well.

Thanks for visitng me today, have a wonderful day!

Mmmmm - chocolate

Chocolate!! I love chocolate. It is my weakness. But I suppose I am not alone there :)

I thought I would make a Mothers' Day gift with a little chocolate box.  It is basically a mini pizza box, but it measures 6x4 inches with a little easel card on top.

I've masked little Tilda with her chocolate boxes and then stamped the sentiment on the image as well. The papers are Prima "Botanical" and I've gone a bit Doo Hickey nuts with Tilda's lace, the Rose leaf, and Dragonflies.

The recipe card is stamped and coloured as well so there is a place to write a little message and I've added little buttons to the bows. The little brown roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

This is what it looks like closed with the little teapot charm and pearls.

I had lots of fun making this little box.
Thanks for stopping in to visit me :o)  Today is my eldest son's 3rd birthday! Where does the time go? It feels like just yesterday that we were in hospital with this amazing little baby and now he is a tall and adorable little man.  Happy Birthday Jarred!  I thought I would share a pic of him this morning with his little brother and Dad in the cubby that we gave him (lol, them) for his birthday. Smiles all round.

 
Hugs x

Pin Up Girl

Good morning! It is (hopefully) another sunny day here in Canberra. As usual I am actually typing this post just before I go to bed and scheduling it to appear first thing in the morning :o)

Today it is time for a new challenge at Magnolia Down Under Challenges and this week we are looking for LACE AND RIBBONS... easy peasy.

I decided to make something a little bit different for a change. I was sitting at my desk hunting around for a packet of pretty pins I had stashed somewhere. I don't know about you, but I have packets everywhere.  I was in need of a pretty storage solution for them - and a child safe one in case my little boys broke into my craft area (hmm... yes, it does happen!).  And then I thought back to my sewing and quilting days and went on the hunt for some pretty quilt fabrics I knew I had somewhere.. yes, another treasure hunt :o)  I have stamped and coloured on fabric before knew it could be done so I thought this may just work...

PIN CUSHIONS!

I actually made a few because I thought I would like to post some off to friends. They are stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa onto pre-washed Calico and coloured very quickly with Copics. I then added some pretty fabrics, lacce, ribbons, buttons and charms to girly them all up. Each pin cushion has a little loop of ribbon at the top so it can be hung up nice and high.

When colouring on fabric, it is important to prewash the fabric to remove the 'size' (the chemical added to the fabric during manufacture). It is also important to know that the copic ink tends to feather very quickly so you have to work fast. Normally when colouring faces I use five different colours to blend. On fabric because you are unable to blend as effectivly, I used  R21 for the cheeks and then only three shades for the skin. Try to stay a little further away from the stamp lines than usual until you are comfortable with how far the ink will feather.  The only other tip I really have for you is that these are not wash proof... if you wet them, the ink will run and create quite a pretty faded rainbow :o) So it is best only done on items that don't get washed... such as these pin cushions.

This last one isn't quite finished as I ran out of stuffing. It is a bit larger and more embellished. 

I have used some of my favourite stamps on these pin cushions:
Beautiful Tilda and Tilda with Lace Jeans - Butterfly Dreams Collection 2011

Tilda with Hearts - Love Collection 2009

Lovely Tilda - Cozy Autumn 2010

We would love for you to join us at Magnolia Down Under Challenges this week for our challenge. We always love to see what you create to share with us. 

Thanks for checking out my little project today - enjoy the rest of your weekend!