Tilda Stamped and Revamped!

Good morning!
This Tilda card has been shelved for a week now. You know how you go through your closet with the changing seasons and literally have nothing to wear? That was what my Tilda needed...she had been originally cast in a lacy number with those round white doilies and this big 'ol flower and just seemed dwarfed!! I had put her on the shelf wondering who I could send her to when I received some of this pretty crochet lace in the mail! So, as habit with me, I ripped Tilda off the doily and decided to try a diminutive ruffle with pearls to give her a bit more presence...and paired her with this background damask...and now I think she is ready to mail!! Sometimes our wardrobes and accessories just need a bit of revamping...mine needs a complete overhaul!
My card today is for the Just Magnolia Challenge to use lace on your card. This ruffle is so easy to do with a strip of scor-tape. I am glad I tried it out! The pearls have those Stampin' Up glue dots underneath to keep them anchored. I used my paper piercing tool (also Stampin' Up) to place them. It is sharp and dangerous, but really handy when it comes to placing small objects!
So I am off to Macy's today because Tilda is looking better than me! Thanks for your visit, have a blessed day!

Chocolate~Dipped Strawberry Recipe

This month the Flourishes blog issued a recipe challenge. I made my 6x6 recipe card using a variety of designer papers, paper-pieced my Strawberry Tilda image by Magnolia and added another stamped Heading perfect for recipe cards.



You can view the challenge here on the Flourishes blog:
http://www.flourishes.org/blog/page/2/
I have really enjoyed seeing the variety of recipes and even tried one for dinner last night...it was delish!
Please remember you can click on the picture to see it in more detail and also view the recipe. I find chocolate dipped strawberries are easy to make with just a couple of helpful tips...make sure your berries are cleaned and totally dry before beginning...and use a wooden skewer through the top of the stem (leaves attached for pretty contrast)...to dip. Dip and twirl to keep the chocolate on, and lay on waxed paper lined cookie sheet to set. The coating stays on better if you don't refrigerate for too long. Serve same day. You can also drizzle white chocolate over the semisweet chocolate for a fancier look. Just melt a few chips in a freezer ziplock bag in the microwave. (About 45-60 seconds for 1/2 cup) and then snip the corner of the bag with scissors. A perfect little tool to drizzle the chocolate!!
Thanks for coming by , hope this Tilda gives you a smile and happy cooking!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Hello friends! Today is my Mom's birthday...and even though I already mailed her card, I wanted to write a little post in her honor today. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love and admire my Mom! She is such a special lady...and even though she did not give birth to me, she has raised me from a young girl. I have often thought what it is she did as a very young mom that drew me so close to her...and have decided that among many things, it is the way she made and still makes me feel about myself. She was always a good listener growing up, and rarely if ever said a critical word. Over the years she has instilled in me a quiet confidence in myself and the feeling that she was proud of me. She always and I mean always had a smile on her face, it didn't seem to matter what was going on in the world around her. As a young girl, my oldest daughter would just stare at her face and finally blurted out, "Grandma, how do you get your lips to do that?" It was funny, but her mouth always curved upward, as if God permanently planted a smile on her face and a sunny disposition in her heart.
My mom was a hard worker and worked outside the home as I was growing up. She gave up a career to raise us three kids I discovered much later in life...but she worked at different jobs to help support the family. But on weekends she would be baking and I was very fond of her cream pies and cherry cobblers. So this little Tilda with the wooden baking spoon was the one I chose to honor my Mom today.
This was made for the Magnolia-licious blog challenge for the month.
I have been absent for awhile and it felt good to stamp a card today...hope you enjoy this short post. I have tried much harder to listen to my kids more ...even grown up now and attending college...and offer less advice. I just tell them how much I admire some quality in them and assure them when they are going through a hard time that I have confidence in them. Wow, it is a lifelong lesson, but I hope through my Mom's guidance I am getting a little better about it.
Blessings to you~

Whatcha Got Cookin'?

No, this isn't another recipe post, I am just trying to think of a catchy title to go with this Baking Tilda...today is a new challenge on the Just Magnolia blog, a sketch. While my sketch isn't exact, I think all the components are there!! This was a new Tilda for me, colored in copics and I made a ribbon flower from the wide SU striped ribbon and paired this with some buttons from PTI and antiqued with a bit of Tim Holtz distress inks in Tea Dye. I also used some new nestabilites, Labels 8. I love this card...it made me happy to make it and reminded me of one thing that gives me joy and I am missing right now...and that is hospitality and cooking up something special for others. So I am entering this in Stamping Sisters in Christ challenge to make a card that brings you joy.
Each week the SSIC has a challenge with a short devotional and this week is by my dear friend, Peggysue...so head on over to the SSIC blog (see sidebar) to view.
I am behinder and behinder in challenges...and wanted to try a few more today and tomorrow, so please come back!!
Have a great day!!

Hope your New Year is just "Peachy!!"

Hi friends, I sure hope everyone is enjoying the holiday break and looking forward to ringing in a New Year! At our house, tonight will be a quiet one, we just returned from our place in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a mountain resort. All I wanted to do this evening was stamp, and then in the middle of assembling my card, our daughter called and asked to take my camera for the evening!! What, my prized possession that I use to take pictures of my cards for challenges?? I got a lot of glue on my fingers hurrying this card along...so forgive me if the glue isn't dry. But I had a 1/2 hour warning and was scurrying to get this done! I wonder if our kids know the sacrifices we make for them!!
Anyway, this card was made for Magnolia's challenge for the month...it is on my sidebar if you would like to participate. The challenge was a sketch, and there were 5 circles on the side. Well, I had this new PTI sentiment set,. and was thrilled to find a "Peach" in there...it fits so well, and sentiments rarely do that for me!! I used some new prima flowers I had.
The most challenging part of this was trying to color the peaches with my copics as I had no peach colored copics, but found with a little experimentation, the orange, yellow orange, and yellow worked, who'd a thought? That is one advantage to having a limited number of copics, I am forced to experiment a lot with layering different colors and usually I find success! I also used prisma pencils on Tilda's apron and highlighted with my signo white gel pen!!
Tilda and I thank you for coming by...have a safe and Happy New Year!!

Tilda Sweet Surprises

Tilda has a surprise cupcake for you today! I just got this set, Cowberry Muffin, and paired it with the Basic Grey Lemonade designer paper for this week's Magnolia sketch challenge. The challenges run weekly and it is about to expire today!! Good grief, I can't believe how fast a week goes by!

My Tilda was colored with copic markers. I can't tell you which ones, because once I start, I just keep grabbing and blending, and in the end, I usually have about 20 sprawled out over my table. I like the idea of blending 3 colors per color family, but it usually doesn't work that way for me! The background paper is SU Rose Red, the designer papers and Tilda were matted in Certainly Celery. Sugar coated brads from Making Memories and one little pearl for the cherry were added for fun. White polka dotted sheer ribbon was wrapped around the base, per the sketch requirements. The side tab is from SU's Sweet Sampler set, stamped in Rose Red, then punched with a large oval. Only one side was trimmed and tucked under the main image...I like that sentiment, "Sweets" it fits a few people in my life right now!

There is a place not too far from my house called "The Cupcakery," and putting this card together has assured a visit soon...Tilda will probably pick the red velvet, which one do you want??

I hope you like my Tilda submission, and always love to read your comments. Thanks for stopping by today!

Here is a picture of the sketch:

Happy Sunday afternoon!

Today is Featured Stamper's Challenge over on Splitcoast Stamping, and I decided to play along. The featured stamper had several Magnolia Tilda's in her gallery, which had me grabbing my copics and this sunny paper!

I don't know about you, but the idea of frolicking in the water is fine with me, as long as I can see my toes, and I don't have to squeeze into one of those Spandex Miracle Suits! This little girl's outfit I could handle, it reminds me of innocent days gone by when I would splash in the creek as a little girl. I know I didn't have a swimsuit, I just played in my little sundresses!

So, I'm sparing you the swimsuits, but this water is warm, won't you come and play with me?

Someone Remembers...

Today I finished up a card using some new SU paper I got in the mail from my friend, Lois, a surprise package!!

Don't you just love those? So, the paper was the inspiration for this sweet Mangolia image, also

a gift from another SCS friend...I am blessed indeed!

I wanted a sympathy card, the inside script reads, "Someone remembers, someone cares, your

name is mentioned in someone's prayers." The little girl is sitting on a cloud, or so it seems, and this seemed a suitable thing for her to be thinking...she is colored in copic markers, and her wings have a bit of stardust pen to highlight. The clouds are made using a cloud template I made awhile ago. (courtesy of friend, Mothermark). The flower was originally white, and I used the same copic marker from her little overalls to color the center button, then added some polka dots to the daisy to tie all the colors in.

Thanks for looking, and hope you like it!