Happy New Year with AMAZING News!!!

Hello my dear blogging friends,

Today, I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year filled with Health, Love and  Lots of Inspiration. I would also like to thank you, my friends, for every one of your lovely comments. I will forever treasure them in my heart. Honestly, when I first started this blog six months ago, I never thought it would bring so much happiness to my life. Thanks to all of you who made it real!

So, they are some AMAZING news to share with you. I'M GOING TO BE PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!! I still can't believe it! I'm going to be featured Blogger of the Month in the new Magnolia INK Magazine: Make a Wish. But that's not all. I also submitted a card to enter the magazine contest: Make a Card, Make a Wish and guess what? I WON!!! What a fantastic way to start this new year. I'm counting the days.....the hours to have the magazine in my hands.

See you all soon!

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Paola

Pink & Black Christmas - IAMC # 22

Hello friends, I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas!
There is a new challenge up at It's a Magnolia Challenge. This time the theme is Pink & Black. I made a Pink & Black Christmas card using "Something for you Tilda" from the Sweet Christmas Dreams collection 2011 and for the background, "Edwin's town" from the Spring collection 2008.

 

Thanks for visiting!
Hugs,
Paola

Christmas Blog Candy Winner!!!

Hello my dear friends,

First, I would like to thank everyone of you who entered my Christmas Blog Candy, I really appreciate all of your loving comments. I wish I could give a prize to everybody.

So, to pick the winner I had a very special "helper". My little boy and I wrote all 77 names on little pieces of paper and put them into a box......then he picked a winner! 

.... and the WINNER is

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Yes! Wendy. 

Please e-mail me with your mailing address so I can send your prize in time for Christmas.

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Paola

White and Gold Christmas

Hello my dear friends! Time to play again over at It's a Magnolia Challenge. We would love to see your creations using only white and gold or silver. I made a Christmas card on White and Gold using my cute little Tilda with Cross Stitch Heart stamp from the Sweet Christmas Dream collection.

To create the background I dry embossed white cardstock using the snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder. Then I layered a strip of white cardstock decorated with a gold border I made using Martha Stewart's Arch Lattice edge punch.

Using gold embossing power, I heat embossed my Vintage Couch stamp on the label created with the Nestabilities die and placed Miss Tilda on it. Doesn't she look so cute sitting on that fancy couch?

And for the finishing touches, I added a golden bow made with Martha Stewart's satin ribbon and decorated with a white crochet flower. The other flowers are from WOC and Recollections (I decorated them with some Snow-Tex for a "Christmassy" look)... and the golden spikes are recycled from my Christmas decorations.

I'm entering the following challenges:
Just Magnolia: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
MDUC: Lost and Found
Simon Says Stamp: Christmas photo inspiration
Simply Magnolia: Christmas
Paper Sundaes: Anything Christmas

Thanks for visiting!
Hugs,
Paola

It's a Magnolia Challenge #20 + Candy

Hi friends, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving in the USA and a very nice weekend everywhere else. Sorry I'm a little late with my DT posting for IAMC. We went visiting my mother-in-law this weekend and I forgot my pictures on my home computer... so frustrating. Anyway, this time for challenge #20 we would like to see your creations using punches. But that's not all! We also have a fabulous 300 followers blog candy. You'll love it!

The Thanksgiving Holiday has inspired me to create this Thank You card and altered jar set. I used my sweet Tilda with cherries and Butterfly sign stamps from Magnolia. The papers are Happy Harvest collection from Imaginisce.

To create the bottom edge of my card and the borders for the altered jar I used Martha Stewart's Pinking Scallop punch. I made the little flowers using a 1 1/2" circular punch and I also used a 2" circular scallop punch to decorate the cap of my jar.

The beautiful silk flowers are from Recollections and I added these gorgeous flower centers I found at my local arts and crafts store.

I colored Miss Tilda with my Copic markers. Skin: E11, E00, E000, E0000 and R20. Dress and Shoes: R39, R29, R27, R24 and R22. Sign and Basket: E59, E57, E33, E31 and E50. Grays (Dress and Socks): C7, C5, C3 and C1. Shadows: W5, W3 and W1. Butterfly: YR18, YR15 and YR12 with some orange Stickles.

Entering the Totally Tilda Challenge: Masking.

Thanks for visitng!
Hugs,
Paola

A Merry Christmas To You (Paper Bag)

ETA: I won the Magnolia-licious challenge with my Christmas paper bag. Thank you girls!

Hello everyone! I'm really excited to show you my Christmas paper bag today. This is the first paper bag I decorate and I enjoyed it very much. I finally got to use my gorgeous "Tilda with snow heart" stamp from Magnolia Sweet Christmas Dreams collection.

The papers are from My Mind's Eye 2009 & 2011 Christmas collections. I painted around the edges with Distress crackle paint and added Snow-Tex for some texture on my main panel. To create some interest, I placed my stamped image on three different layers: a 6" doilie, distressed pattern paper and a piece of corrugated cardboard. This corrugated cardboard was inked using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then decorated with Cinnamon Stickles.

I made the 2 big snowflakes with my Cricut Expressions (Winter Woodland cartridge) and finished them with a thick layer of Crystal glitter, rhinestones and a flower center from Prima Marketing. The smaller pearl snowflakes are from Hobby Lobby. I also cut the swirls with my Cricut Expressions (Sweethearts cartridge).

I colored Tilda with my Copic markers and added some blue shading for the background with Broken China Distress Ink. I also applied Snow-Tex to Tilda's snow heart, snowflakes and around the edges.
Here are the colors I used this time: Skin: E11, E00, E000 and R20. Scarf, gloves and hat: B29, B27, B24 and B21. Dress: R29, R27, R24 and R22. Boots: E59, E57, E33, E31 and E50.

I'm entering these challenges with my Christmas paper bag:

TOMIC: Paper bag and photo inspiration (Swedish Dalahorse)
Magnolia Stamp Lovers: Christmas 
Magnolia-licious: Photo Inspiration
Simply Magnolia: Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting!
Hugs,
Paola

Merry & Bright Book Card - It's a Magnolia Challenge DT

Hello my crafty friends! Today is a very special day for me, I'm sharing my first card as part of the Design Team over at It's a Magnolia Challenge. Patricia invited me to join their talented Design Team a couple of weeks ago and guess what? I said yessss!
It is challenge #19 and we want to see cards/creations with Buttons and Glitter. I created my first book card using beautiful Tilda with Hellebores from the Sweet Christmas Dream collection.

The papers are again from My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found Christmas collection. I just love them and had to use them one more time. The edges are all distressed and covered with red glitter.

The inside of the book card is perfect for a gift card, some chocolates or any little present. I decorated it with Martha Stewart's Doily Lace punch, a little flower and green rhinestones from Studio 18.

The flowers and leaves were cut with my Cricut Expressions (Winter Woodland cartridge) and decorated with red glitter and buttons. I also added some gold glittered details and  a resin corner piece from Prima Marketing.

I colored Miss Tilda with my Copic Markers and added some white and red stickles for some sparkle. Skin: E11, E00, E000 and R20. Dress and Hair Bow: YG97, YG95, YG93 and YG91. Boots: E59, E57, E53 and E50. Flowers: R29, R27, R24 and R21.

I hope you have a great weekend.
Thank you very much for visiting!
Hugs,
Paola

Tilda's Sleigh Basket

Hello all, Today I have a fun little creation to share: Tilda's Sleigh Basket. This is my first project using one of the gorgeous stamps from the new Sweet Christmas Dreams collection....Love it!

I cut 2 sleigh shapes in brown cardstock with my Cricut Expressions (Winter Woodland cartridge) and decorated them with My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found Christmas papers, half pearls and paper ribbon. I then cut a 2" wide cardstock stripe to put both shapes together and create my basket. To make the handle y used Martha Stewart's lace punch and decorated it with half pearls as well. 

  

Once the basket was assembled, I decorated one of the sides with my beautiful stamp: "A Little Gift Tilda" and this cute little flowers y made using C.C. Designs Rolling Rose Die and my new favorite tool: Hybrid Petal Roller from Imaginisce. I also added some paper leaves, feathers and a couple of pins. 

My sleigh basket was done but I needed some "goodies" to fill it out with. So, I made these little presents for Santa and Tilda to deliver. Aren't they so cute?

As usual, I colored my Magnolia stamp with Copic markers and added glitter to create sparkly angel wings. 

Skin: E11, E00, E000 and R20. Dress: W5, W3 and W1. Socks and little present: R29, R27, R24, YG 95 and YG93.

I would like to join the following challenges:

TOMIC: Create a Basket

Just Magnolia Challenge: Anything Goes (Optional pearls and lace)

All That Scraps Challenge: Anything Goes

Magnolia-licious Challenge: Foto Inspiration.

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Paola

Christmas Blog Candy

Hi there!

Christmas is just around the corner and to celebrate I would like to offer some Christmas candy to my dear blogging friends.

All you have to do to be in for a chance if winning is:

• Please became a follower if you are not one already.
• Spread the word by adding the picture below to your sidebar and link it back to my blog.
• Then just add your name to Mr. Linky.

Chrsitmas Blog Candy will be drawn 12.10.11

List of goodies:

• 1 Magnolia Stamp from the new Sweet Christmas Dreams collection: Tilda with candy cone.
• 1 Set of Christmas brads from Karen Foster Design.
• 2 Sets of Christmas paper clips from Making Memories
• All packed in my Jolly Tilda Christmas Box.

Thank you all for visiting and good luck!
Hugs,
Paola

Dracula Edwin & Witch Tilda's Haunted House (Altered Photo Frame)

Morning, Morning everyone! Time for a Halloween creation. I have to confess that it took me longer that I anticipated to finish it. But I am very happy with the outcome.

 

I stared by creating the background for the frame. I covered a 10" x 10" black chipboard with pieces of paper from an old book. Then, I applied a coat of diluted purple acrylic paint with a sponge. Once dry, I sprayed two coats of Glimmer Mist for a "sparkly night" effect (Unfortunately, I couldn't take a good picture to show this effect). To finish my background, I painted some "spooky trees" using black, white and a touch of brown acrylic paint.

The haunted house, street light, fence, graves and spiderweb were cut with my Cricut Expressions, using the Mini Monsters cartridge. I used mostly black cardstock and papers from My Mind's Eye and Martha Stewart's Halloween collections.

I really wanted to create a 3 dimensional effect by placing all the elements at different levels but keeping Dracula Edwin and Witch Tilda in the focal point of the composition.

To create a light bulb effect for windows and the street light, I colored pergamano paper with Copic markers (YR15 & YR12). The little Tim Holtz "poison jars" are filled with Betty Crocker green sugar and some of the elements were decorated with Stickles and black gems. 

 

As usual, I colored my gorgeous Halloween Magnolia stamps with Copic Markers. Skin: E11, E00, E000 and R20. Grays: C7, C5, C3 and C1. Oranges: YR18, YR15, YR12 and YR00. Browns: E59, E57, E50, E33 and E31. Greens: YG97, YG95, YG93 and YG91.

I'm entering the following challenges:

TOMIC: Halloween (Everything but a card)
MAGNOLIA-LICIOUS: Halloween inspiration
Simon Says Stamp: Sparkle and Bling
Copic Creations: Saturated Colors

Thanks for visitng!
Hugs,
Paola