Another pink card with a heart! It’s that time of year, I guess. Not sure what I’m going to do with all these cards I’m making – I don’t correspond with enough people to use them all up. I also have a pile of Christmas cards that never got used, because P never sent out cards to his family. oops!

I’m thinking maybe putting them up in my Etsy store – although I’m undecided as to whether I should just put them up with the stitch markers, or start a new store…

For a different look, I stamped Tilda with ‘London Fog’ grey ink, and coloured her with pale markers, same with the roses (also a Magnolia stamp).

I dove into my scrap bucket for most of the papers – you can see the flourishes from another stamp peeking out here. I kept the main part pale, but wanted to add a pop with the bright pink ribbon. That ribbon was a freebie in a recent stamp order. I have exciting plans for those stamps that I’ll reveal sometime soon I hope. All the pinks make this card eligible for Magnoli-licious’ Pretty In Pink prize.

I could have masked the rose stamp on to Tilda, but because I have this habit of colouring images first, and making cards later, they are two separate pieces. I stuck them both to the heart frame before sticking the whole thing down with foam tape.

Again, I traced cookie cutters for the heart shapes.

After the adventures of yesterday, I needed to make something simple. I decided on a Valentine with un-traditional colours. Magnolia Down Under want to see a Valentine this week, so I used Tilda and put her in a blue dress.

I wanted it to be rich, so I chose a deep purple-y blue for the background. The hearts I made by tracing around some cookie cutters onto the back side of paper, the cutting them out. Tilda’s little corsage is about the same pink as the pink heart. The black and white one is more of that paper I love.

I used Stickles glittler glue to give her some fancy diamond earrings, and you can’t really see it, but I put Glossy Accents on her shoes to make them shiny.

I rarely colour my images the same day I make my cards. Most evenings after work I’m too tired to do much more than colour and cut out. It’s great for quick gifts, because I can just pull an image out of the little bowl and throw a card or tag together.

I had St. Patrick’s day in mind when I coloured this Tilda, but decided that she’d make a nice birthday card. It’s also Birthday week at The Pink Elephant, so it works with that challenge!

I stamped the Kraft background with one of the many stamps from that giant lot (Frank B. Mullett – Salal Branch) and used Oatmeal VersaMagic ink.

I pleated some patterned paper from a fall/thanksgiving pack from Making Memories, because that’s the monthly challenge at Just Magnolia this month. The little circle is some handmade paper I bought at my LSS – the pattern is shiny and raised up. It’s too deep to just be embossing powder – it’s almost like Glossy Accents glue, painted silver.

I found the ribbon in a bin at Michaels – it’s my favourite colour, and one of the most useful sentiments, I think! I also distressed the pleats a little with Gingerbread Versamagic ink. I just love the texture this card has in person.

And if anyone is looking for a chance at a little freebie – check out the blog candy at Cats Whiskers.

This is another stamp from the 2009 Winter Magnolia club kit. I think this Tilda is great for any occasion!

The rusty-looking cardstock is from DCWV’s Old World 8×8 pack, and I have to say that I love every single paper in there. I almost want to buy another one. I’ll restrain myself though.

The hearts in the background are a gorgeous stamp from the Old Island Stamp Co. I love their stamps, and especially this one – it’s just perfect for that holiday coming up…. I went rustic with it here, but it could be very fancy done with different papers, maybe some embossing powder. I think I’m going to use it a lot.

I stamped ‘LOVE’ from a Local King stamp set on white paper, the glued it to a similar but more purple paper from the same pack. Then I covered it all in a generous splodge of Glossy Accents. Once it dried I cut the whole thing out and glued it on here.

I coloured Tilda’s dress & shoes with R24, R27, and RV17, and put Glossy Accents on her shoes too.

Here’s the other card I made the same day as Fishnet Tilda. This Tilda is more along the ‘expected’ lines I’m sure. Equally cute – does she look younger? Maybe, maybe not. I think the dress is quite sophisticated, and she’s wearing a lovely brooch. They’re so tiny it’s hard to tell, but I modeled her shoes on a pair of my own that shade from white-grey at the toes to almost black-grey at the heels.

The flourishes are Maya Road, and I coloured them with a BV04 Copic marker, then smeared Diamond Stickles all over them with my fingertip. The same Stickles are on Tilda’s wings.

I knew I wanted to use the pale blue paper, and I wanted the flourishes to stand out, which is why I made them comparatively darker than the rest of the card. No sentiment, I think I might send it as a thank you card.

You can definitely get very different looks with the same stamp, and I think it is a good thing for stampers to remember. You can add whatever you want with a fine-tip pen. She could be wearing argyle tights (I love mine so much!), or a patterned dress. Paper piecing is your friend too, for clothes, or even tights (although you won’t get the lovely ‘bent leg’ detail without drawing it in). I think my crafty resolution this year might be to EXPLORE more, and be open to different styles and techniques. I don’t want to say ‘work outside my box’ because I don’t like to think that I have a craft style that fits in a box. One day grungy, the next all flowers and pearls, maybe the next day can be grungy pearls and flowers! I think the greatest thing about paper craft is the ease with which you can combine styles and techniques.