As I just rediscovered my love of paper and stamping in particular in October 2009, I like to think I have a different perspective on the craft. Fresher, maybe. I’m definitely not saying better, just different.

As I devoured all the card-making blogs I could find, I kept noticing these cute little figures popping up: a girl (sometimes a guy) with big black eyes and no mouth. I soon found out that these were called Magnolia stamps, and the character’s names were Tilda and Edwin, and they are manfactured in Sweden. I thought they were cute, but didn’t immediately order any. I also noticed in some images that they had wings. Does that mean they’re angels? I am not really an angel person – I just liked the art style. Luckily not all of them have wings showing.

I eventually ordered 3 from The Little Stamp Shoppe: Kitchen Tilda, Tilda with Tag, and Tilda with Hood. Notice, no wings.

Then I decided I like them enough to order the Winter Stamp Club package – a surprise package of stamps from Magnolia. I’d wrestled with the idea for a bit. I didn’t want to become the girl who always made sickly-sweet angel cards. I’d made a point about not ordering the ones with wings previously, and now I didn’t know what I was getting! I also wondered if they were a bit young – I’m 25 and there are no kids in my life, so I don’t make cards for little girls. Why did I need all these little girl stamps?

I realise now that they are just good, cute character stamps that can be used for any occasion. I love the kitchen series, I want to collect all of those eventually. I think I’ll be subscribing to the Stamp Club for the coming year. I really liked the Winter 2009 club package – although I don’t think I’ll use the Tilda with Sealing Wax (I feel like there’s some vaguely dirty joke in that stamp, but can’t quite articulate it). I love the Tildas in heels and evening dresses, although from what I see on the blogs, I seem to be in the minority. Heidi over at the Stamp Shoppe blog has a poll going to see what people think. Add your opinion!

I made two cards with one of the Winter kit stamps. Both pictures are below now, and in the next two days I’ll devote a post to each. I find bloggers’ different reactions to them fascinating, and tried to explore that in my cards. Stay tuned for tomorrow and the next day!

I went to another Copic markers class on Monday night. I think it shows how dedicated I am – it was about -27C out, and I still went. Granted, I drove, but it was a 40 minute drive in rush hour; and my car has a nasty habit of steaming up then frosting over on the inside of the windows. While I’m driving.

I made it there and back safely, though, and thouroughly enjoyed myself once again. But I’m not posting those pictures just yet. I haven’t seen any daylight at home since then, so pics may have to wait. Below though, is a card I made before that class, so we can compare later to see if I’ve improved:

That’s Tilda with Tag on the front of a card. The paper was in my 12×12 SEI Christmas pack. I’m not planning on scrapbooking, so the papers that have a large scene over the whole sheet aren’t terribly interesting to me. But I realised I could just cut out the corner with the presents!

The felt thingys are from Hero Arts.

I decided that since I’ve had this blog for about two years now, and have had the one layout for all that time, that now was the time for a change.

I picked a new layout that I think is very me, it’s a little crafty, and little hand-drawn, and uses a binder clip. I love binder clips. The layout (called ‘Paper’) also came optimized for etsy or flickr users, the space on the right sidebar is perfect for an etsy or flickr badge! I, of course, am plugging my shop in that little space.

I also decided that the list of blogs I read is so long that it needed its own page, rather than taking over my sidebar, so if you want to see the blogs I read (broken down in to ‘Knitting & Other’ and ‘Papercraft’ categories), the page is here.

A non-Christmas card, just for a break from all that. This is the first time I’ve coloured Kitchen Tilda from Magnolia, and I had a lot of fun. I’m loving the 0000 series of Copics, they make blending easy, and now I have a selection of light colours too!

The paper came in an SEI Christmas pack, and the ribbon was tucked into a recent stamp order. The flecky paper is the same as on the mitten card in my previous post.