It's Not Just About The Card...

I'm proud to say that the Canadian Red Cross, to whom we donated, raised over $ 1 million for the Japanese Relief Effort in just this past weekend alone. Here's a list of organizations from Yahoo Canada and Yahoo US frontpages in case you'd like to help too.

• Canadian Red Cross: Call toll free at 1-800-418-1111 or visit the webpage dedicated to providing relief in Japan. Donate here.
• American Red Cross: Emergency Operation Centers are opened in the affected areas and staffed by the chapters. This disaster is on a scale larger than the Japanese Red Cross can typically manage. Donations to the American Red Cross can be allocated for the International Disaster Relief Fund, which then deploys to the region to help. Donate here.
• CanadaHelps: Check here for an indepth listing of Canadian charities providing aid to those in need. 
• Oxfam Canada: Teams and partner organizations are on-site and monitoring the situation from the ground. Donate here.
• Global Giving: Working with Save the Children, International Medical Corps and others to provide support on the grounds of Japan. Donate here.
• ADRA Canada: ADRA Japan has extensive experience with providing national and international support to those affected by such disasters. Donate here or call 1.888-274-2372.
• UNICEF: Closely monitoring the situation in Japan and prepared to provide assistance and relief. Donate here.
• Save The Children: Mobilizing to provide immediate humanitarian relief in the shape of emergency health care and provision of non-food items and shelter. Donate here.
• Salvation Army: The Salvation Army has been in Japan since 1895 and is currently providing emergency assistance to those in need. Donate here.
• Americares: Emergency team is on full alert, mobilizing resources and dispatching an emergency response manager to the region. Donate here.
• Convoy of Hope: Disaster Response team established connection with in-country partners who have been impacted by the damage and are identifying the needs and areas where Convoy of Hope may be of the greatest assistance. Donate here. 
• International Medical Corps: Putting together relief teams, as well as supplies, and are in contact with partners in Japan and other affected countries to assess needs and coordinate our activities. Donate here.
• Shelter Box: The first team is mobilizing to head to Japan and begin the response effort. Donate here.

Yep. I'm thinking of you, our Japanese friends (and pets, animals and wildlife too!) in your dire time of need.

Card details:

I used  Japanese Tilda, with some beautiful Japanese Yuzen Washi paper a dear friend gave me as a gift. I cut it out and layered it over a "half easel" blue cardstock base. That same wonderful friend also ran off some black oriental bridges for me on her Cricut so I layered two of them with some black-coloured dimensional foam in between.

I pulled out daughter's Origami book and made a bird (called "First Flight") with gold paper. The ribbon is from my stash; you may recall it on my last card. However, I didn't want it pink, so I took my Gold #Y28 Copic to it and coloured it.

A gold leafing pen gave it some shiny gold highlights, which was also used on Tilda's kimono. The stamped sentiment is from Stampendous. Cherry blossoms are from Wild Orchid and I used my Martha Stewart punch for the gold leaves.

Copics used on Tilda:

BG93, BG99, E0000, N3, N5, N6 N9, R21, R29, R46, Y11, Y28, Y35

Happy Everything!

Here's another card I created using my new "Sweet Dreams" digistamps... this time using the mini-sized images to accompany my Mini Happy Tilda. This is a regular-sized card with a simple pink cadstock base. This time I wanted the card to be light but girlie; so I scored panels into a piece of white cardstock for Tilda's walls. I also added two strips of cardstock for the baseboard.

I coloured Tilda, the bed, nightstand, teddy, dresser, toy dog and toy cat with Copics and popped them all up on dimensional foam for added depth. A simple "Happy Everything" stamp was added and then to give it all a bit of sparkle, I used my new Martha Stewart Crystal Fine glitter on a Sizzix die cut under the sentiment.

I added the same glitter to the two hearts on the bed and dresser.

The ribbon is from my stash.

Here are the Copic colours used:

Tilda:  E000, E01, E02, Y21, C2, G000, G21, B21
Bed and Teddy:  R000, R20, R22, C0, C1, C2, C3
Toy Dog: E31 and E35
Toy Cat: N3 and N6

To get your own bedroom set for Tilda, head over to my DigiDrawn site to see it and other Magnolia scenarios HERE.

Sweet Dreams

Finally! A new scene has been added to the Scenarios and Accessories section over at DigiDrawn.com!

One of my most requested images has been a bed for our dear Tilda (ever since I created one of my first Magnolia cards with Happy Tilda jumping on her bed). Well today I unveiled "Sweet Dreams", 2 sets of six images each scaled for both regular and mini Magnolia stamps. It includes the bed and nightstand (as seen above), a bed without the nightstand, matching dresser, a big comfy floor pillow and two new toys: a puppy and a kitten!

The sample card above was created using a 6 X 6 easel card as the base. The full size "Dreamy Tilda" fits perfectly on either the bed or pillow! I used a piece of clear plastic scored and shaped into an "L" to mount Tilda, the pillow and the toy cat to the base of the card with Scor-Tape. She folds flat when the card is closed, and holds the front when the card is opened!

The paper I chose for her bedroom wallpaper is Basic Grey's "Oh Baby! Girl". My Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch was used on the base, and Gold Stickles were added to Tilda's wings. Ribbon is from my stash and the sentiment is computer generated. I added three other of my digistamps to this card; the pink teddy bear, baby fox and fuzzy bunny have joined the fun in Tilda's room.

Copics used (whew, it's a long list!):

Tilda:  E0000, E00, E01, Y000, Y11, Y21, E11, E13, E15 and E17
Bed:  R30, R32, R35, R37, G20, G21, W3, C0, C1, C2, C3 and C4
Pillow:  G20, G21 and G28
Teddy on nightstand:  E30, E31, E33, E35 and E37
Nightstand:  C0, C1, C2, C3 and C4
Teddy on floor:  RV10, RV11 and C2
Bunny:  Y32, Y35, RV10 and C2
Fox:  YR02, YR07, C3, C6 and C10
Puppy:  RV13, B000, B02, C2, C6 and C10
Kitten:  RV11, C1, C2 and C4

So if you'd like this bedroom scene for your Tilda, head over to DigiDrawn HERE to order!

It's A Frame Up!

I popped by our local Salvation Army Thrift Store recently and found a tabletop frame that I thought could use a re-purposing; a metal frame with pawprints! Only one problem: is was for a dog and I wanted to frame one of my cats photos.

So I started by getting out my Krylon Silver spray paint and repainted the whole frame. I have a matching Krylon Silver Leafing Pen, so I used that for all the accents (except the flowers which were spray painted too).

I had a pawprint charm in my stash that had a broken connector and two missing pink gems. So after giving it a whole new coat of silver, I glued new gems (the same ones used on the swirls) onto it.

A silver thread attaches it to my bow; the ribbon is a "Celebrate It" sheer ribbon from Michael's.

Approval Cat supervising bow creation

As I mentioned earlier, the roses from Wild Orchid Crafts were spray painted silver with black leaves made with my Martha Stewart punch.

The gem swirls are from the Dollar Store. The "Furry Friend" charm is actually a brad I adhered to a brass plate using ScorTape. Two brads with clear gems were added on either side.

The Laying Cat Maggie stamp is coloured with Copics C0, C3, C4 and C6. Since it would be near impossible to cut out the whiskers, I decided to replace them with silver wire. After colouring, I used a needle to punch holes in the cat image and inserted wires, taping them into place on the reverse side.

Looks like Approval Cat approves...

Spring Can't Be Far Off

Time for a pop-up card. I love doing these, so about a week ago I began with a mock-up to test out some ideas that were floating around my head. Dakotah wasn't too thrilled with the design it seems; she chewed up a fence I made using the Martha Stewart Garden Trellis punch!

After I decided what would work and taking "Approval Cat's" recommendation to heart, I began to build. Using a Mini Lazy Summer Day Tilda I made her a frosty window to stare out into the snow, wishing Spring would finally arrive. I started out with clear cello, used my MS Garden Trellis punch (shhhh... don't tell "Approval Cat"!) to create a stained glass window (Copic colours RV34, BG45 and Y15), layered some white cardstock for the window frame and popped it up on foam over Tilda's image and some background wood panelling paper. No-name white flocking with clear Aleene's glue added the frost on the window and Frosted Lace Stickles was used for snow.

Inside the card, her wish is granted! Tilda and Edwin go on thier first Spring bike ride through the countryside. I used Mini Edwin with Bike and Mini Tilda with Bike.

I started by using my new Copic Airbrush to do the sky in B000 and B02. Then I airbrushed the path with E33, E35 and E49, adding texture with the Colourless Blender. The hills were airbrushed using G21, G24 and G29.

Next I cut out some dark green flocked paper for grass. The bushes are covered in Flowersoft Sage and Raspberry Fizz. You may notice Tilda's been picking the flowers off the bushes; in her hand is a Raspberry Fizz bouquet.

The bunnies were hand-drawn and coloured with W00, W1, W3, W5 and R21.

I knew the tree would have to "telescope" to fit inside the card when folded up. I used brown and green cardstock, added dimension with Copics (leaves: G24, G28, bark: E33, E35, E44, E47) and then added two birds (W6, W7, Y19, Y21 and Y38).

Tilda and Edwin's Copic colours are: E0000, E02 for their skin, E55, E57, E59, B91, B95 and B97 on Edwin, C0 - C10 and YR24, YR31 for the bikes, RV91, RV95, RV99, Y11, E97 and E99 for Tilda.

After all that, I am pleased to find it DOES fold up!

And I guess "Approval Cat" was right after all; Tilda and Edwin's Spring Bike Trip definitely didn't need a fence along the path...