The Tilda/Edwin cards are easy to recognize because they’re all made with Magnolia stamps featuring the cute faces/poses of the little girl, Tilda, and her male counterpart, Edwin.

All other cards I’ve uploaded are ones I made for B-Line Designs. You can go to their website: www.blinedesigns.com and click on the Gallery to see more. Unfortunately, last I checked, most of my samples were listed as “More Info and Artist Forthcoming” (or something like that).   I tried to keep the Tilda/Edwin cards lumped together and separate from the B-Line Designs cards, but inadvertently added a Tilda Easter card among the B-Line samples. I also added a picture of my big boy,Tipper, sitting up on the ledge above the stairs. I honestly don’t know how I got that in amongst my cards, and now I don’t know how to remove it. (See why I needed Kris Watanabe)

I hope anyone viewing these cards enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them.

To those of you who think that my falling in love with Tilda - and Edwin - has left no room in my heart for the classics such as the stamps by B-Line, the following cards should prove you wrong.

Card 1:

Card 2:

Card 3:

Inside of Card 3:

Card 4:

Inside of Card 4:

Card 5:

Inside Card #5

Card 6:

Inside Card 6:

Card 7:

Inside Card 7:

Card 8:

Inside Card 8:

Card 9:

Below are photos of the cards each of us presented. The first one is the one Doraya, the Punching Queen, taught us. She said she had taken the idea from Hanko’s catalog.

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The next card was taught to us by Diana. If you want to make one, too, she’s teaching it in a class at Stamper’s Warehouse next month.

Kathy taught us the card she had made for me previously, but this time she made me make my own. Aaargh! How rude!!

And the following two are the ones I presented. The first was made with leftover cardstock and paper from the wedding invitations I worked on last month.

And now would be a good place to upload a photo of the above-mentioned invitation:

This  next card was a ‘bonus’ card I threw into the mix at our playdate because I wanted the girls to do a little something with the Copics, plus I wanted to make cards using the new chocolate stamps I recently bought. The actual chocolate pieces are old stamps from Mostly Animals, which went out of business a while back, but they’re still favorites of mine. —I wonder why—

The inside:

And, of course, I have to show you the cards I made in Irina’s last two classes. I also took some photos of other cards she’s done in the past, which were on display at the convention yesterday. But I won’t waste time uploading those here, because you can go to her website and see them all. (That link is listed in a previous post.) I’m having so much fun making these precious cards and I’m so glad that she got me hooked. I’m taking a class from Georgia Somers at Stamper’s Warehouse this Thursday and will post the cards I make in that class later. I’ve seen the samples in the store and they look totally different than the ones Irina teaches.

Inside:

Inside:

And, finally, I want to share with you two more Valentine’s Day cards. The first was made by Kathy Yee, and I made the second to give to John.

The first three cards were made in Irina’s Valentine’s Day card class.

Inside:

Card #2 (I messed this card up in class, so I had to improvise)

Inside:

Card #3

Inside:

Card #4 (It took all day yesterday to make ten of these, copying the idea from one of Irina’s cards above and using what was available to me.)

Inside:

Card #5

Card #6

Card #7

I’ll be making six more of these sweet cards next month, then I’ll start preparing for the Penny Black classes I’m teaching at Stamper’s Warehouse in April. After that, I plan to teach fashion ladies again using my new B-Line Design stamps. Later this month, I’m taking a class from Georgia Somers at the Warehouse. She’s become certified to teach the Copic pens, and I can’t wait to see her technique with them. She excels with markers in general, so I’m sure to learn something. If these types of cards appeal to any of you, will you let me know? If there’s no interest out there from any of you, then I’ll continue to teach my same-ol’, same-ol’.

And, on a personal note, I have to boast that this 62-year-old body hiked up to the top of Mount Diablo and back (6.2 miles) last weekend with my daughter and her boyfriend with little or no problems……………just a few seizures, a mild cardiac arrest and a few ruptured disks (grin). The following photo was taken with John’s iPhone and is proof-positive that I’m not lying about the hike.

To pose for the picture, I had to lift my tongue off the ground and stuff it back in my mouth…

Hope you enjoy these cards as much as I enjoyed making them. And if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and want to learn more about your Copics, Cuttlebug, etc., I encourage you to take classes from Irina.

(Photo above is of the inside of the first card)

Now for the inside of the above card…

Inside..

And the last card…

The inside…

(Oh, oh, another card you’ll have to view with your head cocked to the left)
**Nevermind…the slave…oops, I mean my wonderfully talented webdesigner Kris fixed it.**

It’s finally Christmas Day and for the first time in twenty-two years we didn’t spend Christmas Eve celebrating and/or share the unwrapping of Christmas presents under a Christmas tree on Christmas morning with our daughter, Kristin. We did see her and her boyfriend, John, later in the afternoon, however, when we picked them up to take them to San Francisco for Xmas dinner. Having dinner with the two of them made up for the oh so boooooorrrrring morning! -Next year there will definitely be more than the red bows on Ceaytie’s ears for decorations!

(Kristin & John at the Carnelian Room in S.F.)

Yesterday I received my final (I think) handmade holiday card.  Helen Boz, a lovely, talented lady in Modesto sent it to me, and I had to study it to see how it was done.   It looks like she took a sheer, organza type of material, with a glittered pinecone design printed on it, sprayed adhesive to a piece of ivory Stardreams cardstock (for extra shimmer) and wrapped the material around it. Then she layered that to a piece of cardstock to which she sprayed more adhesive (or used some sort of sticky-dot adhesive) and covered it in glitter. She layered the completed panel to a gold Stardreams card. I had to describe it, because photos never do justice to cards with glitter and sparkle. Trust me, the card is full of shimmer, shine and glitter!

This first card is from Ce-Ann McNamara and I love that its simple, but has lots of sparkle.

The next is from Phyllis Nelson and I love the sparkle she added to all the trees’ ornaments, in addition to the border she made using sparkle paper for that extra pizzaz.

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Lady Mary Cromak from England sent in another great card using a tag as a focal point, then added glitter for sparkle. It’s also interesting because she used strips of coordinating paper with decorative edges to add interest. (Note that I add her very special title. That’s because I expect her to address me as The Queen.)

The next card was sent to me by Shari Secreto and, as usual, she’s done a beautiful job. Everything she does is extraordinary. It’s hard to see on the photo image, but the cardstock and papers she used have a beautiful sheen to them, then within her Nestibility frame she’s placed the most exquisite reflective paper. Finally on the snowman that she so expertly colored, she added pink rhinestones to his buttons.

This last card is from my very favorite Stampin’ Up rep, Danelle Henry. Actually, it’s really not a Christmas card, but I got it at Christmas time, so it’s getting added to the site! Danelle seldom embosses, but all of her cards are cute and/or pretty because she adds things like pearls, brads and ribbons to give her cards depth and interest. -And you all know how I am. Anything that adds glitz and sparkle, I’m there!

And, finally this last photo is not of a card but of The King (my hubby) and our Princess, Ceaytie. She’s the only thing decorated for Christmas this year!

The second card is from Jaye Green in Castle Rock, Colorado, who said she made hers from a Christmas card kit she found in the new Stampin’ Up catalog. I didn’t even know about that kit, even though I thought I had scoured every page of their new holiday catalog.

Having everything pre-cut and ready for assembly is a great way to make Christmas cards in a hurry! For those of you waiting for a handmade Christmas card from me this year, please don’t hold your breath. I had intended to make them but, as I’ve already mentioned, those plans were bypassed with others. Instead, my previous post shows Christmas cards I taught earlier this month, so pretend you got a card!

I apologize for the quality of the pictures and I can’t blame it on the camera. Still no word from my new best friend, Kris Watanabe, who is diligently working on the website to get all the cards uploaded. The last time I spoke with her, she was going to contact me when all were uploaded. When I know something, I’ll post it here.