Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 28

Good morning everyone,

It's time for another MDU challenge - this time the theme is Bedazzled !!

It's an excuse to use lots of bling - glitter, rhinestones, pearls, beads, etc. I thought this image of Tilda would suit the theme and I had the colours in mind when I picked this stamp.

I embossed some silver paper with swirls and matted it on a dark plum piece of card then mounted this to the bottom of the pink base card.

I then embossed a square of the silver paper with a different pattern to look like tiny pebbles.Over this I mounted a square of the dark plum card and added a piece of pale green and silver glittery paper which I'd distressed around the edges.

I folded back the top right-hand corner and added a pale green pearl to the paper and some small rhinestones on the plum card.

Tilda was coloured in using watercolour pencils and I added some glitter dots to her dress and ribbon bow and also on her wings and the rose she's holding. (Here is a close up of the 'bling'.)

To finish off the card, I tied some pink taffeta ribbon over the bottom silver panel, added the Tilda image (mounted on 3D foam dots) and some pink fabric flowers. I then added some adhesive rhinestones among the swirls and also stuck them onto the silver brads in the flower centres.

Well, if you like this idea why not join us and send in your entry for our challenge today - just click on this link to take you to our challenge site.

Check out the gorgeous designs that the other Design Team members have come up with - they're awesome !

Please drop in again soon - I have some Christmas cards to show you and a few other things.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you're all having a great weekend. See you again soon !!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 27

Hi there,

Christmas is fast approaching - it's so scary, only a few weeks to go !!

I haven't even thought about Christmas shopping yet but I have started on my cards - I said 'started', have lots more to do but in keeping with this theme, here is my card for this fortnight's challenge.

The theme is 'Something for Christmas' - I made a card but if you would like to join us, feel free to make any project with a Christmas theme - a card, 3D object, scrapbook page, etc.

For my card, I chose this beautiful vintage paper as the background. It features some lovely flowers and text and I loved the colours in it.


I sponged around the edges of the paper with some ink to give it an antique finish then mounted it onto some dark green card and tied some gold glittery ribbon along the left side.

I then mounted this panel to the red base card. To highlight the flowers on the paper, I added some gold glitter glue to their centres.







The sleigh was one of two die-cuts I found in my stash of goodies - can't remember where I got them from but I had a gold one and a red one which I used for this card. I embossed it with an embossing folder then sponged around the edges with some brown ink to give it some definition.

I coloured in this gorgeous Tilda image with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added some gold gliiter to her buttons and the embroidery on her coat and also a little on the poinsettias in her basket.

For an added touch, I also put some crystalline glitter along the fur trim of her hood to simulate glistening snow - it looks beautiful on the card at night but as always, doesn't come up too well in photos.

To finish off the card I tied a sheer ribbon bow to the gold ribbon strip and then attached a little gold bell to the bow's centre.

To decorate the sleigh, I added a die-cut leafy branch and 3 red fabric flowers. I enjoyed making this card and I hope you like it.

Why don't you check out what the other team members have done for this challenge and join in the fun and create your own Christmas project.

Please share your creation with us by linking it to our site here. We'd love to see your work!!

Well, that's it for now. Drop in again soon to see what else I've been creating. Hope you're all having a good weekend.

'Bye until next time !

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #26

Hello there,

I'm sorry that my card for the recent MDUC is so late - have had a few other commissioned cards to make for family members and have been busy with other things and issues recently.




For this challenge we had to use this sketch designed by Shell Barnard.

As I had been asked to make a 70th birthday card featuring a Tilda image I made use of this sketch for the card.

It worked out very well I think.

Here is my take on the sketch.

I used some pretty patterned paper and attached it to a scalloped piece of cardstock then mounted it onto the base card.

I then embossed some pink card, cut around the edges in a random shape then cut out a piece from the centre and turned it into a frame so that I could put the main image inside it.

The white piece of card behind the frame was sponged with some pale yellow ink to match the scalloped border strip.

I coloured Tilda with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and added some glitter glue to the flowers and the bow in her hair. 3D foam squares were used to attach her to the frame.

I used some gold peel-off stickers for the numerals and the Birthday greeting, attaching them to some yellow cardstock and then cut around the greeting with scissors and used a 1" circle punch around the numbers. (I edged the circle of cardstock with a gold ink pen.)

To finish off the card, I added a gold peel-off corner sticker and then attached a gold brad to a white flower and some pink flowers and leaves and adhered them to the embossed frame with 3D foam squares.

My Mother-in-Law was very happy with the card which she is giving to a friend of hers - I hope the Birthday 'Girl' will like it as well !

Please check out our MDUC site here to see what the other team members have done for this challenge and if you want to play along too, add your card creations to our link so that we can all have a look at them.


Thanks for stopping by - I hope you come back soon for another visit.


I have two more cards to show you which will be in my next post and I have to make another 2 cards by this weekend so will show you those as well when they're finished.

'Bye for now - see you again very soon!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 25

Hello again,

It's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this fortnight's theme is 'Distressed' -

no not me, just the card!! LOL

This was a challenge for me as I like things nice and neat so had to push myself to distress the papers on this card. Pathetic isn't it ?

I started with the base card in Sage Shadow then adhered a piece of So Saffron which I had stamped using the thumping technique - I took my So Saffron Stampin' Spot and thumped it all over the piece of card, creating distressed lines from the edges of the stamp pad.

It's a quick and effective way to get this sort of look on your cardstock or paper.

I then distressed the edges of the card using my fingernail to just scrape aloong the edges.

Then I used a small circle punch to cut out the corners and distressed those also. I then mounted this card onto the base card.

I punched a scallop edge along a piece of SU Designer Series paper and mounted this to the left side of the yellow card. A piece of lovely pale blue vintage paper with the butterfly image was then distressed along three edges and attached along the side of the blue strip.

The join was covered with some beige coloured lace.

I then coloured the Tilda image using markers and watercolour pencils, cut it out and attached it to the base card with 3D foam dots.

To finish off, I added some lovely blue flowers (attaching adhesive pearls to the centres) and pretty little daisies. I also added some adhesive pearls in the four corners of the card.

Why not join in the fun and visit the MDUC site to add your creation and share it with all of us -here is the link.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Come back again soon to see more of my cards.

I'm sorry that I haven't had more for you lately but I've just finished a Forensic Medicine Course which I attended these last two weekends so haven't had time to 'play'.

It was a fabulous course and so interesting - I received my certificate today so may take a photo of it to show you in a later post.

Well, it's off to bed for some well earned sleep and back to work tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone and drop by again very soon !

See you then ........

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 24

Hello again,

It's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this week's theme is 'Trick or Treat' for all of you who celebrate Halloween this month.

I had to think about this one as I don't have any Halloween type Magnolia stamps but I improvised instead and used this Christmas Tilda stamp.

While I was out shopping last week I looked for some suitable papers and stickers at one of my local craft stores and came across this great paper. It was perfect for this card and the witch's hat on a sheet of stickers that I bought at the same time. was just the right size to sit on Tilda's head.

I coloured Tilda with markers and also used watercolour pencils and my trusty aquabrush for her face.

The ribbons came from my own stash - love that bright green one which goes so well with the black spotted ribbon and also with the background paper and card.

The spiderweb medallion was made using an embossing folder which featured various circles containing Halloween images - after embossing my piece of black card, I punched out the circle with the web and attached it to the two strips of ribbon in the top right-hand corner with 3D foam dots.

Tilda and the hat were attached using 3D foam dots as well. After attaching Tilda, the ribbons and the web medallion, I glitzed the bat, spider and the web with some glitter glue - it's just a basic crystal colour but changes colour depending on the cardstock or paper you're attaching it to.

In this case, when I applied it to the black surfaces, it changed to green ! How 'spooky' is that ?

I also added some to the buckle on Tilda's hat and also the bit of tinsel that she's holding and this time the colour changed to gold which is the effect I wanted.

Well, that's it for now. If you want to join in the fun and create your own Halloween card click here to link your entry to our challenge site. I'd love to see what you come up with - our designers have done some fantastic work with this theme so if you need inspiration, check out their entries - they're just fabulous !!

Thanks for dropping in - please come back again soon to see my next lot of cards.

Hope you've had a great weekend - see you all next time!

Birthday Tri-Shutter Card

Hi there,

Nice to see you again. I had a lovely weekend - very busy. Caught up with former workmates on Friday night for a quick drink to celebrate one girl's new job then it was on to a special birthday at one of my favourite craft shops.

The owner was celebrating her 10th year in the shop and had invited some regular customers to a VIP night at the shop to help her celebrate the special occasion.
Of course, I couldn't go empty handed so made this Tri Shutter Birthday card and gave her some yummy chocolates to share with her staff.

My S-I-L came with me and we had a great night - there were a lot of laughs (and a few tears) during the night's celebrations and some of the girls had made Birthday cards and treats which were a great hit !

One girl made (and decorated) the Birthday cake which was fantastic - she had 3 mini cards made out of icing sitting on top of the cake and get this, one of the 'cards' had been embossed with an embossing folder and fed through a regular die cut machine !

Who'd have believed that you could emboss royal icing using tools made for papercrafting !!


For this card I used the beautiful SU Designer Series - Tea Party papers and the Upsy Daisy stamp set for the main image.

I found the lovely pink and pale yellow flowers in my stash and they went so well with the papers and base cardstock. I also used Rub-ons for the greeting next to the flowers and stamped and cut-out the 3D butterfly on the right-hand panel.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White.

Stamps - Upsy Daisy (main floral image), Best Yet (Hostess Set) for greeting, Great Friend (butterfly and background leaves on pink panel).

Inks - Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink.

Designer Series Papers - Tea Party.

Extras - Rub-ons, adhesive pearls, paper flowers on wire stems, small piece of SU - Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, glitter glue.

I love making these particular cards as you can decorate them as simply or as elaborately as you like to suit the occasion and the recipient.

Thanks for dropping in - I hope you like what you see here.

Please come back again to see my next creation!

'Bye for now - take care !

Magnolia Down Under - New Online Shop - BLOG CANDY !!

WOW, some very exciting news for all of you Magnolia Down Under Challenge followers - Kellie Winnell has just opened up her online store so you can buy all of your Magnolia stamps and accessories right here in Australia !

To visit her new shop, click on the MDU Shop logo on my sidebar which will take you there so you can see what she has in store and start your shopping now !!

To celebrate the grand opening, she is offering this fantastic prize of Blog Candy - have a look at all the goodies in this lot!

To join in the fun, click on this link and leave a comment and who knows, you may be the lucky winner.

Congratulations Kellie on your exciting new venture - I know it will be a huge success !!

Thanks for dropping by - hope you'll come back for another visit soon. I have some new

cards to show you.

'Bye for now. :-)