2009 Calendar with Tilda- FEBRUARY

First of all, I want to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!!!

One more thing before I start with the today's post.. This is a shout out to Bev!! Since Bev does not have a blog and leaves comments for me under "anonymous", there is no other way for me to contact her.. Bev, I am still waiting for you to email me your address for the Blog Candy that you have won!!

Starting January 4th, I am going to have a series of classes for a 2009 Calendar at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. At each class we will make pages for two months. At the first class we will make pages for January and February, at the second class pages for March and April, and so on.. At the last class we will make the cover and bind the pages together..

Even though these pages are intended to be used as a calendar, at the class you will have an option to make them into the cards..

I started with February and still working on the pages for the month of January.

The pages measure 6" x 6".



I created the calendar in Word document and printed it on pink cardstock. "February" was stamped in red ink, the stamp is from Inkadinkado. The corners on both pages are the Cuttlebug die cuts. All the hearts on these pages were hand drawn and hand cut out. Tilda was stamped on Coconut Swirl Bazzil cardstock, colored with Copic markers to compliment the colors of the paper and then cut out.

Since these pages will be a part of the calendar, I did not add any dimension.. No dew drops, no brads, no ribbons, not even pop up dots.. That was kind of challenging..

Don't you think these pages would make a great Valentine's Day card? With the first page being a front of the card and the calendar inside??

This class is scheduled for:

Sunday, January 4th, 2 pm to 5 pm
Wednesday, January 7th, 12 pm to 3 pm

To sign up for the "Tilda Calendar 2009 - January and February" class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

I entered, and I WON!!!

About a week ago I was looking through Lizzie Anne Designs website and blog for some inspiration for my holiday cards when I noticed that they had a Holiday Card contest. Since I had already made three cards with their stamps for one of my classes at Cranberry Hill Mercantile, I decided to upload them and enter in the contest. You can see all three cards that I entered on the post here.

This morning I was checking my emails and there was one in my mail box from the Lizzie Anne Designs with the title of the email being "Holiday Contest Winner".. I thought: "OK, let me see who won this one.." Because there were so many great entries, I had never expected to win.. Guess what?? I WON!! THE FIRST PLACE!! THE GRAND PRICE!! What a great surprise!!

This is what Tricia Ulberg from Lizzie Anne Designs wrote in the email:

"The technique you used to make the three baubles is really cool, all our design team girls chose your card as their favorite!"

This is the card that won me the Grand Price :-).. For details about the card please check out this post.


Here is the link to the announcement on the Lizzie Anne Designs' blog, click here. There you can also see the other winning projects. Check out Melyssa Connolly's Christmas Bootie, I thought for sure that would be the one to win, isn't it the cutest?!

This is the first time that I won in the contest, but then.. I do not enter very often.. I am SO EXCITED though!!! I should probably enter my cards into more contests, huh..

Now I have $100 to spend at Lizzie Anne Designs. Just in time for my Birthday ;-).. I think I am going to wait until the new release to shop though...

:) Irina

Tropical Birthday - Magenta

I swear.. it took me longer to find the black brads then to design this card!! I was so sure that I have had some of the small black brads left from making all those Halloween cards, but I guess I was wrong.. Oh well, at least I had some of the larger ones and was able to finish the card. And, by the way, this is the card number three for my "Masculine Cards" class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile and the first class is TOMORROW!! So, pretty much, I did not have a choice, the card HAD to be done tonight.. To see the other two cards for this class, please click here and here.

Even with all this drama, I really like how this card has turned out :-) .

This card measures 6" x 6".


This is how inside of the card looks like..


I used another stamp set from Magenta on this card that was sent to me as a Design Team member, this one is called "Tropical Retreat Trio". LOVE IT!! I kept the card in neutral colors with the black and tan, but added a punch of color to give it a tropical feel.

Images were stamped with Black Tuxedo ink by Memento on the tan color cardstock. The squares with the images as well as the black border under them are raised on the pop up dots.

Greeting is from Hero Arts. This card can be used for any occasion and I always give ladies in my classes a choice of the greetings.

This class is scheduled for:

Sunday, December 28th, 11:30 am to 3:00 pm
Tuesday, December 30th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Tuesday, January 6th, 11 am to 2:30 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

More Birthday Cards

Here are two more Birthday cards that I made with the newly released Hero Arts stamp sets. These are the cards for my "Happy Birthday" card class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. To see the other two cards for this class please click here.

The first card measures 5 3/4" x 6".



Inside view of the card..


This is a "window" style card.. To make sure I can run the card through Cuttlebug machine without ruining the sides of it, I made the card 5 3/4" x 6" instead of a 6" square. I used Nestabilites to create the window and the frame on the front of the card. Candles were stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copic Markes in the colors to compliment this fun printed paper from Scenic Route.

Second card measures 6" x 6".



I just love this little cupcake from the "Celebrate All" stamp set, CUTE!! The scallops on the border were made with Fiskars border punch. The filigree squares on this card are the die cuts from Cuttlebug. This is the first time I have used this die cut.. Piercing around the edges was done with the Tim Holtz ruler.

This class is scheduled for:

Saturday, December 27th, 11 am to 2:30 pm - TODAY!!!
Saturday, January 3rd, 11 am to 2:30 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

Bon Voyage with Magenta!

I LOVE this image from Magenta!! Definitely one of my favorites!! This is the second card for my DT Magenta work and also the second card for my upcoming "All Occasions Masculine Cards" class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile.

This card measures 6" x 6".


This is the inside view of the card..


I had this printed polka dots paper on my desk from making previous cards, the Tilda on Skiis card and the Birthday Cake card, you can see both of these cards on the posts below. Brown and blue is one of my favorite color combinations and it seemed that it would suit this card well.

I stamped the image with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then colored with Copics. Because of the soft colors of the Copic Markers that I used, the image almost looks watercolored. I then outlined the image with the Gold Zig Painty. The square with the main image was embossed with Nestabilites. The panel with the main image and the tag with the greeting are raised on pop up dots.

The greeting is also from Magenta as well as the seagull that I used on the inside of the card.

This class is scheduled for:

Sunday, December 28th, 11:30 am to 3 pm
Tuesday, December 30th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Tuesday, January 6th, 11 am to 2:30 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

Merry Christmas!!

:) Irina

WANTED - My First Magenta DT card

Here is my first card with Magenta images as a Design Team member for this wonderful company. This is also one of the cards for my upcoming "Any Occasion Masculine Cards" class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile.

This card measures 4 1/2" x 6".



This is how inside of the card looks like..


For the front of the card, I punched out centers of the images with the 1" square punch and then adhered them on the top of the chipboard inchies. Love that effect!!

I wanted to create a look of a hot Western day.. I made the mask for the "sun" and sponged brown ink onto the orange cardstock.

The greeting was stamped first, then I distressed the light paper and adhered it to the card. All the layers have been distressed and inked..

This class has been scheduled for:

Sunday, December 28th, 11:30 am to 3 pm
Tuesday, December 30th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Tuesday, January 6th, 11 am to 2:30 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

My list of Copic Markers

No cards to show you today, but I wanted to share some information. I get a lot of questions about the colors of my Copic Markers so I decided to post "Irina's essential Copics list" ;-) . I use original markers, not sketch.. but this is just my personal preference..

Here are the Copic Markers that I use to create my cards listed by the color family.

Y11 Pale Yellow
Y13 Lemon Yellow
Y21 Buttercup Yellow
Y38 Honey

YR07 Cadmium Orange
YR16 Apricot
YR24 Pale Sepia

R05 Salmon Red
R11 Pale Cherry Pink (this is the color that I use for the skin tone for Tilda)
R20 Blush
R29 Lipstick Red
R32 Peach
R35 Coral
R39 Garnet

RV13 Tender Pink
RV14 Begonia Pink
RV34 Dark Pink

B00 Frost Blue
B02 Robin's Egg Blue
B05 Process Blue
B34 Manganese Blue
B41 Powder Blue
B45 Smokey Blue

BG05 Holiday Blue
BG10 Cool Shadow
BG34 Horizon Green

BV00 Mauve Shadow
BV04 Blue Berry
BV31 Pale Lavender

V06 Lavender
V12 Pale Lilac
V15 Mallow
V17 Amethyst

E02 Fruit Pink
E13 Light Suntan
E21 Baby Skin Pink
E37 Sepia
E29 Burnt Umber
E53 Raw Silk

G00 Jade Green
G82 Spring Dim Green

YG03 Yellow Green
YG17 Grass Green
YG63 Pea Green
YG67 Moss
YG95 Pale Olive

W2 Warm Gray No.2
W4 Warm Gray No.4
W6 Warm Gray No.6

0 Colorless Blender

All of these colors of Copic Markers, some of the Refills and the Booster Kits are available for purchase at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. If you do not live in the area you can place an order over the phone at 408-736-9151 during business hours.

I hope this is helpful to some of you..

:) Irina

Birthday Cards

I made these two cards last night, but just got a chance to upload them.. These are for my upcoming card class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. At the class we will make four cards, all different design and these are the first two of them.

Both of the cards measure 6" x 6" and feature newly released clear stamps sets from Hero Arts. I used two different stamps sets on these cards, "Birthday Frames" and "Celebrate All", they coordinate so nice.

These are pretty simple cards comparing to my other designs. You know how I always say that I have hard time containing myself with the layers and the details. Well.. on these cards I have tried to add more, but they just didn't want it.. So, instead I decorated them more on the inside :-) .

Here is the first card...


Inside view of the card..


Card number two..


and this is how the second card looks like on the inside..


On the first card I used Scor-Pal to create a frame around the large blue layers and also embossed the lines on the brown borders. On the second card I embossed the frame with Scor-Pal on the white layer on the main image. Circles on the first card were cut with Nestabilites. I think these cards can be given to a man and with this though in mind I limited use of Stickles. I only used Golden Rode Stickles on the candles on the first card..

I am teaching two classes with these cards next week..

Tuesday, December 23rd, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Saturday, December 27th, 11 am to 2:30 pm

To sign up for classes, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

Irina

Happy New Year, Tilda!!

This is a card number three for the "Winter Tilda" card class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. To see the other two cards, please click here and here.

This card measures 6" x 6".

If you click on photos, they will enlarge and you will be able to see more details..



This is what inside of the card looks like..


I used "party Tilda" stamp for this card. First I wanted to create a black and white card, but Tilda just wanted to have more fun and asked to be more colorful :-) . I've used shiny metallic cardstock and paper from Bazzill and The Paper Company. Tilda was stamped in Memento Black Tuxedo ink on the Nestabilites oval and colored with Copic Markers. I put Gold Stickles on the stars and Icicle Stickles on Tilda's shoes, hair ties, wings and added just a touch of Stickles to her dress and her hair. The greeting was stamped on the tag that was cut out with Nestabilites. I love the ribbon behind the ovals!! It might be hard to see on the photos, it has a lot of sparkle to it, and because it is net-like it does not overpower the card. The greeting on the front of the card and the "ticket" inside of the card are from Hero Arts.

:) Irina

And the WINNER is...

WOW, we got 113 entries into the blog candy this time!! Thank you so much for all the comments, I loved reading them and will try to visit all your blogs. Even though I am not Santa and cannot guarantee that all your wishes will come true, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and nice presents under the tree.

Without further delay, here is the winning number:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

51
Timestamp: 2008-12-16 06:20:20 UTC

Congratulations Bev!! You are the winner!! Here is what Bev wrote in her comment:

"Bev said...
I have your blog in my favorites. I visit it daily. I do not have a blog to post about your blog candy.
WOW that is a bunch of hits. Congrats!
I wish for a couple new cartridges for my cricut and of course magnolia stamps.
Your card is beautiful. Love the coloring. I need just a bit of that talent."

Bev, please email me your mailing address and I will send the package out your way.

Thanks again to everyone who participated. There will be another Blog Candy in a few weeks to celebrate my Birthday.

:) Irina

Skiing in the morning Tilda

Did you enter into my Blog Candy yet? If not, hurry!! I will draw the winning name tonight when I get home from work, at around 9 pm PST. For details on the Blog Candy, please see this post.

This is the second card for my upcoming "Winter Tilda" card class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. To see the first card, please click here.

Oh, how I was straggling with this card... Two days ago I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning trying to make it work.. and still didn't like what I made. I was ready to give up on making a card with this Tilda on skis when my friend Deirdre told me that I just "had to" make a card with her because she is so CUTE ("to me"). So today, after teaching a class I decided to give it another try. I changed the layout and the colors, and it worked!! I tried to achieve the feel of the crisp winter morning.. what do you think?

This card started as a very simple one, but it wouldn't let me go until I added all the details it was asking for..

The card measures 6" x 6".



This is what inside of the card looks like.


All images were colored with Copic Markers. Piercing around the edges was done with the Tim Holtz ruler. Printed paper by Bo Bunny, greeting is from the Hero Arts stamp set. Christmas trees and Tilda from Magnolia. All supplies used to create this card are available at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. If you do not live in the area, you can call the store at 408-736-9151 to place your order.

This class is scheduled for:

Thursday, December 18th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Thursday, December 18th, 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm

To sigh up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

Christmas Tag and Gift Card Holder - Set 3

Don't forget about my Blog Candy. You have until tomorrow, December 15th to enter. For details please scroll down to a few posts below or click here.

This is the last set of the Gift Tag and the Gift Card Holder for my upcoming (this Tuesday!!) class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. To see the previous sets, please click here and here.

I really like how this set has turned out, it has such a soft look..


Gift Card Holder measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".



Gift Tag Measures 4" x 6".


On this set I used printed paper from Imaginisce and "Open Poinsettia Set" stamps from Stampendous. The poinsettias were heat embossed with the red embossing powder and then watercolored with the ink from the red inkpad, red dew drops in the centers. The scallops on the borders were made with Fiskars border punch.

This class is scheduled for:

Tuesday, December 16th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Sunday, December 21st, 11:30 am to 3:00 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

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I wanted to show you this photo of my grand niece in the "sleigh" pulled by the "reindeer" :-) .She is four months old now and is the most adorable baby (of course)!!



:) Irina

Winter Night Tilda

If you haven't entered into my Blog Candy yet, you have until Monday, December 15th. For details and to enter please click here.

I had so much fun making this card. This Tilda is one of my favorite ones from the Winter and Christmas Collection, and I finally got chance to play with her!! I wanted to create a look of a winter night.

This card measures 6" x 6".



I used Basic Grey paper on this card and used both sides of the paper. The Winter Night background stamp was stamped on the back side of the printed paper and then colored with Copic Markers. I then sponged blue ink around the edges. I also sponged blue ink on all of the other layers of the card. Tilda was stamped, colored with Copic Markers and then cut out. The greeting is from the set by Hero Arts.

If you can believe that, this card looks even better in real life ;-) .

All the supplies used on this card including both of Magnolia stamps (Tilda and Winter Night background) are available at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. You can even make a purchase over the phone if you do not live in the area, just call 408-736-9151.

This will be one of the cards for my upcoming "Winter Tilda" card class. This class is scheduled for:

Thursday, December 18th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Thursday, December 18th, 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm

To sigh up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

Christmas Tag and Gift Card Holder - Set 2

Don't forget about my Blog Candy. You have until Monday, December 15th to enter. For details please scroll to the post below or click here.

This is the second set of the Christmas Gift Card Holder and the Tag for my class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile.


The Gift Card Holder Measures 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".



I just LOVE this paper from Bo Bunny!! Can you believe there is no stamping at all on this card/gift card holder?! I cut out Santa on the sleigh image from the patterned paper with circle Nestabilites. I then used the same Nestabilites as a stencil and sponged some of the Rubark Stark Memento Ink around the edges. Cut the scallop circle shape with Nestabilites as well and mounted both circles on the front of the card. The corners are from Cuttlebug. There is a folded pocket on the inside of the card to put your Gift Card or folded check into.

The Tag measures 4" x 6".




I used the same idea on the tag.. Ovals cut out with Nestabilites and there is one Cuttlebug corner on the bottom of the tag. I sponged Rubark Stark ink around the edges of the tag and inside of the oval. The greeting tag stamp is from the "Large Christmas Circles" stamp set by Hero Arts. On the back of the tag there I used another stamp from the same set to create a label. I used Marvy Blue Scallop circle punch to punch out the circles for both the greeting on the front and for the label on the back.

This class is scheduled for:

Tuesday, December 16th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Sunday, December 21st, 11:30 am to 3:00 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

Christmas Tag and Gift Card Holder - Set 1

Don't forget about my Blog Candy. You have until Monday, December 15th to enter. For details please scroll to the post below or click here.

This is the first set of the Christmas Tag and the Gift Card holder for my upcoming class at Cranberry Hill Mercantile. In this class we will make three different sets and I wanted to show one of them today.


The Gift Card Holder measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".




This is a very simple design for the Gift Card Holder. I just cut the paper at 5 1/2" x 10" and folded the bottom part to create the pocket. The tag on the front of the card is from the "Large Christmas Circles" stamp set by Hero Arts. Printed paper is by Cosmo Cricket and I used both sides of paper for this set (red with poinsettias and green), LOVE IT!! Green Dew Drops on the border.

Tag measures 4" x 6".




For the tag I used the same paper by Cosmo Cricket as on the Gift Card Holder. Embossed snowflakes with the Cuttlebug embossing folder on the right bottom side of the tag and then sanded it with the emery board. Stamped script with green ink on the left bottom as well as on the top right of the tag. Stamped the angel in brown ink, the stamp is from Inkadinkado clear stamp set called Christmas Silhouettes. The green round tag is from the same stamp set as the one on the Gift Card Holder, I just used the smaller round punch and punched out only the center of the tag.

This class is scheduled for:

Tuesday, December 16th, 11 am to 2:30 pm
Sunday, December 21st, 11:30 am to 3:00 pm

To sign up for the class, please call Cranberry Hill Mercantile at 408-736-9151.

:) Irina

Merry Christmas Tilda PLUS Blog Candy

First I wanted to share with you the card that I made a few days ago with one of Tilda stamps from the new Christmas Collection. She is just so adorable with the hollies and the poinsettia in her hair.





I wanted to create a look of Tilda sitting on the ornament. I cut out and embossed the circle out of gold cardstock with Nestabilites. The smaller cirlce was punched out with Pink Marvy cirlce punch, embossed with Textile Cuttlebug folder and then distressed with Gold Encore ink. I wanted to add something to the printed paper, but Gold Stickles seem to be too harsh for this card. So, I used new Tim Holtz stickles for the first time. They are very different from the original ones, they have more of a "glass" look. And, how about this ribbon!! It looks so luxurious!! I just LOVE it!! Tilda was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, colored with Copic Markers and then cut out.

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Now, onto the Blog Candy. A few reasons for the blog candy today:

- My Blog ratings are going up. When I had the blog candy last month, my blog was rated at 345. As of today, it is at 249!!

- My Blog has reached over 50,000 hits and that is since April of this year!!

Of course all of this could not have happened without all of you, people who come to visit my blog and leave all the wonderful comments.

Here is what I have for the Blog Candy this time:

- 5" x 7" wire-bound scrapbook from Marcella by Kay
- Chipboard Holiday Ornaments and Winter Rub-ons by Basic Grey
- two packages of Holiday Embellishments by MAMBI
- Best Yet stamp set from Stampin' Up
- and last but definitely not least!! Tilda with Wreath from Magnolia

If you click on the photo below, it will enlarge..


How to enter:

1. Please leave a comment under this post telling me what's on the top of your Christmas Wish List for Crafts this year.

2. Either Subscribe to my blog or sign up for the Follow Me feature, or both (if you have not done that already).

3. If you have a blog you can receive a second entry if you let your readers know about my Blog Candy. Then please leave an additional comment under this post.

I will draw the name using random.org next Monday, December 15th at around 8 pm PST. Everyone is welcome to participate, I will even ship internationally.

Good Luck!!

:) Irina