Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Distress inks coloring tutorial for beginner

Hello my dear friends,
I am very excited to show you my very first distress inks coloring tutorial for beginner. I wish to apologize that I took so long to post this tutorial because I have mixed up the photos and I have a very hard time to make them in to pictures files.
My english is very poor so that I just can use very basic and simple english to write down my coloring experince. These are the steps I used to color my Tilda. I am NOT a coloring expert and I just want to share what I do with you:-)

OK, some people asked me why I choose distress inks not copic?
I have some reason, the first thing is, because it's cheaper compare to Copic, secondly, it's easy to use:-))
If you have any questions that you are not clear, you can email me, I will try to answer if I can.:-))
::Please click the pictures to make it more clearer to read::
If you want to link my tutorial to your site, please let me know beforehand, thank you very much.

I hope that you will enjoy my tutorial and try your own!

Edit: I received many emails regarding watercoloring papers that I use, well, it's from Norway and it's a gift from my friend Helle, I really don't know the brand of the papers. But there has many brand like Canson, Fabrino, Arches out there, try googled them and if possible get the "hot pressed" one:-)












Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Winner

Thank you all very much for your participating in my mini blog candy, you had given me so many ideas and I know what to do next...I know you all LOVE tutorials:-))
So, here I annouce the winner...she is .................


Please contact me within 24 hours, thank you very much.



Thursday, March 17, 2011

Ying's Mini Blog Candy

EDIT: CLOSED! I will annouce the winner later.

Here is ! I have selected some beautiful and yumnmy products that I use on my cards and projects, they are:

One Magnolia Edwin new unmounted stamp ( You are so special collection)
One Magnolia accessory stamp
5 Gardenia flowers
One packet of blue skeleton leaves
One packet of blue and white Crystal Gardland
One packet of ribbon and brads
One packet of paper flowers in assorted colors
One packet of blue paper leaves
20 mini cream paper flowers

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All you need to do is very simple:

1) take my above blog candy picture, place and link it back on your blog
2) Leave a comment on this post and let me know what project you would like me to do, for example: cards, projects, tutorials, mini album, hanger, etc....

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I will randomly pick a winner and annonce it on next Thursday ( 24th March ).
The winner need to contact me in 24 hours with your address otherwise I will pick another new winner.
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Hope that everyone would participate for this mini blog candy ! Have a great day !



Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Mini Blog Candy...and the new release..Magnolia Butterfly dream collection

Hi my friends,
I am so sorry that I am a bad blogger....I am working on Magnolia INK magazine and will not post any new cards these couple of days.....but I want to thank you your support and concern...so, I decided to have a mini blog candy for you....stay tuned...I will post about it tomorrow....

BUT....before that, do you know Magnolia has released the new Butterfly dream collection? Yes, it's butterfly season soon and we want to make some beautiful cards, so catch it up before it's late!

Have a great day...wherever you are.....










Saturday, February 12, 2011

DT Magnolia You are so special ~ Will You Be My Valentine


This is a very simple card I made today. All patterned papers from Magnolia collection.
Flowers, crystal garland, half pearls , doily,raffia,ribbon from my own stash. Magnolia sent me the sweet stamp:-))
I have made a distress inks coloring tutorial but I will post it in next few days, so stay tune!
For the sentiment, I water-colored Ranger distress ink Weathered Wood on 300gm paper and stamped the sentiment with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I got this idea from the Magnolia INK magazine, you can get big and wee inspiration from the magazine:-))

I hope that you enjoy seeing my card and inspired with it too. This is a very simple and easy card, I hope that you will get some Magnolia stamps to try yourself !
Happy Stamping !








Thursday, February 3, 2011

Tutorial: How to make a Magnolia Card ( Version2 )

Hi friends, I wanted to make this tutorial for a long time and I am not an expect, I just want to share my passion. Everyone has their unique style and techniques. This is my experince with making Magnolia cards. I am more than happy with you to give me feedback and comments, I am so sorry that I am not a good bloggers, I didn't comment back your blog, but please know that I appreciate you all from my bottom of my heart.

OK, let's start the tutorial. Please view my pictures and do the questions and answer together, then I hope you will be inspired by my tutorial.


Magnolia card is not same as other handmade cards because it needs coloring and embelishments to make the cards look stunning.
So, the important thing is: {Coloring and embelishments.}

Some people let me know that, they are wondering and feel wasted if they use a lot of patterned papers and embelishments on the card, but you don't be worry about it, because it's worth, the layout of the card is more important, we view the beauty of the card on it's layout { the whole card, that I mean}

Pratice 1: What's the main colors can you spot on this card?
Yes, it's red and green.
So, the color combination is very important in making Magnolia cards.

First, decide what rubberstamp you want to use for your card. For this card, I choose Tilda with Big ribbon {You are so special collection}
Because I want to color my Tilda with Ranger distress inks, so I stamp the image on 300gm aquarelle paper with Tuskineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink.What is aquarelle paper?
It's watercoloring papers that can absorb water.
If you want to color your Tilda with Copic markers then you might stamp it on Neenah paper. Please note that Neenah paper may NOT work with distress inks. So, the papers play an  important role in coloring.

After you stamped the image , don't color first. Don't get too excited and rush to color, otherwise you may have difficulty on choosing patterned papers.
Think a bit what theme of card you want to make? I want to make a Valentine card, I want a typical Valentine card, so it's regarding RED color. So I am going  to choose my card stock first in red color. Then I looking for my patterned papers.
Magnolia patterned paper collection is so soft and pretty. I look for red scheme, so I decided that I want to use these two type of patterned papers. You can use up to 2-3 different patterned papers on a card.

Pratice 2: What's the main colors on these two patterned papers? I just want the main colors. It can be two colors.
Yes, it's red and green.

Now it's time for coloring. Don't simply color. Just now you have decided the two patterned papers and spotted the main colors on the patterned papers, so choose the right distress inks to color Tilda.
I choose Victorian Velvet ( pink color) to color Tilda's dress and Bundle Sage( light green) to color ribbon.These two distress inks are the color family in red and green, so you are do the right thing.
Tilda's dress is very important to make the card looks stunning, if you color the right color then you are success in 60%.
Please remember that don't color any color that are not in the red and green color family, for example: blue color for Tilda's shoe...OH NO!! You spoilt the whole card, or you choose black for Tilda's shoe...OH NO!! I can't help you anymore....LOL
You can color neutral colors like light brown or grey because they work with any colors, for example, I colored Vintage Photo ( brown) for Tilda's shoes.

After you done with your coloring then you can start to decorate the card. You can base on sketch or your own idea. Play around the papers to make the best result.For my card, I usually mat a full sheet of patterned paper on the cardstock then working on another.

Paper doily has a soft and feminine touch, I like to use in my card.
Place it on the patterned paper.

Cut a strip of another patterned paper mat it on cream paper and glue it on the paper doily.

These are all the embelishements I want to use:
paper flowers that I made my own, you can view the tutorial HERE and some I bought online(http://www.iamroses.com/), two hearts that I made myself too, lace from friend.

Pratice 3: Name three colors you can found on my embelishements?
Yes, again, it's regarding colors. Please choose the right colors, that's mean, you need to choose from red and green color family.We have red hearts, pink and green leaves,pink flowers,green stems. All these colors are in the same color family, so it's fine.

Please don't ever put a blue big ribbon, for example, because it's not in the same color family with RED and GREEN:-))

OK, now. We will esemble all the embelishemts. Every cardmakers have their own style, and I can say this is the fun part, you can play around the stuff until you satisfied. I just want to show you how I make on this card.
Place the lace on the top of the card.

Stamped the sentiment on cream paper to make the background as a focal point on the card and mat on the red cardstock as well as the sentiment besides the focal point. Glue it on the card.

Glue another strip of ribbon on the card as shown on the picture. I want to make a seat for Tilda.

I used therm O web pop up foam to make Tilda "sit" on the card.

Now I wish to add all the embelishemts. Play around them and get the best result but DON"T glue them first. Just make them still on their place that you wish.

Glue them one by one, one by one.........
Pratice 4: Why I want to glue it one by one?
If you done anything wrong, you can quickly take it up and do it again and this can make sure you know the right place they are( that you want them to be:-)) and you can play around them again if you are not satisfied.

Glue the paper flower.

one by one...untill you done all the embelishments.


At last part, you can add some Ranger Ice stickles, half pearls, add some white spot on Tilda, just to do the final touch.
Then, your card is voila !
I hope that you enjoy my tutorial, please bear with me that my English is so poor as my mother tongue is not English. If you have any question to ask, please don't hesitate to email me:-)

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So, again, I make a summary here for my tutorial to help you understand it:
1. decide what stamp to use.
2. Choose the patterned papers and spot the main colors.
3. Coloring - based on the spotted colors.
4. Decorate the card.
5.Place the embelishements-based on the spotted colors.
6.Final touch

Product used on this card:
Magnolia rubberstamp~Tilda with Big Ribbon {You are so special collection}
Magnolia patterned paper~Fairytale collection
Ink for stamp the image: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Inks for Coloring : Ranger distress ink pads
Paper flowers from iamroses.com
half pearls ~ Storyteller{ You can purchase from Camilla's hubby webshop Here}

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If you follow my tutorial and make a card, please don't forget to let me know, I always LOVE to see your creation !!
Hope that you have a very happy stamping and crafting day!


Wednesday, February 2, 2011

DT Magnolia~You are so special ~Tilda with Big Ribbon

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year and I wish to take this opportunity to wish you who is celebrating it a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
I am out of town and luckily have chance to make a card of my favourite.
I used You are so special collection from Magnolia, the stamp is Tilda with Big Ribbon. She looks so pretty and I can't wait to color her with my favourite distress inks.

I stamped Tilda on 300gm aquerell paper with Tsukineko Memento Onxy Black ink.
Patterned paper from Magnolia patterned paper collection, ribbon was gift from my crafty friend Adeline Ng in Singapore,

I hand drawn two hearts on red cardstock, cut it out, then trace on pink paper to make another hearts, mat the hearts together and draw the stitches with white ink pen.
I stamped the sentiment " with all my love" on white cardstock, distressed with Ranger Ink Vintage Photo, draw the stitches with black ink pen around the paper and mat on red cardstock.

I made the paper flowers myself, you can see my paper flowers tutorial here. It's simple and easy to make. I also make some variations, distressed the flower with scissors, distressed with distress inks and I also used Magnolia patterned paper to make a flower too.


I had fun using Ranger distress inks to color Tilda.
Dress: Victorian Velvet
Shoe: Vintage Photo
Ribbon: Bundle Sage
Skin: Vintage Photo, Tattared Rose
Lace: Pumice stone

I stamped the sentiment " with all my love" on cream paper to make a background and I also stamped the "Loving border " from the same collection on the top of the paper.


I hope that you have inpired and had fun to see my cards. I have make a full tutorial for this card how I make it, as some people keep asking me how I make my cards from the very beginning, such as selecting patterned paper to touch up with stickles:-)) So stay tune, tomorrow I will post a full tutorial.
Happy Crafting !