Magnolia-licious™ Challenge - Hearts and Flowers

Boun giorno, I"m so glad to have you back visiting my blog.  Today is our first Challenge of February. 

What better way to usher in the month of February than with some hearts and flowers.  Valentines Day is this month.  Do you know the history of this wonderful day?  It dates back to the 5th Century and is named for a Christian martyr.  It has it's origins in the Roman holiday Lupercalia, a pagan celebration of fertility celebrated in mid January.  Christians decided to Christianize it by moving it to mid February.  It wasn't until the 1300's that it became associated with love and romance. 

February 14 was know to be the birds first day of mating, and soon greeting cards began being exchanged in the 15th century and by the 17th century it was a well established tradition in England.  Not long, after it spread to the U.S. and...well...the rest is history. In the US alone, over $20,000,000 a year are spent on Valentines cards, candy and flowers.  There is very little known about the Saint from which it derives it's name.  So there you go!  How's that for a bodacious start?

I have quite a few photos for your perusal - again!  For this challenge I made an Explosion Box.  I really had fun designing this one.  Thank goodness for empty toilet paper rolls.  That's the center of my box....but for starters.....

Here is the very top of my Explosion Box.  The Heart Dies are from Spellbinders, while the tiny hearts are a Michael's $1 punch.  The sentiments is from PrintworksCollections and the flowers are from my stash.

Here is a view showing a little more of the sides of the box.  I used Doohickey Die Vintage Lace to border all four sides of the lid.

Here is just a little peek at the inside of the box with two of the sides down.

Here is the box completely open.  I have used 4 Mini Maggies placed on Spellbinder Fancy Labels Two.  All the paper is from my stash and I didn't have a company name available.

Here is a view looking straight down on the box.  The pretty white die on the top, which holds all my suspended hearts if from the Doohickey Die Collecdtion Oh La La.

So here is the center of my box.  I suspended a number of hearts on lengths of silver cord.  There are two hearts together so that it covered the cord.

Following are the four Mini Maggies that I used.    All are colored with Copic markers and Adirondack Lights.  The Silk ribbon is also from my stash and I've had it for years!

Many of these Mini images are on sale so please check out Diana's fabulous store for savings on these and many more featured items.

This is #2 Divine Tilda

#1 Christmas Candle Tilda

And....#14 Christmas Kitchen Tilda

and last, but certainly not least...

#217 Prima Ballerina Tilda

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my plethora of photos for this project.  Please don't forget to visit all the DT blogs and leave comments for each one.  This increases your chances of winning a secret surprise from Diana at Magnolia-licious™.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  We'll be looking for your contributions on the Challenge Blog.

Buon gionata

Hugs, Barb