Penny Black - Winter Wonderland Blog Hop & DT candy!

Hello everyone and welcome to week 76 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

This week we are really excited as we have something very special for you ..... it's our

"Winter Wonderland"

Countdown to Christmas Blog Hop

Our theme for this week's challenge is

Winter Wonderland

... with a fabulous prize donated by our own lovely Carole of a Cuttlebug Christmas snowflake folder



AND

we're also having a blog hop with some fabulous prizes, both on the challenge blog and on each DT member's blog too!

Here's how it works .....

Can you guess this well known Christmas Song?

---O--- T-- --- N---- -----E--

a little clue......one of Santa's helpers)

It has five words and we have given you another little clue by filling in some of the letters, but to collect the rest of the letters you need to visit each member of the Design Team including our lovely Guest Designer for this month Debby......solve the puzzle and then e-mail your answer to Kath....kathinwesthill@btinternet.com.

The 2 letters you need to collect from me are

H and E

There are links to all the other DT members' blogs on the Penny Black Challenge blog - do go visit them all, look at their fab creations and show them some love for all the hard work they put in over the year ...and of course collect the rest of the letters !!

Good luck ! - Entries will close at midnight GMT on Friday 27th November.

TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN A BLOG HOP PRIZE...YOU NEED TO ENTER A CARD IN THIS WEEK'S "WINTER WONDERLAND" CHALLENGE

and all the lucky winners will be announced on Penny Black Saturday next Saturday.

And I can't believe how generous our sponsors have been....fabulous prizes up for grabs......2 CD's from Funky Hand.....4...yes 4 lifetime 15% off discount vouchers from PB Stamps.....a Penny Black stamp from 1-2-3 Stitch......digi download from Pollycraft.....10% voucher from Valentines......$25 voucher from Simon Says Stamps....10 rolls of ribbon from FR Ribbons.....bumper pack of stuff from Simply Create.

And as if that's not enough ...

each DT member is also offering their own

DT blog candy

I am offering the following to one visitor - all you have to do is enter this week's challenge, and leave a comment on my card with a direct link to your work on this post. I will pick my favourite after the challenge closes next Friday 27th November, at midnight GMT.

- One PB "Snowy" stamp - kindly donated by Simply Stamps Friends, and perfect for those last minute Christmas cards as he is so cute and so easy to colour.

- One Wizard Impressabilities - "Snowflakes"

- One pack of Papermania translucent adhesive gems

... and a few bits and bobs such as charms and ribbon if I get more than 50 comments lol!

Don't forget to visit all the other DT members' blogs to check out their fab Winter Wonderland cards, collect your letters for the blog hop prizes, and check out thier blog candies :-)

Phew!

After all that ... my card for this week lol!

Now I have to be honest and say that I've had a bit of a nightmare photographing this ... the composition is quite simple, and the "interest" is really in the fact that I used snowflake tinsel embossing powder on my tree, and three different shades of iridescent pink card ... but alas the good old British weather has done its best to provide only sufficient daylight to draw a veil over it all lol!!

Well here it is anyways!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Fantasy", heat embossed with Heat It Up "snowflake tinsel" powder onto iridescent pink cardstock, matted onto holographic silver card and pale pink iridescent card, and decorated with pearls and translucent gems from my stash;
Sentiment: Make Your Mark in York;
Paper: unknown make pink paper;
Supplies: pink organza ribbon, pearls and translucent gems from stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "embossed snowflakes" edge punch; Cuttlebug "Snowflakes #2" die; small, large and large scalloped circle nestabilities.

Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's challenge - you really rocked the Christmas for the Guys challenge.

Good luck with the blog hop and looking forward to seeing all your creations!

How many "Snowflakes" make 11 challenges?

Answer ..... just the one lol!!

I really do love "Snowflake" by Sugar Nellie - I know she isn't one of the latest stamps but she is so pretty ... hadn't inked her up for a little while so I thought I would use her for this week's Sketch Saturday sketch #77.

Now when I first saw the sketch I was a bit flummoxed by the large circles on it .... couldn't quite picture any of my flowers or snowflake dies filling those spots on the card - inspiration just wasn't coming to me. But after rootling around in my Christmas papers, I found a Bo Bunny one with large and small snowflakes in circles ..... and hey! they fitted my nestie circles so I could cut them out perfectly :-) (I actually tried cutting out the paper circles by hand at first, but we'll draw a veil over that lol!) And as luck would have it the colours co-ordinated with another piece of Christmas tree paper (I think it is by MME but am open to correction on that) ... so off I went!

Here's the result ....

I also did my best to make this card tie in to the following challenges, making 11 altogether - yippee!

Secret Crafter #58 - Seasons ... now it is clearly snowing on my card, so at least if you're in the UK you can interpret that as any season of the year lol!!
Crafty Calendar Challenge #2 - Weather. Oops! I forgot the pearls (not like me! ... I LURVE pearls) so it's a good job they're optional lol!
Charisma Cardz #45 - Merry & Bright. As I'm quite a pastel kind of girl I think this card is quite bright anyway, but the sentiment was specifically chosen to tie in with this challenge :-)
Hand Full of Stamps #5 - Getting Ready for the Holidays
Cute Card Thursday #86 - Glitter Me Silly! Well I don't need asking twice when it comes to sprinkling the glamour dust liberally around!! Hope the poor light conditions can pick it out on the snowflakes and "Snowflake's" cosy muffler!
Creative Inspirations #36 - Sparkle!
Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #8 - Clear as Day. I used sticky back clear gems on the centres of my snowflakes ... a cop out, I know!
Frosted Designs - Bling It On.
Dutch Dare #64 - Felt like it - I have used Papermania white felt ric rac ribbon across the top of the card.
Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge #6 - Lotsa Circles - hope this is self explanatory!

Here's a pic to try to show the sparkle a bit more clearly - not easy given the prevailing weather conditions and shockingly poor light levels even in the middle of the day!

Recipe:
Main image: Sugar Nellie "Snowflake" coloured wtih watercolour pencils and white gel pen, and decorated with glamour dust and polar white Flowersoft (bit difficult to see ... I used a different glue from the norm and not much of the Flowersoft stuck!!);
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: MME (trees) and Bo Bunny (circles and pink matting);
Supplies: white felt ric rac by Papermania; snowflake brads by Dovecraft;
Tools: small and large circle and scalloped circle nestabilities.

Thanks for looking :-)

Penny Black Challenge #75 - Christmas for the Guys

The weeks are racing past now in the run up to Christmas, and here we are again at Saturday and time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's song title/lyrics challenge - your creations were fabulous! Don't forget to check the challenge blog to see who won last week's prize.

This week we are gearing up proper for the Christmas rush - our theme is

Christmas for the Guys

Now this may mean masculine colours, cute masculine images eg. snowmen .... the interpretation is up to you so long as you follow the usual rule - there must be a Penny Black image or sticker on your creation.

To help you on your way we have got another fab prize - our regular sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch is offering a $20 gift voucher for one lucky randomly-picked winner to spend in their online store. So what are you waiting for?? - do visit the other DT members' blogs for some brilliant inspiration, and then crack on with another card for the Christmas box :-)


Here is my card for this week - although I own quite a lot of PB stamps, not many of them could really be described as masculine ... so I decided to go in an alternative direction. I based my card around a sentiment stamp, and the use of masculine colours with snowflake decoration rather than any flowers.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Joy - Hope" (3898F), stamped using Versamagic chalk ink;
Supplies: purple "happy Christmas" ribbon and purle gems by Papermania; pearl brads and spacers from The Hobby House; "ice gold" white pearlescent card from Edwin Allen; navy pearlescent and purple glitter card from my stash;
Tools: Shapeabilities "Make a Flake 2"; Martha Stewart "Arctic snowflake" punch and "embossed snowflakes" edge punch.

Here's the obligatory angle shot to show the sheen on the pearlescent card.



Hope you all have a great weekend, and look forward to seeing your creations.

Spot the difference

I had another multi-cardmaking session on Sunday, and haven't had opportunity to post until now. I made three cards which were all extremely similar except for the snowflake decorations ...

I would like to enter all of these cards for the following challenges:
Cupcake Crafts #65 - Snow Much Fun. I have brought out my various snowflake punches and dies.
Creative Inspirations #35 - New or Neglected. My Popcorn teddies are new (first inking on Sunday) as is the paper and large spacer, while the red ribbon had been lying neglected in my stash since last winter and had never been used before (can't think why not, cos now I've used it I really like it lol!!)

Sorry for the poor quality of the final card pic - I photographed it in daylight along with the others but for some reason it came out blurred ... and I wanted to include it with the other cards here so I just had to take a "long winter nights" electric light pic! (roll on spring lol!)

Recipe:
Main image: Popcorn bear "Beary Merry Christmas", watercoloured and decorated with polar white Flowersoft and glamour dust;
Sentiment: Popcorn "Beary Merry Christmas (first two cards); Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words" (card 3);
Paper: make unknown (not marked on sheet!);
Supplies: red snowflake ribbon from Warrington market; sparkly brads by Doodlebug; large pearl brad and spacer (card 3) from The Hobby House;
Tools: Martha Stewart snowflake punch (card 1); Cuttlebug die "Snowflakes #2" (card 2); Shapeabilities "Make a Flake 2" (card 3).

That's it for now .... very busy with work this week so very little (if any) time for crafting. Thanks for looking :-)

One Word Blog Award

I was really thrilled to receive this award from my great friend and blogging bud Squirrel, and also from Spyder - thanks huns, it's much appreciated :-)

This one involves answering the following questions with one word, so here goes ....

1) Where is your cell phone? - Handbag
2) Hair? - Wild
3) Your mother? - awesome
4) Your father? - rock
5) Your fav food ? - icecream
6) Your Dream last night ? - None
7) Your fav drink ? - Tea
8) Your dream goal ? - Craftshop
9) What room are you in ? - Study
10) Your hobby ? - Crafting
11) Your fear? - Cancer
12) Where do you want to be in 6 years time ? - Here
13) Where were you last night ? - Home
14) Something that you aren't ? - Cook
15) Muffins ? - delicious!
16) Wishlist item - iphone
17) Where did you grow up ? - Derbyshire
18) Last thing you did ? - Blog
19) What are you wearing ? - Jeans
20) Your T.V ? - Analogue
21) Your pets ? - None
22) Your friends ? - fun
23) Your life ? - Mundane
24) Your mood ? - Tired
25) Missing someone ? - No
26) Vehicle ? - Car
27) Something you're not wearing ? - Hat
28) Your fav store ? – John Lewis
29) Your fav colour ? - Blue
30) Last time you laughed ? - Yesterday
31) Last time you cried ? - Weeks
32) Your best friend ? - amazing
33) One place you go to over and over ? - Work
34) One person who emails regularly ? - Christine
35) Fav place to eat ? - Italian
36) Face book ? - never


Spyder was also kind enough to pass on the following awards - big hugs, dear!





I think most people have got these by now, so if you are reading this and haven't got any of the above, please do take them :-)
hugs

Popcorn & cupcake

Just a quick post from me this evening .... please excuse the dodgy photo but I spent the whole afternoon with several cards on the go at once, and by the time anything came together it was already dark! I could have waited until tomorrow I guess, but I wanted to post this card as it is just skidding in by the seat of its pants to the deadline for Cupcake Craft Challenge #64, which is the following sketch.


I inked up my Popcorn Christmas bears for the first time today ... really gorgeous but boy, are they big! This does have one advantage though when trying to make a few Christmas cards, insomuch as there isn't a lot of room left on the card for too much other fancy work (that's my excuse anyway lol!)

I would also like to enter this card for Allsorts #26 - bring out your bling - I hope you can see the sparkle on the bear's hat and the glitter card snowflake ;-)

Recipe:
Main image & sentiment: Popcorn the bear "Beary Merry Christmas" - bears and surrounding musical notes. Bears coloured with watercolour pencils and doecorated with polar white Flowersoft and glamour dust.
Paper: Kaisercraft; "ice gold" pearlised white card from Edwin Allen;
Supplies: sparkly red brad by Doodlebug; spacer from my stash;
Tools: Cuttlebug "embossed snowflakes" folder; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch.

Gotta go now and get sorted for the working week ahead .. no rest for the wicked, so they say!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #74

Well, it's been a busy old week, and before I know it Saturday is here again, which of course means it's time for another Penny black Saturday Challenge (yippee!). I was a good blogger this last week and hopefully managed to visit everyone's blog who entered last week's white on white challenge, but it was hardly a chore as there were some amazing creations - thanks to everyone who took the time! Don't forget to check the challenge blog to find out who won last week's prize.

This week we have a theme that can really get your creative juices flowing ... we would like to see a card based around a

Song Title / Lyrics

As always you can interpret this however you want, so long as we can see a Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on your project.

Once again we are offering a fabby prize to one lucky randomly chosen winner - this week it is a £10 SU voucher to spend with our regular sponsor Valentines - now that's really something to sing about!!

My fellow DT members have all been "singin' in the rain" this week and come up with some fabulous compositions - hope you'll check them out. We have also got a wonderful guest designer for November - the very talented Debby whose stunning card for this week really knocked me out and also made me chuckle (go check it out and you'll smile too :-) )

Here is my card ... perhaps not surprisingly I am still in the Christmas zone so my effort this week is based on the song

"Frosty the Snowman"

As with so many recent cards, it is actually quite sparkly irl, but the miserable weather we have been having doesn't allow that to show up very well in pics.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Snowy" (2521K) coloured with Cosmic Shimmers (hat & scarf) and Sakura sparkle pens (nose and shadows), and decorated with polar white Flowersoft;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: Kaisercraft (from The Hobby House); all matting on pearlescent "ice gold" card (from Edwin Allen);
Supplies: sparkly ribbon by Papermania; sparkly brads by Doodlebug; pearl gems and spacers from my stash;
Tools: large classic ovals and large classic scallop oval nestabilities; Marth Stewart "Arctic snowflake" punch and "embossed snowflakes" border punch.

Hope you have a great weekend, and look forward to seeing all your creations.

Seeing double

I made a couple more cards to add to my Christmas box, again following the theory of making similar but not identical cards in the hope of being a bit quicker (didn't particularly work with these, but there y'go lol!!)

I would like to enter the first card for this week's ABC Challenge - G is for Green.

My second card fits this week's Creative Card Crew #35 - ribbons & gems

I would also like to enter both cards for the following challenges: Charisma Cardz #43 - No Backing Paper, Whimsical Ink Sorority - embossing, and Kraftin' Kimmie's Challenge #4 - Tag, You're It!

Recipe:
Main image: Inkadinkadoo ("Tin Can Mail"), stamped with Brilliance ink in pearlescent ivy and embossed with holographic powder;
Papers: none!
Supplies: Card 1 - pearlescent "ice gold" card from Edwin Allen, embossed with Cuttlebug "holly ribbons" folder; Christmas tree charm from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash; Card 2 - white linen cardstock embossed wtih Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" folder and edges ripped and inked with Brilliance ink; ribbon, gems and brads by Papermania; spacers from my stash;
Tools: holly corner punch; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch from The Hobby House.

Thanks for stopping by.

Melinda does the combo

This is the first time I've been able to post any of the cards I made on Sunday afternoon, as there was no decent light yesterday to photograph anything! It really was one of those afternoons ... first I found that the piece of paper I NEEDED for one of the challenges had mysteriously disappeared (or been used up), and then I spent an hour watercolouring and decorating an image, only to smudge the flowersoft (furry edging) and glue before it was dry ... back to the drawing board!! Eventually though I did manage to make three cards ... so here is the first one.



Here is "Confirmand Melinda" - not really a Christmas image, but I think she works on Christmas cards if teamed with the right papers and embellies. I would like to enter this card for the following 9 challenges:

Whiff of Joy #53 - red, cream and one other colour (in my case ... brown)
Daring Cardmakers - getting punchy with it ... the challenge asks you to use your latest craft punch purchase. Well that's easy for me - my latest is the gorgeous Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch. In fact, I've also used my last-but-one craft punch purchase, which was the Martha Stewart "embossed snowflakes" edge punch.
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #39 - border punches
One Stop Craft Challenge #53 - newspaper/text - I have used a piece of red paper covered with Christmas words.
Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential (SSHP05) - In So Many Words - again I have used the text-covered paper.
Our Creative Corner - Vintage Style
Crafty Cardmakers #7 - Stamp Something . The "optional" extra is to use a stamping technique you haven't used before or for a while - I coloured in my image using Twinkling H2O's which have been sitting in my stash unloved for a while!
Flutter By Wednesday #81 - open week ... fairy/butterfly/angel
BasicGrey #7 - photo inspiration. As you can see below - the colours are a deep red, winter white and brown.

Recipe:
Main image: Whiff of Joy "Confirmand Melinda" coloured with watercolour pencils and Twinkling H20's, distressed on the edges using distress ink, and decorated with glamour dust;
Papers: BasicGrey "Wassail" (background), BasicGrey"Figgy Pudding" (across middle), and text paper from my stash;
Supplies: BasicGrey "opaline" pearls; sentiment rub on, brads and lace from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch and "embossed snowflakes" edge punch - from The Hobby House.

Here's an angled shot to show up the iridescent gold twinklies on melinda's dress ...


Back tomorrow with a couple more of my weekend efforts :-)

Update Tuesday: Simon Says Challenge has just posted that they are ENCOURAGING multiple entries for their all that sparkles challenge in an attempt to reach 300 entries. I had already entered this challenge, but as this is a pretty sparkly card I have made whilst the challenge has been open, I'm entering it as a THIRD entry :-)

Penny Black Challenge #73 - White on White

Welcome to week #73 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - hope you all have a really spooky Hallowe'en tonight, and thanks so much to everyone who make a spooktacular card for last week's Hallowe'en challenge. Don't foget to pop along to the challenge blog to check out who won last week's cute Christmas hedgie stamp donated by Carole.

This week we have a total contrast from the "dark side" of last week's Hallowe'en challenge - our theme is

white on white

Yes ... we would like to see your projects using only the colour white, with the exception of the colouring on your image! As always the only rule is that we need to see a Penny Black stamp or sticker somewhere on your creation.

This week we have another fab prize ... our regular sponsor Dick at PB Stamps has donated a 15% off voucher to spend in his online store - so what are you waiting for??

The DT members really have excelled themselves with a stunning selection of white cards this week - do be sure to go and check them out :-)

Here's my card for this week. You know how sometimes the whole card will spin off from one particular item in your stash?? Well this week I found some white-on-white pearlised paper AND some sparkly white floral vellum ... so I couldn't wait to get going lol!

Also for an all-white card I thought it important to try to incorporate some unusual textures, so after racking my brain I was pleased to think of using a feather ... which meant it was fabulous that I had got this wonderful vintage angelic image to hand which was an RAK from my lovely teamie Debbie.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Sharing a Secret" (1132K) coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated (liberally!!) with glamour dust.
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Paper: s.e.i "Poppy" and Papermania sparkly floral vellum; "ice gold" pearlised white card from Edwin Allen;
Supplies: Prima flower; large pearl brad from The Hobby House; white feather from John Lewis; sparkly white brads by Doodlebug; all paper edges and flower decorated with glamour dust; pearl gems from my stash;
Tools: large deckle rectangle, and large mega deckle rectangle nestabilities.

As this is such an unusual colour combo i would also like to enter it for another open challenge, namely Colour Create #30 - All White

Update Tuesday: Simon Says Challenge has just posted that they are ENCOURAGING multiple entries for their all that sparkles challenge in an attempt to reach 300 entires. I had already entered this challenge, but this is way the sparkliest card I have made for a long time (and I did make it after the SS challenge was posted), so I'm entering it as a second entry :-)

Have a great weekend, and happy crafting :-)

I'm on a roll!

I'm definitely getting into the swing now with some Christmas card makes, and last night I made a couple more to add to my slowly growing pile. Again I started by colouring a few of the same image - I actually coloured three of this adorable little mouse, but only managed to get two cards made up in the end .. but at least I've got a head start on another card!

For my first card, I followed the sketch over at Cupcake Crafts Challenge #63


I flipped the sketch and substituted snowflakes for flowers, so I would also like to enter this card for Creative Card Crew Challenge #34 - snowflakes.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Thinking of You" (1517E) watercoloured, and decorated with polar white Flowersoft and glamour dust on the Santa hat;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Paper: Kaisercraft (from The Hobby House);
Supplies: sparkly brads by Doodlebug; ribbon from Hobbycraft; pearl gems from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "embossed snowflakes" edge punch and Arctic Snowflake punch (from The Hobby House).


For my second card I used the sketch at Sketch and Stash Challenge #22


I don't actually have any new stash on this card (pretty unusual for me lol!!) but I do have a a few neglected items .... the gold star is from a Prima red Christmas bubble - I often use the flowers but the stars seem to just sit there!! My matt gold mirri card is also somewhat neglected as i don't normally go much for gold on cards throughout the year, but I do seem to bring it out a bit more at Chirstmas. Finally, at the last minute I spotted a neglected piece of gold ribbon with stars in my box, which I thought complimented the other star reasonably well.

I would also like to enter this card for Simon Says Challenge - All that Sparkles - it's by no means the most sparkly card I have created, but I hope it qualifies with the sparkly star and the sparkly fluffy effect on the hat!


Recipe:
Main image and sentiment as before;
Paper: BasicGrey "Wassail";
Supplies: gold star from Prima red "Christmas bubble"; gold star ribbon from my stash.

Hope I can keep up this productive streak! :-)

Production line - part 2!

Here's the second "batch" of Christmas cards from my mega Sunday afternoon session. I started out by colouring 3 cute "Forever Friends" images which were an RAK from Marcea, and then had a play with a few papers all in similar colours, and followed a few sketches to produce similar but not identical cards. I definitely found this a bit quicker than starting from scratch with each card, t hough it was nowhere near as fast as the first batch that I posted yesterday.

I would like to enter all of these cards into this fortnight's Forever Friends Challenge - Christmas, and would also like to enter the different cards into a few other challenges:

Card 1: I followed the sketch over at this week's Sketch Saturday #74; and would also like to enter this card for Allsorts Challenge #24 - furry friends .

Also I would like to enter this one into this week's Daring Cardmakers' Challenge, which is to use at least 5 favourite things (preferably 10!). Well I have a lot of favourites, but they definitely include .....
1.nesties,
2. Cuttlebug snowflakes die,
3. Doodlebug sparkly brads,
4. holographic silver card (used on the matting),
5. white glitter card (for the snowflakes),
6. white pearlised "ice gold" card (for the snowflake edging),
7. ribbon,
8. MS edge punches,
9. glamour dust,
10. teddy images ....

Am I there yet? lol!!


The close up is trying to show my newest "wonder discovery" - polar white Flowersoft used for the fur on teddy's hat. I saw this used on a sample card in my local craft shop Edwin Allen, and was really blown away ... it really does look soft and fluffy, and it even feels nice. I gave it a little more zing by mixing the Flowersoft witha little glamour dust - it looks really sparkly in real life!

Card 2: for this one I followed the sketch over at this week's Friday Sketchers #75.

Another angled closeup ....


Card 3: I used Dutch Dare Challenge #63 - Cathy's sketch.

Recipe (all cards):
Image: Forever Friends, coloured with watercolour pencils. Teddy's hat decorated with Flowersoft in polar white, mixed wtih glamour dust.
Sentiments: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words".
Paper: Cards 1 & 2 - Reminisce "Snowflake Spots", Paper Company Studio "Christmas Fun Green Swirl"; Card 3 - Daisy Bucket "Wrapped Wishes".
Supplies: card 1 - ribbon by Paper Company Studio, sparkly brads by Doodlebug; card 2 - ribbon from stash; card 3 - white felt ric-rac & sparkly gems by Papermania, pearls from my stash.
Tools: card 1 - Cuttlebug "snowflakes #2" die, Martha Stewart "embossed snowflakes" edge punch, large classic scallop nestabilities; card 2 - Cuttlebug "Snowflakes" embossing folder; Spellbinders "Make a flake 2" Shapeabilities, large classic scalloped squares nesties; card 3 - Cuttlebug "snowflakes #2" die, Spellbinders "decorative photo corners" Shapeabilities.

I'm feeling a bit maxed out on Christmas cards now, but in reality there's still a long way to go .... :-)

Winter Wonderland

I got a bit of a mini production-line going this afternoon for Christmas cards - and not before time I must say!! I actually managed to make 7 cards in the afternoon, which is pretty remarkable for me as I'm normally such a slowcoach as I dither over papers .... ribbons ... embellies ... etc.... lol!

Anyway, my first 4 cards were almost identical, so I have just pictured two of them here. I went for a very clean and simple layout which enabled me to ink up this fab Penny Black sentiment stamp which has lain unused in my drawer since I got it about a year ago (naughty!) I was also able to use up some of these gorgeous Prima Christmas bubble flowers, which are really yummy but for some reason have never seemed to go with any of the cards I made since I bought them!

One of the things I'm most pleased about with these cards unfortunately doesn't really show up in the photos - I have embossed onto a fabulous pearlescent white card called "ice gold" which has a gorgeous sheen to it ... but I guess you're going to have to take my word for that lol!

I would like to enter these cards for the following challenges:

Winter Wonderland #22 - open theme
One Stop Craft Challenge #52 - Celebration

Recipe:
Sentiment: Penny Black "Christmas Flourish" (3900H);
Supplies: "ice gold" white pearlescent card from Edwin Allen; flowers from Prima gold "Christmas Bubble"; brads from my stash;
Tools: Cuttlebug embossing folders - both called "Snowflake"; leaves cut using Leone Em "Ash Branch" punch.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with the production line part 2 .... :-) Hope you've all had a good weekend!

Penny Black Challenge #72 - and an 11-into-1 combo

Yippee! It's the weekend ... so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge! Thanks to everyone who entered last week's challenge using Nat's fab sketch ... sorry I didn't manage to get round to look at everyone's entries, but I'll try my best this week :-) Don't forget to check out the blog to see who won last week's fab prize!

Now hold onto your (witches') hats ... this week we have a very scary challenge for you, which is

Hallowe'en

Yes ... we want to see all your spooktacular creations with lots of scary spiders ... ghosties and all things spooky! As always the only rule is that you use at least one Penny Black image or
sentiment.

I'll 'fess up straight away that this was a totally scary challenge for me , for a number of reasons - not least of all the fact that I had NO Hallowe'en images, NO sentiments, NO suitable papers ... ribbons ... charms ... embellishments ... EEK! You start to get the idea lol?? Add to this the facts that I'm terrified of spiders, ghosties and ghoulies freak me out, and I hate the colour orange ... and it wasn't looking too good! Luckily my fab PBSC teamie Domi came to the rescue with some cute rather than scary Hallowe'en images and sentiments, and I managed to download my first ever paper (a free one!) so I was at least able to cobble something together .... and although I don't normally use peel offs much nowadays I thought the spiders webs were a cheap and convenient way to hit the spot!

As usual we have got a gorgeous prize for you .. it is this fabulous PB stamp "Cozy" donated by our very own Carole - thanks hun, it's wonderful! :-)

So here's my card ..... spookily it was very sunny when Itook this picture which is totally inappropriate for a Hallowe'en card I know ... strange how the sun never seems to come out when I want a bright picture lol! The rest of the DT has also woven lots of Hallowe'en magic, so don't forget to peek through your fingers at their scary offerings!

As this is almost certainly going to be my one and only Hallowe'en card this year, I'd like to also enter it into a few challenges .....

Corrosive Challenges #34 - Spooky Times

Pile It On #19 - Ready for Hallowe'en

Kaboodle Doodles - It's a spooky challenge

Cupcake Crafts #62 -Things that Go Bump in the Night

Stamp with Fun #29 - Hallowe'en

Creative Inspirations #32 - Hallowe'en

My Time to Craft #82 - Hallowe'en Colours

Everybody-Art-Challenge #62 - Hallowe'en

Stampavie & More #66 - Hallowe'en

Stamp Something - Hallowe'en Somethings

Stampin' for the Weekend #21 - A Haunting Good Time

(11 - a new personal best lol!!)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Pup-o-lantern" (2538J), coloured with watercolour pencils and the pumpkin decoupaged;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Trick or Treat" (1906E);
Papers: "Super-Spooks" - free download by Marie Stones from Free Digital Scrapbooking
Supplies: Black & orange sparkly brads by Doodlebug; black dotty ribbon and spider's web peel offs from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "Scallop dot" edge punch.

Looking forward to seeing all your spooky creations ..... sleep well, and don't have nightmares ha ha!

Bubbles!

This week's Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #74 is a sketch by Debbie, which seemed to me just right for a friend's birthday card I needed to make.
I also took the Secret Crafter Challenge #54 to dig deep, and I found a stamped image deep in my stash that was an RAK ages ago from the lovely Marcea. The image is Daisy & Dandelion "Bubbles" - how could I possibly have left her alone 'til now??


Recipe:
Main image: Papermania - Daisy & Dandelion "Bubbles", coloured with watercolour pencils and the flower decoupaged;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Paper: Papermania "Sweet Nothings";
Supplies: organza ribbon, flowers, brad and charm all from my stash.

Thank goodness I have only a couple more friends with birthdays between now and the end of the year .... my Chrimbo card production is going to have to soon get into full swing lol!

Thanks for looking!