Passion for Papercraft

I ♥ Promarkers #101 - Purple and Pink

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000Z

Good morning, and welcome to another I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks so much for the amazing response to last week's Anything Goes challenge - the winner and top 3 are on the main challenge blog.

This week we have a colour challenge, sponsored by Digi Doodle Shop

and it is

Purple & Pink

Don't forget that to be eligible for the prize you should submit a new project where your image is coloured using any of Letraset Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens.

The DT are showcasing DDS digital images - do check them all out. Here's my card for this week.

Stamps: DDS digital image "Dandelions"; Whimsy ticket stamp;

Media: Promarkers (Amethyst, Orchid, Marsh Green, Pear Green), Flexmarkers (Wild Orchid, Pale Mauve, Sorbet, Pink Pearl, Pink Lavender, Aniseed); glamour dust on dandelion petals;

Paper: BasicGrey "Wisteria";

Supplies: flowers and lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; velvet ribbon from Hobbycraft;

Tools: Fleur de Lys Square nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch; Cuttlebug "Friends Forever" Cut 'n' emboss folder.

Challenges:

BasicGrey #61 - Favourite Things

(flowers, lace and sparkle)

Pile It On #4 - Add Lace

Paperplay #3 - Ribbon

Hotshot #3 - Flowers

Papertake Weekly - Happy Highlights
(flowers highlighted wtih glamour dust)
Sentimental Sundays #86 - Die Cuts

Craft Your Passion #94 - Colour Bingo
(pink / purple / green)
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Creative Inspiration #147 - Anything Goes
Sketch Saturday #191 - sketch

That's all for today - do hope you can join us.

Hugs

Penny Black Saturday #185 - Crafty Bargains

2012-01-21T08:00:00.000Z

Another working week over, so hopefully it's playtime once more, and time to join in with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge :-) Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last week's Anything Goes challenge -we had a good number of entries and a fab variety of projects. Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner!

This week we are into the January Sales fever, and would like to see your

Crafty Bargains

Doesn't matter whether you got it in a sale or were given it ... if it was a bargain we want to see it!!

This week we are sponsored by Crimson Cloud,

who are offering this gorgeous PB stamp to a randomly drawn winner.

Don't forget to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work (no backlinking please) which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

The rest of the DT have prodcued some fab samples with their bargains ... what a thrifty lot we are lol!! Here's what I did.

Now I'm not much of a one for bargains normally, but this week's card features the best crafty bargain I ever had. My local craft shop has a second hand table; and last year I got this beautiful vintage PB stamp which showed no discernible sign of use, for £2!! Given that I couldn't even order this vintage stamp from any UK supplier and would have had to get it from America, that is one HUGE saving! I really love this stamp but have to admit this is only the second time I've coloured her (blush!!)

Stamps: Penny Black "A Gift of Flowers" (586K); Whimsy ticket stamp; Woodware birthday sentiment;

Media: Promarkers & Flexmarkers; punched flowers edged with fluid chalk ink;

Papers: Papermania Capsule Collection "Blueberry Hill";

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; lace from my stash;

Tools: EK Success Whale of A Punch Retro Flower; X-Cut medium & small flower punches; Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch; Marianne D doily die.

Challenges:

Creative Craft - We're Talking The Colour Blue

My Mum's #40 - Favourite colour

(for crafting it's usually pink, but in all other aspects of life it's blue so I've gone with that)

Little Miss Muffet #27 - Blues & Creams
Marianne's Design Divas - In With The New

(Blueberry Hill papers)

DYSU #55 - Patterned Paper

Truly Scrumptious #72 - Something Forgotten
(neglected stamp and flower punches)

My Time To Craft #171 - Your Favourite Embellishment (lace)
Hotshot #3 - Flowers
Papertake Weekly - Buttons, Bows, Bling & Blooms (2nd entry)
(this time I've used bow and blooms)

ABC - H is for Happy Birthday
Party Time Tuesdays #51 - Happy Birthday

Fab 'n' Funky #104 - Eyes Down For Bingo!

(Handmade embellishment / neglected stamp / vintage)

Totally Papercrafts - Make Your Own Flowers

Simon Says - Sketch
(I had to put the circle slightly to one side so you could see it, as I don't have anything circular big enough to surround my image ... hope that's ok!)

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing, and look forward to seeing your crafty bargains at Penny Black Saturday :-)

I ♥ Promarkers #100 - Anything Goes!

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000Z

Hi everyone, and welcome to another I ♥ Promarkers challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last week's cute & cuddly challenge - there were some adorable creations!

This week we have a really easy peasy challenge theme for you ... yes it's

Anything Goes!

So there is really no excuse not to join in, so long as you are able to follow our very simple rules of submitting a new piece of work where your image is coloured using any combo of Letraset Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Trias.

This week we have another great prize .. we are sponsored by Digital Downloads owned by our very own Lorraine.

Don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see the fab creations by the rest of the DT - here's my card for this week.

I deliberately chose my image for this challenge to tie in with the Lili's Little Fairies' challenge to use your favourite LotV stamp ... though there is a part of me that is tempted to say that is the most ridiculous challenge ever, cos how could anyone possibly choose a favourite?? It was a tough call but I made myself do it, and I have to say this adorable fairy really is my favourite as I just love dandelion clocks!

Stamps: LotV "Dandelion Clock"; Penny Black sentiments from transparent set "Critter Party";

Media: Promarkers (Dusky Pink, Blush, Ivory, Pale Yellow, Duck Egg, Cool Aqua, Fuschia Pink, Meadow); Flexmarkers (Tea Rose, Nutmeg, Cappuccino, Pale Aqua, Sorbet, Pink Pearl); glamour dust on flowers and wings;

Paper: Me To You "Spring Chic";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (carnation) and Sweet Lilac (blossoms); ribbon from Hobbycraft; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: Magnolia "vintage tag" and "swirly butterfly" dies; Crafts Too "Sweet flowers" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Lili's Little Fairies #2 - Use Your Favourite LotV Stamp

The Pink Elephant #131 - Favourite Colour(s)

(pink and I also love aqua blue)

The Ribbon Girl #15 - Blue & Pink

Crafty Pad #153 - Glitter and Gems

Sweet Stampin' - All That Glitters (2nd entry)
Sentimental Sundays #85 - Ribbon

Papertake Weekly - Buttons, Bows, Bling and Blooms

(I have used all bar buttons!)

Stamptacular #147 - Texture

(embossed card, linen card, satin ribbon, glitter card ....)

Charisma #1 - Happy Birthday!
Sketch Saturday #190 - sketch (flipped vertically)

Thanks for looking, and look forward to seeing your creations over at I ♥ Promarkers this week.

... and Have Another Cup of Tea

2012-01-17T20:19:00.001Z

Just a quick post, as last night I finished decorating the final one in my series of "Keep Calm" work calendars (for my original post of these calendars, see here) ... it was just waiting for its ickle calendar tab, which duly arrived in the post courtesy of my lovely friend Helen (who makes a lot of fab calendars herself, I should say!)

This one is my favourite for two reasons (and it is mine for my desk !! :-) ) ... the Anita's calendar is nicer than the ones I managed to pick up locally; and this is the only one with a combo of darker red check Union Jack / "Cup of Tea" wording.

All the others were either bright red floral Union Jack / "Cup of Tea" or dark red check / "Drink Wine" wording. Personally I prefer the darker red as I'm not big on bright red so thought I might find it a bit distracting sitting next to my PC; also I think I must be the world's biggest tea drinker when I'm getting through the 9 - 5 lol!

Anyhow, just thought I would post this one separately as it allows me to enter a couple of new challenges.

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Anything But A Card

Craft Your Days Away #36 - New Beginnings

That's all for today ... back tomorrow with a new I ♥ Promarkers challenge.

Don't Panic Mr. Mainwaring!

2012-01-15T14:44:00.001Z

I always like to have a desk calendar at work and have made myself one in the past, but last year I bought one and intended to do the same this year. Unfortunately I never saw one I liked, so a couple of days ago I (somewhat belatedly) decided to make myself one.

I suddenly had a brainwave for a calendar theme (based on recently bought stash) that I thought would not only be funky, fashionable and very suitable for office life, but would also be particularly apt for this year of celebrating various British events such as the London Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee. I even imagined making calendars as li'l belated new year gifts for my team mates in the office ... I was really enthusiastic about the whole thing!

There was a problem though ... all my local stockists seemed to have run out of small calendar tabs, and all the online suppliers were also either out of stock or charging thrice for postage what the actual calendars cost (Anita's - £1 for a pack of ten!). In desperation I sent out an online call to some bloggy buds to see if anyone had any leftovers (just for me, not all my workmates, I hasten to add!) , and the lovely Helen stepped straight up to the mark and offered to post me one ... thanks so much hun!!

If Helen is reading this now she is probably quite confused as there is no way her li'l calendar could have arrived with me yet ... well it's like this. I went for a little jaunt yesterday afternoon (Saturday) to a craft shop a few miles away ... and lo and behold they had a few individual calendar tabs hiding near the till! They're not actually as nice as the Anita's ones so I am waiting patiently for my promised one to arrive to use on my own calendar, but I was able to buy enough to make up six calendars for my work teamies ... they all look something like these!!

Although I say so myself I'm quite chuffed with these. The idea came from seeing a card of Squirrel's earlier in the week which alerted me to the existence of the "Keep Calm And ..." set of sentiments from Personal Impressions (I just HAD to have them immediately!) ; and I soon made the mental connection with the "Portobello Road" paper pad I had bought last week in case of Olympic / Jubilee challenges. I had been wondering what to do with the funky Union Jack papers though ... well suddenly it was obvious to me! I really like this kinda retro look and Second World War sayings (with a bit of artistic licence lol!) :-)

Most of my workmates are big tea drinkers, so 4 out of the 6 calendars follow that theme. The other 2 non-tea drinkers are getting "Drink Wine" calendars ... I really hope they a e going to like them!

Stamps: Personal Impressions "Keep Calm And" set;

Papers: Papermania "Portobello Road";

Tools: Martha Stewart "Iron Gate" punch.

Challenges:

Allsorts #137 - Celebration of Nations

Stamp With Fun #143 - Calendar

Pollycraft Monday #122 - Anything But A Card

Hotshot Crafts #2 - Easel Card

Divas By Design #18 - New Beginnings

Ooh-La-La #96 - New Beginnings

Sparkles #28 - New Crafty Goodies
The Stamp Man - Use Red

CES #68 - Vintage

Incy Wincy #128 - Vintage

Crafty Cardmakers #59 - No Floral Embellishments

So with that I guess I'll just Keep Calm and Carry on ... enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Penny Black Saturday #184 - Anything Goes

2012-01-14T11:43:00.001Z

Woo hoo! Saturday's here, so it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Sorry to anyone who has looked on here Saturday morning - I have just logged on 11am and found that a gremlin has published the post I spent about an hour writing last night with no content!!

So, sorry this is going to be a bit shorter than usual as I don't have time to completely recreate it all again!! Thanks to everyone who entered last week, and please check out the main challenge blog for the rest of the DT's lovely samples, challenge rules, last week's winners and this week's prizes !! :-)

So .. straight to business, this week's theme is a really easy peasy one ...

Anything Goes

..or so I thought .. for some reason I always have a really strange mental block when there is an open theme - I guess i jsut have too much choice when it comes to PB stamps lol! Anyhow here is my card for this week.

I went out of my usual zone a little and heat embossed this pretty PB stamp which hasn't seen daylight for quite a while, and then coloured using Cosmic Shimmer paints which have also been extremely neglected!! The overall effect is rather twinkly, but the dull light doesn't show that very well.

In fact the whole card is rather glittery as I also used a glitter paper, spotty glitter card and glitter card for my matting ... in fact just about the only thing that didn't get glittered is the flowers lol!

Stamp: Penny Black "Daydreams";

Media: heat embossing with detail gold flowers; Cosmic Shimmer paints;

Papers: First Edition "Spring Drop" (from Hobbycraft);

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; Craftwork Cards sentiment;

Tools: "Labels One" nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "Fanciful Flourish" die.

Challenges:

DYSU#54 - Pink!

Cooking it Up With Katie #87 - Pink Posies With Pearls

Birthday Sundaes #38 - Birthday Card

Winter Wonderland - Birthday Wishes

CRAFT #137 - Celebrations

Crafty Catz #115 - Use Something New

(paper pad & Cheery Lynn die)

Stampin' For The Weekend #24 - Out With The Old

(PB stamp and Cosmic Shimmer paints)

Truly Scrumptious #71 - Shabby Pastels & Paint

Fabulous Friday - Paint

Sweet Stampin' - All That Glitters

Challenge Up Your Life #60 - Bingo!

(swirls / pearls / sparkle)

Simply Create Too #4 - Layers, Layers & More Layers

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #88

(I had to move the sentiment as it wouldn't fit but hope the rest of it is ok!)

Phew! Retyped all this in a bit of a panic!! Hope you can join us this week! Have a great weekend.

I ♥ Promarkers #99 - Cute & Cuddly

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000Z

Wow the week is flying by ... Wednesday already, which means it is time for another I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's Buttons & Lace challenge - there were some really pretty creations, and the winner is on the main challenge blog.

This week we have a theme of

Cute & Cuddly

which ties in very well with the type of images produced by our sponsor, Stamp Fairy, who are offering a $10 gift certificate for their online store where you can find a wide selection of whimsical and cute digi images.

Don't forget to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work that follows the theme, and where your image is coloured using Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens by Letraset.

Stamp Fairy very kindly provided some digi images for the DT to play with, and I chose the adorable Molly Fairy ... here's my card.

This is really rather a departure for me, as I have always deliberately steered away from stamps where the faces have no mouths - I find eg. Tilda really creepy for some reason (I can still admire other people's Tilda cards for their composition and details, but I don't like the images per se). However this stamp seemed to me to have a more appealing face than many stamps of that type, and in the end I really enjoyed colouring her :-) Here's a closeup to try to show the sparkle on her wand and wings!

I decided to go for a spring-like colour scheme ... partly to distract myself from the dark miserable days of January, but also so that I could use my brand new Me To You "Spring Chic" papers - just bought a 12" * 12" pad and they are absolutely scrumptious! I think they will be appearing on here a lot over the next few weeks lol!

Stamp: Stamp Fairy "Molly Fairy";

Media: Promarkers (Dusky Pink, Blush, Ivory, Sandstone, Vanilla, Duck Egg, Cool Aqua, Buttercup, Primrose) and Flexmarkers ( Soft Aqua, Pale Citrus, Lemon Chiffon, Tea Rose, Nutmeg); glamour dust on wings and wand;

Papers: Docrafts "Me To You - Spring Chic";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts & Sweet Lilac; lace from The Ribbon Box; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: X-Cut nested star die; Marianne D "Branch Forest" (LR0150); Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch; Cuttlebug "daisies" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Craft Your Passion #92 - Mythical Creatures

Cute Card Thursday #198 - What's New?

( papers and star shaped die)

Crazy 4 Challenge #118 - New Toys / New Techniques

Crafty Creations #152 - Something New
Papertake Weekly - Die Cute Special
Really Reasonable Ribbon #39 - Sparkle & Ribbon
Passion For Promarkers #131 - Inspired By A Song
("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Sweet Stampin' - Spots & Dots
(2 of my 3 papers have dots on)
Simon Says - Spots &/or Stripes
(as above, plus one of my papers has both spots & stripes! :-) )

One Stop Craft Challenge #164 - Bingo!

(flowers, diecuts/punches, embossing)

Dream Valley #23 - Anything Goes

CES #67 - Anything Goes

Magical Mondays - Anything Goes

Anything Goes #58 - Anything Goes
Sketch Saturday #189 - sketch

Looking forward to seeing all your cute and cuddly creations ... have a great week!

Penny Black Saturday #183 - CASE It!

2012-01-07T08:00:00.000Z

Good morning crafters, and welcome to the first Penny Black Saturday Challenge for 2012!

Thanks to everyone who entered our Christmas tags challenge over the festive period - hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week we are starting with the first of a new regular monthly challenge theme, which is to CASE a favourite PB card chosen by a member of the DT. If you haven't heard of this before, CASE means "copy and share everything" - in other words, just let elements of the card such as the image, colours, layout or theme inspire you. If you have a look at the gorgeous samples made by the rest of the DT you'll get the idea!

We are starting with our lovely teamie Beth, so this week's challenge is to

CASE the following card by Beth

To help you get in the mood we have a fabulous prize from our regular sponsor The Ribbon Girl

and it is this yummy yellow mini-ribbon kit.

Don't forget that to be eligible for the prize you should link to a new piece of work which features a Penny Black image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

Here is my effort for this week.

This actually was a bit of a challenge for me, as I don't really craft using the colours red, white and blue (particularly red!) so I didn't really have any suitable papers. That being the case I decided to focus on copying the concept of stars and just to allude to the colour scheme.

My best option was to use my Marianne D star bauble die with coloured card behind it, so I made my background by embossing white pearlised card with star shapes. My hedgie image should normally be raising his arms to flowers, but I thought it might work if I masked off that part of the image, and I then cut out teeny holographic silver card stars using my Cuttlebug "Snowflakes #2" die set - I rather like how that turned out lol!

Stamps: Penny Black "Hedgehog Joy" ;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Supplies: red and blue matt mirri card, silver holographic mirri card; ribbon, gems and peel-off from my stash;

Tools: small, large and lacy circle nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables star bauble die; Cuttlebug "Snowflakes #2" die (stars); Cuttlebug "Christmas Stars" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Fabulous Fridays - No Patterned Paper

Crafts & Me #66 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Look forward to seeing another year of your fab Penny Black creations :-)

I ♥ Promarkers #98 - Buttons and lace

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000Z

Good morning all, and welcome to the first I ♥ Promarkers challenge for 2012. Thanks so much to everyone who entered our last challenge of 2011 - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week we have a fabulous challenge to start the New Year ...

Buttons and Lace

and an even more fabulous prize ... a £10 online store gift voucher for Joanna Sheen

I wish I could enter!!

Don't forget that to be eligible for this prize you should submit a new piece of work that is coloured using Letraset Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Trias.

the rest of the DT have as always created some stunning samples for the first challenge of the year ... here's mine.

I sat down to make this card on Monday - my last day of holiday before going back to work yesterday ... and I couldn't help but notice the number of "new beginnings" challenges around. Therefore I decided to make a baby card , and what could be more appropriate than this adorable Stamposaurus elephant which I got last year but have never inked up until now?

Unfortunately I only remembered right at the end of making this card that I have thrown out my pink ink pad that I would have ideally used to stamp the sentiment with as it had gone dry; and I also had to hand cut out my sentiment because shortly before Christmas I went and lost my nestie circle that I usually use. I reckon I must have accidentally swept it into my rubbish bag one time .... oh dear!! Last but not least I also discovered that I have absolutely no twine or teeny ribbon to tie through my buttons so I had to leave them plain. I think I need some New Year stash lol!

Stamps: Stamposaurus "Ellie No 3"; LotV Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers (Cool Grey 1-4, Pink Carnation, Blossom, Meadow, Apple, Baby Pink) and Flexmarkers (Pink Lavender);

Papers: Pink Petticoat (dotty) and free from craft magazine (striped);

Supplies: flower from Wild Orchid Crafts; large pearl brad from The Hobby House; ribbon, lace and buttons from my stash;

Tools: large, small, large scalloped and lacy circle nestabilities; Marianne D swirl from "Ribbon Flower" set.

Challenges:

Bling It On - New Beginnings

By The Cute & Girly - New Beginnings

Sweet Stampin' - New Beginnings

Allsorts #135 - New Beginnings

Simon Says - New Something
My Mum's #38 - Something New
Kaboodle #100 - Celebrate!
Daring Cardmakers - Spots & Stripes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + option of new (new baby)
Partytime Tuesdays #49 - Something New
Top Tip Tuesday #67 - Anything Goes

Incy Wincy #127 - Anything Goes

Looking forward to seeing your creations, and hope you can join in the fun at I ♥ Promarkers this week.

Something Old, Something New ...

2012-01-02T16:02:00.000Z

Well here we are with a brand new year, and here I am with my first card of 2012.

This card fulfils the theme of "Something Old, Something New", which I thought was a good theme for the start of a new Year ... the "something old" is my papers which I have had for quite a long time; whilst the "something new" is the darling LotV stamp which my dear friend Lil gave me when I went round to her house for a pre-Christmas visit and to admire her craft room, as she had got this stamp twice and thought of me first to pass it on to - thanks so much hun :-) !!

Stamps: LotV "Rosie Posy";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on flowers and edges of matting;

Papers: Papermania "Rose Garden";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from The Ribbon Box; buttons and peel offs from my stash.

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Something Old, Something New

Paper Sundaes #101 - Something Old, Something New

Fabulous Friday - Something New

The Squirrel & The Fox #8 - Something New

Joanna Sheen (January) - Celebrations (birthday)

Totally Gorjuss #112 - Happy

Fussy & Fancy #53 - Happy Birthday

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Sentimental Sundays #83 - Anything Goes

Pile It On #1 - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday #66 - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me #66 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Rainbow Lady #185 - Your Choice

Papertake Weekly - Sketch

That's all for today .... back to work tomorrow (sigh!) so I'm just off now to do a bit of DT work.

Hugs

2011 in cards ... and my top 5

2011-12-31T14:24:00.001Z

I have loved looking around at my fellow bloggers' entries for Debbie's challenge to pick your top 5 cards for the year ... I had a look back through mine yesterday and found it really hard to choose my favourites!! But I decided to have a go anyway ... so here are my fave cards by month, followed by my top 5 for the year :-)

Sorry not got time to explain why each of these is a favourite ... but they all involve either fave stamps, papers, or I was just very happy with the way they came together with flowers and other embellies!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

...and my top 5 (in no particular order!)

Wow that was difficult ... and I'm sure I'd choose different ones on another day lol!

Gotta dash now to get ready for the evening's visitors and festivities - so I'll just finish by wishing everyone a

Happy New Year

and all the best of everything for 2012

Hugs

Win 20 Promarkers of your choice from Handy Hippo

2011-12-30T23:27:00.000Z

The lovely Jules (always With a Heart) is promoting this fab prize from Handy Hippo

..... 20 Promarkers of your choice - to celebrate them starting to sell single Promarkers - woo hoo!!

And as I ♥ ProMarkers (sorry, couldn't resist that lol!) but don't have a full set yet, I'm fantastically excited by this fabby candy!

So why not pop over to Jules' post about this candy here ... and follow the easy peasy steps to enter??

My Favourite Five Christmas Cards of 2011

2011-12-26T18:58:00.002Z

It has been great fun looking around everyone's entries for Debby's 5 Favourite Christmas Cards of 2011 Challenge, so I thought I would join in.

I realised that I hadn't actually made that many Christmas cards this year even though I bought quite a bit of new stash ... unless of course you count the 37 last minute "panic makes" over the past couple of weeks that didn't involve any stamping or colouring lol!!

So I've had a look through my makes and here are my favourites :-)

I bought this adorable LotV stamp at Port Sunlight in October, and have made quite a few Christmas cards with it this year, all of which I was pretty happy with. I was particularly pleased with the colour scheme and vintage look I achieved on this one, and I have discovered how fabulous white Wild Orchid Craft carnations look on Chrimbo cards :-)

I love making all-white cards, but often find it difficult to find enough textural interest. During the year I bought a new snowflake embossing folder so I now have three, and when I used them in conjunction with some fabby new Memory Box dies (border and corner) I was quite pleased with how this one turned out (also as this is Debby's challenge - this was Debby's Chrimbo card!! :-) )

This was the A5 card I made for my mum and dad. Penny Black "Snowy" is one of my all time favourite stamps, and I really loved these delicate papers by Crafter's Companion. Another fluffy paper carnation along with the other embellishments and this one was good to go.

Here's another of my fave Christmas stamps - I find this Christmas FF teddy totally adorable, and this was my first attempt to colour him using Promarkers and Flexmarkers rather than Copics, as this was a DT card for the I ♥ ProMarkers challenge. I needed to use this stamp as it is quite dinky - the challenge was for a shaped card and this is as big as it gets with my nesties lol!!

Last but not least is my husband's Christmas card .... how could that possibly not be one of my faves, even without the adorable WRS stamp and romantic die-cut mistletoe ....aaaaww!!

So there we are - Chrimbo cardmaking all done for another year. In 2011 I never made my first Christmas card until about July, so I'll have to see whether I manage to get a bit further ahead for 2012. Time will tell I guess!!

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas
Hugs

With Love At Christmas

2011-12-25T10:00:00.000Z

Merry Christmas everyone - I am scheduling this for Christmas Day ... and hope you will all be having a happy and peaceful time.

I would like today to show you the Christmas card I made for my darling husband ... it has almost become a tradition in our house that I make it on Christmas Eve evening, but this year I got ahead of myself and made it on Friday lol! I never publish it before Christmas Day .. although he never looks on here it just somehow wouldn't seem right lol!

I always really enjoy making this card, as it gives me a rare opportunity to express myself romantically - I just love choosing a suitable image and embellishments! This year I bought this adorable Wild Rose Studio stamp and Magnolia mistletoe die; and I used some Magnolia mistletoe papers left over from last year!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Christmas Cuddles"; Pink Gem sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; polar white Flowersoft mixed with glamour dust on hats and snow on the ground;

Papers: Magnolia;

Supplies: pearls and ribbon from my stash; gems from The Hobby House;

Tools: large, small and lacy circle nestabilities; Magnolia Doohickey "mistletoe with berries" die.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Last Christmas ... Card of the Year

Totally Gorjuss #111 - For Someone Special

Creative Belli #133 - Merry Christmas!

Divas By Design #17 - Merry Christmas!

Top Tip Tuesday #65 - Anything Christmas

Deep Ocean #15 - Warm Wishes

One Stop Craft Challenge #163 - Winter Wishes
My Time To Craft #169 - Winter Pals

Crafty Catz #113 - Santa's Hat

Craft Your Passion #89 - Things With Wings

(penguins have wings!! ;-) )

Simon Says - Bingo!

(Ribbon / Gems / Glitter & Sparkle)

Stampin' For The Weekend #23 - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me #66 - Anything Goes

Charisma #50 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations # 43 - Anything Goes

Scrapbook Sisters #66 - Anything Goes

Secret Crafter #166 - Anything Goes
My Mum's #37 - Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon #38 - Anything Goes + Ribbon (2nd entry)

Well that's about it from me - have a wonderful Christmas.

Hugs,

I ♥ ProMarkers #97 - Anything Goes

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome to another I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's colour combo challenge - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week's prize.

This week is our last challenge for 2011 so it's a nice easy peasy one ....

Anything Goes

This challenge will stay open until 8pm GMT on Tuesday January 3rd 2012 - and we will be back with a brand new year of I ♥ ProMarkers challenges on Wednesday January 4th. :-)

Don't forget that to be eligible for our challenge prize you need to use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens on your creation - this week we are sponsored by Di's Digis who are offering a $10 gift certificate for their online shop - lovely!

For this week's challenge I decided to take a pause from my last minute frantic Christmas card making (I have somehow managed to make no less than 37 simple Chrimbo cards in the past 10 days!!), so I took the opportunity to make a card for my boss who will be celebrating her 50th birthday over the New Year. (She's not into cardmaking so I think I'm safe to post it on here!! ... but as it is the only card I've had time to make with Promarker colouring it just has to be done regardless!!)

I adore this FF stamp and think he is very versatile for celebratory occasions. I made an A5 card to make it a bit more special, but cut away the front of the card and then lined the inside of the with Bazzill, punched out to form a border on the right hand side.

I also had my first go with my new Bow-Easy which I bought a couple of weeks ago from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. Took me a little while to get the hang of it, but once I'd viewed this great Youtube video I was up and running ...and although you can't see it too well I actually made my first ever double loop bow - yay!

Stamps: Forever Friends;

Media: Flexmarkers (Capuccino, Champagne, Tea Rose, Pink Pearl); Promarkers (Sandstone, Ivory); Stickles on flowers and champagne bubbles;

Papers: Crafty Individuals "Springtime" pad;

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls by The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP; Crafts Too "daisies" embossing folder; Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet dies for numbers.

Challenges:

Paper Sundaes #100 - Celebrate!

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Celebrations (2nd entry)
Secret Crafter #165 - New Year / Celebration

(I have chosen celebration)

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (December) - Happy Birthday! (2nd entry)
CES #66 - Party, Party, Party!

Totally Papercrafts #97 - Time To Party!

Sparkles - Anything But A Christmas Card

Crafty Pad #152 - Anything But Christmas

Corrosive #139 - Anything But Christmas

Sweet Stampin' - Sparkle & Bling

(sparkly holographic silver card, sparkly champagne ;-) and Stckles on flowers)

Fussy & Fancy #52 - Monochromatic & Sparkle
Pollycraft #121 - Punch It!

Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers (3rd entry)

Everybody Art #173 - Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon #38 - Anything Goes + Ribbon

Look forward to seeing all your creations - Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the I ♥ ProMarkers DT!

Penny Black Saturday #182 - Make A Tag

2011-12-17T13:26:00.000Z

Good afternoon peeps ... my goodness I'm running late today with the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge - so I'll get straight to business!!

Today's challenge is our last for 2011, so I hope you'll be able to join us. Many thanks to everyone who has joined in last week's challenge, and indeed all the PBSC challenges throughout this year. We will be back on Saturday 7th January 2012 - raring to go with another year of fab Penny Black Challenges.

In the meantime, this week's theme is an easy peasy one for a last minute Christmas make ....

Make A Tag

We have another fab prize for a randomly drawn winner - a cling stamp and three sheets of stickeroos from the DT :-)

Don't forget that to be eligible for the prize you need to use a Penny Black stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo on your creation.

The rest of the DT have made some stunning samples to inspire you - mine is (as you've guessed already) a rather last minute effort and I'm not altogether pleased with it (my sentiment went smudgy!!) but here it is anyway ...

Stamps: Penny Black "Solitaire" (3241K); Inkadinkado (Holly swirls); Woodware sentiment;

Media: flower watercoloured with Marvey markers and spritzed with water; TH distress inks in Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters;

Supplies: teeny gems from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Charisma #49 - Last Minute Christmas

Paperplay #50 - Christmas

Crafts and Me - Christmas

Anything Goes #56 - Anything But A Card

Ooh-La-La #95 - Anything But A Card

Craft Your Passion #88 - Tag You're It!

Hope you can join us - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the PBSC DT :-)

I ♥ ProMarkers #96 - Colour Combo

2011-12-14T08:00:00.004Z

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge. Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's shaped cards challenge - fab entries, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you're the winner.

This week we have a colour combo for you -

Blue & White

You can either use this for a last minute Christmas make or go in a different direction altogether ... so long as you use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens :-)

This week's prize is a £10 online store voucher for Crafty Emma's

Lovely! ... so what are you waiting for ??

I used this colour scheme to make my mum and dad's Christmas card ... and here it is.

This really is one of my fave stamps - I always make a few Chrimbo cards using Snowy as I think he is so adorable ... but I have never used him on a card for my mum and dad before. I also took the opportunity to use a couple of the fab blue coloured sheets from my Crafter's Companion "The Snowman" paper pack, as the pack is A5 and I always like to make an A5 card for my parents.

Stamps: Penny Black "Snowy" (2521K) and "a wish..." (3502F);

Media: Promarkers (Midnight Blue, Cornflower, Pastel Blue, Rose Pink, Cool Grey 1) and Flexmarkers (Glacier Blue, Blue Grey 1, Tea Rose);

Papers: Crafter's Companion "The Snowman";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls and large pearl brad from The Hobby House; lace from The Ribbon Box; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large circle and lacy circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Ice Crystal" die.

Challenges:

CYDA #35 - Snowmen

Paperplay #49 - Snowman
Papertake Weekly - I'm Dreaming Of A Blue Christmas
Stamptacular #142 - Christmas Glitz

Pretty Little Ribbon #5 - Christmas With A Bow

Incy Wincy #124 - Christmas With Brads

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Mega Christmas Challenge (2nd entry)
Crafty Purple Frog - It's Cold Outside

The Ribbon Reel #17 - Shabby Holiday Winter

(I used Blue + White + Silver)

Everybody Art #172 - Blue & White

DYSU #49 - Something Old

(I have had my Snowy stamp for several years !!)
Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers (2nd entry)

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #85 - Sketch

(I flipped the sketch vertically)

Looking forward to seeing your creations this week :-)

I did what I had to do ...

2011-12-13T20:43:00.006Z

According to the news, Monday was the busiest day of the year for the Royal Mail, as they had to cope with approximately double the normal volume of post - so I bet a lot of people must have been writing their Chrimbo cards whilst watching the X-Factor Final on Sunday evening lol!!

For me this was crunch time though, as I looked at my sorry stash of cards and could no longer deny the fact that I had made nowhere near enough!

So ... time for "Plan B" !! I visualised a simple card based around die cuts and a simple embossed greeting .... and I went for it major league!! 3 hours later I had made 16 cards that looked pretty much like this ....

Stamps: Pink Gem Christmas sentiment (heat embossed with gold powder);

Supplies: two shades of dark green glitter card, gold and holographic silver mirri card;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Fir Branch", "Baubles" and "Bauble/Star".

Challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge #161 - Traditional Christmas Colours

CES #65 - A Traditional Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut #50 - Traditional Christmas
Paper Sundaes #99 - Anything Christmas

Dream Valley #22 - Christmas

Hooked On Craft #14 - Christmas
Rainbow Lady #182 - Trees & Baubles

Crimbo Crackers #4 - Embossing

Cupcake #172 - Don't Look At The Light (sparkle & shine)

I also made another 12 cards based around other simple themes, but I was in such a rush to get them written I never took photographs - hey ho never mind!!

Back tomorrow with a new I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge - here's a sneak peek :-)

Have a great evening!

Penny Black Saturday #181 - Sketch

2011-12-10T08:00:00.007Z

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's Total White-Out challenge - fab entries as always, and a good opportunity for many of you to catch up on some last minute Christmas makes.

This week we have a sketch for you by our teamie Domi - fab layout and I'm sure you'll enjoy using it as much as I did.

Our prize this week for a randomly drawn winner is a $20 online gift voucher from our sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch to spend in their store - fab!

Don't forget to be eligible for the prize you need to use a Penny Black stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your project.

The rest of the DT have really rocked the sketch so I hope you'll go look-see ... here's mine.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I ordered 4 new Flexmarkers to increase my furry colouring options in the Letraset family (outside of using Copics!). Well they arrived yesterday so I was able to put them to work in colouring this little meece ... what d'you reckon?? (I coloured him using Flexmarkers "Cappuccino" and "Champagne", and Promarkers "Sandstone" and "Ivory").

Stamps: Penny Black "Xmouse ornament!" (1673H), "a wish..." (3502F);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Crafter's Companion "The Snowman";

Supplies: various sparkly gems;

Tools: large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch; Memory Box "Frosty Border" die.

Challenges:

Quirky Crafts #25 - It's Quirky Well Snowing!

Winter Wonderland - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!
Deep Ocean #14 - Let It Snow!

Top Tip Tuesday #63 - Let It Snow!

Totally Gorjuss #110 - Let It Snow!
Creative Inspirations #141 - Snow Much Fun!

The Pink Elephant #128 - Snowflakes & Sparkle

Crafts & Me #64 - Winter Snow / Snowflakes

Stampin' For The Weekend - Christmas
Incy Wincy #123 - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

Moving Along With The Times #127 - Last Minute Christmas

Crafty Creations #147 - Card With A Sentiment

Cute Card Thursday #194 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #112 - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion #87 - Anything Goes + Glitter (2nd entry)

Despite all the bad weather and last minute Christmas panic, hope you can join us this week!

I ♥ Promarkers #95 - Shaped Card

2011-12-07T08:00:00.011Z

Hello everyone and welcome to another I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's snowmen and snowflakes challenge - gorgeous entries!

This week's theme is

A Shaped Card

... by which we really mean anything but a rectangle or square lol!

This week we have a fantastic prize on offer for a randomly drawn winner ... a £10 store gift voucher from the lovely Joanna Sheen

Don't forget ... to be eligible for the prize draw you must use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens on your creation :-)

The rest of the DT have been fantastically creative and have come up with some fabulous cards - do check them out.

Again this was a bit of a challenge for me ... I don't really "do" shaped cards as I don't have any large cutting machines, mega-nesties or anything like that ... so the biggest I can make is the size of a standard nestie. Not to be deterred though I decided to make a mini-easel, so at least I would have a bit more space to play with. I also chose fairly teeny decorative elements, including a small image for my main focus ... Yes, you've guessed it - it's the li'l Forever Friends Santa teddy lol!! In fact this card was the reason for me getting out the stamp whereby I ended up colouring eight images (see Monday's post lol!).

Anyhoo .. here's the result.

I have to confess this is also the first time I have coloured a bear using Promarkers, as in the past I found I couldn't get the right shades so bought (whisper it quietly!!) 5 Copics especially for the purpose.However I persevered this time as Iwas determined to do right by the spirit of the challenge. Not entirely happy wiith my colouring but I have ordered 4 new Flexmarkers to give me more furry colouring options in future lol!!

Stamp: Forever Friends;

Media: Promarkers & Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and hat;

Papers: none - ultra white pearlescent card;

Supplies: flowers by Petaloo; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; gems from The Hobby house; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: small, large and scalloped circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:

CES #64 - Bear Necessities

Allsorts #132 - Going Round in Circles

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Mega Christmas Challenge

Forever Friends (December) - It's All Christmas

Bling it On (December) - It's Christmas

Creative Card Crew - 'Tis The Season

Crazy 4 Challenges #116 - Inspired By A Christmas Movie

(Santa Claus - The Movie)

Pile It On #49 - Bling It Up!

Christmas Inspirations #38 - Folded Card

Crazy Challenge #96 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week at I ♥ Promarkers and look forward to seeing what you create :-)

Sending Love At Christmas

2011-12-05T20:48:00.001Z

Yesterday evening I sat down to a bit of a colouring session, and completely outdid any previous attempts at batch colouring as I completed EIGHT images of this gorgeous FF Santa teddy. Or to put it another way ... over the next week or two you are likely to see this image featuring on my cards a LOT lol!

Stamps: Forever Friends Santa teddy; Pink Gem sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and hat;

Papers: Dovecraft "Holly Jolly";

Supplies: flower by WIld Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "holly flourish" die.

Challenges:

Crimbo Crackers #3 - Santa

Kaboodle #96 - Colours of Christmas

Sparkles #26 - One You Love At Christmas

Daring Cardmakers - December Flowers (Holly)

Crafts & Me #63 - Pearls & Swirls

My Mum's #34 - Keeping Warm

Paper Sundaes #98 - Sundae Bar

(I used red + stripes + die cuts)

Craft Your Passion #87 - Anything Goes + Glitter

Simon Says - Anything Goes
Totally Gorjuss #109 - Sketch

The weather here has been absolutely freezing today, t hough we haven't had any snow (YET!!). Hope you are all keeping warm .. I'm just off for a cockle-warming cup of tea now :-)

LotV - Anything But a Christmas Card

2011-12-04T15:00:00.003Z

What with the Christmas rush I don't seem to have made anything other than Chrimbo cards recently. However my best friend from school has her birthday coming up this next week; so this week's LotV challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to use my fave LotV fairy, and also some very girly but slightly eclectic papers I bought at Port Sunlight craft fair a couple of months ago and haven't yet had chance to use yet! :-) I also decided to follow the fab sketch at this month's Quixotic Paperie challenge - I flipped it vertically as I felt that was more appropriate given the way the fairy is facing, but I hope you can still see the basic layout :-)

I absolutely adore this pretty fairy and never tire of colouring her - probably because I also adore fluffy dandelion clocks. As this card was for my oldest friend I did rather go to town on it, so I hope you'll excuse the large number of photos.

I also decorated the inside which is rather unusual for me nowadays - here's a pic.

Stamps: LotV "Dandelion Clock";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on dandelion clocks and fairy wings;

Papers: Crafty Individuals "Springtime";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Crafts4u2Do; lace from The Ribbon Box; pearls and large pearl brad from The Hobby House; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; two-tone organza ribbon from my stash.

Tools: Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP edge punch; X-Cut small butterfly punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges::

LotV #123 - Anything But A Christmas Card

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (December) - Happy Birthday
Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers

DYSU #48 - Ribbon (2nd entry)

Simon Says - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes
Quixotic Paperie #2 - Sketch

Crafty Pad #150 - Give It A Punch (at least 3 punched shapes)
(not sure whether this meant 3 different shapes ... I have 2 small butterflies, 2 larger leaves, 1 smaller leaf, and 1 edge punch flower ...)
Thanks for visiting. Hope you're having a great day :-)

Penny Black Saturday #180 - Total White Out

2011-12-03T08:00:00.007Z

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. It was fabulous to see all your Christmas-themed makes over the past four weeks - we hope it has helped you get on top of the Chrimbo rush lol!

Now we are into December .. the big day is a mere 22 days away - eek!! So although our month of Chrimbo challenges is officially over, you may just want to make a last minute Christmas card with this week's theme (though it's not complusory :-) ) ... which is

Total White out

Yes we would like to see everything white on your card apart from your coloured image ... which of course must be a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo if you would like to be considered for this week's prize.

And talking of prizes ... this week we have two fabulous prizes for randomly drawn winners.

From Penny Black

this gorgeous stamp ..

and from The Ribbon Girl

this beautiful assortment of lace

The rest of the DT have made some truly stunning creations which are much better than merely all-white (sorry, couldn't resist that!) - here's mine.

Stamps: Penny Black "Let It Snow!" (1524K); sentiment by Make Your Mark;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on snow; glossy accents on puddle;

Supplies: silver gems from The Hobby House and Papermania;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake Corner" and "Frosty Border" dies; Cuttlebug "Snowflakes" embossing folders (*2); Crafts Too "snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Forever Friends & Co - White + Sparkles

Top Tip Tuesday #62 - A Touch of Colour

(white + silver + a hint of colour - mine's blue in the sentiment)

Oldie But A Goodie - Christmas - No Red or Green

Forever Friends Monthly - It's Christmas
Creatalicious #28 - Christmas + Sparkle

By The Cute & Girly (December) - Let It Snow
Totally Papercrafts #95 - Let It Snow
Shelley's Images - There's Snow Business Like Snow Business!
ABC - E is for Embossing
Simon Says - Anything Goes (3rd entry)
Papertake Weekly - Sketch

Hope you can join us this week - can't wait to see what you will make :-)

Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ...

2011-12-02T09:30:00.009Z

While I was making my first DT card for I ♥ Promarkers the other day, it occurred to me that I could really do with some colouring practice, esp. with my new Flexmarkers ... so I practiced on several images of the cute Robyn's Fetish snowman that I used for my DT card. I also pulled out a stunning brand new pad of paper which I bought from Hobbycraft a couple of weeks ago - Crafter's Companion "The Snowman" - must be one of the most gorgeous Christmas pads I've ever seen!

The result was the following three similar but different cards:

Stamps: Robyn's Fetish "Carl The Snowman"; LotV sentiment circles;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on scarf and mittens;

Papers: Crafter's Companion "The Snowman";

Supplies: white sparkle-edge ribbon from Hobbycraft; gems from The Hobby House; peel offs from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake corner" die (card 1); Martha Stewart edge punch (card 3); Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" punch.

Challenges:

Delightful Inspiration - Snowmen

Paper Sundaes #97 - Winter Wonderland

Anything Goes #55 - Decorative or Altered Corners

Creative Card Crew - Monochromatic

Crafty Catz #111 - The Colours of Christmas + Sparkle

DYSU #48 - Ribbon (cards 2 & 3)

Fab 'n' Funky #101 - Anything Goes

Divas By Design #16 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Craft - Free For All (2nd entry)

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (3rd and final entry)

Back tomorrow with a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge ... here's a sneaky peek.

Penguin Fun

2011-12-01T09:37:00.000Z

I absolutely adore this cute Pickle stamp from Wild Rose Studio - he looks like he is having so much fun delivering his sleigh full of presents. This image is one of several I coloured in a few weeks ago and I have been gradually working my way though them since. A few days ago while having a bit of a crafty clear out I found several squares of embossed pearlised white card sitting ready to make up into cards ... so I quickly put the two together to make another Chrimbo card. I tried to add a bit of interest with these yummy poinsettas from my local craft shop Crafts4U2Do, who are now stocking their own fabulous brand of flowers called "Sweet Lilac", and finished off with my new Cheery Lynn die which is just sooo gorgeous and I'm really pleased with it :-)

Not the best light for photos again ... for some reason I have a real problem getting a true colour when photographing red, as it always comes out far too bright. I have photo-edited it to calm it down although it is still too light, but that has made my green go a bit off-kilter lol!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sleigh";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust all around!

Supplies: poinsettas by Sweet Lilac dusted wtih Stickles; gems from The Hobby House; ribbon and peel off my stash;

Tools: Cheery Lynn die "holly flourish"; Cuttlebug Snowflake folders.

Challenges:
Joanna Sheen Challenge #1 - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pollycraft Monday #120 - Christmas Fun

Stamptacular #140 - Anything Christmas

Craft Your Passion #86 - 'Tis The Season

Ooh-La-La #94 - Lots of Sparkle

Dream Valley #21 - Sparkle
Colour Create #85 - Red, White and Green
Cooking it Up With Katie #86 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Scrapbook Sisters #62 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #146 - Picture inspiration

(I was inspired by the red for the flowers, the green holly wreath, and the wood for the sleigh)

Thanks for looking - have a great day.

I ♥ ProMarkers ... and Promarkers ♥ Me - Woo Hoo!

2011-11-30T08:00:00.007Z

I was really thrilled and not a little surprised this last week, to receive an email from the lovely Karen at I ♥ ProMarkers, asking me whether I would like to join the I ♥ ProMarkers DT. Woo hoo!! Well I love my Promarkers (and Flexmarkers!!) so I had to think about it for all of about 3 seconds lol!!

So here I am with my first I ♥ ProMarkers DT card for challenge #94. The rest of the team create wonderful creations every week so there was no pressure lol!! ... but I have done my best :-)

This week's theme is

Snowmen & Snowflakes

... and we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish, who gave the DT some snowmen images to play with. This gave me my first challenge of the new DT as I don't normally work with digis, but it was easier than I thought, and this little guy "Carl the Snowman" was easy to colour and also quite adorable!

Stamps: Robyn's Fetish digi "Carl The Snowman"; Whimsy ticket stamp;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on scarf and mittens;

Paper: unknown offcut from my stash;

Supplies: sparkly gems from The Hobby House; peel off greeting and sparkly ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large circle and lacy circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Ice Crystal" die; Martha Stewart "Aspen Snowflake" punch; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Crafty Catz #110 - Snowmen

Sundays With Crissy #23 - Christmas Card Using Non-Traditional Colours

Sweet Stampin' - Punches & Dies

Craft your Days Away #34 - Buttons or Bows

Dutch Dare #140 - Recipe

(I used ribbon, image, patttterned papers, layers and rhinestones!)

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant #127 - Photo Inspiration

Sketch Saturday #183 - Sketch

Looking forward to being on the I ♥ ProMarkers DT and to seeing your creations this week :-)

Penny Black Saturday #179 - Christmas with Red & Embossing

2011-11-26T08:00:00.038Z

Good morning all and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's challenge - those of you who are keeping up with our month of Christmas themed challenges should be getting to grips with your Chrimbo makes by now lol!

Before we get on to this week's challenge I need to offer a mahoosive congratulations to my teamies Helen and Nat, who have both won prizes in Cardmaking and Papercraft's Cardmaker of the Year 2011 .... full details here. In Helen's case her prize was in the Penny Black category - woo hoo!!

This week we are continuing with week 4 of our Christmas themed challenges, and would like to see

Christmas + Red + Embossing

This week's gorgeous prize for a randomly drawn winner is from Fantastic Ribbons,

and is 4 ribbon reels of the winner's choice - lovely!

There are loads of fab sample cards from the rest of the DT on the main challenge blog - here is my effort.

Stamps: Penny Black "Royal Mail" (3766J); sentiment unknown (I've lost the packet!!);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; polar white flowersoft with glamour dust on the snowy areas;

Papers: Dovecraft

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Crafts Too embossing folder "snowflakes".

Challenges:

Crafty Pad #148 - Festive Cheer (Red + green + gold or silver)

Kaboodle #94 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Fun With Shapes and More #97 - Cold As Ice

Deep Ocean #13 - C is for ...
(Christmas, cute, circles)
Pile It On #47 - Anything with a "P"
(Postbox, papers, pearls)
Charisma #46 - Snowflakes

Crazy 4 Challenges #115 - Snow
Totally Gorjuss #108 - Sparkle
Papertake Weekly - Christmas Crackers

The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way To Christmas

Scrapbook Sisters #61 - Christmas Time

Totally Papercrafts #94 - Christmas

Forever Friends (fortnight) - Christmas Is Coming

Penny Black & More at Allsorts - All Creatures Great & Small (3rd and final entry)

Creative Craft - Free For All

Hope you can join in with us this week - have a great weekend whether you're crafting or braving the Christmas shopping crowds :-)

Vintage Angel

2011-11-25T09:21:00.006Z

After I had finished some DT work last night I just had time to make a card with this sweet LotV angel which I had already coloured. I decided to go for a vintage look using some yummy papers by My Mind's Eye and a sketch I found over at Stamp With Fun. Here's the result.

Stamp: LotV "Little Trumpet";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: My Mind's Eye "Jolly Holly ";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; gems from The Hobby House; sentiment from Craftwork Cards; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Labels ? nestabilities; Memory Box "Frosty Winter border" die; punched panel was a freebie so don't know what it is!

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #122 - Anything Goes

I ♥ ProMarkers #93 - Anything Goes

My Mum's Craft Shop #33 - Things With Wings

Sparkles Christmas #10 - Angels (2nd entry)

Wags 'n' Whiskers #68 - Snow Angels

Flutterby Wednesday's #181 - Open (with butterfly, fairy or angel)

Everybody-Art #169 - Christmas Card

Little Red Wagon #108 - Christmas

Crafts & Me #62 - Shabby Chic / Vintage

Moving Along With The Times - Ribbons & Bows

Paper Sundaes #96 - Beautiful Bows

Stamp With Fun #138 - sketch

That's all for today - back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Silhouettes

2011-11-21T08:45:00.003Z

Just a very simple card today which I made for this week's Less Is More Challenge - Silhouettes.

I stamped this gorgeous silhouette wildlife scene by Crafty Individuals - this is another stamp I'm ashamed to say I've had for a long time (about 3 years I reckon!!) and has never seen ink until now! I cut it out and distressed it using Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire distress inks; then added a sentiment and another silhouette of two wildflower stamps - all by Lavinia Stamps ... job done!

Challenges:

Less Is More #42 - Silhouettes

Crafts & Me #61 - Simples!

Flutterby Wednesday's #180 - Open Theme (with butterfly)

Thanks for looking :-)

Two For The Price Of One

2011-11-20T11:17:00.002Z

After a whole week of not crafting due to a combo of work, not feeling well and trying to make a start on the Chrimbo shopping (don't remind me lol!), I finally managed to sit down yesterday for a really good craft session .... and it made me feel really as if I'd got my mojo back :-)

It's now getting to that time of year when panic starts to set in as I haven't made anywhere near enough Christmas cards; so when I get out a stamp, particular colours of pen and papers, I try to make two cards while I'm there. The general idea is that it doesn't take anywhere near twice as long to make two similar cards ... though yesterday's effort must have been the exception that proves that rule as it took me the best part of 4 hours to make these two! It was great fun though :-). I also made two cards so that I could enter both this fortnight's Wild Orchid Crafts challenge of brown and blue, and also a number of other Christmassy challenges that are around right now.

Both of the following cards have pretty much the same materials - the main differences are the sentiment and the fact that I have followed two different sketches.

Here's my first card.

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light" and Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and snowy ground;

Papers: My Mind's Eye "Holly Jolly";

Supplies: seam binding ribbon and flower from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from Crafts4U2Do; pearls from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #121 - A Christmas Card for Someone Special

CES #62 - Snowflakes

Moving Along With The Times #125 - Let It Snow

Craft Your Passion #84 - Let It Snow

Fab 'n' Funky #99 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Charisma #45 - Lace and Pearls

Bunny Zoe's Challenge #18 - Anything Christmas With Pearls

Deep Ocean #12 - Vintage

Sparkles #25 - Vintage Christmas
Challenge Up your Life #57 - Music (on the backing paper ;-) )

Southern Girls #32 - Embellishment Bingo

(lace, 3 patterned papers, glitter)

A Gem of A Challenge #34 - Sketch

... and here's my second card.

All materials the same as above except my sentiment is a Whimsy ticket stamp, with a peel off greeting coloured with Promarkers.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #36 - Brown and Blue

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Women Only

Sketch Saturday #182 - Sketch

That's all for today - I'm off out to brave the shopping crowds as I guess I can't keep putting it off forever!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend whatever you're doing. I'll be back tomorrow with a very different card - a very simple one for Less Is More :-)

Penny Black Saturday #178 - Christmas Green + Trees

2011-11-19T09:41:00.001Z

Good morning crafters, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Sorry I'm running a bit late today ... I've been a bit under the weather during the early part of the week but was feeling a bit more perkalicious last night, so I finally got round to making a card after dark ... and I've just photographed it ready to go!

So ... straight to business !! :-) Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's challenge and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week we are continuing with our month of Christmas themed challenges, and would like to see

Christmas + Green + Trees

As always you can interpret this any way you choose so long as you use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus on your project if you wish to be eligible for a prize ... and this week we have the following two fabby prizes for randomly drawn winners.

First from our lovely former teamie Carole

and secondly from our regular sponsor Penny Black Inc., this adorable wee mousey stamp.

The other ladies on the team all managed to get their fabulous Christmas trees decorated before mine .... but at last here it is!

I'm ashamed to say I've had this stamp for a year (or is it 2??) and I've never inked it up until now ... why?? Beats me! once I had the stamp in my hand I couldn't resist using a sheet of paper with strings of lights doodling across it ... so it kinda naturally followed that my hedgie's tree lights would end up the same colours lol! Unfortunately this is anotehr card which is incredibly sparkly in real life, but no way can I get that to show up in a photograph due to the poor light this morning (and the way our house faces not catching the sun!)

Stamps: Penny Black "lighting up" (3762K);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers, image and diecuts decorated with glamour dust;

Papers: Trimcraft "Christmas Joy";

Supplies: large pearl brad from The Hobby House; ribbon and sparkly gems from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Christmas Tree" (LR0136).

Challenges:

Sketch & Stash #74 - Sketch (rotated to the right)

I ♥ Promarkers #92 - Christmas Trees

My Time To Craft #166 - Take Two

(Christmas tree diecuts)

Penny Black & More At Allsorts - All Creatures Great & Small

(2nd entry - 1st PB card)

Winter Wonderland - Awww What A Cutie!

Truly Scrumptious #70 - Christmas + Pearls

ABC - D is for Dazzle

Creatalicious #28 - Christmas With Sparkle

Marianne's Design Divas #3 - Sparkle & Shine

Ooh-La-La #93 - Bingo!

(ribbon / diecut / sparkle)

Looking forward to seeing all your fabulous creations this week :-) Have a great weekend!

Penny Black Saturday #177 - Christmas Gold + Presents

2011-11-12T08:00:00.004Z

Good morning to you all, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Last week we gave you the chance to start really cracking on with those Christmas cards with our silver + snowflakes theme, and as aways you didn't disappoint with some fabulous entries.

This week we are continuing with our November month of Christmas challenges, and this time the theme is

Gold + Christmas presents

We also have a fabulous prize on offer for a randomly drawn winner, in the shape of a $20 online store voucher from our sponsor 1-2-3 Stitch.

Don't forget in order to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work with a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

The rest of the DT have provided some inspirational samples as always - this is what I did.

I have to admit I was struggling with this theme at first, as I didn't think I had any PB Christmas stamps available which included gifts ... nor any gold papers or ribbons! After a bit of a trawl I remembered I had this adorable little hedgie dozing by his Chrimbo stocking,a nd I also found the remnants of an old paper pad with gold foil patterns on it. I alsod ecided to go for a change from my usual method of glittering wtih glamour dust, and glittered the fur cuff ont eh stocking with Pee Wee Art Glitter in "crystal" - it gives a fine but slightly denser coverage than glamour dust which I think works very well with fur :-)

Stamps: Penny Black transparent set "Christmas Critters";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; stocking decorated with Pee Wee Art Glitter in "crystal";

Papers: Papermania "A Silent Night";

Supplies: flowers from Prima Christmas bubble; gems from The Hobby House; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; brads, spacers and ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

CRAFT #128 - Cute

Christmas Inspirations #36 - Bows
Crimbo Crackers #2 - Make It Sparkle

Daring Cardmakers - Bejewelled
Penny Black Blog Challenge - Enhance Your Image With Gem Accents
Totally Gorjuss #106 - Christmas Traditions (Santa's stocking!)

Have a great weekend and hope you can join in this week.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

2011-11-11T11:00:00.027Z

We will remember them.

(Laurence Binyon, "For The Fallen").

Today is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day), a day originally set aside to commemorate the signing of the Armistice at the end of the First World War in 1918, but today an occasion to remember the sacrifice of the fallen in many conflicts around the world. This year is a once-in-a-lifetime Remembrance Day, as it falls at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year - 11-11-11-11.

I have made a card today to enter into some challenges that are marking this occasion. I will be at work this morning, but am scheduling this post for 11:00am. I will pause at that time to remember all those who gave their lives or were injured in conflicts over the years so that we can live today in a democracy.

Stamps: poppy from Penny Black transparent set "flowers and wishes"; sentiment from PB transparent set "hugs!";

Media: Promarkers;

Supplies: ribbon and tiny heart gems from my stash.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Photo inspiration (poppy field)

Cute Card Thursday # 190 - Red is for Remembrance

Less Is More #40 - Red & Orange

Creative Craft - Minimalist

My Partner In Crafting Crime #35 - Use A Freebie

(I won the transparent set of stamps including the poppy)

Thanks very much for visiting today. I'll be back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Christmas Angel

2011-11-10T07:31:00.003Z

Good morning - here we are again with (surprise ... surprise ...!!) another Christmas card! For today's card I have used this darling LotV angel stamp which I bought last month at Port Sunlight.

I managed to find some very girly Christmas papers with delicate stars in pastel colours, which I hope tie in quite nicely with the little stars on the image :-) I really do think this particular image is just soooo pretty !!

Stamps: LotV "Little Trumpet";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Stickles on angel wings and flowers;

Papers: Kaisercraft;

Supplies: ribbon from Hobbycraft; lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; flowers by Sweet Lilac; sparkly gems from The Hobby House; small wooden star from John Lewis; peel off greeting from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Bauble/Star" (LR0183).

Challenges:

Sparkles Christmas #10 - Angels

Colour Create #83 - Turquoise, Deep Pink & Ivory

The RIbbon Reel #14 - Hot Pink, Turquoise and Cream
My Time To Craft #165 - Sun, Moon and Stars

Secret Crafter #159 - Flowers, Ribbon and Lace
Marianne's Design Divas - Dying To Die Cut (3rd entry)

Papertake Weekly - Christmas

Totally Gorjuss #105 - Sketch

This is the last of the cards I made in my mega crafting sesh. I haven't done any crafting this week as I've had a bit of an upset tummy, but touch wood I'm feeling quite a bit better now so hope to be back with some more cards by the weekend :-) Thanks for visiting.

All Things Bright and Sparkly

2011-11-08T08:40:00.004Z

Hi there and hope you are all well. Today I would like to share another card I made at the weekend using one of my latest LotV Christmas stamps. The whole concept of this one was to tie in to the theme of bright and sparkly over at this week's LotV challenge.

I had so much fun with this, cutting out trees and snowflake flourishes from glitter card and dusting glamour dust around ... again the pic was taken in a fiarly poor winter light but I can tell you that irl this card is REALLY sparkly !!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and snow;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: gems from The Hobby House; Craftwork Cards sentiment; button from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "Christmas Tree" (LR0136); Memory Box "Frosty Border" die.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #119 - Bright & Sparkly

Marianne's Design Divas #2 - Dying To Die Cut (2nd entry)

Simon Says - Buttons

PaperPlay #44 - Button up!

Crafty Calendar (November) - Winter Wardrobe

Top Tip Tuesday #59 - Anything Christmas Goes

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Use Your Favourite Sketch Challenge (see below)

Sketch Saturday #180 - sketch

At last I'm starting to make some real inroads into my Christmas card makes, though it's still a long way to go!! ...

A Cutesy Day At The Zoo

2011-11-07T08:35:00.009Z

Good morning everyone - here's another card I made during my Saturday craftathon. I really do think this Wild Rose Studio stamp is totally adorable :-) Unfortunately the light wasn't great when I was taking the pic so it is a little dark ... but I guess that's winter for you!

I have been entering the Penny Black At Allsorts monthly challenges since they started, and have spotted that they have now opened up the challenges to other makes of stamps ... so I am entering this card for the November challenge. Feels really weird entering a card that doesn't have a Penny Black stamp on it ... but as they allow three entries per challenge I'm sure I'll be back with a PB card before the month is over !! ;-)

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle With Sledge";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

Supplies: gems from The Hobby house; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Cuttlebug "ice crystal" cut 'n' emboss set; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:
Penny Black & More at Allsorts (November) - All Creatures Great & Small

Passion For Promarkers #124 - A Day At The Zoo

Fun With Shapes & More #95 - Animalistic Christmas
CES #60 - Song Or Film
("March of the Penguins")
Charisma #44 - Cutesy!

Card Makin' Mamas #32 - Cut It Out (die cuts)
Cuttlebug Spot - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling (3rd entry)

Thanks for looking!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

2011-11-06T10:18:00.003Z

Just a quick post this morning as I'm going to be out and about all day. Yesterday I managed a fairly mega crafting session and made a grand total of 4 cards which is mahoosive for me (yep ... I'm a very slow worker lol!).

This is the first one, which I made to catch the end of two challenges - Wild Orchid Crafts and Sketch and Stash. I know there are those who may say that Santa isn't a teddy bear, but here's what I say ... I don't have much in the way of stamps with an old fashioned Santa on, and in any case when it comes to Santa it's a matter of what you believe lol!! .. and last but not least, if you look very closely you will see that one of the images on my background paper is actually Santa (he is just about disappearing off the edge of the paper, and his little helpers must be hiding behind the other papers :-) lol!)

Stamps: Forever Friends Santa bear; LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Copics, glamour dust on coat and ground;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

Supplies: Flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; Ribbon by Papermania; pearls from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #35 - Santa Claus is Coming To Town!

Really Reasonable Ribbon #35 - Christmas

Sketch & Stash #73 - Sketch

(old stash is the stamp and ribbon, new stash is the flowers)

Gotta dash - enjoy the rest of your weekend :-)

Penny Black Saturday #176 - A Christmas Theme

2011-11-05T08:00:00.002Z

Hi there, and welcome to aother Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's challenge - brilliant interpretations of Nat's sketch :-)

This week we are starting the countdown to Christmas, with the first of a month of Christmas-themed challenges. So no excuse not to press ahead with your Chrimbo cards ... and this week we are kicking off with

Silver + Snowflakes

As always you can interpret this however you choose, so long as you use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of our project if you would like to be entered for this week's prize.

And we have not one but THREE prizes this week for lucky randomly drawn winners.

Firstly - from

One cute stamp each for two winners:

and

and from

this yummy Snowflake ribbon kit

So what are you waiting for? The other ladies on the team have made some beautiful samples this week .. here is my effort.

Stamps: Penny Black "joy hope" (3898F); Snowflake swirl edging by Inkadinkado;

Media: stamps embossed with silver embossing powder;

Papers: Craft Creations;

Supplies: gems, silver ribbon and large sparkly brad from my stash;

Tools: Spellbinders "Make a Flake 2" Shapeabilities; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" PATP.

Challenges:

Winter Wonderland - Make Your Card Sparkle
Corrosive #136 - With A Flourish

Stamptacular #136 - Borders & Frames

Craft Your Passion #82 - Bingo!

(Punch / Sentiment / Bling)

Stamp With Stampavie #155 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling (2nd entry)

Pollycraft Monday #117 - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #19 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #107 - Anything Goes

Crimbo Crackers #1 - Anything Goes
Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend.

Girly Christmas

2011-11-02T23:25:00.002Z

After I finished my DT work last night, I managed to make an addtional card with one of the images I pre-coloured last week. I chose this particular image as the colours tied in with some old BasicGrey paper I sought out especially, so that I could enter this fortnight's BasicGrey Challenge!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light";

Media: image coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers, and decorated with glamour dust;

Papers: BasicGrey "Figgy Pudding" (background snowflake and poinsetta papers); Magnolia (songsheet):

Supplies: sentiment by Craftwork Cards; flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (decorated with Stickles); dark red gems from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

By The Cute & Girly (November) - Christmas Girls

I ♥ Promarkers #90 - Glitter & Glitz

Creative Inspirations #136 - Lashings of Sparkle

Crafter's Companion #18 - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

A Gem of A Challenge #33 - Cold & Frosty

ABC Christmas - V is for Vintage

Crafts & Me #59 - Let The Music Move You!

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling!

BasicGrey #56 - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

That's all for now - thanks for visiting.

Christmas Candy - We have a winner!

2011-10-30T17:52:00.000Z

Good afternoon all, and thanks so much to everyone who took the time to enter for my Christmas candy. I have spent the last half hour fiddling around with random.org to pick a winner .... I can do that easily enough, but alas I have to say that displaying the selection widget and results online has proven to be too challenging for me, even after googling how to do it as best I can (any advice welcome for future occasions!)

So .... unfortunately you will just have to believe me when I say I used random.org and have generated the following number ....

and that's you Tracy!

Congratulations!

Please email me hun to claim your prize within seven days and I will get it in the post to you; otherwise I will draw another winner.

Thanks again for all your entries.

Hugs

Penny Black Saturday #175 - Nat's sketch

2011-10-29T08:00:00.003+01:00

Good morning, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week - how adorable were your spooky cards??

We know you all love sketches, so this week we have got a brilliant one from our teamie Nat.

Plenty of scope for you to make some fabulous creations with this one - can't wait to see what you create!

This week's prize for one randomly drawn winner is 4 rolls of ribbon of the winner's choice from Fantastic Ribbons - woo hoo!

Don't forget to be eligible for this yummy prize you need to submit a new piece of work with a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

All the rest of the DT have really rocked this sketch - this is what I did.

Stamps: Penny Black "Cheesecake Wish" (1652J); Whimsy ticket from "Friendship sentiment tickets" set; sentiment from Penny Black "Party Critters" transparent set;

Media: Copics (fur); Promarkers (flower); stickles on image and flowers;

Papers: ??

Supplies: flowers from Hobbycraft (large rose); Wild Orchid Crafts (cherry blossoms); Sweet Lilac (the rest); lace from The Ribbon Box; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: small, large and lacy circles nestabilities; Marianne D creatables dies LR0130 "Designer Doily" and LR0150 "branch forest"; cuttlebug embossing folder "birds and swirls" (on doily).

Challenges:

Marianne's Design Divas - Dying to Die Cut

Totally Papercrafts #90 - Glitter It!

Simon Says - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Scrapbook Sisters #58 - Anything Goes

Charisma #43 - Anything Goes

Have a great weekend, and hope you can join us this week.

WRS Candy Showcase - and a reminder

2011-10-27T18:44:00.002+01:00

I'm currently offering some Christmas candy until midnight Saturday (details of how to enter are here) ... so I thought I would make a card using my version of the adorable Wild Rose Studio Pickle stamp (my candy winner will of course get brand new one!)

I actually coloured a few images from this stamp - he suits both contemporary and traditional colour schemes. Here he is in a vibrant funky colour scheme of lilac and green (made specially for the Ribbon Girl colour challenge !! :-) ).

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sledge"; LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Medium: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Pickle's hat decorated with Polar White flowersoft mixed with glamour dust;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: sparkly gems from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake Border" die from Dies To Die For.

Challenges:

The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way To Christmas!

The Ribbon Girl #12 - Lilac and Green

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Sparkly!

Ooh-La-La #91 - Let It Snow!

Secret Crafter #157 - Wrap Up Warm

Christmas Card Challenge #47 - Recipe: 2 DP's 1 ribbon and a bird

Simon Says - Anything Goes
(with optional use of Bo Bunny)

Here's a close up of my fabulous new Memory Box die - when I bought it last week I also received some little die cuts of others in the range (no doubt to tempt me to further purchases lol!) and they really are amazingly intricate. This pic also tries to capture some of the sparkle of the glitter card ... the whole card is very sparkly but alas the poor light hasn't shown that up at all well.

And talking of candy .... Charmed Cards and Crafts is giving away this absolutely AMAZING mega candy here .... you don't want to miss this!!

They are asking people to follw their blog and link back to one of your own projects where you have coloured an image - well this card shows an image of mine coloured using my latest pens - I'm quite pleased with the blending :-)

That's all for today - hope you will hop over to my candy post and enter. Thanks for visiting.

A little Christmas Candy

2011-10-23T12:00:00.001+01:00

This candy is now closed & a winner has been drawn - thanks to everyone who took the time to enter.

About a month ago I offered a little candy as part of the Oldie But A Goodie blog hop. I wasn't able to select my winner immediately at the end of the blog hop as I was on holiday, but did so in my next OBAG post when I got back. Unfortunately the prize wasn't claimed ... and I have now left the OBAG DT due to some upcoming family commitments.

So ... I have decided to offer this candy again - it consists of

1 * Wild Rose Studio stamp - Pickle with Sledge

1 * Dovecraft Christmas paper pack

2 * packs of Christmas poinsettas by Sweet Lilac

The rules are quite simple ....

1. Mention my candy on your blog (sidebar is fine) with a link back to this post

2. leave your name in Mr Linky

3. leave a comment and/or become a follower if you like what you see on my blog (but this isn't necessary to be entered in the draw)

I will leave this candy open for 1 week, until midnight GMT on Saturday 29th October. I will draw a random winner on Sunday 30th October.

Good luck!

Seeing Stars With LotV

2011-10-23T10:34:00.003+01:00

After I had finished my DT work on Thursday night, I managed to make a Christmas card with this adorable image that I had coloured earlier - it is one of the two LotV stamps I bought at Port Sunlight

:-)

It struck me as being particularly appropriate for this week's Passion For Promarkers challenge theme of Stars, so I piled on the star patterned paper, teeny star gems and these gorgoues little sparkly wooden embellishments I found when I was out shopping in John Lewis (they also had li'l Christmas trees in store, and when i have just been onto their website there are all sorts of other dinky Christmas embellishments on there as well!!)

Stamps: Lili of the Valley "Little Trumpet";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; angel wings and stars dusted with glamour dust;

Papers: Forever Friends Christmas; white pearlescent card embossed with Cuttlebug "Christmas stars" folder;

Supplies: star embellishments from John Lewis; "Joy" charm from The Hobby House; Papermania teeny star gems; ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

I used the gorgeous sketch from this fortnight's A Gem of a Challenge #32 (rotated 90 degrees)

Lili of the Valley #117 - Bingo! (Gems / Charms / Emboss)

Charisma #42 - Embossing

Simon Says - Inspired by Rhymes / Fairy Tales

("Twinkle Twinkle Little Star")

Passion For Promarkers #122 - Stars

I ♥ ProMarkers #88 - Ain't It Cute!

Top Tip Tuesday #56 - Layer It

ABC Christmas - U is For Unused Stash

(brand new stamp and neglected starry paper)

Totally Gorjuss #103 - Pastel Christmas

Our Creative Corner - Fabulous Faces

Flutterby Wednesday #176 - Open Challenge

(with fairy, angel or butterfly)

I really do need to get down to some more serious Christmas card making ... if I could make about 40 more like this I'd be well on the way lol!

Penny Black Saturday #174 - Too Cute To Spook!

2011-10-22T08:00:00.004+01:00

Woo hoo! ( or should I say woooooooh!!) It's Saturday, and that means that it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge! Thanks as always to everyone who joined in last week's challenge - adorable entries as always!

It's coming up to that time of year when ghosts and ghoulies are out and about, so we thought we should have a theme to make you hide behind the sofa ... but then we decided to be kind so this week's theme is

Too Cute To Spook!

So it's time to bring out all those cute Hallowe'en stamps and take them over to the dark side lol!

This week's prize is this totally adorable and apt stamp - "Frightful Flight"

Aww!

Don't forget to be eligible for this bundle of cuteness you should submit a new project that features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stckeroo as its main focus.

The other DT ladies have produced the most adorable selection of not-at-all-scary Hallowe'en cards ... here's mine.

I do struggle a bit with Hallowe'en cards as I don't have a great many supplies (3 stamps to be exact, and no specialist dies or punches) ... so I tend to keep them simple. But as luck would have it, earlier in the year I spotted this scrumptious paper in a nearby craft shop and just knew it would be perfect for a Hallowe'en card - I was well chuffed!! :-) The paper is double sided, so I used the plain side as my outer square and background stamped it with a rather large PB spider's web! I don't have any Hallowe'en sentiments, but luckily I had this one stamped out from last year, sent to me by the lovely Domi!

Stamps: Penny Black "Witchy Mouse" (2253K), "halloween web" (3902K), "Trick or Treat.." (1906E);

Media: Copics (fur), Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: The Robin's Nest;

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; sparkly lace, ribbon and spider's web peel offs from my stash.

Challenges

Sparkles #22 - Hallowe'en

Dream Valley #18 - Hallowe'en

Stamp With Stampavie #154 - Hallowe'en

Allsorts #126 - Hallowe'en

Paper Sundaes #91 - Hallowe'en or Fall

Craft your Days Away #31 - Hallowe'en Colours

PaperPlay #42 - Use Black

Papertake Weekly - Spooky Hues

Hooked on Craft #10 - Something Spooky!

Stampin' For The Weekend #19 - Spooky!

Creative Card Crew - Spooky Fun

Crafty Cardmakers #54 - Cute With A Dark Twist

ABC - B is for Boo

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that I have managed to find 13 challenges for my card to enter - now that really is spooky! Let's hope it's lucky for some lol!

Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend!

Sorry to leave :-(

2011-10-18T23:00:00.000+01:00

After giving it much thought over the past couple of weeks, I am very sad to report that I have decided to step down from the DT on An Oldie But A Goodie challenge ... I have really enjoyed working with all the lovely ladies on the team and I think it is a brilliant challenge concept; but I have a bit of uncertainty coming up in the next few weeks due to close family health issues, and I'm not sure how much impact that might have on my availability for crafting. That being the case I have decided to scale back my commitments for the time being, so I can concentrate during any craft time I do have available on getting any necessary birthday and Chrimbo cards done, using in quite a few cases (whisper it quietly!!) a few stamps that are less than six months old lol!

I will still be on the DT for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge as that was my first love .... but I will really miss the OBAG girls and wish them all the best with the challenge and their own crafty projects {{{group hug }}}.

That's all for now.
Hugs
Pauline x

Penny Black Saturday #173 - On The Move

2011-10-15T08:00:00.004+01:00

Good morning and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who rocked our age challenge last week - brilliant entries as always, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This week's challenge is

On The Move

Perhaps you will want to show an image that includes transport (cute critter with cars, bicylcles etc!), or perhaps a card with a moving part - or even a New Home card. You can interpret the theme however you want, so long as you include a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your new project.

This week's prize is an adorable PB stamp from our lovely former teamie Carole, called "Roses on the Run".

The rest of the team have really got moving this week ....do go check out their lovely projects. I felt as if I w as running along behind as I struggled a bit to work out what I would do (I don't have any cute PB critters in cars or riding bicycles!!). Eventually however I settled on a New Home card, and chose this sweet image of a hedgie peeping out of a plant pot which he has quite clearly moved into lol! As it so happens a lady I'm friendly with in work moved house last week, so I was able to find a new & good home for the card straight away :-). It now turns out that our teamie Beth is also getting the key of her new house today - that's either a spooky coincidence or synchronicity lol!

Here's the result of my efforts.

Stamps: Penny Black hedgies from transparent set "hugs"; LotV sentiment circle;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Prima "Botanical" (includes the sweet little postcard!);

Supplies: flowers by Sweet Lilac and Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls by Wild Orchid Crafts; key charm from Quixotic Paperie; lace and ribbon from my stash;

As you can see, having remembered I had these gorgeous key charms to give Nat the "key of the door" last week, I got on a bit of a roll and decided to give the recipient of this one the key of the new door!!

Challenges

The Paper Shelter #35 - Animals

The Stamp Man - Circle it!

Totally Gorjuss #102 - Bingo! (Lace / Ribbon / Bow)
One Stitch At A Time #83 - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend!

Fall Into Autumn With Fizzy Moon

2011-10-13T22:16:00.001+01:00

I don't generally use autumnal colours much in my crafting, but as there are so many autumn-themed challenges around right now I thought I'd better give it a go. It also gave me the opportunity to use one of the dleightful new Fizzy Moon stamps I bought at Port Sunlight from Jill at The Hobby House, as the large flowers are suitable for any colour scheme - not to mention a ticket stamp and some paper I bought from Jill too :-)

Stamps: Fizzy Moon "With Love"; Whimsy blank ticket stamp; See-D "Celebrations" birthday greeting;

Media: Promarkers, Copics, and TH distress inks in Dried Marigold and Vintage Photo;

Papers: unknown (floral); BasicGrey (plain) and Prima "Botanicals" (script);

Supplies: lace gifted from Dawny P; flowers from Sweet Lilac and Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: Fleur-de-lys square nestabilities; Tim Holtz distressing tool on paper edges.

Challenges:

I ♥ ProMarkers #87 - Autumn Colours

Stampin' For The Weekend #18 - Colours of Autumn

Deep Ocean #10 - Fall Colours

Crafts & Me #56 - Include Orange
Fussy & Fancy - Hallowe'en or Fall

Bunny Zoe's Crafts #17 - Lace It Up

Stamptacular #133 - So Distressing

Crafty Pad #142 - Vintage

Allsorts #124 - Bear With Us

Totally Papercrafts #87 - Animals

Papertake Weekly - Get In Shape (square, rectangle, ticket)

Sketch Saturday #176 - sketch

I noticed after I had done all my colouring etc. that somehow some of my distres ink had splodged onto the corner of my backing paper ... and as it was a birthday gift it was the only piece I had! Oopsie!! Since I took the pic I have improvised with a couple of gold corner peel offs in the bottom left and top right-hand corners ;-)

Sunlight and Snow

2011-10-11T19:42:00.000+01:00

I had a happy afternoon on Saturday wandering around the stalls at the Happy Stampers North West craft fair at Port Sunlight.

By far my biggest splurge was with Jill on the Hobby House stall where I worked on a “needs and wants” basis – ie. I visited early to buy the things I “need” such as Neenah card and a whole variety of pearls, gems and charms ... and then I called back later for my “wants” in the form of some Whimsy ticket stamps, a couple of sweet Fizzy Moon stamps and two yummy paper pads!

I also managed to call by the Lili of the Valley stall where I had a nice little chat with the lovely Dawny P, and I was really good as I managed to come away from there with only two stamps in my basket (how did that happen lol??!!).

Finally I said hello to the lovely Jayne from Stamposaurus, who had given me very quick and personalised service when I NEEDED a new set of newly released Flexmarkers to arrive quickly before my holiday .. she had an excellent show offer on including a couple of free Ellie stamps, and when I mentioned I must have been her first phone order on the day of release she very kiudly let me have one free Ellie stamp - fab!

However I couldn’t wait to start inking my LotV purchases (even though I realised when I got home that I was out of EZMount and had never thought to buy any at the fair – doh!).

Here’s the resulting card I made for this week’s LotV challenge – very pleased as this stamp is actually not too intricate and therefore reasonably quick to colour :-). I deliberately chose the papers to fit with the theme at Paper Sundaes of “favourite colour combo”. Mine is pink and green – admittedly I would normally use more pastel shades, but the concept is still there!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light" and "Christmas Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, glamour dust and a li’l bit of polar white Flowersoft forming snow on the ground;

Papers: Wild Rose Studio “Milton’s Christmas”;

Supplies: sparkly gems and large gem brad from The Hobby House; pearls and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart “eyelet lace” punch; Marianne D “miniature poinsettas”.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #115 – Let It Snow

Wild Rose Studio – Festive Frolics (+ blog hop!)

Paper Sundaes #90 – Favourite Colour Combo (Pink & Green)

Jingle Belles – I’m Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Marianne’s Design Divas #2 – Bloom & Grow (2nd entry)

Top Tip Tuesday #55 – Use DP’s & Make Your Own Flowers

Simon Says – Sparkle & Bling (3rd entry)

Pretty Little Ribbon (October) – Anything Goes

By The Cute & Girly (October) – Anything Goes (+ blog hop!)

Sketch & Stash #72

Well that's me done for today - off to catch up with some ironing now, but hope to colour some images later :-)