Penny Black Challenge #86 - Someone Special

Good afternoon everyone ... sorry I'm rather late today - I only managed to make this DT card this morning!! So I guess I'd better get straight down to business, and tell you about this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge #86.

The theme this week is

Someone Special

As always you can interpret this however you like so long as you use at least one Penny Black stamp or sticker on your creation.

This week's prize is a fabulous LIFETIME discount 15% voucher from our regular sponsor, Dick at

So without further ado, here's my card.

As I was so behind with everything I was able to follow the sketch for this week's Friday Sketchers #87.


I would also like to enter this card for the following other challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers #13 - Hearts & Romance
Cute Card Thursday #97 - Blooming Gorgeous (2nd entry)
Fussy & Fancy #3 - Hearts
Secret Crafter #68 - Hearts

Recipe:
Main image; Penny Black "Teddy & Co." transparent set, coloured with watercolour pencils and edged with aqua and green Versamagic chalk inks;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Teddy & Co.";
Papers: My Mind's Eye (free with this month's Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine);
Supplies: Prima, Woodware & Papermania flowers; spacer from The Hobby House; Doodlebug sugar coated brad; pearl spray, pearls and charm from my stash;
Tools: "Labels 3" nestabilities; Martha Stewart "Valentine lace" edge punch and "scallop lace heart" punch.

Looking forward to seeing all your creations this week. Don't forget to check whether you have won last week's prize, and to cehck out the other DT members' fab creations.

Have a great weekend.

Roses Grow on You - & sweet 17

I've had a few things going on this week, which means I'm moving towards the end of the week feeling a tad sleep-deprived and my mojo has been all over the place!! Not managed to do too much crafting, but luckily I managed to make one card which fits quite a lot of challenges :-) In fact I reckon I've managed 17 ... so I've beaten my personal record - yay!


First of all, I followed the fab sketch over at Papertake Weekly #33

I really love this adorable LotV teddy with bouquet (waiting right now for the postie to come with my new LotV stamps ... can't wait!!) and meanwhile this stamp just had to have an outing. I'm also currently loving my Papermania "Blueberry Hill" paper pad ... even though it's not newly released, I bought it for the first time this week. I've also suddenly discovered paper roses - now I know I've not exactly been quick out of the blocks on this one ... but I'm suddenly seeing and buying them in all sorts of places lol!!

I think I also managed to complete the following challenges:

BasicGrey #12 - Animals ... now I bet you're wondering where there's any BasicGrey items on this card .... hmmm? Well actually there are two ... the butterfly is cut from BG "Two Scoops" pink paper, and all the pearls on the card are BG "Opaline" demi-perles.
Die Cut Dreams #32 - Bears
Just Cute Bears Challenge #1 - One for the Girls
Creative Inspirations #45 - Feminine!
Pile It On #3 - Warm Wishes
Crafty Creations #52 - Celebrate!
Raise the Bar #2 - The Gift that Keeps On Giving. I chose my image both for the bear challenges, and also because it was part of my "Secret Santa" Christmas gift from a crafty friend :-)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #51 - Inspired by the letter P. That would be Papermania paper, pink, pearls and petals.
A Spoon Full of Sugar #88 - Freestyle (anything goes)
Cute Card Thursday #97 - Blooming Gorgeous!
Dutch Dare #70 - Summer in Winter
My Time to Craft #76 - Elegant Rose
Quixotic #11 - Flutter By
Flutterby Wednesdays #94 - butterfly, fairy or angel
Your Next Stamp #8 - Anything That Sparkles
Cooking It Up With Katie #9 - "non human" image + texture + a product you've never used before. My texture is from the Stickles, and my new products are the roses and white pearly flower.


Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Teddy with bouquet", coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with Stickles;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: Papermania "Blueberry Hill"; BasicGrey "Two Scoops" (pink butterfly);
Supplies: Pink/cream roses from John Lewis, decorated with Stickles; white satin/pearl flower from Edwin Allen; BasicGrey "Opaline" demi-perles;
Tools: Martha Stewart large monarch butterfly punch; large circles, small circles and large classic scalloped circles nestabilities.

I think I may be taking a couple of days' break from crafting and blogging to recover from the stresses of the past few days ... but I hope I may get chance to play over the weekend :-)

Sugar Bowl #27 - Kathy's sketch

A last minute entry from me for this fortnight's Sugar Bowl #27 - following Kathy's fab sketch and also incorporating the "added extra" of distressing.
I rotated the sketch by 90 degrees to the right, and incorporated distressing by using my new-ish X-Cut distressing tool ... wouldn't go so far as to say I've really got the hang of it but all my paper edges are definitely looking a bit battered - apart from the ones that are looking smudged with chalk ink, that is!!


Recipe:
Main image: Sugar Nellie GG "Just a Girl", coloured with watercolour pencils and edges sponged with Versamagic chalk ink;
Sentiment: Whiff of Joy;
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria", with all edges distressed;
Supplies: curly petal rose from Hobbycraft (edged wtih Stickles); pearls and dragonfly brad from my stash;
Tools: "Labels 4" nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Hoping to have a crafty sesh this evening so maybe I'll be back with another card tomorrow :-)

Penny Black Challenge #85 - Something Sweet

Good morning and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's blue, cream and gold challenge - sorry I didn't manage to get round to look at everyone's entries but I'm sure they were all fab as usual ... will try harder this week!! As always, don't forget to check to see if you are last week's prizewinner!

This week's challenge is

Something Sweet

Now you might like to interpret this as a cake or confectionery based image, or maybe just sweet and adorable image or colours! You can interpret the challenge however you like and make whatever you want, so long as we can see one or more Penny Black stamps or stickers on it!

And talking of sweet .. what a fab prize we have this week, donated by our very own Carole ... it's this darling set of Popcorn stamps called "Smile" - it's enough to make you smile just looking at them!


The other DT members have all been busy creating sweet but calorie-free confections ... and here's mine.

I followed the wonderful sketch from this week's Lili of the Valley Challenge #45 - I'm so excited about their new stamps coming out on Monday, and am keeping everything crossed that this card might win some :-)

I would also like to enter this card for

Simon Says - Punch It (2nd entry!) ... I had hoped to make a DT call card specifically, but not sure whether I'm going to get chance before Tuesday.

Quixotic #10 - Ink Up an Old Stamp ... well I'm enbarrassed to admit that I ahve had this set for months (if not a year!) and have never inked up this image before!!

Totally Gorjuss - Dimension! ... I hope the layered flowers and flittering butterfly qualify :-)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black transparent set "Birthday Critters", coloured wtih watercolour pencils, edges sponged with Colorbox Q pigment ink, and cake decorated with stickles;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";
Paper: Papermania "Blueberry Hill";
Supplies: lace from Quixotic Paperie; flowers by Woodware and Prima; large pearl brad by Paper Company Studio; small pearl brad and large spacer from The Hobby House; pink ribbon from my stash;
Tools: small circle, large circle and large classic scalloped circle nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash branch" punch; X-Cut medium butterfly punch.

Hope you're all having a great weekend whatever you're doing.

Sundae bells

A fairly quick fun card from me this evening which just filled an hour last night after I had got my DT stuff sorted.

I'm really loving the new ABC Christmas Challenge, and am hoping that it will encourage me to be a bit more organised this year! This fortnight's challenge is B is for Bells ... this could have been a tough one for me as I don't have any images of bells ... but I DO have this cute reindeer pup image (reindeer ... sleigh .... bells ... yeah??) AND these incredibly cute little jingle bell charms (they do actually jingle - yay!) which I won from my fab friend Helen as part of this challenge's blog hop launch candy :-). The gorgeous candy package Helen sent me also included the ribbon on this card and the card candy ... all I needed to do was supply a sentiment and some green and red paper - yippee!!

I also followed the brilliant sketch for the first Paper Sundaes Challenge,


... and would like to enter this card for

Secret Crafter #66 - Musical
Double Dutch #35 - Baby It's Cold Outside! (I'm assuming the scene on this card is taking place at the North pole lol!!
Fussy & Fancy #2 - WinterSimon Says - Punch It!
Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "reindeer pup" coloured with watercolour pencils;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: from stash;
Supplies: ribbon, bell charms and card candy from Helen :-) ;
Tools: large classic scalloped rectangle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "scalloped dot" edge punch.

Well, that's me still on track for one Chrimbo card per week during 2010 :-) Back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge for you!

Creative Card Crew #43 - first DT card

I was absolutely thrilled when Paula asked me to join the DT of Creative Card Crew following from their DT call - all the ladies on the DT make some fabulous inspiring creations so it is very exciting to join the team.

This fortnight the challenge theme is

Punch It

What a fabulous opportunity to pull out all those hand, corner and/or edge punches to make your creations look pretty!

And to get your creative juices flowing we have a fab prize for you from our sponsor Sunshine Stamps - 3 digital images of the winner's choice!

The DT members have been busy making some fabulous projects to inspire you - hope you will pop over to their blogs to check them out. And don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see whether you have won the prize for the last challenge.

Here's my first DT card .....


There was definitely something spooky going on here, as I found out I had been selected for the DT the day after I ordered 2 gorgeous new Martha Stewart punches. Unfortunately due to the adverse weather conditions the post wasn't getting through, and it took my precious parcel a week and a half to arrive ... but luckily it turned up in the nick of time so I was able to "punch my weight", so to speak, in the DT stakes. In fact, I think I've gone a little bit punch-tastic! lol!!

I'd also like to enter this card for the following challenges:

A Spoon Full of Sugar #87 - Lots of Layers
One Stop Craft Challenge #63 - Fancy Edges or Corners
Incy Wincy #26 - Colour Me Wonderful (fave medium - watercolours)
Crafty Cardmakers #12 - What's new? (MS punches)
Charisma Cardz 10 #2 - Anything New
Flutterby Wednesdays #92 - butterfly, angel or fairy
Paper Play - furry friends
Stamping Vacation - Pick 3! I chose spring colours (pink & pale green), a butterfly, and a card for no specific occasion.

Edited: I've just found 2 new challenges:

Raise the Bar - Debut Day
Sophisticats #18 - Spring

Their challenges were open before I posted this card so I hope it's ok to enter ... and I've added them to my sidebar for future weeks :-) I am of course debuting my fab new MS punches, and this card is full of spring colours, and butterflies and flowers in the garden :-)!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Dream a dream" (3615H), coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with silver gems;
Sentiment: from "The Stampman" "Flutterby Dreams" set;
Papers: BasicGrey "Porcelain";
Supplies: pastel pearl brads and spacers from The Hobby House; silver holographic card, "ice gold" white pearlised card and pink glitter card from my stash;
Tools: Martha Stewart "garden trellis" deep edge punch and "large monarch butterfly" punch; X-Cut small and medium "flower head" punches; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch; Fiskars paper cutter "deckle" blade.

I'm really looking forward to working with the rest of the CCC DT, and to seeing your punched creations.

Penny Black Challenge #84 - colour combo

Well, another week of struggling through the snow and ice is over - hope you've all made it through safe and warm to the weekend, where it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's sketch challenge - Nat's sketches were fab, and so were your interpretations. Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to see who has won last week's prize :-)

This week we have a colour combo for you - yes, we would like to see projects using the colour scheme

Blue, cream & gold

As always you can interpret this however you like, so long as we can see at least one Penny Black image or sticker on your creation.

Our DT is little short-handed at the moment due to various reasons ... our love is with our teamies who can't be with us at the moment. Those of us who are still in the saddle have been busy again making some samples for you, so please do pop over to my fellow teamies' blogs to have a lookee.

This week we have another brilliant prize for you- it is this funky PB stamp "Sisterhood" donated by our very own Carole - how fab is that?


Here's my card for this week.

I struggled slightly to start with this week, not least because due to the weather I wasn't able to get out to a craft shop to get any supplies I was short of .... and I didn't have much in the way of papers in these colours. After a bit of delving I did find these two K&Co papers however :-) and really the whole card stemmed from that.

Here's the inside ...



I would also like to enter this card as my second entry into this week's Simon Says Challenge - Shabby Chic. I have tried to go for a fairly antique look with the bleached out pale gold ink, lace, distressed looking papers, photo corners, miniature roses and deckled paper edges :-) Again it just goes to show that Penny Black stamps can achieve many more looks over and above cuties!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Aspire" (3381K) inked with champagne pigment ink and the edges sponged with same ink;
Sentiments: Penny Black "Teddy & Company" transparent set (front); "...dreams..." (2711F) (inside);
Papers: K&Co;
Supplies: lace from Quixotic Paperie; miniature roses from Hobbycraft; dragonfly brad from my stash;
Tools: "decorative photo corners" Shapeabilities; Fiskars paper trimmer "deckle" blade.

Look forward to seeing all your creations !

Let it Snow!

I'm sure that "let it snow" is the last sentiment that most people want to hear right now .... but I decided this week I really wanted to join in with BasicGrey Challenge #11 - photo inspiration .... and the only piece of BG paper I could find to suit the colour scheme was a Christmas one lol!


I also decided to follow the fab Sketch Saturday #85 sketch.
I flipped the sketch horizontally, as my most suitable image to go with the papers already had the sentiment incorporated at the top. I also used a bit of "artistic licence" in my angling of the snowflakes!


I would also like to enter it for a couple of other challenges:

Stamp With Fun #41 - Snowflakes
Everybody-Art #73 - Snowflakes
Simon Says - Shabby Chic! Not sure whether this really qualifies, but I think the blue BG paper is quite "shabby chic" looking, the stamp has a vintage look, and I have edged all my papers with a Victorian shape blade! To be sure though if I try for the DT call I think I'll try to make a better effort lol!

Recipe:
Main image/sentiment: Penny Black "Let it Snow" (2782K);
Papers: BasicGrey "Figgy Pudding";
Supplies: pearl brads and spacers from The Hobby House; pearl gems and ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Fiskars paper trimmer "Victorian" blade; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch and "embossed snowflakes" edge punch.

Well, I'm still on track with my "one Christmas card per week" pledge ... wonder how long it will last??

Steaming hot chocolate!

When I saw that the challenge theme this week over at Simon Says Stamp and Quixotic Challenge #8 is Hot Chocolate, my first thought about what I would most like to make was a cup of this ....

I bought this dinky stocking filler for my husband for Christmas, and what with all the snow, the bitterly cold temperatures plus the fact that I have been confined to the house for the past 4 days with a stinking head cold (this afternoon is the first time for a few days I have felt vaguely human!) it just seemed like the obvious choice!

However I soon realised this wouldn't really cut it in blogland, so I managed to make a card. Willow on the front looks pretty much how I feel ... desperate to keep warm and soothe herself with hot drinks lol! Excuse the electric light photo but there has never really been any decent daylight today all day long.

I tried to follow the hot chocolate theme both in terms of the image and colour scheme, and I also followed the sketch (which I rotated) for this week's Secret Crafter #65.


I also made this card to fit with the themes of the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz #1 - colour combo pink, brown, cream and toffee
Crafty Calendar #4 - Keeping Warm (image associated with keeping warm, plus optional extra of texture)
Cupcake #73 - Going Girly
Creative Inspirations #24 - Distressing (I sponged the edges of the image, and also lightly distressed the embossing on the two plain pieces of paper).

Recipe:
Main image: WOJ "Willow with hot chocolate", coloured with watercolour pencils, and edges sponged with Versamark chalk ink;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: BasicGrey "Bittersweet", "Sugared" and "Two Scoops";
Supplies: flowers - Prima and Petaloo; pearl brads and spacers from The Hobby House; ribbon by American Crafts; heart charm from Jackie's Charms and Crafts Shop;
Tools: large classic ovals and large oval scalloped nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch; Cuttlebug "Perfectly Paisley" embossing folder; X-Cut distressing tool (for lightly distressing the embossed paper).

Off to keep warm now with more hot drinks!

How do you like your Sundaes?

Paper Sundaes is a new challenge blog starting January 17th, and they are warming up by having a blog hop with fab candy and prizes. Why hot hop over there, become a follower and join in the fun?

New Beginnings

I hadn't managed to get a desk calendar for this year, but I hadn't thought of making one until I was inspired by seeing this fab easel card calendar on my lovely friend Helen's blog. After that I suddenly seemed to see quite few lovely ones, such as these by Carol and Sharon. Whilst musing on what style of image, colours etc. to use I saw a beautiful easel card in my local craft shop Edwin Allen, and that convinced me that a butterfly image was the way to go... plus they had some little packs of Anita's calendars in stock - so I couldn't resist any longer. So yesterday afternoon I sat down for a session, and decided to make one each for me and two of my female colleagues. Here's the results ....


Hope you'll excuse the poor lighting ... strange isn't it that there is so much sparkling white snow out there, but the light conditions are still so terribly grey.

Here is a closer view of two of the calendars ... the only reason they aren't totally identical is that I only had enough paper to make two cards with a "border" of paper on the base, so on the third I used some lace instead; also I didn't have enough iridescent pink card for the matting, so used a mixture of pink and white.



I would like to enter these for a few challenges, namely

Stampin' for the Weekend - New Beginnings
Papertake Weekly - New Beginnings (2nd entry)
Pile It On #31 - Welcome 2010
Fussy & Fancy #1 - New (2nd entry) - I have used a new rubber stamp + new die cut shapes for my matting;
Cute Card Thursday #94 - All New
Flutterby Wednesdays #91 - New + a fairy, butterfly or angel
Everybody-Art-Challenge #72 - Favourite colour combo ... I definitely think mine is pink + green.
One Stop Craft Challenge #62 - A Night at the Movies. Well I think these calendars would fit any of the following films .... "Papillon", "The Butterfly Effect or even "2010". :-)
Paperplay - Precious Metals
Crafty Ann's Challenge #5 - New Year, New Inspiration
Your Next Stamp #7 - Embossing

Recipe:
Main image: buttefly by "Autumn leaves" from Edwin Allen, heat embossed with silver and coloured with Twinkling H2O's;
Papers: Kaisercrafts;
Supplies: hydrangea flowers by Prima; pearl brads from The Hobby House; mini "Anita's" calendars from Edwin Allen; ribbon and various spacers from my stash;
Tools: scalloped circles (matting) - dies by Nellie Snedden (from Edwin Allen); Leone Em Ash Branch leaf punch.

I've been battling a stinking cold for the past couple of days, and i think today it has really taken hold, so i doubt i'll get any crafting done this afternoon ... I'll just have to snuggle up and chill out! Hope you're having a good weekend and keeping warm.