Creative Card Crew #49 - April Showers bring Forth May Flowers

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another challenge from Creative Card Crew. Unfortunately I haven't been able to take part for the past 2 challenges .. 4 weeks ago was semi-planned, and then 2 weeks ago I was rushing round to make my card last minute before going away for the weekend, and I walked into the stair riser and brained myself good style... maybe I knocked a bit of sense into myself lol ... but it still hurts if I press my forehead two weeks later! Also many apologies that I have not been leaving comments - we have been refurbing our study so the PC has been disconnected for about 3 weeks and I have been working on the laptop - it was going v slow when i tried to connect to other blogs and i figured I didn't really have 10 hours to spare to complete all my commenting :-(.

Anyhow .. enough blather and onto this fortnight's challenge, which is a real corker.

April Showers Bring forth May Flowers

Now you can interpret this any way you wish ... you may want to focus on rain, flowers or both!!

To help get you in the mood we have a gorgeous prize for one randomly drawn winner from our regular sponsor

... and it is this gorgeous cute rachel Anne Miller stamp called "Bundle of Joy".

The rest of the DT has truly "made a splash" so I hope you'll go and check out their creations. Here's my effort - I didn't really have any stamps showing rain, so I immediately thought of this darling image of a teddy sheltering from raining flowers :-)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Rainin' Daisies" (RAK from one of several crafty friends!) - coloured with watercolour pencils, edges distressed with Color Queue "Thistle" ink, and flowers decorated with tiny Papermania gems;
Sentiment: Whiff of Joy;
Paper: Crafty Creations - all edges inked with Brilliance pearlescent ink;
Supplies: Doodlebug "sugar coated" lilac brad; large spacer and butterfly charm from The Hobby House (bought at Aintree last Saturday - met Jill on her stall - how lovely :-) !!); lace was an RAK from Ruby; Papermania lilac jewel gems; lilac plain and gingham ribbons from my stash;
Tools: large scalloped rectangle Nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables "ribbon flower 3" die; Leone Em "Ash branch" leaf punch; Cuttlebug "daisies" embossing folder.

And here's a closeup of the flower. Thanks for the hints and tips people have given me on how to get the paper out of these dies ... I managed rather more successfully this time :-)

I followed the fab sketch at this week's Friday Sketchers #99

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

Quixotic #22 - Make a Splash
Raise the Bar #15 - Colour Me Happy (one main colour - mine is lilac. Can't say whether it is really my favourite but I'm favouring it right now lol!)
Creative Belli #89 - Die Cut Shapes
Simon Says - Things With Wings (butterfly charm)
Stamp Something - Charmed Somethings
Kaboodle #29 - Embossing
Pollycraft #41 - Make your Own Flowers
A Spoon Full of Sugar #101 - 3D (hope my ribbon flower qualifies)

Hope you're having a good week. Hope to be back later in the week if I have time to play properly with the stash I bought on Saturday at Aintree ;-)

Penny Black Challenge #98 - Recipe!

Wow - don't know where this week has gone to ... no crafting and not a single post since last Saturday ... but at last the weekend is here again and it's time for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's "monochromatic brown" challenge - not an easy one but you definitely rose to the challenge with some fab creations.

This week we have a really great challenge for you - a recipe. What we would like to see is projects that incorporate

3 flowers
2 buttons
1 bow

How easy is that??

And we also have a brilliant prize as usual for one randomly drawn winner - this week it's a Lifetime 15% discount voucher for the online craft store of our regular sponsor


Don't forget to check out this week's gorgeous samples from the rest of the DT - here's mine.


I must admit that the whole thing revolved this week around the fact that I had finally managed to get my hands on a Marianne D Creatables "ribbon flower" die set ... and was just soooo excited!! I have to say though - after I had cut it the paper was an absolute pig to get out of the die - even my pokey tool wouldn't shift it - so if anyone has any handy hints and tips as to how to do this without ripping three fiogernails I'd be very grateful ;-) Also I feel that it would be easier to thread wtih soft organza ribbon as thicker ribbon fills the central hole too much ... but I guess it's a case of experimenting. I don't think I've quite got the finished flower perfect yet, but I'm still pretty pleased with the result (when I eventually got there ! :-) )

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "A Tender Hug", coloured with watercolour pencils;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Paper: My Mind's Eye "Pretty Please";
Supplies: pink roses from Hobbycraft decorated with Stardust Stickles; large spacer from The Hobby House; large jewel brad, buttons and ribbons from my stash;
Tools: large classic circles and large classic scalloped circles Nestsbilities; "Fancy Tags" Shapeabililties; Martha Stewart "garden trellis" edge punch.

As usual I would like to enter this card into a few challenges .....

Paper Sundaes #14 - No people
Stamp With Fun #55 - Animals
Pile It On #15 - Spring
A Spoon Full of Sugar #100 - Happy Birthday
Daring Cardmakers - Die Cut Crazy

One Stop Craft Challenge #77 - Metallic (chunky spacer on my flower)

S2G Challenges - Spring has Sprung with a Twist (flowers)

Our Creative Corner - Blooming Blossoms

I should be out at the Aintree craft show today - will try to restrain myself and not buy too much stash ;-). Have a great weekend whatever you're doing.

Penny Black Challenge #97 - monochromatic brown

Good afternoon, and here we are again with week 97 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Sorry my posting is a bit late this week but circumsatnces intervened and I was only able to make my card last night, finishing well after dark lol!

Anyhow, thanks very much to everyone who got out their button boxes and made such fab creations last week - don't forget to check out whether you have won the prize.

This week we have decided to move onto a colour theme - we would like to see a project using

monochromatic brown

that is to say the predominant colours are any shades of cream, coffee, mocha, chocolate etc ... sounds good enough to eat!! The rest of the DT have been making some delicious creations, and to whet your appetites even more we have a yummy prize from Kerry at


which is this beuatiful pack of Prima "shabby chic" vintage style flowers - fab!!

Here's my card, which strangely uses the same imiage as last week ... but hopefully creates a very different look. I was trying to go for a vintage/sepia type of theme ... hope you like it!!


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Tiny Wishes" transparent set, stamped using sepia Versafine, coloured using watercolour pencils, and edged with "Antique linen" and "walnut" distress inks;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Salutations" transparent set;
Papers: Papermania "Exquisite", deckle edged and distressed using Tim Hotz "walnut" distress ink;
Supplies: printed flowers and small brown flowers by Prima; cream and champagne tea roses form Hobbycraft edged with gold Stickles; "chocolate heaven" pearls from the Hobby House; lace from my stash.



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

Charisma Cardz #15 - Monochromatic
Sophisticats #29 - So distressing
Papertake Weekly - Cutie Pie
Secret Crfter #79 - A Day Out

Gotta rush to grab my lunch before going out to the hairdresser's gotta get that grey covered somehow.

Lilac fairy

I'm gradually getting around to playing with my recent LotV purchases .... I've still got a few to go and I know that some more are due out soon so I don't know whether I'll ever catch up with myself lol!!

This fortnight's challenge for BasicGrey #17 is a fab sketch, which made me think of pulling out the remnants of my BG "Wisteria" paper pad ... and the paper immediately made me think of teaming it with this gorgeous garden fairy.

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

Flutterby #105 - Open theme with a butterfly, fairy or angel.
My Time To Craft #87 - pretty pearls
ABC - S is for Sparkle (poor light doesn't show it up very well, but her dress and wings are VERY sparkly lol!!)
Quixotic Paperie #21 - Heavy metal (brads and large spacers)
Cute Card Thursday #108 - touchy feely. I have created texture with the rafia, pearls, spacers and flowers.

Recipe:
Main image: LotV, coloured with watercolour pencils and marvey markers, and dusted with glamour dust;
Sentiment: Lavinia Stamps;
Papers: BasicGrey "Wisteria;
Supplies: pearls, pearl brads and spacers from The Hobby House; raffia lace from Hobbycraft; flowers from my stash;
Tools: "labels 3" nestabilities; Bazzill Jewel Template "swirls and flowers" (for pearl swirls);Fiskars "Victorian" cutting blade.

Just a quick post today ... hope to have a bit more time to catch up over the weekend.

Penny Black Challenge #96 - buttons galore!

Hello there and welcome to week 96 of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's challenge - sorry I wasn't about as I had a week off to concentrate on some jobs around the house over Easter, but hopefully I'm now back in the saddle.

This week we have another great challenge theme for you .... we would like to see

buttons galore!

Yes ... we would like to see buttons on your project - don't forget that the only other rule is that you must use a Penny Black image or sentiment prominently on your project.

As always we have a grat prize for you - our regular sponsor

is offering one lucky randomly drawn winner a $20 voucher to spend in their online shop - lovely!!

Talking of lovely, the DT has been busy as always creating some gorgeous samples - hope you'll check them out. Here's my effort ....

I really do adore this cute hedgie from the "Tiny Wishes" set, and think she goes perfectly with the yummy new Papermania "Rose Garden" papers. I decided to challenge myself so that I could enter a few other challenges with this card, so I made my own paper flower following this tutorial on YouTube .... now I have to say I found the whole thing pretty tricky as the papers are quite stiff and therefore didn't want to crumple daintily, but I think I got there in the end!!

As a result of all this endeavour I'd like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Cupcake #85 - make your own flowers
Crafty Cardmakers #18 - A Challenging Challenge
(mine was the flower lol!!)
Allsorts #47 - Petals and Pearls
Cute Card Thursday #107 - Mono Mania!
... my card is almost exclusively pink, apart from the "natural" elements such as skin, fur and leaves :-)
Meljen's Designs #2 - Let's See Some Girly Colours
Stamptacular Sunday #53 - Sugar & Spice & everything nice
Daring Cardmakers - If the Shoe Fits (don't you just love those cute oversize trainers?? lol!)
Inky Impressions #33 - charm it!
C.R.A.F.T.#45 - buttons
Totally Gorjuss #25 - Texture
Magical Crafts #12 - Animal antics
Simple Doodles #15 - Inspire others

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Tiny Wishes" transparent set, coloured with watercolour eoncils and decorated on rose with Stickles;
Sentiment & papers: Papermania "Rose Garden" pad;
Supplies: large pearl brad, large spacer and pearl gems all from The Hobby House; "Made with love" heart charm from Bunny Zoe's Crafts; lace was an RAK from Ruby :-); pink ribbon and buttons from my stash;
Tools: "labels 3" nestabilities; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Hope you can join us this week - look forward to seeing your creations.

Angel wings

I bought a few LotV stamps a few weeks ago as I really love their latest designs, but I've not had much opportunity to play with them until now.

When I saw this week's ABC Christmas Challenge - H is for Holly, and the new Crafts & Me Challenge #1 - Fairies or Wings, I immediately thought of this cute angel with the holly wreath on her head. I also used Helen's fab optional sketch from the ABC Christmas Challenge.


I also made this card for this week's Flutterby Wednesday#104, which is to use an angel, fairy or butterfly with sparkle, and this week's Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Challenge#34 which is also wings. Last but not least, Paper Play #14 has a theme of shiny happy people - ie use a person stamp with shine or sparke on it.

Recipe:
Main image: LotV, coloured with watercolour pencils and wings decorated wtih glamour dust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Papers: Kaiser Crafts;
Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; iridescent gems by Papermania; ribbon from stash;
Tools: "labels four" nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Snowflakes #2" die and "Christmas Stars" embossing folder.

Old Crock!

Good morning - hope everyone reading this has had a Happy Easter! I am on holiday from work this week ... but alas very little time for cardmaking and/or blogging as i am taking the opportunity to catch up on various jobs and support my husband in decorating and refurbishing our study. It also means that the normal desktop computer is disconnected so I am doing my best with the laptop ... working out how to load a photo was a bit of a challenge this morning lol!!

Anyhow, regardless of the fact that I haven't even managed to make my DT cards over the past week I needed to make this one, as it is for my best friend's husband who will be 50 this week. Fancy calling him an old crock, I hear you say ..... in fact that is the name of the stamp I've used!!

It is only the second time I've ever used this stamp, and I love the way you can decoupage it so it seems to "drive off the page" .... the other time I used it was for my dad's 80th birthday card, which was actually the first card I ever posted to this blog .... here :-)

I made this card to fit with this week's Simon Says Challenge which is it's so distressing ... I don't know if he will find the prospect of being 50 distressing lol, but I thought the general aged and vintage feel was kinda appropriate!! I edged my papers and image with Tim Holtz distress ink in "Antique linen", deckle edged my papers, and also used papers that had a distressed look about them to start with.

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

A Spoon Full of Sugar #98 - One for the Boys
Sweet Stampin' Challenge #20- It's a Man's World
Crafty Ann's #11 - For Someone Special
Simple Doodles #14 - Add Some Layers
Pollycraft #38 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #61 - Anything Goes
Meljen's Designs #1 - Anything Goes
For Fun - Anything Goes
Just Add Ink #11 - Anything Goes
One Stitch at a Time #7 - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Open Theme

Recipe:
Main image: Butterfly Kisses "Old Crock", heat embossed, coloured wtih Twinkling H2O's and USArt Quest pearlescent paint, edges distressed wtih Tim Holtz distress ink, and Glossy Accents used on car windscreen and headlights;
Sentiment: See-D;
Papers and vellum postcard: K&Co;
Supplies: vinage style brads from stash;
Tools: Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet used for numbering; Fiskars papercutter deckle blade.

Just off now to get on with some more jobs ... hope to get a little more cardmaking in some time this week :-)