Woo hoo! I was featured :-)

Woo hoo! I was featured by
in their article 101 Lovely Craft Blogs

I'm chuffed to bits!

Why not pop over there and take a peek at the other lovely 100 lol??

Penny Black Saturday #107 - Paper Patch

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge. At last we've been getting some summery weather, which seemed to put many of you in the mood for last week's holiday/travel challenge - fab entries as usual. Don't forget to have a peek at the main challenge blog to find out if you won last week's prize.

Onto this week's challenge - and we have a technique for you -

Paper Patch

Basically this just means having one or more patches of paper or a patchwork effect on your creation - can't wait to see what you create! Don't forget there is only one golden rule for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - you must use a PB image, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your project.

As always we have fabby prizes on offer - yes, you heard that right ...prizes ... cos this week we have TWO from our regular sponsors.

Fantastic Ribbons is offering one lucky randomly drawn winner four rolls of ribbon of their choice ....

Keith very kindly sent a bumper box of ribbons for all the girls on the team and they are gorgeous - we have all used them on this week's cards - so pop over to Fantastic Ribbons where they have a huge collection of beautiful ribbons and great offers...check out the summer sizzlers....multibuy discount.....free ribbons with every order and you can sign up for the newsletter which will keep you informed about all the special offers and new ribbons coming in stock....but I will not be held responsible if you have no willpower lol!!

... and Dick at PB Stamps is offering a 15% lifetime discount voucher.

So what are you waiting for?? The rest of the DT have got busy making fabulous samples, and here is mine ...

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "friends matter" (4073F) inked in brilliance pearlescent ink;
Paper: free with this month's craft magazine;
Supplies: patterned ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons; flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; Papermania sparkly dots;
Tools: Martha Stewart "woodland bough" edge punch; Fiskars "Victorian" paper cutting blade.
I would also like to enter this card for a couple of other challenges:

Simon Says - Friends

ABC - X is for Xtra Dimension
Sentimental Sundays #9 - Encouragement & Support

Looking forward to seeing all your paper patches - have a good weekend :-)

A clean and simple wish

Here is a card that I made earlier in the week for a close family member who has just had a very serious cancer operation. I deliberately kept it simple as it didn't strike me as being appropriate to send a card which was a case study in how clever I can be with the decorative elements - it really is just a wish from the heart.


Being as there are challenges out there I will enter this card for one or two, though it obviously wasn't the main focus in my mind when I made it.

Passion For Promarkers #57 - Your favourite things (flowers)
Sweet Stampin' Challenge #31 - Clean and Simple
Sir Stampalot Monthly - Punch it
Everybody Art Challenge #96 - Pink & Green
Crafty Creations #73 - Shine (glamour dust and pearlescent card)

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Fanfare" coloured with Promarkers and decorated with just a teeny bit of glamour dust;

Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set

Paper: from my stash;

Supplies: pearls from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch and "monarch butterfly" punch.

Back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge :-)

Creative Card Crew #53 - Easel Card

Hello everyone - hope you are enjoying the summery weather that we're getting at last. Another fortnight gone, and before we know it it's time for another Creative Card Crew challenge. Thankyou to eveyone who entered last fortnight's "thankyou" challenge - superb entries as always - don't forget to visit the main challenge blog to see if you have won Victoria's superb SU prize.

Before we get onto the next challenge, we have some very sad news - Paula our blog owner has decided to step down for personal reasons. We'll all really miss her, but understand her reasons and just hope she'll keep in touch. meanwhile we have a new CCC owner in the form of the lovely Janna - so hope you will all continue to support the challenge.

So .... onto this fortnight's challenge - we would like to see you make an

Easel Card

We are sponsored this time by Whimsy Stamps

who are offering one lucky randomly drawn winner a $15 gift certificate to spend in their store - lovely!

We have all tried our best to use Whimsy products this week - I have just the one Whimsy stamp, but boy is it a cute one ... this darling little owl. I won this sweetie about 12 months ago from Quixotic Paperie and am ashamed to say I haven't inked it up until now ... looking at it I really can't think why that should be, cos he's just adorable!

I have coloured him with a mixture of Promarkers and a few new Copics I bought at the weekend (just to fill in some colour gaps, you understand lol!). I didn't really have a sentiment to suit, so I just hand wrote one - eek!! I dressed it up a bit though by matting it onto a fancy tag.

Recipe:
Main image: Whimsy Stamps, coloured with Promarkers and Copics;
Papers: My Mind's Eye "Quite Contrary";
Supplies: flowers - Prima "Painterly Petals"; pearl brads and spacers from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;
Tools: large classic circle and large classic scalloped circle nestabilities; "Fancy tags" shapeabilities; Martha Stewart "Woodland Bough" edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Branch" leaf punch.

I would like to enter this one for the following challenge:
Paper Play #24 - Something Old (my cute Whimsy stamp!)
Totally Gorjuss #35 - Sugar & Spice
Whimsy June Challenge - Summer

Last but not least ... my cute owl is not the only Whimsy product I have used today ... as luck would have it a few days ago I bought a matching Whimsy Stamps digital signature and watermark - posh eh?? lol! At this rate I'll be in danger of starting to look organised!

Have a great week.

Penny Black Saturday #106 - Travel / holidays

Good morning everyone and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. As you know I didn't manage to take part last week, and sorry to say I haven't been visiting to see what wonderful cards everyone made for the sketch challenge... but I'm confident they will all have been as brilliant as usual - so hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and see if you have won last week's prize.

On then to this week's challenge, and we have a theme for you of

Travel / holidays

As always you can interpret this however you like so long as you use a Penny Black image stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo as the main focus of your creation.

Again we have a brilliant prize for you from one of our new regular sponsors - Butterfly Kisses

who are offering the following gorgeous stamp to one randomly drawn winner.

Here is my card for this week. Unfortunately I've still got some ongoing family circumstances that have meant I haven't felt like doing much craft-wise, and as I really needed to prioritise making a Father's Day card for my dear old dad, I did my best to combine it with this week's theme.

I really do adore this hedgie - he looks so happy and peaceful sitting under the shade of the daisy - so I hope you'll be kind and agree that he certainly looks like he could be on holiday :-) This is the first time I have coloured a PB hedgie with Promarkers (though there is v little grey on this one!!) but I'm reasonably pleased with the shading on the daisy petals.

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "lazy Days" (3782J), coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Bubbly";
Papers: blue - Craft Creations; green - free with "Making Cards" magazine years ago!!);
Supplies: card candy from my stash coloured with Promarkers;
Tools: large classic circle and large classic scalloped circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet dies.
As I have spent so little time cardmaking it is quite fortunate that this card fits with so many other challenges .....

Double Dutch #45 - Dad's Treat (Father's Day)
Stamptacular #63 - A Tribute to all Fathers
Crafty Cardmakers #23 - Cards for Men
Creative Craft Challenge - For the Man in your Life
Raise the Bar #23 - What a Special Guy!
Incy Wincy #45 - One for the Guys
Cupcake #95 - One for the Boys
Creative Inspirations #65 - One for the Boys
One Stop Craft Challenge #85 - One for the Boys
My Time To Craft #95 - Special person / occasion
Crafts & Me #6 - Friends & Family
Spoon Full of Sugar #108 - Enjoying the Sunshine
ABC - W is for Weather (sitting in the sun :-) )
Stamp Something - Something Summer!
Fun with Shapes & more #58 - Flowery
Simon Says on PCP #6 - Oh Boy!

Before I go I must give a little toot for my new digital signature and watermark which I bought from Whimsy Stamps - they have a fab range and only $5 for both combined. I feel really professional now lol!!

Have a great weekend .... looking forward to all your creations !

Penny Black Challenge - Fantastic News!!

Good morning everyone! Sadly I haven't managed to make a card this week for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge due to having had a few problems during the week, but along with the rest of the Penny Black Saturday DT ladies I have some fantabulous news to share ....

.....we are now officially sponsored by the one and only.....PENNY BLACK... WOW!!

Yes - the company that makes all the gorgeous stamps that we love so much ....it's a dream come true and we are all mega excited!! Shaida, the owner of Penny Black, really loves all the talent she sees in the Penny Black Saturday challengers and is going to be providing us with lots of yummy Penny Black stamps as prizes.....oooh you lucky Penny Black lovers are going to be in for a real treat.

I know how much you all love Penny Black stamps....so why not pop over to the Penny Black website and join the Penny Black Club.....you will then receive a monthly newsletter with all the news from Penny Black about new releases etc...

... and why not check out these sweet little misses...Mimi and Betsy Bluebell will be available for you to buy very soon....aren't they adorable... you can also download all the latest catalogues and leaflets, and if you are anything like me you will be drooling and have a wish list as long as your arm.

In the meantime, I hope you will pop over to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge blog for this week's challenge #105 which is a fab sketch, take a peek at the gorgeous sample cards created by the rest of the DT and check out this week's prize.

Have a great weekend!

Creative Card Crew #52 - Thankyou

Hello again, and welcome to another Creative Card Crew challenge. Thanks to everyone who joined in my pink & green challenge over the past 2 weeks - sorry I wasn't able to get round everyone's entries as life's been a bit hectic ... but I'm sure they were all fabulous as usual! And don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are the lucky winner of the challenge prize.

So onto this fortnight's fabulous challenge which has been set by Victoria, and is

Thankyou

And thankyou to Victoria herself, who is sponsoring this week's yummy prize with Stampin' Up products.

The rest of the DT have created some fabulous samples so I hope you will check them out ... here's mine.

Recipe:
Main image: WOJ "Melinda woth Bouquet" coloured with Promarkers, edges sponged with Colorbox Queue ink, and wings decorated with diamond Stickles;
Sentiment: WOJ;
Papers: Papermania "Rose Garden";
Supplies: roses and rosebuds from Wild Orchid Crafts decorated with diamond Stickles; lace was an RAK from Ruby; ribbon and pearls from my stash;
Tools: "Labels One" nestabilities.

Here's a closeup of my colouring and Melinda's sparkly wings.

... and here are my new yummy Wild Orchid Crafts large curly wild roses and dinky rosebuds ... the middle size rose was a birthday gift from Sue.

I used the brilliant sketch from this week's Whiff of Joy Challenge #80 ....

... and would also like to enter this card for a few other challenges:

Die Cut Dreams #52 - Angels
Charisma #22 - Flowers (2nd entry)
Spoon Full of Sugar #107 - Floral Delight
Paper Play #22 - Flowers & Sparkle
Pollycraft #47 - Ribbon & bling
Cupcake #94 - Dazzle Us
Colour Create #46 - Baby Pink & Pastel Blue
Corrosive #67 - Die Cuts
By the Cute & Girly June Challenge - something old, new, borrowed, blue

.... well that would be

old - my WOJ stamp
new - yummy Wild Orchid Crafts roses and rosebuds
borrowed - layout from this week's WOJ Challenge sketch, and the idea of cutting the wings outside the nestie shape (seen on several crafty blogs)
blue - colours of Melinda's headband and jeans.

Look forward to seeing all your creations.

For my dad!

I went to visit my parents today and took my dad this card, as it will be his birthday on Tuesday ... I reckon I'm totally safe to show it on here as dad doesn't own a computer lol! I bought this gorgeous LotV stamp specially, partly because it is so cute and partly because my dad has just bought himself a new car, so the image is totally apt:-)

It was particularly lucky for me that this week's Simon Says Challenge is Father's Day/Male Card as this one fits the bill for that; as it does for Sweet Stampin' Challenge #29 - Boys & their Toys.

I would also like to enter it for

ABC - V is for Vintage

(vintage car, vintage colours and distressed inking on the edges of my image)
Stampin' for the Weekend #40 - Summer / travel
Frosted Designs - Buttons
Caardvaarks June Challenge - stamping + embossing

The closeup is supposed to show that I used Clear accents on both the glass headlights, teddy's goggles and the water puddle ... but unfortunately it hasn't really caught the light (miserable day today lol!!)

Recipe:

Main image: LotV Busy Bears "Pride & Joy", coloured with watercolour pencils and edges distressed with "antique linen" distress ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Salutations" transparent set, and rub on letters "dad" from my stash;

Papers: from stash - free with a craft magazine forever ago;

Supplies: button and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Cuttlebug "Happy Birthday" embossing folder.

Hope my dad will have a fab day ... thanks for looking!

Penny Black Challenge #104

This week has fairly flown by, and it's time once again for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who joined in last week - I really enjoyed looking at all your fabulous "in the garden" creations.

We are doubly fortunate this week, as we have got not one but TWO fabby prizes for randomly drawn lucky winners...

Firstly our regular sponsor Clair at Valentine's is donating this brilliant prize of a selection of PB stamped images ....


... and secondly we are really thrilled and excited to introduce our new regular sponsor Julia from

who is donating a prize of

a Penny Black stamp of the winner's choice

Woo hoo!

I'm sure many of you will be familiar with Julia as she has not only the online store and a shop in Rye, but also she has a stand at many of the craft fairs, which is always totally awash with Penny Black stamps .. not to mention the fammous "bargain bucket" - heaven!!

So what do you have to do to get your hands on one of these prizes, I hear you ask?? Well just create a project for this week's theme which is

Swirls

... and interpret it however you choose so long as you use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or sticker as the main focus of your project.

The other DT members have all gone swirly whirly so I hope you'll check them out ... here's mine.

This was primarily inspired by the fact that I was lucky enough a couple of weeks ago to win a blog hop prize on the Allsorts challenge, which was a PB transparent stamp set - "Flowers and Wishes". They are really pretty and a little different from what I generally use, so I couldn't wait to give them a go. I also took the opportunity to try out something I'm sure I've seen elsewhere, which is to stamp some swirly scrolly edges using another PB stamp I've had hidden in my stash forever, called "Scrolling along".

Of course I had to bring a swirly paper out to play for this challenge theme ... I'm just loving the Papermania papers this season, and "Henbury Lane" is no exception. And just in case anyone had failed to spot the swirls on my card I also went for a bit of dry embossing and finally a jewel template swirl - just couldn't help myself lol! Having done all that I decided not to complicate things any further by adding any paper flowers (even though I have just taken my first small delivery from Wild Orchid Crafts ... so watch this space!)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Flowers and Wishes" transparent set, coloured with Promarkers; edges stamped using Penny black "Scrolling along" stamped in brilliance pearlescent orchid ink;
Sentiment: Penny black "Salutations" transparent set;
Papers: Papermania "Henbury Lane";
Supplies: pearls from the Hobby House; silver beads from my stash;
Tools: large classic ovals and large classic scalloped ovals nestabilities; Bazzill jewel template "fantasy flourishes"; Cuttlebug embossing folder "birds and swirls".

As always I would like to enter this card for one or two other challenges, namely

Charisma #22 - Flowers
Ooh La La #55 - colours of the challenge blog
(lilac, pink, green and a little lemon .. well I managed 3 of the 4!!)
Our Creative Corner - Summer Inspiration
Daring Cardmakers - String of Pearls

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing!

Anya with flower basket

I had an image coloured in of Anya with flower basket from when I had been practising with my new Promarkers, so I thought I would use it to make a summery card ... looking out of the window at the weather yesterday that was unfortunately a triumph of hope over experience lol!! Still, I hope and believe the weather is supposed to be getting better towards the end of the week - will probably wait until everyone has gone back to work - typical!

This image was sent to me ages ago by the lovely Marcea and although it was on lovely card I wasn't sure what it was inked with ... so I just had a practice and hoped for the best - hardly any colour bleed so I was quite pleased :-) However I have now also got some of this image stamped for me by Uma which are defo using Memento on some very smooth card, so it will be interesting to compare results.

I followed the sketch over at Sketch Saturday #105, (happy birthday Sketch Saturday :-) !!)



and would also like to enter this card for

Everybody-Art-Challenge #93 - Summer
Stamp with Stampavie #97 - Summer
Cupcake #93 - Summer Delights
The Pink Elephant #69 - Gotta wear shades! (bright, fun colours)
Magical Crafts #16 - Metal madness

Recipe:
Main image: Anya with flower basket, coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Papers: My Mind's Eye "Quite Contrary", with BasicGrey plain paper;
Supplies: flowers by Petaloo; spacers from The Hobby House; Doodlebug sparkly brads; ribbon and charm from my stash;
Tools: large classic ovals and large classic scalloped ovals nestabilities; martha Stewart "woodland bough" edge punch.

BasicGrey meets a few other challenges

I've got a couple of days extra off work following the bank holiday, so that I can sort out a few household things whilst my husband decorates the living room .... but seeing as the weather has been so appalling otday i decided to get a bit of crafting in rather than going out shopping :-)

I decided to make a card following this fortnight's sketch for BasicGrey Challenge #21

... and once I had chosen my BG "Two Scoops" papers everything else just seemed to follow from that. I haven't used too many embellishments as the image and the papers are both fairly busy.

Recipe:
Main image: Lili of the Valley "Teddy with bouquet", coloureed with Promarkers;
Sentiment; Penny Black "Salutations" transparent set;
Papers: BasicGrey "Two Scoops";
Supplies: Raffia lace from Hobbycraft; pearls from The Hobby House.

I would also like to enter this card for a few other challenges:

Just Cute Bears #19 - Thankyou card
Crafty Creations #69 - Use your favourite stamp
Charisma #21 - Going round in circles
One Stop Craft Challenge #82 - swirls and pearls
Stamp Something - birthday recipe - dp, ribbon, bow and tag

(the last 3 are all in the image :-) )

Just a short post from me today, as I guess I should pop along and start doing some of the things I ought to do rather than the crafting I want to do lol!