Penny Black does the Christmas combo

I do love a challenge combo, so just for fun I sat down with my list of open challenges and decided to make one card that would specifically fulfil a number of different ones - here's the result.

I ♥ ProMarkers #25 - Christmas in July
Stamptacular #69 - Christmas in July
Going Grey with Scrap Creations #26 - Christmas in July

Cupcake Craft # 101 - Pastel Christmas
ABC Christmas - P is for Presents with Added Lace
Wild Orchid Challenge #2 - Lovely Lace
Sweet Stampin' Challenge #36 - Vintage
Crafty pad #81 - Vintage

BasicGrey #25 - Stitching
Corrosive #74 - Pink & Blue
Stamp Something - Something Flowery
Friday Sketchers #112

I love the old fashioned look of this cute Penny Black slapstick stamp, and think she goes really well with a vintage theme including stitching and lace, also with pastel colours. I'm not too sure yet about using "non-Christmas" flowers on Christmas cards but thought I would give it a go to fall in with everything else I had chosen for this challenge ... maybe the concept will grow on me :-)

At least I'm finally starting to make a few small inroads into Christmas card making ... I'm looking forward to seeing new Christmas papers starting to come into the shops so I can really get into gear :-)

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black slapstick "Winter Swing", coloured with Promarkers and edged with faux stitching;
Sentiment: Stamps Away;
Paper: BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses";
Supplies: Prima pink & white hydrangeas; roses from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace, pearls and small metal stars from my stash;
Tools: Leone Em "Ash branch" leaf punch; Fiskars "Victorian" cutting blade; Cuttlebug "Christmas Stars" embossing folder.

Here comes the bride

My dear crafty friend Samantha is getting married to her fiance Efisio today, so I was delighted to be able to make them a card and I hope they are having a wonderful day. I used this adorable LotV stamp "wedding couple", which I coloured with Promarkers and decorated liberally with glamour dust. Instead of using patterned paper I took some white pearlised card and scored a "quilted" pattern using my Martha Stewart scoring board, and then decorated with little pearls from my stash. I wanted the colours to be soft, romantic and "shimmery" so I also used irisdscent pink card for the matting and hearts, and holographic silver paper for the floral swirl at the side.

Recipe: Main image: LotV "Wedding Couple", coloured with Promarkers, decorated with glamour dust, and edges sponged with pale pink ink; Sentiment: Whiff of Joy "Wedding Sentiments"; Paper: none - used white pearlised card, pale pink iridescent card and silver holographic paper; Supplies: roses and rosebuds from Wild Orchid Crafts decorated wtih stickles; "love" ribbon from local market; pearls from my stash;

Tools: large classic circle and large classic scalloped circle nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables "leaf swirl" die; Martha Stewart heart punch; Martha Stewart scoring board.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges: Creative Craft Challenges - Here Comes the Bride

Totally Gorjuss #40 - Congratulations!

Crafty Creations #77 - Happy or Sweet

Wild Orchid Challenge #1 - Say It With Flowers

Stamp Something - Something Flowery

Create4Fun #30 - Use flowers

Passion for Promarkers #61 - Distressing

(edges of image sponged with soft ink effect)

Papertake Weekly - Cutie Patootie

Creative Inspirations #39 - Anything Goes

The Stamp Man #1 - Anything Goes

So ... to Samantha and efisio ... here's Wishing you a lifetime OF JOY AND HAPPINESS.

Penny Black Saturday #111 - Christmas in July

Hi there, and welcome to this weekend's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's "anything but a card" challenge ... I didn't manage to join in, but I have been visiting and commenting - some gorgeous creations!

Well school is now out and the summer holidays are here .... so what could be a more fitting challenge than this week's theme? Yep! it's

Christmas in July

What better time to get stuck in to those Christmas makes?? .... we may think summer is just getting into gear, but it will be November before we know it !

And to get you into the mood we as usual have a selection of fab prizes ...

First we have two stamps from our regular sponsor, Julia at Stampers' Supermarket

"Lofty"

and "Paisley Swirls"

... and from another regular sponsor, Clair at Valentine's

we have a roll of yummy grosgrain ribbon.
Hope you will pop over to see the rest of the DT's fab festive makes ... here's mine.


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Wishes for kisses" (1505H) - an RAK sent to me by my lovely friend Helen (think I must buy this stamp!) - coloured with Promarkers and decorated wtih glamour dust;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Joy.Hope" (3898F);
Papers: Magnolia 2009 Christmas collection;
Supplies: ribbon and pearls from stash;
Tools: Flower combo cut using Marianne D Christmas Creatables - Poinsettas, edged with (lots of) glamour dust; Martha Stewart "scallop dot" edge punch; Cuttlebug "snowflakes" embossing folder.

Here's a closeup of my new Marianne D flower die - I'm really pleased with it and hope to use it a lot on this year's Christmas cards.

As usual I managed to tie my DT card in to a few challenges ....

I used the fab sketch for this week's Simon Says challenge

and would also like to enter this card for Paper Sundaes #27 - Make Your Own Flowers
(I assembled mine from a die cuts set - hope this counts!)

Have a great weekend and look forward to seeing your Christmas cards :-)

Creative Card Crew #55 - Sketch

Good morning, and welcome to another Creative Card Crew Challenge. Many thanks to everyone who joined in last time's die cuts challenge - there were some amazing entries. Don't forget to visit the main challenge blog to see if you have won the prize. Sorry I didn't get round to comment on everyone's that I should as life has been very hectic - will try harder this fortnight lol!

On then this to this fortnight's challenge which has been set by Sandie - and it's this fabulous sketch. Hope you will all have as much fun working with it as I did.

This time we are sponsored by another regular sponsor -

For details of this week's prize and all the rest of the fab DT sample cards, please do visit the main challenge blog.

Now then, I'm really not quite sure where the past fortnight has gone to ... work has been very hectic with long hours, and somehow the time has flown by with hardly a craft session in sight. Here's my best attempt at the sketch though .. hope you like it.


Recipe:
Main image: Sugar Nellie "Pickin' Apples", coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Teddy and Company" transparent set;
Papers: Papermania "Rose Garden" and a teeny bit of MME "Quite Contrary" for the small green strips;
Supplies: flowers by Wild orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House;
Tools: Fiskars cutter "Victorian" blade; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.


I deliberately chose my image so that I could enter this week's Simon Says challenge - Let's Get Fruity; and I would also like to enter it for the following:

By the Cute & Girly (July) - Warm Summer Days
Bunny Zoe's Challenge #2 - Summer Days
Allsorts #61 - Summer Days

Crafty Calendar #10 - Summer

Wild Orchid Crafts #1 - Say It with Flowers
Crafty Cardmakers #25 - Photo inspiration - I took the shades of aqua and green

Stampavie & More #102 - Anything Goes
The Town Scrapper - Anything Goes
(Town Scrappers have gone to town this week as they are taking a holiday until Labour Day)

Have a great week, and look forward to seeing your creations :-)

Penny Black #109 and Donkey Smiles for Michelle

Morning everyone - here we are again for another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Many thanks to everyone who joined in last week's colour theme challenge - you all really got into the swing of celebrating 4th July with our American friends. Don't forget to check whether you have won any of the four fabby prizes that were on offer last week.

Talking of American friends ... before I go any further I would like to mention that I have made this week's card for Michelle aka Donkey Smiles - many of you may know she suffered a terrible accident just recently. Michelle left me some really lovely and encouraging comment when I first started blogging, and although with the explosion of blogs that has happened over the past 2 years we have kinda lost touch, I was really sorry to hear about what has happened. A Spoon Full of Sugar blog is currently hosting a card drive to flood her with best wishes from around the crafty world so I didn't hesitate to join in and I hope you will too. So this is sending love and hugs to Michelle and hoping she will make a good recovery and be feeling a whole lot better soon.

Anyhoo ... onto this week's challenge at Penny Black Saturday ... and we have a wonderful sketch for you from our teamie Beth.

Once again we also have some fantastic prizes ... this week we have one from our fab new sponsor
which is this adorable stamp "Mimi and Friend"

... and on top of that we also have a $20 store voucher from another billiant regular sponsor


So why wait?? I suggest you get straight to it!

The other DT members have worked some magic with Beth's sketch .. here is my interpretation. I really wanted to use this image which necessitated that the oval be a bit tipsy - but I think my li'l mouse is still quite sober lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Cheesecake Wish" (1652J) coloured with Promarkers and Copics, edged with Colorbox Queue ink, and decorated with Star Dust Stickles;
Sentiment: Hero Arts;
Papers: My Mind's Eye "Quite Contrary" (free with this month's Cardmaking 7 papercraft magazine);
Supplies: large sparkly flower by Prima ( I won this from Jane's fortnightly SSS flower candy - thanks! :-) ); pearls, ribbon and lace from my stash;
Tools: large classic ovals and large classic scalloped ovals nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables swirls from ribbon die set; Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch.

Challenges:

Spoon Full of Sugar - Sending Donkey Smiles ( card drive for Michelle)

Penny Black at Allsorts #1 - A Burst of Summer Colour (2nd entry)

Have a great weekend, and can't wait to see your interpretations of the sketch !

Edited to add:

Sylvia from Minnesota was kind enough to compliment my colouring of my mouse, and to ask which Promarkers I used. Unfortunately Sylvia doesn't have her own blog nor an email address on her profile, so i can't answer personally. But here's the info in case you happen to visit again :-)

Although I have recently started collecting Promarkers for non-waterbased colouring, I have struggled to find the right shades for colouring fur. I have taken advice from various other crafty friends and was also influenced by a wonderful LotV colouring tutorial ... and I concluded I needed to introduce a few Copic Ciaos. I went out to buy on the basis of the LotV tutorial, but of course the local stockist didn't have all in stock so I started ot improvise.

The shades I have for colouring fur are (going from lightest to darkest) E51, E53, E31, E43. On the mouse in this post I definitely used the first three of these, and maybe a little of the E43. My method was to start with the palest colour , and then work outwards applying each darker shade, and then back inwards colouring over what I'd done working back towards the lightest colour. I finished off with blending the palest into the white card with my Promarker blender pen. For the blush in the cheeks I think I used Promarkers "Baby Pink" blended into "Ivory", and for the ears a bit of Copic RV10. I'm still at early days with practising colouring with pens so it was lovely to be asked :-)

The First Noel

No one could accuse me of getting ahead of myself when it comes to making Christmas cards, so I really had to get myself into gear when I saw a sudden rush of Christmas themed challenges around ... if i don't start now, then when ??

I love this darling LotV praying angel - she is just so cute and tranquil, and always make me steer towards peaceful colours. I also always love to make angel wings sparkle, so I tied that in with some paper with sparkly embossed snowflakes on it, and some shimmery iridescent card to emboss with my Cuttlebug snowflake folder.


Challenges:
Create 4 Fun #27 - Sketch

ABC Christmas - N is for Noel
Fussy & Fancy Friday #14 - Christmas in July
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #74 - Christmas in July
Corrosive #71 - Christmas Time
My Time to Craft #98 - Angelic!
Bunny Zoe's Crafts #1 - Nice & girly

Winter Wonderland - Punch it out
Incy Wincy #48 - Punches
I ♥ ProMarkers #22 - Distressing

Flutterby Wednesday #112 - angel, fairy or butterfly

Paper Sundaes #25 - White + one (one predominant colour - mine is aqua)

Recipe:
Main image: LotV, coloured wtih Promarkers and deoorated with pearls and glamour dust, inked around the edges;
Sentiment: peel offs;
paper: from my stash;
Supplies: Prima "Christmas Bubble" flower; large pearl brad from the Hobby House; pearl gems and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: "Labels One" nestabilities; Martha Stewart "arctic snowflake" edge punch; Cuttlebug "snowflakes" embossing folder.

It's not exactly my first Chrimbo card of the year, but not too far from it so there is still a long way to go ... ... :-)

Creative Card Crew #54 - Die Cuts

Hello and welcome to another Creative Card Crew Challenge. The past fortnight has whizzed by - hope you have all been enjoying the summery weather. It was fabulous seeing all your easel cards last fortnight - what an artistic lot you are :-) Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you won the prize.

So on to this fortnight's challenge, which is

Die Cuts

Yep - we would like to see you use one or more die cuts on your creation. And to get you in the mood, we have a fab prize from our sponsor


which as a $20 voucher to spend in the online store - lovely!! :-)

Just in case any of you aren't familiar with Simon Says Stamp yet (where have you been?? lol!!) here's a little about the company ...

In business since 2002, Simon Says Stamp is striving to offer you the best selection of Rubber Stamps, Altered Art, Scrapbooking, Artist Trading Cards, and Paper Crafting Supplies in the world. We stock over 100,000 items in our warehouses so that we can offer you quick service and one stop shopping at a great price! Happy customers are the heart of our business. We work hard to find and deliver to you the latest in stamping and paper crafting supplies! Attending classes, workshops, and sales meetings around the world, our goal is to keep our product offerings fresh and current. Make us your one stop easy shop - and we'll deliver right to your door! Simon Says Stamp has over 100,000 items in stock. They have all of the latest releases from Magnolia, Whiff of Joy, Tim Holtz, Spellbinders, Copic and so much more! With free shipping for all International orders over $200 and USA Orders over $70, it’s a great time to shop with Simon Says Stamp.

The other ladies on the DT have made some fabulous samples - do go check them out! Here's my die cut card.



Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "day-dreams" (3947K), coloured with Promarkers and edged with Colorbox Queue inks;
Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Flowers and Wishes";
Papers: Papermania "Summer Bloom";
Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts and Petaloo; Doodlebug sparkly brads; flower spacers from the Hobby House; Papermania sparkly gems; pink velvet ribbon from my stash;
Tools: "Labels four" nestabilities; Marianne D Creatables "Swirl leaf" die-cut; martha Stewart "monarch butterfly" punch.



I specifically made this card to fit with a number of other challenges:

Penny Black at Allsorts #1 - A Burst of Summer Colour

(I deliberately chose these fab new Papermania papers to add the required zing, and then chose a summery floral Penny Black stamp to fulfil the challenge requirements).
Dutch Dare #81 - photo inspiration

(this also inspired the choice of floral image and brightly coloured papers).

By the Cute & Girly (July) - Warm Summer Days
I ♥ ProMarkers #21 - Stripes
Pile it On #26 - My Favourite Things
(that would be Penny Black stamps, flowers, butterflies and the colour pink!)

Last but not least I followed this week's Sketch Saturday #110 sketch.

Looking forward to seeing all your creations !

Penny Black Saturday #108

Hello again - welcome to the weekend and to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks to everyone who joined in last week - fab paper patches fom you all!! Don't forget to check out whether you have won the prize :-)

First - some exciting news. We shared a couple of weeks ago that we are now being sponsored by

... and this week for the first time we are offering some prizes they have donated. Many of you will have seen the exciting new Mimi and Betsy Bluebell range, and this week we have got not one but THREE prizes from the range for lucky randomly drawn winners - aren't these the cutest?

Betsy Bluebell



Easy Rider



Sweet thing


Not only that .... but we have also got another fab prize from another of our regular sponsors - the lovely Julia at Stampers' Supermarket


... which is a Penny Black stamp of the winner's choice.

Wow!! I wish I could enter lol!!

So what do you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one of these adorable prizes??

This week we are celebrating American Independence Day (4th July) with our American friends, so we would like to see your creations using the colours

red, white and blue

Don't forget the challenge rule that you must use a Penny Black image, large sentiment or sticker as the focus of your project to be eligible to win a prize - and please no backlinking ... you are welcome to combine our challenge with others, but only new work please!

Do check out the rest of the DT's creations as they have truly been waving their star spangled banners of talent !! Here's my red, white and blue creation....

This wasn't very easy for me as the truth is I hate the colour red, and i could only think of one blue paper in my stash that might sit well with red. However I soon got into the swing of it .. who could possibly resist red roses lol?? I can never resist inking up this cute hedgie and I do love popping a little paper rose on her hat. I also used another of the yummy ribbon samples supplied to the DT by Fantastic Ribbons.

I also had a slight drama as I originally intended punching 3 strips of red, white and blue card using my doily lace punch ... but for some reason it wouldn't punch cardstock suddenly - OMG!! It would punch through paper, but when I tried with card it just wasn't haviong any! That's a problem for another day, but in the meantime I improvised by punching with my valentine lace punch instead, and in the end I was actually quite pleased with the effect - a happy accident you might say lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Tiny Wishes" tranparent set, coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;
Papers: Craft Creations;
Supplies: flowers from Hobbycraft and Wild Orchid Crafts; dotty ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons;

Tools: large classic scalloped rectangle nestabilities; martha Stewart "Valentine Lace" edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:
Simon Says - Check it out!
Creative Inspirations #37 - Paper Piecing
Spoon Full of Sugar #110 - Animal Crackers
Magical Crafts #18 - Flower Power
Corrosive #70 - Lots of Flowers
Paper Sundaes #24 - Birthday Card
Crafts & Me #7 - Birthdays
Everybody-Art-Challenge #97 - Birthday
Stamp with Fun #65 - Birthday
Stamp Something - Colours of your Flag (Union Jack - red, white & blue!)
Raise the Bar #25 - Colours of your Flag


Have a great weekend and looking forward to seeing all your wonderful creations !